Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 117

Author: Doyle, William B., b. 1868
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1150

USA > Ohio > Summit County > Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens > Part 117

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ILARRY NELSON SHERBONDY. gen- eral farmer and well-known citizen of North- ampton Township, resides on his valuable farm of seventy-two acres. He was born at Akron, Ohio, March 11, 1858, and is a son of Hiram and Louisa (Sherbondy) Sher- bondy.

The father of Harry N. Sherbondy was born on a farm on Sherbondy Hill, Summit County, Ohio, and died in his native county, on his own farm, December 7, 1897. Shortly after his marriage he settled on a farm of twenty acres. in Copley Township, which he devoted to truck gardening, and found a ready sale for all his products at Akron. For some years he was a trustee of Portage Town- ship. He was a son of Peter Sherbondy, who

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was the first settler on Sherbondy Hill. Peter Sherbondy was born in Germany and after coming to the United States, lived for a time in Pennsylvania, and then took up a large body of land in Portage Township, where he built his log cabin. Ile was a man of con- siderable importance in his day and left many worthy descendants. He died in 1870, aged sixty years. Ile was a Democrat, but his son Hiram was identified with the Republi- can party. Iliram Sherbondy married Lou- isa Sherbondy, who died in 1892, aged fifty- six years. She was a distant relative, being the daughter of Uriah Sherbondy. Hiram Sherbondy and wife had but two sons: Harry Nelson and Milton Jay, the latter of whom re- sides at Akron.

Harry Nelson Sherbondy obtained his edu- cation in the public schools of Akron, learned the carpenter trade and was employed as a wood-worker until 1905, in the meanwhile paying some attention also to farming. In 1908, he resigned his position as forman with the manufacturing concern with which he had long been connected. It was with regret that he separated himself from employers and co-workers, between whom and himself existed the most cordial feelings. He had com- menced to realize, however, the great possibili- ties of agriculture and made the decision to devote his future energies to that line. He purchased his present farm and has met with success. lle grows corn and wheat to market, and hay, corn and oats for his own use. He feeds eleven head of eattle which he sells to local butchers, and carries milk from the farmers of this section to the Pure Milk Com- pany of AAkron. All his activities are in a prosperous condition.

Mr. Sherbondy was married to Mrs. Charles Thomas, of Cleveland. Her maiden name was Flora Bright. She has one son by her former marriage, Harry Edward Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Sherbondy have one son, Mil- ton LeRoy.

Politically, Mr. Sherbondy is a Republican and on numerous occasions has been sent as a delegate to county conventions. He has

served in the office of trustee of Portage Township. Fraternally, he is an Odd Fellow, belonging to Nemo Lodge, No. 746.

HARRY WILLIAMS, cashier of the Na- tional City Bank of Akron, has been identi- fied with the banking business during almost all his mature life and has been a resident of Akron for the past twenty years. He was born at Brimfield, Portage County, Ohio, in 1869, and was reared and educated in his native place.

After completing his schooling Mr. Wil- liams came to Akron and was employed as clerk in a confectionery store for eighteen months. He then became a elerk in the City National Bank, subsequently going to the Citizens' Saving Bank, where he continued until 1893, as assistant in charge of the branch at East Akron. Ile then returned to the City National Bank, in the capacity of bookkeeper, remaining until the expiration of its charter, in 1903. The company took out a new charter under the style of the Na- tional City Bank, and Mr. Williams has been cashier of the bank ever since its reorganiza- tion. He is highly thought of in banking cireles, and through his habitual courtesy and pleasing personality, has won and retained a wide circle of friends, not only for himself, but also for the institution with which he has so long been associated.

In 1895, Mr. Williams was married to Nina Moulton, who is a daughter of J. B. Moul- ton, of Brimfield, Portage County, and they have two children-Mildred .and Jeannette. Mr. Williams is a member of the Kirkwood club, the Portage Country club and the Akron Gun club.

LEONARD ELI GAYLORD, proprietor of Clear Spring Farm, a fertile traet of forty acres of land which is situated in Stow Town- ship, was born March 29, 1840, in. Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of Eli and Mary (Wolcott) Gaylord.

In 1809, Jonathan Gaylord, the grand- father of Leonard Eli, started from Middle-

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town, Connecticut, and with ox-teams traveled through what was then mainly an unsettled country to Summit County, and settled on lots 15 and 16, in what is now Stow Township. He cleared up a place in the primeval forest on which to erect his cabin of logs, and he and his family became identified more or less with the subsequent development of this sec- tion. He was a ship carpenter and worked at this trade in Cleveland, making trips from there to Monroe Falls, on foot, and on one of these he met his death, his lifeless body being found in a strip of woodland through which he generally passed.

Eli Gaylord was born in 1816, at Monroe Falls, Summit County, Ohio, and was the youngest member of a large family of chil- dren born to Jonathan and Margaret Gay- lord. Eli Gaylord followed farming and stock-raising and paid much attention to dairying, becoming in the course of years a man of ample means. He married Mary Wolcott, in 1838, and in 1888. with her, cele- Frated their Golden Wedding day. They had two sons and one daughter: Leonard Eli. Alfred and Clara, the latter of whom died at Daphne, Alabama, where Alfred resides. She was the wife of W. D. Randall. In his po- litical views, Eli Gaylord is identified with the Republican party. Both he and wife were charter members of the Disciples Church at Stow Corners, in which he has been elder and deaeon. Their home is in the northern part of Stow Township.

Leonard Eli Gaylord grew to manhood on the home farm, and in tilling the fields and raising the stoek he was the equal of any young agriculturist of his neighborhood. To such as he the call to arms, when the Civil War was precipitated, came as a shock, but no readier response was given than by the loyal young men who hastened from their peaceful pursuits and donned the equipments of war. Mr. Gaylord was one of those who en- listed during the first year of the war. He joined Company D, Twenty-ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, October 10, 1861, and was mustered into the United States service

from Summit County, at Camp Giddings, Jefferson, Ohio, October 27, 1861, his officers being Col. Lewis P. Buckley and Capt. Pu- laski C. Hard. He had contracted for three years, but was honorably discharged at Wau- hatchie, Tennessee. December 21, 1863, by reason of his re-enlistment as a veteran, and was mustered in the same company and regi- ment, as corporal, under Capt. Myron T. Wright and Col. William T. Fitch, to serve three more years if necessary.

The Twenty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Infantry, was organized at Camp Giddings, August 26. 1861, and was among the first to answer the call of the President for the three years service. The regiment was transported to Camp Chase, Columbus, where it remained until January 17, 1862, when it was ordered to Cumberland, Maryland, and it remained there until the fall of 1863. While there it was brigaded with the Fifth, Seventh and Six- ty-sixth Ohio Regiments and the One Hun- dred and Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Regi- muent and placed under the command of Col. E. B. Tyler, of the Seventh Ohio. The Divi- sion was commanded by General Lander until his death, March 1, 1862, when he was snc- ceeded by Gen. James Shields. The regi- ment was connected with and a part of the Army of the Potomac. It participated in the engagement at Winchester, Virginia, March 23, 1862, and at Point Republic, June 9. 1862. It was sent to New York to aid in en- forcing the draft, in May, 1864, and it joined in the Atlanta campaign, at Bridgeport. Ala- bama, and under General Sherman partici- pated in a number of battles. The Twenty- ninth Regiment left Atlanta November 15. 1864, and was with the force that marched through Georgia and reached within four miles of Savannah on December 10, 1864, re- maining there until January 27, 1865, when it accompanied the rest of the army through South and North Carolina to Goldsboro. in the latter State. On April 10, 1863, the regi- ment went to Raleigh, leaving on April 29. 1865. for Washington City. arriving at Alex- andria, Virginia. May 17. 1865. leaving eight.

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days later. It passed over the Potomac River to Washington and took part in the Grand Review. Its next camp was near Blanden- burg, Maryland, where it remained until June 10, 1865, when it marched through Wash- ington and took the cars for Parkersburg, Virginia, where it was met by transports and conveyed to Louisville, Kentucky, where it again went into camp for a few days and started then for Cleveland, and on its arrival at Camp Taylor, the men were paid off and honorably discharged. Thus came home the remnant of the gallant band which had so bravely born the heat of battle and many of whom bore marks of conflict.

The list of the battles in which the Twenty- ninth Regiment participated reads as fol- lows: Winchester, Virginia, March 23, 1862; Point Republic, Virginia, June 9, 1862; Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Aug. 9, 1862; Antietam. Md., Sept. 17, 1862; Chancellors- ville. May I to 5, 1863; Gettysburg. July 1 to 3, 1863; Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, No- vember 24. 1863: Ringold Station, Georgia, November 27, 1863; Dug or Mill Creek Gap, Georgia, Mill Creek, May 7, 1864; New Hope Church. Georgia, May 25. 1864; Dallas, Geor- gia, May 29. 1864: Kenesaw Mountain, Geor- gia, June 9, 1864; Pine Knob, Georgia, June 19, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864: Siege of Atlanta, Georgia. July 22 to September 2. 1864; March to the Sea. No- vember 15 to December 10, 1864: Siege of Savannah, December 10 to 21, 1864: Averys- boro, North Carolina, March 16, 1865. This list does not include minor engagements or innumerable skirmishes.

On June 15, 1864, the color-bearer of the regiment was shot and the colors fell to the ground. They were seized by Corporal Gay- lord who bore them forward, and at dress parade it was announced that his duties there- after would be those of color-bearer, and he proudly bore his company's banner through all the rest of the Atlanta campaign. Mr. Gaylord was too active a soldier to escape without some of the misfortunes of war. On August 9, 1862, at Cedar Mountain, he was

captured by the Confederates, and was sent to Libby Prison, where he was confined for one long month, and then taken to Belle Isle, from which place he made his escape by adroitly slipping in with a body of 500 ex- changed prisoners who were being removed from that fortress. When he was captured he weighed 150 pounds but was so reduced by starvation and exposure that he weighed but 100 pounds when he came away. He received a sun-stroke while on a forced march of one day and night to Gettysburg, and was picked up unconscious and was confined in a field hospital for a few days. On the march from Atlanta to the Sea, he was detailed as an or- derly to a topographical engineer. This corps was disbanded at Savannah and he re- ceived orders to report to General Williams' headquarters as a non-commissioned officer to take charge of twenty orderlies and horses, remaining on this duty until finally dis- charged from the service. Mr. Gaylord was always to be found at his post, performing all the duties required of him, participating in all the engagements of his company, as above outlined, and won commendation from his superior officers and the admiration of his comrades for his brave and meritorious sery- ice. Mr. Gaylord was finally discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, July 19, 1865, by rea- son of the end of the war.

After returning to peaceful pursuits Mr. Gaylord followed the house-painter's trade until his marriage, which took place Septem- ber, 19, 1867, to Julia C. Darrow, who is a daughter of Charles Darrow. Her brother, Norman Darrow, enlisted for service in the Civil War and died ten weeks later. Her ma- ternal grandfather, Nathan Wilcox, was a sol- dier in the War of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Gay- lord have an adopted daughter, Bessie May, who is the wife of Dr. S. C. Lindsay, of the State Hospital, at Independence, Iowa.

Soon after his marriage, Mr. Gaylord pur- chased sixty-seven acres of farming land, but it has been reduced to forty by a new railroad taking twenty-seven aeres. He has carried on general farming, paying much attention to

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grain, and he has the reputation of having raised some of the best horses ever bred in Stow Township.

Mr. Gaylord is a member of W. T. Sher- man Post, No. 68, Grand Army of the Repub- lic, in which organization he has held various offices. Mrs. Gaylord has been very active in the Woman's Relief Corps for the past fif- teen years and has efficiently filled the offices of conductor and junior vice president. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gaylord belong to the Disciples Church. Politically, he is a Republican.

WILLIAM ISAAC CHAMBERLAIN, one of Hudson's best-known men, who has at- tained prominence as educator, editor, lec- turer and agriculturists, was born at Sharon Litchfield County, Connecticut, February 11, 1837, and is a son of Jacob and Anna (Nut- ting) Chamberlain.

The parents of Mr. Chamberlain came from Connecticut to Ohio in May. 1838, and settled in Summit County, locating in Hudson Township on the present home farm of Wil- liam I. Chamberlain. It was then known as the Dr. Metcalf farm and consisted of 147 acres. Jacob Chamberlain was also born at Sharon. Connecticut, and belonged to an oldl established colonial family. three brothers of the name having come from England a short time after the landing of the Mayflower.

William I. Chamberlain received his adu- eational training in the Western Reserve Col- lege. in which his uncle. Rufus Nutting, had been. earlier. professor of Greek. He grad- uated with the degree of A. B .. in 1859. and two years later received the degree of M. . 1. For three years he was engaged as instructor in Greek and Latin. at Shaw Academy. after which he became a member of the Western Reserve faculty. in the same branches. teach- ing. in all. about ten years. In 1863 he first turned his attention seriously to agriculture and purchased the old home farm adjoining the village of Hudson. In 1880 he was elected state secretary of agriculture and resided at Columbus during the six years he ably filled the office, and then accepted a call to he-

come president of the Iowa Agricultural Col- lege. at Ames, Iowa. He served at the head of this institution for five years, leaving it in better condition in every way than he found it. After he returned to Hudson, he became associate editor of the Ohio Farmer, in which capacity he has since continued, retaining his home at Hudson and going daily to his office at Cleveland.

During all this period. Mr. Chamberlain has continued to follow the occupation of agriculture not, however, as his forefathers had done, but with every aid that modern science ean lend. Mr. Chamberlain keeps his farm books in a careful manner, and at the end of a season can tell precisely the earn- ing power of his land under his management, and decide where other methods may be best employed, or if no change should be made. For the past ten years the earnings have aver- aged fifteen per cent. on the value of the farm, and have gone as high as twenty-three per cent for a single year. In 1906. 8.000 bush- els of apples were marketed from a ten-aere orchard. His present orchard covers twenty- three acres.

On July 16. 1863. Mr. Chamberlain was married to Lucy Marshall, who was born at Hartford. Connecticut, and who is a daugh- ter of David and Orissa (Woods) Marshall. David Marshall was born at Lunenburg, Mas- sachusetts. He came to Hudson and became the head of the publishing and binding firm of D. Marshall & Company, subsequently re- moving to Pittsburg. Pennsylvania. in the same line of business. His death took place at Sewickley. Pennsylvania. His wife was born at Brattleboro. Vermont. She was a sis- ter of Mrs. Estey. wife of Jacob Esty. founder of the great organ and piano manufacturing firm. Mrs. Chamberlain's early education was at Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain's family included the following children: Jen- nie married Professor Hosford. residing at Crete, Nebraska : Herbert William. who died in Italy. in 1899, aged thirty-one years, was an honor graduate of the Boston Institute of Technology. an architect by profession, and

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had been a foreman in the firm of Burnham & Root; Joseph Scudder, who is a chemist in the Department of Agriculture, at Washing- ton, graduated from the college at Ames, Iowa, and entering Johns Hopkins Univer- sity on honor fellowships, took the degree of Ph. D .; Clifton Marshall died in 1891, aged sixteen years; Carroll Cutler died in 1881, aged two years. Mr. Chamberlain and his family belong to the Congregational Church, in which he served as a trustee for many years. Politically, he is a Republican. He is a member of the Darrow Street Grange.

Although Hudson has been Mr. Chamber- lain's home practically since he was one year old, his field of usefulness has by no means been confined to this locality. As a lecturer he has appeared in nearly every state in the Union, and in Canada as well. His most notable achievement, perhaps, has been the establishing of the Ohio Farmers' Institutes in the various counties, organizations which have had a great influence in bringing into use scientific methods of farming, thereby increasing production and adding to agricul- tural wealth. Through his efforts 250 insti- tutes have been organized in Ohio and every state in the union has taken up the work. His only work in book form is on Tile Drainage, which is published by the 1. I. Root Com. pany, Medina, Ohio, and has had a wide sale.

CAPTAIN D. F. BERGER. one of Akron's leading citizens for many years, now living retired, was born at East Akron, Summit County, Ohio, in 1885, but when he was two years old, his parents moved to Uniontown, Stark County, and two years later to Greens- burg, Summit County.

Captain Berger was reared to manhood in the latter place and was educated in the Marlborough Union school. For several years prior to entering the army for service in the Civil War he was engaged in mercantile pur- suits at Greensburg, to which place be re- turned at the elose of his period of enlist- ment. He was made captain of Company II, 164th Regiment, Ohio National Guards. when

he enlisted May 7, 1864, and was discharged in the following August. His company was stationed at Arlington Heights during this interim. After the battle of Chickamauga he visited that city in order to assist in nursing a cousin. Captain Berger continued his mer- cantile interests at Greensburg until 1884, when he came to Akron, and for about four years was agent for the Westinghouse peo- ple, selling their engines and threshers, since when he has lived retired.

In 1858 Captain Berger was married to Arnestena C. Ilinkle, of Ashland County, Ohio, and they have six children, namely: Sheriden G., who is postmaster at Ontario, California; Arthur F., who is with the Fault- less Rubber Company, of Ashland Ohio: ITomer E., who, for sixteen years was in the office of the county treasurer, serving four years as treasurer of Summit County, and who is now enjoying a trip to Cuba, and is one of the most popular citizens of Akron : Lottie C .. who married C. J. Hazen, residing at Akron ; Arline E., residing at home; and John H .. who is president and manager of the People's Ice Company, of Akron.

Captain Berger has always been a promi- nent factor in politics in Summit County. where he is well and most favorably known. lle belongs to Buckley Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and his fraternal connections include the Macons and Odd Fellows.

JOHN II. BERGER, president and man- ager of the People's Ice Company, at Akron, an industry of considerable importance in this city, was born in 1876, at Greensburg, Ohio, and is a son of Captain D. F. and Arnestena C. (Hinkle) Berger.

When Mr. Berger was abont eight years of age his parents eame to Akron, and. after completing his attendance at school, he he- came a messenger boy for the Western Union Telegraph Company. Later he worked for a short time at the plumbing trade, and for three years was employed in the shipping do- partment of the Warner Company. During the period that his brother. Homer Berger.

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was treasurer of Summit County, which cov- ered four years, John H. was employed in his office. Mr. Berger visited California and while there engaged in a fruit business, and when he returned to Akron he became manager of the Renner Ice Company. He continued with that firm for seven years. When the People's Ice Company was organized, an en- terprise that is incorporated with a capital stock of $25,000, he took charge of the col- lection department, and April 27. 1907, he bought the business. His previous experience in this line he found useful and his natural energy and enterprise assures the continued prosperity of this company dealing in what is a necessity of modern life. Mr. Berger was married July 12. 1901, to Etta M. Par- rish, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and they have two children, Ruth and Edith. He is an active citizen in all that pertains to the general welfare and has a wide acquaintance, and, like other members of his prominent family, many friends.

WILLIAM P. IRISH. a well-known citi- zen and successful agriculturist of Norton Township, residing on his farm of ninety- eight acres, which is situated on the old stage road, the first one in use in this section, has spent a number of years in other parts of the country, but has never given up his resi- dence in Summit County. Mr. Trish was born in Norton Township, Summit County, Ohio, one-half mile north of Norton Center, May 6, 1835, and is a son of Abel and Sallie (McNeil) Trish.

Abel Trish, who served through the War of 1812. was born at Danby. Rut- land County, Vermont. where his people were farmers. He was left an or- phan in boyhood and was reared by an older brother. In 1816 he left Vermont and came to Ohio, locating on a farm in Norton Township, which was then a part of Portage County. In the previous year he had mar- ried, and he and wife brought with them their infant daughter, Betsey, who died when aged sixteen years. Abel Irish bought the farm which is now known as the Reuben

Hartzell farm and lived here and improved it for sixteen year -. Hard times then be- ing on, he found it impossible to pay off the mortgages on his land and accordingly lost all the work of the many years that he had lived on it. Subsequently he bought the farm on which his son, William P .. was born, this farm being now known as the Cyrus Miller farm; and when the child was about six months old he bought the Thomas Holmes farm, on which he settled in No- vember, 1835. This is the farm on which William P. Irish resides and this land has never since been out of the family, William P. purchasing it in the spring of 1588. His parents then moved to Ingham County. Michigan, where Abel Irish died in 1873. in his eightieth year, being survived but one year by his widow. They were estimable people, kind neighbors and hospitable friends.

Mrs. Irish was a daughter of Thomas Mc- Neil, who served in the Revolutionary War. and Mr. W. P. McNeil still has in his pos- session the old tin box carried through the war by his grandfather for the safe keeping of his papers. Mr. McNeil died in Norton Township, and is buried at Norton Center, Ohio.

William P. Irish was reared to be a farmer and from boyhood became practically ac- quainted with everything about a farm. He went to school in the neighborhood, and se- cured as fair an education as any of his eom- panions. Much travel and mingling with the world have broadened Mr. Irish and made him a well-educated man. one well qualified for public office, though he has no aspirations in that direction, preferring to give all his attention to agriculture. Mr. Trish, his two brothers, and six nephews, served in the war of the Rebellion. Mr. Irish belonging to the Sixty-fourth Regiment, O. V. T.

In 1860 Mr. Irish was married to Sophia Shoemaker, who is a daughter of Daniel Shoemaker, and who was reared in Suffield Township. Portage County. They have eleven children, all of whom are still living

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-a large happy family-as follows: Lura, Jennie, who married W. A. Burdick, lives in California; George W. is pro- prietor of the George W. Irish livery, at Barberton; Flora, who married Wen- dell Dunnell, resides in the historic old Pilgrim town of Kingston, Massachusetts ; Charles Wesley resides in San Francisco; Delbert William is proprietor of the D. B. Irish Coal Company, of Barberton; Cora Belle who married Frank Waters, resides near Boston, Massachusetts; James Ham- ilton, resides at Barberton; Alice, who mar- ried Seaman D. Filson, of Cleveland, has one child, Karl Robert; Henry Marshall, resides at Barberton; Mildred May, married Wil- liam Poirier, of Plymouth, Massachusetts : and Daisy Edna, who married Marshall Grenney, of Collingwood. a suburb of Cleve- land.

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Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 117

Author: Doyle, William B., b. 1868 Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Doyle, William B., b. 1868
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1150