Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 121

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 121

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May 4, 1897, Mr. Himelright was married to Ida Scheck, who is a daughter of Jacob Scheck. The Scheck family is a prominent one in Portage Township. Mr. and Mrs. ITimelright have four children : Ruth, Mabel, Jaeob and Elno. The ITimelright family has never taken any very aetive interest in poli- tics, but when matters of public importance come up they are usually consulted and are always found to be willing to do their full share. They are estimable, first-elass citizens, industrions, eareful and frugal and devoted to their homes and families.

STEPHEN HENRY HORN, market gar- dener, residing at No. 330 Merriman Street. just inside the limits of Akron, is the owner and operator of a fine truck farm of nine and one-quarter acres, on Merriman road. just out- side the city limits. Mr. Horn was born on West Market Street, Akron, September 10, 1856, and is a son of Stephen Jackson and Elizabeth Ruth (Robinson) Ilorn.

Stephen Jackson Horn, who was a native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, came to Portage Township where he resided while he engaged in a groeery business in Akron, and later followed the carpenter's trade. He de- voted his spare time to gardening on his own land, where he died August 25. 1895. In his younger days Mr. Horn had been a school teacher, and among his pupils was Elizabeth Ruth Robinson, who was a daughter of Tyler Robinson, and to this young lady Mr. Horn was later married. They had eight children, seven of whom, with Mrs. Horn, survive.

Stephen Henry Horn was reared and edu-

cated in Portage Township, where he has al- ways resided, with the exception of two years, during which he traveled for an installment company. In 1877, in association with his brother, James William Horn, he engaged in the trucking business, one which had been founded by their father, but in 1904 the partnership was dissolved, and since that time Mr. Horn has continued in this business alone. He finds a ready wholesale market at Akron. Mr. Horn has never married.

EUGENE A. HAWKINS, treasurer of the Summit Rural Telephone Company, is one of the leading men of Copley Township, a large owner of farming land and proprietor of a business at Copley Center, where he handles coal, farming implements, wagons, cement and particularly fertilizers, devoting his per- sonal attention almost exclusively to selling the latter commodity. He resides on forty acres of his land, the home farin being sit- uated on the south side of the Bath and Cop- ley Township road, about nine miles west of Akron. His other farm, containing sixty- seven acres, lies west of this place. Mr. Haw- kins was born on his present farm, June 28. 1854, and is a son of George W. and Matilda ( Hubbard) Hawkins.

Samuel Hawkins, the grandfather, came from Connecticut to Copley Township, at an early day. and spent the rest of his life on his pioneer farm. George W. Hawkins, father of Eugene A., was the first white child born in Copley Township. in which he spent the whole of his life. He assisted his father to clear the land, and frequently told his chil- dren of how in early days he followed a blazed trail to the village of Akron, carrying grain to and from the mill. He always en- gaged in general farming, and during the Civil War he also did some garden trucking. He married Matilda Hubbard, who was born in Copley Township, of parents who came to Ohio from Vermont. After marriage they settled on the farm which is now the property of Eugene A. Hawkins, and cleared a part of the land, living here until death. Mrs. Haw-

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kins died December 5, 1886, aged seventy years, and he survived her for ten years. They had five children, namely: Adelia, who died young; Eliza, deceased, who married Warren Miller; Alice, who married Dr. A. O. Hunt- ley ; George, who died aged twenty-five years; and Eugene A. There was an adopted daugh- ter, Clarinda Blair, who married Horace Dunsha.

After his marriage, Eugene A. Hawkins went to housekeeping on a farm near the home place, of which he has had charge from maturity. In 1892 he was engaged as local agent for the S. M. Hess & Bro. firm, of Philadelphia, fertilizer manufacturers. Mr. Hawkins accepted the agency of only Bath and Copley Townships at first, but he made such progress in his sales that more territory was added, until now he has control for the company, of territory covering Summit, Me- dina, Wayne, Cuyahoga, Portage, Ashtabula, Geauga, Ashland, Erie and the north half of Stark Counties. This large territory requires Mr. Hawkins to practically give all his time to advancing the interests of this company. He is a man of excellent business foresight. In 1903 he operated a coal and fertilizer busi- ness of his own at Copley Center, and in the same year admitted Newton Smith to part- nership, but later bought Mr. Smith's stock and took in his son-in-law, Homer A. Swigart. The latter attends to the business at Copley Center while Mr. Hawkins continues on the road. Mr. Hawkins was the first dealer to handle coal in this township, and in 1906 he sold over 3,000 tons. He has an admirable business location, right adjacent to the North- ern Ohio Railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Hawking own a one-half interest in the Summit Rural Telephone Company, of which he is treasurer, W. F. Laubach being president and general manager.

On January 1. 1878, Mr. Hawkins was married to Juvie Colson, who is a daughter of Orren and Valeucia Colson, and they have three children : Jessie, Mabel and Ruth. The eldest daughter married Prof. H. O. Bolich, who is principal of the Cuyahoga Falls High

School. Mabel, the second daughter, married Homer A. Swigart, who is in partnership, at Copley Center, with Mr. Hawkins. They have two children : Alverda and Alice.

In political sentiment, Mr. Hawkins is a Republican and he was one of the building committee for the Centralized School of Cop- ley Township. With his family, he belongs to the Disciples Church.

A. E. LYMAN, vice president and general manager of the Lyman Lumber Company, of Akron, with offices on South Main Street, is interested in an industry which is of large importance in this section. Mr. Lyman has been a resident of Akron for eighteen years, but he was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1853.

Mr. Lyman was four years old when his parents moved to Tallmadge, Summit County, where he was reared and educated. In 1876 he went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was engaged in the lumber business until 1889. He then returned to Akron, still carrying on the same line of business, and subsequently established the Lyman Lumber Company, an organization which deals in all kinds of lum- ber. He has occupied his present location since 1897. From his many years' expe- rience in this line, Mr. Lyman has become an expert in both soft and hard lumber and his advice on the subject is frequently sought by his patrons.

In 1876, Mr. Lyman was married to Alice Bierce, who is a daughter of L. B. Bierce, of Tallmadge, who was a pioneer of that locality. They have one son, Lucius B., who is asso- ciated with his father in the lumber business. Mr. Lyman is a member of the First Congre- gational Church at Akron and is a member of the Board of Deacons.

C. F. ADAMSON, a mechanical and elec- trical engineer, with offices in the Hamilton Building, Akron, has made great strides in his profession, reaching a position of respor sibility in spite of his youth, which men have not attained who have given a much longer

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period to study and practice. From boyhood he has displayed a natural leaning in the di- rection of this profession and his main line of efforth has been so projected.

C. F. Adamson was born at Carlton, Ohio, in 1882, but from childhood he was reared in Akron. After completing the High School course in this city, he spent some years gain- ing practical experience in the shops of his father, A. Adamson, a leading business man and manufacturer at Akron. Ile afterwards devoted several years to obtaining a wide engineering experience, occupying responsible positions with many prominent concerns through the country. For some time he was engaged in machine tool designing, being retained by the Pittsburg Machine Tool Com- pany as chief designer. In 1900 he was in charge of the construction and equipment of the plant of the Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company, at Franklin, Pa., also giving much time to the designing of their air compressors and other products. He became connected with the engineering department, Carnegie Steel Company, in 1902, and, after serving two years, he established an engineering of- fice at Akron in 1904.

Mr. Adamson has devoted his time to gen- eral engineering practice, inventions and re- search, and he has made many valuable im- provements in labor saving machinery. As consulting engineer, he is engaged by a num- ber of the large manufacturing concerns throughout the country, and his services are in great demand for the designing of new machinery, and manufacturing plants. He is a member of the American Society of Me- chanical Engineers. In 1902 Mr. Adamson was married to Miss Mary M. O'Donovan, of Franklin, Pa. He is a member of the First Church of Christ.

JAMES WILLIAM HORN, a highly es- teemed citizen of Portage Township, Sum- mit County, Ohio, whose fine truck and gar- den farm on Merriman Street, is situated about one-half mile from the limits of Akron. was born on what is now West Market Street,

Akron, April 16, 1865, and is a son of Jack- son and Elizabeth (Robinson) Horn.

Jackson Horn, who was an early pioneer from Pennsylvania, had been a school teacher in his younger days, but later engaged in carpenter work and in gardening. His death occurred in Portage Township, Summit County, in 1895. Mr. Horn and his wife, who had been one of his pupils at school, became the parents of eight children, seven of whom still survive.

James William Horn was reared in Port- age Township, and after leaving the country schools became a farm hand. He continued to work on different farms until about 1877, when, with his brother Stephen Henry Horn, he took charge of the gardening business which had been started by their father, and they continued as partners until 1904, when James W. Horn engaged in business on his own account. He purchased eight and one- half acres of land, and in addition to the two and one-half acres owned by his sons, he rents a tract of 100 acres across the road from his home, and cultivates it all, twenty acres of this being laid out in a truck farm, which is one of the largest in the county. He makes a specialty of small vegetables, and raises about 40,000 head of cabbage annually. He sells by wholesale through Akron, em- ploys six hands and runs two wagons. In 1906, Mr. Horn erected his present beautiful residence.

On September 19, 1886, Mr. Horn was mar- ried to Bessie May Harris, who was born in Bath Township, and is a daughter of Edward Harris. They have six children, as follows : Percy J., who married Delia Hill, who is a daughter of Joseph Hill; Esther, who is the wife of George B. Replogle, has one child, Margaret; and Ralph, James, Jay and Earl.

WILLIAM CLERKIN, president and gen- eral manager of the Taplin, Rice, Clerkin Company, of Akron, one of the city's large and flourishing industries, with factories in Akron, is a man of much business enterprise and is identified with other successful con-

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cerns of this section. Mr. Clerkin was born at Hudson, Ohio, February 14, 1860, and is a son of Patrick Clerkin. The father of Mr. Clerkin was born in Ireland. He settled near Hudson, Ohio, in 1852, and there engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, in 1880. at the age of seventy-eight years.

William Clerkin received his education in the district schools of Hudson Township, Western Reserve Academy and Buchtel Col- lege, where he graduated in 1887. Ile fol- lowed school-teaching for some years after completing his own education, his first school being in a little cabin schoolhouse, which he had attended in his youth. In 1890 he be- came connected with the firm of May & Fiebe- ger, at Akron, with which he continued for five years, during that time thoroughly learn- ing the furnace business. In December, 1894. with other capitalists. he organized the Twen- tieth Century Heating and Ventilating Com- pany. for the manufacture of a full line of heating furnaces. He sold his interests in that company in 1907 and organized the Tap- lin, Rice, Clerkin Company with a capital stock of $250,000. The Taplin. Rice, Clerkin Company has two factories and employs 300 men. The offices of this company are: Wil- liam Clerkin, president and general manager ; C. B. Raymond, vice-president ; Edward Crow. secretary ; and C. N. Belden. treasurer. Mr. Clerkin is also a director of the Akron Poo- ple's Telephone Company, the People's Sav- ing Bank and a director and trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association Building. Mr. Clerkin is active in polities to the extent of good citizenship.

In 1890 Mr. Clerkin was married to Eliza- beth Shields of Cleveland, and they have a family of five sons and three daughters, as follows: William, Harold, Leonard. Paul, Cyril, Irene. Anna and Bessie. Mr. Clerkin and family belong to St. Vincent De Paul's Catholic Church of Akron.

CHARLES AARTHUR CARTER. one of the well-known and highly respected citizens of Northampton Township, residing on his val-

uable farm of fifty-six acres, where, with the able assistance of his son, he engages in gen- eral farming and dairying, was born in Bos- ton Township, Summit County, Ohio, Novem- ber 28, 1851. His parents were William and Evelyn (Gillett) Carter.

The first of the Carter family to come to this section of Ohio was William Carter, the grandfather of Charles 1., who settled in Hudson Township. He married Betsey Mays and their wedding was the first ever celebrated in Boston Township. Ile owned a good farm but did not develop it to any degree, his tastes lying more in the direction of hunting and fishing. He served in the War of 1812.

William Carter (2), father of Charles Ar- thur. was born in Boston Township, Summit County, and died in 1890. aged sixty-seven years. For a considerable part of his life he owned and operated boats on the Ohio Canal. He owned a farm in Richfield Town- ship. which was mainly managed by his sons. lle married Evelyn Gillett, of Richfield Township, and they had the following chil- dren : Julia, who married Charles Meade, re- sides at Everett ; Charles A .. resides in North- ampton Township; William is deceased: 11- bert resides in Northampton Township: Ed- win is a resident of Northfield; Nettie, who married John Johnston, resides in Boston Township; and Jessie, who married Frank Waite, resides at Akron. The mother of the above family died in December, 1873, aged fortyseven years. Both parents were worthy members of the United Brethren Church.

Charles Arthur Carter was fourteen years old when he accompanied his parents to Rich- field Township, and as he was the eldest son. a large part of the responsibility of managing the farm fell on his shoulders during his father's absence. In this way he did not have more than ordinary educational advantages. As he grew okler he worked on the neighbor- ing farms, gaining valuable experience and making many friends through the township whom he retains to the present day. When married he went to farming on his own ac- count, and for twenty-nine years he rented

TEAM USED BY PRESIDENT MCKINLEY AT HIS SECOND INAUGURATION, MARCH 4, 1901, BRED AND RAISED BY JOHN M. JOHNSTON ON HIS FARM IN COPLEY TOWNSHIP.

JOHN MOORE JOHNSTON

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and resided on the Mathew Broughton farm. In 1901 he purchased his present property, which is mainly under the management of his son, Darwin Burr Carter, who, since an affliction of the eyes has fallen upon his fath- er, has nobly taken the helm. Mr. Carter keeps seven head of eows and sells his milk to the Akron Pure Milk Company.

Mr. Carter married Susan Lappin, who was born on the farm of her father, John Lap- pin, in Boston Township. February 11, 1852. and they have four children, namely: Myr- tle E., who married Fred Blackburn of Bos- ton Township; Park Oliver, residing at Cleve- land; Darwin Burr; and Fannie, who is a popular teacher in Bath Township. residing at home.

JOHN MOORE JOHNSTON, a member of the Board of Infirmary Directors of Sum- mit County, has been a resident of Akron since the fall of 1906. but still retains his great stock farm of 190 acres, in Copley Township, and is interested in the breeding of standard horses of a type that has made his name known all over Ohio. Mr. John- ston was born in Copley Township. Summit County, Ohio, August 13, 1844. and is a son of William and Elizabeth G. ( Moore ) John- ston.

On the maternal side, Mr. Johnston comes of Revolutionary stock, his great-grand- father, Joseph Moore, having wou distinc- tion first as an Indian fighter and later as a soldier in the Continental army. John Moore, the maternal grandfather of Mr. Johnston resided in Stark County until after the birth of his daughter Elizabeth and then settled in Springfield Township Sum- mit County. On the paternal side the grandfather was Cornelius Johnston, who. born in New Jersey, went from that State to Pennsylvania, and whence he came to the wild regions of Green Township, Summit County, in 1814. William Johnston, father of John M., was born in Green Township, August 3, 1815. and died in Copley Town- ship. in 1885. In recalling William John- ston. one of the reliable useful men of hi-

day and locality is brought to mind. Iłe was of a higher type intellectually than many of his neighbors and became to some extent leader among them, capably performing the duties of public office and assisting in the de- velopment of the various resources of his ste- tion. Ile was one of the early directors of the County Infirmary on the board of which his son has served since 1905. William and Elizabeth Johnston had two children, John Moore, and Cornelius Alexander, the latter of whom is a prominent farmer, resid- ing in Tallmadge Township.

John M. Johnston obtained his education in the district schools of Copley Township, and for many years devoted his whole atten- tion to farming and stockraising. He made a specialty of fine horses and has produced many animals on his farm that have won fame all over the country. Mr. Johnston owned the sire and dam, and raised the finely matched team that became the prop- erty of the late President MeKinley, this team being attached to the carriage which was used by the Chief-Magistrate on the day of his inaugural. Mr. Johnston is justly prond of having raised horses that took pre- erdence in the White House stables. Many of his horses have been sold for fancy driv- ing and have been taken to all parts of the world. never failing to reflect eredit on their breeder. Mr. Johnston is an ardent Republi- can and has always taken a patriotic citizen's interest in public affairs. He has served two terms as infirmary director, the first one a number of years ago.

In 1867, Mr. Johnston was married to Mary Angelia Dales. Her father, Stephen Dales, was born March 25. 1802. in Dela- ware County, New York. His father served in the capacity of a teamster in the War of 1812, in which year the family came to Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have two children. namely: Jessie, who is the wife of Gilbert C. Waltz, a prominent real estate dealer at Akron : and Marcia, who is the wife of C. B. Nash, who is employed in the treasurer's of- fice of the Goodrich Rubber Company. at Akron. Mr. Johnston is widely known

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through Summit County and, while num- bered with the most substantial of her citi- zens, is equally considered as one of the most benevolent.

JOHN ABELE, who owns 104 acres of fine farming land in Portage Township, was born February 15, 1850, in Wurtemburg, Ger- many, and is a son of John and Victoria Abele, both of whom died in Germany.

John Abele learned the trade of a puddler and followed it in his own country until his twenty-first year, when he came to America. He worked one year in the rolling mills at Allentown, Pennsylvania, and was employed for two years by the Cambria Iron and Steel Company at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In 1873 Mr. Abele located at Akron, Ohio, and the next twenty-three years were spent with the Akron Iron Company, where he rendered faithful service in the capacity of puddler. Mr. Abele left the employ of this company in 1896, and for six years thereafter cultivated a 20-acre tract of land in Portage Township, Summit County, Ohio, but at the end of this time purchased his present property, which was the old Edward Roepke farm, from John Rice, and here he has carried on agricultural pursuits to the present time. Mr. Abele's farm, which is one of the largest in this sec- tion of Portage Township, has been brought to a high state of cultivation. He also con- ducts the Akron Garbage Route.

In 1875, in Akron, Mr. Abele was married to Agatha Treitingar, who was born at Ak- ron, Ohio, and is a daughter of Caspar Treit- ingar. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Abele, namely: John, Joseph, Frank, William, Clara, Albert and Annie. .

Mr. Abele, with his family, attends the German Catholic Church.

H. C. WILCOX, who conducts a title and abstract business at Akron, with quarters at Room 5, Wilson Building, was born in Rich- field Township. Summit County, Ohio, No- vember 10, 1843.

Mr. Wilcox was reared on the home farm

in Richfield Township and attended the neighboring schools through boyhood. When still under eighteen years of age, in July, 1861, he entered the Union Army, first as a teamster, but in the fall of the same year en- listed as a private soldier in Company K, Third New York Cavalry, and remained in the army subsequently for four years and five months. His service was mainly in Vir- ginia and the Carolinas. He passed about eighteen months in North Carolina, and par- ticipated in the battles of Kingston, N. C., Petersburg and Richmond. He took part in many of the raids which were such an im- portant part in the movements in that sec- tion, notably the Wilson raid, with others of like character, having participated in thirty odd engagements. He was mustered out of the service at City Point, Virginia, November 30, 1865, and was honorably discharged at Albany, in December, 1865.

Mr. Wilcox then returned to the home farm and worked for his father until 1878, when he went to Kansas, where he spent seven years. In 1885 he came to Akron and estab- lished the business in which he has been in- terested ever since.

In 1867 Mr. Wilcox was married to Mary Templeton, and they have seven children, namely: Henry C., a mechanical engineer, residing in Wisconsin; Francis L., wife of W. B. Doyle; George, residing at East Ak- ron; Millie, who married Charles Markwald- er; Arthur G., a practitioner of medicine re- siding at Solon Spring, Wisconsin, a graduate of the Western Reserve Medical College and of Adelbert College; and Frank and Ralph, the latter of whom has just graduated from the Akron High School. Mr. Wilcox has kept up old army associations and is a mem- ber of Buckley Post, G. A. R.

JOHN W. McDOWELL, president of the Portage Township School Board, is the owner of sixty acres of excellent farming land at Fairlawn, Portage Township, Summit County, Ohio, where he has resided since 1898. He was born in Sugar Creek Town-

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ship, Wayne County, Ohio, February 10, 1864, and is a son of Luther and Margaret (Cully) McDowell.

John McDowell, the grandfather of John W., was a native of Pennsylvania, and the son of a Scotch emigrant. He came to Wayne County, Ohio, at an early day, and there the remainder of his life was spent. Luther McDowell was reared in Sugar Creek Township, and was there married to Margaret Cully, who was a daughter of Joseph Cully, who was a native of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. McDowell there were born six children, as follows: Cal- vin, who resides at Dalton, Wayne County; Allen, who lives at Wilmington, Pennsyl- vania; Thomas, who resides at Dalton; John W .; Jennie, who lives at Dalton ; and Minnie, who maried Oliver Hauenstein, resides near Dalton. The parents of these children still survive and live with their daughter and son- in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Hauenstein.

John W. McDowell was reared in his native section, and after attending the common schools of the township, entered the Dalton High School, from which he was graduated, and subsequently attended the Ohio Normal School at Ada, Ohio. For the next four years he taught school in Sugar Creek Town- ship, Wayne County, and he then went to Apple Creek, where, with W. D. Weaver, he embarked in a hardware and farm imple- ment business, continuing there for two years. At the end of this time he sold out his in- terests and located in Akron, where for eleven years he worked in the hardware establish- ment of May and Fiebeger, subsequently be- coming a member of the firm of Pettitt Broth- ers and McDowell, at No. 18 South Howard Street. Four years later, January 1, 1907, he sold out his interests in the hardware bus- iness of W. F. Ringler, and engaged in ag- ricultural pursuits on his present fine farm, which he had purchased prior to engaging in business for himself.

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Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 121

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