Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 136

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

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ninety years, and the death of his aged wife but shortly preceding his own. They reared thirteen children-Orrin, Joseph, Edmond, James, Phoebe, Anna, Polly, Calvin, Daniel, Philander, Harrison, Allen and Mercy.

James Chalker, Jr., the father of Newton, was born in Southington, June 15, 1811. His educational opportunities were confined to three winter terms in an old log schoolhouse, situated one mile east of Southington Center, but by much reading he became in after years well versed in history, and was also a thor- ough student of the Bible. When a young man he purchased on credit a tract of fifty acres of woodland, located two miles west of Southington Center, where, after years of earnest labor, he established a comfortable home for himself and family. He eventual- ly became one of the largest land owners in the township, having added to his original property from time to time. Mr. Chalker . was married (first) to Eliza Jane Hyde, of Farmington, who died in 1849, leaving three children : Byron, who became a farmer, and died in Southington at the age of fifty-two years; Newton, subject of this article; and Co- lumbus, who died at the age of twenty-seven years ; another child. Benson, died in infancy. In 1851 Mr. Chalker was married (second) to Adeline Timmerman, who was born in the state of New York, and they had two daugh- ters, Mary Jane and Bertha. The former married A. J. Morris, a resident of Southing- ton, and died in her thirty-seventh year. The latter became the wife of Thomas McConnell, a resident of Youngstown. Ohio. James Chalker died September 23, 1893, having passed his eighty-second birthday. For years he was a pillar of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Newton Chalker, the subject of this sketch, was born in Southington, Trumbull County. Ohio, September 12, 1842, and was the third, but is now the only surviving, son of the above named James, Jr., and Eliza J. Chalker. In childhood and early youth he lived and labored on the farm of his father. and at- tended the district schools until he was four- teen years of age, after which, for six years,

at irregular intervals, he was a student at the Western Reserve Seminary, West Farming- ton, Ohio, at times boarding himself and do- ing the janitor work of the school to pay his room rent and tuition; in the meanwhile be- coming a very successful district school teach- er. Beginning at the age of sixteen years he taught successively the winter term in the townships of Braceville, Southington, Park- man and Champion, in Ohio, and Litchfield, in Michigan. In the spring of 1862, while in attendance at school he offered his services in defense of his country, enlisting in Com- pany B, Eighty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry, which belonged to the de- partment of the army then under the com- mand of General George B. Mcclellan. The most important military event of his term of service was the protracted battle of Harper's Ferry, September 12-15, 1862, in which the Union forces were captured by those of Stone- wall Jackson, the latter having a very much larger force. In the fall of 1862, on account of the expiration of its term of enlistment, the Eighty-seventh Regiment was mustered out, and the members who had survived its many dangers returned to their homes, Mr. Chalker being one of then.

In the spring of 1863, Mr. Chalker entered Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pennsyl- vania, where he was graduated in June, 1866, with the degree of B. A., later receiving that of M. A. During 1866-7 he served as prin- cipal of Dixon Seminary, at Dixon, Illinois, and in the year following he accepted the su- perintendency of the public schools at Dar- lington, Wisconsin. But while successful to a flattering degree as an educator, this was not the full extent of his ambition. In Septem- ber, 1868, therefore. after some preliminary preparation, he entered the Albany Law School, and in 1869 he was graduated with the degree of B. L. In the fall of that year he entered upon the practice of his profes- sion at Cameron. Missouri, where he remained until 1874. He then returned to Ohio, in the summer of that year locating in Akron, since which time, until recently. this city has been his home.

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Mr. Chalker continued actively engaged in the practice of law until 1894, when he began to give the greater part of his attention to his other large and varied interests. He was one of the founders of the Peoples' Savings Bank at Akron, and of the Savings Bank at Barberton, owning a large amount of stock, and serving on the Board of Directors of the former institution. He owns a large amount of property, including a farm adjoining Southington, which he now makes his legal residence; also several hundred acres of land in the island of Cuba. He has purchased and improved a number of tracts in Summit County, several of these being new additions to Akron, notably that choice residence section known as North Hill.

After giving up his law practice, Mr. Chalk- er, in 1895-6, made a busy trip around the globe, having previously visited, by prefer- ence, almost every interesting portion of his own land. Among the countries he visited on this trip were Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Syria, Palestine, Egypt. Nubia, India, Burmah, China, Japan and our own Sandwich Islands, in all of which he found much to interest a man of cultured mind.

Mr. Chalker is identified politically with the Republican party. Since 1892 he has been a member of Buckley Post. Grand Army of the Republic. and has served as its com- mander. One of his distinguishing charac- teristics is his civie pride in regard to Akron, and another, his tender memory of the old home where he was reared. and of the locality with which his parents and grandparents were so closely identified. The old Methodist Church in which they worshipped has profited many hundreds of dollars by his bounty in the past few years. There has also just been completed at Southington the Newton-Chalker High School, which Mr. Chalker has erected at a cost of $20,000, and which was donated by him to the Board of Education, the dona- tion ceremonies taking place on August 22, 1907. His charities have always been large, their full extent being known only to himself. His acquaintance is extensive, and his friend-

ships include individuals of taste, learning and culture in many parts of the world.

JOHN WILLIAM SORRICK, M.D., one of Coventry Township's leading physicians and respected citizens, a veteran of the great Civil War, and a worthy representative of an old and honored Summit County family, was born March 10, 1848, in Franklin Township. Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of AAdam and Sophia (Hoy) Sorrick.

John Sorrick, grandfather of John W .. came from Huntingdon County, Pennsyl- vania, to Ohio in wagons, and settled in Franklin Township, Summit County, where the rest of his life was spent in clearing a farm from the woods. He passed a very eventful life, accumulated considerable prop- erty, and died at a ripe old age, honored and esteemed. He was the father of five children -Adam. John, Jacob, Solomon, and Anu. The last mentioned married Waldo Wag- ner.

Adam Sorrick was a native of Huntingdon County. Pennsylvania, and was about six years old when the family came to Ohio in 1817. He grew up on his father's farm and was reared to agricultural pursuits, but in his youth became a snecessful surveyor. which occupation he carried on to quite an extent in connection with farming. His death occurred in 1860, and that of his wife in 1889, when she was in her seventy-third year. Mr. and Mrs. Sorrick were the parents of thirteen children, of whom eight grew to maturity. namely: Oliver, ., a resident of Akron: John William; Marshall H., who lives at Grand Rapids, Michigan: Thomas E., now deceased; Alice Ann, who is the widow of B. F. Grove; Lewis E. and Charles O., deceased : and Mary E., who married Rev. E. P. Wise, of East Liverpool. Ohio.

John William Sorriek was reared on his father's farm in Franklin Township, and se- cured his primary education in the distriet schools. In 1871 he began reading medicine - with Dr. A. Sisler of Manchester, Ohio, and he was later under the preceptorship of Dr. W. C. Jacobs of Akron. He then entered the

CLINTON RUCKEL

MRS. FANNIE HI. RUCKEL

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Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated with his degree in 1875, when he immediately formed a partnership with Dr. Jacobs, with whom he remained three years. Dr. Sorriek spent three months in a trip to Paris, France, to visit the first exposition, and on his return settled at Thomastown for two years, subse- quently locating at his present offices, which he purchased from David Tritt in 1885. In 1898 Dr. Sorriek joined an Alaskan gold hunting party, but after about a year's unsuc- cessful prospeeting he returned to his home, although he still owns claims above the arctic circle. Dr. Sorrick is now engaged in a very successful general practice at East Akron, where he has the confidence of the com- munity. At the age of sixteen years, Dr. Sorrick enlisted in Company A, 191st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served eight months to the close of the war, when he received his honorable discharge. He can still eall the roll from memory, and is a popular comrade of Buckley Post, Grand Army of the Repub- lie, of Akron.

On July 3, 1884, Dr. Sorrick was married to Lucy S. Neitz, who was a daughter of Elias and Mary Neitz. She died April 28. 1904, aged thirty-nine years. To Dr. and Mrs. Sorrick there were born four children, two of whom died in infancy. The survivors are: Kenneth Blaine, who married Maggie Whitfield, and resides at East Akron; and Esther, who makes her home with her father.

CLINTON RUCKEL, whose valuable farm of 100 acres is situated at Fairlawn, on the Medina road, three miles west of Akron, has a home which excites favorable comment from every visitor through this section. Mr. Ruekel was born in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1840, and is a son of George and Hannah (Crevling) Ruckel.

The parents of Mr. Rnekel left Pennsyl- vania in 1846, and made the overland journey in a covered wagon to Three Rivers, Miehi- gan, with the intention of buying a farm. Conditions there did not suit them, and the family all came to Medina County. Ohio,

where the father invested in a small farm. This he cultivated for three years and then sold it and moved to Tallmadge Township, Summit County, where he bought some good land, and both he and wife died there.

Clinton Ruekel was six years of age when his parents left Pennsylvania, and he was mainly reared in Ohio, attending school in Tallmadge Township and also two terms in the Middlebury, now the Sixth Ward school, at Akron. The country at this time was in an unsettled condition, owing to the Civil War, and on August 5, 1862. Mr. Ruckel threw in his lot with the defenders of the Union, enlisting in Company HI. 104th Reg- iment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and con- tracting to serve until the end of the war. His regiment was attached to the Army of the Ohio, under General Sehofield, who sub- sequently joined his forees to those of General Sherman for the Atlanta campaign. After the capture of Atlanta the Twenty-third Army Corps, to which Mr. Ruckel's regiment belonged, was sent back to Tennessee. Dur- ing the first year of service, his regiment was mainly involved in the fighting in Kentucky, participating in the siege of Knoxville. In the spring of 1864, when the regiment went to Atlanta, it was in good condition, but from that expedition many never returned. With the exception of having his ear drum dam- aged from coneussion at Franklin, Tennessee. November 30, 1864, Mr. Ruekel was fortunate in suffering no serious injury. Having hero- ically performed his full duty as a soldier. he was inustered out at Greensboro, North Carolina, June 17, 1865. For a short time Mr. Ruckel rested at home with his parents and then went to work in a pottery at Akron, where he remained several years. In the spring of 1882 he settled. with his wife, on his present farn, which he began imme- diately to improve. All the substantial build- ings, including the fine home, were ereeted by him. Ile has been engaged in general farming and dairying up to the present time.

On November 10. 1869, Mr. Ruckel was married to Fannie .A. Hart, who is a daugh- ter of John C. and Margaret .1. (Sterling)

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Hart, early settlers in Summit County. John C. Ilart, who was in his later years a railroad man, served in the War of 1812; he died very suddenly at Cincinnati in 1902. He left five children, one of whom-George-is living with his grandparents. Mr. and Mrs. Ruckel have had two children : John C. and Lorena, both of whom are now deceased. The little daughter, Lorena, was accidentally killed by falling from a hammock, when aged five years.

FRANK FOWLER LOOMIS, city elec- trician of Akron, and one of the most expert electrical engineers of Ohio, is a native of this city, where he was born in 1854, a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Taylor) Loomis.

Joseph Loomis located at Akron about 1845, and commanded one of the boats plying on the Akron Canal, which did a large busi- ness in those days. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in Company H, Twen- ty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving until his death, in 1862, from the ef- fects of a cold contracted while crossing the Cumberland River in the line of duty. His widow survived until 1892.

Frank F. Loomis was eight years old when his father died, and he was taken to the home of his uncle, who operated a farm near Wads- worth, where he remained until 1868. He then came to Akron, where he worked for one year on the canal and one year for the Mor- rell Pottery Company. He then learned the blacksmith's trade, serving an apprenticeship of three years, and during that period became a member of the Akron Fire Department, an organization with which he has remained identified ever since. In the very early days of the general study of electricity he became interested and soon began to experiment with motors and dynamos, ability for this line of work seeming to belong to him naturally. He soon devoted all of his time to experimenting and inventing, and has been very success- ful, not only in bringing out new inventions, but also in materially improving many old ones. He has had five patents granted him on

motors and dynamos, and four patents on alarm boxes, two on electric drills and two on electric railway signals. It may not be generally known, for Mr. Loomis is modest, notwithstanding his many successes, that he designed and built the first electrical motor police patrol in the world. Since 1880 he has been city electrician at Akron. He practical- ly started the Akron Electrical Manufactur- ing Company, and he owns stock in a nnit- ber of other city enterprises. He is considered exceptionally expert in the placing of under- ground wires. In 1878 Mr. Loomis was mar- ried to Barbara Grad. Fraternally, he is an Elk and an Odd Fellow.

C. W. MILLIKEN, M. D., one of Akron's representative medical men, who has been es- tablished in this city in the active practice of his profession for the past quarter of a cen- tury, is well known all over Summit County. Dr. Milliken was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1856, belonging to an old pioneer family of that section.

From the district schools Dr. Milliken en- tered the Western Reserve Academy at West Farmington, and completed his literary edu- cation at Scio, in Harrison County. Follow- ing this, he taught school for five years. In the meantime he engaged in the preliminary study of medicine, and in 1877 he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1880. He then served as an interne in the City Hospital of Harrisburg, and in the Phil- adelphia City Hospital, coming to Akron in 1882. Dr. Milliken has confined his atten- tion to his profession and ranks very high, both as a physician and surgeon. He is a valued member of the Ohio State, the Ameri- can and the Northwestern Ohio Medical As- sociations, whenever practicable, attending the conventions of these bodies, and frequent- ly contributing to their literature.

Dr. Milliken married Kathryn McEbright, who is a daughter of Dr. Thomas McEbright, of Akron. He takes considerable interest in local politics and has served as a member of

SHERMAN P. THOMPSON

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the Board of Education. His fraternal asso- ciations include membership in the Masonic and Odd Fellow bodies, and he belongs also to the Royal Arcanum and the Celsus club.

URIAS C. WITNER, a prominent citizen and justice of the peace, in Portage Town- ship, resides on a valuable farm of thirty-one and one-half acres, which has been his home since his marriage. He was born in Coventry Township, Summit County, Ohio, March 20, 1852, and is a son of Urias and Louisa (Heintz) Witner.

The father of Justice Witner was born in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, May 3, 1822, and was a son of Daniel and a grand- son of George Witner. The latter was the pioneer of the family to Summit County, where he secured land and formed the present site of Buchtel College. Daniel Witner remained in Pennsylvania, work- ing as a weaver until 1828, and secur- ing land, which is now included in the Fourth Ward of Akron, on which he lived for six years. He then purchased 113 aeres in what is now Thorntontown, residing there for seven years, and then bought 151 acres on which he and wife lived until death. Of the thirteen children born to Daniel Witner and wife. Urias, the father of Urias C., was the third in order of birth. He was one year old when his parents came to Ohio, and with other members of the family, passed through the usual hardships of pioneer life, growing to manhood strong in body and vigorous in mind. He possessed in youth the qualities which made him friends. In 1850 he pur- chased a farm in Coventry Township, one which he cleared from the wilderness, and on which he still resides.

Urias Witner married Louisa Heintz on April 30, 1846, with whom he celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of this event in 1906. Mrs. Witner was born in Germany, June 1. 1822, and is a daughter of Peter and Louisa (Bauer) Heintz. Her parents having died, she came to America with a sister. To Urias Witner and wife were born eleven children,

the four present survivors being: Urias C., of l'ortage Township; Mathias, who married Louisa Hallauer; Adeline, who married Wil- liam Bowers; and George, who married Lulu Killian. Mr. Witner is probably the oldest resident of Coventry Township. Both he and wife have long been valued members of the Baptist Church.

Urias C. Witner was reared in Coventry Township, and in boyhood attended the dis- triet schools. Later he taught school, both in Coventry and Portage Townships. On April 2, 1885, he married Blanche Fenner, who is a daughter of Arthur Fenner, and they have four children, namely : Ava, who is a popu- lar teacher in the Grace school, is a graduate of Buchtel Academy and of the Normal school; Arthur, who is in the employ of the Goodrich Rubber Company; Joseph and Ruby.

Following his marriage, Mr. Witner settled on his present farm, which he has greatly im- proved. In 1886 he erected a commodious frame residence, and in 1897 he remodeled it, introducing many modern comforts. Politically, he is a Democrat, and for twelve years served as a member of the School Board. In 1901 he was elected a justice of the peace and has continued in office to the present time. He is a leading member of the Baptist Church.

SHERMAN P. THOMPSON, one of Hud- son Township's representative men, where he owns a large estate, consisting of 335 acres of valuable, highly-improved land, was born in Summit County, Ohio. February 2. 1840. Ile is a son of Hon. Sylvester H. and Caroline D. (Peek) Thompson, and a grandson of Dr. Moses Thompson.

Dr. Moses Thompson was born January 22. 1776, at Goshen, Connecticut, where he was liherally educated and became a medical practitioner. On December 22, 1797, he mar- ried Elizabeth Mills and immediately after- ward moved to Kinderhook, New York. There he practiced his profession until 1800. when he joined the first party of settlers coming to Summit County. He accompanied David

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Hudson and purchased 750 acres of land in the southwestern part of Hudson Township. for himself and two brothers, Abraham and Stephen, and for hi- father, Deacon Stephen Thompson. Dr. Thompson then walked back to Connecticut, making the trip in twelve days, and in the spring of 1801, accompanied by his wife and one child, he returned to Summit County and settled on a farm two miles southwest of Hudson, where he spent the rest of his life. On this land he built a log house, which he later replaced by what was considered a very grand house in those days. He lived to the venerable age of over eighty-two years, and even then an accident terminated a life which has been in high de- gree useful to his fellow-citizens. He was the first medical practitioner in what is now Port- age County, and the territory over which he practiced covered a radius of fifty miles. Dur- ing the War of 1812, Dr. Thompson served as a surgeon. His land in the meantime had proved very productive, and he engaged in the business of shipping produce from it to the southern markets. He was an earnest sup- porter of all religious and educational enter- prises, gave liberally to charity and was a leading man of his day and locality.

Dr. Thompson has the following children : Eliza Lemira, who married Horace Metcalf ; Susan, who married Horace Holbrook : Mills: Emily, who became the widow of Samuel Woods; Sylvested H. and Virgil M. : Ruth B .. who married Leander Starr; Mary, who married John Hazelton; Martha, who died aged twenty-two years; and Elizabeth, who never married, and survived all the other members of the family.

Hon. Sylvester H. Thompson, father of Sherman P., was born July 28, 1808. on the old homestead, and attended the preparatory school in the Western Reserve. He was reared as a farmer and when twenty-two years old began farming on his own account. On May 14, 1832, he was married to Caroline D. Peck, who was born December 6, 1808, at Water- bury, Connecticut. She met Sylvester H. Thompson, whom she subsequently married, while on a visit to her brother at Hudson.

She died November 23, 1876, having been the mother of seven children, as follows: Charles S., now deceased; Sherman l'., whose name begins this sketch; Martha E., who married P. G. Clark and resides at Cleveland; Theo- dore F., residing in Akron; Albert S., resid- ing at Cleveland; and two died in childhood. Judge Thompson died January 15, 1883, aged seventy-four years, five months and seventeen days.

After his marriage, Sylvester II. Thomp- son went to farming on a tract of land for which his father paid $420. He soon gained the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and was called upon to hold office more or less all through his life. He served first as assessor, and in other positions, and then was elected justice of the peace, an office he resigned with- in one year in order to accept an appointment as associate judge. He served in this latter capacity from 1845 until the office was abol- ished by the new state constitution in 1851. In 1864 he was appointed commissioner of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad. For thirteen years he was connected with the City Bank of Akron. In all things he worked faithfully for the good of the community, and the annals of this section of. Summit County show his usefulness and prominence in public affairs.

Sherman Peek Thompson was born on the farm now occupied by Judge Phillips, and was there reared until six years of age, when his father settled on what is now the Town- send farm, west of the depot. in Hudson. He resided until September 12, 1861, on this place, which he purchased from his brother in 1862. lle has erected all the buildings ex- cept a part of his residence, and, distributed over his property, he has fifteen houses and barns. besides a number of silos. He rents three properties in Cleveland. When he came here first he had 130 aeres, which he has in- ereased to 335. the larger part of the property being under the capable management of his son. Dairying has been made a specialty, and at one time as many as seventy milch cows were kept. ITis land is well adapted to the growing of both wheat and potatoes, and

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Mr. Thompson recalls that one year he har- vested 7,000 bushels of the tubers. His orchards have also been great producers. The history of apple-growing in this section is in- teresting. The first apples were probably grown on the old Dr. Thompson place, trees having been produced from seeds taken from a piece of pomace, which Dr. Thompson in- advertently picked up when he stopped to feed his ox-team, when coming through Pennsylvania in 1801. The wonderful vital- ity of the seeds were shown by their produc- ing trees, some of which are still living. The late Judge Thompson remembered the appear- ance of one apple that was grown in 1813. and what a temptation it was to the eager children who scarcely permitted it to reach perfection.

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Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 136

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