USA > Ohio > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of Wayne County, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 29
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George, in Dalton, married to Ella Saurer; Adam, in Apple Creek, married to Mary Boydston (they have one child, Della) ; John, in Wooster, married to Sarah John- ston (they have one child, Clarence ). and Anna and Viola, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Schultz are members of the Reformed Church : in polities he is a Democrat.
YOHN SNYDER. This well-known old resident of Wayne County, now living in the city of Wooster, was born in Union County, Penn., February 14, 1820. His father. Jonathan Snyder. was born in Berks County, in that State, and was married to Sarah Huffman, a na- tive of the same county, a daughter of Nicholas Huffman, who was of German extraction, and served in the ranks of the Continental army during the Revolution- ary War, and died in Danphin County, Penn. Jonathan Snyder and wife settled in Union County, Penn., and there re- mained until 1535, when they came to Wayne County in search of a home in which to rear their children. They set- tled on a farm in Franklin Township, where they spout the remainder of their lives. The father was a shoemaker by trade, as well as a farmer, and worked at that in winter. In those days shoemakers went from house to house of the people
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who wanted work done, generally staying ; in one house until the whole family were supplied.
Jonathan Snyder was a poor man, and in Wayne County, as well as in Pennsyl- vania, had to work hard to make a living for himself and family, enduring many privations and hardships, in which his family shared. His wife and himself, however, were blessed with rugged con- stitutions, and notwithstanding their ar- dnous labors lived to an advanced age, each dying when eighty-two years old- the mother in 1875 and the father in 1877. Both were sincere members of the Eu- theran Church, and were people held in high esteem by their neighbors for their trustful, honest and industrious lives. : They were the parents of ten children, as follows: Catherine, now Mrs. Amos Herr, living in Knox County, Ohio; Rebecca, deceased wife of Samuel Miller; Sarah, wife of AAnthony Stahl, of Knox County, Ohio, died in November, ISSS: Mary, married to William Patton, and living in Wooster; John; Daniel J. and Joseph, now residents of Madison Hill, Ohio; Jonathan and Jacob, farmers in Wayne County, Ohio, and George ( deceased ).
The subject of this sketch passed his ! early years in the county where he was born, and was carly made to earn his bread by the hardest kind of labor. When but nine years of age he was pot
to plowing, being the oldest boy of the family. His first plow had a wooden mold-board, and the ground being rough and stony the lad had a hard time of it, especially as he had to plow barefooted, in order to save his shoes, of which he had but one pair each year. On cold mornings the barefooted boy used to warm his feet by standing in the place where the horses had lain over night. Threshing at that time was done by the horses treading ont the grain and clover seed, and the boy often was compelled to ride the horse in that work from daylight until dark. This was the early life of our subject, and this was the training he re- ceived to fit him for the stern duties of life. His educational opportunities were limited, being given the opportunity of going to school only a short time each winter, but, by improving every opportu- nity, he succeeded in getting a rudiment- ary education, and by reading and close observation in his later years has made himself a well-informed man. He was eighteen years of age when he came to Ohio with his parents. Here for six years he worked on his father's farm, enduring the hardships which fell to the lot of the early settlers in this region, where homes could only be made by lit- "rally hewing them out of the dense for- est with which it was then covered.
In I'll be determined to make a home
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Neb., and Curtis Hoffman, living with his parents.
for himself, and in that year, as the first step toward that desirable object, was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Trout- Mr. Suyder is a Republican in politics, but has been too busy a man to give much time to publie matters, and the only office he has held has been that of supervisor of Franklin Township. He and his worthy wife are esteemed members of the Lutheran Church of Wooster. Starting in life in poverty, he has achieved a marked success, and he is to-day one of Wayne County's well-to-do citizens. This result has been ob- tained by a life of unremitting industry and perseverance, united with frugal habits, and to the estimable lady who has so long aided and counseled him in all his praise- worthy efforts, much of his success is due. The family is well known in Wayne Coun- ty, and as early settlers and as valuable members of the community are highly re- spected and will long be remembered. man, a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth ( Keim ) Troutman, and a native of Berks County, Poun. On her father's sido she was of German descont, and on her mother's of English. Her mother died in Henry County, Ohio, when Mrs. Snyder was quite young, and her father later re- moved to Wooster Township, in this coun- ty, where he passed the last years of his life. After this marriage Mr. Snyder settled upon a partially improved farin, which they worked on shares. Accumu- lating some means in this way, by hard work and rigid economy, he was able in 1553 to purchase a farm in Franklin Town- ship, which he sold to his brother Jacob in 1978. He next bought a farm in East Union Township; subsequently he pur- chased another in Chester Township, and still later one in the southeast part of Franklin Township, which he still owns. In 1875 he gave up Farm life and removed T WHOMAS ARMSTRONG, one of the earliest pioneers of Wayne County, was born in Northumberland Conn- ty, Penn., August 22, 1776, of Irish parentage. In his boyhood he accompa- nied his parents to Columbiana County, Ohio, where, in 1801, he married Jane Cook, a young lady descended from Scotch ancestry. She possessed a finely cultured to the city of Wooster, where he now re- sides in the pleasant home he owns in that place. The family of four children, which came to our subject and his estimable wife, are all living, and are located as fol- lows: Reasin B., residing in the city of Wooster; Sarah Jane, wife of William Bentz, also in Wooster; Alice Alaura, wedded to Horace Boydsou, in Lyons, ,mind, refined manners and a genial dis-
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position. Her daily religious life made a deep impression on the members of her family. The good seed thus sown by a mother's love is even yet bearing its fruits in the third and fourth generations of her offspring. . Mr. Armstrong and his wife were living in Columbiana County, Ohio, at the breaking out of the War of 1812. After Hall's surrender he volunteered, and was commissioned captain, serving under Gen. Buell. At the close of the war he returned to his home, and in the spring of 1815 with his family moved to Wayne County, settling on Clear Creek, four miles north of Wooster, in Wayne Township.
In the spring of 1817 he removed to a farm seven and a half miles north of Wooster, on the Lodi road, in that part of Wayne Township which was in 1819 or- ganized as a separate township and named ('anaan. This farm is now the property of Thomas Armstrong, one of his grand- sons. Mr. Armstrong was of iron nerve and indomitable courage, over six feet in height, large boned and of great physical strength. He had a genial disposition, was generous and kind-hearted, and was loved by all for his many virtues. The neighbor in need who called upon him was never sent away empty-handed. Ho was considerate of young men who were struggling with the privations of the times for a Toothold in life. Many, now old men, remember with gratitude the
assistance rendered just when assistance was most needed. He was a positive man. None could be mistaken as to which side he took on any question that agitated the public mind or affected the interests of the community in which he lived. He was a Whig in polities, and always active in political circles. He took a very active part in the campaign of 18-10. In his family he was a kind husband and an indulgent parent. He trained his children to industry and economy. and cultivated in them habits of sobriety. hon- esty, integrity and virtue. He was among the foremost in securing educational priv- ileges for his family and the neighbor- hood. His place at church was never va- cant without substantial reason. Nor was his purse closed when pecuniary aid was required. The influence of this man and of others, his neighbors, men like himself, is still felt in the neighborhood in which they lived. It has been remarked by ob- servers that the thrift, the industry, the morality and intelligence of the Armstrong neighborhood is not surpassed in any other locality in the county. Truly the memory of such men is blessed.
Mr. Armstrong was the first justice of the peace in Wayne Township, and mar- ried the first couple in the township. When he moved lo Canaan Township there were but three families within a radius of three or four miles. James
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Rose, a Scotchman and a nobleman, lived on the west, James Glass on the south and William Ewing about two miles north. The first school-house in the town- ship was built on the farm of James Rose, by the early settlers. It was of the primitive style, about sixteen feet square, with puncheon floor, clapboard door and roof, greased paper for windows, and a large fire-place occupying nearly the whole side of the room. The chimney was made of clay and sticks, and was on the outside of the building. The seats were benches of split logs, and the writing desks were of split slabs. The first teacher was James Buchanan, a Scotchman, who after- ward lived and died near Dalton. The pioneer wife and mother had many hard- ships to endure, and toils and perils to undergo. Their small cabins had no Hoors but puncheops, and seldom a door except a quilt, which was poor protection against the prowling savages and the wild animals. Bears and wolves made night hideous with their howling, but the brave mother quieted her children, smothering her own fears to reassure her family. The mother was the provident overseer of the little home; kind and hospitable, no one ever left her home hungry if she had the food to give them. Strangers and neighbors were alike welcome. Wolves and bears were the source of great annoy- ance to the early settlers on account of
their thievish propensities, often coming to the pen and killing a hog. But they sometimes paid for the theft with their lives, the settlers tracking them with the stolen property and making their life the ransom.
Mr. Armstrong died March 2. 1842. aged sixty-six years, and his wife April 14, 1856. Both were buried in the Wayne church-yard. This church Mr. Armstrong helped to build in 1840, and he was the first person buried in the church yard adjoining. He and his wife had a family of six sons and four daugh- ters, the sons ranging from six feet to six feet four inches in height, and the daugh- ters being large,robust women. Following is their record:
William, the eldest son, was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, November 15, 1802. His early life was spent amid the privations of a forest home. He was thus deprived of the early advantages of schools, but made up the deficiency in a later period of youth. He was fairly well educated, and a steady friend of the people's schools. When the primitive school-houses were passing away, the best school-house in the township was built on his farm, he generously giving the lot for the purpose. When funds Failed to com- plete it, as he was desirous it should be finished, he generously stepped forward and furnished what was required from his
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oWh resources. The Presbyterian con- gregation of Wayne are indebted largely to his efforts for their first church build- ing. He was untiring in his efforts to secure funds for the work, and gave with- out compensation much of his valuable time in superintending the construction antil it was finished, and thus was laid the foundation for the large and inthien- tial society, who have lately erected on the site of the old building a new church, fully up to the requirements of the times, He married Mary Rose, by whom he had six children. She died in 1851. and he then married Catherine MePherson, by whom he had two children. He was a farmer, and accumulated a large landed estate. His children nearly all reside in the neighborhood of the old homestead. on farms acquired by the father's aid. These farms are provided with valuable larm buildings. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church all his long life, taking a great interest in all religious and educational matters He died January
i 30, USS7, respected and honored by all i ried ). P. Smurr, and they had three who were acquainted with him.
John was born January 19, 1504. In ; Of these, Elinor married J. G. Hower, 1828, times being hard, William and John went to McKeesport, Penn., to work on a canal. William had his foot hurt, and was obliged to return home, and after his return John was taken sick with a fever, and died and was buried before his ' Canaan Township, and finally to Wayne
father could get to him, it taking ten days for a letter to reach his home.
Thomas was born February 21, 1806. He learned the tanner's trade under David Robison, of Wooster, and afterward went to Michigan, but returned to Wayne, and died near Burbank in 1856. He married Naney Thomas, and they had a large family, only two of whom are living. David and William Vincent, his sous, each served a I'nll term of three years in the Union army during the Civil War.
Harrison was born November 25, 1510. He studied with Dr. Day, and located at Hayesville, where he built up a good practice, and died in the prime of life. He married Margaret Cos. Their chil- dren all reside in the vicinity of Hayes- ville. Their eldest son, Thomas, died after he had been promoted to a lieuten- aney, of camp fever, at Vicksburg, during the siege of that place. Jared, another son, served under Gen. Sherman on his march from Atlanta to Savannah.
Eliza was born August 14, 1513, mar- I children: Elinor, Thomas A. and Jonnie. and lived in Cleveland; Thomas A. is an eminent physician, living in Ottawa, Ill., and Jennie married John Blocker, and is living in Wooster. Mr. and Mrs. Smurr lived for a time in Wooster, then moved to
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Township, where they both died within a few months of each other. They were bothi members of Wayne Presbyterian Church, and led a consistent Christian life.
Julia Ann and Hannah Maria, twin sisters, were born October 15, 1816. Julia Ann married Neal MeCoy, and died Jeay- ing two children, one of whom, James A., is living. Hannah Maria married John McCoy, who died, and she afterward mar- ried Robert Taggart. They moved to Keokuk, Iowa, where her husband died and she still lives. She has four children.
few years that he lived, an ornament to the medical profession. He married Ma- tilda Scott, of Hayesville, who died a short time after their marriage, he sur- viving her but a few years.
Jane was born June 18, 1520, and mar- ried Francis MeConnel. She left a family of five children, three of whom are living.
Calvin, the only representative of the family now in Wayne County, was born June 3, 1826, and September 5, 1847, married Mary McKee. They have two sons and two daughters.
Thus we have briefly sketched the lives of the family of Thomas Armstrong, who were worthy children of a most worthy father and mother.
David was born December 13, 1818. His early youth was devoted to study, mixed with short intervals of farm life. In person he was tall and well formed, possessing an easy address and a com- manding presence. His intellectual pow- ers were of the highest order. His moral qualities forbade his stooping to any pur- G CALVIN ARMSTRONG, farmer, Wayne Township, is prominent among the most intelligent and well-to-do farmers of Wayne County. He was born in Canaan Township, June 3, 1826, the youngest of ten children of Thomas and Jane (Cook ) Armstrong. llis early life was spent on his father's farm in Wayne Township, receiving his edneation in the common schools. He chose the occupation of his father, and has been successful in his calling, having from his youth had habits of industry and suit or amusement that was gross or de- grading. With a high sense of honor, he yielded to others what was due them, and seenred for himself the respeet and esteem of all who knew him. At school he was respectful to his teachers and thorough in all his attainments. He was a universal favorite among his schoolmates, and none knew him but to love him. He studied medicine with his brother at Hayesville, finished his course at Cincinnati, and be- enme an eminoul physician. He acquired a large and Inerative practice during the , thrift. In all his undertakings he has
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beenassisted by his faithful wife, and their home is now one of the pleasantest in the township, where hospitality abounds and good cheer and freedom reign. Mr. Arm- strong has always taken an interest in politics, and was present at Buffalo when the Free Soil and Abolition party was organized. He has held many public positions of trust, which he has filled with the faithfulness characteristic of the man. Publie spirited and generous, he has always been foremost in every good work, and was one of the organizers of the Children's Home of Wayne County, and served as a trustee of the home six years.
Mr. Armstrong was married September 5, 1847, to Mary McKee, of Congress Township, and they have four children: Thomas A., David C., Jennie A. and Ida M. Of late years Mr. Armstrong has cast his suffrage independent of party ties. He and his wife are members of the Pres- byterian Church.
the Keystone State. Of their union eleven children were born, Mrs. Susanna Hammer and our subject being the only ones now residing in Wayne County. In 1855 Mrs. Harman passed to her long last sleep, and the husband and father followed her to the grave in 1565. Both were well known and highly respected in the county, and more especially among the early settlers, with whom they were num- bered. He had been a farmer by occu- pation, and both were members of the Intheran Church.
Our subject was truly a pioneer's child. born in a log cabin, and made familiar with the hardships and trials of a pio- heer's life, which were by them accepted as a matter of course. Upon reaching womanhood she was united in marriage with John Feeman, who had come here from Pennsylvania with his parents when a boy. All this family were born in Pennsylvania. The Father was a shoe- maker by trade, and when a boy John helped him; later, however, he learned the trade of a stone-cutter. In these days the shoemaking was done by the knight of the last going from house to house, wherever he was wanted, staying usually in one honse until the whole family were shod. It was while on one of these trips with his father that John Feeman made
M RS. CATHERINE FEEMAN, of the city of Wooster, is a native of Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County, born December 30, 1516. Her father, George Harman, was a native of Pennsylvanin, and while still a young man he came to this county, where he . the nequnintance of his future wife. Both married Elizabeth Keister, also born in families attended the same church, and.
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the acquaintance ripening into love, the ! at Vicksburg, Miss., where he was buried : young people were in due time mar- Eliza, wife of George W. Clark, of Kan- sas City, Mo .; William, pastor of the First Baptist Church at Ashtabula, Ohio; Sarah, living with her mother; Mary, de- ceased wife of Harvey Schwartz, oº Wooster; John, Matilda and an unnamed infant are also deceased. After the death of her husband Mrs. Feeman tried in every way to keep her children together, no labor being too hard or sacrifice too great. if only she might keep the home and her family about her. But death came, and marriage ties scattered the once happy family. For a number of years Mrs. Feeman and her daughter Sarah have lived together at the old homestead ou Pittsburgh Avenne. The mother is a member of the Lutheran Church, and the daughter of the Baptist Church. The whole family stand high in the commnuity, and are greatly respected by all who know them. ried-May 31, 1538. After their mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Feemau removed to Wooster, where he had found work at the trade of stone-cutting, which he had mas- tered in the meanwhile. This trade he followed until the angel of death claimed him, in 1858, in the prime of a vigorous manhood, at the age of forty-one years. He fell a victim to that dread disease, consumption. John Feeman was a good mau, and was very highly esteemed. He was an active member of the German Re- formed Church, and an earnest worker both in the church and in the Sabbath- school, and was for years superintendent of the latter. For fifteen years he gra- tuitously took charge of the church build- ing. He was also a member of the I. O. O. F. He began life poor in this world's goods, but full of determination to make for himself an honorable place in the community, and to create for himself and Family a comfortable home, and gain the good-will and esteem of his fellow-men. In these landable objects he succeeded, and his widow and children were not the only ones who monrned his loss, cut off, as he was, in the zenith of his usefulness. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Feeman the following eight children were born: Levi, who was a Union soldier. was wounded at Jacksonville, Miss, and died
F REDERICK HOEGNER was born October 4, 1518, in Berks County, Penn., a son of John William Hoegner, one of the early settlers of Cou- gress Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. The father of our subject was born and reared in Germany, and in IS11 he immigrated to the United States, locating first in Philadelphia, Pen., and afterward in
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Berks County, same State. June 15, 1838, he and his family (including Frederick) came west to Wayne County, Ohio, set- tling in Congress Township, where he bought a farm of Daniel Yarnall, and here reared his nine children, five of whom are now living. He died in 1858, aged seventy-eight years.
Frederick Hoegner, whose name heads this sketch, was married February 22, 18IS, to Miss Sarah, daughter of George Emrich, who was a settler of Wayne County, of much earlier date than the Hoegners, and to this union were born four children, all living: William F., Lewis P., Lovina and Albert. Mr. and Mrs. Hoegner have long been members of the Lutheran Church; in polities he is a stanch Republican. Their excellent farm of 260 acres of highly improved land is the result of assiduous and honest toil, and good management on the part of both.
UDGE EDWARD S. DOWELL. At the age of thirty-two there died, B. C. 323, the master of an empire conquered by himself, covering two and a half million square miles-in the full vigor of his faculties, at the time his brain was teeming with magnificent schemes of assimilating the populations of Europe and Asia, and of re-making man
after his own image, by stamping the nature of Alexander on the mind and feel- ings of the world. The type of his career is best illustrated by one incident which long since matured into a familiar proverb. During his invasion of Asia, and upon his arrival at Gordium, he was seized by a powerful superstition, which, for a time, overcame him and arrested his move- ments. Here lived Gordius, a husband- man, but afterward king of Phrygia, remarkable for tying a knot of cords on which the Empire of Asia depended, and, to him who could unravel it, its mighty and undisputed scepter belonged. After fruitlessly manipulating and seeking vainly to master its complexity by the tact and dexterity of his hand, with his sword he impatiently ent it, whereupon. the mystery having been solved, the mul- titude rejoiced and applauded, and soon by valorons deeds he verified the forecast of the oracle. Hence, in action and resolu- tion the young men of history have exhib- ited their ability, as well as their judg- ment, capacity and vigor to combat and annihilate apparently hopeless perplexi- ties by cutting Gordian knots and proving themselves equal to, and the masters of great emergencies.
A recent writer groups together five names of historie significance: Goethe in poetry, Newton in science. Bacon in phil- osophy, Columbus in di covery, Watt in
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mechanies, and says substantially, that the greatest works of Goethe were con- ceived and partly executed when he was a young man. Newton discovered the most universal of all natural laws, the law of gravitation, before he was twenty-five. Bacon had " taken all knowledge for his province," and was devising new, and doubting old methods, before a beard had yet appeared on his chin. The concep- tions of Cohunbus originated in the thoughts and studies of his younger years, and Watt had invented the steam engine before he was thirty. Hamlet was written when the anthor was but thirty- six, and Grant was commander of one of the largest armies of the world when he was forty. The history of the human in- telleet will confirm the assertion that the power in which great natures culminate, which fases force and insight in one ex- ecutive intelligence, matures between thirty-five and fifty. Subsequent achieve- ments organize themselves around the younger conceptions. Stepping from the line of the earlier to the middle life, the subject of this sketch was exalted to the judiciary of his State.
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