USA > Ohio > Wood County > Commemorative historical and biographical record of Wood County, Ohio : its past and present : early settlement and development biographies and portraits of early settlers and representative citizens, etc. V. 1 > Part 92
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Having acquired the necessary general cduca- tion, he studied law, and in 1849 was admitted to the bar. In the practice he was associated with, and pitted against, the ablest lawyers in north- western Ohio, and was second to none of them in ability and knowledge of the law. The late Chief Justice Waite once said of him: "In knowledge and understanding of the fundamental principles of law. Asher Cook has no equal in the Maumee Valley." Immediately on his admission to the bar, our subject was elected prosecuting attorney of his county, and in 1852 was elected probate judge.
In 1853, Judge Cook was married to Miss Amanda Hall, youngest daughter of Judge Jairus Hall, of Vermont. She died during the cholera epidemic, of 1854. Soon after her death Judge Cook went to Europe, and spent a year in study at Paris and Heidelberg. after which he returned to Perrysburg and resumed the practice of law. In 1858 he was married to Miss Sophia Hitch- cock, eldest daughter of W. j. Hitchcock, then a prominent merchant of Perrysburg.
In politics, Judge Cook began life as a Demo- county, Ohio, and a few years later moved to ; crat, and when his party became divided on the
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Slavery question, he cast his lot with that branch of it known as the " Free Soil Party." He took an active part in the organization of the Repub- lican party, being a member of the Pittsburg Convention, at which that party, as a National organization, had its birth. Several months be- fore the Pittsburg Convention, a public meeting was held at Portage, in Wood county, at which resolutions were adopted embodying the princi- ples contained in the Pittsburg platform. In call- ing this meeting, and in framing the resolutions which it adopted, Judge Cook was the leading spirit. The organization formed at that meeting is claimed, and believed to have been, the first of the local organizations out of which sprang the party which has cut so large a figure in American history. At the opening of the Rebellion, Judge Cook raised, and commanded Company C, 2Ist O. V. I., during its service under the first call for volunteers, and commanded his company at the battle of Carrick's Ford and in other engagements. He afteward raised and commanded Company F, 144th O. V. I. From 1862 to 1864 he repre- sented Wood and Ottawa counties in the Fifty- fifth General Assembly of Ohio. He was a dele- gate to the Convention which nominated Gen. Grant for the Presidency in 1868. In 1873 he was elected to the Convention to revise the State Constitution, and was made chairman of its com- mittee on education. He showed marked ability in the deliberations and debates of the Conven- tion, and was recognized as among the best con- stitutional lawyers in that body of able men.
Throughout his professional and political ca- reer, Judge Cook's great ability, his unquestion- able integrity, his genial courtesy and fairness won for him the profound respect and esteem of his associates and competitors. Fond of travel, he in 1879 spent a year traveling with his wife over Great Britain and Continental Europe, and in 1883 he did the same, extending his trav- els to Egypt and Palestine. As a Free Mason he was active and prominent, and in his daily life exemplified all that is best in the doctrines and teachings of the Order. His domestic and social life was full of tenderness and sympathy for others, and filled with unostentatious acts of charity which were known at the time only to himself and the recipients of his bounty. IIe continued in the active practice of his profession until his death, which occurred January 1, 1892.
W. M. RICHARD, one of the prosperous farm- ers of Perry township, is a descendant of that old pioneer family of Jacob Richard, who came from Ashland county, Ohio, to Wood county in
1851. That gentleman was the grandfather of our subject, and his parents were John and Cath- erine Richard. In Eagleville, this county, he was born July 13, 1857, and after completing his education at Pleasant Grove school in Perry township, he gave his entire time to the cultiva- tion of the old homestead. There his first ideas of farming were obtained under the able direc- tion of his father, and after the latter's death he took entire charge of the place, which he now owns and operates.
After the removal of his widowed mother to Bloomdale, where she now resides, Mr. Richard kept " bach " for several years; but on April 22, 1894, he was joined in wedlock with Mrs. Alice Black, widow of Lafayette Black, and daughter of John and Charity ( Reigle ) Sherwood. She was born in Wyandot county. Ohio, July 29, 1856. and by her former marriage has one child-May, born January 9, 1880.
Mr. Richard has been quite successful in his life work, and his neat farm shows the thrift and enterprise of the owner, who is an unassuming gentleman of excellent character, upright and honorable in all things. He is a inember in good standing of the Church of Christ, at Eagleville, as are also his wife and daughters, and he uni- formly supports the principles of the Republican party. On the Ist of March, 1889, he met with quite an accident while sawing wood, losing three of the fingers off his right hand, and, al- though handicapped to some extent, he has be- come able to perform almost all kinds of farm labor.
HARMON SWERLEIN, an enterprising young ag- riculturist, residing near Weston, was born in Wyandot county, Ohio, September 26, 1857, a son of John and Theresa Swerlein, both natives of Germany, and pioneer settlers of Wyandot county. Our subject was educated in the district schools of the vicinity of his birthplace, and worked upon his father's farm until he attained his majority. In 1880 lie bought a farin of 135 acres, partly in Weston township and partly in Grand Rapids, which he has improved, remodel- ing the house and barns, and cultivating the land after the most approved methods.
In 1879 he was married to Miss Ellen Speck. of Wyandot county, who was born April 27. 1852, in New Pittsburg, Wayne Co., Ohio. the only child of John and Aun Speck, who were born in Chambersburg. Pen., the former of whom died in 1869, the latter in 1859. Mrs. Ellen Swerlein was a student of Heidelberg Col- lege, and for many years a prominent teacher of
i
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Wyandot and Seneca counties. Our subject and wife have no children. Mr. Swerlein's industry, integrity and good sense have secured to him, in an unusual degree, the respect of his community. In politics he is a Democrat.
WILLARD V. WAY. We quote from the ad- dress of D. K. Hollenbeck, Esq., delivered at the dedication of the Way Library and its presenta- tion to the people of Perrysburg, November 23, 1892 (and from which this sketch is taken), our subject being the donor, and to whom reference is inade:
" We are now met to call to remembrance the acts, and in a fitting manner to do honor to the name of another, whom I believe I am fully justi- fied, in the words of the poet, in designating as ' One of the few, the immortal names, that were not born to die.' I feel that upon us, as resi- dents of this village by reason of the benefits aud advantages, which do, and will, accrue to us personally in this instance as the 'favored few,' is imposed the duty, and to us is granted the pleasure and opportunity of recognizing in a be- fitting manner, one of the greatest benefactors our village has ever known, and ' one whom we should delight to honor;' and it has been deemed quite proper and appropriate that at the time of trans- ferring this building to the care and custody of the council of this village, for the use and benefit of whose citizens it has been provided, some record be made of its origin and present condition, and also that proper recognition be awarded to him whose generosity has conferred upon the present and future residents of our village this library building, the several thousand volumes of books already provided and to be placed therein, and the many thousand more of volumes which as time passes will find places on these shelves.
age of twenty-three, he entered Union College, from which he graduated in due course, after be- ing subjected to many privations and hardships in providing the means for his college expenses, made necessary by reason of his father's limited means. His case is but another one of the many thousands in proof of the old but true saying that, ' where there's a will there's a way.' Onleaving college Mr. Way entered the law office of Bangs & Haskell in the village of LeRoy, in the State of New York, but his legal studies were com- pleted in the office of Payne & Wilson, in Paines- ville, Ohio, and he was admitted to practice in this State in 1832, from which date he soon be- came and was widely known as an honored mem- ber of that most honorable profession. After having been thus admitted, and after having trav- eled over several of what were then known as the ' Western States,' Ohio included, in search of a location, in 1834, he settled in Perrysburg, no doubt to a greater or less extent drawn hither by the beautiful location of the village on the banks of the beautiful river now so aptly and appropri- ately called, the . Hudson of the West;' and here he remained until his death, and he now sleeps in the cemetery at the foot of the granite shaft erected to designate his resting-place to future generations.
"Soon after his location in Perrysburg, Mr. Way was married to Miss Sophia Hodge, then living in Buffalo, N. Y., who survived him until September 20. 1892, when she departed this life at Mansfield, in this State, at the age of eighty- five years. Several years since, after her re- moval to Mansfield. as the result of a fall, Mrs. Way became and remained almost helpless, and a great sufferer until her final departure, and she is now at rest beside her husband --
Sleeping the sleep that knows not breaking, Morn of toil, ner night of waking.
" Willard V. Way was born in Springfield, Otsego Co., N. Y., August 3, 1807. His father, " If there are any who were living in this vicin- ity at the time of Mr. Way's location here, we need not remind them that those were . pinch- ing times,' and Mr. Way was obliged, with the other pioneers of this then comparatively new country, to endure all the privations and hard- ships incident to that early day, and in the years immediately following, as the occasions were presented, like some of his cotemporaries who thonght a position of affluence would thereby sooner be attained, than by a strict attention to the business of his chosen profession, he was lured into the whirlpool of speculation, and for the time being. financially ruined. But he . would not down.' His reverses seemed but Samuel Way, was a farmer in very moderate cir- cumstances, and the early life of the son was spent on the farm, he periodically attending the country schools, such as they were at that early date, as his condition of health would permit (he in his young days suffered from ill health). Be- fore reaching his majority, the family were fully convinced of the fact that he would be unable to earn a livelihood, and his attention was turned to arquiring an education, hoping that by his head, so to speak, he might be enabled to accomplish that which he was precluded from doing with his lands. After taking a preparatory course in Hardwick Academy, one of the popular educa- 1 tional institutions of its class of that day, at the ! to incite him to more vigorous action, and to
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create in him a more settled purpose and firm determination to recover the ground he had thus lost, and to attain that position for which he had been striving; and, as the result of after years of toil, privations and hardships, he found himself in independent circumstances, and we, his friends and neighbors, now know that all his labors and self-denials were not alone to accumulate means for his own self-gratification, but, as well, to ad- vance our interests individually, as the interests of our village. Mr. Way's attachment for the home of his adoption seems never to have weak- ened or wavered, and the time that elapsed be- tween the date of the execution of his will and the date of his death shows conclusively that the final disposition of his estate was not the result of any hasty conclusion, but rather made after calm and mature deliberation. If, in the words of another, I was asked ---
Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land ?-
I would answer, possibly there does, but I am certain that, in the light of recent events, you would unite with me in the earnest protest that Mr. Way was imbued with an entirely different spirit.
" Mr. Way was a strictly honest man, and witha! prudent and economical, and, while living, was sometimes charged by his more inconsiderate friends and fellow citizens with being inclined to carry his ideas of economy, at least in public matters, to that extreme, that the work in hand was sometimes weakened, rather than profited by by his suggestions. However, when one calls to mind the circumstances surrounding him in the early years of his residence in our village, and the struggles he then passed through. I think his peculiarity in this regard is very easily and satis- factorily accounted for, and subsequent events lead me to say that Mr. Way was evidently misjudged.
" Willard V. Way departed this life on Au- gust 25, 1875, now more than seventeen years since, leaving a Last Will and Testament, with the conditions of which, no doubt, you are all more or less familiar. After making certain be- quests amounting in the aggregate to over $15. - 000.00, by the 8th item in his will Mr. Way de- vises and bequeaths to this village all the remain- der of his estate (except what is given for a pub- lic park), to be used in establishing a public library in this village for the use of its inhabitants under such regulations as may be prescribed by the council of the village, subject to the following conditions: $15,000.00 of liis estate shall be in-
vested in safe public interest-bearing securities, to remain a perpetual fund belonging to said vil- lage, the interest of which, only, is to be used in the purchase of books and works properly belong- ing to a public library. The remainder of the bequest for the use of a public library may be used as the council of said village may deem most for the interest of the library in the purchase of a lot, and erection of a suitable building for the li- brary and literary halls, and purchase of books, and for no other purpose. It was to give effect to the conditions in this latter clause that the council, on March 25, 1890, requested the exec- utors to purchase a site and erect a library build- ing thereon, and that duty having been perform- ed, it now remains for them, and becomes their duty, to give some account of their stewardship.
" Mr. Way also left $5,000, the interest of which to be used to defray the expenses of a scholar to any college he may choose, the scholar, to receive the benefits, to be the one from the graduating class of the Perrysburg High School standing the highest every fourth year. In poli- tics, Mr. Way was a Democrat, and in his younger life he took quite an active part in political affairs. At one time he served the people of the county as prosecuting attorney.
" For many years prior to his death he was a confirmed invalid, and suffered greatly, although during those latter years he traveled a great deal, searching for some relief or specific whereby the hand of death might possibly be stayed . yet a little longer.' "
L. C. COLE. of Bowling Green, who has more than a local reputation as a lawyer, orator, politician, and business man, is a descendant of an old English family, the American branch be- ing traced to three brothers-Joshua, Elijah and Ezekiel-who came over to Maryland in the time of Lord Baltimore. They were Baptists in faith, and did not remain in that colony during the struggles which resulted in religious tolera- tion, but went to other sections, one to New England, one to Virginia, where his descendants still live, and the other, the ancestor of L. C. Cole, to Washington county, Penn., whence. as the country developed, later generations came West, settling in Ohio.
Thomas Cole, the father of our subject, was born in 18os, in Jefferson county, Ohio, where he spent his life in agricultural pursuits, and died in 1859. He married Miss Mary Jackman, a native of the same county, born in 1814. who survived him many years, dying in 1882. Four children were born to them: Caroline, who mar-
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ried I. J. Jackman, of Wellsville; L. C., whose name introduces this sketch; Isaac, who died at the age of fourteen; and Elizabeth, the wife of W. P. Cooper, of Wellsville.
The subject of this sketch first saw the light September 14, 1849, and grew to manhood at the old home in Jefferson county. He attended college at Mount Union and Richmond, and afterward read law with Judge Robert Martin, of Steubenville, Ohio. In 1872, at Newark, Ohio, be was admitted to the bar, and began the prac- tice of his profession at Massillon, Ohio, where he remained from June, 1873, to April, 1887. when he came to Bowling Green. His ability soon won him the confidence of the people of Massillon, and he was elected to various impor- tant official positions. From 1875 to 1880, he was city solicitor until his election in 1884 to the State Legislature, in Stark county, where he served two terms. Being an influential and out- spoken Democrat, his side of the House nomi- nated him for Speaker, and came within one vote of electing him.
Having become interested in the Bowling Green Glass Co., Mr. Cole decided to locate there, the better to look after that and other business enterprises. The glass factory burned down in 1891, and as the gas was exhausted in that vicinity the company did not rebuild. Mr. Cole is at present president of the Swayzee Glass Co., at Swayzee, Ind., and looks after the finan- cial interests of that concern. He is a director of the First National Bank, of Bowling Green, and a member of several leading oil companies, operating in Wood county and in Tennessee. Aside from his prominence in business and pro- fessional circles, Mr. Cole is an enthusiastic Democrat, takes an active interest in political affairs, in which his influence as a leader in that party is widely recognized. He was a member and secretary of the State Central Committee six years; member of the Executive Committee four years, and secretary of the same during the memorable campaign of Mckinley and Campbell, in 1891. Being urged by his political friends to permit himself to be nominated for probate judge of Wood county, in 1894, hie consented-unwill- ingly on his part, on account of the extent of his private business -- but at the election, though running well ahead of his ticket, he was defeated. Socially, Mr. Cole is a member of the F. & A. M., Order of Elks, Knights of the Maccabees, Royal Arcanum and K. of P. In religious faith he and his family are members and active workers in the M. E. Church.
In his amiable and cultured wife, formerly
Miss Martha J. Douglass, to whom he was mar- ried in 1872, Mr. Cole has a true helpmeet. She was born in 1849, in Richmond, Ohio, where they were fellow students, and where they formed an attachment in which intellect as well as heart found congenial companionship. They have had two children, Tom D. (aged sixteen) and Nellie S .. the latter of whom died in June, 1895, at the age of fourteen. Mrs. Cole is the daughter of Thomp- son and Rebecca Dougherty) Douglass. the former of whom was born at Pittsburg, Penn .. and was a son of Robert Douglass, a native of Scotland, and, on his mother's side, a direct descendant of the Stuarts. Thompson Douglass was thrice married, first time to Martha John- son, by whom he had one child, Emery Pyle. who served in the war of the Rebellion, and died in the army. The second wife of Mr. Douglass was Rebecca Dougherty, who bore him six chil- dren: Leonidas, who enlisted in the Union army at the age of eighteen, and died of sickness in 1862; Homer, deceased in 1881; Martha J. (Mrs. Cole): Mary, who died in 1882; Theodore, living at the old home in Richmond, Ohio; and Ida, wife of G. McIntyre, a farmer of Carroll county. Ohio. The third wife of Thompson Douglass was Emeline Wallace, now his widow, and still living at the old home.
Mr. Cole stands in the front rank of the lead- ing business men of Wood county, and is one of the most prominent and prosperous. His faine as an erudite and accomplished scholar, a ripe lawyer, a brilliant orator and a close student of political economy, is not confined to the city of his adoption, but extends throughout the entire county, and even far beyond its limits.
JACOB RICHARD, deceased. Between 1,40 and 1750 two distinguished families came from Europe and settled in southern and southeast- ern Pennsylvania-the paternal ancestors from Germany, the maternal from Switzerland. Flee- ing from oppression and persecution in the Fa- therland, they sought homes and happiness in. the New World, where some of them joined their destinies in business and marital relations.
Jacob Richard was born July 31, 1803, near Pleasant Unity, Unity township, Westmoreland Co., Penn., the second child but first son of John and Mary (Poorman) Richard. His grandpa! - ents were Jacob and Polly (Radebaugh) Richard. both of whom were residents of Franklin county His grandfather was married five times, and had children by four of his wives. The old home- stead was in Letterkenny township, Franklin county, and is quite fully described in the public
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records. He died upon it at the age of eighty- three. His children, in the order of birth, were: (1) John, the father of the subject of this me- moir, born in Franklin county, and died there in May, 1835. (2) Mary (called " Polly ") married Peter Poorman. of Hamilton township, same county. (3) George, who lived in Somerset, Perry Co., Ohio, and died July 31, 1864, in his eighty-fourth year; he was a wealthy, patriotic merchant, and a zealous Republican and Meth- odist. (4) Elizabeth, married to Jacob Humbar- ger. (5) Susannah, married to Jonathan Foltz, an uncle of M. A. Foltz, present proprietor and editor of the Public Opinion, of Chambersburg. (6) Jacob. (7) Sarah, married to Henry Snider. (8) Daniel.
John Richard, the eldest son, was married in I Soo to Mary Poorman. He died in May, 1835, and his widow in January, 1847. They had seven children, viz .: (1) Elizabeth, married to Jacob Mykrantz. (2) Jacob, our subject. (3) Catherine, married to Rudolph Sease. (4) Polly, married to Joseph France. (5) John, now living in Gratiot county, Mich. (6) George, who died several years ago in Pittsburg. (7) Margaret, married to George Bear.
Jacob Richard, the second in the above men- tioned family, removed with his parents to West- moreland county, Penn., sometime prior to 1811, and spent his youth upon the farm, acquiring the rudiments of an English education, consisting of reading, writing and arithmetic. The study of the New Testament and the reading of U. S. History were obligatory; English grammar and geography were not taught. On November 4, 1823, he was joined in matrimony to Rebecca, youngest daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Stough) Richard. She was born in what is called "Culbertson's Row, " Franklin Co., Penn., December 16, 1804. Her father, Charles Rich- ard, was one of a family of two brothers. John and Jacob, a half-brother, Conrad, and three full sisters: Maria, married to a Sullenberger; Cath- erine, married to a Lose; and Rebecca, married to Henry Crow.
Charles Richard was born in Berks county, Penn., September 27, 1755, and died in West- moreland county, same State, August 17, 1852, in his ninety-seventh year. He was married April 22, 1774, to Elizabeth Stough, who died January 13, 1826, in her sixty-ninth year. After his marriage he entered the Revolutionary army, and was with Washington at Long Island, White Plains, Trenton and Valley Forge. He crossed the Delaware with Washington, and aided in the capture of the Hessians, on Christmas Day, 1776;
passed through the siege and horrors of Valley Forge during the memorable winter of 1777-78. With a furlough in his pocket, and a pair of new shoes in his knapsack, he lay down on the night of December 23, 1777, intending to start home the next morning, but during the night his shoes were stolen. Undaunted, he started, as planned, and traveled fifty miles in his stockings, leaving bloody tracks to mark his route. From the marriage referred to sprang eight children, viz .: George; Charles; Molly, married to Henry Smith; William; Elizabeth, married to George Fortney; John; Sarah, married to Jonathan Fry; and Rebecca, who married Jacob Richard, and died May 6, 18SI.
Returning again, Jacob and Rebecca had three sons born to them in Westmoreland county : John, July 14, 1825, deceased October S. 1878; Reuben, May 23, 1829, lost on the ill-fated "Sultana, " April 27, 1865; and Charles, October 3. 1831, now residing at Bloomdale, Ohio. In 1835 the family removed to Ashland county, Ohio, where they resided until March 26, 1851. Five other sons were born at Ashland, viz. : William S., a resident of Bloomdale; George. November 28, 1837, killed at the raising of a barn near Eagleville, May IS, 1861; Franklin, March 27, 1841, a resident of Bloom township; J. Fraise, a sketch of whom follows; and Simon, March 29, 1846, at present residing in Bloomdale.
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