USA > Ohio > Genealogical and family history of eastern Ohio > Part 3
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John Wishard Nesbitt was born in Poland township, January 31, 1840. He was a natural mechanic, and, as his father was a carpenter and contractor before him, it was an easy consequence that he followed the same pursuit. He attended the neighborhood school and practiced his trade until the Civil war broke out. In 1862 he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Infantry, and served till the close, being made duty sergeant. In the battle at Kenesaw Mountain, while he was lying down on the firing line, a shell struck his knapsack, tearing it away, and the impetus of the missile was such that he was paralyzed. He was carried off the field by his comrades, but as he soon recovered and served the rest of the time with Sherman in his March to the Sea and taking part in the grand review at Washington at the close of the war, he did not realize that any permanent injury would result. Twenty years later, however, when he became almost a nervous wreck, he consulted his old army surgeon, who informed him that his condition was not caused by hard work but by the shock which the shell had given to his entire nervous system. He had never applied for a pension, but now at the earnest solicitation of his friends he asked for one, and now draws twelve dollars a month, a small compensation for all that he has endured as the result of his service on the march and the field of battle. Returning from the war he took up his trade in earnest and made a good living thereby. He continued in this occupation until 1891, when he was appointed postmaster, which office he has held ever since with the exception
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of three years during President Cleveland's second administration. He owns a tract of eight acres in the outskirts of the village, and he and his family reside in the home which he built thirty-two years ago; he has a nice orchard and keeps his own cows, and enjoys himself in his pleasant and comfortable home.
On December 2, 1869, he was married to Miss Rose A. Logan, who was born in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1845, and was the daughter of D. C. and Harriet (McNabb) Logan, the former of whom came from Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and died August 6, 1868. Miss Carrie, the first born of this union, is now her father's assistant in the postoffice; Frances S. is the wife of Warren Simon, of Boardman; and Jane Mary is a teacher in the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors' Orphans' Home at Xenia. All these children are graduates of the Poland high school. Mr. Nesbitt is a Republican and has been a school director for a quarter of a century and a member of the town council; he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and as he was christened in the Presbyterian church his sympathies are with that denomination.
MARTIN W. FROLUND.
It will assuredly prove not uninteresting to observe in the series of biographical sketches appearing in these columns the varying nationality, or- igin and early environment of men who have made their way to positions of prominence and success. In no better way can we gain a conception of the diverse elements which have entered into our social and commercial life, and which will impart to the future American type features which can not be conjectured at the present time. We have had an American type in the past ; we shall have a distinctly national character in the future, but for the present, amalgamation of the varied elements is proceeding and the final result is yet remote. The extraction of the subject of this review may be sought for among the sturdy sons of the far Norseland, and he is a worthy representative of that land which has contributed a most valuable element to our complex social fabric, being a native of the fair old city of Stockholm, Sweden, where he was born on the 8th of November, 1854, and where he was reared and educated. In his native land he learned the trade of ship carpenter, and in connection with this vocation he has had a most interesting and eventful career, having visited the most diverse sections of the civilized globe, which he has three times circumnavigated. He is today numbered among the representative and successful contractors and builders of the city
He WN Tirolund
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of Youngstown, Mahoning county, and a brief record of his honorable and worthy career most consistently finds place in this volume.
Martin W. Frolund secured his early educational discipline in the ex- cellent schools of his native city and there at an early age entered upon his apprenticeship at the trade of ship carpenter, to which vocation he continued to devote his attention until his emigration to America. He was thus en- gaged for a period of twelve years, within which time, as before intimated, he made three trips around the world, visiting the most important ports and gaining valuable experience and a comprehensive knowledge of the most varied types of humanity and viewing many historic scenes, while he duly profited by the broadening advantages of so extensive traveling. His father, Peter Frolund, was likewise a carpenter by vocation, and his active business life was devoted to this line of enterprise. He has now attained the age of seventy-three years and is living retired in the city of Youngstown, where he commands unqualified esteem by reason of his sterling integrity. He married Miss Breta Christenia Anderson, and their four sons and two daughters are now all residents of the United States, the mother having died in Sweden at fifty years of age. Peter Frolund came to America in 1888.
Martin W. Frolund came to America in the year 1884 and located in the city of Quincy, Norfolk county, Massachusetts, where he was successfully engaged in contracting and building until July, 1899, when he came to Ohio and took up his residence in the city of Youngstown, which has since been the scene of his well directed endeavors in the same line of occupation, and where he is one of the leading contractors. For three years Mr. Frolund has been engaged in building residences on his own account, in addition to his other contracting, and selling them. He owns his own planing mill. He is recognized as a most capable artisan, and every contract into which he enters receives his most careful and discriminating attention, while his fidelity to its terms is ever assured, so that he has gained an excellent reputa- tion as a reliable and straightforward business man and is recognized as a valuable citizen. In politics he renders allegiance to the Republican party, and his religious faith is that of the Swedish Baptist church, in whose spir- itual and temporal affairs he has a deep and abiding interest, his wife also being a devoted member of the same church and an active worker in its be- half.
In the city of Quincy, Massachusetts, December 10, 1884, Mr. Frolund was united in marriage to Miss Amanda C. Peterson, who is likewise of Swedish ancestry, and who was born in southern Sweden, October 3, 1864 They are the parents of one daughter, Elsie J.
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GENEALOGICAL AND. FAMILY HISTORY.
SAMUEL A. RICHARDS.
Mr. Richards has a very responsible position as the manager of The Struthers Furnace, and in his varied and extensive experience has met with success that marks him for distinction among his fellows. His grandfather's name was William, who was in the pottery business in Wales, and married a Miss Jones, who died in 1860. They reared four daughters and one son : Mary, the oldest, was twice married and had two children by each husband: William was the son; Elvira was the wife of Erastus Coy, and they had two children: Emma, the wife of Phillip Moser, had four chil- dren; Ellen married Allen Hellawell, of Youngstown, and their two chil- dren are both married.
The only son of this family, William, was born in Wales in May, 1819, and when he was eighteen years old came to this country with his mother and sisters, being six weeks on the voyage. They possessed very limited means, and they at first lived in Cleveland, where he obtained em- ployment at his trade of blacksmithing, and later at Akron, Ohio. In 1843 he was married to Mary Ann Hellawell, of Yorkshire, England, who was born there in 1822 and made the long voyage to this country in 1839; she was the daughter of Samuel Hellawell, who brought over his family at that time. There were ten children born of this union, of whom Samuel A. was the oldest: the others were: Mary A., wife of George Westerman in St. Louis, two children; Elvira, the wife of William Murdock, and they have one son; William is the manager of a blast furnace at Ironton, Ohio, and has one son and three daughters; Frances is the wife of Jules Vautrot, in Warren, Ohio, and has three children; Fred is a railroad conductor at Texarkana, Arkansas, and has one daughter; Emma is the widow of D. H. Griffing and has one son; Ellen, the wife of George Shellhouse, has one son and two daughters; Phillip, a roller in the Barr mill of Lockport, New York, has three children; and Dorothy is the wife of Blaine Claypool in Seattle, Washington. The father of this family died in 1876, but the mother is still living in Warren, Ohio.
Samuel A. Richards was born in Akron, Ohio, July 9, 1844, and had a fair education in the schools of Girard and Warren. Since an early age he has been engaged in the iron business and in the seventies went to Cleve- land, from there moved to Pennsylvania, and thence to Illinois, where he was employed at Joliet for five years and at Chicago for ten years. He was then called to the position which he now holds, as manager of the furnace at Struthers, and he has amply demonstrated his fitness for this place of responsibility.
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
On December 22, 1869, Mr. Richards was married to Mrs. Mary Fox, nee Schoenberger, who had a daughter Frederica by her first marriage. who is now the wife of Charles K. Ladd; she was eighteen years old at her first marriage and was soon left a widow. Mr. and Mrs. Richards had four children : Lucy D. died of scarlet fever at the age of thirteen; a son, who died in infancy; Henry T. is his father's assistant and has a wife and a little daughter; Jules G. was educated as a chemist in the Ohio State Uni- versity, and after two years there left to accept his present position in the laboratories of the Struthers plant; he is twenty-two years old and unmar- ried. Mr. Richards is a member of the Masonic fraternity and Royal Ar- canum, is a Republican voter, and although not a member of any church organization, contributes liberally to religious work. His whole life has been devoted to the iron business.
STEPHEN B. RICHARDS.
The life of this gentleman should be one of encouragement to all young men who are striving to climb the ladder of fame. In 1867 he entered the office of the Buckeye Engine Works of Salem, Ohio, as a shipping clerk. He has risen steadily, occupying more responsible positions at each promo- tion, until he is at the present time serving in one of the most important positions in the company's gift, being secretary-treasurer of the concern.
Mr. Richards is a native of the Buckeye state, and of the county in which he has passed his entire lifetime. He was born on a farm just north of Salem, in the year 1842. His parents were Samuel and Lydia (Brown) Richards. They had emigrated to the state from Pennsylvania, where they had been residents of Chester county. His father was a man of fine edu- cation and was very actively identified with the public life of his community, having filled a number of the positions of trust in the gift of his fellow citizens. He died in 1854 at the age of fifty-two years. During the years immediately preceding his death he was exceedingly active in his opposition to the institution of slavery, and was well known as an agent of that benefi- cent institution known as the "underground railway." Our subject's father and mother were the parents of four other children: D. I. Richards, who is now a farmer living on the old homestead; Dr. G. A. Richards, a success- ful dentist at Elmira, New York; Hannah, now Mrs. R. E. Snode, of Marlboro, Stark county, Ohio; and Hulda E., of Mahoning county.
Mr. Richards was reared amidst the refining influences of a Christian home, and received his preliminary education in the country schools of his district, which was later supplemented by a literary course at an academy
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
in Damascus, Ohio. His first business venture was with the Buckeye En- gine Works, as stated heretofore, and he has passed a lifetime in their service. He entered their employ as shipping clerk, was promoted to assistant book- keeper, and then took entire charge of the books, was next cashier of the institution, then had charge of the sales department, of which department he still has supervision. At a partial reorganization he was elected superin- tendent, which position he held for a few years, then, on the death of Col. T. C. Boone, he was promoted to his present position. As stated before, this is a record that should appeal to the young men in the community, who are too often desirous of beginning well up on the ladder rather than starting at the very bottom.
Mr. Richards married Miss Gertrude, daughter of Dr. J. C. Whinnery, whose biography will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Richards has borne her husband seven children: Edna, who is at present the efficient professor of languages in the Salem high school; Frances, Marietta, Ray- mond, Abby, Jessie and Samuel. Mr. Richards keeps himself in touch with the public life of the community, and his executive ability has been used by his fellow citizens in some of the offices of public trust. The past eight years he has been an active member of the board of education, and has served several terms in the city council. In political belief he adheres to the principles of the Republican party. He is a genial, whole-souled gentle- man whose life of integrity and uprightness has been one which has left its impress for good in the community.
EDWIN A. BROWNLEE, M. D.
Dr. Brownlee is a popular physician of Struthers, and although he is a young practitioner, his progressive methods have brought him excellent patronage, and he no doubt has a brilliant future awaiting him. He is of Scotch descent, and his paternal grandfather died in Scotland, leaving, by his two wives, five sons and one daughter. One of these sons, James A., was born near Glasgow, February 22, 1825, and he was only six years old when his mother brought him and her other children to the United States. She had some means and bought one hundred and twelve acres of land, which is still in the possession of the family. She was a noble, Christian woman, and lived to be eighty-three years old, dying in 1867. James A. Brownlee married, in March, 1854, Rebecca Gilchrist, who was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, in 1832, the daughter of Alexander Gilchrist. They have eight living children, having lost two in infancy, but not a death has occurred in the household for forty years.
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
Edwin A. Brownlee was born in Poland, September 18, 1858, went to school at home, and took a three years' course in Poland Union Semin- ary, after which he taught for eight years. In 1888 he took a position in the department of the interior at Washington, and during the two years that he was there he was diligently engaged in reading medicine. He at- tended Georgetown University for two years and then went to Dartmouth, where he was graduated in 1892 with the degree of M. D. In 1892-93 he took a course at the Post-Graduate School in New York city, and in 1893 opened his office in Struthers, and during the past ten years he has shown himself to be a physician of unusual skill in the treatment of human ail- ments.
On September 16, 1896, Dr. Brownlee was married to Miss Luella Geddes, a teacher in the Struthers public schools; she is a native of Penn- sylvania and the daughter of William S. and Phebe (Cowden) Geddes. Mr. Geddes was a business man of Youngstown, but for failing health sold out and settled on a farm, where he died in 1893, at the age of sixty-two, leaving his widow and five of their nine children. Charles P. Geddes, one of the sons, is a physician in Washington, Pennsylvania; his mother and one of the daughters still reside on the old farm. Dr. Brownlee bought a pleasant home of his own about seven years ago. He is a member of the Maccabees and is a Republican, taking an active interest in public affairs, and his wife is a member of the United Presbyterian church.
CHARLES AUSTIN.
Charles Austin, who is conducting a barber shop in Poland, was born in this place in 1858. His father, Gideon Austin, was a native of Connecticut. born in the year 1824, and on leaving that state he became one of the pioneer settlers of Poland, where he made his home until his death, which occurred on the 21st of July, 1890. His father came to Ohio somewhat later than his son Gideon. He bore the name of Eli Austin, and his death occurred June 15, 1825. Gideon Austin was united in marriage to Dorothy Faukell, of Poland, who was born in Boardman township, Mahoning county, in 1831 ; she is still living in her native township and on the 25th of February, 1903, attained the age of seventy-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Austin were married about 1849 and became the parents of ten children, seven of whom reached mature years and were living at the time of the father's death. Two of the family still survive, Henry being a painter of Columbiana. Ohio.
Under the parental roof Charles Austin was reared and in the public
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schools of Poland he obtained his education. He was married on the 13th of February, 1880, to Miss Iola Lett, who was born in Delhi, Iowa. In 1857 Mr. Austin purchased the historic old mansion known as the Sparrow house, which has stood for almost a century. It was the first hotel of Poland and is the oldest building here. It is, therefore, a landmark for the entire country-side, and is built of native rock, two stories in height, with a cellar under the whole building. The structure is forty-four feet front by thirty-five feet deep. It was here, upon the large front porch, that Major William McKinley enlisted for service in the Civil war, and Mr. Austin is justly proud of his purchase, which was made on the 9th of October, 1902. The old building will long remain as a historic landmark and an object of interest to all travelers who come to this portion of the state. In his business career Mr. Austin has won a fair degree of success because of honorable methods, which have commanded him the confidence and support of all with whom he has come in contact. In politics he is an earnest Republican, unswerving in his support of the party, and he has served as clerk of the town and for a number of years has been a member of the town council. He also belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church of which Major McKin- ley was once a member, and had the honor of being in the latter's Sunday- school class.
MISSES ABBIE JANE AND MARIA DELIN.
Miss Abbie Jane and Maria Delin represent a prominent and well known family of Mahoning county. Both are natives of Poland and daugh- ters of Elijah and Harriet ( Austin) Delin. The father was born in Hart- ford, Connecticut, in January, 1810, and the mother's birth occurred in Wallingford, that state, on the IIth of March, 1812. They were married in Boardman township, in the village of Poland, November 17, 1839. Mrs. Delin, however, had been previously married, having become the wife of Hoel Howe in Boardman township, January 26, 1831; by this marriage there was born a daughter, Lois Howe. At the time of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Delin they took up their abode upon a half acre lot purchased of the Morse estate. Mr. Delin was a descendant of the prominent Love- lands family of New England and also of Roger Williams, the noted apostle of freedom, who founded the colony of Rhode Island. On the maternal line the Misses Delin are descendants of one of the old families of Mahoning county. Their grandfather, Eli Austin, settled in Poland at a very early day and died here June 15, 1825, at an advanced age. Mrs. Delin, the daughter of Mr. Austin, died at the family home in Poland, January 10,
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1884, in the seventy-second year of her age, and Mr. Delin, having sur- vived her for about seven years, passed away February 8, 1891, at the age of eighty-one years and one month. He was a carpenter, a master mechanic. a pattern-maker and a cabinet-maker, and possessed considerable mechanical ability, his labors in this direction enabling him to provide a comfortable living for his family.
To Elijah and Harriet (Austin) Delin were born five children : Hoel, who is married and is now in the county treasurer's office at Youngstown ; Mary, the wife of J. C. Smith, of Youngstown, by whom she has three sons ; Abbie J. and Maria, who are living at the old home place ; and Alfred, who is a bookkeeper in Youngstown and is married and has two daughters. All of the children were provided with excellent educational privileges, hav- ing been students in the old Poland College, and Miss Maria was a teacher for two terms. There is considerable musical talent in the family, which is shared by the daughters. Miss Maria was also the assistant postmaster in Poland for eight years, acting under George Allen, who filled the position of postmaster there for twenty-four consecutive years, and Major McKin- ley was also there for a short time.
ROBERT V. HAMPSON.
For a period of four decades the financial institutions of the town of Salem, Columbiana county, have been headed by that excellent bank, the Farmers' National Bank. This institution has had great prestige in the community, owing to the connection with it of the late Honorable Joshua T. Brooks, for long years its president, and for some ten years previous to his death, second vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Another element of strength during all this period was the connection with this bank as cashier of the honored name which initiates this paragraph. and who, upon the death of Mr. Brooks, succeeded to the presidency. This gentleman, for the past forty-five years, a period covering his whole business life, has been connected with banking institutions in Salem, having become cashier of the State Bank of Ohio at this point in 1858. He was at that time the youngest cashier in any financial institution in the whole great west. He served in this position with this institution until 1865, when it was merged into the Farmers' National Bank, and he became the new institution's cashier.
The birth of Mr. Hampson occurred in Carroll county, in the town of Carrollton, in 1836. He was the son of George Y. and Catherine (Frush) Hampson. His father was a native of the Keystone state, having been for
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
long years a prominent citizen of Huntingdon county. About 1831 he removed to Carroll county, Ohio, where he occupied many of the positions of trust in the gift of the people, having been county treasurer, and also serving a period as sheriff of the county. He was a prominent worker in the Democratic councils of the state and county. He was a man whose word was as good as his bond, thoroughly upright and honest, and of a genial nature that attracted large numbers of friends to him. He died in 1876 at the age of eighty-two years.
The immediate subject of our sketch, Mr. Robert V. Hampson, began his married life in Salem, when he was joined to Elizabeth, the daughter of Mrs. Ellen Beatty, a family which came to Salem from the state of New Jersey at an early date. Mrs. Hampson has become the mother of four interesting children: Carrie, Mrs. J. R. Carey, whose husband is a solicitor for the Pennsylvania Railway; Helen, wife of George B. Shep- hard, of Cleveland, treasurer of the Cleveland Malleable Iron Company : Effie, wife of J. R. Thomas, of New York city, assistant secretary in the service of the American Steel and Wire Company; Lucy, a single daughter at home.
Mr. Hampson is actively interested in the welfare of his local com- munity, having served for many years as a member of the school board, of which board he is at the present time the honored president. He is also secretary and treasurer of the Salem Gas Company. In fraternal affiliation he has been a Mason for the past thirty-four years, and has filled all the offices in that beneficent institution. He is at the present time past grand commander of the Knights Templar of Ohio. He is a gentleman who makes friends easily, and is frank and candid in nature so that he retains their friendship. He is a popular citizen of his local community, and as such deserves recognition in a work of the character such as this present volume purports to be.
ISAAC G. TINNEY.
One of the honored business men of the city of Youngstown, Mahoning county, is Mr. Tinney, who may well be regarded as one of the pioneer representatives of commercial interests here, since he has been identified with the merchant-tailoring trade here for the long period of forty-five years and is still actively engaged in this line of business, being known as a capable ex- ponent of the sartorial art and catering to an excellent patronage. His long years of residence here and his honorable and upright business methods have gained and retained to him uniform confidence and esteem in the community,
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