USA > Ohio > Genealogical and family history of eastern Ohio > Part 42
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acters from all over the world, invests its possessor with a personality and fund of anecdote that are sure to make him a welcome guest in every as- semblage. Having visited California at the height of the excitement, and spent seventeen years there during the most characteristic period of the mining camps, the gentleman to whom this brief biography is devoted was a "forty-niner" and a participant in many of the scenes which furnished material for Bret Harte's charming sketches of California life.
The founder of this particular branch of the Thompson family was an Englishman, who came over to New York when it was still a loyal colony of King George. As the troubles between the colonies and the mother country grew more and more intense, the situation was rendered very disagreeable for those who still remained loyal to the crown, and as Mr. Thompson was one of these, he found New York city so uncomfortable as a place of resi- dence that he returned to England to escape persecution. His son, however, remained and identified himself with the republic which resulted from the prolonged agitation and war of the last quarter of the eighteenth century.
John Thompson, the son of the latter, was born in New York city in 1800, and later removed to the west and ended his days in Iowa about 1870. His wife was Malinda Smith, a native of New York, and he had four children, one of whom died in infancy, and a daughter passed away at the age of eighteen years. John, the eldest son, died about 1875, leaving three children : James, William and Nina.
William L. Thompson, the other son and youngest of his father's children, was born at Troy, New York, March 31, 1829, and when nine years old accompanied his parents on their removal to LaPorte, Indiana. Here he grew up and was educated in the common schools, subsequently attending the Indiana Medical College at LaPorte, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1849. Within three weeks after receiving his degree the young doctor was on his way to the distant gold fields of California, whose then recent discovery had caused a great stir in the east and set in motion an army of adventurous spirits toward the shores of the western ocean. Accompanied by four companions, Dr. Thompson made the difficult and dangerous trip overland, going by the old Mormon trail to the Missouri and thence by the Platte river road on to the scene of his destina- tion. At that time the traveling was rough and beset with all sorts of priva- tions, to say nothing of the numerous bands of savages who lay in wait at many points, to fall upon any party of emigrants that might come their way. The herds of buffalo that roamed the prairies in countless numbers were still undisturbed by the agencies that subsequently destroyed them, and other
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large game indigenous to the Rockies as yet flourished in undiminished abundance. The little party of Indianians left home March 12, 1850, and after a journey long to be remembered arrived in the land of gold, August 8, 1850. Dr. Thompson, who was a little past his twenty-first birthday when he reached the golden shores, spent the subsequent seventeen years in and around the mining camps of California. His previous professional training proved advantageous in the rapidly accumulating population, and he prac- ticed medicine to advantage among the miners assembled from all parts of the world. Meantime, however, he was not neglectful of the opportunities afforded by mining, and put in a considerable portion of his time searching for the precious metal. Tiring, eventually, of the somewhat wild and unciv- ilized life of the gold regions, Dr. Thompson determined to return east, and carried out this resolve in 1867. Making his way to Ohio, he located at East Liverpool, resumed the practice of medicine and has ever since made his home in that city.
In 1854, while residing in California, Dr. Thompson was married at Maxwell's Creek, later known as Coulterville, to Harriett, daughter of William Brunt, an Englishman. He has only one child, a daughter named Arabella, who is at present the wife of George Blackmore. Though a Republican in politics, Dr. Thompson has never held but one office, which was that of a justice of the peace at Coulterville, California. Referring to this, in a reminiscent way, the Doctor is in the habit of saying that as he only tried one case and married one couple, he hopes to obtain forgiveness for this single lapse from his usual aversion to office-holding. He is not a member of any church, and his fraternal connection is confined to membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
THOMAS NEWELL STITT.
Five years as a commercial traveler gave Mr. Stitt an invaluable ex- perience in dealing with men and in broadening his mental horizon. After all, there is little in business beyond the thorough knowledge of men, at least in that department which has to do with the vending of merchandise, and the man who can read men and can devise means of interesting them in his enterprise, is certain of success. Possessing this faculty of keen per- ception, Mr. Stitt had but to combine with it assiduity in his work, and the result was a foregone conclusion.
It was in the town of Pulaski, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1853, that he was born, and he there passed his boyhood days in attendance at school and with his parents, until at the age of thirteen years he commenced work
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on a farm in Pennsylvania, where he continued until he reached the age of eighteen, at which time he entered a store in Wheatland, Pennsylvania, as clerk. Remaining there two years, he afterward came to Youngstown, Ohio, in 1873, entering the store of E. M. McGillen & Company. Here he remained in various capacities. Attaining a wide grasp of the business in all its details, he rose to be manager of the Cleveland Wholesale Dry Goods Department. . He then spent two years upon the road for the same com- pany, and about one year for a Boston firm, also another year for a New York firm.
In 1885 he became connected with G. M. McKelvey & Company at Youngstown as manager and buyer of several departments, and he remained with them for a period of ten years, until the Youngstown Dry Goods Com- pany was organized, when he was chosen president. About a year later he was elected treasurer also, and in this responsible position has had the prin- cipal direction of the various branches of this successful firm.
He was united in marriage on the 10th of July, 1877, at Pulaski, Ten- nessee, to Mary, daughter of Robert McClenahan, and six children have gathered about their hearthside. These are Harold I., Robert D., Edith, Helen, Walter C. and Mary.
His father, William Stitt, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1808 and died in the year 1900, having been a resident of Youngstown as early as 1832 and 1833. His wife was Jane Robinson and to them were born five children beside our subject, as follows: Archibald W .; William; Ella N .; Teresa, wife of E. E. Moore; and Walter C. The mother died at sixty-seven years of age.
Mr. Stitt is a Republican in principles and action and is a member of the Presbyterian church. In his present highly responsible position in busi- ness he has won the esteem alike of friends and competitors. Rising only through natural ability and energy, he richly deserves the reward of his long years of effort.
JAMES LIDDLE.
The most interesting feature of every one's life is how he has used the opportunities which came in his way, and how he has met the obstacles which hinder more or less the success of every ambitious youth. From this point of view we now have to consider in the life of Mr. James Liddle a very attractive career. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, nor did his parents live to carry him smoothly over the first part of the highway of life and set him down with ample preparation and training at the parting of
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James. Liddle and family
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the ways. He is a native of Ohio, born March 14, 1834, and his earliest recollec- tions are of Poland township at the home of George Liddle, where he lived from his sixth to his ninth year. He was then under the care of a farmer in this township named Lemuel Holland, for whom he worked more than he ate or went to school, but at the end of four years he took French leave, being then thirteen years old. He drifted about in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois, and was employed in different occupations until the war came on. He went to Illinois in 1852 and in 1853 had the privilege of seeing in a court room in Salem the man who was to lead the nation through its most crucial struggle, Abraham Lincoln. Young Liddle worked for a time at growing broom corn and making brooms, and found employment at various places, Shawneetown, Princeton and Geneseo. He returned to Ohio in 1859 and has been one of the successful farmers since that time in Boardman town- ship, just north of Poland. He carries on general farming and dairying and intends to pass his remaining days in this place. He has served as township trustee and in other ways has manifested his public spirit, and his first vote was cast for the Republican candidate John C. Fremont, but he now holds himself independent in politics.
On March 7, 1861, Mr. Liddle was married to Miss Nancy Loveland, who was born near Youngstown in August, 1843, the daughter of David and Lydia (Pyle) Loveland; her grandfather Amos Loveland went into the Revolutionary army when too young to act as a regular, but he afterward served for four years, and he was later among the surveyors of the Western Reserve and bought of the Western Reserve Company four hundred acres of land, bing one of the earliest settlers in that region; two hundred acres of this land still remains in the family, and Mrs. Liddle owns ninety acres and the second home in which her grandfather lived. Mr. and Mrs. Liddle are justly proud of their eight children, all of whom have shown in various ways their marked ability and strong characters and are now occupying hon- orable places in the world's activity.
Loveland S. Liddle, the oldest son, had a good fundamental education and is now a substantial farmer on part of the old Loveland farm; he married Ida M. Johnson of Burton, Ohio, in 1895, and they took up their residence in a new home near the old Loveland homestead. The next in the family is Mark H., who attended school at the Poland Union Seminary, later gradu- ated from Duff's Mercantile College in Pittsburg, began his business career as clerk in the Farmers Deposit and Savings Bank at Poland, rising to the position of cashier, and is now cashier of the Struthers Savings Bank, of which he was the founder. John D. Liddle had a good education, was a
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machinist for several years in the shops of Newcastle, Pennsylvania, but gave up his trade because of an injury received in the shop, and is at present an extensive dairyman in Youngstown ; in 1894 he married Bertha Kerr, of Youngstown, who became the mother of two children, and they make their home on the old Loveland place. The oldest daughter of the family is Clare E., who attended the public school and seminary in Poland and is living at home with her parents. The fourth son, Thorn B., after gaining an education, took up farming, and now assists his parents in looking after their interests. Grace G. completed the course of study in Poland, graduated from Duff's Col- lege in Pittsburg, and was a student at Scio and Wooster Universities, since which time she has been a successful teacher in Boardman, this county. Clyde C. also took a course at Duff's Mercantile College and then entered the Poland Bank as office boy; at the age of nineteen he became clerk in the Dollar Savings Bank of Youngstown and two years later was given the position of assistant cashier in the Struthers Savings and Banking Company. The youngest of the household, Lydia B., graduated from the Poland Seminary and the Rayen school in Youngstown and is now at home.
EDWARD DEVON.
The above named gentleman is one of the many contributions in the way of skilled workmen made by old England to the pottery industries of East Liverpool. The name of this place is itself English and suggests the famous seaport city at the mouth of the Mersey which from time imme- morial has been an important commercial mart in the British Isles. Whether similarity in name makes Englishmen feel at home or whether, as is most likely the case, men of a particular kind of pursuit naturally flock to the centers where occupation in their line is to be secured, still the fact re- mains that East Liverpool has long protected English immigration, and quite a colony from "the tight little isle" has gathered around the enter- prising Ohio city. They come from all parts of England, but mostly from the shires where the mechanic and mining industries have for ages trained up a population especially suited to supply the demands for workmen in these lines.
The Devon family is extensively represented in America, but the gen- tleman of whom it is herein intended to give some particulars of a. biogra- phical nature has been identified with East Liverpool interests for about twenty-three years. The family originated in Ireland, but has been long resident in England. John Devon, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native born Irishman, intensely loyal to the traditions of that historic country and lived most of the days of his life within its borders. His son,
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John Devon, was born in England in 1830, reared a large family of children and closed his career in 1898 when about sixty-eight years of age. The list of children, as given in order of birth, stands thus on the family register : John; Thomas; Edward; William; Mary, now the wife of John Wooten; Harry; Elizabeth, now the wife of William McGee; and Nellie, wife of John Colbaugh. In addition to the subject of this sketch three of his brothers came over to America and are in its industrial citizenship at vari- ous points. William, the fourth son, married Emily Taylor, and has four children : Harry L., Arnold M., Wilfred and Grace E. Harry, the sixth in age of his father's family, married Nellie Brooks and has three children : Harry, Nellie and Alice.
Edward Devon, who ranks third in the family, was born in Devonshire, England, in 1863, and when a youth of sixteen summers made his way alone across the Atlantic, for the purpose of seeking a career in the United States. He came direct to East Liverpool in 1879 and secured employment in Homer Loughlin's Pottery, where he worked in the kiln department for the following three years. This brought him into 1883, the year of the great lockout, which so disturbed industrial conditions in that locality and disarranged former terms of employment. About that time Mr. Devon had become a stockholder in the Dresden pottery works, but though he re- tained this interest five years he only worked there during the year suc- ceeding the lockout. In March, 1884, he went to the C. C. Thompson Pottery Company, and was employed in the kiln department of that estab- lishment for two years. In 1886 Mr. Devon began his career with the D. E. McNicol Pottery Company in the line of his regular work and did all the firing for them for the ten subsequent years, since which time he has been general manager of the kiln department. Mr. Devon is regarded as a skilful workman who thoroughly understands his business, and he is one of the most useful men connected with the East Liverpool potteries. He was married to Miss Anna J., daughter of John A. Garner, of East Liver- pool, and has two children, Alice A., and Clara J. Mr. Devon's religious affiliations are with the Episcopal church, his politics are Republican. and he is a member of the Knights Templar branch of Masonry.
ERASTUS D. MARSHALL.
The mention of this name immediately recalls the Old Dominion, as it has become associated in the public mind with that state and has a decided Virginian flavor. It is difficult to remember a time when some one or other of the Marshalls was not a leader in the affairs of that old commonwealth, and they have been especially distinguished in the law. In fact the name
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Marshall is almost synonymous with the law, and the gentleman above named, who is the subject of this brief biography, has maintained the tradi- tions of the profession, following the example of his father, who also de- voted his life to this honorable calling. The founder of this particular branch of the family, and great-grandfather of Erastus D. Marshall, came to Virginia when it was still a loyal colony of the various English majesties, and when rebellion had not been so much as thought of, much less set afoot by enthusiastic geniuses of the Patrick Henry type. This immigrant an- cestor, whose name was Aaron Marshall, was born in England and com- bined the callings of farming and of preaching, his voyage to Virginia being in company with Lord Dunmore, who figured so conspicuously as governor of the colony in the latter half of the eighteenth century. He located in what afterward became Hancock county in West Virginia, spent the re- mainder of his days there and passed away in 1826, when seventy-six years old. His son, John Marshall, was born in what was then Brooke county, in 1783, was a farmer by occupation, married Elizabeth Hayes and lived until 1860. From this union came James G. Marshall, who was born in Brooke county in 1826, and is now a prominent lawyer at New Cumber- land, West Virginia, having served several terms as prosecuting attorney of Hancock county. He was married in 1849 to Lavina, daughter of John Miller, and who died in 1892, after becoming the mother of four children, of whom one named John died in infancy, and three survive, as follows: Oliver S .; Erastus D .; and Ila E., wife of Dr. J. C. Walton.
Erastus D. Marshall, second of the three living children, was born in Fairview, Hancock county, West Virginia, March 31, 1852, and remained in his native place until some years after becoming of age. He received an excellent academical education by his attendance in the Fairview schools, supplemented later by a two years' course in Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, and completed at Bethany College, West Virginia, where he spent one year. After leaving college in 1877, Mr. Marshall spent four years as a kind of post-graduate preparation for life by teaching four years in the schools of Hancock county. Thus equipped, both in theory and practice, Mr. Marshall came to East Liverpool in 1880, entered earnestly into the study of law, obtained a license in due time and for over twenty years has been one of the active and enterprising members of the bar in this thriving Ohio city. Like most young lawyers, he exhibited an early fondness for politics, and in West Virginia, where he has always main- tained a residence, he has long been a conspicuous figure in the strenuous campaigns characteristic of the mountain state. For twenty years there
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has scarcely been a convention, either state or congressional, held in that lively commonwealth, in which Mr. Marshall has not been sent as a dele- gate, and he is not only recognized as a zealous worker and influential leader, but a "past master" in parliamentary law and all the devices which go so far to gain supremacy in popular assemblages.
In 1879 Mr. Marshall was married at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to Clara E. Gardner, and their union has been brightened and strengthened by the birth of three intelligent and promising children, whose names are Alma, Harold and Hilda. Mr. Marshall is a member of the Christian church, and the family enjoys a welcome in the best social circles of Ohio and West Virginia.
HARRISON JONES.
One of the leading ministers of the gospel in northeastern Ohio, and a gentleman who has been for long years prominently identified with some of the leading churches of that section of the state, is here presented for the consideration of our readers. Rev. Jones was at one time the beloved pastor of the Church of Christ in Alliance, Ohio. He is a native of Trumbull county, Ohio, where he was born in the year 1813, on the 15th of June. His father was Isaiah Jones, his mother Sara Hartford. Isaiah Jones was a native of the Old Dominion state, coming to Ohio about 1812. The mother was a sister of the noted Dr. Hartford, of Canton, Ohio, and later of Pitts- burg. The family removed from Trumbull county to Wooster, in 1815, where they continued to reside until our subject was a lad of thirteen years. Mr. Isaiah Jones was one of the pioneer merchants of that city. He was a man of fine standing and influence in his community, and is remembered as having been the first mayor of the town of Wooster. He also served for a period as justice of the peace in that village. He later removed to a farm in Crawford county, where he continued to reside for a period, and then went back to Wayne county, where he resided until his death at the age of seventy- nine years. He was of a family which was distinguished by other members in the early history of the state, his brother, Benjamin Jones, having repre- sented the district of which Wayne county was then a part in the national Congress. Grandfather Samuel Jones married Leah Thomas, and they were the parents of seven sons. The maternal great-grandfather Thomas was a Baptist minister and chaplain to George Washington during the Revolu- tionary war.
Rev. Harrison Jones began his service for the Master at a very tender age, beginning active pulpit service when but a boy of fourteen. He was one of the very first of the itinerant Disciple preachers and for a period of
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twenty years engaged in the arduous work of an itinerant preacher in north- eastern Ohio. There was no organization of Disciples in this section of the country at that time, and he traveled from place to place preaching wherever he could find a building or an audience. Mr. Jones was immersed into the faith in 1825 and ordained to the work in 1827. The first Disciple church organized was at the village of New Lisbon, Ohio, by Walter Scott, the second church being at Warner, Ohio. After the itinerant experience Rev. Jones settled at Wadsworth, Ohio, and began attendance there at an academy, in the meantime engaging in preaching. The academy was taught by the noted pioneer educator, John McGregor, a Scotchman, who left his impress upon society in that early time.
During this period the marriage of our subject occurred, in 1836, to Miss L. Pardee, who was a student at the academy. The marriage has been blessed with a family of eight children : Helen M., now Mrs. Solliday ; William A. Jones, of Canton, Ohio, with the Pennsylvania railroad; Jefferson H. Jones, a merchant in Chicago; Emily P., now Mrs. Heston, of Homestead, Pa .; Isaiah B., Ashland, Ohio, conductor on the Pennsylvania Railroad; Sara Ann, deceased wife of Mr. Norman Sherman, of Lincoln, Nebraska; Mary C., Mrs. Turner, of Pueblo, Colorado; K. Porter Jones, of Marysville, Tennessee. The mother of this family died at the age of seventy-four, in September, 1890.
In 1848 Rev. Jones settled at the town of Wooster, where he preached for seventeen years as pastor of one church. The condition of his father's health having incapacitated him for the conduct of his farm, our subject removed to the home place and for a number of years was engaged in agri- cultural pursuits and preaching in Wooster at the same time. In 1857 he became pastor of the Disciples church of Bedford, Ohio. He had watched with foreboding the strife between the north and the south during the fifties, and while he dreaded the calamity of war, he yet considered it his duty to do what he could for the encouragement of the cause which meant so much for the benighted race. Therefore, in 1861, he joined the Union forces as chaplain, becoming a member of President Garfield's regiment, Forty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He remained in active service for a period of three years, when his wife's failing health caused him to offer his resigna- tion and return home. In 1865 he was called to Cleveland as pastor of the Euclid Avenue Disciples church, and built the edifice which is still in use by that organization. He passed here a period of seven years, his ministry having been attended with success. He then became pastor of the two charges at Alliance and Newburg, which he served for three years. In 187I he removed to Alliance, where he has since continued to reside.
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Mr. Jones is a man of fine pulpit presence, and is regarded as one of the most eloquent preachers in the church of Christ. His life has been an exceed- ingly active one, and he has been connected very prominently with the educational life of his church, having served periods of eight or ten years each as trustee at Bethany and Hiram Colleges. In his earlier life he was very active in his opposition to slavery, and is proud to recall that he took a helpful part in the management of that institution, the "underground rail- way." In the early times he was in political matters a Jacksonian Democrat, but became dissatisfied with the position of that party on the slavery question, and was active in the organization of the Republican party, for whose candi- dates he has voted ever since that time. The family of which Rev. Jones is a member consisted of eight children: Mary, deceased; John, also de- ceased; Daniel, deceased; Thomas G., deceased; Ann, now living at the age of ninety-three years in Monmouth, Illinois, having married a gentleman by the name of Butler; J. H., the subject of this sketch; Isaiah, deceased; Sara, deceased.
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