USA > Ohio > Genealogical and family history of eastern Ohio > Part 46
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In politics Mr. Mackey has ever upheld the basic principles advanced by the Democratic party, to which he has given his support in national af- fairs, though he cast his ballot for Peter Cooper when that veteran was the presidential candidate of the Greenback party, and in purely local affairs he has maintained an independent attitude, giving his influence in support of men and measures rather than being biased by strict partisanship when no national issue was involved. Although in early life he took an active and prominent interest in politics, sometimes discussing political issues from the rostrum and with his pen, yet he always eschewed public office, preferring to live a private life. He was repeatedly urged by his party to be a candidate for the state and national legislative honors, and was also repeatedly proffered by the authorities of his city, irrespective of party, the office of city engineer, but the large demands by the general public for his professional services, which were constantly greater than he could meet, disinclined him to accept other spheres of duty. For like reason. after serving about twenty years as a member of the first original board of trustees of the Rayen school, as well as a member of its building committee, composed of Dr. C. C. Cook and himself, he discontinued further connection with the board, of which he is
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now the only surviving member. Mr. Mackey has had a large experience in the courts as a witness in important lawsuits which came up in the line of his profession. His services in this respect were quite often and eagerly sought by parties in litigation. In Chicago, in a very important coal-bank lawsuit tried there, he was once complimented indirectly by one of Chicago's most eminent and venerable lawyers as the best witness he had ever seen on the witness stand. He and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church, in whose general work and collateral benevolences they have taken a deep interest for many years, holding membership in St. John's church, of whose vestry Mr. Mackey was an influential member for many years, until his voluntary declination to serve longer.
On the 30th of December, 1862, Mr. Mackey was united in marriage to Miss Mary H. Ruggles, who was born in Canfield, then Trumbull county, Ohio, a daughter of Azor and Adaline M. Ruggles, and of this happy union five children have been born; one of whom, Robert M., died in infancy, the survivors being as follows: Charles L., Grace, Margaret H. and Nellie. The family is one of prominence in the social life of Youngstown, and the home is one in which a gracious hospitality is ever in distinctive evidence.
EPHRAIM M. ILGENFRITZ, M. D.
The subject of this review is a physician of established reputation, and he has been successfully engaged in the active practice of his profession in the city of Youngstown, Mahoning county, for the past fifteen years, gain- ing prestige by his distinctive ability and his devotion to the humane work of his vocation, while his personality is such as to have won for him a wide circle of friends in the community. He is a representative of the eclectic school of practice, is thoroughly read in the sciences of medicine and sur- gery, thus being equipped with the requisite technical knowledge, while his training in the practical application of his knowledge has been comprehensive and of the most discriminating order. As one of the able representatives of his profession and as an honored citizen, he is most consistently made the subject of a specific sketch in this work.
Dr. Ilgenfritz is a native son of Mahoning county and is a member of one of its sterling pioneer families. He was born in the village of New Middletown on the 14th of December, 1855, being a son of Frederick Ilgen- fritz, who was born on a farm in Springfield township, this county, and who passed his entire life within the confines of his native county, having been one of the successful and honored farmers of the township men- tioned. He died on the 17th of August, 1862, being survived by his widow,
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whose maiden name was Elizabeth Miller, and who is now a resident of Youngstown. Of their nine children seven are living at the present time, the Doctor having been the youngest in the family. The paternal grand- father of the Doctor also bore the name of Frederick Ilgenfritz, and he was of sturdy German lineage, having been born in Little York, Pennsyl- vania; he came to Ohio when a young man, becoming one of the pioneer set- tlers of Mahoning county, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a son of one of the Hessian soldiers who came to America in the em- ploy of the British government at the time of the war of the Revolution. and he was captured by troops under General Washington. When the con- dition of affairs was fully stated to him, and he came to a realization of the just cause of the colonists and that they were fighting for the great boon of liberty and aiming to hurl oppression back, he forthwith cast in his lot with the valiant sons of the new republic and during the remainder of the struggle rendered faithful and gallant service as a soldier in the continental line, while at the close of the conflict, in recognition of his services, he received from the new government a grant of one hundred acres of land in the state of Pennsylvania, where he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring at Little York when he was well advanced in years.
Dr. Ilgenfritz secured his early educational discipline in the public schools of his native place, which continued to be his home for twenty-three years. He continued his studies in Poland Union Seminary, where he re- mained until September, 1874, having fitted himself for successful work as a teacher. In November of the same year he began his pedagogic work in Springfield township, Mahoning county, and after his first term he gave up this line of service to begin the work of preparing himself for that profes- sion to which he had determined to devote his life. On the 4th of April, 1875, he began his technical reading of medicine at New Middletown, and in a few months he matriculated in the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cin- cinnati, Ohio, where he completed the prescribed course of study and was duly graduated on the 24th of January, 1878, receiving his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine. Shortly after his graduation Dr. Ilgenfritz located in the village of Edinburg, Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, where he was actively and successfully engaged in the practice of his profession until April 14, 1887. On the 13th of the following September he took up his residence in the city of Youngstown, and here he has since continued his professional endeavors, building up a large general practice and gaining the confidence and high esteem of those to whom he ministers and also of his professional confreres. He is a member of the Ohio State Eclectic Medical Society
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and keeps in close touch with the advances made in his profession, reading the best standard and periodical medical literature and ever profiting in a practical way from his study and individual investigation.
In his political proclivities the Doctor is a Democrat, and fraternally he holds membership in the Masonic order and the local organization of the Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows. Dr. Ilgenfritz has been twice mar- married, the second union having been solemnized on the 2d of July, 1896, when he wedded Miss Grace Black, of Youngstown.
WILSON S. HAMILTON.
Mahoning county contributed to the federal armies many a brave and valiant soldier during the dark and turbulent period of the war of the rebellion, and among those surviving at the present time, when the ranks of that noble organization. the Grand Army of the Republic, are being deci- mated by the one invincible foe, death, stands the subject of this sketch, who was loyal to his country in her hour of peril and who has been equaily faithful to the duties of citizenship in the "piping times of peace." Mr. Hamilton became a resident of the city of Youngstown when a boy, and he has wrought out his own success through the persistent application of his energies and abilities, making the best of his opportunities and so directing his course as to gain and retain the confidence and good will of all with whom he has come in contact. He is at the present time the capable incum- bent of the office of superintendent of the city waterworks of Youngstown, and is one of the honored and popular municipal employes.
Wilson S. Hamilton is a native son of the Buckeye state and a member of one of its pioneer families. He was born on a farm in Hancock county, Ohio, on the 30th of January, 1840, being a son of Emanuel and Catherine Hamilton, both of whom are now deceased and both of whom were like- wise born in Ohio, where the father devoted the greater portion of his life to flour milling. When he was an infant Mr. Hamilton's parents removed from Hancock county to Girard, Trumbull county, and there he was reared to the age of thirteen years, his early scholastic training having been re- ceived in the public schools there. In 1853 the family came to Youngs- town, and here our subject continued to attend the public schools until he had attained the age of seventeen years, when he gave inception to his inde- pendent career in connection with the practical activities of life. He went to Warren, this state, at that time, 1857, and there served an apprentice- ship of three years at the machinist's trade, becoming a thoroughly skilled
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and capable workman, and thus well fortified for taking his place in the ranks of the world's successful workers in the great industrial field.
At this time, however, there came to every true son of the republic who was physically, and aside from exceptional contingencies, essentially able to go forth in defense of the nation, a higher and most insistent duty- that of loyalty and patriotism, to be exemplified on the field of battle and in the effort to perpetuate the integrity of a Union now menaced by armed rebellion. Mr. Hamilton was among the first to respond to his country's call, since in July, 1861, at Warren, he enlisted as a private in the Four- teenth Ohio Battery of Light Artillery, and that his patriotic enthusiasm did not wane under the stress of arduous service and the privations and dangers of the battle field is evident when we advert to the fact that he continued in active service until victory crowned the Union arms, having been mus- tered out at Camp Denison, Ohio, on the 9th of August, 1865. and having made the record of a brave and loyal soldier. Mr. Hamilton participated in many of the most memorable and strenuous battles of the great internecine conflict, notably the engagements at Shiloh and Jackson, Tennessee, and Corinth, Mississippi, after which his command joined the forces of General Sherman and participated in the entire campaign from Dalton, Georgia, to Atlanta, being in the battle at Resaca and taking an active part in the siege of Atlanta, as well as in the engagements at Decatur and Jonesboro, that state; the command then proceeded to Nashville, Tennessee, where it was under General Thomas, and where horses were recruited for the battery, which thereafter was a portion of the horse artillery. The battery then took part in the pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee river, thence proceeding to Mobile. Alabama, being present at the capitulation of that city; and thence the com- mand went across Florida and Alabama to Columbus, Mississippi, then on to Meridian and Jackson and finally to Vicksburg, taking part in the various engagements incidental to the movement of the forces. The battery then proceeded up the Mississippi river, and this service terminated its work, the members of the organization receiving honorable discharge at the close of the war.
After being mustered out of the service Mr. Hamilton returned to Youngstown, where he remained a few months, and in the winter of the same year, 1865, he went to St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana, where he erected a sawmill, which he operated until the succeeding winter, when he returned to Youngstown and secured employment in a machine shop, having sold the plant which he had established in Louisiana. He continued in the em- ploy of the concern noted until the spring of 1869, when he was given a
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position as engineer in the old fire department of the city, and thereafter he served in this capacity until the waterworks system was installed, in 1872, at which time he was made superintendent of the same, an incumbency which he has ever since retained, being thus the only person who has ever held the position, and having been consecutively in the employ of the munici- pal government for a period of more than thirty years. It is unnecessary, in view of this significant circumstance, to say more in regard to his fidelity and his marked ability in the conducting of the affairs of this important department of the city service, and no man in Youngstown is perhaps better known than Mr. Hamilton, while he enjoys marked popularity and the unqualified esteem of all who know him.
In politics he is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and he retains a vital and kindly interest in his old com- rades of the rebellion, perpetuating the pleasanter association of army life and keeping in touch with his fellow veterans by retaining membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, being identified with Tod Post No. 29, in his home city. On the 14th of November, 1872, in Bristol, Ohio, Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage to Miss Mary F. Roberts, and they are the parents of five children, namely : Hale, Paul, Hugh, Carl and Grace B.
HARRY PARROCK.
In the midst of the failures and disasters of life it is a pleasure to re- view the career of a man whose efforts have been crowned with success in his chosen field of endeavor and whose life has been one of integrity and honor in all its relations. The subject of this brief sketch is numbered among the self-made and practical business men of the city of Youngstown, Ohio, and that he has been the artificer of his own fortunes is significantly evident when we revert to the fact that he initiated his independent career when a lad in his early 'teens, his equipment consisting of a self-reliant spirit and a sturdy de- termination to attain success, if such a result could be secured through indus- try, thrift and fidelity to principle. How well he has succeeded during the years of arduous and constant application, is indicated in the responsible position of which he is to-day the incumbent, being superintendent of the Brown-Bonnell works of the Republic Iron & Steel Company, one of the important corporations concerned in this line of industry in the Union.
The "right little, tight little isle" of England figures as the place of Mr. Parrock's nativity, since he was born in the town of Cradley, Worcester- shire, on the 20th of February, 1858, and there he received his early educational discipline in the common schools, though, as before intimated, he assumed the
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practical responsibilities of life while a mere lad. He comes of stanch old English stock, the family name having been identified with the annals of Worcestershire for many generations, while that county was the birthplace of his parents, both of whom passed their lives in their native land. When in his fourteenth year our subject became identified with the practical activi- ties of life by securing employment in a rolling mill in his native town, the establishment being known as Cradley Forge, and thus he gained his pre- liminary experience in connection with the line of industry to which he has since devoted his attention, and along which he has risen to the position of an
HARRY PARROCK.
expert artisan and become the incumbent of a responsible office. He continued to be employed in various iron forges in his native land until 1881, when, believing that here were to be found wider opportunities for advancement through personal labor and the application of his technical knowledge, Mr. Parrock came to the United States, locating in the famous iron district of Pennsylvania, at Catasauqua, Lehigh county, where he remained for nine years in the employ of the Catasauqua Manufacturing Company. , At the ex- piration of this period, in 1890, he came to Ohio, locating in the village of Hubbard, near Youngstown, where he remained until the following year,
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when he came to the latter city and entered the employ of the Youngstown Iron & Steel Company, which afterward became the Union Iron & Steel Com- pany, and later the American Steel Company. With this he continued until May, 1902, having advanced to a position of responsibility while in the employ of that corporation, and at that date he resigned to assume his present office as superintendent of the Brown-Bonnell Works, in which capacity he is giving that discriminating and capable service which justifies his selection for the position he now holds.
Mr. Parrock has always taken an active part in political affairs and is ever mindful of the duties of citizenship: he exercises his franchise in support of the principles and policies of the Republican party. He is a member of the Unitarian church, as is also his wife, and fraternally he is an honored member of the Masonic order, in which he has passed the capitular degree, affiliating with Youngstown Chapter, R. A. M., while in the ancient-craft body he holds membership in Hillman Lodge No. 481, F. & A. M., of which he is past master and stands high in the esteem of his brother Masons, as does he generally in Youngstown, in either business or social life. He also holds membership in Youngstown Lodge of the Knights of Pythias. At Stour- bridge, England, on the 15th of December, 1878, Mr. Parrock was united in marriage to Miss Tamar Parkes, and they are the parents of four children, namely : Wilfred H., Annie E., Harry P. and Edwin J.
FREDERICK W. BANKS.
The gentleman whose life history we now take briefly under review is recognized as one of the representative business men of the city of Youngs- town, Mahoning county, where he is incumbent of the position of manager of the Youngstown Co-operative Company, whose enterprise is one of im- portance, while its affairs are most efficiently conducted under the direction of our subject.
Frederick W. Banks claims the Dominion of Canada as the place of his nativity, having been born in the beautiful city of Toronto, province of Ontario, on the 27th of January, 1862, and being a representative of stanch English lineage. He was reared and educated in his native city, where he remained until he had attained the age of eighteen years, when he came to Youngstown, Ohio, and here secured employment in the Youngstown rolling mill. That the duties devolving upon him in this unwonted capacity were not in the least injurious in a physical way is evident when we revert to the fact that at the time when he entered the establishment his weight was one hundred and twenty pounds, while three months later he was able to tip the
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scales at one hundred and fifty-four pounds. He received in recompense for his services the very nominal wages of one dollar and twenty-seven cents per day, but he continued the work for a period of five months, at the expiration of which he entered the employ of the Youngstown Bridge Company, another of the important industrial concerns of the city, now merged into the American Bridge Company, and with this company he was employed in connection with the building of cars, in which he continued one year, when he again made a change. At this time he became an employe of the Youngstown Pump Company, and this incumbency he retained about two years, while during the ensuing two years he was engaged in business on his own responsibility, conducting a restaurant and confectionery estab- lishment in the city of Akron, this state. In 1889 Mr. Banks returned to Youngstown and opened a grocery store, building up a good business and continuing the enterprise until 1901, when he disposed of the same and accepted his present position in charge of the general merchandise business conducted by the Youngstown Co-operative Company.
Mr. Banks is a stalwart Republican in his political proclivities, and in 1899 he was appointed a member of the municipal board of health, represent- ing the fifth ward in this body. He and his wife hold membership in the Westminister Presbyterian church, and fraternally he is identified with the local organization of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is a popular and valued member. He and wife are both members of the Daughters of Rebekah. In Youngstown, on the 22nd of April, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Banks to Miss Margaret A. Brady, daughter of John Brady, of Warren, this state, and of this union have been born two children, Arthur Walter and Lillian Grace, who are twins.
DEWEESE C. NEVIN.
As one of the representative members of the bar of Mahoning county and as one who has attained prestige and success through his own discrim- inating and well directed efforts, the gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph is well worthy of a place in a work of this province. He has proved an able advocate and a safe and duly conservative counselor, being well read in the literature of the law and having a broad and exact knowl- edge of the science of jurisprudence, while his mind is of that analytical bent which ever begets facility and judgment in the handling of the intricate problems of the law, now almost overburdened with precedents and tech- nical literature.
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Deweese C. Nevin comes of stanch old Scotch-Irish stock in the paternal line, his grandfather Robert Nevin having been born in the north of Ireland, whence he emigrated to America when a young man, taking up his abode in the state of Pennsylvania, where he passed the remainder of his long and honorable life. His son James, the father of our subject, was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1815, and was reared and edu- cated in the old Keystone state, where he maintained his home until he had attained the age of twenty-seven years, when, in 1842, he came to Ohio, where the remainder of his life was spent, his death occurring in 1883. He married Sarah Scott, and they became the parents of six children, namely : Sarah J., the wife of W. B. Read; Emma G., the wife of Rev. W. M. Hunter; Deweese C .; James E .; Leander M .; and John H.
Deweese C. Nevin was born on the parental farm in Columbiana county, Ohio, on the 6th of November, 1855, and there his youthful days were passed under the conditions common to the locality and period, his early educational discipline having been received in the district schools, while at the age of sixteen years he became a student in the Poland Union Seminary at Poland, Ohio, and later supplemented this training by a course of study in the Iron City Commercial College in the city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In giving inception to his independent business career Mr. Nevin became identified with the lumber business in New Waterford, Columbiana county, and later he was also concerned in the operation of a foundry and machine shop in that place from 1875 until 1889. In the meanwhile he had been devoting much attention to the reading of law, pursuing his studies under an efficient preceptor and finally devoting practically his entire attention to his technical reading until he became eligible for the practice of his chosen profession, securing admission to the bar of the state in 1893. Thereafter he was actively engaged in the practice of his profession in New Waterford until 1896, in November of which year he came to Youngstown, where he has gained due relative precedence, and where he has secured a representative clientage. Here he became associated in practice with Messrs. James E. Nevin and Hiram G. Bye, under the firm name of Nevin, Bye & Nevin, and this professional alliance continues at present.
In politics Mr. Nevin is a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party, but he has had no personal ambition for public office, though he served for several years in the office of justice of the peace while residing in New Waterford. His religious faith is that of the United Presbyterian church. Mr. Nevin is prominently identified with mining interests in the state of Idaho, being president of The Iron Springs
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Mining Company, Limited, whose property, a gold and iron proposition, is located in Idaho county, having in sight as ready for development ore which will equal the par value of the capital stock, which is placed at five million dollars. On the 8th of June, 1880, Mr. Nevin was united in marriage to Miss Florence J. Strain, of Steubenville, Ohio, and they are the parents of two sons and, one daughter, namely : Clyde D., Merrill F. and Rilla Florence.
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