USA > Ohio > Genealogical and family history of eastern Ohio > Part 51
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Lieutenant Siefert lost his veteran's bounty, and for nearly a year had per- formed an officer's duty with a sergeant's pay, his compensation as an officer dating from January 10, 1865. He was five times wounded, but during his service of four years, seven months and fourteen days he was in the hospital only twenty-nine days, and that was due to typhoid fever and rheumatism. He did the duty of orderly sergeant for nearly two years while a sergeant, and held the rank of orderly only one day, when he began to perform the duties of first lieutenant. He served in the Youngstown Light Artillery for five years as first duty sergeant ; was captain in the Youngstown Turnverein, is a member of Tod Post No. 29, G. A. R., and of the Union Veteran Legion, of which he was colonel for six years, and is now junior vice commander with the rank of brigadier general; he is third time president of the soldiers' relief com- mission of Mahoning county. Mr. Siefert has retired from the business of contracting, but when he is called upon he makes building plans, although he never seeks work outside. He has had several periods of illness since the war, but is now a large and hearty man, with capacity for enjoyment of the good things of life unimpaired, and conscious of many years well spent in work and service to his country. He has been twice married and reared a family of nine children, and at present lives with his wife and chil- dren in Youngstown.
WILLIAM W. RIBLET.
Among the loyal sons of the republic who went forth to battle for the Union in the war of the rebellion was William W. Riblet, and throughout his life he has manifested in the discharge of his duties of citizenship the same zeal that he displayed when on southern battlefields he followed the stars and stripes to victory. He well deserves mention in this volume among
WILLIAM W. RIBLET.
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the representative men of the Western Reserve, and it is with pleasure that we present his life record to our readers.
Mr. Riblet was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1836, and is a son of John and Rebecca (Sanky) Riblet. The father was a farmer in Mercer county, and there he and his wife prospered, lived and died and were held in high regard by their fellow citizens. In their family were eight chilren, five of whom are still living, and of this number two are residents of Ohio. William W., of this review, chose the free and independent voca- tion of farming as his life occupation, and his efforts in this direction have been attended with a well merited degree of success. His has been an indus- trious and useful life, but his labors were interrupted in 1861, when he offered his services to his country. Putting aside all personal considerations, he joined the boys in blue of Company B, the One Hundredth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, enlisting for three years' service. During his military career he participated in the battles of Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, Vicks- burg, Jackson, Fredericksburg, Knoxville and before Richmond, and many minor engagements. Out of the two hundred and twenty men who enlisted in his company only six reported for rations the next morning after the battle before Richmond. Although six times wounded, our subject survived the terrible hardships and privations which they were called upon to endure. After serving his country faithfully and well through three long years, he was honorably discharged in 1864, after which he returned to his home and once more took up the peaceful work of the farm. In 1873 he left Mercer county, Pennsylvania, the place of his nativity, his destination being Ohio, and after his arrival in this state he purchased the farm he now owns, but which was then in very poor condition. His homestead, which consists of one hundred and sixty-seven acres, is located in Austintown township, Mahoning county, and is one if the best and most fertile farms in the locality. In addition to his general farming Mr. Ribiet is also extensively engaged in stock-raising, his specialty being horses. All of the buildings which now adorn this val- uable tract stand as monuments to his thrift and ability, and they are all of the most modern and convenient style of architecture.
The marriage of Mr. Riblet occurred in 1858, when Miss Terressa Bell became his wife, and this union has resulted in the birth of nine children, all of whom are living, namely : Horatio, Mina W., William B., Thadeus, Philip B., Ruhama, Samuel G., Fremont and Charles. Mrs. Riblet is also a native of Mercer county, Pennsylvania, her birth having occurred in 1842. In his political affiliations Mr. Riblet is a Republican, and the family are members of the Presbyterian church.
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CHARLES J. SANZENBACHER.
On another page of this volume will be found extended mention of the well known Canfield tanner and business man, John Sanzenbacher, who was a native of Germany and in this newer country built up a large and prosperous business. While he and his wife, Sarah Oswalt, made their home in Canfield, there was born to them on August 25, 1860, a son whom they named Charles J., and this gentleman has become one of Mahoning county's most industrious and prosperous farmers, perhaps inheriting in large measure the German thrift and diligenece of his parents. Charles was reared and educated in Canfield and as a boy worked a great deal in his father's tannery, but had no taste for the business and never learned the trade, as he took more kindly to the pursuit of agriculture. After he had reached manhood he was married, and he then made his first purchase of real estate, consisting of twenty-five acres. He sold this in 1884 and bought a small farm on the opposite side of the road from where his brother David L. now resides. He was engaged in the cultivation of this place for the next nine years, but then sold, and in 1894 bought his present farm in Canfield township of sixty-seven and a quarter acres, where he has made the land yield the abundant crops which only the intelligent and progressive farmer can, and in this occupation he has been assisted by the large and powerful physique which has been bestowed upon him by nature.
On March 14, 1882, Mr. Sanzenbacher was united in marriage to Miss Amelia Kohler, who was born on December 25, 1859, in Allegheny, Pennsyl- vania, to Anthony and Amelia Kohler. Sarah M., the first of the children, was born April 22, 1883, and in 1901 married Roy Smith, a young and suc- cessful merchant of Austintown, by whom she has had a son named Kenneth. The second in order of birth was Rebecca C., born April 2, 1885; Hattie E. was born September 5, 1887; and Irwin A., August 25, 1891. Mr. Sanzen- bacher is an esteemed citizen of the township and has served in some minor offices ; he and his wife are members of the Reformed church.
WILLIAM T. NORRIS, M. D.
The eastern Ohio family of this name originated in Maryland, where the ancestry was long located in the section of which Harford county is the center. The family history dates back to the thirteenth century in England, a part of the records being known since 1255. In England two of the family had the distinction of being members of the House of Lords, and in America different ones of the name took part in the Revolutionary war, and as a family they are said to have had a reputation for patriotism and fear- lessness. The emigrant ancestor was Thomas Norris, who came to America
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about 1634 with Lord Baltimore's expedition, and settled on the shores of the Chesapeake. His son John Norris was a native of Maryland, and he had a son James, who was the father of Henry Davis Norris. Henry Davis Norris, who was born in Harford county, Maryland, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, came later to Ohio, and ended his days in this state. His son, William D. Norris, who was born in Maryland in 1802, accompanied his father to Ohio in 1815 and died in 1863. He bought a half section of gov- ernment land in Yellow Creek township, Columbiana county, where he re- sided till his death. He was one of the original Abolitionists and became conspicuous as a conductor on the "underground railroad," which made him a target for the persecution of the anti-slavery "dough-faces" of his neighborhood. In June, 1828, he married Isabella McLaughlin, a native of Inverness, Scotland, and daughter of William McLaughlin. Their three sons and two daughters were William M., James M., Alexander M., Margaret M. and Nancy M. Alexander M. Norris, son of the last mentioned, was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1837 and after he grew up followed the occupations of teaching and surveying for some years, and then engaged in farming. He married Mary J. Cameron, and nine of their ten children were reared to maturity and are still living, among them being the subject of this sketch.
William T. Norris was born on his father's farm in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1862, attended the public schools and remained at home until after reaching his majority. When twenty years old he taught school for the purpose of obtaining money to pay his way through college, entered as a student at the Mt. Union institution and after finishing the course there was graduated in the class of 1886. In the same year he began the study of medi- cine, and subsequently attended lectures in the medical department of Wooster University at Cleveland. Later he entered the Starling Medical College at Columbus, and received his degree as Doctor of Medicine from that institu- tion in the class of 1892. Immediately thereafter he located at East Liverpool, entered actively upon the practice of his profession and has since continued the same at that place. For four years he was a member of the board of education and during three years of that time served as clerk of the board. At the present time he is one of the members of the board of health at East Liverpool, and has proved zealous in carrying forward the sanitary and hy- gienic work of that body.
In 1888 Dr. Norris was united in marriage with Miss Minnie M. Fisher, of Wellsville, Ohio, by whom he has two children: Marie T. and Hazel E. His religious affiliations are with the First Presbyterian church of East Liver-
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pool, and his fraternal relations are confined to membership in the Knights of Pythias and Woodmen of the World. During his eleven years' residence in East Liverpool Dr. Norris has risen rapidly in his chosen profession and is regarded as one of the well informed and reliable practitioners of the city. He is popular both in social and professional circles, looked up to as a safe counselor and in all the relations of life enjoys esteem as a substantial citizen.
ANDREW W. KING.
Andrew W. King is the junior member of the firm of West & King, hardware merchants of East Liverpool. He is numbered among Ohio's native sons, his birth having occurred upon a farm in Belmont county in the year 1859. He also represents one of the old families of the state founded here in early pioneer times when Ohio was just emerging from its primitive condi- tions to take its place as a power in the agricultural, commercial and political world. His grandfather, Andrew King, was born in Belmont county and there spent his entire life. He was united in marriage in 1827 to Miss Eliza- beth Blackwood and they became the parents of the following children: Thomas James, Mary, Elizabeth, Nancy, Jemima and Sarah Jane. The parents of our subject were Thomas J. and Harriet (Nichol) King. The father, also a native of Belmont county, was born in 1830 and was there reared in the usual manner of farmer lads. He worked in the fields during the summer months and in the winter seasons attended the public schools and when he had attained his majority he chose as a life work the occupation to which he was reared and which he is now following. As a companion and helpmate for life's journey he chose Miss Harriet Nichol and their home was blessed with four children, three of whom are yet living: Flora J., Andrew W. and Margaret G. The mother was called to her final rest in August, 1902.
On the home farm in his native county Andrew W. King spent his boyhood days assisting in the labors of field and meadow and at the same time acquiring a good English education in the public schools. His early school privileges were also supplemented by study in the Wash- ington & Jefferson College, at Washington, Pennsylvania. On leaving that institution in 1880 he returned to the farm, continuing to assist his father in its cultivation for some time thereafter. He remained in Belmont county until twenty-seven years of age and in 1890 he came to East Liverpool, where he embarked in business as a grocer, conducting his store for five years. On the expiration of that time he sold out and opened a feed store which he also carried on for a year, after which he returned to the grocery trade, acting as
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a clerk for three years. He next entered into partnership with J. D. West as a dealer in hardware. They now have a well selected and extensive stock of fine and heavy hardware and the firm is enjoying a good trade because of its strict adherence to correct business principles, its earnest desire to please its many patrons and its unflagging honesty in all business dealings.
In 1887, in Belmont county, Ohio, Mr. King was united in marriage to Lucinda Neff and they have two sons, Lawrence G. and Thomas N. Mr. King belongs to the United Presbyterian church and is a Republican who keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day and is thus enabled to support his position by intelligent argument. As a citizen he is public- spirited and progressive, co-operating in many measures for the general good. As a business man he has been conspicuous among his associates not only for his success but for his probity, fairness and honorable methods. In everything he has been eminently practical and this has been manifest not only in his business undertakings but also in social and private life.
JOHN J. GRAHAM.
The name of Graham has been a famliar one at Lisbon for nearly a hundred years. As early as 1810 there came to this community from New York a family consisting of father, mother and several children, who became identified with the place and took a conspicuous part in its subsequent growth and progress. The father conducted a general store and died in middle life. John B., eldest of the children, will be noticed at some length further on, but only a word or two can be vouchsafed his brethren. George, his next brother, merchandised a long time at Lisbon, but is now living at Terre Haute, Indiana. James made a success in his profession as a physician, and was a professor in the medical college of Cincinnati, but now deceased. Albert was also a physician of prominence, and died at Lisbon after a successful career. The fifth child was a daughter named Harriet, who lived unmarried. John B. Graham was born in New York city, received an ecclesiastic education and rose to prominence as a minister of the Presbyterian church. He was for many years connected with the Ohio Bible Society and exercised a strong influence both in the external and internal affairs of that organization. In fact he was noted for strength both of mind and body, and on the very day of his death, which occurred when he was eighty-four years old, he stood up in the pulpit and delivered a powerful sermon. He married Miss Margaret Graham, who was descended from the Pattersons, one of the pioneer families of Columbiana county, by whom he had seven children. Of these Joseph graduated at the Washington
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and Jefferson College, studied theology and is now a missionary in India. William, the second son, is a resident of New York city and president of the American Tin Plate Company, being previously for a long time president of the Aetna Standard Sheet Mill. George, a younger brother, died while a student at one of the medical colleges. Martha married William K. Gaston, an attorney of St. Paul. Carrie resides in Bridgeport, Ohio, and Anna, twin sister of the subject of this sketch, died at the age of fifteen years.
John J. Graham, the other member of this interesting family now to be noticed, was born at Lisbon in 1846, and after the usual attendance in the city schools spent one term at Washington and Jefferson College. His first business venture was as a dealer in real estate in New York city, which he prosecuted for some time with the energy which characterizes everything he does. When the American Tin Plate Company established its plant at Lisbon Mr. Graham was placed in charge as manager of the office depart- ment, and has filled that position since 1894. He is regarded as an unusually able business man and gives entire satisfaction by his method of discharging his duties. He married Mrs. Sarah E. Graham, nee Silvey, of Brooklyn, New York, and his only daughter, Ada, is the wife of Dr. J. F. Steel, a dentist of Lisbon.
THE TREVETTE FAMILY.
The family name presented here is not a common one in northeastern Ohio, nor indeed in the United States. The living representative of this branch of the family is Miss Elizabeth Quincy Trevette, of Leetonia, a daugh- ter, by a former marriage, of Mrs. William Schmick, now deceased. Mrs. Schmick was the grandmother of Mr. William H. Schmick, the present popu- lar cashier of the First National Bank of Leetonia. The American ancestor of the family was Samuel Trevette, who crossed the ocean from old England prior to the Revolutionary war and settled in Boston, where he was for a long period of years connected with the customs service. The maiden name of his wife was Katherine Raynes. She was also a native of England. Mr. Samuel Trevette was a man of considerable influence in the city of Boston, where he resided at the time of the Revolutionary war, and where he was taken prisoner by the British commander and passed a period of three years in captivity. Of the family which these parents reared was Dr. Joseph Tre- vette. This gentleman had been given an excellent literary and medical edu- cation, and about the first part of the nineteenth century settled in the Old Dominion state, where he practiced for some years at Frankfort. He died at the early age of forty-four years, in 1828. He had married Miss Roda Brookhart, a daughter of Michael and Mary (Rohr) Brookhart, and the
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following children were born to him: Harriet Jane, who died in childhood; Miss Elizabeth Quincy Trevette, of Leetonia. Two years after the death of her husband, Mrs. Dr. Joseph Trevette came with her young family to the village of Green, in Mahoning county, Ohio. Here she later met and married Mr. William Schmick, a prominent banker and financier for many years in Lee- tonia, mention of whom will be found on another page of this volume. To the marriage there were two sons born, William H. and Charles N., also further treated of in this work. Mrs. Trevette Schmick was a woman of most beautiful character, and of wonderful physical constitution, being ninety- two years and six months old at the date of her death, which occurred in the year 1900.
ALLISON S. MILEY.
One of the progressive and honored business men of the city of Youngs- town, Mahoning county, where he is successfully carrying on his work as a contracting carpenter, is Mr. Miley, of whose career we are pleased to give a brief review.
Mr. Miley is a native son of the Buckeye state and a representative of one of its pioneer families. He was born in Harrison, Hamilton county, Ohio, on the 14th of November, 1847, being a son of David and Ellen (Sheckels) Miley, the former of whom was born in Germany in 1813, whence he emi- grated to America when a young man and took up his residence in Hamilton county, Ohio, where he died May 15, 1850, at the early age of about thirty- five years, our subject being but two years of age when thus deprived of a father's care, but his mother, Ellen Sheckels Miley, who was born in 1819, survived until 1873, being about fifty-four years of age at the time of her death. David and Ellen Miley became the parents of six children, namely : Susan, who is the wife of Gideon Feicht, of Washingtonville; Mary A., who is the wife of John Menchey, of North Lima: John, who is a resident of North Lima; Louisa, who is the wife of Solomon Mentzer, of North Lima; Hannah, who died at the age of five years, and Allison S., who figures as the subject of this sketch. The paternal grandfather was Frederick Miley, who likewise was born in Germany but who emigrated then to the United States, where he passed the remainder of his life.
As has been already noted, our subject was a child of but two years when his father died, and soon afterward his mother removed with her chil- dren to a farm in Columbiana county, Ohio, and there he was reared to the age of about ten years, having in the meantime attended the district schools as opportunity offered. He then came to Mahoning county, where he con- tinued his schooling at irregular intervals, being employed for the greater
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portion of his time at farm work until he had attained the age of seventeen years, when, in the fall of 1864, he went to the state of Indiana, where he followed farming for a year, then returning to Ohio and in 1866 began learning the carpenter's trade in Columbiana county, his home being at North Lima. In 1873 he located on a farm in Mahoning county and thereafter de- voted his attention to agricultural pursuits and to more or less contracting as a carpenter and builder until 1891, when he took up his residence in Youngs- town, where he built up a successful business as a contracting carpenter, being a capable workman individually and ever insisting that every detail of his contracts shall be observed, so that he has gained a high reputation for reliability and has thus secured a liberal patronage in his chosen field of en- deavor. In politics Mr. Miley is stanchly arrayed in support of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, and fraternally is a worthy member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with which he has been identified for many years. He is highly esteemed in local business circles, and in 1901 had the distinction of serving as president of the Youngstown Builders' Exchange, a preferment which shows the estimate place upon him by those engaged in the same vocation in this city.
On the 14th of November, 1869, Mr. Miley was united in marriage in North Lima, this county, to Miss Hattie E. Snyder, and they became the parents of three children, of whom Maud M. died at about the age of sixteen years, the two surviving being Herbert C. and Melvin M., both honorable and capable young men. Maud M. was born July 10, 1883, and died March 29, 1899; Melvin M. was born March 20, 1881; Herbert C. was born July 18, 1872, and on February 28, 1894, was united in marriage to Mary E. Span, and they became the parents of two children: Ralph Allison, who died at about the age of three years ; the one surviving being Vernon Emmet.
ABNER G. WEBB.
History concerns itself mostly with the men who have had to do with the political and military interests of the country, but biography treats of those busy toilers in the affairs of life who form the true strength of the nation. It is the men who are successful and enterprising in agriculture and commerce that bring prosperity and advancement to a community, and of this class Mr. Webb is a worthy representative. He is descended from an old and prominent family, and the first of the name to seek a home in the Buck- eye state was Abner Webb, the grandfather of our subject, who came from Wallingford, Connecticut, and in that commonwealth his birth occurred in 1775. For his wife he chose Miss Rebecca Yale, also a native of the old
Altest
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Charter Oak state, where her birth occurred in 1780, and she was a daughter of Captain Elihu Yale, who was a prominent factor in the early history of Connecticut. To this union were born six children: Vincent, who was born in Connecticut in 1802; Eliza, born in Ohio in 1804; Huron, born in 1809; Erie, born in 1807; Ambrose P., born in 1814; and Abner, born in 1821.
After the birth of their first child Mr. and Mrs. Webb made the journey to Ohio, where they arrived in 1803 or 1804, and they cast in their lot with the settlers of Boardman township, Mahoning county. In 1820 they took up their abode in Austintown township, where the father purchased one hundred and twenty acres of unimproved land, and here this pioneer family began life in a little log cabin, but in 1840 this rude domicile gave place to the more substantial dwelling in which our subject now makes his home. Abner Webb was a man of noble and upright principles, and although not a member of any church his religious views were liberal, and he believed in the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man and the universal salvation of mankind. He was a blacksmith by trade and a first-class mechanic, and was well acquainted with the father of the late President Mckinley, for whom he did considerable work. His political support was given to the Whig party. His life's labors were ended in death in 1863, when he joined his wife in the home beyond, for she had departed this life in 1854. Of their sons two, Vincent and Abner, married, the former choosing as his wife Miss Catherine Ire, but they had no children. Vincent Webb became a prominent and influential citizen of his community, and for two terms served as the recorder of Trumbull, while he
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