USA > Ohio > Genealogical and family history of eastern Ohio > Part 52
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also held other offices. Ambrose P. Webb and Huron Webb lived on the farm in Austintown all their lives where they accumulated considerable prop- erty by general farming and stock-raising. They were highly regarded by neighbors and friends and were well known throughout Trumbull and Ma- honing counties. They were interested in several financial institutions in Youngstown. Ambrose P. Webb died in the eighties. Huron Webb was nearly ninety-two years of age when he died, retaining in an unusual degree the powers of his mind.
Dr. Abner Webb, the father of Abner G., was born on his father's farm in Austintown township, Mahoning county, and after receiving his elementary education in the schools of his locality entered the medical college at Cleve- land, Ohio, where he prepared himself for the practice of medicine, and in which institution he was graduated in 1864, while he further prepared himself for his chosen profession by matriculating in Jefferson College. With this excellent knowledge to serve as the foundation for his life work he began practice at Bowling Green, Wood county, Ohio, but later removed to Girard,
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this state, and subsequently returned to the old homestead in Austintown township, where he passed the remainder of his life. About this time, also, he virtually gave up the practice of medicine and turned his attention to ag- ricultural pursuits. During all these years the original one hundred and twenty acre farm had been increased from time to time until its boundaries covered an area of four hundred and forty-one acres, and this place is now owned and operated by Abner G. Webb, the subject of this review. In 1869 occurred the marriage of Mr. Webb and Miss Margaret Garghill, and their union was blessed with two children, Abner G., born on the 21st of July, 1870; and Isabella, who was born May 5, 1874, and died on the IIth of Au- gust, 1891. Abner Webb was a practical and progressive farmer, was a man of influence and was widely and favorably known throughout the county. His political support was given to the Republican party, and his religious views were in harmony with those of his father. His death occurred on the 30th of November, 1874, and his wife survived until the 15th of December, 1895, when she, too, passed to the home beyond.
Abner G. Webb was born, reared and received his primary education in the township of Austintown. He later became a student in the Canfield Nor- mal College, and after graduating in that institution entered Hiram College, there spending five years and graduating in 1893. He then resumed the responsibilities of the old Webb homestead, which is one of the valuable places of the county, and his efforts in the line of agriculture are meeting with a high degree of success. In 1896 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Henry, who was born in 1871, and is a daughter of Captain C. E. and Sophia Henry, of Geauga Lake, Ohio. Two children have graced this union : Isabel, born in 1897; and Frederick H., born in 1899. Mr. Webb holds several public offices of trust and responsibility, and is also president of the City National Bank of Niles, vice president of the Mineral Ridge Manu- facturing Company, treasurer of the Advance Lumber Company of Cleveland, director of the Mahoning National Bank of Youngstown, director of the Commercial National Bank, also of that city, and a director of the Niles Car Manufacturing Company. His fraternal connections are with the Ma- sonic order, and socially he is a member of the Union Club of Cleveland and the Youngstown Club of Youngstown. Religiously the family are mem- bers of the Disciples church, and in his political affiliations Mr. Webb is a Re- publican. He is a young man of integrity, of firm conviction and marked fidelity to the duties of life, and Mahoning county numbers him among her worthy sons.
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W. H. SCHMICK.
A good banking institution is the life of any business community, for it is the heart through which flows the life-giving financial blood. The enter- prising little city of Leetonia, in the northern part of Columbiana county, on the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, is well served in this line by the First National Bank, of which Mr. C. N. Schmick, of Cleveland, the father of our honored subject, is president, and Mr. W. H. Schmick, is cashier. The First National Bank of Leetonia is the successor of an institu- tion established by William Schmick, the grandfather of our subject, in 1880. This institution was operated under the name of. William Schmick & Sons, Bankers. The style of that firm remained until 1886, when the bank was incorporated as the First National Bank of Leetonia. Mr. W. H. Schmick was made cashier of the institution in November, 1900, and has since been the active spirit in charge. He had served for a period of some twelve years previously as assistant cashier in the other banking institution.
W. H. Schmick was born in the village of Canfield, Mahoning county, in 1868, and is the son of C. N. and Jennie M. (Welker) Schmick. He was reared amidst the influences of a refined home, and was given a good educa- tion in the schools of Mahoning and Columbiana counties. He remained at home until his majority, in the meantime becoming acquainted with the conduct of his father's banking business. In 1892 he was happily wedded to Miss Carrie Thullem, of Leetonia, a daughter of J. C. Thullem, a promi- nent resident of this city.
Mr. C. N. Schmick, the father of our subject, was born in Greenford, Mahoning county, in 1841, and was the son of William Schmick and Roda Brookhart. William Schmick was a prominent financier of that early day, and for long years was engaged in the banking business in eastern Ohio. He established a bank at Leetonia in 1880, and was engaged in business here with his son until his death, which occurred in 1888. He was a man of great vigor and keen executive ability. He died at the age of seventy-four years. He came from eastern Pennsylvania to Mahoning county, and at first engaged in the business of a hatter in the village of Greenford. He was a shrewd financier and soon accumulated enough to establish a banking busi- ness in connection with others in the village of Canfield, where he was en- gaged for a great many years prior to 1880. In his earlier days he took a very active part in the political life of eastern Ohio, and is remembered to have been the first sheriff elected on the Democratic ticket when the new county of Mahoning was erected from old Trumbull. He reared but two children, Charles N. Schmick, who now resides at Cleveland; and William
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H. Schmick, who was for long years one of the leading citizens of Leetonia, being one of the firm of Schmick & Sons, Bankers, but is now deceased. Mr. C. N. Schmick is the father of three children: our subject is the eldest ; C. E. Schmick is a practicing attorney in the city of Cleveland; and Jose- phine is now the wife of A. J. McNamara, a prominent practicing physician of the same city.
Mr. W. H. Schmick inherits his genial qualities and fine financial ability from his father and grandfather before him, and is following closely in their footsteps in the conduct of the present banking institution. He and his wife are highly esteemed members of Leetonia society, and have the good wishes of a large number of friends and acquaintances.
JAMES STEWART PRICE.
James Stewart Price, a well known agriculturist and stock farmer of Youngstown township, Mahoning county, was born on his present farm, Aug- ust 17, 1849, and is a son of Samuel Price, who was also born here, November 12, 1814. The grandfather was James Price, of Welsh descent, and he was born in Maryland in 1777. He is recorded as an able farmer, who became wealthy for the times. The mother of our subject was Lydia Stewart, who was a daughter of Thomas Stewart, a pioneer settler of Pittsburg, and she was born March II, 1815. Samuel Price and wife were married April 25, 1839, and they held their golden wedding anniversary in 1889, a very enjoyable occasion for these most worthy and estimable people and their numerous descendants. Their children were: Margaret, Mrs. Wehr, who resides on an adjoining farm; Loretta died at the age of twelve years; Eleanor is the wife of Walter A. Beecher, of Youngstown; James S., of this sketch; and Florence, who died aged three years. The venerable father passed away March 12, 1900, in his eighty-sixth year, and his widow survived only two weeks, dying in her eighty-fifth year. They were consistent members of the Baptist church, to which Mr. Price was always liberal in his contributions. He was one of twenty men who guaranteed the building of the present court-house at Youngstown.
James S. Price was educated in the common and high schools of the county and was one of the leading members of his class. At the age of twenty years he learned the carpenter trade and worked at the same for five years, and spent twelve years prospecting for coal, a bank having been devel- oped on his land. In 1880, after his marriage, he resumed farming.
On January 8, 1880, he married Miss Clara Angeline Predmore, who was born at Youngstown, April 19, 1855, and is a daughter of Joseph and
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Julia ( Barclay) Predmore, the latter being a daughter of Francis Barclay, a prominent and early merchant, farmer and large landowner. Mrs. Price's father died in the west, aged forty-five years, and the mother in August, 1890, aged fifty-four years. Mrs. Price is a graduate of the Rayen high school in the class of 1872, a class which was noted for its high scholarship, many of its members having become distinguished. Mrs. Price taught school for seven years at Youngstown. One year of married life was spent by Mr. and Mrs. Price in the city, while they were awaiting the completion of their handsome home in the country, which is one of the most delightful rural residences in this section. It is so situated as to command a fine view of the city and surrounding country, and is so favorably located that the family can enjoy all the comforts and pleasures of both city and rural life.
Mr. Price has been one of the very successful farmers and wholesale dairymen of this section. Although he has practically retired from any activ- ity himself, he still oversees and keeps the guiding hand. It is probable that in the future this beautiful home will be included within the city limits, its situation already attracting wise investors. Mr. Price, however, has not de- voted all of his attention to operating his farm, for he has long been a promi- nent man in county affairs. For seven years he served as county commissioner and at his second election ran far ahead of his ticket, and it was during his administration that the present infirmary was built, and also the Market street viaduct, which has been the means of building up the south side. In 1890 he was the decennial appraiser of Youngstown. A family of four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Price, viz .: Samuel Nelson, who is learning the trade of machinist; Edward Barclay, who is learning to be a civil engineer; an infant, Mary; and Margaret, who is a student in the city, a bright young music pupil. The family is one very highly regarded in this section, representing, as it does, wealth, refinement and education.
EDWARD F. AND HANNAH M. THORN.
The above named are representatives of one of the old and prominent pioneer families of this part of Mahoning county. They were born in this city and are children of Franklin and Alice (Fitch) Thorn, the former of whom was born June 6, 1802, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and the latter February 7, 1806, in the city of New York, and they were married on the site of the Tod House, in 1827. Seven years of his life, prior to his death in 1858, were spent in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. He was educated for a physician, but never practiced, preferring the life of a farmer. About the time of his marriage he bought one hundred and fifty acres of land in the east corner of Youngstown township and resided there some twenty-five
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years, and some of the family of eight children were born there. The others were born in Youngstown at the corner of Market and Front streets, where his sister built one of the first brick houses in the city, about 1830. The Fitch family came to this locality about 1823. In the year 1633 Thomas Hooker and John Haines, brothers-in-law, came to America from England, and in the year 1636 Thomas and James Fitch came to America from Eng- land. Thomas Fitch became the first colonial governor of Connecticut, and gave the present charter to Harvard College. James Fitch was a minister of the gospel; he married Mary Haines, daughter of John Haines. The oldest son of Rev. James and Mary Haines Fitch was Haines Fitch, who married Anna Cook, a niece of the Earl of Buckingham. The oldest son of Haines and Anna Cook Fitch was William Haines Fitch, from whom the subjects of this sketch are direct descendants. When the father of our subjects came here the Indians still roamed through the virgin forest.
The children born to Franklin and Alice (Fitch) Thorn were the fol- lowing: Julia Anna, who married Joseph Cunningham, of this city, died childless at the age of forty-eight years; Mary Eliza is the widow of Robert Howe, of Mercer county, Pennsylvania, and has one daughter and one son; Hannah Margaret is a subject of this sketch; Sarah Lockwood married Thomas H. Curt and died aged sixty-two years, leaving five sons and six daughters ; Frances died in 1897, aged fifty-five years; Lucy Thalia married, after the death of her sister, Thomas H. Bulla and died childless at the age of forty-one; Edward Franklin is a subject of this sketch; and Alice Vir- ginia married Thomas H. Bulla and died at the age of thirty-two, leaving one son, since deceased.
Mr. and Miss Thorn, of this sketch, were educated at the Youngstown schools, and the former also attended the Lebanon Normal and the schools of Valparaiso, Indiana. Miss Thorn began to teach at the age of seventeen, and her career as educator covers a period of seventeen years, although for the past twenty years she has not followed that calling. She was well and favorably known, and formed many warm friendships which still continue. Mr. Thorn is the principal of the Haseltine school, where he has been con- tinuously employed for the past fifteen years, prior to which he taught one year in Trumbull county and in Youngstown township. For a time he was associated with the firm of Manning & McKeowen in the drug and hardware trade and later with Packard, Goff & Company. In politics Mr. Thorn is a Republican. Fraternally he is a Master Mason. Miss Thorn was reared by her excellent mother in the Presbyterian faith. Mr. Thorn is a Methodist. The handsome residence at 118 Madison avenue they have occupied for the past seventeen years, coming hither from the old home on Wick avenue.
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HARRY K. RAYEN.
Harry K. Rayen, until recently superintendent of the Youngstown town- ship schools and a very brilliant and scholarly man, was born at Girard, November 27, 1870. He is a son of James Rayen, a farmer of Austintown township, who was born in Pennsylvania, February II, 1827, but who is still vigorous at the age of seventy-six years. James is a son of John, also born in Pennsylvania, and a brother of Judge William Rayen, founder of the Rayen high school in Youngstown and a man of national fame. John Rayen was a farmer who came to Ohio in 1829, and located in Youngstown, set- tling on a tract of land, all timber, in Trunibull county. He married Mary Porter, and they had a large family of sons and daughters.
Mr. Rayen was. reared on the home farm and received a very liberal high school education, and when he was but twenty years of age he embarked in what was to be his life work, that of teaching. For three years he was located in Weatherfield, Trumbull county, and for nine years he has been in Youngstown township, and six years ago he was elected superintendent of the Youngstown township schools. Four separate times he was elected to the superintendency, and he ably discharged the duties pertaining thereto. In June, 1903, he resigned the superintendency to accept the principalship of one of the schools in the city of Youngstown.
On September 5, 1894, he was married to Caddie A. Kyle, who was edu- cated in the Youngstown schools, and two daughters have been born to them, Marion R., born July 29, 1895 ; and Doris E., born May 29, 1897. Fra- ternally Mr. Rayen is a member of the order of Odd Fellows, while in poli- tics he is a Republican. Both he and his wife are member of the Christian church. The beautiful home in which he and his family reside was erected by him in 1899, and there he and his wife dispense a gracious hospitality. Mr. Rayen is very fond of his surroundings, and takes a pride in his fine lawn, and makes a specialty of raising chickens. His friends are many, and he is recognized as a leader in the social life of the community as well as in educational matters.
PHILIP MORLEY.
Among the leading and representative men of East Liverpool is num- bered Philip Morley, an energetic, public-spirited citizen, and alive to the best interests of the city. He was born here in 1853 and is a son of Samuel and Mary (Ting) Morley, in whose family were eight children, six of whom reached years of maturity, while five of the number are yet living. These are : Samuel; Philip, of this review ; Sarah, the wife of George Kell; Henry
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C .; and Thomas J. One sister, Hannah, became the wife of James Swinger- wood and died in 1899. The father of this family was a native of Stafford- shire, England, and came to America in the forties, locating soon afterward in East Liverpool, Ohio. He had previously learned the potter's trade, and after arriving in this city joined others in the establishment of one of the first potteries in this place. He thus became actively associated with the industrial development of the town and was well known as a reliable man of sterling worth. He died in 1886, and his wife passed away in 1872.
The educational privileges which Philip Morley received were very lim- ited, for he left school at the age of nine years in order to earn his own living,-in fact, at the age of seven years he had begun working in his father's pottery, driving the horse used in grinding the clay. He was afterward employed in various potteries until fourteen years of age, when he went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in order to learn the machinist's trade. He remained in that city until 1874 and then returned to East Liverpool. In 1874, in connection with Monroe Patterson, he opened a machine shop here, and the partnership was maintained for two years. On the expiration of that period the business relation was dissolved, and in 1879 Mr. Morley was appointed superintendent of the water works, in which capacity he has served continu- ously since, covering almost a quarter of a century. No higher testimonial of his efficiency and fidelity could be given than the fact of his long retention in office.
In 1875, at Smith's Ferry, Pennsylvania, occurred the marriage of Mr. Morley and Miss Elizabeth F. Patterson, and to them have been born five children, but only two are now living, George E. and May F., who are still with their parents. Mr. Morley is widely recognized as a man of unfaltering fidelity to duty, and is ever true to the relations of both public and private life. In manner he is genial and has gained many warm friends during his long residence in the city of his birth.
WILL B. JONES.
Will B. Jones is one of the most enterprising of Youngstown's citizens, and is interested in many of its leading industries. He has done much to develop the property and business of the city and is altogether a man of whom it may well be proud. We give in this connection the following ex- tract from the Youngstown Telegram, which appeared a short time ago in Youngstown :
"When Will B. Jones severed his connection with the Wick National Bank, in February, 1900, John C. Wick, the president of that institution, a
H.B. Jones
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man not given to extravagant statements, said: 'We are all sorry to part with the services of Mr. Jones, although we all join in congratulating him on his latest rise in business life. He has been with us now for fifteen years, and we say without flattery to him that he is one of the most punctual, pains- taking and conscientious employes we have ever had in our establishment. The position he is about to assume has been earned by his own efforts alone, and in leaving us to take it he takes with him the friendship and esteem of every one connected with the bank.' Born of Welsh parentage forty years ago, Mr. Jones remained in the place of his nativity until eighteen years old. He then became imbued with the opportunities of the west, and for five years did any kind of work that was honest in that section, but met with no sub- stantial advancement. Seventeen years ago he came to Youngstown prac- tically penniless. What he has accomplished since is a portion of local his- tory. After two years' clerkship in the grocery of G. M. McKelvey & Com- pany, Mr. Jones was compelled to relinquish work owing to ill health. Later he obtained a minor clerkship in the Wick Bank and when he finally closed his connection with that institution he had been individual bookkeeper for many years."
He was born at Frostburg, Maryland, in 1859, where he passed his boyhood until attaining the age of seventeen years, when he went west into Kansas and Colorado, where he remained several years; he then came to Youngstown, Ohio, in October, 1880, clerking, as stated in the above ar- ticle, for E. M. McGillen & Company, succeeded by M. McKelvey & Com- pany. In 1886 he entered the Wick National Bank as bookkeeper and real estate agent. He remained connected with the bank fifteen years, when he left this employment to go into the shoe business. He is still interested in this and is owner of one-half of the drug store of C. B. Davidson & Company, to which he gives the principal part of his time. He was married in the year 1888, in Maryland, to Laura W., daughter of J. A. Thrasher, and two boys, L. Calvin and W. Bruce, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Jones, and have always been a great source of comfort and satisfaction to them.
The father of Mr. Jones was Evan Jones, and he was born in Wales in 1825, coming to America in 1844 and locating in Maryland. He has re- tired from active business on account of his advanced age, and now lives in Baltimore. The mother of Mr. Jones was Anna Thomas, who was a native of Wales, and he had one sister, Selina, wife of J. L. Fleming, of Maryland. His mother died in the year 1859. Evan Jones was a private in Com- pany C, Second Maryland Infantry, and served with great devotion through- out the whole of the Civil war.
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Mr. Jones is a Republican and on account of his great interest, his activity and general information, forms a strong support to the party, having served for two terms as township clerk. He is also a Mason, in which order he is most highly esteemed by his brethren. He belongs to the National Union and Bankers' Associations. He has achieved his early successes purely by devotion to duty, and by rendering able service to his employers. For more than twenty years he has been a resident of Mahoning county and for the same period he has been an active and untiring worker for the success of the principles and policies of the Republican party.
LYMAN SCHNURRENBERGER.
The farming interests of Mahoning county are well represented by this gentleman, who is actively and successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits in Green township, where he owns a valuable farm of one hundred and nine acres. He is one of Mahoning county's native sons, his birth having occurred in the township where he still resides, on the 7th of January, 1838. His parents were Conrad and Elizabeth (Baker) Schnurrenberger. The father was a native of Germany, born in Würtemberg, on the 16th of Jan- uary, 1805, and in 1825, when twenty years of age, he accompanied his parents, John L. and Barbara Schnurrenberger, on their emigration to the new world, making their way to Ohio, where they located in Beaver town- ship, Mahoning county, and where the grandfather of our subject purchased one hundred acres of land. He and his wife were an industrious couple and prospered in their undertakings. His death occurred in 1863, and his wife passed away previous to that time. In their family were the following named: Catherine, Barbara, Hannah, Christina, Christiana, John and Con- rad. All of these children are natives of the fatherland, and all have now passed away with the exception of Hannah.
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