USA > Ohio > Genealogical and family history of eastern Ohio > Part 64
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Adam Hahn was given as good educational advantages as the time and locality afforded, and he supplemented his early instruction by a winter in the public schools after he had attained manhood, paying his way, as he was then beyond school age. He was reared to the hard work of the farm, and remained at home until 1853, when he went to Michigan and entered a farm of one hundred and sixty acres of government land, his deed being signed by President Pierce. For this land Mr. Hahn paid forty cents an acre, and the same land he sold for forty dollars an acre, which was the founda- tion of his fortune.
On March 6, 1855, Mr. Hahn married Mary Ann Heck, who was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1831, a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Snook) Heck. Mr. and Mrs. Hahn lost an infant son and have two daughters, Minerva and Laura, the latter still residing at home. The former married Charles F. Stafford, who was born at North Lima and is a son of Samuel and Harriet (Werner) Stafford, the former of whom died aged sixty-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Stafford reside on the farm, and they have five children, namely: Leroy Hahn, a student of high standing at Heidelberg University at Tiffin, a member of the class of 1906; Mildred Myrtle, a recent graduate from the North Lima high school; Hazel Beatrice; Vera LaRue; and Robert Bruce. For a number of years Miss Laura Hahn was one of the successful and popular teachers of this neighborhood. In politics Mr. Hahn is a Republican, and is a prominent and representative citizen. He has served as school director, and was elected a justice of the peace, the latter honor being declined. Fraternally he belongs to the Sons of Temperance. Religiously the family is connected with the Reformed church. Few men in the township are more highly regarded for integrity of character. During many years he was a very prominent farmer and is now one of the county's capitalists.
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
THOMAS PEAT.
Thomas Peat, a prominent and substantial citizen of Youngstown, Ohio, residing at 617 West Woodland avenue, was born in Staffordshire, England, April 26, 1849, and is a son of James Peat, who was born there October 21, 1820. The grandfather, James Peat, was born in the same shire in 1783, where he died aged eighty-two years. This ancestor was an engineer by profession, and had charge of engines in a large factory. He married a Miss Bowden, and they had five children, as follows: Hannah married, first, William Waters, and, second, Captain Jones; James was the father of our subject; Mary married Thomas Danks; Thomas emigrated to Troy, New York; and Isaiah still lives in England He was one of the engineers in the building of the Great Eastern. The mother of these children survived until ninety years of age.
The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Ann Lawrence, but later took the name of her grandfather Cox, and on June I, 1846, at Dudley, England, married James Peat. They lived in England until 1856, when Mr. Peat came to Saugerties, New York, with some five other capable workmen, under contract to introduce the new puddling methods in iron manufacture. Two years later he sent for his family, and they came in 1859. They resided in various iron centers in the state of New York and other parts of the country, and Mr. Peat also worked at Wyandotte, Michi- gan. The mother died there and is there buried. She was born March I, 1827, and died in September, 1887. The father died in 1888 at Youngs- town, but was buried by the side of his wife at Wyandotte.
Thomas Peat is the only member of his parents' family who grew to maturity. Mr. Peat was reared a mechanic and has been connected with the firm of Ward, Kay & Company for a period of thirty-seven years, the firm after a number of changes being known as the Lloyd-Booth Company, De- partment of the United Engineering & Foundry Company. For the past fifteen years Mr. Peat has been the efficient superintendent of this concern, having begun at the bottom of the ladder.
Mr. Peat was first married in this city to Annie Maria Morgan, who was born in Wales and was a daughter of John M. and Ann (Griffith) Morgan, old residents of Youngstown. Mrs. Peat died May 2, 1886, having been the mother of one son and two daughters, namely: Nellie, wife of John Corell; James I., a mechanical engineer having a prominent posi- tion with the American Tin Plate Company at Pittsburg ; and Alice, who died aged sixteen years. The second marriage of Mr. Peat was to Sarah Cordelia Ashbaugh, who was born at Worthington, Pennsylvania, and is a daughter
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of William and Eliza Ann ( Weaver) Ashbaugh, one of six children born to her parents, viz .: W. N., an attorney and clerk of the board of education; Mrs. Peat ; Charles C., a furrier at Detroit, Michigan; Lawrence Vernon, the owner and publisher of four newspapers, residing at St. Paul; Mable T., wife of E. O. Howard; and Homer T., of Kansas City, Missouri. All are married, and the parents still reside at Youngstown. Mrs. Peat was well educated in the schools of the localities where the business of her father called the family. By trade he is a tinner, but has also been engaged in the oil business.
Mr. and Mrs. Peat have one son, now fourteen years old, a bright and intelligent youth, still a student. Fraternally Mr. Peat is an Odd Fel- low. Politically he is a Republican, and has been prominently identified with the affairs of the city, serving one term on the city council, and he was also a member of the board of trustees for the water works, a position he filled for six years. Both he and his wife are active members of the Epworth Methodist church, of which he is an official member. The present pleasant family home was built twenty-two years ago, but has since been remodeled and modernized. Mr. Peat owns other valuable property, and is one of the stockholders in the company with which he has so long and honorably been connected.
CARROLL THORNTON.
The Thornton family held its first seat in America in New England, and Grandfather Thornton was a native of Rhode Island, whence he came to Ohio and spent the remainder of his life in farming. His son, William Thorn- ton, was born in 1830, and now resides in Youngstown, Ohio. He was an engineer for many years, but for the past twenty years has been engaged in farming. His wife was Julia Hamilton, and they became the parents of five children : Anson; Carrie, wife of J. M. Davis; Carroll; Charles; and Jesse.
It is with the second son of this family, Carroll, that this biography has to deal. He is a native of the city in which he has since risen to such a prominent place in business circles, and was born February 20, 1861. He re- mained in the public schools of the city till he was fourteen years of age, and at this early age began earning his own living by working in the bolt works of Arms, Bell and Company, where he was an industrious employe for the following six years. In 1881 he took employment with the United States Express Company as a driver of one of their wagons and continued this for seven years. In 1887 he procured advancement in this line by being made the agent for the Erie Express Company at Corry, Pennsylvania, where
Carroll Thornton
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
he remained five years, and then returned to Youngstown to assume the same duties here for the Wells Fargo Company. It was while he was con- nected with the express business that he gained an insight into the possibilities of his present enterprise, and a year after his return to Youngstown he pur- chased a laundry plant that had been in operation for some time, but whose trade had run down through mismanagement. Mr. Thornton at once took hold of the business with the zest characteristic of the man, and the fact that he has given every detail his personal supervision and has dealt fairly and squarely with his customers, is the ground for the success of the enterprise, which has repaid his efforts better than he ever hoped at the start. It is one of the largest laundries in operation in this section of the country, and, not- withstanding the use of the latest labor-saving machinery, eighty-two people are required to perform all the work involved. One circumstance should not be omitted in speaking of Mr. Thornton's successful business career, and that is that he owes it all to his own efforts, for he has made his own deeds and character the stepping stones to his present position.
In 1881 Mr. Thornton was married in Corry, Pennsylvania, to Miss Bertha Stewart, who died two years later, leaving one child, Josephine S. In 1899 he married in the same city Miss Ada W. Miller, whose father, Manassas Miller, was a soldier in the Civil war from the beginning to the end, and from then till his death, January 25, 1899, was a Methodist min- ister ; her mother, Maria J. Miller, is a resident of Oil City, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Thornton have a son, William Wallace. Mr. Thornton is a thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner and belongs to St. John's Com- mandery No. 20, at Youngstown. He also affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. As to his political creed he is a Republican in national questions, but locally sup- ports the men who, in his judgment, are the best fitted for the position to which they aspire.
ALEXANDER S. MCCOLLUM.
Alexander S. McCollum, one of the successful farmers of Youngstown township, was born in Austintown township, April 7, 1846, and is a son of Ira McCollum, who was born on the same farm, January 17, 1810, and died January 1, 1890. Ira's father was John McCollum, one of the pioneers in Mahoning county, and was the first white settler in Austintown township in 1800. His wife was the widow Hampson nce Ayres. She had five children by her first marriage and five sons and two daughters by her second marriage, all of whom came to adult age. These grandparents died in ad-
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vanced years, not long apart, and their remains lie at Cornersburg, in Can- field township.
The mother of our subject was formerly Hannah Kyle, and she was born on this farm in a log house at the foot of the hill, in 1808, and was a daughter of Joshua and Mary (Stewart) Kyle, who were married in Penn- sylvania. Joshua Kyle was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and came to Youngstown township and settled on Mill creek, building the first saw mill in this vicinity. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 under General Harrison. His wife, Mary Stewart, was a native of Ireland, leaving that country at the age of six weeks. Some of the timbers in the dam of the sawmill, of second growth of white oak, now one hundred and five years since it was cut, are in possession of our subject and are still sound. The latter took them out of the stream some seven or eight years ago in build- ing the bridge abutments. He has sent pieces to relatives at Kansas City, Denver, Colorado and other places. The grandfather died two years before his wife, in 1842. Their graves are in a private yard on the farm. They were good and worthy people, honored and respected. Mrs. McCollum was one of twelve children, and all grew up to manhood and womanhood.
Our subject was the sixth member of his parents' family, the others being : Harrison; Angeline, who died in 1856, aged twenty-one years ; Thompson, born in 1837, died in 1898, leav- ing four orphan children; Mary K. is the widow of John Brick- ley, and has two sons and two daughters; Elizabeth was the wife of B. L. Pierce, of Niles, and died May 9, 1876, aged thirty-three; and Lois J. is the wife of James A. Raney, of Mahoningtown, Pennsylvania, and they have three sons and two daughters. The mother of this family died in the old stone house, at the age of seventy-four years. This home was built by Grandfather Kyle in 1818, and at one time he owned a tract of six hundred acres of land, and at death he left four hundred and fifty acres.
Alexander S. McCollum was reared to farm work, but was given edu- cational opportunities at the district schools and at Hiram College. On November 19, 1868, he married Miss Mollie A. Osborn, who was born in Canfield township, April 23, 1849, and is a daughter of Abraham J. Osborn, who was born November 2, 1822, and still enjoys the blessings of health. Mr. Osborn married Harriet Strock, and they had three children, namely : Laura J., who married George Strock, and who resides on the old home- stead; Mrs. McCollum ; and Allen C., who died in June, 1877, at the age of twenty-four years, leaving two sons. Mrs. McCollum's mother died in 1885, aged sixty-five years.
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Our subject and wife were called upon to part with one little daughter, Blanche, in 1876, at the age of ten months. The surviving children are: Edith, who is the wife of P. H. Wehr and has four children; Nora, who is the wife of Elmer Miksell; and James A. James A. was born on the same day of the month, April 7, as his father, and is now aged twenty-one years. He resides at home and is employed in the rolling mill. In politics Mr. McCollum is a stanch Republican, and has ably served the township in many positions, as assessor and on the school board. He is a man who is thoroughly respected in his community as one of its representative citizens.
JOHN BAPTISTE HOUSTEAU.
John Baptiste Housteau, a merchant tailor at Youngstown, Ohio, erected his large residence in 1886 at IOII Mahoning avenue. He was born on the Rhine, in France, June 15, 1821, and is a son of John Housteau, who was born also in France, in 1749, and died at Toronto, Canada, aged one hun- dred and fourteen years. He was married five times, and our subject re- members seven of twelve children, the three now surviving being himself and a brother and sister: Mrs. Jane Wade, who resides at Muscoda, Wis- consin, aged one hundred and four years, still retaining her faculties, the mother of a large family; and Edward, two years his junior, a resident of North Dakota.
Our subject escaped from his home in Paris as a stowaway on a ship, when only nine years old. In the spring of 1831 he landed at New York, and he can recall the time when the present site of Castle Garden was but a swamp and morass. He attended the laying of the corner stone of Bunker Hill monument, and he can recall the time when not a single railroad crossed the state of New York. His life has been full of adventure, and he has seen much military service. He belonged, as lieutenant, to Company I, Thir- teenth New York Regulars, in the Seminole war in Florida, and was cap- tain of the first Zouave regiment organized in New York for service in the Civil war, and raised the first company. He served all through the war and arose to the rank of colonel and acting brigadier general, being promoted for gallantry.
On April 19, 1870, he married Miss Stephenia Siefert, who was born in 1850, near Baden Baden, Germany, and is a daughter of Fabian and Agnes (Unser) Siefert. Five children have been born to them: John Augustus, a paper-hanger in this city, has one son; Joseph Lamartine Grant is the cutter and manager of the tailoring establishment at 45 North Phillip street, and has two children; Carrie Agnes is the wife of James Bright; Fabian Con-
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stantine is a rail inspector in the iron mill: and Jeanette Stephenia, a bright high school student in the class of 1905.
Mr. Housteau was engaged in New York as a clothing manufacturer from 1870 to 1875, and was cutter in a large establishment. He came first to Youngstown in 1869, and has owned stores here at various times, but since 1886 has been permanently located here.
Few men have had more adventurous lives than General Housteau, and few at the age of eighty-two years could show so few scars. He suffers from a weakness of eyesight, but otherwise is as hale and vigorous as a man of sixty-five. His long service in the Civil war and its attendant trials left him incapacitated for a short time, and it seems as if he must have led a charmed life to have escaped death on many occasions. He lived through several months at the prison pen of Andersonville under sentence of death, but finally escaped. He has never accepted office, although he has always been active in political work. Despite his age he was made grand marshal and took twelve thousand men to Canton during the Mckinley campaign. Fraternally he is a member of the orders of Elks and Knights of Pythias. He organized Tod Post No. 27, G. A. R., and is one of the vice com- manders.
IRA R. HAZEN.
Ira R. Hazen, a prominent agriculturist and stock-breeder, located on the Highland View stock farm near Youngstown, Ohio, was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, January 15, 1862, and is a son of Smith M. Hazen, a resident of Beaver county, who was also born on the old farm on which his father settled. This was academy land, and cost thirty-seven cents an acre.
Grandfather Samuel Hazen was born in 1791 and died in 1856, and was a son of a Revolutionary soldier. The family is probably of German extrac- tion. The mother of our subject was Mary A. Nye, and she was born in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1835, and is a daughter of Andrew and Sarah (Seth) Nye, farming people on the land where Ellwood City now stands. The Nye family came from England. The parents of our subject were married March 5, 1857, and six of their seven children are still living, one daughter, Ora, dying aged two years. The others are: Edwin P. resides at Fort Madison, Iowa, engaged in business as a dentist, and has two daughters; Elwin S. is a leading farmer of Beaver county, Pennsyl- vania; Ira R., of this sketch; Austin P. is a farmer in Beaver county and has one daughter; Samuel Grant, named for General Grant, lives on the
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
old homestead farm of one hundred and forty acres, and has one son; and Bertha A., who is the wife of R. G. Brown, of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, has six children. The parents of these children reside on a portion of the old farm in a handsome brick residence built in 1835, Mr. Hazen being one of the wealthiest farmers in the locality. He assisted his sons when they started out for themselves, and has the satisfaction of knowing that all are well established and have become men of means and importance. The Hazen family has been noted for its strict adherence both to the tenets of the Bap- tist church and to the principles of the Republican party. Smith Hazen has very often been urged to accept public office, but he has never consented, although he has long been on familiar terms with some of the great leaders in his state, notably Senator Quay, who from his early years has been a wel- comne guest.
Ira R. Hazen was educated in the common schools and the old Beaver Academy, and taught one term at the age of eighteen. All the children had educational advantages, and Edwin graduated at Geneva College and owned one-half of the American Dental College in Chicago. He has a fine office and several men in his employ. Our subject remained at home until near his majority and then went on a trip, partly of business and partly for pleas- ure and sight-seeing, through Missouri, Kansas, Indian Territory and Ne- braska, remaining away two years.
On January 22, 1890, Mr. Hazen married Miss Elzena Whitmer, who is a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth, (Zeigler) Whitmer, who still reside on their small farm near Youngstown. Our subject and wife reside on the old homestead farm where Mrs. Hazen was born, consisting of one hundred and twenty acres, which grandfather Whitmer settled on when he came from New Jersey sixty years ago. Mr. Hazen does general farming and takes much pride in his fine Holstein cattle. He keeps about twenty head of cows, and disposes of milk to a neighboring creamery, of which he was one of the leading promoters. The old brick residence is in good repair, and it is Mr. Hazen's custom to improve both house and grounds every year. It is an ideal country home for two very interesting children, Miss Flossie, born April 1, 1891, a bright student with musical ability; and Samuel S., born December 17, 1892, a manly young American of the best type. Mr. Hazen has served three years as township trustee, but is no aspirant for office of any kind. He is a staunch Republican because he believes in the principles of that party. Both he and wife are members of the Reformed church. The family is one of the solid, intelligent and representative ones of the county.
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
MRS. ELLEN (SHEEHY) WILSON.
Mrs. Ellen (Sheehy) Wilson, of Youngstown, Ohio, is the widow of the late George C. Wilson, who died at his pleasant rural home in this city, June 10, 1897, aged sixty-two years. Mr. Wilson was a native of Trumbull county, Ohio, and was born January 12, 1835. His father was Edwin Wilson and his mother Nancy Moore, both members of respected families of the north of Ireland. His grandfather was born on the ocean while the family was en route for America. Mr. Wilson was reared on his father's farm until the age of twelve, when he began caring for himself, and was a self-made man. In 1856 he first met the highly esteemed lady whose name heads this sketch, and they were united in marriage in 1859.
Mrs. Wilson is a daughter of John Young Sheehy and Anna (Kimmel) Sheehy, the former of whom was born on this farm in 1805 and the latter at Brier Hill, Youngstown, in 1809, on the Kimmel farm. The parents married in 1828 and spent all their lives here in the peaceful employments of agriculture. The father died in May, 1844, aged thirty-nine years, leav- ing his widow with five children, namely: Robert, who died in April, 1900, on Belmont avenue, leaving two sons, John Y. Sheehy and William W. Sheehy ; Ellen, Mrs. Wilson of this sketch; Lois first married Charles Med- bury and had one son, Frank Barclay Medbury, and married, second, J. W. Ross; Annie married T. J. Lewis, of Youngstown; Daniel, Jr., resides on Wilson avenue, and has sons, Daniel C. and George W. The mother of these children married twice more, first, Joseph Kennedy, and, third, Alex- ander Truesdale, the avenue of this name having been named in her honor, as was Wilson avenue in honor of George C. Wilson. The mother died January 26, 1892, aged eighty-two years.
George C. Wilson was never a man of robust constitution, and was not able to enter the army as a fighter during the Civil war, but he was no less useful as a faithful worker in the paymaster's department, and later was transferred to the quartermaster's office, and had full charge of all river transportation at Louisville, Kentucky, during the war. Many years of his life were spent at Louisville, Kentucky, and from there they came in April, 1866, to the old home farm. The farm of fifty-three acres was Mrs. Wilson's father's share of the four hundred her grandfather owned. He was a surveyor and helped to survey the lands of this county for the Con- necticut Company, and took up or bargained for one thousand acres, but secured only four hundred, as that was all he could get a good title for. Much of this old home farm has been bought by the railroad company, and the indications are that it is all doomed to the same purpose, when Mrs.
geoWilson
Ans Pro.@Gilson
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
Wilson and her daughter will reluctantly leave this beautiful old spot with its charming surroundings of shade and fruit.
Mrs. Wilson's mother was a woman of mental, moral and physical strength, and transmitted many of her characteristics to her children. Mrs. Wilson has but one heir, a foster daughter, Elizabeth Thomas Wilson, who was born in Wales at Blanavon, Monmouthshire, and came to America when a little girl. Her mother died leaving four children, and her father brought his little daughters to this country. She is a noble woman and a tender daughter and companion to Mrs. Wilson. During years of invalid life, when Mr. Wilson needed much loving care and attention, she vied with her foster mother in giving it, and increased the affection they long ago had learned to have for her. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wilson belonged for years to the First Presbyterian church. Fraternally he was a Master Mason, and that order took charge of his funeral obsequies.
JEREMIAH AND WILLIAM CREPS.
Jeremiah and William Creps are twin brothers, and are counted among the prominent and successful farmers of Beaver township, Mahoning county. They were born December 26, 1834, in York county, Pennsylvania, and they were sons of George Creps, who was born April 3, 1799. The latter died in April, 1882, aged eighty-three years, and was a son of George Creps, who was born in Germany. Grandfather Creps was a soldier in the war of 1812 and later was a successful farmer. He was a devout Lutheran in re- ligious faith. His seven children were the following: John, who lived to be more than eighty years old; Mrs. Elizabeth Groff reared five children and lived into the eighties; Ludwig; Samuel; David; George; and Katie, all of whom were noted for longevity.
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