USA > Ohio > Genealogical and family history of eastern Ohio > Part 68
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ing on the estate, some of which, including the old Dabney homestead, still belonging to Mrs. Westlake. Nathaniel Dabney died at the age of twenty- eight years. His widow never married, but made her home with her daughter Mrs. Westlake, where she died.
Our subject is the fifth of the children born to his parents, two of whom are deceased, an infant and Alice, who died in September, 1892. The others are: Mary, at home; Gardner, of this city, has one son and two daughters; William A., of Warren, Ohio; Charles; Laura J., a graduate of Bethany Col- lege, Virginia, and a successful teacher ; Catherine, wife of General Wright, a large cattle man of Bee, Nebraska.
Charles Westlake was educated in the schools of Youngstown, and was nineteen years of age when he entered the rolling mills as bookkeeper in the iron business, having qualified himself by a commercial course. He has con- tinued until the present time to be interested in the iron and coal business in different capacities. He was married October 29, 1878, to Miss Edith M. Hughes, who was born in Youngstown, and is a daughter of the late Captain William and Abigail Hughes, old settlers of Youngstown, where the former was for many years a contractor and builder. Mr. and Mrs. Westlake have one son, Charles, Jr., who was born June 20, 1880. He is also an expert ac- countant, and a chemist and is a young man of more than the usual ability, and is employed in the Youngstown Iron and Tube Company offices.
Mr. Westlake is a Master Mason, and belongs to other fraternal societies. He has been a life-long Republican. His business has called him at various times to do considerable traveling, and he is well known over a wide extent of country. If Mr. Westlake has a fad, it is the playing of draughts, and he is always glad to meet with a competitor worthy of his steel.
MRS. KATE (EVERETT) MORRISON.
Mrs. Kate (Everett) Morrison, a most highly esteemed resident of Youngstown, Ohio, residing at 820 Crosman avenue, is a descendant of two old and honorable families, the Dabneys and the Gardners. She was born in Youngstown in 1834, and is a daughter of Peter Shearer and Mary (D'Augbigne, Dabney) Everett, the former of whom was born in Somerset county, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in February, 1794, and the latter at the home of her grandmother in the same county, in 1800.
When the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Morrison came first to Ohio, it was in company with a friend from Pittsburg, the latter of whom was look- ing for a suitable place to establish a hotel. About 1796 the grandfather purchased a tract of four hundred acres with the idea of founding a town
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and embarking in an extensive mercantile business, but the project never came to a fruition on account of the friend failing in business. At his major- ity the grandfather married and settled on his tract of land in the timber. He possessed ten thousand dollars in cash, but had no experience and would doubtless have failed entirely as a farmer if he had not been assisted and encouraged by his wife. It is related that upon one occasion he went to burning brush, and the fire soon got beyond his control. He tried to put it out by carrying water in his high silk hat, but her more practical mind soon extinguished it by smothering with leaves. If space permitted, many interest- ing episodes might be related, and some which go to prove the brave and courageous character of these pioneers. The six children born to them were: Elizabeth B., in 1798; Mary, in 1800, Mrs. Morrison's mother; Sophia; Gardner; John; Ebenezer.
Mrs. Morrison's father, Peter Shearer Everett, doubtless belonged to the same family stock, from old England, which produced Hon. Edward Everett. Grandfather Everett was a man of large means, but he was a spec- ulator. He left his son a farm, but the title to this was found defective and the property was lost. Mr. Everett became the overseer for grandfather Dabney, and was accepted as a son-in-law of the latter when he was twenty- one and Mary Dabney was sixteen. A family of ten children was born to them as follows: Gardner Dabney, was born in December, 1816; Mary died aged nineteen years, and this grief caused the death of her older brother; Solomon Kline was born in 1820, dying in the prime of life, and left two daughters and one son; Elizabeth was born in 1822, married William Hafel and died in Jefferson, Wisconsin, leaving six children; John Dabney Everett was born in 1826 and lives retired on his farm at Brier Hill, and has his second wife and two children; Susan was born in 1828, and is the widow of Isaiah Shook and has six children; Lucy died in infancy; Kate, the sub- `ject of this sketch, was born October 8, 1834; Mary (2) was born in 1837, and married, first, Rev. Joseph Edwards, and, second, William McGowen; and Clarissa died in infancy. The father died of apoplexy in 1847, aged fifty-three years. The mother passed away in 1861, aged sixty-two years. Through life she had been a woman of delicate constitution, and was tenderly shielded from all possible trouble by her father and husband.
In childhood Mrs. Morrison showed a liking for teaching, her favorite pastime being an imaginary school of dolls. Later she became a teacher of a real school, and was very successful in her endeavors, filling various posi- tions prior to her marriage. In February, 1858, she was united in marriage with John Wesley Morrison, who was born in Delaware county, Pennsyl-
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vania, near Wilmington, Delaware, September 26, 1826, and who is now in his seventy-seventh year. His father was Robert Morrison, born in 1790 in New Jersey. His whole life was spent on his farm, which was both in Dela- ware and Pennsylvania, where he was a large fruit grower. He married Agnes Carter, a family which, with the Bayards and Claytons, were among the first settlers in Delaware from Sweden as early as 1642. They founded the old South Swede church at Wilmington. Mr. Morrison's parents reared all their thirteen children, and the father died aged seventy-three years and the mother in 1872. Mr. Morrison's early schooling was limited to the common school branches. At the age of seventeen he learned the machinist's trade. In 1850 he went to California, but remained there but one year. He was purser of a vessel his father owned. On his return trip he took the Panama fever while on the isthmus, but later, with three others, reached Chicago. Here one of the party died of cholera, and the others hastened away to Minnesota. On February 24, 1858, he married and spent one year at St. Paul, where he was engaged in a forwarding business, being agent for a line of steamers plying between St. Louis and St. Paul on the Missis- sippi river. A family of one son and three daughters was born to Mrs. Mor- rison, as follows: John W., Jr., born March 17, 1859, married Anna Adell Hyde, of Farmington, and died March 16, 1899. She was a daughter of Daniel and Rebecca (Saeger) Hyde, and the mother of four children, the youngest still surviving and in the care of his grandmother, our subject. John W., Jr., is engaged in looking after the family estate and building a large number of tenant houses. Sallie, the second child of our subject, died at the age of three years; Katie died at the age of fifteen months, both of these of diphtheria. Agnes, the surviving daughter of Mrs. Morrison, mar- ried Samuel Waterman Luce of Boston, who is a son of Samuel and Harriet (Blake) Luce. This marriage was performed December 22, 1891, with a great social display. Mrs. Luce has lost five children, but has one surviving, Everett, born in 1896.
Mr. and Mrs. Morrison liberally educated their children, Mrs. Luce re- ceiving advantages at a seminary in Boston. Since the death of Mrs. John W. Morrison, Jr., they have resided in his home at Youngstown, although they still own a beautiful one of their own on Lincoln avenue.
Following are some of the genealogical records of Mrs. Morrison: Gen- eral Thomas Gardner (1) born in 1592, married Margaret Frier. General George Gardner (2) married Elizabeth, daughter of Deacon John Horn. General Samuel Gardner (3) married widow Elizabeth Grafton, daughter of Elder John Brown. John Gardner (4), born April 14, 1681, married Eliza-
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beth, daughter of Dr. Daniel Wild, and Bethniah, daughter of Edward Michaelson. General Samuel Gardner (5), a prominent merchant of Salem, Massachusetts, married Esther Orne, whose mother was Lois Pickering. Elizabeth Gardner (6) married Dr. Nathaniel Dabney. In the seventh gener- ation Elizabeth Gardner, of Boston, married Charles Dabney.
CAROLINE (POWERS) WADDELL.
The family to which Mrs. Waddell belongs is one of the oldest in America. The Le Poers, or Powers, were of Norman stock, and settled in Waterford, Ireland, but Jacob Powers, the original American ancestor, came to this country from Amsterdam, Holland, in 1660. He located in New Amsterdam, in the territory of New Netherland, where he remained until its surrender to the English in 1664, at which time the family removed to Long Island. Jacob Powers became the father of a large family, and at his death left sixteen children and seventy grandchildren. He gave to each grandchild seventy pounds sterling. He became very wealthy, and belonged to the aristocratic element.
Jacob Powers, Jr., a son of the above named gentleman, was born in New Amsterdam in 1662, and there he lived and reared a large family. He became a merchant and trader by occupation. His son Isaac was born in New Amsterdam in 1705, and after reaching manhood moved to the state line, thus residing near the border of three states, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As a means of livelihood he followed the carpenter's trade. He, too, reared a large family of children, three of whom are sons, John, Jacob and Abraham. The family remained at the state line until 1754, at which time the great conflict between the English and French drove them south to Trenton, near the dividing line of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 1758 they removed to Upland, now called Chester, Pennsylvania, and four years later a removal was made to Westmoreland county, that state, where they remained until the call was made for troops to serve in the Revo- lutionary war. The three sons, John, Jacob and Abraham, served against both the Indians and English, and the first named never returned from the war. He was born in 1740. The second son, Jacob, was born in 1742, and with his wife and three sons removed to Linesville, now Maysville, Kentucky.
Abraham Powers, the youngest of the three sons of Jacob Powers, Jr., was born in 1745. In 1797 he came from Beaver county, Pennsylvania, to Youngstown, Ohio, and shortly afterward joined a party of surveyors em- ployed by John Young, the founder of Youngstown. Mr. Power's son Isaac was also one of the surveyors, and is supposed to have been one of the first
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two white men to see what is now Lantermans Falls. The father and son took a contract for building the first mill to grind corn, which they were to con- struct for the sum of fifty dollars, and the structure was to be completed within eighteen months. The mill-stone was procured and dressed by the father, who was a millwright, and was made from a rock found in the vicin- ity of Lincoln avenue, near Holmes street. This building stood on the pres- ent site of the old Lanterman mill. Abraham Powers became the father of ten children, three of whom were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and after his arrival in the Mahoning valley in 1797 the father purchased for each of the sons a farm along the Mahoning river.
Isaac Powers was born in Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland county, Penn- sylvania, on the 12th of April, 1777, and his farm was located on the south side of the river. Poland avenue now passes through this place, and a large portion of the tract is still owned by his grandchildren. In 1822 he discovered coal on this farm, and he was the first in this region to burn it in his grate, he having by his ingenuity and inventive skill planned and constructed a grate, thus adding cheer and brightness to his home. In 1803 Isaac Powers was united in marriage to Leah Frazee, who was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1773, and her death occurred on the 4th of December, 1864. She was a daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Bradford) Frazee, the former of whom died on the 6th of June, 1829, at the age of seventy-nine years, and the latter passed away February 4, 1834, aged eighty-five years. The Frazees are of English descent, received a land grant of considerable extent from the crown and settled in New York and New Jersey. The family sub- sequently removed to different parts of the United States, and the name is now found in Ohio, Mississippi, Kentucky, Indiana and California. Jonathan Frazee settled in Poland, Ohio, in 1800, and he and his wife were the parents of three beautiful daughters: Betsey married William Porter, of Champion, Ohio; and Rachel and Leah were twins. The former married William Dun- lap, of Weathersfield, Ohio, and the latter became the wife of Isaac Powers in 1803. Mrs. Waddell now has in her possession a picture of Leah, taken a short time before she was summoned to the better world, and the dear old- fashioned grandmother, the sweet peaceful face under a snowy cap, did not seem to share the hardships that fell to the pioneer. It would take more space than is here allotted to tell of the Indian atrocities and hardships in contending with wild beasts which mingled with the trials and pleasures of the grand old forefathers, but the grandchildren pride themselves in being descendants of the honorable and generous old pioneers who were the first to settle south of the Mahoning.
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The union of Isaac and Leah (Frazee) Powers was blessed with nine children, of whom seven, five sons and two daughters, grew to years of matur- ity. The second, Isaac, became a physician and married Margaret Hezlep, by whom he had four children, two now living, John, who served throughout the Civil war, and Elizabeth, the wife of Edward Taylor. The third child, John, also became a physician, and moved to Missouri; he married Isabel Brownlee, and they became the parents of five children, Mary, wife of Noah Caton; Fred, who married Annie Roberts ; Leah J., the wife of C. G. Bigger ; Isabel M., the wife of B. T. Stauber ; and Isaac, who married Mary Moore. The fourth child was Mary Ann, who became the wife of Henry Heasley, and their living grandchild is Mrs. Fannie Jacobs Vaughn .. Abraham mar- ried Eliza Adair, and of their five children one still survives, James Adair, who married Elizabeth Mckinley, of Moselle, Missouri ; there are two grand- children of Abraham and Eliza, Lida Leon Smith, wife of Charles L. Spauld- ing, of Chicago, and Abraham Powers Smith of New York. The sixth child, Leah Letitia, married John Brownlee, of their five children three are now liv- ing, Mary Isabelle, the wife of L. E. Cochran; Lilian Leah, wife of G. M. McKelvey; Alexander Bruce, who married Henrietta Hollingsworth; all re- side in Youngstown. William, the seventh child, married Elizabeth S. Brown ; of their eight children two are living, Edmund L., who married Gertrude Simpkins, and they reside in Youngstown; Alice, the wife of Lee Slataper, of Alvin Texas. William and Abraham were associated in the coal business. Fleming was the first in order of birth. Isaac Powers, the father of this family, was born when our infant country was struggling for its liberty and independence, witnessed its triumphs, marked its rapid strides, its prosperity and greatness, enjoyed its superior advantages and blessings, lived to see this great nation convulsed by secession and rebellion, the liberty and freedom pur- chased by the blood of our fathers threatened with subversion, and in the midst of these stirring times he died, passing to the home beyond on the 9th day of May, 1861. A beautiful spot on a hill on his own farm was selected by him in early life for his family's last resting place, and a beautiful white marble monument bearing inscriptions now crowns the spot, walled in by heavy masonry supervised by himself. "Sweet be their rest there till He bids them arise, to hail Him in triumph descending the skies."
Fleming Powers, a son of Isaac and Leah Powers, and the father of Mrs. Waddell, was born on the 6th of December, 1807, and became a pros- perous farmer and stock-raiser. He was honest and upright in all his dealings, and was honored for his many sterling qualities. In 1828 he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Madden, who was born in 1809, in Poland, and was a
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daughter of John and Jane (Thompson) Madden, the former of whom was born in 1760 and died in 1840, while the latter was born in 1766 and died in 1811. They came to Poland, Ohio, from Ireland in 1800, and were the parents of five daughters. The eldest, Nancy, married Abraham DeHuff, who was a farmer and fruit grower, and a prominent mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity. Mary married John Mikesell, a farmer and lumber dealer of Champion, Ohio, and their three children are: Elizabeth, who married George W. Rupp, of Cleveland; Mary Ellen, who married Hiram Shaffer, of Champion, Ohio; and Clinton DeWitt, of Warren, this state. The third daughter, Martha, married Isaac Rush and removed to Illinois, and their family are all deceased. Margaret never married; she was a beautiful weaver and designer on linen and woolen fabrics, which in those days was an accomplishment. Elizabeth was the fifth daughter, and became the wife of Fleming Powers. She was but two years of age when her mother died, after which her father purchased a farm on Flint Hill, where he resided until his death in 1840. His daughter Margaret died in the same year; father, mother and daughter are buried in a quaint old burying ground in Poland. To Flem- ing and Elizabeth (Madden) Powers were born four children. The eldest, John Atlas, deceased, served throughout the entire period of the Civil war, was a member of Company E, Twenty-third Regiment, of Poland; he married Maria DeHuff and had one daughter, Bertha. The second child, Mary Jane, became the wife of Charles L. Fithian; they have five children, three sons and two daughters, Emma Jane, who married John C. Orr, a prosperous mer- chant of Parnassus, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania; Lizzie Alice, at home; James Bruce, who married Grace Caufield; John Atlas, who married Jennie Miller ; D. Robert, who married Gertrude Cartwright; all are residents of Youngstown. Caroline Waddell is the next child in order of birth. The fourth child is Cassius Madden, who served with his brother John Atlas throughout the Civil war; both served in the regiment with William Mc- Kinley. Mrs. Mary Jane Fithian and Mrs. Elizabeth S. (Brown) Powers were the first organists in the Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, in 1856, playing alternately. Fleming Powers was called to his final rest on the IIth of May, 1867, and his wife survived until the 4th of February, 1877. Both were members of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, and they are now buried in Oak Hill.
Caroline Powers, familiarly known as Callie, was married on the 20th of December, 1865, to Alexander Findley Colquhoun Waddell. He was the son of Robert and Margaret (Colquhoun) Waddell, in whose family were eight children, Robert, William, James, John, Andrew, Mary, Margaret and Alexander. The parents passed away in death in 1870, aged respectively
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eighty-five and eighty-seven years. Alexander, or Sandy as he was more familiarly known in the family, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on the 18th of December, 1838, the year in which Queen Victoria was coronated, and there spent the early years of his life. On the 7th of April, 1864, he sailed up the beautiful Clyde to embark on the St. Andrew to cross the wide Atlantic, and after a rough and stormy voyage landed in Portland, Maine. On the 3d of May he came to Youngstown, Ohio, being a guest of his uncle, John Col- quhoun, who was manager of the Morris Coal Company, which was located on the Powers farm in the Mahoning valley. Shortly after his arrival Alexander F. C. Waddell entered the employ of the Westerman Iron Company, of Sharon, Pennsylvania, but soon afterward returned to Youngstown, where he engaged in the coal and oil trade on his own account. In 1881, however, the Standard Oil Company purchased his business, but retained him as their man- ager, and with this company he served until his death, which occurred on the 18th of April, 1901. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, affiliating with Hillman Lodge, F. & A. M., the Scottish Rite, the Mystic Shrine, and was a thirty-second degree Mason. In his fraternal relations he was also a member of the Knights of Pythias. Politically he was a stanch Republican, was an honorary member of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, and his religious views connected him with the Trinity Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Waddell was a broad-minded man, rejoicing in the prosperity of others, was especially concerned in young men, and would al- ways exert any effort to advance the interest of a progressive and honest lad starting on life's road.
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Waddell was blessed with six children, name- ly : Libbie Victoria; Margaret Colquhoun; Robert Ovando, who in 1872 died in infancy; Mary Ivy, who died in 1896; Vancee Powers, deceased in 1879, in infancy ; and Fleming Powers, who is a member of the Young Men's Christian Association, has been secretary of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Sunday-school for four years, and is a stockholder and director of the Youngs- town Tailoring Company. The daughter Mary Ivy was an artist of wonderful natural ability. The family are all members of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, of which their great-grandfather, Isaac Powers, was one of the five founders, and this is the centennial year of the church, which will be cele- brated in October.
This sketch of one of the oldest and most progressive families of eastern Ohio can inadequately convey the importance of the influence which they have exerted in social, political, religious and business affairs for the past century, and the pioneer names which have been mentioned will be revered as long as the early history of Ohio forms a portion of the chronicles of this great nation.
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EPHRAIM RUHLMAN.
The Ruhlman family was established in this country by the great-grand- father of the subject of this biography, who came from Germany. Grand- father George Ruhlman was a native of Pennsylvania, and settled in York county, Pennsylvania, where he was a well-to-do farmer. He married a Miss Riggle, and they reared two sons and three daughters, one of the sons, George, having married, but lost his only child.
The other son, Lewis Ruhlman, was born about 1793, in York county, Pennsylvania, and after his marriage, he and his wife both having inherited a small property, he began a successful career, having been worth at one time eighteen thousand dollars. He built and conducted a distillery in Ohio, to which state he had come in 1831, and it was the largest of the eight dis- tilleries in Beaver township, Mahoning county. He also engaged in mer- chandising and stock dealing, but this venture proved disastrous, and he and his eldest son, who was his partner, met with heavy losses. In 1817 Lewis Ruhlman married Margaret Hinkle, who was born about one year later than her husband, and they had eight sons and two daughters; Jesse was a farmer in Indiana, where he died in old age, survived by only one daughter of his eight children; Amos, a cooper and farmer in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, active in mind and body despite his eighty-three years, is a widower and has five children; Ephraim, the third son, is the subject of this sketch; Sarah, the widow Buzzard, lives in North Lima with her only daughter; Matilda, the wife of Solomon Clinker, of North Lima, has a son and daughter and grandchildren; George died in this township leaving a widow and three sons; William, a shoemaker and farmer of Marion county, Ohio, has five sons; Henry died at the age of twenty; Lewis died in Springfield township, Mahon- ing county, in advanced years, leaving a son and daughter; Eli is a widower in Cleveland, living with his only son.
Ephraim Ruhlman, the oldest resident in Beaver township, Mahoning county, and one of its most respected citizens, was born in Manheim township, York county, Pennsylvania, November 29, 1821. In 1831, when the family made their migration to Ohio, the boy Ephraim drove the two-horse team, behind his father with the four-horse team, and on Sunday morning, May I, 1831, the Ruhlman family, consisting of father and mother and seven chil- dren, arrived at their future home of one hundred and fifty-six acres, one mile south of North Lima, for which the purchase price was two thousand dollars, one-half down, and the rest in two yearly payments. Ephraim, ow- ing to the primitive civilization into which he was thus thrown, had but limited advantages in the way of schooling at the subscription schools. At the age
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