USA > Ohio > Ashland County > History of Ashland County, Ohio > Part 84
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In 1879 Mr. Beard was united in marriage to Miss Louisa F. Webster, who was born in Washington township, Holmes county, Ohio, April 30, 1855, and is a daughter of Daniel and Jane (Latterdale) Webster, both of whom were natives of Lake township, Ashland county. The father is now deceased, but the mother survives and is now living in Ashland. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Beard
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were born three daughters: Olive Ethel, now the wife of C. E. Barnes, of Loudonville; Edith Edna, the wife of J. T. Harvey; and Forrest, who is attending school. Mr. Beard is a member of the Knights of Pythias and is well known in the order and in business circles throughout Loudonville and these parts of Ashland county. He is a man of marked industry and force of character, whose determination has largely constituted the foundation of his success. He early realized the fact that earnest labor will eventually win a substantial reward and thus he has employed his time and talents to the best advantage in the acquirement of the prosperity which he now enjoys.
CHARLES LINCOLN CAREY.
The Carey family is an old and prominent one of Ashland county and he whose name introduces this review is numbered among the native sons of Green township, his birth having occurred October 24, 1853, on the farm which is yet his home on section 21. Here he has resided all his life with the exception of two years spent in school and in clerking in Perrysville. His parents were George W. and Elizabeth Carey. The father was born about two miles north- west of Perrysville in Green township, Ashland county, in 1823, and was a son of George and Elizabeth Carey. The grandfather of our subject was of Scotch- Irish descent, although born in this country. He died about 1855 on the farm where Charles L. Carey now resides, while his wife passed away in Rowsburg in 1843. In their family were two children, Mary, the wife of C. C. Coulter, and George W.
The latter devoted the greater part of his life to farming, although he was admitted to the bar September 26, 1848, in Wayne county, at which time the supreme court met at Wooster. He afterward devoted a portion of his life to general law practice. He was thirty-one years of age when, in 1856, he was elected justice of the peace, in which position he gave excellent satisfaction through his perfectly fair and equitable decisions. In 1850 he went to Cali- fornia by way of the isthmus route and spent about two years there, devoting his time to mining gold. He took part in an Indian fight while on the coast and met the experiences incident to life in an unorganized community. Fol- lowing his return he gave his attention to agricultural and professional interests in this county and was a very successful business man. At the time of the Civil war he served with the squirrel hunters. He was recognized as one of the leading political leaders of this part of the state and made many campaign ad- dresses, especially about war times. He was a stalwart republican, unfaltering in his allegiance to the party and in addition to the local office he filled he was called to represent his district in the general assembly in 1864 and served for one term. His wife, who was born near Hagerstown, Maryland, June 10, 1825, went with her parents, John and Mary Foster, to Pennsylvania, and they after- ward came to Ohio. Her death occurred in Perrysville, February 23, 1901.
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In the family of Mr. and Mrs. George Carey were four children. Mary E. became the wife of Ralph H. Gorham of Perrysville, and unto them were born two children, Charity E. and Otto L., both now deceased. After losing her first husband, Mrs. Gorham became the wife of Henry H. Watson, a resident of Washington, D. C. George, the second member of the family, died in infancy. Thomas C., who was born June 19, 1848, in Rowsburg, Ohio, enlisted at the age of fifteen years for service in the Civil war, joining Company D, One Hundred and Sixty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on the 2d of May, 1864. He was discharged at Columbus later in that year. In 1880 he was appointed clerk in the treasury department in Washington, D. C., where he was employed for sixteen years, Senator John Sherman securing him his position. He was in the second comptroller's office of the treasury department where he was considered an expert accountant, and during President Cleveland's second term he was detailed by the chief of his bureau to assist in figuring out the appropriation of congress. He was also paymaster of his division during the period of time that he was employed by the government and made out the president's vouchers .. The last ten years of his life were spent in Colorado where he was identified with mining interests and he died at Canon City, that state, October 11, 1908.
Charles Lincoln Carey was the youngest of his father's family and on the old home farm, where he yet resides, spent the days of his boyhood and youth, so that the place is endeared to him through the association of his childhood as well as of later years. He now has a valuable farm of two hundred and eighty acres on section 21, Green township, on the Honey Creek, Loudonville and Hagersville roads. - The place is pleasantly and conveniently located about four miles from Loudonville and each year the fields bring forth good crops as the result of the care and labor which he bestows on them.
He makes a specialty of raising sheep, handling the Delaine breed, and he has wintered three hundred and eighty-two of his own raising, while at the present time he has two hundred head. He is a keen judge of stock and this enables him to make judicious purchase and profitable sales. In all of his business affairs he displays sound judgment and his energy has been a substantial foundation on which to build his present prosperity.
Mr. Carey is pleasantly situated in his home life. . He was married on the 19th of November, 1874, to Miss Sarah E. Stull, who was born in Oil City, Pennsylvania, September 12, 1854, and during her infancy was brought to Ashland county by her parents, John and Margaret Stull, who were natives of Pennsylvania and whose family numbered eight children. The father died in Illinois while the mother passed away in Michigan. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Carey has been blessed with five children: George W., of Loudonville, who married Iva L. Wolf and has two children, Stanton and Kennith; Lilly, at home; Frank, who resides on his father's farm in another dwelling and who married Dora Kettenring by whom he has one child, Vera M .; John Sherman, at home; and Mary L., the wife of H. H. Stockman of Loudonville and the mother of one son, Charles R.
Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise Charles L. Carey has been a stalwart advocate of the republican party, its principles and its policy. As stated, his father was elected justice of the peace when thirty-one years of
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age. It was just twenty-nine years from that time when his son, Charles L. Carey, was elected justice, he being also thirty-one years of age at the time of his election. There has been no other republican justices elected in this town- ship. since 1856 and the fact that Mr. Carey and his father were called to this office is proof of the confidence and trust reposed in them by their fellow towns- men. The former was chosen for the office in 1885 by a majority of sixty-six although in the previous election the democratic candidate at the head of the ticket had received a majority of one hundred and seventy-five. That he proved a competent and satisfactory official is indicated by his reelection in 1888 with a majority of two hundred and twenty-three. He also served for two terms as jury commissioner of the county and has twice been appointed to assist in auditing the county treasurer's books. He was a candidate on the republican ticket for clerk of the county and for probate judge, but the county was too strongly democratic to overcome the regular democratic majority. In many affairs relating to the community Mr. Carey has taken an active and helpful part. He was one of the fifteen to organize a telephone company which was afterward incorporated under the statutes of Ohio and is known as the Farmers Telephone Company with headquarters at Perrysville. Mr. Carey wrote the application for the charter, also the rules and regulations for the company which has now some six hundred subscribers. Mr. Carey's son, Frank, assessed Green township for four consecutive terms, being elected on the republican ticket. The fact that representatives of the family in three generations have been called to office in a democratic county is proof of their popularity and the confidence reposed in them. They are known as progressive citizens, reliable and enterprising business men, faithful in friendship and loyal to the high principles of honorable manhood. In business affairs Charles L. Carey has displayed keen discernment, judicial investment and a spirit of unfaltering diligence and enterprise and these have carried him steadily forward to success.
GEORGE BRUBAKER.
George Brubaker; who is an influential factor in the financial circles of Ashland county, where he is now living in retirement after having devoted many years of his life to the pursuit of agriculture, was born March 14, 1835, and is descended from a family of Swedish extraction, the members of which for over a century have been identified with the farming and business interests of this part of the state. The family came originally from Pennsylvania, where they settled at an early date, his great-great-grandfather in 1710 locating on a tract of land embracing one thousand acres in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, five hundred acres of which he subsequently disposed of, and his descendants have occupied the remainder, which is still in possession of the family, for the past one hundred and ninety-nine years.
The paternal grandparents of our subject were Benjamin and Martha Brubaker, both natives of the Keystone state. Among their children was Peter Brubaker, also born in Pennsylvania in 1804, and there he was married about
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1827 to Katharine Albert, a native of Lancaster county, that state, where her birth occurred in 1809. Peter Brubaker was reared to agricultural pursuits under his father, and at an early date located in Ashland county, Ohio, on a tract of land embracing one hundred and sixty acres, all of which was overgrown with timber. He was among the pioneers of this part of the state by whose energy the land was cleared and transformed into the fertile fields which are seen today. With the assistance of his son George he erected his first dwelling, which was a log cabin, and cleared his land, putting it under cultivation. Here he spent his remaining days. When he first became interested in politics he voted on the side of the whigs, but later changed his political views and supported the democratic party during the candidacy of James Buchanan for president, whose personal friend he was, the two having been reared in the same county. As to his religious convictions, he accepted the faith common in that section of the Keystone state and was affiliated with that denomination of Christians known as the Mennonites. He reared a family of twelve children, four of whom survive, namely : Katherine Brubaker Hiller; George; Barbara Brubaker Root; and Amos.
George Brubaker was reared on his father's farm, in the meantime taking advantage of the neighboring schools where he obtained his education. He remained under the parental roof until he was twenty-four years of age, when he started out in the world for himself and engaged in working a farm on shares for about ten years, at the termination of which period he purchased a tract of land containing ninety-two acres. Subsequently he purchased an additional twenty-seven acres, most of this land having been cleared, and upon it he made such improvements as to facilitate the occupation of farming. At the end of fifteen years he disposed of it and purchased another farm containing one hundred and sixty-eight acres, which he still owns and which is located two miles west of the village of Ashland. Here he carried on general agriculture to- gether with stock raising until 1902, when he removed to Ashland, where he now lives in retirement. He also dealt in live stock in connection with his other business.
In 1856 Mr. Brubaker was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Cotner, whose birth occurred here in 1828, and to this union have been born twelve children, all of whom are living and received their educations at the Ashland high school, namely : John Wesley; Peter; Jacob, Ettie Brubaker McCarty; Norma Bru- baker Eby; George Washington; Lottie Brubaker Holk; Harley C .; Ida May ; Albert; Emma; and Katherine. Mr. and Mrs. Brubaker also have twenty-four grandchildren, so far no deaths having occurred in the family .. In 1901 the Brubaker family established an annual reunion which they have since continued and the assembly on these occasions being large are, needless to say, interesting and looked forward to by the several members of the family as the chief event of the year.
The democratic party has always received Mr. Brubaker's vote, as he is a stanch believer in the wisdom of its policies, and since casting his first vote for Buchanan he has not found cause for leaving his party. From 1888 to 1895 he served as county commissioner, holding the office for two terms and a year extra by appointment. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
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Free and Accepted Masons, and is also a member of that denomination of Christians known as the Disciples of Christ. Being a man whose enterprising spirit has greatly added to the financial worth of the community he is accounted one of the county's most worthy and substantial citizens.
MICHAEL FRANGKISER.
Michael Frangkiser has now passed the seventy-first milestone on life's journey and at the present writing, in 1909, is living retired in the enjoyment of well earned and well merited rest. He was long closely and prominently associated with the business interests of Loudonville, having for twenty-four years been engaged in the hardware trade here. Liberal, enterprising and energetic in all his transactions he so controlled his business interests that year after year he was able to add to his savings, making his present rest from busi- ness possible. He was born at Ludwigs Winkel, near Bermingsentz in Rhenish Bavaria, October 20, 1837, a son of John and Katharine (Winkler) Frangkiser, both of whom were natives of that country. The father died when his son Michael was but ten years of age and the boy afterward came to America with his widowed mother and a half-brother, Peter Yachey, in 1851. They did not tarry on the eastern coast but made their way direct to Loudonville, where they joined Jacob Mosier, a half-brother of Mr. Frangkiser, who had been here for five years.
Mr. Frangkiser has resided in or near Loudonville since that time, covering a period of more than fifty-seven years. He spent nine years in agricultural pursuits, being employed for seven years by others after which he carried on farming on his own account for two years. Then taking up his abode in the town, he purchased an interest in a grocery business and operated in that line for eight years, when he turned his attention to the hardware trade and for twenty-four years was engaged in that line. During the first eleven years he was the junior partner of the firm of Priest & Frangkiser but afterward was alone in business and conducted a well equipped establishment which brought to him gratifying success. He made careful purchases, was reasonable in his prices, and by his straightforward dealing and unfailing courtesy he secured a liberal patronage. Thus year by year he prospered until he was at length enabled to retire from active life. He has made judicious investments in property, being now the owner of real estate in the town and also of a small farm to which he gives his personal supervision. For the past twenty-five years he has resided on Butler street, in Loudonville, and about five years ago erected his present home. In 1860 Mr. Frangkiser was married to Miss Magda- lena Lorentz, who was born at Birlenbach, a little village in Alsace, April 19, 1841. She was a daughter of Jacob Lorentz, whose birth occurred November 28, 1815, at Griess, in the canton of Brumath, arondissement of Strasburg, department Bas Rhine, Alsace, his parents being Andrew and Maria (Hickel) Lorentz. He was confirmed March 29, 1829. On the 28th of July, 1840, he married Miss Salomea Gassman, a daughter of Michael and Margaret (Roe)
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Gassman, in the village of Birlenbach, canton of Loultz, Alsace, and in 1844 they emigrated to America. After about a year they removed from Erie county, New York, to Holmes county, Ohio, and unto them were born nine children, four sons and five daughters. The wife and two of the children passed away before the death of Mr. Lorentz, which occurred at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Michael Frangkiser, March 4, 1902. He was a man of many good qualities and his death was deeply regretted by his friends and family.
Mrs. Frangkiser was only four years of age when her parents came to the new world and located on a farm near Glenmont, in Holmes county, Ohio, while subsequently they made their home on a farm between Lakeville and Nashville, Ohio. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Frangkiser have been born five children: John, living in Mansfield; Amelia, who is the widow of Winfield Bartlet, a resi- dent of Loudonville; Delphina, the wife of William Schauweker, of Loudonville; Charles, deceased; and Edward, also of this place.
During the long years of his residence in and near Loudonville Mr. Frang- kiser has ever taken a deep and active interest in matters pertaining to the general welfare, giving his support to many measures for the public good. He has served as a member of the city council and as township appraiser, but whether in office or out of it he is always loyal to the best interests of the com- munity. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and he is a member of Zion Lutheran church. His life has been actuated by high and honorable principles and has marked a close conformity with his religious belief.
PHILPOT CURRAN COWEN.
The name of Cowen has figured in connection with the history of Ashland county from pioneer times. Of Irish ancestry, the first of the name in America were David and Mellie (Reed) Cowen, who emigrated from Downpatrick, in County Down, Ireland, to the United States in 1801, accompanied by their sons, Joseph and David. They were believers in Irish independence as promulgated by Napper Tandy and the Society of the United Irishmen, sympathizing with Washington and Napoleon in their struggles against hereditary monarchy. They landed at New Castle, Delaware, and settled on a farm near Oxford, Chester county, Pennsylvania. There the son, David Cowen, Jr., married Elizabeth Hood and located on a farm where he spent his remaining days. His son, Washington Cowen, removed to Millersburg, Holmes county, Ohio, where he married Eliza Lemon. They were the parents of John Kissig Cowen, an eminent railroad lawyer and president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
The other son, Joseph Cowen, who had married Ellen Allison in Ireland, remained on a farm in the neighborhood of his parents and his brother David, near Oxford, for twelve years, when he removed to Allegheny county, Pennsyl- vania, and settled on a farm near Pittsburg in 1813. In the fall of 1831 he came to Ashland county in a Conestoga wagon drawn by four horses, and settled on the farm now owned and occupied by his grandson, Philpot C. Cowen. He was accompanied on this journey by his wife and daughters, Rachel, Jane,
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Sarah and Mary, and his sons, George and William. His other children, John; Margaret, the wife of David Boice; and Sophia, the wife of James Kelsey, re- mained in Pittsburg until the following year, when they came to Green town- ship and settled on adjoining farms, but John afterward went south with the intention of going to New Orleans by way of the rivers and was never heard from again.
William Cowen was the second son and fourth child of Joseph and Ellen (Allison) Cowen, who were married near Downpatrick, Ireland, and landed at New Castle, Delaware, in 1801, their eldest child, Margaret, being then a year old. William Cowen was born near Oxford, Chester county, Pennsylvania, February 16, 1809, and when four years old accompanied his parents across the Alleghanies and for nineteen years was a resident of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. The father was in limited circumstances and lived on many rented farms. At last he leased a one hundred acre farm on what was then called Coal Hill for a term of three years, at an annual cash rent, but unable to pay this he gave up the farm the second year and the landlord took all his chattels. To escape imprisonment for debt he took advantage of what was called the Insolvent Debtors Act, which allowed the debtor his liberty upon his taking oath that all his property was turned over and that he would do all in his power to discharge the indebtedness. Eventually Mr. Cowen satisfied all of his creditors.
William Cowen, like the other members of the family, was early thrown upon his own resources, and from the age of twelve years earned his own living. He did not have the opportunity to attend school for more than three months alto- gether. With a flail he threshed the harvest of 1831, amounting to three hundred bushels of wheat, which was sold in Pittsburg at sixty cents a bushel. With this money and their household goods the family started for Ohio. In those early days the settlers were hospitable and cheerfully aided the traveler as he wended his way through the forests, over new roads, to hew out for himself a farm in the midst of the forest. The landlord of the wayside tavern permitted them to cook over his fire and gave them lodging for a nominal fee. The first house the family occupied in Ohio was a cabin on the Manner farm near New- ville, Richland county, in which they lived from October 31, 1831, until January, 1832, when they took up their abode on a farm in Green township, where the father died. This quarter section was purchased from William Taylor, who held it by certificate of purchase from the general government. The purchase price was five hundred dollars, of which two hundred and fifty dollars was paid in cash, and in addition to that he gave him the two horses and the wagon which had been used in moving westward, leaving an unpaid balance of one hundred dollars.
William Cowen gave stalwart support to the democratic party until 1876 when, opposing the resumption of specie payment as advocated by the demo- cratic party, he voted for R. B. Hayes as president and afterward gave his allegiance to the republican party at state and national elections, but cast an independent ballot at township and county elections. In April, 1839, he was chosen constable of Green township and at the end of his first term of two years was reelected. Imprisonment for debt was then in vogue and was often re-
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sorted to. In his own words: "Times were hard, money scarce, and occasion- ally I had one hundred executions against residents of my township, my costs amounting in a year to one thousand dollars, about one-third of which was collected." After serving as constable Mr. Cowen began to practice law before justice courts and was regularly admitted to the bar September 29, 1848, at Mansfield. He always remained on a farm and operated his fields but was often engaged in trying suits before justices. In these trials he met a number
In April, 1861, of the eminent members of the bar of this part of the state. he was elected assessor of Green township, and in April, 1862, was chosen justice of the peace and was twice reelected. At the October election in 1865 he was chosen commissioner of Ashland county and by reelection served for six years. He contributed generously to the building and support of churches and believed in liberality and humanity, and that any creed which deprived a human being of a single right, or took from him a single quality of mercy which society could safely give him was inhuman and cruel and unworthy of human sanction.
On the 24th of March, 1855, William Cowen wedded Mary Comer, daughter of John and Anna (Newkirk) Comer. She was born in Clinton township, Wayne county, Ohio, December 11, 1822. Her parents were Virginians. Her paternal grandfather, Samuel Comer, removed to the Northwest Territory in 1801, and was a resident of Pickaway county when Ohio was admitted to the Union. Her maternal grandfather, Tunis Newkirk, was a slave owner and the owner of a large estate in Berkeley county, Virginia, of which he disposed and then entered an extensive tract of land near Lancaster, Ohio, about 1805. When about eighteen years of age Mrs. Cowen united with the Baptist church at Loudonville and soon after her marriage became a member of the GreentowL Baptist church. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Cowen were born six children, of whoL three died in infancy, while one daughter, Frances, who was born March 14, 1866, became the wife of Marion Reed, a prominent practicing attorney of Mansfield, on the 11th of August, 1890, and died October 8, 1892. The sur- viving members of the family are: Mrs. Naomi Jane Boyd, who resides near Brownlee, Saskatchewan, Canada; and Philpot C. The father died August 15, 1890, and the mother passed away April 25, 1908. Their genuine personal worth and many splendid traits of character won them the love and esteem of all who knew them, and causes their memory to be cherished by their surviving children and friends.
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