History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, Part 96

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 458

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Levoy C. Jones

Dellia L. Sou

RES.OF ROLLIN L. JONES, WAYNE TP., ASHTABULA CO.O.

LOVISA MARGARET JONES.

ROLLIN FLAVEL JONES

PHOTOS BY L H BRADLEY, LINDENVILLE, O.

Deborah Jones

Samuel Jones

LINUS H.JONES.

ANSON JONES.

Jannul frus fr

247

HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.

months after their arrival in Wayne they settled upon lot 28, where they contin- ued to reside until after the death of Mrs. Jones (September 5, 1863) ; since which he has lived with the families of his children.

Mr. Jones was well pleased with the new country after he settled upon his own land, and was never homesick ; but his wife used to stand in the door of their cabin looking towards the cast with tearful eyes. Mr. Jones was drafted for ser- vice for the War of 1812, but was excused by Dr. Peter Allen, on account of lameness caused by cutting his ankle. In the late Rebellion, all of his grandsons who had arrived at sufficient age, with a single exception, were in the service for long or short terms, and nearly all met with the casualties of war.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones united with the Congregational church in Wayne previous to the year 1819. Mr. Jones, when called upon to aid in any worthy benevolent enterprise, asked only one question,-What is my part ? or, What ought I to give for this? and cheerfully and liberally responded. Benevolence was Mrs. Jones' crowning virtue, and it can be truly said of her, "She hath done what she could."

Very few men have lived a long life, more respected as useful and influential citizens, than " Uncle Sam," as he was familiarly called. He was no aspirant for office or places of distinction ; did not encumber his mind with the provisions of the statute-book, except as necessary in the ordinary transactions of business, and sometimes as supervisor or township trustee. Yet in matters of public improve- ment and the promotion of the common interests of the community, and in the adjustment of differences where interests came in conflict, the judgment of no man was more readily accepted and approved than his.

Linus Hayes, oldest son of Samuel Jones, was born in Bark hamstead, Litchfield county, Connecticut, February 5, 1805, and came to Ohio with his parents in the fall of 1811. The winter following a school was taught in a part of the dwelling occupied by Titus Hayes, of which Linus and a younger brother, Flavel, formed the first class. His opportunities for education then were confined to the common schools of the district, with a finish of a few weeks of private instruction in the old log meeting-house of sacred memory. In December, 1824, he com- menced teaching a common school, the same employment being pursued for eight consecutive winters, and in each spring returning to the labors of the farm. After this, not satisfied with the monotony of farm life in winter, the teaching of "singing-schools" furnished the needed stimulus to keep the mind in action, which was followed for several consecutive winters in different parts of Ashta- bula and Trumbull counties. These services were fully appreciated. Although his qualifications as teacher were greatly below what are required in these later days, yet they were much beyond what could often be found in any " home-made" Ohioan.

In the spring of 1826 he commenced cutting down the forest upon lot No. 66, where Mr. D. T. Beardsley now resides. November 11, 1827, he married Miss Mary P. Phelps, who died September 15, 1828. This bereavement caused him to change his plans for a home, and by the advice and an arrangement with his father, he changed his location, and settled upon the north part of lot No. 28, where he has continued to reside since his second marriage. January 20, 1830, he married Miss Eliza Scager, an orphan, formerly of Ontario county, New York, who died January 15, 1840. She was the mother of one child, Deborah Eliza- beth, born May 21, 1837, and died November 23, 1839. October 28, 1840, he married Mrs. Luey Ackley Rowe, widow of Dr. Albert G. Rowe, who died at Corydon, Indiana, September 10, 1838, aged twenty-nine years. The husband and wife were formerly from Hartford. Trumbull county, whose children were Cornelia Ann, born March 25, 1835, who married David Smilie, of Wayne, February 7, 1856. Their children are William Albert, born December 21, 1858; Emily Lucy, born January 19, 1863; Linus David, born October 21, 1870 ; Ralph Bliss, born January 22, 1877. The step-son, Albert Gallatin Rowe, was born April 7, 1839, and was a respected member of the Congregational church of Wayne. He enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Infantry in the autumn of 1862, and after nearly two years of faithful service was mor- tally wounded while on the skirmish line near Kenesaw mountain, Georgia, Junc 14, and died at the field hospital, June 16, 1864. He was highly respected by his officers and beloved by his comrades. He was buried in the National eeme- tery at Marietta, Georgia, in grave numbered seven hundred and eighty-two. The children of Linus H. and Lucy A. Jones were : Flavel Erasmus, born in Wayne, December 23, 1841; served three months in the Eighty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry ; he has been a school-teacher, and is a surveyor and farmer by occupation ; he married Miss Sylvia A. North, September 15, 1863, who died March 13, 1865, leaving an infant daughter, Sylvia North, born March 8, 1865. February 24, 1869, he married Miss Mary A. Hezlep. Their children are Charles Hezlep, born January 11, 1870; William Cowdery, born October 3, 1871; Benjamin Samuel, born November 30, 1873. 'Linus Brainard, second son of Linus H. and Lucy A. Jones, was born February 26, 1844; married Miss

Rhoda M. Woodworth ; June 20, 1866, enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventy- first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was in the battle at Cynthiana, Kentucky. Their children are Katie Maria, born April 30, 1867; Mabel Elizabeth, born November 20, 1868; Albert Rowe, born September 26, 1870 ; Franklin Palmer, born July 27, 1877. Willie, third son of Linus H. and Lucy A. Jones, was born December 1, 1850; died September 11, 1854. Mary Caroline was born October 18, 1855, who married Emery F. Treat, of Colebrook, June 15, 1876. Their ouly child, Willard Hayes, was born in Austinburg, Ohio, August 18, 1877.

Except as a teacher, the active life of Linus H. Jones has been spent in his own township. He was for many years teacher and leader of the choir of the First Congregational church of Wayne, and has served in various offices of the township, such as clerk, trustee, assessor, captain of the militia, and justice of the peace, and for many years has been connected with the school interests of the township, and now, at the age of seventy three years, would be looked upon as an old man but for the greater age of his father.

Flavel, second son of Samuel Jones, was born in Barkhampstead, Connecticut, February 16, 1806 ; died in Wayne, June 9, 1842. October 27, 1833, he mar- ried Miss Orrilla Hart, who married S. P. Burton, November 1, 1853, and died at her residence in De Witt, Clinton county, Iowa, January 29, 1868, aged fifty- eight years.

Calvin C. Wick, Esq., of Ashland, Ohio, an old friend of Flavel Jones, says, " Probably no man in my history retains such a hold on my memory as Flavel. He was my friend and my adviser. We had great confidence in each other. He was the only man I ever found who was unselfish, and was actuated in all he did by right motives. His intelligence was far in advance of his day. Sound on all public questions, he investigated them thoroughly and intelligently, and had he lived would have no doubt filled important positions in the State and nation."

The children of Flavel Jones are Ellen, born in Wayne, December 22, 1835. Rollin Lucien, born in Wayne, February 5, 1839 ; was an apprentice to the printing business with James Reed, Sr., of Ashtabula, Ohio. August 26, 1861, enlisted in Company C, Twenty-ninth Regiment Ohio Infantry, served during the war, and participated in the battles of Port Republic, Virginia, June 9, 1862, where he was taken prisoner by the enemy, and was held at Lynchburg and Belle Isle, Virginia, until September 7, 1862 ; Chancellorsville, Virginia, May 1, 2, and 3, 1863 ; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 1, 2, and 3, 1863 ; Dug Gap, Georgia. May 8, 1864; Resaca, Georgia, May 15, 1864; New Hope Church, Georgia, May 25, 1864; and was seriously wounded in an assault upon the enemy's in- trenehments at Pine Hill, Georgia, June 15, 1864; promoted to the office of captain while at Savannah, Georgia, January 6, 1865; discharged at Cleveland, Ohio, July 22, 1865. He is a member of the International Typographieal Union, Giddings post, Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Masonic fraternity. January 1, 1867, he married Miss Luey C. Palmer, of Vernon, Trumbull county. Children,-Rollin Flavel, born in Vernon, Ohio, May 7, 1869 ; Lovisa Margaret, born in Wayne, Ohio, June 23, 1877. Edward Herbert, youngest son of Flavel Jones, was born in Wayne, Ohio, December 25, 1840. Enlisted August 30, 1864, in Company I, One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Ohio Infantry, and served to the close of the eivil war. June 11, 1873, he married Miss Hannah Wright. Their children are Orrilla Hart, born in Wayne, August 20, 1874; Hayes Wright, born in Wayne, August 21, 1876 ; Harriet Belle, born in Wayne, August 21, 1876.

Statira, eldest daughter of Samuel Jones, born in Barkhampstead, Connecticut, May 25, 1807, maried Lovel E. Parker, January 29, 1830 ; died May 23, 1869.

Almira, second daughter, was born in Connecticut, September 27, 1808 ; mar- ried Horaee F. Giddings, December 15, 1833. Children,-Frederick Merrick, born in Cherry Valley, Ohio, October 29, 1834, who enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Infantry, in the autumn of 1862; was wounded in action at Perryville, Kentucky. October 8, 1862 ; died of discase at Murfreesboro'. Tennessee, April 21, 1863, aged twenty-eight years. He was a young man of unusual intelligence and popularity, and his deathi was greatly lamented by his comrades and numerous friends. Albert C., born Marel 15, 1838, married Miss Sarah Ellen Stanley, September 18, 1860. Their children are Horace Edwin, born August 14, 1861; Almira E., born April 27, 1866 ; Stanley Albert, boru November 5, 1868; Claude W., born August 13, 1877. Statira Eliza, only daughter of Horace F. and Almira Giddings, was born March 3, 1840 ; married Henry S. Simpkins, May 16, 1861. Children,-Frederick Merrick, born Sep- tember 22, 1862; William Herbert, born October 1, 1864; Ernest J., born March 30, 1868 ; Frank A., born June 8, 1870; Carlton H., born January 4, 1872; Roy Howard, born May 29, 1873.

Anson Jones, third son of Samuel Jones, was born in Hartland, Connecticut, March 31, 1810. He was married to Miss Fanny Barber, November, 1838, wlio died January 3, 1865. June 7, 1866, he married Miss Margaret Jane Beatty,

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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.

of Mercer county, Pennsylvania. His children are Hannah Barber, born August 17, 1840, who married William B. Siuilie, of Wayne, October 30, 1860. Roderick Merrick, born August 5. 1842, who enlisted in August, 1862, in Company I, One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served to the elose of the war, and was captured twice by the enemy, being paroled onee, and making his escape at the second capture. January 17, 1867, he married Miss Charlotte R. Wilcox, of Wayne ; their only child, Fanny, was born January 19, 1873, and died in Wayne, July 19 of the same year. Emma Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Anson Jones, was born September 23, 1854; married Charles H. Smith, of Wayne, March 26, 187 6. Their only child, Walter Anson. was born in Wayne, in June, 1877.

Emily J., youngest daughter of Samuel Jones, married Dr. Thomas E. Best, October 22, 1839, who served in the War of the Rebellion as surgeon Forty- fourth Wisconsin Infantry, and died at Agency City, Iowa, October 5, 1877. Her children born in Wayne were Hannah P., graduate Lake Erie female seiuinary, and now a teacher at Burlington, Iowa, born July 29, 1841 ; E. Swift, born October 31, 1842, who, at the outbreak of the Rebellion. enlisted in the Second Wisconsin Infantry, was severely wounded and taken prisoner at first battle of Bull Run, and confined in various prisons nearly a year,-leaving the service. was admitted to the bar in 1864; Deborah Jane, born February 4, 1846, died Jnne 12, 1851 ; Edward Thomas, born January 17, 1848, died August 27, 1849. The family removed to Wisconsin in the spring of 1849, settling at Por- tage City, where the following children were born : Edward Thomas (2d), born February 22, 1850, printer, publisher of Charitou, Iowa, Leader ; Samuel Jones, born August 23, 1853, died September 3, 1853 ; Almira Fanny, born September 10, 1854, died June 20, 1855 ; Charles Jones, born January 4, 1858, now editor Agency City, Iowa, Independent. In the spring of 1866 the family removed to Iowa, settling at Ageney City, where they now reside, except as stated above.

Samuel Jones, Jr., was born in Wayne, Ohio, December 6, 1822; married Miss Samantha L. Fobes, who died January 9, 1866. February 21, 1867, he married Miss Sophrona Beckwith, of Colebrook, Ohio. He was a farmer until February, 1867, when he commenced merchandising at the centre of Wayne, the firm-name being Jones & Way, then S. Jones & Son. He was commissioned postmaster at Lindenville, Ashtabula County, Ohio, January 14, 1871, by Hon. John A. J. Creswell, postmaster-general, and has served his township in that capacity to the present time. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. The children of Samucl Jones, Jr., are Estella Theresia, born in Wayne, Ohio, Sep- tember 11, 1851 ; married Elmore H. Wilcox, of Colebrook, Ohio, December 23, 1869. Their children are Lilean, born December 17. 1870 ; Perry Hyde, born March 23, 1872; Maud, born March 14, 1874. Willis Edwin, oldest son of Samuel Jones, Jr., was born in Wayne, Ohio, September 28, 1853; married September 29, 1877, Miss Sarah G. MeNeilly, who was born in Ellsworth, Ohio, April 20, 1856. Jennie Lucinda, youngest daughter of Samuel Jones, Jr., born in Wayne, January 19, 1871. Ralph Hayes, youngest son of Samuel Jones, Jr., born in Wayne, September 1, 1875.

NATHANIEL COLEMAN.

Nathaniel Coleman, whose portrait appears in this work, was born at Chester- field, Massachusetts, January 19, 1779. His great-grandfather was an officer during the old French and Indian wars. His father, Deacon Nathaniel Coleman, was one of that band who, disguised as Indians, boarded the British tea-sbips at Boston harbor, and threw the tea into the sea. At the battle of Bunker Hill his father was one of the band stationed on a peninsula, then called " Horseneck," to intereept the landing of men from a British vessel. As the lamented General Warren passed he approved of their position, and, smiling, passed up the height to the fort. They saw him but once after, and that was when he fell. Mr. Coleman's father died May 17, 1837, in Wayne, honored and revered, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. Nathaniel Coleman, at the age of twenty- three years, left his home in Massachusetts, and settled in Canandaigua, New York, where he married Submit, only sister of Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, June 4, 1804. In company with Mr. Giddings' family they moved to Wayne, Ashta- bula County, in June, 1806. They entered upon the Western Reserve at Con- neaut. on the day of the total eclipse of the sun of that year. Just as the sun was becoming darkened they stopped to cook their food, and also observe the eclipse. As they kindled a fire, an eagle alighted on a projceting rock that over- looked Lake Erie, and folded its wings as if to reposc. They might have brought it down with their trusty rifle, but they talked of the incident as an omen of success, and left it there in peace. They cut a road through the south part of Williamsfield and Wayne to the Pymatuning creek, and theirs were the first teams that crossed the ereek in Wayne, near where the South bridge now stands.

Mr. Coleman's wife died in Wayne, January 21, 1809. In January, 1810, he quarried Miss Kezia Jones. Her father died in Somers, Connecticut, in 1804. Her mother, like other early settlers, wishing to see her family settled around her, and not being able to purchase high-priced land in New England, came to Wayne, in 1807, with her children, consisting of three sons and four daughters. One of the sons was among the soldiers surrendered by General Hull, at Detroit. Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, in his address at the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the Settlement of Wayne, in 1853, stated that Miss Keziah Jones taught the first school in Wayne township, commeneing in the spring of 1809, where he obtained the only school education that he received after he was ten years of age. A kind mother and grandmother, a generous neighbor, she passed away February 19, 1862, aged seventy-eight years.

In the War of 1812, Nathaniel Coleman joined Captain Joshua Fobes' company, Colonel Richard Hayes' regiment, and marched to Cleveland, and from there to Camp Avery, near Huron. He was appointed quartermaster of his regiment, an office not free from peril, as much of their meat consisted of wild game, or cattle and hogs found running at large in the forest. He filled the office with credit and approval, and by activity and industry was often enabled to relieve the suffer- ing, or take their place in the ranks. The first settlers were certainly men and women of great enterprise and resolution to break away from the comforts of old established communities, and go hundreds of miles beyond the borders of civiliza- tion into a wilderness, to enter into the hardships and privations incident to a new country. With such people he was associated in the early efforts to form an en- lightencd community and cultivated society on the Western Reserve. He was chosen one of the first justices of the peace in and for the territory now embraced in the townships of Wayne, Williamsfield, Andover, and Cherry Valley. His first commission was dated in July, 1811. He served in that capacity for twenty- one years. He even labored to obtain amicable settlements, and was slow to render decision. On deciding he clearly defined points of law, and in his decisions was very firm. If he was ever a leader in conncil, he did not appear to be sueh. Retiring, unassuming, yet observing, if he spoke, attention watched his lips; if he reasoned, conviction seemed to close his periods. He early became engaged as agent in the sale and surveying of lands, and observed elosely the quality of the soil, timber, surface, and streams, and was often consulted by settlers and pur- chasers who wished for immediate information. His life has been peculiarly marked by kindly relations with all with whom he associated. Of a generous nature and strong mind, not void of wit and humor, he drew around him a circle of friends, while his marked integrity, consistent Christian character, and a modesty that withheld him from a desire for official position, rendered him prominent as a coun- selor and adviser. He died July 22, 1868, in the ninetieth year of his age. One who was intimately acquainted with him, and knew him well in his declining years, has observed that his desire for life seemed to recede parallel with his failing organism, until they seemed to go out together without a struggle.

Eliza, oldest daughter of Nathaniel Coleman, was born in Wayne, May 28, 1807 ; married Sylvester Ward, February 22, 1828. She died in Wayne, Feb- ruary 22, 1872. Her children were Orcutt Reed, born December 23, 1828; Erasmus Darwin, born June 17, 1832; Calvin Coleman, born May 18, 1836, died March 20, 1837 ; Eliza Sarepta, born May 6, 1839 ; Sabra Matilda, born May 20, 1842, died in 1846 ; Flora Maria, born September 11, 1848. Submit, second daughter, born October 10, 1810 ; married David Hart, of Wayne, January 6, 1836; died May 6, 1839. Her children were Henry C., born August 11, 1837 ; Salmon, born March 16, 1839. Nathaniel, Jr., oldest son of Nathaniel Coleman, was born June 13, 1812; married Miss Mary A. Latham, of Wayne, November 28, 1839. Their children were Nathaniel Latham. born in Wayne, November 10, 1842, enlisted in the autumn of 1864, as sergeant in Company K, One Hun- dred and Seventy-seventh Ohio Infantry, died at Cumberland hospital, Nashville, Tennessee, December 1, 1864, and was buried in the United States cemetery, in grave numbered ten thousand and fourteen, aged twenty-two years and twenty- one days ; Jennie, born February 5, 1846, married Trnman L. Creesey, of Cherry Valley, in April, 1864; Zally, born September 19, 1853. Rachel, third danghter of Nathaniel Coleman, born August 11, 1814, married William H. Hoisington, of Oberlin, January 28, 1845; their only child, Sophia Naomi, was born in Park- man, Ohio, March 22, 1846. William, second son of Nathaniel Coleman, born October 25, 1816, died January 13, 1819. Kezia C., born in Wayne, October 4, 1819, married Stephen W. Bailey, of Parkman, Ohio, November 19, 1846. Their children were Russell Williams, born in Parkman, Ohio, December 5, 1847, died in Wayne, September 29, 1854; Florence Maria, born March 26, 1856, married Kirtland Dillon, of Colebrook, Ohio, May 3, 1876,-their only child, Russell Ernst, born in Wayne, June 25, 1877. William, third son of Nathaniel Coleman, born in Wayne, November 4, 1822, married Miss Emily Phelps, of Cherry Valley, Ohio, March 13, 1851 ; children, Albertus A., born January 8, 1852, died in Wayne, September 23, 1854; Oliver William, born July 20, 1853;

Ephm J. Woodruff

REV. EPHRAIM TREADWELL WOODRUFF

was born at Farmington, Connecticut, October 17, 1777, and was the youngest son of Timothy Woodruff, hy his first wife, Lncy Treadwell, sister of John Treadwell, one of the governors of Connecticut. He graduated at Yale college in 1797. Rev. James Murdock, who, in 1848, wrote a work entitled " Brief Memoirs of the Class of 1797," says in his preface to that work : "The Class of 1797 is distinguished for the longevity of its members, twenty-four ont of thirty-seven, or abont two-thirds of all that gradnated, being alive after a separation of half a century." He also says : "It was distinguished for the nniform good scholarship of its mem- hers." Among its graduates are such well-known names as Henry Baldwin, judge of the United States supreme court ; Lyman Beecher, D.D .; Judge Thomas Day, official reporter of the supreme court of Connecticut; and Horatio Seymour, Sr. Mr. Woodruff, after finishing his theological conrse as the pupil of Rev. Charles Backus, D.D., of Somers, Connecticut, and teaching the academy at Stonington one year, was ordained pastor of the church in North Coventry, Tolland county, Connecticut. His health failed him in 1817 so much that he resigned his pastoral charge, and he took a commission from the Missionary society of Connec- tient to labor on the "Connecticut Western Reserve in Ohio." He, however, stopped for one year at Little Falls, Herkimer county, New York, and tanght an academy. He arrived in Wayne, Ashtabula County, in April, 1819, aud became the first pastor of the church, settling npon a tract of land which he purchased from Issacher Jones, of Connecticut, all heavily tim- bercd, and upon which the sound of the woodman's axe had not been heard; but with the generons aid of snch stout hands and hearts as were possessed hy Nathaniel Coleman, Samnel Tnttle, Jonathan Tuttle, Norman Wilcox, Joseph Ford, Deacon Ezra Leonard, Samnel Jones, Deacon Calvin Andrews, Simon Fobes, Titus Hayes, Elisha Giddings, and Joshna Giddings, he soon erected a log honse, in which his family, consisting of his wife and sister and six chil- dren, were made as comfortable as any of his congregation. He preached one-half of his time in Wayne, while the remainder was spent in missionary work and in the distribution of Bibles all through the wilderness for more than fifty miles in every direction from his home. On that same spot he died, on the twenty-sixth day of November, 1859, at the age of eighty-two years. On his death-bed, being in great pain, he said to his youngest son : "This is a rongh road to travel, but its ronghness has elevated spots, from which I see 'the city' beyond."

Mr. Woodruff was married Oct. 7, 1801, to Sally Alden, orpuan danghter of Jonathan Alden, a lineal descendant of John Alden, the pilgrim of Plymonth Rock of that name. She died in 1829. In 1832 he married Snsan Porter. He had no children by his second wife. His oldest daughter, born in 1804, was the wife of Hon. Seth Hayes, of Hartford, Trumbull county. She died in 1850. Phobe married Dr. T. J. Kellogg, of Girard, Erie county, Pennsylvania. Jon- athan Alden, a graduate of Hamilton college, and Presbyterian minister, died Sept. 12, 1876, at Imlay City, Michigan. Harriet died in 1828, at the age of eighteen years. Charlotte Maria, who married J. B. Clark, of Kelloggsville, Ashtabula County, removed to Michigan, and died in 1871. Samnel Ebenezer, boru March 31, 1817, is an attorney-at-law, and with his son, Thomas S., constitutes the firm of S. E. & T. S. Woodruff, attorneys-at-law, Erie, Pennsyl- vania, and in which county the senior partner of the firm has practiced his profession for thirty-four years.

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History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, Part 96

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.) Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : Williams brothers Number of Pages: 458

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 458