History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 40

Author: Williams Brothers
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 443

USA > Ohio > Lake County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 40
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 40

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In the life-and-death struggle of Chardon for the county-seat, in all its various phases and bearings, as in the erection of the new court-house, his services were of the utmost value. His extensive knowledge of men and things at the State capital, and the position he held in public estimation there, enabled him to be of great service in the legislative contest, while his intimacy with the affairs of the county and business experience enabled him to contribute largely to the enter- prise of building the new court-house.

It may be also mentioned that for the time of his residence in the village he

has been an efficient member of the town council, and is now the chief engineer of the fire department. He has for several years been a director of the First National Bank of Painesville, and president and director of the Savings Bank of Chardon.

I have not deemed it worth while to recall the dead enterprise of the Paines- ville and Hudson railroad. The fault of its failure was not chargeable to Mr. W. and the gentlemen associated with him, nor was his and theirs the fault of loss to others. Of the old struggles that attended the abandonment of the project, nothing need here be said. Had it not been for the Painesville and Hudson the Painesville and Youngstown railroad would never have been built.

In person Mr. Woodbury is slightly above the average height, spare, yet well formed, erect, and active, with a frank, manly face, courteous and affable, there is yet a tone of reserve in his manners, which may be mistaken for coldness or distance. These are no part of his nature; manly, kind, and warm-hearted, a man of much reading and wide observation, of singularly good judgment of men, a fine conversationalist, marred only by the slight injury of the organ of voice before referred to, few can be more pleasing companions, and few men of Geauga have gained a more enviable position, or fill and enjoy it so worthily.

In July, 1840, Mr. Woodbury was joined in marriage with Mary Ann, daughter of John Murray, of Concord, an accomplished woman of great intelligence, at- tractive person, and charming manners. Though childless, the union is one of rare felicity.

In an elegant residence on the east side of the square in Chardon, surrounded with an opulence honorably gained, this happily-matched pair, with the respect and esteem of a wide circle of acquaintances and friends, seem secure in a well- chosen and well-ordered withdrawal from the more bustling activities of life.

ORRIN SMITH FARR

is of direct English descent, his grandfather migrating to this country and settling in Connecticut, opposite Bellows Falls. The father of Orrin was the oldest of the family, and went to Ohio in 1813; served in the United States army in the War of 1812. He returned to Connecticut, and after two years married Betsey, oldest child of Nathaniel Mastick, and with her removed to Ohio, settling first in Lorain county, near the site of the present town of Elyria.

O. S. Farr

Of Mr. Farr's great-grandfather, on the mother's side, whose name was John Salter, this story may be told. He was the only son of a rich Holland family, and when nine years old he went on board a British man-of-war, was decoyed below, and carried to sea. He was retained on ship-board in various capacities, and remained in the English service nine years. Finally, when his ship was in Boston, he deserted, changed clothes with a stone-mason, and pushed inland, under the name of John Mastick, and, though pursued, escaped. He settled, married, had children ; afterwards an advertisement appeared in a New York paper for the heirs of the rich Holland house, and one of his sons, with such proofs as he could gather up, went to Europe, and was never heard of after.

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

Orrin Smith was the seventh of ten children, and born in Shalersville, Portage county, May 24, 1835. In 1840 the family moved to Troy, Geauga County, purchased and lived a little north of Fox's Corners. Young Farr early evinced much energy, supporting himself at thirteen, and having the care of the family at eighteen, and from that time for many years. After the father's death the property became the subject of litigation, which lasted thirteen years, and till May of the present year, when it resulted in Mr. Farr's favor. Judge H. K. Smith, of Chardon, then at the bar, and who had charge of Mr. Farr's interest, suggested to him that he enter upon the study of the law under his care, and loaned him Walker's " American Law" and Blackstone. Acting on this suggestion Mr. Farr, on his way home, purchased a small law library and took up the study, carrying on his farm at the same time. He pursued the law with commendable diligence, and was admitted to the bar in August, 1868, then at the mature age of thirty-three.

Mr. Farr early had a decided inclination for the bar, but was hampered by so many embarrassments that the chance did not seem to come to him till an age when the experiment is usually deemed hazardous, unless to one with special aptitude, which Mr. Farr undoubtedly possessed. His friends and acquaintances had such confidence in his ability, that when at the bar but a year, he was brought forward, nominated, and elected prosecuting attorney of Geauga County, and removed to Chardon, where he has since resided. He was elected mayor of the town in 1876.

Mr. Farr's opportunities for an education were limited, but a quick, shrewd mind made up for much of the deficiencies. His father was a life-long Democrat. At nineteen young Farr secured the Boston Liberator, The New York Tribune, and Cleveland Plaindealer. Whoever read the two former, even in connection with the Plaindealer, would be certain to have healthful and enlightened political ideas, and as a matter of course he graduated a stanch Republican, and is known as an occasional effective political speaker.

He has all his life been a practical temperance liver and advocate, in support of which he is an able advocate, and recently won the deserved commendation of the Painesville press for a speech delivered in Kirtland.

In person Mr. Farr is medium size, well made, of pleasing person and manners, calculated to win his way, and sustains himself at the bar, where, for his length of practice, he has gained a satisfactory position.

His health disqualified him for military service. During the war he was an ardent patriot, and devoted his time and means liberally to the common cause.

There is every reason to expect from Mr. Farr a growth and maturity at the bar which steadiness of application is sure to win for men of less ability.

In 1860 he was joined in marriage with Cynthia, youngest daughter of Chester and Caroline Nash, and granddaughter of Joseph Nash, Esq., of Troy. Her mother, Caroline, was eldest daughter of Benjamin Kingsbury, also of Troy. Joseph Nash and Benjamin Kingsbury both have honorable mention in our pioneer history of Troy. Mr. Farr is highly esteemed by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

DR. EVERT DENTON.

I pause pencil in hand, with nothing on my page but this name. I recall a form seen when I was eight or nine years old, and wonder wherein was its charm. I turn to the brief memoranda of the surviving daughter, think of the son, as I saw him with his sons at work in the printing-office, and I try to reproduce to myself the impressions of cotemporaries and hesitate. I would know more of this man.

" Born at Greenwich, Connecticut, about 1790; was an only child," is all there is of race, ancestry, or blood. As if he were to begin or end a line. Much precedent matter has to go to the formation of such a man. Every woman cannot give birth to one of his class, nor are they often the result of accidental procreation. Who was his father? What was the strain of men of which he sprung ? Above all, who and what was his mother, and of what kindred or race ? She had only this one; as if that was quite all to be asked of her. One half thinks that he should not have been sent into the then scarce-peopled region of the Reserve of that day to be worn and torn in its rough ways, and spent and wasted in its rude and solitary places. Besides, he died at forty, ere his maturity, and so at best he was but a fragment of what would have been a complete whole. Elsewhere he might have grown to that whole thing. Are there really plans and systems for the growth and development of human beings, as such, to which other things are made to bend ? Or are they merely used to advance some other object, to which they and their lives are subordinated, and so there may. be no human complete- ness, but men are used, broken, and cast by when this other unknown scheme requires it, without reference to man's well-being? Or is their scheme or plan of

any sort ? Or are things left to work together and assimilate as they may, working on and well for a time, and then pulverizing each the other, and becoming drift and waste, to fertilize some other field mayhap, for God or the angels to reap other where, under some scheme of husbandry which to us is no scheme, but confusion ? And I turn to this briefest of outline, " Was an only child. Graduated at Co- lumbia College at twenty-one."

All that can be made of this is that no time was lost in the idling and dalliance of youth. He could not have failed in scholarship, though he may have been careless of his place in his class ; and yet no classmate but what would be careful of him. No one had a greater aptitude for words that might sting if he willed it. " Was soon married," so the legend runs, "to Eliza Granger, of Suffield." We are told nothing more of Eliza, save that she became the wife of Evert Den- ton soon after he graduated, which was much to say of her or any woman. He loved and honored her, and this speaks well for a man at his or any age. After this marriage he seems to have remained and practiced his profession in Connecticut till the birth of his eldest son, Evert, when he thought it time to go, so he removed to Lockport, New York, where he remained till other children were born, when, becoming involved for a friend, he felt obliged to push farther west, and went on to Chardon. This was about 1820. Whoever would know the condition of the place at that time will get a tolerable idea of it from the his- torical sketch of the town in this work, or that of Magonigle later. His wife, Eliza, was now in slender health, and died two or three years afterwards,-poor thing! He was a skillful and most accomplished physician and surgeon when he reached Chardon. No man of his class had ever before been in that region. They are rare everywhere. He soon commanded the largest practice in the county, limited only by the days, roads, and his powers of endurance. This life he pursued with ever-increasing fame until the autumn of 1829, when, in the rough roads of the country and the speed at which he was compelled to ride, though skillful as well as a bold rider, he was thrown from his horse, received a severe injury, followed by an internal abscess, resulting in his death a year later. One wonders if it was that abominable brute which he called Enoch that did this thing for him.

Dr. Denton was undoubtedly the first physician of his day in the west; would have been one of the first anywhere. After all, it does not take a man of the greatest intellect to become the most eminent doctor or lawyer of his time. Minds of a certain cast and tendency, with application and industry, may reach either of those positions. In my time, at Cleveland, the first physician there, judging by his practice and the fact that physicians employed him, knew nothing out of his profession, and his whole stock of ideas were exhausted in five minutes of commonplace conversation. Yet he was externally an accomplished man and a really able practitioner, and learned in his school of medicine. He turned his whole mind into his patients and cases, and there was not a bit over.

Dr. Denton was largely more than a doctor. He was a man of mind, of intel- lect, of ideas, thought; more than that, he was a man of genius. Had the quick, ready apprehension and grasp of subjects, in which they seemed to unfold and yield themselves up to him. His reading was extensive, and his mastery of writers was wide and varied.

Without advantages of person or a striking face, his eyes were fine, and his manner and address, sometimes abrupt, were usually easy and charming. In conversation his power was remarkable, his dark, plain face would light up, his fine eyes lend an added expression, and his person become endowed with flexile grace. When a boy of nine, living my few years in the woods of Newbury, a notable case came on for trial before Esquire Ulty, against the famous Indian doctor, Smith, for quackery, under an Ohio statute. Dr. Denton was summoned as a witness, and Mr. Hawes came down to defend. On the night following they stayed at my mother's house. They were on horseback, and the next day Mr. Hawes carried me off to Chardon behind him. It was a warm July day, the roads bad, and we were long hours on the journey. Though soon otherwise wearied of the ride beyond endurance, there was the charm of that face, of those eyes, the musical flow of words, the grace of gesture, as the conversation ran between them, which quite beguiled me. If it had such power for the uncomprehend- ing boy, what must it have been to him who understood and participated in it. The two were intimate, and for several successive weeks I saw Dr. Denton many times, was at his house, intimate with the oldest son, and observed the deference, respect, and admiration with which the strong, practical men of that day approached and treated him. His wit and readiness of repartee, his facility for conning and uttering striking and extraordinary things must have been re- markable. Forty years ago, the country was full of his sayings, which, however, could no more be gathered up and placed on paper than could one glean up the sun- beams, after they had faded from tree, hill-side, and field, and cast them upon a wall. Isolated things are still remembered. It would be unjust to the memory of the man to repeat them here, and would give no idea of his intellect or manner.

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He passed away at forty. He has already faded to a memory, and will soon become a myth.

In the hasty, but grateful labors of a few weeks, I have gathered up a few almost forgotten names of men and times better (?) than these. Among the first of them should be placed that of Evert Denton. He had a true physician's soul. The dearest thing to him was human life; the greatest enemy, that which as- sailed its citadel; though a sayer of pungent, and sometimes bitter things, the tenderness of heart and kindliness of his nature were abiding. There was quick- ness, violence of temper, yet mercy and charity were sure to prevail.

After the death of gentle Eliza, Dr. Dunton contracted a second marriage, with Sidney Metcalf .*

Speaking of her two husbands after the deaths of both, this sagacious, clear- seeing woman said of them, " Any woman could have found happiness with my second husband. He was a good man. My first was a man for any woman to be proud of. He conferred honor."

Of the four children of Eliza, Evert, a youth of great promise, died ere he completed his education. Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, died in her early womanhood. Cornelia became Mrs. Edwin F. Phelps, the mother of Ledyard Phelps, Esq., of Chardon. She died many years ago.

Maria, the youngest, and singularly gifted, resides with her nephew, in the E. F. Phelps homestead. Of the two by Sidney, Richard E., the son, has some- thing of the genius of his father ; is a man of much learning, but has never found the field best suited to his gifts and acquisitions. A son of his evinces much poetic talent.

Sybil, the daughter, was a beautiful and intellectually-endowed woman, who died early, as mentioned elsewhere.

HON. VENE STONE.

This gentleman would have been a leading man anywhere, in the class of life in which he was willing to remain.

He came from Ghoram, New York, in 1802, and, though he purchased prop- erty in the northeast corner of Newbury, he built his house, and lived in Bur- ton as late as 1820. His then new and framed house was built in Newbury, where his son, Franklin, still resides. His first wife was Charity Hopson, sister of Samuel Hopson, of the Western Reserve pioneers. The marriage was in 1803 or 1804. They became the parents of two daughters : Emert, the wife of Luison T. Patchin, now deceased, and Carolina, wife of Samuel James. Charity died early, and he married Alice Williams, sister of the late Calvin Williams, of Burton. Of this marriage, Minerva became the wife of Hiram Fowler, and lives in Munson; Franklin married Fanny Bunnett, and lives on the homestead; Eliza became Mrs. Davis Woodward, and lives in Munson, surviving her husband; Mary, the youngest, died in infancy.

Vene Stone died at an advanced age, March 7, 1871. His second wife pre- ceded him in August, 1869. He commanded the company of Burton soldiers ordered to Cleveland on the surrender of Hull at Detroit, and afterwards filled all the township offices; was elected once or twice to represent his county in the General Assembly of the State, and also was an associate judge of the court of common pleas. All these positions he filled with credit ; was a man of fine person, dignified manners, very superior understanding, with reading, and sterling integrity. Few men of his day enjoyed higher consideration. He was one of that rare older type which seems to have become nearly extinct.

I can now recall no better living specimen of this class than Colonel H. H. Ford, of Burton,- a type of men, whom everybody instinctively trusts, of whom nobody asks questions, in whose lives no suspicious circumstances ever could arise, and who never had to explain anything.

A portrait of Mr. Stone will be found grouped with other old settlers in an- other portion of this work.

ERASTUS SPENCER

was born at New Hartland, Hartford county, Connecticut, on the 30th day of September, 1805, and is the youngest son of Nathaniel and Lydia Spencer. Nathaniel Spencer's family consisted of three sons and three daughters, there being one sister younger than the subject of this sketch. When but six years of age he moved, with parents, to this county, and located in Claridon township, where his father purchased four hundred acres of land, upon which he erected a log house, near the site of the residence now owned by Erastus Spencer. The

journey from Connecticut to Ohio was accomplished with two wagons, each drawn by three horses, and was much more tedious than those made at the present day, with all the modern conveniences of travel.

Mr. Spencer's early life was devoted to clearing away the forest and preparing the soil for agriculture, in the face of all the labor and difficulties with which his co-pioneers of that early day had to contend. In 1818 or 1819, Nathaniel Spen- cer built on the site of the residence represented in the accompanying engraving the first frame house ever erected in the township of Claridon, although Ralph Cowles and Asahel Kellogg erected small frame houses during the same summer.

On the 25th day of September, 1834, he was married to Julia C. Kellogg, daughter of Asahel and Amanda Kellogg, who were also early settlers in the township of Claridon. From this union there were born six children, as follows : Elnora A., born August 9, 1835 ; Clinton E., November 17, 1838; Warren E., October 18, 1841 ; Tracey A., July 10, 1844; Lucy L., January 29, 1847; and Lucy M., who was born February 20, 1853. Of this family Clinton, Tracey, and Lucy L. died during the month of July, 1849. Elnora was married to R. E. Waters, October 17, 1861, and died April 6, 1877. Warren was married to Nancy Douglass December 31, 1872, and Lucy M. to C. W. Carroll, September 2, 1874. After his marriage he continued to reside at the old homestead, and with his excellent wife cared for his father and mother during their declining years, and until their death ever provided a comfortable and happy home. In 1840 he was elected sheriff of Geauga County, which office he held for two terms, or until 1844. He was afterwards member of the State board of equalization, and was for fifteen years director of the Painesville and Hudson railroad com- pany.

As early as 1853 he brought from the State of Kentucky eleven head of Dur- ham cattle, the first short-horned Durham stock ever introduced into the county. From that time he became a successful breeder of Durham cattle, and has done as much as, or more than, any other person in the county to raise the grade of horned cattle in this vicinity.

At the age of eighteen he joined the State militia, and in 1833 received a commission as colonel of the Second Regiment, First Brigade and Ninth Division, of the Ohio State Militia.

In 1854 he erected the house at present owned by him in Claridon, where he continued to carry on his farm and breed Durham cattle until the spring of 1873, when he purchased a residence in the village of Chardon, where he removed, and in which he has ever since resided.

Thus do we record the principal events connected with the life of one of Geauga's earliest pioneers. Ever a man of considerable vigor and endurance, the age of seventy-three finds him with physical and mental powers almost unimpaired. Actuated by motives of public spirit, his history has been closely identified with that of his adopted county. Owing to the hospitable and benevolent disposition of himself and wife, their house has ever been a home for the homeless,-an in- spiration to the struggling inebriate, and a strength to the weak who have fallen in their way,-while to-day many have grateful memories of kindnesses received from Erastus Spencer and his earnest wife.

MARSH SMITH,

son of Seth and Polly Smith, was born in Manchester, Vermont, August 18, 1799. . His mother's maiden name was Marsh, the family to which Hon. George P. Marsh belongs, and his great-grandfather, who represented an old English family of wealth and cultivation, came to America about 1760 (which was soon after his marriage to a Welsh lady by the name of Newell), and settled in the colony of Connecticut.

. Marsh Smith was one of eight children,-seven boys and one girl,- only two of whom are still living, viz., Sandford Smith, of Parkman, and Franklin Smith, of. Nelson, Portage county. When a boy Marsh Smith removed with his parents to Georgetown, Madison county, New York, and thence preceded them a year to Ohio, in. 1818, settling in the woods of Parkman. He cleared off a farm, worked at farming and carpentering, and October 28, 1823, was married to Miss Eliza Colton, of Nelson, a descendant of the Connecticut Coltons,-a family known for their thrift, intellect, and puritanic virtues ..

Marsh Smith held various positions of honor and trust in the township of Parkman. For twenty years he was justice of the peace, which office he resigned to take that of county auditor, to which he was elected in 1850, and which he held six years, removing to Chardon in the mean time. He was afterwards county commissioner for one term, and in 1860 was assessor of real estate. Of late years he has resided mostly with his children.

Mr. Smith is a man of superior understanding, widely known, and few men have in a higher degree enjoyed the confidence and esteem of their fellow-citizens.

* See the Converses, in the history of Chardon.

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

D. W. CANFIELD

was born in Chardon, Geauga County, Ohio, September 21, 1828. His father, Platt Canfield, was the oldest of the four sons of Aaron Canfield, who, with his family, removed from: Tyringham, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and settled in Chardon in 1814. Aaron was a grandson of Colonel Samuel Canfield, of New. Milford, Connecticut. The mother of D. W. Canfield was a daughter of Na- thaniel .Read, of Berkshire county, Massachusetts. The subject of this sketch received his. education. principally in the schools of Professors Alfred. Holbrook and. T. W. Harvey. He was engaged in teaching three terms, and in 1849 was married to Sophrona E. Allen, daughter of Ira Allen, Esq., formerly from Danby, Vermont. He remained for several years after his marriage on the farm origi- nally occupied by his father in Chardon, during which time he prepared himself for the practice of his profession. In 1858 he graduated at the Union, Law Col- lege, and was admitted to the bar the same year. During that year he also formed a copartnership with John French, which was terminated by the death of Mr. French in October, 1861. The same fall he was elected prosecuting attorney of Geauga County, and held that office four years.

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In 1861 he formed a copartnership with Hon. H. K. Smith, which terminated in 1866 by the election of H. K. Smith to the office of probate judge of Geauga County. Upon the retirement of Mr. Smith, another copartnership was formed with Judge M. C. Canfield, which continued for five years, and was dissolved by the election of M. C. Canfield to the office of Common Pleas judge. . During the time he was a partner of Mr. Canfield he served two years as representative of the county in the State Legislature. Shortly after this he held the office of mayor of the incorporated village of Chardon.

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History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 40

Author: Williams Brothers Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages: 443

Author: Williams Brothers
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 443