USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of Huron County, Ohio, Its Progress and Development, Volume II > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
Emmons W. Ross has always been a farmer since his childhood's days, for as soon as he was able he did his share in the work that was carried on at home, and as he became older participated in the heavier labor of the fields. He experienced the same difficulty in obtaining an education that confronts the farmer's boys even today, but which were as nothing in comparison with the hardships of the pre- ceding generations, just as his life with its comforts affords a striking contrast to that of his uncle Resolved White, who it is said built the first frame house in Norwalk, as he was the first settler who was an adept in the carpenter's trade. But whatever the conditions under which he labored, they bred in him the desire and the determination to win success. This has come to him with the passage of the years and is due to his own exertions alone.
On the 3Ist of March, 1893, Mr. Ross was united in marriage to Miss Daisy C. Daugherty, a daughter of D. W. and Alzina (Snyder) Daugherty. She was born in 1877 in Hardin county and was the elder of the two daughters born to her parents, Julia being the other. Mr. and Mrs. Ross have eight children : Vic- tor, born February 5, 1894; Russell R., July 6, 1896; Virgil, November 15, 1897 ; Ruth, May 12, 1899 ; Amy, January 30, 1901 ; Cecil, April 5, 1903; Milo, August 3, 1906; and Glenn, May 5, 1908.
392
HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY
The family attend the Episcopal church at Plymouth, Ohio, and are con- scientious in their practice of its teachings. When called to exercise his franchise, Mr. Ross casts his ballot for the candidate and measures of the republican party, but aside from always being present at the polls at election, which he believes to be the duty of every citizen, he takes little active part in public affairs. He is a man highly regarded, nevertheless, for the strong qualities that mark his character.
J. C. BOARDMAN.
Among the many men who have witnessed the vast changes that have trans- pired since the opening of the early decades of the last century is J. C. Boardman, a farmer of Boughtonville, Ripley township. More than a witness, in fact, for he felled trees where are now teeming fields and built rough roads of logs where now stretch miles of macadam or gravel. The blood of men and women who had been pioneers flowed in his veins and the quickening impulse of the new life was in the very air he breathed from birth, for his father, Benaja Boardman, was said to have been the first white child born between Seneca and Cayuga lake. His birth occurred in 1794, and as he grew to manhood the desire possessed him to be- come a minister of the gospel and bring the word of light to those hardy people beyond the mountains. He was ordained in the Methodist church and came west to Ohio almost immediately, where by word and deed he urged the men and wo- men not to forget the needs of the soul and organized the congregation that they might worship in common. The field of his labors lay in this part of the state, but the influence of his life and the message he brought were not confined by any boundaries. His wife, Miss Loura Ann Hurd in her maidenhood, was a sympa- thetic and encouraging helpmeet. She was born in 1799 in Connecticut and like her husband came from a family that had its genesis in England. She urged him to come to this Ohio wilderness in 1827, although she well knew that it meant the rearing of her children amid hardship and poverty. There were seven born to inherit this courage from mother and father: Caleb, Joshua, Samuel, Mary, Mar- tha, William and Benaja.
J. C. Boardman was born in Richland county, this state, March 5, 1828. In the difficult life in which the parents struggled it was early necessary that he do his share of hard, strength-requiring work, such as is not known today, for he tells with pardonable pride that at the age of fourteen he cleared an acre of timber that he might buy a pair of boots. He continued to fell trees for years, that the land might be converted into fruitful fields. Large numbers of the hewn logs were used in the construction of the historic plank roads, called corduroy roads in those days, and Mr. Boardman, still a young man, drove the ox-teams that dragged the massive tree trunks across the swamps to the place they were to be laid. With the advance in the times he has progressed; a substantial income and comforts have replaced hardships and privations ; and in the growing community of Ripley township he filled a larger and larger place, a man highly respected and honored for his courage and the strength of his character. He now owns two hundred acres in Ripley township, is a stockholder in the Farmers' Bank at Green-
-
-
393
HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY
wich, and as trustee and school director has assisted in the promotion of the in- terests and welfare of his fellow citizens.
More than half a century ago Mr. Boardman was united in marriage to Miss Helen Ames. She was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1831, and was a daughter of Benjamin and Lydia (Ellis) Ames, who were of English extraction and came to Ohio in comparatively early days. On the 15th of September, 1903, the couple celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding and for five more years they were permitted to traverse life's highway together, until, on the 30th of June, 1908, Mrs. Boardman was released from the cares of this world. She was a noble wife and a good mother to the four children born of her. These are Eva, Carrie, Benjamin and Frank.
To the Methodist faith in which he was reared, Mr. Boardman has always given his adherence and in the little church of his township has taken a vital in- terest, having served the congregation as steward, trustee and class leader. In politics he has always given his support to the republican party, but he inclines more and more to some of the principles advocated by the prohibitionists. One of the oldest men of Ripley township, he is also one of its finest citizens, his life constantly being an example of industry, frugality and the guidance of sound principles.
JONATHAN TRUMBULL MEAD.
Jonathan Trumbull Mead, well known as a representative of agricultural life in Huron county, was born in Fitchville township, April 25, 1835. His birth occurred on the farm where he now resides, his father, Peter Mead, having taken up this tract of one hundred and sixty-three acres as a claim from the government in 1814. Peter Mead removed from Greenwich, Connecticut, to Fairfield, New York, in 1812. His father, Peter Mead, Sr., had been a soldier of the Revolu- tionary war, serving for seven years in defense of colonial interests and holding the rank of sergeant. When the country again became engaged in war with Eng- land his son, Peter Mead, Jr., responded to the call to arms, taking part in the war of 1812. He was afterward a pensioner of the government, receiving eight dol- lars per month in recognition of the aid which he had rendered on the field of battle.
Coming to Ohio at an early day Peter Mead, Jr., was one of the pioneers of Huron county and the first to establish a home in Fitchville township, taking up his abode here when much of the land was still in possession of the government. A greater part of it was covered with the native growth of timber and it required much arduous labor to transform it into productive fields. Peter Mead, Jr., how- ever, secured his claim and took up the difficult work of preparing the land for the plow. In due course of time he made his place a productive tract, its fields yield- ing generous harvests. For several terms he filled the office of justice of the peace and J. T. Mead now has in his possession the law book which his father used and which was printed in 1841. He also has a dress-coat which was worn by his grandfather over eighty years ago. Peter Mead kept the first real-estate records of Huron county and was closely connected with many other labors and events
394
HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY
which marked the train of progress. As the work of improvement was carried on in his section of the state Peter Mead, Jr., took an active part in the transfor- mation which was being wrought. On one occasion he gave to Amos Reynolds fifty acres of land and while assisting him in the woods, chopping down trees, both of them being barefooted at the time, Mr. Mead noticed some scars upon his com- panion's feet and asked how he came by them. Mr. Reynolds replied that when he was a boy fishing he, one day, fell into the water and cut his feet on some oyster shells and that he would have been drowned had it not been for the help of another boy who rescued him. Further questioning and response led to the conclusion that it was Peter Mead, who had performed the rescue, although each had lost knowledge of the other's whereabouts during the years which had elapsed after the incident had occurred.
Reared upon the frontier, Jonathan Trumbull Mead was educated in one of the old time log schoolhouses in which the district schools of that day convened. He always remained upon the home farm, for his father died when the son was but nineteen years of age and he afterward lived with his widowed mother who survived for many years, passing away July 3, 1884. In his farm work Mr. Mead was progressive and in the course of years erected new buildings upon the place and added many modern improvements which make the farm one of comfort and convenience. He is also an auctioneer, well known in connection with that work which he has followed continuously since 1855. He has conducted sales in a great many states in the Union, handling both merchandise and farm property and he still follows the same business. As the years have passed he has prospered in his undertakings, and has had extended landed possessions. Although he has re- cently sold one hundred acres he is still the owner of three hundred and eighty acres of choice Ohio land.
On the 26th of June. 1860, Mr. Mead was united in marriage to Miss Pamelia Jane Daniels, who was born in Ruggles township, Ashland county, Ohio, August 20, 1839. Her father was William Daniels, who settled in Ashland county in pioneer times and died in 1870 at the age of sixty-two years. The mother passed away in 1906 when eighty-seven years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Mead have become the parents of four children : Rowena Jane, born July 7, 1861, and Charles New- berry, born June 19, 1873, who are still living, while Arilie Amorit and Kitty Belle have passed away.
Mr. Mead is entitled to wear the Grand Army button from the fact that he enlisted in September, 1864, in the Twelfth Ohio Independent Battery under Captain Frank Jackson. He was a representative in the third generation in the family which has done splendid military service, his grandfather having been a soldier of the Revolution, his father of the war of 1812, while his son Charles enlisted for service in the Spanish-American war with Troop A, of the First Ohio Cavalry. He supplemented his early education by study in Oberlin College.
Mr. and Mrs. Mead have spent the last six winters in Florida, thus avoiding the rigors of the northern climate. His political allegiance has always been given to the republican party. Mrs. Mead attends the Congregational church, with which she has long held membership. Mr. Mead is among the oldest of the native sons of Huron county, having for seventy-four years resided within its borders so that his memory compasses the period of almost its entire growth, forming a
.
395
HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY
connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present. He has seen the forests cuts down and the field's cultivated until the district has been made to bloom and blossom as the rose and in the work of general improvement he has been deeply interested, bearing his full share as a public-spirited citizen.
CHARLES A. COOLEY.
Charles A. Cooley is a substantial and representative agriculturist of Wake- man township, Huron county, and comes from a family well known and prominent in the early history of this state. He was born in Brownhelm, Lorain county, on the 26th of February, 1866, a son of Charles E. and Anna A. ( Bacon) Cooley, both natives of Lorain county. George Bacon, the maternal grandfather of our subject, in company with two brothers, came with his family to Ohio from Mas- sachusetts in 1818, the family being the second to locate in Brownhelm. The district was still covered with virgin forest and the three brothers had to clear a space large enough to build their cabins. They entered large tracts of land and concentrated their efforts upon the improvement and cultivation of the same. George Bacon became very prosperous in his agricultural undertaking and was also recognized as a prominent figure in public affairs. He was a civil engineer and in this capacity assisted in a large degree in the early work of laying out and developing the community. He served as county commissioner for a number of years and was also called to other offices, being recognized as a capable and wor- thy citizen. Moses B. Cooley, the paternal grandfather, brought his family to Ohio from Connecticut soon after the arrival of the Bacons and likewise cast in his lot with the early settlers in this section of the country, aiding in the work of reclaiming the wild district for purposes of civilization. He, too, met with marked success in his farming pursuits and became a great worker in church circles of the community. Both grandfathers lived to a ripe old age and were well known and influential men in their different spheres.
Charles E. Cooley, the son of Moses B. Cooley, followed the occupation to which he was reared and became a prosperous farmer and one of the most ex- tensive landowners in Brownhelm. He was also active in public affairs and served for several years as the superintendent of the Lorain county infirmary. He mar- ried Miss Anna A. Bacon and in their family were two children, George E. and Charles A. The father's death occurred in Roodhouse, Illinois, August 28, 1898, while his first wife passed away in March, 1866. In 1872 he married Miss Addie Appleby, by whom he had one daughter, Addie, now the wife of Robert Crehore. His second wife died at Bay City, Michigan, December 20, 1907.
Spending the years of his boyhood and youth upon his father's farm, Charles A. Cooley acquired his preliminary education in the schools of Brownhelm and later supplemented this training by a commercial course at Oberlin College. He remained at home, assisting his father in the cultivation of the fields until twenty- one years of age, when he went to South Dakota and engaged in agricultural pur- suits on his own account. He was thus connected for eighteen months and then returned to Oberlin, Ohio, where he was identified with hotel interests in connec-
396
HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY
tion with his uncle. B. W. Lock, for a similar period. At the expiration of that tinie he went to Janesville, Wisconsin, and was there engaged in the dairy business for one year.
Returning to Ohio in 1891, Mr. Cooley was united in marriage on the 16th of March of that year to Miss Jennie E. Morse, a daughter of George and Eliza (Ball) Merse, the former a prominent farmer of West Brownhelm and an ex- tensive landowner, who was also interested in all movements for the public good. He passed away August 24, 1886, his wife still making her home in West Brown- helm. Mr. and Mrs. Cooley began their domestic life on a farm in Wakeman township, Huron county, but the latter was permitted to enjoy her home for only two years, her death occurring on the 19th of March, 1893. On the 4th of Sep- tember, 1895, Mr. Cooley was again married, his second union being with Miss Ollie M. Whitney, a daughter of Theodore and Elizabeth ( Parker) Whitney, of Elba. Nebraska, the father a former agriculturist of Huron county. Since his marriage Mr. Cooley bas resided in Wakeman township and has devoted his time and attention to general farming and sheep raising, being a large wool and mutton dealer. He has concentrated all his energies upon his agricultural pursuits and has met with eminent success therein, being classed among the substantial farm- ers of his district. As he has prospered he has acquired considerable valuable property, his holdings now ranking him among the extensive landowners in his township.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Cooley has been blessed with four children : Lock C., George W., Anna E. and Lecta M. The parents are members of the Congre- gational church and are interested to a great extent in the church and Sunday school work, Mrs. Cooley acting as superintendent of the primary department of the Sunday school. She is a woman of domestic tastes, greatly devoted to her home and family, and she is highly esteemed by all who know her for her many sterling traits of character. Mr. Cooley gives loyal support to the republican party and is most active in its interests, but he has never sought nor desired pub- lic office as a reward for party fealty. He and his wife occupy an enviable place in the social circles of the community. while their residence is a favorite resort with a host of warm friends. It is well supplied with the best standard and cur- rent literature and their home is at all times dominated by a spirit of culture and refinement.
CAPTAIN WILLIAM S. FOSTER.
Among the many sons of Huron county, Ohio, who responded readily to their country's call for men to fight in her defense is notably Captain William S. Foster, who is a resident of Stetiben, Greenfield township, and now lives in retirement upon a small tract of land which he owns, engaging in farming to a limited extent as a recreation rather than a means of livelihood, for the days of business are passed for him. Besides the property here Mr. Foster has some landholdings in Canada. One of Ohio's native sons, he was born in Norwalk on the 6th of No- vember. 1838, his parents being John H. and Nancy N. ( Boardman) Foster. The former was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1812, and in 1830 came with his
- ---
397
HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY
parents, Stephen and Mary Foster, to Ohio. The family settled in Norwalk, where the old people died, the son identifying himself with the life and interests here. He first taught school for a number of years and then was employed as clerk in the auditor's office. On going into business for himself he opened a wholesale and retail grocery, which was successfully conducted, and some years later he built the warehouse at Norwalk, which he gave into the charge of his son William S. Foster. But he did more than this for the city. After his arrival there he had acquired considerable property which he opened up for residential pur- poses, building several nice houses for others. One of the streets of this section has since been named Foster avenue after him. As the choice of the whig voters of the city he served as mayor before the war, although it was not the first office he had held at the request of the citizens. A good and noble man he was a con- sistent member of the Presbyterian church and died in that faith in 1878. His wife was born in New York state and was about fifteen years of age when her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Boardman, came to Norwalk, which was their home until their death. She likewise died there, in 1880, at the age of sixty-one, having reared a family of four children, namely: Frank, deceased; William S .; John W., deceased; and Louisa, who married Ralph King, of Toledo, Ohio.
William S. Foster attended the public schools of Norwalk and then continued his education in a college in the Catskill mountains from which he was graduated in 1853, having taken a general course. His school days over, he returned to Nor- walk, where he had charge of the warehouse his father had built until the outbreak of the Civil war. Mr. Foster enjoys the distinction of having been the first man to enlist from Huron county. When the call for troops was sent through the coun- try he was in Cleveland, but on hearing that Captain Sawyer was in Norwalk try- ing to muster a company, he took the first train for home and there found no one of the Norwalk Light Swords, to which he belonged and which Captain Sawyer was trying to get to enlist, had had the initiative to be the first to enroll. They needed a leader, but within an hour after Captain Foster had put down his name there were one hundred and thirty young men ready and willing to fight for the Union. They were mustered in as Company D, Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at Norwalk, Ohio, April 5, 1861, and proceeded to Cincinnati, where they joined the regiment and where their term of service was lengthened to three years. They then went to Camp Dennison and later to West Virginia, where their active par- ticipation in the war began. Captain Foster took part in the battles of Winchester and Stone River, being wounded in the neck in the latter. On this account he was sent to the hospital at Nashville but after six weeks was transferred to the hospital at Cincinnati and while there was recommended for promotion. On leav- ing the hospital he was given the rank of captain and was commissioned quar- termaster of all the western territory, with headquarters at Fort Laramie. At the close of the war he still remained in the service in the western states for three years, helping to fight the Indians and rendering the country safe for travelers, and as he was the first from Huron county to enlist, so he was the last to leave, when on the 6th of September, 1868, he was mustered out of the service, having been in seven years and four months. When his country no longer needed his aid he came back to Norwalk and after a short time engaged in building trestles for railroads. This business took him over the greater part of the United States and
398
HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY
Canada, being in Charleston, South Carolina, at the time of the carthquake 'there. In fact he was a guest at one of the city hotels that was completely destroyed, and remamed in the city for some time afterward to assist in repairing the destruc- tion. In all he worked about thirty years at trestle building but is now living retired on his little farm, raising chickens and succulent green things.
Captain Foster has never married. He finds abundant society and companion- ship, however, with his fellow members of the Grand Army post at Akron, Ohio. There the reminiscences of the days of fighting are retold and the past is con- trasted with the peacefulness of the present.
CHARLES C. OWEN.
Charles C. Owen, a progressive agriculturist of Greenfield township, is the owner and proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred and forty-five acres. It was on this farm on the 4th of February, 1858, that he was born and here he has followed agricultural pursuits for almost half a century, the neat appearance of his property and excellent condition of everything about the place being indicative of the prosperity which he has achieved. His parents were Lafayette S. and Mary J. (Clark) Owen, the former having been born in Herkimer county, New York, the son of John Owen, who came to this county about 1836 and settled in Ripley township, where he bought the farm on which he spent the remainder of his life, passing away when he was about seventy years of age.
Lafayette S. Owen was a lad of eleven years when he came with his parents to Huron county and throughout his boyhood he pursued his studies in an old log school house, where he mastered the elementary branches of learning therein taught, during the winter months when his assistance was not needed in the fields. After reaching man's estate he was enabled to purchase the present farm of our subject from the heirs of his mother-in-law. After a life of use- fulness, honesty of purpose and unfaltering industry, he here passed away in 1904. He had married Mary J. Clark, who was born April 7, 1828, and died May 30, 1902. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Clark, who came from Ireland, settling in this district about the year 1820, when the entire region was covered with timber and underbrush. He bought land to a con- siderable extent in this locality, which he cleared and cultivated. Like most of the early settlers he built for his home a small log house and lived in this county for about thirty years, his death having occurred about 1850. Mr. and Mrs. Lafayette S. Owen became the parents of four children: Alice J., who married William Ruggles, of Peru township; Charles C., of this review ; Carrie E., who makes her home with her brother on the home farm; and Fannie E., who married Charles Snyder, of Peru township.
Charles C. Owen attended the district schools during the winter months. and in the summer, assisting his father with the farm labor, learned through the school of experience valuable lessons in agriculture that served him well when, upon the death of his father, he was given full charge of the farm.
MR. AND MRS. LAFAYETTE S. OWEN
401
HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY
His sister, Carrie E., who yet remains at home, is his able assistant, managing the affairs of the household, while he carries on general farming. Devoting his entire time and attention to the further development of the fields, he takes no active part in politics and does not belong to any fraternal organizations. He is a man of social, genial nature, who readily wins friends, and in his busi- ness affairs his straightforward and reliable methods have won him classification with the representative agriculturists of the community.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.