USA > Ohio > Morrow County > History of Morrow County, Ohio; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Vol. II > Part 11
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On the 14th of October, 1897, Mr. Taber was united in mar- riage to Miss Lulu Coe, who was born in Gilead township, this county, and who is a daughter of George O. Coe, concerning whose history data appear on other pages of this volume, in the sketeh dedicated to his career. Mrs. Taber was graduated in the Edison high school in 1893 and thereafter she was engaged in teaching for a period of three years prior to her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Taber have four children : Mildred, born December 7, 1898; Law- rence, born September 24, 1900; Aldeane, born June 11, 1905; and Horace, born March 15, 1907. In their religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Taber are Methodist Episcopal, holding membership in the Boundary church, in which they have been most zealous faetors.
WILLIAM MELVILLE FRIZZELL, ex-sheriff of Morrow county, Ohio, and a prosperous farmer of Franklin township, is familiarly known as "Mellie" Frizzell. He was born January 31, 1858, on the old Frizzell homestead in Franklin township, which he now owns and on which his father settled on coming to this state in 1847. He is of Scotch and French descent, and both his father and mother were Virginians, members of prominent families of the "Old Dominion." His father, Henry Frizzell, died in 1862 of typhoid fever, at the age of forty years .. His mother, Mary (Hutchinson) Frizzell, was a consin of General Winfield S. Scott. She died in 1896, at the age of seventy years. Side by side hus- band and wife rest in Norfolk cemetery.
Mellie Frizzell has devoted his energies to agricultulal pur. suits from boyhood, with the exeeption of about twenty-two months, when as a young man he was in Washington, D. C., employed as street car conductor, and during the time he was sheriff. He returned from Washington in 1890, and the prosperity that has attended his efforts has been sufficient to make farming interesting for him. To the thirty aeres of land he owned in 1890 he has added by purchase as follows: Forty acres adjoining in 1891; twenty aeres in 1897; one hundred and eighty acres in 1898; ten aeres in 1905, and eighty-seven acres in 1908. This, together with the one hundred and five acres his wife inherited, makes their landed estate three Inindred and ten acres
Mr. Frizzell married, April 23, 1890, Miss Harrie Blayney, daughter of David and Rachel Blayney, natives of West Virginia
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and descendants of the noble Blayney family of Blayney Castle, Ireland .. Her parents reside on a farm northwest of Pulaskiville. She has two brothers, John and Daniel, who live on farms adjoining tlc old homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Frizzell lost their only child in infancy.
Politically Mr. Frizzell has always been a Republican, and for many years has been an influential factor in county politics. He was elected sheriff of Morrow county in 1895, and again in 1897, at each election receiving the highest vote of any candidate on the ticket, and for two terms he served most efficiently in this capacity. Mr. and Mrs. Frizzell are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Pulaskiville ..
CLEMENT MCANALL .- As a worthy representative of the pros- perous agriculturists of Morrow county and as an honored and respected citizen of Canaan township, Clement McAnall is es- pecially deserving of mention in a work of this character. A son of John McAnall, he was born December 6, 1858, in Knox county, Ohio, coming from substantial Virginia ancestry.
John McAnall was born in Ohio county, West Virginia, April 6, 1828, where he was bred and educated. Subsequently settling in Knox county, Ohio, he lived there a few years and then moved to Morrow county, where he spent his remaining years, dying on his farm in Washington township in September, 1896. He was twice married. His first wife whose maiden name was Sarah A. Lever- ing, died on the home farm in April, 1865. He married second, Minerva J. Logan, who is now living at Mt. Gilead, Ohio. Of the children born by his first marriage but two grew to years of maturity, Clement, the subject of this sketch, and Mary A., de- ceased, who married D. R. Hammond. By his second union he had five children, as follows: John L .; Cora, wife of George Blayncy; Agnes M .; Mattie B., wife of Arthur Kerr; and Hugh W., of Mt. Gilead.
Brought up on the home farm in Washington township, Clement Mc Anall acquired his elementary education in the district schools, after which he attended the Ohio Central College, at Iberia, for four terms. Selecting for his life work that occupation upon which the wealth and prosperty of our nation is so largely dependent, Mr. McAnall has since devoted his energies to the pur- suit of agriculture, as a farmer and stock raiser meeting with un- questioned success. He now owns three hundred and thirty acres of fertile land in Washington and Canaan townships, and is widely known as one of the foremost farmers of Morrow county. A man of sterling worth, he is in all respects a valuable citizen of the township, performing his duties and obligations as such with com- mendable fidelity.
Mr. Me Anall married, September 24, 1885, Amy Lyon, who was born in Canaan township, Morrow county, Ohio, June 14, 1861,
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a daughter of Jacob Lyon. She is a woman of culture, having completed her early education in the Ohio Central College, at Iberia. Mr. and Mrs. McAnall are the parents of three children, namely : Esther M., who graduated from the Mt. Gilead High School, and is now an instructor in the Iberia High School; Hugh R., who graduated from the Iberia High School, and is now attending the Agricultural College at Columbus, Ohio; and Jay R., a pupil in the Iberia High School.
Politically Mr. McAnall is identified with the Democratic party, and he has served as township trustee. He is a deacon of the Presbyterian church of Iberia, to which he and his wife belong. Mr. and Mrs. McAnall are likewise members of Washington Grange, and take an active part in promoting the good of the organization. They have in their possession three of the parchments or buck- skin deeds, executed under the hand and seal of President Andrew Jackson and bearing the following dates: October 18, 1834, October 14, 1835 and October 18, 1834. These deeds are valuable heirlooms in the home, and there are only six of these old deeds recorded in the twentieth century history of Morrow county. The pretty estate of Mr. McAnall is known as "Glenmore Springs Stock Farm." In the way of souvenirs they have his mother's spinning wheel and reels, which are at least three quarters of a century old, also a fancy double eoverlet which was woven in 1849.
ARTHUR CRAVEN is identified with Morrow county, Ohio, as one of its distriet school teachers, and as son and grandson of its respected citizens. He was born in Franklin township, this coun- ty, August 12, 1886. In due time he completed the district school course, and at the age of seventeen suceessfully passed the examina- tion and received a teacher's certificate. He has taught school five years in Franklin township and two years in Gilead township. In the meantime he attended Wooster University, where he pre- pared himself for more efficient work as teacher, and in his chosen profession is meeting with marked success. A member of the Franklin Baptist church, Mr. Craven is active both in church and Sunday school work, for the past two years having been superin- tendent of the Sunday school.
Mr. Craven is a son of E. J. and Sarah (James) Craven, who were married October 8, 1885, and who now reside on a portion of the old Craven home placc. E. J. Craven was born July 2, 1858, and began life for himself as a farm hand. By industry and care- ful economy he saved enough money with which to purchase some land, and he now owns eighty and a half aeres, thirty-seven of which are a part of the old homestead. His father, Rodney Craven, a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, was born Jamtary 3, 1820; was reared to farm life and had the advantage of a good education. He came west to Ohio in 1843 and settled in Knox county, near Levering Station, where he remained three years.
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Then he removed to Harmony township and purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres; and he spent three years in Decatur county, Indiana. In his family were eleven children, namely : Virginia, William H., John A., James R., Reuben R., Winfield, Edward J., George, Laura, Alice and one that died in infancy. James R. and John A., at the ages respectively of seventeen and eighteen years, enlisted for duty in the Civil war the former joining Company S, One Hundred and Eighty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and the latter, Company K, Eighty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry ; both died in the service. Mr. Craven's mother, Sarah E. (James) Craven, was born June 2, 1862, and is a descendant of one of the prominent old Virginia families who owned plantations and slaves. Her parents, Samuel and Ellen (Carrothers) James, were natives of Virginia; the former is now living in Cardington and the latter died in 1889. Arthur Craven married Miss Bernice S. Haldeman on February 22, 1911, and they are living in Troy township. Mrs. Cravens was educated in the common schools and is a graduate of the Johnsville High School, class of 1907. She taught in Perry and North Bloomfield town- ships about two years. She is a member of the United Brethren church in Troy township.
SENECA A. SMITH .- There is all of consistency in entering in this publication a tribute to this venerable and honored native son of Morrow county, where he stands as a worthy scion of a sterling pioneer family of this section of the state, with whose history the name has been identified for nearly a full century. Mr. Smith has been an effective and successful exponent of the agricultural industry, has been loyal as a citizen, and, above all, his personality has been the positive expression of a strong, earnest and noble character, so that he has never been denied the confidence and definite esteem of his fellow men. His entire life thus far has been passed in this section of Ohio, though not entirely within the bor- ders of Morrow county, and he has played well his part in the development and upbuilding of a district that was scarcely more than a wilderness at the time he was here ushered into the world.
Seneca A. Smith was born in the village of Westfield, Morrow county, in the section which was then a part of Delaware county, and the date of his nativity was October 5, 1836. The house in which he was born was situated on the property now owned by Oliver E. Richardson, and soon after his birth his parents removed to a farm one mile west of the village, where they continued to reside until the spring of 1849, when they deemed it expedient to scek another location. The farm was accordingly sold and in October of the same year they purchased and removed to what was then known as the Woodbury farm, one and one-half miles west of Westfield, where the parents passed the residue of their lives and where the son was reared to maturity. David Smith, the father
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Seneca A. Smith
Nancy E. Smith
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of him whose name initiates this review, was of Scoteh-Irish lineage and was a son of Rev. Simeon Smith, a pioneer minister of the Baptist church and a valiant soldier in the Contintal line in the war of the Revolution. Rev. Simeon Smith imigrated from Chenango county, New York, to Ohio in 1818, and here he not only secured land and engaged in farming but he also labored zealously as a pioneer clergyman in this state until he was summoned to the life eternal. He was twice married and David was a son of the second union. At an early age David Smith was bereft of his father, and as much of the responsibility of providing for the family devolved upon him he gained a discipline that developed and matured the sterling qualities which brought to him success in later years. His wife, whose maiden name was Maria - Monroe, was a native of Pennsylvania and was a member of a large family of that name prominently identified with the early history of Delaware and Morrow counties. She died when but forty-seven years of age, just as her children were establishing themselves in homes of their own. She is to be remembered as a woman of rart domestie ability and beautiful character, and her whole mind and heart were given to her family
Seneca A. Smith was reared amid the scenes and influences 01 the pioneer days in what is now Morrow county, and his early edv. rational advantages were those afforded in the district schools o. the locality and period. As a youth he supplemented this training by attending for several terms a boarding school at Mt. Hesper, and later he availed himself of the privileges of the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. For four years he was a successful and popular teacher in the schools of his native county, but he had the good judgment to subordinate such pedagogie preferment to the great basic industry to which he had been reared and in connection with which he was destined to gain a most generous measure of success. In 1857, on a piece of land given to him by his father in Waldo township, Marion county, he erected a house of hewed logs and thus made ready for his marriage, which was solemnized on the 10th of October, 1858, when Miss Nancy E. West became his wife. She was a young woman of sterling attributes of mind and heart and was well qualified to preside over the affairs of the new home, in which she proved a veritable helpmeet. Her distriet school training had been supplemented by two terms of study in Mt. Hesper Seminary.
ITere in the humble log house, surrounded by forest and field, were born eight of the nine children of Seneca A. and Nancy E. (West) Smith, the youngest of the nine having been born at the home in Lincoln township, Morrow county. Concerning the chil- dren the following brief data are entered : Claremont R., who was born in 1859, is a master mechanic by vocation, is married and resides in Indianapolis, Indiana; Dr. Florence R., widow of Theodoric S. White, is a skilled physician and surgeon and is en-
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gaged in the practice of her profession in Cardington, Morrow county ; Charles W., a widower, with three children, is a prosperous farmer residing at Ferndale, Washington; James S., who is mar- ried, resides upon and has the active supervision of the home farm of his venerable father; Helen and David died early in life ; Daisy A., is a dressmaker by voeation and resides at Laramie, Wyoming; Arthur A., is married and is one of the stockholders of the Fall Creek Sheep Company, Limited, at Ameriean Falls, Idaho, where he maintains his home; A. Imogene, who is a trained nurse by profession and who was graduated in the training school of Lake- side Hospital in the eity of Cleveland, Ohio, is now a resident of the city of Los Angeles, California.
In polities Seneca A. Smith has been continuously affiliated with the Democratic party, except for several years' adherence to the Prohibition party in the early period of its history, and he was the only voter for several years in his township to express in this manner his sentiments in regard to the liquor traffic. He has been ever ready to give his aid and influence in support of measures and enterprises for the general good of the community and has served in the offices of township supervisor, clerk and assessor, as well as in that of sehool director. Upon attaining to his legal majority Mr. Smith identified himself with the Westfield Lodge of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of which his father and father-in- law were charter members, and later he became affiliated also with the other encampment branch of the fraternity, as well as with its adjunet organization, the Daughters of Rebekah. In 1874 he be- eame much interested in the farmers' organization, the Patrons of Husbandry, in which he was instrumental in the organization of the grange at Westfield, both he and his wife being charter mem- bers of the same. This stanch order has always had his warmest and most devoted serviee during the period of its existence in Morrow county. Upon his retirement from Westfield Grange, No. 732, he became affiliated with Harmony Grange; No. 411, in which he is still an active member.
The religious faith of Mr. Smith is that of the Universalist church, with which he united in his early manhood and of which his wife also has long been a devoted member. He entered this denomination under the leadership of Rev. Charles F. Waite, by whom he and his wife were married. His devotion to the church is fervent and his daily life has ever been consistent with his pro- fessions.
In 1877, wishing to afford his children better educational and social advantages, Mr. Smith sold his farm in Marion county and returned to Morrow county, where he purchased the farm of Henry Stiner, at the point familiarly known as Stiner's Corners, in Lincoln township. He forthwith began to improve and beautify the new homestead, in order to bring the place up to the high standard which he had set. He has made many changes in the
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place, as he believes that the carthly home should be the best possible setting, ideal and inspiration, with the well ordered senti- ment that the fullest life is one not given over merely to the sordid accumulation of this world's goods but rather to developing sym- metrical character, fitted for the final transition. The keynote to his character is honesty, fidelity to duty, and better than this can be said of no man. As an agriculturist and stock grower Mr. Smith has shown the most progressive policies and has wisely striven to gain the maximum returns from the time, energy and financial expenditures given. He has thus achieved definite independence and prosperity and has made his attractive homestead one of the model farms of his native county. He is a man of broad mental ken and positive views, but is kindly and tolerant in his judgment and always ready to aid those in any ways afflicted or distressed in mind, body or estate.
It is fitting that in this connection be given somewhat of detail concerning the cherished and devoted wife of Mr. Smith, and the following data offer a consistent complement to this brief sketelı of his career.
Mrs. Nancy E. (West) Smith was born at West Rushville, Fairfield county, Ohio, on the 13th of October, 1839. Her father, James Rennison West, was born at Carlyle, England, in 1809, and thus was about nine years of age at the time of his parents' immigration to the United States, in 1818. His father, a silk and wool weaver, located at Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, where he and his son followed the weaver's trade until about 1826, when the family removed to Muskingum county, Ohio, where the son James R. met and married Miss Rebecca Hedges, a daughter of John and Nancy (Neff) Hedges, pioneer settlers who had come to this state from Virginia. The Hedges family has been one of prominence and influence in the civic and material progress of Ohio and mem- bers of the same were important factors in connection with the founding of the cities of Mansfield and Tiffin. James R. and Rebecca (Hedges) West located at West Rushville, Fairfield coun- ty, soon after their marriage, and there their daughter Nancy E. gained her rudimentary education. Early in October, 1847, they came to Morrow county and established their home on a farm in Westfield township, to which place they made the journey from Fairfield county with a team and wagon. The girlhood days of Mrs. Smith were passed on the farm, where she learned those habits of thrift and industry so pronounced in her character. As previously stated her earlier educational advantages were supple- mented by two terms of attendance in Mt. Hesper Seminary, a boarding school for young men and women. This institution was maintained under the able direction of the late JJesse and Cynthia Harkness, and its facilities were of excellent order. After leav- ing this seminary Mrs. Smith taught one term in a district school and she received the munificent stipend of two dollars a week, in
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the meanwhile "boarding around" with the various patrons of the school. In the antumn of the same year, 1858, she was wedded to Mr. Smith, whom she had known for years and who was a fellow student at Mt. Hesper, the two families having been long time friends. Mrs. Smith's life has been that of the busy wife and mother, and to her children she has given loving, helpful care and solicitude. Always cheerful and optimistic, ready to aid in siek- ness or death, she has endeared herself to a large circle of friends and is held in affectionate regard by all who have come within the sphere of her gentle and gracious influence. She is affiliated with the Daughters of Rebekah and Patrons of Husbandry, and she has ably filled the various offices to which she has been called in cach of these orders. One of the dominant traits of her character is a love of the beautiful, especially as manifested in flowers and in the adornment of her home. This amounts almost to a passion, as may well be noted in a visit to her home in summer. She has served as school director and still maintains a lively interest in educational affairs. She is a devoted member of the Universalist church, as is her husband, and both take an active part in the various depart- ments of the work of the church of this denomination at Mt. Gilead, where they attend services with as great regularity as is possible.
JAMES W. NELSON .- Conspicuous among the younger genera- tion of Morrow county's substantial business men is James W. Nelson, who is filling the responsible position of cashier of the Marengo Banking Company. A native of Ohio, he was born Sep- tember 14, 1880, in Washington township, Morrow county, on the farm where his parents, William and Nancy (Post) Nelson, still reside.
Spending his early years on the home farm, James W. Nelson attended first the district schools and later continued his studies at the Iberia High School. He subsequently worked with his father on the homestead, becoming familiar with the various branches of agriculture, but did not care enough for the rural occupation to make it his life work. Leaving the farm, therefore, he found employment as clerk in a store, first at St. James and later at Climax. In 1904 Mr. Nelson successfully passed the civil ser- vice examination, and for two years and a half was mail carrier on one of the rural routes going out of St. James. Resigning that position, he entered a business college in Oberlin, Ohio, where he was graduated, receiving his diploma in May, 1907. Two montlis later, on July 9, 1907, Mr. Nelson came to Marengo, and during the following three months was bookkeeper for the Marengo Bank- ing Company, with which he has since been associated. Develop- ing marked ability in that position, he was made assistant cashier of the company in October of that year, and on April 19, 1910, was made cashier of the institution, a position for which he is well qualified and which he is filling to the satisfaction of all concerned.
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Mr. Nelson married, March 27, 1907, Tamer Crider, who was born in 1887, a daughter of Adam Crider, and was educated in the Iberia High School. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have two children, namely : Dorothea L. and Mary E.
Politically Mr. Nelson affiliates with the Republican party, and fraternally he is a member and past chancellor of Marengo Lodge, No. 216, K. of P. Both Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Nelson is a capable business man and owns property of value on Walnut street, Marengo.
WILLIAM P. VAUGHAN .- An essentially representative and public spirited citizen, William P. Vaughan is at present the able and popular ineumbent of the office of cashier of the First National Bank of Cardington, Morrow county, Ohio, and he has other im- portant financial interests of broad scope and importance in this section of the fine old Buckeye state. He was born in Lincoln township, this eounty, on the 17th of April, 1862, and is a son of James W. and Rachel A. (Wood) Vaughan, the former of whom is a native of Stark county, Ohio, where he was born in March, 1832, and the latter of whom also claims the state of Ohio as the place of her birth. James W. Vaughan is a son of Mathew Vaughan and Phoebe (Pennock) Vaughan, natives of Virginia, whence they early established their home in Stark county, where they resided until about 1847, when they removed to Morrow county, at that time Delaware county, Ohio. Mathew Vaughan was identified with agricultural pursuits during his entire active business career. He and his wife became the parents of eight children, and of this num- ber James W. is the only one now living in 1910. He is a resident of Lincoln township, where he has long been engaged in farming and though he has attained to the venerable age of seventy-eight years he is still hale and hearty. Mrs. Vaughan is seventy-seven
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