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 15
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
the supreme court. Mr. Brown's father died at the age of sixty- eight years ; his mother, at the age of forty-five.
As a farmer and stock raiser, Mr. Brown has proved himself a success. He keeps high grade stock, among which are registered jersey cattle, and he takes a pride in keeping his premises in first class condition. Like many of the up-to-date farmers of today he has an automobile, and thereby to a certain extent eliminates dis- tances and makes farm life far different from what it was a few years ago.
On August 11, 1892, Victor E. Brown and Sadie McConnell were united in marriage. Mrs. Brown, also a native of Ohio, was born at Berlin, in Holmes county, November 27, 1870, a daughter of John Smith McConnell and wife, Elizabeth, nee Stucky. Mr. McConnell when six years of age accompanied his mother and sister on their removal from Washington county, Pennsylvania, to Knox county, Ohio, where he was reared and where he still owns a fine farm. He is now eighty years of age and lives at Fredericktown. In the early days he was a well known stock dealer, buying and driving large herds of cattle across the country to the eastern markets. At one time, it is recorded, he and his large herd came in contact with General Lee's army near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. By making a long detour, however, he proceeded and delivered his herd in safety at its destination. He and his wife met and were married at Bedford Pennsylvania. Mrs. Brown was reared and
616
HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY
educated at Fredericktown and is a graduate of the schools of that placc. Her elder brother, Samuel, has a large ranch in Custer county, Nebraska, and her brother William is an attorney at law in Buffalo, New York, while her only sister, Elizabeth, is a high school teacher in Seattle, Washington. Their mother departed this life in 1887, at the age of forty-five years, and is interred in Frederick- town Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have two children: Lurana June, born June 23, 1893, and Edmund McConnell, born September 7, 1895, both students in the Fredericktown High School.
Mr. Brown has filled various local offices, including those of township trustee and member of the school board, having served five years as treasurer of the board.
THADDEUS E. BUCK .- For fully a decade Thaddeus E. Buck served as county surveyor of Morrow county, and during that period his efficiency and fidelity as a public official and patriotic citizen won him a high place in popular confidence and esteem. Mr. Buck is a civil engineer by profession, as was his father before him, and he is a man whose progressive ideas and actions have done much to advance the general welfare of the community in which he resides. He was born in Lincoln township, this county, on the 18th of April, 1865, and is a son of John Theodore and Martha A. (Nichols) Buck, the former of whom is deceased and the latter, residing with her son at Mount Gilead. £ Concerning the business career and ancestry of the father, the following brief data are taken from an article published at the time of his death, and whose phraseology is substantially retained.
"John Theodore Buck, son of Edmund and Anna (Hubbell) Buck, was born May 24, 1832, in Lincoln township, Delaware (now Morrow) county, Ohio, and died at Mount Gilead, November 24, 1907, aged seventy-five years and six months. His father, Edmund Buck, who was a native of Connecticut, came to Peru township in 1813, and after his marriage settled (1817) on the farm where John T. Buck always lived until a month prior to his demise. The ancestry on the father's side is traced back to Emanuel Buck, who emigrated from England to America in 1647, locating in Wethersfield, Connecticut. His mother, Anna Hubbell Buck, was
a native of New York and a descendant of Richard Hubbell, who also came from England to this country about 1647 and settled in Connecticut. John Theodore Buck spent his early life working upon the farm and his education was received in the district schools, Mount Hesper Seminary and the Ohio Wesleyan Univer- sity, at Delaware, Ohio, in which latter institution he gave special attention to the subject of civil engineering. He taught school during the winters of 1854, 1855 and 1862. In 1857 he was ap- pointed deputy county surveyor of Morrow county under Thomas Sharp, and he served in that capacity until 1859, when he was elected to the office of county surveyor on the Republican ticket.
.
ThadkeBuck
619
HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY
Ilis ability for serving the people as surveyor was shown by the fact that he was six times elected to that office, his tenure covering a period of twenty years. He was engaged in the work of his chosen profession for nearly fifty years. He was a member of the Ohio Society of Surveyors and Civil Engineers, of which he was president for a time, and he served the county as notary public from the year 1870 until his death. In 1863 he was commissioned first lieutenant of the Ohio Militia and was subsequently promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the First Regiment. He was a member of Cardington Lodge, No. 59, Royal Arch Masons, and Marion Commandery, No. 36, Knights Templars.
"On the 19th of November, 1863, Mr. Buck was united in mar- riage to Miss Martha A. Nichols, a daughter of Washington and Mary (James) Nichols. To this union five children have been born, four of whom are living: Thaddeus E., the immediate sub- ject of this review; Arthur H., a physician of Delaware; Annie M., who died in 1871; Katherine M. Bartlett, who resides at Ashley, Ohio; and Ralph W., a professor of chemistry in the schools of Dayton, Ohio.
"Mr. Buek was a man of great moral worth and integrity of character. He was strictly temperate in his habits and generous to all. He was always interested in the general welfare of the con- inunity in which he lived and he ever did all in his power for its promotion. He believed in the future, stated that he had nothing to fear and died peacefully and without a struggle. He is survived by a sister, wife, three sons, a daughter and a host of relatives and friends who mourn his departure."
Martha A. (Niehols) Buck, mother of him to whom this article is dedicated, was born in Morrow county on the 5th of July, 1844, a daughter of Washington and Mary (James) Nichols. She was reared and educated in this eounty and in her girlhood was a student at Baldwin University, Berea, Ohio. Her ancestry was of English extraction. She is a devout member of the Baptist church at Mount Gilead and is connected with the Women's Christian Temperance Union, in which she is an ardent worker. She is a woman of most gracious sincerity and kindliness and is deeply beloved by all who have come within the sphere of her gentle influence.
Thaddeus Eugene Buck, of this sketch, was reared to maturity on the home farin in Lincoln township, and after completing the curriculum of the district schools he attended and was graduated from the Cardington High School as a member of the class of 1883. Three years later he entered the Ohio State University, in which he pursued a special course in Civil engineering. He is a self- made man in the most significant sense of the word, having nobly overcome many obstacles which seriously beset his pathway. He was a most devoted son during his father's extended illness and since the latter's death has been most attentive to the wants of
620
HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY
his mother. In early life he was a popular and successful teacher in Morrow county, teaching altogether some fourteen terms. In politics he is a true-blue Republican and cast his first presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison. IIe has been selected as a delegate to the county Republican conventions and has been of material service to the cause of his party in different ways.
Mr. Buck has devoted most of his attention to his work as a civil engineer. From earliest youth, when he used to accompany his father on his surveying trips, he has been deeply interested in engineering. When the office of surveyor of Morrow county was varated by the sudden death of O. L. R. French in April, 1896, Mr. Buck was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of the de- ceased. In the following November he was elected to the office for the regular term, receiving the largest majority of any success- ful candidate on the county ticket. He was elected as his own successor to that office in 1899, and again in 1902, each time lead- ing his ticket in the majority by which he was chosen. Altogether, he served ten and a half years as county surveyor, and at the close of this long and honorable tenure of office he was appointed deputy under David Underwood, which position he still holds. In 1899 Mr. Buck secured the contract for making the decennial maps for the land appraisers, and in 1901 published a complete atlas of Mor- row county, which was well mapped and edited and received a ready sale from an appreciative public. In 1909-10 he assisted in remapping the county for the land appraisers. In connection with his duties as county surveyor he made a survey of a proposed elec- tric railroad from Marion through Mount. Gilead to Mount Vernon. He has made surveys in adjoining counties and has been called upon to design and superintend the construction of bridges, plat cemeteries and lay out and build streets, sewers and pike roads, etc. At the present time he holds the appointment of resident engineer for the building of pike roads under the State Highway department. He has in his possession all the private field notes of his father, representing the accumulated labors of nearly fifty years, and he has in his private keeping one of the most complete collections of land titles in the county.
In all of his individual / work he has been eminently successful, the same being due to perseverance and close application to even the minutest detail or the matter in hand. Further, he is a man of good business ability, broad information and kindly human sympathy, and therefore holds a high place in the friendship and esteem of his fellows.
Fraternally Mr. Buck is a member of Charles H. Hull Lodge, No. 195, Knights of Pythias, at Mount Gilead ; Mount Gilead Lodge, No. 169, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Sunnyside Rebekah Lodge, No. 352, same order and place. His mother is also affiliated with the last named organization. Mr. Buck is an active member of the Ohio Engineering Society. His religious faith connects him with the Baptist church, having joined the
621
HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY
society at Fulton when it was organized, in the spring of 1888. For several years he was clerk of the church at that place, as well as superintendent of the Sunday school, but when he moved to Mount Gilead he transferred his membership to the First Baptist church of that village and soon afterward was chosen a member of its board of trustees for a period of five years. In his youth Mr. Buck was carefully trained by a good mother, and he has never departed from the paths of his early teaching, his exemplary life being a fine example, lesson and ineentive.
In 1897 Mr. Buck purchased the farm upon which the grand- father settled and upon which his father, as well as himself was born. He takes much pride in keeping it in good condition and hopes to make it a model farm. Mr. Buck always made. this his home until after his marriage, moving to Mount Gilead, his present residence, in the spring of 1906.
On the 28th of June, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Buck to Miss Ida A. Gordon, who was a daughter of H. Elmer and Elizabeth Gordon and who was born in South Bloomfield town- ship, Morrow county, on the 7th of December, 1876. She was a great-granddaughter of William Gaylord Gordon, who was born in Manchester, England, September 17, 1772, and who came to America in 1805. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and his death occurred on the 2nd of June, 1882, at the patriarchal age of one hundred and nine years, eight months and fifteen days. Mrs. Buck's early schooling was obtained at Center Corners and subsequently she attended the Chesterville schools. For five years prior to her marriage she was engaged in teaching school, in which line of work she was eminently successful. She possessed a wonderfully sweet disposition and her inherent kindliness of spirit won her many warm and devoted friends, who deeply mourned her death, September 25, 1907. Concerning her the following extract is here reproduced, from an article dedicated to her memory shortly after her deeease.
"She was a loving and dutiful wife, and tried in every way to make a happy home for her husband. She was a member of the Rebekah Lodge at Chesterville, Ohio. At the age of eighteen years she joined the Methodist Episcopal church at Salem, Knox county, of which she was a consistent member, and she lived and trusted in the faith of a future life. To know her was to love and admire her womanly traits of character. She had a smile and a kind word for everyone, as is suggested by a favorite quotation of hers, which is as follows:
" "The inner half of every cloud Ilas a bright and silver lining; I therefore turn my clouds about And always wear them inside out To show their pretty lining.'"
622
HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY
"In commenting on the above quotation, she said: 'I think it is our duty to be as cheerful as we can, and always look on the silvery side of the cloud. I try to make my friends happy and the world better for having lived in it.' She told her husband a short time before her death that if she should not live it would be all right, for it would be only a while until they should meet again. The funeral was held at her residence in Mount Gilead and her remains are interred at River Cliff. She leaves a husband, mother, father, two brothers and a host of friends and relatives who deeply mourn her seemingly untimely departure."
THOMAS J. ROOD .- The prosperity which this great American commonwealth enjoys is due largely to the industry, thrift and pro- gressive spirit of its people. Among the foremost families of Morrow county and its vicinity it is a matter of the greatest pleasure to record the name of Rood. He whose name initiates this reeview has gained recognition as one of the substantial agriculturists and stockmen of the region of Fredericktown, Ohio. By his labors, his earnest cooperation in all matters projected for the general welfare and his sterling integrity and worth he has succeeded in winning a high place for himself in the confidence and esteem of his fellow men.
Thomas J. Rood was born on a farm near Frederiektown, Ohio, on the 24th of August, 1876, and he is a son of Madison and Sarah A. (Wertz) Rood, both of whom were born and reared in the fine old Buekeye state of the Union. Madison Rood was born on the 31st of July, 1819, near Fredericktown, of parents whom were natives of Pennsylvania. As a young man he settled on the land that now comprises the old Rood homestead and associated with him in the early pioneer days were his two brothers, Harrison and Samuel, and a sister, Cynthia .. At that time this section of Ohio was practically all virgin forest but the young men industriously set to work to make a clearing on which to erect a somewhat crude log cabin. Forming a partnership, they purchased a tract of one hundred acres of wild land, paying for it with their wages of fifty cents per day. Sister Cynthia kept house for her brothers while they worked energetically early and late, away from home during the day time and clearing off their land at night. In those early days there were but few bridges across the swift, cold streams, and frequently on their way to work the Rood Brothers were obliged to remove their shoes and wade barefooted through the icy water. The hardships they endured and the energy manifested to redeem from the wilds a home for themselves were truly sur- prising.
After a number of years passed together the brothers dissolved partnership, Harrison taking the land which had been newly purchased, the same being now owned by Joe Wilson, while Madison and Samuel remained at the old homestead. Later in life
623
HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY
life Harrison drove back into the old neighborhood to visit his daughter, Mrs. Duane Swetland, to whose home had come the first heir. On his return he was stricken with paralysis and in passing the eld home his faithful horse turned into the familiar road, going up to the door with his unconscious master in the buggy. HIe died almost immediately and was buried from the old home then occupied by Madison Rood and his family. Madison Rood married Miss Sarah A. Wertz, a daughter of George and Amanda Wertz and a native of Ohio, her birth having occurred on the 25th of December, 1838. Mrs. Rood proved a most worthy and efficient helpmeet to her honored husband; she was industrious and practical, working out- of-doors as well as within and frequently assisting her husband in burning log heaps until the hour of midnight. Madison Rood was a very powerful man, and as proof of his endurance.it is said that he once chopped into slabs in one day, seven cords of wood for a neighbor, Iden V. Ball. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rood, Noah came into the world on the 1st of May, 1861; Amanda was born on the 22nd of June, 1869; and Thomas J., on the 24th of August, 1876. Noah married Miss Alice N. Melick on the 22nd of November, 1882. She is a daughter of Noah and Margaret Melick, and she and her husband are the fond parents of four daughters: Virginia, Sarah, Forest and Tinsel. Amanda be- came the wife of William Shineberry on the 25th of September, 1885, and she was called to eternal rest on the 22nd of February, 1908.
Thomas J. Rood was reared to the invigorating influences of the old homestead farm, in the work and management of which he early began to assist his father. He received his preliminary educational training in the neighboring country schools and after attaining to years of maturity began to work the old home farm on his own responsibility. He was married, on the 12th of January, 1895, to Miss Lecta G. Pipes, the only daughter of Morgan and Ella Pipes. Mrs. Thomas J. Rood attended school in this vicinity and one of her old instructors was Uteridge Cole, now a practicing physician at Columbus, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Pipes have no children of their own except Mrs. T. J. Rood, but they have one foster son, Ray Horn, whom they took in infancy and raised to manhood.
The industry of Madison Rood and his wife was rewarded with a fine property. From time to time they added to their original estate until eventually they owned some six hundred and seventy- eight acres of fine farming and stock land. When the sons married they settled down on the old homestead, Noah building a fine residence for himself and Thomas J. ocenying a part of his father's large house. With the passage of time failing health necessitated the parents giving up the farm duties and, consigning the man- agement of the estate to the sons, they moved to Sparta. They resided in that place for a period of eight years, during which time their children supplied them with every possible comfort Vol. 11-9
624
HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY
and relieved them of every care. Samuel and Cynthia lived with Madison Rood and his wife at Sparta until their respective deaths and Madison himself died there on the 10th of February, 1908. Mrs. Rood survived her honored and cherished husband for about one year, her demise having occurred at the old homestead, whither she had gone after the death of her life companion, on the 22nd February, 1909. By reason of their intense energy and unflinch- ing courage they made of success not an accident but a logical result and they were everywhere honored and respected by their fellow citizens.
The sons industriously taking up the lines of work laid down by their parents, their fine buildings and well tilled fields give ample proof of their practical business ability and energy as up-to-date farmers. Thomas J. Rood's farm comprises three hun- dred and twenty-five acres of splendid land upon which he recently erected a new barn, fifty-two by seventy feet in lateral dimensions. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Rood have one son and one daughter, Dell and Marie, both of whom are enrolled as pupils in the Washington district school. In his political convictions Mr. Rood was formerly a stanch advocate of the principles and policies promul- gated by the Democratic party, but of recent years he has main- tained an independent attitude, preferring to give his support to men and measures meeting with the full approval of his judgment rather than follow along strictly partisan lines. He firmly be- lieves that the man who will do the best for his constituency is the man worthy of his support and exercises his right of franchise accordingly. In their religious affiliations Mr. and Mrs. Rood attend the Hedding Chapel Methodist Episcopal church, to whose charities they are most liberal contributors and of which Mrs. Rood is a devout member. Throughout the entire community in which they reside the Rood family are accorded the unqualified confidence and esteem of their fellow citizens and it may be said truly that the list of their friends is coincident with that of their acquaintances.
GEORGE L. CLARK is a representative of the Logan Gas Com- pany of Mount Gilead, Ohio, and as such maintains his business headquarters at Mount Gilead, where he has resided since 1902. His financial interests in this section of the fine old Buckeye state are of varied order and he is prominent in Ohio Masonry. Mr. Clark was born at Warren, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of April, 1859, and is a son of James and Mary E. (Stevens) Clark, both of whom are still living.
The father, James Clark, a prominent lumberman and a leading citizen of Warren, Pennsylvania, was born in Scotland December 23, 1831, and is a son of James and Jane McPherson Clark, and a grandson of William Clark. James Clark, grand- father of him whose name initiates this review, was born in Scot-
625
HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY
land in 1800. His early life was devoted to lumbering and farming. He came to America in 1846 and settled in Glade township, Warren county, Pennsylvania, on a farm now oceupied by his son Alex- ander Clark. Upon locating in this county Mr. Clark devoted his entire time to farming, the vast tracts of available territory proving highly tempting. He was married in Scotland to Jane McPherson, a native of that country, and they became the parents of six children, one daughter and five sons, named Isabella Kitchen, deceased; James, father of George L .; John, now a resident of Warren, Pennsylvania; Alexander, who lives on the old farm in Glade township, Warren county; Lewis, who died in 1878; and William, who died in 1874. The mother of this family died in 1880 and her devoted husband followed her to the other shore in 1883, aged eighty-three years. They were faithful members of the Presbyterian church.
James Clark received his early mental training in the schools of his native country and came with his parents to the United States in the year 1846. At the age of eighteen he took up the trade of a millwright and followed the vocation for a few years, but gradually was drawn toward lumbering pursuits. He built the Warren Saw and Planing Mills, located on the large island, in the year 1864, and operated them until 1892, when he sold out to Newmaker and Reed. In 1881 the mills were destroyed by fire, but Mr. Clark was not to be undone by the fire fiend and before the smoking ruins had cooled he had plans prepared for new mills, which he erected and had in operation within the year. He en- joyed great success, the mills being one of Warren's most important industries while under the Clark management, and it continued as a flourishing enterprise under the new firm.
In 1858 Mr. Clark wedded Mary E. Stevens, daughter of S. G. Stevens, of Warren, Pennsylvania, and their union has been blessed by the birth of eight ehildren, equally divided as to sons and daughters and as follows in name: George L., Jessie I., Lucy A., Edward A., Frederick C., Annie M., Archie J., and Ethel E. The eldest son, George L, is the subject of this review; Jessie I. married W. R. Johnson, of Falconer, New York, and has one son, R. C., Lucy A., is the wife of J. W. Richards and resides in Warren, Pennsylvania; Edward A. married Addie Horigan, daughter of Thomas Horigan, and they also reside in Warren, their only son being named James A .; Fred C. and Annie M. are at home; Arehie J. married Maud Graham, daughter of Jesse Graham, of Warren, and they are the parents of one son, Byron G. ; Ethel E. is the wife of Carl T. Campbell, a resident of Sister- ville, West Virginia, and the mother of a son, James T.
James Clark is a valued and progressive citizen and ever first and foremost in any enterprise calculated to promote the welfare of his adopted town. IIe has been a director of the Warren Sav- ings Bank since its organization and the only one now living of its
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.