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 3
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Mr. Fate is a genial and cordial gentleman, strictly honest and upright and beyond reproach both as a business man and a friend. Fraternally he is an honored member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge, No. 427, at Cardington, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Fate reside in Mt. Gilead, in their own beautiful and modern residence located on Union street. It is good to look upon and a marvel of conven- ience, heated by furnace, lighted by electricity and natural gas, and its portals are ever open to the many friends of the owner and his gracious wife.
JOHN S. LYMAN, who owns and operates a fine farm in Franklin township, Morrow county, Ohio, is a native of this county. He was born in Canaan township March 24, 1873, a son of Luke C. and Marion (Garster) Lyman, now residents of Edison, Morrow county, where the father is retired, his active life having been passed as a shoemaker.
Until he was seventeen John S. Lyman spent his winters at- tending school either at Denmark or Edison, and finding employ- ment on farms or on the railroad in the summer vacations. He continued in this line of work until 1906, when he engaged in farming on his own account in Franklin township. Here he has a hundred acres of land and is making a specialty of raising sheep, in which he is meeting with marked success.
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On November 19, 1899, Mr. Lyman married Miss Mary James, who has borne him four children, of whom one is deceased. Those living are J. B., James Chandler and Mary, aged respectively eleven, seven and two years. Mrs. Lyman was born in Perry town- ship, this county, November 13, 1877, daughter of John and Elzine (Whitney) James, who now reside on a farm near Johnsville Mr. and Mrs. Lyman are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and fraternally he is identified with Edison Lodge, No. 434, Knights of Pythias, while she is a member of Annona Temple, Pythian Sisters, No. 241, Edison. Mr. Lyman has filled all the chairs in his lodge and is a past chancellor commander. He was C. C. in 1906.
FRANK KERSHNER DUNN is a native of Mt. Gilead, Ohio, and is a son of Andrew Kershner Dunn, a native of Washington county, Maryland, and Emily ( Armentrout) Dunn, a native of Richland county, Ohio, and he was born November 13, 1854. He attended the Union Schools of Mt. Gilead, Ohio, and in the year 1869 was admitted to Kenyon College and was graduated from the same in 1873, the degree of A. B. being conferred on him by his Alma Mater. He attended Harvard Law School, and was graduated from the same in 1875, and the degree of L.L.B. was conferred on him.
Our subject's father came to Mt. Gilead, Ohio, in April, 1848, and was present at the first term of court in Morrow county, Ohio, and was one of the foremost members of the bar of Morrow county until his death, April 29, 1890. He was a graduate of Kenyon College in the same class with President Rutherford B. Hayes, and in 1876, while President Hayes was yet governor of Ohio, he appointed Judge Dunn a judge of the Court of Common pleas for the Second sub-division of the Sixth judicial district of Ohio.
Frank K. Dunn was admitted to the bar in 1875, and prac- ticed with his father in Morrow and adjoining counties for three years, and in 1878 went to Charleston, Illinois, where he continued in the practice of the law until 1897, when he was elected judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth judicial circuit of Illinois, and served as judge until 1903. In 1907 he was elected justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois for the term of eight years, and is now in office.
On June 1, 1882, he was married at Mt. Gilead, Ohio, to Alice R. Trimble, second danghter of James S. Trimble and Margaret (Stroh) Trimble, one of the oldest families in Mt. Gilead, Ohio. Mr. Trimble was one of the most energetic and successful merchants, bankers and grain dealers the village ever had for over forty years. He was born May 25, 1818, at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and died April 11, 1889, at Mt. Gilead, Ohio. His wife was a daughter of Samuel Straw (or Stroh) one of the pioneers of Knox (now Morrow) rounty, Ohio, and she died JJune 14, 1879, and both lie buried side
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by side in River Cliff cemetery, Mt. Gilead, Ohio. The children of Judge Frank K. and Alice R. (Trimble) Dunn are Andrew and Ruth.
HARRY S. CRUIKSHANK, of Mt. Gilead, Ohio, may be pointed out as an example of what a young man of thrift and enterprise can accomplish without initial capital and without financial back- ing to start an enterprise. Some special mention of him is of interest in this connection and, briefly, a sketch of his life is as follows :
Harry S. Cruikshank was born on a farm in Delaware county, Ohio, in September, 1872, a son of Stephen L. and Mary (Wood- land) Cruikshank, natives of Morrow county, Ohio, and London, England, respectively. His boyhood was spent in farm work and in attendance at the district school near his home. At the age of cighteen years, with his brother as partner, he began buying hay in Delaware county and shipping to market. They began on a small scale, with practically no capital, and by close study of the situation and careful management of the business prospered from the very beginning of their undertaking. They went into debt for their horses and hay baler, and it was necessary at times for them to borrow money, but they had good credit and they were careful to keep their credit good. Good credit !- that, they re- garded as the key to success. Their partnership was continued four years. In September, 1900, Harry S. came to Mt. Gilead, which has since been his headquarters, and where he is now con- ducting an extensive baled hay business. In addition to operating at Mt. Gilcad he buys, bales and makes shipments at other points, inluding Westville, Prospect and Waldo, Ohio. From these places his annual shipments average in the neighborhood of a thousand carloads.
Mr. Cruikshank has made profitable investments in large tracts of land in Tennessee and Georgia, and at home he is a stockholder and director in the National Bank of Morrow county.
He lives with his family in West High street. Mrs. Cruik- shank, formerly Miss Grace Babcock, is a native of Marengo, Ohio. They have two children, Robert G. and Harry B., the former born January 1, 1897-the latter, in April, 1907.
Mr. Cruikshank casts his franchise with the Republican party, and is identified fraternally with the Masonic Order, having mem- bership in Mt. Gilead Lodge, No. 169, F. and A. M. He and his family attend worship at the Methodist Episcopal church, of which lie is a member of the Official Board.
STEPHEN S. BARRE .- The enterprising business man and popu- lar citizen whose name introduces this article needs no formal introduction to the people of Morrow county. For some years past he has been quite prominently identified with the financial
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and industrial interests of the town in which he lives, and, always manifesting an active interest in the public welfare, he has risen to a high place in business and social circles and earned an honor- able reputation among the leading men of affairs in this section of the county.
Stephen S. Barre, undertaker and furniture dealer at Sparta, was born in Green county, Ohio, on the 24th day of December, 1850, a son of John and Mary A. (Shafer) Barre. The father was a native of Hagerstown, Pennsylvania, where his birth occurred on the 1st of April, 1791, and the mother was born in the state of Virginia, on the 12th day of May, 1818. John Barre continued to reside under the parental roof until the inception of the war of 1812, in which he immediately enlisted, continuing to give service as a most gallant soldier in that struggle until its close. There- after he was engaged in sailing for several years and about 1836 he came west to Ohio, locating in the vicinity of Mount Vernon, in which place he owned one of the first frame buildings there erected. He was fifty-four years of age at the time of his mar- riage, in 1847, to Miss Mary A. Shafer, who was twenty-eight years his junior. She was a daughter of Daniel and Betsy Shafer, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, whence they removed to Virginia, where Mrs. Barre was born. Daniel Shafer was a millwright by trade and he came west to Ohio about the year 1830. He settled near Springfield, where he built several mills on the Miami river. John Barre was summoned to the life eternal in 1871 and Mrs. Barre passed away in September, 1905.
Of the five children of John and Mary Barre, Stephen S. Barre, of this review, was the second in order of birth. He was a student in the district schools of his native place until he had attained to the age of seventeen years, at which time he entered upon an apprenticeship at the carriage trimming trade in Dayton, Ohio, becoming an expert journeyman after a period of four years. He first located at Cardington, where he remained for a short time, at the expiration of which he came to Sparta, where he was identi- fied with the work of his trade for a number of years. In 1885 his business headquarters were destroyed by fire and he then em- barked in the undertaking and furniture business, in which line of enterprise he has been actively engaged during the long intervening years to the present time, in 1911. In connection with his other business he also runs a carriage shop.
On the 1st of October, 1876, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Barre to Miss Emma E. Bockoven, who was born in Morrow county on the 6th of November, 1859, a danghter of James and Mary (Salisbury) Bockoven, both of whom were likewise born and reared in Ohio. James Bockoven was born on the 31st of July, 1834, and his wife on the 9th of May, 1830. He was identified with agrienttural pursuits during his active business career and he is now living in virtual retirement at Sparta. Mr. S. S. Barre
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was interested in the building of the school house and church in Sparta, Ohio, and he and his wife are popular and highly respected citizens in this section of the county. To them have been born two children, namely, Harry H. and Mary M. Harry H. was born on 7th of September, 1881, was graduated in the Sparta high school and is now engaged with the Van Scoy Chemical Company, at Mt. Gilead. He married Miss Myrtle M. Meiser, of Sparta, Ohio. Mary M., born January 16, 1885, graduated in the Sparta high school with the class of 1901, and she attended the musical de- partment of Delaware College, at Delaware. She resides at home with her parents and is considered one of the best musicians and music teachers in Sparta. Mr. and Mrs. Barre are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the various departments of whose work they have been most prominent factors; Mr. Barre was one of the three who built the beautiful Methodist church in this town. Mrs. Barre's great-grandfather, William Evans, was one of the first settlers at Chester, Morrow county, Ohio. He was of Welsh extraction and was instrumental in building the first church at Chester, the same being of the Baptist denomination, in which he was a deacon. Her maternal grandfather, Emness Salisbury, was a relative of Lord Salisbury, of England, and her grandfather Bockoven, held the office of magistrate in Sussex county, New Jersey, prior to his immigration to Ohio, where he settled on a farm in Chester township, Morrow county, being identified with the trade of blacksmith in addition to his agricul- tural pursuits.
In politics Mr. Barre endorses the cause of the Democratic party, and he has been incumbent of many offices of public trust in Sparta. For fourteen years he was a member of the school board and he has given efficient service in the offices of mayor, justice of the peace and post master of this town. In the time- honored Masonic Order he has long been prominent in Ohio and he and his wife and daughter are all valued and appreciative mem- bers of the adjunct organization, the Order of the Eastern Star, at Chesterville. He is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, the latter of which he represented in the Grand Lodge of the state at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1896. Mr. Barre is a thoroughly practical business man and because of his courteous manners, genial disposition and genuine worth he has won and retains a host of warm personal friends.
FRED W. VINCENT .- Geniality and cordiality of manner are the cardinal characteristics of a successful business man. Mr. Vincent, of this review, the genial and cordial proprietor of The Hotel Vincent, of Marengo, Ohio, is a gentleman who has won the esteem and respect of all who know him and his homelike hotel. He is a native of Franklin county, Ohio, born March 7, 1871, and is the seventh child in a family of eight children, seven sons and
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one daughter, born to Nathan and Loretta (Phelps) Vincent. There are six of the children living at present. Charles, married, and a resident of Mansfield, Ohio, is an agriculturist. He was edu- cated in the common schools .. Carrie is the wife of Edwin Linna- barry, a resident of Galena, Ohio, and a successful agriculturist. Joseph, a resident of Westerville, Ohio, is a rural route agent. William, a resident of Westerville, Ohio, is also engaged in the rural mail service. Fred W., the subject of this sketch, is next in order of birth. Walter, the youngest and unmarried one, re- sides with his mother near Westerville, Ohio.
Nathan Vincent was born in 1834 and died in 1878. He was a skilled contractor and builder. He erected the old State Fair buildings and Camp Chase at Columbus, Ohio, and was one of the most skilled workmen in his trade of any in Ohio and his services were always in demand. He was a fine mathematician. Politi- cally he was an old-line Whig, and when the Republican party was founded he advocated its cardinal points and principles until his death. Religiously both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church. He was a gentleman of firm decisions and character and universally beloved by all. His funeral was one of the largest ever witnessed in Westerville, Ohio. Mrs. Vincent, the mother of our subject, is a native of Franklin county, Ohio, born in 1835, and is still living, at the age of seventy-six years. Her mentality is yet vigorous. She has been a wonderfully industrious woman and a true mother in every sense of the word and ideal in her Christian life. She was a daughter of Edward Phelps, one of the pioneers of Franklin county. The Phelps, Griswolds and Moores were the first three families to settle in Franklin county. Mrs. Vincent resides two and a half miles south of West- erville, Ohio, on an estate of one hundred and eighty-eight acres of fine land lying along the Interurban Railroad to Columbus, and the land is valued at one hundred and seventy-five dollars an acre.
Mr. Vincent, of this review, traces his lineage to the French, as the early progenitors were De Vincent and came from the "land of the lily." He was reared as a farmer lad until at the age of sixteen he began as a wage earner and acted as field salesman for the well known harvester company "The Plano, " and was with this well known firm for four years. He next worked as a carpenter, and remained at that work for two years. He really devoted most of his life to agricultural pursuits until he located in his present calling at Marengo. It was in 1897 when he located in Morrow county-Pern township-and he was there four years. He then purchased a little tract of land, but afterward sold and moved on the Royal Moore farm, where he remained for four years as an - agriculturist and stockman. He was then located one year on the Leatherman farm. In 1910 he and his wife purchased the hotel property and livery at Marengo, and his comfortable hostelry is well known by the traveling public. He and his wife endeavor to
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make their home the traveling man's home by cordial and kindly greeting, good table service and comfortable quarters, and with hotel service he has most excellent livery equipment.
Mr. Vincent wedded Miss Cora G. Stanton, of Columbus, Ohio, May 20, 1892-four children have been born to them, namely : Josephine L., who has received a good educational training; Carrie M. is a student in the Marengo High School, class of 1913; and Donna Bell and Merald H. Mrs. Vincent is a native of Crawford county, Ohio, and was born March 28, 1874, a daughter of Dennis and Florilla (Dart) Stanton. There were nine children but there are only five living at present, namely : Lucy, wife of Frank Grames, a resident of Chicago Junction and employed by the U. S. Government in the mail service; Chauncey, a resident of Hunt- ington county, Indiana, and an agriculturist; Josephine is the wife of George IIannum, residing at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he is superintendent in the C. H. and D. yards; John, a resident of Huntington county, Indiana, is also a farmer; Mrs. Vincent is the next and the youngest. Her father, Dennis Stanton, was born in Pennsylvania July 6, 1828, and died October 17, 1879. He was of English descent. He died when his daughter, Mrs. Vincent, was a little girl five years old. Florilla Dart Stanton, Mrs. Vincent's mother, was born in Morrow county, Ohio, October 17, 1834, and she is now a resident of Huntington county, Indiana.
Mr. and Mrs. Vincent have located in Marengo and they are citizens who hold a high place in the esteem of all who have had the pleasure of their acquaintance, while their daughters are valuable additions to the young social element of the town. Mr. Vincent is a Republican and cast his first vote for Benjamin Har- rison and he has always supported the principles and policies of that party. He is a member of the Marengo Knights of Pythias Lodge, No. 216, and is vice chancellor, Mrs. Vincent being a men. ber of the Pythian Sisters at Ashley, Ohio. We are pleased to present this brief review of this worthy couple and their cozy, homelike hotel is ever open to friends and wayfarer, who will be cordially entertained.
MASON W. MCCRACKEN .- At this juncture is a volume devoted to the careers of representative citizens of Morrow county, Ohio, it is a pleasure to insert a brief history of Mason W. McCracken, who has ever been on the alert to forward all measures and enter- prises projected for the general welfare and who has served his community in various official capacities of trust and responsibility. He has been township assessor of Harmony township, was justice of the peace for one year and is now devoting the major portion of his time and attention to diversified agriculture and stock-raising, his fine little estate of fifty acres being located in Harmony town- ship, seven miles distant from the county seat.
A native son of Harmony township, Morrow County, Ohio,
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Mason W. McCracken was here born on the 28th of August, 1862, and he is a son of Charles and Ruth (McCreary) MeCracken, the former of whom was born and reared on the Fair Emerald Isle, having immigrated to America from Ireland about the year 18 ??. Charles McCracken was identified with farming during the major portion of his aetive business career and he was long a representa- tive agriculturist in Harmony township, where his death occurred in the month of May, 1873. Mrs. Ruth McCracken was a native of Ohio and she passed to the life eternal in 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCracken were the parents of three children, concerning whom the following brief data are here offered; Mason W. is the immediate subject of this review; Wayne is engaged in the agri- culture line of enterprise in Morrow county, Ohio; and Emma died when a young girl.
Reared to the sturdy discipline of the old homestead farm, Mason W. McCracken waxed strong in mind and body and his early educational training consisted of such advantages as were afforded in the district schools, which he attended until he had reached his sixteenth year. After leaving school he assisted his mother in the work and management of the home farm for a time and thereafter he was engaged in farming operations on his own account, settling on a rented farm for ten years, then on his present well improved estate in the year 1901. As a general farmer and stock raiser he has achieved unqualified success and he is held is high esteem by his fellow citizens in Harmony township. In 1884 he was elected township assessor and he has served for four years as a member of the school board. . He has also been honored with the office of justice of the peace and in this capacity has acquitted himself most creditably.
On the 24th of September, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. McCracken to Miss Eva B. Ulery, who was born in Harmony township and who is a daughter of G. W. Ulery, long of this county. Mrs. McCracken received a good education in the public schools of this section during her girlhood days and she is a woman of the utmost graciousness and sincerity. a potent influence for good in the home and community. To Mr. and Mrs. McCracken have been born two children, Brice L., whose birth occurred on the 10th of March, 1894, and Blanche E., born December 17, 1891, both of whom passed the Patterson examination. Blanche E. is now the wife of Harvey Smith, who is engaged as a clerk in a store at Chesterville, Ohio.
Mr. and Mrs. McCracken arc devout members of the Harmony Baptist church in which he is a deacon. In politics, he accords a stalwart allegiance to the principles and policies promulgated by the Democratic party and as previously noted he has served as assessor and justice of the peace. He is a straight-forward, broad- minded man and throughout his life thus far he has done a great deal toward fowarding the best interests of Morrow county, where he is accorded the unalloyed esteem of his fellow men.
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JOHN DARLING is one of Morrow county's much liked and much respected farmer-citizens and is a veteran of the Civil war, whose semi-centennial has brought back with renewed vividness the events of that great conflict. He was born on the 27th day of August, 1844, near Hedding Chapel, Ohio, the son of Samuel and Mary (Barr) Darling, the former a native of New York and the latter of Pennsylvania. John was one of four children and the eldest, his two brothers and sister being by name, Morgan, Samuel and Rachel Rebecca, Samuel being at the present time a member of the well-known Bishop and Darling Real Estate Company of Centerburg, Ohio. John, like the rest of the children, received his education in the Gardner district school.
John Darling was a very young fellow in the early sixties of the nineteenth century. However, when war seemed inevitable he enlisted at the first call for men to go to the front although but seventeen years of age. His enlistment was made at Mount Vernon, Ohio, and he became a member of the Twentieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, thus putting himself in line for eleven dollars a month and much promised glory. He saw much active service and engaged in numerous battles and skirmishes, among them Fort Donelson and Pittsburg Langing. At the latter place, while on picket duty, he was wounded by the aceidental discharge of a gun in the hands of a falling comrade. He was accordingly sent to the hospital at Quincy, Illinois, and in three months had suffic- iently recovered to enlist again .. This time he became identified with the Second Ohio Heavy Artillery and he remained with this organization until the close of the war, receiving an honorable discharge with the rest of his brave comrades. He returned home and it has been his pleasant fate, as a good and altruistic citizen, to serve his country as well in peace as in war.
On December 8, 1867, Mr. Darling laid the foundation of a happy life companionship by his marriage with Miss Delphina Lanning, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Struble) Lanning of Chester township. Their union has been blessed by the birth of one son and two daughters. Emma Dell married Melrose Gat- ton of Richland county, and they now reside at Mount Vernon, Ohio; Stephen married Miss Retta Hickman of Iowa and resides in Wayne county, Iowa; Zoa is the wife of Frank Riley of Center- burg. The trio, as well as their mother, hold the Bailes district school particularly dear, for it was there that they received their education.
Mr. Darling in his political affiliations is a stanch Republican, having given his support to its policies and principles since his earliest voting days. He is of that sturdy type of character which stands for honesty and uprightness and constitutes the best kind of citizenship. He and his worthy wife reside upon their ad- vantageously situated farm between Sparta and Chesterville, their home being one of the attractive ones of the neighborhood. Their
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children have gone out from under the old roof-tree, under their parents' training well equipped to meet the requirements of life They are widely and favorably known in the section in which their interests have so long been centered.
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