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 45
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J. H. TIMS, M. D .- In the death of Dr. J. H. Tims, which occurred on the 23rd of May, 1905, at his home in Sparta, Morrow county, this locality not only lost a good citizen but one of its most
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estimable and worthy residents. Dr. Tims was a physician and surgeon of excellent equipment and his citizenship was ever char- acterized by loyalty and public spirit of the most insistent order. Ilis sphere of work and influence was broad and he had corres- pondingly large attributes of mind and character, so that he was capable of gaining suceess in whatever department of work he engaged. Throughout his career he was a seholar and student of more than ordinary ability and he constantly kept abreast of the times in all advancements made in his particular field of useful- ness.
Dr. Tims was born on a farm one mile from Sparta, in Morrow county, Ohio, the date of his nativity being August 23, 1833, and he was a son of James and Sarah (Cook) Tims, both of whom were born and reared in the state of New Jersey, whence they immigrated to Ohio in an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Tims were numbered among the industrious and honored citizens of Morrow county, where they passed the residue of their lives on a farm. They became the parents of a large family, only three of whom are now living however, the Doctor being one. He was reared to adult age on the old homestead farm but being of a frail and rather delicate constitution he was unable to lend his aid in the work and management of the home farm. Being of a very studious nature it became the intent of the family to fit him for teaching. Accordingly he was afforded the best of educational advantages and his progress in his school work was of most rapid order. He received his first certificate of teaching when he was but eighteen years of age and for a number of terms he was a pop- ular and successful teacher in the schools of Morrow county. He gained a widespread reputation as a particularly efficient pega- gogue and a splendid disciplinarian.
Early in his career Dr. Tims decided upon the medical pro- fession as his life work and with that object in view entered the Homeopathic Medical College, at Cleveland, Ohio, in which excel- lent institution he was graduated, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. He initiated the active practice of his pro- fession at Sparta, where he soon gained recognition as one of the most skilled physicians and surgeons in the entire eounty and where he rapidly built up a large and lucrative patronage. Ile was engaged in active practice for a period of forty-two years, during which time he affected some marvelous cures as the result of his innate talent and acquired ability along the lines of one of the most helpful professions to which man may devote his energies. namely, the alleviation of human pain and suffering. In connec- tion with his life work he was affiliated with a number of repre- sentative professional organizations and in polities he was a stal- wart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Democratie party stands sponsor. In his religious faith he was a devout member of the Advent Christian church, to whose good
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works he gave a most liberal support, several churches of that denomination in the Ohio Conference having been materially assisted as a result of his generosity. He was looked upon as one of the best informed Bible students in Morrow eounty and no one could enjoy his companionship and conversation for any length of time without heing very materially benefited thereby.
Dr. Tims was twice married. His first wife was Miss Maria Cook, leaving at her death one daughter, Maria, who is now Mrs. Ely, of Fredericktown. The Doetor was united in marriage to
Mrs. Mary Whitney. Mrs. Tims preceded her honored husband to the life eternal by a few months. There were no children born to the latter union.
Dr. Tims was a strong temperance man and on a number of occasions, when parties tried to establish a liquor trade in Sparta, he would energetically marshall the temperanee forces together and insist on keeping it out. The village of Sparta owed much to Doctor Tims for its high standard of morals and purity of Chris- tian principles. No man in the entire county possessed a wider circle of acquaintances nor a greater number of devoted and loyal friends than he. For a number of years he had suffered from heart trouble and finally, on the 23rd of May, 1905, after eating dinner, he walked into his office, where he was later found seated in his roeker, with hands peacefully folded, "Asleep in Jesus." His death was uniformly mourned by a wide eirele of friends throughout Sparta and Morrow county, many of whom attended his funeral, bringing with affectionate hands the beautiful flowers he loved so well. His funeral discourse was delivered by his pastor, Mrs. M. Grove, whose beautiful sermon was an enlargement of the text: "Mark the perfeet man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." A choir of his Sunday sehool scholars contributed music in the way of songs and the Doctor's favorite selection "Consolation" was sung by Mrs. Linn Austin and Mrs. Grove. His death was the passing of a great and good man.
JOHN ALLISON .- A substantial and prosperous farmer, and a respected citizen of Morrow county, John Allison is eminently deserving of special mention in a work of this kind. He has spent the larger part of his long life in this vieinity, and has been ac- tively identified with the advancement of its agricultural prosper- ity, his farm of one hundred and twelve and one-half aeres being advantageously located in Bennington township, its rieh and arable land being well improved and judiciously cultivated. A son of Obadiah Allison, he was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, June 29, 1834.
Obadiah Allison was also born and reared in Columbiana county, Ohio, being of pioneer stock. About 1844 he moved with his family to Morrow county, purchased land in Bennington town-
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ship, and was here engaged in tilling the soil until his death. He was twice married, his first wife, whose maiden name was Jemima Burt, having spent her entire life in Columbiana county, her death occurring there in 1838, when their son John was but four years old.
Coming with his father and step-mother to Bennington town- ship when a boy, John Allison was brought up on the home farm, and educated in the district schools. In 1861, responding to President Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand troops, he en- listed in the Union army for a term of three months, and at the expiration of his time returned home, being unable to reenlist on account of rheumatism, which he had contracted while serving as a soldier. Resuming work on the parental homestead, he has since made farming and stock raising his permanent occupation. - For the past fifty years Mr. Allison has been extensively engaged in the sheep business, and has operated extensively in wool, handling all kinds. At the present time, he is not actively engaged in agriculture, having relinquished the management of his farm to his son Fred, who is carrying it on with characteristic ability and success.
Mr. Allison married, May 4, 1862, Mary A. Vail, who died in 1897. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Allison, of whom but two are living, namely: Fred V., born July 25, 1868, and Ralph H., born September 16, 1879.
The eldest son, Fred V., was twice married, his first wife being Nora Duncanson, to which union was born one son, Otto McKinley, graduating in the class of 1911. His second marriage was with Addie Harrison, and one son has also been born to this union. Howard William. Mrs. Allison received a splendid edu- cation, having been educated in the public schools, which education was supplemented by a course at Ada Normal School. She after- ward taught for some time in the schools of Morrow and Delaware counties. Mr. and Mrs. Fred V. Allison now reside on the home farm which Mr. Allison manages in a very able manner.
Mr. John Allison's second son, Ralph H. was graduated from the Sparta High School, and from the Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, and is now superintendent of the public schools of Chicago, Hnron county, Ohio. He married Mary Osborn, and they have two children, Hilan and Richard Hamil.
A stanch Republican in politics, Mr. Allison takes mich interest in local affairs, and has served as land appraiser in Ben- nington township. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has long been an active worker, and has the distinc- tion of being one of the oldest Free Masons in Morrow conty, having united with Chester Lodge, No. 34, Free and Accepted . Masons, in 1859. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to the Post at Sparta, Ohio.
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WILLIAM GRIFFITHI BRENIZER .- A venerable and highly re- spected man was taken from the community, when the close to the holiday season of 1910, William Griffith Brenizer, a man long and favorably known here, passed on to the Undiscovered Country. Although a native son of Maryland, he had passed practically his entire life here and among his other distinctions was his record of having given valiant and faithful service as a soldier in the north- ern army at the time of the Civil war. Mr. Brenizer was born, February 26, 1827, and thus at the time of his demise on Decem- ber 21, 1910, he was thirteen years beyond the psalmist's span of life. He was the son of Jacob and Margaret (Griffith) Brenizer, both of whom were natives of the state of Pennsylvania. They removed to Maryland and when the subject was an infant but two years of age they came across the intervening hills and vales as pilgrims to Morrow county. Ohio. Mr. Brenizer was one of a family of eleven children. The father, Jacob Brenizer, was long a representative agriculturist in Westfield township and his demise occurred October 25, 1869, his wife, Margaret surviving him for nearly a decade, or until March 31, 1879.
William Brenizer was reared under the invigorating influences of farm life and he early beeame associated with his father in clearing and cultivating their farm of eighty-seven acres. He completed the currienlum of the district schools, to which his father furnished wood in order to pay for his children's tuition. When a young man he worked in the fanning mill factories and he was employed in this business for two years in Indiana, one in Newport, Kentucky, and one in Lima, Ohio. When twenty years of age he went into the cabinet business, with which he was identified for
a period of five years, at the expiration of which he turned his attention to agriculture. He purchased a tract of fifty acres of land in Westfield township, which he subsequently sold. In 1853 he bought a tract of one hundred acres in the same township, later adding thereto until he owned an estate of two hundred very valuable acres.
At the beginning of the Civil war Mr. Brenizer was a strong sympathizer with the cause of the Union and in 1862 he enlisted as a soldier in Company C, Eighty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war. For some time previous to his death he received twenty dollars a month pension as a reward for his former services, and he was a member of St. James Post, No. 82, Grand Army of the Republie. In addition to his farm, Mr. Brenizer owned a beautiful home in Cardington where he resided from the year 1890.
On February 17, 1853, occurred the marriage of the subject to Miss Beulah Ann Shaw, a daughter of John and Permelia (Messenger) Shaw, Reverend Deerholt performing the ceremony. Mrs. Shaw's parents were prominent and influential citizens of Westfield township where the father was an agriculturist. The
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subject and his wife became the parents of two sons: Nelson O., was born in 1854, and received his higher education in Otterbein College at Westerville, Ohio, being graduated from that institu- tion with the class of 1878. After two years in a medieal college in Cleveland, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine and is now engaged in the active practice of his profession in Austin, Texas. William C., the second son, who was also afforded excel- lent educational advantages in his youth is now a farmer in West- field township. Mr. Brenizer's wife, Beulah A., preceded him to the spirit land July 31, 1909, her death being deeply mourned by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.
In politics Mr. Brenizer gave his allegiance to the cause of the Republican party and he held the office of county commissioner at the time of the building of the jail at Mount Gilead, the judicial center of Morrow county. He was converted in 1844 and bap- tized in June of the same year by Reverend Mr. Moon. Three years after their marriage he and his wife joined the United Breth- ren church at Fairview under the pastorate of Reverend F. Cly- mer. He was a constant worker in his church and he held at different times all the offices in the local church, only giving them into other hands when old age came upon him. Although Mr. Brenizer had attained to the great old age of eighty-three years, nine months and twenty-five days, his age rested but lightly upon him and to the last he retained in much of their pristine vigor, the alert qualities of his youth. He was a man of genial dispo- sition and much kindliness of character and he held high place in the confidence and regard of his fellow men. Besides his sons and daughters-in-law, he left to mourn him, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, two sisters, and a large number of relatives and friends.
The Cardington Independent in an appreciation of his life concluded with this paragraph : "The services were held Friday forenoon. A short service was conducted at the home by the Grand Army of the Republic, of which post he was a member, and afterward the body was taken to the Fairview church where his pastor, Reverend J. G. Turner, conducted the service in the presence of a large and attentive audience. The choir furnished excellent music. The body was interred in the cemetery near by to await the resurrection. He will be greatly missed by his children, grandchildren, friends, the church and his fellow citizens."
SAMUEL A. FATE .- One of the many attractive and well ordered farmsteads of Morrow county is that owned by Samuel A. Fate, and it comprises one hundred and four acres of most arable land in section 27, Canaan township. Here are to be found well tilled fields, productive meadows and high grade stock, and the owner is recognized as one of the progressive agriculturists of the Vol. II-25
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county that has ever been his home since his boyhood days. He is one of the popular influential citizens of his township where he has served in offices of public trust, and in addition to his farm- ing enterprise he has for many years given more or less attention to the painter's trade in which he is a skilled workman.
Samuel A. Fate was born in Washington county, Maryland, on the 4th of July, 1856, and is a scion of families founded in that historie commonwealth in an early day. ITis parents were John and Margaret (Amick) Fate. John Fate was born January 30, 1833, in Bavaria, Germany, and was a child of four years when brought to America by his parents, John and Barbara Fate. They settled in Washington county, Maryland, where they lived for many years. Of their family but five now survive: Joseph, of Hancock, Maryland ; Mrs. Richard, of the same place ; Mrs. Littell, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania ; Mrs. Colbert, of Mckeesport, Pennsyl- vania, and Mrs. Peter Koon, of Cardington.
At the age of twenty-two, John Fate, father of Samuel, was married in Washington county, Maryland, to Margaret Amick. In 1861, they settled in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where they resided for over ten years. In 1872, they came to Morrow county, Ohio, and here the father purchased a farm in Canaan township near Edison, and continued to be actively identified with agricul- tural pursuits for many years. By his first marriage, he was the father of ten children, and eight of this number still survive. May 26, 1894, Mrs. Fate died, and five years later, John Fate married Catherine Heffelfinger, of Westpoint. He was living virtually retired in the village of Westpoint, when he died Feb- ruary 18, 1911, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was a man of probity and integrity and had been given the fullest measure of popular esteem in the county that was so long his home. In his political proclivities he was a Republican and religiously he was a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His wife is still a resident of this county and maintains her home in the village of Westpoint.
Samuel A. Fate, the eldest in his parents' family, was fourteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Morrow county and thus he had received his rudimentary education in the public schools of Bedford county, Pennsylvania. He continued to attend school after coming to Morrow county, and his educational dis- cipline included a two years' course in the high school at Mt. Gilead. That he made good use of the advantages thus afforded him is evident from the fact that, at an early age he proved him- self eligible for pedagogie honors. He passed the required exam- ination and secured a teacher's certificate, after which he continued as a successful and popular teacher in the district schools of Mor- row county for a period of eleven years. He taught principally during the winter terms and in the summer seasons continued his identification with the great industry of agriculture, under whose
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benignant discipline he had been reared. He purchased his present farm which comprises one hundred and four acres and made many improvements on the place and it is now one of the model farms of Canaan township. Diversified agriculture and stock raising give from this farm excellent returns, as the owner brings to bear not only energy and industry, but also progressive methods, modern facilities and scientific principles.
A man of strong individuality and broad views, Mr. Fate naturally takes a lively interest in public affairs and gives his aid and influence in support of measures tending to conserve the material and civic advancement and prosperity of the community. HIe is found aligned as a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party and is well fortified in his political opinions. He served several years as township assessor and has also given efficient service as township clerk, of which office he was incumbent for several years. Mr. Fate is an appreciative member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is affiliated with Denmark Lodge, No. 760, in the neighboring village of Denmark. He is past noble grand of this lodge and has repre- sented the same in the grand lodge of the state.
Mr. Fate was united in marriage to Miss Nettie Worden, who was born and reared in Canaan township and who is a daughter of the late Richard Worden, one of the representative farmers and honored citizens of this township. Mr. and Mrs. Fate have two children. Oscar, who was born on the 31st of July, 1880, is now one of the representative farmers of the younger generation in his native county and resides upon a farm two miles distant from the village of Edison, in Canaan township. Maude, who was born on the 5th of June, 1883, is the wife of H. S. Gruber, a prosperous young farmer of Canaan township.
FRANK WAKELY GUNSAULUS .- As the native sons of America go forth from their home communities into the untried outer world, as uncertain if not as portentnous as the wierd west was to Columbus, they little know how many of those they leave behind are tracing their actions and their careers with trembling interest and warm affection. When those who thus venture into larger fields are blessed with the privilege of radiating a wide and strong influence for good, the home people cannot but glow with a sort of proprietary love for their children who have thus gone into a far country and stimulated greater communities than theirs to high thoughts and high actions. Thus it is with Frank Wakely Gunsaulus, with Dr. Gunsaulus, of Chicago, who spent those periods of his life in Morrow county, which fixed those tendencies, if they did not fully form his character. Those who were - his mates in the public and high schools of Chesterville until he was well into his sixteenth year are now middle-aged men and women; but when they have visited Chicago and sat under his words of
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inspiration and fraternity at Plymouth church or Auditorium Hall, they could not but turn back into the mist of forty years and see and still love him as their bright-eyed, enthusiastie and affectionate comrade of the youthful times. The home ties are the strongest, after all, both for those who break them and for those who keep them fast.
Dr. Gunsaulus was born in Chesterville, Ohio on the 1st of January, 1856, and is a son of Joseph and Mary (Hawley) Gun- saulus. The father was born on the family homestead in Cayuga county, New York, April 29, 1825, and when thirteen years of age was brought by his parents to the farm in Chester township where he spent his boyhood, and commenced to deal in real estate and live stock at a later date. He also read law for a number of years previous to his election, in the fall of 1861, as a representa- tive from Morrow county on the Republican ticket. Taking his seat in January, 1862, he was admitted to the bar during the same winter, and represented his county during the succeeding four years, spending his vacations in the promotion of the Union cause at home. While in Columbus he served on the Military Commit- tee and on the Committee on Municipal Corporations. Returning from the state capital in 1865, he located at Chesterville, where he continued to practice, superintend his farming and real estate interests, and serve his home town as mayor, president of the school board and in other positions of local honor.
Frank W. Gunsaulus spent his boyhood and youth at Chester- ville, passing through its grammar school with commendable indus- try. After graduating from the local high school he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from that institution at his graduation in 1875. His alma mater conferred Master of Arts upon him in 1887, and Beloit College, Wisconsin, D. D., in the same year.
Shortly following his graduation from Wesleyan University, Dr. Gunsaulus was ordained to. the Methodist ministry, and preached within the pale of that denomination from 1875 to 1879, but in the latter year became a Congregational elergyman, be- lieving that the tenets of that creed would give him greater free- dom in the exercise of his individual views. He served as pastor of the Eastwood Congregational church at Columbus, Ohio, until 1881; of the Newtonville church, Massachusetts, during the suc- ceeding four years; of the Memorial church, Baltimore, from 1885 to 1887; of the Plymouth church, Chicago, from the latter year until 1899, and of the Central church, that city, from 1899 to the present. He has been president of Armour Institute of Tech- nology, with its fourteen hundred students since it was founded by him, through the munificence of the late Philip D. Armour, in 1893. Dr. Gunsaulus became a lecturer of the Yale Theological Seminary in 1882, and for many years has served as professional lecturer at the University of Chicago. As an author he is widely
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known through the following: "Metamorphosis of a Creed," 1878; "November at Eastwood," 1879; "Phidias and Other Poems," 1887; "Loose Leaves of Song," 1888; "Songs of Night and Day," 1889; "Monk and Knight," 1889; "Transfiguration of Christ," 1892; "Life of Wiliam Ewart Gladstone." 1898; "The Man of Galilee," 1899; "Paths of Power," 1905; "Path to the City of God, " 1906; "Higher Ministries of Recent English Poetry," 1907. The above sketch gives but an imperfect idea of the range of Dr. Gunsaulus' thought or activities.
One of the Doctor's Chicago friends and admirers, who grate- fully acknowledges the good influence of his printed and spoken words, has rounded ou this work in the western metropolis in the following fashion : "The twenty-four years which Dr. Gunsaulus has spent in Chicago have placed him in the front ranks of pulpit orators, organizers, scholars and literateurs. The warm friend- ship which the late Philip D. Armour conceived for him early in his career suggests a parallel between the practical union of their forces in the establishment of moral and educational institutions, the work carried on by Dwight L. Moody and John V. Farwell. Dr. Gunsaulus was ordained a minister and preached within that denomination for four years, joining Congregationalism in 1879 and preaching in Ohio and Massachusetts before going to Balti- more. While pastor of Plymouth church, Chicago, he accomplished wonders in the development of the Armour missions, and through- out his pastorate showed a strong and practical interest in the young men of the community. In one of his sermons he drew a general outlines an ideal picture of an institution which should scientifically prepare them for the practical duties of life and make special provision for those in humble circumstances, but of moral, ambitious and able characters. After the discourse Mr. Armour, in his impulsive way, met his pastor and offered to found such an institute as he had pictured, provided he would assume its organi- zation and management. This was the origin of the great Armour Institute, of which Dr. Gunsaulus is still president. Notwithstand- ing that for years he carried the noted technical school upon his shoulders, at the same time he developed a church organization which became so strong and broad in its influences that Central church was formed in 1899, and he commenced his notable services at the Auditorium. This great hall is also filled to overflowing every Sunday forenoon, and Dr. Gunsaulus has long been called the Wendell Phillips of the west and the David Swing of his day."
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