History of Portage County, Ohio, Part 85

Author: Warner, Beer & co., pub. [from old catalog]; Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Norris, J. E. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Chicago, Warner, Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 958

USA > Ohio > Portage County > History of Portage County, Ohio > Part 85

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).

PHILANDER WATERS, farmer and mechanic, Garrettsville, was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, July 31, 1838, eldest in the family of nine children of Milton and Pluma (Moore) Waters, natives of New York. The former, a farmer by occupation, and an early settler of Trumbull County, Ohio, died September, 1882; his widow still survives. Our subject's facilities for obtain- ing an education were limited to the common schools. He entered on his career in life as a farm hand, but having a natural inclination for mechanics, eventually entered a shop, and has since been engaged in the latter occupation. During the war of the Rebellion he enlisted with the 100 days men in Com. pany I. One Hundred and Seventy-first Ohio National Guards. Mr. Waters was married July, 1867, to Miss Maria Reynolds, a native of Windham Town- ship, this county, by whom he has two children: Virdie, born in November, 1872, and Pearl, born in February, 1874. In 1881 Mr. Waters removed to Garrettsville, purchased a small farm and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits.

ROLLIN S. WEBB, lawyer, Garrettsville, was born in Freedom Town- ship, Portage Co., Ohio, January 4, 1844, son of Dr. James and Eliza L. Webb. His early life was employed on the homestead farm and in attending the neighboring common school and academy. At the age of eighteen he entered upon his career in life as a clerk in a furnishing establishment in Youngstown, where he remained about a year, and then returned to Garrettsville and entered the employ of W. S. Wright, who at that time was Postmaster and owned a gro- cery store. He remained in his service several months, then enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Ohio National Guards, Company H, 100 days regiment, and immediately went to the front and participated in numerous engagements, and returned home. He spent the following year on the home- stead in Freedom Township, this county; then taught school one winter in Ravenna Township, then went to Trumbull County, Ohio, and devoted his time for two years to the study of dentistry. Returning to Garrettsville he fol- lowed this profession for ten years, when he was obliged to retire on account of ill-health. He was married October 12, 1871, to Vine F. Gillson, born in Geauga County, Ohio, November 23, 1848, daughter of Willard and Sylva (Frisby) Gillson, natives of Vermont and early settlers of Geauga County, and who were the parents of six children: Norman, Luther, Flavilla. Frank L.,

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Josephine and Anna. Mrs. Gillson is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Webb have one child-Roscoe J. Having a natural inclination for law, our subject began the study of the same in 1877, and was admitted to the bar at the January term of the Supreme Court in 1880, and opened an office in Garrettsville, where he has since remained in the practice of his profession. He has served the people of his township as Justice of the Peace one term of three years; is an active member of Garrettsville Lodge, No. 246, F. & A. M. Politically he is a strong advocate of the principles of the Republican party.

CHARLES B. WEBB, editor, Garrettsville, was born in Freedom Town- ship, Portage Co., Ohio, May 28, 1848, son of Dr. James and Eliza (Land- fear) Webb, the former of whom was born in Genesee County, N. Y., Febru- ary 26, 1799, and came to Freedom Township about 1835, where he practiced medicine for over twenty years; the latter was born in Hartford, Conn., November 18, 1807. They had ten children, viz. : Cornelia B .; Warren J., a lawyer in St. Louis, Mo., who died in 1866; Lizzie J. ; Carrie M .; Sarah M., died in Garrettsville in 1873; Merwin F., died while in the army at Natchez, Miss., in 1863; Rollin S .; Helen M .; Charles B. and Mary R. Dr. James Webb died at his residence in Freedom Township November 9, 1852. Our subject was educated in the common schools and academy at Freedom, and Hiram College, and afterward taught school in Freedom and Shalersville. He resided in his native township until twenty years of age, when he came here and worked two years at the printing business, then went to Cleveland and was employed nearly two years in the Leader office. September 1, 1873, he pur- chased the Garrettsville Journal, and has since been its editor and proprietor. He was married January 6, 1875, to Miss Ella S. McHenry, born April 13, 1856, at Sandyville, Ohio, daughter of Reuben and Adaline McHenry, the former born in Leesburg, Va., February 4, 1812; latter in Lynn, Mass., March 7, 1814. By this union were born three children: Estella Adaline, Gertrude Eliza and Lawrence Mervin. Mr. Webb is Clerk of the Congregational Church, with which he has been connected several years, and of which he was Treasurer six years. He is a member of Portage Lodge, No. 456, I. O. O. F., at Garrettsville. Politically he is identified with the Republican party.

CHARLES A. WHITE, retired farmer, Garrettsville, is a native of Ver- mont, born September 14, 1825, son of Noadiah and Wealthy (Hazen) White, natives of New England and early settlers of Garrettsville, parents of ten children, eight of whom were boys over six feet in height. Our subject came here with his parents when eight years of age, and grew to maturity amid pioneer scenes, acquiring such an education as could be obtained in the com- mon schools of those early days, and entered upon his career in life as a farmer. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, returning in about a year. Mr. White was married in 1853 to Lucinda Landfear, a native of Connecticut, born September 5, 1830, who has borne him three children: Clara, Will and Hattie. During the war of the Rebellion Mr. White enlisted in 1861 in Com- pany H. Nineteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry 100-days men. In 1862 he re-enlisted. this time in Company D, Eighty-fourth Regiment, and served four months; then in 1864 he enlisted in Company E, Sixtieth Regiment, serving till the close of the war. Mr. White has filled the offices of Deputy Sheriff about four years, Constable six years, and as Marshal of Garrettsville five years. In 1880 he took a mail route of a circuit of three offices, which he controlled four years. He retired from farm labors in 1882, and removed into the village. He is a member of Bentley Post, G. A. R., of Mantua.

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HOMER F. ABBOTT, farmer, P. O. Hiram, is a native of Hiram Town- ship, this county, born October 22, 1843, son of Pliny and Ann (Gillett, nee Fletcher,) Abbott, natives of Massachusetts and Vermont respectively, of Eng- lish descent, former of whom came to this county in 1827 to settle, and latter in about 1832 to Garrettsville, this county, with her mother and sister. They were married in this county in 1842. Both had been married before, but had no issue. . Our subject still resides on the old homestead farm in Hiram Town- ship, his parents having died, aged seventy-one and sixty-eight years respect- ively. He was married January 30, 1868, to Miss Carrie Haker, of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, a native of Germany, born February 14, 1847; and, her father having died while en route to America in 1853, she was reared in Euclid Township, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, by Sardis Welsh. Mr. and Mrs. Abbott have had five children: Howard (deceased), Arthur L., Ada B., Harry and Mildred A. Mr. Abbott has served in some of the township offices for several years. He is a Republican in his politics.

SHELDON C. CANFIELD, blacksmith, P. O. Hiram, was born in Pleas- ant Grove, Ill., in 1838. His parents, Joseph and Mariette (Root) Canfield, natives of New York State, moved to Illinois in an early day. From Illinois our subject came to this State in 1850 and settled in Geauga County, where he remained until 1867 engaged in farm work and painting. The years 1867 to 1870 he passed in Michigan, then came to Hiram Township, this county, where he has since given his attention to blacksmithing. Mr. Canfield was married in 1861 to Miss Rebecca Hill, of Geauga County, Ohio, a native of New York State, whence her parents emigrated in 1855, settling in this county. Our subject purchased property in Hiram Center. He has served as Clerk of his township. In politics he is a Democrat.

GEORGE H. COLTON, teacher, P. O. Hiram, was born in Nelson Town- ship, this county, October 10, 1848, son of John B. and Mary L. (Tilden) Colton, of Hiram Township, this county. He was educated principally at Hiram College, in this township, where he graduated in 1871 and then spent one year in attending the civil engineer course at the Michigan University, Ann Arbor, Mich. He followed surveying and engineering for one year and engaged in a survey of the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad, which position he resigned in 1873 and accepted the chair of Professor of Natural Sciences at Hiram College, which he still fills. He was married November 14, 1873, to Miss Clara A. Taylor, of Nelson Township, where she was born September 23, 1849, daughter of Edwin E. Taylor. By this union there is one daughter- Mary B., born October 8, 1874.

OREN J. CONANT, farmer, P. O. Grove, Geauga County, was born in Geauga County, Ohio, January 30, 1851, son of Gardner and Mary (Wood) Conant, natives of Vermont, of English and French descent, respectively, who settled early in life in Geauga County, Ohio, and moved to this county in 1854, where they lived until their death. Mrs. Conant died December 16, 1875, aged fifty-three years, and Mr. Conant November 5, 1882, aged seventy- eight years. Our subject has never left the home farm, and here he now has 130 acres of well-improved land, containing good buildings, etc. He was

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married June 22, 1876, to Miss Stella F. Bancroft, of Nelson Township, this county, where she was born October 23, 1853, the daughter of Barnos K. and Anna (Chalker) Bancroft, natives of Massachusetts and Ohio respectively, and of English descent, who settled in an early day in this county, where Mr. Bancroft died in 1870 and his widow still resides. To Mr. and Mrs. Conant has been born one daughter-Jessie M., born May 24, 1879. In politics our subject is a Democrat.

STEPHEN H. DAVIS, farmer, P. O. Rapids, was born in Washington County, R. I., August 23, 1829, son of Peter and Mary Ann (Hazard) Davis, who moved to New York State in 1840, where they remained until 1852, at which time they came to Geauga County, Ohio, where they now reside. Our subject began at the age of seventeen years as an apprentice to blacksmithing, which trade he continued for twenty-four years, mostly in Janesville, N. Y. In 1866 he immigrated to this county and purchased land in Hiram Township, which he has improved and upon which he still resides. He was married November 5, 1850, to Miss Martha Ashard, born in Madison County, N. Y., September 13, 1830, daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Howd) Ashard. resi- dents of Madison, and where Mr. Ashard died; his widow died in Hiram Township, this county. Our subject is the father of five children, of whom two survive: William J. and Mary H. Mr. Davis has given his attention since coming to this county to agriculture. He was a member of the lodge of I. O. O. F., which gave in its charter in 1864. He is a Democrat in politics. His wife is an adherent of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

HENRY A. DYSON, farmer, P. O. Hiram, was born in Hiram Township, this county, October 18, 1822; son of John and Sarah (Young) Dyson, natives of Delaware and Connecticut respectively, and who came with their parents to this county in 1804. The mother of our subject died in 1845, and the father in 1868. Our subject began the trade of stone-mason in his youth, which he followed in later years, giving also some attention to farming. He became owner of land in 1857 in Hiram Township, upon which he now resides. He was married in 1843, to Miss Lucinda Wright, of Hiram Township, a native of New York State, born in 1822 of parents who were early settlers in this county, now deceased. Our subject is the father of one son-Nelson H., born November 22, 1848, and married November 22, 1868, to Miss Emma Young, of Hiram Township, daughter of Andrew and Joann (Harris) Young, natives of Connect- icut and Rhode Island respectively, and of English descent, who settled in this county in 1811. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Dyson are the parents of three sons: How- ard L., Eugene B. and Clarence A. Mr. and Mrs. Dyson, with their son Nelson H. and his wife, are members of the Disciples Church. Our subject has filled most of the township offices; both he and his son are Democrats in politics.

ERWIN E. EDWARDS, farmer, P. O. Garrettsville, was born in Hiram Township, this county, June 19, 1844, son of Erwin and Polly (Waite) Edwards, the former a native of this county, the latter of Vermont. They were the parents of one son and one daughter: Erwin E. and Frances H., who died several years since. The father died in 1860. The mother still resides on the homestead farm with her son, Erwin E., who became owner of the same at the death of his father. Mrs. Edwards was formerly the wife of Newman Elwell, of Vermont, who died in Newberry Township, Geauga Co., Ohio, soon after moving there. He was the father of three children, of whom only one survives-Mary. Our subject was married, in 1881, to Miss Lona M. Chamberlin, born in Hiram Township, this county, daughter of James and Jerusha (Chase) Chamberlin, early settlers in this county, and where Mr. Chamberlin still resides, his wife having died several years since. Mr.

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Edwards has made some valuable improvements on the home farm, which com- prises ninety-six acres, valued at from $70 to $90 per acre. He is a Democrat in politics.

JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD, twentieth President of the United States, was born November 19, 1831, in Orange, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, son of Abram and Eliza (Ballon) Garfield, latter a native of New Hampshire, a relative of the celebrated Hosea Ballou. The genealogy of the Garfield family traces back to 1587, in which year a tract of land on the borders of Wales, near Chester, England, and not far from the celebrated picturesque vale of Llan- gollen, was given to James Garfield (or Gearfeldt) through the influence of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. The Gearfeldts were probably descendants of the old Knights of Gaerfili Castle, whose prowess in arms and deeds of chivalry are frequently made mention of in English history. Their crest con- sisted of a helmet with the visor raised and an uplifted arm holding a drawn sword, and their motto was "In cruce vinco " (In, or under, the cross I con- quer). In 1630 Edward Gearfield, of Chester, England, and who was born in 1575, came to America in a company of colonists, and from him, in a direct line, comes James A. Garfield.

Abram Garfield, father of our subject, born December 28, 1799, at Wor- cester, Otsego Co., N. Y., and who was one of the first settlers of the township of Orange, died in 1833, leaving a young family of four children, of whom James A. was the youngest, being at the time of his father's death only a year and a half old. The family were poor and were kept together only by the industry, energy and courage of the widowed mother. Young Garfield received a common school education while working on his mother's farm, and at the age of fourteen learned the carpenter's trade, while, two years later, he served for a few months as a boatman on the Ohio Canal. Through his own arduous efforts he obtained a college education, entering at the age of seventeen on a course of study, first in the Geauga Seminary, at Chester, Ohio, and a little later in the Eclectic Institute, then recently established at Hiram, this county, and not long after entering that institute he was made an assistant teacher. In 1854 he entered the Junior Class of Williams College, Massachusetts, hav- ing in a little more than three years fitted himself for college, and completed the two first years of college study. He was a favorite pupil of the venerable President Hopkins, and when he graduated, in 1856, he carried off one of the highest honors of his class. In obtaining his education Mr. Garfield was wholly dependent upon himself. His earnings, first as a carpenter, then as a teacher, supplemented by some small loans (subsequently repaid in full), carried him through his course of study.

Immediately after his graduation Mr. Garfield was chosen teacher of the ancient languages and literature in the institution at Hiram, and the follow- ing year he was elected Principal. He was an incessant and effective worker. frequently teaching six or seven hours a day, besides attending to the general supervision, and delivering numerous lectures on a great variety of topics, both before his students and before popular audiences.

In 1859, without solicitation or effort on his part, the Republican party in his district elected him to the Ohio Senate, and although the youngest member of that body, he immediately took rank with foremost Senators in ability, industry, and usefulness.

Just before the conclusion of his Senatorial services, the Southern Rebell- ion broke out. In accordance with all his political antecedents and convic- tions, Mr. Garfield at once espoused the cause of the Union against secession. Early in the autumn of 1861 he was made Colonel of the Forty-second Regiment

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of Ohio Volunteers. This regiment, largely enlisted by his personal efforts, was rapidily organized, drilled, and prepared for the field. On the 17th of December it was ordered to eastern Kentucky, and its Colonel was placed in command of the Eighteenth Brigade of the Army of the Ohio. With this com- mand Col. Garfield conducted a highly successful winter campaign against a force of rebels under the command of Humphrey Marshall. The victories of Middle Creek and Pound Gap were the first successes of the Union Army that year in the West. Their immediate result was the expulsion of the Confed- erate forces from eastern Kentucky. President Lincoln, recognizing the value of this success, promoted Col. Garfield to the rank of Brigadier-General.

Gen. Garfield now joined the army of Gen. Buell. He commanded the Twentieth Brigade at the battle of Shiloh, and in the subsequent operations around Corinth, Decatur, and Huntsville, Ala. In the winter of 1862-63 he was a member of the court-martial that tried Fitz-John Porter. In January of the latter year he was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, then under the command of Gen. Rosecrans, who at once made him Chief of Staff of the army. In this position Gen. Garfield rendered distinguished services. He was the confidential adviser of the commander-in-chief. He participated in all the engagements in middle and southern Tennessee. He greatly distinguished himself for ability and bravery in the bloody battle of Chickamauga, and was immediately promoted to the rank of Major-General. Here Gen. Garfield's military career closed. He resigned his commission on the 5th of December, 1863, to enter another field of duty.

On leaving the army Gen. Garfield took his seat in the House of Represen- tatives, having been, in October, 1862, elected by the Nineteenth Ohio Congres- sional District its Representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress. He soon took rank among the ablest and most useful members of the House. During his first term he served on the Committee of Military Affairs, during the second on the Committee of Ways and Means. In the Fortieth Congress he was Chairman of the Military Committee, and in the Forty. first Chairman of the Committee of Banking and Currency. On the organization of the Forty-second Congress, he was made Chairman of the Committee of Appropriations, the most laborious and responsible position in the House. The duties growing out of these responsible positions were discharged in a manner highly creditable to himself and advantageous to the country. But it must not be supposed that they bounded the circle of his legislative life. Some of his special services were peculiarly onerous and valuable. In 1864, as Chairman of a special committee, he made a thorough examination into the affairs of the Printing Bureau of the Treasury Department. As Chairman of the Committee on Banking, he inves- tigated the Gold Panic of 1870, and submitted to the House a valuable report of the investigation. In 1867 he introduced into the House, and carried through it, the bill creating the National Bureau of Education, -a most valua- ble bureau, which he defended against all assaults. But his most conspicuous and valuable services were in the field of the national finances. His continued thorough study of this difficult subject, for which his previous training well fitted him, rendered him the most thorough master of it in the House of Rep- resentatives, and one of the most thorough in the country. Convinced that the interest no less than the honor of the nation lay in that direction, he stren- uously resisted all propositions looking toward repudiation and inflation, advocating, from the first, an honest payment of the public debt and a speedy return to specie payments.

January 13, 1880, the Ohio Legislature elected Gen. Garfield to the United States Senate, and in the same year he was chosen a delegate to the Republi -

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can Convention to meet at Chicago. Here, amid unqualified enthusiasm, he was nominated for the Presidential chair and was subsequently duly elected. But President Garfield was not destined to long enjoy his new made honors, for the assassin-fiend was already shadowing his footsteps; the bullet that had its fatal billet had been cast in the mold. On July 2, 1881, while on the eve of stepping on board the train at the Baltimore Railway station, at Washing- ton (for he was on his way to Long Branch, there to meet his wife), he was fired at twice by the graceless madman, Guiteau, the second shot taking effect, the bullet entering the President's side, tearing through the spine and lodging in the flesh.

After long, lingering, painful suffering, heroically borne with true Christ- ian spirit, the martyred President, in the quiet Francklyn Cottage, Long Branch, passed through "the Golden Gate" September 19, 1881. His remains repose in the beautiful Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio. "Farewell ! the leaf-strown earth enfolds Our stay, our pride, our hopes, our fears, And autumn's golden sun beholds

A nation bowed, a world in tears."

James A. Garfield had great powers of physical and mental endurance; he was strongly built and well proportioned, standing six feet high, a man of wide range of studies, taste and thought. Public duties did not engross all of his talents and attention, for in the spring of 1861, after a full course of legal reading, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Ohio, and in 1866 he obtained the same standing in the Supreme Court of the United States. From the time of his admission to its bar, he every year argued cases in the latter tribunal.

He had great patience in the accumulation of facts, great skill in generaliz- ation and in the development of principles. In his chosen fields of statesman- ship, probably no man in Congress had at command a larger body of systematized knowledge. As a public speaker, he was forcible and elegant. Some of his occasional papers and addresses have a high degree of merit. Of these may be mentioned his paper on "The American Census," read before the Social Science Association; his adresses on "College Education " and "The Future of the Republic, " and his "Eulogy " on Maj. - Gen. George H. Thomas. He had large power over young men; and while an educator, many hundreds of students received from him a vigorous and healthy intellectual and moral impulse.

Mr. Garfield was married in 1858, to Miss Lucretia Rudolph, of Hiram, and was eminently happy in his domestic life. He was a member of the Christian or Disciples Church, and while a teacher at Hiram-though never intending to follow that calling-he was an acceptable, and even favorite, speaker in the pulpits of that denomination. While thoroughly progressive in his thoughts and tendencies, Mr. Garfield was far from being an extremist; abundant evidence of which can be found along the course of his whole public life. In 1872 Williams College conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D., as a recognition of his learning and ability.

RICHARD MASTERSON HANK, retired, P. O. Hiram, is a native of Trumbull County, Ohio, where he was born June 22, 1814, son of Daniel and Mary (Masterson) Hank, natives of Pennsylvania, of English descent. They were married in Fayette County, that State, December 16, 1792, and in 1804 moved to Trumbull County, Ohio, and soon after taking up his abode there Daniel Hank purchased a farm of 200 acres of heavily-timbered land on the Mosquito Creek bottom in Howland Township, on which was a log-cabin and a few acres of land in cultivation. Before his death he built a large frame

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house, and the first frame barn in the township, and besides working at his two occupations of iron molder and stone-mason a part of the time, he and his two elder sons cleared the forest from about 100 acres of the farm, split rails and fenced it into fields and so brought the land into cultivation. He died June 5, 1821, and his widow December 22, 1856, aged fifty and eighty- three years respectively. Of their eight children, Richard Masterson is the only survivor. Our subject received his collegiate education at Allegheny College. Pennsylvania, and afterward, in 1839 and 1840, was a student in the office of Tod & Hoffman, in Warren, Ohio, (David Tod, afterward Governor of Ohio, and Ben Hoffman, afterward Judge of Common Pleas, now a resident of Youngstown, Obio,) but bis health failing, he was obliged to abandon the pursuit of law. Mr. Hank was married April 4, 1843, to Miss Harriet E. Griffin, of Trumbull County, Ohio, also a native of Fayette County, Penn., born February 3, 1824, daughter of Samuel and Esther (Smith) Griffin, of Eng- lish descent, natives of the same county and State, where they died. Our sub- ject taught school for several years in his native county, and in 1840 pur- chased a farm then noted for its mineral springs, which be improved and made quite a pleasant place of resort, now known as the "Howland Springs." From there he came to this county in 1865 and purchased a nursery in Hiram Township, where he now resides. He has served his township for eighteen years as Justice of the Peace, and was one of the officers of Hiram College of this township. In 1871 he with others organized the First National Bank of Garrettsville, Ohio, of which he was President for several years. His wife is a member of the Disciples Church.

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History of Portage County, Ohio, Part 85

Author: Warner, Beer & co., pub. [from old catalog]; Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Norris, J. E. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Chicago, Warner, Beers & co. Number of Pages: 958

Author: Warner, Beer & co., pub. [from old catalog]; Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Norris, J. E. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Chicago, Warner, Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 958