History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 124

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Ohio > Summit County > History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio > Part 124

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came to Akron, and opened his present place in the spring following, and has remained in the same location since. In his chosen field he has found ample room for his genius, and his popularity as an artist attests the appreciation of his patrons for his genins. He married Miss Sarah M. Edgerly, a native of Hudson, Ohio.

A. M. BARBER, buyer and shipper of grain and produce, Akron. The subject of this sketch was born in Bath Township, Summit Co., Ohio, Oct. 2, 1830, and is the fourth of five children born to Isaac W. I. and Mary (Brown) Barber ; they were natives of Connecticut and New York. Isaac W. I. Barber was raised on a farm ; about the year 1820, he left Connecticut for the West, coming with a wagon load of boots, shoes, etc .; arriving in Bath Township he bought 110 acres of wild land, which he cleared and improved. March 1, 1824, he married Miss Mary, a daugh- ter of Samuel and Lucinda (Coy) Brown. Samnel Brown was a Revolutionary soldier and a pensioner during latter years ; he was a na- tive of New York, and came to Ohio about the year 1810, settling in Boston Township, and later moving to Springfield Township, where he died in 1845 ; he was twice married ; his first wife died in Boston Township soon after they came there ; in 1817, he married Miss Lucinda Bishop. I. W. I. Barber settled on his land in Bath Township after his marriage, and lived there until his death, in 1833 ; he was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church, in the affairs of which he took an active interest ; foremost in improvements, he was well known, and his death was lamented by a wide circle of friends. Some years after his death, Mrs. Barber married Capt. Fanning, who died in 1845, she continning on the old homestead until 1856, when she sold her interest to A. M. Barber and moved to Kansas, where she lived with her children until her death, about the year 1874. A. M. Barber was raised on the farm ; the country being new, and he losing his father during his infancy, afforded him limited opportunities for obtaining an education. Oct. 6, 1857, he married Miss Sarah, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Em- mons) Vansickle; after the marriage, he re- mained on the farm one year, and in January, 1859, came to Akron and bought the Pearl Mills, which business he was identified with for four years ; he then engaged in the grain and produce business, in which he has done an ex-

tensive trade ; the volume of his transactions have amounted to $1,500,000 per annum ; he was a director upon the formation of the Bank of Akron, and is also identified with several of the leading manufacturing interests in the city. In 1880, he had finished his elegant and com- modious brick block, Nos. 150 and 152 South Howard street, known as Barber's Block, which ranks among the leading business blocks of the city. Though starting out in life in the most adverse circumstances, he has by his energy and perseverance been successful, and, while remembering that he has been the architect of his own fortune, he has also lived so as to not only win, but also to deserve the respect and confidence of all who know him.

JUDGE JAMES S. CARPENTER, attor- ney, Akron ; is the son of William and Lucina (Sumner) Carpenter ; he was born at Swanzey, Cheshire Co., N. H., on Aug. 17, 1805, from which place his father moved eighteen months later to the woods of St. Lawrence Co., at Pots- dam, N. Y. ; here he labored hard on the farm and at clearing. He does not know when or where he first learned the beauties and myste- ries of the alphabet, but it was probably at home, for his earliest recollections of school experience was spelling in his a-b, abs, in one of the primitive log cabin schoolhouses, where subscription teachers applied the lubricating oil to the complicated machinery of the human mind ; his first lessons in reading he well re- members were at the side of his mother's foot- wheel, which was fast flying, when, after some assistance on her part, and ntter unbelief of his ability to read " in readings," he astonished himself by finding that with a little help from her he could and did read "The history of a little boy found under a haycock." He spent the greater part of his youth on the farm, and at the age of 17 attended the St. Lawrence Academy, in Potsdam ; he taught in the State of New York a part of each year until he at- tained his twentieth year, by which time he had acquired a fair knowledge of the English branches. In the winter of 1825-26, he taught in New York, and in the spring of 1826 he went to Lower Canada, where he taught until the fall of 1828, a part of the time in Montreal ; from there he went to Amherst, Mass., and be- came assistant teacher in the Amherst Academy, and later teacher of the Ladies' Seminary at Springfield, Mass., during the summer of 1829 ; in

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the fall of that year he entered the freshman class of Amherst College, where he remained until his health failed from overwork, being engaged simultaneously in the capacity of both pupil and teacher. He then returned to his home in New York, where he resumed teaching, and kept up his studies in the branches of the college course. In June, 1832, he came to Cleveland, Ohio, where he taught languages in the Cleveland Academy, but the school was shortly after broken up by the sudden appear- ance of cholera, which was brought to Cleve- land by the steamboat "Henry Clay." Mr. Carpenter next removed to Ravenna, Ohio, where he organized a class in French, but de- parted soon after for Massillon, where he taught that winter ; in the spring of 1833, he returned to Ravenna, and became Principal of the Ravenna Academy, which position he held for two years. He retired then, being still in a poor state of health, and rented a portion of a farm near there, which he farmed one season. On May 1, 1835, he was married to Miss Fran- ces C. Saltonstall, of Geneva, N. Y. In Novem- ber of the same year, he went to Medina, Ohio, and there started the Medina Constitutionalist, a Whig and anti-slavery paper, of which he was the editor, at the same time studying law under the direction of Camp & Canfield ; he continued with the paper until the winter of 1838-39. On May 29, 1833, he was admitted to the bar, at Springfield, Ohio, reaching there on horseback, after a journey of four days. He practiced at Medina, with Judge McClure, from 1840 to 1850. In the fall of 1839, he was elected a member of the Ohio Legislature, and of the Ohio Senate in 1840, serving with distinction in both houses ; in the Legislature he was the only avowed Abolitionist. While he was a member of the House, Mr. Fisher, of Shelby, introduced a set of resolutions denoune- ing the Abolitionists with barbarie vituperation. It was in a speech upon these resolutions that Mr. Carpenter declared that slavery and freedom could not co-exist in this Government, a doc- trine which, ten years later, blazed from a higher standard, when Mr. Seward proclaimed the " ir- repressible conflict," in the United States Sen- ate. While in the Senate, Mr. Carpenter had frequent occasion to defend his Abolition prin- ciples, on bills introduced by him to charter institutions for the education of the colored people ; they being then wholly excluded from

the common schools and from the common school fund, and yet taxed to support that fund, and in numerous other ways, when the course of legislation brought before the Senate the injustice and cruelty they were suffering in Ohio, both under and against its laws. About the last of these conflicts was on a bill to re- peal the charter of Oberlin College. It was de- feated. Our subject never joined the Liberty party ; he said he was for the abolition of slavery everywhere. The Liberty party was organized not for the abolition of slavery, but to stop its advance. The abolition move- ment was by the diffusion of moral truth, while the Liberty party was political. What- ever moral truth it disseminated was outside of its platform, and but auxiliary to its political end. He was Secretary, in 1834, of the first Coun- ty Anti-Slavery Society, at Ravenna, and has held various prominent positions of trust. He came to Akron in 1846, and has practiced law here ever since. In 1856, he was elected Judge of Court of Common Pleas, and served a term of five years. He is the father of three chil- dren, viz., Gilbert S., Captain in regular army at Camp Douglas, near Salt Lake City, Utah ; Dr. William T. Carpenter, of Ishpeming. Mich .. and Abbie L., still at home. He is a mem- ber of the Congregational Church.

N. A. CARTER, contractor and builder, Akron, Ohio; was born in Twinsburg, Sum- mit Co., Ohio, and is the second of nine ehil- dren born to Thaddeus A. and Esther 1. (Marshall) Carter ; they were natives of Con- necticut ; he was brought up on a farm and early went to peddling clocks, operating prin- cipally in the Western Reserve ; about the year 1826, he settled in Twinsburg Township, Sum- mit Co., Ohio, where he cleared a farm upon which he lived until his death in 1870. He was twice married ; his first wife died Sept. 1, 1845. In December of that year, he married Miss Margaret McKisson, a native of Mary- land ; she died about the year 1846. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and took an active interest in its affairs ; he was well-known and respected by all. Our subject lived at home seventeen years ; he then apprenticed to the carpenter and joiner's trade at lludson. serving three years, after which he worked as a journeyman in that vicinity until 1871, when he came to Akron, where he has continued in the business as contractor and

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builder. In all he has followed the trade for a third of a century, during which time he has built many buildings, principal among which are the Buchtel College, the Buckeye office and many other leading structures. He served on the Board of Education of Hudson, and also as a Councilman. In 1879, he was elected a member of the Akron Council for Second Ward and was re-elected in 1881. June 24, 1852, he married Miss Jane R. Herrick, a native of Twinsburg; they had five children. four of whom are living-Ella JJ., Frank N .. Walter T. and Emory J. Mr. Carter is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has held many of the offices usual to that denomina- tion, and has otherwise taken an active interest in its affairs.

DR. MASON CHAPMAN, dentist, Akron ; was born on his father's farm in Copley Town- ship. Summit Co., Ohio. June 28, 1838. His parents, Lucius and Sally B. (Mason) Chap- man were natives of New York: he was a farmer; was born Nov. 20, 1807, on a farm called Cone Hill, in Onondaga Co .; were mar- ried in Sennet, N. Y., June 2, 1829; they came to Ohio in June, 1833, and settled in Copley Township. where they lived until 1857. Mrs. Chapman died in 1852. In 1857, he moved to Wisconsin, and later, to Anamosa, Jones Co .. Iowa, where he now resides. His father, Ashbel Chapman, was born in Massa- chusetts May 20, 1775 ; he came to Ohio about the year 1836, and settled near Copley Center, where he died Jan. 25, 1865 ; his wife also died there March 9, 1862; they were married in Massachusetts Aug. 8, 1800. Our subject lived with his father until December, 1864; his early life was spent on the farm. In Wisconsin he clerked in a grocery and boot and shoe store. after which he joined his father in Iowa, and assisted on the farm. The following winter, he attended Cornell College at Mt. Vernon, lowa. alternating on the farm and at college for two years. He then taught school for two terms, and, in the fall of 1862, he began the study of dentistry with Dr. Matson, of Anamosa, with whom he studied for two years ; he then visited in New York State, and, in the spring of 1865, he came to Akron and practiced one year with Dr. Bolles, after which he bought the business, and has continued the practice since. Nov. 3, 1867, he married Miss Alice L. Randall, a na- tive of Copley Township, Summit Co., Ohio.

They have one child-Cloyd M. Chapman. During the term 1878 to 1880, the doctor served the city of Akron as Councilman.

DR. JOSEPH COLE, deceased ; was born in Winfield, N. Y., in September. 1795 ; he was raised on the farm and began reading medicine in 1820, with Dr. Clark, graduating from the Fairfield, N. Y., Medical College. In 1824, he came to Summit County, Ohio, and practiced for three years at Old Portage ; he then came to Akron, where he practiced until his death in 1861 ; he was married in November, 1826, to Miss Charlotte Dewey, a native of Westfield, Hampden Co., Mass .; she came West with her parents in 1822; there were ten in the family ; all came in one wagon, the male members often walking; they settled at Old Portage and with- in three years, father, mother, three brothers and one sister died from the fever then preva- lent in that locality. Charlotte lived with her brothers, who were farming in that vicinity, un- til her marriage; by the marriage were seven children, all of whom have since died. Mrs. Cole is living in the old homestead, where she has lived since 1832, and by her family has three grandchildren-Helen L. Agard, of Sara- toga, N. Y., and H. D. and Fannie F. Cole, living with her. Their father, H. D., was the young- est son of Dr. Joseph and Charlotte (Dewey) Cole ; he was born in Akron in 1840 ; he re- ceived a high school education, and in his latter years was engaged in the livery and undertak- ing business ; he died in April, 1876. In 1864, he was married to Miss Hattie Farnam, a na- tive of Akron, daughter of Daniel Farnam ; they had two children, viz. : H. D. and Fannie F. Mrs. Hattie Cole is also living in the old home- stead with her mother-in-law.

CHARLES A. COLLINS, carriage manu- facturer, Akron ; is a native of Richmond, Berkshire Co., Mass. He was born July 26, 1816, and is the youngest of six children born to Ralph and Hannah (Hickox) Collins ; they were natives of Connecticut ; he died in Mas- sachusetts Aug. 4, 1817. Our subject lived with his mother until 1827, when they moved to Berkshire, Tioga Co., N. Y., where she lived for three years with her married daughter. Charles A., while in Massachusetts, worked abont at farm work, and attended district school. In New York he lived with an uncle, working on the farm in summers, and attend- ing select school winters. In the fall of 1830,

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he and mother came to Ohio and settled at Tallmadge, where his brother-in-law, Mr. Amos Avery, was engaged in the manufacture of wag- ons. Charles A. apprenticed with his uncle, and remained until he became of age. His mother lived there with a daughter until her death in November, 1849. In 1838, the firm of Collins & Hale established a carriage mann- factory in Middlebury, now Sixth Ward, Akron. They continued until 1841, though Mr. Collins was identified with the business until it was burned in 1860. During this year, the business was established by Collins & Bell in South Akron, where the business was conducted until 1869. In February, 1870, the present firm of C. A. Collins & Son erected a shop corner of Main and Church streets, Akron, where they have done business since. While residing in the Sixth Ward, Mr. Collins served as a mem- ber of the Board of Education for several terms, a member of the Village Council, and Mayor of Akron for the years 1862 and 1863, also member of City Council, 1876 to 1878. Jan. 16, 1839, he married Miss Louisa Hine, a na- tive of Milford. Conn., and youngest child of Abraham and Abigail (Elton) Hine, who came to Summit Co., Ohio, about the year 1820. By the marriage there have been seven children, of whom four are living, viz .: George A., with father ; Mrs. Josephine A. Kent, of Kent, Ohio ; Charles E., formerly cashier Second Na- tional Bank of Akron, now with the Colwell & Collins Manufacturing Co. of Cleveland, and Nettie E., at home.

A. L. COTTER, retired, Akron City ; was born in Cornwall, Conn., Dec. 28, 1795, and is the second of five children born to Andrew and Rhoda (Rogers) Cotter, natives of Connecticut, and who died in their native State. Our sub- ject lived at home until he was 22 years of age. He assisted his father at farming, and in his blacksmith-shop. His education was limited, and confined to the district schools. At the age of 22 years, he opened a blacksmith-shop of his own some three miles from his father's, where he continued in business for about two years, when he went to Bristol, and worked there for one year, engaged in ironing wagons. He returned to his native place, where he was identified with the blacksmith business until 1824, when he came to Ohio, with a cousin who lived in Middlebury. Satisfied with the coun- try, he returned home, made himself a wagon,

and removed to Ohio with his family, consisting then of a wife and one child. IIe located in Middlebury, where he followed blacksmithing until about the year 1868, when he retired to his present place, where he has since resided. His residence was destroyed by fire on Feb. 12, 1875, and the following year he built his pres- ent dwelling. He served a number of years as Trustee of Tallmadge Township while a resident of Middlebury. He was married, Nov. 21, 1821, to Miss Mary Ann Pratt, a native of Killing- worth, Conn .; she died July 28, 1836. The result of this marriage was seven children, of whom five are living. Samuel A. and James P. live in Connecticut ; Charles S. lives in Ra- venna, Ohio ; Mary E., now Mrs. Myers, lives near the old home ; Henry C. lives in Toledo ; Edward died in 1831 and Emily in 1868. Mr. Cotter was married on Nov. 1, 1837, to Miss Mary Talcott, a daughter of Alvin and Philo- melia (Root) Talcott. Mr. Talcott traces his ancestry back to the family of Warwickshire, England. The original emigrant, the Worshipful John Talcott, came to Boston, Mass., Sept. 16, 1632, in the ship Lyon. He soon after went to Hartford, Conn., where he was married, and afterward lived. Mr. Cotter is a Presbyterian, and has been a member of that church for over fifty years ; Mrs. Cotter has been a member for over forty years. Mr. C. has been a Republican in politics ever since the organization of that party.

JAMES H. CASE, druggist, Middlebury (Sixth Ward), Akron ; was born Dec. 23, 1844, and is a native of Middlebury, Ohio. He is the eldest of two children, born to S. S. and Jane (McDowell) Case, who were natives of New York. S. S. Case came to Ohio in an early day, and lo- cated in the vicinity of Painesville, where he fol- lowed harness-making ; and, about 1842, came to Middlebury. Here he followed the harness busi- ness, and later, became an extensive dealer in stoneware. He also took some contracts on the Mount Vernon Railroad. In 1864, he en- listed in the army, and was transferred to the Government shops at Chattanooga for the manu- facturing of harness, etc. He served until the close of the war, and then located in Cincinnati, thence to Xenia, where he died June 9, 1879, at the age of 67 years. James H. (the subject), has always made his home in Middlebury. At the age of 17 years, he apprenticed himself to the carriage-ironing trade, at Greenville, P'enn .;

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7 he did not complete his apprenticeship, but retired to Middlebury, and worked one and a half years in the machine shops of Kent & Bald- win. In 1863, he enlisted in the Second Ohio Cavalry, and served until the close of the war. He was in the battles of the Wilderness, Peters- burg, Shenandoah, Cedar Creek, Winchester, Five Forks and at the surrender of Lee. He was at the grand review at Washington, and then moved West, remaining at Springfield, Mo., until the September following, when he, with regiment, was mustered out at St. Louis, and returned home. He then completed his trade as a machinist, and followed it some four years. He then worked in the Buckeye Reaper Works until the spring of 1876, when he opened his present business. He was married, Jan. 1, 1872, to Miss Ella S. Farrar, a native of Massa- chusetts, and a daughter of C. S. Farrar, of Akron, whither they came about the year 1870. By the marriage, there is one child, viz., Charles F. Case.

DR. W. E. CHAMBERLIN, physician, Ak- ron, was born in Allegheny City, Penn., Nov. 29, 1840, and was raised in Maryland and Vir- ginia, where his parents lived during his infancy, moving to Peninsula, Summit Co., Ohio, in 1858. His father, C. W. Chamberlin, was a physician and druggist. Our subject began at the age of 12 years to assist in his father's store and to read medical works, which he continued in connection with his schooling, which consisted of a high-school course and a course by a special instructor, which included French and German. At the age of 18, he be- gan practice under his father, and Sept. 9, 1861, he enlisted in Co. D, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, and was detailed by Gen. Nelson as physician and surgeon, in which position he served until October, 1862, when, owing to ill health, he was discharged and returned home. During the winter, he attended lectures at the Univer- sity of Michigan at Ann Arbor, resuming his profession in the spring at Brimfield, Portage Co .. Ohio. In September, 1865, he removed to Clinton, Summit Co., where he practiced until January, 1875, during which time he became well known as a newspaper correspondent, cor- responding for the Akron Beacon, City Times, Cleveland Herald, the Plaindealer and numer- ous others. From Clinton he came to Akron and located at 104 North Howard street, where he has remained since. In 1869, he graduated

at the Charity Hospital Medical College of Cleveland. A member of the Union Medical Society of Northeastern Ohio, he has served the same as delegate to the State and National Medical Conventions. March 31, 1862, he married Miss Mary E. Pritchard, of Medina Co., Ohio, Of their two children, one is living, viz., Myrtle. June 22, 1875, he married Mrs. McCoy, formerly Miss Wilhel- mina Kohler. While in Franklin Township, the Doctor served as Justice of the Peace and Notary. He also conducted a drug business, which was destroyed by fire in 1874.

B. S. CHASE, M. D. (deceased), was born Jan. 9, 1834. He was a native of Vermont, and lived on a farm until he came of age, gain- ing an education in the meanwhile at the pub- lic schools and an academic course at the Chester Academy. On reaching his majority, he came West and engaged in the sale of some maps for which he had secured territory in Michigan. After several years spent in this way, he came to Akron and began reading medicine with his uncle, Dr. E. W. Howard, of Akron, and afterward graduating at Ann Ar- bor, Mich. He began his practice in partner- ship with his uncle and preceptor, continuing in this way until 1862, when the war opened up a new avenue for his services. He entered the army as Assistant Surgeon of the 16th O. V. I., remaining with the regiment until June, 1863, when he was transferred to the 53d Mis- sissippi (colored) Regiment as Surgeon. He continued with this regiment to the close of the war, acting on the Operating Board at the battle of Chickasaw Bayon and during the siege of Vicksburg. Subsequently he returned to Akron, where he continued his practice until his death Feb. 23, 1878. Jan. 26, 1863, he married Miss Henrietta Sabin, a native of Akron, and a daughter of Joseph W. Sabin, a long-time and prominent merchant of Akron. Mrs. Chase's mother was Prudence, a daughter of C. W. Brown (who is mentioned elsewhere), a native of New York and an early pioneer of the Sixth Ward of Akron. Mr. Sabin died March 5, 1876 ; his wife died Dec. 27, 1880. Mrs. Chase's family consists of five children- William S., Charles H., Martha, Byron S. and Sabin Ford, the latter a nephew whom she has adopted into her family.

J. G. CASKEY, of Diehl & Caskey, Akron ; is a native of Lancaster Co., Penn .; was born

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in Strasburg Township, Sept. 3, 1832. His parents, Samuel and Mary (Brown) Caskey, were natives of York and Lancaster Cos., Penn. His father was a miller by trade, and was born July 1, 1798. In 1835, his parents, with four children, came in wagons to Norton Township in this county. Here his father bought wild land, cleared a farm, and, in the meanwhile, worked at milling on shares. The latter busi- ness occupied the principal part of his time until 1869, when he gave up a calling in which he had engaged for nearly fifty years. Feb. 1. 1875, his wife died at the age of 75. Both were members of the M. E. Church, in which he still takes an active interest. In politics, he followed the fortunes of the Democratic party until the rise of the Republican party, to which he has since given his suffrage. He still lives at the old homestead in Norton, and lacks but a few days of being the oldest man in the township. J. G. Caskey lived at home until he reached his majority, working on the farm and in the mill, gaining a practical knowledge of both occupations. On becoming of age, he entered the Baldwin University at Berea, where he studied for two years. At the expiration of this term, he returned to the farm, spending his winters in teaching school for some two years. He then turned his attention exclusively to milling, which he followed until 1871, save two years while in the army. Aug. 30, 1862, he enlisted in Co. D, 29th O. V. V. I., and served two years, taking part in the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Lookout Moun- tain and Mission Ridge. Mr. Caskey was sub- sequently taken ill and confined in the hospital at Murfreesboro, and later received a furlough and discharge. He returned home, and, after regaining his health, he resumed his milling business. In 1871, he moved to Akron and conducted a restaurant for some nine years. In 1880, he became a partner in the present business. Feb. 15, 1860, he married Miss Har- riet B. Burget, a native of Wayne Co., Ohio. They have two children, Sybil A. and Charlie E.

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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 124

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104