USA > Ohio > Mahoning County > History of Trumbull and Mahoning counties with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Vol. II > Part 93
USA > Ohio > Trumbull County > History of Trumbull and Mahoning counties with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Vol. II > Part 93
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99
After spending another term at the Farmington academy Mr. Norton until 1851 devoted most of his time in teaching penmanship in Ohio and other States, excepting the summers of 1839 and 1841, when he was a student at Allegheny college. He took up his permanent residence in Southington in 1851, and in the fall of the same year was elected justice of the peace, an office to which he was twice re-elected and held until he resigned it in 1861. He held also the office of township clerk three years, being first elected in 1854. He was married November 25, 1852, to Emma A., daughter of Jonas Bond, of Edinburg, Ohio, and a sister of ex-Mayor Bond, of Chicago. She was born March 7, 1832. Mr. Norton first began the study of law as early as 1844, but it was not until after his election as justice of the peace that he formed any serious intention of entering upon its practice. He was admitted to the bar in 1859 and soon had a considerable practice in justice's courts in South- ington and adjoining townships, and was also frequently connected with cases in the courts of common pleas in Trumbull, Portage, and Geauga counties. He continued in active practice until 1881. In the fall of 1879 he was unanimously chosen a real estate assessor, though not an ap- plicant for the position.
James Chalface
-
529
TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO.
Mrs. Norton died October 8, 1876. She was the mother of eight children, viz: Albert Leslie, born August 22, 1853, married, March 5, 1881, Nora Doolittle, and lives on the homestead; Eugene B., born May 1, 1855, died July 17, 1860; Lilian Josephine, born October 4, 1857, married, March 25, 1880, Dennis E. Miller, and lives in Farmington ; Florence Irene, born August 22, 1860, died October 31, 1864; Alta Eugenia, born August 26, 1862, died November 10, 1864; Rolla Ulysses, born October 19, 1865; Homer B., born March 2, 1868; Victor Clarence, born April 20, 1870.
Mr. Norton has accumulated a large property, and is spending the closing years of his life in comparative ease.
THE CHALKER FAMILY.
James Chalker, Sr., the pioneer farmer, was born in Saybrook, Connecticut, about the year 1773; died in Southington, November 3, 1867 ; was married in Saybrook to Mercy Norton, who died in Southington March 15, 1860.
There is a kind of a tradition among the Chalkers of the present day that at a very early date in the history of this country, probably over two hundred years ago, two or three brothers of the name of Chalker came from England or Scotland to this country and settled in the then colony of Connecticut, from whom have de- scended all who bear or have borne that name in this country. Reliable information of persons now living goes as far back as to one Samuel Chalker, who was of the third generation before the subject of this sketch. This Samuel Chalker lived and died in Saybrook, Connecti- cut, and raised a family of three sons, named Samuel, Gideon, and Alexander.
Samuel (second), settled and lived in the north part of Saybrook, now called Sayville, to whom was born Daniel, Selden, and Sarah.
Daniel succeeded to the homestead of his father, married Sarah Ingraham, and to them were born the following children: Samuel, Sally, Daniel, Anna, Patty, James (the subject of this sketch), Phœbe (his twin sister), Joseph, Charles, and Nathaniel.
This Daniel, the father of the subject of this sketch, in or about the year 1805, removed from Connecticut to Pennsylvania, first stopping for a
short time at Liberty, Susquehanna county, but finally locating in Chocount township in the same county, his above named children then grown up to manhood and womanhood, either accompanying or soon after following him, and all, except James, located in and about Cho- count, some of them subsequently removing to distant places. This journey of two hundred and fifty miles or more was made solely on foot and by the use of ox teams and wagons. Here Daniel, Sr., purchased a small tract of woodland on which he erected a log house, where he and his wife passed the remainder of their days, near to which, in a dilapidated country graveyard, their remains now lie buried side by side.
James stopped but a short time in Chocount, but with his family, consisting of his wife and son, Orrin, who was born to them before leaving Saybrook, and in company with Roderick Nor- ton (his brother-in-law) and wife, and Luke Viets, another brother-in-law, he pushed forward two hundred and fifty or three hundred miles further into the wilderness of the West, stopping on his way, temporarily, at Warren, in this county, where his second son, Joseph, was then born, but located in Southington, about one-half mile west of the center, in 1805. This whole jour- ney from Connecticut, of from five hundred to six hundred miles, was made by him on foot, driving his ox-team, which drew a wagon in which his wife and child and a few rude articles of household furniture were conveyed.
Here in Southington he purchased a piece of thickly and heavily timbered land, surrounded by a dense, and for several miles unbroken for- est ; Roderick Norton and Luke Viets purchas- ing and settling upon other tracts near by. Here he lived and labored, and suffered all the priva- tions of poverty and early pioneer life, relying largely upon deer and other wild game for his subsistence. The quiet of his home was fre- quently disturbed by bears and wolves, which sometimes molested his domestic animals, a bear on one occasion carrying off a live hog. Here in the course of time, and by dint of energy and perseverance, the large and thickly grown trees disappeared before his axe, and in their place appeared fields of grass and grain, and in the place of the log house and rude stable were reared commodious frame structures for man and beast.
67
530
TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO
From this early home, now occupied by their son Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. Chalker never re- moved, never returned to their home in Connec- ticut. Here they raised to manhood and wom- anhood nine sons and four daughters, named respectively Orrin, Joseph, Edmond, Phoebe, Polly, James, Annie, Daniel, Calvin, Philander, Harrison, Allen, and Mercy, all of whom, except Annie, first settled in Southington, where those surviving yet remain, except Polly and Mercy, who now reside in Indiana, and Annie and Phi- lander, who reside in Nelson, Portage county, Ohio. Joseph, Calvin, and Phœbe have died, all leaving families.
James Chalker, Jr., farmer, whose portrait ap- pears on another page, was the fourth son of James Chalker, Sr., a sketch of whose life ap- pears in this connection, and Mercy (Nor- ton) Chalker, and was born in Southington June 15, 1811. His parents during his boyhood be- ing in the most limited circumstances, having no means except such as they carved out of a dense forest, and there being but one school-house in the township in those early days, and that sev- eral miles from his home, James, Jr., never had the privilege of attending school but one term, and that a winter term of only three months, but his boyhood and youth were spent upon his father's farm aiding him in clearing away the dense woods thereon, and in procuring subsist- ence for his family, yet by private study he be- came possessed of more than average intelli- gence for a man of his times and surroundings. At about the age of twenty-one years he pur- chased fifty acres of heavily timbered land at $3 an acre, located two miles west of the center of Southington, subsequently paying for the same from what he produced on the premises. All of this tract of woods he without assistance chop- ped and cleared up as he did several other pieces, which he subsequently purchased. Many of the rails that he split fifty years ago are still in existence inclosing the fields that he then cleared up, so that now he has one of the most desirable farms of two hundred acres in the township, be- sides a farm of fifty-seven acres in Nelson town- ship, adjoining Southington, to which he re- moved about ten years ago to pass the remainder of his life in comparative ease and retirement. Here he still resides, giving his attention to rent- ing and managing his farms. In his younger
days he served as captain of militia, and has filled several township offices. October 27, 1836, he married Eliza Hyde, daughter of Eli and Hannah Hyde, early settlers in Farmington township, in this county, and settled upon the piece of land he first purchased, which he yet owns. There were born to them four sons: Benson, who died in infancy; Byron, born March 28, 1840, and resides in Southington; Newton, born September 12, 1842, is a lawyer in Akron; Columbus, born April 3, 1849, died May 6, 1876. Mrs. Chalker died December 24, 1849. Mr. Chalker was married again June 5, 1851, this time to Miss Adeline Timmerman, of Manheim, Herkimer county, New York, who was born November 9, 1828, and is still living. Two children were born of this marriage, Mary J., born March 1, 1852, now the wife of Andrew Morris, Southington, and Bertha, born October 5, 1854, now the wife of Thomas McConnell, Southington. His lands, after they were cleared up were better adapted to grazing than to agri- culture, so that for the last half of his life Mr. Chalker has been chiefly engaged in dairying and stock-raising. He early joined the Methodist church and has been an active member ever since. In politics, though never taking a very active part, he was a Whig prior to the formation of the Republican party, of which party he has been a member ever since its formation.
Philander Chalker, son of James, Sr., and Mercy Chalker, was born in Southington, May 21, 1823. July 4, 1850, he married Betsey, daughter of James Donaldson, a well-known citizen of Parkman, Geauga county. Mr. and Mrs. Chalker are the parents of two sons and two daughters-Nancy, born May 18, 1854, married and resides in Parkman ; Charles F., born December 27, 1856, at home ; Nettie, born March 9, 1860, and Emery, born March 5, 1862. Mr. Chalker has resided in Southington, Bristol, and Parkmalı. In the spring of 1876 he settled where he now lives in Nelson, Portage county, owning land both in Southington and in Nelson. He and his wite have been members of the Methodist Episcopal church for many years. Mr. Chalker has much musical talent ; he has taught singing school, and for a long time was chorister of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Newton Chalker
531
TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO.
NEWTON CHALKER.
Newton Chalker, attorney at law, Akron, Ohio, was born in Southington, Trumbull county, Ohio, September 12, 1842, the third son of James Chalker, Jr., and Eliza (Hyde) Chalker, who died in December, 1849, daughter of Eli and Hannah Hyde, of Farmington township, in the same county. His grandparents, on both sides, were born and reared in the State of Con- necticut. The subject of this sketch remained on his father's farm in the west part of Southing- ton until he became fourteen years of age, when he set out to obtain more than a common school education. As an illustration of his youthful determination to obtain such an education, one or two incidents are mentioned. In August, 1856, having learned that there was a seminary at West Farmington, for the purpose of making arrangements to go to school there he went on horseback alone and of his own accord to that village, where he had never before been, called upon the principal of the seminary, Rev. James Greer, whom he had never before met, and with his assistance rented a small house in which he and his cousin, Ellen Chalker (now Hatch), and Martha Norton (now Wannemaker) were to keep house, and attend the fall term of the seminary. This arrangement, however, failed, and he then sought a situation in some family in the vicinity of the seminary, where he could work for his board and attend the seminary, and failed in this plan until the middle of that fall term of school, when arrangements were made with one of the teachers, Prof. H. U. Johnson, for him to board in his family, do chores, and pay fifty cents a week for his board, which he did the last half of that term. In November, 1857, when fifteen years of age, desiring to attend school at the aforesaid seminary the following winter term, and being without money, he made arrangements with a fellow student to board themselves in a room in the west wing of the seminary building, and for fuel he went into his father's woods and chopped three-quarters of a cord of wood, took a yoke of oxen and went a mile to get a wagon, drove to the woods, loaded the wood he had chopped, and early the next morning started for West Farmington, driving his ox team, himself footing it all the way, returning late the same day, making in all a distance of nineteen miles that he drove his ox team in the cold weather
and bad roads of November to get a load of wood to his school. To pay his tuition for that term he carried the wood and kindlcd the fires for the three main school-rooms of the seminary, and to get his books he swept the school-room floors the whole term. He continued to go to school at this seminary two terms a year until near the end of the spring term of 1862, board- ing himself, as was the common custom, every term except the first and last.
At the age of sixteen years he began teaching the winter term of country schools, following the old-time custom of boarding around with his pupils, thus teaching for six consecutive winters, in the following townships, respectively, Braceville, Southington, Parkman, Champion (two terms), and Litchfield, Michigan. In June, 1862, he in company with his cousin, Wilham Chalker, went to Columbus, Ohio, and enlisted in the Union army, in company B, Eighty-seventh regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, being mustered out in Octo- her of the same year by reason of the expiration of the term of enlistment, having participated in the three days' engagement at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in September of that year, in which the Union troops were captured and taken prisoners by General "Stonewall" Jackson and his army, but were soon released on parole. In the spring ot 1863 he entered the freshman class of Alle- gheny college, at Meadville, Pennsylvania, grad- uating and receiving the degree of bachelor of arts in the spring of 1866, having received no pecuniary aid except for one term, leaving col- lege $50 in debt. In August, 1866, he went to the State of Illinois in search of a situation as teacher, and soon secured the position of princi- pal of Dixon seminary, at Dixon, Illinois, a town then of four thousand five hundred inhab- itants, at a salary of $720 for the ensuing school year. This institution employed a faculty of five instructors, in which were taught the Greek, Latin, German, and French languages, the higher mathematics, and natural sciences, and had an average attendence of about one hundred students a term. In August, 1867, he was em- ployed as principal of the union schools at Dar- lington, Wisconsin, at a salary of $1,000 a year. At the end of the first year of this engagement he decided to adopt the practice of law for his life avocation, and after making a short visit to his home in Southington in the summer of 1868,
532
TRUMBULL, AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO.
he entered the law department of the University of Albany, New York, where he studied law under the instruction of Judge and Senator Ira Harris, Judge A. J. Parker, and Professor I. Ed- wards until the summer of 1869, when he grad- uated at that institution, receiving the degree of bachelor of laws, and was admitted by the New York supreme court to practice law in that State, and entered for a few months a law office in New York city. In September of the same year, having decided to make his home in the West, he visited several western towns and finally located in Cameron, Missouri, a town of about two thousand inhabitants, with flattering pros- pects of soon becoming a city. Here he prac- ticed law until May, 1874, when finding that the town of his choice was destined, for many years at least, to be but little more than a coun- try village, he returned to Ohio to seek a home in his native State, and on the 14th day of August of that year he located in Akron, a thriving city now of twenty thousand inhabitants, where he has practiced his profession ever since.
NOTES OF SETTLEMENT.
Dr. Ezekiel Moore is the only physician in Southington township, where he has been con- stantly engaged in the practice of his profession since 1849. He was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, October 19, 1827. His parents, John and Minerva Moore, were natives of Penn- sylvania. He served an apprenticeship to a tailor, taught school, and read medicine with Dr. William Moore, now of New Lisbon. In the session of 1852 he graduated from the Cleveland Medical college. In 1854 he was married to Sarah C., daughter of Samuel C. and Mahala Bronson. They have one child -- Frank, born July 6, 1855. Dr. Moore is a member of the Disciple church; also of the Masonic order. His practice is extensive. The doctor was formerly president and is now vice-president of the Trum- bull County Medical society.
Joshua Osborne and his family were among the very early settlers of Southington. Gilbert Osborne, his son, was born in Colebrook, Con- necticut, January 19, 1794, and came to South- ington with his parents in 1808. He was a soldier of the War of 1812. lle married Lois
Haughton, and reared a family of three daughters and one son. Porter G. and Mrs. John Schrontz, now a resident of Illinois, are the only survivors. About 1820 Gilbert Osborne settled in South- ington upon the farm which his son now owns. He lived to see a mighty change wrought by the early settlers and their descendants and died December 8, 1869. His wife died in 1871.
Henry K. White was born in Connecticut. About 1815 he came to Ohio and settled in Southington. His father, Captain Henry White, was one of the pioneers of this township. Henry K. married Lucy Wilson, and reared a family of three sons and eight daughters, all living at pres- ent. He was a school-teacher and a justice of the peace several years. He died in 1871; his widow is still living. Their oldest son, H. J., served three years as a musician in a Wisconsin regiment. He now resides in Hudson, Wiscon- sin. George W., a member of the Second Ohio volunteer cavalry, served four years. He was seriously wounded at Little Rock. He now re- sides in Dakota. Lewis P. White was born in Southington April 30, 1837, and is now living on a part of the farm where his grandfather settled September 5, 1861, he enlisted in company D, Sixth Ohio volunteer cavalry. He participated in engagements at Aldie, Antietam, Gettysburg, and in other severe battles. At Aldie a horse was shot under him. At New Warrington, Vir- ginia, while on patrol, he was ambushed, wound- ed and taken prisoner with twenty-five comrades, and was seven weeks in Lihby prison. After re- gaining strength at home he returned to the ser- vice and took part in the Petersburg campaign. He served three years, and was discharged in November, 1864. July 20, 1860, he married Juliette Curtis. Their family consists of five children-Mahlon D., Mary E., Ulysses G., Lil- lian L., and Dora B. Mr. White is a member of the Disciples church. Mrs. White's younger brother, Addison, now a resident of Southington, was a member of company H, Seventh Ohio vol- unteer infantry, and was wounded in the service. Riley, now of Southington center, was in the same regiment and company and served a year and a half.
Smith and Sybil Hurd were among the early settlers of Southington. They reared a family of ten children, of whom five daughters and two sons survive. Their son, Milo Hurd, an old and
533
TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO.
respected citizen of Southington, was born in this township December 22, 1808. August 10, 1842, he married Selina Lenord, a native of Pennsylvania. Of their six children but two survive, the oldest and the youngest-Artemesia, wife of John Robertson, Southington, and Hiram, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, located at Pittsburg. Mrs. Hurd, the mother, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1848 Mr. Hurd settled in the wilds of this township in a log-house, and made a good farm by hard work. His father was a soldier in the War of 1812, after Hull's surrender.
Harvey Joy was born in Vermont in 1807, March 15th. He is a son of Ephraim and Eunice (Freeman) Joy, who were the parents of five sons and four daughters. Five of this family are living. The family settled in the southeast of Southington township in 1817. The father had been a captain during the War of 1812. Besides farming he worked as a carpenter. He was a member of the Disciple church. Captain Joy died about 1855. Harvey Joy passed his boyhood clearing land in the forest and attend- ing school in the pioneer log school-house. Oc- tober 28, 1829, he married Lovisa Bronson, daughter of Elisha Bronson, an early settler. Mr. and Mrs. Joy have five children-Rhoda L., wife of Robert Rice, was born August 25, 1830, died October 1, 1861; Orlin B., born June 23, 1833, now residing in Southington ; Edwin O., born November 2, 1838, is a resident of Len- nox, Ashtabula county ; Almeda H., born June 13, 1842, is the wife of William Trask, South- ington ; Lucy F., wife of Henry Viets, of South- ington, born October 3, 1847. Mrs. Harvey Joy was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church over forty years. She died January 20, 1881. Mr. Joy settled on his present farm, then unimproved, in 1830. He originally bought two hundred acres, but has given to his sons all but seventy-five. He has held several township offices, and has been a member of the Method- ist Episcopal church over forty years.
Charles Harshman was born in Jackson, Ma- honing county, in April, 1833. He is the youngest son of David and Rosanna (Stuart) Harshman. His father was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1799. When he came to Ohio, he first settled in Austintown, removed thence to Jack- son, and in 1838 to Southington. The house in
which he lived, was built and kept as a stage house for many years. He reared a family of six children, four of whom survive. Mrs. Ros- anna Harshman died February 1, 1872. David Harshman is still hving, vigorous in health and strength. He has beena member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church since 1850. Charles attended the common schools, Hiram college, and the Western Reserve seminary of Farming- ton. He has followed farming. September 5, 1855, he married Eda A., daughter of Dea- con and Lydia White, early settlers of this township. Mrs. Harshman was born in South- ington, January 16, 1835. The children born of this union are as follow : Ida R., now Mrs. Eli Overly, residing upon the home place ; Leora L., wife of James E. Heathman, Southington; Will H., Clara, Naomi, and Mary E. In the spring of 1856 Mr. Harshman settled on his present home farm. In 1862 he enlisted in company B, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, and served as second lieutenant. On a physician's certificate of dis- ability he resigned May 2, 1862. In 1871 Mr. Harshman was elected county commissioner, and was re-elected in 1874. He is a member of the Masons. In company with W. B. McConnell he started the first cheese factory in the township. This establishment was destroyed by fire in 1879. At one time 16,000 pounds of milk per day were used in this factory.
Calvin Haughton, son of Samuel and Aman- da (Osborn) Haughton, was born in Southing- ton township, December 14, 1830. His father, a native of New York State, was a soldier in the War of 1812. Calvin was educated at the com- mon schools and at Hiram college, where he was a school-mate of Garfield. January 12, 1856, he married Martha, daughter of Edward Jones, formerly a well known citizen of South- ington. Mr. and Mrs. Haughton have two daughters-Emma, wife of Jefferson Moore, Parkman, Geauga county, and Minnie May, at home. After his marriage Mr. Haughton loca- ted upon his present farm, an unimproved place. He now owns two hundred acres, and has a fine farm and a good house. Both Mr. and Mrs. Haughton are members of the Disciple church.
Oliver K. Beemen was born in Canfield, Ma- honing county, September 3, 1827. He is a son of Ansel and Ann M. (Gilson) Beemen.
534
TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO.
His father was born in Litchfield county, Con- necticut, February 28, 1788. In 1806 he set- tled in Canfield. He was married in 1809, and died in 1854. His widow died in September, 1877. She was the daughter of Eleazer Gilson, a Canfield pioneer. The family consisted of six children, five of whom are still living. O. K. Beemen taught school several winters when a young man. February 7, 1856, he married Harriet P., daughter of George Misner, an early settler of Berlin township. She was born Sep- tember 11, 1833. Two of their three children survive. Rosella A. resides at home. She is an artist of much ability, and executes many crayon portraits. Frank E. is now a student in the literary department of Michigan university, Ann Arbor. In 1856 Mr. Beemen settled on the farm where he now lives. He was elected justice of the peace in 1864 and in 1867, and has held several township offices. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic lodge in West Farmington.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.