History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers, Part 65

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : Press of Leader Printing Company
Number of Pages: 726

USA > Ohio > Erie County > History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 65
USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 65

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).

Few were the white meu, yes, scattered I trow, Much as real Christians among us are now ; Then husband and wife both worked with one heart, And people were neighbors, though ten miles apart.

From Marylaud's fields two brothers had come, In to Ohio to look out a home; They settled apart, but not a great ways, So each could make visits every few days.

One brother was John, the other's name, Dan, Each was an honest and hard working man; Iu those early days, when wolves killed the sheep, Dogs were of profit for farmers to keep.

Johu had a dog. but his brother had none, So Dan was looking to get bimself one: One afternoon, a chap came along, With a noble, big dog. both active and strong.

Uncle Dau saw the dog and the mau going by; The dog was a beauty, and so took his eye;

" Which way are you going, and where have you been? You've got a good dog as ever I've seen."

. " You'd say so, my friend: you know Hiuley's big dog, I stopped there a moment to rest on a log; His dog was right savage, and pitched into mine, And Tiger, here, thrashed him in less than no time.

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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.

I've another, name's Lion, exactly this style, But I can't keep them both, for they fight all the while." Dan asked the price, which the fellow made known; It was willingly paid, and the fellow went on.

Dan tied the dog with a rope iu the barn. Then went to the house to tell his dog yarn.

The time sped away for two or three days. While things run along much iu the old ways; Then Johu took the team, names, Nellie and Fan, And drove the folks over to see Uncle Dan.

They were met with a smile by the folks at the gate, With "How do you do?" and " We're all first-rate.

" Hie, Biddy Martin!" says Dan to John,

" We'll put out the horses and have some fun."

They were putting the horses just into the stall, When the dog gave a whine, and a recognized squall; Uncle John jumped around as quick as a frog,

" What are you doing, Dan, Dan, with my dog!"

Then came the story, how, three days before, The dog had been stolen from Uncle John's door. Uncle John loosed the dog from the rope in the barn, Then went to the house to tell his dog yarn.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOHN S. DAVIS

John S. Davis was born March 28, 1806, in Balti- more county, Maryland. His parents were Jesse and Mary Ann (Sowers) Davis. His mother died while he was still an infant, and he was brought up by his maternal grandparents, John and Mary Ann Sowers. After his mother's death his father was twice married -first to a Miss Hunt, of whom he had two chil- dren, Mary and Jackson-and again to a Miss Sewell, who bore him one child, Ann Eliza. Not long after his mother's death, his father removed to the State of Pennsylvania where (in the village of Shrewsbury, York county, ) he died about the year 1833.

In 1811, when he was but five years old, Mr. Davis came, with his grandparents above named, to Fair- field, Lancaster county, Ohio. Not long after, they settled in Ridgefield township, on what is now known as the Cone farm-a part of which is included in the corporation of Monroeville. Here his grandfather died July 23, 1820, aged sixty-three, and his grand- mother twenty-eight years after, i. e., May 21, 1848, aged ninety-three. These grandparents had four sons, John, Moses, Daniel and James, with the older of whom Mr. Davis lived till after his majority. It is well worthy of record, as a remarkable physiological fact, that James, the youngest of these four uncles (who is still living in Whitley county, Indiana) was born when his mother was fifty-three years old, his next older brother, Daniel, being then in his four- teenth year.

Mr. Davis lived in this township till 1835, when he removed to Lexington, Richland county. Three years later he moved again to Galion, Crawford county,

where he lived twenty-eight years-returning to Monroeville in 1866.

While living at Galion, on the 17th of May, 1843, he married Catharine Nave who was born in Path Valley, Franklin county, Pennsylvania. They have had four children, of whom two daughters are still living. The elder of these danghters, Amanda J., born February 17, 1844, married Capt. A. S. Skil- ton in Galion, December 20, 1865. They have two children, John Davis Skilton and Elizabeth Roby, and now reside in Monroeville. Mr. Davis' youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was born January 15, 1869.

Mr. Davis followed the honorable profession of farmer, on a small place in Ridgefield township, till he was thirty years old, when he went into the dry goods business with Mr. Bloomer as partner. About the year 1850, he embarked in the business of banking, first in the Exchange Bank of Galion, managed under the firm name of Atwood, Davis & Bloomer; after- wards in the First National Bank at the same place. He is also interested in the Farmers' National Bank of Mansfield, the National Bank of Plymouth, and (more especially) the Exchange Bank of Monroeville, of which the managing firm are Davis, Crim & Stentz. In all his business enterprises, Mr. Davis has been singularly successful, and if he has not "made money" quite as fast as Midas, he has been more for- tunate than that fatally avaricious king, in that he has been permitted to choose what should, and what should not, turn to gold under his touch.

On the 28th of March, 1876, a very numerous com- pany of his relatives, friends, and neighbors, assem- bled at his spacious mansion to celebrate his seventieth birthday. The affair was managed by his good wife, together with his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Skilton, as a "surprise," and most complete was their success, Mr. Davis having not the least suspicion of what was going on, till the guests began to arrive. But his surprise reached its culmination when, after the company had all assembled, an elegant gold-headed cane, and a beautiful, life-sized crayon portrait of Mrs. Davis (a present from the above-mentioned par- ties), were produced and presented to him in an appropriate address. Touched to the heart by these manifestations of kindly regard, it would have been strange, indeed, if he had -found any other than the simplest words of thanks, in which to express his grateful emotions. The Huron county teachers' in- stitute, being then in session at Monroeville. were present in a body, and with them the distinguished grammarian, Professor Harvey, of Painesville.

In the fall of the same year, he enjoyed the distin- gnished, but unsonght, honor of being chosen elector of president and vice president of the United States; and afterwards, in the college of electors, of casting his vote for Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler, as president and vice president of the nation.

Mr. Davis is enjoying a hale and green old age, at Monroeville, surrounded by an affectionate family,

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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.

and looked up to by his neighbors, young and old, as a kind friend and prudent counsellor. No object, looking toward the moral and religions improvement of the community, fails of his cordial support. He is exceptionally unostentatious, affable and com- panionable; and the writer hereof will not soon forget

the pleasant ramble had with him in the beautiful cemetery of Monroeville, where

"The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep "-

searching among the white monuments of that quiet and cheerful resting place of the dead for dates to be interwoven in the foregoing biographical sketch.

William A Bishopa

mary A. Bishop

WILLIAM A. BISHOP.

The subject of this notice was born in Hunderdon county, New Jersey, March 3, 1806. His parents were Joseph and Mary (Wykoff) Bishop. His father died in 1801, and his mother about 1859, having lived a widow fifty-eight years. His ancestors, on the father's side, were from England; on the mother's, from Holland.

He was twice married: the first time, April 4, 1834, to Magdalene Edinger, who died April 5, 1832. Two children were the fruit of this marriage: Joseph, born January 26, 1835, died in infancy; William H., born June 19, 1836, is still living in this township. He married, as his second wife, on the 30th of November, 1837, Mary Ann Cadwell, who was born in Lorain county, January 11, 1818. Following are the names of the children of this marriage: 1, Laura Ann, born January 18, 1839. 2, Eliza, born August 25, 1842. 3, Charles D., born Jannary 4, 1846. 4, Lina, born April 15, 1849. 5, Mary E., born January 2, 1854.

6, Martha E., born June 1, 1857. Of these children, only the third, fourth and sixth still survive.

Mr. Bishop came to this county on the 2d of Au- gust, 1834, from Northampton county, Pennsylvania, to which place he had migrated about two years be- fore. He settled in Ridgefield, on the west branch of the Huron river, on what was known as the Page farm. There he lived about twelve years, and then moved to the Palmer farm, in 1849. This farm con- sists of one hundred and sixty-seven acres, sixty or seventy acres having been cleared before he bought it, and about thirty-five since. During his thirty years' residence on this farm, he has built for himself a beautiful home (with commodious barns adjacent) near the bank of the Huron river, and pleasantly sheltered among the bluffs that border that beautiful stream. Here he is " growing old gracefully," sur- rounded by an affectionate family. He has been su- pervisor of the county, and school director, but he has never "hankered" for the cares of office. Though not a "professor of religion," he has always been a liberal supporter of the various churches of his township.

R. Martin

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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.

HENRY P. STENTZ.

Henry P. Stentz was born in Middletown, Penn- sylvania, on the 26th of February, 1838. His parents are Peter and Catharine Stentz, of German ancestry. They have five children, all of whom, except Henry P., reside at Galion. Their names are as follows : Mary L., married to E. A. Snyder, Henry P., Ida, married to Charles Cronewett, Willis P., assistant cashier First National bank, Galion, and Emory K., a jeweler.

Mr. Stentz, the father, (who is a merchant,) came to Huron county in 1840, and settled at Plymouth, where he remained till 1854. He then removed to Galion, where he still resides. Henry P. resided at the same place till 1866, being, for some eight years previous, in the employ of A. Atwood, Esq., a merchant and banker. The estimation in which Mr. Stentz is held by that gentleman, is shown from the following commendatory letter, which, having fallen into our hands, we take the liberty of putting on record :

GALION, O., May 15, 1866.

The bearer. H. P. Stentz, has been doing business with me, in my employ, without intermission, nearly eight years and a half, and I take great pleasure in saying that he is strictly honest, entirely reliable, sober industrious, energetic, and capable of filling any position he may ask for. He is one (and there are few such) who takes the same interest in his employer's business he does in his own. He has been my confi- dential clerk and hook keeper during the most of the time above men- tioned, and but few of his age, without any start in life, have succeeded in dollars and cents, and in winning the confidence of the people, to the extent he has Respectfully.

A. ATWOOD.

In 1866, Mr. Stentz came to Monroeville, and suc- ceeded S. V. Harkness, as cashier of the Exchange bank, on the reorganization of that institution, which took place soon after. This bank is doing a very successful business, having a range of deposits av- eraging about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Stentz assisted in organizing the First National bank, of Galion, and, afterwards, that of Plymouth, and he is at present a director in both those institu- tions. He has been treasurer of the township of- Ridgefield for eight consecutive years, and is now, for the second term, president of the Huron county agricultural society. He once ran for the office of Mayor, of Galion, on the Republican ticket, and even in that stronghold of the Democracy, came within fifteen votes of being elected. While residing at Galion, during the war, he was at one time operating very extensively at the south in cotton, sugar and hemp. Among his other valuable estates, is a fine farm, lying between Monroeville and Norwalk.

His education was received in the Union school at Plymouth. Though not a professor of religion, he is an attendant and supporter of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Stentz has never married, but still clings to his baccalaureate freedom. He is now in the prime of manhood, and is one of the substantial business men of Monroeville. He occupies, and de- servedly so, a high place in the esteem of his fellow townsmen. He furnishes a striking illustration of

the successful business man. Assuming the respon- sible duties of cashier of the Monroeville Exchange Bank when he was twenty-eight years of age, by close attention to every known duty connected with that institution, by strict and honorable dealing, by careful and wise management, by his pleasing man- ners and address, he has been instrumental in secur- ing for the Exchange Bank a truly gratifying career of success, enabling it to take rauk as one of the soundest and best patronized banking houses of the Fire-lands. What greater compliment could there be in behalf of his strict and unswerving business integ- rity and his acknowledged business ability and tact than is furnished in the fact that he has held the position of cashier without interruption since 1866? His marked success in business life in so unpreten- tions a village as Monroeville, affords a lesson of instruction for every young man just starting upon a business career. Success rarely comes to any one by the mere fortuitous revolution of the wheel of for- tune. It must be coveted, striven for, won-and con- quered. He who does not have a strong desire for her laurels will never wear them; but desire alone will never win the battle. An aim that is high and honorable, an industry that is indefetigable. a will and a purpose that are unbending, an integrity that is uncompromising, coupled with other character- istics that stamp the true gentleman,-these must unite with desire in order to secure the trophies of snecess.

ROBERT G. MARTIN.

Robert G. Martin was born on the 31st of January, 1838, at Coventry. Chenango county, New York. His father, Frederick Martin, died April 30, 1822. His mother, Penelope (Boughton) Martin, is still living.

His maternal grandfather, Seymour Boughton, was a colonel in the last war with England, and was killed by the Indians, during the year 1812, at Black Rock, which is now included in the city of Buffalo, New York. The hat worn by him at the time of his death, bearing the marks both of the tomahawk and bullet by which he was killed, was preserved in the family till 1820, when, strangely enough, it was de- stroyed by a person not realizing its value as a relic. His mother's family were of Scotch descent; his fath- er's from Ireland.

Mr. Martin was first married on the 16th of Octo- ber, 1860, to Virginia C. Wallace, of Pittsburg, who died February 26, 1867. Of this marriage there were two children, both of whom died in early childhood. He was married the second time to Louisa M. Cara- bin, a native of Norwalk, on the 22d of November, 1868. MIr. Martin first came to Monroeville on the 15th of November, 1853, when he was but fifteen years old, to live with his brother, Seymour B., a druggist-with whom he resided two years. This

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brother was a prominent business man here for twen- ty-two years; one of the incorporators of the village, and township treasurer and trustee for several years. He died at Grey Eagle, Buncombe county, North Carolina, in the month of October, 1876.

In 1855, R. G. Martin, then in his eighteenth year, went back to Coventry, New York, and there, during the winter of that and the following year, tanght school in the very district where he first learned his alphabet. The experiences of the young pedagogue during that winter, if we only had room for them, would make an interesting chapter in his history.

Returning to Monroeville, he was associated with the brother above mentioned. in the drug store, till 1860 ; when he and the same brother became suc- cessors to Mrs. N. V. Earl in the hardware business. Purchasing his brother's interest in 1862, he became sole proprietor, and has continued in the same busi- ness ever since. His establishment during these six- teen years (marked by financial revulsions which have shaken the whole country from center to circumfer- ence), has enjoyed a uniform prosperity, having out- ridden several storms in which many other less for- tunate crafts, though perhaps equally seaworthy, have gone to the bottom. The business Neptune of the land, like his brother of the ocean, is a capricious god, wafting one venture with prosperous gales, and driving another, which seemed equally promising, a wreck upon the breakers. And yet it is possible that success or failure in any given case, might be infalli- bly predicted by any scientific financier, who had ac- cess to all the data necessary for making his compu- tations. Mr. Martin has been, for a number of years, a member of the council of Monroeville; also a men- ber and treasurer of the school board. He was elected the last time for three years, without opposition. He is a supporter of Zion (Episcopal) church.

F. L. Martin, a brother of the subject of this sketch, resides in Colorado Springs, at the foot of Pike's Peak, to which place he went a few years ago on account of his health. He has there become a great sheep raiser, having clipped last year over ten thousand fleeces. During the month of April, -1873, he lost between three and four thousand head, in a tremendous snow storm, but since that time, having become better posted in the business, he has met with no greater losses than farmers and stock raisers in this region. Some two years ago, R. G. Martin be- eame financially associated with this brother in the sheep business, and their flocks at present number about twelve thousand.

F. L. Martin is the only survivor of six gentlemen who spent the winter of 18:1-2 in Colorado for their health. Their disease was of a pulmonary nature, and Martin, although enjoying.excellent health in Colorado, cannot remain at the east, even for a few months, without a return of his old complaint.

Mr. Martin, the subject of this sketch, enjoys in a high degree the esteem and confidence of the com- munity in which he dwells. Coming to Monroeville

when but a lad of fifteen, and entering his brother's store as a clerk, he, at that early day in his life, gave assurance to those who knew him of possessing the elements of true success. When but twenty-two years of age he was enabled to become a partner with his brother in the hardware business, and two years later succeeded to the sole proprietorship. He has shown a laudable tenacity of purpose in clinging to the same business in which he embarked at so early an age or his own account, and to-day has his reward in the acknowledged position which is accorded him of being one of the most successful merchants Mon- roeville has ever known.

THOMAS DICKEY.

Thomas Diekey was born in Hillsboro, New Hamp- shire, on the 15th of December, 1790. He was one of a family of thirteen children, ten boys and three girls, only five of whom were living when Mr. Diekey left New Hampshire. His parents, Wm and Sally (Moore) Dickey, were natives of Ireland, who, with a colony of their countrymen, came to America to escape religious persecution. They purchased land and settled in the township of Londonderry, Rock- ingham county, New Hampshire, whence, in March, 1790, they moved to Hillsboro, forty miles distant, where Thomas was born. Here he lived till he was nineteen years of age, when he hired himself to Gen- eral Benjamin Pierce, father of President Pierce, and lived with him two years. He had engaged for one year more, but, the war coming on, he enlisted in the army, May 13, 1812: was at once made orderly ser- geant, under Captain John MeNeal, and served in that capacity until July 1, 1814, when, by orders of General Winfield Scott, he was detailed to "act as ensign, till the pleasure of the secretary of war be known."

On the night of July 3, 1814, in Buffalo creek, the command embarked on board a boat, crossed over into Canada, landed below Fort Erie, then occupied by the British who surrendered without firing a gun. On the 4th of July, they marched down the river nearly to Niagara falls. The next day the enemy appeared, and the battle of Chippewa was fought. Afterward they went to Fort George, at the head of Lake Ontario, and remained there about a week. Then, being reenforced, General Brown moved back across Chippewa creek to Niagara, where, on the 25th of July, the battle of Lundy's Lane was fought.

In this battle Scott's brigade alone contended with the enemy for two hours, before reinforcements came up. Then General Ripley said to Colonel Miller: "Can you take that battery?" and received the memo- rable reply, " I can try, sir." IIe did try, and drove the enemy from their guns, capturing them all, thir- teen in number. The main contest was fought here, there being three charges by the enemy to retake the

Thomas Dicky

SALMON DRAKE.

MRS. SALMON DRAKE.

HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.

guns; but they were repulsed each time with great slaughter. It was during the last charge that Gen- eral Scott was wounded. The enemy retreated some four miles. Generals Scott and Brown being both wounded, the command devolved upon General Rip- ley, who thought it prudent to retire to Fort Eric: where, after a few days, the enemy again made their appearance, and, for some time thereafter, laid siege to the fort. But they were finally defeated with the loss of nine hundred men, our loss being only eighty wounded.

The American army evacuated Fort Erie, and the regiment in which Mr. Dickey was serving finally marched to Sackett's Harbor, where he remained until peace was declared, and he was discharged. During the siege of Fort Erie, on the 11th of Sep- tember, he was wounded in the foot by the bursting of a shell; but he was well enough on the 17th to take part in the final battle, in which he had com- mand of his company.

Mr. Dickey has often related many other incidents of the battles fought near Niagara river. For these meritorious services, the government, many years after, granted him a pension.

After his discharge, he returned to Hillsboro, New Hampshire, and on the 15th of September, 1815, started, on horseback, for Ohio. He stopped at Monroeville, in this county, where he remained until April, 1819, when he was married to Elizabeth Myers. This lady was a native of the State of Virginia, where she was born on the 26th of January, 1791. Her parents were Adam and Mary Myers, of German extraction. They came first to Marietta, Ohio, and from there to Ridgefield township, about the year 1815.

Immediately after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Dickey removed to Thompson, Seneca county, where they resided three years ; then to Oxford, (now in Erie county,) where they remained about the same length of time. Finally. they returned to Ridgefield, in October, 1825, where he cleared up the farm upon which he resided until his death, which occurred on the 10th of January, 1879.

The fruits of his marriage were five children, three boys and two girls, of whom only two survive him- a son, somewhere in the west, (the family having lost track of him,) and a daughter, Mrs. Cynthia Drake, who resides at the old homestead.

Mrs. Dickey died in 1854. Two years later, Mr. Dickey united with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he continued a member until his death. During his residence of sixty-three years in Huron county, he witnessed great changes. Looking forward from 1815, those years must have seemed to him almost an age. But, looking backward from 1879, how short the space appeared ! He was a land-mark in the history of the county-a link between the present and the past. The land mark has fallen-the link is severed.

Surrounded by his daughter and his grand chil- dren, loving hearts and hands ministered to his last

moments. He passed away, at the ripe old age of eighty-eight years and twenty-five days,-"a shock of corn fully ripe for the harvest."

[The foregoing sketch is taken, with some additions and verbal changes, from an obituary notice by W. C. A., published in the Norwalk Reflector, of January 28, 1879.]

SALMON DRAKE.

Salmon Drake was born at Plymouth, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, on the 9th of April, 1827. His parents were Hiram and Sarah (Ruggles) Drake, of English ancestry, who settled, at an early day, in Connecticut. He moved to Monroeville (Ridgefield township) in Huron county, Ohio, in the year 1848; was married to Cynthia Dickey, June 17, 1850, and settled on the Dickey homestead, in said township, in the autumn of that year. Here a goodly number of "olive-branches" gathered, in due time, around their table-the following being their names and dates of birth: 1, Eliza Jane, born July 5, 1852. 2, Hiram Dickey, born July 7, 1854. 3, Charley W., born May 9, 1856. 4, Emmagene, born April 29, 1858. 5, J. Omer, born March 6, 1861. 6, Gorgi- ana, born November 3, 1862. 4. Stery A., born March 19, 1864. 8, Ira, born October 4, 1865. All these children survive their father, except the last named, who died on the 18th of January, 1872.

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History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers, Part 65

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.) Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : Press of Leader Printing Company Number of Pages: 726

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : Press of Leader Printing Company
Number of Pages: 726