History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 100

Author: Upton, Harriet Taylor; Cutler, Harry Gardner, 1856-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 886

USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 100

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).

Amos Coleman Fisk was for many years a

flour merchant of Ashtabula, and later became extensively interested in real estate. He was always interested in every movement for the growth, progress and improvement of his na- tive city, and in the building of the railroads connecting. Ashtabula with Pittsburg and lake ports. He was public-spirited and enterpris- ing, and won the respect and esteem of all with whom he had any dealings, in a social or business way.

In 1861 Mr. Fisk married Sarah L. Paine, of Royalston, Massachusetts, and they became the parents of one son, Amos Paine, born in 1874. They also adopted a daughter, Kitty C. Mrs. Fisk is a woman of culture and refine- ment, and lives on Park Place, in Ashtabula. The house occupied by the family for forty- five years is one of the old landmarks of the city, having been built by Russell Clark about 1836.

JOHN MORTIMER TREAT, a farmer of Por- tage county, is a descendant of a long line of Treats who identified themselves for many generations with the progress and develop- ment of Connecticut. The family were con- nected with the Treat who was at one time governor of the state. John Mortimer Treat was born in his present residence, October 29, 1842, and is a son of Amos Mortimer and Har- riet (Hatch) Treat. The name was formerly spelled Trott or Tratt, and Richard Treat, the progenitor of the family in America, was great-grandson of William Trott, of Staple- grove, England. Richard Treat was born about 1584, at Pitsminster, Somerset county, Eng- land, and died in 1669-70, at Wethersfield. Con- necticut. His son Richard was born in 1623 in Pitsminster, and died about 1693. He was one of the first settlers in Wethersfield. His son, Lieutenant Thomas Treat, born December 12, 1668, in Wethersfield, died January 17, 1762; he was a training, band lieutenant, and one of the incorporators of Glastonbury, Connecticut. Lieutenant Treat's son Thomas was born May 3. 1699, in Glastonbury, Connecticut, and he died January 15, 1780. Of his eleven children, Gershom Treat was born September 15. 1740, in Glastonbury, Connecticut, and died in the same state. His wife Jane died March 17, 1830, and is buried in Aurora. Gershom Treat was a soldier in the Revolution and enlisted April 21, 1777, in Captain Vine Elderkin's Company, of Windham, Connecticut, in the regiment of Colnel Heman Swift : he took part in the battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777,

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and was discharged January 8, 1778. Gershom Treat's son, Amos Hall Treat, was born Feb- ruary 15, 1786, at Glastonbury, Connecticut ; he married Jane Stuart, of Portland, Connecti- cut. and they had two children.

Amos Mortimer, father of John Mortimer Treat, was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, March 13, 1813 ; he married Harriet M. Hatch, of Aurora, in 1841, and they had three chil- dren. He came to the Western Reserve in 1816, in company with his parents, with horses and a big wagon. The party consisted of his father, Amos Hall Treat, his wife and two children, Sabrina Stuart, his sister-in-law, and Levi Stuart. They were on their way to Hud- son, Ohio, and on being told in Cleveland that they could cut off much of the road by driving along the lake they did so, and the wagon wheels got caught in the rocks in the lake, so that the women and children of the party had to be taken ashore on the men's backs. Amos Hall Treat owned the property which is now the college campus of the Western Reserve College; he was a lieutenant in the militia of Connecticut, and his commission was signed October 15, 1813, by the governor, John Cotton Smith. The document is now in Mr. Treat's possession and highly prized as a relic.

John Mortimer Treat attended Samuel Bis- sell's school at Twinsburgh, Summit county, and later graduated at a Cleveland commercial college. He then spent three or four years in the mercantile business in company with his father, at Bainbridge. In 1865 Mr. Treat re- moved to the farm he now occupies. He mar- ried January 16, 1866, at Bainbridge, Eunice Rudolph; her father, Perry Rudolph, was born September 13, 1813, and married Caroline El- lenwood, September 10, 1834, at Hiram town- ship. John Rudolph, grandfather of Eunice Rudolph, came from Shenandoah Valley, Vir- ginia, and settled in Portage county, in 1805; Perry Rudolph and his family live at Sackett's Harbor, New York, and Mrs. Treat still has the teakettle in which her family made tea during the journey by wagon from Sackett's Harbor to the Western Reserve.

Mr. and Mrs. Treat have three children, namely : Carrie Mercedes, Frank Mortimer and Lucretia Rudolph. Carrie M. married Dr. Frank E. Bard and has three children, namely : Norma Antoinette, Rudolph Treat and Mal- comb Treat. Frank Mortimer married Carrie E. Gould and has no children. Lucretia R. Treat married Thomas C. Larter. They have two children, Donna M. and Mortimer Treat.

CORY OSCAR PFILE .- As an industrious and thrifty farmer, thoroughly acquainted with his calling, Cory Pfile is an able assistant in main- taining the reputation of Portage county as a superior agricultural region, his farm, al- though a comparatively small one, being one of the best managed and most productive in Edinburg township. A son of the late John Pfile, he was born, September 1I, 1869, in this township, and was here educated in the district schools.

A native of Germany, John Pfile came to this country with his parents when a small boy, and grew to manhood on the farm which his father reclaimed from the wilderness. Taking upon himself the cares and responsibilities of a family man, he settled in Edinburg township, and was here industriously employed in tilling. the soil until his death, June 30, 1884. He married Mary Boles, who was born and edu- cated in Portage county. She survived him, dying February 24, 1886. They were the par- ents of seven children, five sons and two daughters, Cory, the subject of this brief sketch, being the fourth son in order of birth.

Remaining on the homestead until after the death of his parents, Cory Pfile subsequently worked for wages for a short time, but after his marriage began farming on his own ac- count. He has now a snug little estate of forty acres, pleasantly located in Edinburg township, and is carrying on general farming very successfully, receiving good returns in the quality and quantity of his crops for the labor expended.

Mr. Pfile married June 24, 1889, Ada M. Payne, who was born October 13, 1870, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Fawley) Payne. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Pfile, namely: Harry R .; Alta I. died in infancy : Fern L .; Myrtle I .; Herbert P. died in childhood ; and Mary E. Mr. Pfile takes much interest in local affairs, and served one term as township trustee, being elected on the Democratic ticket, which he uniformly sup- ports at the polls. A man of sterling integrity. upright in his dealings, Mr. Pfile is highly esteemed by his neighbors and friends, and is regarded by all as a useful and valuable men- ber of the community.

DR. A. M. POWERS is perhaps one of the oldest physicians of Portage county, and has been the loved family physician in many of the households of the early settlers as well as of those of its present residents. The son of a

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physician, his first practice was in Lordstown, Trumbull county, Ohio, and following his pro- fessional connection with that village he at- tended the Western Reserve Medical College at Cleveland and from there matriculated in the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati. Re- turning then to the scene of his first profes- sional labors, Lordstown, he continued there until November 10, 1868, when he then estab- lished himself in Rootstown, his future field of endeavor. Both his professional and busi- ness record are alike commendable, for in both relations he has been true to the trusts reposed in him and has shown himself worthy of public regard.

Dr. Powers was born in Milton, Mahoning county, Ohio, January 28, 1837, a son of James and Rebecca (Windle) Powers, the father born in Youngstown September II, 1809, and the mother in Newton township, Trumbull county, in 1810. The grandparents on the paternal side, Abram and Elizabeth (Woodworth) Powers, were from New Jer- sey, while the maternal grandfather, Francis windle, was from Chester county, Pennsyl- vania. He was one of the first to locate in Newton township, Trumbull county, Ohio, traveling overland with an ox team in about the year 1800 and locating on the Mahoning river. The paternal family were among the earliest families of Youngstown. James Powers, father of the doctor, entered upon his business career as a carpenter with his father, while later he was employed in a mercantile store at Vienna, Ohio, by a Mr. Cramer and at farm labor, and during his life time he be- came one of the prominent and influential men of his community. At Milton in 1832 he went into mercantile business which he continued until 1835, and then entered upon the study. of medicine with Dr. Tracey Brunson at New- ton. In 1846 he was elected the first sheriff of Mahoning county, and gave up his profes- sional practice to take charge of the office, where he remained for two terms, and then returning to Milton turned his attention to farming and stock-raising. In 1861 he organ- ized Company H, Twentieth Ohio Volunteer Infantrv, and went into service as its captain, but in 1863 he was honorably discharged on account of disability. Returning then to Youngstown he farmed on the old home place until moving in 1871 to Rootstown. After the death of his wife in 1882 he lived with his son, the doctor, and a daughter, Mrs. F. P. Chapman, of Ravenna, his death occurring at

the former's home on February 3, 1890. He nad three children, but a daughter, Mary, died at the age of twenty-four years in 1864.

Dr. A. M. Powers, the only son in the above family, married on October 13, 1858, Cynthia A. Sherwin, who was born in Lordstown, Ohio, a daughter of William and Mary Sher- win, from Pennsylvania. The four children of that union are : Frank R., who was born on September 12, 1859, and died on November 5, 1903; Dr. H. W., who was born September 5, 1864, and is now a practicing physician at Amherst, this state; Jessie A., born November 12, 1869, and at home with her father; and John E., born September 10, 1874, and died June 25, 1875. The wife and mother is also deceased, dying on September 11, 1874, and on the Ioth of May, 1876, the doctor married for his second wife Sarah L. Bingham, the widow of Frederick Barlow, to whom she was married November 24, 1864, and a daughter of Nathan and Eliza (McCann) Bingham, from Norwich, Connecticut, and from Erie, Pennsylvania, respectively. Mrs. Powers is a granddaughter of Asa and Hanna (Lord) Bingham, natives of Connecticut. Mrs. Pow- ers passed from the district schools to the Talmage and Elsworth College, and after the completion of her education she taught at Berlin for one term, and also at Talmage, Yale and Rootstown. She has been a member of the Congregational church since the age of eighteen years, while Dr. Powers has held membership relations with the Methodist Episcopal denomination since September of 1855, and he has served his church as presi- dent of its board of trustees, and since 1864 as a steward. During two years he served Rootstown township as treasurer, elected by the Democratic party, and he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Arcanum at Ravenna.

HON. WILLIAM B. THOMPSON .- Among Lorain's professional and business men none are more closely identified with its growth and best interests than the Hon. William B. Thompson, a man who has brought his thor- ough wisdom to bear not alone in professional paths, but also for the benefit of the city which has so long been his home and with whose interests he has been thoroughly identified. He is a lawyer of well known ability and a citizen of the highest standing.

Mr. Thompson was born in Columbia town- ship, Lorain county, September 6, 1863. and

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the family for several generations have been residents of this community. He is a son of Samuel B. and Emular L. ( Osborn) Thomp- son, and a grandson on the paternal side of John V. Thompson, a native of Connecticut. but one of the earliest settlers of Columbia township, Lorain county. The maternal grandfather was William B. Osborn, who was born in Columbia township, his father, A. P. Osborn, having come here from his native state of Connecticut in 1810. Samuel B. Thompson was born in Columbia township in 1836, and he has been a farmer there all his life, and is living at the present time. but his wife, born in Columbia township in 1837, died there in July of 1899. There were two sons in their family, and the elder, John B. Thomp- son. resides in Columbia township and is en- gaged in the real estate business in Cleveland.

William B. Thompson, the younger son, was reared until his eleventh year on the home farm, his parents then moving to Berea in order to afford their sons better educational advantages. and William B., after finishing the high school course, entered Baldwin Univer- sity of that city and graduated with its Class of 1885, and with the degree of Ph. B. After leaving college he spent about a year on the farm and in teaching school, and in 1886 he entered the law office of Judge G. M. Barber at Cleveland, and a year later accepted a posi- tion in the office of Judge A. R. Webber in Elyria. In 1888 he was admitted to the bar, and in March of 1899 he located in Lorain and entered upon a successful career as an attorney and later as a man of large affairs. He was one of the three organizers, and the president since its organization, of the Penfield Avenue Savings Bank of Lorain ; is the presi- dent of the Home Building Company of Lo- rain, the president of the Barrows Milling Company of Lorain, and a director in the Cleveland, Columbus and Southwestern Elec- tric Company, a director in the Black River Telephone Company and a director in the Lo- rain County Electric Railway Company, which runs from Elyria to Amherst and Lorain, and from Elyria to Grafton, running on the Green line, which Mr. Thompson helped to build. He is also a trustee of Baldwin University, president of the Tri-County Realty Company. with headquarters in Lorain, and he organized and incorporated the Lake Erie and Pittsburg1 Railroad Company ( steam) and is its attorney, and for five years its former vice-president. In April, 1890, he was elected the mayor of

Lorain, and was returned to the office in 1892 .. Mr. Thompson continued alone in the practice of his profession until 1899, when George L. Glitsch was admitted as a partner and the firm. became Thompson & Glitsch, and a few years Jater A. W. Cinninger came into the firm, the present style of which is Thompson, Glitsch & Cinninger, and their practice is one of the largest and most lucrative in the county.

Mr. Thompson married, December 17, 1890, Lulu, daughter of the late Rev. James L. San- ford, of Lorain, and their two children are Helen Marie, and Robert William, aged re- spectively fifteen and six years. Mr. Thomp- son is a member of Lorain Lodge, No. 552,. F. & A. M., Mystic Chapter, No. 170, R. A. M., and the Council, R. & S. M .: a member of Black River Lodge, No. 682, I. O. O. F., and the Lake Shore Encampment, No. 242 ; and a member of Woodland Lodge, No. 226, Knights of Pythias. He was one of the cor- porators and became the first president of the old Chamber of Commerce, and when that body and the Board of Trade were consoli- dated, forming the Lorain Board of Com- merce, he became the first vice-president of the latter. He is a member of the First Meth- odist church, as is Mrs. Thompson.

FREEMAN R. RAWDON, a prominent and suc- cessful farmer of Windsor township, Ashta -- bula county, Ohio, was born in that township. February 7, 1833, and is a son of Daniel and Amorett (Goddard ) Rawdon. His grand- father, Samuel Rawdon, was born in 1774, in Tolland, Connecticut, and died in 1846. He came to Ohio in 1813, with an ox-team, and settled in the northwest part of Windsor town -- ship, on a farm. He built a sawmill to run by water power. Samuel Rawdon married Abigail Winslow, born in 1774. died in 1867, and their children were: Stephen, deceased : Daniel; Lydia, Mrs. Baker, deceased; Weal- thea, Mariva, Ariel, Ezra. and Roxie, the youngest, all deceased.

Daniel Rawdon was born in Tolland, Con- necticut. August 3, 1808, and died March 31. 1899. He came to Ohio with his parents when four years of age. He became a farmer and was also a great hunter, and sold some of his game. He killed over six hundred deer, as well as elks, bears, wolves, etc. He was highly es- teemed by his neighbors, had a multitude of friends, and was called "Uncle" by nearly all who knew him. He served as road super- visor and school director, and two or three

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terms as township trustee. Mr. Rawdon mar- ried Amorett Goddard, born in 1805, died in 1851, and their children were: Rosanna, born in 1831, died unmarried, in 1872 ; Freeman R .; Jeduthan, born in 1837, died unmarried in 1860, was a musician; and Rodelia, born in 1839, died in 1906, unmarried.

Freeman R. Rawdon attended school in his native township and later worked on his father's farm. He worked fourteen years in a shingle mill, and also worked in a sawmill, carrying on his farm at the same time. He put in a circular saw in a mill and ran it, and owned half interest in Hartsgrove Township Mill, but sold it many years ago. He used to buy and clear land, clearing it and using the lumber in his mill. He now owns 300 acres of land, and carries on general farming. He takes great interest in public affairs, and is affiliated with the Republican party. He is a member of Windsor Lodge, No. 329, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and has been through the chairs and is now past grand ; he is also a member of the Encampment, and has passed through the chairs, and has served many years as treasurer of the Encampment and the subordinate lodge. His wife is a mem- ber of the Rebekah Lodge of Windsor, of which she has served as treasurer.

Mr. Rawdon married, in 1872, Josephine. daughter of Selden and Sally Ann ( Howes) Pound, born December 1, 1838, and they have one son, George. George Rawdon was born November 19, 1873, and lives at home. He married May Baker. He has been engaged in mercantile business, has worked at farming, and at present is handling real estate. He is a member of Hartsgrove Lodge, A. F. & A. M. He also belongs to Windsor Lodge, No. 329, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and to the Encampment, having passed through the chairs in both. He is. a Republican in politics and has served four years as township clerk. He is a young man of enterprise and ambition, and is well liked and popular. He has had good business training, and his future is prom- ising.

EDWARD BURR, of Concord township, whose residence is on the old girdled road, which was built in 1798, situated five and one-half miles southeast of Painesville, was born in Hart- ford, Connecticut, January 7, 1843. He is a son of David and Mariette (Rowley) Burr. both natives of Connecticut. David Burr was a shoemaker, and came to Concord in 1849,

there following his trade on his farm at the corners. He did custom work, securing the same from Cleveland, and his two sons also worked in the shop. David Burr died at Con- cord about 1898, over eighty years of age. His father, Roswell Burr, came to Ohio be- fore 1849, and lived in Chardon, Geauga county. He also was a shoemaker, and lived to be over eighty years of age. David Burr's wife died before her husband. They had four sons and one daughter, and the oldest son. Charles, married and lived in Connecticut. The others are: John, a shoemaker, living in Char- don; Edward; Fred, was a farmer and lived on the old homestead, but when going down hill one day he was instantly killed, his head being run over by a loaded wagon; and Ett- lalia, married Carlos Baker, who died, and she lives on the old plank road in Concord.

Edward Burr enlisted in the Union Army, August 12, 1862, in Company D, Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served to the close of the war with this company. He took part in the battles of Dumfries. Ringold, Mission- ary Ridge, Atlanta, and also in the Gettysburg campaign. He was discharged with his regi- ment, after the Grand Review at Washington.

At the close of the war Mr. Burr returned to the trade of shoemaker, first with his father, and later in company with his brother John. at Montville. He afterward worked in stone quarries and helped in building bridges, work- ing on a great many stone and brick bridges, on almost every one along Big Creek. He also worked on the Chardon road at teaming and helped on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, from Painesville to Chardon, and trestle work on the grade; he was dredging and ballasting. three or four years. In 1874 he secured his present farm of ninety-four and one-half acres, which has since been his residence, and where he has successfully carried on general farm- ing. He is well known for enterprise and thrift, and is a patriotic, public-spirited citizen.

Mr. Burr married, April 26, 1866, Martha, daughter of Jesse and Lucy (Curtis) Emer- son, born in Chardon township, Geauga county. near her present home. Jesse Emerson was born in Painesville, September 17, 1812, and his daughter Martha was twenty years of age at the time of her marriage. Mr. Burr and his wife had four children, namely : Cora, mar- ried Clarence Thaver, of Painesville : Charlie, married Clara Little, of Perry, and works in a grocery store in Painesville : Ruby, married Louie Rust, who works in the Nickle Plate

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Milling Company ; and Mattie, living at home. Mrs. Burr is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church.

STEPHEN PETER HARTZELL, a real estate and insurance dealer in Wadsworth, a member of the firm of Allen & Hartzell, was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, December I, 1857, a son of Samuel and Lydia ( Heller ) Hartzell, the father a weaver by trade. The son attended first the schools of Windgap, Pennsylvania, later was in school in the vicin- ity of Wadsworth, and he completed his edu- cational training in the Mennonite College. He first came to Ohio in 1877, when he located at Norton, but three months later he came to Wadsworth, and from here in 1880 he went to Akron to engage in the bookbinding business. During one year from 1888 he was engaged in the grocery business, after which he re- sumed work along his former line, continuing as a book binder from 1889 to 1902, and then elected the secretary of the Board of Under- writers for the city of Akron he served in that position for two years. He was then appointed, through the civil service of the federal gov- ernment, to a position in the book binding de- partment of the government printing office. Following the termination of that position in 1907 Mr. Hartzell embarked in the real estate business in the city of Washington, and on the Ist of June, 1908, returned to Wadsworth. He has served as member of the board of edu- cation of Akron from April, 1899, to April, 1901 ; during his term he was instrumental in establishing free night schools for the city of Akron.

He married Miss Cora F. Kremer, of this city, and they have one son, Leslie K. Mr. Hartzell is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity.

JOHN G. WIEGAND, although a resident of Amherst township and of the United States for less than nineteen years, has proven his substantial German ability, and has but lately purchased a good farm, upon which he is liv- ing and to whose cultivation and improvement he is devoting himself with spirit and determi- nation. He is a native of Hesse-Cassel, Ger- many, born July 13, 1865, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Gesberg) Wiegand. His father is a wagon maker and is still busy at his trade in Germany.

In 1891 Mr. Wiegand came to this country, settling first at South Amherst, where he was

employed for several years by the Cleveland Stone Company. Ambitious for a more inde- pendent career, however, he rented a farm of some fifty acres from the James Nicholl estate on North Ridge, and made such a success of his venture that he in 1910 purchased the prop- erty. Mr. Wiegand is a citizen of integrity and morality, having been connected since boy- hood with the Evangelical Lutheran church, to which he also owes his education in the paro- chial schools. His wife, Mary Grant Cham- bers, whom he married on March 7, 1904, is a Scotch lady, who was born in Dundee and emigrated to Amherst township during the year of his own coming, 1891, and made her home with her aunt, the late Mrs. James Nicholl, Sr., remaining with that lady until the death of Mrs. Nicholl.

EUGENE J. NORTON .- A practical and pros- perous agriculturist of Lake county, Eugene J. Norton displays much ability and skill in his chosen work, his farm, pleasantly located one mile southeast of Perry village, being in an excellent state of cultivation, furnished with good buildings and plenty of machinery of the most approved kinds for successfully carrying on his labors. A son of Nelson Norton, he was born July 10, 1849, in Perry, on what is now the Lake Shore right-of-way, near Lane Station. His grandfather, Joseph Norton, a native of Massachusetts, was one of the pio- neer settlers of Perry.

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 100

Author: Upton, Harriet Taylor; Cutler, Harry Gardner, 1856- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 886

Author: Upton, Harriet Taylor; Cutler, Harry Gardner, 1856-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 886