History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 102

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 102

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Thomas Webster, son of Governor John Webster, was next in direct line of descent to Edward F. Webster, of Wellington. He mar- ried Abigail Alexander, and their fourth child and second son was John, of the third genera- tion. John Webster married first, Elizabeth

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and after her death Grace Loomis, and moved to Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1699, becoming one of the first settlers there. His fourth child and third son by his first mar- riage was Thomas, of the fourth generation. Thomas Webster married Lydia Lyman and moved to Bolton, Connecticut, in 1751. Their seventh child and fifth son was David, of the fifth generation. David Webster married Mary Wilcox, and their third child and first son was David, of the sixth generation. David Webster married Hannah Post, and among their children was William W. Webster, who when a young man moved to Illinois, where he married, and where he died, and there his de- scendants still reside.

Russel Bidwell Webster, of the seventh gen- eration, was the second child and first son of David and Hannah Webster. He was born April 25, 1799, at Otis, Massachusetts, was reared on his father's farm, and attended the common schools, completing his education at the academy at Lenox, Massachusetts. In 1820 he made the journey on foot from Otis to Wellington, carrying a fifty-pound pack on his back. He was a man of remarkable phys- ical endurance. During the last days of his journey to Wellington he walked forty miles in a snow storm, with snow nearly a foot deep at the close of day. Arriving here he bought a farm of 100 acres, cleared it and erected a log building thereon. But before doing a day's work in the work of clearing, he inter- ested himself in the establishing of regular or stated religious meetings in the neighborhood. He was not a church man himself, but his early religious teachings had been so thoroughly in- stilled that he could not endure the idea of the settlement being without some religious organization and a suitable observance of the Sabbath. This incident tends to show the moral and religious fiber of the young men of the east who came into the new west to make their homes in the then wilderness, though many of them, like Mr. Webster, were not church members at the time of their coming. Russel Webster's purpose in coming to the Western Reserve was not only for the pur- pose of building himself a home, but also to blaze the way for his father and the family. Betsey, the eldest child of David Webster, married Josiah B. Manley, and in about 1822 they joined her brother Russel in Wellington, and Mr. Manley's was the first death to occur in the neighborhood. In 1823 David and Han- nah Webster. the parents, and their sons. Oli-

ver and William, and their daughter Mary. joined the others in Wellington. Oliver mar- ried Melissa Babcock, and their children were : Amelia, unmarried; Emerson, who moved to Colorado and died there unmarried; Emmer- jane, who married Charles H. Bowers and re- sides in Wellington; Henry W., who married first, Delia Cannon, and after her death Flor- ence Brown, and they reside in Oberlin vil- lage, Lorain county ; Philena, who died un- married; and Alonzo D., who lives at the old farm near Wellington, yet unmarried. Mary R. Webster married Almanza Hamlin. Three children were born to them: David, Henry B. and Arthur, all dead but Henry B., who now resides in Wellington. David Webster, the father, was an active church member in Mas- sachusetts, but strange as it may seem it was not until they came into the woods of Ohio that his wife or children joined the church.

In 1824 Russel B. Webster returned to Mas- sachusetts and married Orpha Hunter, born at Otis, of that state, November 26, 1799, and in the spring of 1825 he brought his bride to Wellington, with all their household goods loaded on a wagon drawn by oxen. Mr. E. F. Webster, of Wellington, has in his possession two old mirrors brought by his father and grandfather from Massachusetts, also the old Webster Bible which was printed in 1712. David Webster died at the age of ninety-six years, and his wife Hannah when eighty-four years of age, and all of their children are de- ceased. Russel B. Webster moved with his wife from the farm to Wellington in 1870, and resided with their son Edward until their deaths, Russel dying on the 3Ist of January, 1881, and his wife Orpha on the 2d of April, 1882. Russel B. Webster built the first frame house in Wellington, and in the early days of the history of this community he was one of its most active citizens, a man of powerful physical ability, of splendid endurance, of the most sterling character and of strong convic- tions. He was very active in church work in those days, and was all in all a perfect type of the old-time Puritan. Nine children were born into his family. Samuel H., the eldest, was born September 15, 1825. Moving to Shelbyville, Illinois, he established himself in the general mercantile business and became a prominent and influential citizen. He was es- pecially active and influential during, the Civil war period, a great force and aid to the gov- ernment in those troublesome times. He died on the Ioth of July. 1905, and his wife died

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on the 12th of September, 1898. He had mar- ried, on the 21st of January, 1856, Lucy A. Jagger, and their children are Charles M., Mary L., Lucy Belle, Leverett S. and Ada, Lucy Belle being deceased. Charles M. and Leverett S. are now prominent business men in Shelbyville. E. Bidwell Webster, born April I, 1827, married, on January 21, 1854, Lucy Billings. He was a civil engineer, and died in Wellington on September 7, 1856. His wife died on the 7th of September, 1857, an infant daughter, born after her husband's death, hav- ing previously died. M. Leander Webster, born January 27, 1829, married on May 31, 1882, Emma J. Windell. He located in Shel- byville, Illinois, and enlisting in the Civil war in 1861 he was commissioned captain of a company of the Seventh Regiment, Illinois Cavalry, and he served three years with dis- tinction and unusual bravery. He was severely wounded by a sabre cut in the head, this wound eventually causing his death. He moved to Iowa late in life, and he died there on the 4th of May, 1900. David Philander Webster, born November 5, 1830, died on May 9, 1832. Philander R. Webster, born Febru- ary 10, 1833, married on April 15, 1862, Elea- nor M. Bryant. He was commissioned cap- tain of an Illinois company during the Civil war, and he died on the 14th of April, 1884, as the result of injuries received during his service. He had no children. William W. Webster, born November 26, 1835, married on February 4. 1873. Mary I. Bryan. He went to Colorado in 1859, and became very promi- nent there. He was made the president of the upper house of the first territorial legisla- ture, and later was chairman of the committee having: charge of the matter of admitting Colo- rado territory into the Union as a state. In that convention an historical incident occurred, which, though seemingly of small importance at the time, had a bearing of great weight on history then in the making. The committee had their arrangements complete and the date set for the admission of the territory as a state fixed for the first of the next year. January I, 1877, when Mr. Webster grasped the idea that that date would prevent the participation of the new state in the then impending presiden- tial election. The matter was brought by him to the attention of the committee and met with instant response and the date brought forward. Colorado voted, and gave to Hayes her elec- toral vote, which gave him a majority in the election college and made him president of

the United States. Mr. Webster was a suc- cessful man of affairs in Colorado, but after a time, owing to the ill health of his family, he moved to Pasadena, California, where he is now residing. Their children are Eva, Mabel and Wilton. Elvira Loret, born January 4. 1838, died on the 16th of December, 1840, as the result of an accident. Edward F. Web- ster was the eighth child born to Russel and Orpha Webster. Leveret F. Webster was born December 3, 1842, and died on the 29th of January, 1861, his death also occurring from an accident.

Edward F. Webster was born on the 24th of April, 1840. On the 26th of August, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company H, Second Regiment of Ohio Cavalry, and he was made the corporal of his company. After one year's service with the Second Regiment he was transferred to the Twenty-fifth Independent Ohio Battery, which was made up of details of the Second Regiment, and Mr. Webster be- came the fifth corporal of the battery, later became its first sergeant, subsequently its first lieutenant, and during the last year of the war he served on the staff of Major General J. J. Reynolds, as chief ordnance officer of the de- partment of Arkansas. He re-enlisted as a veteran at Little Rock, Arkansas, on January 4, 1864, previous to his last promotion, and was discharged from the service on the 12th of December, 1865, after serving at the front over four years, and successively under Gen- erals Schofield, Blount, Herron, Davidson, Steele and Reynolds. Returning from the war he in the spring of 1868 engaged with the firm of Starr & Horr, cheese manufacturers, and one year later was made a partner in the business, the firm then becoming Horr, War- ner & Company. This was for many years the largest cheese manufacturing concern in the west, the company operating at one time (including those operated by a branch house ) as many as twenty-five factories. This firm acquired vegetable farms at Lodi, Creston and Orrville. Ohio, taking in W. R. Wean as a partner, the farm department being conducted under the firm name of Wean, Horr, Warner & Company, but the cheese department was continued under the name of Horr. Warner & Company as before. In 1897, however, the two were consolidated and incorporated under the corporate name of the Horr-Warner Com- pany, as it still continues, Mr. Webster being the president of the corporation. The Horr- Warner Company conducts the largest busi-

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ness in its line in the entire United States. Mr. Webster has for many years taken an active part in the affairs of Wellington, and for twenty-four years he was continuously a member of its board of education, and was for fifteen years of that time the board's presi- dent. He has been a trustee of the Welling- ton public library since 1896, and for some years the president of the board. He has been a member of the First Congregational church since 1868, and he is also a member of the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion.

Mr. Webster married Flora Ladd on De- cember 3, 1870. She was born at Danville, Vermont, on the 18th of May, 1846, a daugh- ter of Edward and Sophia (Gooking) Ladd. There have been three children of this union, hut Florence, the first born, her birth occurring on April 24, 1873, died on the 10th of Febru- ary, 1887. Leveret F., born on the 8th of January, 1875, is yet at the parental home. Edward F. Webster, Jr., born January 1, 1877, married on January 11, 1906, Ora Mae Foote, and he died on the 16th of September, 1906.

ALBION MORRIS DYER, curator of the West- ern Reserve Historical Society, was born at Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, January 16, 1858. He was the youngest son of Elbridge Gerry Dyer, a pioneer manufacturer, who came from his birthplace in Saco, Maine, about the year 1840, settled at Columbus, and removed in 1847 to Hamilton, where he built up a plant on the water power there for the manufacture of stoves, engines, saw mills and threshing ma- chines. The family was established in Amer- ica by William Dyer, a first settler of Hing- ham, Massachusetts, who located in York county in 1665, being one of the original set- tlers in that part of Maine. His mother was the daughter of the Rev. William Teyer, a Welsh preacher and farmer. She was born in 1825, at Amlwch, Anglesea Isle, North Wales, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. She came with her parents to Ohio in 1829, and settled with many of their countrymen at Radnor, Delaware county, Ohio.

Mr. Dyer was raised at Hamilton, where he attended the public school. He prepared for college at Dayton, Ohio, and graduated at Madison University (now Colgate) in the Class of 1884, with the degree of A. B., and received the post-graduate degree of A. M. from the Western Reserve University in 1906. He was a journalist for many years, but re- tiring in 1904, was placed in charge of the

Historical Society, of which he is a life men- ber. He is engaged in historical and biblio- graphical research and study in the special field of Ohio history.

Mr. Dyer married Ella Maria Dunham, daughter of Truman and Angeline Eliza (Griswold) Dunham, June 23, 1886, at the home of her grandfather, Giles Oliver Gris- wold, of Warren, Ohio. She was born at No. 44 Cheshire street (now East Nineteenth street ), Cleveland, January 21, 1864, being a descendant on both sides of early settlers of Massachusetts and Connecticut. She was raised in Cleveland, attended the Rockwell Street School, the Central High School and Cooper Seminary, Dayton. There are four children : Elbridge Griswold Dyer, born May 15, 1887; Sydney Dunham Dyer, born Janu- ary 13, 1889; Dorothy Dyer, born June 17, 1890, and Truman Dunham Dyer, January 26. 1896. The family residence is at No. 1905 East Seventy-third street, Cleveland.

WILLIAM T. WEST .- Within two days of four score years and four, on June 13, 1899. William T. West passed away, after a severe sickness of several weeks, and passed from those scenes which had fixed his personality in Sandusky as one of its leading citizens. His life culminated in two grand results-the greatness of his practical works and the en- nobling influences of his character. His chari- ties were performed out of the goodness of his heart, and he was sincerely grateful that he was so often enabled to assist his fellows; but he seemed to consider it little short of an insult to imply by word or action that he looked for even the simple word-reward of "well done." Sandusky will long search for one who was more truly helpful or more rug- gedly honest than William T. West. He was of New England stock, Abel West, his grand- father, having been born in Vernon, Connecti- cut, in the month of May, 1747. He was at- tending church when a messenger announced that the British were in sight off New London. He promptly shouldered his fowling piece and took his stand with the other patriots to wing any red-coat who might set foot on Connecti- cut soil. Later General Trumbull detailed him to collect provisions for Washington's army. and he sold his farm to give his entire time to that work. He died at Pittsfield, Massachu- setts, in 1836, having moved thither in 1800. His son Abel bought an eighty-acre farm near that place, earned a good livelihood from it

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and became influential in his locality, in 1842 being sent to the legislature. He married Miss Matilda Thompson and died in February, 1871, father of seven children, three of the sons coming to Ohio. The eldest, Professor Charles E. West, was born in 1809, graduated from Union College in 1832, and for many years was at the head of the Brooklyn Heights Semi- nary, Brooklyn, New York; A. K. and T. D. West located in Sandusky, and at different times were in business with William T. A. K. West came to Sandusky in 1837 and died here in 1880, at the age of sixty-three; T. D. lo- cated in the city in 1850, and became well known both as a merchant and a citizen of public affairs. The only son still living is Gilbert West, an extensive property holder at Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

William T. West was born on the home farm at Washington Mountain, near Pitts- field, June 15, 1815, and in his boyhood and youth learned the trades of brick-making and cabinet-making. The latter was his stand-by for many years, and in 1835 he commenced his westward migrations by going to Albany, New York, where he entered a cabinet shop. His first contract was for thirty tables to be used by the state legislators, and he made them so honestly that it is said they are still in use. With the oncoming of the panic of 1837 he determined to venture still westward, either to Cincinnati or Columbus, where he had friends. He reached Buffalo, where by mistake his bag- gage was placed aboard the Sandusky boat. The young man discovered the mistake just as the boat was leaving the dock, but although he jumped into the water, overtook his bag- gage and explained the situation, the captain insisted on continuing the trip to Sandusky. Thus force of circumstances made Mr. West a resident of that community.

Mr. West first opened a cabinet shop on Water street ; two years later sold his business and was about to leave Sandusky when his brother, A. K. West, suggested they engage in general merchandise. They remained associ- ated not only in that enterprise until 1880, or the death of the latter, but in various other large and successful ventures. The combina- tion was considered ideal, William T. being aggressive and resourceful, and A. K., eco- nomical, cool and conservative. In 1848 they erected the West House, which was long the finest hotel in northern Ohio, and considered so much in advance of the local requirements that the scoffers called it West's Folly. But

it paid its builder and proprietor, and was of advantage to Sandusky in calling general at- tention to its enterprise. Strictly speaking, the building was originally erected for business purposes and was not really converted into a hotel until 1858, or the year of the state fair. Mr. West bought fine furniture and other equipments in New York, and during the fair season it accommodated more than 2,000 guests and put the "Hotel Folly" on its finan- cial feet. Afterward he spent large sums of money in altering and re-furnishing it. He built the Mahala block and many other build- ings. Early in the Civil war he went to Wash- ington, secured the contract and erected for the government the famous Johnson's Island prison, where thousands of Confederate pris- oners were later confined. He was also presi- dent of the first steamboat company organized in Sandusky. One of the most remarkable fea- tures of Mr. West's building achievements was that he never employed an architect, but, al- though not technically educated, designed his own buildings with the skill of a veteran. Mr. West attended Grace Episcopal church and for twenty years was director of the choir. In his earlier manhood he had a voice of remark- able richness and of such range that he could sing, either tenor or bass, and taught many classes in vocal music. In 1845 he married Miss Lydia Mahala Todd, their union being the first celebrated in Grace church proper. His married life was most happy. At his death there were present at his bedside his wife; two sons, William G. and George C. West; two daughters, Mrs. Carrie West Jor- dan and Mrs. C. L. Hubbard, and his brother. Gilbert West. of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

WILLIAM NORRIS LITTLE, one of the leading and substantial citizens of Lorain, Ohio, was born in Wallaceburg, county of Kent, Canada. August 2, 1866. He is a son of Daniel and Sophia (Drulard) Little. Daniel Little's father was George Little, a native of Pennsyl- vania; the town of Littleton, West Virginia, was named in honor of the family. They were of Scotch-Irish descent. George Little was born in Pennsylvania, and when a boy went with his father, James Little, to Canada : George Little lived in Canada the remainder of his life, and died there in 1874, at the age of eighty-one years. As a young man he took part in the war of 1812, on the side of the English, being known as a United Empire Loyalist. William N. Little, his grandson, has

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in his possession the gun carried by George Little. He married Margaret McCollum, a Scotchwoman, who was among the settlers brought by Lord Selkirk to Canada from Scot- land.

Daniel Little was born in Canada in 1825, and died in 1880; his wife was born on the River Thames, in the county of Kent, near Chatham, in 1831, and died in 1886. Her father was a farmer and lumberman.

The bovhood of William Norris Little was passed in Canada, and he was educated in his native town. At the age of thirteen years he began working, in a local stave mill, receiving twenty-five cents a day. He learned telegra- phy and spent about a year and a half at that occupation, and later became clerk in a gen- eral store in his native town. Subsequently he became a traveling salesman with a Toronto firm, remaining in their employ about three years.

In 1891 Mr. Little came to the United States, locating in Lorain, and traveled for the boot and shoe firm of George W. Cady & Company, of Cleveland, ten years, after which he engaged in real estate operations. He has dealt largely in land around Lorain, and helped organize the Home Building Company, of which he now serves as treasurer. He is also a director in the Northeastern Ohio Real Estate Company, which owns the postoffice, Century building, the Flemish building and many other fine buildings, erected upon improved property sold to them by Mr. Little. He is president of the Board of Commerce, one of the largest organizations of its kind in the state, and presi- dent of the Real Estate Exchange. He is a director in the Rapid Account File Company and a trustee of the Stang Estate. Mr. Little reorganized the Lorain Board of Commerce, known as the Board of Trade, and the Cham- ber of Commerce, which were consolidated ; he was one of the prime movers in the con- solidation. He is a keen judge of real estate, also of other business possibilities, and is a keen, enterprising man of affairs. He has been a most useful citizen of Lorain, and as such is universally esteemed.

Mr. Little married Hattie E., daughter of Orlando and Mary Allen, born at Bothwell, Canada. Her grandfather was an officer in the British army, and emigrated to Canada ; he was a son of Sir Simon Allen, of England. Mr. and Mrs. Little have two children, Rowe Gilmour and Ethel Norrine.

HENRY W. INGERSOLL is prominently known as one of the leading members of the Lorain county bar. He was born on the old Ingersoll farm in Grafton township, Lorain county, the same farm which was also the birthplace of his father and for many years the home of his grandfather, and he yet owns this ancestral estate. He is a son of George M. and Mary (Preston) Ingersoll, a grandson of William Ingersoll and a great-grandson of Major Will- iam Ingersoll who came from Lee, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, to Lorain county, Ohio, in the year of 1816, and was the first member of the family to settle upon the ancestral farm in Grafton township.

From the public schools of Elyria Henry W. Ingersoll entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and pursued part of its literary course and its full law course and graduated with its class of 1885. He began the practice of law at Elyria in 1886, in partnership with Lester McLean, but the firm of McLean and Ingersoll was dissolved in 1891 at the time Mr. McLean moved to Denver, Colorado. The present law firm of Ingersoll and Stetson was organized in July of 1903. Mr. Ingersoll is the president of the Cadillac Veneer Company of Cadillac, Michigan, is the first vice presi- dent of The Elyria Savings and Banking Com- pany, the president of The Elyria Savings and Loan Company, and he is the secretary of various other corporations and during the past fifteen years has been one of the trustees of the Elyria Library. He is one of the representa- tive citizens of Elyria and one of its most cap- able lawyers.

He married May Belle Hamilton, who was born in Berea, Ohio, a daughter of Leonard G. and Cassandria M. Hamilton. A daughter and a son have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ingersoll, Mary Cassandria and Henry Walter Ingersoll.

Mr. Ingersoll is a member of King. Solo- mon Lodge, F. & A. M., Marshall Chapter, R. A. M., and Elyria Council, R. & S. M. He procured the site for the present Masonic Tem- ple and gave the charter for the Masonic Tem- ple Company and was the first president of the organization and was very active in its affairs from its organization. He is a member of the First Congregational church for more than thirty years and has held several offices in the society and has served as superintendent of the Sunday school.

H.Ingersoll

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STEPHEN B. PARSONS, long identified with the agricultural interests of Rootstown town- ship and one of the township's native sons, born on the 12th of February, 1851, is a son of John S. and Lucy S. ( Wolcott) Parsons, both from Hampton, Massachusetts, and he is a grandson of Jonathan Parsons and Stephen Wolcott. John S. Parsons and Lucy S. Wol- cott were married in Massachusetts, and in 1831 they came to Portage county, Ohio, and located on land belonging to his uncle. He and his brother Chauncey were given this farm if they would improve it, which they did, each receiving 150 acres, and John S. Parsons not only cleared and improved his tract but also added to its boundaries until it in time included 200 acres, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives and died. Mr. Par- sons returned to Massachusetts on a visit after his first eight years here. Of his children, two are now living, and the daughter is Lucy, the wife of J. W. Seymour, of Rootstown town- ship.

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 102

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