History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 104

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 104

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The maiden name of the wife of David Camp was Elizabeth Root. She was born in Connecticut July 26, 1784, and married Mr. Camp on December 1, 1803. She was well acquainted with the domestic arts, being able to card, spin and weave, and during the war of 1812 wove saddle girths for the soldiers. With her husband she shared all of the trials and dangers of pioneer life in her Ohio home. and had many thrilling experiences. On re- turning home one morning from the bedside of a sick neighbor, who lived several miles away, she suddenly espied a bear standing in her Dath. She stopped, looked at the bear and

began talking to him. Soon the beast moved to one side, and she passed him, but did not dare to take her eyes off him, but walked backward until out of his sight. She sur- vived her first husband, married Deacon Hol- ton, and resided in Lyme township, Huron county, until her death, November 26, 1877, in the ninety-fourth year of her age. By her first union she reared six children, namely : Caroline, Harry, Albert, Rachel, Elizabeth and James Londen. Mrs. Rachel (Camp) Stahl was the mother of seven children, namely : Mary, Martha, George, Harlow C., Almera, Albert and Charles.

After his graduation from the Fremont high school, Harlow C. Stahl took a commercial course at Oberlin, being graduated in 1871 from that institution. When seventeen years old he taught school one term, and then began to assist his father on the homestead. At the age of eighteen years he began farming on his own account on the parental farm, making a specialty of raising hops. Going to Washing- ton county, Kansas, in the fall of 1869, Mr. Stahl pre-empted a quarter section of land, built a dugout, in which he spent the winter, and at the end of six months proved up on his claim. Returning home, he resumed hop cul- ture, and subsequently bought sixty-six acres of land lying about two miles from Fremont, and while engaged in farming there began the manufacture of cultivators. With the assist- ance of one man, he first made ten cultivators, which he took, one at a time, behind a buggy, and sold. He then manufactured twenty-five more, which he readily sold. and then made fifty, the greater part of which he disposed of. The next year, taking a partner, Mr. Stahl made 200 cultivators, and each succeeding year the business increased, becoming so large in 1882 that he formed a company known as the Fremont Cultivator Company, capitalizing it at $10,000, and Mr. Stahl was its president and treasurer. In 1886 the capital was increased to $50.000, and the company was removed to Bellevue, where the Bellevue Power House was purchased, and the name of the firm was changed to that of the Ohio Cultivator Com- pany, Mr. Stahl becoming its president and treasurer. This company has had an almost marvelous growth, the capital now being $700, -. 000, while the plant, in which hundreds of men are employed, covers acres of space. The business has been extended to various states, the company now having plants in Dallas, Texas, and in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with stor-

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age warehouses at Philadelphia, Kansas City, Memphis, Tennessee, and Peoria, Illinois. Mr. Stahl has also been president of the Bellevue Savings Bank since its organization.

On October 21, 1874, Mr. Stalil married Annie Mitchell, who was born in Southbury, New Haven county, Connecticut, February 3, 1856. Her father, Nelson Warren Mitchell, was born on the same farm that she was, being a son of Cyrus Mitchell, a lifelong resident of Connecticut. That farm was reclaimed from the forest by the emigrant ancestor of the fam- ily, Eleazer Mitchell, one of the very first white men to settle in that state, and has never been out of the possession of the family, having been handed down from generation to genera- tion, being. now owned and occupied by a brother of Mrs. Stahl. Nelson W. Mitchell died August 31, 1904, at an advanced age. His wife, whose maiden name was Edna Platt, was born in Southbury. Connecticut, a daughter of David and Julia (Northrup) Platt, coming on both sides of the house of distinguished an- cestry, the Platts being an old and honored family of Milford, Connecticut, while the Northrups were equally as prominent in New York state. She died in June, 1907, leaving three children, Edward, Annie and Charles. Mr. and Mrs. Stahl have four children, name- ly : Edna R., wife of Joseph E. Marvin ; Alice E. married Daniel Seltzer ; Marion B., wife of Henry M. Schofield; and Harlow M. Re- ligiously Mr. and Mrs. Stahl are members of the Congregational church. Fraternally Mr. Stahl is a member of Bellevue Lodge, No. 273. F. & A. M. ; of Norwalk Commandery, No. 18, K. T .; and of Lake Erie Consistory, of Cleve- land.

JAHIAL PARMLY .- The Parmly family em- braces some of the oldest and most interesting pioneers of Lake county and the Western Re- serve, the so-called "Old Mansion," on the shores of Lake Erie at Perry, having been one of the landmarks of the region for three-quar- ters of a century. The family pioneer was the grandfather of Jahial, Eleazer, a Vermont farmer, who moved to New York in 1816 and in the following year made a winter trip to the Western Reserve, continuing to reside in what is now Lake county until his death July 4, 1825. While driving on the lake shore ice to his new home he broke through the crust into the water and narrowly escaped drowning. He first settled on the river road in Perry town- ship, but a year later built a log cabin on the

banks of Lake Erie, its site afterward being that of the "Old Mansion." His son, Jahial, was born in Vermont July 14, 1790, and when he came to the Western Reserve with other men- bers of the family immediately took his place among the frontiersmen as one of their expert wood-choppers. He was an active worker in constructing the first saw mill on the creek and was among those who proved their faith in the enterprise by carrying the iron used in the - plant from an old furnace near Painesville, six miles distant, its means of conveyance being his own strong, back. In 1821 Jahial, Sr., went to Boston to study dentistry, and afterward practiced for some time in Georgia and other sections of the south. afterward returning to Ohio and purchasing 6,000 acres of choice land in the vicinity of Perry and Painesville, where he died May 26, 1873. His wife was known, before marriage, as Eliza Pleasants. She was a native of Richmond, Virginia, born August 2, 1799, and died March 2, 1891. Of the nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Jahial Parmly, Jahial, Jr., James, Henry, Samuel, David and Leo reached adult life.

Jahial Parmly, Jr., was born in Augusta, Georgia, on April 27, 1830, and was about three years of age when his father returned to. Ohio and settled on his magnificent estate on Lake Erie. As stated, it was the senior Jahial who built the "Mansion," and his son of the same name was educated to follow in his pro- fessional path. The boy attended school at Madison Academy and in Painesville, and at the age of twenty entered Baltimore Dental College. After his graduation he practiced four years, but his strong business inclination then drew him into the lumber business at Van Wert, Ohio, in which he continued until 1861. He built the fourth steam saw mill in Van Wert county, but finally returned to his old home in Perry and settled on his 500-acre farm. He also owned a grist mill on Harper creek, and was in every way a worthy son of his energetic and honorable father. On July 5, 1855, Mr. Parmly wedded Miss Martha J. Priddy, of Van Wert, Ohio, and four children were born to them: Ida A., who married John Cramblett and became the mother of Eugene P., Marion F., Grace, Ira and John ; Augusta G., now Mrs. Whitney ; Eugene P. and Cecil F. (twins), the former of whom died at the age of fifteen and the latter, at twenty-seven. The mother of the family died February 16, 1892.

David Charles Parmly, a brother of Jahial Parmly, was born in the "Old Mansion" July

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HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

28, 1840, and died there December 29, 1869, in his thirtieth year. He was educated for the dental profession at the University of Mary- land, but never practiced. On October 15. 1863, he married Miss Emma Burns, who is still living in Painesville. There is one son, viz :- David Parmly, aged twenty, who is liv- ing with his widowed mother, but is at present pursuing a course at Cornell University.

Annals of the Parmly family are extant in- dicating that it was early identified with the history of Belgium. Maurice de Parmelie was one of the supporters of William of Orange in the uprising of the Netherlands against the cruelties of the Spanish governor and general, the notorious Duke of Alva. For his part in that historic contest. in 1567. Maurice was obliged to flee to Holland, his estate being seized and confiscated by the Spanish op -. pressors. He it was who founded the house of Von Parmelee, and his third son was baron of Batavia. New England records show that John Parmelee, aged twenty, was a passenger on the "Elizabeth and Anne," and settled in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1635. The present spelling of the family name was adopted in 1810.

ALBERT HARMON .- For three generations the Harmon family has been connected, in a practical and prominent way, with the estab- lishment and progress of the industries, agri- culture and commerce of Ashtabula. Albert Harmon, the present-day representative, has spent his entire life on the ancestral farm, now located in the East Village, and is living com- fortably and happily in the house erected by his father, Edwin, one of the most enterprising business men, manufacturers and founders of the lake marine who ever resided in Ashtabula. In 1828, when this residence was erected, busi- ness and building, were both conducted with a view to permanency rather than pure expe- dition and temporary profits. The rooms were not only large and airy and the woodwork sub- stantial, but honestly put together, and the massive heavy doors that were hung more than eighty years ago still swing as true as they did in 1828.

Annan Harmon, the grandfather, was born and reared in Massachusetts, coming to Ohio with his family in 1812 and settling on the east side of Ashtabula creek, where, with the faithful and valuable assistance and manage- ment of his son Edwin, he cleared a large tract of wild land and improved a good home-

stead. The son mentioned erected the neces- sary farm buildings and was engaged in active farming and the superintendence of the family estate until the death of his father Annan, at the venerable age of eighty-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Annan Harmon became the parents of five daughters and two sons. Two of the daughters, Achsah and Polly, spent the greater part of their lives in East Village near the old home farm; Annan, the younger son, died at the age of fifty years ; and Edwin Harmon, the elder son, was for many years an esteemed and active citizen of Ashtabula county.

Edwin Harmon was born in Massachusetts May 6, 1803, being but a young lad when he came with his parents to the Reserve. Always energetic and enterprising, when a young man he secured the contract to carry the mail from Erie to Cleveland, and soon introduced the first four-horse stages used in this part of the state. His route was along the east side of the creek, as the most popular taverns were thereby ac- commodated ; but the Hubbard family started a rival stage route on the west side, establislı- ing taverns along the way under their control. Mr. Harmon then put on more horses, so that he was able to furnish fresh relays every six or seven miles. Although his business flour- ished for some time, he soon perceived that the tide of settlement had turned to the west side : but when he sold his route he proved how strong was his sense of justice by making a contract which guaranteed that stages would continue to stop at the east side taverns as long as they existed. They were soon closed, how- ever, and all the stages crossed to the west side, which at once assumed importance and has since grown into the present beautiful city of Ashtabula.

About 1839 Edwin Harmon became inter- ested in the lake trade. He also operated a dis- tillery. a saw mill and a grist mill-the last named being a three-story cobble stone build- ing with a gable roof. At one time Mr. Har- mon owned several vessels, which he used for freighting. His first vessel was the "Ade- laide," which he loaded with apples, cider and whiskey and sent under the care of Captain Daniel Mitchell (who died in 1908, at the age of ninety-five years) to Mackinac and other points in the upper lakes region, to be sold to the Indians. Subsequently. he bought two brigs, the "Oleander" and the "Constellation." which he sold after he had completed and stocked them. Edwin Harmon afterward owned the schooner "Arctic" and the "A. E.

RESIDENCE OF ALBERT HARMON

Ervin Hannin

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Hart," and built the "Mary Collins" which was named for his daughter. This latter vessel was worth from $18,000 to $25,000 and, it was thought, would easily pay for itself in three years. During the panic of 1857, however, Mr. Harmon suffered heavy losses ; but during the succeeding years he recuperated, as freights advanced to a high figure and he also disposed of his crops (especially his oats) at most profitable figures.

Besides being a successful general farmer, Mr. Harmon was very fortunate as a stock- raiser, keeping each year a selected flock of sheep and a fine herd of thoroughbred Short- horn cattle. Every winter he fed a large bunch of steers, always selling them in the spring at the highest market price. He was also an ex- tensive land holder, never owning less than three farms; at one time he had 200 acres on the lake shore ; 275 acres in the home farm, at Ashtabula ; and a dairy farm of 300 acres at Springfield, Illinois, which he took on a debt. Prior to his death he divided his real estate among his children, each receiving a farm. Mr. Harmon was a Republican in politics, but was a voter only, his entire time being devoted to business and his large agricultural and live stock interests. He died on the Ashtabula farm, August 13, 1863, his demise being deeply ·deplored.

On January 21, 1829, Edwin Harmon mar- ried Miss Miranda Cunningham, who when :a child had accompanied her widowed mother and older brother, Cushing, to Unionville, Lake county, Ohio. Mrs. Harmon died February 5. 1872, mother of eight children. Harriet and Charles Harmon died in infancy ; Adelaide passed away when sixteen years of age, and the following five reached maturity: Miranda, who died as the wife of J. A. Wilkinson An- gust 6, 1892, aged sixty years; Mary, who married Charles Collins and died April 15. 1893, at the age of fifty-eight, her husband being chief engineer on the Lake Shore Rail- way at the time of the Ashtabula casualty, with headquarters in Cleveland ; Frances E., of Ashtabula; Albert; and Gertrude, who spent 'her forty-six years on the home farm, where she died June 29, 1891.

Albert Harmon, who was born February 18, 1842, has spent his entire life on the old Ash- tabula homestead, successfully employed in farming. He has made a specialty of breeding high trotting Hambletonian horses. His youngest sister, as above mentioned, enjoyed

the farm as her lifelong home; Mrs. Collins ( Mary) also died on the home farm, and the other sisters have lived there much of the time. Stronger family ties cannot be imagined than those which bind the survivors to this old, val- uable and cherished homestead.

ALBERT J. RICHMOND .- Prominent among the early pioneers of Lorain county is recorded the name of Albert J. Richmond, during. many years a farmer in Amherst township. He was born in Black River township of this county April 15. 1831, a son of Freeman and Eunice ( Gillette) Richmond, the father born in Provi- dence, Rhole Island, and the mother in Genesee county, New York. Freeman Richmond came in a very early day to Sheffield township, Lo- rain county. He had first married Nancy Ar- nold, by whom he had a daughter, Philinda, who married Schuyler Strong and died in Black River township ; Freeman Richmond for his second wife married Mrs. Eunice (Gillette) Fox, and to them were born the following chil- dren : Sylvia, who married Albert Arnold and died in Plattsburg, Missouri; Minerva, widow of Isaac Shope and a resident of Amherst; Jane, who died at the age of eighteen years ; Albert J .; Milo, who was a farmer and died in Amherst; and Almeda, who married James Rankin and died in Amherst. The first hus- band of Mrs. Richmond was Levi Fox, by whom she had four children, Gilbert, Orphie. Hannah and Nancy, all now deceased. Follow- ing their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Richmond lived on a farm in Sheffield township for a few years, and then selling their land there they bought and moved to a farm in Black River township, near Sodam Gamora and Hungry Hollow, but some years later they again sold. this time buying in 1849 the farm on Middle Ridge in Amherst township, now occupied by Albert J. Richmond, the place containing sixty- two acres of partly improved land. There Free- man and Eunice Richmond spent the remain- der of their lives. He died December 24, 1881, aged ninety-one years, and she died June 7, 1883, aged eighty-six years, and their remains lie in the Middle Ridge cemetery, near the family homestead.

Albert J. Richmond remained with his par- ents until their death, and the farm was then left to him and his brother. Two years after his marriage Albert bought his brother's in- terest in the home estate. He has always fol- lowed general farming and dairying, and has been successful in his chosen calling. In Sep-

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tember of 1852 was celebrated his marriage to Mary L. Gilmore, who was born in Amherst October 16, 1829, a daughter of Aretus and Orrie Gilmore, and a son, Bird Richmond, now of Amherst, was born to them. Mrs. Richmond died October 11, 1886, and in September of 1887 he wedded Mrs. Emerette (Rathbun) Tennery, who was born in Green Creek town- ship, Sandusky county, Ohio. She was the widow of John E. Tennery, from Montreal, Canada, and daughter of Lucius and Rhoda (Gillette) Rathbun. Mrs. Richmond was three times married, her first husband being Samuel Baker, from Clyde, this state. Albert J. Rich- mond in politics is allied with the Republican party, and he is a Christian Scientist in his re- ligious belief. He was one of the charter men- bers of Hickory Tree Grange of Amherst, in which he has held several offices.

BIRD RICHMOND has long held a distinc- tive place among. the farmers and business men of Amherst township, the place of his nativity on October 16, 1853, the only child born of the marriage union of Albert J. and Mary L. (Gilmore) Richmond. Bird Richmond re- mained with his parents until his marriage in 1877, at that time buying a tract of land which joined the home farm and for eight years he lived in an old house which stood upon the place. That dwelling then gave place to a good frame residence, but it burned eight years afterward and was replaced by a similar dwell- ing, the present family home. Mr. Richmond follows a general line of farming and garden- ing, and he also raises horses for general farm purposes. He is a splendidly educated man, having attended both the common schools and Oberlin College for two years, and for eighteen years he was prominently identified with the educational interests in Lorain county. He en- tered the profession when but eighteen years of age, and taught during the winter months and gardened in the summers, while during a period of five years he was a member of the school board.

On October 16, 1877, he was married to Sarah E. Jenne, born in Amherst township, October 12, 1858, daughter of the late Ansel Jenne, from New England, and Phebe Wing, from the state of New York. Her grandpar- ents on the paternal side were Ansel and Eliz- abeth (Brown) Jenne. A son, Frank Harri- son Richmond, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Rich- mond on July 16, 1880. He graduated from the Amherst high school and attended Elyria

Business College, and he now lives on a por- tion of his father's farm. He married on De- cember 24, 1903, Florence E. Steele, also born in Amherst township, a daughter of Homer and Ellen (Gawn) Steele, from the same place. Two children have been born to Frank H. and Florence Richmond, Frances E., born December 5, 1904, and Byrd H., born January 10, 1906. Bird Richmond is a mem- ber of the Royal Arcanum, of the Republican party and of the Congregational church.

JOHN WESLEY KYLE is numbered among the dairy farmers of Dorset township, and he rep- resents a pioneer family of Ohio. John Kyle, his father, was born on the present site of Youngstown in 1812, and he married there Abbie Arnold, who was born in 1817, and died in 1903, the husband having passed away in 1901. They moved to Trumbull county several years after their marriage, and the following children were born of their union: Anna, who married Milo Crawford and is living at Petos- key, Michigan ; George married Delia Wilbur and lives at Cortland in Trumbull county, Ohio; Irvin, born in 1845, married Lottie Dil- ley, and is a farmer in Richmond township, Ashtabula county ; John Wesley was born No- vember 19, 1852; and Oliver, born in 1854. married Millie Wilbur, and lives at Johnson in Trumbull county.

After a training in the district schools of Ba- zetta township, Trumbull county, John Wesley Kyle began working out at farm labor, and he is now the owner of a dairy farm of 210 acres, seventy acres of which are devoted to general agricultural pursuits. He has served his town- ship two years as a trustee, and is a Republican in his political affiliations. By his marriage to Alzada Everett, who was born in 1851, he has had three children, namely: Arda, who was born August 21, 1882, married Fred Cook and is living in Ashtabula; Ada, born April 27, 1884, married Wesley Hamilton and lives in Richmond township, Ashtabula county ; and John, born on May 13, 1888, is a Pierpont township mill man. He married Lottie Burr. John Wesley Kyle is one of the leading farm- ers of Dorset township, and both he and his family have many friends here. He is a mem- ber of the Farmers' Grange of Denmark and also the Knights of the Maccabees and the State Police of Ohio.

ROBERT B. LERSCH .- An able exponent of the progressive spirit and strong initiative

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power that have caused the Western Reserve to forge to the front as an industrial and com- mercial section of importance is Mr. Lersch, who is one of the representative business men of the younger generation in his native city of Elyria, Lorain county, and who is a scion of one of the old and honored families of the Western Reserve. He has given his attention more especially to mercantile pursuits, and he is now one of the interested principals in the well known drygoods house of John Lersch & Co., of Elvria. The esteem and confidence in which he is held in his native county has been indicated by his election to offices of public trust, including that of representative in the state legislature.

Robert Boynton Lersch was born in Elyria, on November 10, 1871, and is a son of John and Pamela (Boynton) Lersch, who still main- tain their home in Elyria. John Lersch is one of the oldest business men and most honored citizens of Elyria, with whose civic and ma- terial development and upbuilding he has been long and prominently identified. During nearly half a century has John Lersch been actively engaged in business in this place, and his career has been one marked by uniform and uninter- rupted success, based alike upon fair and hon- orable dealings and distinctive personal popu- larity. To his efforts is due the building up of a mercantile concern which is one of the largest of its kind in northern Ohio outside of the city of Cleveland. He was born in the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, on July 25, 1841, and is a son of Carl and Louise (Schweitzer) Lersch, both of whom were like- wise natives of Bavaria. The family emmi- grated to the United States in 1851, and event- ually Carl Lersch purchased a farm in North Dover township, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, near the Lorain county line. In 1854 John Lersch, who was then about thirteen years of age and who had received his rudimentary education in his native land and thereafter attended the common schools of Ohio for a time, found em- ployment in the store of the old-time firm of Mussey & Co., of Elyria. In 1858 this firm was succeeded by one in which the interested principals were Seymour W. Baldwin, Thomas W. Laundon and Thomas L. Nelson, all of whom were old and well remembered mer- chants of Elyria. Under the new regime John Lersch continued his labors as a valued and efficient salesman, and in 1872 he became asso- ciated with David C. Baldwin in the purchas- ing of the business with which he had so long

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 104

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