History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 105

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 105

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).

been identified. Thereafter the enterprise was continued under the firm name of D. C. Bald- win & Co. until 1880, when Mr. Baldwin vir- tually retired from active connection with the business, which was continued under the title of Baldwin, Lersch & Co. Mr. Lersch at this juncture assumed practically the entire man- agement of the business, and about this time he effected the organization of a mercantile combination known as the North Ohio Syndi- cate, which was composed of the firms of Bald- win, Lersch & Co., of Elyria ; Fries & Scheule, of Cleveland, and B. C. Taber & Co., of Nor- walk. Said syndicate is now known under the title of John Lersch & Co., and consists of seventeen representative drygoods houses in Ohio and Pennsylvania, with a purchasing ca- pacity of about $4,000,000 annually. Through the practical amalgamation of interests the con- cern is enabled to give to its patrons the most effective service, as is indicated by the great popularity and large business of the Elyria house of John Lersch & Co., in which are han- dled large and select lines of drygoods, cloaks, women's suits, carpets, draperies, etc. The es- tablishment is divided into large and well or- dered departments, and, as already stated, it is one of the largest in the northern part of the state outside of Cleveland, the metropolis of Ohio. John Lersch has exemplified in his long and peculiarlv successful career the highest principles of integrity and honor, and no citi- zen of Lorain county is held in more assured popular confidence and regard. He is a mem- ber of the directorate of the Elyria Savings & Banking Company and is a citizen of utmost loyalty and public spirit. He is a stanch ad- herent of the Republican party. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lersch was solemnized in 1868, and Mrs. Lersch is a native of Lorain county, Ohio, being a daughter of the late Joshua Boynton, a native of the state of Maine, but a pioneer to Lorain county and a well known and influential citizen of his day.

Robert B. Lersch, the immediate subject of this review, was reared to maturity in Elyria and here he completed the curriculum of the public schools, having been graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1889, after which he took a partial course in the law department of the Western Reserve University in Cleveland. After leaving college Mr. Lersch identified himself in an active way with the business of John Lersch & Co., and he has been the junior member of the firm since 1893. He has done much to further the success of the

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enterprise and to uphold the prestige of a name long honored in connection with business and social affairs in Lorain county.

In politics Mr. Lersch has been a stalwart in the camp of the Republican party from the time of attaining to his legal majority, and he has rendered effective service in the promotion of the party cause. In 1896 he was elected a member of the city council of Elyria, and the valuation placed upon his services in this ca- pacity may be understood when the statement is made that he was four times re-elected. In 1903 he was chosen, on the first ballot, by the Lorain county Republican convention as its candidate for representative in the state legis- lature, and in the ensuing election he received a gratifying majority at the polls. In the house he proved an active and effective working member, both on the floor and in the commit- tee room. He was chairman of the important finance committee and was secretary of the committee on cities that prepared and presented the Payne bill, under which the present mu- nicipal code of Ohio was enacted.

In addition to his interest in the firm of John Lersch & Co., Mr. Lersch is one of the stock- holders and active administrative officers of the Cleveland Life Insurance Company, of the city of Cleveland. He is a valued member of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce and one of the zealous promoters of its high civic ideals and progressive business policies. He is a Knight Templar Mason, affiliating with Elyria Com- mandery, No. 60, and is a member of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of the Maccabees.

On November 10, 1897, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lersch to Miss Helen Steward, who was born and reared in Lorain county, Ohio, a daughter of Thomas and Etta Seward, and they have one child, a winsome little daughter, Dorothea. Mr. and Mrs. Lersch oc- cupy a position of prominence in the social life of their home city, where their popularity is of the most unequivocal order.

JOHN WILKES .- The Wilkes family is an old and honored one throughout Portage coun- ty, and John Wilkes worthily upheld its name and position. He was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, November 28, 1800, a son of Samuel and Sarah (Lawrence) Wilkes, who were from England, as was also his pa- ternal grandfather, John Wilkes. The latter came with his family to Pennsylvania about the time of the Revolutionary war, and secur-

ing land in Pennsylvania, he spent the remain- der of his days there, while his son Samuel came on to Ohio and located in Columbiana county, where he subsequently died. He was three times married, and Sarah Lawrence was his second wife, by whom he had two daugh- ters and a son.

The latter, John Wilkes, lived in the parental home until his marriage to Anna Benton, from New York, as were also her parents, William and Roxie (Bryant) Benton. Coming with his family to Rootstown township in Portage county Mr. Benton secured land here and his daughter Anna taught in the township's schools. Here she met and married John Wilkes, and they moved to the southwest cor- ner of Edinburg township, where he secured 400 acres of land and over 200 acres in Roots- town township. He became one of the largest farmers and stock raisers of his community, and he and his wife continued to reside there until their deaths.

In their family were seven children: Anna, who became the wife of Jerry Fifer and is now deceased; Sarah, on the home place ; John, who died at the age of twelve years; Tyler, who resides with his sister Sarah; Roxie, the wife of James Wilson, of Los Angeles, Cali- fornia; Mary Jane, who died at the age of twenty-eight years ; and Lucy E., of Ravenna.

Lucy E. Wilkes remained with her parents during their lives, and she was appointed guardian in trust for four children of her brother Tyler by his second wife, and soon after this she moved to Mt. Union to give the children better educational advantages. Dur- ing her three years' residence there her father died and she came into possession of the 100 acres of land in Edinburg township which she yet owns, while in February of 1896, she moved to a residence which she owned in Ra- venna, No. 475 South Chestnut street.

JAMES W. BABCOCK .- Noteworthy for his good citizenship and many excellent traits of character, James W. Babcock, of Geneva, holds an assured position among the enterpris- ing and progressive men of this part of Ash- tabula county. He is an able and skilful me- chanic, and as foreman of the forging depart- ment of the Geneva Tool Company is con- nected with one of the principal industries of the place. A son of Asa C. and Clementine (Webster) Babcock, he was born August 22, 1838, in Leonardsville, Madison county, New York, coming from substantial New England

Janus W. Buberek

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ancestry, the Babcock family having been early settlers of Connecticut.

As a young man James W. Babcock learned the trade of a blacksmith in his father's shop, and also assisted him in the manufacture of the old style forks used in farming. In Au- gust, 1862, he enlisted in Company . G, One Hundred and Fourteenth New York Volun- teer Infantry, a company made almost entirely of young, men from his own home town. At the end of a year, after a severe illness while in camp at Baltimore, Mr. Babcock was honor- ably discharged from the service, his regiment going on with the command of General Banks, while he was left in a hospital. Returning home as soon as able, Mr. Babcock continued mak- ing forks until 1866. In that year, at the so- licitation of a Mr. Caswell, a manufacturer of scythe snaths, living at the old Engle Tavern, one mile south of Geneva, he came to Ash- tabula county. Mr. Caswell was one of the original scythe snath manufacturers, as head of the firm of Caswell, Price & Barlow, hav- ing established a factory a number of years previous to that time in Geneva. At once en- tering the newly-organized firm of Caswell & Tinker, Mr. Babcock continned with his em- ployers three years, making snaths and forks. In 1871 the Geneva Tool Company was organ- ized, the machinery of the plant, which was then in Garrettsville, was removed to this place, and work was begun on a much larger scale. The force of men was increased from fifteen to one hundred, and the amount of year- ly business was increased from $30,000 to $100,000. During the first year the factory put on the market $80,000 worth of steel tools, including potato forks, hoes, etc. Mr. Bab- cock was from the beginning foreman of the forging department, and had the charge of in- stalling all of the new machinery.

Mr. Caswell subsequently sold out his in- terest in the firm, but continued his residence in Geneva until his death. Mr. Tinker, also, sold out, and later conducted a machine shop in Garrettsville. Mr. Babcock continued with the firm for a period of twenty-one or twenty- two years, having charge in the meantime of about thirty-five or forty men. In 1891 he be- came foreman of the forging department of a factory in Girard, Pennsylvania, where he re- mained until 1898. Coming back then to Geneva, he resumed his former position in the forging. department of the Geneva Tool Com- pany, where he has now charge of about eighty men, but during the past two years Mr. Bab-

cock has been released from constant attend- ance at the factory, being his own boss.

Mr. Babcock married, in 1860, in Leonards- ville, New York, Helen M. Clark, and they have one daughter, Callie E. Babcock, a gifted musician. Mr. Babcock has ever been active in local affairs, having served a number of years as a member of the city council, in that capacity assisting in the installation of the Geneva water works and of its sewer system. Fraternally Mr. Babcock has belonged for thirty-eight years to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has passed all the chairs of his lodge, and for twenty years has been a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

MARCUS HARVEY NICHOLS, descendant of a family which for several generations distin- guished themselves vy their service to their country and their strict adherence to the prin- ciples and teachings of the Disciples church, was born March 10, 1845, in Shalersville, Ohio, and is a son of Noble Haven and Ursula Bryant (Drake) Nichols. The Nichols family came originally from England, and at an early date settled in Vermont. The great-grand- father of Marcus H. Nichols settled near the shore of Lake Champlain on the Vermont side, and was living there when his son Andrew was born. Subsequently he removed to Brown Point, New York.

Andrew Nichols was born at Shoreham, Vermont, September 26, 1790, and died No- vember 1, 1867. In January, 1819, he married Sally Haven, and they became parents of five sons and four daughters, of whom but two sur- vive. He was a man of wonderful endurance and great physical strength, and distinguished himself by his service in the war of 1812. He enlisted June 20, 1812, and served five years, being discharged in June, 1817; in the first year of service he was appointed sergeant of his company, of which Luther Leonard was captain. He was one of those who captured and carried into the American lines, General Riel and his staff, of the British army, near Niagara Falls, September 6, 1814. The Eng- lish army tried to cross the Saranac river near its mouth, but Sergeant Nichols saw them and unlimbered his guns, although on retreat · by orders; he gave them "grape and canister." and drove them back. Although court-mar- tialed for disobeying orders, he was trium- phantly acquitted. During this daring exploit he was wounded through the thigh, but dis-

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regarded his own sufferings in his interest in the cause. This occurred shortly before the battle of Plattsburg.

Noble Haven Nichols was born April II, 1825, in Shalersville, Ohio, and died December 2, 1893. He married, at Shalersville, May II, 1844, Ursula Bryant Drake, a descendant of the great English navigator and admiral; she died May 8, 1893. They were parents of eight children.

Marcus H. Nichols attended the district schools of Mantua and Hiram, and then for four years attended the Eclectic Institute, now known as Hiram College; when he left college in 1864, Professor Garfield was principal, and later in that year Professor Thompson, a half- breed Indian, held the position. Upon Mr. Nichol's entrance, Harvey M. Everett was principal. Upon leaving college, Mr. Nichols taught one year in the poorhouse district in Shalersville, and then began farming, which has since been his occupation. He has met with very good success in all his undertakings. In political views he is a Democrat, and is a mem- ber of the Disciples church. Mr. Nichols mar- ried January 6, 1869, Jennie Wilson, of Hiram, by whom he had six children. She was born January 13, 1848, in Paris, Ohio, and was a daughter of Albert Gallatin Wilson, born April 17, 1809, also at Paris, Ohio. Albert G. Wil- son married Ara Ann Minyoung, January I, 1839; he died March 11, 1888, and she died March 29, 1879. Her father came to the West- ern Reserve about 1834-5 and settled at Paris, Ohio, where he remained until his death, Sep- tember 5. 1884. Her grandfather, Jacob Min- young, was born in Hamburg, Germany, Au- gust 24, 1793 ; he married Jane McKansey, of Maryland, who was born in Ann Arundell county, January 10, 1798. He was a paper-

maker by trade and settled in Philadelphia. Mrs. Marcus H. Nichols died February 3, 1890, and is buried in Garrettsville, Ohio. Their children are: Ida May, born October 30, 1869, in Freedom, Ohio; Ethel Neva, born January 19, 1872; Nellie Jane, born June 17, 1874 ; Lee Wilson, born June 21, 1879; Carl Albert, born July 26, 1881 ; and Carrie Lorena, born June 10, 1886. Ida M. married J. C. Felt, of Graf- ton, Lorain county, Ohio, December 31, 1888, at Nelson, Ohio, and their children are: Lee Voman, born January 7, 1890 ; Jennie Elmina, born August 10, 1891; Edna Emma, October 3, 1892; Iva May, June 3, 1895; and Ruth Estelle, born February 3, 1905. Ethel N. mar- ried Frank Bosley, of Garrettsville, Ohio, May

20, 1891, at Nelson, Ohio, and they have one child, Cedric Donald, born April 13, 1893. Lee W. married Jessie Robinson, of Garrettsville, March 21, 1903, at Ravenna, and their children are: Dorothy Harriet, born August 16, 1904, and June, born June 18, 1907. Nellie Jane married at Hiram W. E. Van Voorhis, of Hiram, April 26, 1905.

Mr. Nichols married for his second wife December 9, 1891, Olive V. Stough, of Elyria, Ohio, in Elyria; they have no children. Her father was a stonemason of Elyria.

ALBERT G. SHEWELL .- Distinguished as one of the oldest native-born residents of Portage county, Ohio, Albert G. Shewell has been closely identified with the development and ad- vancement of the agricultural interests of this section, more especially of Edinburg, during his active career, by persevering industry and commendable thrift having improved a valu- able farm. He is descended from an early pioneer family, and was born August 22, 1831, a son of William Shewell. His grandparents, Henry and Mercy (Hazen) Shewell, natives of New Jersey, spent the first years of their married life in Pennsylvania, from there mak- ing their way through the almost pathless woods to Portage county with ox teams. Tak- ing up 125 acres of wild land in Deerfield, they improved a homestead, and there resided the remainder of their lives. The grandfather, who became blind, was a Methodist minister, and for many years after coming here was engaged in preaching the gospel, having a wide circuit to cover.

William Shewell was born in Pennsylvania, and after coming here with the family assisted his father in clearing and improving a good farm, the labor involved being almost hercu- lean in its proportions. After his marriage with Lydia Baldwin, who was born, bred and educated in Atwater, Portage county, he car- ried on farming for himself, his efforts being rewarded with good results.

Brought up on the home farm, Albert G. Shewell obtained his education mostly in the schools of Rootstown, while under his father's instructions he was well trained in agricultural labors. After his marriage he turned his at- tention to mechanical pursuits, and for ten years worked at the carpenter's trade. Buying then sixty acres of land in Edinburg town- ship, he immediately began its improvement. He succeeded well, invested his money in other lands, and is now the owner of 172 acres of

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valuable land, which he has brought to a high state of cultivation. He is now practically re- tired from active labor, having relinquished the management of his property to his son, Judd B. Shewell. He has been identified with the Republican party since its formation, and has served his fellow-townsmen in different ca- pacities, for two years having been assessor, and for a number of terms being a member of the board of education.

Mr. Shewell married Mary E. Chapman, who was born January 6, 1832, a daughter of James and Mary . E. (Ingraham) Chapman. She died August 28, 1904, leaving four chil- dren, namely : Franchettie, a contractor and builder of Sebring, Ohio; Ida; Judd B. and Ulysses G., farmers. All are married, and liv- ing in this vicinity.

Judd B. Shewell, who has charge of the parental homestead, was educated in the dis- trict schools, and has spent his life as an agri- culturist, being now one of the foremost farm- ers of the community in which he resides. On June 21, 1884, he married Estell M. Stephen- son, and they are the parents of five children, namely : Clifton G., Florence D., Pearl M., Mercy C., and Lucinda M. Politically Mr. Shewell, following in the footsteps of his honored father, is a steadfast Republican, and has served as justice of the peace. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

JUDSON G. STARR .- In the office of superin- tendent of the Lorain county infirmary Mr. Starr is giving a most able and acceptable ad- ministration,-marked by due conservatism and economy and also by an earnest regard for the welfare of the unfortunate wards of the county.

Judson George Starr is a native son of Lorain county, as he was born in Penfield township, on October 30, 1864. He is a son of George and Ellen (Jones) Starr, both of whom were likewise born in Penfield township, Lo- rain county, being members of honored pioneer families of this section of the Western Re- serve. The original America progenitor of the Starr family was Dr. Comfort Starr, who came from Ashford county, England, in 1640, settling first at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later in Boston. He was an able physician and surgeon, according to the standard of his day, and followed the work of his profession until his death, which occurred in 1660. Of his eight children the one through whom the direct line of descent is traced to the subject of this

review was Dr. Thomas Starr, who was born in England and who accompanied his father to America. He also was a skillful physician and surgeon and was a valiant soldier in the early Indian wars. He died in 1658, leaving eight children, of whom Josiah, ancestor of Judson G. of this sketch, was born in 1657. Josiah Starr moved from Massachusetts to Long Island and later took up his residence in Connecticut, where he died in 1716. His son John, one of a family of eight children, was born in 1684 and died in 1739, leaving six chil- dren, of whom the youngest was Eleazer, who became a captain in the Continental forces in the war of the Revolution and who was killed when the British captured Danbury, Connecti- cut. His son Eleazer, Jr., was born in 1758, and became the founder of the family in Lorain county, Ohio. He likewise was a patriot sol- dier in the war of the Revolution, and after the close of the same he moved from Danbury, Connecticut, to Harpersfield, New York, whence he eventually removed to the Western Reserve of Ohio and settled in Penfield town- ship, Lorain county, where he secured a tract of wild land and reclaimed much of the same to cultivation prior to his death, which here oc- curred on December 8, 1845. He was sur- vived by eight children, namely: Raymond, Talcott, Polly (married Daniel Lindsley), William, Hannah, Elizabeth (married Rev. Roswell Kelly), and Orrin and Aurinda, twins, (latter married Lathrop Penfield). Of these children William figures as the grandfather of him whose name initiates this article. George Starr, father of Judson G., died in 1878, at the age of forty-seven years, and his wife died in 1886, at the age of forty-three years. George Starr was reared and educated in Ohio, and after his graduation in Berea College, at Berea, this state, he was a successful teacher in the common schools for several years, after which he again turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, to which he had been reared, and passed the residue of his life on his well im- proved farm in Penfield township, Lorain county. He was a Republican in his political proclivities and both he and his wife were zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of their three children Judson G. is the eldest ; Florence Esther is art instructor in the Dakota Wesleyan College, Mitchell, South Dakota ; and Wilbur T. is engaged in farming at Penfield.

Judson G. Starr was reared to maturity on the home farm and was afforded the advan-

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tages of the public schools of the village of Wellington. After leaving school he continued to be associated in the work and management of the homestead farm for eleven years, at the expiration of which, in 1886, he removed to the city of Elyria, where for the ensuing decade he held the position of foreman for the Worth- ington Manufacturing Company. In August, 1896, he was appointed superintendent of the Lorain county infirmary and farm, assuming the duties of this office in the following March, and he has since continued to hold the po- sition, which fact offers the most effective voucher for his able and acceptable adminis- tration. In politics he is a stalwart Repub- lican, and his religious views are in harmony with the tenets of the Methodist church, of which he and his wife are members.

On August 12, 1885, Mr. Starr was united in marriage to Miss Sadie Isabella Watts, who was born in Medina county, Ohio, on April 2, 1867, and who is a daughter of Edmund J. and Thirza (Pike) Watts, both of whom were born in England, whence they came to the United States when young: their marriage was sol- emnized in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Watts served as a valiant soldier of the Union during three years of the Civil war, having en- listed as a private in the Twenty-third New York Volunteer Infantry. While he was in the army his parents removed from the state of New York to Greenwich, Huron county, Ohio, and after the close of his military career he likewise came to Ohio. In 1866 he settled in the city of Medina, where he was engaged in the harness business for four years. At that time they moved to Wellington, Lorain county, Unio, at which place and vicinity he passed the remainder of his life and died December 28, 1905. Mrs. Starr completed the curriculum of the public schools, having been graduated in the Wellington high school June 20, 1884. and having thereafter been a successful and popular teacher in the district schools of Lo- rain county. Mr. and Mrs. Starr have three children, namely: Lila Ellen, Waldo Edmund and Florence Gertrude. Lila, aged twenty-one, is a student at Baldwin University, Berea, Ohio. Waldo, aged nineteen, is assistant fore- man of the Garden Isle celery and onion farm at Lodi, Ohio. Florence, aged eight, is at home with her parents.

THOMAS CORWIN WOOD. - Conspicuous among the best known and more prominent

citizens of Bellevue is Thomas Corwin Wood, an extensive landholder, and an able business man, who is widely known throughout this section of the Western Reserve for his many interests of importance and value. A son of Bourdette Wood, he was born, April 27, 1842, in Groton township, Erie county, of pioneer ancestry.

Jasper Wood, his grandfather, was born, reared and educated in Onondaga county, New York, and there married Elizabeth Boylston, the descendant of a substantial New England family. He was well educated, being fitted for a civil engineer. Migrating to Ohio in 1818, he became one of the first settlers of Groton township. Erie county, locating near Bloomingville. He found his way to these wilds by following a path marked much of the way by blazed trees, settling here when the country was in its primeval condition, bears, deer, wolves and other wild beasts being plenti- ful. He bought 1,000 acres of land, making but a partial payment of the tract. Before ac- quiring title to his land, in about three years after his arrival, he died, a victim of milk fever, leaving his widow with several children to care for. Being unable to meet the payments on the land, the entire sum invested was lost, and the widow and children had to battle for a living. She was a woman of heroic courage, and reared her two sons and three daughters to men and women of worth, training them to habits of industry and thrift.

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 105

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