History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 14

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

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DUNCAN B. WOLCOTT .- The name of Dun- can B. Wolcott is enduringly inscribed on the pages of the later history of Portage county in connection with the profession of the law. Graduating from Adelbert College in 1896, and from the law department of Western Re- serve University in 1899, he was admitted to the bar in the same year and began practicing in the office of J. G. W. Cowles, in Cleveland. He remained in that city but a sort time, how- ever, coming in the spring of 1901 to Kent, and he has since been prominently identified with the professional life of this community. In November of 1904, and again at the elec- tion of 1908, he was elected a prosecutor, and as an advocate of Republican principles he is an active worker in local political councils.

Mr. Wolcott was born in this city on the 9th of May, 1873, and was educated in its public schools, in the Western Reserve Acad- emy at Hudson, Ohio, of which he is a mem- ber of the alumni of 1892, and in Adelbert College, Western Reserve University. His parents. Simon Perkins and Mary H. (Brew- ster) Wolcott, were born respectively in Hud- son and Northfield, Ohio. His maternal grandparents were Anson A. and Sally (White) Brewster, from Hartford. Connecti- cut. and Whitehall, New York, respectively, and Anson A. Brewster was a pioneer and for many years a general merchant of Hudson.

Mr. Wolcott married, on the 9th of May, 1906, Eveline Daisy Lodge, born at Silver Lake, Summit county, Ohio, a daughter of

Ralph H. and Julia (Plum) Lodge, the father from New Jersey and the mother from Sum- mit county, Ohio. The children of this union are two sons: John L. Wolcott, born April 23, 1907, and Duncan B., Jr., born June 26, 1909. Duncan B. Wolcott is a Mason of high standing in Kent, belonging to Lodge No. 316, and to Tyrian Chapter of Ravenna. He is a member of the Episcopal church in this city.

SIMON PERKINS WOLCOTT belonged to the ancient Wolcott family whose history has been compiled and published in a fine quarto vol- ume entitled "The Wolcott Memorial," a copy of which may be seen in the state library at Columbus. This work, a masterpiece of its kind, contains portraits of many members of the famliy, also a cut of the Wolcott coat of arms and photographic copies of many relics of their old homesteads in England, includ- ing the license of alienation of the Golden Manor at Tolland, Somersetshire, England, made to one of the Wolcotts in the early part of the sixteenth century, in the reign of James I., and the chancellorship of Lord Bacon, whose signature it bears. This was the an- cestral seat of the family as far back as is definitely known, and is traced on doubtful authenticity to the eleventh century in Wales. It was the home of John Wolcott, the father of Henry, who emigrated to America in 1730 and settled at Windsor, Connecticut.

The family is conspicuous for its honorable and influential career, belonging to the class of free holders in England and well known in the history of the New England states as holders of many important positions of public trust during the colonial and revolutionary pe- riods. Besides many officers of rank, both civil and military, it includes three governors of Connecticut-Roger Wolcott and the two Oliver Wolcotts-while the second Oliver also served as secretary of the treasury under President Washington. The family history runs on down through several generations, as they resided in Connecticut, to a branch of the family which finally moved to New York, and from there to another which came to Ohio.

Simon P. Wolcott belongs to the sixth gen- eration of the family in America. He was born at Northfield, in Summit county, Ohio, January 30, 1837, and was a son of Alfred and Mary Ann Wolcott, who were also reared in this state. Born and reared on a farm, the

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son Simon received but meager advantages in the way of an early education, such only as the early day winter school in the country af- forded, but finally he entered Hiram College and was a fellow student there of James A. Garfield. There he prepared for the Western Reserve College at Hudson, Ohio, and gradu- ated from the latter institution with the class of 1862, receiving the degree of A. B. and later that of A. M. His early inclination to- ward the legal profession led him to adopt that calling as a life pursuit, and soon after graduation he entered the law office of H. B. Foster, of Hudson, as a student, and he com- pleted his course with Judge N. B. Tibbals, of Akron, and was admitted to the bar of Summit county in 1864. Coming at once to Portage county, he began the practice of law at Kent, where he remained continuously until death, and his high prestige at the bar of Port- age county stands in evidence of his ability and likewise served as a voucher for his in- trinsic worth of character. He was long and earnestly identified with public enterprises, a public character in his own community during the most of his life, and his public services included four years as the mayor of Kent and ten years as a member of its school board. From 1884 he served as an attorney for the food and dairy commissioners for four years, and in 1894 he was appointed one of the board of managers of the Ohio State Reformatory at Mansfield, by Governor Mckinley, and by reappointment, in 1900, by Governor Nash, he held that position during the remainder of his life.

But perhaps the highest public achievement in the life and work of the Hon. Simon B. Wolcott was his election to the state senate of Ohio in 1881 and his re-election in 1883, for the counties of Portage, Summit, Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula. He made for himself a place of prominence as an active participant in dis- cussions of many leading questions of the day, and notable among his efforts may be men- tioned the "Brigham bill" for the regulation of transportation rates by railways. What in- fluence his speech bore toward the defeat of the bill cannot, of course, be conjectured, but it is sufficient to say that although the ques- tion was thoroughly and warmly discussed on both sides as one of great moment, the bill was lost. He was a member of the senate commit- tee which drafted the law constituting the present circuit court, was chairman of the com- mittee for investigating insurance companies

in the state of Ohio, and was one of the lead- ing men of the Ohio senate during his mem- bership. He was very successful at the bar and bore an honorable reputation. He dis- played a brilliant native talent, and his speeches, both professionally and politically, were logical and showed a wide learning and not infrequently sparkled with genuine wit. He was an earnest supporter of Republican principles and took an active part in the cam- paigns of his party.

He married, on July 17, 1866, Mary Helen Brewster, a lineal descendant of Elder Brew- ster, of Puritan renown. Their children are: Nellie B., the wife of F. L. Allen, engaged in the real estate business in Kent, and former treasurer of Portage county; Jennie, the wife of Ed S. Parsons, a lumber merchant in Kent; and Duncan B. Wolcott, well known in this city as a prosecuting attorney.

REV. BAILEY SUTTON DEAN .- A prominent member of the clergy of the Christian church and influential in the educational field, Pro- fessor Bailey S. Dean is incumbent of the chair of history in Hiram College, at Hiram, Port- age county, which well-known institution is his alma mater. He is a scion of one of the old and honored families of the Western Re- serve, where the same was founded in the early pioneer epoch, and the name which he bears has been identified with the annals of American history from the colonial epoch.

Professor Bailey Sutton Dean was born in Canfield township, Mahoning county, Ohio, on the 5th of January, 1845, and is a son of Orsemus and Rhoda (Hayden) Dean. In 1903 Professor Dean, with the assistance of his son, J. Ernest Dean, of Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania, completed a most interesting history of the William Dean family, of Cornwall, Con- necticut, and Canfield, Ohio, and the data there given were gleaned from varied sources, being essentially complete and offering an authentic, detailed record concerning the history of the family in Ohio, with due tracing of the geneal- ogy from the parent stock in New England. In a publication of the circumscribed province of the one at hand it is, as a matter of course, impossible to enter into the intimate details covered in the publication to which reference has just been made, nor is it necessary so to do, inasmuch as such repetition could have no definite value, as ready recourse may be had to the admirable record compiled by Professor Dean and his son.

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So far as authentic data reveal, it is alto- gether an assured fact that the founder of the family in America was Thomas Dane (or Dean, as his descendants spell the name), who was born in Kent, England, about 1603, and who came to the new world in 1635, in the ship "Elizabeth and Ann." He settled at Con- cord, Massachusetts, as early as 1640, and there he died about 1676. From Massachu- setts representatives of the family finally re- moved to Connecticut, and the direct line to Professor Dean is traced from Reuben Dean, of Cornwall, Litchfield county, that state. William Dean came from Cornwall to Ohio in the year 1810, and was accompanied by his venerable parents, Benjamin and Ruth (Tanner) Dean, as well as by his de- voted wife, Parthena, whose maiden name was Bailey. Concerning this migration it is deemed consistent to perpetuate in this sketch the fol- lowing extract from the previously mentioned history of the family, and the record is one written by Professor Dean: "We now have no means of knowing the immedi- ate causes which led to the migration to Ohio. In general, we know the economic con- ditions prevailing prior to the war of 1812. Thomas Jefferson's pet measures, the Embargo act and the Non-Intercourse act, bore with special severity on New England .· Trade was prostrate and all business at a standstill. Men with growing families were casting about for means to better their condition. A great tide of migration was setting toward New Con- necticut, in Ohio. What fireside discussions were held in the old house on the hill (refer- ring to the old Dean homestead in Connecti- cut) we can only imagine. A journey of five hundred miles in lumber wagons, largely through an unbroken forest, was no holiday excursion. To people in their prime, like William and Parthena, it might not seem so formidable. But Benjamin and Ruth were three score and ten; and, besides, their roots had struck deep in the soil of Cornwall, and it is hard to transplant an old tree. But the die was cast. Legal documents, still extant, show that for some months prior to the autumn of 1810 Benjamin and William Dean were severing the property ties that bound them to Cornwall. Early in September they turned their faces toward the promised land of Ohio. The company numbered fifteen per- sons. First, as prime movers in the enter- prise, were William and Parthena Dean. With them went the aged Benjamin and Ruth. Five

children of William, ranging in age from a few months to thirteen years, were in the com- pany -- Orpha, Hiram, Orsemus, Benjamin and Bailey. The Dean caravan came with horses and they were four weeks on the road, arriv- ing in Canfield on the 10th of October. *

"Under date of August 18, 1810, James Johnston, of Litchfield county, Connecticut, deeds to Benjamin and William Dean lots 5 and 25 in Canfield, Ohio, containing five hun- dred and eighty-eight acres, together with sixty-seven acres of lot 8. The price was $2,673.80. Under the same date, by separate: deed, he conveyed to William Dean one hun- dred acres of lot 8, for $500. * * The aged Benjamin and Ruth did not long sur- vive the transplantation. Ruth died May II, 1812. On August 13, 1815, old Benjamin followed his beloved Ruth, and lies beside her in the Center cemetery. There are few more sightly and beautiful locations in the Western Reserve than the crest of Dean Hill. There, about the year 1818, Will- iam Dean built a commodious brick farm house. That old brick house became the cen- ter of a noble family life, whose details, now lost, would fill a volume."

William Dean was a miller and farmer at Cornwall, but followed farming exclusively at Canfield, where he continued to reside until his death, on the 17th of March, 1847. He was born in Cornwall, Litchfield county, Con- necticut, May 10, 1774. On the 25th of August, 1796, he was married to Parthena Bailey, who was born in Sharon, Connecticut, in 1773, and died in Canfield, Ohio, Septem- ber 13, 1836. . On the 26th of March, 1837, William Dean contracted a second marriage, being then united to Mrs. Rebecca (Rumsey) Mulner, who was born in 1808, and who died at Canfield, Ohio, January 3, 1842. For his third wife William Dean chose Mrs. Ada Pearce, who died in Lordstown, Ohio, about 1881. Nine children were born of the first marriage and two of the second.

Orsemus Dean, father of him whose name initiates this sketch, was born in Cornwall, Connecticut, August II, 1801, and died in Center, Rock county, Wisconsin, November 17, 1884. On the 20th of April, 1825, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Rhoda Hay- den, who was born in Youngstown, Ohio, May 25, 1808, and who died at Center, Rock county, Wisconsin, January 22, 1878. This worthy . couple became the parents of thirteen children, of whom four are now living. In the family

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history previously mentioned Professor Dean has written as follows concerning his parents : "Among those occasionally attending the little church on the hill (Dean Hill) were members of the Hayden family, of Youngs- town. There were seven sons of Samnel Hay- den, of whom the eldest and youngest, William and Sutton, were well-known ministers, the latter being the first principal of the Eclectic Institute, now Hiram College. In 1825 Orse- mns Dean wedded Rhoda, the only sister in the Hayden family, famed, in later years, far and near, as were her brothers, for power of song. The day following the wedding, twenty- four couples, on twelve horses, escorted them . to Dean Hill for the 'infair.' Orsemus built a small brick house, where Uncle Hiram after- ward lived. In 1829 he sold out and bought a larger farm, in the extreme northwest part of Canfield, and over the town line in Ells- worth. There for thirty-six years they lived and there reared the largest family with the most descendants in the Dean connection. Of their thirteen children, nine lived to marry, six are still living, and seven have living de- scendants. In the '50s the older children began to go westward, and the year 1865 found all the family in or near Center, Rock county, Wisconsin. There, in 1878, Rhoda ended her pilgrimage, and in 1884 Orsemus followed his beloved wife.

"About the year 1829 Orsemus received a fall, which disabled him for three years and weakened him for life. Yet, throughout a long life, few men worked more hours or ac- complished larger results; and to his children it has always been a marvel how he reared so large a family on so poor a farm in so large a measure of comfort. Both he and his wife were enterprising and excellent managers. Both knew how to economize in matters of mere display, that they might have to expend on the really vital things-the intellectual and spiritual culture of their family. All of their children had the advantages of some education beyond the country schools, and seven of them became teachers. Orsemus was one of the original subscribers to the Eclectic Institute, and always, for a man of his means, a liberal supporter of church and missionary work. That was a humble but hospitable home. At the great 'Yearly Meeting' of 1849 it gave shelter and free entertainment to more than one hundred guests. It was a religious home. Few people, even of larger leisure and culture, knew their Bibles as did Orsemus and Rhoda

Dean. No stranger could pass a week in that cricle without feeling its spiritual uplift. Among the cherished memories of that home life is the one of the morning hour when each child read his verse and mother led in song and father poured out his soul in simple, heartfelt prayer. Over the unutterable deso- lation that has fallen on that old home there seems to brood the spirit of a devotion that softens the heart and calms the soul in the strenuous struggle of life."

Of the thirteen children of Orsemus and Rhoda Dean, Professor Bailey Sutton Dean, the immediate subject of this review, was the twelfth in order of birth. His boyhood days were passed on the old homestead, to which he has himself made so appreciative reference in the words of the preceding paragraph, and his preliminary educational training was se- cured in the common schools of the locality and period. He later continued his studies in Mahoning Academy, at Canfield, and then entered the Western Reserve Eclectic Insti- tute, now known as Hiram College, where the major portion of his higher academic training in his youth was secured. In 1869 he was graduated in Bethany College, at Bethany, West Virginia, from which institution he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and, later, the degree of Master of Arts. During 1869-70 he was principal of the high school at Burton, Geauga county, Ohio, and in 1870 he was ordained to the ministry of the Chris- tian, or Disciples, church, in whose faith he had been reared, and of which he has been a member from his boyhood. In July, 1870, Professor Dean assumed the pastorate of the First Christian church at East Smithfield, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, retaining this charge until 1878, when he accepted the call to the pastorate of the First Christian church at Bellaire, Ohio, where he continued in effect- ive service until 1882. Thereafter he was pastor of the Christian church at Hiram, Ohio, for six years, where he also became a member of the faculty of Hiram College, in 1882. His pastorate here was terminated in 1888, owing to the exactions of his work in the college, but it should be stated that in the pastoral office, in his various charges, he did much for the spiritual and temporal advancement of his church, in whose councils he has long been prominent and influential. In 1882 Professor Deon became vice-president of Hiram College, holding this office until the election of President Laughlin the following year. Since 1883 he has held

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the chair of history in Hiram College, and his work has been most effective, while he has at all times held the confidence and high re- gard of the student body, in whom he main- tains the deepest interest, having a full appre- ciation of his stewardship as an instructor and guide. He is the author of an elementary Bible History, published in 1895, and the same is now widely used as a text-book. He is a man of high intellectual attainments, but has naught of intellectual bigotry or intoler- ance. His work in the ministry was one of utmost zeal and consecration, and he is an able and eloquent public speaker, facile in dic- tion and ever thoroughly fortified in his con- victions. He passed the summer of 1906 in making a tour of England and the European continent, and he has also traveled widely in the United States. Professor Dean is aligned as a stanch supporter of the principles of the Republican party, but has had no ambition to enter the arena of "practical politics." He is a member of the American Historical Asso- ciation.

On the 14th of June, 1869, was solemnized the marriage of Professor Dean to Miss Emma Johnson, who was born in Middlefield town- ship, Geauga county, Ohio, and who. is a daughter of James E. and Emily (Burke) Johnson, honored pioneers of that section of the historic old Western Reserve. Mrs. Dean studied at Hiram College under Garfield, and was for some years the able and popular head of the art department of this institution. She retired from this position at the time of her marriage, but resumed it for many years after Professor Dean was called to Hiram. She has much talent as an artist, and many of her pro- ductions are notable for fine technique and originality of composition. Professor and Mrs. Dean have two children: James Ernest and Allie Mabelle. James E. Dean was born at East Smithfield, Pennsylvania, on the 23d of February, 1871, and was graduated in Hiram College as a member of the class of 1892, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He did effective post-graduate work in art schools in Philadelphia and New York City, and is now a member of the art staff of the Cleveland Plaindealer, one of the oldest and best known newspapers of the Western Reserve. Allie Mabelle was graduated in Hiram College as a member of the class of 1895, having here taken a course in the art department, and hav- ing later continued her art studies in Cleve- land, New York City and in Europe. In 1902

she became head of the art department of hier alma mater, Hiram College, retaining this in- cumbency until 1907, when she became the wife of William E. Waldo, of Bradford, Penn- sylvania, where they now maintain their home. Both of the children inherited in marked de- gree the artistic talent of their mother, and both have made definite accomplishment in this field.

HON. ARLINGTON G. REYNOLDS, member of the firm of Reynolds and Alvord, Painesville, is one of the ablest members of the Ohio bar and a strong leader in the Republican party. In all his legal, judicial and civic relations he has evinced a high order of ability and a manly conscience, and he enjoys as his supporters the best and most substantial classes in the community. A native of the town of Mentor, Lake county, Ohio, he was born on the 24th of November, 1849, the son of George Wash- ington and Honor S. (Nowlen) Reynolds. His parents were both pioneers of that place- in fact, his mother was a native of it-his · father being born in Broome, Schoharie coun- ty, New York. The maternal grandfather, Dudley Nowlen, migrated from New York to Mentor at an early day, while the paternal grandfather was a Connecticut pioneer, whose ancestors came from England in 1600. The family has always been patriotic and public- spirited, John Reynolds, the grandfather men- tioned, being a Revolutionary soldier who commenced the fight for independence at Bunker Hill and continued it while there were any foes in the field; while the father, George W. Reynolds, served three years on the bloody battlefield and in the wearing, campaigns of the Civil war.

Arlington G. was reared on his father's farm in Mentor township, and obtained his educa- tion at the district schools near his home, as well as at the Collegiate Institute in Willough- by and, finally, at Oberlin College. He then commenced to read law with Judge G. N. Tut- tle, of Painesville, and in 1882 was admitted to the bar before the supreme court at Colum- bus. In September of that year he located at Des Moines, Iowa, where for two years he was identified with a large implement house, and upon his return to Painesville in 1884 he began the practice of his profession. He continued alone until 1889, when he formed a partnership with Judge Perry Bosworth, which was broken by the death of the latter in 1890. In 1897 Mr. Reynolds associated himself with Hon. C. W.

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Osborne, and in April, 1905, formed the part- nership with George W. Alvord which existed until January, 1909. All of these firms ob- tained a large share of the legal business of the county and stood among the foremost in ability.

In the meantime, distinguished honors of a judicial and political nature had been conferred upon Mr. Reynolds. From 1891 to 1896, in- clusive, he had served as probate judge of Lake county by two elections, and in 1896 and 1898 he was chosen mayor of Painesville for two-year terms. On June 7, 1897, at a con- vention held in Painesville, composed of repre- sentatives from Lake and Geauga counties, the Republicans nominated him as a legislative representative, and he was elected by a rousing. majority both in that year and in 1899. As a mark of the complete confidence which his associates reposed in him, his nominations for judge, mayor and assemblyman were all made by acclamation. Mr. Reynolds served as speaker of the House in the Seventy-fourth general assembly, the nominating caucus of his party being unanimous in the choice of its can- didate. Mr. Reynolds is a fluent and effective public speaker, but it is as a faithful and tire- less worker for the practical and commendable interests of his constituents that he is best known and has been most warmly commended. In the legislature he made a model committee- man, was faithful in his attendance at the reg- ular sessions, and as a speaker his rulings were prompt, forcibly supported and generally con- sidered impartial. the main exceptions to the rule being rank and prejudiced partisans. In January, 1909, Judge Reynolds was appointed by the governor to fill a vacancy on the com- mon pleas bench, which position he still re- tains.

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 14

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