USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 16
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John F., although active and successful in the promotion of his lumber interests in north- ern Ohio, has ably discharged various public responsibilities, and is a man who always can be depended upon to do more than his exact quota of work, which would justly fall to the
lot of every good citizen. J. F. Smith was united in marriage to Amanda M. Havnar, of New Philadelphia, Ohio, in the year of 1874. Four sons were born to them, three of whom survive.
JOEL RUMSEY REEVE .- Early American life was enriched in many ways. At present the tide of immigration brings in the undesirables, the skimmed milk of the old world. Its cream, rich in men and women of strong frames, sturdy in nature, reliant, resourceful, full of high purposes and often seeking this land for the freedom denied them in their own, came in struggling, formative days of the country. They assisted materially in this development and gave it qualities that still exist. Of this stalwart nature was the Reeve family, whose descendants have left their mark by lives of honesty, industry, intelligence and thrift, and have often sat in "the seats of the mighty." The first Reeves came from Dijon, France. They were Huguenots, and, seeking religious freedom, the most fled to England, though a few settled in Ireland and Holland. The spirit of colonization was strong in those of Eng- land. They came to this country in its early days and they quickly made its cause their own, fighting bravely and with distinction in all the wars of their adopted land. Many of them settled in Eastern New York, and there Joel Rumsey Reeve, the subject of this sketch, was born in Rensselaerville, April 25, 1823. The region around there was not only rich in a farming sense but unusually picturesque, and to the day of his death, Mr. Reeve, who had a great love for the beautiful, never tired of celebrating the glories of the Catskills. His father, Rumsey Reeve, was an Episcopalian. This was a serious handicap when he sought a wife, especially as the girl upon whom he had set his heart was a Methodist. Episcopalians were then looked upon with almost as much disfavor as Catholics, and Rumsey's love-mak- ing was more of a campaign than a courting. Girls in those days were dutiful, still they were children of pioneer men who had succeeded because they were strong. and persistent. The girls inherited these qualities and they loved and persisted in their love despite the frown of their fathers. The one sought by Rumsey was of this heroic type. She and Rumsey met in secret when they could not meet openly and they made a love-letter box of an old tree. Finally the father, too, realized that the world held nothing that could separate them. Their
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wedded life was an ideal one. She worshiped him for his strength of character and the ten- der affection that went out to her, and he found in her the softer qualities which rounded out his own. The family pioneering spirit was strong in them, too, so about the year 1828 they started for Ohio by the Erie canal, then the sole means of travel, save the narrow, muddy, winding roads. This brought them to Buffalo, where they purchased an outfit and traveled the rest of the way by the road which ran by the shore of Lake Erie. Mrs. Reeve's father, the Rev. Henry Woolsey, had already settled in Lake county, and there his only daughter and her husband joined them.
This Rev. Henry Woolsey was a man of firm and impressive nature, even in those days when strong characters came to the front. He was a preacher of power and eloquence, ear- nest and persuasive, and of such compelling enthusiasm that he would carry his congrega- tion into such intensity of emotions that many would fall to the floor in the excess of their religious frenzy. His son Benjamin gave more than $7,000 to the Methodist church, and the land on which the Willoughby high school building now stands ; the land to be in use for school purposes only, otherwise to revert to his heirs. This is the Woolsey family which has given so many brilliant men to the coun- try and which has exercised so great and wholesome an effect upon its growth as min- isters, lawyers, statesmen, diplomats and edu- cators. To have its blood in their veins and to be born a Woolsey was to have a long start in the race where brains and the truest relig- ious convictions counted. Rev. Theodore Woolsey, of Yale College, the founder of Cor- nell, etc., were illustrations. Though perhaps not as strong, this alert, questioning, intellec- tual nature was in the Reeve family and found large expression in Rumsey. He was a stu- dent as well as farmer. Immediately on his arrival, he purchased 300 acres of land. He stocked it liberally with the best of cattle and never shirked his farming duties. But in spite of the long hours he had to give to plowing, sowing, reaping, the feeding and the care of his live stock, he found time to continue his studies in law and in medicine, for which he had especial fondness and aptitude. He was so well grounded in medicine that he served as a volunteer doctor for miles around, and his legal knowledge was so large and so secure that his advice was often sought by lawyers in Cleveland. In those days, when Episcopalians
are often criticised by those of sterner faiths for the laxity of their church discipline, it is amusing to read of the severity of the views of the early members of that faith. Rumsey and Abigal, his wife, lived up to the ordinances of their religion with especial strictness. The children were not allowed to even whistle on the Sabbath. There was no Episcopal church nearer than old Trinity in Cleveland, but they would not make any compromises and attend another denomination nearer. Sunday they started out at five o'clock in the morning to reach the church in due season, and there too their son Joel was a choir boy. Six children were born to Rumsey and Abigal Reeve. Of these Henry married, in 1836, Charlotte Shaw, a daughter of John and a granddaughter of Isaiah Shaw, of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Charlotte was a strict Methodist, and when her pastor found that Henry courted her Sun- days he sent word to him that it was against the rules and he must confine his courtship to other days in the week. Sarah, the second born, married November 20, 1834, Jeremiah Campbell, Esq., a man who was justice of the peace on Willoughby Plains for several years and also held other offices of honor and trust. Hannah was married February 21, 1834, to Alonzo Goodman, who became one of the wealthiest men in Kansas City, Missouri, and also a representative from that state. The other children were Polly, who was a teacher ; Enoch, who went to Illinois and amassed a large fortune, and Joel, the subject of this sketch. Joel's wife was Mary Amelia Gris- wold, whom he married January 31, 1850. She was the daughter of Isaac Darrow Griswold, for a score of years a beloved teacher in north- ern Ohio. He was the original owner of Kirt- land Mills, and of Little Mountain, part of which is still in the possession of his heirs. These Griswolds were English and of the family which gave Connecticut one of its gov- ernors in the person of Matthew Griswold. Her mother, Olive Foster Griswold, was a descendant of Christopher Foster, who came from England in 1635. Among the descend- ants of Rumsey and Abigal Reeve are many lawyers, teachers, doctors, dentists, ministers, prominent farmers and business men. Pio- neer farming was attended with danger from which that of the present is happily spared. One day while clearing a piece of land Rumsey was crushed beneath the trunk of a tree he had just felled. His son Henry, in the suspense and agony of that hour, was compelled to cut
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the log twice through before he could extri- cate the body of his father.
The work the husband and father had laid down was taken up by Abigal in the brave, uncomplaining spirit of the women of those days. For thirteen years she carried on and oversaw all the varied and exacting duties of the farm. She was successful from the start, made money and thriftily held on to it. She improved the land in many ways, built a new house that was a source of admiration in those times, and so administered the duties of her new position that when her son Henry was married she gave him the rich portion of the eldest son, which started him well in life. She was progressive, and it is noted that she bought the first spring buggy in Willoughby. Nat- urally of much dignity, responsibility added to this impressiveness, and though a woman of great kindness of heart, yet her manner was so grave and her appearance so inspiring that even those who knew her best and loved her most were in awe of her.
Joel Reeve was educated at the famous old academy where Dr. Asa D. Lord, an educator of the old school, was principal so many years. Then he entered the store of his uncle, Elijah Woolsey, where he remained some time as a clerk. He took part with zest in the social life around him, was a careful observer of it as well, and in later days he often delighted in contrasting the formality and dignity of the cotillion parties he then attended with the romping ragtime of the present. No young. girl then went unchaperoned, a relative or trusted servant accompanied her to the dances, sat through them all and then escorted her home with equal watchfulness. At all parties of any kind a bounteous meal was always served, of which wild turkey, pumpkin pie, preserves, luscious and many hued, wonderful cakes, plums, seed, etc., of uncounted brands, were the main features. Long tables were spread and such was the spirit of chivalry that the girls first and afterwards the boys were served. Joel was early taught the value of money. He earned his first money by hard work, and that impressed its value firmly upon him. He was given a patch of land by his mother, which he cleared. He hired a man and team, and on this small piece raised 100 bushels of corn, which sold for $100, half of which he paid to the hired man.
Mr. Reeve was in the barrel and stave busi- ness for several years. For a year after his marriage he lived in Toledo, Ohio, but he re-
turned to his old home, and all the rest of his life he spent in Willoughby, with the excep- tion of the years 1890-91, when he and his wife visited his brother Henry, and also their son Oscar in California. With his long line of cultured ancestry he naturally had high appre- ciation of the value of a thorough education. Most of his descendants are college bred- from Adelbert, Women's College, Lake Erie, Oberlin, Mt. Union, Syracuse and Berkeley (California) Universities; Howes' Military, old Willoughby College, San Jose, California, Normal, etc. He was always greatly inter- ested in the education of the young and for forty years was a diligent and valuable mem- ber of the school board of Willoughby. He was also intensely interested in politics, which he studied with a strong, unprejudiced mind, and as a result of his reading and his observa- tion he voted the straight Republican ticket all his life. Much of the sternness of his Hugue- not forefathers was shown in Mr. Reeve's at- titude toward life. He did not believe in the use of tobacco or liquors of any kind, and he attributed his own long life and his unusual strength, which lasted till its close, to the fact that he had never used tobacco or spirits. All his sons are abstainers, too, as well as his father and brothers before. If one of the farm hands wished to smoke, he had to do it in secret, far from the house and barns, and Mr. Reeve promptly burned every pack of cards he discovered. In spite of his sternness, Mr. Reeve was a man of lovable nature, affection- ate to his family, helpful to his friends. His life was clean and upright, progressive and uplifting, and it served unconsciously as a model. He was often in advance of his times in his views, but he lived to see the world grow up to them. His main purpose in life, though, was the loving, developing, training of his children. To this he devoted himself un- selfishly, and all the rich resources of his mind and character, all the acquirements of his life, were given freely and constantly to them. He died February 16, 1909, at his old home in Willoughby.
Mrs. Mary Reeve was a worthy companion and helpmeet for a man the nature of Joel Reeve. She had the qualities of mind and soul to be the mother of his children. She was educated in the Willoughby Female Sem- inary, where her gifts for writing and oratory were early recognized, and all through a long and busy and capable life she continued to exercise them. Had opportunity allowed, she
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would have made her mark in a noted way as a writer and speaker. As it was she had a high local fame in these respects. It was while she was a teacher in Willoughby that Mr. Reeve first met her. She was an earnest church woman, too, and though bearing her share of the burdens of a large farm-much heavier than now in the days of machinery and enlightenment-and a mother's part in the bearing and bringing to manhood and woman- hood of four sons and four daughters, she never failed in her loving service to the church and Sunday school-often going out in the highways and byways to gather in the poor. And with all her cares and troubles she al- ways found time to look after the needy and sorrowing. Universal brotherhood was not only a beautiful theory with her, but a prob- lem to be worked out in our daily lives in terms of flesh and blood. Temperance work- ers found a strong ally in her and she held the office of president of the W. C. T. U. until failing health compelled her resignation. At the time of her death she was county super- intendent of the Social Purity League. As a wife she was dutiful and devoted ; as a mother loyal and loving; as a friend generous and faithful. Her life was pure, spotless, uplift- ing. Her memory will always be a priceless legacy and an inspiration. She died August 23, 1900.
"The actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust."
To Joel and Mary Griswold Reeve were born : Henry and Arthur, who died in child- hood; Oscar, who married Cora Talbot, a granddaughter of the Rev. S. F. Whitney ; Emma, who married Walter Tyler, who came from the same ancestry as President Tyler ; Alvin married Nelly, a daughter of Harvey and Minerva Granger Hall; Eugene, Omar, Olive, Etta and Lillian, who married Leon Beckwith Hoose and has two children, Nor- man Reeve and Warren Joel. In January, 1900, Mr. and Mrs. Reeve celebrated their golden wedding.
ALBERT B. FAIRCHILD. - Among the first business houses of Ravenna, none are more worthy of patronage and public confidence than that of which Albert B. Fairchild is the senior member. It is also one of the oldest business houses of the city, for it was founded by his father at the time of the arrival of the
family here in 1879. John Fairchild was after a short time succeeded in his furniture business by his eldest son, George E. Fair- child, who conducted the business for some years and then moved to the Pacific coast. He is now extensively engaged in the shoe trade in San Francisco, but he is also the pro- prietor of eight other stores in different cities in California. During his proprietorship of the business here, Albert B. Fairchild was his partner, and after the brother's removal to the west, W. A. Jenkins became associated with the firm, but it is now known as Fair- child & Son, dealers exclusively in chinaware, crockery and furniture, and also undertaking in all its departments. Since 1878 the busi- ness has been conducted at its present location, where, by their courteous treatment, the care- ful selection of their goods and their exten- sive business experience, the members of the firm have been very successful.
Albert B. Fairchild, the senior member, was born at Jericho, Vermont, on August 3, 1849, a son of John and Sophronia P. (Sears) Fairchild, the father from Ohio and the mother from Quebec, Canada, and the former was a son of Levi Fairchild, whose wife, after his death, married a Mr. Farrend, the builder of the first flouring mill at St. Anthony, now Minneapolis, Minnesota. Both John and So- phronia Fairchild died in Ravenna.
Albert B. Fairchild, the younger of their two sons, received an academic education at Highgate, Vermont, and in 1879 he came with his parents to Ravenna. On the 4th of July, 187.1, at Ogdensburg, New York, he was mar- ried to Martha A. Jones, from Kempville, On- tario, Canada, a daughter of Edward and Jane (Harris) Jones, natives of Wales. The children born of this union are: Sophronia, a teacher in the public schools of Ravenna ; Eunice, born in East Hillgate, Vermont, on the 5th of November, 1873, and died on the 17th of February, 1904, having served some years as a deputy in the office of the probate judge of Portage county; John, who is in business with his father; and Albert, whose home is in Salt Lake City, Utah. An uncle of Mrs. Fairchild served sixteen years in the Canadian parliament. Mr. Fairchild is promi- nent in the local councils of the Republican party, and has served several terms as a mem- ber of the board of city aldermen. He is a member of the order of Masons, Unity Lodge of Ravenna, No. 12, and in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows he has filled the princi-
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pal offices. The family are members of the Episcopal church, and during many years Mr. Fairchild has served as one of its wardens.
SELWYN R. CONKLING .- One of the pro- gressive business men and popular citizens of Portage county is Selwyn R. Conkling, who is now engaged in the coal business in Gar- rettsville, where for many years he held the position of station agent of the Erie Railroad. He is a native of the fine old Western Re- serve, where his entire life thus far has been passed, and in the thriving village which has long been his home he has a secure hold upon the confidence and esteem of the entire com- munity. As a loyal and public-spirited citi- zen he lias aided materially in the development and progress of Garrettsville, where his serv- ices have been in requisition as a member of the village council and the board of education, of which latter he is president at the present time.
Mr. Conkling was born in Montrose, Sum- mit county, Ohio, on the 25th of February, 1855, and is a son of Rial M. and Hannah (Sweet) Conkling, the former of whom was born near Palmyra, New York, and the lat- ter in Summit county, Ohio, a daughter of Alfred Sweet, a sterling pioneer of that sec- tion of the Western Reserve. George Conk- ling, grandfather of the subject of this review, passed his entire life in the state of New York and was a representative of the same family as was the late and distinguished Roscoe Conk- ling, who was long a prominent figure in na- tional affairs. Rial M. Conkling was reared and educated in the old Empire state, where he learned the trade of carpenter, and whence he came to the Western Reserve about 1840, locating in Summit county, where he engaged in contracting and building. He died in 1884, when about seventy-one years of age. He was a man of stanch principles and generous im- pulses, a liberal and loyal citizen, and one who ever commanded unqualified popular esteem. His political support was given to the Re- publican party. The mother passed to the life eternal in 1870, at the age of forty-nine years. They became the parents of five sons and one daughter, and of the number all are living ex- cept three.
Selwyn R. Conkling passed his boyhood and youth in Summit county, where his early edu- cational advantages were those afforded in the district schools. Later he continued his studies in the high school at Garrettsville, and in this
village lie initiated his business career in 1874, when nineteen years of age. He secured em- ployment in the local station of the Erie Rail- road, then known as the Atlantic & Great Western, and here he familiarized himself with the various duties of station and baggage agent. His faithful and able service in time brought due promotion, for in 1889 he was appointed station agent at Garrettsville, which had now grown to be a station of far more im- portance than it was when he first began his labors here. He filled this position with all of acceptability until July, 1907, when he re- signed the same, after having been in the em- ploy of the one railroad company for the long period of thirty-four years-a fact indicating most significantly the estimate placed upon his services in handling the multifarious business entrusted to his care. Upon resigning his posi- tion he engaged in the coal business in Gar- rettsville, where he has built up a most flour- ishing enterprise and receives a representative patronage, based alike on his fair and honor- able dealings and his marked personal pop- ularity.
In politics Mr. Conkling is an uncompro- mising advocate of the principles of the Re- publican party, in whose cause he has done efficient service in the local field. He has been a member of the Republican township committee of Garrettsville township since 1888 and has taken an active interest in the work of the various campaigns. In 1886 he was elected a member of the village council, in which he served for sixteen consecutive years, within which he did much to promote the ex- cellent public improvements which have added so materially to the progress and prosperity of the village. He has been a member of the board of education for eighteen years, and has held his present office of president of the body about sixteen years. He is also president of the Garrettsville Business (Men's) Associa- tion, which is doing much to promote the in- terests of the village. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and with its adjunct organization the Order of the Eastern Star, with which latter Mrs. Conkling also is iden- tified.
In 1878 Mr. Conkling was united in mar- riage to Miss Cora Alice Udall, daughter of the late George P. Udall, of Garrettsville. Of this union two sons were born: Glenn R., who is now employed in the electrical department of the extensive establishment of the Brown Engineering Company, of Cleveland; and
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Louis, who died at the age of twenty-five years.
EDWARD PAUL WERNER .- On other pages of this work appears a review of the career of Paul E. Werner, founder and president of the Werner Company, of Akron, one of the largest and best equipped printing and book manufacturing concerns in the United States, and as the article mentioned gives also ade- quate data concerning the company, it is con- sistent to eliminate the same, as well as those concerning the family history, in the present connection, as ready reference may be made to the sketch of the life of the honored father of him whose name initiates this paragraph.
Edward Paul Werner, who is now incum- bent of the responsible and exacting office of general superintendent of the Werner Com- pany, was born in the city of Akron, on the 2d of April, 1875, and is the eldest of the three sons of Paul E. and Lucy A. (Denaple) Werner. After completing the curriculum of the public schools of his native city, he en- tered the Kenyon Military Academy, at Gam- bier, Ohio, where he remained a student for three years. He then went to Germany, where his father was born, and in the city of Stutt- gart he continued his studies for two years in the high school. He returned to the United States in 1894, and forthwith became identi- . fied with the printing establishment of his father, where he familiarized himself with the multifarious details of the various departments and was finally made assistant superintendent of the great establishment. He remained in- cumbent of this position until 1906, since which year he has held the office of general superintendent, in which he has proved him- self a careful and able executive, keeping in close touch with every department of the busi- ness and maintaining the most perfect system in each, so that the service throughout is main- tained at the point of highest efficiency. He is recognized as one of the representative busi- ness men of the younger generation in his na- tive city, and here he is held in the most un- equivocal popular esteem. His beautiful home, at 258 West Market street, is one in which is dispensed a most gracious hospitality to his friends. He is a Republican in his political proclivities, and he is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church.
In 1899 Mr. Werner was united in mar- riage to Miss Harriet M. Poehlman, who was
born and reared in Akron, a daughter of Louis Poehlman, and they have three children : Lucy M., Paul E., and Albert R.
DUANE W. ROUSE .- Bearing with ease and dignity his burden of four score and four years, Duane W. Rouse holds a place of prominence among the respected and public- spirited citizens of Geneva, Ashtabula county, where he is a large property holder, and one of the foremost in contributing towards the growth of town and county. He comes of sub- stantial patriotic ancestry, his maternal. grand- father, Jeremiah Crandall, having served in a New York regiment in the Revolutionary war, and was himself a soldier in two wars-the Mexican war and the Civil war. A son of William Rouse, he was born, June 12, 1825, in New York state, twenty miles south of Buffalo.
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