History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 17

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 17

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When seven years of age, Duane WV. Rouse was taken to the home of an uncle, who lived south of Syracuse, in Onondaga county, New York, and was there brought up and educated. At the age of sixteen years, he came to Ohio, joining his father, who had for a number of years lived about twelve miles north of Mans- field, in Richland county. A year later he began learning the harnessmaker's trade in Ashland, Ohio, receiving his board and two dollars a month wages, but clothing himself. He spent two years as an apprentice, after- wards working at his trade, then going to Orange, Ohio, where he remained a few months. Subsequently, wishing to establish himself in business on his own account, Mr. Rouse located in Leroy, Medina county. Very shortly after that time, the Mexican war broke out, and he hurried to offer his services to his country, being the first man in Medina county to do so. Enlisting May 20, 1846, in Company E, Wayne County Volunteers, Third Ohio Regiment, commanded by Colonel Sam- uel R. Curtis, he went with his comrades to Matamoras to join Taylor's army. Before reaching the place, however, General Taylor had twice defeated the Mexicans, at Palo Alto and at Resaca de la Palma. After staying six months at Matamoras, Mr. Rouse's regiment was sent to Monterey, where, on seeing the new recruits, the Mexicans retreated, and the regiment followed their brave commander on a forced march to Buena Vista. Mr. Rouse took part in several engagements of this war, which was virtually closed when General

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Scott captured the city of Mexico, and had many experiences of a varied nature, some being humorous, and others pathetic and thrill- ing. While in Buena Vista this Ohio com- pany burned in effigy Tom Corwin, then United States senator from Ohio, who, in a speech that killed him politically, insulted the soldiers taking part in the Mexican war. Nail- ing the cross on which the effigy was placed to a tree, they inscribed upon it the following stanza : "Old Tom Corwin is dead, and here he lies ; Nobody sorry how he fares; Nobody is sorry, and nobody cares."

Returning to Leroy after serving fourteen months in the army, Mr. Rouse continued in business there until his marriage, when he bought land near Leroy, and began farming. During the Civil war he helped raise a com- pany of volunteers, drilled it as its captain until September, 1861, when it was sworn in with the National Guards, and he was com- missioned as first lieutenant of his company. This was subsequently consolidated with an- other company, whose first lieutenant was given the lieutenancy in the new company, and Mr. Rouse retired from the service. Re- turning then to his farm, Mr. Rouse carried it on until 1872. In 1873 he purchased land one mile east of Geneva, and was there pros- perously employed in tilling the soil until 1880, making improvements of an excellent character, including the erection of substantial farm buildings.

Since 1880 Mr. Rouse has lived in Geneva, where he has extensive financial interests, and has been actively identified with the estab- lishment of many of its leading enterprises. He has erected and sold many of the village residences, selling some of them on the install- ment plan, and now owns four fine residences and a large two-story brick block, which he built, on one of the leading business corners, in 1890. Although ranking with the prominent Democrats of Geneva, he is really independent in politics, voting with the courage of his con- victions for the best men and measures. He carries a Mexican war badge given him by the government, and is distinguished as being one of the twenty Mexican war veterans living in Ohio, being probably the only one in Ashta- bula county.

Mr. Rouse married, October 3. 1848, Mary E. Reynolds, and on October 3. 1908, this happy couple celebrated the sixtieth anniver- sary of their wedding day in the North Star Grange Hall, a host of friends, relatives and

well-wishers gathering there to offer congrat- ulations. Mrs. Rouse was born near Leroy, where they were married, and was there brought up. Five children were born of their union, namely: Florence, widow of Dr. Hor- ace Judson, of Cleveland; Angeline, wife of L. M. Cole, of Geneva; Eulalie E., wife of Fred Chester, of Geneva ; Walter E., of Cleve- land, a commercial salesman; and Dora B., wife of Owen S. Spring, of Daytonia, Florida. Mr. and Mrs. Rouse have twelve grandchil- dren and eleven great-grandchildren. Frater- nally, Mr. Rouse was made a Mason in 1870, and belongs to both the lodge and the chapter, being quite interested in the order. Mrs. Rouse is a member of the Baptist church, and Mr. Rouse was a member of the building committee.

GEORGE H. MERRILLS .- One of the repre- sentative farmers of Lake county is George H. Merrills, whose homestead farm lies contigu- ou's to the village of Wickliffe, Lake county, and who is also the owner of land in Willough- by township, this county. The three tracts are, however, not far distant from each other, so that he gives his supervision to all of them. He is a native of the Western Reserve and a member of a family that was founded within its borders nearly three-fourths of a cen- tury ago.

George Henry Merrills was born in Not- tingham, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, on the 15th . of October, 1845, and is a son of Nathaniel and Lucy M. (Taft) Merrills, both natives of the state of New York. Nathaniel Mer- rills was born in the city of Rochester, and there he learned the cooper's trade. In 1836 he came to Ohio and for many years he con- ducted a cooper shop in the village of Not- tingham. Cuyahoga county, where he main- tained his home about twenty years. He then removed to Geauga county, where he was en- gaged in agricultural pursuits for a time, after which he located in Painesville, the county seat of Lake county, where he was associated in the operation of a cooper shop for three years. Thereafter he was engaged in farming in Euclid township, Cuyahoga county, for several years, and he met his death by falling down an elevator shaft, in the city of Cleve- land, where he died in a hospital, in 1888, when about seventy-eight years of age. His wife preceded him to eternal rest and her death occurred in Geauga county. They were folk of sterling attributes of character and

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ever held the esteem of those with whom they came in contact in the various relations of life.

George Henry Merrills, the immediate sub- ject of this sketch, received a common school education and remained at the parental home. assisting his father in his various business operations, until his marriage, on November 14, 1868, when was celebrated his union to Miss Adelaide White, daughter of Cyphron S. and Rosanna (Wirt) White, of Euclid, Cuyahoga county. Six years after his mar- riage Mr. Merrills located on his present homestead farm, and the place comprises twenty-three acres, adjoining and within the village of Wickliffe, Lake county, besides which he owns twenty-eight and one-half acres in Willoughby township, Lake county, and thirty-one acres in another part of Lake county, and 104 acres at Willoughby Center. He is one of the popular and honored citizens of Wickliffe township, and this fact is indi- cated in his having held for eleven consecu- tive years the office of township trustee. He is a stanch supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party and he holds membership in the Disciples church. He has six children,-Cyphron G., Leo, Rose, Budd N., Ruth Ida and Charles.

Leo Merrills, the second in order of birth of the children of George H. and Adelaide (White) Merrills, was born in Willoughby township, Lake county, Ohio, on October 15, 1872, and he was reared to the age of thirteen years on the home farm now occupied by his parents, in the meanwhile duly availing himself of the advantages of the public schools of the locality. Thereafter he became a clerk in a general store, after leaving which he returned to the parental home and assisted his father in farming operations until his marriage, at the age of twenty-three years. He then settled on his present attractive little homestead of twelve acres, in Wickliffe, Lake county, and in addition to the cultivation of the same he also has charge of the operation of an adjoining tract of twenty-eight and one- half acres. On his home place Mr. Merrills has erected a substantial residence and also a good barn, and the home is one of the at- tractive places of this part of the county. Leo Merrills is a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party and is incumbent of the office of road supervisor, in which connection

the district under his supervision extends from the shores of Lake Erie to the Ridge road.

On February 5, 1896, Leo Merrills was united in marriage to Miss Flora Daus, who was born in the city of Cleveland and reared in Willoughby township, Lake county. She is a daughter of August and Minnie Daus, the former of whom died in 1900 and the latter of whom still resides on the home farm in Willoughby township. Mr. and Mrs. Mer- rills have two winsome little daughters,-Elsie and Ethel.

THOMAS M. GRIFFITH .- The name of Thomas M. Griffith is recorded on both the pages of the business and official history of Ravenna and Portage county, but he is a na- tive son of Wales, born there February 16, 1855, to Griffith and Ann (Thomas) Griffith, also from Wales. He is a grandson of Moses Griffith and Louis Thomas. Coming from his native land to the United States, Griffith Grif- fith located in Hubbard, of Trumbull county, Ohio, in May, 1870, and his family of wife and four children, two sons and two daugh- ters, joined him there in the following Sep- tember. He was a Baptist minister, a good and pious man, and his death occurred on the 3Ist of October, 1872. In 1880 his widow removed to Palmyra, Ohio, where she passed away in August of 1892, after becoming the mother of five children: Catherine, who be- came the wife of John Perry, and both are now deceased; Mary, who married William Pros- ser, and they are also deceased; Thomas M., who is mentioned below; Martha, the widow of Reese M. Reese and a resident of Monon- gahela, Pennsylvania ; and Daniel M., de- ceased.

Thomas M. Griffith obtained his educational training under the able instructions of his re- vered mother, and as a boy of eight he began working in the coal mines of Wales. After the establishment of the family home in Hub- bard, Ohio, he worked at the same occupation there for nine years, and then going to Pal- myra, this state, he was a miner there until coming to Ravenna in 1889. During the first eight years of his residence in this city he was employed in a planing mill, after which for several years he was an employe in a chair factory, and he then entered upon his present connection with the H. W. Riddle Hearse Company. As a representative of the Repub- lican party he served two years as the assessor

mary & Record

Georg heard

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of Ravenna township, and since his election in 1904 he has served as the city and township treasurer. His fraternal relations connect him with Unity Lodge, No. 12, F. & A. M., of Ravenna, and with Diamond Lodge, No. 136, K. of P., of Palmyra, Ohio.

On the 2d of March, 1882, Mr. Griffith was united in marriage to Ellen Williams, from Palmyra, but her parents, Thomas and Mary (Davis) Williams, were from Wales. They were married, however, in Palmyra, the father having located in that city when sixteen years of age, and he was a wagon-maker there. One daughter has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Grif- fith, Clara Ellen, who is the wife of Louis Hin- man and a resident of Palmyra.

GEORGE JOHN RECORD .- In prefacing the personal and family history of this citizen of Conneaut, it is well to state the important achievements of his career and their results and influence in the material progress and the social welfare of this section of the Western Reserve. As Mr. Record himself says, his life has been one of intense activity, first as a merchant and then as manufacturer. As both an originator and organizer he belongs well to the front in the history of American indus- try. He was the first manufacturer of bright tin plate under the Mckinley tariff in the United States, but this was only a department and incidental to the main activities of his plant for the manufacture of butter packages, cans and a large line of this class of goods, and when he sold his manufacturing plant in 1901 to the chief corporation controlling that in- dustry, he had gained the success that consists in practical achievement in a large sphere and in the financial rewards which go with such achievement.

His subsequent career has as its chief fea- ture the devoted love of a father for a child whom death has taken, and the means he has taken to memorialize and perpetuate the beauty and worth of her character for the lasting benefit of the people among whom her life was passed.

In the May Record Findley Memorial Chapel, which was dedicated at Conneaut, June 20, 1909, are combined in beautiful form a tribute to human character and faith in its immortality, together with the practical spirit of the modern age which makes usefulness the test of its monuments. The chapel, with its dignified English Gothic lines, its tower with bell chimes, is constructed of New Bedford

stone, the interior lined with marble and with bronze doors, and contains an auditorium seat- ing 700, with an elegant organ, besides read- ing rooms and gymnasium. With the First Congregational church of Conneaut as custo- dian, the chapel is to "be used for religious and educational purposes and the enjoyment of social privileges and physical culture." From the foundation to the belfry, from the furnish- ings of the chapel to the equipment of the ladies' reception rooms and reading rooms, in- cluding the books, periodicals. and all other supplies; Mr. Record received not a dollar from the church or congregation or people that are now custodians of the memorial.

The history of this branch of the Record family in America begins with John Record, who, with his brother Daniel, emigrated from England about 1740 and settled in the Rhode Island colony. His wife's name was Deborah, and their children were Whitman, Daniel, Nancy and John, Jr.

John Record, Jr., who was born in Rhode Island about 1750, afterward settled in Stan- fordville, near Poughkeepsie, New York. He married, at Kingstown, Rhode Island, October 14, 1773, Mary Donwell, of German parentage. They had thirteen children : John (3d), James; William, Whitman, Daniel, Thomas, Shepard, Augustus, Deborah, Valentine, Mary, Israel and Seth. This verse written on the first page of his family bible gives the key to his history and character :

John Record Junior is my name, And English is my nation, Poughkeepsie is my dwelling place, And Christ is my salvation.

Seth Record was born in Stanfordville, May 18, 1801, moved to Chautauqua county, New York, and married, in the town of Sherman, October 27, 1831, Ellidia Yale. She was horn, of Welsh and Irish parentage, in Unadilla, New York, May 22, 1812, a daughter of Ne- hemiah and Ruth Spencer Yale. Seth and Ellidia Record had the following children : Otis Skinner, born June 30, 1833 ; Frances Jennett, October 7, 1835; Phebe, November 1, 1837; George John, August 22, 1839; Jane Ann, July II, 1845; Elma, January 13, 1849. The first two were born in the town of Sherman, and the others at Hanover, whither the parents had moved.

George John Record was reared on the farm of his father, who was also engaged in the

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woolen and sawmill industries. After an edu- cation in the common schools and Fredonia College, he began to read medicine, but for- tunately gave up his intention of entering that profession. He took a position in a drug store as clerk at six dollars a month, and for six months worked at this wage and boarded him- self, but for the following six months received twelve dollars a month and board. After- ward, as road salesman for a Buffalo company, he sold, marble a year and a half. Then a patent stove-pipe elbow manufactured by D. Pierce, of North East, Pennsylvania, was sold by him in the west, and he was so successful during the years 1860 and 1861 that Mr. Pierce took him into partnership, and engaged in the hardware business in Erie, Pennsylvania. He was in the general hardware business at Erie three years, and in 1867 moved to Conneaut.

Mr. Record was a hardware merchant at Conneaut until 1882. During this time he had made some beginnings in manufacturing, and finally turned all his attention in this direction. In his hardware shop he began in a small way the making of an improved tin-lined butter package, employing one man for the work. He later took in Hiram Judson and son, and they started manufacturing under the name of Record, Judson & Company. After a year and a half the business showed a loss of about $1,200, but he retained his faith in what they were making, and agreed to buy his partners' interest. He continued the manufacturing business alone under the name of Record Man- ufacturing Company, and in 1882 he built a factory. Among the articles on which he had patents and which were made in the factory were tin-lined butter packages, shipping cans, and cans of different kinds, sap spouts, pails and sugar-makers' supplies. His business was developed to large proportions, and the char- acter of his products possessed a . reputation which was associated with the name of the manufacturer throughout the United States. His force of employes, when he opened the factory in 1882, was twelve, and had increased to 200 in 1901, when he sold the plant to the American Can Company. He also sold to this company twenty-eight patent rights on his own inventions.

Mr. Record became a manufacturer of bright tin plate because he required such a large amount of this material of superior qual- ity in his own factory. He was using about 2,000 boxes of tin plate a month. When the Mckinley tariff of $1 20 a box was placed on

this material, it not only encouraged home manufacture, but made such manufacture al- most a necessity for the continuance of the business. As a result he was the first Ameri- can manufacturer of the bright tin plate, his factory for this product being put up in 1891 as an addition to his large manufactory. The plate was rolled at Irondale, Ohio, and tinned in the Record plant, Welshmen and Welsh machinery having been imported to do this work. A cyclone taking off the roof of the factory delayed the manufacture, so that the first plates were not made until the last day of February, 1892. The home consumption was between one and two thousand boxes a month, and the rest of the output was easily disposed of among northern manufacturers. Mr. Record continued the tin plate works until 1901, when he sold the entire plant to the American Can Company, and remained a year and a half as manager of his branch of the industry.

Mr. Record and his family have for many years been members of the Congregational church, and for the past five years he has been superintendent of the Sunday school of the First Congregational church of Conneaut.

Mr. Record was married November 29, 1865, in Geneva, Ashtabula county, to Mary Josephen Chapel. Her father was Joseph Chapel and her mother Calista ( Morse) Cha- pel, of the family of that name in Syracuse, New York. Mrs. Record was born October 7, 1846, at Beloit, Wisconsin. Of Mrs. George J. Record little is known as to the genealogy of her family. She has always co-operated with her husband in his devotion to the cause of Christ and the character of their daughter was molded under constant influence of Chris- tian faith. In her sparkling vivacity and pene- tration of mind, and in many other ways easily perceived by intimate acquaintances, the mother's share in her natural endowment was manifest.

May Ellidia Record, the only child of George J. and Mary J. Record, was born in Conneant, November 2, 1868, and died January 18, 1905. She was married, November 2, 1890, to Walter T. Findley. Mrs. Findley was a woman of more than usual capacities and character. In her girlhood she had attended the Conneaut public schools and completed her education in the Spencerian Business College at Cleveland and the Lake Erie Female Seminary at Paines- ville. The interest which she displayed in routine scholarship she also carried into every-

thay Record Findlay .

W.J. Findley.

MAY RECORD FINDLEY MEMORIAL CHAPEL

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day life, and was always in sympathetic touch with the esthetic and moral influences of mod- ern life. Her appreciation of literature, music and all that is beautiful and good was an essen- tial part of her character, and, while she kept her health, drew her into many circles of study and activity in these matters.

However, her life's highest development was reached in her religion. She belonged to the active membership of the church from the age of twenty, and was associated with all its char- itable and social affairs. She taught in the Sunday school, she gave her time and energy to the promotion of the other church organiza- tions. Religion was no superficial or incidental part of her life, but as health departed became her highest resource, from which she drew courage and cheerfulness to meet the extreme passion.

Through these elements of character Mrs. Findley was made the possessor of hosts of friends. There were many whose affection had been won in childhood, and in later years, where she traveled and where she lived, friends came whose loyalty never ceased.

For the continuation of the influences of such a life, so far as that is possible, her father and mother planned the May Record Findley Me- morial, and Mr. Record has given a large part of four years to the details of construction of this edifice. The cornerstone was laid June 9, · 1907, in the presence of the Congregational church members and Sunday school, and the chapel was dedicated June 20, 1909.

MAY RECORD FINDLEY MEMORIAL CHAPEL. -Size of building, ninety feet by fifty-four feet. Height of tower, seventy-six feet. Built of New Bedford Oolitic stone, exterior, and interior lined throughout with marble. Bronze front doors. The walls are set with mortar of unusual strength, used freely to create a solid bed for every brick and stone. The interior, of choicest Vermont marble, of rare beauty, serves to displace a large amount of inflam- mable woodwork. The plaster of walls and ceilings is laid upon hollow brick or iron lath, and the main floors are protected by a heavy layer of mineral wool, making the spread of fire most unlikely. The floor surface is of com- pressed cork, half an inch thick, non-combus- tible, sanitary, enduring, soft and grateful to eye and ear. The roof is of nine-fold asphalt paper, covered with slate embedded in asphalt. The windows are of soft and rich opalescent glass. Two figure windows represent the "An-

nunciation" and the "Three women and the Angel at the Vacant Tomb," after a painting by Plockhorst. The impressive and finely pro- portioned tower has a set of tubular chimes, of twenty bells, the largest set of this type which has been installed in the United States. There is a pipe organ, of large range, rich ma- hogany woodwork, plain gold-leaf decoration, and the best quality of material and workman- ship.

The auditorium differs from most similar structures in having the gallery constructed with rising tiers, so as to give a full view of the platform from every point. The chair seats are upholstered and unusually comforta- ble. Rolling, partitions are arranged to pro- vide for Sunday school class rooms, without in any degree obstructing the auditorium. The Sunday school is not removed to inferior quar- ters, but has the same beautiful appointments as the church, and at the same time has its special needs provided for. A pastor's study and a ladies' parlor are two of the most attrac- tive rooms in the building. The most approved system of steam heating, automatic gas water heater for the baths, and a double system of lighting by gas and electricity, are practical parts of the equipment to which the most care- ful attention has been given. In the lower story is a commodious gymnasium, with mar- ble-finished shower baths for men and women. There is also a large reading room, marble wainscoating, art marble floor and mahogany furniture, furnished with current literature and an ample and well selected library. In this reading room is set a marble case with bronze frame glass doors, in which is enclosed the old family Bible of John Record, Jr., printed in 1806, thirteen by seventeen inches in size, over which case hangs the portrait of Mrs. May Ellidia Record Findley, in memory of whom the Memorial is erected.

WALTER THORNTON FINDLEY was born in Mercer, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, in 1865. He belongs to a pioneer family of western Pennsylvania, the name being prominent in local history from the beginning of the last century. His grandfather, Samuel, was a pio- neer minister who for many years rode circuit in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 17

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