USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 19
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Charles W. Seiberling gained his early edu- cational training in the public schools of Akron, and after completing the curriculum of the same he was matriculated in Oberlin College, where he completed a two years' select course. In 1880 he left college and returned to Akron, where he became foreman in the extensive works of the Empire Reaper and Mower Manufactory, of which his father was the head. Upon the incorporation of the J. F. Seiberling Company, in 1884, he became a member of the directorate of the same and subsequently he assumed the superintendency of the great manufactory and retained this position until 1896. In 1896 Mr. Seiberling became associated with his father in the or- ganization and incorporation of the India Rubber Company, of which he became secre- tary and of which his father was president. He retained this incumbency two years, at the expiration of which he resigned the same to accept a similar office with the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, which was organ- ized in 1898 and with which he has thus been identified since its incorporation. He has been treasurer of the company since 1907 and vice president and treasurer since January, 1909. The concern is one of the largest of its
kind in the world, and in its extensive and well equipped plant in Akron are manufac- tured solid and pneumatic carriage and auto- mobile tires, bicycle tires, rubber horseshoes, rubber tiling, golf balls, moulded rubber and many other rubber specialties. The officers of this important corporation are: Frank A. Sei- berling, president and general manager; C. W. Seiberling, vice president and treasurer ; George M. Stadleman, secretary; and Paul W. Litchfield, superintendent. Charles W. Seiberling is a man of fine executive ability and practical business experience, and his pro- gressive ideas have led him to identity himself with important manufacturing enterprises other than that just noted. He is one of the able and loyal business men who have aided in developing Akron into one of the leading manufacturing and commercial cities of its class in the Union, and his interest in all that touches the welfare of the city is of the most insistent type. He is a Republican in politics.
On November 18, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Seiberling to Miss Blanche C. Carnahan, and they have four children,- Charles W., Jr., T. Carnahan, Lucius Miles and Catherine. The attractive family home is at 76 Fay street, in one of the most attrac- tive residence districts of Akron.
GENERAL JOHN S. CASEMENT, who died De- cember 13, 1909, at his residence in Paines- ville, was a veteran of the Western Reserve who "did things" with a vim and good cheer, both in times of war and peace. The main work of his life had been the building of railroads, and he was identified in early life, as an employe, with the pioneer work in the middle west; in the vigor of his later man- hood, when his military efficiency and bravery had earned him the bars of a brevet brigadier, he was one of the contractors who pushed the Union Pacific across the continent ; and, after he had entered the seventh decade of his work- ing life and held the national record for con- struction mileage and rapidity of execution, he entered the Central American field because business and financial depression had placed an embargo on railroad building in his own coun- try. Small of stature, but from boyhood noted for his unusual strength and endurance, Gen- eral Casement always put the full energy of his being into every action of his body and mind, and made every stroke tell in bringing about the realization of his ends. The good people of the Western Reserve stood by
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him as their ideal of a useful, dependable, manly citizen, from the time he went from them as a young "hustling" railroad builder and bravely upheld their honor on the battle- fields of Virginia and the south, until his hon- orable retirement to fully-earned rest and com- fort.
General Casement was a native of Ontario county, New York, born on the 19th of Janu- ary, 1829, his parents being natives of the English Isle of Man. In 1844 the family moved from Geneva, that state, to Michigan, and two years afterward the youth commenced his railroad career with the Michigan Central Railroad. His first job was to spike down the strap iron to the wooden rails, and, al- though he was a short, slight youth, it is said he was soon doing two men's work, and slight- ing nothing. He remained with that road until the spring of 1850, when he came to Ohio to begin track laying on the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati line. At the completion of that work he was similarly employed on the Lake Shore Railroad, and on the first of No- vember, 1852, track laying was brought to a temporary conclusion on the main line of that road. During the winter of 1852-3 the young man ran a Lake Shore freight train, which gave him a good preliminary training for his later work of ballasting the road-bed. He was employed in this line, in filling ravines and laying double tracks for the Grand Trunk, Erie and Pittsburg, and other roads which were being constructed and extended in north- ern Ohio, until the outbreak of the Civil war. The unfinished work, of which he was super- intendent, was then turned over to his brother, Daniel, who was vigorously completing it while John S. was making a record as a Union officer.
Soon after the firing on Fort Sumter Gen- eral Casement volunteered for the three months' service, and was elected major of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, his commis- sion to date from April 25, 1861 ; but on the following 19th of June he re-enlisted for three years, was re-commissioned accordingly and the regiment ordered to West Virginia. He had enjoyed no military training prior to his enlistment, but his railroad experience had taught him the value of quick decision, prompt- ness and the secret of handling men so as to inspire them with his own energy and deter- mination. During the long and tiresome marches in Western Virginia he made it his business to see that the soldiers were made as
comfortable as possible, and that their sup- plies and equipments were in good order and condition. Close observation and hard study also soon gave him a thorough insight into military tactics, so that when the time came he was qualified to assume command in the field. His opportunity soon came; for at the battle of Cross Lanes, Virginia, August 26, 1861, the regiment was defeated with severe loss, the two wings retreating in opposite direc- tions. Throughout the rout and carnage Major Casement retained his composure and, at the head of the left wing, commenced a retro- grade march of unusual difficulties through the enemy's country, but he led his command over mountain ranges and rivers to Charles- ton, without the capture of a man. He also fought at Winchester, where at the head of a score of men he captured a Confederate can- non and assisted in Stonewall Jackson's only defeat of the war. In the evening succeeding the battle he found that ten bullets had passed through the cape of his coat near his left arm -leaden balls evidently intended for his heart. In the winter's march to Blues Gap Major Casement was at the head of his regiment, and his speech before reaching the fortifications is still treasured by his few surviving comrades : "Boys, you've not got much of a daddy, but with such as you have I want you to go for those rebels." But then, and always, the boys had such a respect and affection for their "daddy" that they would follow him anywhere ; and he always led to protect the weak spots in his own command or to find the weak ones in the enemy's ranks. In numerous marches and skirmishes he proved of especial value to the Union movements in the construction of bridges and roads. On arriving at Falmouth, on the Rappahannock, he tendered his resig- nation as major of the Seventh Regiment to accept his promotion as colonel of the 103d Ohio Infantry. This commission dated from August 18, 1862. The regiment was at once ordered to Kentucky, subsequently participat- ing in the battles of Knoxville, Tennessee, Resaca, Georgia, and all of the flanking move- ments preparatory to Sherman's grand advance on Atlanta, losing 255 men killed and wounded out of a force of 450 men. Such military writers and authorities as Generals Cox and Scofield give General Casement the credit of saving the day for the Union army at the battle of Franklin. Officers and men were impressed and thrilled by his coolness, magnetism and his splendid control over both himself and his
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men, and when, in the face of the approaching enemy, he mounted the Union works, spoke to his troops with that ringing voice famous throughout the army, fired his revolvers in the air and then rejoined the ranks, good judges of human nature felt that the battle could not be lost. General Cox says: "It is generally conceded by all writers of the history of that great battle that General Casement saved the day. His coolness, sound judgment, bravery and wonderful control over men at a most critical time in the battle, brought victory when defeat seemed certain. General Case- ment had a voice that was most wonderful; perhaps no other commander in the army was endowed with such a voice. He could be heard giving his commands even in the midst of the rattle of musketry and the booming of artillery. He seemed to know no fear, and so wonderful was the confidence of the men under his command that where he went they would follow, even to the cannon's mouth." And General Scofield: "It was Colonel Jack Case- ment's example that held the troops to the firing line (at Franklin). As a commander of men he had no superior, having that magnetic influence which drew from them their full capacity of service. His look and command held them as firmly as the silken sashes that bound together the Greeks at the Pass of Ther- mopylæ."
This same Major General Scofield com- manded a corps of the Union army at Frank- lin, and it was chiefly through his superior's admiration for General Casement's splendid work on that battlefield that the latter received a brigadier general's star by brevet. The gal- lant colonel of the One Hundred and Third now took part in the pursuit of the disorgan- ized forces of Hood, after which the regiment was transferred, under Scofield, to Wilming- ton, North Carolina. In this movement Gen- eral Casement commanded a brigade, as he had done for a year previous. The brigade remained in this department until the surren- der of General Joseph E. Johnston near Ral- eigh, and June 23, 1865, was mustered out of the service, as the war was at an end.
Immediately after the war General Case- ment took the contract for laying the track of the Union Pacific Railroad and for the greater portion of the grading; and after putting through that vast undertaking with remarka- ble celerity and thoroughness constructed the following lines: Union and Titusville, Canada Southern, Toledo, Canada Southern and De-
troit, Detroit and Butler, and the Nickel Plate from Cleveland to Buffalo, besides short roads in Indiana, Kentucky, New York, West Vir- ginia, Ohio and Nebraska. On account of business depression and the panic of 1893, fol- lowed by a slow revival of prosperity, railroad enterprises were at a standstill in the United States for several years, and during that period General Casement obtained a contract from the government of Costa Rico, Central America, in the completion of which he was occupied for three years. That was his last active work as a railroad builder. In politics he was a Republican. While the Union Pacific Railroad was building he had a seat in Congress two winters, while the territory of Wyoming was being created from parts of four other terri- tories. He represented Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake counties in the Ohio state senate in 1872 and 1873, and was presidential elector and president of Ohio electoral college for Taft in January, 1909. In 1857 he married Miss Frances Marian Jennings, a native of Paines- ville, and was the father of three sons, only one of whom survives. General Casement was over eighty years at the time of his death, and at the burial in Evergreen cemetery an address was delivered by Capt. J. B. Burrows, in com- pliance with a wish expressed by General Casement some months before.
WILLIAM JESSE HAYMAKER, one of the hon- ored residents of Ravenna, traces his descent through a long line of ancestors to the land of Wales, from whence came John Olin to found the family in this country. He took up his abode in Rhode Island in 1700, and died there on June 179 1725, when but sixty-one years of age. Among.his children was a son also named John, born in Rhode Island in 1714. He married Susanna Pierce, and among their children was another John, and both he and his wife, Sarah Card, were born in Rhode Island. Ezra Olin, a son of John and Sarah, was born in that state on March 23, 1772, and in March of 1791 he was united in marriage to Ruth Green, who was born in Rhode Island on November 10, 1770. Soon after their marriage the young couple went to Vermont and located on the old Green home- stead about three miles from the Green moun- tains, but in 1824 he sold his farm there and with team and wagon went to Perry, New York, where two of his sons had preceded him. His wife died there on May 19, 1847, and he survived until November 5, 1858.
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Arvin Olin, one of the fourteen children born to Ezra and Ruth (Green) Olin, was born in Shaftsbury, Vermont, July 13, 1797, and after obtaining his educational training he followed school teaching and farming in New York. On March 18, 1817, he started out in search of work, and going to Perry, that state, where he had a brother living, he purchased a tract of timber land, but after clearing and improving the place he sold it on November 22, 1834, to come to Franklin town- ship, Portage county, Ohio. Here he again bought timber land, and in time placed his farm under an excellent state of cultivation and was also engaged in the making of brick there. In the splendid brick house which he erected on that farm he died on June 7, 1870. Arvin Olin married Betsy Bennett, who was born in Bennington, Vermont, February 6, 1801, and she died on January 5, 1872. Arvin and Betsy (Bennett ) Olin were the maternal grandparents of William Jesse Haymaker.
Frederick and Rachel (Davis) Haymaker were his paternal grandparents, and among their children was numbered James D. Hay- inaker, who was born in Kent, Ohio, on Sep- tember 2, 1809. He was his mother's only child, but she was the second of the four wives of Frederick Haymaker. The latter located in Kent, Ohio, as early as 1806, becoming one of the first owners of the upper village, and his nephew was the first white child born in Franklin township. The mother of his son James died at his birth, and the little child was taken to Meadville, Pennsylvania, but con- tracted smallpox on the journey. During his young life he was given but six months' schooling, and he learned the trade of a woolen manufacturer in his father's factory. After reaching his twenty-first year he fol- lowed the manufacture of wooden pails for two years, then had charge of a hotel at Fair- port, Ohio, for a year and a half, and at the close of that period he returned to Franklin township, Portage county, and located on a farm. His death there occurred on January 31, 1889. His widow, who was in her maiden- hood Mary R. Olin, born February 22, 1820, in Perry, New York, continued to reside on the old home place in Franklin township until her death on January 27, 1907. Of their large family of six sons and eight daughters, eleven lived to years of maturity, and three sons and five daughters are yet living.
William J. Haymaker, the next to the young- est of the fourteen children, was born in
Franklin township, Portage county, February 2, 1860, and he received his educational train- ing in its public schools and in the Kent high school, which he attended for two years. Re- maining in his parents' home until attaining his twenty-first year, he then rented his father's farm at Kent, and moving seven years after- ward to Streetsboro, Ohio, he conducted his father-in-law's farm there until the latter's deatlı on April 3, 1895. On September 1, 1902, he moved to Ravenna and located in the home which he had purchased in the preceding April. He has served three years as a member of the city council, being the president of the board two years, and he votes with the Republican party. He has fraternal relations with Unity Lodge No. 12, A. F. & A. M., of Ravenna.
Mr. Haymaker married on March 1, 1882, Mary L. Olin, who was born in Streetsboro, Ohio, a daughter of Elam and Helen (Thomp- son ) Olin, the father born in Perry, New York, July 28, 1825. The mother, born near Edin- burg, Scotland, June 3, 1827, came with her parents to the United States, and her father located in Streetsboro, Ohio, in 1834. Her grandparents, Samuel and Betsy (Green) Olin, were born respectively on April 29, 1797, and on July 1. 1793, and they married in Decem- ber of 1815. Among their children was Ezra Olin, who was the great-grandfather of both Mr. and Mrs. Haymaker. Samuel Olin erected a house on the Cleveland and Pittsburg turn- pike in Streetsboro township wherein he kept a tavern called Owens Inn, but after eleven years the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad was built and he was obliged to discontinue his tavern. His wife Betsy died on April 1, 1831. Mrs. Olin, the mother of Mrs. Haymaker, died at the latter's home on June 9, 1905. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Haymaker are: Frederick Elam and Elizabeth Olin. The son is a graduate of the Ravenna high school and of the Ohio State University, and he is now farming on the old home farm near Streetsboro. The daughter is a graduate of the Western Reserve University with the class of 1908 and is teaching in the Kent high school.
LEWIS C. NICHOLSON .- A man of versatile talents, energetic and progressive, Lewis C. Nicholson is making a wise use of his natural gifts, and as junior member of the firm of Paine & Nicholson, of Garrettsville, Portage county, is rapidly building up an extensive business as a dealer in real estate, and as an
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insurance agent. A native of this county, he was born, September 14, 1861, in the eastern part of Nelson township, which was likewise the birthplace of his father, L. S. Nicholson.
Mr. Nicholson's paternal grandfather, Isaac Nicholson, was born and reared in Connecti- cut. In, 1837 he and his brother William came to the Western Reserve, locating in Nel- son township, where they took up 150 acres of timbered land. They erected a log cabin in the midst of the woods, and began the im- provement of a farm. After the death of William Nicholson, his brother Isaac succeed- ed to the ownership of the homestead which they had reclaimed from its virgin wildness, and there spent his remaining years.
L. S. Nicholson was born in the original log cabin seventy-two years ago, and during his active life has been engaged in agricultural pursuits in Nelson township, where he is held in high esteem as a man of worth and in- tegrity. He married Frances Carpenter, who' was born'in Princeton, Indiana, in 1846, a daughter of Lewis Carpenter. Her father died when she was a mere child, and she came soon after that to the Western Reserve, where she was brought up and educated. Mr. and Mrs. L. S. Nicholson have five children, namely : Lewis C., with whom this brief sketch is chiefly concerned; Jennie E., wife of C. J. Hedges, of Hiram township; Eugene, who left home when twenty-eight years old, and has not since been heard from; Jessie died at the age of sixteen years; and Mabel, wife of George Bancroft, of Nelson township.
Receiving in his youth the usual training of a country lad, Lewis C. Nicholson remained on the old homestead until attaining his ma- jority, in the meantime becoming familiar with the various branches of agriculture. Starting then for himself, he was engaged in general farming in Nelson township, and con- tinned in his pleasant and independent occu- pation for nearly sixteen years. Embarking in mercantile pursuits in 1898, Mr. Nichol- son dealt in feed, grain, and farm implements until 1906, when he sold out his stock. Con- tinuing his residence in Garrettsville, he then formed a copartnership with Mr. Paine, and has since been actively engaged in the real estate and insurance business, in his under- .takings meeting with satisfactory success.
Mr. Nicholson married, in 1883, Bertha C. Taylor, who was born in Geauga county, Ohio, a daughter of John P. Taylor, now residing in Nelson township. Mr. and Mrs. Nichol-
son have two children, Alice M. and Lena, both of whom are teachers in the public schools. Politically Mr. Nicholson is a sound Republican, and has filled many of the local offices, including that of justice of the peace, and of assessor, and while in Nelson township was a school director. He has ever taken an intelligent interest in educational matters, and when a young man taught school a number of terms. Fraternally he belongs to the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and to the Independent Order of Foresters.
HARRY A. WADSWORTH .- A prominent and highly esteemed resident of Garrettsville, Portage county, Harry A. Wadsworth, now living retired from active pursuits, was for twenty-five years the leading undertaker and furniture dealer of this vicinity, having a large and lucrative patronage throughout this section of the state. A son of Harry A. Wadsworth, Sr., he was born, June 15, 1855, in Hudson, which is now included within the limits of Summit county, Ohio.
A native of Pennsylvania, Harry A. Wads- worth, Sr., was born in Harbor Creek, Erie county. When a boy of twelve years he came to the Western Reserve with his parents, set- tling in Hudson. He subsequently learned the trade of a blacksmith, and while the Erie Railroad was being laid in that part of the Western Reserve he was kept busily employed in sharpening the picks used by the workmen. He afterwards removed to Burton, Geauga county, where he carried on farming for many years, clearing and improving a valuable estate. Now, a venerable man of eighty years, he lives in Windham, Portage county. On July 9, 1852, fifty-seven years ago, he married Caroline Cummins, who was born in Mantua, Portage county, but was brought up from the age of five years in Summit county, after the death of her parents having made her home with Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Thompson. She is the mother of four children, all of whom are living, as follows: Clara, wife' of W. B. Wright, who has recently removed with his family from Burton, Ohio, to Los Angeles, California ; Harry A., of this sketch; William R., of Alliance, Ohio, for more than a score of years editor of the Hubbard Enterprise; and Fred of Cleveland, formerly a resident of Warren, Ohio.
Obtaining his early education in the public schools of Burton, Geauga county, Harry A. Wadsworth subsequently served an appren-
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ticeship of three years, 1876, 1877 and 1878, at the tinner's trade, in Ravenna. Completing his trade, Mr. Wadsworth located in Wind- ham, Portage county, in 1878, opening a hard- ware and tinner's establishment, which he con -. ducted with profit for ten years. Desirous then of enlarging his business operations, he added a line of furniture to his stock, and opened an undertaking department. Con- ing from there to Garrettsville in 1898, Mr. Wadsworth continued his furniture and undertaking business until 1908, when he retired from active pursuits, having dur- ing his quarter of a century of experience as a furniture dealer and undertaker accu- mulated a competency. He is largely inter- ested in real estate matters, owning some of the choicest property in Garrettsville.
Mr. Wadsworth married November 14, 1878, Etta C. Miller, a daughter of H. L. and Maria Miller. Her father, who for fifty-two years resided in Ravenna, Ohio, died at his daughter's home in Garrettsville, in 1905. Mrs. Wadsworth died November 5, 1907, leaving two children, namely: Joseph L., an account- ant in the employ of the Cleveland Audit Com- pany, in Cleveland, and Bessie, wife of A. M. Cline, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Garrettsville. Politically Mr. Wads- worth votes the straight Democratic ticket, and during the administration of President Cleveland served for four years, from 1893 till 1897, as postmaster at Windham. He was also treasurer of the Windham school board for a number of years. Fraternally he is prom- inent in the Masonic order, belonging to lodge, chapter and commandery, and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Royal Arcanum. On March 2, 1909, Mr. Wadsworth married for his second wife Miss Charlotte A. Harrison, of West Corn- wall, Connecticut.
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