USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 21
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James Chalker, Jr., the father of Newton, was born in Southington, June 15, 1811. He received but a very limited education, having attended school only about three winter terms during the whole of his childhood and youth, and that was in a log schoolhouse one mile east of Southington Center. But by much read- ing in after years he became well informed- in history and a thorough student of the Bible. During many years of his life he frequently engaged in public debate upon various relig- ions and secular questions, and was always regarded as a formidable antagonist in the forensic arena. Early in life he purchased, on credit, fifty acres of land, located two miles west of Southington Center, where, like his father before him, with only an ax, a strong body and a resolute mind, he carved out of the forest a home for himself and family. From time to time he added to his first pur- chase and eventually became one of the larg- est land owners and one of the most thrifty farmers of his township. He first married Miss Eliza Jane Hyde, of Farmington, Octo- ber 27, 1836. To them were born Benson, who died in childhood; Byron, who became a farmer and died in Southington, 1892, aged fifty-two; Newton; and Columbus, who also was a farmer in Southington, and died in 1876, aged twenty-seven.
Mr. Chalker having lost his wife, December 24, 1849, married Miss Adeline Timmerman, of New York state, 1851. To them were born Mary Jane, subsequently the wife of A. J. Morris, of Southington, where she died, 1888, aged thirty-six ; and Bertha, now Mrs. Thomas McConnell, of Youngstown, Ohio. Mr. Chal- ker was a Republican in politics, and he and both of his wives were members of the Meth- odist church. He departed this life Septem- ber 23, 1893, aged over eighty-two years.
Newton Chalker was born in Southington,
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Trumbull county, Ohio, September 12, 1842, the third son of James, Jr., and Eliza J. Chal- ker, referred to above. He remained on his father's farm in Southington most of the time until twenty years of age, attending the dis- trict schools of his neighborhood until four- teen years of age. At the latter age he began, and continued for six years, to attend at irreg- ular intervals the Western Reserve Seminary at West Farmington, this county. At that school Mr. Chalker, without encouragement and with but little assistance, made his great- est efforts to obtain an education. Some of the time he worked for his board, but most of the time boarded himself ; at one time, when but fifteen years old, chopping his own fire- wood and hauling it with ox team to his school, a distance of more than six miles; at other times doing the janitor work of the seminary building for his room rent and tuition, and most of the time walking home, a distance of six miles, at the end of each school week to help on the farm on Saturday, then returning to school on foot, carrying the following week's supply of provisions. At the age of sixteen he began teaching the winter term of a country district school, teaching successively in the townships of Braceville, Southington and Champion, in Trumbull county, and Park- man, in Geauga county, and in the state of Michigan.
In the spring of 1862 he enlisted in Com- pany B, Eighty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry. He was in the hard fought battle of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, which began on the 12th and terminated on the 15th of September of that year. In that battle the Union forces were under command of Colonel D. H. Miles and numbered about 14,000. The rebel forces were under command of General "Stonewall" Jackson, and numbered two or three times as many. After three days' hard fighting the Union forces were surrendered by their commander and 12,000 infantry were taken prisoners, the 2,000 cavalry having made good their escape during the preceding night. These prisoners, among whom was Newton Chalker, were soon paroled and sent north. Later in the same year, by reason of expiration of term of enlistment, this regiment was mus- tered out of service and Mr. Chalker returned to his home.
In the spring of 1863 Mr. Chalker entered Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pennsyl- vania, and graduated therefrom in June, 1866, receiving the degree of bachelor of arts, and
later, master of arts. The year 1866-7 he was principal of Dixon Seminary, at Dixon, Illi- nois, and the following year he was superin- tendent of the public schools of Darlington, Wisconsin. In September, 1868, he entered the law school of Albany, New York, and graduated therefrom the following year and was at once admitted to practice at the bar of that state. After passing a few months in a law office in the city of New York he located, in the autumn of 1869, in Cameron, Missouri, and there began the practice of his profession. He remained in Cameron nearly five years, but not realizing his expectations which he had entertained of the west he returned, in 1874 to
Ohio and on August 14 of that year he located in Akron, where he resumed the practice of law and continued therein the ensuing twenty years. As a lawyer Mr. Chalker's fellow mem- bers of the bar readily accord to him the repu- tation of being able, industrious and honorable. In addition to his profession Mr. Chalker has engaged in various lines of business. He was one of the founders of the People's Savings Bank of Akron and during the entire time of his connection therewith he was a, member of the board of directors and also of its advisory board. He was one of the founders and for a long time a stockholder of the Savings Bank of Barberton, Ohio. He is a charter member and a stockholder of the Central Savings and Trust Company Bank of Akron, one of that city's largest and most prosperous financial institutions.
Mr. Chalker has dealt extensively in real" estate, his principal transactions being the pur- chase of a tract of land within the limits of the city of Akron and also the purchase of twenty- one acres in the north suburb of that city, known as "North Hill" and allotting them into more than a hundred residence lots and selling to individual purchasers. He has dealt largely also in real estate in the island of Cuba since the Spanish-American war there, his holdings at one time amounting to more than 2,200 acres of the most fertile lands in the province of Puerto Principe of that island. These with other enterprises in which Mr. Chalker has at various times engaged, together with a lucra- tive practice at the bar, have constituted for him a life of varied labor and much activity which he has ever enjoyed far more than he ever did the trivial pleasures of life.
At the close of the year 1893 Mr. Chalker practically retired from the practice of law and his other business and devoted several years
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thereafter to travel. Seven times he crossed the continent visiting nearly every state and territory of our nation. He traveled extensively in Canada, Alaska and Mexico. In June, 1895, he started on a tour abroad and visited the chief places of interest in Ireland, Scot- land, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Palestine, Egypt, India, Burmah, China, Japan and the Sandwich Islands, making a complete tour around the world in one year. In February, 1905, Mr. Chalker made his second tour abroad, visiting the Azores Islands, Morocco, Algeria, the island of Sicily, Italy, Southern France and Spain, returning the following. June.
Notwithstanding the busy life which Mr. Chalker has led he has never lost his interest in education nor forgotten his native township. In the year 1907 he completed and equipped, at a cost of over $20,000, and presented to the board of education of Southington, a high school building which for beauty of design, completeness of equipment and commodious- ness of appointments is scarcely equaled in any other rural township of the state. It contains a public auditorium with check room, dressing rooms and stage; assembly and recitation rooms for the high school students of the township ; a public library of the choicest books and a banquet hall and kitchen fully equipped to accommodate 100 guests. The building is lighted with gas and heated by furnace throughout. Its dedication on August 22, 1907, was the most notable event in the his- tory of Southington. The assembly of people was the largest that had ever convened within the borders of that township, being estimated at 2,000 and was addressed by the most dis- tinguished speakers that had ever spoken there viz., United States Senator Charles Dick, of Ohio, President A. B. Riker of Mt. Union Col- lege and President C. C. Rowlinson of Hiram College.
In the year 1878 Mr. Chalker inaugurated the "family reunion" among the descendants of the pioneer James Chalker and wife. Later the descendants of the pioneer Norton and Viets families united with them. These de- scendants have continued to hold their re- unions annually ever since. The reunion in the year 1905 was made the occasion for cele- brating the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement in Southington of those pioneers. Next to the dedication of Southington's high school building that celebration is the greatest event in the history of Southington. It was
held at the old home of the deceased pioneer, James Chalker and wife. A thousand people were present, coming from five different states. A most fitting program for the occasion was successfully carried out.
In politics Mr. Chalker is a Republican. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Repuh- lic and was commander of Buckley Post of Akron when that post had a membership of about 500 comrades, which was not equaled by more than one or two other posts of the state.
GEORGE R. FRENCH, M. D .- Among those who are ably upholding the high prestige of the medical profession in Portage county is Dr. French, who is a physician and surgeon of marked ability and who is established in the general practice of his profession in Gar- rettsville. He was born in the village of Park- man, Geauga county, Ohio, on April 28, 1873, and is thus a native of the historic old West- ern Reserve. His father, Dr. John French, was born in the Genesee valley of the state of New York, in the year 1830, and was a son of William M. and Hannah French, who re- moved from the Empire state to Ohio and took up their residence in Ashtabula county about the year 1840. There they passed the remainder of their lives, and there the father was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. In Ashtabula county Dr. John French, who was a lad of about ten years at the time of the family removal to Ohio, was reared to manhood, and he took up the study of medi- cine when a young man, thoroughly fortify- ing himself for the work of his chosen pro- fession, in which he was a successful and pop- ular practitioner for many years. He took up his residence in Parkman, Geauga county, about 1854, and there he followed the work of his humane profession, with zeal and self- abnegation, for thirty-six years. He continued in active practice until within a few years prior to his death, which occurred in the year 1890. He was a man of fine intellectual and professional attainments and one of exalted character, so that he naturally gained and re- tained a strong hold upon popular confidence and esteem in the community where he so long lived and labored and where his memory is held in reverent regard now that he has passed to his reward. He took a lively interest in public affairs and was a stanch supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. Mrs. Emeline (Raymond) French, wife of Dr. John French, was a native of Hiram, Portage coun-
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ty, Ohio, and was a daughter of Charles Ray- mond, one of the early settlers of this county. Mrs. French was summoned to eternal rest in the year 1874, and of the five children four are living, one having died in infancy. Of these children, Dr. George R. of this sketch, is the youngest.
Dr. George R. French was reared to ma- turity in his native village of Parkman, to whose public schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline, which included a course in the high school. In preparation for the exacting work of his chosen profession, which had been dignified by the lifelong serv- ices of his honored father, he was matricu- lated in the medical department of Western Reserve University, in which he was grad- uated as a member of the class of 1896 and from which he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the same year he completed an effective course in the New York post-graduate school, in New York City.
Dr. French served his professional novitiate by locating in the village of Mantua, Portage county, where he was engaged in practice about two and one-half years, at the expira- tion of which, in 1899, he removed to Gar- rettsville, where he has since continued in successful business and where he has built up a large and appreciative practice, based alike on his well recognized professional ability and his distinctive personal popularity. He continues to keep in close touch with the ad- vances made in both departments of his pro- fession and is identified with the Ohio State Medical Society and the Portage County Med- ical Society. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he holds membership in the lodge and chapter in Garrettsville and also the auxiliary organization, the Order of the Eastern Star. He is a member also of the Independent Order of Foresters. In politics he accords a stanchi allegiance to the Repub- lican party.
In 1901 Dr. French was united in marriage to Miss Florence Tilden, who was born and reared in Portage county, where her parents, Horace and Margaret ( Rutherford) Tilden have long maintained their home. Dr. and Mrs. French are actively identified with the social life of their home village.
AVERY K. SPICER .- As a representative of one of the old and honored families of Summit county, with whose annals the name has been identified for practically a century, and as a
sterling citizen of his native county and of the city of Akron, which has been his home during nearly his entire life, Mr. Spicer is specially well entitled to consideration in this compilation, which has to do with the fine old Western Reserve and its people. He was long identified with business interests in Akron, and now, at the age of three score years and ten, is living retired, in his attractive home at 221 Spicer street, which thoroughfare was named in honor of the family of which he is a mem- ber
Avery K. Spicer was born in Akron, which was then a small village, on December 24, 1839, and thus became a right welcome Christ- mas guest in the home of his parents, Hiram J. and Marilla (King) Spicer, the former of whom was born in Summit county, in August, 1816, and the latter of whom was also a native of Summit county, where she was born Octo- ber 14, 1822. Hiram J. Spicer was a son of Major Minor Spicer, who was born in New England, a scion of one of the sterling colonial families of that section, in which was cradled so much of our national history, and who was there reared to manhood. In 1811 Major Spicer removed from Connecticut to the Western Reserve, and the long and arduous overland journey was made with an ox team, by means of which he transported his little stock of household necessities, with a few primitive farming implements. He became one of the pioneers of Summit county, where he purchased a tract of 150 acres of heavily timbered land, in Portage township, and where he made a clearing in which to erect his pio- neer log house. Here he passed the residue of his life, a man of unflagging industry and stanch character, and before he was sum- moned from the scene of his mortal endeavors he had reclaimed to cultivation a considerable portion of his land. He gained his title of major through his service as an officer in the militia. He was widely and favorably known in the pioneer community and exercised much influence in connection with public affairs, as lie was a man of strong mentality and well fortified convictions. His name merits a place of honor on the roll of those sturdy pioneers who did well their part in the initial stages of the development and upbuilding of the West- ern Reserve.
Hiram J. Spicer was reared under the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm and his edu- cational advantages were such as were offered in the primitive schools of the locality and
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period. He was one in a family of nine chil- dren, and all assumed their share of responsi- bility when young, thus equipping themselves for the practical duties of life. The major part of his active career was spent as a car- penter and contractor and he lived to attain the patriarchal age of eighty-six years. He died in Akron, in 1903, secure in the esteem of all who knew him and recognized at the time as one of the most venerable pioneer citizens of Summit county, where his entire life was passed. He was a stanch Republican in politics and took an intelligent interest in the issues and questions of the day even to the time of his demise. He was a consistent mem- ber of the Methodist church, as was also his second wife, his first wife being a member of the Universalist church. The first wife, the mother of Avery K. Spicer, died in 1861, and the father later married Mrs. Serena Barnett, who survived him by about one year, as her death occurred in 1904. Five children were . born of the first marriage, and of this number the only one living is Avery K.
Avery K. Spicer was reared to maturity in Akron, which he has seen develop from an obscure village into one of the most thriving and attractive cities of Ohio, and his early educational training was secured in the village schools, which he continued to attend until he was about eighteen years of age. He served an apprenticeship to the trade of machinist in the shops of the Buckeye Harvester Com- pany, and with this concern, long one of the largest and most important in Akron, he continued to be identified, as a trusted and skilled employe in different departments, for a quarter of a century. All of this period, with the exception of about five years passed at varying intervals, in Davis county, Mis- souri, he was employed in the Akron shops of the company. After having thus been identi- fied with this great industrial enterprise for twenty-five years, he severed his connection therewith and engaged in contracting for house painting and similar work, besides de- veloping a successful enterprise as a building contractor. With these lines of business he was actively and successfully concerned until 1906, since which time he has lived virtually retired, having accumulated a competency and finding pleasure in the repose which he is en- abled to enjoy, together with the pleasing association with a host of leal and loyal friends of long tried adoption. In politics Mr. Spicer is arrayed as a stalwart supporter of the prin-
ciples and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, though he has never manifested any ambition for public office of any kind. He is a zealous member of the Uni- versalist church, with which he has been ac- tively identified for many years. During the Civil war Mr. Spicer served as a member of the Eighth Regiment of the Ohio Home Guard and otherwise contributed his quota to the support of the Union cause.
On January 24, 1861, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Spicer to Miss Emily F. Payne, a daughter of George and Annie E. (Busby) Payne, of Akron. Of this union five children have been born, and concerning them the following brief data are entered : Perry H. died at the age of thirty-seven years; Marilla K., who remains at the parental home, is a successful and popular teacher in a leading private school in Akron; Anna B., likewise with her parents, is a talented musician and is a teacher of music; Alice N. is the wife of Frank Beardsley, of Salt Lake City, Utah; the first child born died at the age of two years. Mrs. Spicer died February 7, 1908.
MILO A. AUSTIN .- Possessing in an emi- nent degree the discretion, sound judgment and ability qualifying one for a public po- sition, Milo A. Austin is widely known as one of the trustees of Geneva township, and as a useful and valued resident of Geneva. A son of the late David Austin, he was born January 12, 1853, in Geneva township, on the old Austin farm, which was originally owned by his grandfather, Horace Austin.
John Austin, the great grandfather of Milo A., came with his family from Cattaraugus county, New York, to the Western Reserve in 1811, journeying in an ox cart, making his way through the almost pathless woods by a trail marked with blazed trees. Between 1806 and 1811, a small portion of what is now Geneva township had been cleared, but the settlers were very few in number, and long distances apart. John Austin first located in the northeast corner of the township, on the bank of Lake Erie, but later bought the farm now owned by E. D. Humphrey, on the North Ridge, a mile and a half east of Geneva. Clearing off a large part of the heavy timber, he was there a tiller of the soil until his death, about 1831. He reared three sons and two daughters, namely: Horace, who settled in Geneva township; Lester moved to Indiana about 1854; Sanford succeeded to the owner-
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ship of the farm, and there spent his life of seventy years: Maria married Davis Mont- gomery ; and Sally became the wife of Laban Waterman.
Ten years of age when he came with his parents to Ashtabula county, Horace Austin was engaged in agricultural pursuits during his entire life. After his marriage he bought land lying two and one-half miles northeast of Geneva village, and by dint of strenuous labor cleared and improved a homestead, on which he resided until his death, at the vener- able age of eighty-five years. At the age of twenty-six years, he married Nancy Alford, who attained the age of eighty-four years. Both were charter members of the Baptist church, of which he was for forty years a deacon. They were the parents of three chil- dren, as follows: Alfred, David and Isaac. Alfred Austin, who served in the Civil war as captain of a Pennsylvania company of volun-
Mr. Austin married, December 24, 1874, Fanny A. Butler, who was born in Geneva, Ohio, a daughter of Samuel and Martha (Tye) Butler, both natives of England. Bertha D. teers, was a noted school teacher, and for a . Austin, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Austin, married Roy A. Fuller, who died a year and a half later, and she is now living with her parents.
number of years principal of the Waterford Academy, in Waterford, Pennsylvania, where his death occurred, at the age of sixty-two years. Isaac Austin went west as a young man, settling as a merchant in Madison, Wis- consin, where he died when but fifty-five years old.
David Austin, born on the parental home- stead, northeast of Geneva, on the Austin road, March 11, 1831, cared for his parents in their declining years, and finally succeeded to the ownership of the home farm. He was successful as a farmer, living on the home place until his death, July 16, 1906. He was a noted musician, having a fine tenor voice, and in addition to teaching a singing school for thirty years was chorister in the Geneva Baptist church for forty years. He married, at the age of twenty-one, Mandana A. Todd, a daugther of Amos and Harriet (Pratt) Todd, who, in 1833, moved from Homer, New York, to Michigan, and in 1835 settled on a farm in Geneva township, Ashtabula county. Mandana A. Todd was born in Allegany county, New York, and was married at the age of eighteen years. She is now living in Geneva. To her and her husband, two chil- dren were born, namely: Milo A., the subject of this sketch; and Hattie M., who married Thomas P. Klumph, a traveling salesman, of Geneva. Mrs. Klumph died at the age of forty-five years, leaving no children, and her husband is also dead.
Leaving the old home at the age of eighteen
years, Milo A. Austin worked as a mechanic on the railroad for nine years, for one year running a stationary engine. Returning then to the old homestead, he was there busily em- ployed in general farming and stock raising until 1901, when he took up his residence in Geneva, although he still retains the manage- ment of the farm. He is now in business in Geneva, dealing extensively in agricultural im- plements, and for the past three years has ren- dered appreciated service as township trustee. He takes great interest in local affairs, and is now chairman of the building committee for the new Carnegie library in process of con- struction. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and superintendent of its Sunday school.
JONATHAN WARD, is numbered among the representative farmers and honored pioneers of Willoughby township, Lake county, within whose borders the family was founded nearly four score years ago. He himself is now one of the most venerable residents of Willoughby township and is living virtually retired, after many years of well directed and fruitful effort as one of the world's noble army of workers.
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