USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 44
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thoroughly appreciated by all who know him; intelligent, with tact and generosity ; having a most charming home, with such reasonable hobbies as occupy his mind ; happily contented, independent in his own pursuits, and able to gratify every wish of himself or his apprecia- tive wife. Altogether Mr. Baldwin has lived a life that is to be envied, and he stands today as one of Lorain county's first citizens, and a credit to the excellent New England ancestry from which he descends.
GUY CLYDE COTTINGHAM, prominently iden- tified with the agricultural life of Sharon town- ship, was born two miles west of his present home, January 7, 1868, a son of Christopher and Ellen (Chatfield) Cottingham, the father . from England and the mother from the state of Michigan. Christopher Cottingham is en- rolled among the honored early pioneers of Medina county, during many years one of its most prominent and progressive agriculturists, and he left the impress of his forceful individ- uality upon much of the early history of this community. In the early days of the history of Sharon township he assisted in the planting of the pine trees which now form a magnifi- cent avenue for a mile or more in length and which are among the valued landmarks of Medina county. He was also a veteran of the Civil war, in the recruiting service of the United States army.
After a good educational training in the graded and high schools and a course in Buchtel College, in Akron, Guy C. Cotting- ham entered upon his first business pursuit as an assistant to his father, an accomplished ag- riculturist. Later learning the carpenter's trade he worked at that occupation in Medina and in Cleveland until the death of his father, when he resumed agricultural work in Sharon township, and he has become very successful in this calling. By his marriage to May Hazen, a daughter of Henry Hazen, he has two chil- dren, Fern H. and Burke. He is a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity, and a Republican.
MILTON LUTHER RUDESILL .- Sharon Cen- ter was the birthplace of Milton L. Rudesill, on the 13th of November, 1844, and it has also been the scene of much of his subsequent successful business operations. From the pub- lic schools he passed to Hiram College, and as a boy of fourteen he began assisting in the store established by his father and older brother. John C., at Sharon Center, in 1856,
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and this store has ever since been operated under the Rudesill name. During three years he was also a clerk in the city of Medina, and then, with his brothers John and Columbus, bought a stock of goods and embarked in the mercantile trade at Ashland, this state, but re- turning to Sharon in 1878 Milton L. Rudesill has since been identified with the life and in- terests of this city, one of its most prominent merchants. Always on the alert for investi- gation and speculation he a short time ago began experimenting in the raising of ginseng,, and has now a quarter of an acre of ground devoted to this plant and is very successful in its cultivation. In addition to these and other interests in Sharon Center, he is also quite ex- tensively engaged in the commission business in Akron, and devotes considerable of his time to that line of work. During eight years he served Sharon Center as its postmaster, this being under Cleveland's administration, and he is one of the community's most progressive and substantial residents.
Milton L. Rudesill is a son of Jacob and Jemima (Reed) Rudesill. The father, from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, came to Lisbon, Ohio, when but four years of age, and his grandfather on the paternal side was from Germany. Jemima Rudesill was born at Ber- lin, in Mahoning county, Ohio, and her father was from Ireland. Milton L. was the young- est of the seven children born to Jemima and Jacob Rudesill, and they are: George W., John C., Margaret, Columbus, Sallie Ann, Jonas and Milton. The first born, George W. Rudesill, now resides at Charlotte, Michigan. Mr. Rudesill of this review married first, Miss Hester McDougal, and they had one son, Bert I. The wife and mother died eleven years ago, and he married for his second wife, Mrs. Amelia Brown, from Norwalk, Ohio.
ROGER W. GRISWOLD, prominently identified with the hothouse business in Ashtabula county, descends from English ancestors near Kenilworth Castle, and the first American an- cestors settled at the mouth of the Connecti- cut river, at what is now known as Black Hall. One of these early ancestors was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and others became governors of Connecticut. The first home of the family was on the west side of the river, but Indians drove them across to the east side, and from a friendly Indian who lived with them in their cabin it derived the name of Black Hall.
Roger W. Griswold, the grandfather of the
Roger W. of this review, was born March 15, 1797, and was sent to Ohio by the Connecti- cut Land Company and had control of this part of the country. Coming from Black Hall, Connecticut, he located in Ashtabula prior to the year of 1823, and was the first mayor of that city. He was also a representative to the legislature for one term prior to the ad- vent of Josh Giddings, and resigned from the office on account of bribery. He was a gradu- ate of Yale, was a Democrat in his political affiliations, and was identified with the Under- ground Railroad movement. He died on the 15th of November, 1879, and his first wife, nee Juliet E. Griswold, born May 19. 1802, died April 4, 1855. They had the following children : Fannie, who was born March 10. 1834, lives in Ashtabula ; Maria M., born Feb- ruary 19, 1826, is deceased; Matthew, born March 27, 1824, is deceased; Augustus H .. born February 15, 1828, is deceased: Juliet E., born March 23, 1830, died March 7. 1908: Roger, born September 14. 1837, died April 19, 1909; Mary Ann, born November 9, 1839. died November 30, 1853; Thomas, born Feb- ruary 3, 1842, lives in Cleveland ; and Charles. born March 13. 1843. died December 26, 1874. Roger W. Griswold married for his second wife Mrs. Caroline (Champlin) Chester, whom he had raised, and their union was with- out issue. He married the third time, in 1867. wedding Mrs. Harriet Walker, and they had two children, Helen M. and Hattie. The elder daughter, born in June, 1871, married Charles Gallop and lives in Ashtabula, and the younger, born in 1873, married Charles Van- derlip and lives in Washington, D. C.
Roger Griswold, a son of Roger W., was a market gardener throughout life, and was probably the pioneer in that line of business here. It was his desire in early life to be- come a lawyer, his father's profession, but the latter denied him this privilege because he though all lawyers dishonest. The son Roger lectured at farmers' institutes in Ashtabula county on market gardening, and was quite prominent in the life of his community. With his wife he spent the winters in Florida. He married Ellen F. Adams, who was born at Medway, Massachusetts, March 12, 1842, a daughter of Alfred and Anna M. (Smith) Adams. The father, born in 1816. died on July 19. 1909, and the mother was born March 28. 1822, and died March 6, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Griswold became the parents of the fol- lowing children: Prudence, born March 28, 1860, married Francis J. Hall, of Chicago, a
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minister and a teacher in the Western Theo- logical Seminary ; Fannie, born June 25, 1872, married R. W. Rogers, a market gardener in Ashtabula; Ploomia, born July 3, 1870, mar- ried Frank W. Syler, a piano tuner in Ashta- bula ; and Roger, born August 26, 1876. Mr. Griswold, the father, was a member of St. Peters church at Ashtabula, an active church worker and a vestryman.
Roger W. Griswold, the third of the name, attended school at Ashtabula, and in his early life became identified with the hothouse busi- ness, and he now has thirty men in his employ and has seven acres under glass, raising prin- cipally tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers. He ships his produce over every part of the United States, and has become very prominent and successful in the business. He is also a stock- holder in the Farmers Bank at Ashtabula, and is a property owner there. Mr. Griswold mar- ried, on September 16, 1899, Blanche Creigh- ton, who was born on the 15th of October, 1879. He is a Master Mason, a member of Lodge No. 22 at Ashtabula, and is also a mem- ber of the Lake Shore Club in that city.
GEORGE G. GREENE, a passenger engineer in the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, was born at Altoona, Pennsylvania, Decem- ber 17, 1865; he is the son of G. D. Greene, in early life a conductor for the Pennsylvania Railroad. George G. Greene left school to become fireman on a railroad engine, and began in 1880, when less than seventeen years of age. He was first employed on the Penn- sylvania Railroad, from Ellerslie, Maryland, to Mount Dallas, Pennsylvania, and later on the Shenandoah Valley from Hagerstown, Maryland, to Roanoke, Virginia. In 1883 he was given an engine on the Shenandoah Val- ley Division, and has had charge of an engine ever since that time. He became employed on the Pittsburg & Western in 1888, soon after the road became broad gauge, and when that road became part of the Baltimore & Ohio he continued in their employ'. He runs a pas- senger engine from Painesville to Pittsburg; he formerly took the through freight. During his service he has met with several serious ac- cidents, among them three head-on collisions. Mr. Greene is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and for twelve years, with the exception of one year, he has been chairman of the grievance committee.
Mr. Greene takes an active interest in pub- lic affairs and improvements, and has been a member of the Council of Painesville since it
became a city. He is a Republican in his views. He is a member of the Order of For- esters, besides being a thirty-second degree member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; he is affiliated with blue lodge, chap- ter and commandery at Painesville, and the consistory and Al Koran Shrine at Cleveland. Mr. Greene married, in 1886, at Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, Anna Baer, by whom he had no children ; she died October II, 1906. Mrs. Greene was an active worker in the cause of the Independent Order of Good Templars.
SAMUEL BELA RAWSON .- The late Samuel Bela Rawson, of Elyria, was one of those rare characters in the practical world of American business who combined the genius of the in- ventor with the care and expertness of the trained mechanic, and the broad sweep of the typical promoter of large enterprises. To these diverse and unusual gifts of a practical nature he added a spirit of public enterprise which largely found its outlet in the founding and support of worthy and widely beneficial chari- ties. His memory will therefore be securely fixed in his home community, and his fame as a business man is national.
Mr. Rawson was born in Elyria, Ohio, on October 19, 1848, and passed away at his home on Chestnut street in that city on April 9, 1908. Between those dates there was passed a life of unusual activity and earnest endeavor, and he rose unaided to a foremost place in the telephone business in the United States. Mr. Rawson descended from an old New Eng- land family, his earliest American ancestor being one of the grantees of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and second town clerk and regis- trar of Boston. The parents of Mr. Rawson. Bela and Harriet (Nichols) Rawson, were born near Watertown, New York, within eight miles of each other. They were not acquainted, however, until after they came to Lorain county, where they were subsequently married. Bela Rawson was a well known and success- ful farmer of Pittsfield township. He became the father of seven children, all of whom reached maturity and became heads of fami- lies ; and of this number Samuel B. was the second in order of birth and the first to depart this life. His elder brother, Arthur B., passed away in Elyria, in December, 1909. The two remaining sons, Bird and Ora, and a sister, Mrs. Frankie Bath, are residents of Elyria, and the other two, Mrs. Alice Root and Mrs. Ella Gleason, are residents respectively of
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Pittsfield, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan.
When Samuel B. was six years old his par- ents, seeking a home in the country, moved to Pittsfield, and there his youth was passed on a farm. Attending public schools until he was fourteen, he then took up the study of medicine, but the death of his preceptor soon afterward changed the young man's plans, and he learned the tinner's trade and assumed other lines of work. He was by nature an inventor and a trader, and was universally successful in all his undertakings. When he was nineteen he returned to his native town, and here he" lived for over forty years, during the last fif- teen of which he attained to a position of prom- inence among the leading men of Elyria-a strong factor in the telephone business. Pre- viously to engaging in this business, he was for a time a nickler in the Garford works, and later was the head of a prosperous laundry business in Elyria.
About this time he had become interested in the telephone business, and had made some im- provements of a practical nature, on which he took out patents. Capital was enlisted and the Rawson Manufacturing Company began the manufacture of phones in a small way. The business grew substantially from the start, and the establishment of independent telephone companies began to occupy the attention of Mr. Rawson and his business associates. The plan to merge into one company the manufac- ture of the component parts of a telephone sys- tem resulted in the building of the Dean Elec- tric Company's plant in Elyria. In this under- taking Mr. Rawson engaged with W. W. Dean, of Chicago, and others, and was honored with the position of president of the new organiza- tion. The telephone interests with which he became identified were wide and important, for besides being president of the Dean Elec- tric Company, he filled a similar position with the Rawson Electric Company, the American Construction & Trading Company, of Elyria, and the Independent Union Telephone Com- pany, recently transferred from Elyria to Al- bany, New York. He was also director in the following telephone companies : Niagara County Home Telephone Company, Niagara Falls, New York; Interstate Telephone Com- pany, of Little Falls, New York; Seneca County Home Telephone Company, Seneca Falls, New York; Schenectady Home Tele- phone Company, Schenectady, New York ; Al- bany Home Telephone Company, Albany, New York; Cohoes-Waterford Home Telephone
Company, Cohoes, New York; Watervliet- Green Island Home Telephone Company, Wat- ervliet, New York; West Shore Home Tele- phone Company, Catskill, New York ; and Citi- zens' Standard Telephone Company, Kingston, New York.
Fraternally Mr. Rawson was a member of King Solomon's Lodge, No. 56, A. F. & A. M., and was a charter member of Elyria Com- mandery No. 60, Knights Templar. He was a charter member of Elyria Lodge, No. 456, B. P. O. E., and was past exalted ruler of that order. He was also a member of Elyria Chap- ter, No. 165, Order of the Eastern Star. He took a very deep interest in the establishment of the Memorial Hospital at Elyria, being one of its projectors and prime movers, and it was he who chose the splendid site it now occu- pies. While a member of no church, he at- tended the Congregational church and was a liberal contributor to religious institutions. He was, however, a member of the Men's Club of the Congregational church.
While various business interests took Mr. Rawson away from home, he always found time to serve his home city and was earnest and active in promoting its welfare. His hand was never stayed in the cause of charity and whenever he could help by a timely work the cause of the needy, he did so. In his family he was the most domestic of men-a devoted husband and father. Mr. Rawson was mar- ried (first) in 1870, to Miss Mary A., dangh- ter of William Roe, of Elyria. Her death oc- curred a few months after their marriage. In June, 1872, he wedded Miss Faustina Biggers, a native of Girard, Pennsylvania, daughter of William and Helen M. (Payson) Biggers (the latter residing with Mrs. Rawsou), and grand- daughter of Samuel and Betsey (Colt) Big- gers. One daughter, Helen Doris, was born to the second marriage.
Mrs. Rawson is a member of Elyria Chap- ter, Order of Eastern Star, in which she has been through all the chairs and is now serving the second term as secretary. She has been Grand Martha of the State Grand Chapter, and now represents the state of Wyoming in, the State Grand Chapter. She is one of the seven incorporators of the Old Ladies' Home at Elyria ; has been a trustee since its organi- zation and very active in its affairs. She has been since its organization a member of the Ladies' Auxiliary to the Memorial Hospital Board, and recently furnished a room at the hospital in memory of Mr. Rawson. In 1909
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she completed a magnificent mausoleum in Ridge Lawn cemetery. She is a member of St. Andrew's Episcopal church, and a lady of sweet dignity and broad charity, honored and beloved by the entire community.
SPENCER B. MORRIS .- Prominent among the residents of Portage county is numbered Spen- cer B. Morris, a well known agriculturist in Charlestown township, and a former justice of the peace. He was born in Shalersville township of Portage county, July 26, 1839, a son of Ed and Mary Morris and a grandson on the paternal side of Isaac Morris, from Connecticut. As a boy of twelve years Ed Morris came west with his parents to Portage county, Ohio, their first home here being in Geneva township, and coming from there to Shalersville township he bought a farm in 1835. He early in life learned the shoemaker's trade, but after his marriage in 1837 to Mary Benson he began agricultural pursuits and spent the remainder of his life as a tiller of the soil. He was also an extensive dairyman, and usually kept for the purpose about sixty cows. In 1840 Mr. Morris started on a westward trip to Wisconsin, and en route stopped for six months at Elgin, Illinois, thence continuing on to his destination, and later returning to his home county of Portage.
Spencer B. Morris remained on the farm with his parents and assisted in the work of the fields until his marriage. He is one of the enterprising and successful farmers of Charlestown township. He served his com- munity nine years as a justice of the peace, and was nominated during the fall of 1908 as a probate judge on the Prohibition ticket.
. On the 29th of April, 1860, when twenty- one years of age, Spencer B. Morris married Sophia Brown, and their two children are May E. and Rose. Their elder daughter is the wife of Charles Peck, and they have five children, the family home being at Kingsville, Ashtabula county, Ohio. Rose is now Mrs. Ritchie, of Emporia, Kansas, and has two children. Mr. and Mrs. Morris have their re- ligious home with the Methodist Episcopal de- nomination, and he has held many of the church offices.
BENJAMIN BROWN FAMILY .- Benjamin Brown and his wife, Mary Millimon Brown, with their family of five sons and one daugh- ter. came from Lee, Berkshire county, Mas- sachusetts, to Nelson, Portage county, Ohio. in the year 1817. They located on a tract of
new land, 200 acres or more, in the north- western part of the township, lot 6. Mr. Brown was a quiet, industrious man, possess- ing only good habits, and a natural faculty for accumulation. He was a shoemaker by trade and knew little of farm life and labor. He continued his occupation while the clearing of land and the farm work was carried on mainly by the boys and hired help, the eldest son, Luther L., a stalwart youth in his teens, bear- ing the main burden.
Mary Millimon Brown was of Scotch de- scent, a woman of great force of character, planning well for her family and capable in the execution of her plans, well calculated to meet the exigencies of pioneer life. These pio- neer women cannot be given a more fitting memorial than King Solomon has given to the "Virtuous Woman" in the thirty-first chapter of Proverbs. After coming to Ohio, two sons and a daughter were added to the family. A few months old granddaughter, being left motherless, was promptly adopted into the family.
Like many of the early settlers, Mr. and Mrs. Brown were Christian people and brought their family altar from their New England home and established it in their rude home in the forest. They united with the Congrega- tional church at the Center. When we con- sider what the sturdy pioneers of the Western Reserve accomplished during the first twenty- five years after entering the unbroken forest, it seems like the working of miracles. The woodsman's ax had laid low the giant trees that had so long held occupancy of the soil, cultivated fenced fields appeared on every hand, with good commodious farm buildings, orchards of the choicest fruits, roads, churches, school houses, mills, towns near at hand. county seats with court houses, stores with all kinds of merchandise, etc.
The writer can well remember visiting at the farm home of the Browns, twenty-five years after their arrival from the East. The older children had gone out from the parent home to form new homes and take their active part as citizens in various communities. Sev- eral of the younger members of the family yet remained to make it a typical farm home. The buildings were of ample dimensions, filled with comfort and abundance everywhere. A gen- eral air of activity, thrift and neatness pre- vailed. At break of day there was a grand open-air concert by the orchestra of domestic fowls. The crowing of chanticleers, quacking of geese. gobbling of turkeys, with Old Nero,
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the house dog, putting in his deep baying, created such a din, all were made aware a new day had come, and the stir of farm life began anew. There was a large apple orchard of fruit not excelled in later days, peaches in abundance and of good quality, and large cherry and pear trees. In the front yard grew striped red and white roses and "sweet clover." On a trellis over one door was a Lady Wash- ington vine, and near the front kitchen door was the well and a sassafras tree. At one side of the back door, under the eaves, was an immense rain trough that did service as a cis- tern. Around the woodhouse were the four o'clocks, whose peculiar fragrance always brings to mind the whole scene. Winter eve- nings the family gathered in the dining room because there was the open fireplace. around which they made a wide half circle, with Nero stretched before the fire in their midst. At one corner of the fireplace stood a pan of beautiful rosy-cheeked pippins and a small brown pitcher of cider, which were duly dis- posed of while the cheerful converse passed around.
The sketch of this farm and family would not seem complete without some mention of "The Old Mare." It may be in her youthful days she was known by a more euphonious name. For instance, Ladybird would have been appropriate, or Fleetfoot, as she was not to be passed in her palmy days, and even in old age for a short test of speed she would come out ahead. But her many years of faith- ful service and habit of bringing up a beauti- ful, high-mettled colt every year, had given her the family name of "The Old Mare," not from disrespect, but rather as a distinction. When the farm passed to the son, L. D. Brown, she was given a life lease of such part as she would need during her lifetime. Being released from all duties, her mind turned to inventing all manner of ways for opening barn doors, letting down bars, etc. Not feeling in- terested in closing doors and putting up bars, she often set the rest of the stock at liberty as well as herself. for which cause she had to leave her long-time comfortable home, being sold to go West, at the age of thirty-five. What suffering and indignities she may have passed through in her last years-poor "Old Mare."
For many years Thanksgiving was kept in this family in true New England style. When the older sons were married there was a home- coming with their wives and children, to
strengthen family ties and sit together as of yore at their parents' table, laden with the bounteous products of the farm brought into perfection by the skillful hands of mother. Who will say the parents were not proud of those stalwart sons. A great sorrow came into their home when the youngest, Theodore Hale, who it was expected would remain on the farm, relieving the parents of its care and be their stay in old age, when in the full vigor and joyousness of young manhood and within a few days of his anticipated marriage, was suddenly stricken by a passing epidemic, and after a few days of conflict the young life went out from the home to return no more. Like many others who have raised large families, the parents came to be alone in the home, and one day, September 27, 1853, when the father was away, mother stepped over into the New Country. Her age was seventy-one years, ten months and twelve days.
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