History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 47

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 47

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

At Ashtabula, Ohio, on May 21, 1903, Mr. Meek was united in marriage to Miss Ella M. Fricker, who was born and reared in that city, a daughter of Thomas Fricker, a representa- tive business man of Ashtabula. Mr. and Mrs. Meek have one son, Stafford Fricker Meek.

HENRY WRIGHT has spent a long life of use- fulness, sobriety and honor within the limits of Ashtabula county, having added to the pros- perity of Saybrook township, both in the helds of agriculture and industry. At the present time he is operating the oldest and the largest basket factory in that section, his sales are averaging $10,000 annually. The family was from Vermont, the grandparents, Jesse N. and Laura (Dunning) Wright, migrating. from that state to the Western Reserve in 1814. The grandfather was born in 1793 and died March 4. 1879. while the grandmother, who was less than a year her husband's senior, passed away February 7, 1881. Jesse N. Wright, like other pioneers of the region, was engaged in a variety of occupations in order to "make both ends meet." his chief avocations being farm- ing, the clearing of land for others and the making of pot-ash. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Jesse N. Wright, as follows : Olive; Moses (father of Henry), who was born in 1816 and died in October, 1902; Solo- mon, Martin, Marshall, Elenor, Angeline and Josephus. All those children were born in the Western Reserve except Olive.

Moses, the father, was a native of Saybrook township, as is the son, and both faithful as- sistants in their boyhood and early manhood, until family responsibilities of their own neces- sarily drew them away from the old ties. The father was a house carpenter and built many of the early homes in this part of the country. In a small way he was also a farmer, but later became a wagon-maker and had a little shop about one and a half miles from the home of the son, where he worked very often at night.

He was trustee of township one or two terms. In his latter year he made farming his business exclusively. In 1842 Moses Wright married Caroline Sweet, and the children born to them are: Adelaide, who was born in 1844 and died in 1873; Henry, of whom a sketch follows; Marshall, born in 1849; Edward, born in 1851 ; Ruth, born in 1853; Charles, born in 1855, and Jesse, born in 1863.

Henry Wright is a native of Saybrook town- ship, born on February 27, 1847, and besides working on the home farm in his earlier years followed the trade of a carpenter for some time. In 1880 he also established a basket factory which he now operates, and is there- fore the founder of one of the most useful in- dustries of the township. He has also served as treasurer of the township for four years and is a Republican of activity and influential standing. In his fraternal relations he is a Knight of Pythias, and evinces his patriotism by his identification with the Order of Home Guards, who are bound to act as state police if the necessity arises.

On November 13, 1872, Mr. Wright mar- ried Miss Elizabeth York, a native of Pennsyl- vania, born March 27, 1853. His wife's par- ents were Amos York, who was born in 1813 and died in 1893, and Martha ( Mathers) York, born in 1819 and died in 1902. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wright were as fol- lows : Kate, who was born February 28, 1874, and is living at home; Carl, who was born De- cember 2, 1875, married Miss Louisa Hilkirk, and is associated in business with his father; Ralph, born March 17, 1880, who married Miss Elizabeth Alcock and is also with his father ; and Tracy, born March 30, 1889, who resides at home.

CHARLES W. TATTERSALL is the well-known proprietor of the Tattersall Dairy at Elyria. He was born at Sheffield, England, February 22, 1868, a son of William and Mary A. (Bailey ) Tattersall, both of whom were also born in the city of Sheffield, the father in November of 1844 and the mother in 1846. In 1870 the family came to the United States, and for about three years their home was in Newark, New Jersey, moving from there to Easton, Pennsyl- vania, thence to Waterbury, Connecticut, and in 1880 they came to Elyria. William Tatter- sall was by trade a cutler, and he was em- ployed at the shear works in Elyria for twenty years. In 1899 he moved to Toledo, where he and his wife yet reside.

Charles W. Tattersall after a common

Vol. II-16

952

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

school training learned and followed until twenty-one years of age the cutler's trade, and he then turned his attention to dairying, work- ing first for others for three years and then embarking in the business independently. He began for himself on his farm in section 3. Carlisle township, and he yet owns that prop- erty, but in 1904 he moved to Elyria and built his home at 350 Fourth street. He erected his dairy plant on that property in 1905. and this manufactory is complete in every particular, provided with machinery for carrying on the business in the most improved manner, and he handles on an average of one hundred gallons of milk daily. In September of 1907 Mr. Tattersall also became identified with the Park Dairy Company of Elyria and was its vice president, but in March of 1909 he sold his in- terest in that company, and has since given his entire attention to the Tattersall Dairy. In 1907 Mr. Tattersall opened a tract of land in the west part of Elyria, on West River street. within the corporation limits, known as the Tattersall sub-division No. I, of lot 123, upon which he erected ten houses. A few lots re- main unsold, upon which he intends to build in the near future. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Royal Arcanum, is a Republican voter, and he is a member of the Baptist church.

Mr. Tattersall married March 22. 1892. Nellie MI. Langhton, a daughter of John Langhton, the trustee of Elyria township, and their children are George L., Ellen G. and Marguerite M. Tattersall.

BIRNEY A. FRENCH .- The history of Ash- tabula county records the name of Chauncy French among the first of its pioneer residents. This pioneer wended his way from Sanders- field, in Berkshire county. Massachusetts, to this community overland with an ox team, four yoke of oxen being used, in 1817. His brother Ira came first and bought the land, and brought the irons with which he constructed a saw mill, the first in Lenox township, as well as the first in this section of Ashtabula county. Chauncy French cleared a farm here, cultivated his land and became one of the substantial and well to do citizens of his community. He mar- ried Cynthia Fowler, and he died on the 9th of November. 1868. a few years after passing the Psalmist's span of three score years and ten, for he was born on the 18th of September. 1795.

Nelson French, a son of Chauncy and Cyn- thia French, was born January 24, 1824. and

he died in Lenox on the 21st of January, 1894, and was buried on the seventieth anniversary of his birth. He was a farmer and was promi- nent in township affairs, serving as a trustee. justice of the peace, and two terms as assessor. Nelson French married first, Sophia Royce, born January 25. 1826, and who ched May 25. 1848, without issue. He married for his sec- ond wife Martha J. Bailey, who was born June 10, 1825, and died June 8, 1894, and she too was buried on her birthday. The three chil- dren of this union are: Birney A., mentioned below ; Julia A., who was born March 24, 1857. and died September 12, 1879: and Dwight B., who was born December 2, 1865. and died November 23, 1879.

Birney A. French, born on the 3d of July. 1855. attended the Grand River Institute in Austinburg, and taught school for four years during his earlier life. He also assisted his father on the farm, and he now operates a farm of 240 acres. He follows dairy farming extensively, and is a well known breeder of Durham cattle, which he ships to the Buffalo and Pittsburg markets. During a period of twenty years he was interested in a store at Ray's Corners ; during ten years was engaged in lumbering, is a director of the First Na- tional Bank of Jefferson, was for three years a trustee of Lenox township, for ten years its clerk, and is at the present time the president of its school board. During thirty years or more he has affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being one of the oldest members of Ensign Lodge, No. 400, at Jef- ferson.

Mr. French married Nettie L. Watson, who was born February 15, 1860, a daughter of Harlow and Fannie (Curtis) Watson, and they have two daughters. The elder. Ethelind, born June 9, 1882, is a graduate of New Lyme In- stitute. Bernice A., the second daughter, was born April 1. 1885, and is a graduate of the same educational institution as her sister. She married Bert Wolcott, and they live at Ash- tabula. The name borne by Mr. French is prominently traced on the history of Ashta- bula county from the days of its earliest settle- ment, and its members have enjoyed high honor and have proved themselves worthy citi- zens.

HENRY TAFT CULVER, one of the substantial and highly respected citizens of Elyria, is a member of a family which was established in Lorain county in 1832 by his grandfather and

B. a. Bunch

953

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

his father. Ashbel Culver, the father, was born at Westport, Essex county, New York, June 17, 1808, and on October 29, 1829, he married at Au Sable Forks in Essex county, De- lana Downey, who was born at Pittsford, Rut- land county, Vermont, May 20, 1813, a dangh- ter of John Downey. The following children were born of this union: Henry T., born in Crown Point, Essex county, New York, Sep- tember 20, 1831 ; Edwin, born in Elyria, Ohio, August 13, 1833, and he died March 28, 1836: Albert, born in Elyria October 20, 1836, and died Angust 13, 1838; Wilson S., born in Elyria November 16, 1838, and died March 3. 1844; and Edgar, born in Elyria October 15, 1840, and died April 4, 1890, at Denver, Colo- rado. He married Ella Elwood, from Cleve- land. Ashbel Culver died in Cleveland Jan- uary 3, 1873, and his wife died at Twinsburg, Summit county, this state, January 10, 1898.

In 1832 Asel Culver, grandfather of Henry T., and his wife and Ashbel Culver and his wife came to Ohio from New York and located in the city of Elyria. Both Asel and Ashbel Culver were iron workers in New York and in Ohio, and Ashibel Culver built a saw mill on Black river, on the site of the present steel plant, for Heman Ely. In 1855 he was elected the sheriff of Lorain county and after the expiration of his term of office he moved to Ridgeville and later to Cleveland, where he died. He lived retired at the latter place.

Henry T. Culver was but one year old when the family came to Elyria, and he received a common school training in the Elyria schools. At the age of fifteen he went to work in the Argus newspaper office, Abraham Burrell pub- lisher, and he learned the printer's trade there. When the Wellington Journal was established he engaged with that paper as general fore- man, and continued in charge of the paper until failing. eyesight caused his resignation. He then took up railroading on the Cleveland, Toledo & Norwalk railroad, now the Lake Shore road, as a passenger brakeman. He later assisted in the survey of the "Junction Road," now the northern division of the Lake Shore railroad and afterward was deputy sheriff for his father in 1855. He was for a time engaged in the drug business in Carey. Ohio, and from there moved to LaPorte, In- diana, and was engaged in the bookstore busi- ness there for eight or nine years or until 1872. when he was induced to go to Boston and work for the John Hancock Life Insurance Company. He was employed as their Boston agent, and when the company took up the in-

dustrial insurance line he was sent to Philadel- phia on August 14, 1879, to take charge of their interests there, and he remained there two years. At that time the John Hancock Company had two superintendents of agents. one for each of the ordinary and industrial departments, and the company deciding to combine the two under one superintendent. Mr. Culver was invited to accept the position. He accepted the offer. and with headquarters at Boston he continued as superintendent of agents for the United States until his resigna- tion on account of poor health, June 1. 1899. At the time Mr. Culver severed his connec- tion with the John Hancock Company he was presented with a purse of $500 and an en- graved testimonial of their affection and es- teem by forty-three local agency superintend- ents under him in the industrial department and scattered over the United States. This he prizes very highly, a fac-simile of which hangs on the wall of his home. Returning then to North Ridgeville, in Lorain county, he took up his home on the old Horatio Tyr- rell farm, which he had previously purchased from its heirs, but after nine years he sold the farm and came to Elyria, buying, a home at 417 Middle avenue, where he has since lived a quiet, retired life.

On July 8, 1857, at North Ridgeville, at the home of Horatio and Eliza (Lewis) Tyrrell, he was married to their daughter, Helen E., born October 29, 1832, in a log house on her father's farm, about one mile east from the center of North Ridgeville. Horatio Tyrrell was born November 14. 1805. at Waterbury. Connecticut, a son of Tillotson and Electa (Wilmot ) Tyrrell, natives of Connecticut. In July of 1810 Tillotson Tyrrell moved from that commonwealth to Ohio, and he was the first man to settle in Ridgeville township, and Electa Wilmot Tyrrell was the first white woman to cross the Cuyahoga river west. Both Tillotson Tyrrell and his wife spent the remainder of their lives in Ridgeville town- ship and died there. Horatio Tyrrell when a boy went to Portage county, Ohio, where he married, and returning to Ridgeville settled on the farm where he ever afterward lived, and where he died on the 25th of April. 1878. He married on the 13th of January, 1827. Eliza Lewis, born at Vernon, Oneida county. New York, March 7. 1806. a daughter of Oliver Lewis, born January 25. 1758, at Farm- ington, Connecticut, and he died March 21. 1839, at Ridgeville, Ohio. He married on March 13, 1783. Lucinda North, born July 16.

954

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

1762, and she died January 13, 1838, at Ridge- ville. She was a daughter of David and Sarah North, of Worthington, Vermont. Oliver Lewis was a member of Lieutenant Bidwell's Company, which was called out during the Revolutionary war, he having entered the serv- ice on the 19th of August, 1776. He was by trade a miller, and he also gained a reputation as a bridge builder. On coming to the West- ern Reserve he settled at Mantua, in Portage county, and coming from there to Ridgeville he lived here during. old age with his second son, Oliver H. Lewis. He was buried at North Ridgeville. The children of Horatio and Eliza (Lewis) Tyrrell are: Lucia A., the deceased wife of Nelson Salisbury; Edgar H., who married Mrs. Arabelle (King) Terrell, was a resident of Ridgeville, and he served as a Civil war soldier; Sarah died before mar- riage; Helen E., who became Mrs. Culver ; Marion, born August 10, 1835, married Darius Chamberlain on December 29, 1870, and she died in Cleveland, September 6, 1906; S. Esther, born May 29, 1837, died September 13, 1850; Frances E., born February 28, 1841, married John M. Stich, September 12, 1872, and moving to Clinton, Iowa, died there May 14, 1905; Bert L., born March 19, 1843, mar- ried Lucinda Tyrrell on November 2, 1873, and resides in Cleveland ; and Chase W., born November 25, 1846, married Celia Gill on April 7, 1872, and he died in Cleveland, May 17, 1908.

A daughter, Frances Helen, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Culver on the 22d of April, 1863, at LaPorte, Indiana. She married W. H. Snow on December 17, 1884, at Boston, Mas- sachusetts, and Harold Culver Snow was born to them at Jamaica Plain, that state, January 7, 1886. He married Ena Mae Butler on Oc- tober 6, 1909. She was born at Ridgeville, Ohio, November 1I, 1882, a daughter of Theo- dore and Sarah Butler, of North Ridgeville. Henry T. Culver is a Knight Templar Mason, a director in the Savings Deposit Bank and Trust Company, a former director in one of the Lorain banks, and he is interested in two Lorain banks and in all of the banks of Elyria save one. He is a representative business man and a public-spirited citizen.

HON. ISAAC GILLETT .- Of those rugged and enterprising pioneers, men of keen practical foresight and elevated sentiments, who came to the Western Reserve in the early years of the nineteenth century and commenced the de- velopment of its material resources and its in-

tellectual and moral wealth, none sheds a brighter luster on its historic annals or stands forth as a more substantial figure than Hon. Isaac Gillett, one of the founders of Paines- ville, a merchant, an agriculturist, a state leg- islator and altogether a man of fine resources and noteworthy performances. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the year 1789, his family being of Huguenot descent and among the first to settle in Boston. In 1822 Mr. Gillett married Miss Julia Morley and in the same year located at Painesville.

One of the first wise acts of the new settler was to prove his confidence in the progress of the community which had become his home, and in 1825 he purchased ninety rods . of ground, at the astounding rate of $350 an acre, along what is now Washington street, Paines- ville. The following year he erected a sub- stantial brick house, being obliged to bring workmen from Columbus to finish the interior, and paying them the almost unheard-of price of one dollar per day. But the residence proved a piece of good honest work and its owner lived in it the remainder of his twenty- four years. In partnership with Simon Healy and later with his brother-in-law, Lewis Mor- ley, he conducted a general exchange and mer- cantile business which proved profitable to its conductors and most beneficial to the commit- nity for miles around. His operations em- braced the purchase of farm, live stock, dairy and horticultural products of the rapidly de- veloping country, disposing of them in eastern markets and making available to the producers the manufactures, household goods and arti- cles of food with which they could not eco- nomically provide themselves. The enterprise seemed to foreshadow the modern general merchant, produce dealer and commission mer- chant. In this connection it is interesting to note that one of Mr. Gillett's favorite articles of export was peppermint oil, for which there was a large and steady demand in the east. He was also prominent in the early attempts to develop the iron industry by the use of native bog ores, established one of the first brass foundries of Painesville, and strove in all ways to open new avenues of industry and prosperity. Mr. Gillett became the owner of a number of farms near the city, one of which remains in possession of his grandchildren.

As the years went by the influence of this industrious, versatile and able New Englander became so strong and widespread that his friends insisted upon sending him to the legis- lature. At that time, the anti-Masonic senti-

955

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

ment was very bitter in his section, and it was on that platform that he was elected. He was also chosen a delegate to the Universal Peace Congress to be held in Paris, France, but the movement then was further in advance of the times than it is now, the proposed congress never convened and Mr. Gillett failed to visit the French capital. It is well illustrative, how- ever, of his standing and advanced thought.

Mr. Gillett was the father of six children. One of his sons died in infancy; the other, Albert, was appointed paymaster of Admiral Foote's flagship, the "Benton," but died in 1862, on the hospital ship, before reaching his post. His eldest daughter, Juliet, died in 1842, after a brief illness, and the father never re- covered from the shock and grief caused by her decease. Shortly afterward he himself suffered a stroke of paralysis, and, although he lived until 1850, he was never strong there- after, and his end came as the result of a sec- ond stroke. The three daughters who sur- vived him were Mrs. Wilkes, Mrs. Child and Mrs. Boalt. His granddaughter, Agnes Child, married Wilm Knox, a well known architect of Cleveland.

HUGH COMSTOCK HARRIS .- One of the well known business men of this section of the Western Reserve, ex-treasurer of Lorain county and one of the honored and substantial citizens of Elyria, Hugh Comstock Harris is a native of Massachusetts, born in Great Bar- rington, Berkshire county, December 18, 1857. His parents, Avery E. and Marilla (Com- stock) Harris, were also born in the Old Bay state, and neither they nor the grandfathers (George Harris and Hugh Comstock) ever resided in Ohio.

In April, 1879, after graduating from the high school of his native town, Hugh C. Har- ris moved to the Buckeye state, locating first at LaGrange, Lorain county, where he entered the employ of Crosier & Shelden, cheese manu- facturers at that place. Six months with them gave him a thorough knowledge of the indus- try and, after spending the following winter in his Massachusetts home, he returned to that firm as an employe in their Wellington factory. Ten of the eleven years which he thus spent were passed as superintendent of the plant, but in 1890 he left that field of industry and en- gaged in the boot and shoe business at Wel- lington. Mr. Harris continued in that line successfully, conducting the leading establish- ment of the place, until his first election as treasurer of Lorain county, in 1900; was re-

elected in 1902 and served for two terms with signal credit to himself and decided advantage to the county. He has ever been a stanch Re- publican, and for years prominent in the coun- cils of the party. He was also prominent in educational affairs, being both director of the Elyria schools and clerk of the school board, resigning both offices after two years and a half. He is a member of Wellington Lodge, F. & A. M., a Knight Templar in Masonry, belonging to Elyria chapter and commandery, and a Congregationalist in religion. He is a citizen of social, fraternal and high moral character. He is a director and on the finance committee of the Elyria Savings & Banking Company, and director of the Home Savings Bank, of Wellington, Ohio, and also a director in Lorain County Savings & Loan Company, and director in the Wellington Telephone Company.

In 1883 Mr. Harris married Miss Ada B. Bacon, who was born in Wellington, Novem- ber 12, 1863, and is a daughter of the late Serano D. and Mary (Bailey) Bacon. The father was born in Grafton, Windham county, Vermont, on the 23d of January, 1825, a son of Joseph Bacon, who settled in Carlisle town- ship in 1840. Serano D. Bacon was long one of the substantial citizens of Wellington town- ship. The mother of Mrs. Harris was born at Lodi, Cattaraugus county, New York, on the 19th of April, 1827, and died January II, 1909; the father dying September 24, 1901, aged seventy-six. Both of Mr. Harris' par- ents are also deceased. The father, born May 19, 1825, died on the 29th of April, 1907, and the mother was born June 28, 1826, and passed away July 28, 1895.

JOSEPH HENRY PADDACK was during. many years a well known and influential citizen of Ridgeville township, Lorain county, Ohio, where he was born and where he spent the most of his life and died. He was a grand- son of Joseph Henry Paddack, one of the pio- neers of Ridgeville, but a native son of New England and a descendant of Revolutionary heroes. Joseph Henry Paddack came to the Western Reserve and settled at Cleveland dur- ing the commonwealth's early history, com- ing from there to Ridgeville township, in Lo- rain county, and after a number of years there moved to the city of Elyria. He was during many years a justice of the peace there, and he was a member of the time-honored order of Masons. He had two sons, Sheldon and Henry, and three daughters.

956

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

Sheldon Paddack, the elder of the two sons, was born on the 29th of February, 1824. in Essex county, New York, and he died on the 8th of March, 1906. He was twice married, wedding first Jane Robinson, from kidgeville, and one child was born to them, Jane, who died at the age of thirteen. He married for his second wife, Marietta Boon, who was born in Watertown, New York, July 16, 1826, a daughter of William Boon, and their three children were: Mary P., who married Chas. D. Paddack, Joseph H. and George A. Both of the sons are deceased, but the wife and mother is yet living in Ridgeville, having attained her eighty-fourth year.

Joseph H. Paddack was born in Ridgeville township on the 3d of May, 1858. He attended the district schools and the Elyria high school, and he remained with his parents until his marriage. He then purchased his late farm, which is now the home of his family, formerly known as the Sheldon place, on the old stage road, and here he was successfully engaged at farming and dairying. This estate contains over ninety-seven acres, and in addition to this Mr. Paddack also owned the 100 acres formerly known as the Veits farm, which he rented as a tenant farmer. In 1891 he moved with his family to the state of Idaho, but he returned to his old home in 1894, and he died at Ridge- ville on the 11th of May, 1908. He was a member of the Royal Arcanum and of the Grange, taking a deep interest in the latter order. In politics a Republican, he never de- sired or would accept public office.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 47

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