History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 50

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 50

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).

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of the latter (William) had his hat pierced by a ball.

The family formed a new home at Lewis- ton, New York, and when the British cap- tured that place, December 13, 1813, the Howes escaped on an ox-sled to Batavia. Here was organized the Swift and Dobbins regiment of New York Volunteers, of which Dr. Howe was surgeon's mate, and his sons, Eber D. and Asahel, private soldiers. All participated in General Scott's campaign, including the bat- tles of Lundys Lane and Fort Erie. In 1817 Dr. Howe settled in Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1820 at Painesville, and successfully practiced his profession until his death at Concord, Ohio, in 1838. His wife died at the same place in 1852, mother of William, Eunice, Laura, Har- riet, Eber D. and Asahel.

Eber Dudley Howe was born at Clifton Park, New York, on the 9th of June, 1798, his birth occurring near the battlefield made famous by the surrender of General Burgoyne. He served with his father throughout the Ni- agara campaign, from April I to November 8, 1814, and after the war became an apprentice in the printing office of the Buffalo Commer- cial Advertiser. In his autobiography, he re- marks that, at this time, the paper had a cir- culation of about 1,000 copies and that two days were spent in striking off the edition. In 1819 Mr. Howe moved to Cleveland and, with Z. Willis, began the publication of the Herald. The first article in No. I was a strong anti-slavery paper by Benjamin Rush. In 1822, after publishing an interesting and stirring newspaper for two years, he came to Paines- ville and established the Telegraph, continuing it until 1835. In 1837 Mr. Howe located at Concord, in the Hollow, and engaged in the woolen business, and his vigorous crusade against slavery as an agent and patron of the Underground Railway to Canada. He was an ardent leader of the Liberty party and in 1842 declared he never again would vote for a slave- holder for any office. During these years of his residence at Concord he assisted so many colored fugitives to freedom, through his home ministrations, that the neighbors christened the locality Nigger Hollow; that same Hollow, in which also for thirty years was heard the busy hum of machinery, is now silent and deserted.

In common with other earnest characters of northern Ohio, Mr. Howe became much inter- ested in the representations of Joseph Smith and his Mormon followers, who, with Kirtland as their headquarters, attempted to establish themselves and their religion in that part of

the state. These fanatics made their appear- ance in 1830, and in 1834 Mr. Howe pub- lished his book entitled "Mormonism Un- veiled," which conclusively fixed the real au- thor of the Book of Mormon in the person of Solomon Spalding. Eight reliable witnesses testified that the original records purporting to have been found inscribed on gold plates buried in the ground were substantially the manu- scripts written by Mr. Spalding twenty years before and intended by the author to be pub- lished as a romance. These witnesses stated that Spalding, who was a minister and gradu- ate from Dartmouth College, had written sev- eral other manuscripts. Fifty years after the publication of Howe's book the Mormons came into possession of one of those other manu- scripts, and published it in pamphlet form for general circulation, to show that it bore no resemblance to the "Book of Mormon," as- suming that it was the only manuscript Spal- ding ever wrote, notwithstanding the testi- mony of his neighbors to the contrary. It is undeniable that Mr. Howe's book had much to do with the subsequent migration of the Mormons westward, and formed but one of the many evidences of his ability, determina- tion and force of character. His death oc- curred November 10, 1885.

His religious experience and belief are best told in his own words: "Up to the age of forty, like a large share of the human family, I was governed in my opinions on that sub- ject (religion) by education and all the sur- rounding influences under which it was my fortune to be placed. I resolved to investigate the whole question of the hereafter, if any. The result was I became a skeptic. Thus, up to the advent of modern Spiritualism, which came in its own time and its own way. In this I believed and still believe."

Eber D. Howe married Miss Sophia Hull, born in 1800, daughter of Warren Hull, of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, a Revolu- tionary soldier. She died in 1866, mother of six children, of whom three died in infancy. The only daughter, Minerva, was born July 8, 1827, and is the widow of Franklin Rogers, of Vermont, whom she married December 19, 1844. Her husband died in Painesville, June 13, 1884, and five children were born to their union : Helen M., August 4, 1846; Elvene, August 1, 1848, who died May 17, 1892 ; Lil- lie D., August 20, 1853; Frank Wilton, Octo- ber 17, 1855; and Fred Howe, December 30, 1859. Mrs. Minerva H. Rogers, the mother of this family, is a bright lady of strong mem-

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ory, fully alive to current happenings, whether in her own community or in the world at large, and presents a striking example of physical and mental vitality-albeit, she is in her eighty- third year and is the great-grandmother of three, and the grandmother of twelve (ten living).

Edmund Dudley Howe, the eldest son, who was born in 1829 and died in 1849, was a young man of remarkable ability and promise. In 1847-8 he was a student at Oberlin College, but was obliged to leave school on account of declining health. Although he passed away before attaining his majority he had already become well known as a forcible opponent of slavery.

Orville Duane Howe, the third born, ob- tained an academic education at Painesville and Oberlin; taught school and farmed in his youth and early manhood; became active in Republican politics and, as stated, served his constituents in various county offices of promi- nence, and in 1871, when forty years of age, settled on the Nebraska farm on which he still resides with the family of his son. In the early seventies he experienced successive and destructive visitations of grasshoppers, scorching winds and droughts, but emerged from these visitations with credit and pros- perity. He is now chiefly engaged in the rais- ing of apples and has about forty acres in orchards.

On December 20, 1861, Mr. Howe married, at Warren, Illinois, Miss Mary Elizabeth Pepoon, who was born at Painesville in 1831, daughter of Silas and Mary (Benedict) Pepoon. Her parents were of a family of French Huguenots who were expelled from Corsica by the edict of Nantes. Mrs. Howe, who died in 1903, was educated at Painesville Academy and was a lady of great refinement and originality, being the author of many poems and prose articles. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Orville D. Howe. Ed- mund Dudley Howe, the son, was born in Warren, Illinois, on the 24th of September, 1862. In 1887 he graduated from the civil engineering department of the University of Nebraska, with the degree of B. C. E., and has been engaged in farming and professional work. He is at present county surveyor and a resident of Table Rock, Pawnee county, Ne- braska. His wife, whom he married in 1896, was formerly Miss Mary Viggers, a native of London, England. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Orville D. Howe was Myrta Eunice,

born in Painesville, December 6, 1868, and at the time of her death in Table Rock, October 8, 1904, was quite widely known as a talented musician.

OSCAR P. GRIGGS, M. D .- Prominent among the medical practitioners of Ashtabula is num- bered Dr. Oscar P. Griggs, who has practiced here for many years, and is both a representa- tive citizen and physician. He has offices at 42 Center street, Ashtabula. Solomon Griggs, his paternal grandfather, after coming to the United States, located in Ohio, establishing his home in Denmark township, Ashtabula county, at what is now known as Griggs Cor- ners, and by his wife, nee Achsa Moulton, he had the following children: Benjamin, Jea- nette, Rochsa, Mary, Philander, Hiram, La- vina, Albert and Olive.

Philander Griggs, one of the above family, was born at the Griggs Corners mentioned above in 1821, and, beginning life for himself, he located on a farm of his own in Jefferson township. In 1861 he became a member of Company K, of the Twenty-ninth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, Army of the Potomac, and he died in the convalescent hospital at Camp Denison, Virginia, in 1862. He had married Malona Woodbury, a daughter of Wheeler Woodbury, and she had taught school for a number of years in her earlier life, being a graduate of the Kingsville Institute. She died in Collinwood, Ohio, in 1887. The five chil- dren of this union were: Homer J., Oscar P., Deloss, Julia and Eva. Philander Griggs was allied with the Republican party, and both he and his wife were members of the Disciples church.

Dr. Oscar P. Griggs, born in Jefferson township, Ashtabula county, September 13, 1850, attended the Grand River Institute at Austinburg and the Cleveland Homeopathic College, being a graduate of the latter insti- tution with its Class of 1881. Previous to entering college he had worked as a carpenter, and was thus able to pursue his medical stud- ies. He is a member of the Medical Institute of Homeopathy, of the State Medical Society, and is a physician of well known ability and high standing. He married, on the 5th of June, 1875, Martha Fardon, a daughter of John Fardon, and a son Clarence was born to them. March 9. 1881, he married Louise Bancrofts. They had two children, Iota M. and Deloss B. Dr. Griggs married again, Sep- tember 15, 1904, this time wedding Ella

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Broughton, and they have one child, Oscar B. Dr. Griggs is a Republican, a Knight of Pythias and a Methodist.

JOHN F. BABCOCK .- As a scion of one of the prominent and honored pioneer families of the Western Reserve, and as one of the rep- resentative citizens and business men of the city of Ravenna, Portage county, Mr. Babcock is well entitled to consideration in a work of this character. He is a member of the ninth generation of the family in America, a fact that bears its own significance, since it indi- cates that the name has been identified with the history of our great republic from the early colonial epoch. The names and deeds of those who have wrought nobly in the past should not be allowed to perish, and it is in making perpetual record concerning such persons that a publication of this order exercises its su- preme function. Within this brief sketch will be found reference to sterling men and women who contributed materially to the civic and industrial upbuilding of the Western Reserve, and whose names merit an enduring place on the roll of the honored pioneers of Portage county.

Preliminary to an outline of the career of John F. Babcock will be traced his genealogy in a direct line to the founder of the family on American soil. James Babcock, this worthy progenitor of a worthy line, was born in Essex county, England, in the year 1612, and he died, presumably in Rhode Island, on the 12th of June, 1679. The name of his first wife was Sarah and of his second Elizabeth. His son John was born in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1644, and died in 1685, at Westerly, Rhode Island. He married Mary Lawton, of Ports- mouth, and their son George was born at Westerly in 1673; he died at South Kingston, that colony, May 1, 1756. He married Eliza- beth Hall, of South Kingston, and of their children the next in line of descent to the sub- ject of this sketch was David, who was born in Westerly, Rhode Island, December 22, 1700, and died at South Kingston in March, 1783. He married Dorcas Brown, of Westerly, and their son Jonathan was born at South Kings- ton November 19, 1735, and died in Granville, Massachusetts. He married Susanna Perry, of Charleston, Rhode Island, and their son, Perry H. Babcock, was born at South Kings- ton in 1766, and died at Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio, November 28, 1833. Perry H. Babcock was a man of large physique and great muscular strength, having been able to

lift a barrel of salt with ease. He married Cynthia Hickox, who was born in Granville, Massachusetts, and their son Almon, grand- father of him whose name initiates this re- view, was born in Granville on the 19th of November, 1788.

Almon Babcock was sent from Granville, Massachusetts, on the 21st of May, 1810, by the Connecticut Land Company, as a surveyor in the Western Reserve. He made Charles- town, Portage county, his destination, and he here commenced work on the Ist of July of that year, and surveyed lands at Charlestown Center, which at the time was commonly des- ignated as Center Hill. He completed his work October 29, 1811, and then set forth on his return to Granville, Massachusetts. He made the trip on horseback, a distance of 571 miles, and arrived in Granville November 19. He returned to Portage county, Ohio, in 1812, and here he continued to reside until his death. He was a man of much ability and of sterling character, and he wielded great influence in local affairs of a public nature in the pioneer community. He was deputy sheriff of the county at the time of the execution of the man Aungst, who was the first man to be hanged in Portage county, and it developed upon Mr. Babcock, in his official capacity, to read the death warrant. He served for more than twenty years of justice of the peace, and his administration was marked by true judicial acumen and full appreciation of the equities in- volved. At that time the justice court handled much important business which now comes un- der the jurisdiction of the higher courts, and his long tenure of office indicates the estimate placed upon him in the community. For many vears Almon Babcock conducted an old-time tavern in Ravenna, and the same was located on the site now occupied by the Beatty store. He also had a blacksmith shop and was a com- petent workman at the trade. He furnished the timbers for the first Congregational church in Ravenna and was essentially public-spirited in his attitude, doing all in his power to further the best interests of the community in which he so long maintained his home. He passed the closing years of his life in Rootstown town- ship, this county, where he owned and de- veloped a good farm and where his death oc- curred on May 4, 1850. He was commissioned a colonel of an Ohio regiment in the war of 1812, and he was a member of the Masonic fraternity.

On Christmas day of the year 1814 Almon

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Babcock was united in marriage to Miss Mary Johnson Collins, who was born in Hartford, Connecticut, August 15, 1789, and who died on the old homestead in Rootstown township, Portage county, Ohio, on May 28, 1859. She was a daughter of Robert and Chloe (John- son) Collins, who came from Connecticut and took up their residence in Ravenna, Portage county, in 1812. She was a woman of great strength of character and showed herself fully equal to the vicissitudes and responsibilities of pioneer life. She was a granddaughter of Cap- tain Wadsworth, the historic patriot who con- cealed the Connecticut charter in the famous old "Charter Oak."

Albert Babcock, son of Almon and Mary J. (Collins) Babcock and father of John F. was born in Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio, on September 12, 1824, and died in Rootstown township, this county, on April 26, 1905. As a boy and youth he received his early edu- cation in the common schools of the pioneer epoch, and his entire active career was one of conservative and fruitful identification with the great basic art of agriculture. He became the owner of 175 acres of valuable land in Roots- town township, and developed the same into one of the model farmsteads of this favored section of the Western Reserve. He made the best of permanent improvements on the place and was ever known as a man of unflagging energy and productive ambition. His was a superior type of mental endowment, and he was well fortified in his opinions and his con- victions, the while his course was ever guided upon a lofty plane of integrity and honor, so that he commanded the unequivocal esteem and confidence of all with whom he came in contact in the various relations of life. In politics he gave a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party and he was an influential factor in public affairs of a local nature. He was naturally a leader in thought and action, and such was the maturity of his judgment and such the rectitude of his character that his advice and counsel were eagerly sought by his fellow citi- zens, in matters of both public and private con- cern. As a competent surveyor, he assisted in running the original line of the Cleveland & Pittsburg railroad from Wellsville to Ra- venna. He was a member of the Ravenna lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows.

April 26, 1854, was solemnized the marriage of Albert Babcock to Miss Betsey E. Avery,

who was born at Aurora, Portage county, Ohio, on May 30, 1831, and who still resides on the old homestead farm, about two miles south of Ravenna. She is a daughter of Reu- ben and Corinna Avery, the former of whom lived to attain to the patriarchal age of 101 years. He was a descendant of the well known Avery family of Groton, Massachusetts, and was numbered among the sterling pioneers of the Western Reserve. Albert and Betsey E. Avery became the parents of one son and five daughters, all of whom are living at the time of this writing, in 1909.

John F. Babcock, the only son, was born on the old homestead farm, in Rootstown township, Portage county, Ohio, on April 30, 1855, and is the eldest of the six children. He was afforded the advantages of the public schools of the locality and period and early began to lend his aid in the work and manage- ment of the home farm. In April, 1874, at the age of nineteen years, Mr. Babcock be- came an apprentice in the machine shops of Stockwell, Griffin & Co., of Ravenna, and there he was employed for two and one-half years, at the expiration of which the shops were closed, on account of the unfavorable indus- trial conditions then existing throughout the country.

On December 6, 1877, Mr. Babcock was united in marriage to Miss Celestine C. Coff- man, who was born in Milton township, Ma- honing county, Ohio, whither her father, the late Tobias Coffman, came from Pennsylvania in the pioneer days. In the autumn preceding his marriage Mr. Babcock had erected a house on his father's farm, and in the spring of the following year he rented the old homestead from his father, where he continued to be ac- tively engaged in agricultural pursuits until the autumn of 1903. In the autumn of 1905 he sold his farm and moved to the city of Ra- venna. Prior to this, on August 5, 1903, Mr. Babcock became associated with his father and his sister, Mrs. Mary C. Hughes, in the pur- chase of the Ravenna City Mills, which he has since operated under the firm name of J. F. Babcock & Co. He assumed the active man- agement of the business at the time of pur- chase, and under his able and progressive direction it has steadily expanded in scope and importance until it now constitutes one of the leading. industrial enterprises of Portage county. The flour mill is equipped with full roller-process machinery of the best modern

E. F. Cotton.

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type, and all other accessories and facilities are of the most approved order, making the mill one of the best in this section of the state.

Mr. Babcock has been an active and in- fluential factor in the industrial and commer- cial upbuilding of the city of Ravenna, where he is actively identified with several of its most important industrial concerns, and as a citizen he is essentially loyal, liberal and progressive. He was one of the organizers and incorpo- rators of the Ravenna Furnace & Heating Company, of which he is now vice president. He is a member of the directorate of the Buck- eye Chair Company, is president of the Doe Battery & Manufacturing Company, of Kent, Ohio, where he is also a stockholder in the Seneca Chain Company, and he is a stock- holder in the John F. Byers Machine Company, of Ravenna, besides having other capitalistic interests of importance. He is a director of the Ravenna Board of Trade, and is a loyal supporter of this organization, which has high civic ideals and is doing efficient work in furthering the industrial and civic growth of Ravenna. In politics he is a stanch supporter of the generic principles for which the Demo- cratic party stands sponsor, but he believes that it is the duty of every citizen to give sup- port to worthy men and worthy measures, re- gardless of strict partisan lines. He is affiliated with Unity Lodge, No. 12, Free and Accepted Masons, of Ravenna. As a citizen he has a tenacious hold upon popular confidence and esteem, and is regarded as one of the repre- sentative business men of the thriving little capital city of Portage county.

GEORGE SHILLIDAY, a well-to-do farmer and leading citizen of Edinburg township, was born in Ireland September 23, 1836, and is a son of Hugh and Ellen (Willson) Shilliday. His parents, who were also natives of the mother country, emigrated to the United States in the fall of 1854. bringing George and other mem- bers of the family with them. They landed first at New York, subsequently going to Phila- delphia and to Canfield and Portage county, Ohio.

George resided with his parents as long as they lived. He was first married to Miss Mary A. Trotter, who lived till about twenty years afterward; his second wife was Mrs. Agnes Martin, daughter of Henry and Jane Speers, both being natives of Ireland. Mrs. Agnes Shilliday was born in the Emerald Isle, Feb- ruary 3, 1852, and emigrated to the United

States in company with her sister and two cousins. She lived in New York state for a time, and in 1879 settled at Edinburg, Portage county. By her previous marriage she had one child, Minnie Martin. Her union with Mr. Shilliday occurred in April, 1878. Altogether, he has raised twelve children ; and what is more remarkable-they are all alive. He has also five grandchildren, and there is therefore no immediate prospect of the family name perish- ing from the earth. Its worthy representative of this sketch is a well known Republican of- ficial of Edinburg township, having been trus- tee for six years and also served as school di- rector and supervisor. His religious belief is that of the Congregational church.

ELMER F. COTTON .- Among the native born citizens of Lorain county, distinguished alike for their personal integrity and worth, and for the honored ancestry from which they trace their descent, is Elmer F. Cotton, one of the best known and most successful agriculturists of Sheffield township, now serving as president of the Lorain County Agricultural Society, a position to which he was elected in January, I909. Born in Sheffield township, June 20, 1856, on the homestead of his father, Newton L. Cotton, he comes from pioneer stock, his grandfather George Washington Cotton, hav- ing settled in Lorain county while this section of the Western Reserve was yet in its primeval wildness.

Benjamin Noyes Cotton, great-grandfather of Elmer F. Cotton, was born in New Hamp- shire, where for many years he was prominent in local and state affairs. He was a Revo- lutionary soldier, standing with General War- ren at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and spending the winter at Valley Forge with Washington. He served until the close of the war, eight long years, and was present when Washington de- livered his farewell address. Four times he represented his district in the New Hampshire legislature, and was familiarly known as "Old Seventy-Six." In 1836 he came with his wife to Lorain county, Ohio, and later removed with her to Wayne county, where both spent their remaining days, both attaining the age of eighty-nine years. George Washington Cotton was born in Warren, New Hampshire, and in 1814 left home in search of fortune. Journeying westward on foot, he first stopped in Truxton, New York. from there coming to Ohio, paying hi's way the entire distance by driving and car- ing for cattle. He lived for awhile in Sheffield

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township, but after his marriage settled in Elyria township, Lorain county, where he re- claimed a fine farm from the wilderness, and there resided until his death, in 1865. He mar- ried, in Sheffield township, Rachel Smith, who was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and died in Lorain county, Ohio, in 1850. Rachel Smith's father, Joshua Smith, came to Lorain county in 1812, and his death the fol- lowing. year, was the first death of a white man in the county.

Newton L. Cotton was born October 15, 1829, in Sheffield township, Lorain county, and became finely educated for his time, attending the district schools of Elyria township, and the old Elyria Academy. After teaching school for a time in Avon township he removed to Illinois, for two years residing in Kendall county. Returning to Lorain county after his western experience, he enlisted, August 6, 1862, from Sheffield township, in Company F, One Hundred and Third Ohio Volunteer In- fantry, for three years or during the war, and was mustered in at Camp Mitchell, Kentucky. September 7, 1862. With his comrades he took part in many engagements, including among others those at Blue Springs, Tennessee, Arm- strong Hill, Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, Siege of Atlanta and Spring Hill, Georgia. After the Atlanta campaign the colonel of his regi- ment was made provost marshal general of the department, under General Schofield, and the regiment was assigned as headquarters guard for the Twenty-third Corps, which moved from Florence, Tennessee, to Cincinnati, thence to Washington, D. C., from there going by steamer to Fort Fisher, thence through Wil- mington and Goldsboro to Raleigh, North Carolina. At Cleveland, Ohio, June 23, 1865, he was mustered out of service, and was soon actively engaged in farming once more in Shef- field township. From 1882 until 1905 he was a resident of Amherst township, but he after- wards made his home in Sheffield township until his death. September 11. 1909. His fit- neral. under the auspices of the Grand Army of the Republic, was very large, among those attending. having been the late General "Jack" Casement, of Painesville, Ohio, thirty members of his regiment and fifty members of the G. A. R. Newton L. Cotton was one of the organ- izers of the Lorain County Farmers' Institute Association, of which he served at different times as president and secretary. .

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 50

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