History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 55

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 55

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included in the fine estate of 186 acres which is now operated by Herbert O.

The boy obtained his education in the dis- trict school near the home farm and at Mount Union, and assisted his father until he had ma- tured into young manhood. On May 4, 1873, two weeks after he had celebrated his twenty- second birthday, he married Miss Emeline Gorby. His wife was born July 26, 1849, daughter of Thomas and Wealthy Gorby, na- tives of Massachusetts. There is one child of this union, Charles E., who resides at Ran- dolph Center. After his marriage Mr. Hutson resumed farming on his father-in-law's place, and after being thus engaged for twelve years established himself in business at Randolph. There, as a dealer in live stock and wool, he conducted a good business for another dozen years, returning then to the paternal home- stead as its proprietor and developer. What he has accomplished since has already been noted. Mr. Hutson is independent in politics, but his ability and integrity have brought him into the public service in such positions as trustee and assessor, irrespective of party af- filiations. His fraternal relations are with the Knights of Pythias, with whose objects and actual benevolences he is in earnest sympathy.

SYDNEY H. HINE, the substantial farmer of Randolph township, Portage county, was born in New York City November 10, 1866, and on the 22d of the following December, before he had reached the age of two months, was adopted by Louis and Clementine Hine. These good people were therefore the only parents he ever knew and they reared the boy as care- fully as though he were their own offspring. Louis Hine was born in Randolph township, October 12, 1824.

Sydney H. Hine lived with his foster par- ents until his marriage, which occurred No- vember 9, 1892, to Miss Ida B. Chapman. He afterward located on the farm of twenty-nine and a half acres which he inherited from them. Mr. Hine has always voted the Republican ticket.

DR. JOSEPH PRICE, one of the best known physicians of Portage county, was a native of the Buckeye state, as was also his wife, Cyn- thia Underwood. When only twelve years of age, Dr. Price was bound out to a tailor for a three years' apprenticeship, being placed under bonds of $500 as a guarantee of good behavior-which included "sticking to his

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job." He thoroughly mastered the trade; married when he was about of age, and con- tinued as a tailor for some seven years there- after. In the meantime he had studied medi- cine at the Starling Medical College, Colum- bus, Ohio, graduating. in 1851. Receiving his license to practice, he began a professional career of forty-four years. He died October 22, 1895.

His son, Benjamin F. Price, who is a suc- cessful agriculturist of Randolph township, was born in the township December 14, 1860. He resided with his parents until September 20, 1882, when he married Miss Ruth Meriam. He then located on the home farm of fifty- two acres, which he inherited at the death of his father. Two children, J. Paul and Howard W., were born to Benjamin F. Price and wife. Mrs. Price died June 1, 1905.

GILES MANCHESTER EASTON .- For many years Giles Manchester Easton, late of Guil- ford township, was actively associated with the development and advancement of the agricul- tural prosperity of this part of Medina county, and was known far and wide as one of its most esteemed and worthy citizens. A son of Julius Easton, he was born, July 22, 1833, in Manlius, Onondaga county, New York, of substantial New England ancestry.

Julius Easton was born in Connecticut May I, 1791, and subsequently spent a number of years in the Empire state. Coming with his family to Medina county in 1833, he located in Guilford township, buying ninety acres of land one and one-fourth miles north of Seville. There he was engaged in mixed husbandry for many years, devoting a large part of his time to raising cattle and sheep, residing there until his death, in 1880. His wife, whose maiden was Artemesia Manchester, was born in Dutchess county, New York, and died, in 1881, in Medina county, Ohio.

An infant when his parents settled in Guil- ford township, Giles M. Easton attended first the district schools, and later the Seville Acad- emy, remaining at home until becoming of age. In 1861 he enlisted as a musician in the Twelfth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, respond- ing to Lincoln's first call for troops, and served for six months. Mr. Easton subsequently served from 1864 until 1866 in Company F, One Hundred and Sixty-sixth Ohio National Guards. On receiving then his discharge from the service he returned to the parental home- stead in Guilford township, and having as-

sumed its management was for many years prosperously employed in general farming and stock-raising, being one of the most prosperous members of the farming community. He raised more sheep than his father had at any time and he made improvements of much value, erecting a fine barn and outbuildings, supplying his farm with the most approved machinery and farming implements, and continued in his chosen occupation until his death, May 29, 1909, although the few years previous to that event he had lived in Seville, somewhat retired, but still considering himself a farmer.

Mr. Easton married, in 1858, Mary M. Caughey, who was born in Guilford township, a daughter of James and Jemima (McConnell) Caughey. Their only child, J. Jay Easton, was educated in the public schools and academy of Seville. He died February 9, 1898, leaving a widow and two children, Leonard and Lucile. Leonard Easton, born February 16, 1891, was educated in the common schools, and now lives with his grandmother in Seville and is attend- ing school in Columbus, Ohio. By the terms of his grandfather's will Leonard will ere long come into possession of the old Easton home- stead, which is a valuable and most desirable estate. The other child, Lucile Easton, born February 13, 1895, lives with her mother and stepfather in Kentucky. Mrs. Easton is a bright and active woman of seventy-five years, with her faculties unimpaired by age, her hear- ing and eyesight being good, and her mind as clear as in her younger days. She is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church.

HARRY A. McCONNELL is a prominent dairy farmer and business man in Dorset township. He is a son of Frank McConnell, who was born in Medina county, Ohio, about the year of 1818, and locating in Harding county of this state he moved from there to Wayne county and died in 1894. He was by trade a tanner. Mrs. McConnell, his wife, bore the maiden name of Jane Armstrong, and was born in 1816, and died in 1876. They reared three children, but the two eldest are now de- ceased. William S., the first born, was a Civil war soldier for four years, and was later a member of the medical profession. Edward, the next younger son, died in 1905 at Bur- bank, Ohio.

Harry A. McConnell, born August 15, 1864, attended the schools of Ashland, Ohio, and is now a prominent dairy farmer and the owner of 160 acres of land in Dorset township. He

Sales M. Bastou

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has also been in the hotel business at Dorset Station, was for six years the deputy super- visor of elections for Ashtabula county, is the president and manager of the Dorset Tele- phone Company, and for twelve years has served his township as a trustee. He is a Republican in his political allegiance. At the present time he is a candidate for the office of county commissioner.

Mr. McConnell married Mollie Camp, who 'was born in January, 1863, and they have had the following children: Charlie, who was born October 20, 1888, and is a graduate of the Western Reserve Law School at Cleveland ; Frank, born October 23, 1889, attended school in Andover, Ohio, and is now in the county surveyor's office at Jefferson ; Grant, born in 1892; Wade, January 6, 1897 ; and Don, Feb- ruary 26, 1902. Mr. McConnell is a State Po- lice, and is a high degree Mason, a member of both the chapter and council, and a member of the fraternal order of Maccabees.

WILLIAM CALTON INMAN is one of the most active business men of Dorset township, and is prominently known as a mill owner, char- coal manufacturer and farmer. He owns both saw and planing mills, also a large farm of 800 acres, and operates a number of charcoal plants, one at Dorset, one at Andover and an- other at Wick, and he furnishes employment to from twenty-five to fifty men. He has also been quite extensively engaged in contracting and building, having during the past summer of 1909 erected seven houses in Ashtabula, and he owns a lumber yard there and several resi- dence properties.

Mr. Inman is a grandson on the paternal side of Nicholas Inman, born in Vermont, who came to Ohio with ox teams many years ago, and later established his home in Erie county, Pennsylvania. His wife was nee Esther Whit- more, and their children included : Worlin C., who was born in 1830 and died on the 20th of March, 1905 ; Isaiah, who was born in 1831, a stone mason, lived in Dowagiac, Michigan, and died in 1907; David, who died in Wiscon- sin ; Betsy, also deceased ; and Alvira, the wife of a Mr. Taylor and a resident of Kettle Falls, Washington, and Laura, wife of Abraham Clute, late of Kelloggsville, Ohio, deceased. Worlin C. Inman, the third born child in the above family, became a resident of Colebrook in this county when a small boy, and learned the trade of a blacksmith and wagon maker. He married Elizabeth Finlaw, who was born

in 1830 and died May 9, 1904, and they be- came the parents of the following, sons and daughters: Henry, born in 1850, married Eliz- abeth Williams, deceased, and he lives in An- dover; Martha, born in 1852, became the wife of Norman Fink, and died in 1877 ; James W., born in 1854, married Matilda Larson and resides in Ashtabula ; John, born in 1859, mar- ried Dora E. Smith, and their home is in Rich- mond Centre, of this county.

William Calton Inman, the youngest child in the family of Worlin C. and Elizabeth Inman, born March 19, 1869, attended school at Jefferson, and later found employment in the woods. He married on the 12th of July, 1889, Jennie M. Phelps, a daughter of James M. and Mary M. (Smith) Phelps, and a son, Clyde, was born to them on the 29th of March, 1893. Mr. Inman has fraternal membership with the Modern Woodmen of America, a charter member of Andover Camp, No. 5,261, and he is a Republican in his political alle- giance. He occupies a high place in the busi- ness circles of Ashtabula county, and, although yet young in years, his is proving a truly suc- cessful life.

HOMER P. CUMINGS .- As an able represen- tative of the profession of civil and mechan- ical engineering, Mr. Cumings has been identi- fied with much work of important order, and not the least of this has been accomplished within the time of his incumbency of the office of city engineer of Painesville, Lake county, of which position he has been in tenure since 1903, in which year the office was created. He is a member of one of the old and honored families of Lake county and is well entitled to consideration in the publication, which is dedicated to the Western Reserve and its people.

Mr. Cumings was born in Madison town- ship, Lake county, Ohio, on the 19th of Febru- ary, 1862, and is a son of Charles and Rebecca (Sullivan) Cumings. Further data in regard to the family genealogy may be found in the sketch of the career of Henry H. Cumings, on other pages of this work. Charles Cumings was a native of New Hampshire, and was a boy at the time when his father, Benjamin Cumings, removed to Ohio, settling first at Unionville, Union county, whence he later re- moved to Lake county. Charles Cumings was reared to manhood in the latter county and eventually he became one of the representative farmers of Madison township. He passed the

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closing years of his life at Madison, Ohio, where he died in 1900. His cherished and devoted wife survived him by three years. Both were devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics he was a stanch advocate of the cause of the Repub- lican party, though never a seeker of public office. Charles and Rebecca (Sullivan) Cum- ings became the parents of ten children, con- cerning whom the following brief record is entered : Henry H., who is a graduate of Ober- lin College, is a resident of Tidioute, Penn- sylvania, where he is engaged in the oil-pro- duction business ; Charles E. is engaged in the oil and gas business at East Brady, Pennsyl- vania ; Frank A. is a resident of Madison, Lake county, Ohio, and is a farmer and coal dealer ; Jane R. is the widow of Howard Atkinson and resides in East Cleveland, Ohio; Homer P., subject of this review, was the next in order of birth; Miss Emily E., a deaconess of the Methodist Episcopal church, resides in Cleve- land ; Mary M. is a teacher in the Painesville high school and is a graduate of Oberlin Col- lege ; Nellie L. is the wife of Allen N. Benja- min, of the village of Madison, Lake county ; Kate C. is the wife of Rev. Orlando Pershing, of Ada, Ohio; E. Roscoe is professor of geol- ogy in the Indiana State University at Bloom- ington, Indiana, and is a graduate of Union College, Schenectady, New York, besides which he received from Yale University the degree of Doctor of Philosophy : and Lucy, who became the wife of James Boyce, died at the age of fifty years.

The old homestead farm is still owned by the family, and the present Cumings Home- stead Park is that portion of the farm which lies along the shores of Lake Erie, a distance of about 1,000 feet, and which comprises about ten acres. This property was conveyed by deed to the ten children, and those of the num- ber living now hold the property as an incor- porated company, known as the Cumings Homestead Park Company. The park is beau- tifully situated, has a fine grove of trees, thirty years old, and is improved by effective land- scape gardening. The place has been used for many years as a private summer resort. It lies due north of the village of Madison, and adjacent on the west is the Madison township park, a public park. The remainder of the old homestead is owned by Henry H. Cumings, the eldest son.

Homer P. Cumings, whose name introduces this article, passed his boyhood and early youth

on the old home farm of which mention has just been made, and after duly availing him- self of the advantages of the public schools he entered the engineering department of Union College, at Schenectady, New York, in which he was graduated as a member of the Class of 1888, and from which he received the degree of Civil Engineer. After his graduation he engaged in practice as a general engineer in southern Missouri and later in Cleveland. He then returned to Union College as an instructor in civil engineering, and he was thus identified with the work of his alma mater for a period of six years, being most successful in his ef- forts and gaining a strong hold on the esteem of the students of his department. After leav- ing the college he returned to the city of Cleve- land, where he engaged in both office and field work in connection with the construction of electric railways and where he maintained his professional headquarters until 1898, when he took up his residence in Painesville, where he has since continued in the successful work of his profession. He has done all the city engi- neering work and has been city engineer from the time of the establishment of this depart- ment of municipal service, in 1903, at which time also Painesville was incorporated as a city. Under his direction has been installed an effective system of sanitary sewers, which already cover a distance of fourteen miles. The paving work of the city has also been done under his supervision, as well as all inci- dental work relative to the establishing of grades and other engineering requirements. He devotes the major portion of his attention to.his official duties, and his administration has gained him the most unqualified commenda- tion and approval. He is known as an able and progressive business man and loval citi- zen and is held in high esteem in his native county. Here he was executor of his father's estate, and here he is the owner of valuable realty in addition to his interest in the old homestead, as noted in a preceding paragraph.

Mr. Cumings is not active in the domain of practical politics, but takes a lively interest in all that touches the welfare of his home city. Both he and his wife are members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and he has been one of the most prominent factors in advancing the interests of the Painesville Young. Men's Christian Association, of which he is president at the time of this writing. He is a member of the Sigma Xi, an honorary college fraternity.

At Willoughby. Ohio, on the 13th of Au-

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gust, 1891, Mr. Cumings was united in mar- riage to Miss Jennie M. Hills, a daughter of Clinton W. Hills, who is now living retired in Painesville. Mr. and Mrs. Cumings have two children-Mildred J. and Harold H. The attractive family home is a center of gracious hospitality and is a favored resort of a wide circle of friends.

CLINTON W. HILLS .- This venerable and honored citizen of Painesville, where he is now living retired, has had an eventful career and one that has stood representative of con- secutive industry and earnest purpose. His experiences in a business way have been varied, but he has had the ability and good fortune to so direct his efforts as to make ample pro- vision for his declining years, which he is passing in peace and prosperity.

Mr. Hills is a native of Vernon Center, Oneida county, New York, where he was born on the Ist of September, 1829. He is a son of Manley Miles Hills, and the latter was a son of Jesse Hills, who was prevailed upon to come to Ohio with the Mormons and who led the singing in the old temple of this organization in the village of Kirtland. Jesse Hills was in turn a son of Seth, who was a son of Be- noni. The last mentioned was a son of Joseph, whose father, William Hills, the original American progenitor, came from Durham, England, and settled in Boston in 1632.

Clinton W. Hills passed the first eleven years of his life on the farm of his father, who was also a cooper by trade and vocation, and there- after he was "bound out" to a man named Tryon, with whom he remained until he had attained to the age of twenty-one years, when he was given $too as full compensation for his services during the interval of ten years. His early educational advantages were most meager, but through self-discipline and the ex- periences gained in connection with the prac- tical affairs of life he has become a man of broad and accurate information. With the $100 which he had received he engaged in the poultry business with a partner, and the latter finally accumulated all the cash and left to him the experience, as is often the case. Under these conditions he secured work on a farm at eleven dollars a month, and within a year he had saved another $too, having lost but two days during the entire year. Realizing his need of better educational training. along prac- tical lines, he then went to Buffalo, New York, where he entered the Bryant & Stratton Busi-

ness College, in which he completed a course of study, in the meanwhile paying his way by sweeping floors and doing such other work as came to hand. After leaving this school he found his cash exhausted, and under these conditions he secured from a dealer in New York a stock of steel pens, lead pencils, etc., which he sold to the trade. He worked day and night and finally gained sufficient experi- ence to make him successful. He traveled in fully twenty different states, selling goods of this description, and in the meanwhile care- fully conserved his resources, so that at the end of five years he had about $6,000. He purchased seventy acres of land in Willoughby township, Lake county, Ohio, having come hither to visit Mr. Tryon, with whom he had lived as a boy and who had located on a farmi in Willoughby township, and he assumed pos- session in 1863. On December 31 of that year, in the city of Cleveland, Mr. Hills married Miss Emeline Horton, who was born in Roch- ester, New York, and who had come to Ohio to live with an uncle. The young couple set- tled on their farm in Willoughby township, where they remained five years. Mr. Hills then sold the property and joined his wife's uncle, Austin Fulter, in Kansas, where he en- gaged in the raising, of cattle. He purchased a tract of land near Burlingame, Orange county, where he erected a house and made other improvements, but the Kansas winds proved so disagreeable that he sold the prop- erty and went to Winchester valley, Virginia, where he bought a farm of 140 acres, upon which he passed two years. As there were no public schools in the locality, he sold this prop- erty and returned to Lake county, Ohio, in order to give his children needed educational advantages. He here bought twenty-six acres in Willoughby township, one-half mile distant from his old farm, but as he liked the climate of the middle south he finally sold out and removed to Tennessee, locating near the vil- lage of Newmarket. There he passed two years under most pleasing environment, but he then returned to Lake county and bought a farm of thirty acres in Willoughby township. He again sold out and returned to the south, but finally came back to the same township and bought thirty acres lying adjacent to the first farm he had owned in Willoughby town- ship. During the various removals and changes he had practically "held his own," but had not greatly increased his capital from that with which he started in Lake county. On

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the last mentioned farm, however, he contin- ued to reside from 1875 until 1903, when he sold the property and removed to Painesville, where he has since lived virtually retired. He made the best of improvements on his farm, which he devoted largely to the growing of fruits, in which line he made a specialty of peaches and grapes. He sold from the farm in one year 4,000 half-bushel baskets of these products, and his success is well indicated by this statement. He became an authority on fruit-growing in this section, and the attractive little homestead of which he was so long the owner is recognized as one of the best in the county. Mr. Hills took a deep interest in all that concerned the welfare and prosperity of his section of the county and held various local offices. His political support is given to the . Republican party and he and his wife hold membership in the Church of Christ. They have one son and one daughter-Edwin M., who is proprietor of a livery and boarding stable in the city of Cleveland, and Jennie, who is the wife of Homer P. Cumings, of Paines- ville, individually mentioned on other pages of this work. Mr. Hills is well preserved in physical and mental powers and in appearance gives slight indication of the four-score years that rest upon him.

CONSTANT S. BACON is numbered among the well known and successful farmers of Monroe township, with whose interests he has been identified throughout nearly his entire business career. Leander Bacon, his father, born in New York in 1809, came to this state in 1868 from Wisconsin, and he had previously mar- ried Sarah A. Hillibert, who was born Decem- ber 10, 1814, and she died on the 2d of January, 1883, the husband surviving her until the 6th of January, 1891, dying in Monroe township, Ashtabula county. They became the parents of the following children: Betsey, born January 8, 1831, lives in Nebraska; Amanda, born in April, 1834, lives in New York ; Orlando, born in 1837, died July 4, 1908; Calista, born Sep- tember 26, 1839, died in 1891 ; Frank, born in 1841, resides in Wisconsin; Alfred, born De- cember 25, 1845, died in August of 1896; and Constant was born February 18, 1849, in New York.

Constant S. Bacon was twenty years of age when he became a resident of Ashtabula county and he is now one of the leading dairy farmers of Monroe township and a property owner, his estate numbering one hundred and fifty acres.

He was formerly quite extensively engaged in the making of cheese and kept on an average twenty head of cattle, breeding Durham cattle for his own use. After ten years he gave up this branch of business and has since been a dairy farmer and grain raiser. He is a Re- publican in his political affiliations, and is a member of the State Police.

Mr. Bacon married on June 6, 1869, Calista Hill, born October 23, 1851, a daughter of Wallace and Hannah (Laird) Hill, who are represented on other pages of this work. The children of this union are: Orlando, who was born March 10, 1870, and is now a Monroe township agriculturist; Nell, born December 17, 1871, is living in Nebraska; Fred, born April 24, 1875, is in Monroe township; Gran- ville, born July 13, 1878, is also a Monroe township agriculturist ; Wardell, born Septem- ber 3. 1882, is at home with his parents ; Nora, born June 2, 1885, lives in Springborough, Pennsylvania ; Floyd, born September 25, 1888, is a member of the regular army and living at Camp Sheridan, Illinois; Agnes, born March 8, 1891, is at home ; and Saralı, born January 27, 1883, is also with her parents. The family are members of the Grange.

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 55

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