USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 63
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A. D. ROBINSON .- As editor and manager of the Ravenna Republican, A. D. Robinson has gained prestige as one of the able repre- sentatives of the newspaper fraternity in the historic old Western Reserve, and prior to identifying himself with this line of enterprise he was a successful teacher in the public schools.
Mr. Robinson was born at Ticonderoga, Es- sex county, New York, on the 8th of January. 1876, and is a son of A. B. and Christina (Mason) Robinson. He was reared to ma- turity in his native town, in whose public schools he gained his early educational disci- pline, and after his graduation in the high school he entered the New York State Normal School at Plattsburg, in which he was gradu- ated as a member of the class of 1898. He forthwith turned his attention to the pedagogic profession, in which his success was instant and unequivocal. In 1900 he came to Portage county, Ohio, and assumed the position of principal of the high school in Garrettsville, where he continued his labors until 1903, when he became superintendent of the public schools of Seville, Medina county, an incumbency which he retained until 1905 and one in which he made a record of splendid accomplishment.
In July, 1905. Mr. Robinson took up his abode in the city of Ravenna, where he as- sumed the position of city editor of The Ra- venna Republican, with whose interests he has since continued to be identified and in connec- tion with which he has done most excellent work, both in an editorial and an executive capacity. In 1908, upon the death of the editor and publisher of The Republican, the late C.
W. S. Wilgus, Mr. Robinson became the editor-in-chief of the paper and also manager of the business, which includes the operation of a finely equipped job department. He has since continued in charge of The Republican, and has well maintained its high standard in all departments. He is well fortified in his opinions as to matters of public polity, and gives an unswerving allegiance to the Repub- lican party, whose cause he does much to fur- ther through the columns of the paper of which he is editor. He is a member of Cresset Lodge, No. 225, Knights of Pythias. He is recognized as one of the representative business men of the younger generation in Ravenna, and his popularity is measured only by his circle of acquaintances.
In 1903 Mr. Robinson was united in mar- riage to Miss Evelyn Crane, daughter of C. M. Crane, a well known citizen of Garrettsville, Portage county, and they are active in the so- cial life of their home city.
JAMES S. ALLEN .- In connection with a line of industrial enterprise which is one of maxi- mum importance in every populous community James S. Allen, of this review, has conducted extensive and successful operations and is to- day numbered among the leading real estate dealers of Portage county. He maintains his home and headquarters in the city of Ravenna and is known as one of its progressive busi- ness men and thoroughly representative citi- zens. Farther consistency in according him consideration in this publication is that im- plied in the fact that he is a native son of Portage county and a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of this favored sec- tion of the state.
James S. Allen was born at Deerfield, Port- age county, Ohio, on the 30th of May, 1857, and is a son of Stephen and Sarah (Rex) Allen, both natives of England. Stephen Allen was reared to maturity in his native land, whence he came to America on one of the sailing vessels of the type common to the period, and the voyage consumed seven weeks and three days. He was accompanied by his wife and soon after their arrival in America they came to Portage county, Ohio, and took up their abode in the village of Deerfield, where for a time he followed his trade, that of shoe- maker. Subsequently he opened a meat mar- ket in Charlestown, and with this line of enter- prise he continued to be successfully identified for many years. He continued to reside in
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Portage county until his death, at the age of seventy-eight years, and was one of the ster- ling citizens and honored business men of the county which so long. represented his home. His first wife, who died in England, became the mother of two children,-Charles D. and Emma A., both of whom are still living. Stephen Allen's marriage to Miss Sarah Rex was solemnized in England, and she lived to attain the age of sixty-five years. Of this. sec- ond marriage were born four children,-Ellen, Anna. James S., and William A., who died aged thirty years; and the remaining three children survive the honored parents.
James S. Allen, whose name initiates this review, was a child of about two years at the time his parents removed from his native vil- lage of Deerfield to Charlestown, in the same county, in which latter place he was reared to years of maturity, in the meanwhile having duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools. Upon attaining to his legal majority he engaged in the meat market busi- ness, in connection with which he passed two years at Oberlin, Ohio, and North Bloomfield, Trumbull county. In 1880 he established his residence in the city of Ravenna, where he en- gaged in the same line of enterprise and where he conducted a meat market for a quarter of a century, within which time he built up a large and representative business and gained prestige as one of the substantial business men and loyal citizens of the community. He retired from the meat business in 1905, since which year he has been successfully engaged in the real estate business, in which his operations have attained to wide scope and importance and in which his transactions include han- dling of both farm and suburban properties. His books show at all times most desirable investments, and his success has been fortified through his well known reputation as a re- liable and straightforward business man. He is a stockholder in the Ravenna National Bank, and is the owner of much local realty of the better class, including thirty-six houses.
In politics Mr. Allen is found arrayed as a stalwart supporter of the principles and poli- cies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and though he has never sought or held public office he takes a zealous interest in the furthering of the cause of the "grand old party" with which he is allied. He is a mem- ber of the board of directors of the Ravenna Board of Trade and is president of the city board of health. For thirty years Mr. Allen
has been affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has attained to no slight distinction. He is past noble grand of the lodge of the order in Ravenna, and in the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias he is past chancellor commander. In the latter or- der he is also identified with the uniform rank. He has served two terms as regent of the Royal Arcanum, Lodge No. 376, and is a char- ter member of the Ravenna lodge of the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks. Both he and his wife are zealous members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and take an active part in the various departments of its work.
On the 23d of December, 1880, was sol- emnized the marriage of Mr. Allen to Miss Hattie M. Loosmore, whose family name was Wolcott and whose parents died when she was a child, after which she was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. William Loosmore, of North Bloom- field, Trumbull county, by whom she was reared and educated. She is prominent and popular in the social activities of Ravenna and is a member of the local chapter of the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have two sons: William J. was born October 23, 1881, and was married Oc- tober 9, 1901, to Miss Ruth Sawyer, of Ra- venna, and they have one child, Treva Mae Allen, born July 18, 1902 ; and Frank S., who was born December 1I, 1882, married Miss Grace Rosenberger, of Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania, October 10, 1901. Both brothers are engaged in the grocery business in Ravenna under the firm name of Allen Bros. and enjoy unqualified popularity.
FITCH AND WINCHESTER FAMILIES .- For more than eighty years the name of Fitch has been typical of the dignity and progress of the bar of Ashtabula county, of prominence and faithfulness in the public affairs of Ohio, of national patriotism, broad scholarship, and un- faltering integrity. For over two centuries and a half the family has played a leading and a loyal part in the development of the intel- lectual, professional, public and religious life of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Ohio and, through the mediums of these great common- wealths, of both New England and the west.
It is characteristic of the family interest in religion and politics that Rev. James Fitch, the American pioneer, preached the first elec- tion sermon ever delivered in the colonies, at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1667. This clergy- man was the son of Thomas and Anne ( Reve)
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Fitch, who were married at St. Mary's church, Bocking, Essex, England, on the 8th of An- gust, 1611.
The genealogical lines connect numerous patriots of the Colonial and Revolutionary wars with the forefathers of the nineteenth century. Nathan Fitch, who married Hannah Hunting- ton and died in Lebanon in 1750, was a sol- dier in the Colonial wars, and Abraham, who passed away in the same place in 1821, was captain of the Second Connecticut Light Horse Cavalry in the Revolutionary war, having previously served in the French and Indian war. He was a man of such remarkable vigor that it is said of him that "he was never ill a day in his life and walked out of doors an hour before his death," which occurred in his eighty- fifth year. His son, Azel Fitch, was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, April 29, 1771, and married Miss Fannie Hinckley, a grandniece of Governor Hinckley, of Plymouth colony, and a descendant of Major James Fitch and Governor Bradford. Azel Fitch was a farmer, merchant and manufacturer. During the war of 1812 he invested in woolen manufactures. With the peace of 1815 the American markets were so flooded with foreign goods as to crip- ple his business, and in 1829 he followed his son Orramel H. to Ashtabula county, where he made considerable investments in land.
Orramel Hinckley Fitch was a native of Lebanon, Connecticut, born January 12, 1803. and his early life was spent in attending and teaching school. As an educator he was con- nected with Mason Hill Seminary, Richmond, Virginia; with the Westfield ( Massachusetts) Academy, and was principal of the Union Academy, of Windsor, Connecticut. In 1824-6 he studied law at Westfield, and in the latter year entered the office of Hon. Calvin God- dard, of Norwich, Connecticut, a distinguished judge and congressman. On March 16, 1827, he was admitted to practice before the Con- necticut courts, but in the following May he located in Stark county, Ohio, near Canton, and in March, 1828, settled in Ashtabula for a busy and notable sojourn of half a century. In the fall of 1829 his parents joined him and resided with him until their decease, the father dying in 1831 and the mother in 1842. On May 19, 1828, Mr. Fitch was admitted to the Ohio bar and for many years practiced his profession with M. M. Sawtell and his son, Hon. Edward H. Fitch, the latter association terminating in 1863 with the retirement of the senior partner.
Orramel H. Fitch had the honor of being not only one of the ablest of the pioneer law- yers of Ashtabula, but the first editor of the county, his journalistic connection with the Ashtabula Sentinel being of fifteen years' dura- tion. The paper was afterward managed by Hon. W. C. Howells, father of William Dean, the famous novelist. In 1848 Mr. Fitch be- came one of the founders and president of the Farmers' Bank, of Ashtabula, and continued to head its affairs until his death, thirty-four years later. From 1832 to 1841 he served as justice of the peace ; represented his county in the state legislature in 1837-9; was prosecut- ing attorney in 1841-2, and, without solicita- tion, received other public marks of public es- teem and confidence. In 1861 Salmon P. Chase, secretary of the treasury, appointed him a government agent to solicit subscriptions for the congressional war loan, and his connection with the leading events of the county up to the time of his death, September 17, 1882, was of the most prominent and honorable character. He was a trustee of Lake Erie College, at Painesville, until his death. His contributions to the historical annals of the Western Reserve were therefore highly valued, and at the time of his decease he held the presidency of the County Historical Association.
In 1835 Orramel H. Fitch married Miss Catherine M. Hubbard daughter of Colonel William Hubbard, her death occurring Novem- ber 29, 1859. In 1836 Mr. Fitch united with the Presbyterian church, of which both he and his wife were earnest members, the former having served as a ruling elder for many years before his death. Mrs. Fitch's father was a colonel in the war of 1812, and a nephew of Colonel Nehemiah Hubbard, of the Connecti- cut Land Company.
Edward H. Fitch was born in Ashtabula, May 26, 1837, and obtained his preparatory education in his native town and St. Catherines, Canada ; then took a course at Williams' Col- lege, Massachusetts, from which he received the degree Bachelor of Arts in 1858 and Mas- ter of Arts in 1861. There he formed a warm friendship for James A. Garfield, which en- dured throughout the life of the great soldier and president. Mr. Fitch studied law under his father; was admitted to the bar in 1860; and was successively associated with his father, Judge Horace Wilder, Judge L. S. Sherman and Hon. S. A. Northway. On the formation of his last partnership in 1878 he moved to Jefferson, the county seat. Being associated
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from the first with eminent practitioners, Mr. Fitch never permitted himself to be outdone in courtesy, dignity and the unfailing application of the moral ethics of his profession. The high appreciation of his abilities was therefore never marred by insinuations of unprofessional con- duct. While zealous and successful as an ad- vocate, he always remembered that he was a gentleman and a man before all, and often neglected to collect his own fees from needy clients.
In his political activities he held himself to the same high standard, his Republicanism being a matter of the most profound thought and the firmest conviction. Officially, he was first a justice of the peace, then prosecuting attorney, and in 1869 was elected to the legis- lature. From General Garfield's entrance into politics, Mr. Fitch, who was an active member of the Republican State Committee, had been one of his stanchest supporters, and to him was largely due the renomination of the elder statesman to Congress when bitterly attacked in the convention of 1872. In 1870 Governor Hayes appointed Mr. Fitch a delegate to the national capital convention at Cincinnati. Mr. Fitch was in demand as a speaker, and de- livered the historical address at the Conneaut Centennial. For many years he had been con- vinced of the necessity for a systematic regis- tration of land titles, being an earnest advocate of the Torrens system, which was presented to various state legislatures for adoption in the early nineties. In May, 1893, largely as the result of an exhaustive paper on the subject which he read before the Ohio Bar Association in the previous year, Mr. Fitch was appointed by Governor Mckinley as chairman of the commission created to formulate a law for Ohio based on the Torrens system. His work was thorough and impartial, and, although the law was pronounced unconstitutional by the supreme courts of both Ohio and Illinois. he was supported in his able efforts to reform the system by the leading attorneys and busi- ness men of his state. It should also be added that after his death the Torrens system was introduced into the laws of the state of New York.
Mr. Fitch's achievements were notable in both professional and public life, but his intel- lectuality was even of a broader sweep. His scientific and literary knowledge was deep and exact ; he devoted considerable time from his early manhood to his death in the field of sci- entific research, and for forty years was a
member and a fellow of the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science. Only a few days before his death he started for De- troit, Michigan, to attend a meeting of that association, but on reaching Ashtabula illness turned him back to his home in Jefferson. A short time afterward he rejoined his family at the summer home in Conneaut, and there he passed to the future life on September 9, 1899. His last hours were as he wished-passed in the midst of those whom he had ever cherished and who had returned his love and care in reciprocal affection and service.
On October 27, 1863, Edward H. Fitch was married to Miss Alta Deirexa Winchester, daughter of Philander and Elizabeth Gilman (Calkins ) Winchester, of Columbus, Ohio, and granddaughter of Mrs. Joseph Cowles, of Aus- tinburg. Five of the eight children born to this union are living, as follows: (1) Winches- ter, whose biography follows and who was the second in order of birth; (2) Annette, born January 31, 1870, a graduate of Lake Erie Seminary, who married I. C. Brewer, Jr., and has one son: (3) Edward Hubbard, born in Ashtabula, March 31, 1873, a graduate of Cor- nell University law school and now of Phila- delphia, who married Miss Bess McFarlin, at Akron, Ohio, and has a son, Edward Hubbard Fitch 3d, and a daughter, Juliana; (4) Alta, born in Ashtabula, July 25, 1876, educated at Huntsville (Alabama) College and Lake Erie College (Painesville), married Howard L. Ingersoll, assistant general manager of the New York Central Railroad in New York City, and has a son, Winchester Fitch, and a daugh- ter, Cornelia ; and (5) Flora C., born in Ashta- bula, August 6, 1879, who was educated at Lake Erie College and in Europe and married Samuel E. Kramer, of Cleveland, a graduate of the Western Reserve University and a member of the city council.
Mrs. Edward H. Fitch was born at Paines- ville, Ohio, September 11, 1839, and graduated at Esther Institute, Columbus, under Pro- fessors Heyl and Wormley and Miss Agnes Beecher. She is still living at Jefferson, and her son, Winchester Fitch, is the only de- scendant of Rev. Jonathan Winchester, still associated with Madison, Ohio.
The Winchester family had its American origin in the John Winchester, who came to Boston from England on the "Elizabeth," in 1635, and in 1638 married Hannah, daughter of Deacon Richard Sealis, of Scituate. He died in 1694. Their son John was the first repre-
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sentative from Brookline, Massachusetts, to the general court of the colony in 1709, and served in King Philip's war. Henry Winches- ter, the next in the direct line, married Frances White, daughter of Joseph White, and first cousin to the grandmother of President John Adams. Rev. Jonathan Winchester, son of the foregoing, was a graduate of Harvard, active in school and church work, and first minister at Ashburnham, Massachusetts, where he died in 1767. The son of Rev. Jonathan, Henry Winchester, was a native of Brookline, Massa- chusetts, and at the age of twenty-one fought at Bunker Hill. One of his sons, the second Rev. Jonathan Winchester, was born at Ash- burnham, April 28, 1781, and in 1811 married Miss Hannah Mills Bunn, daughter of John Bunn, of London, England, and Bethiah Field, daughter of Rev. Ebenezer Field and cousin of Hon. David Dudley Field. In 1842 she married for her second husband her cousin, Deacon Joseph Cowles, of Austinburg, Ohio, uncle of Hon. Edwin Cowles, editor of the Cleveland Leader. Rev. Jonathan Winchester graduated from Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1809; prepared for the Presbyterian minis- try, and held charges at Madrid and Wadding- ton, New York, for ten years ; at Rochester, New York, five years, and Madison, Ohio, ten years. He was very influential in founding and strengthening the pioneer churches of the Western Reserve ; was a deep biblical student, and from his study of the prophesies became a believer in the ultimate restoration of the Jews to Palestine, which movement is now widely discussed as Zionism. In 1833 he vis- ited England, called on Mr. Rothschild and undoubtedly influenced the great banker in his subsequent endowment of a Home for Aged Jews in Palestine. He died August 17, 1835, father of five children, of whom the eldest, Philander, was the father of Mrs. Fitch.
Philander Winchester was born at Madrid, New York, October 4. 1812, and in 1824 came with his father to Madison, Ohio. He was mainly educated in Rochester, New York, al- though he pursued his studies in Hebrew, Greek and Latin under his father. Not only was he a highly educated man, but a brave and philanthropic character. A fine singer, he took an active part in the Harrison campaign of 1840, in which political songs were a promi- nent feature. For years he was editorially connected with the Painesville Telegraph and the Cleveland Leader; was an active aboli- tionist, showing marked bravery in the rescue
of Milton Clarke from the hands of the slave catchers at Madison in 1842, and even greater heroism when he nursed the neglected prison- ers in the Ohio penitentiary during the terrible cholera epidemic. His death occurred at De- troit, Michigan, April 24, 1879. In 1838 he married Miss Elizabeth Gilman Calkins, daughter of Rev. Charles Calkins, a pioneer minister of New England and Ohio, and Marian Gilman, his wife, a descendant of Gov- ernor Thomas Dudley, of Massachusetts. Her father preached in Madison as early as 1833 and died at Lakewood, near Cleveland. Her nephew, Captain Carlos Gilman Calkins, com- manded Admiral Dewey's flagship, "Olympia," at the battle of Manila Bay.
Mr. and Mrs. Philander Winchester were the parents of nine children, of whom Mrs. E. H. Fitch was the first. Ellen Bowdiman (2), born in 1842, thoroughly educated, resided for many years in Washington, married William O. Hipwell, cashier of the Union National Bank, Chicago, now retired, and for years both have devoted their lives to church and phil- anthropic work. Persis Annette (3), born February 2, 1843, married William S. Ranney, of Cleveland, and their only child, Fitch W. Ranney, is a talented artist, having been edu- cated abroad. Charles Jonathan Winchester (4), born November 6, 1845, married Grace Gilbert, of Columbus, Ohio, and they have two children-Annie, now wife of John Putnam, of Highland Park, Illinois, and Frederick C. Winchester, of San Diego, California, who married Miss Mary T. Hill, daughter of the late Edgar Hill, general manager of the Big Four railroad, and is the father of Charles J. Winchester (2d). Arthur Henry Winchester (5) married Miss Ella Spaulding, daughter of Captain Spaulding ; was a prominent lumber- man and United States commissioner of for- estry at the Paris exposition and commissioner from West Virginia at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. He died in 1908, leaving a son, Charles, and three daughters, his eldest son having died in the Spanish war. Mary Eliza- beth Gilman Winchester (6) is now the widow of Henry C. Carver, prominent in the business and social life of Chicago, and the mother of four children, as follows: Jonathan W., a resident of Seattle ; George, of San Francisco; Robert Knowlton, a veteran of the Spanish war, also of Seattle; and Helen Priscilla, a pianist of thorough European training and re- markable ability. Frances Winchester (7) was first married to Charles Spaulding, of Cleve-
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land, and Ranney Winchester, the child by this union, married Cecil Norton, of the well known Chicago family. Mrs. Spaulding, now the wife of William Holmes, of Los Angeles, California, still retains her high accomplish- ments as an artist and musician. Elizabeth Gilman Winchester (8), born July 24, 1853, married Hubbard F. Bannard, brother of Hon. Otto T. Bannard, of New York City, and they reside at San Gabriel, California; their two children, who died young, are buried at Madi- son, Ohio. Philip Winchester, the ninth child born to Mr. and Mrs. Philander Winchester. is now identified with the Standard Oil Com- pany at Cleveland. He married Miss Dora Dunnica, daughter of Captain Dunnica, of St. Louis, descendant of the Lewis family of Vir- ginia, so closely associated with the Wash- ingtons, and is the father of Phyllis and Theo- dore Winchester. Rev. Jonathan Winches- ter's daughter Melana (Mrs. Orcutt) left a daughter who married Dr. Frederick Hart; and his son Amandus, who married a niece of Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, M. C., left one child, Miss Stella Winchester, of St. Joseph, Michi- gan.
Winchester Fitch is a native of Ashtabula, born on the 21st of November, 1867. He is a graduate of Cornell University, Class of 1888, and while in college was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, the fraternity with which his father was identified while a stu- dent at Williams, and to which his brother and his brother-in-law belonged while at Cornell. On completing his literary education Mr. Fitch was engaged for some time in journalistic work in Chicago, and developed striking force and originality in this field. In 1892 he pur- chased an interest in the Geneva Times and edited that publication while he was studying law and until his admission to the Ohio bar in June, 1804. He then located in Ashtabula, where ine practiced his profession for several years, and took a leading part in educational and political affairs. In the early part of his career he was associated with his father, the late Hon. Edward H. Fitch, until the death of the elder man, and later formed a partner- ship with Hon. Theodore Hall, removing to New York City in 1898. Mr. Fitch is highly and thoroughly cultured outside the field of his profession, being a master of both ancient and modern literature, and widely known as a keen, finished and forcible writer. While in Chicago he was a member of the Twentieth Century Club, and in 1901 was elected vice-
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