History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 76

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 76

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JEREMIAH C. BENSON, residing in Monroe township, is a grandson on the paternal side of Eri Benson, the founder of the family in Ashtabula county. He came to Ohio from New York about 1834, and by his wife, nee Eliza Cory, who was born about the year of 1810 and died in 1884, he had the following children : Julius, mentioned below; Albert, who went to California in the "gold days," where he died and is buried ; Ursula, who was born in 1836, married George Martin and lives in Conneaut; and Charles, who was born in 1845, died in the fall of 1903.

Julius Benson, born on the 27th of August, 1830, made the overland journey west from St. Louis in 1850 to mine gold, and he also worked as a carpenter and joiner while in the west. He then spent two years, 1858-9, in Pike's Peak, and, returning to Ohio, farmed for several years, but the last twenty years of his life was spent in the wholesale lumber trade. He died in May of 1889 and was buried at Kelloggsville. He had married Delia Davis in 1856. She was born on June 26, 1835, and is now living in Monroe Center, Ashtabula county. She is a daughter of Clark and Eliz- abeth Davis, who came to Ohio from Roches- ter, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Benson had three children: Albert, born September 12, 1861, lives in Denmark, Ashtabula county ; Jeremiah C. is mentioned below ; and Edwin K., born September 20, 1873, lives in Monroe Center, a contractor and builder of macadam roads.

Jeremiah C. Benson, born August 28, 1865. spent his boyhood days on a farm in Monroe Center, and attended the Pierpont high school, the Conneaut high school and the New Lyme Institute. Before his marriage he was en- gaged in the wholesale lumber business, and was also a successful baseball player. Follow-

ing his marriage he owned a lumber yard and planing mill in Ashtabula for two years, was then in the same business in Pennsylvania, and later in Virginia until 1906, and then return- ing to Ohio he located on his farm of one hun- dred and twenty-seven acres, where he is en- gaged in general agricultural pursuits. He is both a Mason and an Odd Fellow, a member of the Grange and of the Anti-Horse Thief Association. At the present time he is serving as the trustee of Monroe township.

Mr. Benson married on March 28, 1891, Stella Struble, who was born June 27, 1867, a daughter of William P. and Lovisa ( Smith) Struble, who are now living in Pierpont town- ship. The two sons and a daughter born to Mr. and Mrs. Benson are: Rockford L., born March 9, 1892; Jeremiah S., born December 22, 1895 ; and Virginia, born January 10, 1900.

FRANCIS BUCHANAN BLOOD holds a place among the representative citizens of Conneaut township, which has been his home for many years, and which he has served in many public ways and as a tiller of its soil. He was born, however, in Venango county, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1837, and after a limited educa- tional training in the district schools of his home community he settled on his father's farm in the valley of Oil creek, Pennsylvania. His parents were John and Caroline (August) Blood, the father born January 4. 1808, and their children who came to the Western Re- serve were: Hiram, who located in Conneaut, where he followed carpentering, and by his marriage to Belle Reed he had five children, but only two are now living; William, a car- penter in Conneaut, married Lucy Root, who died in 1904, leaving two children; and Ben- jamin, of Kingsville. where he has been an infirmary director during the past six years. He married Alice Hashly, and they have two children. In 1863 John Blood, the father, came with his family from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and, locating in Ashtabula county, he bought the little farm of eighty acres near Kingsville where his son Benjamin now re- sides. This land was improved at the time of purchase. After coming to this state John Blood lived a quiet life, never resuming the public capacities in which he had served in Pennsylvania, and he was both a Whig and Republican in his political affiliations. Both he and his wife were members of the Method- ist church, and he continued as a leader in its affairs until his life's labors were ended, dying

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at Kingsville or December 31, 1896. when he had reached the eighty-sixth milestone on life's journey. His wife Caroline survived him until 1905, dying in Richmond, Ohio, in January of that year, but. she was buried by the side of her husband in Kingsville.

Francis B. Blood during his residence in Pennsylvania cleared fifty acres of land on Oil creek, on which he erected a house and barn, and his home was there for five years. Selling the land at that time he came to Con- neant on March 28, 1865, and located on his present farm of 100 acres. He has served his township as a trustee for six years, and for eighteen years was a school director. He is a stockholder and director in the Conneaut Telephone Company. On February 18, 1862, he was married to Angeline Steward, who was born in Cherry Tree township, Venango county, Pennsylvania, January 9, 1837, and their children are: Charles, a farmer at Springfield, Pennsylvania, married Nellie Lampfier, of Conneaut, and they have one child; Bert F., who lives just south of his father's home, married Gertrude May Pollock, from Crawford county, Pennsylvania; John C., who is employed by a construction com- pany in Mercer, Pennsylvania ; Otis Kirk, who during the past nine years has been the super- intendent of the MacMarland Construction Company at Cleveland; and Ralph A., who married Lizzie Gifford, by whom he has two children, Gordon and Stewart, and he lives with his father on the farm. Mrs. Blood, the mother of this family, belongs to the Chris- tian church. Mr. Blood has membership rela- tions with the orders of Elks and Masons, and he suffered the loss of an arm on June 26, 1908. while boarding a moving train at Cleve -- land, Ohio, where he had been attending a Shrine meeting of Masons. In political mat- ters he affiliates with the Democratic party.

WILLIAM HAMILTON JOHNSON. - Distin- guished as one of the oldest of the native-born citizens of La Grange township, Lorain county, William H. Johnson is a fine representative of the industrious, skillful and intelligent farmers that have been influential in advancing the agricultural progress and prosperity of this section of Lorain county. He was born May 30, 1834, on the farm which his father, Nathan Porter Johnson, had purchased the previous year.

A son of Stephen and Phebe (Burr) John- son. Nathan P. Johnson was born January 30,

1801, in Hartford, Washington county, New York, and there spent his early life. In Decem- ber, 1833, accompanied by his family, he joined a small company of his neighbors and friends that had decided to establish a colony in the Western Reserve, and journeyed overland to La Grange, Lorain county, Ohio, much of the way following a path marked by blazed trees. He bought at first a small tract of timbered land, and as his means increased made other wise investments, becoming owner of three valuable pieces of land. He was very popular and prominent as a man and a citizen, and filled many offices of importance, having repre- sented his district in the state legislature and serving one term as state senator. He died in La Grange Center, where for many years he was postmaster, in 1874, aged seventy-three years. He married Laura Waite, who was born February 16, 1804, in Champion, Jeffer- son county, New York, a daughter of Dorastus Waite, and they became the parents of nine children, the older ones having been born in New York. A younger brother of William H. Johnson is the Hon. E. G. Johnson, of Elyria.

The fifth child of the parental household, William H. Johnson, attended the pioneer schools of La Grange, and, following in the footsteps of his ancestors, early turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. He labored for many years on the old homestead, and at the death of his father bought out the interest of the remaining heirs, becoming its sole owner. He made excellent improvements on the place, by his judicious labors placing the land in a high state of cultivation, each year increasing its value, meeting with noteworthy success in all of his undertakings. For a num- ber of years Mr. Johnson has been a resident of La Grange Center, and takes an active interest in the public welfare. He is well edu- cated, after leaving the district schools, where he laid a substantial foundation for his future education, having continued his studies at Elyria and at Oberlin. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a trustee, and has served as township trustee, having been elected to the position on the Republican ticket.

Mr. Johnson was first married September 15, 1856, to Mary A. Parsons, who was born in Windham, Ohio. She died March 12, 1860, leaving two children, namely: Laura Virginia and Mary A., born February 23, 1860, wife of George Schlindler, of Rochester township. Laura V., born July 22. 1857. married Decem-

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ber 22. 1875, Miles W. Ingalls and is a widow residing with her father. She had three chil- dren, Flora A., born December 15, 1876, grad- uated from Baldwin University and is a teacher in La Grange high school; Sylvia A., born September 30, 1878, graduated from Baldwin University in music and is a school teacher at La Grange; Norman W., born August 10, 1880, graduated from the medical department of the Western Reserve Univer- sity and is a teacher of anatomy in that school. Mr. Johnson married second September 12, 1861, Lucy H. Bruce, and of the three children born of their union two sons died in infancy and one daughter is living, namely. Anita, born December 8, 1866, wife of Charles H. Curtis, who has charge of the home farm. and they have three children, Harvey, Norna, wife of Frank Forbes, and Lloyd.

THOMAS RICHARDS is one of the best-known of the Charlestown township agriculturists, and he was born on March 16, 1851, to Edmund and Elizabeth (Williams) Richards, who came from their native land of Wales to this country and located in Portage county, Ohio. Here they in time became owners of a farm of 100 acres of land, which they cleared and improved, and during the winter months Mr. Richards mined for coal in order to pro- cure the money for the payment of his land. Thomas Richards purchased his present home of twenty-six acres in Charlestown township, which he has improved and cultivated. He has in the meantime filled some of the offices of his county and township, including those of recorder of Portage county for six years and trustee and assessor of Paris township. Fur- ther than all this he is perhaps one of the largest collectors of canes in the state, owning many rare specimens from all over the world. including one from Mexico engraved with the old time sport of that country, the bull fight, one taken in front of the breastworks at Atlanta, another from his mother's old home in Wales-this being one of the choicest of the large collection-one from the shrine at St. Anne. Canada : one brought from Cuba by Judge Rockwell, two brought by Mr. Richards daughter from London, one being Wongo wood from China : one from the scaffold used in the hanging of McKisson (in 1838) and Jack Cooper ; one from Ireland, and many others, his entire collection including about fifty rare and priceless canes.

MIr. Richards married, for his first wife, on

September 21, 1872, Julia Morgan, and they had three daughters, Alta, Elizabeth and Delia. The second daughter, Elizabeth, is the wife of John D. Thomas, and the other two are teach- ing school. The present Mrs. Richards was born February 1, 1857, a daughter of Thomas and Mary J. (Roberts) Thomas, and she was first married, on December 12, 1879, to Samuel Thomas, by whom she had two children, George B. and Alice M., but the daughter died when only two years of age. The son married and has one child, Katherine. He is living on Long Island, New York. The husband and father died in 1885. and in March of 1893 his widow was married to Thomas Richards. Mr. Richards is a Republican in his political affiliations.

CARL ROSEO NILES .- Through the original inheritance of his mother, Carl R. Niles is now occupying one of the historical landmarks in the agricultural domain of Portage county. His maternal grandparents migrated from Connecticut to Hiram township in 1831, and in the following year located in Freedom township. In 1833 they purchased and occu- pied the pioneer farm of the township, which had been settled by Charles H. Payne in the early part of the century. As early as 1820. Mr. Payne set out a large orchard, which is still bearing, and there is even one pear tree planted in 1800 which is producing fruit today. It was on this farm that the first cider mill in Portage county was also put in operation.

Mr. Niles is a native of Freedom township. born on July 24, 1858, and is a son of Oscar F. and Elvira L. (Loveland) Niles, the former being born at Brighton, Lorain county, Ohio, and the latter at Clayton, St. Lawrence county, New York. The grandpar- ents on the paternal side were Abner and So- phia (Loveland) Niles, born respectively at West Stockbridge, Connecticut, March 31, 1803, and at Otis, Massachusetts. Colby and Laura (Larcom) Loveland, the maternal grandparents, were natives of Litchfield county, Connecticut, and Otis, Massachusetts. The great-grandparents on the same side of the family were Isaac and Ruth (Holden) Loveland, of Glastonbury, Connecticut. As stated, the Loveland grandparents first estab- lished the family in Portage county in 1831, spending their last days in Freedom township. The parents of C. R. were married in Hiram township by father of Luericia "Rudolph" Garfield. March 21, 1844. living in Garretts-

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ville for twenty-five years. Oscar F. Niles, the father, was a carpenter, and followed that trade most of his life in Freedom township and vicinity. He died July 22, 1902, and his wife passed away September 26, 1904. Their children were Henry B. Niles, now a resident of Sidney, Ohio, and Carl R., of this sketch.

After the death of Mrs. Niles in 1904 the two sons came into possession of the old home- stead, consisting of seventy-four acres, and since that time twenty-four acres have been added to it, the entire property having been improved in producing capacity and general attractiveness. Carl R. has active supervision of the farm and dairy, and as there is also a large maple sugar grove on the place, his tinie is fully and profitably occupied. He is unmar- ried, but since his mother's death has employed a competent housekeeper. Mr. Niles is one of the most intelligent citizens of the township, having received a good education in the com- mon and high schools of Garrettsville and served several terms as school director. He has also been active in the co-operative work of the farmers, being identified with the Gar- rettsville Grange No. 1436, of which he was overseer for one year and secretary for five years. Mr. Niles' brother, Henry B., who resides in Sidney, Ohio, is married to Miss Ellen G. Ferguson, and is the father of Grace Isbell Niles. Henry B. Niles was made a Mason by his father, who was master of Gar- rettsville Lodge for six years, and Henry B. is also a Forester.

HOMER GOODELL .- In a review of the line of ancestry of the house of Goodell it is found that they spring from the French or from one of the two great branches of the Celts, and a direct line is traceable down to Robert Goodell, who sailed from Ipswich, England, in the ship Elizabeth, April 30, 1684, and landed at Salem, Massachusetts, having left the mother country from the then one prevailing cause, that of the disregard of the freedom of thought in re- ligious liberty. He was a tiller of the soil, and his landed possessions in New England amounted to eleven hundred and forty-four acres. The ancestry is an honored one and includes many distinguished people, the vari- ous professions being well represented among their number, while the profession of the min- istry is graced with the names of thirty-six of Robert's descendants and there have been a number of foreign missionaries. Rev. William Goodell was for forty years a missionary to

Turkey, and he translated the Bible into the Turkish language. Lucy Goodell married Rev. Asa Thurston, and they were the first mis- sionaries to the Sandwich Islands, where they both died and they gave the first missionary name to Goodell. One of Shakespeare's pro- fessional companions was one Batist Goodell, who made his first appearance before Queen Elizabeth in the play of Henry VI. It is sup- posed that he was uncle to Robert, the Amer- ican ancestor. More than one hundred years ago a Daniel Goodell was a member of the Massachusetts Colonial Society, where his stern morality and inflexibility of purpose marked him as one of the last of the Puritans. Thus on down through two hundred and thir- ty-six years each generation of this noble fam- ily have each in turn performed their earthly mission and mingled their dust with and be- come a part of American soil, and those who now tread the globe are but a handful in com- parison with its illustrious dead.

Homer Goodell, a descendant in direct line from the Robert Goodell who landed upon American shores more than two hundred and sixty-three years ago, was born in Shalersville township, Portage county, Ohio, July 22, 1845, a son of Carlton and Charlotte (Sanford) Goodell. The mother was born in Connecticut July 7, 1812, and died on the 27th of Feb- ruary, 1905, while her husband died October 16th, 1867. Mrs. Goodell was a real daughter of the Revolution, her father and grandfather having served in that war, the latter having been an officer. There were four children in Carlton Goodell's family: Perry, born Feb- ruary 22, 1837. lives near Rock Island, Texas ; Martin, who was a prominent farmer of Sha- lersville township, of which he served several years as trustee, and also held other offices of trust, died unmarried April 20, 1908, at the age of sixty-nine; Amelia, born August 22, 1841, unmarried and living on the old home place : and Homer. Homer Goodell in his youth attended the district and high schools of Shalersville township, and later studied during four terms at Hiram College. Farming and stock-raising have been his life's occupa- tion, and in 1905 he erected the finest home within Shalersville township. He married on the Ioth of September, 1872, Emma Allen, who was born in Hiram township to Ozias and Anna ( Norton) Allen. The father was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, September 13, 1814, a son of Peltiah and Amelia Allen. and he died on the 18th of May, 1883. The

CARLTON GOODELL

MRS. CHARLOTTE GOODELL

Homer I Fordell to Wife

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mother was a daughter of Thuel and Harriet ( Harrington) Norton, both born in New York, in North Hartford and in Utica, respectively. The children born to Homer and Emma Good- ell are: Clyde H., who was born October 26, 1873, and died January 2, 1902 ; Fred A., born January 5, 1876, and now a resident of Charlestown township; Merton S., who was born November 5, 1877, and died December 9, 1895; Jonn R., born August 5, 1882, and Harry, born June 4, 1885, are both at home with their parents. Homer Goodell has worth- ily upheld his honored family name, and he is a loyal and faithful member of the Christian church, and since 1893 he has been a member of its board of deacons. He has served Sha- lersville township six years as a trustee, also as a school director, and he upholds and sup- ports the principles of the Democratic party.

ARTHUR CURTIS STAMM .- A prosperous agriculturist of Freedom township, Portage county, where he devotes one hundred and twenty-seven fertile acres to general and dairy farming, Arthur C. Stamm is of a family which has been firmly and honorably estab- lished in Stark county, Ohio, for several gen- erations. He himself was born in that section of the Buckeye state, on January 31, 1870, and is a son of William H. and Almina (Mase) Stamm, both natives of Bethlehem township, Stark county. The grandfathers, Samuel Stamm and Henry Mase, were born in Penn- sylvania, and settled with their families in Stark county, about 1850. They finished their lives in that part of Ohio, and the parents of Arthur C. were married there and resided un- til 1878. In that year they located in Freedom township, where William H. Stamm pur- chased one of the first farms settled in that part of Portage county, known as Capt. Brown farm, noted for the finest house and buildings in this part of the country. The tract consisted at first of 127 acres, to which he eventually added eighty, improving the en- tire place by bringing the land under thorough cultivation and erecting a modern residence and farm buildings. He continued to operate the place as a general farmer and dairyman until his death in 1905, since which his widow has enjoyed a comfortable home with her two surviving children-Arthur C., of this sketch. and Sylvia O., now Mrs. William Jenks, of Fresno, California. Three of the nine chil- dren died in infancy, and Sarah, Allen, George and Mary all passed away in 1880.

Arthur C. Stamm came with his parents to Freedom township, when he was eight years of age; obtained his education in the district schools and at Hiram College, and has spent the best portion of his life on the home place in Portage county. At the death of his father he purchased from his sister a tract of 127 acres, his mother retaining eighty acres of the estate. As stated, he has added eighty acres to this purchase, giving him one of the most desirable farms in the township. In January, 1899, Mr. Stamm married Miss Rose Leet, a native of Freedom township and daughter of Charles and Enima (Thompson) Leet. Her father was also born in Freedom township, while her mother is a native of Shalersville township. Mr. and Mrs. Stamm have one 'son, Chester Arthur Stamm, born June 27, 1909. They have abundant occupation in the care and improvement of their comfortable homestead, in the discharge of their social duties and in advancing the religious and charitable activities of the Congregational church, of which they have long been active members.

CHARLES W. CHALKER was born on the farm in Freedom township, Portage county, upon which his father settled as an unmarried young man in 1845 ; it has always been his home and, after the death of his father, by purchase from the other heirs to the property, he came into possession of the old homestead himself. He has since added to the original farm until his estate embraces ninety-three acres, well cultivated and thoroughly improved. Mr. Chalker's place is popularly known as Maple Wood Farm, the proprietor being a substan- tial farmer and a well-known citizen who is highly honored both for his family's sake and for the ability and probity which he has dis- played in his own affairs and those connected with the public business. He has served as justice of the peace for four years; is the organizer of Freedom Grange, No. 1576, and has been clerk and deacon in the local Congre- gational church since 1894. This church is one of the oldest in Portage county, being organ- ized on Saturday, February 9, 1828, and both Mr. Chalker and his father have made contri- butions to its stability and progress.

Charles W. Chalker, of this review, was born July 28, 1863, and is a son of Warren and Jerusha O. (Viets) Chalker-the former being a native of Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Southington, Trumbull

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county, Ohio. The ancestral home of the American branch was Connecticut, where his grandfather, Daniel Chalker, was born. His paternal grandmother (nee Dolly Tingley) was a native of Harford. Pennsylvania, and his maternal grandparents, Ira and Darmus ( Hurd ) Viets, were both born at Litchfield, Connecticut. The former drove from his native state through the wilds of what were afterward known as the "central states" to the still newer country bordering on Lake Erie. There, with his father, he settled on a tract of timber land, and the two spent many years in its improvement. Warren Chalker, the father, who was born in 1825, migrated from Sus- quehanna county in 1845. first settling on thirty acres of land in Freedom township, which had come into possession of his wife. His journey to these parts was accomplished by the Erie Canal to Buffalo, thence across the lake, the balance of the way probably on foot. Mr. Chalker retained the original place, but nearly doubled his homestead before his death, Sep- tember 23, 1888. The deceased was married three times. By his first wife, who was for- merly Hannah Brown, he had two children- Morgan H., who died in 1863, and William MI .. now a resident of Kiel, Oklahoma. His second marriage was to Betsey Brown, a sister of his first wife, who died without issue, and his third wife (nee Jerusha O. Viets) bore him three children. Anna J., the sister of Charles W., is now Mrs. H. D. Tingley and is living at the old home in Harford, Pennsylvania: the brother, Truman D. Chalker, is a druggist of Kiel, Oklahoma.

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 76

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