History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 8

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 8

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Mr. Kent was never lacking in loyalty and

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public spirit of a practical order. In a thor- oughly unostentatious way he gave much to worthy charitable and benevolent objects and institutions, as well as to individual persons deserving of his aid and sympathy. His na- ture was strong and true, with perhaps a touch of austerity, as has already been intimated. He knew men at their real value and had no toleration of deceit or meanness in any of the relations of life. He did not come so largely to the attention of the public eye as did many of his contemporaries who accomplished less and who did less for the world, but he felt the responsibilities which success and wealth impose and ever endeavored to live up to these responsibilities, in the straightforward, unde- monstrative way characteristic of the man. His name merits an enduring place on the roll of the honored and valued pioneers of the Western Reserve.

Mention has already been made of the mar- riage of Mr. Kent and also of the death of the one who was ever his devoted companion and helpmeet. They became the parents of thir- teen children, of whom nine were living. at the time of his death, and of whom only one now survives. On other pages of this work appears a memorial tribute to his son Mar- vin, who wrote his name large upon the annals of the Western Reserve.

MARVIN KENT .- A life conspicuous for the magnitude and variety of its achievement was that of the late Marvin Kent, of Kent, Port- age county, Ohio, where his death occurred on the 10th of December, 1908. He was one of the distinguished and honored figures in the history of the Western Reserve, and he was a son of Zenas Kent, a sterling pioneer to whom is dedicated a specific memoir, appearing on other pages of this work. Such notable ac- complishments as must be attributed to Mar- vin Kent offers, per se, voucher for exalted character, and thus he merits perpetual honor by virtue of the very strength and nobility of his virile manhood. It is not easy to describe adequately a man who was as distinct in char- acter and who accomplished so much in the world as did Mr. Kent, and the necessary limi- tations of this article are such as to permit only a cursory glance at the individuality and achievements of the man, without extended genealogical research or critical analysis of character. His name is perpetuated in that of the thriving little city in which he maintained his home and in whose upbuilding, both civic and material, he was the dominating force.

Marvin Kent was born in Ravenna, the county seat of Portage county, Ohio, on the 2Ist of September, 1816, and was a son of Zenas and Pamelia (Lewis) Kent, for further information concerning whom reference should be made to the previously mentioned sketch of the life of his father. He was afforded the advantages of the village schools of his native place and as a youth began to assist in the work of his father's mercantile establishment in Ra- venna. He was not denied further educational privileges, however, as he was a student for some time in Tallmadge Academy and later in Claridon Academy, both well ordered in- stitutions of the day. In his nineteenth year Mr. Kent was despatched to Philadelphia and New York City to purchase a stock of spring goods for his father, who gave him instruc- tions to rely upon his own discrimination in making his selections. So admirably did he fulfill the task assigned him that he afforded unqualified pride and gratification to his father, a business man of great acumen. The year after he attained to his legal majority he was admitted by his father to partnership in his various business enterprises at Franklin Mills, now the village of Kent, but his health be- came impaired and he was soon compelled to relinquish his connection with the milling and mercantile business at that place. He as- sumed, however, the management of the tan- nery there erected by his father, as noted in the sketch of the life of the latter. In 1844 he again identified himself actively with the mercantile business in the village which was later to be named in his honor, and at the same time he became prominently concerned in the operation of the flouring mill that had been erected by his father at Franklin Mills. With the operation of this mill, long one of the best in the Western Reserve, he continued to be identified for a period of nearly twenty con- secutive years. In an excellent history of Portage county, published a number of years ago, appear the following significant state- ments : "In the early days the pioneers de- voted themselves to the task of building up a town on the Cuyahoga river, bringing to bear remarkable energy. Not, however, until the various enterprises were taken hold of by the master hand of Marvin Kent did theories of progress put forward by the old settlers as- sume practical shape."

In 1850 Mr. Kent became associated with others in the erection of an extensive window- glass factory at Franklin Mills, and the same was placed in successful operation. The same

Marum Thank

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year (1850) marked the initiation of the most important enterprise to which he lent the in- fluence of his great executive and administra- tive powers during his signally active and suc- cessful career. This enterprise was one which gained to him a national reputation as one of the able and progressive promoters of railway construction in the country-involving the in- auguration and completion of a great public transportation route between the east and the west-the Atlantic and Great Western Rail- road, which was designed to form a connecting link between the Erie Railroad and the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, thus affording a trunk line of uniform gauge from New York to St. Louis. The Atlantic and Great Western now constitutes the four divisions of the great Erie Railroad system between Salamanca, New York, and Dayton, Ohio. In 1851 the requi- site legislative authority was secured, but in order to get the charter for the proposed line Mr. Kent found it necessary to personally sub- scribe for the full amount of stock required by law for the organization and incorporation of the company, as well as to indemnify some of the members of the first board of directors for the payment of one share subscribed by each to render them eligible for election. It was scarcely overweening encouragement which Mr. Kent received, but his determina- tion, his persistence and his self-reliance proved equal to all emergencies and contin- gencies, and he virtually carried forward the gigantic work alone. Upon the organization of the new company he was made its presi- dent, and he continued incumbent of this of- fice until the completion of the road, save for an interim of about three years. Concerning this splendid achievement on the part of Mr. Kent the following has been written :

"On the 21st of June, 1864, he had the proud satisfaction of looking back over many years of unremitting labor and anxiety at last crowned with success, and also of driving home the last spike in the last rail. In his speech, on that occasion, he referred to the fact that on the 4th of July, 1853, he broke ground for the new road, by removing the first shovelful of earth with his own hands. There were none then to withhold from Mr. Kent a most generous compliment for the com- pletion of this road, which, uniting the Erie and the Ohio and Mississippi Railways, formed a grand continental line from New York to St. Louis. On the completion of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad a meeting was

called at Dayton, Ohio, June 21, 1864. Presi- dent Marvin Kent announced the object of the meeting. T. W. Kennard, William Rey- nolds, president of the Pennsylvania and New York division of the road, H. F. Sweetser, general superintendent, and Mr. Kent then proceeded to lay the last rail. The ceremony of spiking was introduced with considerable merriment, Mr. Kennard driving the first spike in the last rail at four sturdy blows. Others followed in succession, one or two driv- ing home in three, but the major portion in from four to a dozen sledge-hammer strokes each. At ten o'clock in the morning President Kent took the sledge and addressed the com- pany briefly, as follows: 'Gentlemen : Before proceeding to drive the last spike, I desire to call your attention to the fact that on the 4th of July, 1853, in company with several warm friends of this enterprise, we proceeded to the line of this railway and broke the first ground, and as I had the pleasure of removing the first earth it is especially gratifying to me to be present on the occasion of laying the last rail and driving the last spike. But, before per- forming this last service, permit me to express my obligation to the gentlemen who have con- tributed so largely to the success of this enter- prise. I allude to T. W. Kennard and James McHenry, Esqrs. Those gentlemen, by their energy, their perseverance, and their great financial ability, have achieved the great end which we had in view, and had it not been for the success that attended their efforts in prose- cuting this great work we would not be as- sembled on an occasion so important and in- teresting as this. Before closing these remarks I should do great injustice to one other gentle- man by omitting to acknowledge my obliga- tions for the valuable service he has rendered. I refer to my friend here, J. W. Tyler, Esq., who has been my confidential legal adviser from the incipiency of the project and who has ever been a steadfast and efficient co- operator in this work. I desire, therefore, that he should drive the spike preceding the last, deeming it befitting that, having commenced the work together, we should together con- clude it.' "

In response to the president's brief address an appreciative reply was made by Mr. Tyler, who justly accredited to Mr. Kent the chief honors for having projected the road and car- ried it forward to completion. Continuing the text of the foregoing quotation, other inter- esting data are revealed :

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"At the close of these remarks Mr. Tyler gence, the ability and the fixed and resolute accepted the sledge and with four sturdy whacks he sent home his spike. President Kent, with nervy grasp, then struck straight -one, two and three-and the welkin rang with applause. The work was well done, and the last rail of the Atlantic and Great West- ern was laid and the last spike driven to the head. The construction of this road encoun- tered, perhaps, more obstacles and greater op- position than any other in the country. Yet Mr. Kent showed himself equal to every emer- gency and, with heroic faith and singleness of purpose, he made success possible and vic- tory a verity. The Portage County Democrat (now the Ravenna Republican) of June 3, 1863, contained this faithful tribute :

"'The location of the shops at Franklin Mills is doubtless due to the position and in- fluence of Marvin Kent, Esq., the president of the road, who resides at that point. If any man ought to be gratified and benefited by the location of the shops it is President Kent. He was not only the friend of the road, but, if we are correctly informed, he also originated the idea of its construction. In carrying for- ward this great improvement to its comple- tion he has toiled and struggled for over twelve years, amid doubt and discouragement, amid jeers and sneers and obloquy. While others hesitated he stood fast ; when the faint-hearted turned aside he persevered with unfaltering nerve and courage; when timid friends for- sook he succeeded in raising up other friends and in attracting capital to this great work; and thus, with a patience, courage and assidu- ity and with an unswerving fidelity to a single aim that reaches the point of real heroism, he has held on his way through twelve laborious years of fluctuations, vicissitudes and uncer- tainties, neglecting or abandoning his private business, pledging or imperiling, or at least casting into the liazard of success, his large private fortune for the benefit of his cherished enterprise. And yet he has labored all this time without general appreciation, the select few more intimately associated with him in official relations being the only ones to know and appreciate his trials and toils. But it is time the man to whom more than to any other the country is indebted for this great and lead- ing road should be understood and appreciated, for every man and every community benefited by the construction of this road owes to Mar- vin Kent a debt of gratitude. He is to be con- gratulated on the sticcess which the intelli-

purpose which he has brought to bear on the enterprise have accomplished.'"

Marvin Kent was a man who kept the needle of life true to the pole-star of hope, and he guided his course with a full sense of his re- sponsibilities and with the strength of conscious rectitude. His name merits a large place in the history of the state of which he was a na- tive son and to which he gave so great and so productive service. Upon the successful com- pletion of the railroad line of which mention has just been made Mr. Kent practically retired from active business, and he passed the residue of his life in the enjoyment of his beautiful home and the society of his circle of loyal friends, of whom he was ever deeply apprecia- tive. In 1865, at the time of the death of his honored father, he succeeded the latter in the presidency of the Kent National Bank, and this incumbency he retained forty-three years, until he too was summoned to the life eternal. His political allegiance was given to the Repub- lican party, and in October, 1875, he was elect- ed to represent the Twenty-sixth district of Ohio in the state senate, in which body he made an admirable record during his term of two years. He was a man of tolerant spirit, liberal views, and intrinsically of generous impulses, and of him one familiar with the various stages of his career has written substantially as fol- lows: "He aided, in a great variety of ways, in advancing the material welfare of those among whom he lived. He was a generous promoter of every business enterprise of Kent, which vil- lage bears his name. There are enduring mon- uments of his public spirit on every hand, such as public and private edifices, business blocks. mills and factories, and about them all there is an evidence of permanency and durability, of exactness in details and adaptability to the uses designed." His life record suggests that he fully observed the fine old rule of living designated in the following words of the bard of Avon : "This above all : to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thon canst not then be false to any man."

On December 24, 1840, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kent to Miss Maria Stewart, daughter of Colonel William Stewart, of Franklin, Portage county. She was born at Franklin on August 25, 1821, and her death occurred on May 22, 1900. She was a woman of gentle refinement and gracious presence, and her memory is revered by all who came within the sphere of her influence. She was long

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prominent in the social life of the community which represented her home for so long a term of years. Mr. and Mrs. Kent became the par- ents of two children,-Henry L., who died in 1873. leaving a widow and two children, and William S., who is president of the Kent Na- tional Bank of Kent, in which office he suc- ceeded his father.

DR. CHARLES F. HOUSE, who has earned so honorable a success by his practice of thirty- five years in Painesville, Lake county, is one of the most thoroughly educated and broadly experienced members of his profession in this section of the Western Reserve. He was born in that place, December 12, 1849; received his early education there, and completed his liter- ary and classical studies at Oberlin and the Western Reserve colleges. At the latter he finished the full classical course, graduated in 1871 with the degree of M. A., and in the spring of that year commenced the study of medicine. He spent two and a half years as a student in the Cleveland Medical College, but in 1874 completed his professional course in the Long Island Hospital College of New York. Dr. House at once returned to the home of his boyhood for practice, and the bright promise of his first years there as a young and ambitious physician has been real- ized in the honorable successes of the inter- vening years and in his present high standing. He is an active member of the American Med- ical Association and the American Academy of Medicine, and from 1879 to 1888 was sec- retary of the board of pension examiners of Painesville. In politics he is a Republican, and in his fraternal relation is a Mason in high standing.

In regard to the doctor's more personal re- lations, it should be added that Dr. House married Miss Mary I. Radcliff on the 4th of October, 1888. He himself comes of an old Massachusetts family, John House, his grand- father, having been born in North Adams, of English ancestors who located in the United States during the colonial period. The grand- father mentioned was a blacksmith and a wagon maker by trade, as well as a country merchant, and eventually became a large land owner, being proprietor at one time of fully one thousand acres in Geauga county. The father, also John House, was born in West- field, Massachusetts; was farmer and black- smith ; for many years postmaster at Leroy and afterward a drygoods merchant in part-

nership with his father. He was a most active member of the First Congregational church, and at different periods in his voting life was Whig, Republican and Prohibitionist. Mr. House died at the age of eighty-seven years, and his wife (nee Jane E. Mosely), in her seventy-seventh year. Mrs. John House, the mother of the doctor, was a native of Massa- chusetts and came to Ohio when quite young, her father being a pioneer and a large land owner of Geauga county, who lived to be over ninety years of age.

JOHN H. OAKLEY, postmaster of Ravenna, Ohio, was born in Charlestown, Portage county, Ohio, December 9, 1842. His father, Abram Oakley, was born in Detford, England, but left that country while yet a mere boy and located for a number of years in Canada, going thence to the state of New York, where he married Minerva Caroline Beach. Soon after he removed to Portage county, being amongst the early settlers of Charlestown township. In 1844 he removed to Ravenna, where he continued to reside until some time after the death of his wife, which occurred in 1860. In 1865 he removed to Indiana, having a daughter residing at Elkhart, at whose house he died, in 1867. The family consisted of four children, as follows: Maria J. Post, deceased; Julia A., widow of Rev. E. E. Lamb, residing at Boise, Idaho; John H. and Mary C., wife of A. M. Rowe, adjutant gen- eral of Idaho.

At the breaking out of the Rebellion John H. Oakley was one of the first to respond to the call for volunteers, and enlisted April 25, 1861, for the three months' service in Com- pany G, Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. serving in that organization until August of that year. On October 15, 1861, he re-en- listed for three years in Battery I, First Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery, better known as "Leather Breeches Battery," and served therein until December 10, 1864, when he was honorably discharged by reason of expiration of term of service. About two years of this service was with the Army of the Potomac, the balance with the Army of the Cumberland in Tennessee and Georgia. During his three and one-half years' service he never received a wound, although he participated in many of the bloodiest and most decisive engage- ments of the war, among them being the fol- lowing: Dinwiddie Gap, Virginia, April 25, 1862; McDowell, Virginia, May 8, 1862;

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Cross Keyes, Virginia, June 8, 1862; Slaugh- ter Mountain, Virginia, August 9, 1862; Free- man's Ford, Virginia, August 22, 1862; Sul- phur Springs, Virginia, August 24, 1862; Bull Run, Virginia, August 30, 1862; Fredericks- burg, Virginia, December 13, 1862; Chancel- lorsville, Virginia, May 1-4, 1863; Gettys- burg, Pennsylvania, July 1-3, 1863; Lookout Valley, Tennessee, October 29, 1863; Mission Ridge, Tennessee, November 25, 1863 ; Resaca, Georgia, May 13-16, 1864; Kenesaw Moun- tain, Georgia, June 9-10, 1864; Vining Sta- tion, Georgia, July 2-5, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864; Atlanta, Georgia, July 28 to September 2, 1864. After his discharge Mr. Oakley returned to Ravenna, where he opened a photograph gallery, con- tinuing in this business until May, 1898. At that time he was honored by receiving from President Mckinley an appointment as post- master of Ravenna. He was reappointed to this position by President Roosevelt in 1902 and again in 1906.

Mr. Oakley married, June 19, 1872, Isodene E. Horr, daughter of A. V. and Rosella (Beecher) Horr, who was born in Shalers- ville, Portage county, her family being among the early settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Oakley at- tend the Congregational church, of which she is a member. They have two children : Harry B., of Chicago, is in the employ of the Quaker Oats Company, and Warren B., of Detroit, Michigan, representing the lace importing house of P. K. Wilson and Son, of New York.

Mr. Oakley is quite an enthusiastic secret society man, and has been highly honored by his brethren by having conferred on him the following titles: Past grand of Ravenna Lodge, No. 65, I. O. O. F .; past chief patriarch of Ravenna Encampment, No. 129, I. O. O. F .; past senior vice-commander, David McIn- toslı Post, No. 327, G. A. R .; master of finance, Cresset Lodge, No. 225, K. of P .; past captain, Buckeye Company, No. 97, Uni- form Rank, K. of P .; past regent, Ravenna Council, No. 376, Royal Arcanum ; past presi- dent, Ravenna Council, No. 188, National Union, and at this time holds a commission as lieutenant-colonel of the Twelfth Ohio Reg- iment, Uniform Rank, K. of P.

WILLIAM H. CRAFTS .- Graven deeply and with marked distinction on the history of Portage county are the name and works of Hon. William H. Crafts, who is now living virtually retired in the village of Mantua. He

was long prominent as one of the most pro- gressive business men in this section of the state, and his operations were of wide scope and importance, as the text of this sketch will presently indicate. He has served with dis- tinction as a member of the Ohio legislature, has been one of the chief promoters of the civic and material upbuilding of his home town, and through his public-spirited activities and sterling personal character he has won and retained a secure and enviable place in the confidence and esteem of the people of Portage county. Further than all this he merits consideration in this volume from the fact that he is a scion in the third generation, paternal and maternal, of honored pioneer families of the Western Reserve, of which he is a native son and one who takes just pride in this fact.

He was born on the homestead farm of his father in Auburn township, Geauga county, Ohio, on the 9th of December, 1849, and is a son of Elisha and Betsey ( Waterman) Crafts. Elisha Crafts was born in Auburn township, Geauga county, April 9, 1819, and was a son of Elliott and Cynthia (Rice) Crafts, who came to the Western Reserve when he was a lad of twelve years. His parents settled at Auburn, Geauga county, where the father be- came a successful farmer and where he also followed the work of his trade, that of black- smith. Elliott Crafts was a man of sterling character and marked individuality, and he wielded no little influence in the public affairs of the pioneer community. He and his wife continued to reside in Geauga county until their death, and their names merit place on the roll of the honored pioneers of the West- ern Reserve. The genealogy .of the Crafts family is traced back through a long line of English ancestors, and the founder of the fam- ily in America was Major Edward Crafts, who was a valiant soldier in the Continental line during the war of the Revolution, in which he was a gallant officer.

Elisha Crafts was reared to manhood in Geauga county, in whose pioneer schools he gained his educational training. There lie be- came a successful farmer, and there also he identified himself with other lines of business enterprise. He was called upon to serve in various offices of public trust, and his attitude was ever that of a loyal and public-spirited citizen. He built the first cheese factory in his section of the county, and otherwise con- tributed to the industrial advancement of the

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community. At the time of the Civil war he was specially active in connection with the recruiting, equipping and drilling of troops for the Union service, and he did all in his power to aid in the cause through which the integrity of the nation was perpetuated. In politics he was originally a Whig, but he es- poused the cause of the Republican party at the time of its organization and ever afterward gave to the "grand old party" his unswerving allegiance. In a fraternal way he was iden- tified with the Knights of Pythias. He at- tained to the patriarchal age of eighty-seven years, and ever commanded the unequivocal confidence and esteem of his fellow men, as his life was marked by the most impregnable integrity and counted for good in all its relations.

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 8

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