History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 81

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 81

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Louis E. Jennings followed the coopering business for many years in connection with his farm work. He too held many of the local public offices, being a Democrat in his political affiliations, and he was for thirty years a mem- ber of the school board. He married on the 22d of January, 1833, Elizabeth Knowlton, who was born at New Sharon, Maine, a daugh- ter of Samuel W. and Elizabeth (Butler) Knowlton. After the father's death in Maine, the mother married Ebenezer Wellman, and on the 13th of October, 1832, she arrived in Ravenna township, and it was here that her daughter met and married Mr. Jennings. Of their children four are yet living on the home

farm-Elizabeth A., who has been totally blind since seven years of age, Helen, Arminta L. and Albert Benton.

The latter was born on this farm December 23, 1851, and is now carrying on its work, the estate consisting of about 190 acres, of which he owns about fifty-four acres, the remainder being in the possession of the three sisters, of which Elizabeth A. has twenty-five acres, Helen M., twenty-seven, and Arminta L., twenty-seven. The present residence was erected in 1860 by the father, who cut the tim- ber from his own land, and with his son Al- bert he built another frame house in 1884, in which the son has ever since resided, but he farms the entire estate. He married on the 2d of November, 1880, Caroline Hadley, who was born in Brecksville, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, a daughter of Louis and Nancy (Johnson) Hadley, natives respectively of Portage and Cuyahoga counties, and a granddaughter of Harry Hadley, of Portage county, and of Will- iam and Esther (Eims) Johnson. The chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Jennings are : Charles Howard, a carpenter in Ravenna, and who married Addie Dutter; Donald H., at home with his parents; and Albert B. Jr., attending the district schools. Mr. Jennings affiliates with the Democratic party, and he is a mem- ber of the Foresters of America, Ravenna Lodge, No. 43.

SAGE HURLBURT, postmaster at Freedom Station, Portage county, is also one of the leading general merchants and produce dealers of the place and has long been prominent in the public affairs of the township. He is a native of Freedom township, born September 21, 1853, and a son of Samuel and Harriet (Sage) Hurlburt. His father was born at Wethersfield, Connecticut, and his mother has passed all her life in Freedom township. Mr. Hurlburt's paternal grandparents were Sylves- ter and Nancy Hurlburt, of Connecticut, and his grandparents on the maternal side, Ros- well and Minerva Sage, were from Massachu- setts. Grandfather Hurlburt drove through the forests and over the mountains from Con- necticut by ox team and located in the eastern part of Freedom township 'as its seventh per- manent settler ; or, to be more exact, his was the seventh family to make Freedom town- ship its home. During the first of their resi- dence there, while their log house was being erected, they were made welcome and com- fortable by Mr. Chamberlin, the first settler

1130

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

of the town. Grandfather Sage and his family were also very early settlers of the township. The parents married and located one mile south of Drakesburg, where the father died in 1872 and the mother in 1881. Their children were : Sage, of this sketch, and Jennie, who is now the widow of J. Hart and resides at Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

Sage Hurlburt was educated in the common and high schools of Ravenna and at Hiram College, and lived at home until his marriage in 1876. He then purchased a farm adjoin- ing his father's place, upon which he resided until the death of the elder Mr. Hurlburt in 1872. He then moved to the family home- stead, which he conducted until his wife's death, March 7, 1904. Soon afterward, Mr. Hurlburt located at Ravenna, where he re- mained for a year before becoming a resident of Freedom Station. His first business ven- ture there was to purchase a feed, coal and agricultural implement business, which he con- ducted until February, 1908. Upon disposing of that, he bought a general merchandise store, and added a produce department to his busi- ness. He has also been active in the public affairs of his township, having served as trus- tee for a period of twelve years. He has been influential in Republican politics for many years, and in September, 1908, was honored by appointment to the postmastership of Free- dom Station. Mr. Hurlburt's first marriage, March 9, 1876, was to Miss Josephine Hawley, a native of Berrien Springs, Michigan, and a daughter of Harvey and Lucretia Hawley, both born in Massachusetts. The three children of this union were as follows: G. W., who now conducts a feed and coal business ; Rev. Joseph Hurlburt, a clergyman of the Methodist church, and Lee, of Columbus, Ohio, who is taking. a course in electrical engineering. On July 16, 1906, Mr. Hurlburt married as his second wife, Emma Brown, widow of George Potter, a native of Newton Falls, Ohio. Her parents are Walstein and Nancy (Wiley) Brown. Walstein Brown was born in Norton township. Medina county, Ohio, and Nancy Wiley Brown was born in West Chazy, New York.

SIMEON S. OATMAN .- The Oatman family, father and three sons, have been identified with the business interests of Medina county for nearly seventy years, and during most of that period with the development of the vil- lage of Medina. Lyman Oatman and his

sons, Simeon S. and Orlin, have been pioneers and large promoters of the meat business, while Lyman, Jr., is well known as a hard- ware merchant of the place. They have also been identified, to some extent, with the agri- cultural progress of the county, and whatever the nature of their activities, have added to the reputation of the family for practical abil- ity and honorable conduct.

Simeon S. Oatman, the special subject of this biography, was born in the village of Medina, in December, 1841, son of Lyman and Sarah (Bean) Oatman. His father was born near Utica, New York, in 1813, and spent his boyhood in that locality, while his mother passed her girlhood and was educated in her native county of Rutland, Vermont. In his eighteenth year Lyman Oatman migrated to Ohio and settled on a farm in Lafayette town- ship, Medina county, where he remained until he had attained his majority. Shortly after- ward his ambition took a mercantile turn and he started a general store at what was known as the Four Corners Road, that township. He conducted this venture, farmed, bought wool and wood, and was an all-around business man and citizen until he disposed of his vari- ous interests in 1863 and located in the village of Medina. He then concentrated his ener- gies to the establishment and advancement of a meat business, and by the spring of 1881 had founded one of the most prosperous houses of the kind in the county. In that year he partially retired from active work, and died in February, 1881, after a life of practical and honorable successes. His widow, who was the daughter of James and Betsy Bean, early set- tlers of Medina county, died not long after the decease of her husband. Nine children had been born to them, of whom the following reached maturity: Orlin and Simeon S., long associated in the meat business; Aurelia, who is the widow of Frank Bowman; Adelia, who married Frank Burdoin : Alfred, who enlisted in the One Hundred and Eighty-sixth Regi- ment. Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in Medina in 1902: Lyman, a hardware mer- chant of Medina; and Nora B., who became the wife of Frank Heath, a leading lawyer of Medina.

After completing his public-school educa- tion, Simeon S. entered his father's meat mar- ket and at his death formed a partnership in the same line with his brother Orlin. Under the style of Oatman Brothers, they had devel- oped an important business at the outbreak of

II3I

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

the Civil war, when Simeon S. enlisted in Company K, Forty-second Ohio Volunteer In- fantry, commanded by Colonel James A. Gar- field. With his regiment, he participated in a number of engagements and for some time was stationed near Vicksburg. At his honor- able discharge, November 28, 1864, he re- turned to his home in Medina; afterward spent three years in Iowa, but returned to his home town and resumed business relations with his brother Orlin for many years. He then spent some time at Cleveland, in the meat business, but again returned to Medina and formed a partnership under the firm name of Oatman & Hedges, the present style. Mr. Oatman's business is large and growing; he owns pasture grounds of twenty acres within the city limits; has a comfortable and taste- ful residence at 316 North court, and is a leading citizen who has "made good" both in attaining a permanent competency and a stable and estimable character. As a Mason, he is a member of Medina Lodge and, as an old soldier of the Civil war, belongs to H. G. Blake Post, No. 168. In politcs he is a Re- publican, and, from his substantial standing in the community, takes a lively interest in public matters relating to city and county. In 1867 Mr. Oatman married Miss Mary F. Lemon, a daughter of Henry Lemon, and their son, Albert, is a commercial traveler out of Cleveland, with good prospects.

HORACE ALBERT DOOLITTLE .- The descend- ant of a pioneer family of prominence and in- fluence, Horace Albert Doolittle has spent his entire life in Streetsboro township, Portage county, where his birth occurred, April 21, 1842. A part of the homestead property of his father, the late Albert Doolittle, has come into his possession, and here he is carrying on mixed husbandry, including dairying, on an extensive scale, as a general farmer meeting with satisfactory success. He comes of New England ancestry, his grandfather, Benjamin Doolittle, having been a native of Connecticut, his birth occurring February 10, 1771.

Accepting, prior to 1800, the agency of the Connecticut Land Company, Benjamin Doo- little came to Portage county as a surveyor, and in that capacity surveyed Streetsboro township, which was one of the last town- ships in the county to be settled. Here he subsequently took up one hundred and sixty acres of land, to which he brought his family in 1825. Clearing a space, he built a log cabin, and in the years that followed made

substantial improvements on the place, living on it until within one year of his death, in September, 1849. He married Fannie Ward, who was born in Susquehanna county, Penn- sylvania, April 1, 1782, and died on the home farm, in Streetsboro township, Portage county, Ohio, April 27, 1847. They had a family of nine children, namely : Nelson, Albert, George, Henry, Lydia A., William, Polly Jane, Theo- dore B. and Eloisa. All of these, with the ex- ception of Nelson, who was a Universalist minister, having charge of a church in Penn- sylvania, came to Streetsboro.

Albert Doolittle was born October 7, 1806, in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and came with the family to Streetsboro township in 1825. His first purchase of land, consist- ing of seventy-three acres, lying in Streets- boro township, formed the nucleus of a valua- ble homestead of two hundred and thirty acres, on which he spent the larger part of his active life, passing away January 15, 1886, at a ripe old age. He was a man of more than average ability, having established the first general store in the township, and having, after his boys got old enough to care for the home farm, spent a number of years as a contractor in the construction of railroads. He married, in 1835, Alamanda Burroughs, who was born, June 23, 1819, in Shalersville township, Port- age county, Ohio, a daughter of Simon and Lucy (Green) Burroughs, and died in Streets- boro township, October 1, 1900. Four chil- dren were born of their union, as follows: Charles R., of whom a brief sketch may be found on another page of this volume; Au- gusta D., deceased, who married N. S. Olin ; Horace Albert, the subject of this sketch; and Lucy, deceased, who married Charles Harmon, of Aurora township.

After obtaining a common and high school education in his native town, Horace Albert Doolittle attended a commercial college in Akron, Ohio. He subsequently assisted in the management of the parental homestead until going to Coshocton county, Ohio, where he had an interest in a coal bank. Remaining there a year, he sold out his share of the coal bed, and returned to the old home, where he resided until his marriage. On the death of his father, Mr. Doolittle purchased one hun- dred and twenty-two acres of the homestead property, the whole of which he had previously managed for a number of years on shares, and in addition to working the land that he had purchased he also carried on his mother's por- tion, one hundred and nine acres, until her

1132

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

death, in 1900. That portion, too, then came into the possession of Mr. Doolittle, who now owns two hundred and thirty-one acres of land in Streetsboro township, all of the original homestead with the exception of four acres in Shalersville township.

Mr. Doolittle has been twice married. He married first, May 12, 1870, Mary E. Sey- mour, who was born in Perry township, Wyo- ming county, New York, which was also the birthplace of her parents, Nathaniel and Eliza- beth (Calkins) Seymour. She died in Feb- rnary, 1879, leaving two children, namely : Nathaniel S., born September 17, 1871, lives in Kent, Ohio; and Horace A., Jr., born November 29, 1873, a resident of Ravenna, Ohio. Mr. Doolittle married, second, Decem- ber 21, 1882, Effie E. Peck, who was born in Streetsboro township, April 6, 1855, a daugh- ter of Henry Peck, and granddaughter of Rufus and Sallie (Hall) Peck, of Newtown, Connecticut. Henry Peck, born in Newtown, married Julia E. Jenkins, who was born in Watertown, New York, a daughter of Samuel and Ursula (Brewster) Jenkins, of New York state. Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle have one daugh- ter, Cora Lucile Doolittle, born November 3, 1886. Mr. Doolittle is a talented musician, fond of music from his childhood. When but fourteen years old he learned to play the cor- net, and for many years belonged to the Streetsboro band, of which he was the leader from 1890 until its disbandment in 1900, since which time there has been no band in the place. He is an earnest supporter of the Re- publican party, active in local matters, never shirking the responsibilities of office, and for thirteen terms served as township trustee.

ROBERT STUART, a prominent farmer in Pierpont township, Ashtabula county, was born July 13, 1833, and is a son of James and Mary (Morrow) Stuart. His grandfather, Sanford Stuart, came from Tolland, Massa- chusetts, to Ohio with an ox-team, after the war of 1812. He married Miss Two, and their children were: Melissa, Melinda, Caroline, James, and Loren L.

James Stuart died at about the age of twen- ty-five. His wife died about the age of thirty. They had one child, Robert. Like his father, Robert Stuart was a farmer. He lived in Trumbull county until he was twenty-three years old and spent the rest of his life on his farm, clearing and improving the land. He worked for a time also in a store. He enlisted, August 19, 1861, in Company B, Twenty-

ninth Ohio, and received honorable discharge October 15, 1864. Though he was sick much of the time, he served three years. He belongs to Lincoln Post No. 18, Grand Army of the Republic, at Pierpont, and was for twenty years commander of the post; he also served one year as chaplain. He is a Master Mason of Relief Lodge No. 284, at Pierpont, and has been tyler for fifteen years and treasurer ; he was junior warden one year and deacon one year. He was formerly a Granger. He pays close attention to his farm, which he has brought to a fine condition. Politically Mr. Stuart is a Republican and he served three years as township trustee and four years as supervisor.

Mr. Stuart married (first) Lydia Baker, born December 15, 1840, and died June 3, 1874. Their children were: Mary, deceased, born April 18, 1858; Orpha, born May 30, 1859, died December 29, 1874; Lilly, born February 5, 1861, died March 7, 1880; Addie, born December 22, 1867, married Fred F. Smith and lives in Conneaut. Mr. Stuart mar- ried (second) Maria Latin, of Trumbull county, Ohio, born December, 1830. He mar- ried (third) Helen, daughter of Warren and Caroline (Hall) Dart, born September 10, 1841. He had no children by his last two marriages.

JOHN S. TIBBALS .- Among the agricultur- ists of Charlestown township is numbered John S. Tibbals, who was born in Deerfield town- ship on the 3d of April, 1869. He is of the fourth generation of his family in Portage county, for his great-grandfather, Moses Tib- bals, located in its township of Deerfield dur- ing the earliest period of its settlement, and the brick house which he built in 1816 is yet standing in a good state of preservation, and there four generations of the Tibbals family have lived. Alfred M. Tibbals, his son, was a native of Massachusetts, while his wife, Mar- tha H. Swem, was from New Jersey, born in 1800, and she came to Ohio in 1814, making the journey to Salem in a one-horse wagon. Among their children was John L. Tibbals, a native of Deerfield township, Portage county, and he married Mary C. Dewey, who was born in 1832, in Franklin township, a daughter of Fred and Fannie (Williams) Dewey, who located in Franklin township during an early period in its history, and they cleared and im- proved a farm from its native wildness there.

John S. Tibbals, one of the children of John L. and Mary Tibbals, received a good educa-

Mr and Mrs Robert Stuart

II33

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

tion in the Kent public schools, and he re- mained with his parents during their lives. After their death he went to California to regain the health which he had lost in caring for them during the latter years of their lives. Returning to Portage county, he bought forty acres of land in Charlestown township and has since been engaged in its cultivation and improvement. He has fraternal relations with the Knights of Pythias order and is a mem- ber of the Universalist church.

BETSEY AVERY BABCOCK. - The name of Mrs. Betsey Babcock is a familiar one in Ra- venna township and its vicinity, for here she has resided for many years, from the period of its earliest settlement, and she has won in all these years many stanch and true friends. She was born on the 30th of May, 1831, to Reuben and Corrinna :(Lewis) Avery, the father from New York and the mother from Connecticut. Her grandparents located in west- ern Lorain county, Ohio, as early as 1800. Reuben Avery, a shoemaker, located in Au- rora, Ohio, and was there married to his sec- ond wife. and as she owned a farm, he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and also cleared and improved the land. He lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and one · years, and died in the year 1873.

Their daughter Betsey remained at home - with her parents until her marriage, and she was the youngest of her father's eighteen chil- dren. Her marriage to Albert Babcock was celebrated on the 26th of April, 1854. and they then bought the farm on which the widow resided for fifty-one years, they having in the meantime cleared it from its virgin wildness. It is a one hundred and eighty acre tract, and there the husband passed away in death on April 26, 1905. He was one of the prominent and successful agriculturists of Ravenna town- ship, and his name was honored wherever known. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Babcock was blessed by the birth of six children, namely: John T., Adelaide M., Mary Cor- rinna, Martha M., Jeanette M. and Joseph- ine B.

RILEY J. BRAKEMAN .- This brief review is dedicated to one who stands representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Lake county, where he has ably upheld the pres- tige of the name which he bears, and he is now known as one of the leading contractors and builders of his native county and as one

of the progressive business men and loyal citi- zens of Painesville.

Riley J. Brakeman was born in Leroy town- ship, Lake county, Ohio, on the 6th of March, 1857, and is a son of Gerry and Mary Ann ( Williams) Brakeman, whose marriage was solemnized in this county on the 15th of May, 1847. Gerry Brakeman was a son of Henry and Clarissa (Race) Brakeman, the former of whom was born July 27, 1785, and the latter April 3, 1795; they were married April 17, 1813. After the death of his first wife, Henry Brakeman married, in 1842, Betsey Bedell, who died several years later. In 1858 he wedded Ann Parker, who survived him. His first wife died in 1840, and he passed away February 20, 1869, in Leroy township, Lake county, at the venerable age of eighty-four years. His mother, Mrs. Eve Brakeman, died April 23, 1839, and her remains rest in the Brakeman meeting-house cemetery in Leroy township; she was over one hundred years of age at the time of her demise.

It is but consistent that in this publication be perpetuated a brief record concerning the children of Henry Brakeman, who came from Schoharie county, New York, to Ohio about 1817, and numbered himself among the early settlers of Leroy township, Lake county, where he became the owner of a large tract of land, and where he reclaimed a farm from the virgin forest. Louis L., born February 1, 1815, mar- ried Mary Tew; Elizabeth, born February 29, 1816, married John Tear, and they removed to Illinois; Jacob, born August 20, 1817, died at the age of thirteen years; Peter, born De- cember 14, 1818, married Clarissa Heminway ; Henry H., born March 20, 1821, married Sa- mantha Heminway; Polly, born December 7, 1822, became the wife of Allen C. Bebee and died in Geneva, Ashtabula county, in 1906; Gerry, born March 15, 1824, was the father of the subject of this sketch, and is more specifically mentioned in paragraphs follow- ing : Catherine, born January 5, 1826, is the wife of Benjamin Bedell, of Leroy township; John C., born July 2, 1829, died at the age of twenty years; and Harmony, born September 13, 1838, married James Carn and removed to Iowa. All of the sons except Gerry left Lake county and established homes for them- selves elsewhere.

Upon coming to Lake county, Henry Brake- man set to himself the task of reclaiming a farm from the wilderness and he lived up to the full tension of the pioneer epoch. He

II34

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

was favored in having sturdy sons to aid him in his work, and the large family was one in which a spirit of harmony and mutual affec- tion obtained to an exceptional degree. On the farm of this honored pioneer was located what was known as the Brakeman meeting- house, a Methodist Episcopal church, and of the same he was one of the most liberal and influential members. He gave to each of his children fifty acres of land, thus showing his abiding solicitude as well as his paternal gen- erosity.

Mrs. Mary Ann (Williams) Brakeman, the loved and devoted mother of Riley J. Brake- man, was a daughter of Heman and Anna (Reynolds) Williams, pioneers of Concord township, Lake county, where she was born on the 26th of August, 1826, and where her father was a representative farmer and influential citi- zen in the early days. Heman Williams was born in Lanesboro, Massachusetts, November 3, 1796. Her mother was born at Lanesboro. Massachusetts, August 10, 1801, and in 1821 came with her husband to Lake county, Ohio. They were married February 13 of that year, and this constituted their stately wedding tour, which was made with an ox team. They located on Big creek, Concord township, where Mr. Williams erected a saw mill and grist mill, which he operated for many years, in connec- tion with the cultivation and improvement of his farm.

Gerry Brakeman was reared to maturity in Lake county, and his educational advantages were those of the primitive pioneer schools. In initiating his independent career he located on the farm given to him by his father, and to its improvement and cultivation he thereafter continued to give his attention until 1859, when he removed with his family to "Log Tavern Corners," Concord township, where he en- gaged in carpenter work. He was among the first to respond to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers after the Civil war was precipitated upon a divided nation. In 1861 he enlisted in Company D, Seventh Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry, with which he served until his death, as a martyr to his country's cause. He was instantaneously killed by a sharp- shooter, on the 16th of June, 1864, while he was at work on a bridge at Marietta, Georgia, having been previously transferred to a pio- neer corps. His diary and penholder, the lat- ter of which was cut off by the bullet which killed him, are now in the possession of his son Riley. About one year prior to his death, Gerry Brakemån was wounded in the thigh by

a musket ball, and was sent home on furlough. As soon as he had sufficiently recuperated, he rejoined his command, and he had taken part in many important battles, as well as skir- mishes and minor engagements. His widow was left with four children, the eldest a daugh- ter of sixteen years at the time of his death. Concerning the children the following data are entered: Eleanor P. is the widow of Har- mon Manley and resides in the city of Paines- ville : George A. is a successful contractor and builder at Anderson, Indiana; Ann J. died in young womanhood; and Riley J., of this sketch, is the youngest of the children. The devoted mother managed to keep her little family together, though her financial resources were very limited, and as soon as they were able to render aid the children did this, by se- curing employment in the neighborhood. Mrs. Brakeman remained true to the memory of her soldier husband, whom she survived by more than thirty years. About 1881 she removed to Painesville, and thereafter she was a loved inmate of the home of her youngest son, Riley J., until her death, which occurred on the 20th of December, 1895. She was an earnest and devout member of the Methodist Episco- pal church, and was a woman whose gentle and gracious personality gained to her the af- fectionate regard of all who knew her. Her ' husband likewise was a member of the Meth- odist church and his political support was ac- corded to the Republican party from the time of its organization until his death.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 81

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