USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 82
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Riley J. Brakeman passed his boyhood days in Concord township, whither the family re- moved from Leroy township when he was about two years of age, and his early educa- tional training was received in the district school. At the age of fifteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, at Mentor, and, with natural mechanical abil- ity, he soon became a skilled artisan at his trade, with which work he has been continu- ously identified during his entire business ca- reer. He took up his residence in Painesville in 1881, at which time he was twenty-four years of age, and after following the work of his trade as a journeyman for several years he engaged in contracting and building on his own responsibility. In this field of enterprise he has gained unmistakable priority and defi- nite success. He has erected a large number of buildings in Painesville and vicinity and has had many important contracts within the long years of his residence in Painesville. In the summer of 1897 he was superintendent for the
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state of the erection of the girl's industrial home at Delaware, Ohio, and as representative appointed by the Painesville board of educa- tion he had the superintendency of the erection of the fine high school building in this city. He has done contracting for all kinds of build- ing and has gained a high reputation for abil- ity, careful observance of the terms of con- tract, and correct business methods. He is one of the leading representatives of his voca- tion in Painesville, and as a man and a citizen commands unqualified confidence and esteem in the community.
In politics Mr. Brakeman accords allegiance to the Republican party, and while he has never had aught of ambition for political pre- ferment, he has shown a commendable interest in public affairs and especially in those touch- ing the welfare of his home city. He served one term as a member of the city council and has ever given his aid and influence in sup- port of measures projected for the general good of the community. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is identified with the Masonic frater- nity, in which his affiliations are with Tem- ple Lodge, No. 28, Free & Accepted Masons, of which he is past master; Painesville Chap- ter, No. 46, Royal Arch Masons, in which also he has passed all of the official chairs; and Eagle Commandery, No. 29, Knights Templar, of which he is past eminent commander.
On the 17th of June, 1894, Mr. Brakeman was united in marriage to Miss Iowa Ross, who was born at Austinburg, Ohio, a daugh- ter of William and Emily (Kimball) Ross. Both her paternal and maternal grandparents came to Ohio from northeastern Pennsylvania, and from this state her parents removed to Iowa, where her father died in 1864. The widowed mother then returned with her five children to Ashtabula county, Ohio, and later, when Mrs. Brakeman was a girl of four- teen years, the family removed to Painesville, where she was reared to maturity and where her marriage was solemmized. Her mother finally contracted a second marriage, becoming the wife of Oswin Guild. The only child of this second marriage is Albert, and concern- ing the five children of the first marriage the following brief record is given: Viola is the wife of William Bates, of Lakewood, Ohio; Miss Belle resides in the city of Cleveland ; William is a resident of Ashtabula county : and Edwin resides in the city of Cleveland : Iowa, the youngest, is the wife of the subject
of this sketch. Mr. and Mrs. Brakeman have one son, Philip Ross, who was born in 1897.
TICE L. WEBBER .- A man of push and energy, endowed with natural business tact and enterprise, Tice L. Webber is carrying on an extensive dairy business, his well improved and finely managed farm lying one and one- half miles southeast of Jefferson, and his milk route being one of the best paying ones in this part of Ashtabula county. A son of William Webber, he was born, June 16, 1864, in Good- rich, Ontario. His grandparents, George and Mary Webber, lived in Ashtabula county, Ohio, for a few years, but returned to New York, and spent their last days in Sennett, Cayuga county.
Born and educated in Syracuse, New York, William Webber came from there to Ohio when seventeen years old. He lived for awhile in Austinburg, then migrated to Pontiac, Michigan, where he followed the trade of a butcher. Returning to Ohio, he spent a short time in Jefferson, after which he lived for fifteen years in New York state. For the past fifteen years, however, he has resided in Jef- ferson township, Ashtabula county, being now seventy-five years of age. He married, in Austinburg, this county, Alice Mills, a daughter of Deacon Joseph Mills, a pioneer of that place. She died in Binghamton, New York. Of the children born of their union the following are living : Mills O., manager of a shoe store in Syracuse, New York; and Tice L., who is the oldest.
Tice L. Webber was brought up in Ontario, where his father had at one time a market and was constantly trading, buying cheese and other commodities in Ohio and selling them in Ontario or Michigan. Leaving home at the age of eleven years, Tice lived in Jefferson, Ohio, for awhile, attending school and doing chores for Loren French. working for his board. Going then to Austinburg, he worked for his uncle, John Mills, for two or three years, after which he spent an equal length of time in Cayuga county, New York. After attaining his majority Mr. Webber returned to Ohio and entered the employ of Ed Strong, who lived a mile and a half north of Jefferson, driving a milk wagon for him. After his mar- riage Mr. Webber ran the milk wagon for Mr. Strong for a short time and then purchased a route for his own. In 1887, having accumu- lated a sufficient sum of money to warrant him
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in so doing. he bought his present farm, the old Square's estate, situated on the old plank road, one and one-half miles southeast of the village of Jefferson. It contains one hundred and forty acres of good land, which he is cul- tivating with success, in the meantime making a specialty of dairying, which he has carried on the past twenty-four years, the first five years driving the milk wagon himself and never losing one day. Here Mr. Webber has added improvements of an excellent character, having made additions to the barn, built two silos, and introduced all of the most modern and approved appliances for successfully car- rying on dairying scientifically, using ice in cooling his milk, which he puts up in bottles, everything being conducted in as sanitary a manner as possible.
Mr. Webber married, February 16, 1886, Allie D. Hill, who was born at Geneva, Ashta- bula county, in 1865, a daughter of George and Drusilla (Massingham) Hill, who are now living in Lenox township, Ashtabula county. Blanche E. Webber, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Webber, was born November IO, 1888, and was graduated from the Jeffer- son Educational Institute when seventeen years of age, and is now a student at Oberlin College, in Oberlin, Ohio, belonging to the class of 1910. Politically Mr. Webber is a steadfast Republican, and fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
FREDERICK BECK .- A German youth, with only a common school education, came to Ohio more than half a century ago and for forty-two years of that period was a sturdy blacksmith and farmer in Medina county. But he was intelligent and ambitious, as well as in- dustrious and honest, and his associates hon- ored him as a worthy type of the German- American by entrusting their public affairs to him in the capacity of county recorder. This citizen of rugged honor and ability is Fred- erick Beck, of Medina, now in his seventy- fourth year and in the enjoyment of wide popularity and complete confidence.
Born in Germany, in the year 1836, Mr. Beck received his education in the common schools of his native country and emigrated to the United States in 1853, landing at New York City. From the metropolis he went to Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he worked at the blacksmith trade, and in 1856
became a resident of Ohio. Stopping for a short time in Cleveland, he went on to Summit county, and after following his trade there for a time located in Guilford township, Medina county, where he built a blacksmith shop and conducted a general repair business for twenty-five years. He then bought eighty-five acres of land in the township, placed it under good cultivation and engaged in farming for seventeen years. His industry, thrift and un- assuming ability, exercised through these many years of his residence in Medina county, had been well noted by his numerous friends, and as he had always been a Republican since acquiring his papers of citizenship, they ral- lied to his support in 1899 and elected him recorder of Medina county for a term of six years. At its expiration he retained a clerk- ship in the office. This he still holds and, in view of his age, he writes a very legible and finished English text. Mr. Beck's father came to the United States late in life and died in Guilford township in 1894. His wife, who was formerly Miss Elizabeth Freed, is a native of Pennsylvania, and has borne him the fol- lowing children: Joseph, Jacob, Henry, Reuben, Alvin, William; Minnie, who is the wife of Alfred Houseworth and resides at Wadsworth; and Losina, who married Oscar Rothacher and lives in that town also. Mr. Beck is a Knights of Pythias and a member of the German Lutheran church.
EDMUND CALLOW .- Born on the Isle of Man, June 6, 1812, Edmund Callow had almost reached the venerable age of eighty years when he died in Leroy township, Lake county, Ohio, January 12, 1892. He was the seventh of ten children born to his parents. Two of his brothers were captains of ocean vessels, and some of them went to Australia. One of Mr. Callow's nephews was pilot on the boat "Lady Elgin" that burned on Lake Michigan in 1860.
A tailor by trade, Edmund Callow came to Fairport, Ohio, in 1834, having served the old style term of apprenticeship at his trade. His brother John, who was twenty years older than he, had come to Ohio about ten years previously, settling in Concord about 1824. Charles Callow, another brother, settled in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1830. Edmund Callow first worked for John Oakley, a merchant of Richmond, which was then in its prime. Later becoming an ironmolder, he worked about
F
Edmund bullow
Jane Callow
CHARLES CALLOW
MRS. CHARLES CALLOW
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three years in Geauga furnace. He married in 1838, and then removed with his wife to Laporte, Porter county, Indiana, as he wished to get further into the West. Here he pur- chased wild land and set out to clear it. He worked for some time in Mishawaka, and in that part of the country dug the first cellar, this work being some miles from his farm. He remained for nine years in Indiana, work- ing also at his trade of tailor: Mr. Callow removed from Indiana to Ohio in 1846, pur- chasing a farm half a mile north of Leroy Center, near the home of his wife's parents, who lived near Brakeman, in Lake county. From this time to the end of his life he never spent a night away from this farm, except when he spent a week with his brother in Michigan. Edmund Callow kept adding to his land by purchase until he was the owner of three hundred acres, and kept clearing and improving until he became one of the large landholders of Leroy, also gaining consider- able wealth. It was his theory, often ex- pressed, that a man "could become well off by minding his own business," and this saying was exemplified in his own life. He dealt largely in stock, and was a very busy man always, finding no time or occasion to mix in any controversy with his neighbors, with whom he always kept on good terms. He took an active interest in public affairs and kept himself well informed on current events.
February 27, 1838, Mr. Callow married Jane, daughter of James and Jane Quine. To this union were born six children, three boys and three girls. Mrs. Callow was born on the Isle of Man and came to Ohio when about six years old, the ocean voyage taking about six weeks. She was about nineteen years of age when she married. Mrs. Callow was a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, but her husband, though strictly reared and strict in his own family, was not a church member. For the last four years of his life he was an invalid, but he still kept charge of all his affairs and ably managed them. Before his death he called his six children together and told each what he thought and intended doing, asking each one if he were satisfied, and upon their agreeing Mr. Callow asked them to sign their names to an agreement, which they all did, and he then signed his own name. He made it a condition that if anyone contested the provisions of the will that one should be cut out of the estate, but no question arose
after the father's death. He requested that he be buried in Evergreen cemetery, in Paines- ville, in the lot chosen by him, and also ar- ranged for a monument after his own design. He was mourned by all the people of the sur- rounding district.
Henry F. Callow, one of the sons of Ed- mund Callow, was born September 10, 1859, in a log house on the old homestead at Leroy Center, Leroy township, and remained at home, attending the district school. He worked for his father until the parent's death, and being appointed executor, settled thie es- tate. He received as his share two tracts of land, 104 acres, one being opposite the father's farm, and on this he remained until May, 1892. He now lives on a farm of 126 acres and be- sides this place owns another of sixty-two acres. At one time he owned about 300 acres, but he has sold some of it. He breeds Short- horn cattle and Chester White hogs, keeping registered stock. His hay barn is 40 by 46 feet and another for stock is 30 by 96. He has recently refused a good offer for his land.
Henry Callow married, November 23, 1881, Alice, daughter of Edward and Elizabeth (Up- son) French, original settlers of this county, the Upsons coming from England. Mrs. Henry Callow was twenty years old at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Callow have two children, Edward Glenn, a farmer in Port- land, Oregon, and Henry Stanley, who helps on the home farm. The family belong to the Grange.
Charles Callow, brother of Edmund Callow, was born May 31, 1810, on the Isle of Man. He came to America about 1830 and settled at Pontiac, Michigan. Here he spent the re- mainder of his life, dying February 3, 1895. He was prominent in the Masonic order, hav- ing been initiated, passed and raised in old Pontiac Lodge No. 21, F. & A. M., in 1834, and he held continuous membership in this lodge during life. The following, taken from the resolutions passed at the time of his death by the lodge, shows the esteem in which he was held:
"The dread enemy has taken from our fra- ternal ranks a prize of rare merit, one of the oldest and the best, one who has worn the lamb skin of innocence in a manner not to soil the fraternal emblem of purity.
"Resolved, That in the demise of our ven- erable brother, Charles Callow, Sunday, Feb- ruary 3, 1895, we mourn the going out of one
.
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who above all else prized the tenets of Ma- sonry, living in all things up to his obliga- tions."
WALTER H. LOOMIS, a Charlestown agricul- turist, was born here on the 31st of May, 1869, a son of Uriah B. and Mary (Hart) Loomis, also from Portage county, and a grandson on the paternal side of Asa and Sarah Loomis, from Connecticut. In 1828 they drove from there to Portage county, Ohio, with an ox team, and they took up the land which after- ward became known as the old Loomis home- stead. Asa Loomis was a Revolutionary war soldier, and his father came to this country on the Mayflower. Uriah B. Loomis remained with his parents on the farm until his marriage, and he then secured the farm on which his son Walter was born, and the place now in- cludes ninety-five acres. Uriah B. and Mary Loomis had five children-Willney, Rufus, Charles, Walter and Addison.
Walter H. Loomis has since his marriage been numbered among the successful agricul- turists of Charlestown township, and on his farm he has a large maple sugar orchard, from which he averages 500 gallons of syrup each year, while during the past twelve years he has also been quite extensively engaged in the shipping of syrup during the spring months. He has served in many of the local offices of his community, including those of school di- rector, constable for eight years, supervisor for several terms, and at this writing is the candidate for that office.
Mr. Loomis married Mary Copeland, and they have a daughter, Bessie. He is a mem- ber of the fraternal order of Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Foresters of America, and he and his wife have membership relations with the Congregational church.
WILBUR C. COE .- Among those who came to Portage county when wilderness reigned over it was David Coe (born in 1761, at Gran- ville, Massachusetts), great-grandfather of Wilbur C., a substantial farmer and stock raiser residing on a well-conducted place not far from the ancestral homestead in Charles- town township. This pioneer who prepared the way for future generations of the Coe family, drove overland with his ox team from Massachusetts, located upon his selection of 200 acres, and in the years which remained to him chopped and plowed out a homestead for
his family. The children of the household were Claudius, Lyman, Adna, Sallie, Ransom and Sophia, and it was the last named who taught the first school in Charlestown town- ship. Claudius L. was but a young boy when the family located in Portage county, but he was of the restless kind, sailing the Atlantic ocean, following the trade of file-making and having other experiences before he located in the northwestern part of Charlestown town- ship and settled to a farmer's life. With the other pioneers he had the excitement of fight- ing wild animals, one of the most stirring epi- sodes of that nature being his pursuit of a bear which had carried away one of his hogs. Several of his neighbors accompanied him and, although the party then had only the mortifi- cation of finding the remains of the porker buried under some leaves in a cave, they after- ward had the satisfaction of seeing the thief caught fast in the trap set at the time of their excursion. Mr. Coe was a leader in the estab- lishment of some of the early industries of the township, building a saw mill on the land now owned by D. R. Hanna, and a factory on his own farm, in which he manufactured all kinds of flax ropes.
Jacob L., a son of Claudius L., who became the father of Wilbur C., was born in Phila- delphia, but was put to work at such an early age that he was obliged to obtain his educa- tion as best he could. At night he studied by the light of the old fire place, started forth early in the morning to run an old upright sawmill, or other miscellaneous work, and by dint of much planning and perseverance man- aged to obtain quite a thorough education for his days. One of the enterprises by which he secured funds for attending a select school was the cultivation of a melon patch, in partner- ship with an equally ambitious comrade. Mr. Coe taught school for five years in Pennsyl- vania, and was then similarly employed in Deerfield township, Portage county. Five busy years also passed in that locality and among the ninety-nine pupils enrolled in his school were some of the now prominent citizens of the county, including Judge Tibbals and other members of the family. While a teacher in Pennsylvania he married Miss Lydia Brown, by whom he had two children, Alwilda and Wilbur.
Wilbur C. Coe was born on the 26th of Au- gust, 1843, and was reared on the farm of 225 acres which his father had purchased at a sheriff's sale and which is now the property
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of D. R. Hanna. On the land is a famous spring, whose pure and abundant waters have been enjoyed by man and beast for many years. Around it were held many camp meetings of the early days, and old settlers still recall the enormous wolf which David Coe tracked thence in the long-ago. The beast had been there to drink and was caught in a trap spe- cially arranged for him. After dragging his burden five miles he was overtaken by a posse of citizens, four of whom were required to carry away both wolf and trap. In later days this historic spring has been well walled with masonry, and a hydraulic pump now forces its waters to the barns and other buildings on the Hanna farm in Charlestown. Mr. Coe in- herited his present pleasant homestead of 142 acres and has been engaged in general farm- ing and stock raising for many years. He is a thorough agriculturist and a highly honored citizen. Mr. Coe was first married to Miss Emma N. Catlin, who was born October 25. 1850, daughter of James B. and Cynthia C. Catlin, and died September 10, 1888, leaving a daughter, Alice. On the 2d of October, 1889, he wedded Mrs. Jessie E. Hudson, born March 20, 1862, a daughter of Hiram F. and Lydia Woods, natives of New Baltimore, Ohio. Charles L., the son of this union, died in his fourteenth year, to the unspeakable sorrow of his parents and the deep grief of numerous friends. He was a manly, talented youth, hav- ing already shown much ability as a cornetist, and those who so sincerely mourn his death have the comfort of knowing that all his acts had been a credit to the community and to the parents who had guarded and fostered him with such faithful love. Both Mr. and Mrs. Coe are faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church, as also was Charles Lyman, and they find in their religion a never-failing source of comfort and strength under the stress of the heaviest of the afflictions of life-the death of one who was wound close around their hearts.
HARRY T. NOLAN .- The city of Painesville has shown signal appreciation of the abilities and popularity of one of her native sons of the younger generation of professional men by calling him to the office of chief executive of the municipal government, and as mayor of the city Harry T. Nolan has fully justified the wisdom of the choice which brought to him this preferment.
Harry T. Nolan was born in Painesville, the
attractive county seat of Lake county, on the 20th of May, 1880, and is a son of Owen E. and Mary (- -) Nolan, both of whom were born in Ireland. The father was reared and educated in his native land, whence he came to America when seventeen years of age, settling in Ohio, where his marriage was solemnized and where he was identified with the green- house business for a number of years, in the employ of others. After coming to Paines- ville he established himself in the nursery busi- ness, in which he built up a successful enter- prise, becoming one of the representative busi- ness men of the city. He is now living vir- tually retired in this city, where he is held in high regard by all who know him. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Cath- olic church and in politics he gives his alle- giance to the Democratic party.
The present mayor of Painesville secured his early educational training in the parochial schools of St. Mary's church in Painesville and in the public schools of this city. He was graduated in the high school as a member of the Class of 1899, and then was matriculated in the law department of historic old Western Reserve University, in the city of Cleveland, in which he was graduated in 1902 and from which he received his well earned degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the bar of his native state in June, immediately following his graduation, and since that time has been engaged in the active practice of his profession in Painesville, where he soon proved his powers as an able trial lawyer and well fortified counselor. He now has a substantial clientage of representative order and is distinc- tively popular among his professional con- freres.
In politics, where national and state issues are involved, Mr. Nolan is arrayed as a stanch supporter of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor, but in local affairs he maintains an independ- ent attitude. He has been a delegate to the state conventions of his party in Ohio, and was for three years clerk of the board of elec- tions for Lake county. He also served about three years in the office of justice of the peace, and in 1905 he was elected mayor of Paines- ville, giving. so acceptable an administration of the municipal government that he was chosen as his own successor at the expiration of his first term, without opposition. He is essen- tially progressive in his policy as mayor and has done much to further the civic and ma-
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