History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 83

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 83

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terial advancement of his home city, to whose every interest he is loyal. He is a communi- cant of St. Mary's Catholic church and is a valued member of the local organization of the Knights of Columbus, in which he is now serving as grand knight (1909), besides which he is also district deputy in the order. The mayor was married June 1, 1909, to Miss Lillian E. Proctor, of Painesville, Ohio.

HENRY ANSON WHITE .- A prominent mem- ber of the farming community of Pierpont township, Henry A. White is widely and favorably known throughout this section of the county as an upright, honest man and a worthy representative of those courageous pio- neers who settled here when the country was in its primitive wildness, ere the wild beasts of the forest had fled before the advancing steps of civilization. He was born in Pierpont town- ship, on the farm where he now resides, July 2, 1869, a son of the late Stephen White.

Born in Litchfield, Connecticut, March 17, 1826, Stephen White received excellent edu- cational advantages, being graduated from the Elmira Seminary. He subsequently taught school a number of terms, working during va- cations on a farm, and subsequently serving an apprenticeship at the farming trade with a Mr. Maxim. Coming as a young man to Ash- tabula county, he bought fifty acres of tim- bered land from the Connecticut Land Com- pany, in Pierpont township, and cleared the farm on which his son, Henry Anson, is now living. The land, located on the old turnpike, was covered with a heavy growth of timber. which he subsequently cut off, clearing up the place and placing the land in a productive con- dition. He was a man of strict integrity, fair and square in all of his dealings, and exerted a wide influence in his community. He was identified with the Democratic party in his ear- lier years, but afterwards espoused the cause of the Republicans, eventually becoming an ardent Prohibitionist. He served as township trustee, as supervisor, and as school director. Both he and his wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Stephen White married, October 26, 1854. at Ravenna, Ohio, Olive Chapman, who was born June 27, 1829. a daughter of Hiram and (Morton) Chapman, of Paris town- ship. Six children were born of their union, namely : Mary, who died at the age of eighteen years; Ida M., who married William Potter, of Pennsylvania, died July, 1905, leaving two

children; Hiram Bentley, a minister, teacher and musician, blind from his birth, died in Conneaut, Ohio, in 1898, aged forty-two years ; he was a graduate from Ohio State Blind In- stitute, both in books and piano tuning, 1896; Ernest died at the age of seventeen years; Helen, wife of Theron Palmer, a farmer in Richmond, Ohio, has two children ; and Henry A., the subject of this sketch.

Henry A. White was brought up on the parental homestead, acquiring his early educa- tion in the district school. He subsequently worked for four years in the shops connected with the Nickel Plate Railroad. Two years after his marriage he settled on the home farm, where, with the exception of five years that he spent in Conneaut, he has since resided. being successfully employed in agricultural pursuits. He has added extensive improve- ments to those previously inaugurated on the place, his estate being now one of the most attractive in the neighborhood. A Republican in politics, he has rendered efficient service as school director and as supervisor, being ever active in public affairs.

Mr. White married, July 2, 1891, Mrs. Cora M. (Barnes) Stentz, who was born April I, 1871, at Cranesville, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Rev. George N. and Lucy A. (Kidder) Barnes, with whom she came when young to Ohio. After her graduation from the Bur- bank high school, she studied music at the University of Wooster, in Wooster, Ohio, and subsequently taught music for a while.

Mr. and Mrs. White have five children, namely: Paul P., born June 26, 1892, attends the Pierpont high school; Olive F., born Sep- tember 12, 1892; George W., born February 13, 1903; and Marion A. and Miriam E., twins, born January 9, 1906. Mr. and Mrs. White have been identified by membership with the United Brethren church, and are now members of the Grange. Formerly Mr. White belonged to the Foresters.

GEORGE FEICK .- Forty years and more ago George Feick, then a young man, first came to Sandusky, and since then as a contractor and builder, as a director of the Citizens' Banking Company, as president of the Sandusky Tele- phone Company and as a councilman for the city he has been an important factor in the development of the city, and no man who has ever lived here has been or is more highly esteemed or sincerely respected. He traces his ancestry to the old Teutonic race, and was born

George Reich

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at Steinau, Kreis Dieburg, Hessen Darmstadt, January 23, 1849, receiving there a common- school training and instructions in the tenets of the Lutheran church, into which he was confirmed in 1863, and during three years in his native land he served an apprenticeship at the cabinet maker's trade.

On the Ioth of July, 1866, George Feick came to the United States, and joined his brothers, Philip and Adam, in Sandusky, Ohio, and after working several years for the latter he formed a co-partnership with him in 1872, and this association lasted until the death of the brother Adam in 1893. These were years of well directed purposes and of splendid achievements, for in this time they erected many of the finest buildings of both Sandusky and Erie county, as well as those of other places, including the Tenth Ward school build- ing, the Erie county jail, a part of the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home building, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad stations in Sandusky and in Painesville, Talcott Hall for Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio, and the State Capitol building at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Since the death of the senior member of this firm George Feick has carried on its work in the same successful manner, and has erected several noted buildings, among which are the Law building of the Ohio State University at Columbus, Ohio, the Edwards gymnasium for the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, and various buildings in this city. He has also erected many buildings for Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio, including the Sev- erance chemical laboratory, the Warner gym- nasium, the Carnegie College library and the Phinney Memorial Chapel, and he has now under course of construction for the same col- lege Rice hall and the Men's building.

Mr. Feick was first married to Miss Augusta Ernestine Klotz, who was born at Dresden, Saxony, January 31, 1852, and she died on the 24th of December, 1888, the mother of five children : Emil Augustus, born March 20, 1874; Clara Sofia, May 30, 1877 ; George Jr., January 28, 1881 ; Olga Scholott, June 20, 1885, and Ernestine, December 7, 1888. Mr. Feick married, secondly, June 22, 1892, Minnie A. Klotz, and the only child of this union is Augustus H., born June 22, 1893.

Mr. Feick is fond of art in all its depart- ments, and possesses a fine artistic taste. Strong in his individuality, patriotic in his citizenship, conscientious in his life's work and always ready to lend a helping hand to the

deserving, and to do all in his power for the upbuilding of his home city and the perpetua- tion of American institutions, all this taken in connection with the sterling integrity and honor of his character have naturally gained for him the respect and confidence of men. He is what the world calls a "self-made" man, and his example is well worthy of emulation. . He is a Lutheran, a thirty-second degree Mason and a liberal Republican.

Emil Augustus Feick, the eldest son of George Feick, was born March 20, 1874. He received his education in the public schools of Sandusky and in the Ohio State University, and following in the footsteps of his honored father has become a contractor and builder and is engaged with him in business. He married Miss Louise DeLor, of this city, in 1900, and their children are E. Richard, born August 25, 1903, and Elizabeth Antoinette, born Novem- ber 20, 1904.

JAMES A. DAVEY .- Wide-awake, intelligent and progressive, James A. Davey, of San- dusky, holds an assured position among the active business men of the city, and is widely and favorably known throughout the length and breadth of Erie county as the representa- tive of the Ohio Farmers' Insurance Company. A native-born citizen of Erie county, his birth occurred August 25, 1846, in Groton township. On the paternal side he comes of English an- cestry, his father, John Davey, having been born October 4, 1823, at Lands End, England.

In 1837, when fourteen years of age, John Davey emigrated to America, and first lived near Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Securing em- ployment in the coal mines, he labored as a miner until receiving injuries that made him a cripple for life. Coming from there to San- dusky in 1839, he learned the shoemaker's trade, which he subsequently followed during his residence in that city. Preferring country life and occupation, he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, settling on a farm in Groton township. He married, in November, 1843, Elizabeth Palmer, who was born in Erie county, Ohio, and they became the parents of four children, namely: James A., with whom this sketch is chiefly concerned; Mary E., wife of James Anderson, of Huron, Ohio; A. Eu- lalia, deceased, married William Johnston, of Berlin Heights ; and John V., of Port Clinton, Ohio. Neither of the parents are now living, the death of the father having occurred May I, 1887, and that of the mother June.2, 1905.

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Obtaining the rudiments of his education in the district schools, James A. Davey after- wards continued his studies in the Normal Schools of Lebanon, Ohio, and Valparaiso, In- diana. Well prepared for a professional ca- reer, he taught school three years and then embarked in the insurance business, becoming one of the first agents in Indiana for the Ohio Farmers' Insurance Company, with which he has since been associated. Leaving Indiana in 1885, Mr. Davey accepted his present posi- tion as the company's representative in Erie county, and has since been an esteemed and valued resident of Sandusky.

Mr. Davey has been twice married. He married first, October 19, 1870, Sarah P. Glass, of Fremont, Ohio. She died July 2, 1880, leaving one child, Tessie E., who passed to the higher life May 3, 1885. Mr. Davey married second, December 18, 1882, Eugenia C. Dutcher, who was born in Oswego, New York. His time being fully occupied with his private affairs, Mr. Davey mingles not in politics, and has never sought public office. He is promi- nent and influential in Masonic circles, having been identified with the Masonic order since February, 1870, in the meantime having passed through the chairs of the different bodies. He is a member of Science Lodge, No. 50, F. & A. M .; of Sandusky City Chapter, No. 72, R. A. M .; of Sandusky City Council, No. 26, R. & S. M .; of Erie Commandery, No. 23, K. T .; and of Toledo Consistory.

WILLIAM HARVEY PIERCE .- One of the old- est and most highly respected citizens of Mantua and a veteran agriculturist, William Harvey Pierce is a worthy representative of one of the earlier families to locate in this part of Portage county, and as a life-long farmer has actively assisted in the develop- ment of this fertile and productive agricul- tural region. The descendant of a New Eng- land family of note, he was born, January 23, 1821, in Norfolk, St. Lawrence county, New York, a son of William Pierce. The emigrant ancestor from which he is descended came from England to the United States at a very early period, soon after the arrival of the Pilgrim and Puritan fathers, locating in New England, and from him many men of promi- nence and distinction have sprung, among others having been Franklin Pierce, the four- teenth president of the United States.

William Pierce was born in Wilton, New Hampshire, and there spent the days of his

childhood and youth. Subsequently moving to New York, he lived for a number of years in St. Lawrence county. In the spring of 1835 he started westward with his family, traveling with wagons to Ogdensburg, thence up the St. Lawrence and Genesee rivers to Rochester, New York, where they took passage on a canal boat for Buffalo. Buffalo Bay was then full of ice, and one of the steamers conveying pas- sengers came near being caught between the ice floes and carried over the Falls. At Buf- falo he and his family embarked on board the "North America" and sailed up Lake Erie to Cleveland, where William Harvey, then a lively boy of about fourteen years, was for two weeks sick with the measles. Again pack- ing his family and goods into wagons, William Harvey continued his journey to Brecksville, Cuyahoga county, where he lived for a year. The following three years he resided in Bain- bridge, Geauga county, from there coming, in 1839, to Portage county. Locating in Mantua, he resided here the remainder of his life. He married Rebecca Richardson, who was born in New Hampshire, and to them were born ten children, all of whom, with the exception of one daughter, Sophia, settled in this place, and here married and brought up their families. Sophia Pierce, who married Almon Lamb, moved just across the Mantua line, but still continued to attend the church at Mantua Cen- ter, and at her death was buried in the Mantua cemetery.

Joseph Richardson, father of Rebecca Rich- ardson, and the maternal grandfather of Will- iam H. Pierce, was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary Army, and took an active part in the Battle of Bunker Hill, on June 17, 1775, but, 011 account of the burning of the records of his regiment during the War of 1812, he never received either bounty or a pension for his services. He lived to the venerable age of ninety-seven years, while his wife, whose name was Drury, attained the age of ninety-five years.

William Harvey Pierce received the rudi- ments of his education in the district schools of Norfolk, New York, and after coming to Ohio with the family attended the winter terms of school in Bainbridge, and spent one term in a select school at Shalersville. Choos- ing for his life occupation the work with which he was most familiar, he settled on a farm which his father had rented in Mantua in 1839, continuing on it for more than ten years. In 1850 he purchased one hundred acres of

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wild land, lying about a mile north of Mantua Center, it being what is now known as the Spencer Heirs' tract, and there carried on gen- eral farming successfully for fifteen years. In 1865 Mr. Pierce bought his present estate, and in its management has been exceedingly pros- perous, his property being one of the finest in its improvements and appointments of any in the neighborhood.

Mr. Pierce married, in Newburg, Ohio, De- cember 4, 1876, Mary L. Root, and their only child, Gilman Richardson Pierce, born Jan- uary 6, 1879, married, May 7, 1904, Lucy Tinker.

MARVIN C. HALL was born May 24, 1867, in the home in Portage county, in which four generations of his family had first seen the light of day, and there he was reared to a useful and successful manhood. His first step in the business world was as a farmer, the occupation to which he had been reared, and later he became a general merchant and a local newspaper correspondent. He is a writer of ability, clear and concise in his statements, and he has followed this line of work for twenty years and more. During eight years he served as the secretary of the Charlestown Farmers' Association, and he has also served in a like capacity and for a like period for the Charlestown Chrysanthemum Association, and has served several years as assistant superin- tendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday school, Charlestown, and for five years has been superintendent.

Marvin C. Hall is of the fourth generation of the Hall family in Portage county, its founder being his great-grandfather, Timothy Hall, a native of Massachusetts. His son Sheldon came with him to this county in about the year of 1800, and by his wife, Eleanor C. King, also from Massachusetts, he had two sons and a daughter, Elenor, Curtis and Carl- ton. Carlton G. Hall became the father of Marvin C., and he inherited the old Hall home- stead in Charlestown township. He was a leader in the Methodist Episcopal choir here for twenty-five or thirty years, and about twenty years ago he built the pulpit in the church. He was a blacksmith and wood- worker, and he was also a member of the Hall Martial and Cornet Bands for many years. He died May 24, 1901. He is well remembered by the older residents of this community for his many beneficent public.

works. His wife bore the maiden name of Ellen Armstrong.

On the 28th of December, 1904, Marvin C. Hall was married to Nellie Somerwill, who is a native of the mother country of England. One child has been born to this union, Carlton Marvin Hall, born May 24, 1909, and is the fifth. generation of Halls to be born on the old homestead. Mr. Hall's sister, Hattie A., married L. D. Baldwin and they reside at Denaud, Florida.

CHARLES T. MORLEY .- There is special consistency in incorporating in this work, which has to do with the Western Reserve and its people, a specific outline of the history of the Morley family, with particular reference to the career of Charles T. Morley, whose name heads this paragraph and who is one of the venerable and honored citizens of Paines- ville, where he is still actively identified with business interests, who is a native son of Lake county, a member of one of its earliest pioneer families, a veteran of the Civil war, and a man whose course has been such as to retain to him a secure place in the confidence and re- gard of all with whom he has come in con- tact in the various relations of life.

Thomas Morley, who had served with dis- tinction as a soldier in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution, came from South Hadley Falls, Massachusetts, to Ohio in the year 1815, and made Lake county his destina- tion. He made the trip from the old Bay state with two ox teams, each of which had a single horse as leader. This sturdy veteran of the Revolution, who had been present at the sur- render of Lord Cornwallis, brought his little family into the wilds of the Western Reserve and settled on the Chagrin river, one half mile east of Kirtland Mills. His wife, like himself, was a native of Massachusetts, where the respective families were founded in the early colonial days, and her maiden name was Editha Marsh. He secured a tract of heavily timbered land, and forthwith grappled with the wilderness in his effort to develop a farm. The primitive log house of the pioneer epoch constituted the family domicile, and the vicis- situdes endured were those that fell to the lot of the average settler in this section during its formative period. He succeeded in reclaim- ing a considerable portion of his land and did his share in furthering the civic and material development of this now favored section of

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the historic old Western Reserve. He re- mained on the homestead until his death, in 1845, at the venerable age of eighty-eight years. Concerning his three sons brief data are here given : Isaac, who served as captain of a company in the war of 1812, finally joined the Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, whom he accompanied on their exodus to Utah, where he became an elder in the church and where he passed the remainder of his life; Thomas, who became a successful farmer of Lake county, died one mile south of West Mentor, at the patriarchal age of ninety-two years ; and of Alfred, the youngest, more detailed in- formation is given in a following paragraph.

Alfred Morley was born in Massachusetts in the year 1805, and thus was ten years of age at the time of the family immigration to the Western Reserve. He was reared to manhood on the old homestead, receiving such educa- tional advantages as were afforded in the primitive pioneer schools, and he continued to reside on this ancestral farm until his death, at the age of seventy-nine years. He learned the wagonmaker's trade and for many years had a shop on his farm. He was one of the founders of the Congregational church at Kirtland, in which he was a deacon, and he was familiarly known in the community as Deacon Morley. He was a man of sterling character, strong individuality and marked mentality, so that he was naturally a leader in local affairs. He married Miss Urania Conant, who was a daughter of Esquire Conant, of Becket, Massachusetts, and who had come to Lake county, Ohio, to visit her married sister. Here she was won by Mr. Morley, and here she passed the residue of her life. She died in 1852, at the age of forty- four years. Deacon and Mrs. Morley became the parents of five sons and two daughters: Alfred W., who served in the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war, is now in the Soldiers' Home in Dayton, Ohio ; George H., who served under General Hayes in the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, passed the closing years of his life in Grand Rapids, Michigan ; Charles T., the immediate subject of this sketch, was the third in order of birth; Emily, whose first husband, Charles Brown, was killed in a fight with the bank robbers at Coffeyville, Kansas, in the pioneer days in that state, later married a Mr. Hysong, and they still live in Coffeyville; Lewis A., who served in the Twenty-fourth Ohio Bat- tery, is now a resident of Onawa, Iowa;

Howard C., who was a member of an Illinois regiment in the Civil war, died in 1907, at Youngstown, Ohio, where his family still re- side; Elizabeth became the wife of William Whiting, and died at Whiting, Iowa, leaving a family. All of the sons were soldiers in the Civil war and well upheld the military prestige of their Revolutionary ancestor.

Charles T. Morley, to whom this sketch is dedicated, was born on the old homestead in Kirtland township, Lake county, Ohio, on the 15th of December, 1833, and after availing himself of the privileges of the common schools of the locality he was enabled to con- tinue his studies in the old Western Reserve Seminary, at Kirtland, of which his father was a trustee. The founder and manager of this institution was Asa D. Lord, an enthusiastic and successful worker in the educational field, who was head of the state asylum for the blind at Batavia, New York, at the time of his death. In his youth Charles T. Morley learned the wagonmaker's trade under the direction of his father, and he devoted his attention to the same the major part of his time until he was nineteen years of age. Thereafter he was em- ployed as collector in the south for a mercan- tile concern in West Virginia, and later was identified with a Cleveland concern engaged in the manufacturing of monuments and grave stones. He early became known as a success- ful salesman, and he continued with the firm last mentioned for a period of twelve years.

August 22, 1861, Mr. Morley tendered his services in defense of the Union by enlisting as a private in Company G, Second Ohio Cav- alry, with which he saw long and arduous service. In the early period of his enlistment he was with his command in the west, prin- cipally at Fort Scott, Kansas, and later he par- ticipated in Burnsides' advance on Knoxville, Tennessee. He was twice captured by the enemy. On the first occasion he was taken prisoner by seven Confederate men while he was engaged in a solitary foraging trip. With admirable courage and patriotism he gave his captors such an eloquent description of con- ditions in the Union lines as to cause all of them to proceed to the headquarters of his command and renounce their allegiance to the Confederate cause, to whose support they had been drawn by conscription. For this service he received special praise from the colonel of his regiment. On the occasion of his second capture Mr. Morley and a companion made their escape from their captors, all being

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mounted. The captors fell asleep on their horses and by careful manœuvering Mr. Mor- ley and his comrade gradually worked their way through the lines to freedom. This haz- ardous feat was accomplished at immeasurable risk of death. At the expiration of his term of service Mr. Morley received his honorable discharge. He vitalizes the more gracious associations of his army career by retaining membership in the Grand Army of the Repub- lic.

After his return from the war Mr. Morley again identified himself with the Cleveland monument firm, by which he had previously been employed, and he continued with the same until 1869, after which he was repre- sentative of a Massachusetts manufactory of lightning rods until 1874, when he took up his residence in Painesville, where he engaged in the marble and monument business, in part- nership with Peter Kleeberger. In the fall of 1876 he was elected sheriff of Lake county, on the ticket of the Republican party, of whose cause he has ever been a stanch advocate, and he remained incumbent of this office for two terms of two years each, in the meanwhile con- tinuing his interest in the marble works. Upon retiring from office he purchased his partner's interest, and thereafter Ensign D. Rich was his partner for a period of three years, at the expiration of which he assumed sole control of the business. He thus continued opera- tions until 1899, when John S. Warren was admitted to partnership, under the firm name of Morley & Warren, and this association still continues. Mr. Morley still gives a per- sonal supervision to the business, which has been built up to substantial proportions, repre- senting the leading enterprise of its kind in Painesville. He served one year as a member of the board of county commissioners, and he has served seventeen years as a member of the board of supervisors of elections, having first been called to this position when the board was organized. He held the office of trustee of Painesville township for several years, and then refused to again become a candidate.

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 83

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