USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 86
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SELDEN J. POTTER is numbered among the few remaining veterans of the Civil war, and he is honored not only for the brave and val- iant part he performed in the war between the north and south, but also for his sterling citi- zenship and honorable business career. Born on the 20th of August, 1840, he is a son of James B. Potter and a grandson of James Potter Sr., the founder of this branch of the family in Portage county. He cleared and improved his farm of 100 acres here, erected thereon a little log dwelling and other neces-
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sary farm buildings, and carved a home from out the wilderness for himself and family, which numbered two children. His son James accompanied him here from his native state of Connecticut, the journey being made with ox teams, and he was here married to Mary Hor- ton, a native daughter of the state of New York, and they began their married life as farmers on the old Potter estate. Two sons and two daughters blessed their union, Eliza, Selden J., Amelia and Cornelius.
Selden J. Potter was left fatherless when but a small boy, and he remained with his mother until he went into the army to fight for the north, entering Company B, Second Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, under Captain Smith, and left for Cleveland in August of 1861, while in the following December he went with his command to Camp Denison and participated in his first battle at Flat Rock, Arkansas. Going from there to Fort Scott, and thence to Columbus and Kenton, Tennessee, he took part in the battle of Knoxville, and assisted in driving the rebels out of Tennessee. After the reconstruction period he returned home on a furlough, and rejoining his command in Vir- ginia he served under Grant through the Wil- derness campaign, through Harpers Ferry into the Shenandoah Valley, where they drove Early from that part of the country, and then followed Lee until the final surrender. On the night preceding this event Mr. Potter's horse was killed while under him, and obtain- ing another horse, he rejoined his company in the valley, went with Sheridan to Washington, and thence back to Winchester, and, although twenty miles distant from the heart of that battle, he plainly heard the deafening roar of the artillery. Just preceding this event his company was charged by rebels, and they were obliged to charge through their infantry. He took part in the battle of Cedar Creek, and from there went into Georgia, thence to Peters- burg and on to Washington to participate in the Grand Review there. His command was then sent to St. Louis to guard against bush- whackers, and after a long and valiant serv- ice in the interest of his country and native northland he received his discharge in 1865.
Returning to his home in Portage county, Mr. Potter turned his attention to farming near Windham, where he conducted a tract of fifty acres, and then coming to his present loca- tion near Freedom Station, he became the owner of fifty acres here, ten acres of which he improved, and he has since been engaged in
agricultural pursuits. On the 24th of April, 1866, soon after returning from the war, he was married to Frankie Shurtleff, who was born June 15, 1839, a daughter of William and Emily Shurtleff, who were natives of Ver- mont. Mrs. Potter came to this county on a visit in 1865, and thus became acquainted with her future husband, and was married, their union having been blessed by the birth of a son and daughter, but the latter, Emily May, is deceased. The son, J. B. Potter, resides at Freedom. Mr. Potter is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he has served his township as a supervisor.
CHARLES W. PECK was born in Shalersville township July 26, 1856, and his entire life has been spent within its borders and he is now one of the most prominent and successful of its agriculturists. After his marriage he bought an improved farm of 150 acres in the southeastern part of this township, and with the passing years he has continued the im- provement and cultivation of this place, has rebuilt and remodeled its buildings, and has now one of the fine large frame residences and bank barns of the community. He follows general farming and dairying, and has a maple sugar orchard of about 600 trees.
Mr. Peck is not only a native son and a prominent business man of Shalersville town- ship, but he is also a member of one of its oldest families. His father, Burton Peck, born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, was brought here by his parents when a small child, riding in a one-horse wagon, and the family located on a heavily timbered farm. The senior Mr. Peck in time cleared and improved the place and became a prominent man in the township. Burton Peck after his marriage located one mile east of Shalersville, and remained on his farm there until his death January 30, 1890, when he had reached the age of fifty-six years. His wife, nee Arilla Chapin, a native of Port- age county, was a member of another of the early families of Shalersville township, a daughter of Edmond and Nancy (Nichols) Chapin, from Champlain county, Vermont. Mrs. Peck has continued to own the farm since her husband's death, and resides there during the summer months, while she spends the winters with her daughter, Nellie M., the wife of Dr. F. J. Morton, in Cleveland.
Charles W. Peck is the elder of their two
C. W. PECK AND FARM
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children, and at the age of twenty-five years, on the 22d of February, 1880, he was married to Hattie L. Hinman, from Ravenna township, a daughter of Ansel and Helen (Reed) Hin- man, natives respectively of Atwater and Ra- venna townships, Portage county. The two children of this union are: Warren, born on the 5th of April, 1892, and Gertrude, born March 29, 1894. During three years Mr. Peck served his community as a member of the school board, and he is at present a township trustee, elected in January of 1907. He is a member of the Ravenna Grange No. 32, and he is a Republican in his political affiliations.
WILLIAM T. COWLES .- A representative citizen of Painesville, where he has important capitalistic interests, though living essentially retired, William T. Cowles is a scion of one of the old and prominent families of the West- ern Reserve, and this also is true of the mater- nal line. He has lived in the Reserve from the time of his birth and has so ordered his course as to gain not only marked success in connection with the practical activities of life, but also as to retain at all times the inviolable confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He has thus maintained fully the prestige of the honored name which he bears.
Mr. Cowles was born in the village of Char- clon, Geauga county, Ohio, on the 18th of Au- gust, 1842, and is a son of Benjamin and Lodisa ( King) Cowles. His father was a na- tive of the state of New York and was a son of Elliott Cowles, who was a native of Con- necticut, whence he removed with his parents to New York state. He came in the pioneer days to the Western Reserve and settled in Middlefield township, Geauga county, where he developed a valuable farm and became a citizen of influence in his community. He died in that county when his son, William T., was a boy. Lodisa (King) Cowles was born in Geauga county and was a daughter of Samuel King, who was one of the first three perma- nent settlers in Chardon, where he continued to reside until his death. When William T. Cowles was a child of four years his parents removed from the village of Chardon to a farm two miles northwest of that place. This farm Mrs. Cowles had received from her father, and there she passed the residue of her life, having been summoned to eternal rest in 1876, at the age of fifty-nine years. Her husband died in 1885, at the age of seventy-four years. They were persons of superior intelligence and of
sterling character. They became the parents of four sons : Elliott, who died in Adams county, Iowa, was one of the pioneers of that state; Franklin, who died while serving as a member of General Garfield's regiment, the Forty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil war, was twenty-three years of age at the time of his demise; William T., whose name initiates this article, was the third son ; and Louis C. is a resident of the city of Cleve- land.
William T. Cowles was reared to manhood on the fine old homestead farm in Chardon township, Geauga county, and his early edu- cational advantages were those afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. He continued to be associated in the work and management of the homestead mentioned until he was thirty-one years of age, and in com- pany with his brother, L. C., settled the affairs of the estate after the death of their father. He then came to Lake county and took up his residence in Concord township, where he gave his attention principally to agricultural pur- suits for the ensuing fifteen years, at the ex- piration of which, in 1887, he removed to Painesville, in which city he has since main- tained his home. He is now treasurer of the Painesville Elevator Company ; vice-president of the Dollar Savings Bank, one of the sub- stantial financial institutions of the county ; and he is also a stockholder in the Cleveland Trust Company and a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of Chardon, his native village.
In politics Mr. Cowles is a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and while a resident of Concord township he was called upon to serve in various local offices. He is at the present time a member of the building commission which has charge of the erection of the fine new court house of Lake county, said commission comprising the three members of the board of county commissioners and four members appointed by the judge of the circuit court. The work is in progress, and the cost of the building, in addition to the finishing work, will aggregate $350,000. The fine struc- ture, under contract stipulations, will be com- pleted in 1909.
At the age of twenty-seven years Mr. Cowles was united in marriage to Miss Em- erett Hodges, who was born in Concord town- ship, Lake county, Ohio, a daughter of Joshua and Juliet (Vesey) Hodges, who were pio- neers of this county, whither they came from
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the state of Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Cowles became the parents of one daughter, Anna Lodisa, who died in Concord township, Lake county, at the age of eight years. Mrs. Cowles passed to the life eternal in 1905, at the age of fifty-seven years. Her memory is revered by all who came within the sphere of her gracious influence.
SAMUEL JAMES CRAINE, of Leroy township, is a native of the Isle of Man, and was born April 16, 1841. He is a son of William and Ann (Watterson) Craine, who came to Leroy township in 1842. They settled first where the Crane brothers now live, and ten years later removed to the adjoining farm, now oc- cupied by Samuel J. The house was built just before he came into possession of the farm. Here William Craine died, June 21, 1887, aged ninety-one years, he having been born March 17, 1796. He retained his faculties to the end of his life. He worked at his trade of stone- mason until an old man, and nearly all the walls in the vicinity were built by him; his farm was carried on by his sons. His wife died January 10, 1882, and the date of her birth was January 1. 1802. They had eight children, namely: William R., married Isabel Cowan; Eleanor, married John T. Cowan; John Thomas, died in his twenty-third year ; Elizabeth, married Gardner Wright; Edward H., died at the age of twenty-eight years ; Kate Jane, married Van Buren Brockway ; Samuel J. ; and Eliza, married R. B. Taylor. Of these eight children but four are living.
Samuel J. Craine lived with his parents until his marriage, and has resided on his present farm since. He is now the oldest Manxman in Leroy township. He is a Republican and served nine years as township trustee. He has been an active worker in the Northeast Leroy Methodist Episcopal church, the church at- tended by all the original Manxmen. He is a man of solid worth and probity, and univer- sally liked and respected.
the age of seventeen, and she taught school nineteen terms in the home district, until her marriage. She married Thomas Watson, su- perintendent of the Globe Ship Yard at Cleve- land. Allen Kermode, a boy who was reared by them, came at the age of nine years and remained eight years; he is now a carpenter living in Painesville, on Erie street. His sister, Belle Kermode, was three years old when she came, and she remained until she was grown; her brother, Willie Kermode, also found a home with these kind people. Fredrick Ker- mode, commonly known as Freddie, was also raised by Mr. and Mrs. Craine and is now married and lives at Rochester, New York, being a prominent architect.
PERRY SPERRY .- The farming interests of Ravenna township find an able representative in Perry Sperry, the owner of one of its valu- able and well improved estates. He is num- bered among the native sons of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, born at Springtown on the 18th of November, 1828. Joseplı Allen Sperry, his father, born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, was a farmer throughout life, and moving to Crawford county, Pennsylvania, about the year of 1800, he located amid the timber which then covered the land of that community. After a time he cleared his farm, but four years after the death of his wife, in 1838, he came to Ravenna township, in Port- age county, Ohio, and from here three years later he moved to Michigan, and died shortly afterward. Before leaving his native state of Connecticut he was there married to Ann Shu- maker, from New York, and her death oc- curred in the year of 1834.
Perry Sperry, the fourth born of their eight children-four sons and four daughters-re- mained with the Hotchkiss family in Ravenna township after his father's removal to Michi- gan, until his marriage in 1853. After that event he started on the overland journey with ox team for Michigan, and arriving in Clinton county he purchased eighty acres of timber land there, built a log cabin, and in time suc- ceeded in clearing forty acres of his farm. This property was further improved by a splendid barn, thirty by forty feet, and he lived on that farm for twelve years, lacking a few months, after which he sold his interests there and returning to Portage county, Ohio, bought
Mr. Craine married. June 2, 1869, Nellie A. Radcliffe, who came from the Isle of Man at the age of ten years with an uncle and aunt, to Cleveland : she was reared by Robert Cor- bett and wife in Concord until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Craine have no children of their own, but a number of children have called their residence home, and have been given all the privileges of sons and daughters. All were . a farm in Freedom township. When he left sent to school and well reared. Mrs. Craine's for Michigan his wealth consisted of a yoke cousin, Susie Radcliffe, came to the home at of oxen and $100 in money, but on leaving that
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state he had increased his possessions to $3,000. Purchasing fifty-two acres in Freedom town- ship, he sold the land six years later, and then for four years conducted the Babcock farm in Snalersville, a dairy farm. Next he bought fifty-two acres of land adjoining his former place, but this he also sold after four years; then for two years rented land in Freedom township, and at the close of that period bought his present homestead of seventy-seven acres in the northeast corner of Ravenna town- ship, thirty acres of which is under cultivation and the remainder is timber and pasture land. He is quite extensively engaged in the raising. of sheep, and another leading feature of his farm is its sugar orchard of over 600 trees, from which he makes on an average of 200 gallons of maple syrup each season.
Mr. Sperry married, on March 30, 1853, Ann Eliza Sweet, born in Edinburg township, of Portage county, in 1832, and they have had the following children: Ella U., who became the wife of Frank Dutter and died in 1905; Elida A., the wife of N. E. King, of Cuyahoga county, Ohio ; Elmer E., a resident of Akron, Ohio; Franklin P., of Garretville, this state; and Anna M., who became the wife of Robert Payne and died in 1906. Mr. Sperry supports the principles of the Republican party, and he is an active local political worker.
CHARLES D. KENDEIGH, a leading farmer of Henrietta township, Lorain county, Ohio, was born in this township, December 7, 1858, a son of Samuel and Jane ( Streckler ) Kendeigh. Samuel Kendeigh was a farmer and carried on a grist mill.
Charles D. Kendeigh attended the public schools, spent one year at Oberlin Academy, and from there went to Chicago, where he spent six months at a business college. After finishing his education he returned to his father's farm, where he resided a few years, until his marriage, after which he located on his present farm. He is an enterprising farmer and very successful. He is a Democrat in political views, and in 1898 was elected township treasurer ; he has also served ten years as a member of the school board, and at present is a member of the board of town- ship trustees.
Mr. Kendeigh married, in 1880, in South Amherst, Ohio, Ella May, born March 2, 1860, daughter of Luther W. and Ann E. (Reyn- olds ) Clark, the father being from Plymouth, Connecticut. Mr. Kendeigh and his wife have
been blessed with children as follows: Clar- ence George, born February 26, 1886; Earl Samuel, April 16, 1890: Nelson Clark, born September 1, 1892, died January 6, 1893 ; Min- nie Belle, born October 12, 1895, died March 8, 1896; Ruth Miriam, born August 27, 1899; Hubert Clark, born October 11, 1900; and Charles Ward, born August 9, 1902. Mr. Kendeigh and his wife are attendants of the Baptist church.
RICHMOND O. WHEELER .- Occupying a prominent position among the active and pros- perous agriculturists of Medina county, Rich- mond O. Wheeler is the owner of a well managed and productive farm in Lafayette township, his estate in point of improvements and equipments comparing favorably with any in that part of the state. The oldest son of the late Charles Wheeler, he was born Janu- ary 3, 1853, in Wayne county, Ohio, of English ancestry.
Born and reared in England, Charles Wheeler immigrated to the United States in the early fifties. After landing in America he came to Ohio, locating in Westfield township, Medina county, where he purchased a farm of sixty-five acres, and in its care was so suc- cessful that he bought additional land, becom- ing owner of 176 acres of choice land. En- gaging in mixed husbandry, he tilled the soil, and raised cattle, horses and sheep, continuing thus employed until his death, in 1885. He married Mary Ann Blizzard, also a native of Wittshire, England, and they became the par- ents of four children, as follows : Lovina, wife of Hibbard Offley, of Nashville, Michigan ; Louisa died in her ninth year; Richmond O., the second child, the subject of this sketch ; and Frederick B., a farmer in Lafayette township.
Passing his youthful days on the home farm, Richmond O. Wheeler attended first the dis- trict schools, subsequently completing his early education in a private school at Lodi. He subsequently worked on the farm ever since his school days. After the death of his father, he assumed management of the homestead, of which he purchased sixty-two acres at first, afterwards buying out the interests of the re- maining heirs. Mr. Wheeler is exceedingly prosperous in his labors, raising grain, hay, cattle, horses and sheep, being one of the ex- tensive live stock growers in the vicinity, and particularly a producer of fine coach horses, and has raised some of the best ever raised in the Western Reserve. His farm is well sup-
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plied with convenient buildings and all the ap- pliances for successfully carrying on his work after the most approved modern methods.
Mr. Wheeler married, January 25, 1887, Cora I. Nichols, a daughter of Lyman and Helen M. (Gates) Nichols, of whom a brief biographical sketch may be found on another page of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler have two children, Charley R. and Elon C. Politically Mr. Wheeler is a Republican, and, although never an office seeker, has served five years as township trustee, and for the past twenty years has been a member of the school board.
EDGAR WILLIAM MAXSON .- This represent- ative member of the bar of Portage county, established in the successful practice of his profession in the city of Ravenna, is a scion of the third generation of the Maxson family in the Western Reserve, with whose annals the name has been prominently identified for the past eighty-five years. The old state of Connecticut sent forth many sterling pioneers into her Ohio Western Reserve, and among this number were the paternal grandparents of the subject of this review.
Edgar William Maxson was born at the home of his maternal grandparents, in Troy township, Geauga county, Ohio, on the 3d of February, 1848, and is a son of William and Selina C. (Mumford) Maxson. The father was born in Colchester, Connecticut, and was a representative of a family founded in New England in the colonial era of our national history. He was a son of Joshua and Teresa (Smith) Maxson, and when he was fourteen years of age his parents immigrated from Con- necticut to the Western Reserve, where, in the year 1824, they numbered themselves among the pioneer settlers of Portage county. Joshua Maxson purchased an entire section of land in Hiram township, and from the prime- val forest he there reclaimed a productive farm, in the meanwhile having lived up to the full tension of the pioneer life. He became one of the influential citizens of his township and continued to reside on his old homestead until his death, in his eighty-fifth year.
William Maxson. father of Edgar W., was reared to manhood on the old farm just men- tioned, early beginning to contribute his quota to its work and duly availing himself of the advantages afforded by the primitive schools of the pioneer days. His rudimentary educa- tion had been secured in his native state. He
continued to be identified with the work and management of the home farm until he had attained to years of maturity, and he never found it expedient to withdraw his allegiance from the great basic industry of agriculture, in connection with which it was his to gain definite success, as one of the representative farmers and stock-growers of Portage county. He was given eighty acres of the old home farm, and to this he added by the purchase of a contiguous tract of forty-five acres. He de- veloped one of the valuable farm properties of the county and was known and honored as a citizen of unswerving integrity, superior mental endowment and distinctive public spirit. He continued to reside on his fine farm until his death, at the age of sixty-two years, and his wife passed away at the age of seventy- four years. In politics he was aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause of the Repub- lican party. He contributed to the develop- ment and civic progress of the county in which he so long maintained his home, and his name merits a place on the roll of the sterling pio- neers of the fine old Western Reserve.
Selina C. (Mumford) Maxson, mother of Edgar W. Maxson, of this sketch, was born at Milford, Otsego county, New York, and was a daughter of William and Susanna (Mor- ris) Mumford, who came from the Empire state to the Western Reserve in 1825 and lo- cated in Troy township, Geauga county, where the father reclaimed a farm from the wilder- ness, and where both he and his wife passed the residue of their lives. William and Selina C. (Mumford) Maxson became the parents of two sons, of whom Edgar W. is the elder ; the other, Victor R., is one of the representative farmers of Hiram township, Portage county.
Edgar William Maxson passed his boyhood and youth on the old ancestral homestead in Hiram township, and his preliminary educa- tional discipline was that afforded in the dis- trict schools. He later continued his studies in the old Western Reserve Institute, at Hiram, and eventually he was matriculated in both the literary and law departments of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, then, as now, the greatest of all the state universities, and in the two departments he prosecuted his respective courses simulta -. neously, a fact that indicates how marked was his ambition and how great his powers of ap- plication and assimilation. He was graduated in both departments in 1866, and received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of
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Laws. Prior to this, Mr. Maxson had devoted more or less attention to teaching in the dis- trict schools, and he was identified with suc- cessful pedagogic work for a total of about eleven years, within which he had been en- gaged as teacher in the graded schools of Springfield, Illinois, and those of Eaton county, Michigan.
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