USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 90
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In 1877 Mr. Fisher entered into partnership with Henry A. Stanley and they engaged in contracting for mason work and the building of sewers, under the firm name of Fisher & Stanley. In this connection Mr. Fisher com- pleted the mason work of the central viaduct and all other bridges over the Cuyahoga river in Cleveland, and the partnership alliance con- tinued until 1891, when it was dissolved by mutual consent. Within the intervening years the firm filled many large and important con- tracts and their success was on a parity with the high reputation maintained in the matter of fidelity to contract and ability in handling all details of the assigned work. They con- structed the heaviest masonry on the lines of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Rail- road : built about one and one-half miles of way locks on the Ohio & Pennsylvania canal : constructed the Kingsbury viaduct in Cleve- land, as well as the Main street bridge and the lower central-way and Columbus street bridges across the river in that city : and did a large amount of railroad contracting in their special line, for various railroads. They also built the Cherry street bridge across the Maumee river. in the city of Toledo, and they were numbered among the leading mason contractors in the state. After the dissolution of the partner- ship Mr. Fisher continued operations as a con- tractor in an individual way for one year, and he then admitted to partnership his cousin. Chester G. Fisher, with whom he was there- after associated, under the firm name of Fisher & Fisher, until 1903. when they disposed of
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their business to Isaac D. Tuttle, of Kent, Ohio. Since that time the subject of this re- view has lived retired from active business, after a career of signal success in his chosen field of endeavor and one marked by the most impregnable integrity of purpose.
In the year 1881 Mr. Fisher purchased five acres of land in the village of Windham, where he erected the commodious and attractive resi- dence which has since constituted the family home. Though retired from the more strenu- ous affairs of business Mr. Fisher is by no means inactive, for he has important capital- istic interests which place ample demands upon his time and attention. He is president and general manager of the Windham Telephone Company, a member of the directorate of the First National Bank of Newton Falls, Trum- bull county, and a director of the J. F. Byers Machine Company, of Ravenna, the judicial center and metropolis of his native county. He is also a stockholder in many other bank- ing institutions and industrial concerns.
Mr. Fisher has ever stood exponent of liber- ality and public spirit as a citizen, and has shown a lively interest in the wellbeing, of his attractive little home town. In politics he is aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and he served six years as trustee of Windham township, eight years as a member of the board of education of Windham, and five years as mayor of his home town, of whose council he has been a member during practically the entire period of his resi- dence here. He is affiliated with Garrettsville Lodge No. 246. Free and Accepted Masons ; Silver Creek Chapter No. 144, Royal Arch Masons; Warren Commandery No. 19, Knights Templar : Al Koran Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in the city of Cleveland; and the Windham lodge of the Knights of Pythias.
On December 24. 1868, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Fisher to Miss Hannah E. Morgan, who was born in Paris township, Portage county, Ohio, April 23, 1849, and who is a daughter of Reese and Margaret (Davis) Morgan, who were pioneers of this township. Reese Morgan was born January 2, 1810, and his wife was born in 1817. Mr. Morgan was born in the southern part of Wales and came to America when a young man. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher became the parents of three children, of whom the first born, Fannie G., died at the age of three and one-half years; Arabella is the wife of Henry Herbert, cashier of the First
National Bank of Newton Falls, Trumbull county ; and Maud died at the age of fifteen years.
OLIN FISK BRADFORD, of Ravenna, and dur- ing many years one of the prominent and well known agriculturists of Portage county, was born in Newburg, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, September 4, 1846, a son of Grafton and Char- lain (Rice) Bradford, and a grandson on the paternal side of Pardon Bradford, all of whom were born in Massachusetts, the parents in Hampshire, and they were the only ancestors of Olin F. of this review to come to the West- ern Reserve. They were married in their native commonwealth of Massachusetts, and in 1838 or about that year journeyed via the overland and water route to this then far western coun- try. Reaching Newburg in Cuyahoga county they purchased land and resided there for ten years, and then selling their possessions there , they came to the northeastern part of Ravenna township and purchased another farm. There they lived and labored until called to their final reward, Mr. Bradford dying on November 7. 1879, when seventy-two years of age, and his wife survived until October 2, 1888, dying at the age of seventy-nine years. There were five children in their family: Sarah J., deceased ; Lewis, who died at the age of four years ; Har- land P., also deceased ; Olin F., mentioned be- low ; and Ella, who was born on December 25. 1849, became the wife of Professor Harding and died in 1894.
Olin F. Bradford attended the district schools and the Ravenna high school, and he remained at home with his parents until thirty years of age. He married at the age of twenty- four and later purchased a farm a mile and a half north of Charlestown Center, which joined the former home of his wife, and there he lived for twenty years. From that time until the fall of 1908 they were residents of Charlestown township, and then selling his land he moved to Ravenna and bought the old historic house built in 1822 for the Rev. Charles B. Stores, the first pastor of the Ravenna Congregational church, and who afterward became the first president of the Western Reserve College at Hudson. It was also in this famous old home- stead that Salmon P. Chase and Joshua R. Giddings and other prominent men of those days met and formed the essential principles which were later adopted by the party of Lin- coln and liberty. In truth this home of old and honorable lineage may rightly be revered as the
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birthplace of the Republican party in Ohio. General Louis Kossuth was at one time a guest within its walls, through the hospitality of its former owner, the late Captain Isaac Brayton, himself of high political and judicial position and one of the counselors of Chase and Gid- dings .. Captain Brayton's daughter, the late Mary A. Woodbridge, of world-wide fame in Women's Christian Temperance Union circles, was mistress of its hearth for many years, and from this famous old mansion both she and her husband were borne to their last resting place, she in 1894 and he in 1903. - The house has long been equipped with a hot air furnace and natural gas, which was burned in old-fashioned grates, and Mr. Bradford has added a large front porch thereto and has also modernized the interior. He was elected an infirmary di- rector in the fall of 1905 and re-elected in 1908, was for two terms the trustee of Charlestown township and also served as a real estate asses- sor for the same township.
On December 25, 1870, Mr. Bradford was married to Edith Amelia Coe, who was born in Charlestown township, Portage county, De- cember 10, 1851. Her father, Jacob L. Coe, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as were also his parents, Claudius and Nancy (Emery) Coe. Jacob L. Coe, born on July 22. 1816, came with his parents to Charlestown township, Portage county, Ohio, in 1820, and he spent the remainder of his life there and died on October 10, 1894. He first married Liddia Brown, of Butler, Pennsylvania, and she died May 28, 1848, at the age of twenty- eight years. He then married in Charlestown township on July 10, 1849, Ann Jenette Knapp, who was born in the township February 26, 1825. a daughter of Ezra and Lydia (Witherell) Knapp, who were born in North- ampton, Massachusetts. They came with ox teams by way of Buffalo, New York, where they could then buy land for three dollars an acre, to Charlestown township, Portage county, in 1805, and both died on their farm there. Mrs. Coe lived on the old Coe farm for two years after her husband's death, and has since lived with her daughter, Mrs. Bradford. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Bradford are: Ly- man Coe, born on October 22, 1871, died on November 3, 1880; Byron Grafton, born Octo- ber 9, 1873, is farming in Ravenna township; and Lila Coe, born June 17, 1882, is the wife of William A. Abbott, the superintendent of the concrete block plant at Nottingham, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Bradford are both mem-
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mrs. Coe is also a member of that faith.
CHARLES M. TAYLOR, a venerable and re- spected resident of Mantua, Portage county, and a veteran agriculturist as well, Charles Mix Taylor is a worthy representative of one of the prominent pioneers of the Western Re- serve, and for nearly four score years has been conspicuously identified with its agricultural progress and prosperity. A son of Hezron Taylor, he was born September II, 1818, in Suffield, Connecticut, which was the home of his ancestors for several generations. He is lineally descended from one of two brothers, printers by trade, who emigrated from Eng- land to this country in colonial times, settling permanently in Connecticut. His grandfather, Thaddeus Taylor, spent his entire life in Suf- field. Gad Taylor was the wealthiest merchant in Hartford and Connecticut.
Hezron Taylor was born in the above mnen- tioned town in the year 1796, his special birth- place being the old tavern on Main street which has for centuries defied the ravages of time and the elements. In 1816 he married Miss Mary Ann Mix, daughter of Rev. Joseph Mix, of New Haven. In 1831 Hezron Taylor came with his family to Ohio, locating in that part of Mantua afterward known as Cobbs Corners. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812 and took an active part in the attack on New London, Connecticut. To Hezron Taylor and wife were born the following chil- dren: Charles Mix Taylor, September II, 1818; Joseph Mix Taylor, July 22, 1825 ; Mary Ann Taylor. 1826 (died in 1828) ; Antoinette Hubbell Taylor, 1829; and Andrew Hezron Taylor, May I, 1833.
When a lad of thirteen years, Charles Mix Taylor came with his parents to Ohio, by way of the Erie canal and the lake, leaving Con- necticut on September 10, 1831. The father had intended to leave the boat at Newport, but on account of a severe storm went to Salem, where he took a conveyance to Char- don, his destination. During the ensuing three weeks the family remained at the home of David Cobb, who advised the father to buy the land now included in Mr. Taylor's farm, as it could be purchased cheaper than any simi- lar piece of property in the vicinity. He there- fore purchased the fifty-two and a half acres, from which he cleared and improved a good estate. Charles Mix, being an intelligent boy, keenly observant of everything about him, re-
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membered well the vast numbers of black squirrels seen on the way from the lake port to Chardon, and often recalled that when the family settled at Mantua game of all kinds was so abundant as to furnish new settlers with all the meat food they required.
Leaving school when he was seventeen years old, Charles M. Taylor found employment as a clerk in a store at Mantua Corners, but during the following summer was called home to assist his father in building the present sub- stantial farm house. He subsequently worked as a carpenter and joiner for fifteen years and then turned his attention to agriculture. Suc- ceeding to the ownership of the home farm, he has managed it so successfully that his skill and ability as a general farmer are fully recog- nized. He has also erected two saw mills and, in addition to lumbering, has for fifty years been engaged in the manufacture of cheese boxes, which have a ready sale throughout the Western Reserve. On September 10, 1840, at the age of twenty-two years, Mr. Taylor mar- ried Miss Sabrina Day, the ceremony being performed in Mantua by Elder Moulton. Mrs. Taylor was born April 19, 1819, daughter of Alfred and Lydia (Calkins) Day, who came to the Western Reserve from Massachusetts just after their marriage, spending their last years at Pittsfield, Ohio, and Castle Rock, Minnesota. Mr. Day, who reached the re- markable age of ninety-nine years, was born in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, on May 20, 1794, and was married to Lydia Calkins Au- gust 20, 1815. In 1818 they came by ox team to Mantua, their second son accompanying them (the elder had died in Massachusetts), and cleared and cultivated their forest home- stead in these western wilds. As stated, Mr. Day spent the first years of his western life as a resident of what is now Mantua. In 1850 he moved to Pittsfield, Lorain county, Ohio, and after residing there for ten years made his home at Castle Rock, Minnesota, where he spent the remainder of his patri- archal life. Both Mr. and Mrs. Day were born, reared and educated at Wilbraham, Mas- sachusetts, and Mr. Day's father, Alvin, was also a native of that place. The latter mar- ried Temperance Snow. The grandfather was Adonijah, a native of Colebrook, Con- necticut, and the great-grandfather, Robert, was brought over from England in 1634 as a passenger of the bark "Elizabeth." The ten children born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Day were as follows: Ditus, born October 10, 1817, who married Cordelia Bis-
sell, of Aurora; Sabrina, born April 19, 1819; Denison, born January 13, 1821, who died March 14, 1823; Temperance, born December 14, 1822, who became the wife of Jonathan Parks, of Chardon; Lucia, born January 19, 1826, who became Mrs. Schuyler Hendricks, also of Chardon; Aradne, born June 19, 1828, who married Edward Osborn, of Chardon ; Esther, born March 24, 1830, who became Mrs. Robert Willard, of Munson, Ohio; Sarah, born March 6, 1832, who married Steven Car- ter, of Oberlin ; Alfred A., born May 29, 1834, who wedded Laura Judd, and Levi E., born in December, 1837, who married Ellen Mills, and resided at Pittsfield, Ohio. All of these children were married on the Western Re- serve and five of them died there; and it may be added that they themselves became the par- ents of thirty-five children.
Six children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Taylor, namely: Henry Charles, Laura Melissa, Lusira V., Lillian Esther, Herman Hezron and Herbert Thad- deus. Henry C. Taylor, the eldest child, was born May 8, 1842, and spent his busy life in operating a saw mill and dealing in lumber. He was married October 16, 1875, to Emma Folder, and they had one child, Merton, born October 17, 1876. The father died June 19, 1904. Laura M. Taylor was born February 22, 1845; married John Muscell, a Canadian cheese maker, in November, 1867, and died January 25, 1898, mother of the following : Charles, born November 5, 1868, and Arthur, born November 28, 1871. On August 18, 1866, Lusira V. Taylor married William J. Fisher, a farmer, of Mantua, who was born in York state September 16, 1846, and died September 30, 1885. She herself was born April 10, 1847, and has become the mother of the following: Emma Stella, born December 12, 1868, and died August 30, 1894 ; Clara Bell, who was born December 10, 1870, and died June 29, 1871 ; Nellie Adele, born July 6, 1871 ; and Burt William, born April 28, 1878. Nellie A. Fisher married Alvin Burk in 1889. and died at Mantua May 23, 1894, mother of Forrest Burk (born August 16, 1890). Burt W. Fisher was married December 24, 1905, to Josephine Van Nostrum, and they have two children: Coyla Marvel, born July 26, 1906, and Lyle William, born March 5, 1909. Mrs. Sabrina D. Taylor died March 26, 1854, while yet a comparatively young woman.
Mr. Taylor married for his second wife, October 23, 1856, Clarissa Parker, who was born in Mantua March 20, 1827, and they
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became the parents of eight children, as fol- low's : William Charles, Edd, Charles, Ezra B., Frank H., Mary Ann, Martha B. and John J. Taylor. William C. was born August 12, 1857, and is a farmer at Bainbridge, Ohio. On October 25, 1882, he married Mary Kings- ley. born September 26, 1856, and they have one daughter, Vera May. The latter was born September 4. 1883, and on December 24, 1902, was married to Thurston Taylor by Rev. McKee, of Aurora. They have had one child. Olive Gertrude, born July 1, 1905. Thurston Taylor is a native of Hiram, Ohio, born Sep- tember 16, 1875. Edd Taylor, the second born to Charles M. Taylor's second marriage, had as his natal day February 1, 1859, and is a farmer, of Russell, Ohio. On May 20, 1891, he was married to Miss Nellie Andrus, at Cleveland. The wife was born at Courtland, Ohio, on August 29, 1866. Charles Taylor, the third child of Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Taylor, was born August 28, 1860: is a Bain- bridge (Ohio) farmer, and April 27, 1882, married Miss Laura Alice Kingsley, the cere- mony being performed at Bainbridge by Rev. A. J. Hyatt. His wife is a native of Bain- bridge, born April 8, 1864, and has borne him Clell Kingsley Taylor, November 7, 1890; Clem Charles, February 22, 1892; and Lau- rence Will, who was born January 28, 1894, and died February 20, 1894. Ezra B. Taylor. who has been a street car conductor in Cleve- land for twenty-six years and is also a mer- chant of that city, was born December 25, 1861, and was married June 4, 1890, at Castle Rock, Minnesota, to Miss Pearl Esther Day, his wife's birthday being February 23, 1871. The children of their union were Douglas Taylor, who was born March 23, 1891, and died on the IIth of the following month ; Glen Ezra, born October 20, 1892; Lloyd Otis, born July 22, 1895; and Virgil Day; born Oc- tober 8, 1898. Frank H. Taylor, who is a farmer, was the fifth child born to Charles M. Taylor by his marriage to Clarissa Parker. He was born May 9, 1864; married Laura May Day, at Cleveland, July 2, 1895, and one child has been given to him, Gladys Louisa, August 27, 1899. His wife is a native of Castle Rock, Minnesota, born April 12, 1869. Mary A. Taylor, who was born September 5, 1865, was married in Cleveland, December 21, 1890, and has become the mother of Edna Lu- cile, born November 16, 1892, and Laurence Ellery, born May 29, 1895. Martha B. Tay- lor was born December 27. 1866; married Andrew M. Parker. in Cleveland, in the year
1890, and they have become the parents of the following : Paul Adelbert, born June 13, 1892; WVelden Manning, born October 6, 1898, and Dwight Dudley, born December 20, 1900. Mr. Parker is a street car conductor at Elyria, Ohio. John J. Taylor, the youngest of the eight children born to Charles M. Taylor's second marriage, was born April 6, 1869, and is engaged in the grocery business at Cleve- land. On May 12, 1891, he was married, in that city, to Miss Ida M. Trimple, of Solon, Ohio, by whom he has had one child, Blanch Isabel, born February 19, 1892.
HARRY C. HOLDEN .- From a long line of tillers of the soil comes a worthy representative of a sturdy ancestry in Harry C. Holden. He. too, is an independent farmer, owning a splendid estate of ninety-three acres in Charles- town township, Portage county, which he is cultivating to the highest extent. He was born here May 26, 1881, to John and Olive (Cur- tis) Holden, who were from Massachusetts. John Holden, however, was but a baby when brought by his parents to Portage county, Ohio, the family driving through with ox teams as early as 1826, and Joseph Holden, the grandfather, secured 1,000 acres of land here. John Holden became a farmer and stock raiser and prominently connected himself with the business life of this community. He first married Julia Brown, who died about forty years after their marriage, and he wedded for his second wife Olive Curtis, by whom he had three children. Julia, Essie and Harry.
Harry C. Holden, the oldest member of that family, married on January 10, 1903, Catherine Fulton, who was born June 22, 1882, a daugh- ter of William Fulton, from Monroe county, Ohio. The issue of this union is two children, Margaret and Mildred. Mr. Holden in poli- tics votes with the Democratic party, and Mrs. Holden is a member of the Congregational church.
SAMUEL D. POXON .- On July 1. 1887. Mr. Poxon assumed his present responsible po- sition of general yardmaster of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Painesville and Fairport Harbor. A vast amount of business is han- dled in the yards over which he has super- vision, and in the busier seasons of the year he has about 150 men and twenty engines under his direction. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad handles the huge tonnage of iron ore brought to the Fairport Harbor docks by the
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lake vessels, and also the coal shipped from that point to the various fake ports. In the summer season about twenty engines are kept in operation in the yards and in handling freight shipments from Painesville and Fair- port Harbor. All of these come under the direct official supervision of Mr. Poxon. The train movement in the yards of which he has control has increased fully 400 per cent since he as- sumed his present office, twenty-two years ago. The road was made standard gange in Septem- ber, 1886, and he has been identified with the operations in his present field since April of the following year, so that he has witnessed and aided in practically all of the development of the gigantic business handled by the Baltimore & Ohio system incidental to the yards under his jurisdiction. He is well known in railroad circles, enjoys marked popularity among the men under his supervision, and has the confi- dence of the superior officers, as is indicated in his long retention of his present position.
Mr. Poxon is a native of Staffordshire, Eng- land, where he was born on the 30th of Janu- ary, 1865, and is a son of Samuel and Cath- erine ( Kelly) Poxon, who came to the United States in 1867, when he was a child of two years. His father, a man of industry and in- tegrity, was employed as a laborer during his entire active career. He settled in Pennsyl- vania upon coming to America and there passed the remainder of his life, which came to its close when he was seventy-six years of age. His widow still maintains her home in Pittsburg. The subject of this sketch was reared to manhood in Pittsburg, and owing- to the condition of the family in a financial way he early assumed the practical responsibilities of life, having attended school only until he had attained to the age of fourteen years. He then became dependent upon his own re- sources, and for a time he worked on the Pitts- burg. division of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road, and there he learned the trade of tele- graph operator, at which he found employment on the same road when but sixteen years of age. He remained identified with the Pitts- burg division of the system until he was as- signed to a position as telegraph operator in Painesville. He assumed this position in April, and in the following July was promoted to his present office, when but twenty-two years of age. He has been careful and discriminating in handling the multifarious details of busi- ness committed to his charge, and is known as an able executive and effective disciplinarian.
Mr. Poxon is well known in business circles in this section of the state, and enjoys unquali- fied popularity in his home city. In politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party, and, while he has never been ambitious for public office, he served one term as city clerk, to which office he was elected on an independ- ent ticket. He has attained to high degrees in the York Rite of the Masonic fraternity and is an appreciative and enthusiastic member of this time-honored organization. He was made a Mason in Temple Lodge, No. 28, Free and Accepted Masons, of Painesville, in which he was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in May, 1888. In 1894-5 he was wor- shipful master of this lodge, and in the latter year he was its representative in the grand lodge of the state. He became a member of Price Chapter, No. 46, Royal Arch Masons, in 1888, and is still affiliated with the same in an active way. In the following year he took the chivalric degrees in Eagle Commandery, No. 29, Knights Templar. In his chapter he has passed the various official chairs, and he was its high priest in 1900 and 1909. He is a past eminent commander of his commandery, and is also identified with Al Koran Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in the city of Cleveland. He was a charter member of the Grand River Lodge, No. 321, Knights of Pythias, and was its second eminent commander. He attends the Baptist church, of whichi his wife is a zealous member.
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