USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 92
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(Snedley) Westover, of Litchfield county, and Amos and Mary ( Mallaby) Woodward, of Union county. In 1816 the Westovers mi- grated from Pennsylvania by means of an ox team and an old horse and settled on a tract of timber land which the head of the family had purchased, being located on the east line of Palmyra township and Portage county, and for many years cleared and improved it. Mr. Woodward came to Milton, Ohio, in 1840. In 1849 he moved to Palmyra township and set- tled on a farm adjoining that of the West- overs. After his marriage Mr. Westover bought a farm near the parental homestead, upon which his wife died in 1863 and he him- self in 1878. Of their two children, Ira was the elder and Irene is now the widow of Evan Jones and resides still in Palmyra township.
Mr. Westover lived with his parents until his marriage in 1874 and at his father's death, four years later, owned a good farm of sev- enty-five acres. He then inherited 150 acres of the paternal estate, and has since been one of the large and successful raisers of sheep and horses in Portage county. He is an inde- pendent voter, without political aspirations, and his fraternal relations are with the fol- lowing: Charity Lodge, No. 530, of Palmyra, F. and A. M., and Diamond Lodge No. 136, Knights of Pythias.
On September 9, 1874, Mr. Westover mar- ried Miss Alice Wilson, born in Paris town- ship, Portage county, daughter of Lester P. and Margaret (Beck) Wilson, also of that township: in fact, the Wilsons have been na- tives of this portion of Portage county for a number of generations. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Ira Westover were: Frederick, who lives in Paris township; Lester, a resi- dent of Trumbull county ; Frank, of Superior, Wisconsin; Margaret and Minnie (twins), the latter being Mrs. Stephen Harris, of Paris township: James, of Palmyra township, and Grover, who is living at home.
FRED. N. SMITH .- One of the important in- dustrial enterprises in the city of Elyria is that represented by the Garford Manufac- turing Company, which is engaged in the manufacture of automobiles, and of which Mr. Smith is treasurer. He is one of the pro- gressive business men of the Western Re- serve and is a citizen to whom is accorded the fullest measure of esteem in his home city, of whose council he is president at the time of this writing. He has done much to further
good municipal government and has also con- tributed his quota to the civic and industrial prosperity of Elyria.
Fred. Norton Smith was born at Mowsley, Leicestershire, England, on the 18th of Au- gust, 1848, and is a son of William L. and Juliette (Hamlin) Smith. His father, who died in Elyria on the 28th of April, 1902, was born in Laughton, Leicestershire, Eng- land, in 1822, and was reared to maturity in his native land. At the age of eighteen years William L. Smith came to America, and he first established his home in Avon, Lorain county, Ohio. Somewhat later he was matric- ulated in Oberlin College, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1847. In the same year he married Miss Juliette Hamlin, of Elyria, Ohio, and her death oc- curred three years later, when the subject of this review was two and one-half years of age. He is the eldest of the three children, and the only daughter died in infancy; his brother, William, is a resident of Elyria. In 1853 William L. Smith contracted a second marriage, being then united to Miss Frances Perry, who died in 1862, and who is sur- vived by three children: Frank, Mrs. Fred- erick F. Thomas and Guy. In 1863 the father volunteered as a soldier in the Civil war, but was rejected on account of physical disability resulting from an injury to one of his arms. He then left his farm at Avon and returned to his old home in England, where he resided until the death of his father, in 1868, when he came again to America. In 1871 he mar- ried Miss Kate Moody, who survives him, as do also their four children: Fern, Kate, Hazel and Charles L. From 1888 until 1896 Will- iam L. Smith resided in the state of Washing- ton, and he then returned to Ohio, passing the closing years of his life in Elyria.
At the time Fred. Norton Smith was abont one year old, his parents returned from his native town in England to the United States, and his early educational training was secured in the common schools of Ohio. In 1863, after the death of his mother, he accompanied his father to the old home in England, where he continued to attend school during the ensu- ing six years, at the expiration of which he came with his father to the United States and entered the latter's alma mater, Oberlin Col- lege, where he remained a student for two years. After leaving college he devoted one year to teaching in the public schools, and in 1873 he assumed the position of bookkeeper for the firm of Topliff & Ely, of Elyria. In
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1887 a reorganization of the business was effected, under the corporate title of the Top- liff & Ely Company, and Mr. Smith became one of the interested principals in the com- pany, of which he was chosen secretary and treasurer. In 1889 he became a member of the Garford Manufacturing Company, in the organization of which he was associated with Arthur L. Garford and Herbert S. Follansbee, and when this company was incorporated, in 1891. he became its secretary and treasurer. In the following year he resigned his execu- tive offices with the Topliff & Ely Company. In 1901 Mr. Smith became treasurer of the Auto & Cycle Parts Company, of Elyria, and in the following year, when the name was changed to the Federal Manufacturing Com- pany, he continued incumbent of the office of treasurer, which he held until 1905. when he resigned to devote his attention to the inter- ests of The Garford Company, the upbuild- ing of whose fine industrial enterprise has been largely due to his able administration and pro- gressive methods.
Mr. Smith is essentially a loyal and public- spirited citizen, and in 1907 he was elected a member of the city council, as representative of the First ward. He has been president of the council since 1898, and has proved a most able and popular presiding officer. He was for five years an active member of the Ohio National Guard, and for several years he was a member of the fire department of Elyria, during the time when this important branch of the municipal service was maintained on the volunteer system. In politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party, and he holds membership in the National Union and the Kozy Klub, of which latter he has been a member since 1883.
In 1880 Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Louise M. Porter, of Painesville, Ohio, and they have one daughter, Caryl Por- ter Smith, who was graduated in Lake Erie College, at Painesville, in 1908, and who is now studying music in Berlin, Germany.
AMOS CURTIS. - A resident of Pierpont township. Ashtabula county, for three score and ten years, Amos Curtis, a practical and prosperous agriculturist, has during that time witnessed many wonderful transformations in the county, the pathless forests giving way be- fore the axe of the pioneer, the log cabins of the early settlers being replaced by substantial frame houses, while the settlements made in the openings have developed into thriving vil-
lages and populous towns and cities. A na- tive of Knox, Cayuga county, New York, he was born October 8, 1836, and when three years of age was brought by his parents to Ohio.
Amos Curtis, Sr., Mr. Curtis' father, mi- grated from Cayuga county to Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1840, thinking by the change to greatly improve his financial condition. Hosea Curtis, grandfather of Amos, Jr., also lived in New York and migrated to Ohio in pioneer days. The maternal grandmother was a native of Ireland. Locating in Pierpont township, Amos Curtis, Sr., bought from the Connecticut Land Company a tract of land lying just across the line from Pennsylvania. He began the improvement of a homestead, laboring with diligence and perseverance, dur- ing the first three years working also in a saw mill. He met with good success in his agricultural labors, and on the farm which lie redeemed from the forest spent his remain- ing years. To him and his wife, whose maiden name was Roxie Allen, eight children were born, as follows: Phila, Lois, Andrew, La- vinia and Ambrose, all deceased; Amos; Or- lina, the first of the children whose birth oc- curred in Ashtabula county, born July 14. 1842, is the wife of Earl McArthur, of Pier- pont Center ; and Alva, born in 1846, died in March, 1878.
Growing to manhood on the home farm, Amos Curtis secured a practical common- school education, and as soon as old enough began assisting his father in his daily work. During the Civil war, in 1864, he enlisted in the Second Ohio Battery, Light Artillery, in which he served until receiving his honorable discharge at the close of the conflict. Mr. Curtis has since devoted his time and energies to the improvement of his valuable farm, which contains one hundred and forty-four acres of choice land, the greater part of which is in a yielding condition. He carries on gen- eral farming paying considerable attention to dairying, which is fast becoming a very profit- able branch of industry. Mr. Curtis is identi- fied with the Republican party, and has served five years as township supervisor.
Mr. Curtis married, October II, 1859, Jean- nette Brayman, a daughter of Harry Bray- man, and sister of Dr. Lorenzo Brayman, of whom a brief biographical sketch appears on another page of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis are the parents of four children, namely : Willard, born December II. 1862, married Danette Martin, and lives in Pierpont Cen-
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ter; Phila, born September 26, 1867, is the wife of F. J. Tanner, of Pierpont township; Jessie, born July 26, 1870, married J. Irish, of Conneaut; and Lena, born January 18, 1876, is the wife of Isaac Simons, also of Pierpont township. Mr. Curtis is a member of the Grange, to which his wife formerly belonged. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and Mrs. Curtis belongs to the Woman's Relief Corps. Both are faithful and valued members of the Free Will Baptist church.
ORRIN STEVENS, deceased, was during many years one of the well-known residents of Port- age county. He was born in Sherman, Con- necticut, May 4, 1821, a son of David W. and Nancy (Giddings) Stevens, who were also from that state, and the father was a son of Samuel Stevens, and the mother a daughter of Baldwin Giddings. During their later life the parents lived one year with the son Orrin in Palmyra township, Portage county, Ohio.
On the 2d of December, 1857, Orrin Ste- vens was united in marriage with Phebe A. Wheeler, who was born in Dover, Dutchess county, New York, August 8, 1830, a daugh- ter of Sebastian and Phebe (Wing) Wheeler, who were also born in Dutchess county. Her grandparents on the paternal side were John B. and Ruth (Sampson) Wheeler, from New York, and on her mother's side she is a grand- daughter of Thurston and Mary (Young) Wing, born respectively in New York and in Nova Scotia. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens were married in Dutchess county, New York, and came direct to Palmyra township, Portage .county, Ohio, but after twenty-seven years they returned to Dutchess county, New York. After spending two and a half years in their old home there, they came again to Palmyra township, locating on their old farm, and after one year they moved just east of the .city of Ravenna, where they bought thirteen acres of land. This little place contained a fine brick residence, and therein Mr. Stevens lived retired until his death, on the 15th of January, 1901, and there his widow yet main- tains a home, but lives with one of her sons in Ravenna. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Ste- vens was blessed by the birth of two sons : William W. and Thomas Howard, both in Ravenna. William W. Stevens married Ada Mott, and they have two daughters: Flor- ·ence A. and Fern Ethel. Thomas H. Stevens married Pearl Ann Evans, and their three sons :are Earl, Perry and Harold. Mr. Stevens
gave his political support to the Democratic party, and he served his community as a jus- tice of the peace. He was a well educated man, receiving his education in a Quaker school in Dutchess county, New York, and he was well able to fill the positions to which he was called in his lifetime. He was affiliated with the Baptist church.
ELIZABETH ASEVIA (PARSONS) ROOT .- One of the oldest living residents of Portage county is Elizabeth A. Root, and she was born on the same lot in Aurora where she now lives, on the 15th of April, 1828. John Parsons, hier father, was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and married Mrs. Amy Stewart Spencer, who had come to the Western Reserve with her parents when a maiden of sixteen years, the journey hither having been made in an ox cart. Her father was Alexander Stewart, and her grandmother was a member of a Carpenter family from France, where their name was spelled Charpentier. Amy Stewart was first married to George Spencer, their marriage having been celebrated in Aurora, this state, and they had two children. By her second marriage, to John Parsons, there were eleven children.
Elizabeth Asevia Parsons was one of these eleven children, and her educational training was received in the district schools of Aurora and in Windham, Academy, presided over by George L. Mills, and she attended that insti- tution for four years. This educational train- ing was completed when she was eighteen years of age, and two years later, on the 22d of November, 1849, by Rev. S. G. Clark, in her father's home about one mile southwest of Aurora, she was united in marriage to Charles H. Root, and their union was blessed by the birth of two children: Ella C., born October 19. 1853, and Lizzie G., born August 20, 1855. The elder daughter married Arthur C. Dow on October 12, 1876, in St. Louis, Missouri, the ceremony being performed by Rev. C. L. Goodell, and their only child, Florence Dow. was born September 7, 1877, and was married in Chicago, Illinois, on November 1, 1900, to Dana Estes, Jr .. and they have one child, Eliz- abeth, born March 20, 1905. Lizzie G., the second daughter of Mrs. Root, was married by the Rev. Dr. Roberts in Chicago, Illinois, to Leonard Wilcox, on the 25th of January. 1888.
Charles H. Root was born in Aurora, Octo- ber 25. 1826, and both his father and his
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grandfather bore the name of Jeremiah Root. This is another of the honored pioneer fami- lies of Portage county and the Western Re- serve, and thus Mrs. Root is connected both by birth and marriage with the first families of this community. Charles H. Root was called from this life on the 12th of December, 1888. dying in Georgia, although his home at the time of his death was in Chicago, Illinois.
WILLARD MAHAN is numbered among the few remaining veterans of the Civil war, and his military career during that strife is one which will ever redound to his credit as a loyal and devoted son of the Republic. He served throughout the entire conflict and participated in many of its hardest fought battles, includ- ing those of Pittsburg Landing, Stone River, Chickamauga, Kenesaw Mountain, and the en- tire Atlantic campaign. Returning home from the war he resumed his connection with the business life of Portage county, and has proved himself equally as good a citizen as a brave and loyal soldier.
Mr. Mahan is a native son of Portage county, born here on the 14th of September, 1835, to Nicholas and Catherine (Baker) Mahan, from Pennsylvania, as was also his maternal grandfather, Henry Baker. A few years before the war, on the 6th of September, 1855, he was united in marriage to Catherine Hughes, who was born in New York in 1833, a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Hughes, and their union was blessed by the birth of seven children: Mrs. Mary Curtis, Mrs. Anna Curtis, Mrs. Fannie Holden, Willard Mahan, Mrs. Hattie Fox, Mrs. Catherine Coe and Wal- ter Mahan. All of the children are married, but Mrs. Holden is a widow and resides with her father.
FRANK W. MARCH .- Prominent among the agriculturists, business men and public officials of Denmark township is numbered Frank W. March, a son of James E. March and a grand- son of another James March. This last named James March was one of the early farmers of Ashtabula county. He came to this state from Vermont. cleared and improved a farm here and fought valiantly in the war of 1812. He married Susan Potter, and they became the parents of the following children: Daniel, John, Christopher, Phebe, Polly, Susan, Eliza- beth and James E. Sallie died April 11, 1844, and Mary Ann died November 5, 1845.
James E. March was born on the 22d of
July, 1839, and he now lives in the city of Jefferson. In 1861 he enlisted for service in the Civil war, joining Company A of the Twenty-ninth Ohio Volunteers, and during his war service of three years he served imprison- ment for five or six months, and wounds in battle. He wedded Charlotte Crowson, and their union has been blessed by the birth of two sons, and the elder, E. Judson March, born February 16, 1864, is now living in Jef- ferson. He married Izza Brooks. James E. March belongs to the G. A. R., having joined i11 1877, holding continuous membership since.
Frank W. March was born on the 4th of May, 1866, and farming has been his life's occupation. He received his education in the Jefferson schools, and he later wedded Mary Herman, who was born June 12, 1872, a daughter of Matthew and Mary (Krouse) Herman, both living in Denmark township. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. March are : Charlotte, born February 29. 1895; Carl, on December 5, 1896; Elsie, June 23. 1898; Franklin, April 5. 1900; Herman, May 17, 1902; Hubert, December 5, 1903; Bernice, October 29, 1905; Helen, October 2, 1907 ; and Marian, May 24, 1909. Frank W. March is a member of the Grange and of the State Police. He is a charter member of the Den- mark Grange, and was made the overseer of the order at the time of its organization. He is well and prominently known as a dairyman farmer, his herd consisting of twenty-five head of cattle, and he was formerly a breeder of Short-horns. His estate contains 135 acres of rich and fertile land in Denmark township, and he has served his township as a trustee for nine years.
F. G. L. WARNER .- Three generations of the Warner family have largely contributed to the mercantile and financial stability and prosperity of the Western Reserve, and the broad sweep of their enterprises has carried their name for energy and ability into other states, both north and south. F. G. L. Warner, the widely known citizen of Painesville, is one of the leading merchants of that city, pro- prietor of a large department store, and is also identified with various bodies connected with the finances of the county and the city. He was one of the most active members of the commission which erected the new Lake county court house, and the last three mayors of Painesville have appointed him one of the sinking fund trustees of the municipality.
påMarch.
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The grandfather, Daniel Warner, Sr., was among the first to settle in the Western Re- serve, locating in what is now Concord town- ship, about seven miles from the mouth of Grand river. In 1842 he opened a large gen- eral store in Hamden, which so prospered that at the time of his death in 1873 he was a wealthy man. His four sons-Daniel, Jr., Martin, Asher and Field-inherited his abili- ties, all accumulating large competencies as general traders and cattle buyers. Field, the youngest ( father of F. G. L. Warner), was the last of the four sons to pass away, dying at Painesville in July, 1898. Field D. Warner was a man of remarkable physique and mental activity. In the early days of his business career he sent many droves of cattle from the Western Reserve over the mountains to Har- risburg and Philadelphia. He also became in- terested in some of the first oil fields opened in Pennsylvania ; at one time was associated with his uncle, Jonathan Warner, in the iron and steel business ; promoted a gold mine in North Carolina; was a large operator in real estate in Ohio and elsewhere, and in these ventures and numerous others demonstrated the Warner ability to "make things go and bring money."
F. G. L. Warner, the eldest son of Field D., was born in Geauga county, Ohio, in 1854. and in his early youth commenced to become associated with his father in various local en- terprises, as well as in others at Bryan, Burton and Cleveland. At one time they were part- ners in a North Dakota land syndicate. But quite early in his manhood the son's activities began to crystallize in the mercantile field and for seventeen years he was a tireless commer- cial traveler whose field was virtually the United States. This experience laid the foun- dation for his signal success as a merchant and for the facility with which he makes friends and raises up warm supporters. The sure hand with which he retains the fealty of his supporters rests upon his solid ability and integrity. In national politics he is a Demo- crat : but his policy with regard to Painesville and Lake county is simply to do all he can for their highest progress. Mr. Warner is a married man of family, his sons, Franz Jr., Wurt and Childs, promising to pass along the family name in all the luster of its honor and the vigor of its ability.
DAVID L. ROCKWELL, SR .- With the history of Portage county the name of David Ladd Vol. II-31
Rockwell was inseparably and prominently identified for many years, and through all the days to come shall there be accorded to him a tribute of honor as a man of high intellectuality, sterling integrity and pronounced business and professional acumen, and as one who contrib- uted in no small measure to the industrial and civic progress and prosperity of his native county. Many men excel in achievements along some given course, but to few is it given to follow several lines of endeavor and stand well to the front in each. In the career of David L. Rockwell, of this memoir, is given illustration of such accomplishment. As a lawyer he won pronounced prestige; as a busi- ness man he produced results of most positive character ; and as a citizen he exemplified the utmost loyalty and public spirit. He was a representative of one of the old and honored pioneer families of the Western Reserve, and it is most consistent that in this historical com- pilation he be accorded at least a brief tribute to his memory.
David Ladd Rockwell was born at Franklin Mills, now the village of Kent, Portage county, Ohio, on the 13th of May, 1843, and was a son of David L. and Mary (Parmeter) Rock- well, of whose four children-three sons and one daughter-he was the second in order of birth. David L. Rockwell (I) was a native of Connecticut, and the family was founded in New England in the colonial days, being of stanch English origin. Mary (Parmeter) Rockwell was born in Jewett City, Connecti- cut, and her parents were pioneers of the Western Reserve. David L. Rockwell ( I ) was a son of Harvey Rockwell, who immigrated from Connecticut to the Western Reserve about the year 1820, becoming one of the very early settlers of Ashtabula county, where he reclaimed a farm from the wilderness, con- tinuing his residence in the Reserve until his death. David L. Rockwell (I) removed to Portage county, Ohio, about 1835 and first settled in Brimfield township, where he insti- tuted the development of a farm, but in 1840 he removed to Franklin Mills, now the village of Kent, where he became one of the first business men and where he conducted a gen- cral merchandise store for many years. He was one of the leading citizens of Portage county, which he represented in the state leg- islature for two terms, and he otherwise wielded marked influence in the community which represented his home until the time of his death, which occurred in 1868; his wife
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survived him and was summoned to eternal rest in the year 1875.
David L. Rockwell (2), the immediate sub- ject of this memoir, was reared to manhood in what is now the village of Kent, and to its common schools he was indebted for his early educational discipline, which was supplemented by a course of study in Hiram College, at Hiram, Portage county. As a youth he as- sisted his father in his business affairs, but he early formed definite plans for his future ca- reer, taking up the study of law and making rapid progress in his assimilation of the minutiæ of the science of jurisprudence. He was admitted to the bar of his native state when twenty-two years of age. He forthwith engaged in the active work of his profession in Kent, where he continued in practice until 1878, when he removed to Ravenna, the county-seat, where he was engaged in success- ful practice until August, 1884, when impaired health rendered necessary his retirement from the vocation in which he had gained no little distinction. He had in the meanwhile identi- fied himself with various industrial and finan- cial interests, and to these he continued to give his attention until his death, which oc- curred on the 20th of May, 1901. In 1881 he organized the City Bank of Kent, of which he became president at the time of its founding, and when it was succeeded by the City Bank- ing Company of Kent he continued in the presidency of the latter, an incumbency which he retained until the close of his useful and beneficent life. He was also a stockholder in various manufacturing concerns in his native county, and he was a man whose course was ever guided and governed by the most inviola- ble principles of integrity and honor, so that he held as his own the unequivocal confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He was an active and zealous advocate of the principles of the Democratic party and was essentially progressive, liberal and public-spirited as a citizen. He was affiliated with Ravenna Lodge, No. 12, Free and Accepted Masons, and he attended and gave a generous support to the Protestant Episcopal church, of which his widow is a devout communicant. At the inception of the Civil war Mr. Rockwell ten- dered his services in defense of the Union. He enlisted in one of the early volunteer regi- ments raised in Ohio, but after a short period of service he became incapacitated by illness and was compelled to retire permanently from the ranks.
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