USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Memorial record of the county of Cuyahoga and city of Cleveland, Ohio, Pt.1 > Part 39
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C. H. Crall, the subject of this sketch, was reared and educated in his native place. During the late war, and at President Lincoln's call for volunteers, he enlisted in the First Ohio Light Artillery, and was mustered into service at Cleveland. His command was attached to the Army of the Cumberland, and their first en- gagement was at the famons Pittsburg Land- ing, followed by Stone River, and soon after- ward by the hard-fought battle of Nashville. During that engagement Mr. Crall was re- ported killed. When the relief corps went on the field to bury the dead, among the unfor- tunates was found a soldier with a part of his head shot away, and who was pronounced by those well acquainted with the subject of this notice to be C. II. Crall. His headboard was marked with that name, and when disinterred to be placed in the national cemetery at Mur- freesborongh, was again given his name. Mrs. Crall was informed of the death of her hus- band, and received the sympathy which was always extended to a dead comrade's family. Mr. Crall had two ribs broken by a shell at the battle of Stone River, was taken prisoner,
hanled through the Sonth in a box car for two weeks, finally arriving at Richmond, Virginia, and placed in Libby prison. Ile was exchanged a few months afterward, returned to his com- mand at Nashville, Tennessee, and served to the close of the war.
After following farming and milling in Lo- rain county, Ohio, for a time, Mr. Crall re- ceived the position of brakeman on the rail- road. Ile filled that position five years, was promoted as freight conduetor in 1872, and twelve years afterward entered the passenger service. While serving as freight conductor, six tramps attempted to capture his train, but failed to persuade the brave crew to surrender, even after Conductor Crall received a severe gunshot wound in the abdomen, where the bnl- let is still embedded.
Mr. Crall was married in May, 1859, in Rich- land county, Ohio, to Ellen Kemp Lambert, a daughter of George Lambert, who came to Richland county in 1836 from Frederick county, Maryland, his birth-place. He now resides at Shelby, this State, aged eighty-eight years. IIe married Charlotte R., a daughter of Daniel Kemp, a native of Maryland. Mr. and Mrs. Lambert had seven children, viz .: Elizabeth, Ellen K., Caroline N., Laura C., Mary, Juliette and William. Mr. and Mrs. Crall have one child, Ida M., wife of Oscar MeNalley, having two children, -Harry and Ethel. In his social relations Mr. Crall is a member of the G. A. R. Post.
G EORGE E. PROUDFOOT was born in Cleveland, Ohio, March 4, 1859. Ilis father was James R. Proudfoot, a painter, who came to this city in 1845. He was born in Dumfries, Scotland, in 1830, and was consequently fifteen years of age on his arrival in Cleveland. Ile married Marie Cannell and died in November, 1877. The children of this union were three sons, -Robert, George E. and James.
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George E. Proudfoot attended the city free schools till eighteen years of age, when he be- gan learning his father's trade. He followed it long enough to become an efficient workman, but quitting it at this juneture to begin, rail- roading. He was a fireman five years, first under engineer Charles Dodge. On receiving his promotion Mr. Prondfoot ran on the road until 1890, when he came into the yard, where he has since remained. As an employee of this company, Mr. Proudfoot is prompt, painstaking and industrions. His interest in the company's welfare amounts to a personal dne, which is recognized and acknowledged in turn by a grate- fnl company.
June 1, 1882, Mr. Proudfoot married, in Wellsville, Ohio, Ida, a daughter of J. T. Pros- ser, who came from Hancock county, Virginia, in 1847. He was born in Virginia and married a Miss Pickering, of Knoxville, Ohio. Of their four children, Mrs. Proudfoot is the youngest.
Three children are in the family of Mr. George E. Proudfoot, namely: Ray Starrett, aged ten; Marie Emma and Lucy II.
A R. BENNETT, one of the prominent young farmers of Mayfield township, Cuyahoga county, was born here March 3, 1870, the eldest son of George A. and Barbara A. (Berg) Bennett, and was reared and educated in this county. He was married Oc- tober 22, 1890, to Miss Hattie J. Thorp, who was born near Mayfield, Ohio, July 18, 1869, third child in the family of Warren A. and Cynthia A. (Barber) Thorp.
Reared on a farm, Mr. Bennett has chosen agrienlture as his ocenpation, which he follows on his wife's forty acres of choico land, well improved with fine residence, good barn and other buildings. The residence, a commodious one, comprising eighteen rooms, was built in 1893, at a cost of $4,000. It is provided with all the modern improvements and conveniences,
and, indeed, is one of the finest houses in the township. The barn was built in 1891, at a cost of $1,500.
Mr. Bennett's political views are in harmony with the principles advocated by the Republi- ean party.
E L. BETTS, a well known operative in the passenger service of the Valley Rail- road Company, was born in Wisconsin, September 22, 1857, and in his infancy he was taken by his parents in their removal to Iowa, where they located in Fayette county. In that locality he grew np to the age of youth, in farin labor, both at home and among the neighbors. At the age of twenty years he began work as a railroad hand for the Davenport & North- western Company, now merged into the Chi- eago, Milwaukee & St. Paul. Was a section foreman for almost a year, and then was brake- man on the same road, running out of Daven- port. One year later he was employed in Min- nesota in the construction of a narrow-gange road, with headquarters at Caledonia. In the spring of 187 he found greater romnneration in the Minnesota harvest field; but at the elose of the season he camo to Ohio. In looking about in Cleveland for employment he finally accepted a sitnation as driver on the Detroit & Fulton street-ear lines. Visiting relatives the next spring in Geanga county, he was persuaded to remain with them during the summer, in their employ. In the autumn he returned to the city and secured employment as a Cleveland & Pittsburg brakeman; but a few months later it was necessary for him to seek another job, and this time the Cleveland Nut & Bolt Works afforded him the means of sustaining life for half a year.
In the spring of 1881 he began work for the Valley Company as yard brakeman. In less than two years he was promoted as conductor, and in 1885 entered the passengor service, which ho has since followed, with but a few months' interruption.
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Mr. Betts is a son of S. T. Betts, an old Cleveland & Pittsburg engineer, who discon- tinned railroading in 1856 and went to the wilds of Wisconsin, where he took up a claim of land, about 1860. Enlisting in the war, he was attached to the Army of the Tennessee, and contracted rheumatism of a violent and persist- ent kind, from which he died, in 1883, at the age of fifty-seven years. He was buried at Battle Creek, lda county, Iowa. For his first wife he married Miss Helen Hathaway, a native of Ohio and of American parentage, who was the mother of the subject of this sketeh, and died in 1866. Subsequently Mr. S. T. Betts married Miss Scott, who was born in England and is still living. Their children were: E. L., and Mina, the wife of Charles Brower. By the second marriage Mr. Betts reared: Clara, wife of Frank Margeson; Mary, who married John Van. Houton; Lizzie; and Perry-all in Ida county, lowa.
Mr. Betts, the subject of this sketch, was married in Cleveland, May 17, 1882, to Miss Nora C. Keane, a Pennsylvanian of Scotch- Irish parentage. Her father returned to north Ireland for the sake of his health, leaving here his two eldest children,-Roger, of Philadel- phia, and Nora C., now Mrs. Betts. The other children, seven in number, are coming to this country, one after another. Mr. and Mrs. Betts' children are: Blanche, aged ten years; and Edmond L., Jr., aged five.
Mr. Betts is a Red Cross K. of P. and a member of the O. R. C.
S AMUEL C. BLAKE, a son of the late John M. Blake, of Cuyahoga county, was born at Euclid, this county, Decem- ber 29, 1856. Ile received a common-school, academic and collegiate education, spending two years at Oberlin College. For several years thereafter he taught school, and in the year 1881 entered the law department of the Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, graduat- ing in 1893, with the degree of Bachelor of
Laws. In October, the same year, he was ad- mitted to the Ohio bar, and locating at Cleve- land at onee entered upon his professional ca- reer. Ile lias been associated with J. A. Smith in the practice of his profession since 1886.
As a lawyer Mr. Blake is osteemed, and is regarded by his professional brethren as a representative man in their profession. As a citizen he is no less respected and honored. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic order.
June 26, 1889, Mr. Blake married Mary A. Camp, daughter of the late Henry Camp, of Enelid township, this county. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Blake has been blessed by the birth of a daughter, Anna by name.
P HUGO .- Among the many engineers in Cleveland scarcely half a dozen are older in the service or as competent to manage the throttle as the gentleman whose name introduces this sketeh, his railroad career com- mencing as early as 1852, when he was em- ployed as a laborer in placing spikes in the construction of the track. When the road be- gan regular traffic he became a switch-tender. Some time afterward he was employed as fire- man under Engineer George Westfall on the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad, and during his service on that line his engine, the " Nashville," drew some notable personages through the country, as the " Swedish Night- ingale," Jenny Lind, and party, then on their famous tour of the United States under the management of the noted P. T. Barunm; also the body of the assassinated President Lincoln, the remains of Henry Clay toward the old domain in Kentucky, etc., etc. These events remind Mr. Hugo that a period of nearly three generations have been covered or connected by his services as a railroad man, and he may truly be termed a " veteran."
Mr. Hugo was born in county Wicklow, Ire- land, the home of the Sheridans, March 19, 1831. llis father, Patrick Hugo, a laborer,
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came to the United States in 1851 and died in Cleveland in 1580, aged seventy-nine years. Ile married a Miss Gallagher, and had six chil . dron, three of whom are living. Mr. Hugo, our subject, was brought up to hard labor to aid in support of the family, thus devoting his first wages at the early age of twelve years, and he has since carned as many dollars for the " Big Four" as any other man. He has always been in the service of either the Lake Shore or Big Four railroad. Besides his regular stipend he has received complimentary recognition as a faithful and competent engineer. He and his sons are identified with the B. of L. E.
He was married in June, 1861, to Miss Marr, and their children are: Patrick, an engineer on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad (the " Big Four"); Kate, the wife of William Burns; James, a "Big Four" en- gineer; Peter, a fireman on the same line; Mamie, Julia and Harry.
T HOMAS QUINLAN, a well known and efficient condnetor on the Cleveland, Cin- einnati, Chicago & St. Lonis Railroad, was born in county Clare, Ireland, June 29, 1847, a son of Thomas and Hannah (King) Quinlan. They had five children, only two of whom are now living: John, general yard- master for the " Big Four" Railroad Company at Cleveland; and Thomas, our subject. In 1851 the family came to Cleveland, Ohio, where young Thomas received a meager education. When quite young he shipped aboard the United States monitor, Kickapoo, which was to assist in blockading Mobile bay. After serving fifteen months, he left that vessel at New Or- leans in 1864, and then visited all prominent seaport eities in this and other countries. In 1871 Mr. Quinlan returned to Cleveland and engaged in railroad work, first as brakeman on a freight train. Five years afterward he was promoted to the position of conductor, and since 1884 has been engaged in the passenger service.
Mr. Quinlan was married in this city, in 1878, to Mary Ellen Lyons, a native of Dearborn, Michigan, and a daughter of Jolm Lyons. She died Jannary 14, 1892, leaving three children: John, born December 1, 1879; Frances, born in January, 1883; and Allen, April 12, 1889.
T HOMAS CARLISLE, the senior engineer of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad Company, was born in this city, in March, 1840. His parents were working people, and he was found performing his part in vari- ons capacities from his early youth. Railroad- ing attracted his attention as being a business offering greater possibilities for the same amount of labor, and Mr. Carlisle concluded to engage in it. Accordingly at seventeen he seenred a berth as road fireman for the Cleveland & Pitts- burg Company, his engineers being Sterns and Williamson. In two years he became an en- gineer, employed for a time in and about the Pittsburg yards. Since 1862 he has been a passenger engineer and for more than three years was on the River road; the remainder of the time has been put in between Cleveland, Wellsville and Pittsburg. Mr. Carlisle was three years road foreman of engineers, being appointed in 1883.
Few men have covered an equal distance in the running of engines. Ile has more than 2,000,000 of miles to his credit, has served thirty-six years withont interruption save when recovering from an injury, and has a large pro- portion of annual and monthly premiums paid by the Cleveland and Pittsburg Company for the most ceomical use of material in covering a given number of miles. Each of these checks for premiums was accompanied by a congratn- latory letter from the superintendent, express- ing his pleasure in behalf of the management for the results obtained, and the manifest inter- est in the company's welfare.
Thomas Carlisle is a son of John Carlisle, born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, married Agnes Chalmers, and came to Cleveland in pioneer
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times. For thirty-five years he was in the em- ploy of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Company, but is now retired. Five children were born in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Carlisle: Thomas, Jennie (deceased), Mrs. Nettie Bedford, Mrs. Annie Stewart, and Herbert Carlisle, a ma- chinist.
Thomas Carlisle is a Mason, belonging to Lodge No. 180, of Wellsville. Ile is unmar- ried and enjoys a popularity unsurpassed among his brother associates.
F RANK HELLER, yard-master of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad Company at Cleveland, was born at Alliance, Ohio, September 30, 1857. Ilis father, Henry Heller, was born in the province of Frankfort, Ger- many, and came to New Lisbon, Ohio, in 1849. Ile is a cabinet-maker by trade, and nntil 1885, with the exception of a brief period at Alliance, resided in New Lisbon: he is now a resident of Cleveland. Ile volunteered his services during the war, enlisting in Company K, Que Hundred and Fourth Ohio Infantry, and saw much of the hardest fighting of the war. Ile was attached to the . Tennessee Army, participated in the campaign against Atlanta, Georgia, followed Hood back to Franklin, Tennessee, and helped to demolish completely his army at Nashville. lle was discharged at Columbus, Ohio, in 1865, after serving three full years and being in nineteen battles. Mr. Heller married, in New Lisbon, Ohio, Mary Fingan, born in Germany and now living, at sixty years of age, sixteen years her husband's junior.
The subject of this brief notice left school at twelve years of age, and, conelnding he could do more and better for himself than was being done at home, hired ont es a waiter boy ou a gravel train. He worked as brakeman, wiper and fireman, beginning braking in 1871 on the Niles & New Lisbon Railroad. The next year he came to Cleveland and began working in the yard as brakeman. In 1873 he was made con- ductor, and in September, 1884, yardmaster.
In 1879, September 30, Mr. Heller married, in Cleveland, Miss Angie R. Osborn, a dangh- ter of Encas Osborn, an old resident of this city and a Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad engineer, who married Elizabeth Dodge, of Oberlin, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Heller are the parents of Lucy, Frank, Willis and Abbie.
C L. JACKSON is one of the well-known pioneers of Orange township. A resume of his life is as follows: He was born in Marrick, near Richmond, Yorkshire, England, July 11, 1823, a son of Row and Jane (Lonsdale) Jackson, both natives of Yorkshire. In 1835 Row Jackson and his family emigrated from England to America, sailing from Liverpool, and landing at New York city after a voyage of five weeks and one day. The names of their children who were born in England were as fol- lows: George, James, Michael, C. L., Jane, Joseph, Charles, Lonsdale and Row; and those born in this country, John, Elizabeth and Rachel, and one that died in infancy. Upon his arrival in Ohio, Mr. Jackson selected Onya- hoga county as a place of location and accord- ingly settled in Orange township, where he purchased two small farms, each having a log cabin, barn and orchard. He died here in 1859, at the age of seventy years. llis good wife passed away at the age of sixty-six. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were people of sterling integrity and were well known and munch respected. They belonged to the Church of England.
C. L. Jackson was just entering his 'teens at the time he landed in America. Until he was twenty-one he assisted his father on their fron- tier farm. Ile came to his present location in 1863, and as the result of his years of toil and good management he is now the owner of 248 acres of choice land, one of the finest farms in the township. His modern two-story residence, with its beautiful and attractive lawn, his ten- ant honse, his commodious barn, his well-enlti- vated fields and broad pastures, his lat cattle and fine stock, all these at once indicate the
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success he has attained and place him in the front rank among the leading farmers of the county.
Mr. Jackson was married at Sharon, Medina county, Ohio, November 19, 1851, to Hannah Bell, who was born in Yorkshire, England, September 19, 1830, and in 1833 was brought by her parents, John and Mary (Coats) Bell, to this country, their settlement being in the dense forest in Sharon township, Medina county, Ohio. Iler father died on the old farm there, at the age of fifty-nine years; her mother, at the age of sixty-three. They were Protestant Method- ists. They had nine children, two of whom died in infancy, the others being as follows: Joli, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah, Hannah, Metealf, Mary Jane. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have had eight children, viz .: John R., at home; Mary J., wife of Charles Stoneman, of this township; Prof. W. W., of the West Cleveland schools; Charles W., of Orange, Ohio; Perry A., at home; Anna B., wife of John Stoneman, of Phillips county, Kansas; Alva, of Phillips county, Kansas; and Callie M., at home. Their grandchildren number ten.
Politieally, Mr. Jackson is a Democrat. IIe was a Trustee of the township three terms, and has held other minor offices. Mrs. Jackson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
W D. FLEET, engineer on the New York, Pemsylvania & Ohio Railroad, was born near Jersey City, New Jersey, June 4, 1850, a son of Joseph Fleet. The latter's father, William Fleet, was born in Rhode Island, and emigrated to New Jersey abont 1825. Joseph Fleet was a farmer in early life, but afterward became a stock dealer of considerable note. He began the business with small capital, but, as profits accumulated, extended his trade into the Western States. Mr. Fleet married a daughter of Henry Warner, who was born near Washington, Pennsylvania. They have had three children, W. D., our sub-
jeet; John, employed on the Jersey Central Railroad; and Mary, at home. Mr. Fleet is now sixty-nine years of age.
William D. received a limited education in the district schools of his native State. In 1871, in response to a desire to see more of the country, he came to Cleveland, Ohio, where he met a former resident of Jersey City, an official of the Erie Railroad Company. Under promise of permanent employment, Mr. Fleet was in- dueed to remain in this city, seenring the posi- tion of locomotive fireman, under engineer Patrick Kelley. He was soon promoted to the position of engineer, and, in addition to that occupation, also takes Paymaster Grout over the Mahoning Division and its branches of the Erie Road almost every month. Mr. Fleet is a member of the B. of L. E., and has rendered service on the general adjustment committee for the Erie Company employees; and he is a member of Riverside Council, Royal Arcanum.
September 18, 1873, in this city, he married Sarah Jane Forbes, and they have had two chil- dren,- Mellie Luella, who died March 10, 1877, at the age of three months; and William James, born June 18, 1878.
N W. OVERMYER was born in San- dusky county, Ohio, May 23, 1852. Ile is a farmer's son, his father being P. A. Overmyer, a Pennsylvanian by birth, but for fifty-eight years a resident of Sandusky county. During the Civil war he was in the 100-day service. lle is now retired, at seventy- one, and a resident of Fremont, this State. Ilis father and the grandparent of our subject was Jacob M. Overmyer, born in Pennsylvania. Ile married a Miss Anderson and reared twelve children. By the marriage of P. A. Overmyer to Margaret Wagner, the following children were born: Mariette, wife of David Anxter, of Oak Harbor, Ohio; N. W .; Jacob M .; Isadore, in Chicago, Illinois; Abraham, in Fremont; and Abbie, wife of John Kalb, of Toledo. Mrs. Overmyer died in 1867. For his second
A. M. Gordon.
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wife Mr. Overmyer married Elizabeth Reed. Their children are: Lillie, wife of Harry Blanch- ard, of Cleveland; Susie, Ferdinand and Wini- fred.
At nineteen Mr. N. W. Overmyer began life independently as a day laborer on the section at Lindsey, Ohio. Hle built enlverts, worked on a gravel train, became freight brakeman, and in the fall of 1873 came to the Cleveland yard, where he set brakes, was yard condnetor, and finally in 1888 was made yard-master.
July 12, 1877, Mr. Overmyer married Lizzie Woodworth, born in Wood county, Ohio, in 1861. Their children are: Lillian May, who died October 3, 1893, aged sixteen; William N .; Floranee, deceased; P. II. and Bessie.
A LEXANDER M. GORDON, a well known citizen of Bedford, Ohio, and an extensive map and atlas publisher, was born at Methel, Fifeshire, Scotland, on January 29, 1842. His father was James Gordon, who was a native of Aberdeen, Scot- land, where he was born January 1, 1818, and was the son of Alexander and Allen (Minty) Gordon. The mother of Alexander M. was Betsey White before marriage, and was born in Kirkland, Fifeshire, Scotland, November 12, 1818, the daughter of Robert and Margaret (Shaw) White.
In 1842 James Gordon emigrated to America and located in Cleveland, where he engaged in work at his trade of stone entting and masonry, he having learned the trade from his father. Ilis first work in this country was on the dams at Chagrin Falls and at Bedford. In 1844 his wife and our subject joined him in America. They were six weeks on the voyage across the ocean, and a hard one it was for them, as the subject of this sketch, then but two years of age, was sick most of the time, passing through sieges of the whoopingcough and chicken-pox. They landed in New York on the 4th day of July, that year. From New York they pro- ceeded on their journey, going up the Hudson
river to Albany, thenee to Buffalo by the Erie canal, and then to Cleveland by the lake, con- suming seven more weeks, making in all thir- teen weeks that they were on their journey from Scotland to Cleveland, a trip that ean now be accomplished in less than ten days. Arriving here they went to the home of John Coburn, a Scotch neighbor, where they remained-until the following spring, and they went to Bedford, where they afterward resided, the father fol- lowing his trade, carrying on contraeting in Cuyahoga and surrounding counties. The par- ents reared six children, as follows: Mary, who died in infaney; Alexander M .; Ellen B., wife of John Cole, of Ames, Iowa, and mother of nine children; Lizzie, wife of Edson Salesbury, of Randall, Ohio, and mother of four children; Robert D., of Bedford, who married Lucy F. Morrison and has three children; W. O., of Bedford, a sketch of who appears elsewhere in this work; Louis James; of Bedford, who mar- ried Kittie Langhton and has three children; L. J. of Bedford, who succeeded his father in business and is an extensive contractor. The father of our subject was an ardent worker in the temperance eanse in later life, and was a man well known and esteemed by his fellow citizens and neighbors. His death ocenrred on the 4th of December, 1883. His wife was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, but after she came to Bedford united with the Disciple Church, in which she was an active worker. Her death ocenrred on the 20th of November, 1894.
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