USA > Ohio > Knox County > Past and present of Knox County, Ohio, Vol. II > Part 21
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Mr. Harter was married on October 18, 1877, to Flora Meeker, daugh- ter of James and - (Hetzler) Meeker, of Greenville, a prominent family in the public life of that city. To the subject and wife five children have been born, namely: Lowell M. is married and is engaged in the news- paper business at Canton ; Marian married L. V. Armentrout, of Louisville, Kentucky; James lives at Three Rivers, Michigan; George A. lives in Mt. Vernon : one child died in infancy.
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Mr. Harter belongs to the Masonic order and Joe Hooker Post No. 25, Grand Army of the Republic. He served as adjutant of the post for several years and he is the present commander. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian church and are active in church and Sunday school work. The pleasant family home is at No. III East Lamartine street, Mt. Vernon. It is modernly furnished and in it may be seen an excellent library where the subject is wont to spend a great deal of time, "losing himself in other men's minds" and keeping acquainted with current topics and the world's best lit- erature. He has always been a student and is therefore a scholarly and cul- tured gentleman, genial, obliging and hospitable, a man whom it is a pleasure to meet.
JOSEPH McCORMICK.
It is not only pleasant, but profitable as well, to study the life history of such a worthy gentleman as he whose name forms the heading of this bio- graphical memoir, the late Joseph McCormick, of Mt. Vernon, Knox county, for in it we find evidence of traits of character that cannot help but make for success in the life of any one who directs his efforts, as he did, along proper paths with persistency and untiring zeal, toward a worthy goal, having had as his guide through life, upright principles.
The ancestors of the McCormick family are of ancient Scotch lineage, traced in an unbroken line through the progenitor of this branch of the American family, James McCormick, whose name is signed to an address to William and Mary, dated July 29, 1689, and their coat of arms denotes Crusader ancestry and military fortitude. The McCormick name has become closely identified with many important enterprises and much that made for material, civic and moral progress in this country as well as in Scotland and Ireland.
Joseph McCormick was born December 21, 1828, in Perry county, Ohio, the son of Samuel McCormick and Malvina ( Pence-Albright) McCormick. The subject's father was born in Pennsylvania and the mother in Virginia, and they came to Ohio with the early pioneers and the family moved to Seneca county, this state, in 1829, where the father became a large land owner and interested in manufacturing; however, he gave his attention principally to his extensive land interests in the vicinity of Tiffin.
Joseph McCormick, of this review, spent his boyhood amid pioneer conditions. He studied designing and learned the cabinet-maker's trade at
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Tiffin, becoming a designer of much ability and his products were eagerly sought for by eastern manufacturers. He came to Mt. Vernon in 1849 and was married on January 12, 1854, to Elizabeth McDowell, daughter of Daniel and Patience (Eaton-Elliott ) McDowell, of Mt. Vernon, both early pioneer families of the Buckeye state: in 1848 Daniel McDowell was postmaster at Mt. Vernon and a prominent citizen in the early days.
Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. McCormick, six of whom are now living.
Up to the time of his death, January 26, 1911, Mr. McCormick was actively engaged in mercantile business, covering a period of sixty-two years of continuous business in Mt. Vernon, a record not attained by any other resident of this city, and he was successful, for he was an honest and obliging gentleman whom everybody trusted and respected. Mr. McCormick was always a loyal Republican, and while he was never active in party affairs, he was interested and well informed on all public matters. He belonged to the First Congregational church, which he joined in March, 1867, and was a devout churchman. Being of a conservative disposition, he performed his duties as a broad-minded citizen in a quiet, unobtrusive way. The business he conducted so long is now continued by his son, William Edwin McCor- mick.
The family home has long been known as one of wholesome social atmosphere and good cheer, and no family in the county has stood higher than the McCormicks.
JOHN COOPER.
It is both gratifying and profitable to enter record concerning such a man as he whose name appears at the head of this life record, and in the following outline sufficient will be said to indicate the forceful individuality. initiative power and sterling character which have had such a decided influence in making their possessor a leader in enterprises requiring the highest order of business talent, and to gain for him wide publicity among those who shape and direct policies of more than ordinary consequence in Knox county and who ranks among the most representative of her citizens.
John Cooper, well known real estate and business man of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, was born three miles northwest of this city, on May 30, 1824, and his long, useful and industrious life has been spent in this vicinity, whose interests he has ever had at heart and sought to promote, and which he has witnessed develop from the pioneer stage to one of the foremost sections of the great
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Buckeye state. His youth was spent on the farm of his parents, Cary and Elizabeth ( Ruple) Cooper, sterling early settlers of this vicinity, they having come from Washington county, Pennsylvania, and settled in the woods in Morris township, Knox county. in 1811. There they erected a rude log cabin, began clearing a farm, and, by hard work and economy, became very comfortably established in due course of time. This country was then wild and sparsely settled, still being the abode of Indians and many varieties of wild game. These parents had a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters, namely : James, born February 26. 1804, died in 1834: Phoebe. born February 1, 1806, died April 15, 1854: Ann, born July 13, 1808, died September 14, 1832 ; Charles, born February 2, 1811, died February 7, 1901 ; Elias, born February 26, 1813, died August 16, 1850; Lewis, born May 20, 1818, died August 18, 1845; John, of this review; Nancy, born August I, 1827, died April 17, 1911, the immediate subject of this sketch being the only surviving member of the family. The father of these children was born on July 29. 1781, and died April 20, 1831 ; his wife was born March II, 1784, and died on December 25, 1868: both are buried in the Mt. Vernon cemetery. They were devout Presbyterians and they reared their children in that faith.
John Cooper, of this review, had little opportunity to obtain an educa- tion, but got what he could in the log cabin schools of his district during the winter months, until he was fourteen years of age, when he was bound to a coppersmith and as an apprentice he thus mastered the trade in three years. buying his unexpired term when he was seventeen years of age and he en- gaged in business for himself on the west side of the public square in Mt. Vernon. Two years later he engaged in the stove and sheet iron business in what was known as the old market house on the square. He was married on March 17, 1844, to Eliza Murphy, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Hanna) Murphy, an early pioneer family who came from Washington county, Pennsylvania. This union resulted in the birth of three children : John E., deceased ; Hugh N., deceased ; and Ella, who resides with her father. The wife and mother passed away on January 26, 1883.
Mr. Cooper continued in business in the old market house, which he had purchased, for several years. In 1848 he erected a building on the east side of the square where the Banner newspaper is now located, and there he continued the stove and tin business. In 1854 he engaged in the foundry business with his brother Charles and he began the manufacture of stoves, which grew to include the manufacture of plows, farm machinery, portable engines, grist mill machinery, this really being Mt. Vernon's first manufac- turing industry and it did much to advertise the town abroad, the plant grow-
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ing to large proportions and employing many men, the products finding a wide and ready market. The partnership with his brother Charles continued until 1869, when John Cooper withdrew and purchased the General C. P. Buckingham Foundry at the foot of Main street, and he continued that busi- ness along the same lines as when with his brother, enjoying a very liberal patronage. Mr. Cooper managed the sales department and spent considerable time on the road, selling goods direct to the purchaser, and he built up a very satisfactory business, which was continued by him until 1893, when the Buckingham plant was destroyed by fire, all except the foundry. A portion of the plant was rebuilt and business continued until 1895, when Mr. Cooper sold his interest, since which time he has been engaged in the real estate and fire insurance business and has built up a very satisfactory patron- age. He maintains his office in his own building, the substantial Cooper block, on the east side of the square.
In politics Mr. Cooper was originally an abolitionist and from the for- mation of the Republican party he has been a loyal supporter of the same, but has never been an office seeker. He was a warm personal friend of President Lincoln, and it is a well known fact of inside history that Mr. Lin- coln named May 30, Mr. Cooper's birthday, as Decoration day. He was also a friend of Hayes, Garfield, Mckinley and many other prominent men of the party. He was long an intimate friend of John Sherman. During the latter half of his life he has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he is the oldest member and the oldest past grand master of the same in Knox county. Religiously he is a member of the Congregational church, in fact is the oldest member of the local church; he has long been active in church work. He has always been a busy man of affairs and yet in his old age he maintains a keen interest in and a close touch with all business and public matters. He has been a great influence for progress and general good in the community where he has for so many years been a prominent factor and where he is so universally esteemed.
In his active days as a manufacturer, Mr. Cooper had considerable of a national reputation and did a great deal of work for the United States gov- ernment, having put in, among other things, the first steel and glass patent model cases in the patent office building at Washington. The cast iron light- house at Hell Gate was built by him, as were many other lighthouses in the country. The government also bought of him a number of saw mill outfits for use in clearing their Indian reservations.
Mr. Cooper was instrumental in securing the State Sanatorium for Tu- berculosis just outside of Mt. Vernon, as the site he labored for so success- fully was finally selected as being the finest in the state.
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JOHN WADHAMS RUSSELL, M. D.
No history of the medical profession in Knox county would be complete without a biographical notice of the physician whose name heads this article. The following was written of this distinguished physician for the Journal of the American Medical Association in August, 1887, by Dr. F. C. Larimore, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, who is in a position to give an unbiased view concerning Dr. Russell. His estimate of him is as follows:
John Wadhams Russell, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, was born in Canaan. Litchfield county, Connecticut, on January 28, 1804. His father, Hon. Stephen Russell, was repeatedly elected a member of the Connecticut Legis- lature. and his grandfather, Jonathan Russell, commanded a brig under Gen- eral Lafayette's letters of marque in 1778. Doctor Russell's mother was Sarah Wadhams, of Goshen, Connecticut. His education until his thirteenth year was received at the common schools of Litchfield, whither his father removed in 1808. Then he was sent to Morris Academy, and under Rev. Truman Marsh pursued his studies and was prepared for and admitted to Hamilton College in 1821. He pursued his classical studies with the Rev. Mr. Langdon, of Bethlehem, Connecticut, one year, as his impaired health would permit, and in the fall of 1823 went South. He took charge of an academy at Red Bank, Colleton district, South Carolina, six months and then commenced his professional studies with Doctor Sheridan, a scientific and noble-hearted Quaker. Returning to Connecticut, he attended the medi- cal lectures at Yale College one course, and then going to Pittsfield, Massachu- setts, there attended the lectures in Berkshire Medical College. Subsequently, going to Philadelphia, he was a private pupil of Dr. George Mcclellan, and was graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1827. Returning to Litch- field, he there began the practice of his profession, and remained there one year, during which time he delivered a course of lectures on anatomy and physiology to a private class of young men. In 1828 he removed to Ohio and began practice at Sandusky City, where he remained but a few months, when he moved to Mount Vernon, Knox county. He was a delegate to and member of the Centennial International Medical Congress which met in Phila- delphia in 1876. At this meeting of the International Medical Congress Dr. S. D. Gross said: "It gives me much pleasure to introduce to my medical brethren my esteemed friend and classmate, Doctor Russell, whose extreme modesty alone prevented him from being the leading surgeon of the land."
In 1828 Doctor Russell married Eliza, daughter of the Hon. William Beebe, of Litchfield, Connecticut. She died in 1871, having been the mother
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of five children. In 1872 Doctor Russell married, in San Francisco, Ellen M. Brown, daughter of Joseph Brown, Esq. She died October 14, 1879.
Doctor Russell was a man of indefatigable industry. During his life he probably performed more physical and mental labor than the majority of his contemporaries, in and out of the profession. His work did not begin with the rising or close with the setting sun, and the day usually allotted to rest found him actively engaged. In his early practice he visited his patients on horseback. While on a professional trip near Gambier in 1836 his horse fell on the ice and injured his knee joint, which resulted in false anchylosis and compelled him to use a crutch afterwards. For a like disability many would have abandoned an active practice, but with him it had no effect, only to intensify his zeal and change the mode of his travel. Mules were called into requisition, and with two of these animals and a carriage he scaled the hills of Knox and adjoining counties for half a century. During the sixty years of his professional life, his instruction was sought by not less than three hundred young men preparing to enter the medical profession. He was a most capable and thorough office preceptor. He imparted instruction to his pupils by recitations, dissections, demonstrations and oral instructions, and by his own exemplary conduct taught them medical ethics. He elicited the profound admiration and respect of his pupils, and inspired them with en- thusiasm in their studies. In his journeys to his patients he would take a student and his text-book, conduct the recitation en route, and when darkness or other cause intervened no time would be lost, for now came the memor- able quiz over past work, and for which he was truly famous. That his office was an uncomfortable place for a lazy student, and that the Doctor had no patience with a man who would not work his brain is shown by an extract from a letter to the late Dr. William Morrow Beach, of London, Ohio: "For fifty-nine years it has been my happy lot to serve the afflicted conscientiously, faithfully, and I wish I might add judiciously. This I cannot always say. I have prayed for wisdom, and would advise the same to my juniors. The great sin in our profession is indolence. A man is responsible not only to do as well as he knows, but to use his faculties to know what to do."
It was in general surgery that he took most interest and found most pleasure. He regarded anatomical knowledge as the true basis of all success and skill in surgery. Living in a country where it is necessary to be a general practitioner in medicine and surgery, he performed most of the so-called capital operations, such as lithotomy, herniotomy, and all the most important amputations, except that of the hip-joint, and many of the more delicate operations, as that for cataract, etc., and with almost uniform success. He was
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careful to keep pace with the advances in medicine. In all matters he faith- fully followed his convictions of duty regardless of the sacrifice of self which such a course might require. He was tendered the professorship of surgery in several medical colleges, but declined them all, preferring to remain in private practice. He was an active Christian, ever ready to perform those duties which the love of Christ devolved upon him. He had an hypertrophied prostate for eighteen years, the pain and other resulting inconveniences of which he bore with fortitude and without a murmur. Retention of urine and uraemia caused his death on March 22, 1887, at the advanced age of eighty- three years. He died as many had predicted, "in the harness," having pre- scribed for patients up to within forty-eight hours of his death.
F. C. LARIMORE.
SOLON B. ACKLEY.
One of the progressive young agriculturists of southeastern Knox county is Solon B. Ackley. Without much outside assistance, the success he has achieved is due largely to his own efforts. Strong determination, persistence in the pursuit of an honorable purpose, unflagging energy and keen discrim- ination-these are the salient features in his career and his life stands in unmistakable evidence that success is not a matter of genius, as held by some, but is the outcome of earnest and well directed effort.
Mr. Ackley was born on August 30, 1873, on a farm in Clay township, Knox county. He is the son of John and Martha (Woodruff) Ackley. The father was born on a farm in Licking county and the mother in Knox county. Grandfather Philetus Ackley came to Knox county from Licking county in an early day and settled in Clay township in 1840 and here he developed a good farm. The father of the subject also spent his life en- gaged in agricultural pursuits and he became a large landowner and one of the influential men of his community. Politically, he was a Democrat, but he was not a man who sought the emoluments of public positions, preferring to lead a home life. His death occurred on April 3, 1902, his wife having pre- ceded him to the silent land on September 19, 1891. Both are buried in the Presbyterian cemetery at Martinsburg.
Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. John Ackley, namely: Eva, deceased ; Olive married Frank Penn, of Clay township; Lucilla, deceased ; Solon B., of this review ; Cora is single and is living with the subject.
Solon B. Ackley was reared on the home farm, where he worked during
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his boyhood days, and he received his education in the country district schools and the schools of Martinsburg. He has remained unmarried and has al- ways devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits. He has an excellent farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he has brought up to a high state of improvement and cultivation and on which he is successfully engaged in gen- eral farming and stock raising. Nature has signally favored him in that there are six producing gas wells on his land, which are sources of no small part of his annual income.
Mr. Ackley is not a member of any church, though he is a supporter of the local congregations and, in fact, lends his aid to all movements having as their object the betterment of the locality in any way.
Mr. Ackley was one of the promoters of the Knox-Licking Telephone Company, and was president of the company for some time, its large success being due in no small measure to his able management and judicious council. He has been active in its affairs from the first. He is a public-spirited citizen, as already indicated, and is an especial advocate of good roads. He finds recreation in his automobile and other outdoor diversions. He is a good mixer and is well liked by all who know him.
CURTIS ELMER McMANNIS.
Among the citizens of Knox county who have forged their way to the front by sheer force of will and individual merit rather than by the influence and material assistance of others, no better or worthier example than that of Curtis Elmer McMannis, the able and popular superintendent of the Knox county infirmary, could be found. He is a man of excellent judgment, pro- gressive ideas, high character and straightforward business principles, which account for his uniform success. Being thus careful in his calculations, re- sourceful in his dealings and eminently honorable in his relations with others, people have always reposed confidence in his word and his integrity has ever been above criticism.
Mr. McMannis was born on January 6, 1869, on a farm three miles east of Mt. Vernon, in Monroe township. He is the son of Lenhart and Rebecca Jane (Laffarrie) McMannis, the father a native of Fayette county, Pennsyl- vania, and the mother of Monroe township, Knox county, Ohio. The father was about seven years of age when he accompanied his parents to this county, and here he grew up and devoted his life to farming, becoming a man of
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influence in his community, and here he and his wife still reside, engaged in farming in Monroe township.
The son, Curtis E., spent his young manhood days with his father on a rented farm, where he assisted with the general work, and he received his education in the common schools of his vicinity. He is the eldest of a family of eight children. His parents needing his help in raising the family, he was compelled to go to work as soon as old enough, consequently his early school- ing was somewhat neglected. He remained under his parental roof-tree until he was twenty years of age, when he engaged with C. A. Young just east of Mt. Vernon for farm work, remaining with Mr. Young and his son for a period of twenty years, working by the month. When he was first employed there he missed only three days during eleven years and three months from his regular work on the farm and that was the occasion of his wedding, and during all this time he slept away from the farm but three nights. This is indeed a most remarkable record and would be hard to beat.
Mr. McMannis was married on December 31, 1891, to Angie Houck, daughter of William and Rachael (Dial) Houck, of College township, this county. This union has resulted in the birth of one daughter, Orpha B., who is at home with her parents.
After his marriage Mr. McMannis continued to work for Mr. Young by the month, living on his farm until January, 1909, when he was appointed superintendent of the Knox county infirmary and infirmary farm and he is still serving in that capacity, his wife being matron of the institution. He has charge of the farm of three hundred and twenty-seven acres for the county besides the infirmary institution with its sixty inmates. He engages in gen- eral farming and stock raising of all kinds and has met with great success.
Most of the products of the farm go toward the maintenance of the infirmary. Mr. McMannis has placed the farm under a high state of culti- vation and improvement and his services in this connection have reflected much credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned, proving the wise judgment of those who placed him in charge here. He is recognized as one of the most progressive, thorough and painstaking farmers in the county, and his management of the inmates is in every way commendable.
Politically, Mr. McMannis is a Democrat and he has always been inter- ested in public matters and has been active in local affairs. He was trustee of Monroe township for eight years, filling the office very worthily indeed. He has been a frequent delegate to party conventions. He is a member of the Knights of the Golden Eagle and the Knights of the Maccabees. His wife is a very competent associate in the management of the infirmary and a woman
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of fine qualities and tact and her advice and encouragement have been of great help to the subject, and they are both held in high esteem by all who know them.
BURCHARD BLAINE FERENBAUGH.
The life of the subject of this review has been such as to bear aloft the high standard which has been maintained by his father, one of the sterling pioneer residents of Knox county and whose life was singularly noble, up- right and useful, one over which falls no shadow of wrong in thought, word or deed. Such was the type of men who laid the foundation and aided in the development of this favored section of the great Buckeye commonwealth, and to their memories will ever be paid a tribute of reverence and gratitude by those who have profited by their well directed endeavors and appreciated the lessons of their lives. Burchard Blaine Ferenbaugh, one of the most suc- cessful of the younger generations of agriculturists of Union township, is in every respect a worthy son of a worthy sire, having proved to be signally true to every trust reposed in him and keeping untarnished the bright escutcheon of the honored family name.
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