The History of Wyandot County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns general and local statistics, military record, portraits of early settlers and prominent men etc, Part 64

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, Leggett, Conaway
Number of Pages: 1072

USA > Ohio > Wyandot County > The History of Wyandot County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns general and local statistics, military record, portraits of early settlers and prominent men etc > Part 64

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BROOKS BEERY, son of George and Catharine (Cradlebaugh) Beery, was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, February 19, 1820. "His father, George Beery, was born in Rockingham County, Va., in the year 1783, and emigrated to the almost unbroken wilderness of your county in the year 1800. He was the youngest of six brothers of his father's family, in the order here given: John, Isaac, Abraham, Jacob, Henry and George. There were two half brothers, Christopher and Joseph, all of whom were among the first and early settlers of Fairfield County. He came down the Monon- gahela and Ohio Rivers in a flat-boat, and up the Hock-hocking to the falls, thence through the woods on foot to Lancaster, and remained over winter, clearing land for others by the acre. He returned to Virginia the next spring, and finally returned to Fairfield County, in the fall of the year 1801, and settled on the Raccoon Creek, near Bremen, clearing land and working for others, thus enabling him to enter eighty acres, which he did in the fall of the year, 1807. In 1809, he married and settled on this small tract of land, continuing to live thereon, and in the neighborhood of Bremen, until in the spring of 1832, when he moved to Little Raccoon, five miles east of Lancaster, where he died in the year 1856. John Beery, his oldest brother, came to the county in the year 1805, and the other brothers soon after, all settling upon and near the streams mentioned in Rush Creek and Berne Townships. They were a hardy, stout and industrious set of men, and did their full share of clearing and improving that part of the county. They are all dead, leaving families scattered all over the country. Their educa- tion being very limited, and their habits sober and industrious, were con- tent with the occupation of farming, except my father, who was always far in advance of his neighbors in schools and public improvements. He took an active part in the construction of the canal from Carroll to Lancaster.

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Also, in building the Zanesville & Marysville, and Hanner & Lancaster Turnpikes; was one of the Commissioners of the county, I think, in the year 1828, and assisted in locating and building the County Infirmary. In 1834, he laid out the town of Bremen, and, in the next year, in partnership with Mr. Hedges, commenced the business of selling goods, an occupation · yet followed by several of his children, who received their first lessons un- der his supervision. In the war of 1812, he was pressed into the service with his team, and while Maj. Croghan was defending Fort Stevenson, at Lower Sandusky, with team and provisions he was camped at Fort Ball, now Tiffin, and within hearing of the guns of the fort. He was a personal friend and a great admirer of the Hon. T. Ewing, claiming that he had no superior as a lawyer and a statesman in the Union. Such was his admira- tion of this truly great man, that he called his tenth and youngest son Thomas Ewing. As a citizen he was public spirited; as a neighbor, kind and benevolent; as a father, strict in his requirements, yet tenderly devoted to his children. His wife was a Cradlebaugh, a daughter of a Revolutionary soldier, a German Reform minister, and a man of considerable influence in his day. He emigrated to Western Pennsylvania soon after the war closed, and in 1810 or 1811, to Fairfield County, when he soon afterward died. She was born in Washington County, Penn., in the year 1789, emigrated to Fairfield County in 1806 or 1807, and died in 1870. She was a woman of more than ordinary force of character, positive in her opinions, and free to express them; industrious and economical, loving right and hating wrong; prompt and practical in every duty, exercising a marked and controlling influence over her husband and family. A mother of the old type in every sense of the word. They had twelve children, nine of whom still survive: four are living here, one near Urbana, Ohio, and the balance in and near

the family village of Bremen."* Brooks Beery, the subject proper of this sketch, was employed on the farm with his parents till twenty-seven years of age, obtaining only a common school education. He subsequently en- gaged three years in mercantile pursuits at Bremen, Ohio, and was attended by fair success. In 1850, he came to Upper Sandusky and established a dry goods store in a frame building on the site now occupied by the Beery Block, where for thirty years he conducted an extensive and successful business, retiring in 1880. He is the principal owner of the Upper San- dusky Gas Works; owns a half interest in the Beery Block and also in the elevator located by the C. H. V. & T. R. R. For many years Mr. Beery has been regarded as one of the prime factors of the commercial and busi- ness interests of Upper Sandusky and is well known as one of its most en- terprising and substantial citizens. He is a gentleman of broad and liberal views on all subjects, and is endowed with a large and valuable business experience. Mr. Beery was married September 4, 1856, to Miss Jeannette Sherman, their only child being Frank, who was born October 20, 1857. Mrs. Beery was born in New York, August, 1828, and is the daughter of Horace and Luceppa (Harris) Sherman.

HON. GEORGE W. BEERY. Conspicuous among the eminent and notable citizens who have resided and still grace this place with their pres- ence, is Hon. George W. Beery, who is now President of one of the princi- pal banks of Upper Sandusky. He was born in Fairfield County, Ohio July 1, 1822. At the age of ten years he removed with his parents to a point six miles east of Lancaster, in the same county, remaining there about five years. In the meantime his father had laid out the town of Bremen

*Extract from a letter written by G. W. Beery, Esq., to Hon T. O. Edwards, of Lancaster, Ohio.

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and embarked in the dry goods business. Young Beery entered his father's store, and made himself useful and valuable as a clerk until the year 1841, when he availed himself of the advantages of a two years' schooling at the Greenfield Academy. In 1843, he commenced reading law, in the office, and under the instructions of Hon. John M. Creed, a prominent lawyer of Lancaster, and after two and a half years' study, he was admitted to the bar, at Cincinnati, Ohio, in the spring of 1845. He immediately formed a part- nership with Charles Borland and opened a law office at Lancaster. ' In 1847, he removed to Upper Sandusky and at once took a leading position at the bar in this and adjoining counties, and was noted for his ability as an able an effective speaker. He continued the practice of law here until 1862, when he was appointed United States Assessor of Internal Revenue by President Lincoln, for the district in which he was located, and served with great credit to himself and the appointing power until the fall of 1865, when a change of administration, after the assassination of Lincoln, was not sufficient to palliate or alter his political opinions, and refusing to in- dorse Johnson's administration he gracefully gave way to a successor. After his official career, it was a matter of regret that he did not return to the law; and, although successful beyond the measure of most men in other pursuits, the law was undoubtedly his field of labor, and in it he would have contrib- uted to the honor and usefulness of the profession, and gained an enviable state reputation. He was clear and logical, persuasive and earnest, and favored with all those rare and pleasing accomplishments, which are so effective and fascinating in a public speaker. Few men had these qualities to a higher degree, and his retirement from a profession which brought them in use was certainly a matter of regret. In 1850, when the prospect of a railway agitated our people, and its fate, apparently, hung upon the action of the county in voting an appropriation of $50,000, and this made effective only by a vote of the people and a majority in its favor, Mr. Beery was the champion of the cause, and his able, forcible and convincing speeches in behalf of the measure at public meetings all along the line of the pro- posed road, from Salem, Ohio, to Fort Wayne, Ind., are still matters of pleasurable reference, embalmed in the gratitude of those who still live and in that early day had the interest of Upper Sandusky and the county at heart. The fine thoroughfare, which a change of name has made the Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, is a result of the movement, in which Mr. Beery took so conspicuous a part and rendered such valuable serv- ices. The opposition to this project was led by Hon .. John Carey, a man of natural force and power, who saw in the road through Upper Sandusky a contingent detriment to the new town he had laid out in the northwestern part of the county, which still bears his name. The principal objection to the then new road was the enormous taxes it would inflict, and so high ran the opposition, and so earnest the interest in its behalf, that political parties dissolved and found their level in local bearings. The high standing of the Hon. John Carey, the fact that he was one of the first settlers of the terri- tory now known as Wyandot County, and these qualities fortified with a disposition not to brook opposition, which heretofore had given him the name of " Old Invincible," was so impressive upon the minds of the people that they looked with foreboding upon any project that did not meet his pleasure, and when his protest took the prominence of a public discussion against an enterprise, without which but little could be expected of our then new town, there was a good deal of despondency, as no one seemed willing to tilt a lance with the old hero of the Tymochtee. Mr. Carey was

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earnest and agressive and threw all his old-time vigor and dash into the opposition. For a time he seemed to have everything his own way, and his challenge for debate upon the stump went unheeded, until Mr. Beery (then but a short time in the county), finding that none of the older citizens would measure arms with Carey, took up the gauntlet in defense of the new railroad. Five appointments were made for joint discussions, only two of which Carey attended. He found in the young attorney a resistance he could not encompass, and from that hour the star of Carey and his opposition to the road commenced to wane. So thoroughly did Mr. Beery, in his able and ef- fective manner, demolish the appeals and presentments of the old hero, that he soon retired from the stump, leaving Mr. Beery the field in triumph. This caused an encouraging turn in favor of the proposed road; it instituted hope and energy, and our people were lavish in their praise of the young attorney who had wrought this favorable and unexpected change. The effective canvass in Wyandot County made by Mr. Beery attracted wide atten- tion, and as above mentioned, he was pressed into service to publicly present the interests of the road along its line from Salem, Ohio, to Ft. Wayne, Ind. In giving a biographical sketch of this useful and prominent man, it would not be complete without adding that to him, more than to any other, is due the credit of establishing through our county the magnificent thoroughfare that has brought growth and prosperity to the town of Upper Sandusky. Without his able assistance at the time, the road would never have stretched its way from sea to Lake over the line . then proposed, and to our subject is truly due the merit of being the champion of our first railway. Mr. Beery also took a prominent part in securing the Columbus & Toledo Railroad, its rights of way and franchises. He represented be- fore the Boards of Trade of Columbus and Toledo the interests of the pro- posed air-line route against John C. Lee, who favored its construction through Marysville, Kenton, Bowling Green, etc. He labored earnestly, making speeches all along the line. In all the public enterprises that were intended to benefit or enrich the community or county Mr. Beery has taken an active part, and no man has done as much to advance the interests of Upper Sandusky and Wyandot County as he. He is an earnest advocate of protection and in every respect he has labored to maintain home indus- tries. In the spring of 1867, Mr. Beery organized the Wyandot County Bank, and has served as its President ever since. Aside from this position he has dealt largely in real estate, more, perhaps, than any other citizen in the county, and has reaped the reward of good judgment and fair dealing; and it may be said of him in this connection that his sales and purchases were always upon a basis of fairness, in which all the parties were equally benefited. It was in the rise of real estate, or the enhancement of values in other respects, that Mr. Beery made this pursuit a profitable business. He owns a valuable farm of 220 acres in Crane and Richland Townships, and for the last six years has been engaged in rearing Durham cattle, which he regularly exbibits at the annual fairs. He, with Judge Renick organ- ized the County Agricultural Society, which has since become a permanent and prosperous institution. In 1881, he became a partner in the Stevenson Machine Works and still retains an interest in that industry. He owns a fine residence on Eighth street and five acres of land adjoining. Mr. Beery was married in October, 1845, to Miss Ann J. McDonald, daughter of Walter McDonald, for many years a leading manfacturer of Lancaster, Ohio. Mrs. Beery was born in Lancaster, Ohio in September, 1822. Mr. and Mrs. Beery have reared four children, three daughters and one son, viz. :

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Julia C., wife of Capt. E. A. Gordon; Ida, wife of W. G. Holdridge; Emma, wife of H. R. Henderson, and George W., Jr., Assistant Cashier of the Wy- andot County Bank. In political sentiment, Mr. Beery was a Whig until the organization of the Republican party, when he united himself with it and took an active part in all the campaigns till 1880, being its principal and favorite advocate upon the stump. His pleasing and effective style of oratory attracted considerable attention, and his efforts in this direction were not confined to his own county. While forcible and argumentative, he in- clined to the humorous, adorning and clinching his well-rounded periods with irresistible comparisons. While Mr. Beery was an active and zealous partisan, he was never bitter or uncouth, and his feelings for a friend never investigated political identity, and many of his warmest friends and per- sonal admirers were in the opposite party. He was always a man of strong convictions, and his political opinions of years ago no doubt took their zeal from the fact that he was ardently opposed to slavery; and since this great question of public policy has been settled, he has given to party movements but little of his care or attention. Mr. Beery is yet endowed with the bless- ings of health, a vigorous constitution, and is rarely absent from his place of business. He is a gentleman peculiar somewhat in his ways, and those not thoroughly acquainted are inclined to esteem him distant and unapproach- able, elements which have no place whatever in his nature. He has a heart full of sympathy for every appeal that comes from the right direction, a welcome for everything meritorious, and no one takes greater delight in re- flecting sunshine over a neighborly communion, in which he brings in play a rare and pleasing conversational power for which this eminent citizen is so noted and admired.

FRANK BEERY, of the firm of S. F. Beery & Co., dry goods mer- chants, was born in Upper Sandusky October 20, 1857. Ho is the only son of Brooks and Jeannette (Sherman) Beery, and has always resided in his na- tive city, obtaining a good education in its public schools. He finished his studies at the Wesleyan University of Delaware in 1878, and succeeded his father in the dry goods business, which the former established in 1850. The firm of S. F. Beery & Co. was established in 1879, and is composed of en- terprising young men with large business capacity and experience. Their spacious room in the Beery Block enables them to display their large stock, valued at $20,000, and comprising a full line of dry goods, carpets, and everything to be found in a city establishment of this kind. The genial manners and fair dealing of the respective members of this firm have won for it an extensive patronage. Mr. Beery is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias of Upper Sandusky, and was initiated in November, 1883.

ISAAC H. BEERY, deceased, was born in Bremen, Fairfield County, Ohio, February 19, 1820. He is a son of George and Catharine (Cradle- baugh) Beery, and resided in the village of his nativity till twelve years of age, when he moved with his parents to a farm in Bern Township, where the family of eight sons and two daughters were reared. He was there em- ployed in agricultural pursuits till his twenty-third year, when he entered into a partnership with his brother-in-law, John Ashbaugh, in the mercan- tile trade in Bremen in 1843. Here he obtained his first commercial lessons which he utilized to such good advantage in after years, and here ha con- tinued his mercantile pursuits till 1850, his brother, Brooks Beery, having been admitted to the firm in 1847. In 1850, the two brothers came to the then new town of Upper Sandusky, and in September of that year erected a frame business room on the site now occupied by the Beery Block, and

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opened a general store under the firm name of I. H. & B. Beery. The es- tablishment was well founded and managed, and at once grew into a popu- larity that it has ever since sustained. It soon became one of the most thoroughly-stocked dry goods houses in the county, and for thirty years it stood the test of time with undiminished prosperity. Afterward the frame building gave place to the substantial brick structure which now occupies its site, and besides this, the grain elevator, the handsome residences and many other buildings erected by them in their resident town, mark the steps of their prosperity and the spirit of their enterprise. The partner- ship of Mr. Beery and his brother continued its existence until 1880, from which time to the date of his death, March 21, 1884, he was not actively engaged. In 1876, he became a stockholder in the Wyandot County Bank, to which his chief business interests at the time of his demise were at- tached. He was a thorough, energetic business man of the strictest integrity, and has ever been one of the foremost of the citizens of his communty in building up its varied interests, amid all his trials and efforts "wearing the white flower of a blameless life." Mr. Beery was married, September, 1852, to Miss Leefe Fowler, daughter of Dr. Stephen Fowler, and four children were born to them-S. Fowler, Leefe, I. Foster and Minnie. All of these are living, but Fowler, whose death occurred October 15, 1883.

THOMAS E BEERY, the youngest of a family of twelve children and the tenth son of George and Catharine (Cradlebaugh) Beery, was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, July 6, 1835. In his youth, he enjoyed such school advantages as were offered by the country district schools. Attend- ing school during the winter, and working upon the farm spring, summer and fall, but subsequently spent some time in the Lancaster High School and Otterbein University, abandoning his school life at the age of twenty. In 1855, he entered the mercantile trade in partnership with his brother Simon, at Bremen, a town laid out and named by his father. They carried a stock of general merchandise, and did a good business, continuing their operations till 1857, when our subject retired from the firm and removed to Upper Sandusky, when he entered into a partnership with his brother, Anthony Beery, in the dry goods trade, in which business he was engaged

two years. Mr. Beery then disposed of his interest to his brother, Isaac Beery, and established himself in a hardware store, with G. T. McDonald, under the firm name of Beery & McDonald, continuing this business four years, withdrawing from the firm in 1863. He next engaged in the manu- facture of agricultural implements, in company with F. F. Fowler, E. R. Wood and A. W. Brinkerhoff, the firm being known as F. F. Fowler & Co. In 1865, this enterprise was abandoned, and the sale of the Brinkerhoff corn- husker was engaged in for the next three years with admirable results, after which Mr. Beery assisted in the incorporation of the Wyandot Couuty Bank, and became one of its stock-holders, retaining his interest in this enterprise till 1869. He then engaged in the dry goods trade, in partnership with J. A. Maxwell, purchasing the store room of S. H. Hunt, and the stock of Hunt & Watson. To this they added the grain business, purchasing the warehouse of Straw & Myers in 1870, and continuing their operations till 1872-73, when the firm was dissolved by mutual consent, Mr. Beery con- ducting the grain trade till about 1875. In 1876, in company with Samuel Walters and Jacob Agerter, he was awarded the contract for macadamizing the streets of Upper Sandusky, and in the spring of 1877 he again embarked in the dry goods business as sole proprietor of his establish ment, but subsequently admitting S. H. White, who was afterward succeeded by

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John W. Geiger. In 1882, Mr. Beery assisted in organizing the Straw- board Company, but disposed of his interest in that enterprise in 1883, and became a member of the Upper Sandusky Gaslight Company, with which he is at this date connected. He has been one of the most useful of Upper Sandusky's citizens, having been identified with most of its enterprises, and exerted a strong influence toward the promotion of its general interests. He is a man of excellent character, and is one of the first citizens of his community, from whatever standpoint he may be considered. Mr. Beery was one of the prime movers in the establishment of the Universalist Church at Upper Sandusky, and is one of its most prominent members, having always contributed liberally to its support. He is also associated with the He was Knights of Honor, at present holding the chair of Past Director.

married, October 23, 1855, to Emma E. Witt, who died in April, 1858. His marriage to Harriet A. Osborn occurred in 1859, and by this union three children were born, all now deceased. Two of these died in early

infancy; Edwin L., born December 14, 1861, died at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., April 2, 1882. This son was a young man of most brilliant promise. He graduated in Upper Sandusky High School in 1879 and subsequently took a two years' course at Buchtel College, Akron, Ohio. At the time of his decease he was pursuing his studies at the Eastman Business College, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He was a young man of good judgment and more than ordinary intellectual ability, and these qualities combined with an innate culture and spotless character placed his prospects for a useful and eminent future in a most promising light. But alas for the hopes of youth that fall like the leaves in the autumn blast; in the midst of their sanguine beauty the shadow touched him and he was not.

PETER B. BEIDLER, attorney at law, Upper Sandusky, was born in Berks County, Penn., December 23, 1818. He is the son of Henry and Mary (Beihl) Beidler, early settlers of Eastern Pennsylvania, and of Ger- man ancestry. They were the parents of nine children, five now living- Peter B., Anna E., Harriet, Charles and Lemuel. The deceased are Henry W., John, Franklin and James. From the date of their marriage in 1817, the parents resided near Reading, Penn. The mother died in 1857, aged about sixty years; the father died February 22, 1869, aged seventy-one years. Peter B. Beidler, the subject of this sketch, was educated principal- ly in the common schools of Berks County, and at the age of twenty one engaged in teaching and surveying, continuing in this profession about two years. In 1842, he removed to this county (formerly Crawford), and was elected County Surveyor of Crawford County in 1843. He resigned this office and removed to this county in 1845, and was elected to the same office the same year. He was re-elected in the fall of 1848, his term of office expiring in 1851; he was engaged in the mercantile trade from 1851 to 1857, when he was again elected to the office of Surveyor, serving until March 4, 1859, when he resigned and was elected County Auditor, serving two terms. In April, 1864, he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of Surveyor, and in the fall of the same year was elected Probate Judge, serving in this capacity nine consecutive years, his third term expiring in 1874. Mr. Beidler served as Mayor of Upper Sandusky during the years 1850-51, and was again elected to that office in the spring of 1875. In 1874, he was admitted to practice law and has devoted his attention to var- ious vocations since 1877. He was married, January 8, 1846, to Martha J. Mccutchen, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Watt) Mccutchen. Joseph Mccutchen came to this county in November, 1827, and was the founder of

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The History of Wyandot County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns general and local statistics, military record, portraits of early settlers and prominent men etc, Part 64

Author: Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, Leggett, Conaway Number of Pages: 1072

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, Leggett, Conaway
Number of Pages: 1072