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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS
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Ashland County, Ohio
BIOGRAPHIES |
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(Source: History of Ashland County, Ohio with
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches,
by George William Hill, M.D. - Published by Williams Bros. 1880.)
 ( Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863.)
UNLESS OTHERWISE Stated
< BACK TO BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >
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ALMER R.
CAMPBELL was born May 19, 1853. His grandparents
were of Scotch and Irish ancestry, and came from Pennsylvania to
Ashland county, where his father, James Campbell, was
born, May 19, 1828. His mother, Isabel Campbell,
was born in the same county, and is now living in Bowling Green,
Wood county, Ohio, his father having died February 9, 1875.
They had five children, three of whom died in childhood.
Laura E. is the wife of Titus Beck, of Bowling Green.
Almer R., the subject of this sketch, received
his education at Baldwin university, Berea, Ohio, after which he
taught school until 1875, when he commenced reading law with his
uncle, R. M. Campbell, esq., of Ashland, with whom he was
a partner one year. In 1877 he was elected justice of the
peace for Montgomery township, which office he held for three
years. |
JAMES CAMPBELL
was among the early pioneers of Ohio, who, previous to his
decease, had resided many years in Orange Township. His
wife, with whom he had lived upwards of seventy years, had died
on the 22d of December, 1860; and his death occurred at the
residence of his son, Thomas Campbell, on the 8th of
December, 1860, at the age of eighty-nine years eleven months
and twenty-four days. "The deceased," says an obituary
notice in the Ashland Union, "was one of the oldest men
in the community and leaves a large circle of relatives
and friends; having, at the time of his death, more than a
hundred grandchildren. He had been a member of the
Presbyterian Church sixty years, and now that he has been
gathered to his fathers, his friends 'weep, though not in
bitterness; their tears are not tears of gloom.'"
Source: History of Ashland Co., Ohio - Publ. 1863. - Page 505 |
|
MEIGS S. CAMPBELL was born
June 8, 1825, in Danville, Knox county, Ohio. His father,
Silas Campbell, was a native of Virginia (now West
Virginia), and his mother was born in Maryland. They
raised four children - Meigs S., Thornton W., James M., and
D. R. Meigs S. Campbell, the subject of this sketch,
learned the hatter's trade, at Coshocton and Mt. Vernon, living
in the latter place from 1846 to 1851, when he removed to
Ashland. While living in Ashland he has been engaged in
the livery business and the hat and cap trade, the most of his
time being devoted to the latter, in which he is still engaged.
December 25, 1850, he was married to Clara Hall, of Mt.
Vernon, Ohio, by whom he has had three children, as follows:
W. Fletcher, born in 1851, married and living in Laramie
City, Wyoming territory; Mary B., born about 1853,
married Maurice Vallant, and lives in Cleveland;
Clara, born about 1856, married Harry Stevens, and
lives in Ashland. |
| CHARLES
CAREY, son of George Carey, was born in
Ashland county in 1853, and in 1874 married Sarah E. Stull.
He is engaged in farming, and lives on the old homestead; is the
father of three children, viz.: George W., Lillie
and Frank. |
| GEORGE
W. CAREY was born in Ashland county, near; Perrysville, in
1824. In 1847 he married Elizabeth; Foster. He was
both a lawyer and farmer; was admitted to the bar in Wayne county,
Ohio. He was Republican in politics and took an active part in all
political campaigns. He represented Ashland county in the;
legislature in 1864, and held the office of justice of the; peace
several years. He died in 1867. He was the father of four
children: Thomas, who married Susan M. Parr, and
lives in Richland county; Mary, wife of R. H. Goram,
living in Richland county; George, who died in Rowsburgh,
Ashland county, and Charles. |
| JOHN CARR,
Sr. was born in Maryland, and came to Washington county,
Pennsylvania, about 1790, and married Margaret McGuire,
sister of the late Thomas and Hugh McGuire, and
during the border wars acted as an Indian spy a short time, when
the Bradys, the Poes, as well as Frank McGuire,
Robert McGuire, and the Wetsels, scouted along
the western border of Pennsylvania. From Washington county,
Pennsylvania, John Carr removed into Tuscarawas county,
Ohio, where he remained until about 1810, when he came to Mohican
township, then in Wayne, now in Ashland, county, with his family,
and settled on what is now known as the Chessman farm, about half
a mile northwest of Jeromeville, which he subsequently sold to
John Ewing, sr. and purchased what is now the Horn
farm, on the east line of Montgomery township, where he died in
1837, aged about sixty years. Mrs. Carr died there
also. His children were: Thomas, Nicholas, Nancy,
Hugh, Joshua, Benjamin, John, Samuel, Margaret, Aaron, Susan,
and Curtis, by his first wife, and Aquilla and
David by the second wife. When the people became alarmed
in Mohican, in the fall of 1812, because of the menacing conduct
of the Indians, Mr. Carr and his family took refuge upon
the Tuscarawas, until all danger, and threats had been so far
removed as to warrant a return to his cabin. Mr. Carr
is understood to have been on friendly terms with the Indians of
Mohican township, many of whom had resided in other days, at
Goshen, on the Tuscarawas. In fact, it has often been
suggested, that so warm was his attachments for many of the Jerome
Indians, and so deep their regard for Mr. Carr, that he
probably would have remained unmolested in his cabin, near the
fort, had he chosen to do so, during the war. The Indians
often called on him, after the war, in their hunting excursions in
Mohican. He was a good man. |
DANIEL
CARTER, JR., was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, May
23, 1802. He emigrated, with his father's family, in March, 1806,
to Stark county, Ohio, where he resided until February 12, 1812,
and then removed, by way of Jerome's Place, now Jeromeville,
where they remained a few days at the cabin of the late John
Carr until Daniel Carter, sr., erected
a cabin in Montgomery township, half a mile northeast of the
present site of Ashland.
Daniel Carter, sr.,
had entered at the land office in Canton three hundred and twenty
acres of land in Montgomery, constituting the present lands of
Peter Thomas, and what was recently known as the
John Mason farm. The cabin was a frail affair. It
resembled a camp house—was open at one end and made of poles and
covered with clapboards. He moved into it in February, 1812. The
family began active work on a clearing for corn, and got along
quietly, being occasionally visited by Indians, until after Hull's
surrender at Detroit, on the sixteenth of August. About this time
several families quartered for a short time at the cabin of
Robert Newell, in the lower part of Montgomery,
recently known as the Hugh McGuire place. When
General Harrison moved his army to the northwest, these
families, Frys, Tridrels, Cuppys and
Carters, returned to their cabins. In September, after the
murders on the
He was often elected school director, and was township
trustee sixteen or eighteen times, but was always nominated and
pressed into the service, against his own wishes.
Black fork, most of these families fled to the blockhouse at
Jerome's place..
Mr. Daniel Carter,
sr., as has been elsewhere stated, took his family to
Harrison county, and remained for some time at the cabin of a
friend, Mr. William Rhodes, about four miles from New
Philadelphia. In February, 1813, he returned to his cabin and
remained until the fifth of March, when he received news of the
Colyer excitement near Tylertown, a son of John Carr
bringing him news of the appearance of Indians, when he fled with
his family to the block-house at Jerome's Place, and remained
there until the spring of 1814.
Daniel Carter, jr., retains a
vivid recollection of the incidents of block-house life. His
father, in the spring of 1814, purchased at Canton the farm upon
which David Carter now resides, and removed to it.
The settlers, for several years in Montgomery, were
very much scattered. The schools were indifferent, and the youth
of that era were deprived of educational opportunities, except in
the primary branches. Mr. Carter says he never
attended school over three months. He grew up among the pioneers,
attending cabin raisings, log rollings and other pioneer
gatherings. He purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land on
section sixteen, built a cabin and improved his farm. The farm
had been entered by William Drumm. In 1829 he
married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Elias Slocum.
His family consisted of two daughters—Amanda, wife of
William M. Patterson, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Anna A.,
wife of Hon. William B. Allison, now a senator of
the United States, from Iowa. Mr. Carter sold his
farm in 1864, and now resides in Ashland. In 1850 he made a trip
to California via. Panama, and remained about three and a half
years. He never sought political promotion, but in sentiment was a
Whig until that party disbanded, when he became a Republican, and
still adheres to the principles of that party. |
DANIEL
CARTER, Sr., was born in Baltimore county, Maryland,
and moved, when young, with his mother to Huntingdon county,
Pennsylvania, in the year 1774. He emigrated to near Canton,
Stark county, Ohio, in 1806, and then to what is now Montgomery
township, Ashland county, in January, 1812, stopping a few days
with John Carr, who had a cabin adjoining a few days of
Baptiste Jerome, until the erection of his cabin, and entered
it with his family in February, 1812. The circumstances
attending the erect of his cabin, and its first and second
abandonment; his flight to New Philadelphia; his return, and his
seeking safety, for several months, for himself and family, at the
block-house at Jerome's place, now Jeromeville, have been
described in former chapters. The death of his wife and son
James, has also been spoken of in connection with his
residence at the block-house. About the time he left the
block-house he sold the tract of land northeast of the present
site of Ashland, to Conrad Kline and John Heller,
and purchased four quarters, some two miles south of his original
purchase, upon one of which he located, having, in the meantime,
married Miss Ruth Warner. Mr. Carter continued to
reside on the new purchase until February 7, 1854, when, after a
brief illness, he died at the advance age of eighty years.
Mrs. Carter, his second wife, survived him eight or nine
years. Mr. Carter was an industrious, frugal and
upright man. He had been a very faithful member of the
Methodist church for over sixty years. His children, by his
first wife, were - John, William, Daniel, Rachel, Elizabeth,
James, George, and Anna; by his second - David,
Sarah, Mary, Samuel, Miranda, Milton and Charles.
Daniel, David, and Samuel, are residents of Montgomery
county. All the rest have moved elsewhere.
Daniel Carter, jr., is a citizen of Ashland.
His pioneer experiences are as exciting and interesting as those
of any settler of that period. When about eleven years of
age, he states his father dispatched him with a sack of shelled
corn, on horseback, through the forest, to Odell's mill, in
the south part of what is now Lake township, to have it ground
into meal. This was early in the spring of 1812.
Pipe and his Delawares had not yet left Mohican
Johnstown. On his return in the evening, being belated by
the difficulty of winding his way along the Indian paths, he
reached the Indian village a little after dark, and seeing a
number of Indians collected for a sort of council at the council
house, he stopped to witness the performances. It was at
this "pow-wow" that the "red-stick," of Tecumseh was
rejected by "Old Captain Pipe". He returned to his
father's cabin, however, without molestation by the Indians, who,
at that time, were on friendly terms with their white neighbors.
Mr. Carter relates many adventures, amid the forest, in his
youthful days, of a thilling character. He married Miss
Eliza Slocum, daughter of another leading pioneer of a later
period.
David Carter was born Mar. 18, 1815, on the
homestead in section twenty-eight, Montgomery township. He
is believed to be the first male child born in Montgomery
township. He married Miss Elizabeth Griffith, of
Fayette county, Pennsylvania, Dec. 26, 1837. He resides on
the old Carter homestead, and is a farmer by occupation.
His children - three - deceased in infancy. He is a man of
good natural attainments, and possesses a fund of pioneer
experiences. |
Ruggles Twp.
NORMAN CARTER and wife removed to Ruggles
in 1824.
(
Source *2: History of Ashland County, Ohio - publ. 1863 - Page
541) |
| NORMAN
CARTER was born in Warren, Connecticut, Jan. 23, 1802, and
came to Ruggles in 1824, and located on lot twenty-six, section
four. He labored some three years, part of the time for
Daniel Beach, and returned to Connecticut in 1827, and married
Lavina Hopkins; and in 1828 removed to Ruggles, where he
has since deceased. His family consisted of Huldah
Adelaide, wife of Isaac G. Sturtevant, and Sarah
Lavina, married to William Gault. They all reside
in Ruggles. |
Ruggles Twp.
ALDRICH CARVER and family, consisting of
three persons, settled in Ruggles, in 1825. His was the
fourth family then in the township. He had emigrated from
Cayuga County, New York. Mr. Carver (to whom the
editor of this work is indebted for much valuable information
relating to the early history of this township) states that the
township took its name from Alman Ruggles. He
settled in Vermillion Township, Huron County, and became judge
of the court. Before the organization of Ruggles, it is
attached to New London.
(
Source *2: History of Ashland County, Ohio - publ. 1863 - Page
541) |
| H.
B. CASK is of Welch ancestry. His great-great-grandfather,
Augustus Case, his great-grandfather, Joshua Case,
and his grandfather, Augustus Case, were all born on Long
Island, New York. The latter was born July 27, 1759 entered the
army of the Revolution in 1777, married Elizabeth Bell in
1793, settled in Wayne county, Plain township, in 1803, and was
the father of ten children—five sons and five daughters. The
youngest son, Joshua, was born October 2, 1812, married
Rebecca J. Phillips, and died March 18, 1845. He was the
father of six children—Elizabeth E., wife of John
Coleman, who died in Wayne county, Ohio; Mary Etta,
wife of James Miles, who died in Richland county, Ohio;
Henry B., who married Mina Horn, and lives at McKay;
Sarah A., wife of Samuel L. Paramore, who died in
Richland county, Ohio; Carrie J., wife of Joseph H.
Hartuper, who lives in Loudonville; Joshua M., who
married Mary A. Hissem, and died at McKay.
H. B. Case, born in Plain township, Wayne county, Ohio,
December 13,1839, moved to Washington township, Holmes county,
Ohio, in 1850; and to Green township, Ashland county, Ohio, in
1856. He worked at marble cutting, clerked in a store, and taught
school until the spring of. 1863, when he purchased the McKay
store of A. B. Case, and married Mina Horn. He is
the father of five children, four sons and one daughter, viz.:
Dayton L., Albert P., Jessie, deceased, Frederick and
Herbert. He continued business at McKay as merchant,
postmaster, and notary public, until the fall of 1872, when he
left the business in the hands of J. M. Case (who
afterwards became his partner in the McKay store) to engage in the
clothing business with J. C. Pell, of Loudonville, Ohio. In
the spring of 1873 he moved with his family to Loudonville, and
remained in the clothing business until 1879, when he returned to
McKay to take charge of the store (his brother, J. M. Case,
having died), where he still continues as merchant and postmaster. |
Troy Twp.
JAMES CHAMBERLAIN emigrated from Virginia
in April, 1823, and, in 1826, leased a quarter section in
section 16 - being land now owned by John Bebout.
In December, 1826, he purchased of William McCorkle the
land upon which he has since resided - being one hundred and ten
acres in the southeast quarter of section 25, Clearcreek
Township. On the 22d June, 1826, Mr. Chamberlain
married Miss Sarah Peterson.
(
Source *2: History of Ashland County, Ohio - publ. 1863 - Page
123) |
|
JESSE CHAMBERLAIN
was born in Windom county, Vermont,
Sept. 27, 1794. In June, 1815, he
married Betsy Mann, of the same
county. In 1817 he accompanied what
is known as a Parmely colony as far as Medina,
where he remained until 1819, when he settled in Sullivan, now
Ashland county. The colony
traveled from the east with six teams, one yoke of oxen, and sometimes the
addition of one horse to each wagon.
The wagons were covered and contained beds, cooking utensils, and provisions for
the trip. They also brought along a
number of cows, which supplied milk on the way.
They came by the way of Buffalo,
New York, and were many weeks making the journey. These aged people yet (1876) retain
considerable physical vigor. They
are quite lively, and their mental powers seem to be unimpaired. They had three children –
Adeline, wife of
Mr. Rice, Alzina, deceased, and Miranda,
deceased.
Whitney and
Richard Chamberlain, brothers of Jesse, settled in the township with the mother who died in 1843. They are deceased.
Source: History of Ashland Co., Ohio – Publ. by William Bros. – 1880 - Page 214
|
| JOHN CHAPMAN aka
JOHNNY APPLESEED |
DR. BELA B. CLARK was in New Milford, Connecticut, Oct.
1, 1796. He studied medicine in the same place, and attended
lectures under Drs. Hosae, Francis and Mott, in New York city in
1817. He came to Medina, Ohio, in 1818, and was married to
Sophia P. Sears, Oct. 28, 1820. He practiced medicine in
Medina county twenty-four years, and removed to the city of
Columbus in 1842, where he practiced three years. During his
residence in that city he became acquainted with several gentlemen
from Ashland, who were laboring for the passage of an act for the
erection of the new county of Ashland, and became identified with
the measure. Upon the passage of that act, he removed to
Ashland and entered upon his profession. He continued to
practice medicine about fourteen years. When the enterprise
of constructing the Atlantic & Great Western railway originated,
Dr. Clark entered heartily into the project, and sided
until it was nearly graded. He was among the first
directors. Soon after his arrival in Ashland he was
appointed one of the associate judges of the court of common
pleas, and served until the adoption of the constitution in 1851.
During his medical practice he received a diploma from the fellows
of the Connecticut medical society in 1817; also one from the
nineteenth medical district of Ohio, at Cleveland, May 25, 1824;
and a license from the court of the third judicial circuit of
Ohio, Nov. 30, 1818, and another from the medical society of the
eighty medical district of Ohio, November 5, 1818; and in 1841,
Willoughby Medial college conferred an honorary degree of
medicine, with diploma, upon him.
The doctor died from apoplexy, August 20, 1859, aged
about sixty-three years. He had been an active member and
ruling elder in the Presbyterian church for a number of years.
He was an accomplished physician, a zealous advocate of education
and always active for the public weal. His family consists
of his wife, who still survives; Dr. W. R. Clark, of Des
Moines, Iowa, a successful physician; Elizabeth, wife of
Dr. P. H. Clark, of Ashland and Charles F. M., of Iowa. |
|
DR. W. R. S. CLARK, born Nov. 26,
1821, in Medina Ohio; attended school at Kenyon college; studied
medicine with his father; attended lectures at Willoughby and
Cleveland, where he graduated. He practiced in Lorain county
and Ashland; removed to Bucyrus and practiced until the war, and
was appointed surgeon, and subsequently removed to Des Moines,
Iowa. |
JAMES CLARK
emigrated from Washington County, Pennsylvania, in April, 1818,
having entered two hundred and six acres in the northwest part
of section 2, Orange Township, being the place upon which he has
since resided.
The place of trade for himself and neighbors was
Elyria, where purchases of salt, leather, and other goods were
generally made.
The principal crops raised in his immediate
neighborhood were wheat, rye and corn. These grains were
rarely marketed, and, except such as were required for family
use, were fed to hogs, which were driven to the Pittsburg
market.
Source: History of Ashland Co., Ohio - Publ. 1863. - Page 506 |
JAMES
CLARK, was born in Chambersburgh, Pennsylvania, Oct. 7,
1790, and in youth attended the common schools of his
neighborhood. In 1797 his parents removed to Washington
county, in the same State, where he grew to manhood. War
having been declared against Great Britain in 1812, by the United
States, all those capable of bearing arms in the contest were
either drafted or volunteered for the service. Washington
county during the Revolution and subsequent struggles, had
suffered severely by the incursions of the red men from Sandusky
and the Scioto. From the temper evinced by the mother
country, it was apprehended that so far as her agents could
corrupt and inflame the passions of the tribes of the northwest
against our people they would do so. Her agents secretly
gave to the fierce red men ammunition, blankets, and arms, as the
price of human scalps. They regarded the Americans as rebels
in rebellion, and in a relentless war expected to subdue our
people. The border settlers were aroused, and a most
determined effort was put forth to turn back the red fiend, headed
by British bayonets, and thus parry every attempt to subdue our
country a second time. The young men of Washington county,
in 1813, of the proper age, were drafted into the service.
Mr. Clark was among those who drew a place in the service,
and was soon enrolled. The heroic victory on Lake Erie, by
Commodore Perry, and the brave conduct of Captain Crogan,
turned back the red hordes of the northwest, headed by British
bayonets, and thus repelled invasion, by lake and land, and by the
time the troops of western Pennsylvania had reached Pittsburgh, a
full in the contest soon caused a declaration of peace, and Mr.
Clark and his comrades were discharged without further
service. He was in no battle, but evinced his readiness for
the fray.
In 1814, he entered, at the land office, his late home
in Orange township. When he visited his land he came by way
of Wheeling, Zanesville, Coshocton, up the Walhonding, the Lake
and Jerome forks, by Finley's, to the blockhouse on Jerome's farm,
and thence up the stream by what became the home of Jacob
Young, to his own location northwest of what is now the
village of Orange, on the waters of Mohican. In 1818 he
built a small cabin on his land, and kept bachelor's hall during
the summer season, doing his own cooking, grubbing, chopping, and
preparing his land, and in the fall returned home and engaged in
teaming to "old Pitt." In this manner he continued to labor
on his land, each summer for seven successive years. When he
came out in 1818, he was accompanied by his brother John,
and stayed all night at Uniontown, now Ashland, at the cabin hotel
of Joseph Sheets, just opposite the present hardware store
of Mr. Stull, on the north side of Main street.
Mr. Sheets deceased several years since; but Mrs. Nancy
Sheets, the former landlady, resides in South Ashland,
possessing a good deal of energy, and quite a vigorous mind, for
an aged lady. For some time after his arrival wild game was
abundant. Mr. Clark was a good marksman, and easily
procured plenty of venison, wild turkeys, and occasionally a black
bear. These he dressed and cooked according to this taste.
Wolves were very numerous and bold. He related that on
several occasions, having no door to his cabin, wolves ventured in
during the night and actually carried away meat and other
articles. On one occasion he killed and dressed a large, fat
turkey, expecting to enjoy the luxury of roasting and eating the
same. On going to bed he hung it up in his cabin; but when
he arose next morning he found that during the night some howling,
hungry wolf and carried it away and devoured it while he slept.
He was repeatedly visited by hands of Delaware Indians,
from the Fire Lands, during their encampment and hunts in the
neighborhood. These Indians were very poor, and miserably
clad. They were always apparently hungry, and in a begging
humor. They often got corn-meal and other food from him, and
agreed to pay him in deer skins and peltry for it, but invariably
forgot to remember the agreement. Mr. Clark, in his
prime, was fully six feet high, and would weigh one hundred and
eighty pounds. He was very resolute in his manner, and frank
in his interviews with the Indians, and hence was never uncivilly
treated by them. These Indians had a number of wigwams, or
bark huts, three quarters of a mile northwest of him, in what is
now Troy township. Old Tom Lyons, Jonacake and his
squaw, Catttawa, and other Indians, often came to his
cabin, on their hunting excursions. He was also visited on
several occasions by the eccentric, but harmless, Johnny
Appleseed, who was engaged in planting, on Mason's run,
a nursery in advance of the pioneers.
These were solitary times; but Mr. Clark often
stated that, being busily engaged in clearing and preparing his
farm, time passed rapidly, and he really enjoyed himself working,
and occasionally traversing the wild forests in search of game.
When he entered the township, he was of the opinion there were not
over sixteen or seventeen families in it. Joel Mackerel,
John Bishop, and Peter Biddinger were his nearest
neighbors. Mr. Biddinger was a blacksmith, and also
repaired guns and tomahawks for the Indians.
At that time two shillings a day, and twenty-five cents
a hundred for cutting and splitting twelve foot rails in trade was
the customary price. He often traveled five miles on foot,
to help roll logs or raise a cabin, and was really glad to assist
in this manner all new settlers. There were no improved
roads; all was new, and no road fund to repair highways. The
willing hands and stout arms of the resolute pioneer had it all to
do, and right cheerfully did they perform the task. It was
some years before the advantages of good schools were enjoyed by
the rising generation.
Mr. Clark dwelt on the reminiscences of the
past, the growth of the country in population, intelligence and
wealth, and regarded the change that had occurred in this region,
as simply wondrous in the last sixty-one years. In 1830 he
married Miss Charlotte Myers, daughter of
Jacob Myers, of Clearcreek, by whom he had four sons:
Josephus, John, M. L., and James M. Clark, and two
daughters, Mary A. McBride and Mrs. C. Sharrick.
Mrs. Clark died in 1841, and Mr. Clark subsequently
married a Miss Marshall, who, at an advanced age, survives
her husband, and resides at the home of James M. Clark, on
the old homestead. Mr. Clark and his aged lady
enjoyed the filial attentions of the family, and esteem of all his
pioneer neighbors, and life ebbed quietly away, and at eighty-nine
years he became gradually feeble, and gently passed over the dark
river to a better and happier land July 7, 1879.
A deep veneration for the memory of these fathers and
mothers of a new country pervades the rising generation. In
the last twelve months we have parted with over twenty-five of the
pioneers of the county, who have been gathered to their fathers.
Ere long the last will disappear from among us. It is a
grateful duty we owe them to smooth their departing hours by
kind and respectful attention, ere we are called upon to enjoy the
fruits of their toil and valor. |
Troy Twp.
NATHANIEL CLARK and family settled in the
township in 1834.
(
Source *2: History of Ashland County, Ohio - publ. 1863 - Page
543) |
| NATHANIEL
CLARK was born in the State of New York, Mar. 10, 1872.
In 1799 his father removed to Seneca county, New York. In
1812 he was drafted and served in the war. After peace he
married Elizabeth Phelps, of the same county. In 1832
he moved to Troy township and settled amid the forests. He
located north of the center, where he still resides on lot
eighteen, upon an improved farm of ninety-nine acres. His
family consists of but two children, both of whom are married.
His honorable wife is a sister of Mrs. Parker, and of the
same township. At this time, 1876, he and his aged wife are
in the enjoyment of good health. They are members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. ALSO NOTE: The following came
for History of Ashland County, Ohio - Publ. 1863:
Nathaniel Clark and family settled in the township (Troy)
in 1834. |
|
DR. P. H. CLARK, born in Wakeman, Huron county,
Ohio, August 3, 1819; studied medicine and attended one course of
lectures at Willoughby in 1839-40, and practiced in Allen county,
Indiana, and in Wisconsin, for some time; removed to Ashland in
1850; was assistant surgeon in the late war of 1862-3 in the field
hospitals. He attended a second course of lectures at the
University of Buffalo, New York in 1861-2 and graduated. He
is a member of the Ohio State Medical society, and has been
pension surgeon since Dec. 1862. He is now in practice. |
DR. JOSEPH E. CLIFF, a native
of London, England, an energetic and spirited physician, well
calculated to make himself known and felt in the community,
settled in Loudonville in 1825. He studied medicine with Dr.
Daniel McPhail, of Wooster, 1821-2 a Scotchman, and
leading physician of Wayne county, for several years, in At that
period Dr. McPhail frequently visited Clearcreek,
Montgomery, Vermillion, and Mohican townships, accompanied by
Dr. Cliff, who sometimes repeated the visits. He
remained about two years at Loudonville, and returned to Wooster,
and shortly afterwards departed for the gold mines in Brazil,
South America. He landed in the midst of a revolution, and
proceeding to the mines, remained several years, and became
possessed of considerable wealth. In the meantime, his wife, a
daughter of Dr. McPhail, supposing him dead, married
Robert W. Smith, late of Mohican township. Dr.
Cliff returned from South America and found his wife in the
possession of another! Accepting the condition of things as
philosophically as possible, he proceeded to provide liberally for
his son, who afterwards read medicine, and now enjoys a wide
reputation as Dr. D. B. Cliff, of Franklin,
Tennessee. After this the old doctor returned to London, England,
where he died some years since. This is highly romantic, but
nevertheless true. It is obtained from the lips of his venerable
wife, who still survives, and is now seventy-six years of age, and
resides with her son, Edward P. Smith, near Ashland.
Money was very scarce, and the surplus products of the
country, in 1825, had no market. High spirited and ambitious, the
doctor hoped to better his fortunes in other countries. He was
wholly deprived of the means of corresponding with his family, and
the sequel shows that, while he accomplished the object of his
adventure, he lost an amiable and accomplished wife. |
HENRY COBLE
was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, May 9, 1798;
came to Ohio with his father at an early date and settled in
Wayne county, near Wooster, where he married Anna M. Harner
in 1824. In 1823, he came to Ashland county, and settled
in Lake township, and has always been engaged in farming.
In politics, he is a Republican; and is a member of the
Presbyterian church. Feb. 28, 1880, his wife died.
Six children constitute his family, viz.: John, who
married Sophia Kantzer, and afterwards married
Rebecca Horn; Sarah, wife of John Norris, deceased;
Rebecca, wife of Thomas Metcalf, living in Iowa;
Daniel, who married Margaret Kantzer; Henry, who
married Mary E. Young; Maria A., wife of Joseph
Chesseroun.
(Source: History of Ashland County, Ohio with Illustrations and
Biographical Sketches, by George William Hill, M.D. - Published
by Williams Bros. 1880. - Page 283) |
FREDERICK
W. COFFIN was born in Washington county, New York, January
6, 1809. He learned the trade of a cabinet-maker in Vermont.
On reaching manhood he married Mary Waters, of Bennington,
and located in Troy, New York, in 1833. In 1845 he removed
to Mohicanville, Ashland county, where he remained two years, and
removed to Ashland, where he still resides. He is of English
descent, and the family trace their ancestry back to the invasion
of the conqueror William, of Normandy. The Coffins
settled in Worcester, Massachusetts, as early as 1642. At
one time the Coffins were the proprietors of Nantucket.
Mr. Coffin is an excellent mechanic, and a
gentleman of high integrity. He is the parent of twelve
children, part of whom are deceased. In December, 1875, he
held a family reunion; those present were: the father,
Frederick W. Coffin, aged sixty-seven; the mother, Mary
Coffin, aged sixty-two; Mrs. L. J. Sprengle, Mrs. F. H.
Smith, Mrs. M. Jennings, Mrs. E. L. McIlrath, Thaddeus Coffin,
Arthur W. Coffin, Eugenen Coffin, Harry T. Coffin, and
Edward. These, with relations by marriage, and
offspring, numbered in all thirty-two souls. If the mother
of Mrs. Mary Coffin, who resides in Troy, New York, aged
eighty-six, had been present, there would have been five
generations under the same roof.
The Coffins are noted for their musical
endowments, and when all together make an interesting family
concert. |
Troy Twp.
JOHN COOK emigrated from Washington
County, Pennsylvania, in April, 1822. He came with his
father's family, consisting of his parents, two brothers and two
sisters. His father purchased of Samuel Galbraith
the southeast quarter of section 24 - being the same land upon
half of which he now resides.
(
Source *2: History of Ashland County, Ohio - publ. 1863 - Page
124) |
Troy Twp.
THOMAS C. COOK immigrated, with his wife,
to Clearcreek Township, in the spring of 1822, and entered, at
the Wooster Land Office, the southwest quarter of section 3, in
said township; which land he improved and made the place of his
residence (with the exception of about twenty-two months) until
the first of January, 1829, when he removed to Ashland, and
purchased the tavern stand which was upon the side of the
present Town Hall building. On the first of November,
1830, he sold this stand to Josiah W. Blackburn, and
removed to the town of Vermillion, (known then by some as "Haneytown,"
but now as Savannah). Here he engaged in the mercantile
business, which he has prosecuted since, except an interval of
two years, (1854-55)
When he first removed to Clearcreek Township, the
population of the town of Vermillion, according to this
recollection, consisted of the following named heads of
families: John Downer, cabinetmaker; Joseph Fast,
carpenter; William Bryan, blacksmith; Joseph Marshall,
blacksmith; and an unmarried man named James Duff,
weaver.
These all resided in log cabins, there not being a farm
dwelling or shop in the town. In 1836 or 1837, the names
of the town and post-office were changed from Vermillion to
Savannah. At this time Savannah was in the zenith of its
prosperity - there being three stores, two public houses, and a
general supply of mechanics; all doing a fair business.
The village was on the leading thoroughfare between a large and
productive country south and the market towns of the lake.
All the heads of families above named, who were in the
town in the spring of 1822, are now deceased.
The only mill in the township was a "horse mill," built
and owned by Thomas Ford, on the farm now owned by
Thomas Griffith. The first sawmill in the township was
erected by Joseph Davis, on the Clearcreek, about one and
a half miles west of town, in 1822. This mill only
employed one saw, and ran about five months in the year.
In 1824, John Hendricks built a frame grist-mill, on the
Vermillion, about forty rods below the junction of the
Clearcreek with that stream, and about one mile northwest of
Savannah. This mill, although it had only one run of the
old "hard-head" stone, done a very prosperous business.
About 1827, John and Thomas Haney erected
a grist-mill on what is called Mulhollen's Run, about fifty rods
south of the town.
The two justices of the peace in 1822 were James
Haney and Robert McBeth, (the former being also a
Methodist Clergyman.
The Indians yet claimed the country, by a sort of
pre-emption right, for their hunting - grounds. They were
mostly of the Wyandot and Seneca tribes, and, up to the date of
their removal, were upon friendly terms with the whites.
While Mr. Cook was residing upon his farm, in
the spring of 1824, he called on a certain Sunday, with a
neighbor, at the wigwam of an old Indian of some celebrity,
named Johnnycake. This wigwam was upon teh place
now owned by Jacob Myers. McMeeken and
Andrew Clark. In the course of conversation, Mr.
McMeeken inquired of Johnnycake's wife about the
recent success of her husband in hunting. She replied,
"Not very good; - on Sunday last Johnnycake saw a large
number o deer while out hunting his horses; but it being Sunday,
he was without his gun, as Johnnycake never carries his
gun or hunts game on that day."
To this response McMeeken inquired, with some
surprise, "Do you know when Sunday comes?"
"Why!" she retorted, "do you consider me a brute?
No, I am a person, and know when Sunday comes as well as
you do."
"Well, the Indians don't all know that much, do they?"
inquired McMeeken.
"Yes they do," she replied; "but some of them, like
the white people, do not keep it when they know it ahs
come."
"A sarcastic rebuke, and one that confused not a little
her interrogator, and made him quite willing to change as
subject.
There was not a church building in the township, and
only two school houses - one in Vermillion, and the otehr in the
neighborhood of Ford's "horse mill." The first sermon
which Mr. Cook heard preached, and among the first,
probably, delivered in the township, was the funeral sermon of a
young man named Eliphalet Downer, by Rev. James
Haney, in the summer of 1822. This young man was a
hatter, which had put up a shop in Vermillion, preparatory to
the commencement of business; and while traveling on his return
to his former home in Pennsylvania, he had stopped over night at
Wooster, and, during his sleep, jumped from a window of this
room, sustaining severe injury. He was returned to the
house of John Downer his brother, in Savannah, on
a litter, conveyed by eighteen men, on foot, and survived about
three weeks from the date of his injury.
The spring elections in the days of the first
settlement of Clearcreek were conducted in a somewhat novel
manner. The crowd who would first appear at the polls
would select a township ticket - write down the names and read
them to the electors, who, as they would come up, would declare
viva voce, "I vote the general ticket." The clerk,
John Bryte, would take down the name of the voter, and at
the close of the polls, (no ballot save the one originally
prepared, nor ballot-box, having been used,) the one
"unscratched ticket" would be held and deemed to have been
unanimously elected. At this time, also, the trustees and
clerks for election waived their right to all compensation for
services. Those officers who first innovated upon this
practice, and charged for such services, rendered themselves, it
may be supposed, rather unpopular.
In 1831, Mr. Cook had an interest in a contact
for supplying the army at Green Bay with wheat. He offered
fifty cents case, per bushel, and as wheat, prior to this, had
never been in demand for export, it spread great joy among the
farmers. His purchases amounted to about three hundred
bushels, which exhausted the surplus stock of the neighborhood.
(
Source *2: History of Ashland County, Ohio - publ. 1863 - Page
124) |
JOHN COOPER
immigrated to Clearcreek Township in the fall of 1822, and
purchased of John Haney forty acres of land, lying west
of the far now owned by John Bryte. In 1828, he
sold this place and removed to section 28, Mohican Township.
Source #2 - : History of Ashland County, Ohio - publ. 1863 -
Page 406) |
Vermillion Twp. -
REV. JOHN COX
removed from Somerset County, Pennsylvania, to the land upon
which is now situated the town of Hayesville, in May, 1823.
He purchased of a Mr. Hensh about seventy acres of
Virginia Military School land, paying said Hensh one
hundred and twenty dollars for his quit claim, and assuming to
pay the State two dollars per acre, making the whole cost of his
seventy acres two hundred and sixty dollars. Upon this
track there was about three acres cleared on the northeast
corner, and within what is now the center of the town there were
two cabins, one of which stood near the spot of his present
residence in Hayesville, and the other upon the lot now owned by
Armentrout & Son.
The town of Hayesville was laid out in the fall of
1830, and the town plat recorded in Mansfield, Oct. 26, 1830.
The first public sale of lots occurred on the 18th of November
of the same year.
Source: History of Ashland County, Ohio - publ. 1863 |
|
JACOB CRALL was born near
Harrisburgh, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, December 16, 1811.
He is of German descent. He attended the common Schools of
his neighborhood until he reached manhood, and emigrated, in
1835, to Ashland Ohio, and became a clerk in the store of R.
B. Campbell & Co., where he remained about one year.
In 1836 he became the partner of John P. Reynor if the
mercantile business, and continued until 1838, when he separated
from Reynor and formed the partnership with Hulbert and, under
the name of style of Luther & Crall, and continued
as a member of the firm until 1854. In 1851 he also, in
company with Mr. Luther, opened a hardware store, which
subsequently became the property of Crall & Topping.
In the fall of 1851 he became a stockholder and one of the
directors in the establishment of a bank of exchange and deposit
in Ashland, and continued in the same until 1864. In 1864
the First National Bank of Ashland was organized under a law of
Congress, and the stockholders of the bank of Luther, Crall &
Co. transferred their interest to the new institution, and
Mr. Crall became one of the directors, and still acts in
that capacity. In the fall of 1855 he was elected
treasurer of Ashland county, and held the office two years.
In 1861 he was appointed postmaster of Ashland by the
administration of Abraham Lincoln, and retained the
office four years. He has been a member of the town
council two years. He was elected mayor of Ashland in
1876. He is at present largely engaged in the purchase and
sale of coal. As a business man he has always sustained an
unblemished reputation. Very few men in this region have
taken a deeper interest in the improvement of the county.
He was among the foremost in procuring the location of a
railroad at Ashland, and was engaged in its construction.
He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for a
number of years. He married Miss Elizabeth M.
Melsheimer, of Ashland, June 27, 1837. His family
consists of three sons - George, of Virginia City,
Nevada; Oscar F. of Ashland, and Charles, of
California; and one daughter. Helen J., who resides with
her parents. |
DR.
ISAAC L. CRANE was born in Akron, Ohio, May 7, 1825. His
parents having died when he was quite young, he was compelled to
depend upon his own industry and energy, for success. He learned
the trade of a tailor, and, by economy and close application,
earned sufficient to warrant an attempt to study medicine. He
became a student of Dr. L. Firestone about the year 1850,
and graduated in the Western Reserve college, in the session of
1853-54. He soon after located in Ashland, and drew around him
many warm and devoted friends. He was a careful practitioner, and
unremitting in his attentions to his patients, and evinced a good
deal of skill as a physician. In 1861 he was commissioned in the
three months' service as surgeon in the Twenty-third regiment Ohio
militia. After the expiration of his service he was again
commissioned, for three years, in the Sixty-third regiment Ohio
volunteer infantry, October 17, 1861, and served until January,
1864. During his service he acted for some time as medical
director in the army of the Tennessee. He acquitted himself with
honor to the profession and his friends.
Full of zeal for the dignity and honor of the medical
profession, few of his age have done more to dignify it. He became
president of the county medical society upon its organization, in
1864, and was a member of the Ohio State Medical association.
During his arduous services in the war, he greatly impaired his
constitution, and gradually became more feeble, until his lungs
became involved, and drained his vitality. He died June 12, 1867,
of pulmonary consumption. The County Medical society and the
Masonic fraternity, of which he was a member, paid him their last
honors in accompanying; him to his final resting place in the
cemetery at Ashland. His wife resides in Iowa. |
Mifflin Twp. (Formerly the
town of Petersburg)
LEONARD CRONINGER, originally from
Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, removed from Trumbull
County, Ohio, to Mifflin Township, in April, 1815, and died in
December, 1833, at the age of 52. Benjamin
Croninger, son of the deceased, now occupying the old
homestead, is the oldest survivor of the settlers in the north
part of the township.
(
Source *2: History of Ashland County, Ohio - publ. 1863 - Page
534) |
| JACOB CROUSE. |
ROBERT
CULBERTSON removed to Orange Township in September, 1825.
He had been a resident of Belmont County many years previous.
His family, when he removed to the township, consisted of his
wife and two children, Thomas Culbertson and Mrs.
James Hamilton, all of whom are yet residents of Orange
Township. His land, when he removed to it, had not been
disturbed by the axe or plow, and the wall of the first cabin
erected by him are yet standing upon his place.
An Indian creates a Panic...
During the first year Mr. Culbertson removed
to the township, a controversy had arisen between Peter
Biddinger, a gunsmith, and an Indian named "Jim Jerk,"
about the pay for the repair of the Indian's gun. Jim
had refused to meet the cost of the repairs, and on Mr.
Biddinger's refusal to deliver it to him without pay, he
made threats of vengeance. The following year the Indian
was discovered lurking about the neighborhood, and his conduct
was such as excited suspicion. A company of thirteen men
at once organized to scour the country, and if possible capture
him and obtain an explanation of his conduct. A diligent
search, commencing at daybreak and ending at a late hour of the
night, proved fruitless, and all returned home except John
McConnell, who continued his pursuit about three days, when
he reappeared and noticed Mr. Biddinger and the
neighborhood that he had made a satisfactory and final
settlement with Jim Jerk. The Indian was never seen
or heard of again.
Source: History of Ashland Co., Ohio - Publ. 1863. - Page 506 |
Mifflin Twp. (Formerly the town
of Petersburg)
MICHAEL CULLER, in 1816, purchased of
Philip Seymour, Jr., the farm upon which the tragedy
described in the preceding pages was enacted. The cabin
which was the scene of the strife was occupied by Mr. Culler
about a year. The bodies of the slain are deposited within
a few rods of his present residence. HE had visited the
country in 1815, but commenced his residence in 1816..
(
Source *2: History of Ashland County, Ohio - publ. 1863 - Page
534) |
Troy Twp.
JOHN CUPPY removed from Jefferson County,
Ohio, in August, 1819. His wife remained a few days at the
house of Abraham Huffman until he was enabled to erect
for his family a cabin upon the place he had then purchased, and
upon which he has since resided, being the southeast quarter of
section 15, Clearcreek Township. His house was burned in
the summer of 1822.
(
Source *2: History of Ashland County, Ohio - publ. 1863 - Page
136) |
| GEORGE
W. CURRY was born in Tompkins county, New York, May 20,
1812. He attended school and remained there until 1838, when
he married Ava Ann Smith, and removed to Clarksfield, Huron
county, and resided there five months, and located in Clearcreek,
Richland, now Ashland county, where he farmed four years, and in
1842 settled in the north part of Ruggles, and in 1849 sold to
Mr. Peck, and purchased the farm formerly owned by Geo.
Eaton, where he now (1876) resides. Mr. Curry
was a very active anti-slavery man, during the palmy days of that
institution. He is the parent of thirteen children, nine of
whom are deceased. The living are John B., Geo. W.,
Lucretia A., and Francis J.; all married. Mr.
Curry is noted for his skill and industry as a farmer, and his
real in whatever he regards as right and honorable. |
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