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JOHN ANSON CALDWELL, one of the
prominent business men and worthy citizens of Conneaut, Ohio, was born
in Erie county, Pennsylvania, November 3, 1838.
The Caldwells trace their ancestry to Tyrone and
Donegal counties, Ireland, and are of Scotch-Irish extraction. They
were Protestants; were people of wealth, belonging to the landed
nobility, and had a coat of arms.
John A. Caldwell's parents, Robert
and Maria (Lowry) Caldwell, were both
natives of Pennsylvania. Robert Caldwell was born
December 14, 1798, and died in Erie county, Pennsylvania, in 1842. He
was a farmer by occupation, was keenly alive to the best interests of
the farm, and was well known as an honest, industrious and worthy
citizen. From boyhood he was a devout member of the United
Presbyterian Church. He had decided views on political matters, and
was an ardent Whig. His wife, Maria, was born July 17, 1801,
and died November 15, 1838. She, too, was a worthy member of the
United Presbyterian Church, and was a woman of many estimable
qualities, loved by all who knew her. Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell
were married February 1, 1821, and had a family of children as
follows: Nancy, wife of Lewis Speer, was born
January 16, 1822, and died in 1858; Mary, born March 3, 1824,
became the wife of Richard Bran, his death occurring
February 11, 1892, and hers February 19, 1892; Elizabeth L.,
born March 22, 1827, married William Catlin, her death
occurring in 1891, and his in January, 1893; Emeline, wife of
Elisha Stone, resides in Batavia, Illinois; Almira,
wife of R. S. Whitney, is a resident of Westfield, Wisconsin;
and John and Anson, the youngest of the family. By a
second marriage Robert Caldwell had one child, Alfred
Augustus, born May 7, 1841 This son, Alfred Augustus,
enlisted in the Union army in 1861. He was taken prisoner on the
battlefield and was sent to the Andersonville prison pen, where, after
months of suffering from exposure and starvation death came to his
relief. He sleeps his last sleep in the National Cemetery at
Andersonville.
The subject of our sketch was deprived of a mother's
loving care in infancy, and, his father having died a few years later,
he remembers little of him. He lived at the old farm home until he was
fifteen years of age. Then he worked two years at the tinner's trade,
and after that went to school two years. In 1859, at the age of
twenty, being of a restless disposition and having a desire for
travel, he set out for California, via the Isthmus route, taking
passage on the celebrated Star of the "West. It will be remembered
that this same vessel, while on the way to Fort Sumter with provisions
and ammunition for General Robert Anderson in
1861, was fired upon by the rebels.
Mr. Caldwell spent two years in
California in mining operations, and several years more in mining and
prospecting through the territories of Oregon, Idaho, Washington and
Montana. He returned east as far as Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1866, and
the following year made a visit to the home of his childhood. In 1868
he went to Omaha, Nebraska, and for several years worked at his trade
there. January 6, 1872, be removed to Conneaut, Ohio, and engaged in
the grocery business, under the firm name of Bosworth & Caldwell. Two
years later the firm became Poole & Caldwell, and since 1882, having
bought out his partner's interest at that time, he has continued the
business under the name of J. A. Caldwell. He carries a full
line of groceries, provisions, crockery, queens-ware, notions, etc.,
and has a large trade, numbering among his customers the best people
of the city and surrounding country.
Mr. Caldwell was married in Couucil
Bluffs, Iowa, April 29, 1869, to a daughter of
Calvin and
Harriet Poole. It was his father-in-law with whom he was
engaged in business, under the name of Poole & Caldwell.
Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell have two children, viz.: Jessie A.,
wife of C. B. Stoke, of Conneaut; and Harriet Almira, a
pupil in the Conneaut public school. Mrs. Caldwell is a
member of the Episcopal Church.
In social as well as business circles Mr.
Caldwell ranks with the leading citizens of Conneaut. He is a
member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and Cache Commandery, in
all of which bodies he holds the office of Treasurer. He is also
Treasurer of the, Knights of Honor, National Union and the Elks of
Conneaut. He is a charter member of the Knight of Pythias Lodge, at
Conneaut; was the first Past Grand Chancellor of said lodge, and has
also served five years as District Deputy of the same—Maple Lodge, No.
217. He is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. Aside from his activity
in secret organizations, he has always shown a public spirit worthy of
commendation and has been deeply interested in the public enterprises
of the city. He holds decided views on political matters of county,
State and Nation, and affiliates with the Democratic party.
SHARON WICK's NOTE: The Caldwells were buried in
City Cemetery,
Conneaut, Ohio |
ALFRED
CARLSON, well known business man and substantial citizen of
Ashtabula Harbor, where he has been engaged in the grocery business
for 22 years, was born in Sweden, Jan. 4, 1866. He is the son
of Carl Johnson and Katherine Carlson.
Carl Johnson Carlson was a native of Sweden, where
he spent his entire life. He was born April 5, 1836, and is
now deceased. His wife was born Nov. 5, 1841, and resides in
Sweden. They were the parents of seven children, as follows:
Alfred, the subject of this sketch; John, lives
in Sweden; Patrick, lives in Ashtabula, where he has been an
engineer on the docks for 30 years; Otto, lives at Geneva,
Ohio; Bettie, married Albin Anderson, lives at
Portland, Ore.; Alma, married Alfred Anderson, lives
in Sweden; and Freida, married Gus Ekstrom, lives at
Portland, Ore. Mr. Ekstrom was killed in a railroad
accident in 1923.
Alfred Carlson was reared and educated in his
native land and in 1888 came to the United States and located in
Ashtabula. During his many years of business at 118 Oak
Street, Mr. Carlson has handled a high grade line of products
and he ranks among the leading merchants high grade line of products
and he ranks among the leading merchants at the Harbor.
On April 4, 1899, Mr. Carlson was united in
marriage with Miss Albertina Benson, a native of Sweden and
the daughter of Bjata and Anna Johanson, both of whom are
deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Carlson two children have
been born: Otto Albin, born May 27, 1904, a graduate of
Ashtabula Harbor High School; and Emil Gottfred, born Aug.
16, 1906, a high school student.
Mr. Carlson and his family are members of the
Swedish Lutheran Church of Ashtabula Harbor. Mrs. Carlson
has lived in this country since she was 21 years of age.
Source #2 - Pg. 884 |
JOHN CARLSON,
well known as an enterprising farmer and stockman of Ashtabula
Township, was born in Sweden, June 25, 1871. He is a son of
Christopher and Hannah (Johnson) Carlson.
Christopher Carlson and his wife spent
their entire lives in Sweden and are now deceased. He died in
1877 and his wife died in 1921. They were the parents of the
following children: John, the subject of this sketch;
Pete, lives in Sheffield, Ohio; Carles, lives in
Sheffield, Ohio; M. T., Christina and Amelia, all
living in Sweden; two children died n infancy; and August,
who was killed by a train in 1923, at Pierpont, when his automobile
stalled on the railroad track.
At the age of 19 years John Carlson left his
native land. Coming to this country he settled at Ashtabula
Harbor where he was employed on the docks for three years. He
then engaged in the milk business at Painesville, Ohio, for four
years, after which he purchased a farm of 110 acres near Jefferson,
which he owned for seven years. After his first wife's death
he removed to Ashtabula, and six years later purchased his present
farm in Ashtabula Township, which contains 71 acres of good farm
land. The Carlson home burned several years ago and was
rebuilt in 1922.
In 1901 Mr. Carlson was married at Ashtabula
Harbor to Miss Lena Enguist, who came to this country from
Sweden with her mother, and settled at Ashtabula Harbor.
Mrs. Carlson died in 1908, leaving four children: Anna,
Ellen, and Edwin; and Lillian, deceased. In
1917, Mr. Carlson was married to Mrs. Anna Larson,
also a native of Sweden. By a former marriage she had four
children, May, Alice, Walter and Gilbert Jepson.
Mr. Carlson and his family are members of the
Swedish Church of Ashtabula Harbor. He is one of Ashtabula
County's dependable and progressive citizens.
Source #2 - Pg. 1027 |
JOHN CARLSON,
who now lives in Kingsville Township, is a leading farmer of Ashtabula
County. He was born in Sweden, Feb. 15, 1859, the son of Carl
and Elizabeth Isaacson.
Carl Isaacson was born in Sweden, where he died in
1924. He came to this country, but after five years returned to
his native land. His wife died in 1904. Mr. and Mrs.
Isaacson were parents of the following children: John, the
subject of this sketch; Ed. lives in Sweden; Theodore,
Ashtabula; Louie, Ashtabula Township; Anna, Sweden; and
Hilda, married Abbie Dickerson, lives in Cleveland.
John Carlson spent his boyhood in Sweden and was
educated there. Thirty-six years ago he came to the United States
and located at Altoona, Pa., where he was employed in the mines four
years. He then came to Ashtabula Harbor and worked at the docks
for 15 years. In 1902 Mr. Carlson purchased his first farm
of 50 acres, which he sold in 1920. The Carlson farm is
located on the south ridge east of Ashtabula and is among the fine dairy
farms of the community. Mr. Carlson resided in Ashtabula
for a few years at 32 Fargo Avenue. In 1924 he moved to his
present farm of 80 acres. He has owned several farms in the
county.
On Jan. 29, 1892, Mr. Carlson was united in
marriage with Miss Tilda Jepson, a native of Sweden, who came to
this country with her parents when a child. Elsie Jepson,
the mother, lives in Ashtabula. Her husband died in 1921. On
April 23, 1923, Mrs. Carlson died very suddenly, leaving 12
children, as follows: Carrie, lives at home; Mabel,
cashier of the Ward Baking Company, Cleveland; Agnes, teaches
school in Ashtabula; Lillie, died in 1902; Edith, teaches
school; Mildred, an instructor in penmanship in the Saybrook
Township School; Martha H., at home; Elizabeth, died at
the age of 17 years; Alice, at home; Della, Arlene and
Jane, all at home.
Mr. Carlson is a Republican and a member of the
Lutheran church. He is a substantial citizen and deservedly stands
high in the estimation of his friends and acquaintances.
Source #2 - Page 466 |
C. VERN CARR,
who is successfully engaged in the real estate and insurance
business at Conneaut, was born at Harmonsburg, Crawford County, Pa.,
July 21, 1882. He is a son of John and Ida (McMurtry) Carr.
John Carr was a native of New York and his wife was
born in Pennsylvania. He was engaged in the blacksmithing
business at Harmonsburg, Pa., for many years. He was a
Republican and served as deputy sheriff of Crawford County and held
other township offices. About 1888 Mr. Carr came to
Conneaut, Ohio, and engaged in blacksmithing and later the livery
business which he conducted until his death which occurred in 1905;
his wife died in 1898. There were three children in the
Carr family: C. Vern, the subject of this sketch; Glen
H., lives at Meadville, Pa.; and Frank, lives in
Cleveland.
C. Vern Carr was educated in the public schools
and at the age of 17 years became a sailor on the Great Lakes.
He later was in the employ of the Bessemer Railroad as conductor and
later as yardmaster. Mr. Carr has been engaged in
business at Conneaut since 1915. He is a director of The
Citizens Building & Loan Company, and director and treasurer of The
Conneaut Woolen Mills Company, and director of the Northeastern Oil
and Gas Company.
Mr. Carr was married to Miss Inez Baker,
a native of Pennsylvania, and the daughter of Charles LeRoy
and Carrie (Randall) Baker. Mr. Baker is deceased and
Mrs. Baker lives with her daughter, Mrs. Carr.
Two brothers, Thomas and Ellis Baker, live at
Conneaut. To Mr. and Mrs. Carr two children have been
born: Earl, who is in business with his father; and
Geraldine, a student.
Mr. Carr is a member of the Masonic lodge, of
which he is past master; past high priest and past Th. Ill. Masters
now captain general of Cashe Commandery. He also is a member
of the Elks. He has served as director of public safety and as
secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the Rotary
Club and is sergeant-at-arms during the reorganization of the
present paid fire department of Conneaut. Mr. Carr was
clerk of the safety department, although he was not a member of the
department. He also served as a volunteer fireman of the old
fire department and was captain of the hook and ladder company.
He served as a volunteer fireman about 16 years. Mr. Carr
ranks as one of the leading and prosperous citizens of Conneaut.
Source #2 - page 580 |
IRA F. CASE,
yard master of the Nickel Plate Railroad at Conneaut, Ohio, was born
in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, Nov. 15, 1862.
His
parents were Orson and Rhoda A. (Wilmarth) Case, both natives of
Pennsylvania. His father was a soldier in the Army of the Potomac
during the late war, serving several years. Previous to the war he
conducted farming operations, and afterward was engaged in railroading,
beginning as yard master and subsequently serving as baggage master.
He continued as baggage master up to the time of his death, April 24, 1891,
aged 68 yrs. From his boyhood up he was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, his whole life being characterized by honesty and
industry. His widow is a resident of Pennsylvania. She is a
member of the Universalist Church. Of their three children we make
record as follows: Orney E., the oldest is a conductor on the
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, having been on the road for nine
years; Ira F., the subject of this sketch; and George M., a farmer in
Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, has a large stone quarry on his farm, to
which he gives considerable attention and which affords him a handsome
income.
Ira F. Case was reared on a farm in his native
county. At the age of fifteen he began learning telegraphy at Foster,
Pennsylvania, and remained there six months. Then he had charge of
different offices along the line until he obtained a steady situation at
Homer, New York, remaining at that place a year and a half. After this
he served as station agent on the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad
for three years. Then he served as brakeman on the same road, and
subsequently as conductor on the Buffalo & Southwest. Since 1888 he
has been in the employ of the Nickel Plate at Conneaut, first as yard
conductor and then as yard master, his present position.
Mr. Case was married in New York, October, 8, 1884, to
Mrs. Sarah J.
Thompson, daughter of Samuel Peacock, a native of Canada. They have
one child, Myrtle E. Mrs. Case is a member of the Christian Church.
He affiliates with the Democratic party, and is a member of the Brotherhood
of Railway Trainmen of Conneaut.
Source #1 - page 926 |
THOMAS CASE,
of Andover township, Ashtabula county, was born May 7, 1830, a son of
Orren B. and Delia A. (Cresey) Case, the former born in
Massachusetts in 1804, and the latter a native of Cherry Valley
township, Ashtabula county, Ohio. The paternal grandfather of our
subject, Timothy Case, was a native of Massachusetts, and the
family came to this county in 1822. O. B. and Delia Case
had thirteen children, seven now living: Thomas, Morris,
Birney, Eliza, James, Levacia, and Edd
P. One son, Hon. A. T. Case, died in Michigan, at the
age of fifty-three years; and another, Timothy, departed this
life at the age of twenty years. Mr. Case was one of seven
Birney men in Andover in 1840. He held the positions as Clerk and
Trustee, and was a prominent man in his community. His death
occurred in 1880, and his wife departed this life in 1874.
Thomas Case, the subject of this sketch,
enlisted for service in the late war, February 24, 1865, entering the
One-hundred and Seventy-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company D,
and served until the close of the struggle. He was discharged at
Salisbury, North Carolina, July 14, 1865. Mr. Case resided for
a time in Richmond, but he now owns 162 acres of land in Andover
township, Ashtabula county, Ohio. This is one of the finest farms in
the neighborhood, contains all the necessary farm buildings, a sugar
grove of 400 trees, an orchard, a patent evaporator for syrup and
sugar, and a dairy of twenty cows. In his political views, Mr.
Case is a Republican, and was the choice of his party for
Assessor and Trustee. Socially, he is a member of the G. A. R., H.
Kile Post, No. 80.
He was married at the age of twenty-one years, to
Lucinda, a daughter of Samuel and Clarissa (Adams)
Halmon. Mrs. Case died in November, 1855, and in
1857 our subject was united in marriage to Sarah A. Laughlin,
formerly a successful teacher and a daughter of Hugh C. Laughlin,
a prominent early settler of Ashtabula county. Mr. and Mrs. Case
have three living children: Mary E., wife of F. S.
Higden; Cora, of Montana; Hugh L. and Stiles
C. Their deceased children were: Azalia Strickland,
who had charge of the Bloomfield public school for a time, died
December 4, 1892, at the age of thirty-three years; Charles,
deceased at the age of four years; and a son died at the age of six
months. Mrs. Case is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. |
AMASA
CASTLE, Jr., was born in Plymouth, Connecticut, April 5,
1786, from which place his parents removed to Burlington, Vermont,
where they remained several years, finally emigrating in 1808 to
"New Connecticut," and halting in Ashtabula, at that date a dense
forest, teeming with Indians, wolves, bears, and other wild animals.
His father, Amasa Castle, Sr., was a brave,
intrepid soldier in the War of the Revolution, and brought to the
new home all the spirit and energy which characterized the men of
that generation, and helped them to conquer the apparently
insurmountable obstacles which beset the frontiersman's progress.
The mother, Mrs. Mary Stanley Castle, who was a direct
descendant of the English Stanleys, was a woman of rare
abilities and great strength of character, - a worthy mother of
children who helped to make the history of this country. Her
father and oldest brother were made prisoner of war by the British,
and, with hundreds of others, were poisoned while confined on a
prison-ship at Baltimore. Afterwards a monument, in or near
New York, bearing their names, and which still exists, was raised to
their memory. Another brother, Frederic Stanley, Esq.,
afterwards a distinguished lawyer of New York, was, when only
nineteen, one of General Washington's aides-de-camp, and on
numerous occasions distinguished himself by his fearless heroism and
devotion to the cause for which they were fighting.
With his inheritance of such qualities as these,
combined with inflexible rectitude of principle, Mr. Castle
brought to the wilderness only his strong arms, light heart, and
perfect health. Buying some land on the "South Ridge," about a
mile east of where the village stands, he, with his father, and
brother Daniel, commenced the task of making a productive
farm in the midst of the unbroken forest. Like all the
pioneers of that time, they suffered great hardships, often lacking
necessary food, and being compelled to depend on wood-craft to keep
from starvation. Even after the grain was raised it was
difficult to get it ground, the nearest mill being at Cleveland or
Walnut Creek, sixty miles away, and no mode of conveyance except the
horse's back. This, with the dangers from wild animals which
beset the journey, made it a great undertaking, and often their only
bread was made from corn pounded in a wooden mortar. In these
days of steam-mills, railroads, and other things, which seem a
common and necessary part of our civilization, it seems almost
incredible that people should voluntarily endure such privations,
and the present generation is too apt to forget how much of its
present prosperity is owing to the courage and perseverance of its
ancestors.
During the War of 1812, Mr. Castle was one of
the militia so often called out to protect the government stores at
Cleveland and at Ashtabula Harbor from being captured by the
British. So continual were the alarms, so great the anxiety,
and so determined the patriotism of the hardy settlers, that,
scarcely enough persons were left at home to raise the necessary
food for sustenance, and nearly all the work was done by the women
and children, aided by a few men unfit for military duty.
During all that time of trial and suffering no one was ever more
ready and willing for service, however hard and dangerous, than the
subject of this sketch.
In January, 1813, he married Miss Rosalinda Watrous
(their marriage license standing third on teh records of Ashtabula
County), daughter of Captain John Watrous, who emigrated from
Saybrook, Connecticut, in the year 1810, with two yoke of oxen and
one horse, the journey occupying forty days. With Captain
Watrous were his wife and ten children, some of them already men
and women, Rosalinda being at the time but fourteen years
old.
Arrived in Ashtabula, they first settled at the Harbor,
with every prospect of prosperity; but a heavy sorrow was in store
for them, for only four brief weeks had elapsed when the father
suddenly sickened and died, leaving this stricken family, homesick
and almost discouraged, to struggle with the hardships of the new
country. Captain Watrous was the third white man
buried in West Ashtabula.
Mr. and Mrs. Castle raised a family of six
children, two of whom, with their mother, still reside in Ashtabula.
For fifty-eight years they walked hand-in-hand through the path of
life, sometimes in sunshine and sometimes in shadow, but always in
perfect harmony; and when at last, in December, 1870, at the age of
eighty-four, he lay down to his final rest, his devoted wife
received his last word and look of recognition. By their
industry and self-denial they not only educated their children, but
acquired a competency which rendered comfortable their declining
years; but the best inheritance of their children will be the
example of their lives of energy, content, and spotless integrity.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio - Publ. Philadelphia
- Williams Bros. - 1878
|
G. W. CHAFFEE, retired, is a member of one of
Ashtabula County's oldest and most prominent pioneer families. He
was born at Jefferson, where he now resides, Jan. 1, 1850, and is a son of
N. L. and Mary E. (St. John) Chaffee.
N. L. CHAFFEE, now
deceased, was during his lifetime an important factor in the
development of Ashtabula County. He was born at Tully,
Onondaga County, N. Y., Oct. 31, 1813. He came to Ashtabula
County in September, 1831, without a relative in the state. He
taught school during the winters and the rest of the year chopped
and logged wood, until 1837, at which time he entered the law office
of Hon. Joshua R. Giddings at Jefferson. After being
admitted to the bar in 1839, a partnership was formed with Mr.
Giddings which continued for six years. In 1842 Mr.
Chaffee was elected prosecuting attorney and re-elected four
years later. He was elected to the Ohio legislature in 1848
and became a judge of the Common Pleas Court in this district in
1861 and re-elected in 1866. After ten years' service on the
bench he resumed the practice of law in which he was actively
engaged until the time of his death in 1887. At one time
Mr. Chaffee owned 1200 acres of land in Ashtabula County, as
well as large tracts in Kansas. He was a Republican, a member
of the Methodist Church and a charter member of hte Masonic Lodge at
Jefferson. N. L. Chaffee took an active interest in the
underground railroad during slavery times. He secreted
George Harris, the husband of Eliza Harris,
of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
His wife, who was born at Rock Creek, Ohio, died in
1859. She was the daughter of Col. G. W. and Cybelia
(Hawley) St. John. Col. G. W. St. John was a native
of Connecticut, having come to Ashtabula County at an early day.
His wife was born in Austinburg, Ohio, her father being Dr. O. K.
Hawley, one of the founders of the Grand River Institute of
Austinburg. Mr. and Mrs. Chaffee were the parents of
nine children, as follows: Gay W., was killed by a kick
from a horse in 1849; Mary, deceased; H. C.,
lives retired in Manhattan, Kan.; Isabel C., the widow of
Everson J. Hulbert, lives in Los Angeles, Cal.; G. W., the
subject of this sketch; Norman L., deceased; Mary E.,
deceased, was the wife of Allison Loomis, of Conneaut;
Julia R., married J. P. Jackson, both deceased; and
Clara, died in infancy. N. L. Chaffee was married
the second time in 1861, to Almira Ruggles of New York state,
and she died in 1906. No children were born to this union.
G. W. Chaffee received his education in the
schools of Jefferson and after completing a course at Grand River
Institute, was graduated from the University of Kansas, where he
studied agriculture. In 1867 Mr. Chaffee went to Kansas
and later engaged in the raising of stock there until 1876, at which
time he returned to Jefferson, where he served as deputy recorder
for 15 years and later as recorder of Ashtabula County for six
years.
In politics, Mr. Chaffee is identified with the
Republican party. He is a member of the Methodist Church and
is one of the interesting pioneers of the county.
Source #2 - page 672 |
HORACE J.
CHAPMAN, who now lives retired in Austinburg, is a
substantial and widely known citizen of Ashtabula County. He
was born in that town Sept. 24, 1851, and is a so of Joseph and
Rhoda (Chappel) Chapman.
Joseph Chapman and his wife were natives of
England. At the age of 21 years he came to this country and
settled in Austinburg, but a short time later returned to New York.
Later, however, Mr. Chapman again located at Austinburg and
purchased a farm. He died in 1903 at the age of 96 years. His
wife is also deceased. Fur children were born to Joseph and
Rhoda (Chappel) Chapman: Edward who died while in
service during the Civil War; Horace J., the subject of this
sketch; Eliza, the widow of Vander Potter, lives in
Wenatchee, Wash.; and Nelson, deceased.
Before he came from England Joseph Chapman was
marred to Eliza Bolton, she died while still in England, but
left him two boys, Robert and George. He came to
this country and left the boys in England for a few years.
Three brothers came over here also; they were Thomas, William
and Benjamin. They all settled in Austinburg Township.
The boys, Ribert and George, came over when
they were 10 and 12 and joined their father. In the meantime
he had married Rhoda Chappel. Robert Chapman died when
he was a young man. George married Louise Parmer
both deceased; their children were Allen W., Guy., Austinburg
Township and Nina, now Mrs. Cedoz, Austinburg. Allan
lives in Geneva and is a music teacher.
Horace J. Chapman received his education in the
schools of Austinburg having attended the Grand River Institute, the
superintendent being Jacob Tuckerman, a very noted professor;
and when a young man became interested in the milling business
there. For 25 years he owned and operated a large mill, which
he sold several years ago. Mr. Chapman now lives on
Grand River Street. Since his retirement from the milling
business he has been interested in the building business.
Mar. 26, 1879, Mr. Chapman was married to
Miss Eliza J. Saigeon, a native of Canada, born in 1860, and a
daughter of David and Anna (Bower) Saigeon, both deceased.
To Mr. and Mrs. Chapman have been born three children:
Mrs. Bertha E. Stiles, graduate of Geneva, Ohio, lives at
Ashtabula, where she is a teacher; Herbert Kenneth married
MAry Harrison of Chicago, and lives in Carbondale, Ill.; and
Frank Ward, with the Wooster Feed Mill Company, lives in
Ashtabula. He married Elmira Rintala of Ashtabula.
Herbert Kenneth Chapman spent two and one-half years in
Germany, having gone there with an invalid and while there, studied
that language. He returned to the United States and for 14
years has been a representative of the Hibbart, Spencer and
Martlett Hardware Company of Chicago, Ill.
Mr. Chapman is a Republican and has served as
trustee of Grand River Institute. He and the other members of
the family are members of the Methodist Church, except Mrs.
Chapman who is a member of the Congregational church.
The Chapman family's 50th annual reunion will be
held this year, June, at the home of Horace T. Chapman,
Austinburg. Mrs. Thoams Chapman of Geneva has been to
everyone of the49 reunions and expects if able to come to the 50th.
Source #2 - page 882 |
J. H. CLARK,
a farmer of Ashtabula county, was born in Lawrence county, W.
Pennsylvania, November 9, 1836, a son of John K. Clark, a
native also of that county. His father, John Clark, was born of
Irish parents, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and his death
occurred in Williamsfield township: Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1857,
at which time he had attained the age of eighty-three years. The
mother of our subject, nee Emily Harris, was a native of
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Joseph and Anna
Harris, pioneer settlers of that place. The mother effected the
opening of the first store at Warren, Ohio. In 1838, John K. Clark,
father of our subject, located in Williamsfield township Ohio, where
he remained until 1879, and in that year went to Greenville,
Pennsylvania. He still resides at that place, aged eighty years. His
wife died in 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Clark had five
children: William, J. H., Henry, Mary and Travilla.
After the mother's death, the father married Mrs. Elizabeth
Cook.
J. H. Clark, the subject of this notice, was
reared on the old home farm. In 1860 he went to Illinois, and in 1861
enlisted in the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel
Rosecrans and Major R. B. Hayes, and was in the same
regiment as was William McKinley. Mr. Clark
participated in the battles of Antietara, South Mountain, Winchester,
and many others, and was honorably discharged from service in July,
1864. He now owns 167 acres of fine land in Ashtabula county, and a
sixty-four acre farm at Kingsville. The latter is known as the old
Daniel Smith place, is one of the oldest farms in the
county, contains a good residence, a barn 38 x 50 feet, a sugar grove
of 650 trees, and numerous other improvements, resultant of time and
labor. In his political relations, Mr. Clark is a
Republican, and has held the position of Township Trustee eight years.
He was married July 9, 1863, to Annette Smith,
who was born on the farm where she now resides, a daughter of
Daniel and Mary (Reed) Smith, natives respectively of
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. The maternal grandfather of Mrs.
Clark, William Reed, was a soldier of the war of
1812. At one time his wife was lost in the woods, and was obliged to
spend two nights in the branches of trees with a child two years old
in her arms. A panther followed their path the second night out, and
came under the tree and gave a most unearthly scream and then retraced
his steps. They finally came to some raftsmen on the Shenango river,
who kindly took them home.
Daniel and Mary Smith had five children:
Corintha (deceased), Emeline, William, Daniel
and Annette. The mother died at the age of eighty years, and
the father at the age of eighty-five years. The father was a farmer
and fuller by occupation, a Republican in his political views, and
religiously a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. and Mrs. Clark
have three children: Lizzie, J. Reed and Mary E., all of whom
are successful teachers. Mrs. Clark is a member of the Presbyterian
Church. Socially, our subject affiliates with Kile Post, G. A. R., and
is one of the prominent and popular citizens of Ashtabula county.
Source #1 |
JAMES O. CLARK, a prominent
pioneer citizen of Ashtabula County, was born on a farm in Crawford
County, Pa., June 17, 1852, and is the son of Orin and Eliza (DeWolf)
Clark. Orin Clark was a native of Pennsylvania, as was also
his wife. They are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Clark
were the parents of six children, as follows: Mary, married
A. J. Wheeler, lives retired at Bradford, Pa.; James O.,
the subject of this sketch; Abbie Gertrude, the widow of Harry
Baumgarten, lives in Cleveland; William J., lives in Kansas;
David, lives in Conneaut; and one child died in infancy.
James O. Clark received his education in the
district schools of Conneaut Township, his family having moved to
Ashtabula County when he was nine years of age. When he grew to
manhood, Mr. Clark engaged in farming and worked for $16.00 per
month. About 1892 he purchased a farm in Monroe Township and
became a prominent farmer of the county. The farm is now owned by
the son, O. C. Clark. Mr. Clark owns 54˝
acres of good land, located at Bushnell, Ohio, where he now lives.
He served as night watchman for the Record Canning Company of Conneaut
for 13 years and never lost a day from his work during that time.
On Jan. 1, 1873, Mr. Clark was united in
marriage with Miss Delight Cheney, a native of Monroe Township,
born July 14, 1852, and the daughter of C. C. and Sarah (Eaton)
Cheney, early settlers of Ashtabula County and the parents of the
following children: Roxanna, married Edwin Peters,
both deceased; Mary married George Anderson, lives
in Wisconsin; Maggie, married Frank Trusdale, both
deceased; Emma, married Harley Scribner, deceased, and she
lives in Michigan; Mrs. Clark; Malissa, married Chauncey
Turner, both deceased; Kate, the widow of Frank Crawther,
lives at Westfield, N. Y.; Susan, married Casper Brydle,
lives retired at Kellogsville, Ohio; David, lives retired at
Conneaut; and A. B. lives retired at West Springfield, Pa.
To James O. and Delight (Cheney) Clark three children were born,
as follows: Lizzie, married Loran Huston, lives in
Monroe Township; O. C., a farmer, lives on the home place; and
Gertrude, the widow of Lee Randall, lives with her parents
and she has one son, Ralph Randall, who was born April 4, 1901.
Another grandchild, Emma, was born July 30, 1904, and married
Russell Connell, and they live at Lorain, Ohio. Mr. and
Mrs. Clark's other grandchildren are: Lena Huston; Marion, Harry
and James H. Clark.
Mr. Clark is a Republican and has served as
township constable for 20 years. He is one of the pioneers of
Monroe Township and is highly esteemed in Ashtabula County.
Source #2:
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
by Moina W. Large - Vol. I - 1924 - page 719 |
T. W. COE, who is in the employ
of the Nickel Plate Railroad as master mechanic, is among the highly
esteemed citizens of Ashtabula County. He was born at Norwalk,
Ohio, Dec. 4, 1879, and is the son of Bernard and Alice (Brady) Coe.
Bernard Coe was among the pioneer railroad men of
Northern Ohio. He was born at Norwalk, Ohio, and was an engineer
on the New York Central Railroad for many years. He died Dec. 30,
1912, and his wife lives at Toledo and is 81 years of age. They
were the parents of the following children: Mary, married
Daniel Gavin, lives at Toledo, Ohio; Charles, lives in
Cleveland; Ellen, married August Romar, lives in Norwalk,
Ohio; Anna, married James Lennon, lives at Toledo, Ohio;
Frank, lives in Chicago; Bert, lives in California; and
T. W., the subject of this sketch.
T. W. Coe spent his boyhood at Norwalk, and
attended the public schools. He began railroading on the New York
Central Railroad as a machinist, and was later employed by the Lake Erie
Railroad. He returned to the New York Central in 1904 and in 1906
was made night foreman of the shops at Elkhart, Ind. In 1910
he was transferred to Chicago and in the latter part of 1910 was
promoted to general foreman at Elkhart, Ind., and in 1913 was promoted
to superintendent of the shops there. On March 1, 1916 he became master
mechanic of the I. H. B. R. R. Co., at Chicago; Nov. 1, 1917, he became
master mechanic of the Nickel Plate railroad, Buffalo and Cleveland
divisions, with headquarters i Conneaut, where he now resides.
On Oct. 15, 1907, Mr. Coe was united in marriage
with Miss Rose Catherine Hiltz, a native of Norwalk, Ohio, and
the daughter of Frederick and Regina (Metz) Hiltz, the former a
native of Germany and the latter of Ohio. Mr. Hiltz died
Jan. 3, 1922, and his widow lives at Norwalk. They had ten
children, as follows: Clara, married F. J. Link,
deceased, was cashier of the Huron County Bank at Norwalk, Ohio;
Frank, lives at Norwalk; Lewis, deceased; Fred, a
druggist, lives at Sandusky, Ohio; Helena, married E. J. Ryan,
lives in Cleveland; Grace, married John Mossbrugger, lives
in Lakewood, Ohio; Mrs. Coe; May, lives in Sandusky, Ohio;
Anna, married William Weyburne, lives in Toledo, Ohio; and
Edward, deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Coe have been born
five children, as follows: Mary Alice, attends high school;
Bernard, Eleanor, Thomas W., Jr., and Vernon, all living
at home.
Mr. Coe is a Republican and belongs to the Knights of
Columbus. He and his family hold membership in the Catholic Church
and are well and favorably known in their community.
Source #2 - page 714 |
H. CONNELL,
assistant shipping clerk in the employ of the Nickel Plate Railroad,
Conneaut, Ohio, is a native of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, born
November 24, 1845, son of Jonah and Eliza (Zielie)
Connell.
Jonah Connell was born in Schoharie
county, New York, oldest in the family of seven children—five sons and two
daughters —born to Isaac and Eva (Fink) Connell, both natives of
Scholarie county. Isaac Connell moved West, and died in
Illinois. Following are the names of their children: Jonah,
Cornelia, Peter, John, Christopher, Margaret,
and Martha, the last two being the only ones now living.
Margaret is the widow of Aaron Colly, and
Martha is the wife of Omri Goodwell. Jonah
Connell was married April 3, 1845, to Miss Eliza
Zielie, daughter of David and Sallie (Stokes) Zielie,
her father a native of New York and her mother of Connecticut. Mr. and
Mrs. Zielie had four children, viz.: Catherine, who married
Charles Fink, both being deceased; Margaret, widow of
Daniel McLaughlin, has one child, Matilda; Mrs.
Connell; and Peter who married Susan Brown,
both being deceased, and leaving two children—Caroline, wife of
John McGee, and Sarah, wife of Martin Rawley.
Mrs. Connell is nearing her seventy-eighth mile post, the
date of her birth being October 14, 1815. Her worthy companion passed away
October 11,1887, aged seventy-four years, two months and six days. He was
a consistent Christian from his boyhood days, and filled most acceptably
in his Church all the offices accorded to laymen. His many estimable
traits of character and his pure Christian life endeared him to a large
circle of friends. For more than sixty years Mrs. Connell
has been a member of the church. In their family of five children, G.
H., whose name heads this sketch, is the oldest; Jane, born
August 9, 1848, died April 15, 1853; Sallie, born February 17,
1850, died April 18, 1853; James, born March 7, 1852, died April
20, 1853; and Mary, born July 15, 1854, died May 27, 1858.
G. H. Connell was educated in Erie, Pennsylvania, finishing his
studies with a commercial course. After leaving school he was engaged in
farming until 1883. In the mean time, in 1865, his father's family had
moved to Conneaut. In 1883 he began working for the Nickel Plate Railroad
Company, first, in the shops, and subsequently as foreman in the yard,
continuing in the latter capacity nine years. He was promoted to his
present position October 20, 1892, and has since been rendering efficient
service here.
Mr. Connell was married April 23, 1869, to Miss
Amelia Cathcart. Their only child, James, is engaged in
agricultural pursuits, having charge of his father's farm.
Mr. Connell is a member of Maple Lodge,
No. 217, K. of P.; the Uniform Rank, K. of P.; and the State Police, of
which he is a Special Officer. For six years he was School Director in
Conneaut township, and one term was Clerk of the Board. His wife is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Of Mrs. Connell's family we make record
as follows: Hugh Cathcart, her father, was born September
10, 1803, was a pattern maker by trade; died February 14, 1869. Her
mother, Caroline (Giddings) Cathcart, was born April 30,
1820, and died February 1, 1855. Both were old school Presbyterians for
many years. They had six children, namely: Earl, who died at the
age of six months; Emma, wife of Eugene Maxfield,
born August 3, 1842, died December 29, 1878; Holmes, born January
3, 1845, died July 26, 1845; Amelia; born December 12, 1849;
Hubert, born July 24, 1852, died October 10, 1852; and Addison,
born January 8, 1855, died May 4, 1855. By a former marriage to Olive
Youngs, Mr. Cathcart had three children— Solomon
H., of Elyria, Ohio; Elizabeth, born September 13, 1835, died
in April, 1849; and Augusta, wife of M. Z. Andrews,
Centralia, Kansas.
Source #1 |
A. H. COOK
is a successful farmer and stockman of Colebrook Township. He
was born near Colebrook, Sept. 8, 1876, and is a son of Charles
and Celestia (Sholto) Cook
Charles Cook was a native of Ohio and a leading
farmer and stockman of Colebrook. Township. His wife and
a sister of Dr. H. G. Sholto, a prominent physician of
Colebrook. To Mr. and Mrs. Cook two children were born:
Olive, who died at the age of nineteen years; and A. H.
Subject of this sketch.
After receiving his education in the schools of
Colebrook Township, A. H. Cook farmed on the home place.
For the past eighteen years he has lived on his present farm of 100
acres near East Orwell. Mr. Cook is a successful
dairyman and specializes in the breeding of Holstein cattle.
On Feb. 18, 1906, Mr. Cook was married to
Miss Martha B. Rodgers, a native of Colebrook, born Dec. 25,
1884, and the daughter of J. C. and Maggie (Kelly) Rodgers.
Mrs. Cook has the only child of J. C. and Maggie (Kelly)
Rodgers. By a second marriage to Emma Andrews, Mr. Rodgers
had four children: Carl, deceased; J. C., Jr.;
Mason and Carmen. To A. H. and Martha B.
(Rodgers) Cook two children have been born: Robert C.,
was born Nov. 30, 1910; and Margaret C., born Sept. 5, 1916.
Mr. Cook is a republican and member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church of Colebrook. He is an energetic
citizen who stands well in the esteem of his neighbors and fellow
citizens.
Source #2 - |
W. W. COSNER, a prosperous
farmer and stockman of Kingsville Township, and the owner of 88 acres of
good farm land, was born in West Virginia, Jan. 6, 1856, and is the son
of Henry and Nancy (Roby) Cosner.
Henry Cosner was a native of Grant County, W. Va.,
and a farmer during his entire life. He died in 1886 and his wife
died in 1920. They were parents of ten children, five of whom are
now living, as follows: Thomas, a farmer, lives in West
Virginia; Otto, also a farmer, lives in West Virginia; Heather,
married Elihu Sanders, lives in West Virginia; Aldina,
married George Bennett, lives in West Virginia; and W. W.,
the subject of this sketch.
W. W. Cosner spent his boyhood on his father's
farm and attended the district schools. He owned 123 acres of land
in his native state and in 1906 sold his interests and came to Ashtabula
County and located on his present farm in Kingsville Township. The
place is well improved.
Mr. Cosner was married to Miss Rebecca Keith,
deceased. To this union three children were born: Rosa
Bell, wife of George Parks, New York state; Charles W.,
lives in Pennsylvania; and Martha Ann, the wife of Earl
Gardner. Mr. Cosner was married the second time to
Miss Sefrona C. Johnson, and to this union two children were born,
as follows: Clareta, married Ed Bisby, a linesman,
lives in Kingsville; Hettie, lives at home.
In politics Mr. Cosner is identified with the
Democratic party. He is an industrious farmer, highly esteemed in
his neighborhood.
(Source #2) |
ALFRED COWLES,
printer and publisher, was born in Mantua, May 13, 1832, a son of
Dr. E. W. and Almira M. Cowles, and grandson of the Rev. Dr.
Cowles. His early days were spent in Cleveland, Detroit,
and Austinburg. At the latter place he attended school at
Grand River institute for several terms. For some years
previous to attending that school and afterwards he picked up his
trade of printer in the printing-office of his brother, Mr. Edwin
Cowles. He finished his education in the University of
Michigan, and in 1853 entered the office of the Cleveland Leader
as book-keeper. That paper at that time was published by
John C. Vaughan, Mr. Joseph Medill, now of the Chicago
Tribune, and Mr. Edwin Cowles, its present editor.
In 1855, Messrs. Vaughan and Medill sold out their
interest in the Leader to Mr. Edwin Cowles, and moved
to Chicago, and purchased the Tribune. Appreciating the
business ability of Alfred, then a young man of only
twenty-three years, they offered him inducements to take charge of
the business department of the Tribune, then in a deplorable
financial condition, which he accepted. The result of the
swarming out of the Leader office of these three gentlemen
was the resuscitation of the Tribune, then considered on its
last legs, and the making of that paper what it has been since, one
of the foremost journals in the land, both editorially and
financially. The success of this great paper was owing to the
editorial abilities of its leading writers, at various periods,
Messrs. Medill, Dr. Ray, Horace White, and Governor Bross,
and to he management of the business and mechanical departments of
Mr. Cowles. Measuring the standing of the Tribune
by the amount of its business and its profits there are only two
papers that excel it in these respects, namely, the New York
Herald and Philadelphia Ledger, the New York Times
taking equal rank with the Chicago Tribune. When it is
considered that this remarkable specimen of journalistic success is
located in Chicago, a new city of less than half a century's growth,
and only one-third of the size of New York and Brooklyn, which are
properly the field of the New York papers, and a city one-half the
size of Philadelphia, the field of the Ledger, a realizing
sense can be attained of the newspaper talent shown by Mr.
Cowles. Furthermore, the Tribune publishes more
telegraphic news, several times over, more general news, and more
reading matter than are given by the greatest of European journals,
the London Times, backed as it is by a city of seven times
the size of Chicago, saying nothing of the almost innumerable cities
and villages within a few hours' ride of that great metropolis.
In his business intercourse, Mr. Cowles has
always made it a point to be governed by rules founded on strict
integrity and fair dealing, which, combines with his shrewd judgment
and tireless industry, have resulted in his taking a position among
the wealthy capitalists of Chicago.
In 1860, Mr. Cowles was married to Miss Sarah
F. Hutchinson, a sister of Mrs. Edwin Cowles was not born
in Ashtabula County, yet a great portion of his childhood days were
spent in Austinburg, and he considers himself to be a son of
Ashtabula, on the score of his being a descendant of his good old
grandfather and a son of his respected father, who both were among
the early settlers of Austinburg. A year never goes by when he
did not make his accustomed visit to his venerable aunts and uncles
and the numerous cousins in the township.
Source #3 -
1798 -
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 103 |
BETSEY MIX COWLES.
Among those whose strong convictions and outspoken zeal in the cause
of humanity made Ashtabula County famous in the history of the
State, not one did more, in proportion to opportunity, than the
subject of this sketch, Betsy M. Cowles. Born in
Bristol, Connecticut, in the year 1810, she was brought an infant to
Austinburg, when her father, the Rev. Dr. Giles Hooker Cowles,
removed his family hither.
The homely surroundings of pioneer life, its hardships
and its pleasures, united with the culture and refinement which at
that day always pervaded the atmosphere of a minister's dwelling,
served to develop a character singularly sweet and strong.
Like all strong and energetic natures, an out-door life was a
necessity to her childish happiness, and this built up for her the
fine constitution and commanding presence which so greatly enlarged
her sphere of usefulness in afterlife.
Her struggle for an education was that incident to
those early days. We hear of her now at the district and now
at the select school, or perhaps bending with anxious brow over the
difficulties of algebra under the guidance of the young tutor of
Grand River Institute; but wherever found, the steady aim and
unwavering purpose of the student were clearly apparent. Like
all great and generous natures, there was in her character a vein of
mirthfulness and humor which neither care nor study could suppress,
and which, bubbling out at the slightest provocation, made her an
especial favorite with her companions. Her energy and
independence fitted her for a leader, and she quietly took her
natural place among her associates without assurance and without
diffidence.
Although her life-work was to be that of a teacher, her
first essay in her profession she never considered a success.
When about seventeen years of age, the little brown school-house on
the "East road" was without its accustomed summer teacher.
Some zealous committee-man asked the Rev. Dr. Cowles if one
of his daughters might not take charge of the flock for the summer.
He selected Betsey, on account of her "discretion," and the
following Monday morning she went over to take possession. One
weary week passed by, and at its close our young teacher took a
direct line through the woods for home, simply remarking, when she
arrived there, that she should not go back. Entreaty was of no
avail, and her elder sister, Cornelia, completed the term.
It is related that the five lunches sent by her kind hostess for her
mid-day meal were found carefully put away in the little desk,
together with sundry and divers adverse opinions concerning the
desirability of school-teaching.
The next year, however, she began in earnest and taught
a small school near Warren, in Trumbull county. In after years
it was her delight to gather around her a group of students, some of
whom were about to try the unknown experiment of self-support, and
relating her own experiences, cheerily say, "Now you can't possibly
do worse than I did."
For several years she taught and studied alternately,
until at last a friend Miss Hawley, came on from New York,
bringing with her the plan and organization of the infant-school
system, which had been introduced into this country from England
during the first decade of this century. Here was a field for
which here pasture was fitted, and she entered upon it with great
enthusiasm. Her remarkable power over children, her profound
sympathy with them, the fascination she seemed to exercise over
them, all came into play, and her "infant schools" were the wonder
and the delight of the surrounding country. Grave divines and
learned judges, mothers oppressed with cares, and business-men in
the whirl of trade, all, indeed, who ever attended, look back to the
hours spent in Miss Cowles' infant school, as the one glimpse
of fairy-land amid the prosaic interests of life. The wonders
of the lessons in natural history, the pathos of the Bible stories,
and the glories of the "solar system," illustrated with
various-sized cotton balls, carried by children, moving around in
planetary orbits, live in memory still.
In 1831, shortly after her father's retirement from the
ministry, there was held in Austinburg a four-days' revival meeting,
such as were then common on the Western Reserve. Although
carefully reared in the Puritan customs of those days, yet it was
during this meeting that Mrs. Cowles for the first time made
profession of that faith of which her life had ever been the
expression, - her love and trust in her Saviour. With the
majority of her associates she united with the church, and having
been a leader in secular things, she now became a leader in
spiritual things. Her letters, written at this time, and for
fifteen years thereafter, breathe the most devoted spirit of prayer
and trust in Christ.
In 1835 her father died. According to the ideas
of those days, a proper provision for daughters was held to be to
billet them upon the brothers' portion, rather than provide for
their separate maintenance. Hence Miss Cowles and her
two sisters found themselves, by their father's will, entitled to
"support." It is needless to say that Betsey much
preferred to support herself, and although the homestead and farm
were by the brothers generously and equally divided from choice, yet
it was evident that there must be a separation, cause by a feeling
of independence, among those who hitherto had lived to closely and
so happily together. As a result of this decision, Miss
Betsey went to Oberlin, in order to prepare herself for the
battle of life.
Her Oberlin life was ever recalled with pleasure.
She was one of the pioneer students, and her name occurs in the
triennial catalogue as a member of the third class graduated from
the ladies' course. When the time of graduation came she
looked about her for a position as teacher. But none offered
itself. However, quite undaunted, she determined to find one,
and started bravely for the southern part of the State. As she
used afterwards to express it, "Providence did not seem to open any
door for me, so I pushed one open for myself." And we next
hear of her at Portsmouth, Ohio, teaching a select school, the idol
of her pupils and admiration of the community. She remained
there three years and then returned to Austinburg to take charge of
the female department recently added to Grand River Institute, and
became its lady principal. The maples now growing in the
grounds of the Institute are the living witnesses of her interest in
the school, for she, with the assistance of the students, planted
them.
About this time, though some of her friends in Stark
county, she became personally acquainted with the leaders of the
anti-slavery movement. All her life long she had hated cruelty
and oppression, and now came the touchstone of character which
should test the strength of her convictions. She realized that
heretofore she had but dreamed, had beheld vaguely, dimly, men as
trees walking; but now she was privileged to see aright.
Through Austinburg ran the turnpike north and south, and along this
line from time to time came a fugitive from slavery.
Women, telling the story of their wrongs, and bearing the marks of
the whip upon their backs, were arguments which set soul and brain
on fire; and the strong sense of right and justice, which had ever
been her birthright, fired up, regardless of all expediency, all
time-serving, all political relations, and, bearing directly to the
heart of the question, cried out, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight." She became what was then and is
still known as a "Garrisonian abolitionist." It was her
influence more than that of any other person which brought to
Ashtabula County that band of early workers in the cause of freedom,
- William Lloyd Garrison, Stephen S. Foster, Henry C. Wright,
Parker Pillsbury, Oliver Johnson, Lucretia Mott, and Abby
Kelley, - who, by the force of their reasoning power and the
might of their eloquence, succeeded in planting in the minds of the
people of Ohio a realizing sense of the horrors of slavery,
resulting eventually in that State taking the stand she did during
the war of the slaveholders' rebellion.
Whoever remembers the events of those days must recall
the strange apathy and conservationism of many of the churches, and
the bold and almost fierce denunciations of the early reformers
against them. For this reason it was feared that Miss
Cowles, in her intense sympathy for the slave, and her vehement
abhorrence of oppression, had cut loose from the moorings of her
early faith and drifted upon a sea of doubt and disquietude.
To some degree, undoubtedly, this was true, but she never drifted
away from the dictates of eternal truth and justice, but rather
towards them. She did not give up her trust in God, for it was
his justice she invoked. She did not drift from her religion,
for her religious training had taught her to trust in righteousness.
She did not lose her reverence for Christ, since they who sold his
children upon the auction-block, and they who palliated the deed,
seemed to her to crucify Him afresh and put Him to an open shame.
A brief extract from an address delivered by Miss
Cowles before the county anti-slavery society, held at Orwell in
1845, will explain her true position on this subject.
The day before the meeting there came to her home a
poor woman, who had felt the curse of slavery in all its bitterness,
whose limbs bore the marks of the bloodhounds' teeth, whose soul,
the deeper degradation of womanhood's dishonor. No wonder,
then, that Miss Cowles' address burned with righteous
indignation, and that she called upon God and upon man to suppress
the horrid traffic. "We have,"
she says, "in our nominally Christian country, a system which robs
mothers of their children and children of their mothers; a system
which robs wives of their husbands and husbands of their wives; a
system which degrades and brutalizes woman, sells her for gold, and
destroys the virtuous emotions of her nature; a system which robs
man of his manhood, and extinguishes that spark of divinity which
emanated from the Almighty when He breathed into him a living soul.
We have a system which is drinking out the life-blood of liberty,
and, unless speedily prevented, will soon drain the last drop.
We have a system which today chattelizes, brutalizes, and barters
Jesus Christ Himself, in the person of his poor. "For
inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me."
"To perpetuate this system the whole policy of our
government is enlisted. To protect it, the teachings of Him
who came to preach deliverance to the captive are wrested from their
true meaning, and men are taught to believe a lie - that burdens,
yet more grievous to be borne, may be heaped upon them. To
extend it, the treasury of our nation is drained; and to cover its
hateful deformity, men who minister at the altar in holy things
sacrilegiously defame God their Creator and Christ their Redeemer .
. . As Christians, we ask you to do all that you can for its
overthrow. In the name of humanity, in the name of Him who
lived and died for man's redemption, we appeal to you. By the
better principals of your nature; by the tender ties of sympathy
which bind you to the whole family of man; by the pure principles of
the religion of Jesus Christ; by all that is good on earth or
in heaven, we entreat you to units with us in doing all that we can
to overthrow a system so vile, so demoralizing, so subversive of the
interests and rights of man and of the government of God.
Slumber we may, yet mingling with the dismal groans of the captive
in the great prison-house of American bondage, loudly calling for
retribution as they ascend into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
"We ask you to aid us in rescuing the bondman from the
consuming fires of slavery; we ask you 'to labor to regenerate
public sentiment so that the bondman may have his freedom; to labor
faithfully in the cause of emancipation till the last yoke be
broken, till the last fetter falls from the last slave;' to do what
you can to undo the heavy burdens to give freedom to the captive,
and to establish to Christian principles of love and human
brotherhood."
Such words as these live; they live in
the memory of those who hear them, they bear fruit unto a better
life.
During the entire anti-slavery agitation Miss Cowles
and her sister Cornelia were foremost in this work.
Often, after a stirring address, an impromptu quartette would be
improvised, Miss Cornelia sustaining the soprano and Miss
Betsey the alto; and as their strong, sweet voices rang out in
the touching strains, "Say, Christian, will you take me back?" or
that other saddest of lamentations, -
"Gone, gone; sold and gone
To the rice-swamp dank and lone,
From Virginia's hills and waters, -
Woe is me, by stolen daughters!"
bosoms, hardened before, thrilled in sympathy with
an influence they could not but feel, and melted before a power they
could ot withstand. It is true that Benjamin F. Wade
and Joshua R. Giddings represented teh sentiment of Ashtabula
County in the congress of the nation; but Betsey M. Cowles,
more than any other person, created the sentiment in Ashtabula which
upheld those men.
Nor was it alone for the slave that she made her voice
heard and her influence felt. The position of women before the
law, especially the married woman, early arrested her attention.
In 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York, a convention was called by
Lucretia Mott and Mrs. H. B. Stanton, for the purpose of
obtaining from the constitutional convention about to meet in that
State juster laws regarding women. Over this convention
Lucretia Mott presided. The next one held was in Salem,
Ohio, for a similar purpose, in 1850, and Betsey M. Cowles
presided. We, of this day can scarcely realize that those who
wrought the mighty changes in our social fabric are either still
with us, or have just now fallen by the wayside. The broad,
generous, charitable thought of the present is due to the unceasing
effort of a few earnest souls, who counted all things as naught if
only they might win some to a broader outlook. Of those
zealous workers not one was more earnest, and in her circle more
efficient, than the subject of this sketch.
In the mean time she never swerved from her devotion to
her chosen vocation. The public schools of Massillon and
Canton were nursed in their infancy by her care. Among the
people of both these cities her name today is a household word.
From Canton she was called to assist in organizing and carrying
forward the normal school at Hopedale, in Harrison county, Ohio,
where she remained until another all took her to Bloomington,
Illinois, to again apply her genius and talent to establishing the
State Normal school of that city. From there she went to
Painesville, where she held the position and performed the duties of
superintendent of schools, with great satisfaction, for three years.
Her last teaching was done in Delhi, New York, where she remained
until admonished by threatened blindness to rest, and if possible
avert the impending calamity. There, as elsewhere, she made
for herself a place in the hearts of her pupils and of the people,
and the mention of her name is but the signal for the warmest
expressions of love and affection. It was during her stay in
Delhi that Mr. Lincoln issued his emancipation proclamation,
and as she read it she said, "The two great tasks of my life are
ended together, - my teaching is done, and the slaves are free."
In 1865, having lost an eye through an unsuccessful
surgical operation, she went back to her childhood's home to spend
the remaining days of her life. She went back to no ignoble
rest, no useless repining, but to do as she had always done, - care
for the weak, counsel the doubting, aid the strong, encourage all
who came within her influence. Those who were privileged to
enjoy her intimate association during this time feel that at no
period of her life were he labors more helpful to others than then.
In June, 1869, her sister Cornelia died, and for the first
time Betsey staggered under a blow which seemed heavier than
she could bear. Their love for each other had been as the love
of David and Jonathan and half of Betsey's life seemed
stricken away. Soon, however, she rallied, and how deeply she
mourned Cornelia's death was never known until, after her own
departure, the daily entries of her diary attested it. For
seven years had she kept the time by years and weeks since the day
of her great bereavement:
"6 yrs. and 45 weeks since
dear Cornelia left us. The Lord is my helper.
"6 yrs. and 46 weeks since the light of our house went
out. Do they love there still?"
And the last entry, July 16, nine days previous to her
own death, she writes:
"7 years and 7 weeks since our dear Cornelia was
hidden from sight."
The last recollection the
writer has of her is of that nature to which we can always turn with
consolation when thinking of a departed friend. It is the
memory of that sweet, strong voice ringing out, with a pathos which
was not human and a passion which was not mortal, the words -
"He leadeth me; He leadeth me;
By his right hand He leadeth me."
Those who knew her
intimately during the last years of her life could not but observe
how the strong faith of her youth surged back, in an overwhelming
tide, either to sweep away or to fill with its own completeness all
the doubts of a lifetime, and the words of that passionate hymn were
but the expression of the firm trust of her own spirit, - "He
leadeth me."
The last public work in which Miss Cowles was
engaged was the building of the new Congregational church in
Austinburg. It was mainly through her exertions that the
structure was erected, and the first public gathering within its
walls was the funeral service held over her remains.
She died July 25, 1876, at the homestead in Austinburg,
after an illness of a single week. Her death was sudden and
unexpected. A long ride in the heat, a hearty meal when
exhausted, an acute attack of inflammation, and death. Her
friends, save those in Austinburg, were scarcely notified of her
illness ere the telegraph bore them the sad news that she was gone.
Her diary, however, attests that this result might not have been
wholly unforeseen, since for three months previous the sad refrain
of every exercise was, "So tired, I am so tired." The
weakening of the vital forces was slowly going on; but she never
complained, and no one knew until it was too late.
| Her ashes lie buried in the little
cemetery opposite her home, whose care for the last ten years had
been her charge, and for which she made provision in her will.
To that place of graves her own is added. Green
grass covers it, blue skies arch it, the birds sing near it.
But greener than the grass, fairer than the sky, sweeter than the
birds, and more hallowed than the grave itself, is the memory of her
name and virtues enshrined in the hearts of those who knew and loved
her.
Useful was her life, fitting as were he words and
deeds, all who knew her felt that she herself was greater than all
she did. "It was not so much," writes one who loved her, "what
she said and did, as the atmosphere she created, which influenced
all hearts." So sunny and genial and hospitable was that great
soul, it seemed as if the instinct of all sufferers drew them to her
side. From her counsels none went empty-handed away. To
her all occasions were equal, and she was equal to all occasions.
She was indeed a perfect woman, nobly planned.
NOTE: This work was by Harriet L. Keeler.
Source #3 - 1798 - History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most
Prominent Men. by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 -
Page 100 |
CORNELIA RACHEL COWLES. In this work the biography has been
given of a woman of whom Ashtabula may well be proud - Miss
Betsey M. Cowles. In order to make that biography
complete, a sketch is given of the life of her sister Cornelia.
These sisters had a most intense affection for each other, for they
had lived together, traveled together, sympathized with each other,
drawn from a common fund, advocated the same cause, and lived
apparently only for each other. Their names are household
words in many homes throughout Ohio, and their social acquaintances
extended over the land between the Atlantic and the Pacific and the
Lakes and the Gulf, and they were known only to be loved and
admired.
Cornelia Rachel Cowles was one of the nine
children of the Rev. Dr. Cowles. She and her
twin-brother, Lysander, were born in Bristol, Connecticut, in
the year 1807. As stated in the sketch of her sister, her
father moved with his family to Austinburg in the year of 1811, when
the country, to use a common but emphatic expression, was a howling
wilderness. She grew up with the growth of civilization on the
Western Reserve, under the teachings of her learned father, the
influence of her Christian and intellectual mother, amidst the
circle of the superior class of minds that were wont to partake of
the ever-ready hospitality of her father's house. Her other
was a woman of great force of character, of culture and refinement,
gifted with a most sweet voice for music, and in her younger days,
according to the language of the late Judge Quintus F. Atkins,
"When she stood up at the baptism of her eldest child she was the
most beautiful woman I ever set my eyes upon." Cornelia
and Betsey both inherited from their mother their strong
sense, their naturally refined feelings, their amiability of
character, and their musical gift. In addition, nature made
Cornelia inclined to be somewhat witty, which, combined with the
self-reliance she had in common with her sister, and moving in all
circles of society from the brightest and most cultivated to the
humblest, the high standing she had in the estimation of all who
knew her can thus be realized. She was educated mainly in the
humble district school in vogue during the early days of the Western
Reserve, and finished her education in her "father's study," which
at that time had the largest and most complete library in the
county, and which contained many of the standard works of the day.
The education she thus acquired - "picked up" as some would call it
- under all these disadvantages was far more thorough and practical
than is obtained by many daughters of wealth at the fashionable
seminaries of the present day. She acquired her musical
education at the singing schools and singing clubs under the
leadership of Squire Lucretius Bissel, who was quite
proficient as a leader for those days. In 1837 she sang on a
salary in the Rev. Dr. Aikens church, Cleveland. The
following year she went to New York city, and sang in St. Peter's
Episcopal church, Brooklyn, as a professional, and placed herself
under the instruction of Professor Ives, who was then
celebrated as a teacher of music. In 1840 she returned to her
home, and afterwards taught music in some of the neighboring
villages. In 1845 she was employed to sing in the Rev. Dr.
Tucker's church, Buffalo, and afterwards she sang in a prominent
church in Cincinnati.
In 1836 the family circle was composed of her brother
Lysander, Rachel, his wife, Lewis, Martha, and
Betsey. This circle received a most acceptable addition
in the person of Dr. Theodore Harry Wadsworth, a grand-nephew
of Dr. Cowles, and who came from Farmington, Connecticut, and
was connected with the old Wadsworth family of that State.
Although only twenty-four years of age, he was a thoroughly educated
physician, and of a scientific turn of mind. He made his home
with his maiden cousins, Betsey, Cornelia, and Martha,
and to the time of his death was considered as a brother. His
attainments, generous nature, perfect integrity, honor as a man, and
fine conversational power made him a favorite of all, and he was a
welcome visitor wherever he went. He never would allow
anything to interfere with the performance of his professional
duties. Many were the times that he has risen at night and
riden several miles through storm and clay mud to visit a
poverty-stricken patient, knowing all that time he never would
expect any pay, except in gratifying his benevolent heart and having
the consciousness of having performed his duty to suffering
humanity. From this it can be seen that his nature was in full
sympathy with those of the sisters, hence the brotherly and sisterly
feelings between them.
In 1843, while in the discharge of a professional duty,
in making a post mortem examination, a cut finger came in contact
with the blood of the subject, and the poisonous virus was instilled
into his system. After his arrival home he felt ill, and he
promptly realized that he was beyond the reach of human aid.
After enduring in a most heroic manner intense suffering, that young
man passed away to join his kindred in the blessed land. He
was surrounded by the weeping household and friends, and everything
that the hands of affection could do to alleviate his suffering was
done. His funeral was attended by nearly the entire community,
and largely from the neighboring towns, among whom were his poor,
non-paying patients, who felt they had lost a noble-hearted friend.
The death of Dr. Wadsworth as a severe affliction to the
sisters. Miss Betsey was absent at teh time in
Portsmouth, Ohio, where she received the sad intelligence, and she
was stricken with sorrow, for she loved the "noble-hearted Harry" as
her own brother.
Cornelia, assisted by the magnificent alto voice
of Betsey, and the sweet tenor of her brother Lewis,
frequently sang some of the stirring anti-slavery sons at
Anti-Slavery and Free-Soil meetings. In those days the "Cowles
Family" was considered a necessary adjunct to a meeting of that
kind. Their singing by many was considered superior to that of
the famous Hutchinson Family. Cornelia's voice was a
most powerful soprano, and yet she could sing as softly as an
angel's whisper. In 1860 her brother Lewis died,
leaving a sad vacancy in that trio of sweet singers.
During the War of the Rebellion the hearts of the
sisters were with the gallant boys in blue. They aided in
forming the Austinburg branch of the Northern Ohio Soldier's Aid
society. At many entertainments given for the benefit of that
society the music of their songs were invariably called into
requisition. During the height of the war their niece, Mrs.
Helen C. Wheeler, a daughter of Dr. E. W. Cowles, a
brilliant specimen of the daughters of Ashtabula, a woman of most
majestic presence and of remarkably fine appearance, was living in
Washington. She spent her entire time visiting the hospitals
and ministering to the wants of the gallant Union wounded. She
saw great suffering among the thousands that could have been greatly
alleviated by simple articles, such as fans, handkerchiefs, napkins,
certain kinds of vegetables, canned fruits, jelly, etc. She
wrote a series of letters to her aunts vividly describing the sad
scenes she had witnessed in the hospitals, and suggesting that the
women of Ashtabula should take hold and provide these articles to
the fullest extent of their power. These letters were
published in the Sentinel, and they awakened the most intense
interest among the wives, mothers, sisters, and affianced of the two
thousand sons of Ashtabula who were then in the service, for they
thought a loved one might be among the occupants of the hospitals.
They went to work and collected a large number of boxes and barrels
of supplies, and forwarded them to Mrs. Wheeler, to the
distributed by her in the hospitals.
In 1864 the community was shocked by the sad
intelligence of the death, at the attack on Petersburg, of a nephew
of the sisters, - Sergeant Major GILES H.
COWLES, son of
Mr. William Elbert Cowles. This young man was the favorite
among the nephews of the sisters, and in common with the venerable,
grief-stricken parents, they were almost crushed. At the breaking
out of the war young Cowles was a student at Grand River
Institute, and enlisted as a private in the Ashtabula regiment, and
participated at Harper's Ferry and some other engagements. At
the end of his term of enlistment he returned to his home, and
resumed his studies. In 1863 his feelings of patriotism
impelled him to enlist again. When at Camp Chase he applied to
Governor Brough for permission to be examined before the
board with a view of promotion, which was granted, and he was
appointed sergeant-major of his regiment. At the siege of
Petersburg his sense of duty required him to expose himself to the
fire of the enemy by passing up and down the line of his regiment,
intrenched as it was behind low earthworks, and he was killed.
This gallant student-soldier, the light of his venerable father, was
only twenty-one years old when he gave up his young life on the
altar of patriotism.
Mrs. Cowles died in June, 1969, at the old
homestead, after an illness of two weeks, aged sixty-one years.
Her sweet voice was silenced, never to be heard again in this world.
It has pleased Him 'who doeth all things well" to transfer from the
earthly choir where she sang so long during her life to the
great Heavenly choir, where her golden-toned voice is being heard by
her kindred who have preceded her, and where it will be heard
forever. She lies buried by the side of her twin brother,
Lysander Mix Cowles. Of all her brothers and sisters only
two are now living, - William Elbert, aged eighty
years, and Martha Hooker aged seventy-four years. She was
followed by 1872 by her eldest sister, Mrs. Sallie B. Austin,
and by her sister Betsey, in July, 1876.
Source #3 -
1798 -
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 101 |
|
EDWIN
COWLES, editor and printer, born in Austinburg, Sept. 19,
1825. He was the son of Dr. E. W. Cowles, and grandson
of the Rev. Dr. G. H. Cowles, both of whom are elsewhere
noticed in this publication. He resided with his father during
his boyhood days in Cleveland and Detroit, with the exception of a
few years he spent in Austinburg. In 1839 he commenced
learning the trade of a printer, and served his time mostly with the
late Josiah A. Harris, editor of the Cleveland Herald.
He finished his education at Grand River Institute, in 1843, where
he spent a short period of time. In 1845, at the age of
nineteen in partnership with T. H. Smead, he embarked in the
printing business, under the name of Smead & Cowles. In
1853 he dissolved with Mr. Smead and became a member of the
firm of Medill, Cowles & Co., publishers of the daily
Forest City Democrat, it being the result of the consolidation
of the daily True Democrat and daily Forest City,
which, as losing ventures, had been published separately by John
C. Vaughan and Joseph Medill. In 1854 the name of
he paper was changed to The Cleveland Leader. In 1855,
Messrs. Medill and Vaughan sold out to Mr.
Cowles, and emigrated to Chicago and purchased the Chicago
Tribune, of when his brother Alfred became the business
manager, leaving him the sole proprietor of the Leader.
During the winter of 1854-55 the movement which led
to the formation of the ____ Republican party was first made in the
Leader editorial-room, resulting in on first Republican
convention ever called being held in Pittsburgh. The gentleman
who met in the editorial-room for that purpose were Mr. John C.
Spalding, and some others. This movement resulted in the
consolidation of the Free-Soil, Know-Nothing, and Whig parties into
one great party, the history of which is so well known.
Mr. Cowles carried on the paper alone until
1866, when he organized the Cleveland Leader Printing Company,
in which he retained a large controlling interest. For
several years after he was connected with the Leader he acted
only as business-manager, and in 1859 he assumed the
chief-editorship. From this time he steadily rose to
prominence as an editor because of the strength and boldness of his
utterances and his progressive and decided views on popular topics,
which soon made his journal one of the most powerful in in the west.
He spoke out defiantly against the arrest and imprisonment in 1859,
under the infamous fugitive law, of the Oberlin rescuers, some
thirty in number. When the terrible black cloud of secession
was looming up to a fearful proportion during the dark days of the
winter of 1860-61, Mr. Cowles took a firm position in favor
of the government suppressing the heresy of secession with the army
and navy if necessary. For doing this he was denounced as
being ultra and dangerous by many of the conservative Republican and
Democratic papers, who were much frightened by the appearance of the
political horizon. In 1861 be was appointed postmaster of
Cleveland by Mr. Lincoln, and held that office for nearly
five years. Under his administration as postmaster he
established and perfected the system of free delivery of mail matter
by letter-carriers, and, in spite of the opposition of the city
press, he succeeded in making the system so effective and popular
that the returns of the office to the department showed a larger
free delivery than Cincinnati, St. Louis, Baltimore, and a larger
percentage in proportion to population than any other city in the
country. The result was the department held up the Cleveland
office as a model for all other postmasters to copy after.
In 1861, Mr. Cowles was the first to come out in
print in favor of the nomination by the Republican party of David
Tod, a War Democrat, for governor, for the purpose of uniting
all the loyal elements in the cause of the Union. The
suggestion was adopted almost unanimously by the rest of the loyal
press, and Mr. Tod was nominated and elected. That same
year, immediately after the battle of Bull Run, Mr. Cowles
wrote and published editorially an article headed "Now is the time
to abolish Slavery!" He took the position that the south,
being in a state of rebellion against the general government, had
forfeited all right to property, - that the government had a right
to abolish slavery as it had to capture and destroy rebel property,
burn towns, etc., as a military necessity, especially so for the
purpose of weakening the resources of the Confederacy by liberating
in their midst a producing class from which it mainly derived its
sinews of war. For taking this advanced position, the
Leader was severely denounced by the conservative and timid
Republican journals, which held it up as a dangerous paper, - that
it was aiding the Rebellion by creating dissatisfaction among the
War Democrats of the north. One or two of these weak-kneed
journals even called on the President to remove its editor from the
postmastership as a peace-offering on the President to remove its
editor from the postmastership as a peace-offering to the south for
having had the impudence to doubt the immunity of slaves over all
other property from interference by the Federal military
authorities. In less than one year after the publication of
that article, Mr. Lincoln issued his Emancipation
proclamation, which embodied precisely the same views.
In 1863, Mr. Cowles suggested in the Leader
the name of John Brough, to succeed Governor Tod in
the gubernatorial chair. It was after the name of that
arch-secessionist, Vallandigham, had been taken up by the copperhead
Democracy for that office, and at a period during the war previous
to the surrender of Vicksburg and the battle of Gettysburg, when the
Union armies had met with a series of reverses, and discouragement
had commenced its work among the conservative loyal element.
The nomination of Vallandigham, following the election in 1862, when
the Democrats had carried Ohio by a large majority, created great
alarm among the friends of the Union for fear that the discouraging
military outlook would have its effect towards favoring the peace at
any price party. Mr. Brough, although formerly a
life-log Democrat, was a firm Union man under all circumstances, and
withal his reputation for great executive ability was widely known,
and for these reasons his name was announced as a candidate for
nomination for governor by the Leader. It was warmly
seconded by the loyal press, and he was nominated and elected by
upwards of one hundred thousand majority over Mr. Vallandigham.
He, Governor Morton, and Governor Andrews formed
that famous trio of great war governors whose names will go down in
history side by side with Lincoln, Grant, Stanton, and
Chase.
In 1871, Mr. Cowles' attention was called to
the great danger that existed from the various railroad crossings in
teh valley of the Cuyahoga between the heights of the East and West
Sides of Cleveland. He thereupon conceived the idea of a high
bridge, or viaduct as it is generally called, to span the valley,
connecting the hip-top on the west side with that on the east side,
thus avoiding going up and down hill and crossing the "valley of
death." He wrote an elaborate edition from the other city
papers, it being considered by them utopian and un-necessary, but it
was submitted to the popular vote, and carried by an immense
majority. This great work, costing over two million dollars,
will be one of the wonders of Cleveland. In 1876 he was
elected a delegate to the National Republican convention at
Cincinnati, which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for
President. He was appointed to represent Ohio on the committee
on the platform, and was the author of the seventh plank in that
platform, favoring a constitutional amendment forbidding
appropriations out of any public fund for the benefit of any
institution under sectarian control. The object of this
amendment was two-fold: firs, to forever settle the question of
dividing the school fund for the benefit of the Roman Catholic
church; second, to guard the future from the encroachments of that
church, that is sure to result form its extraordinary increase in
numbers. He saw very plainly that at the past ratio of
increase in numbers. He saw very plainly that at the past
ratio of increase and adherents of that church will outnumber the
non-Catholics in half a century from now, when they will pursue the
same course that they pursued in New York, city, where twelve
million dollars had been appropriated for romish institutions in
less than fifteen years, while less than one million has been
appropriated to Protestant institutions, although the latter paid
nine-tenths of all the taxes. This plank was received by the
convention with more vociferous applause than all the rest of the
platform did, and it was the only one that was called out for a
second reading.
In 1877 he was complimented by President Hayes
by being appointed one of the honorary commissioners to the Paris
exposition.
Mr. Cowles has now been connected with
journalism for over a quarter of a century. the experience of
his paper has been like the history of all daily papers. It
had sunk previous to his being connected with it over thirty
thousand dollars. The first nine years after he had taken hold
of it it sunk over forty thousand dollars more, and at the end of
that time it commenced paying expenses, eventually resulting in his
being able to pay off every cent of indebtedness. Its business
has increased tenfold under his administration, and it has also the
largest daily circulation of any paper west of the Allegheny, with
the exception of two papers in Chicago, one in St. Louis, and two in
Cincinnati, and is more than double the circulation of any Cleveland
paper. When he commenced his editorial career his staff
consisted of himself, one associate, and one city editor. Now
it is composed of himself as chief editor, one managing, two
assistant editors, and an editor each in charge of the commercial,
city, literary and dramatic, and telegraphic departments, also one
in charge of the Washington branch office, and four reporters,
twelve i all. When the Leader was first started it was
printed on a hand-press, at the rate of four a minute on one side.
In 1847 it was printed on an Adams steam-press, at the rate of
twelve a minute on one side. In 1854 it was printed on a
single cylinder press, at the rate of thirty a minute on one side.
In 1863 a double-cylinder press did its work, at the rate of
fifty-six a minute. In 1874, to meet the growing circulation,
and additional double cylinder press was added. In 1877 the
most wonderful printing machine in the world has yet seen was added,
at an expense of thirty thousand dollars, which has printed an eight
page paper both sides at once, the top of the pages delivered cut,
the two halves pasted in the centre, and the whole folded, all in
one operation, at the rate of as high as two hundred and twenty a
minute, equivalent to four hundred and forty a minute on one side~
This was the only press in the world at the time it was set up that
would do all that amount of work simultaneously, it might be said.
The foregoing statistics are given for the purpose of
illustrating the success achieved by Mr. Cowles as a
journalist. His chief characteristic as an editor is his
fearlessness i treating all questions of the day without stopping to
consider "whether he will lose any subscribers" by taking this or
that side, and, like most men of his decided views, he has bitter
enemies, who do not hesitate to do all in their power to attack him
by fair and foul means, as well as warm friends. His great
ambition is to have the Leader take the lead in the work of
reform, the promulgation of progressive ideas, the elevation of
humanity to as high a scale as possible, and to oppose in every
shape tyranny and injustice, whether of church state, capital,
corporation, or trade unions, and at the same time to make it the
most influential paper in the State, if not in the west. Hence
the great circulation of the Leader.
His success was the more remarkable on account of his
laboring under the great disadvantage of being afflicted from birth
with a defect in hearing, which caused a peculiar impediment of
speech that no parallel case has been found on record. Until
he had reached the age of manhood the cause of this impediment was
not discovered. Professor Kennedy, a distinguished
teacher of elocution, became interested in his case, and, after an
examination, he discovered that he never heard the hissing sound of
the human voice, and consequently, not knowing that such a sound was
in existence, he never made it! Many of the consonants sounded
alike to him; that is, he was obliged to be governed by the motion
of the lips and the sense of the word to ascertain the sounds of
"b," "p," "d," "t," "v," etc., the vowel sound of "e" being heard
without any trouble, but not the governing sound, which makes the
consonant. He never heard the music of the bird, and, until he
reached the age of twenty-three, he had always supposed that kind of
music was a poetical fiction. He never hears the upper notes
of the piano, violin, organ, or the fife in martial music, but can
hear low conversation without any trouble, provided the
pronunciation is distinct. He has frequently put his ear close
to a cage containing a pair of canary birds, and, although he could
hear them fly, not a note would reach his ear. He would get up
at five o'clock in the morning in the month of June, and go out into
the field and listen with all his might, endeavoring to hear the
music of the birds, but with no better success, although he could
hear all notes below the seventh octave. He never could
distinguish the difference between the hard and soft sounds of
letters, consequently he would mix those sounds to some extent.
In other words, up to the time he was twenty-five, the sounds of
other people's pronunciation sounded precisely the same in his ear
that his own pronunciation did to them. He has been able
to improve his pronunciation greatly, and has taught himself to make
the hissing sound mechanically, but he never hears that sound
himself. Owing to his peculiar pronunciation and deafness, he
was the butt of his fellow printers while learning his trade with
Mr. Harris, during his younger days, and many a hard-fought
battle did he go through to defend himself from abuse. He
fought grown-up journeymen as well as apprentices of his own age,
and out of all who were in the habit of abusing him on account of
his physical impediments not one ever prospered, and most of them
became their own enemies.
Mr. Cowles was ever active in all benevolent and
charitable enterprises, giving liberally to them according to his
means, and devoting the influence of his journal to their support
and encouragement. In 1875 he was chairman of the committee of
arrangements of the great calico ball given in the immense carpet
ware-room of Beckwith, Sterling & Co., for the benefit of the
Relief association and the two Protestant hospitals. Seven
thousand invitations were sent out, and three thousand people.
consisting of the elite of Cleveland, of northern Ohio, and
western Pennsylvania, were present. The net profit of this
grand entertainment was over five thousand dollars, and so perfect
were all the arrangements that not one out of that immense crowd
lost an article of wearing apparel in the cloak-room. It was
the largest ball ever given in this country with, perhaps, the
exception of the Jubilee ball, in Boston, in 1872. The
following year he was chairman of the committee of arrangements of
the grand bazaar for the benefit of the same hospitals, resulting in
raising the sum of eight thousand dollars.
Mr. Cowles is wedded to his profession, and
never expects to leave it for any other, in other words he expects
to die in the harness. Owing to the power of the press in
controlling public sentiment, backed up as it is by the aid of
wonderful lightning printing machinery, the telegraph, that great
association for the collection of news, the associated press, the
division of intellectual labor into different departments, and the
fast railroad trains, he considers journalism, if only managed in
the interest of religion, morals, humanity, and of doing the
greatest good to the greatest number, the grandest of all
professions. And it will be his aim to do his share in the
work of elevating that profession to the highest plane possible.
Mr. Cowles was married, in 1849, to Miss
Elizabeth C. Hutchinson, daughter of the Hon. Mosely
Hutchinson, of Cayuga, New York. He had by this union six
children, the youngest of whom died in infancy. His eldest
daughter married Mr. Charles W. Chase, a merchant of
Cleveland. His eldest son, Eugene, is a member of the
Leader editorial staff, having charge of the Washington
office as correspondent.
Source #3 -
1798 -
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 |
EDWIN WEED COWLES , physician, born in
Bristol, Connecticut, in the year 1794, removed to Austinburg with
his father, the Rev. Dr. Cowles, in the year 1794, removed to
Austinburg with his father, the Rev. Dr. Cowles, in the year
of 1811. His ancestors were all of Puritan descent, except one
line, which traced its origin to the Huguenots. On the
Cowles side he was descended from one of three brothers who
settled in the town of Farmington, Connecticut, in 1652, where his
father was born. On his mother's side, who was a Miss
Abigail White, of Stamford Connecticut, he was a direct
descendant of Peregrine White, the first white child born in
New England. His grandmother on the White's side was
descended from a Huguenot, by the name of De Grasse, which
name was subsequently changed to Weed. Rev. Thomas Hooker,
the first clergyman who settled in Connecticut, was one of Dr.
Cowles' ancestors. He was educated in the academy,
Farmington, Connecticut, and was imbued by his father and mother
with the highest principles of the Christian religion and love for
his fellow-beings. He studied
Source #3 -
1798 -
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 99 |
| GILES H.
COWLES, son of Dr. E. W. and Almira M. Cowles, and
grandson of Rev. Dr. Giles H. Cowles, was born in the year
1819, in Brownhelm, Ohio. His boyhood days were spent in
Mantua, where his parents lived for several years, and with his
grandfather in Austinburg. In 1832 he moved with his parents
to Cleveland, and in 1833 he finished his education with the Rev.
Samuel Bissel, preceptor of the Twinsburg academy. In 1834
he first went into business by serving as a clerk in the drugstore
of the late Dr. B. S. Lyman, in Cleveland; afterwards he went
into the employ of Mr. Orlando Cutter, an auction and
commission merchant of that city. Young as he was he gave
evidence of extraordinary business ability, and at the age of
eighteen Mr. Cutter took him in as a partner. In 1839,
owing to having hemorrhage of the lungs, young Cowles was
obliged to dissolve his connection with Mr. Cutter and travel
to Texas for his health. In 1840 he returned to his home in
Cleveland apparently improved in health, but the insidious disease
he was afflicted with, consumption, soon undermined it, and, in
spite of te best medical skill and the tireless nursing of the most
affectionate of mothers, he passed away, Apr. 2, 1842, aged
twenty-three years. As is soul left its earthly tenement, his
loving aunt, Miss Cornelia R. Cowles, sat by his side, while
she sang to him in her angelic tones that beautiful hymn commencing
with these lines: "What's this that steals, that
steals o'er my frame?
Is it death, is it death!"
Of all the children of
Dr. E. W. Cowles, Giles was endowed with the most natural
talent, and was considered the flower of that group. With a
fine conversational power for one so young, he had a business talent
that was regarded by all who knew him as being very extraordinary.
Said the late Mr. Cutter, "Giles Cowles was the
smartest young man that I ever came in contact with, a young man of
honor and integrity, and had he only lived and enjoyed good health,
he would have been one of the wealthiest men of the country."
Young as he was, he proved himself to be worthy of the
name he bore, that of his estimable grandfather.
Source #3 -
1798 -
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 102 |
| REV.
DR. GILES HOOKER COWLES ------
CLICK HERE
(This biography is quite long)
Source #3 -
1798 -
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 93 |
| JOSEPH B. COWLES ------ IN PROCESS - Dec. 13, 2001
Source #3 -
1798 -
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 192 |
| CAPT. LYSANDER M. COWLES ------ IN PROCESS - Dec. 13,
2001
Source #3 -
1798 -
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 193 |
JUDGE SAMUEL COWLES.
Hon. Samuel Cowles, of San Francisco, a son of
Austinburg, was born in that township, in March, 1823. He was
a son of Dr. E. W. and Almira M. Cowles, and a grandson of
the Rev. Dr. Cowles. His boyhood days were spent in
Mantua, Austinburg, Detroit, and Cleveland. He attended Grand
River institute for several terms, and finished his education at teh
Western Reserve college. In 1844 he studied law in Cleveland,
with the Hon. S. J. Andrews, Hon. John A. Foot, and Hon.
J. M. Hoyt, then composing the firm of Andrews, Foot & Hoyt,
and in 1846 he finished his legal studies in the office of the
Hon. S. B. Prentiss and his brother, F. J. Prentiss, and
was admitted to the bar that year. He formed a copartnership
with Loren Prentiss, Esq., practiced law with him till 1850,
when they dissolved, and he then formed a partnership with Edwin
B. Mastick, Esq., and they practiced till March, 1852.
That year they were taken with the California fever, and, although
they had built up a very respectable practice, they concluded they
would emigrate to the new Eldorado and try their fortune there.
In common with thousands of the early Argonauts they had their full
share of the deprivation of the comforts of life. In 1856 he
was elected police judge of the city of San Francisco by the law and
order party, in spite of the opposition of the gamblers and lawless
portion of the population, and served with credit to himself and to
the cause of justice. In 1860 he was elected on the Republican
ticket to the office of judge of the court of common pleas, and was
re-elected in 1863, and served till January 1, 1868. It was on
the bench that he made for himself the reputation of being a
profound lawyer and jurist, which is proved by the fact that of all
his decisions, many of them involving intricate Mexican land-titles
to the amount of millions of dollars, that had been appealed to the
State supreme court during his entire judicial career of six years,
only three were reversed. At the expiration of his term he was
presented with a series of resolutions, engrossed on parchment,
signed by the entire bar of San Francisco, regardless of political
affinities, expressive of their appreciation of his eminent
integrity as a judge, his standing as a jurist, and their regret at
his leaving the bench. Previous to his re-election he was
pressed to accept the nomination for the State supreme bench, but
declined on account, as it is generally supposed, of his being
afflicted with too much modesty. In 1856 he took part as a
member of the famous vigilance committee that was formed to punish
the assassination of James King-of-Williams, the editor of
the Bulletin, and to rescue the government of the city from
the control of the prize-fighting, gambling, and thieving portion of
the community. That committee was composed of sixty companies
of one hundred men each, six thousand in all, comprising the entire
law-abiding and business community of San Francisco. The
murderers of King-of Williams were formally tried according to rules
of law, and executed, and the leaders of the lawless element were
driven from the State, and from that date the prevalence of order
and decrease of crime were noticeable features of the result of the
doings of that committee. It was not a vulgar mob, - it was a
revolutionary body.
In 1877, during the prevalence of the great railroad
strike, which had spread all over the country, resulting almost in a
reign of anarchy, the lower and foreign elements of San Francisco
commenced a series of riots against the Chinese residents of that
city. Although the authorities had succeeded in keeping the
mobs in check, yet it was deemed that the situation was terribly
critical, and great danger existed of the city being sacked.
Judge Cowles was a member of the committee of safety,
consisting of twenty-five of the principal citizens, which was
appointed, into whose hands, in conjunction with the authorities, the
protection of the city was placed.
After Judge Cowles retired from the bench he
formed a copartnership with A. N. Drown, Esq., and has
practiced his profession ever since with distinguished success.
He was married in 1849 to Miss Anna L. Wooster,
a great-granddaughter of General Wooster, who was killed in
one of the battles of the War of the Revolution. He is a
brother of Mr. Edwin Cowles, editor of the Cleveland
Leader; of Mr. Alfred Cowles, of the Chicago Tribune;
and of Mrs. Helen C. Wheeler, of Butler, Missouri. He
has a family of six children, mostly grown up.
Source #3 -
1798 -
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 102 |
W. R. CROSBY,
a substantial and well known farmer and stockman of Rome Township, is
a member of one of Ashtabula County's oldest families. He was born
there, Sept. 14, 1869, and is the son of Elliott and Betsy
(Crowell) Crosby.
Elliott Crosby was born Feb. 28, 1839, and died
Jan. 5, 1876. He was the son of Elijah Crosby, who came
to Ashtabula County in 1806. Elliott Crosby was married
to Betsy Crowell, who was born Aug. 22, 1841, and died
April 9, 1922. To this union the following children were born:
Howard Crowell, born Oct. 16, 1866, lives at Geneva, where
he is engaged in the grocery business; W. R., the subject of
this sketch; Mary Elizabeth, born Dec. 28, 1870, lives
at Rock Creek, Ohio; and Lillie Esther Hart, born
Jan. 25, 1872, died Dec. 29, 1898.
W. R. Crosby has always lived on a farm. He
attended the district schools and New Lyme Institute, after which he
engaged in general farming and stock raising. He now owns a well
improved farm of 182 acres in Rome Township and raises good stock.
On Oct. 20, 1898, Mr. Crosby was married to
Miss Sarah Crosby, and they have three children,
Esther, Florence, and Alice.
Mr. Crosby and his family are
members of the Presbyterian Church and are favorably known throughout
the community.
Source #2 - page 1088 |
ROBERT E.
CUMMINS, a member of one of Ashtabula County's prominent
pioneer families, is a successful young business man of Conneaut.
He was born in that city, Feb. 28, 1891, and is the son of John
and Mary (Risdon) Cummins. A complete sketch of John
Cummins and his family appears elsewhere in this volume.
Robert E. Cummins received his education in the
public schools of Conneaut and attended the Culver Military Academy.
After completing his education, he was appointed manager of the
Cummins Estate by his grandfather, David Cummins.
Mr. Cummins served as vice president of the Conneaut Telephone
Company for eight years and is now president of that company.
He is also director of the Conneaut Mutual Loan & Trust Company.
He lives at 909 Main Street.
On May 26, 1917, Mr. Cummins was married to
Miss Dorothy Sweet, a native of Conneaut, and a daughter of
Ralph E. and Myrtle (McMillan) Sweet, natives of Ohio, and
residents of Conneaut. Mr. Sweet is employed by the
Nickel Plat Railroad as freight conductor. Mrs. Cummins
is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Sweet. To Robert
E. and Dorothy (Sweet) Cummins one child has been born,
Robert E., Jr., born April 13, 1918.
Mr. Cummins is a Republican and belongs to the
Elk's lodge. He has an extensive acquaintance in Ashtabula
County and is highly esteemed.
Source #2 - page 944 |
|
Source #4
