|
1878
History
of
Ashtabula Co., Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its'
Pioneers and Most
Prominent Men.
Philadelphia
Williams Brothers
1878
256 pgs.
ALSO NOTE: I will transcribe biographies upon request. Please
state the County and State in the Subject line of the email. ~ SW
BIOGRAPHIES
< CLICK HERE to GO to
1878 BIOGRAPHICA INDEX >
Residence of
Nelson Maltby,
Geneva Tp.,
Ashtabula Co., OH
Mr. Nelson & Mrs. Maltby |
Geneva
Twp. -
NELSON MALTBY was
born on the 13th day of November, in the year 1827. Is the youngest of
a family of nine, the children of Jacob and
Sally Maltby,
who were originally from Norfolk, Connecticut, and settled in Geneva on
lot No. 5, subdivision No. 4, being the same now occupied by the subject
of the present sketch, in the year 1823. Nelson acquired
more than an ordinary education, attending, in addition to his common
schooling, some eight terms at the Madison seminary, and finishing with
two terms at Painesville academy. His early intention was to become a
member of the legal profession. He read law for one year at
Painesville, with William Mathews;
but was, upon the earnest solicitation of his parents, induced to
abandon his legal studies and return to the farm, and his life has been
thus far devoted to the farming interest, in addition to such other
pursuits as we shall notice presently. Upon the introduction of sorghum
into this section, Mr. Maltby was
induced to put up a mill for the manufacture of syrup. This was in
1858. The building was a small affair, and the rollers and machinery
were of simple construction, and propelled by horse-power. Made a few
gallons of syrup the first year, and gradually increased the product up
to 1862, when the growing of sorghum had arrived at sufficient magnitude
to warrant the enlargement of the building and machinery. Accordingly
this was done. A ten horse-power engine and improved machinery were
procured, and the making of cider commenced. The greatest amount of
sorghum syrup made at any time was five thousand five hundred gallons,
and the average was about that for perhaps five years. With the
increase of custom in the cider department, a still further enlargement
became necessary, and a fifteen horse-power engine was substituted.
This branch of the business has assumed large proportions. In 1876
there were eighteen persons employed in the manufactory; sixty thousand
bushels of apples were converted into cider, jelly, etc., making some
eight thousand barrels of juice. The elegant residence of this
gentleman, a view of which appears in another part of this volume, was
completed in 1874, is finely finished throughout, and cost the snug sum
of four thousand dollars.
Mr. Maltby was,
on the 21st day of April, 1852, united in marriage with Helen
L.,
daughter of Warner
A. and Hannah Munn, of
Geneva. The children of this marriage are Edna Genevra,
born May 24, 1853, married Dec. 7, 1876, to Charles
B. Tyler,
of the firm of Tyler Brothers,
grocers, Geneva, Ohio; Sarah Almira,
born June 13, 1855, married May 27, 1875, to Hubert
F. Morris,
also of Geneva; S.
Eliza,
born July 24, 1858, died Feb. 19, 1860; Adelaide
Elvene,
born Jan. 5, 1861; Nina Irene,
born June 18, 1863; Stella Gertrude,
born Mar. 13, 1866; Helen Eliza,
born Jan. 6, 1869, and Nelson Hiram
Wirt,
born Nov. 27, 1871.
Mr. Maltby is
a member of North Star grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, No. 671, of
which body he is at present Master. He is also a member of the church
of the United Brethren. Politically, he is a Republican, though, being
of strong temperance proclivities, he favors the Prohibition
principles. Was always an uncompromising adherent to the abolition
element, and was, we learn, one of the managers of the "underground
railway," and in that capacity aided many a colored man on his way to
Canada. The grandfather of Mr. Maltby was
a soldier of the Revolution, was a native of Connecticut, and died in
Southington, Trumbull county, Ohio, in about 1835, at the advanced age
of ninety-seven years. The race seems to be a long-lived one, Mr. Maltby s
father having lived to be eighty-eight years old, and his mother to be
seventy-six.
----- Source:
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 181 |
E. F. Mason
(Recorder) |
ERWIN F. MASON, COUNTY
RECORDER. The subject of this sketch was born in Andover, this
county, on the 10th day of February, 1844, and is the eldest child of O.
F. and Laura Mason,
of that township, the former originally from Washington county, New
York, and the latter from Wayne, Ashtabula County. Erwin acquired
his education in the common schools of Andover, with one year in Kinsman
academy, and another in the college at Hillsdale, Michigan. Prior to
this, however, he had completed his military record, as follows:
enlisted on the 26th day of August, 1861, in Company C, of that glorious
old Twenty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, then in rendezvous
at Camp Giddings, Jefferson, Ohio; went with the regiment to the front;
participated with them in those “heavy” engagements which were ever the
lot of that regiment, and was wounded at Gettysburg, on the last day of
that memorable battle,—July 3, 1863,—from the result of which he was
compelled to suffer amputation of the left foot and ankle, and was by
reason of the same discharged from the service on the 20th of the
following November. Returning home, he attended Hillsdale college, as
before stated; from there launched out as a school-teacher, and finally
engaged in the insurance business, which he prosecuted until his
election to the office of county recorder, which was in the fall of
1874, and in 1877 was re-elected. On the 23d day of June, 1869, Mr. Mason formed
a matrimonial alliance with Miss Loretta, daughter of A.
D. and Louisa E. Clifford,
of his native town. Is an ardent Republican in politics, and a
prominent member of Giddings post, No. 7, G. A. R., of Jefferson.
----- Source:
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 125 |
Dea. Joseph Mills |
Austinburg
Twp. -
DEACON JOSEPH MILLS became
a dweller upon the soil of this county seventy-eight years ago. His
coming hither was simultaneous with the ushering in of the century. In
June of the year 1800 the first white woman came to what now is the
township of Austinburg. She was the mother of the subject of this
sketch,—he, an infant of a year old. His parents starting from Norfolk,
Connecticut, had consummated a long and wearisome journey, and on the
night of June 6 had reached a locality in the forest but a few rods
distant from Mr. Eliphalet Austin’s
house, their destination. Darkness and a severe storm overtook them,
and they determined to encamp for the night in the woods. During that
dark and stormy night this intrepid woman sat upon her saddle on the
ground with her infant son in her arms, while an umbrella was held over
mother and child to protect them as best this feeble shelter might from
the fury of the storm. In this strange and novel manner was this
pioneer resident of Ashtabula soil introduced to this forest region. He
was the third child of Sterling
and Abigail Mills,
the date of his birth being June 24, 1799. In his early boyhood he was
made serviceable to the settlement in carrying his father’s and his
father’s neighbors’ grist to the mill on horseback. He was the only boy
in the colony of proper age to perform this duty, and his father owned
the only horse in the settlement at that time. Joseph was
a studious lad, and although the advantages for obtaining an education
were limited, he made diligent use of every available moment, and early
acquired a literary taste that never deserted him. Growing up to
manhood upon his father’s farm, he was united in marriage with Chloe Caloway in
the year 1819. This lady was a resident of Austinburg, and had come to
Ohio with Jacob Austin, Esq.
From this union were born eight children, as follows: Eliza,
born in 1820; Harlow,
born in 1821; Sterling,
born in 1824; Laura,
born in 1826; Edwin,
born in 1828; John
D.,
born in 1834; Alice,
born in 1837; and Lewis Joseph,
born in 1839. The mother of these children died Apr. 20, 1843; and on
November 29 of the same year Mr. Mills married
again, the lady’s name being Lois Hotchkiss.
The children by this marriage were Willard,
born in 1846, died in infancy; and Emma
A.,
born in 1850, who married A.
Krum.
His second wife died on Oct. 29, 1876, and in August, 1877, he married a
third time, the lady’s name being Jane Case. Deacon Mills died
on the 22d day of March, 1878, being nearly seventy-nine years old. One
of the oldest citizens of the county, his life has been a useful one to
the community in which he dwelt. He was warmly attached to the
Congregational church, of which he was a worthy and a prominent member.
He was early made a deacon of the church in Austinburg, and has been
known among his neighbors for the last half-century or more as “ Deacon Mills.”
He has held some township offices, but his tastes were not in this
direction. He preferred the quiet of his home life, and took great
delight in books, of which he was a diligent student. His memory was
wonderfully retentive. A farmer, he acquired by slow, toilsome industry
a handsome competence, being at his death the owner of some three
hundred acres of land. But few men of Ashtabula County saw more of
privation and hardship incident to pioneer life, and none faced them
with a more courageous and determined spirit. Who would not wish to
live the quiet, peaceful, long and useful life Deacon Mills has
lived? and what higher tribute to his memory can be paid than that his
integrity was spotless, his virtues manly, and that his name will long
remain a household word in the homes of those among whom he dwelt?
----- Source:
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 194 |
| |
Williamsfield
Twp. -
REV. ELIAS MORSE.
The birthplace of Rev.
Elias Morse was
Worthington, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, Apr. 6, 1776. He came to
this Western Reserve on horseback, in 1809, to select land for his
future home, in company with Ebenezer
Webber.
He selected three hundred acres in section 21, where he lived until
his death. The farm is now owned by his heirs. He was married to Miss
Abiah Phelps, of Suffield, Hartford county, Connecticut, May 4, 1803,
by Rev.
Mr. Waldo.
They were the parents of three sons and two daughters, two of whom are
now living, — B.
F. Morse resides
in Kentucky, and Maria Louisa occupies
the old homestead. He was the founder of Methodism in this part of the
Reserve, being converted at a Methodist camp-meeting previous to his
coming to Ohio. After he had made the selection of his land he said to
his friend, “Let us thank God for all his mercies and blessings in
protecting us through our long journey to this wilderness.” He knelt
down there in the forest and poured out his thoughts in prayer to the
Almighty for his care over himself and friend. He earnestly prayed that
he might be of some use in this new country, that he might do some good
in the name of his Master. He formed a number of classes or chapels in
the west part of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, and one or two in
Trumbull county, and one in Williamsfield. Those classes were formed
before there was any ecclesiastical body established belonging to the
Methodists in this part of the county. As soon as he arrived here with
his family in 1811, he commenced preaching in his own or some neighbor’s
house or barn, as the case might be. About this time a mail-route was
established on the State road, and J.
W. Brown was
appointed postmaster, but resigned in a few months, and Elias
Morse was
appointed instead, his commission bearing date 1812, and served as
postmaster about thirty years. He died Dec. 26, 1856, aged eighty
years. His wife died Dec. 29, 1872, aged ninety-seven years.
----- Source:
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 242 |
NOTES:
|
