OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 816 Today's Topics: #1 Fw: Bio - 1885 - Portage co, OH, R ["Maggie Stewart" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <10c401bf3c4a$35292a80$0300a8c0@local.net> Subject: Fw: Bio - 1885 - Portage co, OH, Ravenna # 25 of 25 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit ----- Original Message ----- From: Betty Ralph To: Sent: Saturday, November 27, 1999 4:10 PM Bios: Woodbridge - Portage County, Ohio, from "History of Portage County, Ohio" published by Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885 Copyright C 1999 by Betty Ralph. This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives. bralph@hiwaay.net ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net ************************************************************************ MRS. MARY A. WOODBRIDGE - Mary A. Brayton was a Nantucket girl, which explains much in her brave career and character. Left to themselves during the long and dangerous voyages of men who sought the northern seas for "light, more light" (in the halcyon days of spermaceti, before Col. Drake struck oil from Pennsylvania's bosom), the women of Nantucket were by nature and nurture hardy, strong and self-reliant. But with these qualities not sufficiently emphasized in the "regulation pattern" of the softer six, these unique islanders combined great tenderness and depth of head and conscience. How could it fail to be so, when they fervently prayed for the safe home-coming of their best-beloved, and kept their memory green by constant recitals to their children of the virtues of their absent sons and sires? >From the same lineage that has given us Prof. Maria Mitchell, of Vassar College, and Phoebe Hanaford, the preacher and poet, comes their cousin, Mary A. Woodbridge, whose name has already lent to temperance annals one of the brightest pages this century can show. Her father, Capt. Isaac Brayton, a man of character and substance, repeats his noblest traits in his most gifted child, but more than all we trace the gentle, tender spirit which makes more firm her stand for truth, and the unfailing trust in God which were the gift and teaching of a devoted mother to a tenderly loved daughter, and see in her those rare qualities possessed by that mother (Love Mitchell Brayton) and her brother, Prof. William Mitchell, the brilliant astronomer, of whom it is said "none knew them but to love." Her sunny years of childhood were sedulously turned to account under the guidance of wise parental counsel and able teachers. Little Mary was the prodigy of the school-room, especially in mathematics. That most progressive educator, Horace Mann, on witnessing some of her exploits at six years of age, said: "Persevere, my child, you will yet make a notable woman." At eighteen our heroine was both wife and mother, having married Frederick Wells Woodbridge, Esq., a successful young merchant, who made her acquaintance in the pleasant town of Ravenna, for some years her father's home. A residence in Cleveland followed her marriage, where two daughters are now living. One son, though of the stature of manhood, is the joy of his parents, while the elder awaits their coming to the home beyond. Home cares did not prevent Mrs. Woodbridge's constant growth in mental acquisitions and acumen. Books have always been her "next of kin," and of few can it be said with greater truth, that "she lived on her ideas." She was Secretary of a literary club, over which Gen. James A. Garfield presided (in his frequent visits to Cleveland), and all unconsciously she was preparing for the great work awaiting the Christian women of her native land. Finally the clock of God struck the hour of the crusade, and among the leaders which, in the sacred exclusion of their homes and manifold activities of their church life, had been serving their novitiate, forth came Mary A. Woodbridge into the peaceful war for God, and home, and native land. Of the three-fold call - "opportunity, adaptation and success: - by which she was ushered into gospel temperance work, let her own pastor, Rev. A.M. Hills, tell in the fitting words that follow: "The crusade came with the suddenness and the power of Pentecost, bringing, also, like it, a baptism of the Holy Ghost. In common with thousands of others of her Ohio sisters, she felt the movings of the Spirit. Her eyes were opened to see in a new light the woes caused by intemperance. She went to her closet, and there, when alone with her God, heard the Divine voice asking 'Whom shall I send?' She had the grace given her to lay herself upon the alter in consecration, with the prayer, 'Here am I; I will be or do whatever pleaseth Thee.' But she did not yet understand the vision, nor realize that a live coal had touched her lips. She had been a professing Christian for thirty years, but had never spoken a word in public or offered an audible prayer. Soon she attended a great union meeting which had come together in the excitement of the hour without any one having been appointed to preside when gathered. It was thought best that this should be done by a woman. Who should it be? One after another thought of her, and she was asked to take the place. She was utterly overcome with fear and a sense of inability, and pleaded to be excused. Her aged father came to her side and tenderly reminded her of her consecration vow, and then left her. Her pastor came a second time, when, with a struggle, she said to one standing by, "'Doctor, ask the audience to rise and sing Coronation; I never can walk up the aisle with these people looking at me.' As they sang, she went forward, trembling with weakness and praying every step 'Lord, help me! Lord, help me!' She called upon a brother to pray; then she read a verse of Scripture, and began to say - she knew not what. But God put his own message into her anointed lips. The deeps of her woman's heart were moved; self was forgotten in her message. She pleaded for the degraded victims of drink; for their heartbroken wives and mothers, and for their suffering and degraded children. Her words poured forth in tender and resistless eloquence, till the multitude were moved as one man. The strong were melted to tears. Christians wept and prayed together. A cool-headed Judge arose and solemnly declared that he had never been in an audience so manifestly moved by the Holy Ghost. In that one sacred hour she was lifted by the providence of God into a new life. Her mission had come. Like St. Paul, she had a revelation, and she has not since that time been disobedient to the heavenly vision." Ever since then the history of Mrs. Woodbridge is part and parcel of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, "that sober, second thought of the crusade." She has risen to her present eminence by sure and regular gradation, being at first President of the local union of her own home town at Ravenna, then for years President of her State, and in 1878 she was chosen Recording Secretary of the National Women's Christian Temperance Union, a position which she fills with unrivalled ability, her minutes being almost never susceptible of improvement by even the slightest verbal change. This is, indeed a fact "significant of much," for only the quickest ear, keenest perception and readiest hand could so "keep the run" of proceedings to the last degree intricate, rapid and changeful. Upon the resignation of Mrs. J. Ellen Foster (at the St. Louis National W.C.T.Y. convention, in October, 1884), Mrs. Woodbridge was unanimously chosen National Superintendent of the Department of Legislation and Petitions. She is now in the field addressing large audiences at leading centers of influence, and is received with the consideration due her character, talents and influence. But the crowning work of Mrs. Woodbridge thus far, was her consummate conduct of the Constitution Amendment campaign, especially when the stage of submitting the prohibitory clause had been successfully passed. Her wonderful altertness of mind, facility of leadership, patience and far-reaching wisdom, had here a splendid field. Political leaders in Ohio said "they were out-worked, out-witted and out-generaled." Almost unaided by the partisan press, with faithlessness in camp and field, the parties making a promise to the ear only to break it to the hops, this steadfast nature still held on its way, trusted by the people of Ohio, and devoutly trusting them. But in God were the hidings of her power. Whether she edited the Amendment Herald, which under her leadership attained a weekly circulation of 100,000 copies, or directed the appointments of the temperance workers who were "out campaigning, stirred the zeal of her local workers by letter and telegram, or pleaded for the sinews of war, her faith failed not" and words of prayer were ever on her lips, or promises of God from the Book with which she has so great familiarity. What wonder that more than 300,000 voters responded by "Yes" ballots to such earnest workers at the White Ribbon women of Ohio, under such splendid leadership. Later on, when the amendment was counted out, Mrs. Woodbridge has taken positions so far advance as to the safe conduct of prohibition movements, that many good people have been unable "to see light in her light," but she goes bravely forward, undaunted, undeterred, "with firmness in the right as God gives her to see the right." Exhibiting in this the choicest quality of her noble character, viz.: fidelity to her convictions at cost of comfort and of praise. The W.C.T.U. is unspeakably dear to Mrs. Woodbridge, but the temperance reform is dearer still, and what she believes to be for its best interests, she will steadily pursue, "with malice toward none and charity for all." Happily for this gifted woman, "her husband's heart doth safely trust in her." Her noble son, now up to man's estate, is so truly "mother's boy," that he drinks in her spirit and appreciates her work. Out of gratitude to God for the immunity of her own family circle, Mary A. Woodbridge works - not out of grief or desperation. Her home furnishes salient refutation to the foolish fallacy that women of brains, enterprise and public spirit are not good house-keepers. Mrs. Woodbridge is a rare florist; many varieties of roses embellish her garden. Rare exotics flourish in he sunny house; viands prepared by her own skilled and industrious hands render attractive her hospitable board. "These things ought ye to have done and not left the other undone," seems to have been her motto. A model wife and mother, a royal friend, an earnest Christian, long may she live and labor for a sacred cause. - Frances E. Willard. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 17:20:40 -0500 From: "Maggie Stewart" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <10ca01bf3c4a$4d5ab560$0300a8c0@local.net> Subject: Fw: Bio - 1885 - Portage co, OH, Ravenna #3 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit ----- Original Message ----- From: Betty Ralph To: Sent: Sunday, November 21, 1999 6:32 PM Bios: Brayton, Brigham, Caris, Carter, Churchill - Portage County, Ohio, from "History of Portage County, Ohio" published by Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885 Copyright C 1999 by Betty Ralph. This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives. bralph@hiwaay.net ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net ************************************************************************ ISAAC BRAYTON was born at Nantucket, Mass., in 1801. Having early lost his father, he entered the family of a relative, Hon. Hezekiah Barnard, then Secretary of the State of Massachusetts, where superior advantages were given him. As did nearly all Nantucket boys at that period, he early followed the sea, shipping on board a whaling vessel when nineteen years of age, where his activity and intelligence led to rapid promotion. In 1825 he married Love Mitchell, who died in 1869, beloved by all who knew her. In 1827 he commanded a ship which conveyed some of the first missionaries to the Sandwich Islands, and upon a subsequent visit he united with the church of Honolulu, and immediately established a family alter and Bible class on ship board. Capt. Brayton abandoned the sea in 1833, and was soon elected to the Legislature of Massachusetts at the time Horace Mann was Superintendent of Public Schools. Coming to Ravenna in 1839, greatly interested in education, he was potent in the establishment of a high school, which then seemed to many unnecessary. He became Associate Judge when Hon. Benjamin F. Wade was chief upon the bench. Judge Brayton removed to Newburg (now a ward of the city of Cleveland) in 1853, where he was elected to the Ohio Legislature and was afterward charged with important duties by Gov. Salmon P. Chase. He labored with the Sanitary Commission during the war, being stationed at Nashville, Tenn., and was afterward appointed Superintendent of the National Soldiers' Home while it was at Columbus, Ohio, before coming under military control. He returned to Ravenna in 1873, and has since led a quiet home life in the family of his son-in-law, F.W. Woodbridge. JOHN S. BRIGHAM, contractor and builder, Ravenna, was born June 9, 1821, in St. Albans, Vt. His father, Pierpont Brigham, a native of Massachusetts, came to Vermont where he married Louisa Conger, who died September 30, 1832; he moved to Buffalo, N.Y., and died of cholera September 21, 1852. Our subject while residing in Buffalo married, September 5, 1844, Miss Frances H. Barker, of Ravenna, Ohio, a native of Palmyra, N.Y., born March 24, 1828, coming to this place at two years of age with her parents, James F. and Henrietta Barker. Her grandfather, Ira Shelby, was one of the early pioneers of Ravenna Township, this county, and his descendants today remain the leading and most influential people of Portage County, Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Brigham have been born four children: Henry; Henrietta, wife of Mr. Beckley; Charles J. and Willis J. After residing one year in Buffalo Mr. and Mrs. Brigham settled in Ravenna, this county, where Mr. Brigham has followed his business as builder and contractor. He erected most of the public buildings and the leading private residences which give Ravenna so much renown for its beauty. Mrs. Brigham is one of the leading members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Brigham is a life-long Republican; he has taken a deep interest in the public affairs of the city. HENRY F. CARIS, brick manufacturer, Ravenna, was born April 22, 1832, in Ravenna Township, this county, and is descended from a long line of pioneers in this county. His great-grandfather, Frederick Caris, came here from Maryland in very early times. He had two sons: John, who was a Lieutenant in the war of 1812, and Frederick, who a Captain of militia in the same war. He married Elizabeth, daughter of the well-known pioneer, Henry Sapp, and of their seven children three are now living: Albert and Mary in Washington Territory, and Henry F. Our subject was brought up on his father's farm and received his education in the schools of the home district. At twenty years of age he began learning the trade of brick-maker. He established a yard of his own in 1853 and now owns the only brick-yard in Ravenna, where he makes from half a million to a million bricks per annum. Mr. Caris married, June 14, 1860, Miss Julia, daughter of Sidney S. and Julia Allen, of Ravenna, born at Republic, Seneca Co., Ohio, in 1836, and who came to this place at eight years of age with her parents. Mr. Allen was a mill-wright, and he and his wife resided here until their death. Of the five children born to our subject and wife two are now living: Edward C. and Anna A. Mr. and Mrs. Caris are members of the Universalist Church. In politics he is a Democrat. ERASTUS CARTER (deceased) was born in 1775 in Litchfield County, Conn., married Miss Lois Fuller, of the same county. They moved to Johnson Township, Trumbull Co., Ohio, in 1805, and settled in Ravenna Township (then part of the same county) in 1806. Here he purchased 700 acres of wild land from the Connecticut Land Company. They then went to work to clear their domain and redeem it from the wilderness. They raised a family of seven children: Howard, now living in Ravenna Township, this county; Mrs. Tuthala Judd, who died November, 1878, aged seventy-seven; Mrs. Lois Judd, who died in May, 1884, aged eighty; Erastus; Miles, who died in 1864 aged fifty-three; Myron, who died in 1836, aged twenty-one, and Ira still living in Ravenna Township. Mrs. Carter died in 1854, aged seventy-six. Mr. Carter followed her in 1867, aged ninety-two. He was very energetic in opening this county and developing its resources. He was an active member of the Masonic fraternity. Being originally a Whig, he supported the Democratic party at Jackson's second election and ever afterward. He was one of the honored pioneers whose memory will be handed down to future generations in connection with the services they have rendered in reclaiming a vast wilderness and laying the foundation for a broader and more permanent civilization. ERASTUS CARTER, farmer, P.O. Ravenna, son of Erastus, Sr., and Lois (Fuller) Carter, was born May 25, 1808, in Ravenna Township, this county. He shared the usual lot of pioneer boys and attended the limited schools of those early days. He married, in January, 1832, Miss Hannah Skiff, who died in May, 1837, aged twenty-five years, leaving three children now living in Iowa: Ira R., Julius E. and Marion H., wife of Dr. J.R. Boyd. Mr. Carter then married, July 2, 1838, his deceased wife's sister, Miss Delia Skiff, born in Litchfield County, Conn., August 20, 1816, and who came to Shalersville, this county, in 1825, with her parents, Julius and Julia Skiff, of whose ten children but three are now living: Mrs. Abbie Beazell in Ravenna, Frank B. in Iowa, and Mrs. Erastus Carter. Mr. Skiff died May 11, 1852, aged sixty-six; his widow April 10, 1855, in her seventieth year. Since their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Carter have resided in Ravenna Township, this county. Here they own a fine estate of about 500 acres of well-improved land, and to them have been born the following children: Myron H. and Mrs. Ellen Gillett in Ravenna Township, this county, and Addison S. in eastern Iowa. Mr. Carter is a life-long Democrat, having voted for Andrew Jackson in 1832 and for every Democratic nominee for President since. WILLIAM S. CHURCHILL, farmer and dairyman, P.O. Ravenna, was born June 21, 1841, in Streetsboro Township, this county. His father, Isaiah Churchill, of Chautauqua County, N.Y., came to this county in early manhood and here married Miss Eunice A., daughter of Newton and Mollie Morris, of Shalerville Township. Isiaah Churchill died October 6, 1851, leaving two children: William S. and John N. in Warren, Ohio, and his widow afterward married William L. Russell. She died March 1, 1884. Our subject enlisted, August 11, 1861, in Company I, One Hundred and Fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was attached to the Army of the Cumberland, and after three years of brave and faithful service, received an honorable discharge, June 29, 1865, at Cleveland, Ohio. He married, January 1, 1868, Miss Louisa E. Towns, and their children are Harry Almon (deceased), Edith I., Lulu Pearl, Orilla Birdell, Jessie A., Winnie J. and Alta B. Mr. and Mrs. Churchill now own the homestead farm of sixty-eight acres where they have resided ever since their marriage. They devote their farm largely to the dairy interests, in which they are very successful. They are consistent members of the Disciples Church. Mr. Churchill is a life-long Republican. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #816 *******************************************