OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 34 *********************************************************************** 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. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 34 Today's Topics: #1 DR. ARTHUR JOHN PHINNEY - Geauga C [Gina Reasoner To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19800103161959.00955a30@pop.prodigy.net> Subject: DR. ARTHUR JOHN PHINNEY - Geauga County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed A Portrait and Biographical Record of Delaware and Randolph Counties, Ind. A.W. Bowen & Co., 1894 DR. ARTHUR JOHN PHINNEY, physician, botanist and geologist, of Muncie, Ind., was born in Russell township, Geauga county, Ohio, August 7, 1850. He was reared on the home farm until of age, receiving in the meantime a good common school education, supplemented by an attendance at Geauga seminary and two terms at Oberlin college, and at Allegheny college, Meadville, Pa., until he reached the junior year, devoting special attention to the sciences and mathematics. During his collegiate course, also, he employed his spare time in teaching in the common schools of Geauga and adjoining counties for six terms. In 1875 he took his first course of medical lectures, beginning in the medical department of Wooster university; his second course was at Pulte Medical college, of Cincinnati, in 1876-77, from which he graduated in the last named year. For little over a year he practiced in Galion, Ohio, and in October, 1878, came to Muncie, where he has had an excellent practice ever since. He turned his especial attention to botany at the time he left college, and his last work in this line ended with 1882, when he was employed to prepare a complete record of the flora of Delaware county, Ind., which was published in the report of the state geological survey of that year. In this record he classified 720 plants, including grasses, sedges, rushes and flowers, and the task occupied him several years. The doctor has been a student of geology for many years, but his first official recognition was in 1881, when he was employed to make a geological survey of Delaware county, which proved to be so satisfactory that he was subsequently employed to survey Randolph, Grant, Henry and the northern portion of Wayne, and the results were included in the state report of 1882, 1883 and 1885-86 (two in one). This was a labor of five or six years, taken in connection with the practice of his profession. On the discovery of natural gas, the doctor began the study of the phenomenon minutely and scientifically, keeping a record of all the data obtainable throughout the state of Indiana, including records of all the geological strata passed through in drilling -thickness, altitude, depth of Trenton limestone; whether gas, oil or water was found, total depth of well, and other minute facts, and securing and labeling samples of drillings. By these data he was enabled to determine the limits of the field, and was the first to accurately define it. These reports were made the base of a series of articles, by the doctor, published in the American Manufacturer and Iron World, in December, 1887, and afterward, in full, in the Indianapolis News, and in the Petroleum Age, at Bradford, Pa., and attracted profound attention throughout the country. Major J. W. Powell, director of the Untied States geological survey, impressed with the thoroughness of the work done, appointed the doctor United States geological surveyor for the continuation of the survey of the Indiana gas field and directed a complete report to be made theron. This was a labor of three years, and forms a part of the elevenh annual report of the United States geological survey. It is amply illustrated with maps and sectional views, and embraces everything of interest in relation to the gas field. The doctor has also been called to different parts of the Untied States at various times, in connection with his work. He has secured one of the most comprehensive working geological libraries in the state, and has collected an extensive variety of fossils, minerals and fresh water and land shells, embracing over 17, 000 species, all classified and labeled. In the fall of 1892, this collection was sold, and donated to Buchtel college, Akron, Ohio. The bulk of this immense research, study and labor has been accomplished within the past twelve years,and yet the doctor has assidiously attended to his daily professional duties, to which he now exclusively devotes himself, and in which he holds high rank. Music affords him his only pastime. The marriage of Dr. Phinney took place, October 16, 1879, to Miss Mary E. Little, daughter of John L. Little, of Muncie, and to this union one child, Louise, has been born. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Thu, 03 Jan 1980 15:13:05 -0800 From: Gina Reasoner To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19800103145534.00957330@pop.prodigy.net> Subject: GEORGE L. ELLIOTT - Geauga County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed A Portrait and Biographical Record of Delaware and Randloph Counties, Ind. A.W. Bowen & Co., 1894 GEORGE L. ELLIOTT, deceased, for many years a leading jeweler of Muncie, was born January 28, 1831, at the town of Chardon, Geauga county, Ohio. His parents, Edmund G. and Nancy (Taylor) Elliott, were natives of New England, born, reared and married in the state of Massachusetts. Shortly after their marriage they removed to Ohio, and for a number of years Edmund Elliott carried on the jewelry business at Chardon and Springfield, that state. Subsequently, he removed to Anderson, Ind., where his death occurred after a long, active and successful business career; his wife following him to the grave a short time after. Edmund and Nancy Elliott reared a family of five children, all sons, namely: Jerome, Alfred, George L., Ozias and Dallas K., of whom Jerome, Alfred and George L. are deceased. George L. Elliott began learning the jeweler's trade at the age of thirteen with his father, and after acquiring great skill and proficiency in his chosen calling worked at the same with his father until about 1854, at which time he went to Cincinnati, where he remained for a limited period, returning home the following year. In May, 1855, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Smith, daughter of John and Ruth (Marshall) Smith of Greene County, Ohio, removing in August of the same year to Muncie, Ind., where he rented a window and engaged in repairing watches, jewelry, etc., on a very moderate scale. Later he entered the employ of Armstead Klein, with whom he remained a short time, and then opened an establishment of his own on the corner of Main and Walnut streets, where he continued the trade for a period of nearly forty years, during which time he became one of the best known and most popular business men of Muncie. In all his relations with his fellow-men Mr. Elliott was the soul of honor, and his kindness of heart and uniform courtesy were the subjects of remark by all, and became proverbial throughout Muncie and Delaware county. "Uncle George", as he was familiarly called, always had a cheerful word and pleasant greeting for everyone, and he was one of those noble characters whose very presence exerted a genial influence throughout the community -one of nature's noblemen, whose honest impulses were manifested in every act of his life. In the home circle he was a model of gentleness, and his daughter, with whom he was ever on terms of the closest intimacy, cannot recall the memory of an unkind word or act. In his religious belief Mr. Elliott was a Universalist, but he encouraged all churches, irrespective of doctrine or creed, and was ever in hearty sympathy with all movements of a benevolent or philanthropic nature. Politically he was an active supporter of the democratic party, and fraternally was identified with Delaware lodge, No. 46, A.F. & A.M., and DeEmber tribe, No. 30, Improved Order of Red Men. He was noted as a friend of the poor and needy, was kindly disposed to all, and died, as he had lived, possessing the profound respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens. His death occurred on the 1st day of April, 1892, and his remains were followed to their final place of repose by one of the largest funeral corteges ever seen on the streets of Muncie. Mr. Elliott was the father of one child, a daughter, Ida M., wife of John H. Ritter, an able optician, who resides in the city at the present time. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #3 Date: Thu, 03 Jan 1980 14:54:14 -0800 From: Gina Reasoner To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19800103143716.00957c10@pop.prodigy.net> Subject: ROSWELL D. BABCOCK - Geauga County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed 1882 History of La Grange County Indiana F.A. Battey & Co., 1882 ROSWELL D. BABCOCK, born June 13, 1819, in Grande Isle, Vt., is the youngest of seven children of Elias and Lucy (Demery) Babcock, the former a native of Norwich, Conn., born February 2, 1777, the latter of Dartmouth, born May 22, same year. Elias Babcock served at the battle fo Plattsburg, in the war of 1812, and the subject has in his possession a powder-horn carried by his father on the memorable occasion. Elias Babcock moved to Huntington County, Quebec, in 1829, proceeding, in 1831, to St. John's, Canada, where he was employed in getting out ship timber. In 1833, he went to Geauga County, Ohio, purchased ninety acres, built a cabin and began clearing. Here his death occurred, July 2, 1859. Mrs. Lucy Babcock died there March 1, 1874. Roswell D. Babcock and Mrs. Hetty A. (Abramson) Hamblin were married in Geauga County, Ohio, April 24, 1845, and came to Bloomfield, this county, in 1846, where he worked by the day and farmed on shares until 1852, when he received eighty acres of the old Abramson homestead. He sold out and moved to La Grange in 1860, and has lived on his present farm since he bought it in 1863. Mr. Babcock, since 1853, has been a member of the A.F. & A.M. They have three children -Lucy J., now Mrs. Sanders; Francis W., and Charlotte F., now Mrs. Spidel. All belong to the Lutheran Church. Mrs. Babcock was born in Rockland County, N.Y., April 6, 1822, and her parents were natives of New York. Her father, Halstead Abramson, was born August 16, 1794, and her mother, Elizabeth Van Houten, November 8, 1796; the former was a soldier in the war of 1812, and came to Bloomfield Township, this county, in 1845; bought a farm of 240 acres, where he lived until his death, October 25, 1852; his wife died May 6, 1857, and both were buried on the old farm. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #4 Date: Thu, 03 Jan 1980 14:35:22 -0800 From: Gina Reasoner To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19800103142519.00957760@pop.prodigy.net> Subject: H.J. VESEY - Geauga County, Ohio Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed 1882 History of La Grange County, Indiana F.A. Battey & Co., 1882 H.J. VESEY is a native of Vermont, as were his parents, William and Adeline (Copland) Vesey, his birth occurring October 19, 1834. They came West to Geauga County, Ohio, in 1834; his father, in 1835, bought land in Elkhart County, Ind., and returned to Ohio; his five children, in the spring of 1836, accompanied by their uncle, came and located on the land, but the father was detained in Ohio by the illness of his wife, that resulted in her death. He then joined his family in Elkhart County, where he died in 1873. At the age of eighteen, H.J. Vesey paid $150 for his time until twenty-one, and, in 1853, began attending school at Ontario, working at any available employment during the remainder of the time. he has paid special attention to grafting, and for thirty-four years has worked at that during the spring season, traveling through Canada and seventeen of the States. In 1858, Mr. Vesey traded land in Fillmore County, Minn., that he bought in 1851, for 120 acres of his farm in this township. He now owns 302 acres, which are improved with many fine buildings; property valued at $20,000. In connection with farming, he raises live-stock, having, in the fall of 1881, 510 sheep for the spring market. August 6, 1857, Mr. Vesey and Helen E. Smith were untied in marriage. She was born December 14, 1839, and is the daughter of Joseph H. and Margaret (Robinson) Smith, natives of New York, who went to Michigan at an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Vesey have four children -Maggie A., now Mrs. Charles Sears; Lottie E., now Mrs. George McKibben; Lydia C. and Sylvester T. Mr. Vesey has been a member of the Masonic Order. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #5 Date: Thu, 03 Jan 1980 14:24:49 -0800 From: Gina Reasoner To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19800103141410.00944590@pop.prodigy.net> Subject: HEZEKIAH HOARD - Geauga Co., OH/LaGrange Co. IN Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed 1882 History of La Grange County Indiana F.A. Battey & Co., 1882 HEZEKIAH HOARD is the eldest of ten in the family of Hezekiah and Lodema (Babcock) Hoard, natives of New York. The elder Hoard was a soldier in the war of 1812; he moved to Geauga County, Ohio, in 1832, thence to this county in the fall of 1835, where he died at the home of the subject in December, 1869, his wife having died three years before at the same place. The subject was born in Stephentown, N.Y., March 14, 1807; he removed to Geauga County, Ohio, where he bought a farm, sold it in 1835, and came to Lima Township, this county, where he farmed on shares until 1838, when he came to this township and invested in eighty acres of unimproved land; he yet lives on this farm, having added sixty acres more and largely improved it. Mr. Hoard was married January 1, 1832, to Rhoda Ingraham, a native of New York; she died November 9, 1838. Of two children born to them, one (Myron) is yet living. February 28, 1841, Mr. Hoard was married to Miss Ann Wilcox, who was born December 19, 1814, and is one of four children born to William and Nancy (Cain) Wilcox, natives of Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Hoard are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and have had six children, three of whom are living -Mary, now Mrs. Randolph; William and George. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #6 Date: Thu, 03 Jan 1980 14:12:03 -0800 From: Gina Reasoner To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19800103135143.00944590@pop.prodigy.net> Subject: ROBERT STONE PARKS - Geauga County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed History of Ohio The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925 Volume IV, page 286-287 ROBERT STONE PARKS has been an Ohio attorney for thirty years, and most of his practice has been done in the county seat of Geauga County, at Chardon. He is the present prosecuting attorney of that county and all his relations as a lawyer and public official have brought him a high degree of esteem in that section of Ohio. Mr. Parks was born at Chardon, Geauga County, December 10, 1872. His father, Orrin R. Parks, who was born at Chardon, December 31, 1845, as a young man entered business as a tinner and hardware merchant, and subsequently organized and became senior member of Parks Brothers and later Parks & Warriner, a hardware firm that for many years has stood in the front rank of Chardon business enterprises. He was a republican, served on the City Council a number of terms, and while on the council was also a member of the board that established a village light plant. In the Civil war he was a Union soldier, a member of Battery C of the First Ohio Light Artillery, and served through the last two years of the war. He was affiliated with Chardon Lodge No. 93, Free and Accepted Masons. Orrin R. Parks, who died at Chardon in January, 1918, married Virginia Stone, a native of Newbury, Geuaga County, who died at birth of her only child, Robert Stone Parks. The second wife of Orrin R. Parks was Chloe A. Barker, who was also a native of Newbury, and now lives at Chardon. Her only child is Mildred, who married E. E. Clark, of Cleveland, Ohio, now deceased. Robert Stone Parks as a boy attended the public schools of Chardon, graduating from high school in 1891. He then entered the law department of the University of Michigan, and finished the course and received the Bachelor of Laws degree with the class of 1894. Admitted to the Ohio bar June 6 of that year, he immediately engaged in practice at Chardon, and his active membership in the bar of that city has been continuous except for two years while he was engaged in practice at Lorain, Ohio, and a year and a half at Willoughby. his law offices are in the First National Bank Building. For twenty years Mr. Parks has been village clerk of Chardon, his present term expiring January 1, 1924. He has had charge of the official records of the village through an era marked by many important improvements, including the installation of a water plant, building of sewers, street paving. On March 1, 1921, Mr. Parks was appointed attorney of Geauga County to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of R.H. Patchin. In November, 1921, he was elected for the regular two-year term, which began January 21, 1922. Mr. Parks is a republican, has served as secretary of Chardon Lodge No. 93, Free and Accepted Masons, as secretary of Chardon Chapter No. 106, Royal Arch Masons, is noble grand of Chardon Lodge No. 213, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is past chancellor commander of Lodge No. 731, Knights of Pythias. He organized and is a charter member of Chardon Kiwanis Club. Mr. Parks is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Chardon, and among other real estate owns a modern home at 141 North Main Street. He married in his native town, September 10, 1899, Miss Nina Ames, daughter of Bernard D. and Victoria Ames, now deceased. Her father for sixteen years held the office of clerk of courts of Geauga County. Mr. and Mrs. Parks have three children: Virginia Victoria, at home; David R., a student in Syracuse University in New York; and Edward Ames, attending the Chardon High School. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #7 Date: Thu, 03 Jan 1980 13:51:38 -0800 From: Gina Reasoner To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19800103131622.00954410@pop.prodigy.net> Subject: STUART N. AUSTIN - Geauga County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed History of Ohio The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925 Volume IV, page 282-283 STUART N. AUSTIN is one of the young, progressive men in the citizenship of Chardon, is postmaster of that town, and during the World war gave service in the navy. He was born at Montville in Geauga County, January 13, 1891. The Austin family is of English ancestry, and settled in Connecticut and from that state came to Ohio in pioneer times. His grandfather, Newton Austin, was a lifelong resident of Montville in Geauga County, where he owned and operated a farm. His wife was Amoret Stevens, likewise a native of Montville. Dwight A. Austin, father of the Chardon postmaster, was born at Montville, May 1, 1863, and for over twenty years, until he retired recently, was prominently identified with the official affairs of the county seat. He was reared and married at Montville, conducted a mercantile establishment there, but in August, 1902, moved to Chardon, to serve four years as county treasurer. After leaving that office he was deputy county treasurer four years, then served another term of two years, and continued a member of the official circle in the courthouse at Chardon as deputy county auditor until 1923, when he retired. He is a republican, is a past master of Chardon Lodge No. 93, Free and Accepted Masons, is a member of the Grand Masters Association of Ohio, is a past high priest of Chardon Chapter No. 106, Royal Arch Masons, is a charter member and past chancellor commander of Chardon Lodge No. 731, Knights of Pythias, and is a charter member of the Kiwanis Club. Dwight A. Austin married Mattie L. Whitney, who was born at Montville in 1873. They have two children, Stuart N. and Miss Florence A. Stuart N. Austin attended public schools in Montville until he was twelve years of age, and after that continued his schooling in Chardon. He graduated from high school with the class of 1910, and spent one year in Ohio State University at Columbus. Returning home, he was for two years deputy county treasurer under his father, and then became a clerk in the dry goods store of his brother-in-law, C.W. Goodrich. He resigned his position, and on May 17, 1917, enlisted in the United States Navy. He became a first class petty officer, and was in active duty on a ship patrolling the Mexican and Cuban waters. He received his honorable discharge, December 28, 1918, and after his return home again became associated with the Goodrich dry goods business. On January 1, 1922, he took charge of the postoffice at Chardon as postmaster, having been appointed during the republican administration of Mr. Harding. Mr. Austin is a member of the Chardon Congregational Church, and is the present worshipful master of Chardon Lodge No. 93, Free and Accepted Masons. He also belongs to Chardon Chapter No. 106, Royal Arch Masons; Chardon Lodge No. 731, Knights of Pythias, and is past grand of Chardon Lodge No. 213, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. At the university he was a member of the Sigma Pi fraternity, and is a charter member of Chardon Kiwanis Club and a charter member of Chardon Post No. 167 of the American Legion. Mr. Austin owns a good home at 208 North Hampden Street in Chardon. He married in his home community, December 31, 1917, Miss Lucile Goodrich, daughter of Wesley A. and Ella (Collins) Goodrich, residents of Chardon. Her father until he retired was a real estate operator and owner of extensive property in Geauga County. Mr. and Mrs. Austin have one child, Matilda Ann, born March 16, 1923. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V00 Issue #34 ******************************************