OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 306 *********************************************************************** 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 306 Today's Topics: #2 Bio - 1885 - Portage Co, OH, Mantu [Betty Ralph ] Administrivia: To unsubscribe from OH-FOOTSTEPS-D, send a message to OH-FOOTSTEPS-D-request@rootsweb.com that contains in the body of the message the command unsubscribe and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 14:31:26 -0500 From: Betty Ralph To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <2.2.32.20001017193126.00747ab0@HiWAAY.net> Subject: Bio - 1885 - Portage Co, OH, Mantua # 6 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Bios: May, Messenger, Noble, Nold, Ray - Portage County, Ohio, from "History of Portage County, Ohio" published by Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885 ************************************************************************ 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 HEZEKIAH MAY (deceased) was born April 3, 1782, in Pomfret, Windham Co., Conn, son of Ithimer May. He was married February 10, 1812, to Artemesia White, who bore him four children: Jude S., Olivia S., Delos W., and Norman (deceased in 1850). Jude S. was born in 1815, in Otsego County, N.Y., and married, September 3, 1845, Zelia, daughter of A. Patterson, by whom he had two children: Hezekiah and Florence, the former married to Bessie Luce, September 25, 1877, and has one child - Zelia. Olivia S., the second child, is married to E. Mitchell, and resides in Nebraska. Delos W., was born in New York State, May 15, 1822, and has been twice married; his first wife, Miranda Mitchell, was a native of Connecticut, and died February 3, 1853, leaving two children: Adelbert D., married to Lillian Bidlake, and Norman L., married to Cornelia Lester. On August 21, 1853, Delos W. married his second spouse, Elizabeth A., daughter of George W. King, also of New York State, and by her has two daughters: Emma M. (Mrs. A. Carlton) and Cora D. Our subject accompanied his family to Ohio in 1829 and settled in Mantua Township, where he had purchased a tract of 100 acres from the Sheldon heirs, the deed being drawn up by Judge Harmon. This property was in an unbroken wilderness and contained but a small improvement, a building reared by Mr. Olney for milling purposes. He cleared this land, however, erected the second mill in the township and accumulated a productive estate. He died in 1854. Delos May has been a successful miller for many years and is universally esteemed for his probity and enterprise. He has served his township in various official positions, such as Trustee and School Director. CHAUNCEY MESSENGER, farmer, P.O. Mantua, was born December 9, 1821, in Mantua Township, this county; son of William and Ruth (Miller) Messenger, natives of Connecticut and pioneers of Ohio, whither they cam in 1815, and to this county one year later, settling on the farm where Mr. Kilby now (1885) resides. They were the parents of twelve children: William A. (deceased), married to Elizabeth Skinner (deceased), afterward to Betsey Douglas; Jerome, now residing in Coldwater, Mich., married to Maranda Thomas (deceased); Clemon, married to Pletus Skinner; Zerina (Mrs. H. Coe) now a widow; Voyla, married to Mrs. Eliza Willcutt Judson, a widow (deceased); Cebra (deceased); Milton (deceased); Rectina (Mrs. Rufus Edwards), a widow; Chauncey; Franklin, married to Caroline Goddard; Affa (Mrs. R.E. McIntosh), and Henry, married to Harriet Fuller. Our subject was twice married, first occasion September 23, 1857, to Susan Phelps, who died May 29, 1859, leaving one child - Mary S. He next married, March 11, 1860, Clarissa Walker, daughter of Josiah and Eunice (Wiswell) Walker, by whom he has had five children: Chauncy L., Susan A. (deceased), Jenny E., Grant and John W. Mr. Messenger is one of the most substantial men of this township, and has served as Trustee, School Director, etc., etc. FRANKLIN MESSENGER, farmer, P.O. Mantua, was born October 13, 1824, in Mantua Township, this county; son of William and Ruth (Miller) Messenger, natives of Granby, Hartford Co., Conn., who removed to Ohio in 1814, settling in Mantua Township, this county, where they reared a family of twelve children: Alvira (deceased); Jerome, residing at Coldwater, Mich.; Clement, in Geauga County, Ohio; Zernia (Mrs. Coe), a widow; Viola, in Mantau; Sebradid; Milton (deceased); Rectina (Mrs. Edwards), residing in Oberlin, Ohio; Chauncey, in Mantua; Franklin; Affa (Mrs. McIntosh), in Mantua; Henry, in Mantua. William Messenger, who was a farmer by occupation, died November 18, 1853, aged seventy-three years and his widow August 13, 1875, at the advanced age of ninety-one. Our subject was married, October 5, 1847, to Caroline Goddard, daughter of Dryden and Maria (Merriman) Goddard, the former of whom died in 1871, aged sixty-eight, and the latter in 1872, aged sixty-six. Mr. and Mrs. Messenger have had nine children: Ellen (Mrs. Rogers), George (deceased), Alvirus (deceased), Harriet (Mrs. Cox), Flora, Mila A. (Mrs. Dines), Martha (Mrs. Russell) Frank and Alice. SAMUEL NOBLE, manufacturer of cheese, P.O. Mantua Station, is a native of Trumbull County, Ohio, where he was born July 27, 1854; son of William and Elizabeth (Meggs) Noble, natives of Ireland, who came to Ohio in 1844, settling in Trumbull County. Here they reared and educated their family of nine children and fitted them for the various duties of life. Our subject was one of twin brothers, and after completing his studies, acquired the art with which he has so long been identified. He now owns and operates a cheese factory, located in the southern part of Mantua Township, which is well organized, fully equipped and supplied with every facility for the business in which our subject has scored a very pronounced success. The factory is operated eight months in the year and has a capacity of turning out 520 cheeses per month, most of which is shipped to Boston, Mass. Our subject was married, March 9, 1882, to Miss Emma, daughter of Capt. Bissell. GEORGE NOLD, miller, Mantua, was born March, 1840, in Fairfield Township, Columbiana Co., Ohio; son of Jacob and Catharine (Ziegler) Nold, natives of Bucks and Lancaster Counties, Penn., and among the earliest settlers in Columbiana County, Ohio. Jacob Nold was a miller, and brought into that county the first set of French buhr stones for milling purposes. He and his wife lived and died in Columbiana County after raising a family of fourteen children, twelve of whom are still living: Elizabeth (Mrs. Yoder); John, married to Esther Huber; Susan (Mrs. Esterly); Mary (Mrs. Blosser); Abraham, married to Sarah Sitler; Barbara (Mrs. Detwiler); Jacob, married to Nancy Kindy; Samuel, married to Velina Sitler; David, married to Emaline Moyer; Nanacy (Mrs. Stauffer); Catharine (deceased); George, married to Lydia Schwartz; Alevia (deceased); and Sarah (Mrs. Newcomer). George Nold and his partner, John Frost, are now running the leading flouring-mill in Mantua. This mill is provided with all the latest improvements, rollers, etc., with a capacity of turning out seventy-five barrels of flour daily, and is of great advantage in the village. COL. C.H. RAY, merchant and Postmaster, Mantua, is a native of Mantua, Portage Co., Ohio, born October 31, 1835, and now owns the farm on which he was born and reared. His grandfather served in the Revolutionary Army, his father in the war of 1812, in a Mantua company, and himself, with five brothers, served in the Union Army in the war of the Rebellion. He attended school at Hiram in the early days of that very excellent and popular school at that place, and at the time Rev. Sutton Hayden was President of the institute and James A. Garfield a student and teacher of classes. Our subject worked on his father's farm in summer and taught a district school in winter. From first to last Mr. Ray was an enemy of the slave power, and when Kansas commenced her struggle for freedom his attention was attracted in that direction, and in 1856, while yet a boy, with an older brother, he drove a team of horses attached to a covered wagon from Wisconsin to Kansas, a distance of nearly 1,000 miles, camping out and sleeping in the wagon nights during the whole journey, a trip he enjoyed very much. He remained in Kansas for two years clerking in a store for an elder brother and working in a mill. Here he voted against the Pro-slavery Constitution and its propositions, and for a Free State Constitution for Kansas. While here he was honored with an introduction to John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame, who frequently called at his brother's house during those troublesome times, and whom he has ever regarded as a man of very high character, and a man of pure principles, a prophet before his day, and in 1883 wrote a lengthy article for the "National Tribune," Washington, D.C., on John Brown's work in Kansas, that was well received by the public and read with much interest. He returned to Ohio in the spring of 1859, worked on the farm at home and taught a winter term of school in his home district where he had learned his A B C's. He enlisted in the army in the early part of the summer of 1862, being the fifth one of a family of six boys to joint the Union Army. On the fourth day of July, 1863, Mr. Ray was elected Captain of a Mantua company of Ohio militia and commissioned as such by His Excellency, David Tod, Ohio's great war Governor, and on the 22d day of September of the same year he was elected and commissioned Colonel of the First Regiment Ohio Militia in Portage County. At the close of the civil war he engaged in the milling business for a few years, and in 1867 engaged in mercantile business, which pursuit, together with farming, he is now in, having carried on the mercantile business in Mantua and in the same building for more than eighteen years. He is now and has been Postmaster at Mantua for the past eighteen years, having received his appointment under Andrew Johnson's administration. Col. Ray was married on the 22d day of June, 1868, to Miss Martha A. Cochran, daughter of the Hon. Leverett Cochran, who represented Portage County in the Ohio Legislature in 1854 and 1855. Our subject has always taken an active part in politics, being a stanch and uncompromising Republican, and upon Gen. J.A. Garfield receiving the nomination for President in 1880, he at once to the stump for his old teacher and neighbor and labored hard for the Republican cause in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and was rewarded for his labor by seeing his old friend seated in the Presidential chair. Born to labor and inured to toil, Col. Ray has led an active and industrious life, and by strict economy and close attention to business has accumulated a handsome competency, but has at no time allowed his business to occupy his whole time and attention, but has traveled quite extensively in this country, and seconded by a good wife, tries to enjoy life by getting the most out of it as it comes along. During the summer if 1884 Col. And Mrs. Ray crossed the continent, traveling quite extensively in the great West, and visited the Pacific Coast and the wonderful "Yellowstone National Park." He wrote up the country and their tour for a home paper, and on their return the Colonel took the lecture platform, where he has delivered his lecture entitled "The National Park." Col. Ray is one of the charter members of Mantua Lodge, No. 533, F & A.M., also a charter member of Richardson Council, No. 63, R. & S.M., Cryptic Masonry, Ravenna, Ohio, and a charter member of Bentley Post, No. 294, G.A.R., of Mantua. ______________________________ ------------------------------ End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V00 Issue #306 *******************************************