OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 279 *********************************************************************** 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 279 Today's Topics: #1 Bio - 1885 - Portage Co, OH, Garre [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: #1 Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 14:33:58 -0500 From: Betty Ralph To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <2.2.32.20000918193358.0073ca34@HiWAAY.net> Subject: Bio - 1885 - Portage Co, OH, Garrettsville # 2 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Bios: Cole, Davis, Dunn - 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 JEDEDIAH COLE, civil engineer and County Surveyor, Garrettsville, was born in Nelson Township, this county, May 26, 1830; son of Jedediah and Elizabeth (Noah) Cole, the former a native of Vermont, born in 1797, the latter of Chester County, Penn., born in 1802. They were parents of four children, three of whom are still living: Rebecca J., wife of Uriah Craig, of Kidder, Mo.; William C., a farmer, also in Missouri, and our subject. Jedediah Cole, Sr., was a carpenter in early life. He came to this county in 1816, and for a year or two worked at his trade, but for the balance of his life he was engaged in farming. He was a prominent man in religious circles, being one of the few to organize the Disciples Church. His death occurred May 10, 1850. His wife died August 5, 1834. Our subject in early life was employed in attending the neighboring schools and rendering what assistance he could to his parents on the homestead farm. He was married, September 6, 1855, to Miss Katie M. Dickens, who was born March 18, 1833, at Jacksonville, Ill., by whom he had five children: Augustus S. (an attorney at Ravenna, Ohio), Helen (deceased), James D., Katie E. and Paul H. Mr. Cole entered upon his career in life as a school teacher at Salem, Ill., where he remained until 1856; then for two years was in northern Iowa engaged in different enterprises, such as merchandising, contracting and land surveying, and while there he did his first work as land surveyor. From this point he went to Prarie du Chien, Wis., where he was employed principally in building and teaching. While there the war broke out, and he responded to the first call for men in 1862, enlisting in Company A., Thirty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered out in November, 1864, for promotion to Captaincy in the One Hundred and Twenty-third U.S.C.I., and was honorably discharged as such at the close of the Rebellion, after which he retired to his home in Ohio and embarked in lumbering, in which he continued till the fall of 1869, when he was elected to the office of County Surveyor, a position he still retains. He has served one term as Justice of the Peace, and has held the same office in Iowa and Wisconsin. He also served as Clerk of the Board of Education two terms. In addition to his labors as County Surveyor he is engaged in collecting and in real estate business. Mr. Cole is a F.&A.M. EDWARD L. DAVIS, grocer, Garrettsville, was born in Shropshire, England, March 8, 1840, and was brought to America when eleven years of age by his father, Ellis Davis. They first located in Ravenna, and from there went to Hiram Rapids, where they lived a few years. Ellis Davis, who was a miller by trade, died in Garrettsville September 13, 1865; his wife died in England about 1843. Their children were two in number: Ellis, who is in the insurance business in Cleveland, Ohio, and Edward L. Our subject received a common school education, and early in life began to work at the miller's trade. He was twice married, on first occasion November 3, 1861, to Ann Ferry, who died August 19, 1875, leaving to his care two children: Mary G. and Ellis F. Mr. Davis was again married March 23, 1876, this time to Emma L. Morgan (widow of H. Morgan, of Hartsgrove Township, by whom she had one daughter - Maud, now living with her step-father). By this union there were two girls: Grace and Daisy. Mrs. Davis died October 18, 1880. Our subject in 1861 took charge of the grist-mill at Garrettsville and five years later purchased an interest in the same, but in 1880, owing to the effects of dust on his lungs, he was forced to retire from milling. He then purchased an interest in a grocery, but two years later again gave up active business. The following year he purchased a stock of groceries, and is still engaged in that business. Mr. Davis has served the people as City Clerk two terms, and on the Board of Education three years. He is an active member of Portage Lodge, I.O.O.F. JAMES DUNN, farmer, P.O. Garrettsville, was born October 11, 1822, in Hartford, Windsor Co., Vermont. His father, James Dunn, was a native of Massachusetts, and early engaged in brick making. When over thirty years old he went to Vermont, where he was employed in the manufacture of brick for a Mr. Udall, and while there was married to Mary Udall, a niece of his employer, and with her, in 1832, moved to this county, settling on the farm where their son, our subject, now resides, and there remained until their death. The father died in 1858 and the mother in 1864. He (the father) had some reverses financially before his marriage, having lost the first $500 which he had saved by economy, but such vicissitudes only served to make them more ambitious, and prosperity was the outcome of their efforts. They had seven children: William, a resident of Troy, Ohio; Mary, married to Albert Gage (they reside in Freedom Township, this county); Belinda, married to Benjamin Baker (they reside in Crawford County, Penn.); James; Amanda, married to James M. Bowman; Cosmo L. (deceased), and Rachel (deceased). Our subject was taken from the summer schools when ten years old to assist his father in farm duties, and was permitted to attend school during winter terms until 1844-45, during which period he was a student in the Troy, Ohio, schools. He was the only son to remain closely associated with his parents in their farm labors, and was given the greater portion of their property in return for his labor and care of them in their old age, and to this he has added until he now ranks among the well-to-do men of this county, having 180 acres of well-improved land lying part within and part adjacent to the village of Garrettsville. He also owns a good share in the old bank building and the livery stable where Truesdall now conducts a general livery business, Mr. Dunn being partial owner of the stock. At one time he was interested in banking. During his farming and business career he has been fortunate, scarcely meeting any reverses. On his beautiful farm he has some fine Holstein cattle. October 14, 1846, Mr. Dunn was married to Armona S. Reed, who died March 31, 1873, and to this union were born the following children: Elma E., married to Charles Truesdall; Mary A., married to James VanHorn, and George J., recent graduate of the Garrettsville High School. Our subject was married, February 3, 1874, on second occasion, to Cordelia S., widow of Dr. O. Manley. Garrettsville has been an incorporated village for twenty years, and as an appreciation of Mr. Dunn's ability and judgment, the citizens have retained him as a member of the Council for eighteen years; he has also been interested in the public schools, and is a member of the School Board. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Dunn, in his lifetime, has experienced some miraculous escapes from sudden death or serious injury. About the year 1860 he was driving an ambitious horse attached to a sulky, and while moving at a rapid rate by the farm of Zeb. Rudolph, the father of Mrs. James A. Garfield, the animal became frightened at a load of straw, and made a sudden bound to one side, breaking the axle and throwing Mr. Dunn with such force against the fence or ground as to render him unconscious from that time, 3 o'clock P.M., till 4 o'clock A.M. the next day. Within ten days he was back to his farm duties. At another time he was clearing debris from his farm well, and the bucket, in which the dirt, etc., were drawn up, became detached from the rope when about twenty feet above him, and descended with tremendous force, just glancing off his head and inflicting an ugly incision, fracturing the frontal bone in three directions. In three weeks he was himself again. In October, 1883, our subject was engaged inserting blinds in a cupola of his barn, and by a misstep he fell down a three-eighth pitch roof with rafters about sixteen feet long, and to the ground, a distance of twenty-seven feet from the eave, and eleven feet from the sill. It was nearly one hour before his hired hand found him in an unconscious condition, covered with blood, and leaning against a trough about eleven feet from where he struck the ground. The depression in the earth showed that he struck on his toes and head, within eighteen inches apart. It was the spring in his toes which saved his head from utter destruction, and it appears as an act of Providence he received no serious injury. The bones in one foot were broken, which was his only hurt, and he is now hale and hearty. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V00 Issue #279 *******************************************