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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
1798
History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio
with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers Most Prominent Men
Philadelphia - Williams Brothers
1878
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JUSTIN ALEXANDER.
"Uncle Aleck" "The Dominie" in old-time Newbury, was a native of
Vermont, born in 1774, married to Aseneth in 1796, and died in
Newbury July, 1854, at eighty years of age. The wife, born in
1777, died in November, 1860, at eighty-three. Of these were born
Abiathur, who lives in Newbury; Triphene, the wife of
Levi Savage; Orpha, the wife of Alvin Hyde;
Luther, Joseph, Vincent, Mahalia, Julia,
and Justin, Jr., also a resident of Newbury.
The family lived for a time in Canada; settled in
Newbury in October, 1817, in the west part, and removed to Fullertown in
1827.
Mr. Alexander was a man of short stature,
stoutish, with a large, well-formed head, and a face beaming with
serenity, sweetness, and benevolence. Of fair mental faculties,
and richly endowed with the moral and humane elements. He had
little culture. A devout believer in the Christian revelation, and
the mission of Jesus to save the world. No gloss of Scripture, no
Calvinistic logic, could ever persuade him that the Father would not in
the end manage to have his way in spite of the devil and orthodox
clergy. His study was the New Testament. Simple, devout,
trusting as a child, he would preach not only on Sundays, but week days,
and all the time, by the wayside, in the neighbor’s house, and always
his theme, the marvelous goodness, the measureless mercy, and boundless
power of the Father. Unitarian, and of a shade who believed that
men would be punished in another world if need be, but finally restored
to God and bliss.
His homilies on this aspect of the gospels were often
effective, often tender, and sometimes beautiful. Dear, fond,
simple, pure, old, childish heart and soul! Brave old warrior
against the dogma of cruelty and vengeance of the Creator! Steady,
hopeful, restful, adorer of Supreme Goodness and final happiness.
There are many pleasant memories of gatherings, of summer Sundays, in
log school houses, flavored with the fragrance of withered leafy boughs,
warm sun, and the good man laboring with some, at times baffling
argument, with his bald head, covered with a homespun cotton- and
linen-checked pocket-handkerchief, and the perspiration streaming down
his broad, laboring forehead. Then (same the singing, - bass, by
Amos Upham; tenor, by Moses Hayden and
Jerry Evans; and treble, by Mrs. Utley, Mrs.
Riddle, and one or two others; and then out and away, over the
pleasant hills, through forest roads, to the rude but delightful homes
of the old Newbury, now forever departed save from regretful memory.
Source: History of Geauga and Lake
Counties, Ohio, Publ. Philadelphia by Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page
185 |
Residence of
Hiel Armstrong,
Claridon Tp.,
Geauga Co., O |
HIEL ARMSTRONG.
Among the biographical sketches of some of the older residents of this
town
ship none deserve a better record than the subject of this notice.
Hiel Armstrong is the son of James and Abigail (Ladd)
Armstrong, and is the seventh in a family of ten children. He
was born in Franklin, New London county, Connecticut, June 24, 1795.
His father was a soldier of the Revolution, and served the entire period
of that war.
He enjoyed but slender opportunities for the
acquirement of an education, which simply embraced a brief attendance at
the common schools of his native township.
In September, 1819, he was united in marriage to
Elizabeth Dow, of same town and county, and the following-named
children were born: Burton D., Jan. 12,1820; Cheney,
Oct. 2,1826; Lavias, Feb. 10, 1830. Two younger children,
Phebe and Eugene, died in infancy.
In the year 1833 Mr. Armstrong journeyed
to Ohio, leaving his wife and children with his brother, who resided
near Syracuse, New York. After his arrival in Claridon he
purchased of Charles Johnson one hundred acres of land
located in lot two, tract five, and then sent for his family, who were
accompanied on the journey by a brother of Mrs. Armstrong,
Thomas Dow. They arrived in the spring of the same
year. Prior to his emigration to Ohio Mr. Armstrong
and three brothers had come into possession of the old homestead in
Connecticut, and were alike interested in some of the earlier purchases
made by the subject of this sketch in Claridon, which included a grist-
and saw-mill located on the east branch of Cuyahoga river. In 1844
the property was divided. To his share Mr. Armstrong
has since added, and at present owns four hundred and three acres, less
eight acres belonging to the Painesville and Youngstown railroad, which
runs through the middle of his farm. Mr. Armstrong’s
life has been one of unceasing toil, until the infirmities of age
compelled a retirement from active labor. His early political
sentiments were those of the anti-slavery wing of the Whig party.
He subsequently became a Republican, and is a stanch adherent of that
party at the present time. His wife died July 25, 1841, and he
married, Nov. 30, 1842, Anna, oldest daughter of Captain
Holder Chace (with respect to whom see history of township
of Claridon). She was born Apr. 15, 1815.
Barton D. Armstrong, the oldest of the children,
carries on the farm, on which he with his father resides. He
enlisted Nov. 2, 1862, in Company G, Forty-first Ohio Volunteer
Infantry, during the war of the Rebellion, but on account of sickness,
which incapacitated him for service, he was honorably discharged, July 9
of the following year. He enlisted out of purely patriotic
motives, never receiving, and never expecting to receive, a bounty from
any source whatever, and yet to his brief military service is traceable
one of the greatest misfortunes that can befall a life, - the loss of
the voice. This happened in January following his enlistment, and
was due to the exposure inseparable from military life. About two
years subsequently, be recovered his voice, and continued to have the
use of it until July, 1876, when he again, during a severe sickness,
became unable to speak audibly, and so remains at the present time.
Apr. 3, 1843, he married Melissa Chace,
youngest sister of the wife of Mr. Armstrong, Sr., and the
following children were born to them: Elizabeth, born Oct. 14,
1844, married H. P. Kile, and resides in Huntsburg; Ashley E.,
born Feb. 10, 1846, married Miss Ettie Gleason, and resides with
his parents; Ellen, born Oct. 31, 1850, became the wife of R.
B. Waters, and lives in Middlefield.
Cheney Armstrong obtained a collegiate
education, graduating at Amherst, Massachusetts, in November, 1849.
He immediately afterwards began the study of law in Boston, but a few
months after was taken ill, and died Feb. 14, 1850.
Lavias married Martha Armstrong
(deceased). He resides in the city of Painesville.
Source: History of Geauga and Lake
Counties, Ohio, Publ. Philadelphia by Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page
173-174 |
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HON. JOEL F. ASPER.
Joel F. Asper was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, Apr. 20,
1822. He removed with his father to Ohio in 1827, was admitted to
the bar in 1844. He was a. delegate to the Buffalo convention in
1848, and editor of the Western Reserve Chronicle in 1849.
From Aug. 13, 1850, until Mar. 25, 1852, he edited the Chardon Democrat.
In 1861 he raised a company and was mustered into the volunteer service
as captain, serving at the battle of Winchester, where he was wounded.
In 1862 he was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Seventh Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, and in 1863 was mustered out of service on account
of wounds received in action. In 1864 he organized a regiment of
National Guards, and became its colonel, and was with it at the battle
of Kellar's Bridge, receiving compliments for his services there.
The regiment was known as the One Hundred and Seventy-first. In
December, 1864, he removed to Chillicothe, Missouri, and practiced law
successfully. In 1866 he commenced the publication of the
Spectator, in which he advocated the nomination of General Grant.
He was a delegate to the Chicago convention, also to the State
convention, where he secured the adoption of a suffrage amendment plank
in the plat form. He was elected to the Forty-first Congress as a
Radical Republican, but was defeated in the nominating convention for
re-election to Congress by one vote. He practiced law with success
up to the time of his death, Oct. 1, 1872.
Mr. Asper was widely known and generally
esteemed. For a new member be occupied a fair position in the
House. Mrs. Asper, who survives her husband, was
well known and very highly esteemed in Chardon.
Source: History of Geauga and Lake Counties,
Ohio, Publ. Philadelphia by Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 92 |
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BARTON F. AVERY
was born
at Aurora, New York, Sept. 16, 1796; died at Chardon, Ohio, Apr. 12,
1857.
The Averys had their pleasant seat at the
beautiful town Aurora, on the shore of Cayuga lake; were related to the
Ledyards, of Connecticut, and allied to the numerous family of
the Morgans. Daniel Avery was a man of wealth
and consideration, and for many years a member of Congress. A
younger brother, Dudley Avery, was married to Hannah
Morgan, Nov. 8, 1792. Of these were born two sons and two
daughters. Barton F. was the second son. The eldest
son, Dudley, died in infancy; one daughter, Hannah,
in 1839; and one, Mrs. Caroline Fellows, widow of Henry
Fellows, now of Cleveland, survives. The mother died in 1804.
Soon after her death, the father left them, went southwest, contracted a
second marriage, became a wealthy man, living near Baton Rouge, where he
died in 1816. He never returned north, nor ever made any provision
for these children, though it is said he intended it, but died ere his
purpose was executed. The three fell to the care of their uncle
Daniel, who had a numerous family of his own. Barton F.
lived with him until he was eighteen or nineteen years of age, faring as
children thus left may, until at the age named, with a cousin, Austin
H. Avery, of about the same age, he ran away to Ohio, and arrived in
Parkman in 1814 or 1815. Here he remained until his removal to
Chardon in 1834 or 1835. By those who remember him in youth, he is
described as handsome, intelligent, quiet, and very gentlemanly.
He possessed great mechanical talent, and with almost any possible tools
could make anything of wood or metal and without previous
apprenticeship. His mechanical talents were in great demand
in the new, rude country, and he set up a shop for the production of
various needed articles. At Chardon he purchased the tavern-stand
previously known as the Hoyt, which was afterward known as
Avery's, now Benton & Co.'s which he carried on with great
success till the division of the county, in 1840, which ruined the
business. In 1842, being satisfied that the traffic in strong
drinks was immoral, he abandoned it, and kept a temperance house for
some time, sold out the property, removed to Cleveland, where he pursued
the hotel business quite successfully, returned to Chardon, and set up
an express, which ran between Chardon and Cleveland. While in
Parkman he was postmaster for many years, also a justice of the peace.
While he kept Avery's Hotel he was postmaster of Chardon. In 1848
he was elected by the Legislature one of the associate judges of the
court of common pleas, and discharged his duties with ability and
dignity, till the new constitution changed the judiciary. In
politics he was always a Democrat. Of good person, pleasant
manners, modest and retiring, he silently grew in the respect and
confidence of men by the force and strength of the inherent excellences
of his character, purity and integrity of life, joined with good sense
and kindness of heart. He was widely acknowledged as one of the
best and most prominent of the citizens of his town and county.
Almost without a fault, quite without an enemy, a man of good judgment,
whose friendship was sought, and whose counsel was prized, his success
in the accumulation and management of property was not at all
commensurate with the love and respect with which he was universally
regarded. At the age of twenty-one he was married to Betsy
Brown, Sept. 23, 1817. She was born at Rutland, Dec. 3, 1800,
and not seventeen at marriage, or orphan, living with an uncle, a
lively, sparkling, black-eyed brunette, pretty and attractive. Her
life, though shared by one of the kindest of men, was full of hardship,
which she bravely met; cursed with infirm health, which she heroically
endured. She became the mother of seven children, of whom the
eldest died in infancy. The youngest, Mary, a beautiful
girl, died at seventeen; Marie, wife of W. W. Bruce, of
Cleveland, born in 1825, died Mar. 20, 1878; Caroline, second
child, wife of A. G. Riddle, born in 1825, died Mar. 20, 1878;
Caroline, second child, wife of A. G. Riddle, born Dec. 4,
1821; Elias, born Jan. 21, 1823, resides at Dunkirk, New York;
and Frederick Dudley, of Chardon, born Jan. 24, 1834. Mrs.
Avery resides with the last named, a prominent citizen of Chardon,
and in her advancing years enjoys the love and esteem of all the
generations who have known her.
Source: History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio - Publ.
Philadelphia, Williams Brothers - 1878 - Pg. 94 |
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