BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History of
Wayne Co., Ohio
Vol. I
Illustrated
Publ. by B. F. Bowen & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana
1910
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Mr. and Mrs.
David Beal |
DAVID BEAL.
The gentleman to a brief review of whose life and characteristics
the reader's attention is herewith directed is among the foremost
carpenters and builders in Wayne county and he has by his skill,
enterprise and progressive methods contributed in a material way to
the advancement of the county throughout which stand as enduring
monuments to his ability as a workman many houses, barns and
business blocks.
David Beal is a descendant of honored
ancestors of the Prairie state, he having been born in Pike county,
Illinois, Oct. 28, 1851, the son of William and Rebecca (
Sterner) Beal, the former a native of New York and the latter
born in Pennsylvania Dec. 16, 1825. David Beal's
paternal grandparents were natives of the state of New York.
His father was a cooper by trade, and when a young man he left his
native state and came to Ohio, and it was while living in Summit
county that he met and married Rebecca Sterner.
He there followed his trade for many years. About 1850 he
moved to Illinois and for nine years made his home in that state,
then returned to Ohio and in a short time located in Wayne county.
He moved to Michigan and died there a short time afterwards.
He was prominent in the official life of the Dunkard church, but be
lived a quiet, retired life. He was a good and useful man and
highly skilled at his trade. He and his wife were the parents
of ten children, seven of whom are living at this writing. The
mother of these children, a woman of gracious personality, is still
living at the age of eighty-four years.
David Beal was educated in the common
schools of Summit county and there learned the carpenter’s trade,
having a natural inclination for this line of work, consequently he
has become a very high grade workman and his services have always
been in great demand. During the forty years that he has
followed his trade he has turned off a very large number of big
jobs, and his work is always satisfactory owing to his knowledge of
all forms of architecture and his desire to please. In 1878 he
moved to Doylestown, where he built a modern and beautiful home on
Howard street and lived there for many years, still making his home
in Doylestown. He has a lucrative business around this town,
and his work is at present confined chiefly to contracting.
Mr. Beal was married, Oct. 9, 1873, to
Elizabeth Cassel, daughter of Charles and Mary Cassel,
old settlers of Doylestown, and this union has resulted in the
birth, of three children, namely: Mary Rebecca, who
was educated at Berea College, is now the wife of Fred W. Deutsch;
Florence Odell was also well educated and both she and
her sister became school teachers; Willis Roy has followed
the traditions of his father and grandfather and become an
architect, now assisting his father.
Mr. Beal is a Democrat politically and he has
been a very faithful member of the council of Doylestown for the
past two years, and he has been a member of the school board for the
past three or four years. He is a member of the Evangelical
Lutheran church, and he formerly belonged to the American Mechanics
Association. No man in this part of Wayne county is better
known than Mr. Beal and none more highly respected.
Source: History of
Wayne Co., Ohio - Vol. II - Illustrated - Publ. by B. F. Bowen &
Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1910 - Page 1380 |
| |
DANIEL
BEALS. Few men of
Wayne county are as widely and favorably known as Daniel Beals,
of Paint township, where he was born on the 7th of February. 1833.
He is one of the strong and influential citizens whose lives have
become an essential part of the history of this section of the state
and for years his name has been synonymous for all that constitutes
honorable and upright manhood. Tireless energy, keen
perception and honesty of purpose, combined with every-day common
sense, were among his chief characteristics, and while advancing
individual success he also largely promoted the moral and material
welfare of his community.
The subject’s parents were Jacob and Besanba
(Bowers) Beals, and the former was the son of Abraham
Beals, who came to Ohio in 1812 and entered large tracts of land
in this part of Wayne county, of which he gave each of his children
a quarter section. He was a native of Lebanon county,
Pennsylvania, and he rode all the way to his new western home on
horseback. He was one of the very first settlers here.
At that time there was an Indian reservation at Canal Dover, from
which point there was a foot trail to New Sandusky, to which place
the early settlers had to go to secure salt. Abraham
Beals and his wife both lived to the age of eighty-six years.
JACOB BEALS was born in Pennsylvania and
was married in that state, though all his children were born after
his removal to Ohio. These children were Philip,
Sarah, Rebecca, Solomon, Sabie,
Elizabeth, Rachael and Daniel, all of whom are now
dead excepting the subject. The mother of these children died
at the age of seventy-six years. She was born in Pennsylvania
and two brothers and a sister also came to Ohio. When she and
her husband came to Ohio and took up land, not a stick of it had
been disturbed by white hands, and to create a farm out of this
dense wilderness was a task of herculean proportions. But the
sturdy pioneer had reckoned the cost and courageously went to work
cutting and burning the timber, building a log house and cultivating
the land. In due time what had formerly been the primeval
forest began to present a changed appearance, and soon fields of
ripening grain characterized what had been almost impenetrable
forests. First operations were primitive in the extreme and,
as the nearest grist mill was at Massillon, the pioneers grated the
corn from which they made their first bread or pone. Jacob
Beals was considered a very successful man for his day and
was active in many lines of endeavor. In the work of the
Methodist church he took a very leading and prominent part, in this
respect following in the wake of his father, who had been
instrumental in building the first church in this part of the state,
it being located in Stark county. Jacob Beals
was a justice of the peace in his community for eighteen years and
also at different times held all the other township offices, being
also a notary public. He was a man of unusual strength of
character and possessed in a large degree that quality commonly
called "horse sense," his counsel and advice being often sought by
those in need of counsel. In politics he was originally a
Whig, but on the formation of the Republican party he allied himself
with it and remained an ardent supporter of that party ever after.
No man was more prominent or better known throughout this section of
the state than was Jacob Beals, and his memory remains
sacred to those who knew him.
The subject of this sketch secured his early education
in the primitive log school house of the early days, the school
being in the beginning supported by subscription. Later the
free schools were inaugurated and the subject aided in the building
of the first free school house in this section and was himself made
a member of the first school board, though then but a youth.
He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-eight years
of age, and then, acquiring the ownership of the farm, his parents
remained with him, he taking the most painstaking and careful regard
for their comfort. About twenty-eight years ago Mr.
Beals relinquished active farm work and moved to Orrville, for
the purpose of giving his children better opportunities for
education, and remained there eighteen years. While residing
in that city he engaged in the buggy business, in which he was
eminently successful, having made the record of selling two hundred
and eighty-three buggies in twelve months. He also engaged in
handling livestock, buying and shipping large numbers annually to
the eastern markets. About 1899 Mr. Beals and
his family returned to the old home in Paint township, where he is
now living practically a retired life, in the enjoyment of a rest
which he has richly earned. He has been a very successful man
and, despite much trouble and many material losses, he is considered
today one of the most enterprising and successful men in his part of
the county. He has ever evinced a spirit of progress and has
always given an enthusiastic support to every object or movement
having for its ultimate end the advancement of the best interests of
the community. A man of sterling qualities of character, he
has ever enjoyed the friendship of the best people in the community,
and he now enjoys the unbounded confidence and respect of all.
Mr. Beals has been twice married, the
first time to Mary Scott, a daughter of Robert
Scott, and to them were born four children, namely: Ottie
became the wife of Isaac Blackstone, of Orrville,
and they have four children; John married Adele
Taggart and resides near Orrville; Emma is the wife of
Solon Byall, of Orrville, and they have two children;
William, of Orrville, married a Miss Gardner and
they have one child. Mrs. Mary (Scott)
Beals died Oct. 20, 1885, and was buried in Crow Hill cemetery
in Orrville. She was a good woman and her friends mourned her
loss. On Oct. 20, 1899, Mr. Beals married
Elizabeth Bookwalter, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Martin Bookwalter. She died Oct. 7, 1909, and
was buried at Mount Eaton. She was a lady of splendid personal
qualities and was well liked by all who knew her. Her parents
were natives of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio in
about 1831.
In politics Mr. Beals has always been
actively interested in the success of the Democratic party, but has
never been a seeker after office. Regardless of this fact, he
has been selected by his fellow citizens to .serve in a number of
township offices and is now the incumbent of the office of township
trustee, in which he is rendering the most satisfactory service.
Religiously, he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church,
belonging to the church of that denomination at Orrville.
Mrs. Beals is a member of the Universalist church at
Akron, Ohio.
Source:
History of Wayne Co., Ohio - Vol. II - Illustrated - Publ. by B. F.
Bowen & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1910 - Page 853 |
| |
JACOB BEALS
- See DANIEL BEALS
Source: History of
Wayne Co., Ohio - Vol. II - Illustrated - Publ. by B. F. Bowen &
Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1910 - Page 854 |
| |
JOHN BECHTEL.
The Bechtel family is one of the old and well-known ones of
Wayne county, and is of German ancestry. Jacob
Bechtel, grandfather of John of this review, was a native
of Pennsylvania, in which state the early members of this family
settled when they came to America. The father of John
Bechtel also bore the name of Jacob, and he was born in
Somerset county, Pennsylvania, in 1802. He came to Wayne
county, Ohio, about 1829, settling in Greene township. He was
married in Pennsylvania to Sarah Rhoades, a native of
that state, born in Somerset county; her death occurred in 1845,
when about forty-two years of age. She and her husband were
the parents of seven children, the register of whose births follows:
Mary, born in Pennsylvania in 1827; Elizabeth, born in
that state in 1828; Harriett, born in Pennsylvania in 1830;
Sarah, born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1831; John, of
this review; Jacob, born in Wayne county in 1836 and died in
1898; Samuel, born in 1837 and died in 1852.
In April, Jacob Bechtel, father of
John of this review, suffered one of the greatest misfortunes
that ever befell a citizen of Wayne county, his home having been
burned and his four daughters perishing, Mr. Bechtel
sustaining serious injuries in trying to rescue his children, and he
died from the effects of the wounds he received the following
December. John, of this review, then four years of age,
and his brother Jacob were sleeping with their parents at the
time of the fire.
John Bechtel was born Oct. 12, 1833, on
the home farm, where he remained until he reached the age of eight
years, when he began life for himself, working out on a farm, doing
such chores as he could at that tender age. In 1855 he married
Harriet Mowner, who was born in East Union township,
and they moved on the old farm, which he and his brother divided,
and for forty-three years Mr. Bechtel remained on the
place where he was born, carrying on general farming in a successful
manner and becoming well situated. In the spring of 1898 he
removed to Orrville, where he has a fine home, and he still looks
after his farming interests, owning two good farms. One of his
farms is probably the oldest in Greene township, but the soil has
retained its original strength, owing to its skillful management.
The first cabin built in the township was erected on this farm.
The place was entered from the government by Michael
Thomas, and Jacob Bechtel, father of the subject,
purchased it from him, John Bechtel being the third
man to own the place.
To Mr. and Mrs. John Bechtel five children have
been born, named as follows: Sarilla, wife of A. W.
Brennerman, of Greene township; H. M., of Orrville, where
he is engaged in the hardware business; Elizabeth, wife of
S. P. Eshleman, of Orrville, also a hardware merchant: W. B.,
cashier of the bank at Massillon; J. O. is engaged in the
drug business in Orrville.
Mrs. Jacob Becbtel married a
second time, her last husband being Michael Hawk, of
East Union township, and two children were born to this union,
Lavina, wife of William Chapin, and David
Hawk, both of Orrville.
John Bechtel was a member of the school
board in Greene township for twelve or fifteen years, during which
time he did much to promote the educational interests of the same.
Both he and Mrs. Bechtel are members of the English Lutheran
church at Orrville. He is one of the highly respected citizens
of this community, having led a life against which nothing ill can
be said in any way. He is deserving of a great deal of credit
for what he has accomplished, owing to the fact that he had such
hard struggles in his early life, but men endowed with the grit
which he has always do things, no matter what their environment may
be.
Source: History of
Wayne Co., Ohio - Vol. II - Illustrated - Publ. by B. F. Bowen &
Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1910 - Page 734 |
| |
TILLMAN O. BECHTEL.
When the Bechtel family left their comfortable homes
in the state of Pennsylvania and came to the then new country of
Wayne county, Ohio, they found conditions quite different from those
they left behind, but they were men of courage, inured to hard toil
and could stand privations unflinchingly, if need be; they liked the
prospect here, the far-stretching woods and the fresh, strong soil,
so they set to work with a will and soon had better homes than they
left. However, it took much work and they had to do without
many of the conveniences they formerly enjoyed. One of the
best known of the present generation of this family is Tillman O.
Bechtel, who was born in Pennsylvania on May 21, 1841. He
is the son of Jacob B. and Elizabeth (Ridenour) Bechtel, both
natives of Pennsylvania.
The paternal grandparents of the subject were George
and Elizabeth (Barton) Bechtel, who came to Wayne
county, Ohio, in an early day and settled in Wooster township,
remaining there until their deaths. Grandfather Betchel was a
successful farmer, having cleared and developed the land he
purchased here. The maternal grandparents of the subject were
George and Elizabeth Ridenour, both natives of
Pennsylvania. Mrs. George Ridenour
re-married and moved to Seneca county, Ohio, where she died.
Her second husband, Joseph Stever, was a soldier in
the war of 1812.
Jacob B. Bechtel, father of Tillman O.,
was reared in Pennsylvania where he received his schooling. In
1842 he came to Wayne county, Ohio, and settled in Wooster township
where he managed a sawmill, one of the largest in the township,
becoming widely known as a mill man, being one of the earliest of
the township, and he continued in this line until his health failed.
His death occurred on the place where he first settled, having lived
there continuously. To Mr. and Mrs. Jacob B. Bechtel
fourteen children were born, eleven of whom grew to maturity.
Jacob Bechtel lived a quiet life; politically he was
Whig and later a Republican. He was a member of the German
Reformed church and was a good and upright man.
Tillman O. Bechtel likes to tell of his trip to
this county from his old Pennsylvania home, which was made in a
covered wagon, the trip being somewhat arduous owing to the rough
roads and unbridged streams. He was then only a boy and he
received his education in the common schools of Wooster township,
where the family settled when they arrived in Wayne county. He
began working on the home place when very young and he has always
followed farming. He is now the owner of sixty-one acres of
good land in Plain township. He came to this vicinity in 1874
and bought the farm he now owns about 1894.
Tillman O. Bechtel was one of the loyal sons of
the North who served in the defense of the national integrity in the
early sixties, having been a member of Company F, One Hundred and
Second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for a period of three
years. In the same company and regiment also served I. J.
and W. D, Bechtel for three years, and George H. Bechtel
for more than one year. They all took part in the various
engagements in which the regiment was involved.
After the war Tillman O. Bechtel returned home
and took up farming and has since led a quiet life, devoting his
attention exclusively to his farm.
Mr. Bechtel was married in 1869 to Magdalena
Lawrence, daughter of George Lawrence, the son
of Christian Lawrence, whose sketch appears in another
part of this work. The subject and wife are the parents of the
following children: J. W., living in Iowa; W. D.,
living in Los Angeles, California; E. L., living in Akron,
Ohio; Nellie married George Keets, of Plain
township; J. A.; Elizabeth married Zeno
Miller, living in Chester township; Eva Rebecca,
who married Irvin O. Stair, died in April, 1909.
Religiously, Mr. Bechtel is a member of
the Reformed church, and his fraternal affiliation is with the Grand
Army of the Republic.
Source: History of
Wayne Co., Ohio - Vol. II - Illustrated - Publ. by B. F. Bowen &
Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1910 - Page 1243 |
| |
IRA BRINKERHOFF.
For many years Ira Brinkerhoff has occupied a conspicuous
place among the agriculturalists of Wayne county, Ohio. His
career has been that of an honorable, enterprising and progressive
business man, whose well-rounded character has enabled him to take
an active interest in everything pertaining to the advancement of
the community and to keep well informed concerning the momentous
questions affecting the nation. In all life's relations he has
commanded the respect and confidence of those with whom he has come
in contact and his upright life is an inspiration to all who know
him well and are familiar with his character.
Ira Brinkerhoff was born on the old
Brinkerhoff homestead, in Congress township, Wayne Co., Ohio, on
the 29th of June, 1858, and is the son of James and Elizabeth
(Ewing) Brinkerhoff, the former a native of Cumberland county,
Pennsylvania, born Oct. 11, 1817, and the latter born Mar. 30, 1825,
in Congress township, Wayne Co., Ohio. The subject's paternal
grandfather, Daniel Brinkerhoff, was born Mar. 14, 1780, in
Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and he married Rebecca Frazier,
who was born June 15, 1783. They were married in 1809 and his
death occurred in 1848; she died in 1892. Daniel
Brinkerhoff came to Wayne county, Ohio, settling first in Wayne
township, but a short time afterwards he bought the place of one
hundred and sixty acres in Congress township on which the subject of
this sketch now lives. The place was densely covered with the
primeval forest growth and Mr. Brinkerhoff entered at once
upon the herculean task of clearing this and putting it under
cultivation. A log cabin was erected where the present
residence stands and a happy and comfortable home was established
albeit lacked many of the comforts and luxuries which characterize
the homes of the present day. Here the subject's father
James Brinkerhoff, labored in the arduous toil of the first few
years and he spent the remainder of his life here. James
and Elizabeth Brinkerhoff became the parents of the following
children: Amos, born Feb. 11, 1846; Rebecca,
born Jan. 14, 1848, the wife of Jonathan Fetzer, of Chester
township; Elizabeth Jane, born Mar. 30, 1850, died Dec. 15,
1854; William, born Sept. 7, 1854, living in Canaan
township; Martha, born Jan. 3, 1855, married John Winters,
of Wooster; Ira, born June 29, 1858, lives on the home place,
and is the immediate subject of this sketch; Anna, born May
22, 1860, died Mar. 9, 1892, was the wife of William
Barnard, of Congress township; James, born July 30, 1864,
lives in Canaan township; Jane, born Aug. 7, 1867, died in
infancy. James Brinkerhoff, Sr., was a stanch Democrat
in politics and in religion he gave his support to the Presbyterian
church. The subject's paternal grandfather, William Ewing,
was one of the very earliest residents of Canaan township and his
brother Simon was the first white male child born in the
township, 1817.
Ira Brinkerhoff was reared by his parents and
secured his education in the district school at Golden Corners,
supplementing this by attendance at the high school at Burbank.
He has, with the exception of one year spent in Michigan, spent his
entire life with his parents on the old home farm. He was
reared to the life of a farmer and in his early years he saw much
arduous toil, assisting in bringing the farm to that splendid
condition which has since characterized it. After completing
his education, he was for a time employed as a collector and in
various other capacities, but eventually he went to farming and
stockraising on shares with his father, in both of which lines he
was eminently successful. At his father's death, he assumed
charge of the home farm, and has since continued its operation.
He has proven himself a man of progressive ideas, keeping in close
touch with the latest advances in the science of agriculture and he
is not slow to adopt those methods which appear to him as sound and
practical. He has thus acquired a well-merited reputation in
his community as a thoroughgoing and up-to-date agriculturalist.
The home and other farm buildings are kept in the best of repair and
the general appearance of the place reflects great credit on
Mr.
Brinkerhoff.
In politics Mr. Brinkerhoff is a Democrat
and takes a commendable interest in public in public affairs, but he
has never consented to run for public office of any character.
While not a member of any church, he is a firm believer in their
efficiency as a moral agency and their influence for good in any
community, and he gives a liberal support to the various churches in
this community.
On the 25th of July, 1898, Mr. Brinkerhoff
wedded Nettie Wagner, the daughter of Michael and Mary
(Hawk) Waner, the former a native of Alsace, Germany, and the
latter of Wayne county, Ohio. They have become the parents of
the following children: Charles Ira, born Nov. 19, 1899;
Harry Clement, born Nov. 29, 1900; Erma June, born June
6, 1903, died Oct. 15th of the same day; Fay, born Sept. 6,
1904; George, born Sept. 20, 1906; Fern, born May 14,
1908. Socially Mr. Brinkerhoff is an appreciative
member of Rising Star Lodge No. 22, Knights of Pythias. He is
a man of splendid personal qualifications and has lent his influence
to the support of every movement calculated to benefit the
community, morally, educationally or materially. A man of
genial disposition and kindly manner, he enjoys the friendship of
all who know him.
Source:
History of Wayne Co., Ohio - Vol. I - Illustrated - Publ. by B. F.
Bowen & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1910 - Page 892 |
| |
A. A. BROOKS, M. D.
Not only in Orrville but in the surrounding country Doctor Brooks
is known as a successful and skilled physician and surgeon, one who
has given years of thought and painstaking preparation to his
profession and who is thoroughly qualified for its practice.
Nature endowed him with the qualities necessary for success as
practitioner, for he is sympathetic, patient and thoughtful, and in
the hour of extremity is cool and courageous. Though his
practice has always engrossed much of his attention. he has always
found time to keep posted upon the practical details in the
improvements in the science and avails himself of every development
in remedial agencies. For many years he has ministered to the
sick and suffering here and has always maintained an irreproachable
character, worthy of respect and emulation.
Doctor Brooks has in his veins the blood of two
strong and virile peoples, being Scotch through his paternal
ancestry and Irish on the maternal side. His father was
Samuel Brooks, who was born in Connecticut. but. at the age of
four years, was brought by his parents to Ohio. They located
near the city of Cleveland, where the father followed farming during
the remainder of his life. He died on the 6th of September,
1863, at the comparatively early age of forty-eight years. He was
man of many splendid personal qualifications and enjoyed the respect
of all who knew him. He married Caroline Rathburn, who
was born and reared near Cleveland. Her death occurred in
January, 1908, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, she having
survived her husband forty-five years. This worthy couple were
the parents of six children, of whom the following survive: Emma
J. Hamilton, of Kansas City, Missouri; John H., of
Cleveland, Ohio; Hamilton J., of Cleveland. and the subject
of this sketch.
A. A. Brooks spent his boyhood days under the
parental roof-tree and secured his education in the Cleveland public
schools. graduating from the high school, and then he was for time
student in the Brooklyn Academy. Having decided to make the
practice of medicine his life work, he entered the Cleveland
Homeopathic Hospital College. remaining there until 1882. when he
graduated with the coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Immediately after his graduation, Doctor Brooks came to
Orrville and entered upon the active practice of his profession, in
which he has continued to the present time. He enjoys the
distinction of having been in the continuous practice here longer
than any other physician and during all these years he has enjoyed
the confidence and esteem of the people. He has been to
remarkable degree successful in his treatment of disease and enjoys
large and lucrative practice. In the line of his profession,
he is connected with the Eastern Ohio Homeopathic Medical Society
and the American Institute of Homeopathy. Thus, through
connection with other members of the profession, through the
discussion of means and methods of promoting their work and its
effectiveness, as well as through individual study, reading and
investigation, Doctor Brooks has kept steadily in
touch with the progress which has made great changes in medical
practice since he first located in Orrville, thus rendering his
efforts much more effective in producing the desired result of
lessening pain and restoring health. He conducts the general
practice of medicine and surgery and has handled successfully many
extremely difficult cases. During the past ten years Doctor
Brooks has served faithfully and efficiently as health
officer of Orrville.
In 1882 Doctor Brooks was united in
marriage to Belle Worth, daughter of Andrew Worth,
she having been born and reared near Cleveland, in the public
schools of which city she received her education. To this
union was born son, Robert A. On June 26, 1907, the
Doctor married Blanch M. Steel, of Orrville, daughter of
Reuben and Julia A. Steel, both natives of Ohio. Socially
and in business way the Doctor is man to make friends, and they are
legion, not confined to his home in Orrville, but all over the
country where his professional labors have called him.
Source: History of Wayne Co., Ohio - Vol. I - Illustrated -
Publ. by B. F. Bowen & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1910 - Page
678-680 |
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