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BIOGRAPHIES *
Source
1798
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers -
1878
(Transcribed by Sharon Wick)
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Bradley Cummings Randall |
Morgan Twp. -
BRADLEY CUMMINGS RANDALL. The
desire for approbation is as legitimate as the desire for food, and
when a man, actuated by pure motives, accomplishes something from
which good is derived, he merits the approval of the hearts that
love him, and he receives their expressions of praise with grateful
pleasure. It is our purpose to write a brief notice in
commendation of him whose name and portrait head this sketch,
feeling assured that by a meritorious and blameless life he is
deserving of mention in the pages of this work. Jason and
Martha Randall, the parents of Bradley Cummings,
removed from Genesee county, New York, to Ohio, and located in
Kirtland township, then Geauga, but now attached to Lake county, at
which point they arrived in February, 1819. It was here, on
the 25th day of February, 1820, that the subject of the present
sketch was born. His parents eventually removed to Chardon,
Geauga county, and died there, —the father in 1853, and the mother
in 1858. Bradley C. was the youngest son and the sixth
child of a family of ten. His education was begun of course as
that of every American boy has begun,—at the district school, and
finished at the academy situated in Kirtland village. Taught
perhaps two terms of school, and then engaged in the business of
merchandising, as a partner in the firm of Randall, Cook
& Co., at Chardon, Geauga county. In connection with the store
the firm operated an extensive morocco factory, and also dealt
largely in general produce, wool, etc. This was the
commencement of a series of years of toil in the occupation by which
he acquired the handsome competence he was not permitted to live to
enjoy. Continued in business at Chardon until 1855, when he
removed to Rock Creek, purchased a tannery and opened a dry goods
store; this was under the firm-name of Cook & Randall.
Their mercantile department increased until they had as extensive
extensive a stock as was shown in the county. The tannery grew
to be a stupendous enterprise. In 1861 he became sole owner, and
continued as such until the 20th day of January, 1867, when his
useful and honorable life was brought to a close. His death
was deeply regretted, for the loss of a truly worthy and good
citizen always leaves a void not easily filled.
Mr. Randall was united in marriage, on
the 18th day of April, 1848, to Flora C., daughter of
Thomas and Ruby Murphy, of Chardon, Geauga county, who were
among the pioneers of that township. This estimable lady is
still living in widowhood. The children of this marriage were
Carlton Bradley, who was born in Chardon, on Jan. 19,
1849. He was married, on June 20, 1870, to Frances A.
Shafer, of Morgan township. He was only permitted to enjoy
the marriage relation a brief period, dying of pulmonary consumption
May 29, 1872. The next child was Ida Flora, who
was born on the 21st day of May, 1851, also in Chardon. Her
marriage occurred on the 24th day of September, 1870, and her death
on the 29th day of the same month and year. She was a noble
girl, too frail perhaps to endure the many bitter experiences of
life.
Mr. Randall was strongly Republican in
politics, was a member of the independent order of Odd Fellows, and
in early life a communicant of the Baptist church, and in later
years an attendant at the Congregational church. He was
universally respected and esteemed as a man of sterling integrity,
excellent business qualifications, sound judgment, and uncommon
ability; an ever kind and indulgent husband and father, and,
although ever engrossed with the cares of his business, vet had
always time for those attentions which every one happily wedded
loves to bestow.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page Betw. 198 & 199 |
Hon. Rufus
Percival Ranney
|
HON. RUFUS PERCIVAL RANNEY.
This gentleman was born at Blanford, Massachusetts,
Oct. 30, 1813. In 1822 he removed with his parents to Ohio.
They located first at Fairport, and afterwards at Freedom, Portage
county.
Judge Ranney's early education was limited.
He worked on his father's farm in summer and attended village school
in winter. At a later day, by his own industry, he managed to
attend college at Hudson for a short period. In 1836 he
entered the law-office of Wade & Giddings, at
Jefferson, this county, and after two years’ study was admitted to
practice. In 1839 he became the partner
of Hon. Benjamin F. Wade, and by diligent and faithful
attention to his duties rose rapidly in his profession. In
1846 and 1848 he was a candidate for congress against General
John Crowell, but failed of an election, though he ran largely
ahead of the Democratic State and county tickets. In 1850 he
was chosen to represent the counties of Trumbull and Geauga in the
constitutional convention. In the debates of that body he took
a prominent part. On the 17th of March, 1851, he was chosen by
the legislature a judge of the supreme court in place of Edward
Avery, resigned.
This was the last election of supreme judge under the
old constitution. In October, 1857, Judge Ranney
was re-elected by the people. He resigned in 1856, and in 1857
was appointed by President Buchanan United States
district attorney for northern Ohio. This position he held two
months and resigned. The same year he removed from Warren to
Cleveland. In 1859, Governor Chase appointed him
one of the commissioners to examine into the condition of the State
treasury; but the appointment was declined. In the fall of
1859 he was the Democratic candidate for governor against William
Dennison, but failed of an election. In 1862 he was
again elected judge of the supreme court, which position he resigned
in 1864. From 1864 to 1868 he served upon the Democratic
national committee. Since 1864 he has held no official
position, but has been engaged in the practice of his profession at
Cleveland. As a lawyer and jurist Judge Ranney
has no superior in the State. It is conceded, not alone by his
political friends, but as well by his political foes, that he stands
at the very head of the bar in northern Ohio. We cannot claim
him wholly for this county, but this is the place where he began the
study and the practice of his profession, and he was a resident of
the county for a number of years.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 85 |
| |
CAROLINE L. RANSOM * The defect in the
American character is on the art side. The art elements in the
nature of individuals remain comparatively undeveloped. The
aggregate effect on the national character in the eye of an educated
foreigner is somewhat striking, and is not unfrequently charged to
the account of defective moral sentiments; a something in the
climate, they say, tending to savagery, of which there has been a
deal of twaddle. This deficiency is not due to any lack of
native endowment, that we inherit from our polyglot ancestry, but to
the want of means, the helps for its development. Our present
greatest need, in the way of education, is far deeper, higher, more
universal art culture. When a shoal of poets come they
create their audience. This would be true of a school of
painters, but there always must be some prophecy and preparation for
a Messiah. You cannot make an artist; the schools and colleges
never produced one, and never will. If any man should ask me
what is their use, I should attempt no reply to him; the question
could never be answered to his apprehension. He is not far
enough removed from the Digger Indians. The labor should have
been with his ancestors. We have much well-considered writing
and criticism of art and artists. What we most need are
collections of works of art, a better and wider diffusion of genuine
specimens. The man who carries a really good picture, even
when translated into an engraving, to a remote village, is a
benefactor in a small way. The city that decorates one of its
squares with a fine piece of statuary, has done as much for its
people as if it had endowed a free school. None will pass it
with indifference. To some it would be a perpetual pleasure;
to the few a celestial revelation, giving point to their own
aspirations, suggesting the needs of their own natures, and leading
the way to the possibilities of their own powers.
The story of one artist soul, born in exile from
artistic surroundings, I am briefly to sketch. Genius is
sexless, when lodged, as in this instance, in the feminine form, and
finds expression by a woman's hand; it nevertheless asserts itself
as undeniably genius, a part of the great art soul of which the
favored few are endowed.
John Ransom is a lineal descendant of
Edward Hyde, the great Earl of Clarendon, and
chancellor of Charles II. In this branch of the family,
the name of Ann Hyde, Edward’s daughter, and the
mother of two queens, was repeated in every generation till the
present. Elizabeth Orms is the daughter of
General Orms, of Castleton, Vermont, a strain of people,
if less exalted, worthy to mate with the descendants of Hyde.
From the union of these two was born Caroline L., at Newark,
Ohio. In her infancy the family emigrated northward, and found
a home near the Mormon temple, in the beautiful region of Kirtland.
In 1840 the Ransoms formed a permanent seat in Harpersfield,
on the picturesque banks of Grand river, Ashtabula County.
There was much, both at Kirtland and about this final resting-place,
that appealed to the imagination and poetic nature of the young
girl. We are told she exhibited an aptitude amounting to rare
precocity in the study of some branches of education, which, united
to an ambition quite masculine, enabled her to maintain a position
in advance of her classmates. With less than a girl's aptitude
for mathematics, she easily surpassed her male competitors in the
Greek and Latin classics, receiving her education at an academical
school open to both sexes. She was a graduate of the Grand
River Institution, where she afterwards remained as principal of the
ladies’ department, and had charge of the Greek and Latin classes of
the whole school. She was early aware of a strong
predisposition to art, and looked about eagerly for the means of
indulging her bent. These were of the scantiest. During
her vacations she took lessons in linear drawing, and doing flowers
in water-colors, from a strolling teacher of slender capacity.
Small as the aid was, it kindled the latent aspiration, and induced
her to grasp at the elusive forms of beautiful nature. Nothing
escaped her eye. which caught at every point. At that time she
had never seen but one real painting. Think of a young poet
who had never read but one poem! With this scant furnishing forth
she herself established a class in water-colors, and gave herself,
as far as she could conscientiously, to nature. While looking
out eagerly for help a special Providence, in the form of a
wandering portrait-painter, was vouchsafed her. Him she
employed to paint herself, and at once went about procuring him
orders. Had he sat to her she could not have studied him
closer. What can be more fascinating to a young art soul than
a painter at his easel? His colors, brushes, palette, the way
he uses, and the marvels he works with them—nothing escaped her;
every moment she could snatch from duties was spent at the temporary
studio. Everything he did observed, every word treasured,
little scraps of old masters, stories of their wonders, talks of
their lives, of living painters he had known, had read about, or
heard of. She induced her father to have portraits of all the
family. These, five in number, were painted in the family
home. She felt in her soul that she could paint. The artist
had a portrait which he claimed to have painted under Chester
Harding. She copied it. Her success astonished
her master, friends, and, most of all, herself. She now essayed a
living subject. A kind old aunt of her mother was specially
raised up to be her first sitter. We may fancy the opening
scenes of this experiment. The eager young girl, her fair face
flushed, her blue eyes large and flashing, with the masses of wavy
hair dashed back as by the hand of the wind. The good,
patient, dear old aunt perked up, posed and pushed about by the
dainty fingers of the girl artist, who would tell her to look this
way and that, step back and view her, with her head first on one
side and then on the other, till everything is adjusted; and then,
with a long, quivering breath, the crayon is applied to the canvas.
What a picture it would make. What anxious days those were,
big with the fate of artist and sitter, both to be immortal, or
neither. Days of going on, going wrong, and then off, and then
all right again. It was a triumph. Old aunty, at least,
was made famous. What a moment for the neophyte, as amid the
wonder and plaudits of the eager friends, in the rush and gush of
emotion, with her face in her hands, she heard her soul saying to
itself, “I, too, am a painter!” It is true, the outlines were
a trifle hard, and the half-tints might have been better adjusted,
but the hand that fashioned it was the hand of an artist. It
was a likeness and full of life and flesh. She repeated the
experiment with other sitters, and so found her career. From
her love of nature, and the seeming ease with which she sketched the
features of a view, she thought that landscape would afford the best
subjects for her pencil.
Horace Greeley’s father had been a tenant
of one of her Grandfather Orms’ farms, and Horace
and her mother had been playmates in childhood, and grew up fast
friends. With a letter to him from her mother, she made her
way to New York, was kindly received, and became an inmate in the
family of his sister, Mrs. Cleveland. Here she
was placed under the care of the landscape-painter, Ashur B.
Durand, successor of Professor Morse as president of the
National Academy of Design. After many months of studious and
quite successful work, he assured her that her talent and genius,
which were decided, were better fitted for portraiture. She
was then placed under the care of Thomas Hicks, and
devoted herself exclusively to portraits and figures. After
six months she painted the portrait of Mrs. Goss, of New York, which
received high commendation from her master and his brother-artists.
For eight succeeding years she spent about one-half of each under
the best instruction in New York, and the other in Ohio, painting
portraits to defray her expenses, being a member of John F.
Cleveland’s family while in the city, enjoying the care
and affection of a daughter of the house. The latter part of
this time she was a pupil of the celebrated Huntington, when
she painted her portrait of the Hon. Joshua R. Giddings,
which was purchased by congress, and now hangs in the old hall of
the house, in the capitol, where he served so long and faithfully.
This was hung by the side of Huntington's best, in the
exhibition of 1859, and received the highest commendation of him,
and of the art critics, and the press of New York. It is
characterized by strength and boldness, and remarkable for its
life-like expression. This purchase by congress was its first
patronage to a woman. Among the distinguished subjects of
Miss Ransom's pencil were the late Dr. Jared P.
Kirtland, the naturalist, Governor Brough,
General Garfield, Governor Huntington, and
Governor J. D. Cox—the two last for the governor’s room in
the capitol, at Columbus. Chief Justice Chase sat to
her twice while secretary of the treasury,—for a bust once, and
again for a full-length portrait. The last, representing him
standing in the south portico of the treasury building, was the one
he wished to be known by in after-years. In July, 1867, she
went to Europe, where she remained two years, seeing much of its
countries, many of its great cities, and visiting some of its most
famous collections of art, painting and copying several of them,
making the acquaintance of many distinguished artists; correcting,
widening, and deepening her art impressions and instincts,
perfecting her education and judgment in matters of her profession,
and improving her style. A woman of wide and general culture,
it was not in art alone that she was profited by these two most
valuable and treasured years. I think their influence can be
clearly traced in her work since her return, when it may be said
that she is quite at the maturity of her powers.
Her master-piece, what she may not be expected to ever
excel, what few artists in this country can equal, is her now famous
full-length portrait of General George H. Thomas, so often
described that effort in that direction is tautology. The
subject was one which peculiarly appealed to the sensibility and
appreciative sympathy of Miss Ransom, artist and woman
as she is. The grand, massive head, weight, strength, and
firmness of the figure, which she has so planted that nothing but an
upheaval of the earth’s crust can ever shake it; the moveless will,
the changeless resolve, the calm courage, the serene daring, the
combination of the great solid qualities of the man, the general,
and the hero, found in her the soul and intellect that could
appreciate and reverence, and the hand that could express them in
the face and form which she has given to the eyes of men. All
men and women have eyes with which to scan the faces and forms of
their fellows. Scarcely any two see all of the same things in
the face of any worth looking at. It is the gift of the artist
in human portraiture to see all that the external face and form
contain,—the nice lines and subtle expressions that elude common
though acute observers. They see vastly more. The countenance
reveals to them the best there is in the man, the best which they
attribute to a given man; and something of this a true artist will
bring forth, and make to appear in the faces of those worthy of
their pencils. Two faculties the artist must have: The power
of idealizing in his own soul his best conceptions of the man, and
then such trained skill and deftness of hand that he can realize to
the eye, to all eyes that have the power to see, that ideal in
colors on the canvas before him. Miss Ransom is
a poet, as many artists are; she also has the gift of a poetic
utterance, which few possess. There is also a martial tone and
touch in her being, something to which the stir and pomp of arms,
belted knights, and embattled hosts appeal, and find response.
She conceived Thomas standing solitary on kindred rock,
facing the near battle, swelling and lifted up with its spirit and
inspiration, yet holding himself calm, proud, great, and as if in
his single person he was to encounter, resist, and overcome the foe,
and he looks not only as if he had made up his mind to the
encounter, but would certainly vanquish the assailing host.
The likeness is said to be admirable. It is much more than a
likeness of the outer man; soul, intellect, weight, manhood, winning
and ready to be crowned with a great victory, are all there.
The old comrades of Thomas come into its presence, look and
uncover, remain silent, and burst into tears. It has been
present at many of the reunions of the armies he commanded, and was
the most observed and honored personage present.
It is true, newspaper men, who don’t know a palette
from a plate, still continue to take their little flings at it.
Nothing better marks the position it occupies at the capital.
They have never heard of the works of older and better-known
artists, but they have heard of this, and cannot rest until they
have advertised the fact, and their own ignorance; and it is pitiful
to think that the painter of General Thomas can be
wounded by these “midgets.” I am not to write a history of
this work, nor of the sort of criticisms it has received. I
must add a word of its creation.
In the autumn of 1871, Miss Ransom
produced the first portrait of General Thomas, now
owned by Colonel Squire, which was a study and
preparation for the full-length. This was commenced in the
spring of 1872. She secured a studio in New York, where she
spent six months of the autumn and winter upon it. The Army of
the Tennessee held its reunion at Toledo, in the fall of 1873, when
the work as then completed was exhibited. It was a bold test
which the artist challenged. Its reception by his old comrades
in arms was most enthusiastic. It received as much attention
as the great living commanders of the armies who were present and
did it homage. Thus approved, the artist determined to fully
execute her original purpose—paint in the battle of Chickamauga as a
back-ground. For this purpose she visited the scene of that
conflict, which she carefully studied and sketched, completing the
work as it now meets the eye. In the autumn of 1874, at the
solicitation of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, it was
placed in the hall of their reunion at Columbus, Ohio, who marked
their appreciation of it by the following resolution:
“Resolved, That the Society of the Army of the
Cumberland, at Columbus in session assembled, hereby tender to
Miss Ransom their thanks for the presence of her
magnificent portrait of our old and much-beloved commander, Major-General
George H. Thomas. We hereby indorse the great
excellence of the portrait, and the accuracy of the landscape of the
field of Chickamauga, and we respectfully request the congress of
the United States to place it permanently in the Capitol at
Washington.”
Afterwards it was placed on exhibition in the rotunda
of the capitol, during the opening weeks of congress, where it daily
attracted crowds. It is now the most conspicuous object in the
studio of the artist, at Washington, where it is accompanied by the
fine bust portraits of General McPherson and B. F. Wade,
and surrounded by many works of her brush, among which are the
notable copies made in Italy. The Wade should be
purchased and returned to Ohio, where it belongs.
I hardly dare venture a word further upon the qualities
of Miss Ransom as an artist. She seems to me to
be remarkable for the certainty and firmness with which she grasps
her subject, and the strength and fidelity with which she works out
her conception of it. She never fails of producing a striking
likeness. No one can greatly excel as a painter who is not to
some extent a colorist. Miss Ransom has a large
gift of that power. Her spirit is steeped in its rich
sensuousness, which sometimes finds happy expression in poetic
forms, some of which have been given to the public. The best
remain in MSS. She has admirable judgment of works of art; is
broad, just, and generous in her appreciation of the works of
others; is a kindly, sympathetic, noble, lovable woman. Her
studio has been for many years in Cleveland. For three winters
past she has occupied one on Pennsylvania avenue, in Washington,
where her Friday afternoons are among the pleasant occasions in the
art and literary circles of the capital, into which she was at once
received, and where she is justly appreciated. Among the
products of these riper years may be mentioned the portraits of
Mr. French, sergeant-at-arms of the senate, Mrs.
Garfield, and Mrs. Riddle, painted in
Washington, all of which, and especially the last, are among the
finest specimens of American portrait-painting. Now quite at
maturity, Miss Ransom may look forward to coming years
of increasing fame, and a realization of all the hopes which should
crown the deservedly successful devotee of widening, growing,
American art.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 111
* By Hon. A. G. Riddle. |
Dr. D. W. Raymond
(Conneaut, Ohio) |
DR. DAVID WEBSTER RAYMOND
was born in the town of Austerlitz, county of Columbia, and State of
New York on the 7th day of November, 1808, he being the sixth of a
family of nine children, as follows: Margarette, Lucretia,
Cynthia, Isaac, William, David W., Betsey M., James N., and
Catherine. In the winter of 1819, the family moved from
Austerlitz to West Springfield, Erie county, Pennsylvania, where the
doctor's father, Jacob Raymond, died Mar. 28, 1829; while his
mother, Elizabeth, died at his residence in Conneaut, August
25, 1851. At the age of twenty-three, he commenced the study
of medicine under Dr. Fenton, of Conneaut, finishing his
course with Dr. Peck, of Attica, Genesee county, New York,
and graduating on the 14th day of January, 1833, in the Fairfield
Medical college, county of Herkimer, and State of New York, his
diploma bearing the signature of the venerable Dr. Wested
Willoughby, June 22, 1833. He established himself as a
physician in Rome, Ashtabula County, remaining there a few months
upwards of two years. In November, 1833, he came to Conneaut
and formed a copartnership with the late Dr. Greenleaf Fifield,
which existed until July 11, 1839. May 1, 1836, he was married
to Frances J. daughter of Dr. L. L. and Jerusha C. Chester
of Rome. By this marriage three children were born as
follows: Ellen A., May 4, 1837. She was liberally
educated, and became a most accomplished musician. Nov. 30,
1871, she was married to Mr. James W. Sutherland, of
Neodesha, Kansas, where she is still living. Lee Chester,
the second child, was born Apr. 27, 1843. At the age of
eighteen he enlisted in the Second Ohio battery, serving for
thirteen months as a corporal, when he was honorably discharged on
account of sickness. Restored to health, in the spring of
1864, he commenced the study of medicine with his father, finishing
his course with Dr. J. C. Hubbard, of Ashtabula, and
receiving his diploma from the Bellevue Hospital Medical college,
New York city, Feb. 28, 1867. Having graduated with honor, he
established himself in his father's office, where he practiced until
February, 1873. Sept. 12, 1867, he was married to Elizabeth
Burgess. Feb. 27, 1873, accompanied by his wife, he went
to San Francisco, California, where he continued with marked success
in the practice of medicine until the time of his death, which
occurred May 15, 1876, leaving his widow and an only son, Lee
Burgess Raymond, who was born May 3, 1874, to mourn his untimely
death. His remains, accompanied by his wife and child, were
brought to Conneaut for burial, and now rest by the side of those of
his father. Henry Atkins, the youngest, was born Oct.
30, 1845, and died July 2, 1846.
Dec. 4, 1848, his wife Frances J. died, and Mar.
4, 1850, he was again married to Miss Mary L. eldest daughter
of Thomas and Lucretia Gibson. From this marriage no
children were born , and Mrs. Raymond is still living.
Dr. Raymond died in Conneaut, June 18, 1865, in
the fifty-seventh year of his age. For thirty-three years he
had been a leading and most universally successful physician.
He was loved and respected by all who knew him. The immediate
cause of his death was the result of an injury which he received at
the age of fourteen, and which had made him a cripple for life.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 166
NOTE: The Raymonds are buried in City Cemetery, Conneaut,
Ashtabula Co., OH -
CLICK HERE |
James Reed |
JAMES
REED the senior editor of the Ashtabula Telegraph, was
born in the city of New York, in the year 1812, of parents from
Canada, his mother being of English birth. It was in this city
that his infancy and childhood were spent. During the latter
period the family removed to Norwalk, Connecticut, where the
rudiments of an English education were obtained at the district
schools of the State. From parental preference and interest he
entered early upon an apprenticeship to the business of a shoemaker,
in which considerable progress was made; but it not being to his
taste, it was abandoned at about the age of sixteen, when his
parents had become residents of the adjoining town of Wilton.
It was here that the conclusion was reached to accompany the
abandonment with a little dramatic effect, which should prevent any
effort to induce a reconsideration. At the close of a week’s
work, in the presence of his shopmates, without a note of warning to
any, the axe was procured and the bench upon which he had sat and
labored for years was split into kindling-wood. and, with every
article of kit, was thrust into the stove, and everything that was
consumable was reduced to ashes.
About this time an advertisement appeared in the
Danbury, Connecticut. Recorder, the establishment that has since, it
is believed, merged into the Danbury News,—so famous for its
humor,—for an apprentice to the printing business. There was
little delay in responding,—perhaps less on account of the contumacy
that preceded the burnt sacrifice, and the abandonment of a trade
that it was hoped had been adopted for life. It was proposed
to make application for the place in person. The distance was
twenty miles, and there was no way to overcome the distance but to
walk. This was accomplished in good time, and the applicant
for the place met with a prompt acceptance. The day after his
arrival was publication day, and he was at once introduced to the
press,—an old Dr. Franklin, or Damage press, such as
the reader may have seen among the old relics of the patent office
at Washington. The ink was put on with balls, the days of
rollers not arriving until some time afterwards.
Notwithstanding the youth and greenness of the young acolyte, the
whole edition was "beaten off" in usual time. His term of
service, though proving agreeable, was of short duration, owing to
the death of the publisher. Mr. Osborn, after an
apprenticeship of only three months. This occurrence left the
subject of this biography without place or occupation. He then
went to Norwalk, and became connected with the Fairfield County
Republican, a paper started by a company of disaffected
gentlemen in opposition to the Gazette. The publisher
was an old school-fellow named Albert Hunford.
The Republican soon died out, and he was again adrift.
His fortunes were then cast with the old Norwalk Gazette.
Here, too, he met with a wooden—Franklin —press, and became rather
expert in both beating" and “pulling” at the remarkable old machine.
Here the days of his apprenticeship were completed under the
tutorship of S. W. Benedict, editor and proprietor.
His first efforts as a journeyman printer were made on
the New York Daily Advertiser, published in Wall street, by
Theodore Dwight. A situation upon a morning daily,
where the natural order of day and night were reversed, was found to
be wearisome and slavish,—too much so for endurance. It was,
therefore, exchanged at the first opportunity for a much more
pleasant one. upon the New York Evangelist,—weekly. The
Evangelist was started by our old friend Benedict, who
had sold out the Gazette, and. with Rev. Joshua
Leavit as editor, set out with the new paper. This was
about the year 1835. While here he was offered a situation as
office manager of the New Orleans Observer, a religious
paper, just about being started in connection with the new
Presbyterian church of that city, under the pastorate of the Rev.
Joel Parker. Two seasons—those of 1836-37 — were spent here.
The loss of health induced a return in the latter year to the north.
His lot, by purchase, was soon cast again with the
Norwalk Gazette in the conduct of which he was materially
assisted by Dr. T. B. Butler, a practicing physician of
Norwalk, and afterwards a member of congress from the fourth
district of Connecticut, where the connection was dissolved.
His residence in Norwalk continued until the spring of 1853.
Connecticut was then taken leave of for the west, Hudson, Ohio.
The position of business agent for the Hudson Planing and Lumber
company was accepted. The company, however, failed during the
second year, and change was again the order of the day. From
Hudson he went to Cleveland, and again into the printing business.
A place was taken in the job-office of the Cleveland Herald,
and from that he became the foreman of the Plain Dealer
job-room. Printers' strikes and unions soon made it inconvenient to
continue in that position, and hearing of the Telegraph,
through Mr. E. W. Fisk, a visit was made to Ashtabula, and
negotiations were at once opened for its purchase. It was then
published by Messrs. George Willard, Alfred
Hendry, and H. L. Morrison, under the firm of
Willard, Hendry & Morrison, as a conservative
organ. It was taken by the present proprietor in April, 1856.
The drift of the paper remained substantially the same until the
nomination of Fremont, when it entered that campaign under
Republican colors, since which time its fortunes have been steadily
cast with the Republican party. Of its usefulness this is not
the place to speak. With its history for the score of years
since Mr. Reed became connected with the paper, the
people of Ashtabula County are familiar.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 122 |
J. P. Rieg |
JOHN P. RIEG
was born at Baldenheim, Canton de Markolzheim, France, April 18,
1840; was an only child, and an orphan at the age of fourteen years.
He attended the public schools the number of years required by law,
and afterwards was placed under a private tutor to fit himself for
college. Becoming restless, and having an uncle living in
Warren, Pennsylvania, he conceived the idea of going to America.
At the age of fifteen he found himself in Warren, possessed of a
fair education in German and French, but entirely ignorant of the
English language. He was apprenticed to Mr. Benjamin
Nessmith, a harness-maker, whom he served for two years.
Becoming dissatisfied with the trade he was learning, he left Mr.
Nessmith, and went to live with Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Weaver,
and attended the public schools for six months, in the mean time
looking about for some kind of employment that would suit his taste,
when he finally entered the printing-office of D. W. C. James,
and learned the “art preservative of arts.” In 1861 he
purchased the office of the Conneaut Reporter, and has ever
since that time, with the exception of sixteen months, held an
interest in said office and been a resident of Conneaut. June 12 of
the same year he was married to Julia K. Brooks, of Erie, and
three children have been born to them,—May 8, 1863, Frank F.;
December 15, 1865, Mary S.; and December 5, 1872, John B.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 123 |
Res. of
John P. Robertson,
Ashtabula, O |
JOHN
PORTEOUS ROBERTSON. This gentleman is the oldest of
eleven, the children of John and Marbaret Robertson, the
former of whom was a native of Jedburgh, Scotland, and the latter of
Cambridge, New York, from which point they removed to Ripley,
Chautauqua county, New York, in 1827, and from there to Ashtabula in
1847. Here they died, the father in 1851, and the mother three
years later. The subject of this sketch was born in Cambridge,
New York, Oct. 3, 1807. the opportunities afforded him for an
education were limited, consisting of from four to six months per
year at the district school, until he had arrived at the age of
twelve years. His ambition was to acquire an education and fit
himself for teaching; but his father's means being limited, and a
large family to support, he was taken into the blacksmith shop with
his father and remained there till of age. With the one
purpose still in view, he saved every sixpence. He had hoarded
enough to purchase a set of school-books, and every spare hour was
from this time on employed in "digging out" the hard problems of old
Pike and mastering Murray, which was done without a teacher.
Thus, by dint of hard study, he was, on attaining his majority, a
fair English scholar.
From 1828 to 1834 his time was occupied principally in
teaching. In 1835 he began his mercantile career in Rockville,
Crawford county, Pennsylvania, with a capital of less than one
thousand dollars; came to Ashtabula in 1838, and has remained there,
the greater part of the time engaged in trade, until this time.
The crash of 1837 found him in Pittsburgh with a fleet of ten boats
or arks loaded with lumber. The was landed two days after the
suspension of the banks. He lost two thousand dollars by this
venture; came home, closed up business, paying every indebtedness in
full, and with the one thousand dollars saved from the wreck came to
Ashtabula and entered into a copartnership with J. I. Post &
Co. Since 1841, with the exception of three years, he has
"sailed his own ship." During his long and busy life, Mr.
Robertson has filled many official positions, beginning, in
1836, by an appointment as justice of the peace by the governor of
Pennsylvania. Has been a mayor of Ashtabula one year; eight
years member of council; six years township trustee; seven years
treasurer of township; five years treasurer of borough; and six
years treasurer and member of board of education. Mr.
Robertson was on Jan. 26, 1836, united in marriage to Miss
Lovenia, daughter of John and Susannah Seiple, of
Rockville, Crawford county, New York. From this union seven
children have been born, three of whom are boys and unmarried.
The eldest daughter, Mary, married James H. Prentice,
and resides in Saginaw, Michigan; Margaret, the next
daughter, married G. C. Mygall, of Ashtabula; Alice is
unmarried; Caroline married George W. Kepler, who
perished in the Ashtabula disaster, Dec. 29, 1876. He was at
the time of his death proprietor of the Erie store, a young man of
splendid business talent, and highly esteemed by his associates.
His remained were never found. His widow still carries on the
business, under the name of Kepler & Co.
Politically, Mr. Robertson began life as an
old line Whig, and is now a Republican, stanch and true.
His religious belief is Calvinistic. Having been
trained in the Scotch Presbyterian church, he early embraced its
faith, and is now an elder of that church. His life has been a
busy one, and he has now the satisfaction of knowing that he has
ever met his obligations, has done his share towards supporting
church and state, to assist the needy, and to benefit his fellow
man.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page
146 |
NOTES:
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