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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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Residence of
Mrs. E. Rexford &
Former Res. of
L. J. Randall, Deceased,
Chardon, Geauga Co., OH |
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THE
RIDDLES. originally a
Scotch clan, were colonized by James I., in Tyrone county,
Ireland. They were Presbyterians, and they and all their
descendants in that country remained stanch Protestants. The
Newbury Riddles trace their Scotch-Irish lineage through one
Thomas Riddle, who was born in Ireland in 1739, and
brought to this country in childhood by an aunt or older sister.
He had four daughters and four sons; three of the latter served
during the Revolution. Thomas Riddle, Jr., the youngest
of the sons, was born at Munson, Massachusetts, Sept. 27, 1781.
He was a bright, intelligent boy, whose educational advantages were
limited to the district school, and who, as one of the eight
children, was early called upon to share the family struggle for a
livelihood, which, dependent as it was upon the father's earnings
and the produce of the small farm, never got much beyond the bare
necessities of life. The personal likeness of father and son
was marked as the latter approached manhood. Both were of
medium height and build, and the well-developed head, fine high
forehead, fair complexion, and blue eyes stamped them as men of the
same mould physically. Thomas, Jr., was of poetic
temperament, and possessed of a fine imagination; had a fair share
of musical talent, was a superior vocalist, and in his early manhood
was chorister for the Munson, Massachusetts, Congregational church.
He was an earnest advocate of the war of 1812. Was prominent
in a regiment of militia and leader of a band, and at one time when
his band was ordered to play “God Save the King" he refused to allow
the air to be given, and finally demolished some of the instruments
rather than have them used in laudation of British royalty.
Dec. 22, 1805, he married Minerva Merrick,
a woman of very superior intellect, strong will, firmness and
resolution, who was born at Munson, Massachusetts, Feb. 3, 1785.
The Merricks were of Welsh descent, and Minerva was
the younger daughter of a large family of girls. Her father
was a wealthy man, and in point of worldly advantage, her marriage
with Thomas Riddle was looked upon as an undesirable
one. She brought her husband a modest dowry of eight or nine
hundred dollars and a fund of energy, industry, and skill, in the
management of her domestic affairs, that proved her an invaluable
helpmate during his life time, and which, combined with her rare
judgment, courage, and self-reliance, made her equal to the task and
trials which, at his early death, fell to her share. She was a
woman of great dignity of manner, capable of much sweetness, and
habitually kind and charitable. The higher elements of
character, intellect, and soul, were largely hers, and few women in
her time and small circle were her equals. In person, she was of
medium height, slender, with fine, dark eyes, raven hair, and
features too strongly marked for beauty.
Thomas Riddle decided to migrate to Ohio,
visited Newbury, purchased land, and between the 1st and, middle of
September, 1817, the Riddles set out on their wearisome
journey. The Munns and Greens started about that
time or a little later. The Riddle team consisted of a
pair of spry young oxen, and a span of good horses on the lead.
Aside from the seven persons, father, mother, and five little boys,
the load was a heavy one, and all of the portable household articles
of their small store that could be safely carried were taken out to
the new home. Under the watchful care of the father, the
mother and her little ones reached the end of their toilsome journey
safely some time in December, having been forty one days upon the
road.
That winter was an unusually severe one. There
was no home awaiting the travelers, only dense woods, frozen ground
and snow, with at rare intervals a faint wreath of blue smoke
marking a rude habitation; while a. space, half clearing, half
underbrush, near by, showed where the humble architect had found his
materials. Mr. Riddle found temporary shelter
for his family under the roof of Mr. Punderson, and
then began collecting his supplies for the winter. His friend
and old neighbor, Lovel Green, had arrived two weeks
previous, and his log cabin was ready for the roof by the time Mr.
Riddle was at leisure to lend a hand. He had his
father’s knack with tools, of which he had brought a number, and
they soon had a roof and rough floor to the little hut, and a great
mass of stone and mortar at one end answered the purpose of a
chimney. A blanket was hung up before the opening for the
door, and the Riddles took possession of these quarters,
until a house of their own could be raised and made fit for
habitation. The furniture was made more leisurely, and was
probably unique to say the least. That winter Mr.
Riddle bought a cow, and spent most of his time in cutting the
tops of the basswood and maple-trees for his oxen and cow to browse
upon. Early in March came sugar-making, and then attention was
turned to the new house, which the family moved into early in 1818,
though it was not finished until later. Two or three seasons
of comparative prosperity rewarded the settlers, and other pioneers
came to swell the neighborhood. In the winter the elder
Riddle boys went to school upon the State road, and their
father, with his marked social qualities and public spirit, came to
be one of the leading men in the little community. He was an
out and out Jeffersonian Democrat, - later a Whig of the John
Quincy Adams type, and was particularly active in
religious discussions, earnestly advocating the doctrine of
universal salvation. One incident of this early day may serve
to recall him as he appeared in young manhood. The story is
related by a well-known lady of Burton, Ohio, who was in her
girlhood at the time of its occurrence. The occasion was the
burial of a much-esteemed woman, the funeral being attended by
nearly the whole population of the then little town of Burton, where
she had lived. The time was near the evening of a summer day;
the sun‘s rays slanting in, touching and hallowing the newly-made
grave at the margin of a great wood. The funeral train paused,
and at the lowering of the coffin, when all were mute, a sweet and
powerful tenor voice, raised in one of the old-world burial hymns,
broke the stillness. Alone the rich notes arose and fell.
Men and women stood rapt, and tears fell from every eye. The
voice was that of a stranger, who, passing along the highway,
entered with the mourners, and stood apart under the trees. He
was a handsome, slender man, with a cast of face and hearing
indicative of good blood and breeding, and to those who approached
him he gave his name as Thomas Riddle, and said that
with his family he had recently settled in an adjoining town.
In September, 1823, Mr. Riddle went to
aid a sick neighbor in harvesting a crop of wheat in the then
malarious region of Punderson‘s Pond. The poison
entered his system, he was maltreated by a quack, and after a brief
illness died, leaving his wife ill with a child four months old, the
youngest of nine, to care for, and the eldest son helpless from the
prevailing sickness. This trial, together with the desperation
of her situation, poorly housed as she was, scantily provided for,
with winter approaching, and she six hundred miles from immediate
friends, called into play Mrs. Riddle's most admirable
qualities. She arose from her sick-bed, borrowed a horse, upon
which she placed the saddle, - a gift of her father, - and with the
silks, furs, and personal ornaments of her bridal days, rode away to
barter them for food. She developed great tact for business affairs.
A part of the land was sold and places were found for some of the
older boys, chopping and clearing went forward upon the place, and
flax and wool were spun, woven, and made up by her own hands.
The religious element was strong within her. She, too, was a
fine vocalist, and her eldest surviving children still remember of
waking, often at the latest hours of the night, and hearing her
singing the old songs so dear to her as she plied her needle upon
their garments. In the fifth or sixth year of her widowhood
she married a gentleman from a distant town and took the younger
children to his home. But four or five weeks discovered his
unfitness as a has band and father by reason of his intemperance,
and she took her children and returned to her old home. The husband
and wife never met again. One of the younger sons took
possession of the farm, and comparative prosperity returned to her
household. She was perfect mistress of her boys and was well
qualified to rear them. Naturally brave and self-contained,
she always trusted them, and though a devoted mother, she never
worried at their absence. In her circle no woman ever
contributed more to the care of the sick and distressed in all
forms. Naturally high-spirited, of hopeful, joyous
temperament, she was equal to a life of toil and struggle, and was a
well-spring of strength, courage, and hopefulness. When her
youngest son was married, her home and life were in a measure
broken, and she never again attained the steady serenity of the
preceding years. She retained her activity, her clearness and
strength of intellect to the last, and after a slight illness, with
the old smile of hopefulness upon her face, she died in the arms of
her daughter, at the age of eighty-one, Jan. 11, 1866.
Thomas and Minerva Riddle had nine children; of
these the eldest, Almon Riddle, was born at Monson,
Massachusetts, Apr. 3, 1806, married Caroline Marsh,
July, 1837, and now lives near Wabash, Indiana.
Jose Merrick, the second son, was also
born at Monson, Massachusetts, July 26, 1808, married Caroline
Hayden, Feb. 23, 1836, died at Thatford, Michigan, August,
1855. These two were both men above the average, having the
good looks of their race and much of the strength and force of the
mother.
Thomas Elmer, third son, was born at
Monson, August, 1810, and died in 1813.
William Henry Harrison, fourth
son, born at Monson, Apr. 13, 1812, died at Painesville, June 6,
1836. He had just finished his studies in the law office of
Giddings & Wade and formed a partnership with Reuben
Hitchcock, when he died suddenly from over-study. He was
thought to be a young man of great promise, and in personal
appearance resembled his mother.
John Adams, the fifth son, born at Monson, Apr.
23, 1814, married Lois Odle, October, 1837. At her
death he contracted a second marriage, with Theresa Ganson,
whom he survives. He inherited the mechanical skill of his
father, with something of his personal appearance.
Albert Gallatin sixth son, born at Monson, May
28, 1816, - of whom is given a sketch elsewhere.
Minerva, only daughter, born at Newbury, Ohio,
Apr. 16, 1818; married to Varnum Clark, January, 1839, and
now residing in Indiana. She is a woman with much of the
intellectual force of her mother, with something of her father's
fine imagination and temperament. She was a very precocious
girl, and read Gibbon and other extended works before she was
ten.
Roswell, seventh son, born at Newbury, Dec. 4,
1820; married to Romelia Smith, with whom he lived many
years. At her death he married Mrs. Alvira Way, and
they continued to occupy the Riddle homestead, on the site of
the original block-house in the woods. He has the family
mental structure, is a man of quiet retiring disposition, a farmer
by occupation, and enjoys the confidence of the community.
George W., eighth son, born at Newbury, Apr. 26,
1823; died in Indiana, March, 1843. Handsome, gifted, and
gay-spirited. He, too, was ambitious, and, like his brother
Harrison he early fell a victim to his too great ardor in study.
Of the third generation only one resides in Geauga, -
Elmer Riddle of Chardon, eldest son of J. M. Riddle,
whom he resembles in person and manner. He is a man of fine
ability, with the characteristics of his father' race, and a touch
of his mother's, who were people of strength, and force of
character. All of the other young men of proper age served in
the war. One lost his life, another was severely wounded.
M. R. K.
Source: History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio,
Publ. Philadelphia by Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 181-182 |
A. G. Riddle |
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Residence of
H. Robb,
Middlefield Tp.,
Geauga Co., OH |
HARVEY ROBB
Source: History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio - Publ.
Philadelphia, Williams Brothers - 1878 - Pg. 142
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