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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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DAVID SHIPHERD
Source: History of Geauga and Lake
Counties, Ohio, Publ. Philadelphia by Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page
166
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H. K. Smith |
HONORABLE HENRY K. SMITH.
This gentleman was the eldest son and the third child
of Marsh Smith, and was born at Parkman, Geauga County,
August 10, 1832. There his childhood and boyhood were passed under
the care of his parents, and he received such opportunities for
education as the schools of that neighborhood afforded him. His
father and mother were persons of unusual intelligence and refinement,
and he grew up in the atmosphere of a home well calculated to develop
the finer traits and higher excellences of nature and character.
He became a resident of Chardon at nineteen, and was noted as an
intelligent, gentlemanly youth, rather shy, to whom most people at once
took a liking and gave him their confidence. The ensuing two
years he spent in his father's office, in acquiring general information,
ripening, and preparing himself for a life of usefulness.
At the age of twenty-one he entered the law-office of
Messrs. Riddle & Thrasher, at Chardon, and devoted himself with
docile industry to the mastery of the law. He soon became known to
his instructors for his real worth, and gained their confidence and
friendship. After a novitiate of three years, he was admitted to
the bar in 1856. Soon after he received the appointment of deputy
sheriff, the duties of which he discharged with care and fidelity.
He also was intrusted with the responsible duties of the treasurer of
the county. In the spring of 1857, on the decease of the then
clerk of the court, H. Gotham, Esq., he was appointed his
successor. In the autumn of the same year, he was elected
prosecuting attorney of the county by the people.
Thus in the space of a year or two, he familiarized
himself with the duties of several of the most important offices of the
county, and entered another of much responsibility. Here he
acquitted himself so well that he was elected to a second term.
Soon after his first election, he formed a law partnership with W. O.
Forrest, and in 1861, after the termination of the partnership of
Canfield & French, by the death of John French,
he entered into partnership with D. W. Canfield, which continued
until his election to the office of probate judge, in the fall of 1866.
He has held that ofiice ever since, having been nominated this year for
the fourth time, and each time by acclamation. While in company
with D. W. Canfield he was twice elected justice of the peace of
Chardon. Feb. 22, 1854, he was married to Miss Harmony
Stocking, daughter of D. W. Stocking. They have had
three children, one dying in infancy. The eldest, Stewart S.,
aged twenty-one, is book-keeper of the Geauga Savings and Loan
Association. The youngest, Halbert Dennis, is twelve
years old.
Judge Smith was among the most active and
efficient in rebuilding Chardon. He has largely invested in real
estate and its improvement, and the block in which is the opera-house is
mainly owing to the enterprise of himself and brother Theron.
The sterling integrity of the Smiths, father and son, doubtless
has been the leading cause of their great personal popularity in Geauga
County. Perhaps no man has ever exercised a wider influence in it
than Judge Smith, who is happily formed to win and retain
the esteem of all classes, and no man was ever more utterly devoid of
the arts by which the mere demagogue seeks to make his way.
The confidence which he enjoys is the deserved tribute of
worth and excellence. Mrs. Smith, by her fine
womanly qualities, contributes much to strengthen the position of her
husband, and their home is one of the pleasantest in Chardon.
Of the brothers and sisters of Judge Smith,
it may be mentioned that Mrs. Peter Bates resides
in Iowa; Mrs. J. G. Durfee, in Troy, Geauga County; Mrs.
John Brooks, in Chardon; his brother Theron, in Chardon;
as also Newell R., and his father, Marsh Smith,
mentioned elsewhere.
Theron is a man of much intelligence, and shares
Judge Smith‘s spirit of enterprise, and like the rest of
the family, is much esteemed.
Source: History of
Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio - Publ. Philadelphia, Williams Brothers -
1878 - Pg. 96 |
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MARSH SMITH,
son of Seth and Polly Smith, was born in Manchester,
Vermont, Aug. 18, 1799. His mother’s maiden name was
Marsh, the family to which Hon. George P. Marsh
belongs, and his great-grandfather, who represented an old
English family of wealth and cultivation, came to America about
1760 (which was soon after his marriage to a Welsh lady by the
name of Newell), and settled in the colony of
Connecticut.
Marsh Smith was one of ~ eight children, seven
boys and one girl,- only two of whom are still living, viz.,
Sandford Smith, of Parkman, and Franklin Smith,
of Nelson, Portage county. When a boy Marsh
Smith removed with his parents to Georgetown, Madison
county, New York, and thence preceded them a year to Ohio, in
1818, settling in the woods of Parkman. He cleared off a
farm, worked at farming and carpentering, and Oct. 28, 1823, was
married to Miss Eliza Colton, of Nelson, a
descendant of the Connecticut Coltons, - a family known
for their thrift, intellect, and puritanic virtues.
Marsh Smith held various positions of
honor and trust in the township of Parkman. For twenty
years he was justice of the peace, which office he resigned to
take that of county auditor, to which he was elected in 1850,
and which he held six years, removing to Chardon in the mean
time. He was afterwards county commissioner for one term,
and in 1860 was assessor of real estate. Of late years he
has resided mostly with his children.
Mr. Smith is a man of superior
understanding, widely known, and few men have in a higher degree
enjoyed the confidence and esteem of their fellow-citizens.
Source: History of
Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio - Publ. Philadelphia, Williams Brothers -
1878 - Pg. 102 |
Ashbel Spencer
Mrs. Ashbel Spencer
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ASHBEL SPENCER,
is the youngest of a family of seven, the
children of Ashbel and Dorcas Spencer,
and was born in New Hartford county, Connecticut, in June, 1796.
He was the only member of the family who emigrated to Ohio, the
date of his arrival being about the year 1823. He settled
in Claridon on the farm now occupied by him. For perhaps
two seasons subsequent to his settlement he was engaged in the
manufacture of brick. Dec. 1, 1825, he was united in
marriage to Maria C., the sixth child of Asa and Sybil
Cowles, who were also natives of New Hartford, and among the
pioneers of Claridon, having settled there in 1811. Mr.
Cowles is said to have erected the first log house in that
township. Of the three children born to Mr. and Mrs.
Spencer, all are deceased. Nelson was born Mar.
13, 1827, and died in early manhood, Oct. 18, 1853. The
other children were George Ralph and Delia
Minerva, who died young, of that dreaded disease scarlet
fever, and were both buried in one grave. Mr.
Spencer began in the woods, and by dint of hard work and
good management has brought his farm of one hundred and
eighty-two acres to its present highly-cultivated condition.
During all these years of toilsome labor Mrs. Spencer
has been to her husband a true helpmeet. He was a Whig
formerly, but when the Republican party was formed became an
ardent member of it, and so remains to-day.
Source:
History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio - Publ. Philadelphia,
Williams Brothers - 1878 - Pg. 172 |
Residence of
Col. Erastus Spencer,
Claridon Tp.,
Geauga Co., OH |
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SAMUEL SQUIRE was
born Oct. 16, 1799. His wife, Sophia A. Hurd, was
born six months earlier, Apr. 29 of the same year, and they were
married at Woodbury, Connecticut, in February, 1823. They
moved to Chardon in the same year, Mrs. Squire
going first to Carlisle, Lorain county, Ohio, with her parents,
and making the entire journey from Connecticut with ox-teams.
Mr. Squire stopped at Painesville and plied his
trade, which was that of a tanner, and while there he determined
to settle in Chardon. He purchased land east of the
square, and commenced the tanning business, which he carried on
until 1834. From that time until 1840 he carried on his
business successfully, and finally adopted merchandise.
In 1840 and ’41 he was county treasurer. June 9, 1848,
his wife died. In 1850 his son, Samuel, Jr., became
his partner in trade; and he died Nov. 9, 1854.
Mr. Squire was a man of pleasant personal
address, much intelligence, and sagacity.
Of the several sons, Samuel, the eldest, a man
of much shrewdness and intelligence, succeeded his father in
business, which he successfully prosecuted in Chardon for
several years, when he removed to Oberlin, where he now resides.
His wife, a sister of Mrs. Joel F. Asper, is a lady
highly esteemed. None of the sons now reside in Geauga
County.
Source: History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio - Publ.
Philadelphia, Williams Brothers - 1878 - Pg. 126 |
Jas. E. Stephenson |
JAMES E. STEPHENSON
Source: History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio - Publ.
Philadelphia, Williams Brothers - 1878 - Pg. 97
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HON. VENE STONE.
This gentleman would have been a leading man anywhere,
in the class of life in which he was willing to remain.
He came from Ghoram, New York, in 1802, and, though he
purchased property in the northeast corner of Newbury, he built
his house, and lived in Burton as late as 1820. His then
new and framed house was built in Newbury, where his son,
Franklin, still resides. His first wife was Charity
Hopson sister of Samuel Hopson, of the Western
Reserve pioneers. The marriage was in 1803 or 1804.
They became the parents of two daughters: Emert the
wife of Luison T. Patchin, now deceased, and Carolina,
wife of Samuel James. Charity died early,
and he married Alice Williams, sister of the late
Calvin Williams, of Burton. Of this marriage,
Minerva became the wife of Hiram Fowler, and lives in
Munson; Franklin married Fanny Bunnett, and lives
on the homestead; Eliza became Mrs. Davis Woodward,
and lives in Munson, surviving her husband; Mary the
youngest, died in infancy.
Vene Stone died at an advanced age, Mar. 7,
1871. His second wife preceded him in August, 1869.
He commanded the company of Burton soldiers ordered to Cleveland
on the surrender of Hull at Detroit, and afterwards
filled all the township offices; was elected once or twice to
represent his county in the General Assembly of the State, and
also was an associate judge of the court of common pleas.
All these positions he filled with credit; was a man of fine
person dignified manners very superior understanding with
reading and sterling integrity. Few men of his day enjoyed
higher consideration. He was one of that rare older type
which seems to have become nearly extinct.
I can now recall no better living. specimen of this
class than Colonel H. H. Ford, of Burton, - a type of
men, whom. everybody instinctively trusts, of whom nobody asks
questions, in whose lives no suspicious circumstances ever could
arise, and who never had to explain anything.
A portrait of Mr. Stone will be found
grouped with other old settlers in an other portion of this
work.
Source: History of
Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio - Publ. Philadelphia, Williams Brothers -
1878 - Pg. 102 |
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