BIOGRAPHIES
** Source:
1798
History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
Publ. Philadelphia: Williams Brothers
1878.
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Painesville Twp. -
AARON WILCOX* banker, of Painesville, was born
Mar. 8, 1814, at North Killingworth, Connecticut, and is now living.
His father, Moses Wilcox, and uncle, Aaron Wilcox,
were twins, and had a singular history. In personal appearance
they were alike to the minutest detail, and their resemblance was
the occasion of numerous mistakes. In physical and mental
conditions also they were the counterpart of each other.
Whether together or separated, they were as one in the fluctuations
of health and the varying moods of disposition. If one
sickened, the other was affected by similar illness; when one
recovered, the other regained health. If one brother was in
grief, the other sympathized in sorrow; when one rejoiced, the other
was light-hearted without knowing why. They served together as
officers in the war of 1812. They were both prominent
merchants and manufacturers. At one time they both taught
schools in Middletown, Connecticut and frequently changed schools
without the fact being discovered. They married sisters, and
both had large families, each having nine children. In 1824
the brothers, with the families, removed to northern Ohio, and
settled at Twinsburg, that name being given to the settlement by
them. They engaged in farming together, having purchased a
quarter of the township, and by their industry, correct lives,
integrity, benevolence, and strong religious feeling exercised a
beneficial influence in the settlement. The manner of their
death was no less remarkable than their lives. Both had been
ailing for some time, and were in bed at their homes, half a mile
apart, suffering from the same disease. Within a few moments
after the death of Aaron at his home, Moses rose in
his bed, exclaiming, "My brother Aaron is dead, and I shall
die too." A little later in the day he died.
The brothers were buried together, and in the same
grave. The son of Moses, who had been named after his
uncle, came from Connecticut in 1827, and attended the schools in
the neighborhood, after leaving which he became clerk with Mr.
Isaac Gillet, in Painesville, and at the age of
twenty-one was taken into partnership, under the firm-name of
Gillet & Wilcox, doing a general merchandising business.
Two years afterwards the partnership was changed, and with many
changes of the firm-name he always being the senior partner after
the retirement of Mr. Gillet. The business was
conducted in the same place for over thirty years. In 1865,
having acquired considerable property in the course of his business,
he retired from the firm, and established the widely-known Lake
County Bank, for the transaction of a legitimate banking business.
In 1873, Messrs. Wilson and S. K. Gray were
admitted as partners, the firm-name being changed to Wilcox &
Co., and the operations of the house extended, so that it became the
leading banking-house of the county. I n addition to his mercantile
and banking house business, he was for many years a director of the
Bank of Geauga and its successor, the First National Bank of
Painesville. He has taken a strong interest in all local
enterprises and movements for the improvement of the place, has
served many years in the council, and has been twice elected mayor.
In educational matters he has been especially active,
being for many years a member of the school-board, giving time and
means in support of the schools. He is a zealous friend of the
Lake Erie Female Seminary, of which he was one of the founders, and
at first the treasurer, working energetically to place it upon a
sound financial foundation. His religious connection is with
the Episcopal church, of which he has been thirty-five years a
member, giving freely to its support. He has taken an active
part in politics, holding very decided views, and working
energetically to sustain them, being at first a Whig, and then a
Republican when that party was organized. He is a thorough and
consistent temperance man. He was chosen one of the
presidential electors to cast the vote of the State for J. C.
Fremont, and again on the second election of Grant to the
presidency. He served for five years as associate judge of the
court of common pleas, giving satisfaction by his course on the
bench. During the war of the Rebellion he was an ardent
supporter of the cause of the Union, working hard for its support,
and contributing freely to that end. His devotion to
business is unremitting, and his regard for commercial honor very
high. His reputation for personal and business integrity, and
scrupulous adherence to his word once given, is untarnished by a
single blot. His individual and business affairs are regulated
with mathematical precision, which may account in a measure for the
invariable success of his undertakings. He was married in 1837
to Miss Eliza Jane Morley, of Weedsport, New York, and has
had seven children: A. M. Wilcox, of Cleveland, Ohio, of the
firm of Cleveland, Brown & Co.; two daughters married to
P. M. Hitchcock and Charles Doolittle, members of
the firm of Cleveland, Brown & Co.; three daughters at home,
Eliza H., Mary E., and Carrie; and C. S. Wilcox,
in attendance
at Yale College in 1878.
-------------------------
* From Cleave’s Biographical Encyclopedia.
Source: 1798 - History of Geauga and Lake
Counties, Ohio - Publ. Philadelphia: Williams Brothers - 1878 -
Page 224
* From Cleave's Biogrpahical Encyclopedia. |
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Painesville Twp. -
JOHN WALWORTH, who came from Aurora, New York, to
Mentor, Lake County, in 1799, was one of the most prominent settlers of
the Reserve. After remaining in Mentor through the winter he
returned to New York, and in the following year brought his family to
Painesville, arriving on the 8th of April. As an evidence of his
capability, - for capability to fill an office was regarded in those
days as one of the qualifications a man should possess to entitle him to
the favor of appointment or election, - it may be stated that Mr.
Walworth was appointed as justice of the peace for Trumbull county,
1802; as associate judge, 1803; as postmaster at Painesville, 1804;
inspector of the port of Cuyahoga, 1805; collector of the district of
Erie, 1806; associate judge of Geauga County, 1806; and postmaster at
Cleveland in the same year, and that when the county of Cuyahoga was
organized he was made county clerk and recorder. Mr. Walworth
remained in Painesville but a short time, going from there to Cleveland,
where he had an office, which was, we believe, the first frame building
erected there; at any rate, it was the only one standing in 1810.
Mr. Walworth was born at Groton, New London county, Connecticut,
in 1765, and died in the dark days of the war, Sept. 10, 1812. His
wife, a native of the same place in which he was born, died in 1853, at
Cleveland.
Source: 1798 - History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio - Publ.
Philadelphia: Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 220 |
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Madison Twp. -
ELISHA WOOD, fine portraits of whom and of his
surviving companion are given in another portion of this work, was born
in Cheshire, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on the 4th day of
February, in the year 1796. He was the eldest of a family of seven
children. His parents were Elisha and Freelove (Dennison) Wood,
and descendants of the standard New England stock. They removed to
Fairfield, Herkimer county, New York, while Elisha, Jr., was yet
a child, and remained there the balance of their lives. The
subject of the present sketch was educated principally in the common
schools of Fairfield, and, in fact, he lived in that township until
attaining his majority. The summer of 1817 he came to Ohio,
locating in Mentor township, where he resided (with the exception of one
year spent in the Black river country) until 1822. He then removed
to Madison, and purchased the tannery which stood a little north of the
one he afterwards erected, and which is now owned by Sextus E.,
the oldest child. Mr. Wood continued to prosecute the
business of tanning, farming, etc., in a highly successful manner until
his decease, Sept. 10, 1863.
On the 15th day of December, in the year 1825, Mr.
Wood was united in marriage to Miss Polly, daughter of
Martin and Abigail (Davenport) Doty, originally from St. Lawrence
county, New York. The fruits of this union were as follows:
Sextus E., who was born Feb. 18, 1827; he married Eunice Allen,
and resides on the old farm north of Madison village. The next
child was a son, who died in infancy; then came Ellen A., whose
birth occurred July 9, 1831; she married Cyrus J. Ingersoll; she
lives in Madison village. Her husband having deceased, a son of
daughter followed; both died in infancy. Mary C. was born
Nov. 10, 1836. She is the wife of Dr. E. C. Sloan, of Inton,
Ohio; Anna D. was born Mar. 20, 1839, married George W. Chase,
and resides at Rutland, Meigs county, Ohio; E. Meroe, the next
child, was born Nov. 21, 1842; she resides at home with her mother;
George W., was born Feb. 1, 1844; then follows a daughter, who died
in infancy, and Frank L., the date of whose birth is July 14,
1849.
Mr. Wood became a member of the society of Free
Masons in the year 1822, in old Temple Lodge, then located at
Unionville, and continued through life a prominent and influential
member. He was buried under the auspices of the order, a large
concourse of the fraternity from adjoining lodges being in attendance at
the burial.
He was a member of the Democratic party, and prided
himself on being a Douglas man. Eminently public-spirited;
he was foremost in everything tending to the growth of the village which
was his adopted home. He was a man honest, upright, conscientious,
a true friend, a kind husband, and an affectionate father.
Source: 1798 - History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio - Publ.
Philadelphia: Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 236 |
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Perry Twp. -
OTIS WOOD was the son of Lewis and Lydia
Wood, and the eldest of the‘ family. He was born in
Chittenden county, Vermont, Nov. 29, 1801. His father came to
Ohio in the spring of 1816. Otis following with the
remainder of the family in the fall of that year. They made a
settlement in Perry, near the lake, on a farm now owned by the heirs
of David Parmly, and subsequently erected a saw-mill
there. The subject of this sketch afterwards came into
possession of this farm.
In April, 1831, he was united in marriage to Electa
Lyman, of Concord, (then) Geauga County. The fruit of
this union was the following-named children: Marion A.,
wife of James L. Parmly, of the city of Painesville;
Lavinia L. (deceased); Ann, who became the wife of
James Cook, and resides in Perry; Eliza Jane
(deceased); and Electa, now Mrs. John Casler,
who resides near Eaton Rapids, Michigan.
In 1864, Mr. Wood sold his farm in Perry,
and purchased in the eastern part of the township of Painesville,
where he resided at the time of his death, which occurred in
December, 1866. His widow survives him, and resides in Perry,
in the sixty-seventh year of her age.
Source: 1798 - History of Geauga and Lake
Counties, Ohio - Publ. Philadelphia: Williams Brothers - 1878 -
Page 244 |
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