Source: Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio - embracing the Counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1893 - Page 316

Source: Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio - embracing the Counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1893 - Page 318

IRA BATES, a prosperous farmer and a representative of one of the oldest and most highly respected families of Leroy township, Lake county, Ohio, and was born in this township, Mar. 1, 1830.  His grandfather, Benjamin Bates, was a native of Massachusetts and descended from an old English family.  The grandfather emigrated to Ohio in 1809, making the journey over land with his family by means of wagons drawn by oxen, being six weeks on the way.  He settled in Leroy township, Lake county, he being the third or fourth to locate in that township.  His land lay on the old girdled road, where he built a log cabin in the midst of woods.  He owned 1,200 acres in the township, much of which he cleared.  Wild game abounded and a few Indians still lingered amid their former haunts, some of whom made frequent visits to his cabin.  He built the first gristmill in the township, on hat was then Bates Creek.  He subsequently built two sawmills, and later erected another and a better gristmill, people coming form a long distance to get their produce ground at his mill.  A man of ability, progressive disposition and great energy, he easily became a leader in his community, and was elected and held many other minor offices.  He died in the township at the age of seventy-six, sincerely regretted by all who knew him.  He was a father of ten children, but none of whom survive.  His son, Ezra Bates, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Chesterfield township, Hampden county, Massachusetts, in 1802, and was but seven years of age when his parents removed to Ohio.  He was reared on the home farm and and attended the district school, which was two miles distant.  He became a farmer, settling on land in Leroy township, Lake county, which he cleared and improved, living and dying in the first house he ever built.  He married Mary Hungerford, a native of Connecticut, whose people emigrated to Ohio in 1826.  They had three sons, of whom the subject of this sketch was the eldest and all of whom are now living.  The father held the office of Township Trustee and Treasurer for about twenty years, discharging his duties with the utmost precision and integrity.  In 1877 he was called upon to mourn the death of his wife, who was well and favorably known for her Christian qualities.  She was for many years an active member of the Baptist Church.  He survived her until 1885, when he expired in the midst of his family and friends at the age of eighty-three, greatly lamented by all who knew him.
     The subject of this sketch was reared on the home farm and attended the district school, after which he taught for three terms.  He naturally had a mechanical turn of mind and early learned carpentry, at which he has worked at times, although his attention is principally given to farming.  He resided at home until thirty-five years of age, and then settled on his lived for nearly thirty years.  He owns thirty-nine and a half acres of choice land, which he has industriously cultivated, and which he has improved with modern and substantial buildings, his farm being one of the most valuable and thrifty-looking places in the county, all of which conditions are due to his own intelligent and persevering efforts.
     In 1865 he was married to Hannah Nichols, a lady of domestic tastes, born near Niagara Falls, Canada.  Both of her parents were natives of Canada, but removed to the States in an early day, dying in Lake county, Ohio.  They had five children, four of whom are living.  Mrs. Bates was a successful teacher before marriage, having taught fourteen terms.  Mr. and Mrs. Bates have two children:  Mary Belle, wife of T. A. Crellin, a well-to-do farmer of Leroy township; and Fred A., at home.
     In politics, Mr. Bates is a Democrat, and has been honored with some of the most important offices in the township, having served as Treasurer, Clerk and Justice of the Peace.  He does not belong to any religious denomination, although a contributor to churches and charitable objects.  Mrs. Bates is a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Enterprising and public-spirited, Mr. Bates has contributed his share toward the general advancement of the community, which has been his home for so many years, and he is justly numbered among the representative citizens. 
* Source:  Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio embracing the Counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1893 -  Page 714

Source: Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio - embracing the Counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1893 - Page 640

Source: Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio - embracing the Counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1893 - Page 327

Source: Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio - embracing the Counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1893 - Page 330

FRANKLIN BREED, owning one of the best farms on the North Ridge road, two and half miles east of Painesville, Ohio, a representative citizen and business man, was born in Venango county, Pennsylvania, Feb. 5, 1822.  The original ancestor in America came from England in 1630 and settled in the New England States.  Joseph Breed, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Connecticut and was a ship carpenter by trade.  He was an efficient soldier in the Revolutionary war and an ardent patriot on all occasions.  He was a pioneer of Venango county, Pennsylvania, settling there in 1818, when it was a wilderness.  He there partially developed a farm, on which he continued to reside until his death at the age of eighty-four years.  Nathan Breed, father of the subject of this sketch, was also a native of Connecticut, where he married Fanny Hancox, also born in that State.  With his wife and one child, he removed to Venango county, Pennsylvania, when a young man, and there developed a farm in the wilderness.  He was a man of vigorous constitution and great energy and a hard-worker.  He commenced life for himself by working on a farm at $10 a month for five years, within which time he was drafted to serve in the war of 1812, but his employer hired a substitute.  He died in comfortable circumstances, owning a good farm which he had successfully cultivated.  Six of the eight children of his first marriage were reared to maturity:  Nathan, deceased; Eliza; Reuben, deceased; Franklin, whose name heads this notice; William F.; Freelove; Nathan, the second; and Amos.  The devoted wife and mother died at the early age of thirty-five years.  In 1836, the father married Ruth Gleason and they had three children: Gleason, Lucy and Sallie A.  The father was a Democrat in politics and he and the family were Baptists in religious belief.  He died in 1840, lamented as an able and good man.
     The subject of this notice was the fourth child and was reared in Pennsylvania, on the pioneer farm, to which his father had removed four years before.  Franklin attended the old log schoolhouse of pioneer times.  The rudimentary institution of learning was supplied with slab benches and an open fireplace and conducted on the subscription plan.  He was eighteen years of age when his father died, when he began life for himself by clerking in a store, and dutifully helped to care for and educate his younger brothers and sisters.  He married at the age of twenty-three and then he settled on a farm near Titusville, Pennsylvania, where he continued to follow agricultural pursuits until 1852, when he entered the general merchandise business in Titusville, where he remained twelve years.  He then sold out and bought a gristmill, which he operated successfully and profitably for twelve years.  At the end of this time, in 1870, he sold out and came to Painesville, near which he bought his present farm of 210 acres, diversified by four kinds of soil, gravel, sand, muck and loom.  This is cultivated by mixed farming, besides which he keeps thirty-five cows and sells large quantities of milk in the city, which enterprise yields a profitable income.  For the past two years, Mr. Breed has rented his land, thus relieving himself of the active labor, while still sharing in the profits.  He has a comfortable home, good barns and other modern improvements, possessing altogether one of the most valuable places in the county.  His prosperity is entirely due to his own exertions, steady industry and careful economy, combined with intelligent management.  He began life with nothing and is now numbered among the substantial men of his vicinity, which circumstances speak well for his ability and energy.
     His first marriage occurred in 1845, to Angelet Daggett, a native of New York State, and they had one child, Frances, who married a Mr. Taber; she died, aged thirty-three.  Mrs. Breed died in 1868, leaving her family and many friends to mourn her loss.  In 1869, Mr. Breed married Miss H. Amelia Tracy, an estimable lady, a native of Chautauqua county, New York, who settled with her parents in Pennsylvania, when she was twenty years of age.  Their three children were: Nathan T.; Vernie, now deceased; and Flora E.
     Like his father, Mr. Breed is Democratic in politics, as in his opinion that party voices those sentiments best calculated to advance the interests of the people.  Of a progressive and public-spirited disposition, he has contributed to the general welfare of his community, and deserves the esteem which he so universally enjoys.
Source:  Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio embracing the Counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1893 - Page 607

CAPTAIN ELEAZER BURRIDGE, one of the largest land-owners and most prominent men of Lake county, Ohio, was born at Perry, this county, Jan. 14, 1822.
     Mr. Burridge is of English descent.  His grandfather Burridge was born in England, and when a boy attending school was pressed into the British service and taken on board a man of war bound for America to aid in supressing the Revolutionary war.  The vessel was run ashore off the coast of Newfoundland, whence he made his escape and came and joined the Continental army.  In it he fought until the close of the war.  Then he settled in Massachusetts, but, a fw years later, removed to Vermont.  He was engaged in farming in the Green Mountain State the rest of his life, and died there at advanced age.
     Captain Samuel Burridge, the father of our subject, was a native of Massachusetts.  He married Hannah Parmly, a native of Vermont, and a fw years after his marriage moved to Canada, where he was engaged in farming and gardening.  When the war of 1812 broke out he was given the alternative of joining the British or the American army.  Choosing the latter, he returned to New York, serving his time in the Federal army.  In 1814, with his family, he came to Lake county, Ohio, making the journey by ox team, and upon his arrival here he took up land in Perry township, being one of the first settlers of that place, there being only three families in that township at the time.  The country was then one vast wilderness, and he, being fond of hunting, killed many a deer, bear and wolf.  He built his log cabin in the woods and made some clearing.  Subsequently he settled in Painesville, and a few years later moved to Mentor, where he died, at the age of eighty years.  He was Captain of a company of militia here at an early day and was familiarly known as Captain Burridge.  He was a zealous member of the Methodist Church, and in every respect a just and upright man.  His wife died at the age of ninety-eight years.
     Captain Eleazer Burridge is one of a family of nine children, six of whom are living.   He first saw the light of day in a log cabin, and in a pioneer log schoolhouse he received his education.  The schools were conducted on the rate-bill system, the teacher “boardingaround.”  After reaching his majority be worked out by the month for some time and then went to Warren, JoDaviess county, Illinois, where he entered land.  His journey to Illinois was made chiefly on foot.  Two years later he returned to Ohio and purchased a farm near the center of Mentor township.  Subsequently, disposing of that, he bought his present property, then known as the Cobb farm.  To his original purchase here he has added until he now has 800 acres, which cost him on an average of $100 per acre.  In connection with his farming operations, he gives special attention to dairying and sheepraising, keeping a fine herd of Holstein cattle.  His whole estate is finely improved.  Among its attractions is a sugar orchard comprising 1,000 trees, from which he makes large quantities of syrup.
     Captain Burridge entered the Union army in August, 1801, as a private in Company F, Twenty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  He participated in the first battle of Winchester, Mar. 28, 1862, during which he acted as Second Lieutenant.  He was afterward promoted to the captaincy of the company in which he enlisted.  June 9, 1862, he was in the battle of Fort Republic, where twenty-two of his forty-five men were killed, wounded or missing.  He was struck on the head by a piece of shell and was carried off the field unconscious.  His skull was crushed and he was sent to Washington with 800 of his wounded comrades.  On reaching Washington, an Ohio lady named Lannon, with whom he had no previous acquaintance, obtained permission from the surgeon of his regiment and took Captain Burridge to her house on Pennsylvania avenue, and cared for him until his brother came for him.  He came home, and in October was sufficiently recovered to join his regiment at Frederick City, Maryland.  Being in Sigel’s reserve corps, he was not in the engagement at Fredericksburg.  His health continued poor, and he was discharged in February, 1863, on account of his disabilities.  Captain Burridge was married in November, 1852, to Margaret Macumber, a native of Mentor, this county.  They have six children: Levi, Sarah, Emma, Ehrick, Eleazar, Jr., and Kittie.
     Politically, the Captain is a staunch Republican.  He has served as Trustee of Mentor township and is now serving his fourth term as County Infirmary Director.  He is Senior Vice Commander of James A. Garfield Post, No. 591, G. A. R.  He and his wife are members of the Disciple Church at Mentor, the same church to which our late lamented Garfield belonged, the Captain being intimately acquainted with President Garfield.
     The subject of our sketch began life without a dollar, and to-day, as the result of his own industry and good management, he stands in the front ranks of the most successful men of his county.
Source:  Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio embracing the Counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1893 - Page 628