GEORGE W. INGERSOLL.  It is always pleasing to the biographist or student of human nature to enter into an analysis of the character and career of a successful tiller of the soil.  Of the many citizens gaining their own livelihood, he alone stands pre-eminent as a totally independent factor, in short, "monarch of all he surveys,"  His rugged honesty and sterling worth are the outcome of a close association with nature and in all the relations of life he manifests that generous hospitality and kindly human sympathy which beget comradeship and which cement to him the friendship of all with whom he comes in contact.  Successfully engaged in diversified agriculture on his fine estate of 150 acres in Elyria Township, George W. Ingersoll is decidedly a prominent and popular citizen in Lorain County, having lived in this section of the state since 1886.
     George W. Ingersoll was born at Grafton, Ohio, Sept. 10, 1864, being a son of George M. and Mary (Preston) Ingersoll, the latter of whom died in 1870.  Shortly after the death of his wife, Mr. Ingersoll removed to Elyria in order to have better educational facilities for his children.  For his second wife he married Elvira Bradley, who survived him for a number of years.  He passed to rest in 1895. There were three children born to the first marriage of whom two are living, in 1915.  Henry W., an attorney of Elyria, Ohio, married May Hamilton and has two children living, Mary C. and Henry W., Jr.; George W. is the subject of this review; Anna A. died, aged fourteen years, Mar. 18, 1881.
     In the common schools of Elyria George W. Ingersoll completed his preliminary educational training and he was graduated in the Elyria High School in 1884, at the age of nineteen years.  He then purchased a book store in Elyria and conducted the same with marked success for a short time.  He disposed of that business, however, on account of his health and went west to Colorado, where he obtained a tract of Government land on which he engaged in ranching in farming in the vicinity of Camden, Lorain County.  He remained there for about three years and after his marriage, in 1889, located in Elyria Township, this county.  Here he is the owner of a splendidly improved farm of 150 acres, the same being situated on Lake Avenue, just outside of the city limits of Elyria.  He is engaged in the raising of high-grade stock and has met with remarkable success in his agricultural pursuits.  The fine condition of his farm indicates good business management and everywhere can be seen signs of thrift and untiring industry.  In politics Mr. Ingersoll is a staunch supporter of the principles and policies for which the republican party stands sponsor and he takes a public-spirited interest in everything calculated to advance the welfare of the community along material and moral lines. He is well known and highly respected throughout this section of the county.
     Sept. 18, 1889, in Elyria, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Ingersoll to Miss Myrta Parmely, a daughter of Stanley M. and Mary (Sampson) Parmely, both of whom are now deceased.  Mr. and Mrs. Ingersoll have an adopted daughter, Gladys, who is now attending high school.
     The great-grandfather and the great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Ingersoll on the paternal side were early residents in Connecticut and were soldiers in the Revolutionary war, Asahel Parmely, grandfather of Mrs. Ingersoll, was a native of Vermont, and in August, 1817, in company with his parents, two brothers and his wife and two children, he came across the country in a covered wagon to Ohio, he settled, first, in Sullivan Township, Ashland County, and in 1829 removed to Elyria Township, Lorain County, and located on a farm which included all of George W. Ingersoll 's and a part of an adjacent farm.  He died Jan. 4, 1859, and his wife survived him many years, passing away Oct. 18, 1875.  Two children were born to Asahel and his wife, Fannie (Wright) Parmely, in Vermont, and five others in Ohio.  The first two were Hannah and Amandrin, the former of whom died in Medina County, Ohio, Aug. 22, 1817, when the family was enroute; she was buried in the woods, Amandrin was a farmer in Elyria Township for many years and his death occurred Mar. 21, 1891; he married Emily Thomas.  Concerning the five children born in Ohio the following facts are here inserted: Ashley, born Feb. 21, 1818, married Julia Mann, and died in Ashland County, Ohio; Lovilla M., born May 11, 1822, died, unmarried, in Elyria, Aug. 8, 1848; Rexaville E., born Feb. 28, 1825, died, unmarried, in Elyria, May 23, 1848; Freeman, horn Nov. 17, 1828, married Pamelia Hecock, in 1851, and died Jan. 10, 1893; and Stanley M., born in Elyria, Apr. 18, 1830, died Feb. 15, 1894.
     Stanley M. Parmely, the youngest of the foregoing children, was the father of Mrs. Ingersoll.  He married, in Chester, Massachusetts, Jan. 25, 1855, Mary Sampson, who died on the old homestead in Elyria Township, Dec. 6, 1915, aged eighty-four years.  To Mr. and Mrs. Stanley M. Parmely were born the following children: Nellie R. and Clara B. both died in childhood; Myrta P. is the wife of George W. Ingersoll, of this sketch; and Clarence D., born Sept. 11, 1876, is engaged in farming on the parental estate in Elyria Township; he married, first,  Gertrude Burlingame, who bore him one child, Mary Gladys, and for his second wife he married Margaret Tanswell.  The second union was prolific of three children: Marian, who died at the age of two years; and Inez and Thelma, both living, in 1915.
Source: A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page  837

Source: A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 974

RAY D. JOHNSON.   To no one class does Lorain County owe more of its wealth and strength and prosperity than to the agriculturist.  While the county as a whole has a well diversified development, many industries and productive resources, it is the farms taken in the aggregate which furnish the great bulk of material for the well being of its inhabitants.  One of the present generation of progressive farmers is Ray D. Johnson whose home is about a mile and a half east of LaGrange postoffice in LaGrange Township.
     The energy and enterprise which he has furnished as a propelling force in his own career and by which he has rendered his best service to the community are well indicated by the fact that when he was about sixteen years of age he and his brother contracted for the purchase of eighty acres of land.  He worked steadily, denied himself all luxuries, and he did not finish paying out his share on that land until he was twenty-nine years of age.  He kept his interest in this farm for a number of years.
     He represents pioneer stock in Lorain County, and was born on the Johnson homestead a mile and three-quarters south of LaGrange May 10, 1867, a son of George D. and Adaline (Luce) Johnson. His father was also born on the Johnson homestead in LaGrange Township October 4, 1836. The grandparents were Nathaniel and Rhoda (Crowner) Johnson.  Nathaniel Johnson was born at Watertown, New York, and came from that locality at a very early day, long before railroads were built into Ohio.  With a team of oxen and a wagon he made the journey to Lorain County, being six weeks en route, and located in the midst of the woods a mile and three-quarters south of LaGrange Village.  He paid about $3 an acre for 160 acres, and at one time owned 178 acres in that vicinity.  At the time of his settlement there were only three or four other families in the entire township.  His energy enabled him to clear up much of his land, and he died there when about sixty-four years of age, while his wife lived to be almost eighty-eight.
     George D. Johnson, father of Ray D., grew to manhood on the old farm, had a common school education to start with, and lived to enjoy contentment and prosperity in his later years.  He was a republican and a member of the Baptist Church.  Of six children, five grew up, and the three now living are: Flora, wife of Durell Battles of Wellington; Ray D.; and Lucy, wife of Gideon Leiby of LaGrange.
     Ray D. Johnson also spent his boyhood on the old farm south of LaGrange, and made his first independent venture in the manner already related.  He spent most of his years at home until nineteen, earning considerable money working for others.  After becoming established as a result of his hard and persistent labor he was married on Oct. 28, 1896, to Miss Cora Swartz.
     Mrs. Johnson was born on the home where she and her husband now reside Oct. 23, 1871, a daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Purdy) Swartz.  Her father was a native of Wuertemberg, Germany, coming to America at the age of two years with his parents, Frederick and Catherine (Metzgar) Swartz, who settled on a farm near Liverpool in Medina County.  Jacob Swartz grew up in Medina County and when about thirty-five years of age married Miss Purdy, who was born at Yonkers, Westchester County, New York, and had come to Medina County at the age of eight years.  Mr. and Mrs. Swartz after their marriage moved to their farm near LaGrange, where Mr. Swartz acquired 112 acres of land, and where he spent the rest of his years.  There were five children in the Swartz family, and the two now living are Mrs. Johnson and her brother Don A., who also lives in LaGrange Township.
     Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have nine children: Walter, born Mar. 18, 1898; Lola L., born Sept. 6, 1899, and now in the freshman class of the LaGrange High School; Erwin L., born Sept. 28, 1900; Everett Leland, born Dec. 17, 1901; Harvey W., born Feb. 22, 1903; Harland, born Dec. 11, 1905; Letha, born Jan. 25, 1907; Russell F., born Jan. 28, 1911; and Flora I., born Jan. 5, 1916.  In politics Mr. Johnson is an independent.
Source: A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio Vol.  II - Publ. 1916 - Page 916