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BIOGRAPHIES
 Source:
A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio
- Vol. II -
by G. Frederick Wright
1916
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HON. CLARENCE G. WASHBURN.
It was in 1892 that Judge Washburn
began the practice of law at Lorain and the honors
of office and a profitable patronage as a lawyer
soon followed. For many years Judge
Washburn has represented the qualities of the
true leader in the life of Lorain County, and the
worth of his career is attested by many important
relations with the institutions and affairs of his
home city.
Clarence Griffin Washburn was born in Greenwich
Township of Huron County, Ohio, Feb. 19, 1867, a son
of Henry C. and Charlotte (Griffin) Washburn.
His parents came to Ohio from the vicinity of
Syracuse, New York, and in earlier generations the
ancestors were Connecticut people. Judge
Washburn was sixteen years old when his mother
died and ten years later the father died.
His father was a farmer, but in later years lived in
the Village of Greenwich, where Judge Washburn
spent the first eighteen years of his life.
With a common school education and with good natural
endowments, he then went out to Kansas with an older
brother, and after his return three years later
spent one year in conducting a retail shoe business
in Huron County. This was the sum of his
experiences before he took up the study of law in
the office of T. L. Strimple. From the
private study of law about two years later he
entered the law department of the University of
Michigan, where he was graduated June 30, 1892.
In the spring of 1892, having been admitted to
practice law in Ohio, he obtained a leave of absence
from the University and opened an office at Lorain,
returning to Ann Arbor in June to take examinations
which gave him the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
His first important official position was village
solicitor, to which he was appointed by the council
of Lorain in 1894. About that time came a much more
important event in his life, his marriage on July
25, 1894, to Miss Maude M. Marsh, of
Greenwich, and an old schoolmate of Judge
Washburn. Few wives have been more
practical and helpful companions to their husbands
than Mrs. Washburn. Prior to her
marriage she had been deputy in the probate office
of Huron County, and when Judge Washburn was
elected clerk of courts of Lorain County in 1896 she
assisted him in the office, and in all their
relations, both in business and at home, their lives
have been singularly felicitous and harmonious,
Mrs. Washburn was admitted to practice
law in Ohio in 1896, but has never exercised that
privilege in a professional way.
In 1897, following his election to county office.
Judge Washburn moved to Elyria, and
has since had his home in that city. He was
reelected to the office of clerk in 1899, and did
not return actively to the practice of law until the
fall of 1903. In 1904 Governor Myron T.
Herrick appointed him judge of the Common Pleas
Court for the second subdivision of the Fourth
Judicial District, to serve until his successor was
elected. At a special election he was chosen
his own successor in November, 1905, and by
re-election in 1906 continued on the bench until
1913. In 1912, while still in office as Common
Pleas judge, he was nominated by the republicans for
judge of the Court of Appeals in the Eighth Judicial
District, which included the City of Cleveland.
Owing to the split in the republican party of that
year Judge Washburn failed to receive
an election which otherwise would have been largely
a matter of course. In February, 1913, he
resumed the practice of law at Elyria.
When Judge and Mrs. Washburn were married they
were both poor, and they have used their abilities
and opportunities to secure the most cherished of
their ambitions, a good home and family of fine
children, and means to live comfortably. Their
children are: Charlotte Edwards, aged
seventeen; Anna Paine, aged sixteen;
Warner Marsh, aged twelve; and
Elizabeth, aged seven. Mrs.
Washburn has proved a model mother, and in her
success as a home-maker and in her capable judgment
in business affairs she shares the honors of
accomplishment associated with the name of her
husband. Both are active members of the First
Congregational Church of Elyria. For about ten
weeks every summer the family live at the Summer
Assembly Grounds maintained by the Congregational
Church at Crystal Lake near Frankfort, Michigan, and
Judge Washburn manages to spend about
two weeks of the year at the same place.
Judge Washburn is affiliated with the
Masonic Order and the Knights of Pythias and in
politics has always been a republican. He is a
director in the Savings Deposit Bank & Trust Company
of Elyria, is a member of the Elyria Chamber of
Commerce, a life member of the Library Board, a
member of the Board of Trustees of the Young Men's
Christian Association, a life member of the Elyria
Memorial Hospital, was former president and is now a
trustee of the Social Settlement at Elyria, has
served as president of the Elyria Country Club, and
has been president of the Men's Club of the
Congregational Church, an organization that has been
in existence for the past eight years. Through
these and other channels he finds opportunities to
do a great deal of public-spirited work in behalf of
his home city and county. Judge
Washburn is a member of the Lorain County Bar
Association and is trustee of the Lorain County Law
Library Association. His chief recreation is
golf.
Source: A Standard History
of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick
Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 653 |
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HON. GEORGE G.
WASHBURN. A rare character both in its
public service and in its varied influences upon the
men and institutions of Elyria and of Lorain County
was that of the late George G. Washburn, for
many years distinguished in this part of Ohio as a
journalist and editor, as a business man, and as one
of the founders and for a number of years one of the
board of managers of the reformatory at Mansfield.
His active career covered a most vital period in the
history of Lorain County and Ohio, beginning in the
'40s and continuing until his death at his home in
Elyria on June 3, 1898.
Though he was largely self-educated and depended upon
his own efforts for self-advancement, he came of
family and antecedents of such character, that much
might be predicted of his life at its beginning.
He was born Nov. 24, 1821, at Orange, Grafton
County, New Hampshire, a son of Azel Washburn,
who was born at Lyme, New Hampshire, and is
descended from an English family that settled near
Boston very early in the history of that colony.
Mr. Washburn's mother was Elizabeth N.
Danforth. She was born at Londonderry, New
Hampshire, and was closely related to the new family
of Greggs, members of which founded the Town
of Londonderry. The Greggs are
distinguished as having been the first to
manufacture flax spinning wheels in America.
For a number of generations at least one male member
of the Greggs family was taught the art of
manufacturing that implement, and it is said that
the last wheels of that kind were made in Elyria
about 1838 by Col. William Greggs, now
deceased.
As a boy in New Hampshire and after the family came to
Ohio, George G. Washburn had many limitations
interposed by circumstance between him and his
ambitions for learning and attainment. There
were no regular schools, and only for brief periods
did his parents secure the services of a private
instructor in their household for the training of
their three sons. In 1832 the family removed
from New Hampshire to Ohio locating in Perry now
Lake County. For three years the sons attended
the pioneer schools in that community. In 1835
the family came to Camden in Lorain County.
This was then a wilderness country and the hard work
involved in clearing up a new farm left little
opportunity for growing boys to attend school.
In that locality George G. Washburn spent
seven years, and during the latter part of that
period taught school during the winters.
In 1842 he removed to Brandenburg, Kentucky, where he
conducted a private school, but soon returned to
Ohio and for three years alternated between teaching
in the winter months and in studying at Oberlin
during the summer. In the spring of 1846 he
removed to Elyria, where he became an articled
student of law in the office of Hon. Philemon Bliss.
Two years later he was admitted to the bar, and for
a similar period practiced in partnership with
Hon. Sylvester Bagg.
It was not in the law but in journalism that Mr.
Washburn exercised his greatest influence in the
life and affairs of Lorain County. His first
introduction to that career came in 1850 when he was
persuaded to edit the Elyria Courier. Most
local newspapers of that time were organs of a
political party, and the Courier was the mouthpiece
for the whig party in Lorain County. In 1852,
during the last presidential campaign in which the
whig party was an entity, the office was destroyed
by fire without insurance, and the entire investment
was a total loss. However, Mr. Washburn
had become thoroughly committed to journalism, had
proved his ability as a trenchant and forceful
writer, and the destruction of the plant proved no
permanent bar to his continuance in the profession.
He borrowed money enough to purchase a new outfit,
gave up the practice of law, and was soon devoting
all his time and energies to journalism. He
was as successful in business management as he was
as an editor. At that time it was hardly
expected that a political organ would prove
self-sustaining, and in fact such a newspaper proved
usually a heavy tax upon the party. In a short
time Mr. Washburn had brought his journal to
independence financial, and in 1854 he merged it
with the Independent Democrat. A number of
years later he effected another consolidation,
merging his enterprise with the Elyria Republican,
and for a long term of years Mr. Washburn was
the editor and proprietor of this old and
influential Lorain County paper.
Outside of journalism his services extended in many
other direction. At the beginning of the war
in 1861 Governor Dennison appointed him
secretary of the County Military Committee, and he
was a member of that holy until the close of the
war, spending much time in visiting camps and
battlefields in the interests of the soldiers of
Lorain County. Although he was for many years active
in the field of political warfare, he never sought
any political honors for himself, and such offices
as he did hold were accepted entirely from a desire
to perform particular service. For a number of
years he advocated a state institution as a
reformatory for young men, and in order to carry out
his plans effectively became a candidate for the
Legislature, and served four years in that body.
While in the Legislature he was author of the bill
which passed and provided for the establishment of
the reformatory at Mansfield has a somewhat
distinctive character, and the ideal was present in
the mind of Mr. Washburn when he planned and
worked for the establishment of the institution.
It could not be described as the usual type of
reform school for boys, since the Mansfield
Reformatory takes young men between the ages of
seventeen and thirty, after weaknesses and bad
habits have hardened in many cases into permanent
lines of criminality. However, they are not
irredeemable criminals, and the purpose of the
reformatory is not penal so much as corrective and
educative and has done much to replace old lives and
methods of action with new. Mr. Washburn's
work in behalf of the institution was followed by
his appointment by Governor James G. Campbell
on Apr. 27, 1890, as a member of the board of
managers for the reformatory, and he was reappointed
Apr. 27, 1895, by Governor William McKinley.
During the last eleven years of his life the welfare
of the Mansfield institution was the matter closest
to his heart, and of all his services he perhaps
found that the most satisfying.
In 1844 Mr. Washburn married Miss Luana M.
Hill. She died in 1855, leaving two
daughters. Celia Georgiana is now the
wife of Henry Lee Lathrop of San Antonio,
Texas. She has two children: Walter
Washburn Lathrop, now a resident of Tacoma,
Washington; and Alice Washburn Lathrop of San
Antonio. The second daughter, Alice Mary,
who married John M. Vincent, of Fort Worth,
Texas, died at Elyria Aug. 12, 1888, leaving two
daughters: Stella Louise, now living at
Carmel, California; and Alice Vincent, who
married Harry Court Coleman, of Dalhart,
Texas.
In October, 1856, Mr. Washburn married at
Buffalo, New York, Mrs. Sarah N. Oatman of
that city. Mrs. Washburn is still
living at the old residence on Washington Avenue
which was built by Mr. Washburn forty-four
years ago, and is one of the residential landmarks
of many associations in the City of Elyria.
In 1858 Mr. Washburn became a stockholder in the
Lorain Bank of Elyria, a branch of the old State
Bank. This subsequently became the First
National Bank. In addition to his service in
the Legislature he was also a member of the city
council and for six years was president of the
school board. However, outside of this
valuable work in behalf of the State Reformatory at
Mansfield, he deserves to be best remembered for his
strong influence and success as an editor and
newspaper manager.
Source: A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio -
Vol. II by G. Frederick Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page
569 |
Walter H. Watts |
WALTER HICKMAN WATTS
Source: A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio
- Vol. II by G. Frederick Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page
927 |
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ADDISON WELLS.
Representing one
of Ihe fine older families of Lorain County, the
late Addison Wells, though his life was not spared
beyond bis prime, should be remembered as one of the
old soldiers who went out from this county during
the critical period of the Civil war and who in all
his relations bore himself honorably and faithfully.
Born in Lorain County in 1838, the late Addison
Wells was a son of Harlow and Elmira
(Kelsey) Wells. His parents came from
Connecticut and settled in Lorain County in pioneer
times, and established one of the early farms here.
Addison Wells was educated in the
district schools, learned farming and was already
beginning an independent career when the war came
on. He served with a creditable record in one
of the Union regiments, and after the war returned
to Lorain County and became identified with railroad
work, being boss of a track gang and was killed
while engaged in his duties in 1880 at the age of
forty-two.
In 1859 he married Miss Cynthia Lord,
of Elyria Township. Their children were:
George, who grew up and married; Clara,
who died after her marriage; Charles, who
died in childhood; Jessie, who died at the
age of nineteen; Eugene, who is a mechanic
living on the west side of Elyria, is a member of
the Sons of Veterans, of the Loyal Order of Moose
and other fraternities, and by his marriage has one
child, Loree, now ten years of age.
Mrs. Addison Wells now lives on
Lake Avenue in Elyria Township, has a comfortable
little homestead of 4½
acres, and is one of the highly esteemed women of
that community.
Source: A Standard History
of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick
Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 842 |
Children of
Frank S. Whitney |
FRANK S. WHITNEY
Source: A Standard History
of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick
Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 1006
|
Otis J. Whitney
& Family |
OTIS J. WHITNEY
Source: A Standard History of
Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick Wright
- Publ. 1916 - Page 991 |
Mr. & Mrs.
Terry C. Whitney |
TERRY C. WHITNEY
Source: A Standard History of
Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick Wright
- Publ. 1916 - Page 983 |
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DAVID A. WILLIAMS.
The career of David A. Williams is a noble
illustration of what independence, self-faith and
persistency can accomplish in America. He is a
self-made man in the most significant sense of the
word, for no one helped him in a financial way and
he is practically self-educated. As a young
man he was vigorous and self-reliant; he trusted in
his own ability and did things single-handed and
alone. Today he commands esteem as a
successful business man and a loyal and
public-spirited citizen. Much of his time has
been devoted to his business as foreman of the Thew
Automatic Shovel Company.
A native son of the Buckeye State, David A. Williams
was born in Norwalk, Ohio, Jan. 21, 1870, and he
is a son of David O. and Cornelia Ann (Spoors)
Williams, both of whom are now deceased.
The father was born in Ohio and the mother in
Pennsylvania, their marriage having been .solemnized
in the former state. Mr. Williams was
an engineer on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern
Railroad during the greater part of his active
career and he met with death by accident at the
railroad crossing in Jackson, Michigan, while on
duty, at which time he was but thirty-eight years of
age. During the Civil war he enlisted in
Company G, Twenty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry,
and served as corporal until he was promoted to the
office of captain in Company A, that regiment.
He received the latter distinction for recapturing
the flag winch had been taken by the enemy.
This flag is now on exhibition at Columbus, where
Mr. and Mrs. David A. Williams saw it
while on a visit recently. Mrs.
Williams, mother of the subject, passed to the
life eternal at Norwalk, in 1914, aged eighty-nine
years. There were ten children in the
Williams family - five boys and five
girls, of whom five are living at the present time,
in 1915, as follows: William Henry is
a resident of Norwalk, Ohio; Ellis O. is a
passenger conductor on the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy Railroad and resides at Galesburg, Illinois;
Phoeba Ann is the widow of Thomas Cherry
and makes her home at Norwalk; Addie is the
wife of Joseph Lillard, of Gilroy,
California; and David A. is he whose name
forms the caption for this review.
After the demise of his father David A. Williams
lived at Bowling Green, Ohio, with his aunt,
Adafna Slinker, and in that place
received his early schooling. Subsequently he
began to work in a grocery store and at the age of
sixteen years he returned to Norwalk and entered the
shops of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern
Railroad, where he learned the trade of forger .
After twelve years' experience in those shops he
accepted a position in the Wheeling & Lake Erie
shops at Norwalk, remaining there for fifteen
months. Thence he went to Connellsville,
Pennsylvania, where he worked at the trade of forger
in an automobile shop for a time. In 1901 he
came to Elyria, Ohio, and here he has since resided.
His first position in this place was as a forger for
the Thew Automatic Shovel Company and he has
been with this concern during the past eleven years,
during most of which time he has served as foreman.
At the time of the inception of the Spanish-American
war, in 1898, Mr. Williams enlisted in
Company G, Fifth Ohio Volunteer Regiment, as a
sergeant and he subsequently served as
sergeant-major in the Third Battalion. He did not
see active service in the war, however, but went as
far as Tampa, Florida. Prior to the outbreak
of the war he was a member of the Ohio National
Guard.
In political allegiance Mr. Williams is a
stalwart republican and he has recently become
actively interested in local politics. In the
primary results of Aug. 10, 1915, he was nominated
on the republican ticket for the office of president
of the city council of Elyria, winning over his
opponent, J. A. Rawson, by a vote of 691 to
467. In his campaign for the nomination he
announced himself in favor of a municipal lighting
plant and of other public utilities as conditions
might warrant, and was elected at the November
election and made president of that body. He
considers the sidewalks of as much importance as the
streets and believes in considering the interests of
the property holder in establishing new grades.
In a fraternal way Mr. Williams is a member of
Elyria Lodge, No. 103, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, in which he is now past noble grand; and he
is likewise affiliated with the time-honored Masonic
fraternity, being a member of King Solomon Lodge,
Free and Accepted Masons; Marshal Chapter, No. 47,
Royal Arch Masons; Elyria Council, No, 86, Royal and
Select Masters, of which he is present conductor;
and Elyria Commandery, No. 60, Knights Templars, of
which he is past eminent commander. He and his
wife are members of the Order of the Eastern Star
and he is likewise connected with the Yeomen.
Oct. 11, 1899, was celebrated the marriage of Mr.
Williams to Miss Sarah Gladys Tough, a
daughter of Samuel C. and Mary Ellen (Kile) Tough,
who are residents of Townsend Center, Ohio, where
Mr. Tough is engaged in the grocery business.
Mrs. Williams was born at Norwalk, Ohio,
and she completed her educational training at
Collins, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Williams
have one daughter, Ethel Bernice, a pupil in
the graded schools of Elyria. The Williams
family occupy a beautiful residence at No.
627 East River Street*, directly opposite the
beautiful grounds of the Elyria Memorial Hospital,
and the same is the scene of many attractive social
gatherings. In religious faith Mr. and Mrs.
Williams are devout members of the
Congregational Church, to whose good works they are
liberal contributors. Mr. Williams
is a progressive citizen, a splendid business man
and a great lover of the home fireside.
Source: A Standard History
of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick
Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 1018
*Note: The residence is no longer there. |
Perry S. Williams |
PERRY S. WILLIAMS.
Of the editors and newspaper publishers who now
control the destinies of the Lorain County press the
name of Perry S. Williams has longer been
prominent than any other, Mr. Williams
having since 1896 been identified with the
publications of The Republican Printing Company.
These now include The Elyria Republican, the oldest
journal of the county, and The Evening Telegram, the
most widely read daily publication between Cleveland
and Toledo. During Mr. Williams' administration
the company has also taken over The Lorain County
Reporter, daily and weekly, and The Elyria Democrat,
weekly, merging them with the publications of his
company, of which he has been the general manager
and editorial head since 1900.
A native of Toledo, Ohio, and a son of R. H. and
Lucy (Stearns) Williams, Perry Williams has
spent most of his life in Elyria. His father
was a Welsh descent and his mother belonged to the
Stearns family, originally represented
in Vermont, and also identified with the pioneer
settlement of Lorain and Cuyahoga counties, Ohio.
Since graduating from the Elyria High School with the
class of 1895, Mr. Williams has been almost
continuously identified with newspaper work in some
form or other. In 1900 he became editor and
manager of the Elyria Republican which was founded
in 1829 and is now one of the oldest papers with the
Western Reserve. A few years later Mr.
Williams became the instrument in effecting one
of the most important consolidations in the history
of the Lorain County press. In March, 1907,
the Elyria Reporter, the principal competitor of the
Republican, went into the hands of a receiver.
Mr. Williams, acting for his company, bought
the property at the receiver's sale, and combined
the Weekly Reporter with the Republican, continuing
the daily issue under the new name of the Evening
Telegram. In 1916 the subscription list and
good will of the Elyria Democrat were also taken
over by Mr. Williams and merged with
his above mentioned publications. The company
also operate the largest commercial printing
business in the county.
For many years Mr. Williams has identified
himself with the important affairs of Lorain County
particularly politically, but always as a side line
incident to his publishing enterprises. He has
never sought or accepted any office or commission
which would take his whole time and attention to the
exclusion of his newspaper work. His political
activities began in 1900 when he was a president of
the First Voters Club of Elyria at that time the
only active republican club in the city. Later
he became secretary of the Republican County
Executive Committee, serving two terms. He was
elected city treasurer in May, 1902, and twice
re-elected, serving for seven years in all, and
holding that office until Jan. 1, 1910, at which
date President Taft commissioned him as
supervisor of census for the Thirteenth Ohio
district, comprising seven counties.
In 1912 he was a representative of the Fourteenth Ohio
District at the National Progressive Convention in
Chicago which nominated Theodore Roosevelt
for president. From August, 1913, to August,
1915, he was Lorain County License Commissioner,
acting as chairman of the board for the troublous
first year of its operations when it put seventy
Lorain County saloons out of business to meet the
requirement of the new Ohio law.
In 1914 Williams was chosen chairman of the
Lorain County Progressive Executive and Central
Committees and in 1916 was again named a
representative to the National Progressive
Convention at Chicago.
Mr. Williams is affiliated with King Solomon's
Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons, with Elyria
Lodge No. 465, Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, Elyria Lodge Fraternal Order of Eagles, Sons
of Veterans, Young Men's Christian Association,
Elyria Chamber of Commerce, Elyria Country Club, and
other local organizations.
Source: A Standard History
of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick
Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 1033 |
S. A. Williams |
SALONAS
A. WILLIAMS.
In recent years Salonas A. Williams of
Wellington has given his mature experience and
ability to public service as state oil inspector.
With the exception of a portion of his boyhood,
which he spent in the Union army during the Civil
war, the career of Salonas A. Williams has
been identified with Lorain County practically all
his life. He has worked hard and done well
every task assigned him by destiny. Oftentimes
he has worked against the current rather than with
it, and has made himself worthy of the success and
esteem which belong to him in the latter years.
He was born in Eaton Township of Lorain County May 2,
1849, a son of Alanson and Elizabeth (Jay)
Williams. His mother, who was born in
Broome County, New York, was a granddaughter of
John Jay, one of the most conspicuous characters
in early American national history. Mr.
Williams' paternal grandfather, Nathan
Williams, came out of New York and bought a
farm in LaGrange Township in the very early times.
Later he moved to Iowa, where he died at the age of
ninety-five. He acquired extensive holdings in
the new lands of that then western state and was a
man of considerable influence and was considered
wealthy for his time. Alanson Williams
was born in Binghamton, Broome County, New York, in
1818 and died in 1851. He did what many boys
of spirit and adventure do, ran away from home, and
at the age of eighteen came to Lorain County.
He lived the life of a farmer, was a quiet and well
esteemed citizen, and at the time of his death left
a small farm in LaGrange Township. He married
his wife in Lorain County. They were the
parents of three children: Lorinda married
Philander Nichols, who was a carpenter
and died at Wellington, and she now lives with a
daughter at Creaton in Wayne County, Ohio;
Caroline, the other sister of Mr. S. A.
Williams, is now living in Kansas City,
Missouri, the widow of Demetrius Johnson,
who was a soldier and afterwards a stonemason, and
died in Kansas.
Salonas A. Williams was twelve years old when
the war broke out. Most of his education was
received after the war and he attended the public
schools only a few terms prior to his enlistment on
Aug. 17, 1864, in Company A of the Sixty-sixth Ohio
Volunteer Infantry. He reached the front in
time to participate in some of the most striking
campaigns of the war, and was with Sherman on
his march from Atlanta to the sea and up through the
Carolinas, and was granted an honorable discharge at
the close of hostilities. After the war he
attended Oberlin College two terms, and has been a
resident of Wellington almost continuously since
1868. For a time he worked as clerk in the
Bending Works for W. R. Santley, and after
two years transferred his services to D. L.
Wadsworth in the latter's planing mill, where he
remained five years. He then assisted Mr.
Wadsworth in constructing a planing mill and had
charge of its machinery five years. Again he
was in the employ of the Santley Works for Mrs.
Santley, for ten years Mr. Williams was
elected and served as marshal of Wellington.
On Sept. 18, 1872 he married Frances Avery,
daughter of Lewis B. Avery, who was an early
settler in Pittsfield Township and also owned a far
in Wellington Township and a sawmill. He was
killed while working in the sawmill. Mr.
and Mrs. Williams had seven children.
Myrna B. is the wife of Elmer Kissinger,
a farmer at Creston, Ohio; Lewis Archie lives
in the West; Gerald Avery conducts an
automobile line and has an establishment near Kent,
Ohio; Maude is the wife of Jud Jackson,
a farmer in Penfield Township; Beulah married
Archie Davis, a railroad man at Columbus;
Ward is a granite cutter living at Ashland,
Ohio; Russell M. is in the railroad service
and lives in Columbus. Recently Russell
Williams was given an award by the commission
who have charge of the Carnegie hero medal fund of
$2,000 for having saved some boys from drowning, and
he is at this writing preparing to spend this money
wisely, or a portion of it at least, in taking up a
technical course. The mother of these children
died in June, 1909. She was a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Williams has been very prominent in
fraternal affairs and particularly so in the Grand
Army organization. He is now serving his third
term as chairman of the Sailors' and Soldiers'
Relief Commission. He has served as commander
of the Grand Army Post. He is a member and was
state organizer for the Knights of the Maccabees.
He has been through all the chairs of the
subordinate and encampment degrees of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and for six years
served as district deputy grand master. He is
also affiliated with the Masonic Order.
Politically Mr. Williams is a republican.
He was appointed and on July 1, 1915, took charge of
the office of oil inspector, having charge of the
fifteenth district, including Lorain County and
parts of the Cuyahoga and Huron counties. He
and his family occupy one of the pleasant
homes of Wellington.
Source: A Standard History
of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick
Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 1010 |
|
|
HON. SEWARD HENRY WILLIAMS.
In none of the professions is the importance of
comprehensive training more evident than in the
domain of the law. A university education is a
vital necessity if the devotee is ambitious to reach
a plane beyond the practice of the small courts and
the mediocre level of pettifogging. Prior to
entering upon the practice of his chosen calling,
Hon. Seward Henry Williams, of Lorain, prepared
himself with patience and thoroughness, with the
result that he was able to immediately take his
place among the leaders of the bar, and since his
entrance into professional life has not only gained
a position of standing among the legists of Ohio,
but has become a public figure of national
reputation, being a representative from Ohio in the
Sixty-fourth United States Congress.
Congressman Williams was born at Amsterdam, New
York, Nov. 7, 1870, and is a son of John J. and
Maria Louise (Montonye) Williams. His
father, a weaver by trade, enlisted in Company B,
One Hundred and Fifteenth Regiment, New York
Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil war, and was
captured by the forces of "Stonewall" Jackson,
at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. On May 7, 1865,
at Chesterfield Heights, Virginia, he was wounded,
this being one of the many battles of the
Wilderness, but recovered and finally received his
honorable discharge at the close of hostilities.
After attending the public schools of his native place,
Seward H. Williams enrolled as a student at
Amsterdam Academy, and when his course there was
completed entered Williams College. This was
followed by attendance at Princeton College, where
he took the law preparatory course, the head of the
law preparatory department of the institution at
that time being Woodrow Wilson, now President of the
United States. His regular law course was
pursued at Washington and Lee University, at
Lexington, Virginia, from which he was graduated in
1895, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and
immediately came to Lorain, where he entered active
practice. He has since continued in the
enjoyment of a constantly-increasing business, which
includes all branches of the profession.
Mr. Williams served four years as a city
solicitor of Lorain, as well as a member of the
Lorain Board of Education, and was then sent to the
Seventy-ninth Ohio Legislature, succeeding himself
in the eightieth session of that body. While
thus serving he was a member of the committee on
Judiciary during both sessions, and took part in
much active legislation, being the father of the
so-called "gun-toting" bill, which made the carrying
of concealed weapons a penitentiary offense.
The quality of his public service brought him most
favorably before the public and in 1914 he was made
the candidate of the republican party for election
of the national House of Representatives, from the
Fourteenth Congressional District of Ohio.
Elected in November, 1914, he took his seat in that
body in 1915, and has worked most faithfully in the
interests of his constituents. He was
appointed to membership on the following committees:
Election of President, Vice-President, and
Representatives in Congress and Railways and Canals.
The congressman is connected fraternally with the
Masons, in which he has attained to the
thirty-second degree; the Knights of Pythias; the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the
Loyal Order of Moose, of which he is first dictator,
and also holds membership in the Sons of Veterans.
With his family, he belongs to the Methodist
Episcopal Church.
On Sept. 29, 1897, Mr. Williams was united in
marriage with Miss Jeannette Reynolds, of
Lorain, daughter of John T. Reynolds.
To this union there have been born a son and a
daughter: Seward Reynolds and Margaret
Louise.
Source: A Standard History
of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick
Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 1043 |
Mr. & Mrs.
William T. Williams |
WILLIAM TYLER WILLIAMS.
To find farm improvement and efficiency at its best
it is only necessary to visit the Riverside Farm
owned by William Tyler Williams in
Carlisle Township, two miles from the public square
of Elyria. This was formerly known as the
W. E. Miller Farm, and comprises 70¾
acres and is remarkable not so much for its size and
for the intensive cultivation of the land and for
the many splendid improvements which make it not
only a farm in the ordinary sense but a splendid
home. Every building is of most thorough
construction and the barns have cement floors,
cement feed troughs, and the stock have running
water without leaving their stalls. The
specialty of the farm is graded and registered
Holstein and Jersey cattle. A great deal of
credit has been given to the equipment of this farm,
and one of the prominent features are two large
silos built of hollow tile. Water is piped not
only throughout the barn but to other buildings and
there is both hot and cold water throughout the
house. A gas well on the farm supplies ample
fuel and light.
Mr. Williams came to this place Sept. 1, 1912,
from Cuyahoga County, in Mayfield Township, where he
had spent the greater part of his life and where he
was born Feb. 15, 1841. His parents were
Daniel and Alice (Blish) Williams, both of whom
were born and reared on farms near Colchester,
Connecticut. His father was a carpenter and
joiner by occupation in early days, used his trade
to become a contractor, and was a quite successful
man. He was not married until forty-one years
of age, and soon after that event he moved out to
Northern Ohio and located in Mayfield Township of
Cuyahoga County. He came there in order to
make a sale of some Western Reserve land, and he was
engaged very extensively in the selling of such land
for several years. He bought on his own
account 257 acres, and that was the old homestead
where William T. Williams spent his early
boyhood. There were four sons in the family,
William T. being the youngest. The
oldest, Daniel B., moved out to California on
account of his health and died there at the age of
seventy-seven leaving three children. Abram
F., the second son, lived on the old home farm
in Mayfield Township until his death at the age of
sixty-seven and was survived by two children.
The other living son, Henry C., is a farmer
in Van Wert County, Ohio, and has three children.
When William T. Williams was about a year and a
half old his father died, and he was reared by his
mother on the old Mayfield township farm.
During his childhood and early youth he attended the
common schools, and every morning and night walked a
distance of three miles between the home and school.
He managed to secure the equivalent of a high school
education, and when he was about twenty years of age
the old farm was divided and he and a brother became
owners of ninety acres. About that time he
also took up work as a teamster for the government
in the Civil war, having enlisted for that service.
Exposure and hardship brought in train a serious
illness on account of which he was honorably
discharged, but after recuperating he again enlisted
and this time was made assistant wagonmaster.
Thus he rendered a very necessary service to his
country in time of peril.
On Feb. 22, 1866, Mr. Williams married Miss
Cornelia Smith of Cleveland Township, where she
was born May 3, 1841, a daughter of Horatio N.
and Rebecca (Mattox) Smith. Her father was
a native of Vermont, came to Ohio when still single,
and met and married his wife in Cleveland.
For nine years after his marriage Mr. Williams
and wife lived in Mayfield Township, but in 1874 he
bought fifty acres of land in Olmsted Township, and
that was his home for thirty-nine years. It
was in that community that he developed his
extensive business as a stockman and farmer, and his
farm was known for miles around as the home of
thoroughbred Jersey cattle. He was also one of
the founder of the village of North Olmsted, which
is now incorporated and flourishing community
center.
Mr. Williams' father had been an active whig in
the early days of Northern Ohio, and in 1860 the son
first took an active part in a political campaign,
supporting the republican party, and in 1864 he had
the inestimable privilege of casting a vote for
Abraham Lincoln. Throughout his residence
in North Olmsted he was again and again honored by
places of public trust. He served as trustee
of the township three times and was twice a
candidate for county commissioner, being defeated by
a very narrow margin. Some years ago he was a
delegate to the State Republican Convention at
Toledo and was one of the men who supported and
endorsed the candidacy of Mark Hanna for
United States senator.
Mr. and Mrs. Williams became the parents of five
children, two of whom died in childhood. Their
son Howard O., born in Mayfield Township, is
a graduate of the high school at North Olmsted and
is now the practical assistant of Mr. Williams
on the home farm and is looking after the dairying
end of the business. The daughter, Stella
A., married Frederick B. Nelson and lives
in New York City. The daughter, Mable A.,
graduated from the high school at North Olmsted,
attended school at Elyria and was also in the
Woman's College at Wooster, and for a number of
years has been a very successful and popular
teacher, being a number of years has been a very
successful and popular teacher, being now connected
with the South School in Cleveland.Source: A Standard History
of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick
Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 960 |
Charles E. Wilson
|
CHARLES
E. WILSON. From a
successful career as a farmer in Avon Township,
Charles E. Wilson graduated into a position of
business and public leadership at Elyria.
Mr. Wilson is one of the honored veterans
of the Civil war, has spent most of his life in
Lorain County, has served with credit in public
office, and among other important relations which he
sustains toward business is chairman of the board of
directors of the Lorain County Savings & Trust
Company, one of the largest and solidest banking
institutions of Northern Ohio.
Charles E. Wilson was born in Avon Township,
Lorain County, Ohio, August 26, 1840, a son of
William and Elvira (Clisbee) Wilson. The father
was born in Northamptonshire, England, in 1812, and
came to the United States at the age of eighteen
with his father, William. William,
Sr., was twice married, and his first wife
died in England and his second in Avon Township.
After living in Cleveland, Ohio, for a few years
William Wilson, Jr., was married
in that city to Miss Elvira Clisbee,
and in 1839 they removed to Avon Township, Lorain
County, settling on a tract of land which at that
time was covered by woods. He died there Jan.
19, 1860, at the age of forty-seven years two months
and nine days. In politics he was a democrat,
and a member of the Baptist Church. His wife,
who was of New England stock, lived to be
eighty-five years of age and passed away at Tabor,
Iowa, May 25, 1904. In 1867, after the
marriage of her son Charles, she and three of
her children went to Cassopolis, Michigan, lived in
that state about three years, and then went West to
Tabor, Iowa, where she spent the rest of her years.
Mrs. Wilson in Iowa took a very
prominent part in church work, was a devoted
Baptist, and was especially known for her kindness
and helpfulness in times of sickness and need.
She was laid to rest at Tabor. In the family
were six children, three boys and three girls, of
which two sons and one daughter are still living:
Charles E., who is the oldest of the family;
Nancy, wife of N. S, Phelps, living on a
farm near Glenwood, Iowa; Louis E., of
Tarkio, Atchison County, Missouri; Anna, wife
of J. S. Graves of Tabor, Iowa, died there
leaving one son, Thaddeus L., who after the
death of his mother was brought to Lorain County by
his uncle, Charles E. Wilson, was reared and
graduated from the Elyria schools and is now married
and lives in Portland, Oregon; Willis S., who
died at the age of twenty-three in Tabor, Iowa,
where he is buried; and Alice, who died and
was buried at Tabor, Iowa. All these children
were born in Avon Township, Lorain County.
Charles E. Wilson had the stimulating
environment of the partly developed farm during his
early youth, and when the occasion and opportunity
were given attended the common schools of Avon
Township. He afterwards had one term of
instruction in Oberlin College. He had just
reached manhood when the war broke out, but did not
enlist until 1864, when he left the heavy
responsibilities of the home and enlisted in Company
H of the First Ohio Heavy Artillery, which was in
service chiefly in Eastern Tennessee. He
remained with the army until after the close of the
war, and was discharged at Nashville, Tennessee, in
June, 1865. After the surrender of Lee
he returned home, and in the fall of the same year
drove a team to Iowa, and spent one year on a farm
in that state. Returning to Lorain County, he
was married, and located on the old homestead, which
for several years he rented, and later bought.
Mr. Wilson was an active and
progressive farmer in Avon Township until 1886, and
now for almost thirty years has been a resident of
the City of Elyria. In public affairs he has
always been an influential factor, and his chief
service was as county commissioner, a position he
held for six years and ten months, two terms of
three years each, after which he served an
appointive term of ten months.
Mr. Wilson has long been active in
financial affairs at Elyria, and was formerly a
stockholder in the Elyria Savings Deposit Company.
With the organization of the Lorain County Banking
Company, he sold his stock in the former institution
and became one of the original stockholders of the
new company, and on the 15th of November, 1915, the
bank was reorganized as the Lorain County Savings &
Trust Company and its capital stock increased.
He has been one of the directors for a number of
years, and is now chairman of the board. The
Lorain County Savings & Trust Company has capital
stock of $150,000, and surplus and undivided profits
of nearly $115,000. The total resources
according to a statement made in the spring of 1915
aggregated over $2,000,000. Probably the item
in this statement which most accurately indicates
the high standing of the bank in Northern Ohio is
that showing the deposits, which at the time
aggregated over $2,000,000. The executive
officers of the banking company are: Arthur B.
Taylor, president; Richard D, Perry, vice
president; Louis B. Fauver, second vice
president; Alvin J. Plocher, secretary;
Herbert A. Daniels, treasurer; Aloysius M.
Thome, assistant treasurer. The board of
directors comprise a number of the best known
business men and citizens of Lorain County.
In addition to his responsibilities as chairman of the
board of directors of the Lorain County Savings &
Trust Company Mr. Wilson is a stockholder in
various enterprises in Elyria and elsewhere,
including the Cleveland, Columbus and Southwestern
Electric Railway. He is president of the
Masonic Temple Building Company of Elyria. He
is a member of Richard Allen Post, Q. A. R., of
Elyria; of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and
Accepted Masons; and of the Elyria Chamber of
Commerce. While not a member of any church, he
is a regular attendant and supporter of the
Methodist Episcopal Society of Elyria, where his
wife has an active membership. Among other
public services he has been a member of the Elyria
city council, and in politics is a republican on
national issues.
In Avon Township, on Apr. 16, 1867, Mr.
Wilson married Miss Elzina
Lucas. She became his wife when he was
still struggling to get a start as a young farmer,
and they have traveled life's highway together,
sharing and dividing each other's joys and sorrows
for nearly half a century. To their marriage were
born two daughters. Mrs. Alice E. Edwards,
the only one now living, resides at the Wilson
home in Elyria, and her daughter.
Miss Alice W. Edwards, after graduating from the
Elyria High School in the class of 1914 entered the
Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. The
other daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Wilson was named Grace, and died at
the age of sixteen years. The daughter,
Mrs. Edwards, and her daughter, are members of
the Congregational Church at Elyria.
Source: A Standard History
of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick
Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 668 |
G. R. Wiseman, M.D.
Amherst Hospital |
GEORGE ROY WISEMAN, M. D.
Source: A Standard History
of Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick
Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 963
|
|
|
HENRY OTTO WURMSER.
Architecture, the art which constructs either for
beauty or utility, or combines both, is one of the
oldest of the refining and civilizing agencies of
man. While it has necessarily been regulated
by Natural conditions and configuration of the
country in which it is exercised, the development of
a modern palace, either for residence or business,
step by step from the ancestral cave or tent, is one
of the great and interesting romances of
civilization.
Worthily in the front rank of this difficult and
important profession, Henry Oswald Wurmser
possesses a very large circle of professional and
social friends. The mention of his name brings
at once to mind Lorain's beautiful school buildings,
which have been incidents in an immense field of
labor successfully and honorably accomplished.
Just as the names of some public and business men
who have passed into the history of the county
suggest their fulfillment of important enterprises,
so also it is probable the name of Mr. Wurmser
will be identified with the architectural and
building interests of Ohio for many years to come.
Henry Oswald Wurmser was born at Findley, county
seat of Hancock County, Ohio, Apr. 27, 1861, and is
a son of Oswald and Mary (Alheile) Wurmser,
who were born in France and came to the United
States soon after they were married. As a boy
Oswald Wurmser, Sr., adopted the building
profession and followed it with success throughout
the period of his active life, designing and
erecting many of Findlay's most beautiful and
imposing structures of the early days.
H. O. Wurmser's direction of study was mapped
out for him early in his life, and his preparatory
education for the professions of engineering and
architecture, quite often united in that day,
received most careful development and supervision
from his father, under whose guidance he chiefly
gained his preparatory education in his calling,
beginning to learn its rudiments while still a
student at the public schools. After some
years of practice at Findlay in 1893 he came to
Lorain, and from that time to the present his name
has continued to be identified with the best work of
his profession, which he has followed throughout the
State of Ohio.
The labors which have brought this accomplished
architect most prominently into public view have
been probably in the line of public school
buildings. At Lorain he has erected all the
public school buildings during the past twenty-one
years with the exception of three. Among these
are to be found the Oakwood Park School, a $40,000
structure, and the Lincoln School, located at Vine
and East Thirty-first Street, the contract price for
which was $60,000. This latter structure built
in 1913, two stories and basement, occupies the
ground dimensions 106 by 76 feet, with basement
under all, and with an auditorium 31 by 76 feet.
During his active career Mr. Wurmser has
designed and built 1,224 buildings in Ohio,
including among many others the Methodist Church at
Elyria and the Reeves Hotel at New Philadelphia,
Ohio, the latter costing $75,000.
Mr. Wurmser has various business connections
outside of his calling, one of which is with the
Parkside Automobile Company, of which he is vice
president. Fraternally he is affiliated with
the Knights of Pythias. In former years he
took much interest in politics, having been a member
of his profession have been so heavy as to take his
entire time and attention.
In 1884 Mr. Wurmser was married at Findlay,
Ohio, to Miss Allie S. Woodley of that city.
Four children have been born to their union.
Frank J., who is now traffic manager for the
National Stove Company of Lorain, married Jessie
Rood, and they are the parents of one child,
Joan. Roy G. and Cliffe L.
twins, have also reached the stage of independent
usefulness in their careers, and Roy is
identified with the Parkside Automobile Company in
the capacities of secretary and treasurer, while
Cliffe is one of the popular and efficient
teachers in the public schools of Lorain. The
youngest child, Paul W., is a student
in the Lorain High School.
Source: A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio
- Vol. II by G. Frederick Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page
666 |
Henry W. Wurst |
HENRY W. WURST
|
S. E. Wurst |
SAMUEL E. WURST
Source: A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio
- Vol. II
by G. Frederick Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page 937 |
NOTES: |
