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E. A. Reed |
EDMUND A. REED
Source: History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties, Ohio,
Publ. 1882 - Pg. 376 |
Samuel Merry |
SAMUEL MERRY.
The Merry family, of which Samuel Merry
is the oldest representative in this county, is of English
descent. The genealogical record has been traced to
Samuel Merry, of Hartford county, Connecticut, who
was one generation removed from his English ancestors. He
had a family of ten children, with whom, in 1789, he removed to
Herkimer county, New York, being one of the earliest pioneers in
that valley. He died at Herkimer village, Aug. 19, 1827,
aged seventy-seven years. Hannah Merrill
Merry, his wife, was born in Hartford, Connecticut,
September, 1747, and died at Litchfield, Herkimer county, New
York, Aug. 19, 1814. Their children were Samuel, Jr.,
Enos, Charles, Epaphras, Francis, Lucy, Edmund, Ralph, Harriet,
and Hannah.
Charles Merry, the
third son of Samuel Merry, was born in Hartford county,
Connecticut, in 1774, and was fifteen years old when his father
moved to New York. Pioneer life is much the same
everywhere - ceaseless toil, privation and discouragement.
The decade spent in Herkimer county was just the sort of
preparatory drill Mr. Merry needed for life in the
new West opened up by the Connecticut company's purchase.
In the spring of 1800 he started for the Reserve, going on foot
with a pack weighing twenty-four pounds on his back. He
did not follow the traveled roads which had been cut out by
previous emigrants, but took a straight course through an
unbroken wilderness, swimming streams and sleeping in the open
air. One night he slept in an Indian hut. This was
probably the most uncomfortable night of his journey, for,
although there was no occasion for alarm, he thought it prudent
to keep one eye on his host. His pocket compass finally
guided him to Hartford township, where Timothy
Brockway, his father-in-law, had previously settled.
Mr. Merry had married in New York
Martha Brockway, whom he left at the old home in Herkimer
county until he could prepare a home for her here. Having
selected a piece of land in Hartford township he made a
clearing, built a cabin, and planted spring crops. He was well
satisfied with his first summer's work, and having planted a
fall crop returned to New York for his family, which at that
time consisted of a wife and one son. In the following
spring he settled in Hartford, where he remained about five
years and then removed to Vernon, where he died.
Charles and Martha Merry had a family of eleven
children, seven of whom lived to mature age: Erastus,
Harriet, Aber, Samuel, Francis, Matilda, and Charles.
Samuel Merry, the subject of an
illustration on another page, was born in Vernon, Jan. 27, 1807.
His early life was spent on his father's farm, and odd hours
occupied in coopering until he had mastered the trade.
During the winter he manufactured large numbers of cider
barrels, whiskey barrels, and pork casks. The price of the
former at that time was four and the latter five shiliings.
Mr. Merry married Jan. 1, 1836, Mary
Crossman, of Onondaga county, New York, and began
housekeeping on the farm on which he continues to reside.
They have had a family of eight children. Judson L.
resides in Arizona; Ellen (Mrs. James T. Weir), in
Vernon; Courtland D., in Vernon; Delia C (Mrs. John
Morrison), in Ashtabula county; Charles T., in
Vernon; Theodore T. and Willard P., in Burg Hill,
and Mrs. W. P. Crowell.
Mrs. Samuel Merry died Dec. 17, 1881. She
had joined the Baptist church in New York and during all her
life was a Christian woman. Mr. Merry united with
the Methodist Protestant church and remained a member until the
church was removed. His father, Charles Merry,
was one of the most prominent of the pioneers; was paymaster of
militia from 1811 until 1817, and held various other local
trusts.
Source: History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties, Ohio,
Publ. 1882 - Pg. 377 |
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JOHN L. KING, M. D.
The subject of this sketch was born in Harrison township, near
Platteville, Grant county, Wisconsin, Nov. 13, 1848. His
father, John, son of James King, Sr.,
and Eliza Jane Smail, were married
May 11, or 13, 1847, near Jamestown, Pennyslvania, each being
about twenty years of age. They went to Wisconsin in
April, 1848, where young King was born. April, 1849, his
father started for California to try his success in the gold
mines. He died a short time after reaching Negro bar on
the American river, California, the first day of January, 1850,
lacking a few days of being twenty-three years of age.
He was born in Vernon township, Trumbull county, Ohio, Jan. 13,
1827, and his wife April 8th of the same year in West Salem
township, Mercer county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. King
married for her second husband Harvey H., son of
Chancey Jones, Sr., of Harrison county,
Wisconsin, February, 1851, by whom she had two children,
Eliza, born Dec. 11, 1851, and Harvey, born Dec. 9,
1853. Mar. 29, 1854, Mr. Jones with his
family started by the overland route for Washington Territory.
After a trip of varied and thrilling experience they reached
their place of destination on the White river, King county,
twenty miles from Seattle, an important town on Puget sound,
Oct. 24, 1854. Here young King endured the
privations and inconveniences incident to a newly and sparsely
settled country. He had to walk two miles to attend
school, along a blazed path through a dense forest at the risk
of being killed by Indians or mangled by panthers.
Sunday, Oct. 28, 1855, his mother and step-father were
murdered in cold blood by a party of about fourteen Klikitat
Indians. After the massacre he carried his little
half-brother and led his half-sister about three miles in hopes
of finding some of the whites near where he used to attend
school, which was done at the risk of their lives, but all had
become alarmed and had fled. The houses were deserted and
some of them ransacked. The outlook was gloomy in deed.
They had been driven from the breakfast table, had had no dinner
except a few potatoes they had dug from the ashes of the
milk-house where they had been stored. It was getting late
in the afternoon of a short October day, the children were
becoming tired and hungry and begging for food; the roots he had
dug for them to eat did not fully satisfy the cravings of a
long-fasting stomach. The youngest, not quite two years of
age, was inconsolable, and his sobs and cries added the danger
of detection to the already harrowing complication of adverse
circumstances. He could not be made to comprehend why he
was being kept away from his mother, and his piteous pleadings
to be taken to her and for something to eat made the heart of
young King sick and faint. To add to the dismal
prospects he discovered an Indian coming directly towards them,
but from his manner he was certain they had not been observed.
There was no time to be lost, and hastily securing the children
he returned and started to meet the approaching Indian, whom he
recognized as a friendly one whom he had often seen before and
knew by the name of "Curly." They all were taken to his
wigwam, and his squaw set out a great quantity of dried
whortleberries and smoked fish. Ample justice was done to
his hospitality. Nothing she or young King could do
could in duce the two younger children to treat her with
anything but shyness and looks of fear and suspicion.
Tired nature demanded her rights and he soon had the
satisfaction of seeing them sound asleep, and never will he
forget the mingled feeling of pride, sympathy and sorrow
experienced as he looked upon his sleeping charge.
Curly took them down the White river in a canoe the next day
and delivered them up to the proper authorities. Their
uncle John Small was in California, where he heard
of the massacre, and immediately came to Seattle and took charge
of the children. Some time in June, 1856, they left
Seattle on the Government man-of-war Decatur. The vessel
came near foundering in a gale off the mouth of the Columbia
river. At San Francisco the children received the most
generous attention, and a benefit was given them in the American
theater. Thence they went to New York by the way of the
Isthmus of Panama, and from there were taken to Wisconsin.
Eliza and Harvey were left with relatives in that
State and young King was brought back to Ohio and placed
in the care of his uncle, Rev. David King, and his wife,
in September, 1856. He joined the Methodist Episcopal
church the 9th of November, 1862. He never saw his half
sister and half-brother after he parted with them in 1856.
Eliza died Oct. 6, 1864, and Harvey Oct. 4, 1864,
of diphtheria. They had not seen each other for three
weeks, and had lived three miles apart.
Young King's boyhood days were spent as most,
and no pains were spared to secure to him the advantages of a
common as well as select school education. He attended the
Allegheny college, Meadville, Pennsylvania, in the years 1867 -
68 - 69 - 70, and 1871. He began the study of medicine in
July, 1867, and entered his name as a student in the office of
David Best, M. D. in Meadville, Pennsylvania, in
January, 1870. He attended two courses of lectures of six
months each in the medical department of the University of
Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in the years 1871 and 1872, and received
his degree of doctor of medicine from Bellevue Hospital Medical
college, New York city, Feb. 27, 1873. In April of the
same year he established himself in Greece City, in Butler
county, Pennsylvania oil regions. In November, 1874, he located
at his old home at Burg Hill, Vernon township, Ohio, where he is
still [1882] engaged in the practice of his chosen profession.
Jan. 31, 1875, he lost his uncle, Rev. David King,
aged sixty-five, and Sept. 9, 1878, his aunt, Jane
King, wife of David, aged seventy-four. He
takes this opportunity of paying grateful tribute to their
memory. To their teaching and example he renders the most
profound admiration and respect. Truthfully can it be said
they tried to live as they thought others should live, and
preached nothing they were not willing to practice. Mr.
King was united in marriage to Miss Emorinda C. Brown,
April 18, 1802.
Chauncey Jones, Sr., was born in Barkhamsted,
Litchfield county, Connecticut, May 11 1780. His brothers
were Israel, Pliny, and Horace, and his sisters
Clarissa, Mima, Rebecca, and Orpha. At eleven
years of age he removed to Herkimer county, New York; came to
Vernon about 1802-3, and married Ursula, daughter of
Rev. Obed Crosby, Aug. 28, 1804. His house stood on
lot six, southeast part. He subsequently lived near number
four school-house. His house was the stopping place for
the weary itinerant Methodist preacher. He took an active
part in church affairs. He moved from Vernon to Illinois
in 1838, and near Platteville, Wisconsin, in 1839. He died
thee in 1859; also his wife in 1876. His children were:
Sterling born in 1804, and died in infancy; Chancey,
born in 1807, married Elizabeth Brown in 1830, and died
in 1853; Obed Crosby, born in 1810; Clarissa, born
in 1813, married Jesse Waldorf in 1833, and her children
were Ursula, Elizabeth and Laura Etta; Horace,
born in 1818, and died in infancy; Jerusha born in
1822, and died in infancy. Hervey, born in 1825,
married Mrs. John King in 1851, and their children were
Eliza Olive and Harvey Percival, both dying in
1864. He and his wife, Eliza Jane, were both
murdered by the Indians on White river, King county, twenty
miles from seattle, Washington Territory, Sunday morning, Oct.
28, 1855. His body was burned in his house, which the
Indians set on fire. Orpha was born in 1828, and
died in infancy.
Chauncey Jones, Jr., was born in Vernon Dec. 19,
1807, and married Elizabeth, daughter of James and
Hannah Brown, when he was twenty-three years of age.
He settled on the east side of the Pymatuning creek, near number
four school-house in Vernon, where he remained until 1837, when
he went to the West, and finally located in the township of
Harrison, Grant county, Wisconsin in 1840, where he died Sept.
19, 1853. His children were Orlando Sterling born
in 1831, married Sarah Elizabeth Munger in 1852.
Their children were Alice who married W. C. King,
and Chancey, who married and had two children, a son and
daughter, who died in infancy. Obed King, born in
1833, married Harriet Elizabeth Guernsey in 1856.
Their children were De Forest and Charlotte Elizabeth
for his second wife he married Susie M. Janney in 1867,
and had two daughters and a son. Hannah Orpha was
born in 1836, and died in 1846. James Horace was
born in 1846, and married Ortha A. McFall in 1864.
They had five children. All except James H. were
born in Vernon.
Rev. Obed Crosby was born in Hartland, Hartford
county, Connecticut, in 1753. He was married to Jerusha
Phelps in Hartland in 1782. She was born in
Connecticut in 1757. He was in the Revolutionary war under
General Washington. He came to Vernon in the
spring of 1800 and erected a log house on lot seven, Wilcox
tract, near the site of J. M. Dickerman's, and
boarded with Thomas Giddings while build ing it,
and also held meetings and preached occasionally, but where is
not definitely known. He returned to Connecticut, and the
next spring (1801) brought his wife and three children to
Vernon. They came by the way of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
in an open wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen. Shortly after
leaving that place one of the oxen died and a cow was yoked to
take its place. They were six weeks on the trip from
Connecticut. He formed the first Methodist Episcopal
society ever organized in Vernon (1801). He lived in his
round log house six months and then moved into his new house on
the exact site of A. Waldorf's on lot four, West Shepard
tract. This was the first hewn log house in Vernon and a
fine structnre for its day; had a large room, two bed rooms, and
a pantry down stairs and a chamber; had a board gable. The
nails used were hand-wrought in Pittsburg. He died during
the prevalence of a malignant type of typhoid fever Jan. 13,
1813. His wife died Feb. 20, 1839. They lie side by
side in the burial ground just south of the center of Vernon.
His children were Ursula, born Aug. 16, 1785; died near
Platteville, Wisconsin, Aug. 25, 1876. Polly died
in infancy. Ezra died near New Castle,
Pennsylvania. No dates of birth or death. Ezra
had a son, Obed. Jerusha, born in 1790, died in
Vernon, Ohio, Feb. 11, 1839.
James King was born in the county of Tyrone,
Ireland, in 1781. He had brothers Robert,
William, John, and a sister Mary. His
mother, Mrs. Jane King, married John Brackin by
whom she had three children, Ezekiel, David, and
Elizabeth. John Brackin left Londonderry,
Ireland, in 1800, with his family, and landed at Wilmington,
Delaware, after a four weeks' voyage, and came to Strabane,
Washington county, Pennsylvania. Robert King
first went to Kinsman, Ohio, and the rest followed in 1804.
James worked for Mr. Kinsman in that
township and subsequently bought of him a farm in the north part
of lot twenty-three, Kinsman, now owned by J. R. Russell.
In 1805–6 he married Jerusha, daughter of Rev. Obed
Crosby, of Vernon, by whom he had eleven children, three
boys and two girls dying in infancy. A short time after
his marriage he traded his farm in Kinsman for one in Vernon,
with his brother in-law, Ezra Crosby, and became
identified with the interests of this township thereafter.
He held various offices of trust; was considered one of the best
farmers in the township. The jokes he played were many and
of a practical kind and often repaid. One of his neighbors
at one time
in his absence turned a drover's herd into a field of clover
nearly ready to be cut. He told him it was all right, as
it was to be plowed under, then went to Mr. King
and told him some one had taken possession, and he better see
about it. Mr. King, as soon as he had had a
talk with the drover, could trace the joke back to his informer.
He watched his opportunity and soon had a chance to play a prank
on him. This and many other ones were played and repaid in
the best of humor. He was county commissioner in 1837.
His wife died in 1839. He was a member of the Seceder
church in Kinsman at his death, which occurred May 9, 1842.
His children were Obed, born 1807, married Mary Phelps,
1833, who had one child - died in infancy. He died in
1840. David, born 1810, died 1875. George,
born 1819, married Sarah Waldorf, had children, Obed
C., died aged ten, and Will C., born 1853.* James,
born 1813, an artist of much promise, died 1842.
William, born 1822, died in Platteville, Wisconsin, in 1865.
John, born 1827, died 1850. See sketch of J. I.
King, M. D. The others died in infancy.
Rev. David King was born in Kinsman township,
Aug. 22, 1810. When about twenty-four years of age he
professed religion in Wayne, Ashtabula county. Attended
Allegheny college, Meadville, Pennsylvania, in the years 1834
and 1835. Was licensed to exhort in 1834 and to preach in
1836. Was missionary among the Sioux Indians about Fort
Snelling and St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1836 to 1842 inclusive.
Was financial agent for Allegheny college in 1850–51 and 1853;
was married in 1851 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to Mrs.
Jane Settlemires. He died in Vernon, Jan.
31, 1875. He was noted for his zeal and peace-making.
He was not great, but good, and died respected, the world being
better for his having lived in it.
Source: History of Trumbull and
Mahoning Counties, Ohio, Publ. 1882 - Pg. 378-381 |
NOTES:
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