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History of
Ashtabula Co., Ohio
SOURCE: History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
Large, Moina W.
Topeka :: Historical Pub. Co.,, 1924, 1132 pgs.
NOTE: Other Biographies will have a note stating their sources.
ALSO NOTE: I will transcribe biographies upon request. Please
state the County and State in the Subject line of the email. ~ SW
BIOGRAPHIES
* PADUANO, Leonard A.
* PAINE, C. H.
* PAINE, W. C.
* PALMER, A. B. C.
* PALMER, B. L.
* PALO, J. E.
* PARDEE, I. H., Dr.
* PARTANEN, Henry
* PATRICK, Nicholas
* PAYNE, Carl W.
* PAYNE, Frank
* PEARCE, JOHN JAMISON
* PEASE, Henry
* PEASE, Irwin
* PEASE, Ray A.
* PECK, C. M.
* PECK, Carl M.
* PECK, D. L.
* PECK, J. L.
* PECK, Ray B.
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* PECK, Roy
* PELLETT, C. G.
* PELTON, C. W.
* PERALA, Victor
* PERRY, M., & Sons
* PFISTER, Edward
* PELTON, Cushman W.
* PFISTER, Edward
* PHILLIPS, Ellen, J., Mrs.
* PICKARD, Arthur J.
* PILMER, Joseph E.
* PITCHER, Ralph H.
* PLATT, Lee
* POOLE, Henry H.
* POTTI, Charles
* PRAHL, Carl, Mrs.
* PRATT, Charles A. B.
* PUFFER, George
* PUTNAM, Charles Sumner
* PUTNAM, Walter E. |
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LEONARD A. PADUANO is a
progressive and enterprising merchant of Conneaut. He was born in
Italy, June 5, 1885, and is the son of Joseph and Theresa (Venditti)
Paduano, who came to this country and remained four years after
which they returned to their native land. Mr. Paduano died
in 1917, and his wife died in 1913. They were the parents of three
children: Leonard, the subject of this sketch;
Antonietta, married Paul Cappuccilli, lives at Syracuse, N.
Y.; and Nunziata, died and left three children:
Antoinetta, Rose and Anthony, all live in Cleveland, Ohio.
Leoanrd A. Paduano came to America in 1901 and
located in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was employed four years, later
removing to Conneaut. After being in the employ of the Nickel
Plate Railroad for a number of years, he opened a general store in
Conneaut in May, 1922. Mr. Paduano also has a gasoline
station in connection with his store and has built up quite an extensive
trade.
On May 22, 1905, Mr. Paduano was married to
Miss Mary Incaronata Iorio, who was born in Italy, Oct. 14, 1885,
the daughter of Frank and Magdelina Iorio, natives of Italy.
Mr. Iorio died in 1914 and his wife resides in Italy.
Mrs. Paduano was their only child. To Mr. and Mrs. Paduano
have been born four children: Nunziata, Gerald, Theresa,
and Magdelina.
Mr. Paduanois a Republican and he and his family
are members of the Catholic Church.
(See Note 2 below for Source) |
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A. B. C. PALMER,
superintendent of the division of electricity for the city of Ashtabula,
is one of the well known and substantial citizens of the county.
He was born at Fitchville, in Huron County, Ohio, July 14, 1872, and is
the son of Edwin and Mary (Chase) Palmer.
A. B. C. Palmer was reared and educated at
Fitchville, Ohio, and his first business position was with the Western
Union Telegraph Company. He later was connected with telephone
work and did construction work in long distance division. On Jan.
28, 1900, Mr. Palmer came to Ashtabula and entered the employ of
the city. Since his connection with the electric light plant, many
improvements have been made in the service, a new power plant being
completed in 1921 at a cost of $1,000,000. All power and light in
the city of Ashtabula is furnished by the local plant and the city
railway street cars are also operated by the city power. Electric
power is also furnished to several towns near Ashtabula, including
Jefferson and Rock Creek.
In 1900 Mr. Palmer was married at Norwalk, Ohio,
to Miss Byrd Tucker, a native of Fitchville, Ohio, and the
daughter of Edgar and Mary (Clark) Tucker, natives of New York.
Mr. Palmer takes an active interest in the
Ashtabula Chamber of Commerce. He is a man of integrity and
ability and is an excellent citizen.
(See Note 2 below for Source) |
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JOHN JAMISON PEARCE, a member
of the Central Pennsylvania Methodist Episcopal Conference, and a resident
of Conneaut, Ohio, was born in Luzerne, Pennsylvania, February 28,1826,
son of Rev. Marmaduke and Hannah (Stuart)
Pearce, the latter being a descendant of Prince John
Alden, who came over in the Mayflower. His paternal ancestor,
Edward Pearce, served in the battle of the Boyne.
Rev. Marmaduke Pearce was born in Chester
county, Pennsylvania, August 18, 1776, and was a self-educated man. He was
intimately associated with Dr. George Peck (brother
of Bishop Jesse T. Peck,) who, in his history of Methodism in the
Wyoming valley, says: " Rev. Marmaduke Pearce was the
strongest man in the Genesee Conference, although he seldom ever spoke."
He was for years a Presiding Elder, and for many years was stationed in
Baltimore and other prominent places. He was again and again elected a
delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
After a long and useful life he passed to his reward, his death occurring
in Berwick, Columbia county, Pennsylvania, September 11, 1852. His wife
was born in 1781, and died at Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania,
October 21, 1859. She was a member of the church from her early girlhood,
and her whole life was characterized by the sweetest of Christian graces.
They had three children. Stewart, the oldest, was born November 26,
1820, and died October 13, 1882. He was a man of prominence in his day,
was a historian of some note, served two terms in the Legislature of
Pennsylvania; was Postmaster of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, eight years,
and served as Collector of Tolls on the Pennsylvania Canal and Railroad at
Columbia, Pennsylvania, for some time. While occupying the last named
position he lost his eyesight, and thereafter used an amanuensis. He
accumulated a large fortune, and in his will left $27,000 to various
benevolences. He was a believer in the Christian religion and died in that
faith. During his life he placed ten or twelve memorial slabs over various
points in the Wyoming valley, where, during the Indian history, noted
events occurred. It should be here stated that John Jameson,
grandfather of our subject, was the last man massacred by the Indians in
the Wyoming valley. Stewart Pearce was never married. Cromwell,
the second of the family, was born July 1, 1823, and died June 16, 1872.
He was a graduate of law; was married November 27, 1861, to Miss Sarah
H. Taylor, of Owego, New York, and was a genial, jolly man,
kind-hearted and generous, and a favorite with all.
Rev. John J. Pearce is the youngest of the
family and the only one left to bear his father's name. He became an
itinerant minister when a boy less than eighteen years of age, and in 1844
joined the Baltimore Conference, of which he was a member ten years. His
first work was on Lycoming circuit. At that time nearly all ministers of
the conference were circuit riders. In 1854 he was elected to the
Thirty-fourth Congress, and while a member of that body voted for
General N. P. Banks for Speaker; was closely associated with Hon.
Joshua R. Giddings, and a great admirer of Benjamin Wade,
who was in the Senate at that time.
In 1857, Mr. Pearce was transferred to the
Wyoming Conference, and was stationed at Kingston, Pennsylvania; in 1858
he was at Owego, New York; in 1859 to 1861, was Presiding Elder of the
Owego District; and from 1862 to 1864, was Presiding Elder of the
Honesdale District. In 1865-66, he was in the State of Delaware. He was
transferred to the Philadelphia Conference in 1867, and was stationed at
Philadelphia, from which place he was sent to Pottsville, where he
remained from 1868 to 1870. In 1874 he was transferred to the Central
Pennsylvania Conference and stationed at Mulberry Street Church,
Williamsport, where he rendered efficient service three years. Then from
1877 until 1880, he was Presiding Elder of the Williamsport District,
after which he was stationed at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, three years, and
three years at Lewistown, same State. Since then he has sustained a
supernumerary relation to the conference. In all these years he has been
an earnest and faithful worker for the Master, and has been the means of
accomplishing a vast amount of good. He spent some time in lecturing
throughout the State of Pennsylvania upon the vital subjects: "Is
there a future retribution? The truthfulness of Christianity," and kindred
topics.
Mr. Pearce moved to Conneaut in 1892 and here
invested in considerable property, which has rapidly increased in value.
He is a great admirer of tine horses, and after his hours of study—for he
is a student yet—it is his delight to take a drive behind his prancing
steeds. His home surroundings are everything that would indicate culture
and refinement.
Mr. Pearce was married February 22,1848, to
Miss Elizabeth Dunn, daughter of Washington Dunn, the owner of the
Great Island in Clinton county, Pennsylvania, and a sister of Judge
William Dunn, a celebrated politician of Pennsylvania, now deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Pearce have four children, namely: Stewart, a
railroad employee in Conneaut, married Miss Lide McGinley, and has
three children: Stewart, John J. and Donald; Anna
M., wife of H. S. Schalk, of Conneaut, general dispatcher on
the Nickel Plate Railroad, has two children: John Pearce and
Marmaduke; Bessie D., wife of F. A. Howard, a wholesale
grocer of Chester, Pennsylvania, has four children: Pearce, Mary,
Frederick and Ned; and Grace, a graduate of the
Poston School of Oratory, is a noted elocutionist.
Mrs. Pearce and all the children, with one
exception, are members of the Methodist Church. Fraternally Mr. Pearce
is identified with the Masonic order, and is also a member of the K.
of P. In politics, he is a Republican.
(For Source, see Note 1 Below) |
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IRWIN PEASE,
engineer on the Nickel Plate railroad, and a worthy citizen of
Conneaut, Ohio, was born in Chautauqua county, New York, March 17, 1859,
son of Russell and Harriet M. (Cruiser) Pease.
Russell Pease, his father, was born in
Bennington, Vermont, and was for many years a resident of Dunkirk, New
York, where he was well known and highly respected. He owned a farm and
superintended its cultivation, at the same time being in the employ of the
New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad. His people were Presbyterians, in
which faith he lived and died. He was a Jackson Democrat and a politician,
and at various times held minor offices in the town in which he lived. He
died February 18,1870, at the age of forty-one years. Harriet M.
(Cruiser) Pease is a daughter of Samuel and Hannah Cruiser, and
one of a family of four sons and two daughters, all of whom are living
except one, Edward, who was killed in his first battle in the late
war. Her father was accidentally killed on the railroad. The mother, now
about ninety years of age, is being tenderly cared for at Dunkirk, New
York, by her daughter, Mrs. Pease.
Irwin Pease is an only child. He
completed a high school education at Dunkirk, and in 1877 started out in
life as fireman on the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad. After
firing on that road three years he was employed in the same capacity one
year on the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley & Pittsburg Railroad, then, in 1881,
being promoted to engineer. He began service with the Nickel Plate and
came to Conneaut in 1883. He was fireman on this road a short time before
getting a position as engineer, but nearly ever since he entered the
employ of this company he has served as engineer on a freight train. His
efficient service has gained him a steady position and brought him into
favor with his employers. By economy and judicious investment he has
acquired a competency, and is not only regarded as one of the highly
esteemed citizens of Conneaut, but also as one who is well-to-do.
He was married May 2, 1880, to Miss Mattie J.
Featherston, daughter of John and Mary E. Featherston.
She was born in Milton, Canada, where her father was engaged in the
harness business for many years. He died when she was quite young at
Baltimore, Maryland. Soon after the war the Featherston family
moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and subsequently located in Vermillion, Erie
county, this State. The mother died in 1885, aged forty-eight years. Of
the four children composing this family we make record as follows:
Melvin, the oldest, resides in Conneaut; he married Mary
Nuhn of Lorain county, Ohio, and their only child is Freddie;
Anna, the second born, wife of Willis Newberry, died
at the age of twenty-nine years, leaving three children—Mabel,
Bessie and Johnie; Mrs. Pease was next in order of birth;
Charles, the youngest, died at the age of four years.
Mr. and Mrs. Pease have two children, Bertram
Irwin and Howard Russell.
Both he and his wife are members of the Episcopal Church, of which he is a
Vestryman. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers. In political matters he affiliates with the Republican party.
(For Source, see Note 1 Below) |
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C. M. PECK,
rural mail carrier out of Kingsville, is a substantial and highly
esteemed citizen of Ashtabula County. He was born at Kingsville,
Oct. 17, 1860, and is the son of Anson and Ellen (Loomis) Peck.
Anson Peck was an early settler of Ashtabula
County. He lived at Kingsville for many years and was a settler of
Ashtabula County. He lived at Kingsville for many years and was a
wagon maker by trade. He died in 1920, and his wife died in 1917.
C. M. Peck received his education in the schools
of Charlestown, Ohio, and also attended the old academy at Kingsville.
For a number of years he was employed at the basket factory there and
later engaged in the general merchandise business. After being in
business for 15 years. Mr. Peck became a rural mail carrier
in 1910 and has since served in that capacity.
In 1882, Mr. Peck was married to Miss Mary
Morris, a native of Charlestown, Ohio, and a daughter of S. B.
and Sophia (Brown) Morris. Mr. Morris died in 1918 and his
wife died in 1923. They were the parents of two children:
Mrs. Peck; and Mrs.. R. H. Richa, whose husband is a
professor of English in the University of Kansas. To C. M. and
May (Morris) Peck five children have been born as follows:
Carl M., married Jesse Sheldon, lives in Ashtabula, has one
son, Sheldon; Raymond, Principal of the high school at
Garrettsville, Ohio, married Frances, Karnes; Nora; Ellen,
lives in Columbus; Lucile, wife of Z. J. Davis, postmaster
at Kingsville, ahs four children, Allen, Stanley, Rosamond and
Elizabeth; Zada, wife Homer C. Porter, lives at Kingsville,
and has five children, Charles, Raymond, Jean, Rachel and Fay.
Politically, Mr. Peck is a Republican.
He and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church and he belongs
to the Masonic lodge.
(See Note 2 below for Source) |
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CUSHMAN W.
PELTON, of the firm of C. W. Pelton & Bro., Conneaut,
proprietors of one of the largest general merchandise stores in Ashtabula
county, was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, January 7, 1847, son of
Winthrop F. and Sophronia C. (Beers) Pelton, both natives of
this State.
From the history of Trumbull county we learn that he is
a descendant of John Pelton, who came from county Essex, England,
to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1634. Josiah Pelton of
Granby, Connecticut, traded a mill property for what is now the north half
of the township of Gustavus, Trumbull county, and came out here on
horseback in the summer of 1800 to locate his land in the unbroken
wilderness. Upon his return the same season he announced that he would
give 100 acres of land to the woman who would first make her home on his
tract. His son Jesse quickly accepted the offer in behalf of
Ruhanna DeWolf, also of Granby, being assured that she was
willing to undertake with him the hardships of pioneer life. They made the
long and fatiguing journey in the spring of 1801, and on the 4th of June
they "raised" their log house—the first in the township. Another brother
soon followed Jesse, and in the spring of 1802 Josiah
Pelton came out with the rest of the family, eight children in all,
the seventh of whom— Julius—was the grandfather of C. W. Pelton.
Winthrop Folsome Pelton, the father of our subject,
was born at Gustavus, this State, June 30, 1818, and his wile, also a
native of Ohio, was born in 1823. They were married by Rev. E. B.
Chamberlain, September 3, 1836, and for near half a century their
lives were blended in happy union. After a long life, full of activity and
replete with good works, he was called to his reward above, his death
occurring March I, 1893. His widow and five sons survive. Mr.
Pelton was a member of the Presbyterian Church and an active worker in
the same for many years. At the time when our country was in danger of
dissolution, he proved his devotion to the flag by uniting his fortunes
with those of the Sixth Ohio Cavalry as veterinary surgeon, in December,
1861, and serving during the war. The greater part of his active life was
spent in Wayne, this county. He came to Conneaut in 1884, and tilled for
some years a responsible position in the store of his son, C. W. Pelton,
failing health compelling his retirement. Here, by his affability as well
as his inclination to sociability in society and church, he won the high
esteem of all. Mrs. Pelton is also a member of the
Presbyterian Church. Following is a brief record in regard to their six
children: C. W., whose name stands at the head of this article, is
the oldest of the family; Chapin B., the second, is married and
resides at Plattville, Wisconsin; Judd is married and settled at
Auburn, New York; Arvine W. married Miss Eva L. Rowe
of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and is a resident of Conneaut, a member of the
firm of C. W. Pelton & Brother; Ellsworth, in the store with
his brothers, married Sadie Reed, daughter of Robert M.
Reed, and has three children: Robert; and John W., who
was married in 1888 to Miss Linna Phillips, had two children,—Sophronia
and Delphine. John Pelton died of black diphtheria
February 8, 1893, and his little daughter Delphine, aged a year and
a half, died the following day of the same disease.
C. W. Pelton was a mere lad when the war broke
out, but in February, 1864, young as he was, he enlisted in the army,
becoming a member of Company D, Second Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, in the
First Brigade of the Third Division of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of
the Potomac, General Ouster being the division commander. Young Pelton
was taken prisoner at Ream's Station, Virginia, June 29, 1864, and was
confined in Libby prison five months, his health being greatly impaired at
the end of that time. His treatment while at Libby was brutal in the
extreme. No picture of prison life there was ever overdrawn. After his
parole Mr. Pelton was taken to Annapolis, where after
regaining sufficient health he was detailed as clerk at headquarters, in
which capacity he served until he was mustered out in August, 1865. It was
four or five years after the war before be regained his health; indeed, he
has never been perfectly well since, but has never applied for a pension.
In the spring of 1866, Mr. Pelton went to
Oberlin, Ohio, and took a commercial course at the Calkins &
Griffin Commercial Institute.
As a businessman, C. W. Pelton, the head of the
firm mentioned at the beginning of this article, is well and favorably
known throughout northeastern Ohio. He has been in the dry goods trade
ever since he was a small boy, beginning as clerk and afterward serving as
traveling salesman. For eleven years before establishing his present
business he was.connected with the old firm of Alcott, Horton & Co.
at Cleveland, Ohio. In August, 1882, he came to Conneaut and embarked in
trade on his own account, beginning on a small scale, and from time to
time increasing his facilities. His annual business has increased from
$20,000 in 1882 to $103,000 in the past year, and he is now doing the
largest business in the county. The firm occupy commodious quarters in the
Stanley block. They have sixty feet frontage on Main street, 100 feet
deep, with an L 40 x 44 feet, fronting on Washington street. Few stores of
any class present a brighter and more impressive appearance, and it would
be a difficult undertaking to plan an interior more in harmony with
metropolitan designs. They carry a general stock of merchandise, divided
into five departments, with a responsible head in each department. Mr.
Pelton is, indeed, one of the most public spirited and enterprising
men of this place. He is a stockholder and director in the Conneaut Mutual
Loan Association, and the Conneaut Electric Lighting Company.
Of his private life we record that Mr. Pelton
has been twice married. He first
wedded Miss Carolina Gifford, daughter of David S. Gifford
of Conneaut, and they had two children, Barbara B. and Julius. Some
time after the death of his first wife he married Miss Rhoda Baughton,
daughter of Seymour A. Baughton, also of Conneaut. Their children
are Albert and Charlotte. Both he and his wife are members
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a Trustee. He has served
as Sabbath school Superintendent for three years. He is a prominent Mason,
being Past Eminent Commander of the Commandery.
Such, in brief, is a sketch of the life of one of
Conneaut's most successful business men and highly esteemed citizens.
(For Source, see Note 1 below) |
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HENRY
H. POOLE, one of the progressive and enterprising farmers of
Ashtabula county, Ohio, and at this writing Trustee of Conneaut township,
was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1843, son of Calvin
and Harriet (Trowbridge) Poole. His honored father, a resident
of Ashtabula county for a number of years, now living retired at Conneaut,
is one of the venerable citizens of the place. The facts as gleaned in
regard to his life are as follows: Calvin Poole was born in
Canandaigua, New York, April 22, 1811, son of Calvin and
Hannah (Perkins) Poole, both natives of the Empire
State. The senior Calvin Poole was a carpenter by trade and
a school teacher by profession. The first school west of the Genesee river
was taught by him. However, he never came farther West than New York. He
was more than ninety years of age at the time he died. His wife died in
1813. They had three children, of whom Calvin was the youngest, and
is the only one now living. The oldest was Archibald, and the
second born was Abigail M., who was the wife of Emanuel C.
Henshaw. Calvin was reared on the farm, and has been engaged
in agricultural pursuits all his life. In 1872 he located in Conneaut, and
has remained here ever since. For a time he was a partner in the
grocery business with his son-in-law,
J. A. Caldwell.
Calvin Poole was married in 1833 to
Miss Harriet Trowbridge, daughter of Daniel and Dollie (Shears)
Trowbridge, a native of Ithaca, New York. Mrs. Poole's
grandfather, Zachariah Shears, was a native of Massachusetts, and
at one time was a member of the Assembly. He was a wealthy land holder and
stock dealer and reared a large family. Mr. and Mrs. Poole have had
seven children, namely: Dollie M., wife of C. R.
Beechling, of Erie, Pennsylvania, has two children by him, Harriet
G. and Calvina M., and by her former husband, Pressly
Caldwell, had one child, Jennie Bell; Daniel P., who
died at the acre of twenty-one years; Delia D., wife of
J. A. Caldwell;
Emma E., wife of B. Bingham, died at about the age of
thirty-five, leaving four children, Harriet R., Frank H., Fred D.
and John P.; John C, a member of the One Hundredth and Forty-fifth
Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Company C, was wounded in the battle of
the Wilderness and died from the effect of wounds, aged about twenty-one;
Henry Harrison, whose name heads this article; and Harriet
Sophia, wife of Dennis McCarty, died at the age of
thirty-three.
During his residence in Erie county, Pennsylvania,
Calvin Poole was appointed keeper of the infirmary of that
county, which position he filled ten years, and while there both he and
his wife were highly complimented for their efficient service. In
political matters Mr. Poole takes an active interest, being
a thorough Republican.
H. H. Poole was early in life engaged in
farming. In 1868 he turned his attention to the oil business in
Pennsylvania, continuing such connection two years. After that he was
employed as fireman on the Lake Shore Railroad, running between Erie and
Cleveland, and since 1870 he has been identified with the farming
interests of Ashtabula county. He has served as School Director for more
than a dozen years, and for nearly as long was Supervisor of Highways. He
was elected Township Trustee in 1887, and has held the office continuously
up to the present time, his election to this office being without parallel
here, as he had no opposition whatever. He was Captain of the State police
for four years, then, after an interim of two years, was again elected,
and is now the incumbent of that office. He is an ardent Republican. In
Masonic circles he holds prominent rank, having taken the degrees in the
blue lodge, chapter, council and commandery, and holding official position
in each.
Mr. Poole was married February 2, 1871,
to Miss Mary U. Brown, daughter of Samuel C. and
Eva Brown, of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Her father died in 1863, aged
about fifty-five, and her mother is still living, now about eighty-two
years old. Following is a record of Mr. and Mrs. Brown's
family: John T., who married Sarah A. Fickenger, resides on
a farm in Erie county, Pennsylvania; Sarah, widow of John
McKee, Girard township, same county; Samuel C., who married
Clara Stohlman, lives at Mill Creek, Erie county, Pennsylvania;
William M., who married Rosanna Love, is also a
resident of Mill Creek; Mrs. Poole; George W., who
married Henrietta Fehr, is a resident of Mill Creek; Charles F.
E., who married Mary Fickenger, is deceased. Mr. and
Mrs. Poole have had five children: John C. P., Bessie C.,
Harry S., Charley and Willie G. Bessie C. died March 10, 1892,
at the age of sixteen years, and Charlie died in infancy.
Such, in brief, is a sketch of one of the prominent and
highly respected families of Ashtabula county.
(For Source, see Note 1 below) |
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CHARLES SUMNER PUTNAM was born May
27, 1859, in a little red cottage on the farm of his grandfather, in
Stockton, Chautauqua county, New York. His parents were Welcome and
Maria L. (Flagg) Putnam. The father was born and raised and also died
on this farm—dying in October, 1872, at the age of fifty-two years. He was
a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and one of its pillars in the
little community where he lived. He was an enterprising, intelligent,
public-spirited citizen, of good education and well read, possessed of the
strictest integrity. He was a stanch Republican from the date of the
organization of that party. His unbounded admiration for that champion of
human liberty, Charles Sumner, was the cause of his naming
his son after the great statesman. His wife survived him until March,
1892, dying at the age of seventy years. She was a woman of great energy,
kindness and cheerfulness, and a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church nearly all her life. Two children were born to them—the subject of
this sketch, and May V., born 1861, and now the wife of W. B.
Horton, an insurance agent of Janestown, New York.
The mother, however, was a widow of James
Putnam, a cousin of the father, at the time of their marriage. By her
first marriage she had one son, Edgar P. Putnam, of Jamestown, New
York, who is now (1893) forty-nine years of age. He enlisted in the war in
1861, at the age of seventeen years, and served until its close. He
entered as a private in the Ninth. New York cavalry, and was mustered out
with the rank of Major, later on receiving from Congress one of its
special medals of honor, awarded for distinguished services and acts of
bravery on fields of battle. During the war he was wounded twice and had
two horses shot from under him. He was in the Army of the Potomac, serving
during the latter portion of the war for a time on General
Sheridan's staff. After the close of the war he went to Minnesota,
where he obtained employment on the Government surveys. His energy and
faculty of command were soon the means of placing him at the head of a
surveying party, and for several years he was engaged in the arduous work
of surveying townships and sections in northern Minnesota counties, at all
times far away in an unbroken wilderness. While engaged in this work he
became an expert in selecting and locating valuable tracts of pine lands,
which were purchased from the Government by capitalists at the nominal sum
of $1.25 per acre. Into these lands he put every dollar of his savings,
and in 1874, owing to greatly impaired health from overwork, he sold his
lands at a handsome figure and returned with his
family to Jamestown, New York, to reside, After a time, with returning
health, he engaged in the drug business. He was appointed Postmaster of
the city of Jamestown by President Arthur, and succeeded in
getting the free delivery service established there, but was removed from
office soon after President Cleveland's election. Two years
later (1888), he was elected County Clerk of Chautauqua county. He refused
a re-nomination after serving most acceptably his three-years' term of
office, and I returned to his home in Jamestown, and soon after became
identified with the management of the Chautauqua County National Bank. For
a number of years he has been active in politics, holding the position of
chairman of the county executive committee of the Republican party during
several campaigns, and is regarded as one of the leading Republicans of
western New York. He is a man of excellent business qualifications
and has accumulated an independent fortune in his various avocations.
Two years after his father's death the subject of this
sketch removed with his mother and sister from the home of his boyhood to
Jamestown, where for two years he attended the union high school. In 1876 he came to Conneaut, Ohio, where his
grandparents then resided, and entered the office of the Conneaut Reporter
as an apprentice. March 8, 1878, at the age of eighteen, he was married to
Laura E., daughter of E. A. and Eliza A. Stone. Two children have been
born to them —Eppie May, born June 3,1879, and Walter, born February 14,
1886. Mrs. Putnam was born June 23,1858. She is a member of the Christian
Church of Conneaut.
In the fall of 1878, he, in company with his brother-in-law, L. Y. Stone,
engaged in their first business venture by establishing the Conneaut
Express. After publishing this paper a year in Conneaut, Mr. Stone sold
his interest in the same to G. P. Foster, of Geneva, Ohio, and the plant
was moved to that village, where the publication of the Express was
continued, our subject continuing as its editor and manager another year,
when, after a long and very serious illness, he sold his interest in the
newspaper. With returning health he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he
remained a year engaged in working at his trade on daily newspapers and in
job offices. Again returning to Conneaut, he purchased a half interest in
the Reporter, in 1882, and in company with J. P. Rieg, continued in its
publication until 1889, when he sold his interest in the business to Mr,
Rieg. During 1888, he held, by appointment from the Governor of Ohio, the
office of Lake Erie Warden. His duties in enforcing the laws of the State
relative to fishing in Lake Erie, called forth various and exciting
experiences in dealing with the many rough and law-breaking fishermen.
Resigning his office after one year's experience in that capacity, he at
once engaged in successfully carrying out a large newspaper advertising
contract which he had secured from one of the leading advertisers of the
country.
In 1890, at the outset of the work then begun on the eleventh census, he
was appointed a Special Agent in the field work pertaining to farms, homes
and mortgages. At the conclusion of his work in the field he was called
to Washington by the Superintendent of census, and appointed a clerk in
the Census bureau. He continued in that employ two years, resigning his
position in June, 1892, to return to his home in Conneaut once more and
engage in his present business, embracing furniture, carpets, curtains,
and undertaking in its scope. In June, 1893, he associated with himself
Mr. C. H. Simonds, of Jefferson, Ohio, under the firm name of
Putnam & Simonds.
As may be imagined from the foregoing sketch, our subject is an active,
aggressive Republican in politics, and has done much work for the party
during the past fifteen years, both in the capacity of a newspaper writer
and as an active participant in local and State politics.
The Putnams of this county are principally the descendants of John
Putnam,
who, with three sons, emigrated from England to the colony of
Massachusetts in the seventeenth century. The race of Putnams, while not
so numerous as many others, is one characteristically strong and noted
for the traits of honor, honesty, patriotism, integrity, and tenacity of
purpose with which its individuals are imbued, as exemplified by the lives
and actions of those bearing this name. It is an occurrence most rare
indeed to see or hear the name of Putnam coupled with criminal
transactions, and it is an undoubted fact that whenever such case is
discovered, a taint in the individual will be found to have been
inherited from some other source through marriage relations.
The subject of this sketch is a descendant along the same branch, though
not directly, which produced General Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary fame,
and he is more directly a descendant from General Rufus Putnam, a
Revolutionary soldier of distinction, and the founder of Marietta, Ohio.
Captain Andrew Putnam, a near relative of General
Rufus, moved from
Massachusetts, and finally settled in Chautauqua county, New York, in
1817, while it was practically yet a wilderness of forest. His entire
family of thirteen children (one girl and twelve boys) accompanied him. Newell, the oldest son, and the grandfather of our subject, soon took up
a farm of 100 acres near that of his father's, and in time had cleared
some sixty acres of it. He lived upon this farm over forty years. Becoming
too old for farm labor, he disposed of it to his son, Welcome, and removed
to Conneaut, Ohio, where he resided some twenty years at the Center, close
beside the home of his daughter, Mrs. Rev. O. T. Wyman. But after the
death of his wife, in 1887, he returned to Chautauqua county and took up
his home with Mrs. Wyman (Rev. Wyman having moved there two or three years
previous). He remained with them until his death, in 1890, at the
advanced age of ninety-five years. Newell Putnam was for a short time a
soldier in the war of 1812, and was a participant in the battle of Lundy's
Lane. In politics he was a Whig and then a Republican. He was a man of
sterling character, strong physique, strict honesty and propriety, a
teetotaler, and a conscientious Christain of the Baptist faith. He was
most highly respected by all who knew him well.
(For Source, see Note 1 below) |
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NOTES:
Note 1:
Source 1 - Biographical History of
Northeastern, Ohio Embracing the Counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake.
Containing Portraits of all the Presidents of the United States with a Biography
of each, together with Portraits and Biographies of Joshua R. Giddings, Benjamin
F. Wade and a large number of Early Settlers and Representative Families of
today.
Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company - 1893.
Note 2:
Source 2 - History of Ashtabula County, Ohio by Mrs. Moina W. Large - 1924
NOTE: There will be an asterisk (*) next to the biographies that have a
portrait.
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