Ohio Guide
Ex-Slave Stories
Aug 15, 1937
SUSAN BLEDSOE
462-12th St. S.E., Canton, Ohio
"I was born on a plantation in Gilee County, near
the town of Elkton, in Tennessee, on August 15,
1845. My father's name was Shedrick Daley and he
was owned by Tom Daley and my mother's name was
Rhedia Jenkins and her master's name was Silas
Jenkins. I was owned by my mother's master but
some of my brothers and sisters—I had six brothers
and six sisters—were owned by Tom Daley.
I always worked in the fields with the men except
when I was called to the house to do work there.
'Masse' Jenkins was good and kind to all us slaves
and we had good times in the evening after work.
We got in groups in front of the cabins and sang
and danced to the music of banjoes until the
overseer would come along and make us go to bed.
No, I don't remember what the songs were, nothing
in particular, I guess, just some we made up and
we would sing a line or two over and over again.
We were not allowed to work on Sunday but we
could go to church if we wanted to. There wasn't
any colored church but we could go to the white
folks church if we went with our overseer. His
name was Charlie Bull and he was good to all of
us.
Yes, they had to whip a slave sometimes, but only
the bad ones, and they deserved it. No, there
wasn't any jail on the plantation.
We all had to get up at sunup and work till
sundown and we always had good food and plenty of
it; you see they had to feed us well so we would
be strong. I got better food when I was a slave
than I have ever had since.
Our beds were home made, they made them out of
poplar wood and gave us straw ticks to sleep on. I
got two calico dresses a year and these were my
Sunday dresses and I was only allowed to wear them
on week days after they were almost worn out. Our
shoes were made right on the plantation.
When any slaves got sick, Mr. Bull, the overseer,
got a regular doctor and when a slave died we kept
right on working until it was time for the
funeral, then we were called in but had to go
right back to work as soon as it was over. Coffins
were made by the slaves out of poplar lumber.
We didn't play many games, the only ones I can
remember are 'ball' and 'marbles'. No, they would
not let us play 'cards'.
One day I was sent out to clean the hen house and
to burn the straw. I cleaned the hen house, pushed
the straw up on a pile and set fire to it and
burned the hen house down and I sure thought I was
going to get whipped, but I didn't, for I had a
good 'masse'.
We always got along fine with the children of the
slave owners but none of the colored people would
have anything to do with the 'poor white trash'
who were too poor to own slaves and had to do
their own work.
There was never any uprisings on our plantations
and I never heard about any around where I lived.
We were all happy and contented and had good
times.
Yes, I can remember when we were set free. Mr.
Bull told us and we cut long poles and fastened
balls of cotton on the ends and set fire to them.
Then, we run around with them burning, a-singin'
and a-dancin'. No, we did not try to run away and
never left the plantation until Mr. Bull said we
could go.
After the war, I worked for Mr. Bull for about a
year on the old plantation and was treated like
one of the family. After that I worked for my
brother on a little farm near the old home place.
He was buying his farm from his master, Mr. Tom
Daley.
I was married on my brother's place to Wade
Bledsoe in 1870. He has been dead now about 15
years. His master had given him a small farm but I
do not remember his master's name. Yes, I lived in
Tennessee until after my husband died. I came to
Canton in 1929 to live with my granddaughter, Mrs.
Algie Clark.
I had three children; they are all dead but I
have 6 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren and 9
great-great-grandchildren, all living. No, I don't
think the children today are as good as they used
to be, they are just not raised like we were and
do too much as they please.
I can't read or write as none of we slaves ever
went to school but I used to listen to the white
folks talk and copied after them as much as I
could."
NOTE: The above is almost exactly as Mrs.
Bledsoe talked to our interviewer. Although she is
a woman of no schooling she talks well and uses
the common negro dialect very little. She is 92
years of age but her mind is clear and she is very
entertaining. She receives an Old Age Pension.
(Interviewed by Chas. McCullough.)
Submitted and Transcribed by Sandi Cummins
REV. WILLIAM McCAUGHEY, one of the prominent
ministers of the Presbyterian Church, now
resides in Olney, (Illinois). His many friends
and acquaintances will be glad to see him
represented in this volume, and with pleasure we
present this record of his life to our readers.
His paternal grandparents were William and Jane
(Jackson) McCaughey and were of Scotch-Irish
descent. The grandmother was an own cousin of
Andrew Jackson, President of the United States.
Both were members of what was once called the
Seceder Church, but now the United Presbyterian.
The father of our subject, Robert Jackson
McCaughey, married Henrietta Crafft, daughter of
Frederick and Margaret Crafft, who were of
German descent. They resided near Frederick
City, Md., and were members of the Lutheran
Church. Their daughter, however, was a member of
the Christian Church.
Rev. W. McCaughey of this sketch was born in
Massillon, Stark County, Ohio, September 25,
1829, and was the eldest of eight children,
three sons and five daughters. Two daughters,
Margaret and Keziah Belle, are now deceased. The
latter left two children, namely: Harry Eirst, a
prominent railroad postal clerk of Cincinnati,
Ohio; and Mrs. Allie Kern, of Minneapolis, Minn.
The living children of the McCaughey family are
Mrs. Mary Alice Gildersleeve, of Hudson, McLean
County, Ill.; Helen Maria, wife of Columbus C.
Sater, M. D., also of Hudson; Thomas Corwin, a
physician and druggist, of Hoopeston, Vermilion
County, Ill.; and Robert Jackson, a commercial
traveler of Ripley, Brown County, Ohio.
Our
subject was married in Springfield, Ohio, March
25, 1858, to Miss Lucy Elizabeth Alter, the
ceremony being performed by Rev. Samuel
Sprecher, D. D., President of Wittenberg
College. The lady is the only sister of Hon.
Franklin Alter, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Their
family was closely related to ex-Governor
Reutner, of Pennsylvania, and belongs to the
new-school Lutheran Church. The union of Rev. W.
McCaughey and his wife was blessed with a family
of six children, as follows: Mary Elizabeth;
Henrietta Virginia, now the wife of Frank S.
Gordon, a dry-goods merchant of Greenville,
Darke County, Ohio; William Franklin, a
prominent worker in, and Assistant General
Secretary of, the Y. M. C. A. State work of
Indiana, with headquarters at Indianapolis,
Ind.; Henry Alter, who is employed as
book-keeper with Alms & Deopke, wholesale
and retail merchants of Cincinnati, Ohio; Walter
Secrist, who is solicitor and collector for D.
Gray & Co.'s underwriters' insurance agency
of Cincinnati, Ohio; and Laura Luella, who is
now Mrs. Frederick C. Brehm, her husband a
wholesale paper merchant of Milwaukee, Wis. In
speaking of his family , Mr. McCaughey says,
"Truly as parents we can gay that we have been
greatly blessed and comforted in our children.
In quite early life they gave God their hearts,
confessed Christ as their Savior, united with
the church, were heartily in sympathy with their
father's life work, and had in many ways greatly
helped him toward the upbuilding of the Master's
kingdom. We have great reason to be thankful to
our Heavenly Father for the joy and comfort
which our children have been to us."
Speaking of his religious experience, Mr.
McCaughey says that he cannot recall a time,
even in early childhood, when he did not have
religious impressions, and when he could not
look forward and see himself a minister of the
Gospel. When quite a small boy, he was much
impressed by reading a simple story of Joseph
and his brethren. Not long afterward he heard a
pathetic sermon preached from the text, "Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? God
forbid." Little William went home from the
service deeply impressed, and having to prepare
a composition for school, he concluded to take
the same text as his subject. He did so, and in
the bar room or office of a large country tavern
wrote six four-line stanzas of jingling rhyme.
Those stanzas attracted considerable attention
and he was considered a somewhat poetic prodigy,
for he was then a little flaxen-haired boy,
whose head would hardly reach the top of his
mother's dinner table. About the same time a
lady came into the community and invited the
parents and their children to meet at a
schoolhouse on
Sunday afternoon to organize a Sunday-school.
Rev. Mr. McCaughey then attended what was his
first Sunday-school. Many, many years after
this, when Mr. McCaughey had become a minister
of the Gospel, an aged couple passed through his
town in northeastern Ohio, and, stopping at the
hotel over Sunday, they inquired of the
proprietor, who was one of the officers of Mr.
McCaughey's church, concerning the principal
church of the place and its pastor. When told
the name of the pastor, the strange lady
requested that he be sent for, and when he
arrived he found her to be his first
Sundayschool teacher. Calling him by name, she
said, "You were the little boy who sat on that
rough board bench, your bare feet scarcely
touching the rough floor, your hair as white as
your clean tow pants, your eyes sparkling like
two diamonds, your ears opened to catch every
word that I uttered. 1 could not but see, and I
felt it too, that there was in that little uncut
diamond, that little white-haired boy, a future
minister of the Gospel, and often spoke of it to
my friends, then living in your community."
Mr.
McCaughey was converted under the preaching of
Rev. Peter J. Spangler, of the German Reformed
Church, and was confirmed by him into full
membership of that church March 23, 1852, in
Manchester, Summit County, Ohio. The passage of
scripture which lead to his conversion was,
"Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out when the times of
refreshening shall come from the presence of the
Lord, " Acts iii, 19. At the time our subject
was engaged in teaching. When his school closed
he made a trip through the West, returning in
the fall to Doylestown, Wayne County, Ohio, to
the home of his father, with whom he remained
until the latter's death, which occurred in
February, 1853. The following April, he became a
student in Heidelberg University, of Tiffin,
Ohio. He had only $28, but he had faith that the
hand of Providence would aid him. He sawed wood,
swept the rooms, built fires, gathered ashes and
sold them, worked in the harvest fields during
vacations and in this way prepared himself for
the Master's work. After an examination, he was
placed in the junior class of the scientific
course, but he felt that this permission so
kindly granted was hardly deserved, and he asked
to be allowed to remain in the senior class two
years. This was granted, and he graduated with
the degree of A. M. in the Class of '56. The
theological seminary of that church being
connected with the institution, he was enabled
to pursue both seminary and college branches,
and hence made double time. During his second
year in the seminary, he supplied a vacant
church in an adjoining town, and after the
opening of the third year he was permitted by
the faculty of the seminary to accept a regular
call from an old and prominent church in
Navarre, Ohio. He was examined and licensed to
preach the Gospel in the German Reformed Church
of the United States of America.
Rev. Mr. McCaughey 's ordination sermon was
preached in Navarre, January 14. 1857, by Rev.
Louis Brumer, of Massillon, Ohio, and he also
delivered the charge to the pastor, while Rev.
Samuel B. Leiter, D. D., delivered the charge to
the people.
Rev. Mr. McCaughey remained in Navarre until
October, 1860, when he was called to the
pastorate in Akron City. While there he erected
a fine house of worship, and laid the foundation
for that congregation of eight hundred members,
now so spiritually and financially, as well as
numerically, strong. In May, 1863, he removed to
Springfield. Ohio, where he spent about a year,
though not officially employed, yet most of the
time engaged in the Master's work. In June,
1864, he was called to Greenville, Ohio, where
he organized and built up a large and
flourishing church, and erected a fine house of
worship. After eleven pleasant years spent at
that place he was forced to resign on account of
his health, October 1, 1874. The succeeding
winter and spring he traveled for the benefit of
his health. In the spring of 1875, he received a
unanimous call from the church at Miamisburg,
Ohio, where he served as pastor until April 1,
1881. Now came the change in the life of Rev.
Mr. McCaughey. He had faithfully served the
Reformed Church for many years, but he felt that
the extensive use of the German language was a
hindrance to his personal work. The Presbyterian
Church was the church of his fathers, and in the
spring of 1881 he asked for a letter of
dismissal from the Reformed Church to the Dayton
Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in the
United States of America, and was duly enrolled
as a member of that Presbytery April 14, 1881,
at the regular spring meeting, at the Park
Street Church, Dayton, Ohio.
During the following summer and winter he was
not employed officially, but nevertheless
generally preached twice a day each Sunday. In
the autumn of 1882, on account of the climate,
he went South and temporarily took charge of the
Bethel Presbyterian Church in Kingston, Tenn. In
May, 1883, he came North for the summer, and
then again went to Kingston. On the 9th of July,
1884, entirely unsolicited on his part, he was
unanimously elected President of Sedalia
University, a young and flourishing Presbyterian
school in Sedalia, Mo. He there served until
July 9, 1885, when on account of financial
reasons the connection was severed and April 1,
1886, he became pastor of the Presbyterian
Church at Rossville. Vermilion County, Ill. To
that church he had the largest number of
accessions on one day during his entire
ministry, sixty joining. Of these, thirty were
young men, and forty-three of the number were by
the profession of faith.
Rev. Mr. McCaughey was unanimously called to the
Olney Church, February 1, 1889, and has since
teen its pastor. Up to May 14, 1893, he had
preached five thousand two hundred and
eighty-nine sermons, delivered two thousand one
hundred and seventy-five lectures, received six
hundred into church relationship and from four
hundred to a thousand by certificate, baptized
six hundred and married three hundred and
thirty-nine couples. Speaking of his life, Mr.
McCaughey says, "The Lord has been remarkably
propitious to me in my family, in my health and
in owning and blessing my work. Nevertheless, I
must confess that I have come far short of doing
all that I could for my blessed Master, arid my
only prayer is that in the end He may overlook
my mistakes, overrule my errors and with His
compassionate and loving voice say to me 'well
done.'
Rev. Mr. McCaughey is a popular pulpit orator,
being a logical reasoner, a fluent, forcible,
impressive speaker. By his associates he is
recognized as a scholarly, refined, Christian
gentleman. During his residence in Olney he has
endeared himself to the members of his
congregation, and enjoys the friendship and
esteem of a large circle of acquaintances.
Portrait and Biographical Record of Effingham,
Jasper and Richland Counties Illinois,
Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent
and Representative Citizens, Governors of the
State, and the Presidents of the United States.
(Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1887), p.595 -
Submitted by Judy Edwards
JOSEPH OBERLIN, farmer; P. O. West
Brookfield; was born July 5, 1826, on Sec. 19,
Tuscarawas Tp., Stark Co., Oho. He is the seventh
son born to Peter Oberlin, who was a son of Adam
and Eve Oberlin, who were among the early pioneers
of Tuscarawas Township. Joseph was raised to man's
estate under the parental roof, having received
good school advantages, he improved the same, by
teaching the young ideas of the neighborhood for
several years. In February, 1953, he caught the
gold fever and spent four years and a half in
California, where he was mostly engaged in mining,
returning to Stark County in 1857. Dec. 20, 1860,
he married Mary Christman, daughter of John
Christman, whose wife's maiden name was Margaret
Fisher. John Christman was born Feb. 17, 1811, in
Mt. Pleasant Tp., Westmoreland Co., Penn., son of
Jacob, who had seven children born him, John being
the eldest. John Christman was married May 16,
1833, to Margaret Fisher, who was born in 1811, in
Westmoreland County. Mr. Christman emigrated to
this State in 1835, and purchased 160 acres in
Tuscarawas Township, upon which he has since
lived. Mrs. Oberlin died June 9, 1879, leaving
four children--Arhtur C., Anna M., Inez R. and
Mary L. After Mr. Oberlin's marriage he
moved on the homestead, where he lived several
years. He has now 100 acres on Sec. 19.
Since 1869, he has resided with his father-in-law,
Mr. Christman. Mr. Oberlin is a member of the
German Reformed Church. (source: History of Stark
County: with an outline sketch of Ohio. Chicago:
Baskin & Battey, 1881.) (submitted by Ida
Maack Recu)
WILLIAM E. OBERLIN,
Massillon; was born in Tuscarawas Township, March
9, 1822, the sixth son in order of birth, born to
Peter and Susanna (Cramer) Oberlin. Our subject
was raised to farming, attending the district
schools, and finishing his education in the
academy, at Wooster; for some time taught school
and clerked for various firms, after which he went
to Wooster to school, and there resumed teaching,
having taught, all told, sixteen terms. In
October, 1852, he married Susan Dague, born in
Lancaster Co., Penn., in 1832, daughter of Jacob
and Maria (Overley) Dague. The Dague family came
to Wayne County in 1837. After the marriage of our
subject, he purchased a small piece of land, on
which he lived five years, when he sold it and
moved to his present place, of 70 acres, known as
"Stand's Farm," having in all about 140 acres; he
has four children - Otto E., Albert B., Charles D.
and Jennie M. Mr. Oberlin was elected Township
Assessor about 1854, and served three terms;
served also as Justice of the Peace from 1857, and
was re-elected in 1881; also as Township Treasurer
nineteen years; has administrated on several
estates, and been guardian for ten persons; he has
always been a Democrat, and is a member of the
Reformed Church.
(source: History of Stark County: with an outline
sketch of Ohio. Chicago: Baskin & Battey,
1881.) (submitted by Ida Maack Recu)
Massillon ranks deservedly high as a commercial
centre, and prominent among its resources is the
trade carried on in hardware. Identified with
this trade and deserving of notice, is Charles
E. Oberlin, who is one of the foremost and
far-seeing business men of the place. He is a
representative of one of the oldest families in
the county, and is the son of Samuel Oberlin. He
was born in Massillon on the 24th of February,
1855, was next to the youngest child born to his
parents, and was reared and educated in his
native town, being graduated from the High
School when about eighteen years of age.
Our subject subsequently entered the hardware
store of S. A. Conrad as clerk, and continued as
such for about ten years, after which he became
a junior partner, about 1883. Even at that age
he displayed unusual sagacity and shrewdness as
a business man, and remained a member of this
firm until 1888, attending strictly to the
buying and selling. The firm then dissolved
partnership, and in the spring of that year our
subject branched out in business for himself. He
has a large double store at nos. 12 and 14 North
Erie Street, J. F. Hess' old stand, and the
building is three stories in height and is 50x65
feet in dimensions. An elevator is in this
building. Mr. Oberlin put in a fine new stock of
shelf hardware and miner's supplies, paints,
oils, etc., and has a large and flourishing
trade. He is an energetic and thorough man of
business, and is highly esteemed, being
honorable in all his dealings.
Our subject is a Director of the Massillon
Building and Loan Association, and takes an
interest in other enterprises of the city. He
owns a pleasant home on Fremont Street, and is
the owner of other residences in the city. In
the year 1887, he selected his wife in the
person of Miss Ella Miller, who was born in
Massillon, and whose father, William T., is a
moulder with Russell & Co., of this city.
Mr. and Mrs. Oberlin are the parents of one
child, Howard H. Public-spirited and
enterprising, Mr. Oberlin has ever taken an
active interest in all worthy enterprises, and
has given liberally of his means to further the
same. He is President of the City Board of
Teachers' Examiners, and has been a member of
the same for four years. Socially, he is a Royal
Arch Mason, and a member of the Junior Order of
American Mechanics. He holds membership in the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a Trustee in
the same. In politics, he is a Republican.
(source: Portrait and Biographical Record. Stark
County, containing Biographical Sketches of
Prominent and Representative Citizens, Chicago:
Chapman Bros. 1892.)
(submitted by Ida Maack Recu)
WILLIAM C. H. REEDER, a native of
Massillon, Stark County, Ohio, was born to Daniel
and Sarah (Dames) Reeder, November 3, 1839,
natives of Pennsylvania and England, respectively.
The father's ancestors are of German descent. Mr.
Daniel Reeder came to Miami County in the year
1854, and settled in Peru. The father was born in
1808 and the mother in 1821. The person whose name
heads this sketch, is a cabinet maker, having
commenced to learn the trade at the age of
eighteen under Messrs. West & Jamison, and
served an apprenticeship of three years. In July,
1861, he answered the country's call and enlisted
in the service for its preservation, in the 20th
Indiana, Company A, and was mustered out in July,
1864. Was wounded twice at the battle of Peach
Orchard, Va., June 25, 1862. He came back to Peru
and and was employed by his former employers, West
& Jamison, with whom he again labored at his
trade for about two years, after which he was
employed by the I., P. & C. Railroad Company,
in their wood department and is their pattern
builder, at which he has been employed ever since.
Our subject was united in matrimony with Miss
Agnes Weist, of Huntington, Indiana, October 21,
1869, and they have been blest with the birth of
six children, named Charles, Emma, Edward, Robert
and Anna, who are still living, and John E.,
deceased. Mr. Reeder and family are very much
respected citizens in the vicinity in which they
reside. He is a Republican
Contributed
by Barb Zigenmeyer
History of Miami
County, Indiana: From the earliest time to the
present ... By Brant & Fuller, Chicago
JOHN
GROGG, one of the few of Perry Township's
early settlers yet living, is a native of Starke
County, Ohio, born May 12, 1823, the youngest of a
family of ten children born to John and Esther
(Snyder) Grogg, who were both natives of
Pennsylvania, and of Dutch descent. The subject of
our sketch was reared in his native State,
receiving a limited education in the primitive log
school houses of his day. At the age of fifteen,
in company with his brother and two
brothers-in-law, he emigrated to Miami County,
locating in Perry Township, of which he has since
remained a resident, with the exception of three
years, during which time he lived in Ashland
County, Ohio. August 5, 1847, Miss Mary Mussleman
became his wife. She is a native of Fairfield
County, Ohio, born November 11, 1824, the daughter
of Benjamin and Susanna (Walters) Mussleman, who
were among the pioneer settlers of Miami County.
To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Grogg five children
have been born, of which these three are now
living: John H., who married Ida Paul: Sophia C.,
wife of Samuel King, and B. Frank, whose consort
was Anna Morris. The deceased children were Jacob
a»d an infant unnamed. In his life vocation of
farming, Mr. Grogg has been very successful. He is
the proprietor of a well improved farm of 218
acres, which he accumulated by his own industry
and economy. He is a member of the Masonic
fraternity. Politically, he has been a life-long
Democrat.
Contributed
by Barb Zigenmeyer
History of Miami
County, Indiana: From the earliest time to the
present ... By Brant & Fuller, Chicago
HUGH MILLER, farmer and pioneer, of
Perry Township, yet living, was born in
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, December 12,
1812, the son of Daniel and Esther (Harper)
Miller, who were natives of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and Ireland respectively. Our
subject was reared in his native state,
remaining with his parents until he attained
the age of twenty-two years. He obtained a
good education considering the facilities
afforded in those days. In 1827 he was
apprenticed to learn the carpenter trade, his
apprenticeship continuing four years. He was
engaged in plying his adopted vocation in his
native and Starke County, Ohio, until 1841,
when he came to Indiana and purchased land in
Miami County. He then returned to Ohio, and
two years subsequent, again came to Miami
County, of which he has since been a resident.
November, 1835, Judith Grogg became his wife,
and by her he is the father of ten children,
eight now living, viz: Joseph, who married
Sarah Rhodes, since deceased; Cynthia, widow
of R. P.Johnson; Sarah, wife of Daniel King;
Miranda, consort of Jonas Rhodes; Noah, (see
sketch), Benjamin F., Anneta and Richard, who
married Melissa Miller. Since 1841 Mr. Miller
has made farming his occupation and has been
uniformly successful. He now owns 250 acres of
well improved land under a high state of
cultivation. Politically he is a Democrat, and
under the old State constitution he was
honored with an appointment to the position of
Township Trustee.
Contributed
by Barb Zigenmeyer
History of Miami
County, Indiana: From the earliest time to the
present ... By Brant & Fuller, Chicago
HENRY SAUSAMAN, an enterprising farmer of
Perry Township, is a native of Starke County,
Ohio, born March 31, 1833; the next to
youngest in a family of ten children born to
John and Catharine (Charet) Sausaman, who were
both natives of Pennsylvania, from whence they
emigrated to Ohio in 1830. The former died in
1845, when Henry was but twelve years old,
leaving him to carve a fortune for himself. He
had, up to that time, received very little
schooling and subsequently got still less.
Thus he obtained a very limited education. He
engaged as a farm hand, and, by dint of his
own industry and economy, accumulated
sufficient to purchase a farm of his own.
August 25, 1855, his marriage with Catharine
Feller was solemnized, and their union has
been blessed with ten children, viz: Thomas
J., who married Flora Huffman; Mary A., Edward
F., Urias B., Esther E., wife of Enos Swihart;
Lydia A., Daniel M., Albert H., Sarah J., and
Melissa C. In 1864 he emigrated to Miami
County and settled on the farm where he now
lives. In his vocation of farming he has been
uniformly successful, now owning 160 acres of
well improved land. In politics Mr. Sausaman
is a Democrat.
Contributed
by Barb Zigenmeyer
History of
Miami County, Indiana: From the earliest
time to the present ... By Brant &
Fuller, Chicago
EVERHARD, Mrs. Caroline
McCullough, woman suffragist,
born in Massillon, Ohio, 14th September,
1843, where she now resides. She received
her early education in the public schools.
Subsequently she spent a year in a private
school for young women in Media, Pa.
Shortly after the close of her school days
she became the wife of Captain Henry H.
Everhard, who had returned from the war
after three years of honorable service.
The cares of home and family demanded her
attention for several years, but, when her
children were old enough for her to
entrust their education to other hands,
she resumed her literary pursuits. At an
early age she began to investigate and
reason for herself, and Goethe's words,
"Open the Windows and Let in More Light,"
were the subject of her essay when she
finished her course of study in the public
schools. A natural consequence of her
original and independent way of thinking
was an unusual interest in woman's
position in state and church, and she has
done much to influence public sentiment in
that respect in the community in which she
has resided. Mrs. Everhard has been
appointed to several positions of trust
not usually filled by women, in all of
which she has discharged her duties
acceptably. In 1886 she was appointed by
the Judge of the Court of Common Pleas to
fill a vacancy caused by the death of her
father, one of the trustees of the Charity
Rotch School, an institution founded fifty
years ago by the benevolent Quaker woman
whose name it bears. That was the first
instance in Ohio of the appointment of a
woman to a place of trust that required a
bond. She has been for several years a
member of a board appointed by the court
to visit the public institutions of the
county, including the various jails, the
county infirmary and the Children's Home.
She has been a director of the Union
National Bank of Massillon for a number of
years. She entered actively into the
suffrage ranks in 1888 and became more and
more deeply engaged until May, 1891, when
she was elected to fill the office of
president of the Ohio Woman's Suffrage
Association. She organized the Equal
Rights Association of Canton, Ohio, and
the one in her own city, and to her
influence are due their prosperity and
power for good in that portion of the
State. From childhood she has been an
ardent friend of dumb animals and has
promoted the work of the Massillon Humane
Society, of which she has been an
efficient officer from its organization.
Mrs. Everhard is an indefatigable worker.
Her office necessarily imposes a large
correspondence, to which she must give
personal attention, and for many years she
has made her influence felt through the
medium of the press. Three children have
blessed her married life.
(American Women, Frances Elizabeth
Willard, Mary Ashton Rice Livermore,
Volume 1 Copyright 1897. Transcribed
by Marla Snow.)
AILES,
James W., furniture manufacturer;
born, Alliance, O., (Stark Co) Apr. 22,
1858; son of Amos and Mary A. (Allman)
Ailes; was the first graduate of Alliance
High School, June, 1874; married at
Brampton, Ont., June 11, 1879, Frances H.
Bradley. Began active career as a
representative of Teal & Sargent,
photographers’ supplies, Cleveland, O.,
continuing, 1875-77; removed to Detroit,
Jan. 1, 1877, and associated with C. D.
Widman & Co., manufacturers of
mirrors, hall furniture, buffets, etc.;
has continued with the house to the
present time and is now president of the
company; for a third of a century he has
traveled over a territory extending from
Portland, Me., to Denver, and from Duluth
to Galveston. Member of Masonic order,
Detroit Commandery K.T. No. 1. Republican.
Methodist. Recreation: Fishing. Office:
Cor. Trombly and Orleans St. Residence:
The Addison
The Book of Detroiters. Edited by Albert
Nelson Marquis
Copyright, 1908 by Albert Nelson Marquis
Transcribed by Christine Walters
KENDALL, W. J . , dealer in hardware, stoves, tinware,
etc., Marion ; born in Marion May 19, 1851; engaged in
present business since 1869. Married Emma R. Braucht
Dec. 25, 1873, at Oak Ridge, Ohio ; they have one child —
Sarah A. , born July 25, 1877. Mr. and Mrs. Kendall are
members of the Congregational Church. Mr. K.'s father,
Albert Kendall , was one of the early settlers of this
place; he was born at West Granby, Conn ., July 3, 1815;
came to Marion in 1844, and died here Jan. 19, 1877;;
his widow, Sarah C. Kendall , survives him, and resides
with her son, W. J. ; she was born in West Granby,
Conn.; one son—
W. A. —was
a resident of this county about twenty four years; he is
now agent of the B., C. R. & N. R'y Co., at Burlington,
Iowa.
[Source: The history of Linn County Iowa ; Western
Historical Company; 1878; transcribed by Andaleen
Whitney]
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