Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/733

 CITY OF MANSFIELD.

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��children — Henry, Andrew and Joseph, the latter about 7 months old. She soon after took the logs Mr. N. had prepared in his lifetime to build a better cabin, had them moved to the north side of the square, where Capt. A. C. Cummins now lives, and had a cabin built there. The house was improved at times, and a brick addition built afterwai'd by Henry Leyman. It is part of Capt. Cummins' house now. Mrs. Newman resided here until her death, 1834. By this time, the chil- dren were grown. Henry and Andrew were married and had homes of their own, and .Joseph was a young man beginning life for himself.

NEWMAN, HENRY, Bryan, Williams Co., Ohio. Mr. Newman is the fourth child of Jacob Newman, and, since 1849, has resided in Williams Co.; he was born Oct. 17, 1802, in Franklin Co., Penn.; his mother dying a few weeks after his birth, his father took him to Westmoreland Co., where he went to reside, keeping him under his own care ; about 1805, his father emi- grated to Stark Co., Ohio, and in 1807 to Richland Co.; Henry remained in Stark Co. until the fall of 1808, when he was brought by his father to the cabin home on the Rocky Fork ; he was left here by his father while he went to Pennsylvania, where he was married ; Henry lived with his uncle Michael and wife, who came on and kept house while Jacob went East ; after his father's return, both families occupied the cabin until about 1810, when Michael and his wife moved into the cabin built by Moses Fountain north across the creek, and near the mill ; Jacob Newman remained on the Rocky Fork until the fall of 1811, when he came to Mansfield, and remained here until his death in June, 1813; in the summer of 1812, he raised a crop here, and that winter piloted Gen. Crook's army to the Mau- mee country. Henry Newman says the accounts con- cerning his absence ffom December until June are in- correct ; he states that his father was not gone that length of time, and that he did not leave Mansfield until March ; he is quite certain concerning this, as he cannot remember his father being absent so long ; after his father's death in 1813, Henry assisted his mother in the care of her property, and gathered what meager education the schools of the day afi'orded ; in 1828, he went to New Orleans in search of a man named Thomas 6. Shield, who had absconded in debt to the Newman estate about |1,400, but failed to find him. A few years after his return, he was married to .Jane Ward, a member of the Ward family, in Weller Township, to which locality he removed, and entered 80 acres of land. Mr. and Mrs. Newman lived on this farm — to which many acres were added — until 1849; they brought it to a high state of cultivation, and gained a competence from its soil ; all their children, but one, were born here. Their names are Jacob, born in 1832, (now a resident of La Grange, Ind.); Joseph (who lost his life in the late war, being mortally wounded at Mission Ridge); Andrew (also a soldier, and, who after his return, died from the exposure of a soldier's life); all three of these men went into the army as Lieu- tenants, and all were promoted ; Mr. Newman's daugh- ters are Harriet, Sarah, Francis and Elizabeth. Mr. Newman moved to Williams Co. in 1849, where he pur- chased a large farm, and erected a saw-mill, which en- terprises, with the aid of his son, he conducted suc-

��cessfully, until 1875, when he ceased the active labors of life, and went to Bryan, where he now lives in re- tirement. Mrs. Newman died June 30, 1876 ; since her death, he makes his home with his daughter, Fran- ces ; his memory is remarkably clear concerning pio- neer days and incidents ; he can give accurate histories of those early times when Richland Co. was a frontier county, and to his recollection more than to any man now living are the accurate details of pioneer days in this county as given in the historical part of this vol- ume due ; that it might be made accurate, he visited the county, and pointed out to the compiler of these pages, localities, and narrated incidents that otherwise would have been forgotten.

NEWMAN, JOSEPH (deceased), was the youngest child of Jacob and Susanna Newman, and was born on the 25th day of September, 1812, at the block-house at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where his mother had been sent as a place of comparative safety from murderous attacks of hostile Indians. A few months afterward, his father returned from the army in Northwestern Ohio, where he contracted a fever that soon terminated his life. Thus early deprived of a father, his early care and training devolved upon his mother, who was wonder- fully well qualified to perform these duties. She was a woman of "great good sense," and her keen inten- tions for the future welfare of her boy soon told her that nature had fitted him to adorn the highest walks of life. And his brief career shows how even a mother's love " builded better than it knew." He early showed a disposition to acquire an education and was not satis- fied with the usual "quarter in winter time," but went to Norwalk, Ohio, then a prominent seat of learning in Northern Ohio, where he laid the foundation that de- termined his success in after life. The close applica- tion to study and habits of thought that he acquired at this academy followed him through life, and though his scholastic attainments were not the most classical, they were enough, combined with his strong, natural intellect, to rank him among the most scholarly men of his day. He attended law school at Cincinnati and then prepared himself for admission to the bar, and then entered into partnership with Judge James Stewart, and rapidly rose in his profession until he was considered one of the best lawyers in Central Ohio. Of commanding pres- ence, far above the ordinary stature, a handsome person and magnetic voice, of rare habits of thought and study, he was singularly well qualified to fill a high position at the bar or in the halls of legislation. About 1841, he married Ann Catlin, of Harrington, Conn., a cult- ured lady of rare beauty and accomplishments, who survived him. No children were born of this marriage. He was a Major General of the Ohio militia and took great interest in its organization and proficiency. He was an Assistant Clerk of the Ohio Senate, and, about 1845, after having served four years as Prosecuting Attorney, was elected a member of the Ohio Senate. His entrance into the Ohio Senate was at the time when new counties were being formed, and personal feelings in this respect ran high. The new county of Ashland was about to be formed, which would despoil his native county of some of her most desirable terri- tory. He took an active part in the Senate to preserve his county in her fair proportions, which was the great

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