Spencer, Ohio

ALFRED D. DOXARD, farmer ; P. 0. Spencer ; is a well-to-do and prominent citizen of this township, and was born April 18, 1843, in Schuylkill Co.. Penn. He came to this State Nov. 18. 1859, and was married in Spencer March 21, 1867, to Miss Mercy J. Driskell. who was born in this county and township Sept. 6, 1848. Their children are Mertie M., born Juiv 6, 1868 ; Hattie F., Oct. 29, 1870 ; Alice L.. April 6. 1873 ; Hugh E.. Aug. 8. 1875 : Lou Gertrude, May 21. 1879. Mr. Donard has a fine farm of 225 acres that constitutes his homestead, and another farm of 130 acres, threequarters of a mile east, all valuable land, and under the best of cultivation. There are two good houses and barns upon the home lot, j which he has built, besides other improvements, such as belong to a well-ordered farm of the American type. His business, conducted upon a systematic, liberal plan, cannot be other than

Passage source: History of Medina County and Ohio, Containing a History of the State of Ohio, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time ... a History of Medina County, Giving an Account of Its Aboriginal Inhabitants ... Pioneer Incidents, Its Growth, Its Improvements, Organization of the County ... Biographical Sketches; Portraits of Some of the Early Settlers and Prominent Men, Etc., Etc. .., published 1881.

Foster, born bept. IS, 1S44 ; Julia and Julius (twins), born Sept. 9, 1847 ; Julius died Dec. 28, 1847 ; Edgar, born Sept. IS, 1849: Isabel, j now Mrs. J. W. Ross, born Nov. 11, 1851 ; Alonzo, born April 9, 1855, died Feb. 2, 1S74 ; j Cora, now Mrs. Roswell G. Falconer, born ! Aug. 2, 1S5S. Mrs. Lucv* A. Parent died Nov. j 28, 1S62 ; Mr. Parent married again, Feb. 9, : 1863, Mrs. Julia A. Rounds, t)f Hampden Co., Mass.; she was born March 12, 1820. Y. W. was the fourth child of William and Lois (Robbins) Parent. His father was born in New Jersev* May 5, 1775, and died Jan. 21, 1873, aged 98 ; his mother wms born Nov. 28, 1790 ; she died Jan. 13, 1878. aged 86 years. The names of his brothers and sisters, in order of I their birth, are as follows : Calista, born June ; 13, 1810 ; Roxana, born Aug. 27, 1811 ; Benjamin, born May 3, 1813 ; Y. W., born Jan. 9, 1819 ; Lois, born Oct. 11. 1820 ; William W., j born Jan. 19, 1822 ; Hezekiah. born April 29, 1823 ; Margaret, born Sept. 19, 1825 ; Abigail, i born Nov. 27, 1827 ; Elmina. born Aug. 12, 1829 ; Lucy, born June 21. 1S39. Mr. Parent came to this county in 1837, a boy of 18, and, j in the past forty-three years, has seen many and important changes occur in Spencer Township. Fruitful fields and happy homes have taken the place of the wild woods and bark wigwams, i the home of the savage. In place of the tortuous trail, winding in and out among the trees and stumps, are broad highways with ; good bridges over the streams they were wont j to ford. He is a well-to-do farmer ; has over 200 acres of good land ; keeps a large herd of stock, and is rugged and hearty for a man of his age, but would now' hardly enjoy tiie pioneer life of forty \*ears ago. He had two brothers who lost their lives in the army during the great rebellion - William IV. enlisted in the 67Ui 0. Y. I., Co. F, Capt. E. Woodford, and participated in the battles of Winchester, Mt. Jackson, Edinburg, Harrison's Landing, i Ya., and Morris Island, Ft. Wagner, and the siege of the same, in South Carolina, Chester Station, Drury's Bluffs and the Cross Roads, Ya., also at Richmond and Petersburg.

Passage source: History of Medina County and Ohio, Containing a History of the State of Ohio, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time ... a History of Medina County, Giving an Account of Its Aboriginal Inhabitants ... Pioneer Incidents, Its Growth, Its Improvements, Organization of the County ... Biographical Sketches; Portraits of Some of the Early Settlers and Prominent Men, Etc., Etc. .., published 1881.

In the fall of 1831, he was sent to the State of Alabama, under Judge Roberts, to engage in the construction of a steamboat canal around Muscle Shoals, on the Tennessee River. He succeeded J udgc Roberts as Engineer in Chief in 1833, and finished the work in 1836, when he was promoted to the rank of Colonel in the United States Topographical Engineer Corps, and placed upon the staff of Gen. Andrew 1 Jackson, then President, in 1838. He after- I ward resigned for a more active service - that of Consulting Engineer of the State of Tennessee, on a State system of Me Adam and turn- ! pike roads. In this position he remained until the summer of 1843, when he resigned and came North to Oneida Co., N. Y., but removed in the spring of 1846 to Western New York, and settled in Ontario Township, Wayne Co., where he followed the plow until 1850, when he was 1 called to a more congenial pursuit as Chief Eu gineer on the enlargement of the Erie Canal, with an office located at Lockport, where he remained until removed by the opposite political part}-, when he obtained a situation as Chief Engineer on the Auburn & Syracuse Railroad in 1852 and 1853. He resigned to accept the position of Resident Engineer on the enlargement of the Erie Canal during the years of 1853 to 1856, having sole charge of the construction of forty-three miles of the canal, from Spencer Port to Revnales Basin. He was j again removed by the accession to power of the Know-Nothing party, to make room for some part}- favorite, in the fall of 1856. In i 1S60, Mr. Williams labored earnestly for the election of Abraham Lincoln, espousing the 1 cause of the North, the more heartily from his knowledge of the evils of slaver}-, which his residence in the South had given him. He \ ! tendered his services to the Government, but 1 was refused on account of his age. He became ! identified with the history of Medina Co. by j ; moving to the eastern part of Spencer Town- ! ship, where his son Levi C. now resides, in the spring of 1866, and purchased what was then j known as the Peter Rice farm, where he lived j until his death by apoplexy, Oct. 29, 1S79. He experienced religion a few years before, and | was a man universally respected as upright,

Passage source: History of Medina County and Ohio, Containing a History of the State of Ohio, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time ... a History of Medina County, Giving an Account of Its Aboriginal Inhabitants ... Pioneer Incidents, Its Growth, Its Improvements, Organization of the County ... Biographical Sketches; Portraits of Some of the Early Settlers and Prominent Men, Etc., Etc. .., published 1881.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Spencer Township - it names this place 9 more 9 times.