Canton Township (part 62 of 62)

Mr. Holtz's father was a soldier in the war of i8i2, serving about six months. Mrs. Holtz's father was under Colonel Raine in the same regiment as was Mr. Holtz, but they never met until after their children had married and it was then learned that th-.y were both in the same war and same regiment together, both getting iheir discharge from tlie same colonel. Shortly after the settlement of Mrs. Holtz's parents here her father would yoke his oxen and make trips to Cleveland and get salt in sacks that were carried over the yoke, and his route was designated by blazed trees. The salt was distributed among his neighbors. Gillman Folsom, brother of Mrs. Holtz, was the first to build a three-story building in the city of Cleveland, this being only a frame structure, and he was also the first man in Cleveland to buy wool. Her maternal grandfather Thornton was drowned in the Connecticut river when he was engaged in ferrying stone across for building purposes. The river was a mile across and when about half way over the boat capsized and he was drowned.

Upon his father's farm in Plain township, M. J. Holtz was reared, and while the opportunity of securing a good education was not afforded him, "he was, nevertheless, neither ignorant nor illiterate. He acquired a fair knowledge of all of the elementary branches of education and was well informed, having also studied, the French language. He was a thorough farmer, having devoted the greater part of his life to agricultural pursuits.

September 7, 1851, Michael J. Holtz was united in marriage to Miss Emily H. Folsom, who was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, October 23, 1829, and who was possessed of all the f^'"", accomplishments, attainments and virtues of her sex. Her father was David Folsom, born in 1784, in Essex county, Vermont, where he was educated, coming to Ohio when a young man and several years later married, settling in the woods, where by his industry he cleared a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, with his father, Avho had come to Ohio with him. They \\'ere surrounded by Indians, who were savage, doing a great deal of damage at times. In the later years of his life her father retired from farming, taking up the hotel business, which he conducted for some years, later retiring from active business except when he would help his sons, who were contracting in Canton. He died in Corunna, Indiana, in 1862. His wife Avas Phoebe Thornton, who was a native of Hartford, Connecticut, born ia 1794. Her parents were married in Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1813, where they stayed for many years, she dying July 5, 1844, in Loudonville, Richland county. Mrs. Phoebe (Thornton) Folsom died in the fiftieth year of her age, ha\ing been born about 1794. Ten children were born to them, of whom Mrs. Michael J. Holtz was the eighth. The Folsoms and the Thorntons were evidently originally of English extraction.

At the time of their marriage Mrs. and Mr. Alichael J- Holtz were possessed of very little property, though in that respect they were neither better nor worse off than their neighbors, a condition which is very conducive to contentment. They settled on the farm in Stark county, and devoted themselves to the usual farin work. They prospered and became the parents of four daughters, of whom they reared three and educated them and in time they became useful women. The children are Elista .'\.. Frances M., Ermina E., who died at the age of twenty-one months, and Almina P. Elista is the wife of J. Murray Spangler, of Canton, and Almina P. is the wife of William H. Martin. In June, 1901, when seventyfive years old, Michael J. Holtz -passed to his eternal life. Few more conscientious nien ever surrendered life. To say that he was a good man only mildly expresses it. A faithful, afifectionate hu,sband to his wife and a kind father to his children, he was kind and indulgent and his neighbors and friends had many reasons for respecting him in life and revering his memory in death. As one of them has very graphically expressed it, "During his entire life, he lived at peace with all the world." Since the death of Michael J. Holtz his affairs have been taken in charge by his good and faithful wife, who has managed them with prudence and good judgment. The farm, consisting f)f one hundred and thirty acres, is conducted under her direct supervision and there are few better managed farms in Stark county. Mrs. Holtz is a lady of much energy, possessed of great force of character and a will and determination in what she believes to be right which makes it impossible to sway or divert her from executing her purposes. Despite this, she has been a most patient and gentle mother to her daughters and a model wife to her lamented husband. She is a modest, devout member of the Lutheran church, to which church her husband also belonged and in which faith he died. Her life and his are most creditable to their worthy ancestry and their posterity will loolx back with pleasure upon the careers of such worthy parents. The children are also members of the same church and are constant attendants.

HON. JAMES WEEKS UJ^DERHILL. - Few of the citizens of Stark county entitled to be ranked among its public men have been in the public eye for so long a period, or have t)een as favorably known, or more generally esteemed, than the subject of this sketch. The branch of the Underbill family to which he belongs traces its ancestry to Captain John

Underhill, who came from England and settled in Massachusetts about ten years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Being a man of strong character, he took a conspicuous part in the religious and political interests of the colony, and historj' mentions him as one of the supporters of Ann Hutchinson in her controversy with the governor. By 1637, however, he seems to have become reconciled with the ruling powers, for he accepted a commission under the colony and was placed in command of the forces contributed by Massachusetts for the Pequod war, and, with one Captain Mason, in joint command of a small' band of seventy Englishmen, carried an Indian fortress by storm near what is now Stonington, Connecticut, wreaking a terrible vengeance upon the savages, for it is recorded that out of seven hundred but five escaped.

Tradition says that the family in England were of Quaker stock, and it is well known that many of Captain John Underbill's descendants were members of the Society of Friends. Certainly the Captain himself, if a Friend, was a "fighting Quaker." A branch of the family settled in eastern New York, and from this the Ohio family had its origin.

Nathaniel Underhill and his wife, Anna (Weber), lived near the banks of the Hudson river in Greene county and there James W. was born, Octolier 6, 1818. The family removed to Ohio in 1827, completing their long trip by the Erie canal and lake and Ohio canal as far as Akron, by team to the little settlement of Kendall, then an independent village but afterwards absorbed by the more ambitious and growing town of Massillon.

Losing his father at an early age, Mr. Underhill was sent back to New York where he remained with an uncle. Dr. Abraham K. Underhill, at Charlton, Saratoga county, attending school until 1837; then returning to Ohio, he completed his education so fan as he derived it from schools, meanwhile supporting himself by teaching, and at the same time reading law, under Samuel Pease, then a prominent member of the Stark county bar and uncle of the late Judge Anson Pease. He was admitted to the bar in 1S42, and manifested his confidence in his prospects by marrying, in the same year, Henrietta Widgeon, the daughter of one of the prominent pioneer families of Massillon and vicinity. Having been a diligent student, possessing an intuitive knowledge of human nature and marked by earnestness of manner and force of character, he became a strong advocate before the juries of the county, and commanded a fine position in the practice. In 1855 he was elected to the state legislature as a member of the house of representatives, and served for one term of two years. He was elected to the office of probate judge in i860, and upon taking office, in February, 1 861, he moved with his family to Canton, die county seat, where he has since lived. In the discharge of his duties in this office his course was so satisfactory to the people that he held office for four successive terms, making twelve years in all, during that period no one caring to contest with him the honor of the position, and at the end he declined a re-nomination. As a probate judge he stands without a superior in the county. Well grounded in general legal principles, with a strong natural sense of equity, he was guided in his judicial duties less by technical rules than a strong sense of even-handed justice. Having supervision over the administration of the estates of deceased persons, he was pre-eminently the judge of the widow and the orphan, and among the varied interests that fell within the jurisdiction of his court, the rights of the weak and desolate ones were always safely guanled and protected. After the termination of his judicial career he returned to the practice of law for a time, and for a number of years was associated with the late John Lahm as a partner in practice.

Canton And Stark Counts Jhio

Meanwhile Judge Underhill acquired some interests in business matters outside of the strict Hnes of professional work, and became interested, with the late H. B. Dennis, of Cleveland, in the construction of a railroad from Cleveland to Coshocton by way of Canton, and they had the work between Canton and Coshocton well advanced when they disposed of it. It is now an important branch of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad. He also took some interests in manufacturing enterprises, making an investment in the Diebold Safe & Lock Company. He became a stockholder and officer of the Canton Car Company, and, parting with that interest, acquired one in the Canton Electric Lighting Company, taking a very active part in the extension of its system, and when he sold his holdings in 1901 it was the sole electric lighting company in the city and supplied light and power throughout the corporation. Li 1890 he acquired a large interest in the Canton Street Railway, including the line to Meyer's Lake, and in 1892 he and his associates laid out and built the interurban line to Massillon and the system in the city of Massillon, which was afterwards extended to Navarre. These interests he retained, and took an active part in managing, until he disposed of them in iQOi, when he wound up his active part in business affairs, feeling that the time had come lor him to lay down the duties and responsibi ities of such investments.

Having been separa+.-d at an early day from the immeJiate influences of his Quaker family, and having married "out of meeting," Judge Underhill never, was a member of the Society of Friends, but always maintained a high regard for the Quakers and their peculiarly spiritual views of religion. These impressions, formed early in life, probably served to turn his attention, in his advancing years to the claims of modern spiritualism, and he became a firm believer in the possibility of communication between the spirits of the departed and those still on earth. Recently he has devoted a considerable sum to the benefit of an association for the study of this and kindred questions.

Judge Underbill's family were Whigs, and he became identified with that party at an early age, continuing in strict relation to it until the formation of the Republican party, excepting that in 1848 he voted the Free Soil ticket because of his advanced views upon the subject of African slavery. Upon the formation of the Republican party he joined it, supporting it in all its great contests, upon the stump, with power and effect until his advancing years compelled him to turn over that work to younger men. At an early age he conceived a warm interest in Masonry, attracted in part by the poetical beauty of its teachings and ritual, and doubtless in part by the social aspects of the institution. He became grand high priest of the grand chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of the state, and for many years was eminent commander of Massillon Commandery No. s. Knights Templar, and he is now the oldest Mason in Canton. Within a few years he became a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

those in distress or needing- issistance and advice, either of whicia lie has been free to give as occasion required. He Bossesses a wide circle of acquaintanv'i.and mingles with men in all \val^ of life with cordiality and friendship. His mother long survived the father and one of the sweetest consolations of his life was to be able to make a home for her for many years, she dying at an advanced age, after many years (if tender and solicitous care on the part of her son. The Judge's cherished and devoted wife, after many years of ideal companionship, departed this life February 28, 1895. They had born to them Arthur J. Underbill, Mrs. William A. Lynch and Mrs. Henry C. Foglc, all residents of Canton.

ALMN W. HART is a native son of the old Buckeye state, having been born on the parental farmstead in Augusta township, Carroll county, Ohio, on the 27th of December, i860. The ancestry in the agnatic line is traced back to fine old Scottish derivation, and the first representative of the family in America was John Hart, grandfather of the subject, who emigrated from Scotland to the Lmitel States, taking up his residence in Fayette county. Pennsylvania, whence he later removed to Ohio, becoming one of the pioneers of Augusta township. Carroll county, where he secured a tract of land and developed a goorl farm, having also devoted his attention to his trade of shoemaking in a greater or less degree. He i)assed the remainder of his life on the old homestead, where he died, and there also occurred the death of his wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Wheaton. They became the parents of fifteen children, of whom three are lixin^t at the present time. John Hart, Jr., the father of the subject, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, on the 7th of August, 1832, and was nine years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Carroll county, Ohio, where he was reared to maturity, aiding in the reclamation of the homestead farm and in its subsequent cultivation, while his educational opportunities were necessarily limited in scope, owing to the exigencies of time and place. As a young man he was united in marriage to Miss Susan Mathias, who was born in Louisville, Stark county, Ohio, in 1837, being a daughter of Lewis Mathias, one of the honored pioneers of this section of the ^tate. He is now living retired in the village of Minerva, this county, and his wife still survives also, Ixsth being well known and highly esteemed in the community, and Mr. Hart has attained prosperity through his earnest and indefatigable efiforts in-the past, and is now able to enjoy the just reward of his labors. John and Susan Hart became the parents of five children, namely : Amanda, who is tl'e wife of Le\i Iddings. of Minerva, ihis covnty; Alvin \\^, the immediate subject of this review ; Emor\', who is a farmer and stock dealer, residing in the vicinity of Miner /a; Frank, who is a teacher in the ])uolic schools of LaSalle, Illinois, and Louis C. is employed in the ofi.ce of the paymaster of the American Ihidge Company, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Ah'in \V. Hart was born on the old homestead farm, vhich is located about four ni les distant from Minerva, in the adjoining couity of Carroll, and his boyhood was passed under the conditions and environments which compassed ihe average farmer boy of the place and period, liis early educational training bcii.g such a~ - 'iiordtl in the district schools, while he -^-i to +he work of