 |
| Mabel FAY is the first white child born in Parma, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. She's the daughter of Benajah F FAY (OPF 95) & Ruth WILCOX. |
| The following bio appeared opposite page 246.
Also included was a portrait of D.S.Humphrey. |
| --Jim Shreve, Sr. |
| |
TOWNSEND TOWNSHIP, Huron County, Ohio
from HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO
1879 by W.W.Williams |
| |
 DUDLEY S. HUMPHREY
was the eighth child of Dudley Humphrey and Polly M. Sherman. He was born
in Goshen, Conn., Nov. 21, 1814. His early life was spent among the hills
of New England. In the winter of 1834-35 he, with his brother William,
engaged in a lumber speculation which resulted in the purchase of a large
number of clocks. To dispose of these clocks, the brothers decided that the
West offered the most inviting and promising field not only for the sale of
their clocks, but for future enterprises. During the year 1835 they came to
Ohio and settled in Parma, near Cleveland, where they remained about
fourteen years. Their first venture in the lumber business having proved
remunerative, together with their natural fitness for the business, both of
them having a taste for mechanics, they again embarked in the lumber and
clock business, built a water, afterward a steam, saw- mill in Parma, and
developed a large trade.
|
| |
|
Our subject married Mabel F. Fay, of Parma, Ohio, March 10, 1847, by whom
he had five children: Mina S., married A. D. Scott, of Wakeman, and is now
living in Hartland. Harlow, Dudley S., David, and Linnie are unmarried and
live in Townsend.
|
| |
|
The scarcity of timber in Parma induced the brothers to come to Townsend,
which they did in the year 1849, and purchased a large tract of land. They
built mills and opened business on a large scale. During the partnership
of the brothers they built over forty steam and water saw-mills through the
West. They were the first to introduce and use the "Mulay Gang-Saws," and
"Cone Pulley-Feed." In January, 1851, while working with a circular
siding-saw, an accident occurred which resulted in the amputation of his
right hand. Serious as was this accident, press of business, ingenuity,
and ambition made the better use of his remaining hand, as well as the
machinery; in fact, he is said to have handled tools and machinery more
skillfully with one hand than most persons would with two. |
|
|
|
In 1855, Mr. Humphrey moved to the southeast part of the township, where
they owned a tract of land and a mill. He divided his attention between the
mill and farm. |
|
|
|
In 1860 he returned to Townsend Centre and remained until 1863, when he
returned to the farm on the townline road, and gave his attention to its
improvement and embellishment. He was an enthusiastic admirer of fruit -
and forest - trees, as the large orchards and many shade-trees on the farm
will attest. He planted out over five miles of maple-trees along the
roadway, which gave the name of Maple Street to the road so improved. His
admiration for shade-trees will he seen from the following circumstance: |
|
|
|
In opening a public highway on one side of his farm, a number of thrifty
maples stood in what was to be the centre roadway. The supervisor attempted
to cut them down, but our subject defended them so vigorously that the
supervisor was forced to desist at the time, and, to make the protection
complete, served an injunction on the supervisors, which was made perpetual
by the courts. More than four hundred of his friends and neighbors joined
him, it is said, with affidavits in defense of the trees. These trees still
stand as monuments to the memory and fidelity of him who so nobly defended
them.
|
| |
|
His school-room education ended with his thirteenth year, as the
financial condition of his parents was such as to oblige the sons to
commence their business life early. He was temperate in his habits and
industrious always, - as might be expected of a New England boy,- which may
explain the force and vigor of his later life. He took a deep interest in
the welfare of others, and in building up for the comfort of those who
were to follow. Was public-spirited and generous to a fault. It has been
said that he and his brother William did more to relieve the township from
draft during the late war than all the rest of the township combined. His
education, like his brother's, was self-acquired for the most part, and few
men in the country read more, and fewer still were more successful in
business.
|
| |
|
In 1872 he indorsed paper for some manufacturers in Wakeman, and in 1878,
when the financial crash came, these manufacturers failed, and he to save
himself took the mill property, which required a still greater outlay of
money. He never recovered this loss, as prices declined with the demand for
manufactured goods as well as grains and stock.
|
| |
|
He gave generously to all church organizations seeking aid, but his
belief and sympathies were with the Universalists. He was a man of great
courage, fine presence, and wonderful nerve. When he met with an accident
requiring a surgical operation, - he broke a leg two or three times badly,
lost a toe and a hand, - he refused all anesthetics, preferring to be in
perfect command of his senses during the painful operation. He died of
typhoid pneumonia, Oct.19, 1876, after an illness of several months.
|
| |
|
His wife, who so nobly sustained him in his efforts, still survives him.
She was ever faithful in seconding the efforts of her husband, and is a
loving and affectionate mother. The two older sons, Harlow and Dudley S.,
though up to the time of the death of their father unaccustomed to care and
responsibility, with a courage and determination rarely equaled, have
shouldered the indebtedness of the estate, and hope, by application to
business and strict economy, to discharge the incumbrances.
|
 |
| from
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO, by W.W.Williams, 1879
|
|
|
