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http://www.archive.org/stream/commemorativebio00jhbeer/commemorativebio00jhbeer_djvu.txt
Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Huron and Lorain, Ohio
|[ H. LANG. The Lang family, of k. I which this gentleman is a worthy \\Ji representative, and which was at one time quite numerous in Huntington, Lorain county, can trace their genealogy back to Plvmouth Rock. The earliest known member of the fam- ily was one Robert Lang, a seafaring man who came from Scotland as early as 1630. He built a house at Portsmouth, N. H., some time between 1635 and 1650, which is still standing in a very good condition. It was built or New Hampshire Pasture Oak. The walls are bricked up between the studs with brick broucrht from Eng- land, and the nails were hand made. This house was occupied by English soldiers during the King Philip war; was also oc- cupied by Governor Wentworth, and shel- tered General Washington when he visited New England. This is one of the oldest houses in the New England States, and relics of it are tiow in the possession of some of the younger members of this old family. The following line brings this family down to the present numerous gen- eration: First from Robert was John, then a sec- ond John, who was a Revolutionary soldier. Then Bickford, and a second Bickford, who was a captain of militia in the war of 1812. He was born in Rye, N. H., married Abi- gail Locke, and settled in Epsom, N. H., where he reared a numerous family. His eldest son William was the first to leave the parent nest, and go to what was then the '?W Far West." His brother Reuel soon followed, and both settled in Huntington, Lorain county, about the year 1821, being among the first settlers of that township. David, another son of Bickford, followed about 1835, and the father came in 1838, all of them settling in Huntington. An- O IT) other son, John, settled in Ashland, Ohio, where he was for a number of years a prosperous merchant and business man, and where he died in 1847. Benjamin, another son, graduated at Kenyon College, Gambler, Ohio, and was for some time a professor of that college; he died in Kansas in 1885. David spent the most of his life, after coming to Ohio, in Hunt- ington, a prosperous farmer, and died at the home of his son John in Rochester in 1884. Josiah Crosby, the youngest son of this family, enlisted in the war of the Rebellion, but was taken sick and died be- fore he had seen any active service, his death occurring in 1861. Of the two boys who first came to Ohio, Reuel was a cabinet maker, and worked at the trade of carpenter and joiner for many years; and many of the first frame structures of Lorain county show his handiwork. He was fen- many years a local preacher among the Methodists. The last years of his life he spent in Wellington, surrounded by many of his children, where he peacefully passed away in March, 1891, in the eighty- ninth year of his age. William, the eld- est son, is still living with his son John in Wasioja, Minn., in his ninety-sixth year. Bickford, Jr., was the only one of this numerous family who did not "go west." He remained in his native State, and is still living at Franklin, N. PI. There were four girls in this family: Maria, who married Dr. Babli, and died at Man- chester, N. H.; Lorenda, married to Kim- ball Prescott, and died at Marinette, AVis.; Sarah, who married Morrill Chesley, and still lives in New Hampshire, and Abigail, who married Milton Barker, and died at Oberlin, Ohio. Beyond this brief review, this history will have only to do with the later generation, and with those who have been more intimately connected with the history of Lorain county. Of the descendants of this family, only the children of Reuel settled in this county. Josiah Bickford, the eldest, married Lorena Chapman, and for a number of years lived in Huntington, where he fol- lowed the trade of carpenter; for more than twenty years he was engaged in the tin, stove and hardware trade in Welling- ton. He served a term as mayor of that village, and by his enterprise and counsel added much to its prosperity; for the last few years his home has been in Cleveland; he had four children ? -three eons and one daughter, viz.: Watson W. and Charles, both in business in Cleveland; Eva A., now the wife of George M. Cad- well, a business man in Cleveland ; the tirst-born son was killed when a cliild by the kick of a horse. The next son is Jesse H., the subject proper of this sketch, of whom further mention will presently be made. Cyrus Welcome, the third son, lived at home in Huntington till the age of twenty, when he visited his relatives in New Hampshire, where he died in his twentieth year. Louisa Maria, the eldest daughter, married Peter S. Wright, lived a short time in Huntington, a number of years in Oberlin, moved to Vermontville, Mich., where he accumulated some prop- erty, and about ten years ago returned to Wellington, where he still resides. Mr. Wright was famed as being one of the most ingenious mechanics in the country, He enlisted in the army and served with honor, and is now retired in broken health, on a small pension. They had three chil- dren, two of whom died in infancy, and the third, Grace, is now the wife of Utley AVedcre, and resides in Cleveland. Esther Abigail, the next daughter, married Charles W. Horr, a prosperous business man of Wellington; they had a family of four boys, the eldest of which is a lawyer in Cleveland, ai;d the rest still live in Well- ington. Charles, the fourth son, died at Huntington in the twentieth year of his age. Olive Amy, the youngest daughter, after graduating from Oberlin College, married Dr. Meriden B. Lukens, who practiced medicine for many years in Illi- nois, Wisconsin, and Cleveland, Ohio, and finally drifted to Dalton, Ga., where they now reside. George Locke, the next son in line, grew to sixteen years of age in Huntington; then went to Wisconsin and took a position in the store of his brother Jesse, and when the war broke out he en- listed in Company G, Twelfth Wisconsin Volunteers, in which he served gallantly and faithfully; was severely wounded at the siege of Atlanta, Ga., a minie ball being permanently left in his right lung; after he returned from the war he studied telegraphy, and has been engaged in that occupation ever since; he is now engaged in important work of this kind in the East, with a residence in Boston; he married Lizzie Viles, at Oberlin, and they have one daughter, now married and residing in Washington, D. C. Merrill Warner, the youngest of this family, also grew to man- hood in Huntington, married and settled in Wellington, where he now resides, an honored citizen. He has been many years a member of the village council, and has had much to do with the aflfairs of that village; he has one son. Burton Lang, who is married and lives in Cleveland. Five generations of Langs have lived and flourished in Lorain county ? Watson, the son of Josiah, having two children, and Bur- ton, the son of Merrill, having one. Bickford, of tlie first generation, died in Hunt- ington at the age of about ninety years, and Reuei, of tiie next in line, died in Wellington as before stated. Of David's family, Albert, the eldest, died in Hunt- ington; John, the second son, lives in Rochester; Lydia Ann, the oldest daugh- ter, is now the wife of Horatio Norton, and lives in Huntington; Henry, a younger son, entered the army, and was killed in action. The names mentioned above com- prise all or nearly all of this numerous family who have been identified with Lorain county. While this family has nut produced any great men, there never has been any stain on its moral character, none of them ever having been in either Con- gress or Penitentiary. Jesse Hart Lang, whose name opens this sketch, was born in Huntington townsiiip, Loraiti Co., Ohio, December 21, 1827, a sun of Reuel and Amy (Hart) Lang, na- tives respectively of New Hampshire and Vermont. He was named after his ma- ternal grandfather. Mr. Lang grew to manhood in his native town, attended school in Oberlin a number of years, and engaged in teaching and study from 1844 to 1848. On January 1, of the latter year, lie married Miss Mary E. Fitch, of Shef- field township, Lorain county, a daughter of Samuel B. and Dolly (Smith) Fitch, na- tives of Massachusetts and early settlers of Shefiield township, Lorain county. The first two years of our subject's married life were spent on a farm in Huntington town- ship, after which he removed to Olmsted Falls, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, where he was engaged in managing a woolen factory for five years. In 1856, with his young wife and one daughter, he went to Grand Kap- ids, Wis., where he was in the employ of the Government, and at the same time studied law. While there he was a candi- date for the Legislature, but was defeated, the District being largely Democratic. For ten years he was there engaged in the businesses of land surveyor, lawyer and merchant. Returning to Oberlin in 1870, he has here since resided, engaged in the profession of attorney and general busi- ness agency. He is a Republican, and cast his first vote for the Free-soil party. Socially he is a F. & A. M., and he and his wife are members of the Congrega- tional Church. They had si.x; children, all of whom died young, ttie youngest, Carrie, at the age of thirteen years. Mr. Lang published a work entitled ''Childrens' Pictorial Bible," containing twenty thou- sand illustrations (seven hundred of them being electro-plates) and a topical analysis. He spent twenty years on the work.
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The H600 Project Genealogy DB
1801 - 