ASHTABULA COUNTY OHIO *************************************************************************** Transcribed by Cherre Loftus Flynn. THE HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY OHIO WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF ITS PIONEERS AND MOST PROMINENT MEN Published in Philadelphia by Williams Brothers in 1878 THE SIMON FOBES FAMILY. Members of six generations from this family are buried side by side in the cemetery at the centre of Wayne Township. The first death among the early settlers of Wayne was that of Mrs. Thankful Fobes, who died January 8, 1808; and three days later the funeral of her husband, Simon Fobes, took place. These aged people were married March 24, 1748. The husband was a native of England, and was a captain in the service of the English government. Their family consisted of eight children - four sons and four daughters - namely, Thankful, Joshua, Bethiah, Simon, Nathan, Ellis, Eunice and one who died in infancy. Simon Fobes (2d) was born April 5, 1756. He was a soldier in the army of the Revolution, and fought in the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, and afterwards joined the expedition under General Benedict Arnold against Canada, and was engaged in the assault upon the city of Quebec, where he was taken prisoner of war. After suffering incredible hardships, he escaped from the British on the 18th of August and reached his home on the 30th of September, 1776. He afterwards served as ensign in Colonel Levi Wells' regiment, and in April, 1780 accepted a lieutenant's commission in a matross company and was stationed at Fort Trumbull, Connecticut. Continental money having so far depreciated in value that a lieutenant's pay would not provide his clothing, he resigned his commission and returned to his father's farm. But for his resignation he would, in all probability, have been in Fort Griswold, where Colonel Ledyard and sixty of his men were massacred by the British under Benedict Arnold, after they surrendered. Simon Fobes married Miss Elizabeth Jones of Somers, Connecticut, an only daughter of Benjamin and Eliza Jones, descendants of some of the earliest settlers of that place. Their children were: Joshua, born in Somers, Connecticut, January 20, 1781; who was a Captain in Colonel Hayes' regiment during the war of 1812; was the first settler in the township of Wayne, and died in that town September 16, 1860. Simon, born in Somers, Connecticut, August 16, 1783; was an ensign in Captain Joshua Fobes' company in 1812; married Miss Sylvia Huntley of Pierpont, Ashtabula County, who died in Wayne in December, 1842. An old acquaintance of Simon Fobes (3d) says of him, "He was one of the most respected citizens of the township. He served many years as a justice of the peace, with credit to himself and satisfaction to his fellow -citizens, being esteemed as judicious and reliable. He stood as one of the pillars of sound morality and virtue, a much-respected and honored member of the Congregational Church, serving for many years in the capacity of deacon, and was regarded by all as one of the most perfect examples of consistancy, which gave him an influence in his community unsurpassed by but a few." He died in Wayne February 8, 1861. Levi, third son of Simon Fobes (2d) was born June 24, 1786; died September 11, 1787. Levi (2d), born June 30, 1788; died in Wayne November 5, 1869. Betsey, born July3, 1790; married Rev. Nathan Darrow; died in Vienna, Trumbull County, Ohio, December 31, 1822. Elias, born in Somers, Connecticut, February 5, 1792, who was a solider in Captain Josua Fobes' company, in the War of 1812, was in the skirmish with the Indians on the Sandusky Peninsula. Aaron, born February 2, 1797; died in Kinsman, Ohio, March 16, 1877. Benjamin, born June 14, 1799, died December 28, 1802. Chole, born May 19, 1802. All of the children of Simon Fobes (3rd) were born in Wayne. The oldest, Simon P., born Janury 2, 1815, married October 10, 1837 Miss Catherine A., daughter of William and Amanda Fitch of Wayne. Their children were Orlando Perkins, born in Wayne, June 17, 1838; married Miss Nancy L. Bingham of Ellsworth, Mahoning County, Ohio, November 24, 1861. Their children were Hettie, born June 18, 1863, died in Wayne, February 20, 1867; Bertie Bingham, born December 21, 1865, died in Wayne March 16, 1872; Bessie Sylvia, born March 22, 1869; Emily B., born October 13, 1874. Eliphalet L., second son of S.P. and C.A. Fobes, was born in Wayne December 31, 1840; died March 6, 1841. Ferdinand Francis, born in Wayne, July 10, 1842; enlisted August 12, 1862, in Company I, One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; died of disease at Murfreesboro', Tennessee, September 4, 1863. Lucius Lee, born October 9, 1844 married, October 15, 1868, Miss Margaret Ann McGranahan, of Wayne, who died September 27, 1877. Sylvia A., born December 29, 1846, married Albert C. Crosby, of Rome, Ohio. Their children are Lucy Amelia, born in Wayne, October 27, 1871; Katie E., born in Rome, September 16, 1873; Willie Fitch, born in Rome, November 25, 1874. Charles Fitch, fifth son of S.P. and C.A. Fobes, born in Wayne, July 6, 1852; married March 2, 1878, Miss Rebecca F. Calahan, at Sacramento City, California. Their residence is now at Walnut Grove, California. Lucy M., born in Wayne, September 5, 1854, married Orlandus Woodworth, of Wayne, November 2, 1876. Amos H., second son of Simon Fobes (3rd) was born January 14, 1816, and now resides in Mecca, Ohio. Dr. Abial J., born January 29, 1818, married Miss Louisa Alford, of Windham, Portage County, Ohio. Dr. Fobes died at Kingsville, Ohio, April 1, 1851, and his wife died April 8 of the same year, and at the same place. William, born July 14, 1822 was a surgeon in the army during the late civil war, and is now a resident of Flint, Michigan. In 1849 he married Miss Romina Jennings, of Pierpont, Ohio. Lucy A., born February 12, 1825 married Frederick B. Fitch, of Brighton, California, May 1, 1856. She died at her home in California, December 1, 1877. Francis, born February 26, 1827, married Miss Cordelia Hopkins, of Pierpont, Ohio. Lois Lamira, born December 14, 1829, married Dwight Coe, of Hartford, Ohio. She died January 1, 1869. Maria Sylvia, born October 28, 1834, married Edmund Snow, of Ashtabula, Ohio, January 2, 1858.