Crawford County, Pennsylvania

1885
Part V: Biographical Sketches

MEAD TOWNSHIP
<pages 894-95> E. A. DOANE, civil engineer, P. O. Meadville, was born in Columbia County, N. Y., May, 1846, and is a son of Isaac S. and Elizabeth (Morse) Doane, natives of Massachusetts. The father, who is a civil engineer, and has resided in this county since 1854, raised a family of five children, of whom E. A. is the eldest, and who learned his profession at Oswego, N. Y. Our subject's first work was on the Oswego & Rome Railroad, where he remained three years; he was then employed one year for the Chicago & North Western Rail- <page 895> road; then on the Sioux City Railroad, in Iowa, where he remained until 1871. He next accepted a position as principal assistant engineer on the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad, where he continued two years. His health failing, he purchased the farm in this township where he now resides. Mr. Doane was several years chief engineer of the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad, and Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad; also of the Meadville & Linesville Railroad, and of several other lines, during their construction. He has now a fine farm of 120 acres. In his political views he is Republican. He was married, in 1873, to Flora, daughter of Hubbard Betts, a native of New York, and of English descent. They have one son—Alonzo Betts—and one daughter—Jessie. Mr. and Mrs. Doane are Episcopalians in their church relations. <page 895> S. E. ELLIS, farmer and dairyman, P. O. Meadville, was born in Mead Township, this county, November 16, 1825 [sic], and is a son of John and Betsy (Sackett) Ellis, natives of Massachusetts, of English ancestry, who came to this county at an early day. The father, who was a farmer, raised a family of six children, S. E. being the third. Our subject received a common school training, and has chosen farming as his life vocation, taking dairying into connection, usually keeping thirty cows, and since he started for himself has been successful. He now owns a fine farm of 240 acres near the City of Meadville limits. He is Democratic in politics; has been seven years a School Director, but is no office seeker. He was married first to Frances A. Fry, a native of Massachusetts, by whom he had seven children, four now living, viz.: Albert F., Henry W., Nellie M. and Cora. His first wife dying in 1874, he again married, his second wife being Amelia, daughter of Dr. Palmer, of New York. Mr. Ellis is a member of the Episcopal Church. <pages 897-98> O. G. LAKE, farmer, P. O. Meadville, was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., December 2, 1833, and is a son of Calvin and Elizabeth (Goodsell) Lake, natives of New York and of French, German and English descent. <page 898> Calvin Lake was a farmer; came to this county in 1833, and raised a family of three sons and three daughters, of whom our subject is the eldest. He was early set to learn carpentering and has also worked in saw-mills. He is a natural mechanic and has traveled considerably, thereby improving his skill in that line. He settled on a farm in 1862, and the same year he was married to Catharine, daughter of John Cole, a farmer of Cussewago Township. Their children were—Mary Ellen (Mrs. John Flickinger), John (deceased), Mark Parker (at home on the farm), George L., Luke J., Mina E., Emma C., Matthew H. and James K. During the late war our subject enlisted and served three months in the first three requisitions under John W. McLane, Colonel in the Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He owns the farm of fifty-three and a half acres on which he resides, and has made what he has by his own exertions. He went into the oil business when it was booming, and, to use his own expression, he came out "busted," but he was not the man to give up the battle of life. For several years he was a resident of Erie County, Penn., living on the farm which he exchanged for the one he now owns. In politics Mr. Lake has been a Greenbacker since 1876. <page 902> ROBERT L. WAID (deceased) was born May 1, 1826, in Riceville, Crawford Co., Penn., and was brother of F. C. Waid, whose sketch appears in this volume. He received a common school education, was brought up on a farm, and during life was engaged as a tiller of the soil. Mr. Waid was married October 16, 1852, to Almeda Wheeler, a daughter of Abram and Amanda (Taylor) Wheeler, who were the parents of ten children, viz.: Lorenda, Lorenzo, Elisha T., Roxana, Elvira, Phoebe M., Samantha, Elijah M., Almeda and William V. This union was blessed with three children: Orlanda, Nick P., and Ira (deceased). Our subject died June 17, 1880, deeply regretted by many friends and neighbors. His widow is now residing on the farm in Mead Township which was improved by him. He was a member of the K. of H.; in politics a Republican. In early life he was somewhat remarkable as a successful trainer of steers and oxen on the farm, and in after years in the breaking and training of horses. He was a model farmer, and neatness and perfect order in all things were prominent features upon all parts of his farm. It is through the generosity and family respect of his brother, Mr. F. C. Waid, that his portrait appears in this history.