John Outhwaite

JOHN OUTHWAITE.

Among the public-spirited and leading farmers of Crawford county is John Outhwaite. He was born in Bedford, now Fulton count) Pennsylvania, on the loth of November, 1820, a son of William and Elizabeth (Thompson) Outhwaite. The father was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1794, a son of Francis and Elizabeth (Robinson) Outhwaite. Francis Outhwaite was a well-to-do farmer and miner, and also conducted what was known as a raft yard, where lumber was sawed by hand, one man standing above and the other below the log. The father of our subject grew to manhood under the parental roof, receiving the advantages of a thorough education. When about seventeen years of age he entered a wholesale and retail grocery store in the town of Richmond, where he served an apprenticeship of four years. He then went to the city of London and secured a clerkship with Pettv & Wood, wholesale grocery, tea and liquor merchants, where he remained for about two years, and then engaged in business on his own account. He was there married to Elizabeth Thompson, of East Witten, Yorkshire, England. Her father was a well-to-do farmer under Lord Essix. He had four sons, namely: John, Richard, Thomas and William, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Hannah, of whom the eldest was the mother of our subject. Thomas, the third son, united with the Methodist Episcopal church, and at the age of seventeen became a minister of the same In the year 182] he was married, and in 1823 he emigrated to Bedford county. Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1828, when he removed to Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where he took charge of the Wyandot mission. — the first mission in the world, — where he was minister and teacher among the Wyandot Indians for seven years, under whose supervision the Stone mission church of Upper Sandusky was erected and stands as a memorial for the beginning of mission work. In 1835, for fear of his children marrying among the Indians, he moved to his farm near Republic, Seneca county, Ohio. He was then appointed by conference as the preacher in charge of the Mexico circuit, where he had twenty-eight appointments. He was afterward appointed presiding elder of the district embracing Berea, where he received a donation of forty thousand dollars for the beginning of the Baldwin University

In 1818 William Outhwaite, the father of our subject, bade farewell to the home and friends of his native land and sailed for the United States, much against his parents' wishes, and for this he was disinherited. The first half of the journey was made in twelve days, but they then encountered adverse winds and fifty-four days had passed ere they reached the shores of the new world. On his arrival Mr. Outhwaite purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, for which he paid seven hundred dollars in gold, and after residing there for seventeen years, during which time he cleared eighty-acres and also made other improvements, he sold the tract for seven hundred dollars, the purchase price, with payments of one hundred dollars, to be made yearly. In the spring of 1836 he removed to Seneca county. Ohio, purchasing eighty acres of land at Rockaway, to which he afterward added fifty acres, and there he resided until a short time before his death, when he moved into the town of Republic, where he passed away in 1858. Mr. and Mrs. Outhwaite became the parents of five children, three of whom still survive, namely: John, of this review; William, who resides at Red Cloud, Nebraska: and Francis, of Rockaway, Seneca county, Ohio. After the death of the mother of these children the father was again married, choosing for his second wife Miss Mary Bell. Mr. Outhwaite was a stanch old-line Whig, and was a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

John Outhwaite, whose name introduces this review, acquired his early education in the common schools of the neighborhood. On reaching his twenty-fourth year he began working on his own account, and for one year operated a thresher, after which he worked at farm labor and at carpentering, becoming an expert joiner, although he never served an apprenticeship to that trade. He did considerable building for the following seven years, and in i8_!7 purchased his present home farm of one hundred and sixty acres. The land was then in its primitive condition, but he erected) a log cabin in the midst of the forest, although he did not make this his permanent home until after his marriage, which occurred in 1855, Miss Drucilla Brown becoming his wife. She is a native of Seneca county, Ohio, and a daughter of William Brown, who removed to that county from Canada, his native place. This union has been blessed with five children, two now living, — Susan B-, the wife of W. A. Tucker, of Todd township, Crawford county, and John, of Wyandot county, Ohio. After a happy married life of fourteen years Mrs.

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Outhwaite was called to her final rest, and in 1872 our subject married Miss Susanna Brown, a sister of his first wife.

After his first marriage Mr. Outhwaite located on his farm in Todd township, Crawford county, and in 1870 he erected one of the finest residences in the locality. His place is under an excellent state of cultivation, and a glance at its neat and attractive appearance would indicate to the passed-by the supervision of a thrifty and progressive owner. In political matters Mr. Outhwaite cases his ballot in favor of the men and measures of the Republican party. He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has held the office of trustee for many years, and all movements intended for the public good of the community receive his hearty support and co-operation.

As printed in A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio .. (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.