In the book's own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1847
From History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio (1881)
[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]
As printed in History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio (1881). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Their biographies name Richard Elson: Augustus R. Elson (b. 1829)
The printed record stops around 1881. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.