Lake County Ohio GenWeb

Alonzo Green

This biography is taken from Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio, Embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake; Lewis Publishing Company, 1893.

Transcribed and submitted by Becky Falin, 1996.

Alonzo Green, who holds prominent rank with the earlier settlers of Willoughby township, Lake county, Ohio, was born in Rensselaer county, New York, May 2, 1823.

John Green, the father of Alonzo, was also a native of the Empire State. He was a farmer in Rensselaer county for many years, and died in Malone, Franklin county, that State, at the advanced age of ninety years. He was twice married. His first wife, nee Nancy Vial, died in 1827, leaving eight children, of whom Alonzo was the next to the youngest. By his second marriage he had one child. Four of the nine are still living.

Alonzo Green attended the district schools in his youth, his educational advantages being limited to them. When he was twelve years old he began to work in a cotton factory at Bennington, Vermont, and was employed there for three or four years, afterwards working two or three years in a cotton factory in Middlebury, Vermont. During this time he mastered every department of work connected with the manufacture of cloth. In August, 1840, at the age of seventeen, he landed in Willoughby, Ohio, making the journey hither by canal boat and steamer, and being eleven days en route. His brother James was living here at that time. For more than a year after he came to Willoughby, Alonzo was sick and unable to work, but as soon as he recovered he turned his attention to the blacksmith trade and worked at it for two or three years. After that he began farming in Willoughby township. In August, 1851, he located on his present farm, 115 acres of fineland, on Willoughby Plains, which he purchased a few years later. To the cultivation and improvement of this place he devoted his energies, for some years living in a log house. He has cleared all of the land and now has an excellent farm. At the time he located here much of the land in this section of the country was in its wild state and there were still plenty of game in the forest. Mr. Green relates that he once killed a deer in this vicinity. He worked hard in those days to clear his land and provide for his family, and to the loving assistance and cheerful companionship of his good wife he attributes much of the success he has attained. She spun flax and wove the material for her children's clothing and also wove the woolen carpets for their home. Her old spinning wheel and loom are still in good repair and are pointed to with pride by Mrs. Green as she refers to their early life on this farm, where she and her husband have shared each other's joys and sorrows for over forty years.

Mr. and Mrs. Green were married in 1851. Her maiden name was Harriet A. Star, and she was a native of Leroy township, Lake county, her parents having emigrated from New Jersey to this State at an early day. Her father, at an advanced age, and also her mother, are still living, being residents of Missouri, and the mother being nearly ninety years of age. Six children compose the Green family, their names being as follows: Linda S., Ida A., Clara M., Willia A., Hattie N., and Eddie G.

Mr. Green was formerly an old-line Whig; in 1856 he joined the Republican party, and for several years past he has been a Democrat.