Samuel Click, Jr. was born in Jackson Township and grew up on the farm where the family had settled. According to the biographical information we read, he helped with the clearing of land and one of his responsibilities was to chase the numerous deer from the cultivated part of the farm. He was unable to attend school except on a spasmodic basis. His son, Samuel A. Click, related a story that Samuel Jr., in company with several other young men of the area, walked to Columbus, Ohio to see their first train – a distance of about 91 miles. (1)
Samuel Click, Jr. married Julia Koons on June 7, 1838 in Jackson Township. Rev. John W. Hamm, a German Presbyterian minister, performed the marriage. (2) This minister is also the one listed as the first German Reformed minister at St. Jacob’s Lutheran Church. Julia was born on July 20, 1816 near Allentown, Pennsylvania. (3) Julia’s family lived about three miles away in Green Township in Summit County. They possibly met at church because both families attended Evangelical churches, the Click family in McDonaldsville and the Koons family in the community that became known as Greensburg.
Samuel and Julia had eight or nine children. (4) However, we have only been able to document eight children: Catherine Adeline, Sarah, Aaron, Daniel, Maria, Clara, Samuel Allen and Susan. Samuel was a man of “strong character and good judgment” (5) and was often consulted on public matters. In time, he added 35 acres to the original homestead farm and received a buckskin or deerskin deed to the property which was passed on to his son, Samuel Allen Click. (6)
Samuel and his wife, Julia were faithful members of the Evangelical church (7) even walking a distance of six miles across the fields to attend church. (8) From church records, we know that during the first years of their marriage, Samuel and his wife Julia were members at the St. Jacob’s Lutheran Church. Three of their children, Catherine Adeline, Aaron and Daniel were baptized as infants in 1839, 1842 and 1843 by Rev. J. J. Fast.
During the winter of 1845, Samuel and Julia “gave their hearts to God” and joined the Evangelical church at Manchester, Ohio (9) during a protracted meeting. (10) A protracted meeting was like a revival in the south and lasted two or three weeks with preaching two or three times a day. This was a part of the “Great Awakening” movement when Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Evangelical, and Congregational churches began having revivals.
Samuel and Julia were confirmed members in the McDonaldsville Evangelical Church that same year. (11) The McDonaldsville church, St. Paul’s Evangelical United Brethren, had been organized in 1835. (12) Although we have not been able to document it, we believe the next four children were baptized and confirmed in the church at McDonaldsville, where the Clicks attended until their deaths.
The Agricultural Schedule of the Federal Census of 1850 for Jackson Township, reported that Samuel Click, Jr. owned less land than his father did in 1850. Samuel had only 30 acres of improved land and 53 acres of non-improved land. The cash value of his farm was $1,200 and he had $100 of implements and machines. On his 30 acres, he grew as much wheat, 200 bushels, as his father did but didn’t grow any corn. Samuel Jr. produced 80 bushels of oats and 60 bushels of potatoes and several crops that his father didn’t have. He had 38 bushels of barley, 29 pounds of flax, 1 bushel of flaxseed and 1 bushel of other grass seed as well as a bushel of cloverseed. He also produced 20 tons of hay which was twice as much as his father. Samuel had 4 horses, 6 milch cows (that produced less butter than his father’s four cows), 3 other cattle, 41 sheep and 13 swine and only slaughtered $70 worth of animals during the year. His livestock was worth $275. He had $23 worth of homemade manufacture and $4 from his market garden.
Samuel Click, Jr.’s brother, Henry, lived nearby and must have owned a reaper or mower because his equipment was worth $425. In addition Samuel’s brother-in-law, Tillman Kuntz also lived close. Tillman’s farm was smaller than the Click farms but had more improved acres than Samuel Jr.’s farm.
In about 1858, Samuel Jr. purchased a Hussey reaping machine which was pulled by a team of horses. Although the machinery was marketed in the 1840’s, he was the first farmer in the Jackson Township area to own one, according to his son. (13) The Hussey reapers were built in Aultman in Stark County and cost about $150 in 1850 . They chopped the stalks and collected the grain. Before the mechanical reaper was available, the farmer could only cut 2 to 3 acres of grain a day using a scythe with a cradle with a second person following and tying the bundles of wheat. Using the Hussey, Samuel would have been able to cut about 6 acres of grain a day but it required a second person to ride the reaper and pull the stalks toward the knife in the machine. The Hussey was considered better at cutting hay than reaping grain by some people, but Samuel probably used it to do both.
In the Federal Census for Jackson Township in 1860, Samuel Click, Sr. is reported living with Samuel Click, Jr. He was 75 years old and unable to read or write. There were seven children in the household.
We were not able to locate the Agricultural Census for 1870 for Stark County. It would have been interesting to see what changes there were on Samuel Click, Jr.’s. farm.
Julia Koons Click died on March 27, 1896 in Stark County and is buried in the St. Paul’s Evangelical United Brethren Church Cemetery in McDonaldsville (now St. Paul’s United Methodist Church Cemetery). According to her obituary , she enjoyed singing and prayer, especially in German. She apparently had been ill or in poor health for 40 years before she died. One child predeceased her as did eleven grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. She was survived by her husband, 8 children, 35 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren, 2 brothers, and 4 sisters. Samuel and Julia were married 57 years. The announcement said that “Altho the roads were almost impassable, the church was crowded.” (14)
In the 1900 Federal Census, Samuel Click, Jr. was recorded living in Coventry Township of Summit County with his son, Samuel A. Click. Samuel Click, Jr. died on September 1, 1903 at the age of 84 years, 5 months, 19 days in Green Township, Summit County, Ohio. He is buried beside Julia Koons Click in the St. Paul’s Evangelical United Brethren Church Cemetery in McDonaldsville, Stark County. His obituary said that he was the last of nine children although we have only been able to identify six of his siblings. M.M. Rader, the minister at St. Paul’s United Evangelical Church wrote the obituary and also said that all nine of Samuel Click, Jr.’s children survived him but we have only identified eight children for Samuel and Julia. (15)
- Doyle, William B., Centennial History of Summit County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, 1908, reprint 1993, p. 943.
- Stark County Marriage Records, Book B, p. 68.
- Click, Julia; obituary, April 1896 by J. H. Elder; unknown newspaper.
- Click, Samuel; obituary, Sept. 1903 by M.M. Rader; unknown newspaper. The obituary states there are 9 children who were still living in 1903.
- Doyle, p. 943.
- Doyle, p. 943.
- Doyle, p. 943.
- Doyle, p. 944.
- Click, Samuel; obituary, September 1903 by M.M.Rader; unknown newspaper.
- Click, Julia; obituary, April 1896 by J. H. Elder; unknown newspaper.
- The Evangelical Church in Ohio, 1916-1951, Leedy, Roy B., A., B.D., Ohio Conference Historian, published by the Ohio Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1959.
- The Stark County Story, Vol.. I being the first 76 scripts covering the years 1850-1874 on the cities, towns and villages of Stark County, Ohio as broadcast over WHBS-WHBC-FM, Edward Thorton Heald, Stark County Historical Society, Canton, OH, 1949.
- Doyle, p. 944.
- Click, Julia; obituary, April 1896 by J. H. Elder; unknown newspaper.
- Click, Samuel; obituary, September 1903 by M.M.Rader; unknown newspaper.
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