Stephen Rice Freeman
Stephen Rice Freeman, produce dealer, etc., Ravenna, was born July 26, 1839, in Palmyra, this county. His father, bearing the same name, a native of Rutland, Vt., moved to Ogdensburg, N. Y., while a young man, and there married Miss Lucretia A. Seaton, a native of that place. In 1832 he went on a prospecting trip on horseback to Chicago, looking for a desirable location, and not liking that place, he returned to Cleveland, Ohio, where his family joined him, and there they established a hotel. After following that business and running a boat on the canal some years, Mr. Freeman came to Palmyra, this county, in 1838, finally settling in Ravenna in 1846. In 1861 he established a business as general dealer in produce in this city, and this he carried on until his death, which occurred August 29, 1872. In politics he was a strong Whig. His widow still survives him. Their children were Mrs. Lilias L., wife of J. S. Smith, Ravenna; Stephen R. ; Mrs. Sarah W. Stein, wife of W. F. Stein, photographer, Cleveland. Ohio; Mrs. Ida F. Britton, wife of F. H. Britton, Superintendent Chicago Division Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; Garrett, and Ada L.,who died in 1879 in Cleveland, Ohio. Our subject's grandfather, Capt. Nathan Freeman, a native of Massachusetts, was a soldier in the Revolution at sixteen years of age, a Captain in the Massachusetts militia, and a Captain in the war of 1812. He was a famous wrestler, and after rising to the position of champion of Massachusetts, met and vanquished the champion of New York. Our subject completed his education under James A. Garfield, Hiram Institute, Hiram, Ohio. He enlisted in April, 1861, in the Seventh Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and in September of the same year re-enlisted in the Forty-second Regiment under Col. Garfield, serving until the close of the war, when he left the army with an honorable record as a brave and faithful soldier. Returning home he took a course in the Iron City Commercial College, Pittsburgh, Penn., and settled down in Ravenna. September 23, 1869, Mr. Freeman married Miss Lydia, daughter of William A. Holcomb, and to this union were born six children: Paul, Louis, Maud, Alexis, Edward and Ada. In 1866 he went into business with his father, and succeeded him at the death of the latter. In 1874 our subject took as partner, G. L. Horr. They make a specialty of dealing in cheese, grass seeds, maple products, etc. Mr. Freeman is a member of the I. O. O. F. and G. A. R.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885