John Gould
John Gould, of Aurora Township, Portage County the gentleman here introduced, a well known citizen of Aurora, is now in his forty-second year, having been born in Twinsburg, Ohio, in 1844, of New England parentage. His father, John W. Goald, came from Vermont to Ohio in 1837, and his mother, whose maiden name was Eliza Post, from Saybrook, Conn., removed to Ohio with her parents in 1821. Mr. Gould and Miss Post were married in 1839, which relation was broken in 1882, when the beloved mother died, leaving besides her husband, three children: John, Aaron, and Ettie. In 1848 the family removed to Aurora, where they resided an unbroken family until 1879. John, the subject of this sketch, led much the life of any farmer's son, going to township schools, and for several winters was under the tutorship of the Rev. Joseph S. Graves; being of a very studious turn of mind, he added to his limited school advantages a general fund of information gleaned from an extended reading of books, magazines and the best papers. In 1870 Mr. Gould became locally connected with the Cleveland Herald, and in 1878 was advanced to the position of traveling agent of the paper. The year following he became a staif correspondent, and in that capacity made extended tours, his travels in one year alone taking him into nearly a score of States. When the temperance movement known as the " Woman's Crusade" began, Mr. Gould was delegated by his paper to report it, and for over three months this was his exclusive duty, his observations taking him to nearly every corner of the State. In 1879 Mr. Gould was married to Miss Helen Ferris, only daughter of Dr. Osman Ferris, of Mantua, Ohio. Giving up journalism, they located at Auroia Station, Ohio, and farming became his occupation, but in 1880, upon the reorganization of the editorial staff of the Herald, he again became connected with the editorial force of that paper, with special assignment to its agricultural department, though his pen furnished many columns to other departments, and many long journeys were taken as a "special correspondent." The same year, by urgent solicitation, Mr. Gould also became dairy editor of the Ohio Farmer, and for years his writings for that journal over the pseudonym of " Sam," have been widely read. When Secretary Chamberlain, of Columbus, organized the lecture course known as "Farmers' Institutes," Mr. Gould was early assigned to a prominent place as a special lecturer upon dairy and kindred subjects, and during the winters of 1882-83 and 1884, he has visited nearly every part of the State in that capacity. While rarely ever speaking of the extent of his literary work, it is known that he is a frequent contributor to the better class of farm journals, and his writings are sought for, from East to West, by such papers as the New York Tribune, Rural New Yorker, Country Gentleman, Coleman's Rural, Prairie Farmer, etc. With the disappearance of the Herald in 1885, Mr. Gould was promptly offered a position upon the editorial staff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Mr. and Mrs. Gould have always resided at Aurora Station, where they assert they shall always continue to reside, and in the future, as in the past, welcome their many friends to the hospitalities of their home.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885