William W. Axe

William W. Axe comes of a patriotic family. He is a son of Lorenzo C. and Ellen P. (Philman) Axe, the former of whom enlisted, in 1861, in Company I, Seventy-eighth O. V. I. and served throughout the war of the Rebellion, participating in some of the most hotly contested battles of that struggle. Four of his mother's brothers, Joseph, Jonathan, John and William, also served with honor under command of General Sherman in his famous campaign through Georgia and the Carolinas. Jonathan and William were killed in action, and William and Able Axe died in the service. Joseph Philman, who is now very wealthy, lives at Silver Cliff, Cal., and John at San Francisco. Lorenzo Axe had two sisters, Mrs. Lydia Kinsey and Mrs. Mary Calhenn; Mr. Kinsey was wounded in action in the Civil War and subsequently died, and his widow is now postmistress at Georgetown Penn. Mrs. Calhenn's husband also died in the army; she is now teaching a select school in East Liverpool, Ohio.

William W. Axe was born December 9, 1859, in New Lisbon, Ohio. His parents later removed to New Garden, where he attended school until he reached the age of sixteen years, after which he went to Mount Union College for two terms. Mr. Axe is a genial and companionable man, and he is a born musician. In 1881 he accompanied Sells Brothers circus through the South in that capacity, remaining with the same two years, and in 1883 he accepted a position in the orchestra of the Statts Dramatic Company. In 1885 he went to Cleveland and entered the employ of John Schlitz as clerk in a hotel and restaurant, holding that place two years, and in 1887 going to work as clerk in the "Hollenden Hotel", where he also remained two years. In the spring of 1889 he was appointed police clerk in the city of Cleveland during Clem B. Hull's incumbency, later receiving the appointment to his present position, clerk of the extension ore docks of the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad Company.

Mr. Axe was united in marriage to Miss Nellie L. Riley, of Cleveland, in 1888. Five children, Charles Edward, Eda Elizabeth, Eva Marie, Elmer Emmet and Willie, have been born to this union, and they are all vigorous and healthy. The family residence is at No. 41 Freeman Street, Cleveland, Ohio. Fraternally Mr. Axe is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Knights of Khorassan, Jan Ben Jan Temple No. 27.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.