Edwin A. Penny

  General Notes:

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 589
Edwin A. PENNY. The record of years well lived, with a creditable performance of all those duties which come to a man of high principles and integrity of character, was that of the late Edwin A. Penny, whose career was for many years identified with Berlin Township. Mrs. Jane M. Penny is still living and occupies the old homestead in Berlin Township. She is a woman of remarkable activities and lovely character, and few women grow old so gracefully as Mrs. Penny.
The late Edwin A. Penny was born near Maumee, Ohio, January 28, 1834, and died at his home in Berlin Township, a mile east of the Village of Berlin Heights, August 4, 1883, being at that time in his forty- ninth year. His ancestry was English, but his parents, Asher and Caroline E. (Bacon) Penny, were natives of Long Island, New York. A few years after their marriage they came west and located near Perrysburg, Ohio, and were pioneer farmers in that vicinity. Asher Penny died there in 1842 at the age of thirty-six. A short time before his death he had come to Erie County and bought seventy-three acres east of Ogontz in Berlin Township. His death threw upon his widow in the responsibilities of a family of six children, the last of whom was born after its father's death, and they had also lost one child before
the husband's demise. With this large household she came to the nearly new farm in Erie County, and there did such a part in the rearing and training of her children and providing for their needs as to constitute her one of the noblest of pioneer women. She looked after the management of the farm, improved and cultivated it and in all things her life was so exemplary and fruitful of good that her memory was a blessing to her children. She subsequently went to Amherst in Lorain County, and died there a few years later at the age of seventy-eight. She was a member of the Congregational Church. Edwin A. Penny was the third in the family of seven children. Only two are now living. Edgar, a farmer in Berlin Township, first married Martha L. Gibson, who died leaving him one son, and his present wife was the widow of Doctor Lockwood of Birmingham, Ohio. The other living member of this generation is Ann, wife of John Cook of Charlotte Courthouse, Virginia, and they have three living children.
When he came to Erie County with his mother, Edwin A. Penny was still a small boy and he grew up in Berlin Township and early became acquainted with the responsibilities and duties of the farm. After his marriage he acquired ninety-six acres of farm land, and in the subsequent years did much to develop it, particularly as a fruit farm. He left this place to Mrs. Penny, who has shown equally good judgment in its management and has derived a considerable revenue from her crops and stock. She has a substantial though old-time home and good barks and other improvements.
On April 4, 1861, at Berlin Heights Edwin A. Penny married Jane M. Baker. She was born in Tioga County, New York, November 26, 1831, and when about two years of age came with her parents, Philip S. and Hannah (Pearl) Baker to Berlin Township The family located in the south-eastern part of the township and their first home there was a log cabin and they met and endured practically all the experiences of pioneer farming Her father was noted as a nimrod and trapper, and he accommodated his early pursuits and the work of his farm to this favorite pursuit. He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Penny, in 1880, being then in advanced years. He was born in 1793 and saw some active and hard service as a soldier in the War of 1812. His wife had passed away in 1849. Mrs. Penny was one of four sons and four daughters who grew to maturity, and all of whom married. One of her brothers, Oscar F., recently died at the age of eighty-five, and William W. and Amanda also lived to old age, as did her younger brother, John D., who died at seventy-seven. Mrs. Penny has two sisters, Mrs. Mary E. Davis and Mrs. Laura P. Close, still living in Erie County.
Without children of her own, Mrs. Penny adopted her niece, Della Baker Penny, who was born November 8, 1872, and was reared and educated in the home of her foster mother. She first married Sanford L. McKnight, and her two children by that marriage are William Warren and John R., both students in the local schools. Her second husband is Burton 0. Wikel, a son of Adam Wikel, a well known and prosperous citizen of Berlin Township