John Larwill (1792-1875), (painting).

John Larwill (1792-1875), (painting).

Gasche, Charles, painter.

John Larwill (1792-1875), (painting).

Digital Reference:

40 x 32 1/2 in.

Portrait male -- Larwill, John -- Waist length

Dress -- Accessory -- Cane

Occupation -- Other -- Businessman

Occupation -- Political

Wayne County Historical Society of Ohio, 546 East Bowman St., Wooster, Ohio 44691 Accession Number: 1900.0969.001

Gift of Overholt, John D., ca. 1930s.

Born in 1792 in Depford, England and died in 1875 in Wooster, Ohio. On Jan. 31, 1826 he married Ann Straughan of Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio. He and his brothers, Joseph and William, did the original survey of Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio in 1808. He was the first drygoods merchant in Wooster. He also served as justice of the peace in Wooster Township in 1814, and as member of the Ohio General Assembly from 1841-1843. He was a prime mover to bring the railroad to Wooster in 1852.

John Larwill (1792-1875) came to Wayne County as a teenager in 1807 bringing provisions back and forth from Pennsylvania to the U.S. government surveying team that included his brother, Joseph, working under John Bever. In 1809, John Larwill returned to Wooster and started to clear the land at the fork of what is today South Market, Madison Road, and Spruce Street, and planted the first corn in the county, after which he returned to Fawcettstown, Pennsylvania where he apprenticed in a paper mill for three years. He returned to Wooster again in 1813 resided here the rest of his life. He worked in a couple of dry goods stores and then formed partnerships in dry goods businesses: first with his uncle, Edward Jones, then his brother, Joseph, then with Thomas Watson and Thomas Girling. In 1820, he was elected Justice of the Peace for Wooster Township and held that office for 6 years. Then in 1826, he married Ann Straughan, of Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio and entered into the dry goods business for himself in a frame building adjoining his brick residence, in which he continued working until 1862. He was a driving force in bringing the railroad to Wooster. He and his wife had seven children together, three boys and four girls. John Larwill died at the age of 82 in 1875.

Wayne County Historical Society, 1980, 2018.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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