BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
James Allison,
of Seaman, Adams County, Ohio, is one of the most progressive and successful farmers of Scott Township. He is a man whose excellent judgment, strong common sense and good business qualities are recognized by all. He comes of an old and prominent Pennsylvania family, and was born in that State on the second of October, 1831. His father, David Allison, as well as his mother, whose maiden name was Lucette Andre McKibben, were natives of Pennsylvania. They reared eight children, five sons and three daughters, of whom our subject was the third. David Allison was a farmer all his life and lived to a ripe old age.
James Allison received his early education in the district school in the primitive school building at Cedar Springs, Clinton County, Pennsylvania. He early turned his attention to farming which he had determined should be his life work, and ever since, he has been active and energetic `in this occupation, except two years in which he was engaged in the mercantile business.
On October 14, 1861, he enlisted in Company F, Seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, as a Private, and was afterwards promoted to Second Sergeant of his company, and in May, 1862, was promoted to First Lieutenant. He served with distinction and participated in the battles of Lebanon, Tennessee, and of Stone River, at Murfreesboro. In the latter battle in the cavalry, his horse fell and disabled him so he was sent to the hospital, and while there, was stricken with typhoid pneumonia, and as a consequence, was discharged for disability, May 3, 1863. In one of the charges made by his regiment there was captured a Confederate flag, which Mr. Allison obtained and keeps as a trophy.
He has always been a Republican in his political views, but has never sought or held any office, either in township or county. He is an earnest thinker, however, on political queStions, a strong advocate of advanced political thought, and is alive to the interests and welfare of his county and community.
On the twenty-eighth of November, 1865, he was married to Miss Sarah E. McDowell, of Centre County, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Allison is a woman of many fine qualities and ably performs her duties as wife and mother. She is an earnest, consistent, Christian woman, and a faithful worker in the Presbyterian Church of Seaman. She was born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, January 19, 1845, the second daughter of P. W. and Kathrene McDowell, the latter of whom died November 5, 1897, at the age of seventy-eight. Her father is living and well at the age of eighty-
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676 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
two, is active and energetic, an old-fashioned Jacksonian Democrat and one of Central Pennsylvania's most substantial citizens.
Mr, and Mrs. Allison resided in Pennsylvania for three years after their marriage, and then removed to Adams County in 1869, where he purchased a farm on the West Fork of Brush Creek in Scott Township, which is the very best in the township. It is bountifully supplied with running water and everything about the place indicates that the owner is a man of enterprise and progress. They lived on this farm from 1869 until 1896, when they purchased a home in the village of Seaman, which they remodeled and beautified and reside there in great comfort. Mr. Allison owns another farm of one hundred and eighty acres in Oliver Township. Their children are Kate Conley, wife of Dr. John S. Montgomery, of Huntsville, Logan County, Ohio; David M., who is in the hardware and implement business at Seaman, a very industrious and energetic young man; Nettie Andre, wife of Oscar McCreight. They reside on the; home farm. Mrs. Montgomery has two sons, Willard Allison, and John McDowell.
Mr. Allison is highly esteemed in the community and is honored and respected by all.
Rev. Eli Purchas Adams,
born June 24, 1814, in Washington County, is a son of Isaac and Dorcas Adams. He graduated at Marietta College in 1842. For two years after this he engaged in teaching school. In 1844, he entered Lane Seminary, then under the presidency of Rev. Lyman Beecher. He studied here two years, but was unable to complete his course on account of poor health. In 1846, he went to Helena, Kentucky, fifteen miles from Maysville, and taught a school there until 1859. On July 2, 1846, he was married to Martha Slack, daughter of Col. Jacob Slack, of Mason County, Ky. He had two children of this marriage, one died August 20, 1853, and its mother ten days later. The remaining child died January 15, 1858. He was ordained by Harmony Presbytery in Kentucky in 1853. On March 19, 1856, he was married to Miss Lucy A. Bartlett, of Marietta, Ohio, the daughter of a prominent Congregational minister, a lady eminently fitted for the difficult position of a minister's wife. Of this marriage there were eight children, six sons and two daughters. One son, William N., died in childhood. The others are living. Francis Bartlett Adams is a druggist in Perry, Rolls County, Mo., and Isaac Watts Adams is a farmer' in the same place. Gilbert Purchas Adams is a farmer near Vanceburg, Ky., and Charles Baird Adams, a physician at the same place. Flizabeth Loughry Adams, a daughter, was a teacher at Vanceburg, Ky. She was married November 5, 1896, to Scott McGovney Foster, of Sandy Springs, Adams County. Alfred Hamilton Adams, a son, lost both his feet alighting from a freight train. Rev. Adams' daughter, Margaret Alice, lived until June 6, 1886, when she was drowned in the Ohio River by falling from a steamboat. She was then in her twenty-eighth year. She had a lovely Christian character and was her father's right hand in church and Sabbath school work. She had been a teacher of music for several years and was most highly esteemed by all who knew her.
In May, 1859, Rev. Adams was called to the, churches of Rome and Sandy Springs. Here his life work was done. He was pastor of these
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 677
churches until 1873, when he was called to Hanging Rock for two years, and for three years he resided on his farm below Vanceburg, Ky. He returned to Sandy Springs in 1878 and continued his work there until 1895 when the infirmities of age compelled him to retire. In January, 1899, the was taken with what proved to be his last illness. He survived till March 15, 1899, when he passed away in peace. He realized that this sickness was his last. He said his work was done and only regretted that was not better done: His faith was firm and his hope assured. He was beyond all troubles and his last hours were in the Peace of God. His life had been one of trial and privation, of many disappointments, and of much affliction and sorrow, but in the midst of all of them, his Christian virtues shone out with a resplendence which called forth the admiration of all
knew him. The memory of his labors should be preserved to all who ow him, and while remembered, will he a Beacon Light pointing to the Savior of Men as his Guide and Master.
One who was his pupil for two and a half years, and who is a man well advanced in life, says of him that he had a fine tact for instructing others, occupied the first rank as an educator, and as the principal of an academy of Kentucky,. did much to fit young persons for a college course
and impress his own well rounded Christian character upon their minds.
A clergyman who knew him, says he was of a quiet and retiring disposition, but under pressure of duty and in behalf of right, was persistent and unflinching. He was a Christian man, well versed in the Bible. His piety was scriptural, enlightened and stable. His life was pure and honest, characterized by uniform gentleness and kindness. As a preacher, he was thoroughly orthodox and his sermons were instructive.
Irwin M. Anderson,
a resident of Clyde, Ohio, was born August 7, 1845, at West Union. His father was James Anderson, who has a separate sketch herein. Irwin Anderson went to school at West Union in the old stone schoolhouse which stood where the house occupied by Knox now stands.
In June, 1863, he enlisted in Company G, 129th 0. V. I., and served until the eighth of March following. He enlisted August 25, 1864, in the Seventh Ohio Cavalry, and was mustered out with the company, July 1, 1865. In both services he was in the campaigns about East Tennessee. He was in the affair at Cumberland Gap on September 9, 1863 ; in Burnside's campaign against Longstreet that fall and winter. He was engaged in the siege of Knoxville in the Fall of 1864, and was in the battles of .Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee; Pulaski, Tennessee ; Plantersville
and Selma, Alabama, in 1865. After the war was over, he went to school in Xenia, Ohio, in T865 and 1866. He then located in Mexico, Missouri, and was in the west and southwest from 1866 to 1870. In the latter year, he located in Camden, Ohio. He was married October 14, 1873, to Miss
Emma J. Smith, of Oxford, Ohio. He resided there until 1877. In that year, he located in Mansfield, Ohio, and worked for the Aultman-Taylor Company. He resided in Marion from 1880 to 1883, when he located in Clyde, Ohio, which has since been his home. His wife died May , 1895. He has six children, five sons and a daughter. His son, Carl J., is an artist Springfield, Ohio, and illustrates the "Woman's Home Companion."
678 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
His daughter, Stella, lives in Chicago with her brothers. Sherwood is a bookkeeper in Chicago, as is his son Irwin. His son, Ray, is a student, and his son, Earl, is in an art school there. They all reside at No. 1036 Adams Street, and the sister keeps house for them.
Mr. Anderson takes a great interest in army organizations. For four years he has been engaged in preparing entertainments for various Grand Army Posts. He possesses considerable dramatic talent, and has been very successful in his work.
Carey C. Alexander,
of Eckmansville, was born on the farm where he now resides, June I, 1852. His father was Samuel Alexander, a son of James Alexander, a native of Fincastle, Virginia, who first came to Lexington, Kentucky, in the early days and afterwards to Adams County. He married Mary John, a member of an old Virginia family. James Alexander was born June 22, 1791, and died March 3, 1871. His wife was born January so, 1792, and died Mar& 12, 1852. Their son, Samuel, was born in Virginia, April 3, 1815, and came to Adams County with his parents making the trip overland In wagons. He married Miss Elizabeth. Robe daughter of David Robe, of Scotch ancestry, of Hills Fork. She was born February 54, 1819,
Carey C. Alexander was reared on a farm, but having a natural talent for music has given much time to the cultivation of that faculty. He has taught vocal and instrumental music for many years with great success. He is particularly successful as a bandmaster and leader of choirs. He married Miss Mary Allison, a daughter of John Allison, of Cherry Fork, February 26, 1877. Their children inherit musical talent, and with their father maintain a fine orchestra. They are Roscoe, Bessie, Ralph, Florence, Charles, Delbert and Lester.
Mr. Alexander is a member of the Presbyterian Church and an elder in that organization. He is Sunday school superintendent and choir leader at Eckmansville. He is also a member of Sunbeam Lodge, No. 631, K. of P., at Cherry Fork.
Col. James Arbuthnot
was born at Greenfield, Ohio, September 3, 1841. He served seventeen months as an enlisted man in Company F, 91st 0. V. I. He was made Second Lieutenant of the 59th U. S. Infantry, December 18, 1863, and was afterwards promoted to First Lieutenant and Adjutant of his regiment. He was badly wounded at the battle of the "Mine" in front of Petersburg, Virginia, July 3o, 5864. He resigned January 23, 1866, and at once moved to Brookfield, Missouri, and engaged in farming. He studied law in the office of Judge W. H. Bromler and Hon. S. P. Huston, of Brookfield, Missouri, and since his admission has been engaged in the practice of his profession except from 1883 to 1885, when he was postmaster at Brookfield. He was elected Representative from Linn County, in the Thirty-fourth General Assembly of Missouri in 1866 as a Republican when the county was strongly Democratic. He served three terms as City Attorney of Brookfield, at the time the city was establishing electric lights and waterworks. In 5882, he organized a company of National Guards at Brook-
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 679
field, Missouri, and was Captain for several years. His company competed in a number of prize drills and never failed to take the prize.
In 1891, in the organization of the Fourth Regiment of Missouri National Guards, he was elected Colonel and held that position until he resigned. The regiment he organized went into the service of the United States during the Spanish War.
On the third of July, 1867, he was married to Sarah E. Beemer. He has been for thirty-two years a member of the Presbyterian Church at Brookfield, Missouri, in which his wife and five children are all members.
He is an intelligent and high-minded man of unusual attainments and breadth of knowledge. He has taken, and takes, an active interest in public affairs and is a walking encyclopedia of political and military information. He was the most perfect type of an officer and soldier in the Civil War.
He was never known to use an improper or profane word. He was always ready for any emergency. In the presence of the enemy, he was as brave as the best soldier or officer who ever adorned the pages of history. With the battle once over, he was as tender and symapthetic with the wounded, friend or foe, as any woman. He was honorable in all his dealings with his fellow officers and scorned all intrigues and subterfuges so common in the army. He never failed in the performance of any duty assigned to him. He was gallant, brave and honorable, with emphasis on all the terms. The qualities of his soul were tested severely and many times in his army service and the qualities ascribed to him always appeared. As he was in the army, so he has been ever since, and the people of Adams County can alwayS feel proud of the life record Colonel Arbuthnot has made.
Ezekiel Arnold,
farmer, of Locust Grove, was born December 23, 1833, near Locust Grove, in Adams County, Ohio, the son of Josephus Arnold and Kate Pemberton, his wife. Josephus Arnold was born in 1788, on Long Island, in the state of New York. He learned the trade of shoemaking. He was in the War of 1812, having enlisted from New York City. He served there, and directly after the war came to Adams County. He married Kate Pemberton on July 16, 1828, the daughter of William Pemberton, who was born in 1750, in Culpeper County, Virginia. Josephus Arnold and wife had three children, Ezekiel and Mansfield, sons, and Indiana, a daughter, all of whom are living at or near Locust Grove. Ezekiel, our subject, was born December 23, 1833, near Locust Grove, and has resided there ever since. His mother was born January 10, 1795, and died September 3o, 1889.
He attended the common schools, and was trained to be a farmer, which occupation he has followed all his life. His father, Josephus Arnold, died on April 10, 1858, at the age of sixty-nine years. On August 30, 1862, our subject enlisted, at the age of thirty, in Company F, 117th 0. V. I., Captain James A. Murphy, and served until the twentieth of July, 1865. June 10, 1885, he was married to Miss Mary Tarlton, and has two sons, Josephus A., aged eleven years, and Jehu, aged nine years. His first wife died and he married Miss Cynthia Garmon, June , 1896. She Was born June 5, 1859. Mr. Arnold has a tasteful and pleasant home in Locust Grove. He takes great pride in the fact that he was a soldier of the Civil War ; also, that his father was in the War of 1812 ; but most of all
680 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
that his grandfather, William Pemberton, was in the War of the Revolution. The latter was born in 1750, in Culpeper County, Virginia, on Stanton River. He served in the Revolutionary War in Captain Thomas Meriwether's Company, First Virginia State Regiment, Colonel George Gibson. He enlisted in September, 1777, for three years, and was at the siege of Yorktown, where he had part of an ear shot away by a shell. He was a successful hunter and farmer. He married Rhoda Luck, born October 24, 1755, and had a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters. His sons were William, Nathaniel, Fountain, James, and Ezekiel. His daughters were. Anna, married Thomas Murfin ; Joyce, married Isaac East ; and Kate, born January 10, 1795, married Josephus Arnold.
William Pemberton came to Kentucky just at the time of the Indian massacre at Crab Orchard, and reached Boonesboro the next day after that event. Kate Pemberton was then a small girl, but remembered seeing the bodies of the victims of the massacre. Her father remained at Boonesboro nearly two years. In that time he was lost in the forest for several days. He shot and wounded a buffalo and it rushed at him. His clog seized it by the nose and saved Pemberton's life, but the dog lost his. Pemberton killed the buffalo and subsisted on its meat for several days. His friends had given him up as killed or captured by Indians. He returned to Virginia, but soon came back to Ohio and settled in Adams County, near Locust Grove, in 1808. He died, about 1823, of rheumatism. He is interred on the farm where Miss Indiana Arnold now resides. The. spot is known, and will soon have a suitable mark. His wife died January 1, 1845, at the age of ninety, and is buried beside her husband. A prominent characteristic of Mr. Arnold is his industry and frugality.. He made his start in life by traveling and selling clocks. He is the owner of about eight hundred acres of land, and has acquired a competence. He is noted for his integrity, and for living up to any obligations which he may assume. He is a free thinker of the Robert Ingersoll school. He is a Republican and a good citizen.
John Bratton Allison
is a native of Meigs Township, in Adams County. He was born March 30, 1837. His father was Samuel Allison, a native of Hancock County, Pennsylvania. He came to Carmel, in Highland County, and located there. His mother was Elizabeth Bratton, a sister of John Bratton, for whom Bratton Township was named. Her father, Jacob Bratton, was one of the first settlers of Adams County. His widow, Elizabeth, died April 19, 1836, in the ninety-fourth year of her age. Samuel Allison had six children: one Son, our subject, and five daughters, who lived to maturity. Two children died in infancy. R. H. W. Peterson married Elizabeth Allison, the youngest one of the daughters. Dick Thompson married Mary Jane, another daughter ; and Susan, the third daughter, married Joseph Andrews. Angeline, the second daughter, married Jacob Ogle, of Illinois. Evaline, the eldest daughter, married Jeremiah M. Hibbs, and moved to Missouri in 1852.
Our subject received a common school education, and none other. In 1849, he began to learn the tanner's trade with Townshend Enos Reed, and remained with him until March, 1855, at Marble Furnace. In 1855,
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 681
he went upon the farm which he now owns and on which he now lives, worked for his uncle, John Bratton, who then owned the farm, as a d at thirteen dollars per month, until 1859. In that year, on November 3, he married Miss Hannah S. Hughes, daughter of Peter Hughes, and
continued to reside on the farm of his uncle, John Bratton. In 1876 he purchased the farm, 26o acres of the estate of John Bratton, for $6,860, and resided there ever since. From 1859 to 1876, he had the farm rented.
There have been three sons of this marriage. John F., the eldest, attended the St. Louis University in 1878 and 1879. He afterwards engaged in the hardware business at Hillsboro from 1888 to 1892. Since the latter date he has been a farmer in Hardin County, Ohio. He married Miss Lizzie Kennedy, of New York. Charles C., the second son, graduated in the college course in St. Mary's school, in Kansas City, in 1884, and taught in the vicinity of his home for two years. 'He read medicine with Dr. Berry, at Locust Grove, who pronounced him one of the best students he had ever known. He graduated from the Louisville Medical College in 1888, with highest honors. He won several medals, notably the gold medal in surgery. He took a post-graduate course at the Bellevue Medical College. He then took employment on the steamer Obdam, plying between New York and Amsterdam, and made several voyages. He, however, resigned this in a short time, and located as a physician and surgeon at Omaha, and has attained a high position in his profession. He fills two chairs at the Omaha Medical College ; he also has a chair and is a lecturer at Creighton Medical College. He has had charge of the Presbyterian Hospital there ; and has been connected with St. Joseph's Hospital, in the same place. He married Miss Catharine Creighton and is now one of the leading physicians and surgeons in Nebraska.
James B., the third son, graduated at St. Mary's School, in Kansas City, in 1888; after that, he was in the clothing business in Hillsboro from 1889 to 1891. In the latter year, he went to Helena, Montana, and engaged in the same business. While here, he acted as Deputy United States Marshal part of the time ; and on one occasion took seven Chinese prisoners to California. He settled in the year 1894 at Chinook, Montana, and from there went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he now resides and is engaged in the mercantile business. He married Miss Mary Ingle-brand, Winnsboro.
Mr. Allison, our subject, was County Commissioner of Adams County from 1872 to 1875, during the famous county seat contest, and stood for West Union as against Manchester. He has been a township trustee and a school trustee for many years. He has one of the best cared for and most valuable farms in Adams County. It is a delight to look upon. Mr. Allison is a man agreeable to meet. He is very tall, with a large frame and commanding presence. He carries his years lightly, and looks several years younger that he is.
Samuel Turner Baldridge
was born February 17, 1824, in Wayne Township, Adams County, Ohio, and lived there all his life with the exception of a year and a half in Brown County. His father was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1783, and his mother, Mary McGary, was a daughter of Wil-
682 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
liam McGary, a Revolutionary soldier, and one of the first settlers of Adams County.
He was married October 23, 1845, first, to Phoebe Patton, a daughter of Thomas Patton, a native of Rockbridge County, Virginia, who settled on the West Fork of Brush Creek. Of this marriage there were three children : Mrs. Mary J. Foutts, of Elsmere, Missouri; Thomas Albert, who died at the age of two years, and an infant. His first wife died August 3, 1850. He married for a second wife, in 1861, Sarah Russel. Her mother was a Puntenney, of Stout's Run. His son, Taylor R., is a well known physician and surgeon in Dayton. His second son, by his second marriage, Talma F., after having completed his studies as a physician and married, died suddenly in the year 1896.
Our subject has been an elder in the U. P. Church at Cherry Fork for thirty years and has been Clerk of Wayne Township for twenty-four years. He was a Free Soiler during the existence of that party and afterwards a Republican. He died the eighth of June, A. D. 1899.
Mr. Baldridge had taken quite an interest in this work and had anticipated much pleasure in its publication, but he was never to read its pages. Those who knew him best say that his passing was the beautiful completion of a finished work. His hold on this world was greatly loosened by the sorrow on account of the untimely death of his son, Talma. His life was a finished example of purity, fidelity and piety. He was a true friend, a wise counsellor, an unselfish man, and a noble citizen. He left a memory which his family, his church, and his community can reflect upon with pleasure and pride.
Jacob Newton Brown,
son of James and Maria Brown, was born in Adams County, Ohio, on the banks of the Cherry Fork about two miles eastwardly from the town of North Liberty, on October 19, 1828.
He received a common school education and for a while taught in the county schools. He afterward embarked in the mercantile business in North Liberty in a small building adjoining the site now occupied by Kleinknecht Bros. In 186o he erected the commodious building now occupied by this firm. He was doing business in this house during the Civil War and at the time when the Confederate General, John Morgan, and his troops passed through on their famous raid. They broke into his store, robbed and despoiled his goods, stole his horses, etc. He formed a partnership with Wm. McVey, and after continuing same for several years, he sold his interest in the store and bought the North Liberty Flour Mills, He successfully operated these mills until 1876, when he exchanged them, together with his handsome brick residence and a farm lying northeast of the town, for a large tract of Arkansas land. He then became connected with the Southern Immigration business and as agent of the Little Rock & Ft. Smith R. R., and afterward as Immigration Agent of the Cincinnati Southern R. R., which place he held at the time of his death. In 1881, in connection with J. Frank, in Cincinnati, he established an office in Chattanooga, Tenn., which he afterward sold to his son C. V. Brown and S. W. Divine, but retained his office in Cincinnati in connection with the Cincinnati Southern R. R. He was one of the pioneers in Southern Im-
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 683
migration work, and hundreds of Northern families now living in the South were located through his influence. He was indefatigable in his efforts to promote Southern immigration.
He retained his residence at North Liberty until about 1883, when he removed his family to Cincinnati and there resided until his death, January 27, 1892. He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church a man of strong convictions, always on the side of right, and an uptight and worthy citizen in every way.
In 1852, he married Sarah McCutcheon of near Manchester in this county and seven children were born to them, to-wit: Nancy J., now the wife of Dr. F. M. Gaston, of Tranquility ; Maria M., wife of S. G. Glasgow, of North Liberty ; Flla, wife of William Kennedy, living near Youngsville; Mary E., deceased; Ida V., wife of William Kleinknecht, of North Liberty, and C. V. and B. G. Brown, of Chattanooga, Tennessee. His widow, Sarah Brown, died in North Liberty on August 3, 1899.
Jacob N. Brown was in many respects a remarkable man, but the world never knew of it from him, and what he had achieved would never have been known except the writer of these lines discovered it in a busi¬ness way. When Mr. Brown left North Liberty, he had a mountain of debt which he was carrying and of which the public or the world had no idea. To the world he was and had been a success, but to retrieve his losses, he went away from the home of his lifetime, went into a new and untried business and made large sums of money. He paid off his entire indebtedness with interest and died without the world ever knowing that he had almost been overtaken by financial disaster. There is not one man in a thousand who would have undertaken, and not one man in ten thousand who would have succeeded in paying the immense debt he owed, but he did it and the world never knew and has not known it until the publication of this book, and it would not now be made public but that the, lesson of his life was most valuable and might encourage some one overwhelmed with adversity to bear it without murmuring and to conquer it with that power of will and tireless energy which overcomes all difficulties. Mr. Brown never knew that the writer was informed of his financial condition, but the writer knew why he left North Liberty and went elsewhere to work with that remarkable application which characterized him and the end he had in view, and therefore takes pleasure in making this tribute to his manly qualities. In all the years in which he was working to discharge his great debt, he supported and educated his large family, lived honorably in the world and took prompt care of every current obligation. In all that time, he never complained of or alluded to his burden, and to the world he was the same as if he had not owed a dollar and had thousands ahead. How many men can do that? How many men have done that? It is the aggregate of such lives as that of Jacob N. Brown which makes our people the most energetic on the face of the earth.
James W. Baldridge,
merchant tailor, of Manchester, Ohio, and the subject of this sketch, is a descendant of pioneer ancestry in Adams County. The family name on the old records is Boldridge, and its memberS were here at the time of the organization of the county.
684 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
Our subject was born August 12, 1857, in the village of Youngsville, Wayne Township. 'He is a son of William S., and a great-grandson of Rev. William Baldridge, the first pastor of the U. P. congregation at Cherry Fork. His mother is Margaret Jane Kane, a member of an old and respected family of the county.
He spent his boyhood days on a farm and attended the District schools until his eighteenth year, when he studied at West Union and in the old academy at Cherry Fork. In 188o, he went to Jackson, Ohio, and there followed coal mining for two years.
In 1882, he began working at his present trade, and in 1883 worked with the well known tailor, A. D. Kirk. He next worked at his trade in Kansas City, and then at Augusta, Ky: Returning to Cherry Fork in 1892, he remained a short time and then located at his present place in Manchester, where he has a flourishing business, his patrons being the best dressers of the town and surrounding country. December 12, 1891, he married Miss Mary Alexander, by whom he has three children, Ada, Roy and William. He is a Methodist and a Prohibitionist.
Moses Roush Brittingham,
proprietor Hotel Britt, Manchester, was horn near the old Campmeeting Grounds in Sprigg Township, September 11, 1837. He is a son of Purnel Brittingham and Mary Bryan, whose maiden name was Cartwright, a daughter of Rev. Andrew Cartwright, a celebrated divine in early days in Adams County. Purnel Brittingham was of Scotch descent, born 1782, and died in 1872. He was a soldier in the War of 1812.
The subject of our sketch worked as a farm hand in Ross County, Ohio, in his youth, and in 1862, volunteered in the Seventh Ohio Cavalry, Col. Israel Garrard, and served until the close of the war, taking part in every important battle in which his regiment engaged.
In 1859, he was married to Mary F. Trotter, daughter of James Trotter, of near West Union. After the war, he kept a small store at Killinstown, and in 1868 conducted a general store at Clayton, moving to Manchester in 187o, where for twenty years he has been in the hotel business. During this time he has handled live stock and produce, and for six seasons sold lightning rods throughout the country. He is at present interested in the buying and shipping of leaf tobacco.
In 1884, he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for the office of Sheriff of Adams County, but was defeated by a few votes through the treachery of some persons who should have been his staunch supporters if fidelity to party and party principles count for aught. By his energy and integrity he has acquired a competency to support himself and wife in their declining years.
George Elmer Bratten, D. D. S.,
of Manchester. Ohio, was born April 18, 1873, at Edgerton, Williams County. Ohio. His father was John A. Bratten, and his mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Shambaugh. His grandfather, John Bratten, came from Westmoreland County. Pennsylvania. He removed to Edgerton and was one of the pioneers of Williams County. His great-grandfather, Robert Bratten, was a native of England. His father, John U. Bratten,
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 686
was a private soldier in Company .A, 38th 0. V. I. He enlisted August 26, 1861, and served until September 13, 1864.
Our subject attended the District school at Edgerton, and graduated in the High School there in 1892. He taught school for four Winter terms in Williams County, and in the same period attended the Ohio Normal University at Ada for two years. In May, 1894, he began the study of dentistry at the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, and pursued his studies until 5899. In April, 1899, he graduated, and from that time until March, two, he was located in Edgerton. He was married on the tenth of March, 1900, to Miss Nina Marshall, daughter of John Marshall, Esq., of Edgerton. He located in Manchester on the twentieth of March, 1900, having purchased the dental practice and business of Dr. R. M. Prather.
Dr. Bratten is a young man of high character. He is a great student in his profession, and is very ambitious to succeed. He has already won the confidence and esteem of the citizens of Manchester and vicinity, and has shown that he has rare skill in his profession. In his political views he is a Republican. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias of Manchester, Ohio. His wife is an attractive and accomplished woman and is highly esteemed in society. She possesses remarkable talent as a public reader.
James S. Berry, M. D.
The grandfather of our subject was Thomas Berry, of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. He was married there in 1812 and was one of the famous defenders of Baltimore in the War of 1812. He was in the fight at Bladensburg and about Washington City. After the War of 1812, he went to Rockingham County, Virginia, and from there, in 1818, he removed to near Greenfield, in Highland County, Ohio. In 1832, his wife died, and in 1840, he removed to Delaware County. Indiana, and married a second time. He died there at the age of eighty years. By his first wife, he had six children, four sons and two daughters. He had a daughter by his second marriage. John, his eldest son, born in Baltimore in 1816, was the father of our subject. When at the age of sixteen years, he learned the tanners trade at Leesburg, Ohio. He was married at Leesburg, Ohio. to Miss Mary E. Stewart, daughter of James and Phoebe Stewart. Soon after this he bought a farm on Sugar Tree Ridge in Highland County, and resided there, carrying on a farm and tanning until his death, April 4, 1888. In his religious faith, he was a friend.
His son, James S., one of the eight sons and daughters, was born April 26, 1844. He learned the tanner's trade of his father, and worked at it until he was eighteen years of age. Then he taught school five or six years. He began the study of medicine in 5867 at Sugar Tree Ridge under Dr. Henry Whisler. He graduated at Starling Medical College in 1870 and began the practice of medicine at Locust Grove the same year. He practiced there until 1888, when he removed to Peebles, where he has since resided and practiced medicine.
On October 7, 1873, he was married to Miss Sarah A. Murphy, of Locust Grove. He has five children : Charles, born September 25, 1875; Amma, born March 29, 1877; Mary F., Thomas Alfred and Beatrice. In politics, he is a Democrat.. He was Township Clerk for seven years and
686 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
Treasurer of Franklin Township four years. He has also been a member of the Town Council and Board of Education in Peebles. He has never sought office, but in 1895, he was the candidate of his party for Representative to the Legislature, but was defeated by the Hon. A. C. Smith. After removing to Peebles, he was associated with Dr. J. M. Wittenmeyer. When the latter was elected Auditor in 1893, he formed a partnership with Dr. George F. Thomas, which still continues.
Dr. Berry perhaps is the most unique character living in Adams County today. As a professional man, business character and student in almost all branches of learning, he has few equals in this part of the State. Senator Brice once speaking of him declared that he was qualified to fill almost any position involving business transactions. He is a many-sided man. His inquisitive disposition has given him an insight into almost everything. Besides his thorough medical education, he possesses much legal knowledge and is frequently consulted by men in all professions involving matters of great importance. His judgment is unerring and is followed whenever he is called upon to decide. He is modeled somewhat after Benjamin Franklin. When a subject is presented to him, he at once becomes interested whether in nature or in the affairs of men. As a physician, he stands high. He is temperate in habits, abstaining entirely from the use of intoxicating liquors and tobacco. Possessing a strong mind, in early life, he mastered the science of medicine and from the day that he began to practice in the village of Locust Grove, the people about him have recognized his worth and have trusted him implicitly. Unlike most men, he interests himself in other things besides his profession. He is engaged in the banking business, solicits- pensions, oversees a large farm, deals in stock, is interested in the sale of farming implements, and gives much attention to educational matters. If he has nothing else to do, he will engage his mind in solving some abstruse mathematical problem. A great mind, like a healthy body, requires food. He engages in all these lines of business and study seemingly to satisfy his wonderful active mind. While other men are daydreaming. he will be found thinking about several things at the same time. Although a man of dignified bearing, and serious while engaged in business, he possesses the faculty of seeing the humorous side of a situation. He is a good story teller and can make a dying man laugh. He is always found in a good humor and self-possessed. lie attracts people to him and has few if any enemies. He has acquired a great deal of property, yet he believes in living well. His home is not exclusive. Guests arc always welcome. He has a good wife and an interesting family.
The Bentonville Schools.
In 1870, the people of Bentonville and vicinity, feeling the need of better educational advantages than the township schools afforded, petitioned for a special district to be organized from sub-districts No. 13, No. 9 and No. 16. Sprigg Township, No. 13, schoolhouse stood at Union; No. 9, near the northern limit of Bentonville, near where William West now resides, and No. 16 stood on the land of Dr. John Gaskins, east of Bentonville, now the farm of Mrs. N. G. Foster, of Manchester, Ohio. The petition being granted, Dr. John Gaskins, William T. Leedom and
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 687
John V. Adamson were elected directors. These gentlemen remained in office for several years and the success of the school from the first was largely due to their efforts in organizing and conducting it. The contractors who erected the building were Rev. B. F. Rapp and Rev. J. F. McColm. The present building, a substantial four-room schoolhouse, was completed in the Winter of 1870, and on January 1, 1871, school began with Rev. J. F. McColm, Principal; I. N. Tolle, Intermediate, and Miss West, Primary, teachers. There were nearly two hundred pupils in attendance at that time. The following is a list of teachers since the Organization of the school; the first name for each year being the Principal, the second the Intermediate, and the last, the primary teachers :
YEAR |
Principal |
Intermediate |
Primary |
1871-1872 |
J. F. McColm |
I. N. Tolle |
Mrs. G. W. Pettit |
1872-1873 |
John M. McColm |
A. V. Hutson |
J. P. Leedom |
1873-1874 |
W. H. Vane |
J. P. Leedom |
Laura Adamson |
1874-1875 |
W. H. Vane |
I. N. Tolle |
Warren Jones |
1875-1876 |
I. N. Tolle |
M. Zercher |
Burnett Howell. |
1876-1877 |
I. N. Tolle |
M. Zercher |
Maggie DeCamp |
1877-1878 |
John Compton |
I. N. Tolle |
Maggie DeCamp |
1878-1879 |
John Compton |
I. N. Tolle |
Maggie DeCamp. |
1879-1880 |
I. N. Tolle |
A. V. Hutson |
Chas. Lafferty |
1880-1881 |
I. N. Tolle |
Chas. Lafferty |
Thomas Turnipseed |
1881-1882 |
A. V. Hutson |
C. F. Wikoff |
Emma DeCamp |
1882-1883 |
A. V. Hutson |
Frank Gaffin |
Emma DeCamp |
1883-1884 |
John Rea |
C. M. Smith |
Maggie DeCamp |
1884-1885 |
John Rea |
A. D. Foster |
Maggie DeCamp |
1885-1886 |
A. V. Hutson |
Dorcas Thomas |
Emma Stewart |
1886-1887 |
A. C. Hood |
Dorcas Thomas |
Mary Carl |
1887-1888 |
J. E. Dodds |
Anna Wood |
Mary Carl |
1888-1889 |
John Rea |
Emma Stewart |
Mary Carl |
1889-1890 |
J. D. Darling |
Laura Mefford |
Lulu Ashenhurst |
1890-1891 |
S. P. Robuck |
Emma Watson |
Lulu Ashenhurst |
1891-1891 |
J. D. Darling |
Laura Mefford |
Lulu Ashenhurst |
1892-1893 |
John Slye |
Laura Mefford |
Emma Watson |
1893-1894 |
Thomas P. Foster |
|
Maggie DeCamp |
1894-1895 |
W. H. Vane |
Cornelia Hoagland |
Pearl Mefford |
1895-1896 |
John W. Mehaffey |
Maggie DeCamp |
Sallie Stivers |
1896-1897 |
A. 0. Bowman |
Maggie DeCamp |
Pearl Mefford |
1897-1898 |
A. 0. Bowman |
Pearl Mefford |
Hattie Vane |
1898-1899 |
A. 0. Bowman |
|
May Vane |
1899 |
W. S. Campbell |
Laura Mefford |
May Vane |
The present Board of Directors is composed of J. H. Waldron, Isaiah Shipley and J. A. Hahn. The course of study adopted in 1896 includes three years' work in the Primary department, three years in the Intermediate, and the Principal doing the two years' in the Grammar grades and one year of High School work.
Charles H. Bratten
was born in Newcastle County, Delaware, on the bank of Brandywine Creek, near the Dupont mills, on the seventeenth of April, 1833. His father was Robert Bratten, whose grandparents came from the North of
688 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
Ireland. His mother was Hannah Maria Carr, a descendant of the early Irish and Swedish settlers in Delaware. Some of her near relatives in the ancestral line fought in the Revolutionary War. His parents removed to Philadelphia when he was but two years old, and at the age of eight years, he went to work in the woolen mills and worked there until he was fifteen. At that time, his parents moved to a farm on the Schuylkill, which is now a part of the city of Philadelphia. The son accepted a position as toll-gate tender near the city limits where he worked for a year. During the time from his eighth to his sixteenth year, the only schooling he received was when the mills in which he was engaged had to close for repairs, and during this time he attended school. He was taught to read by his, mother before he attended school. His father, at this time, took the Western fever, and emigrated to Highland County, Ohio, in 1850, locating near Sugar Tree Ridge.
Our subject located in Adams County in 1854 in Locust Grove and served a four years' apprenticeship at the blacksmith trade, at which he has worked ever since at the same place.
In 1859, he married Caroline Leedom, daughter of Thomas Leedom, who at that time kept the old tavern which stood in the north end of Locust Grove. They have four sons and three daughters, all of whom are living and have reached maturity.
When the Civil War began, our subject joined the home guard, and on September 15, 1861, he enlisted in Battery P. First Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery. He remained with the battery until July 22, 1865: This battery was engaged in the battles of Corinth, Stone River, Perry. ville and Chickamauga and Shiloh. After the war, he returned to Locust Grove, which has been his home ever since.
Mr. Bratten is a voluminous reader, and in that way has acquired: a great deal of information. He is a radical Republican, and has been since the founding of the party, but never sought office. He is an excellent mechanic and possesses no small amount of inventive genius. Three or four years before the Civil War, he and James McCrum, the old gunsmith of Locust Grove, conceived the idea of putting rifles in cannons to increase their effectiveness. Having some doubt as to the success of their proposed invention, Mr. McCrum suggested that they write to Gen. Scott for his opinion of its probable success. They did this and Gen. Scott expressed the opinion that it would not work, so they dropped it.,, But to their surprise, they learned that in a short time that Hotchkiss had patented the very thing they were at work on. They sometimes thought that General Scott had given the idea to Hotchkiss. They claim that the idea was original with them, though an Furopean had vented a cast iron breech-loading rifled cannon in 1846.
Mr. Bratten is noted for his integrity and is adverse to going into debt. It has been his aim to give his children what was denied to him in his childhood, a common school education. In his early manhood, he was a giant in strength, being five feet ten and a half inches high, and weighing over two hundred pounds, with a symmetrical build. He hat . no tolerance for dishonesty. He is a man highly respected for his sterling qualities.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 689
William Baker Brown
was born March 21, 1824, in Wayne Township. His father was James Brown, who came from Pennsylvania, as well as his grandfather of the same name. The latter was the second person interred in the Cherry Fork U. P. Cemetery. Our subject had two brothers and one sister. Jacob N. Brown was his brother. His other brother, James Reed Brown, died in Illinois at the age of thirty. His siter, Jane, married Samuel McClanahan, a nephew of the Judge. Our subject's mother's maiden name was Baker. Her father, Frederick Baker, came from Germany.
Mr. Brown obtained his education in the Public schools. As a boy, ho was apprenticed to Samuel Clark to learn the tannery trade, and he worked at it for three years. He completed his apprenticeship and worked four years at the trade, between West Union and Unity, on the Samuel Clark place.
He was married on the twelfth of April, 1848, to Ellen Ralston, the adopted daughter of Thomas Huston. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have had seven children, of which six grew to maturity. Hermas C., the youngest, died in infancy. His children are as follows : James W. Brown, hardware merchant, residing at Washington C. H. ; Henry H., a traveling salesman of the same place ; Louis R., who resides in Starkville, Miss.; Newton Monroe, who resides at Unity ; Margaret, who resides with her father, and Carey H., who resides in Kansas City, Mo. Mrs. Fllen Brown died January 29, 1883.
Mr. Brown went to Unity and started a store in 1850, also operated a grist and saw mill. In 1870, he left the store to his sons, James and Henry. He operated the mill till 1880, when he removed to West Union. His son, Carey H., is interested in a gold mine in New Mexico, but resides in Kansas City, Mo. Mr. Brown was elected Treasurer of Adams County in 1879, defeating Lily Robbins. In 1881, he was elected to the same office, defeating John Cluxton. In 1887, he was elected to the same office, defeating Stewart Alexander. He was renominated in 1889, but withdrew and P. N. Wickerham was elected. Mr. Wickerham, though of opposite politics, had Mr. Brown appointed Deputy Treasurer and he served as such under him from 1890 to 1894. From 1894 to 1897, he served as Deputy Treasurer under John Fristoe. In 1898, he waS employed in the Auditor's office, and in September, 1899, he became Deputy Treasurer under H. B. Gaffin. He was Treasurer of Oliver Township from 1853 to 1876, continuously. He was a member of the United Presbyterian Church at Unity from 185o and was made an elder in 1880. He has always been a Democrat. Mr. Brown is a man of the very highest integrity and enjoys the confidence, esteem and respect of all who know him.
James W. Brown,
son of William Baker Brown, was born October 6, 1849, near Unity. He obtained his education in the District schools and at the North Liberty Academy. He was raised in the store at Unity. He and his brother Henry took the store in 1870, under the firm name of J. W. and H. H. Brown, and continued it until 1881. At that time he went to Georgetown
690 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
and engaged in the hardware business for three years with his brother Henry. They went to Washington C. H., in 1884, the day of the cyclone. They were in partnership there in the hardware business until 1899, when Henry retired from that business.
James W. Brown was married to Mary Dill, whose home was near Bainbridge. They have one daughter, Mabel, twelve years of age. Mr. Brown is a Democrat politically, and a Presbyterian in his religious faith. He is one of the vary best business men of Washington C. H. As a boy, he was honest and straightforward and upright in all his dealings, and the same qualities are intensified in him as a man. There is no man who stands higher in the business community where he is known than he.
Dr. James W. Bunn,
physician and pharmacist, West Union, was born at Sugar Tree Ridge, Ohio, February 11, 1842. His father, John Bunn, who married Miss Jane Thompson, a native of Ireland, came from the State of Pennsylvania to Concord Township, Highland County, Ohio, in 1829, where he purchased 220 acres of land and laid out the town of Sugar Tree Ridge, naming it from its elevated position and the forest growth upon the plat. Our' subject in youth was a diligent student. He attended the country schools, and later the old North Liberty Academy and the High Schools at Georgetown and Winchester, Ohio. He taught school from his seventeenth year until after his majority, when he began the study of medicine with his brother-in-law, Dr. F. J. Miller, of West Union. He attended Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, in 1865-6, and in the latter year located at Rarden, Scioto County, where he practiced his profession until 1868, when he removed to Latham in Pike County, at which place he remained until 1870, when he formed a partnership with his brother, Dr. John Bunt, at Jacksonville, Adams County. In 1872-3, he again attended Starling College, where he graduated with high honors, after which he came to West Union and entered into a partnership with Dr. Miller, where he is now actively engaged in practice.
He enlisted in the 182d 0. V. I. during the Civil War, and served as Hospital Steward of the regiment with much credit. He had full control. of the Medical Dispensary, and looked after the wounded and sick. Hie brothers Joseph and Dr. John were also members of that regiment. His youngest brother, Lewis, died at Bowling Green, Ky., while a member of the Second Ohio Battery.
Dr. Bunn married Miss Annie Hood, a daughter of John P. Hoods of West Union, September 19, 1877. They have two children living: Miss Irene, an intelligent young lady, a graduate of the West Union. High School, and at present a Sophomore at Oxford College, and Eugene H., a lad now a member of the West Union High School. A son died in infancy.
Dr. Bunn is one of the most prominent physicians of Adams County. He served with marked ability as a member of the United States Pension, Board, at West Union, for a period of ten years, being Secretary of the Board. He recently resigned, with the respect and confidence of all with whom he came in contact.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 691
In politics, Dr. Bunn is a staunch Democrat of the Jacksonian type, although he has never sought political honors. He is a prominent member of the Christian Union Church at West Union.
Jacob P. Bissinger,
merchant, Hills Fork, was born in Neiderhofen, Germany, July 4, 1824. Its father, Jacob F. Bissinger, and his ancestors had resided on the same place, and followed farming back in "time when the memory of man runneth not to the contrary." The subject of this sketch attended the public schools from the age of six to fourteen years, completing the regular common school course. A Mr. Hull, the schoolmaster, had been the teacher of his father and mother before him. From fourteen to sixteen years of age, he was free from obligations of the Government ; but upon arriving at the age of sixteen, he, as was the law, took the oath of allegiance. At the age of twenty-one, he luckily drew a number that freed him from entering the army, and he immediately embarked for the United States of America. He was accompanied by Christian Helmley, John Wagner and Christian Stahl, each of whom brought his family and settled in Adams County, Ohio. They were forty-five days on the ocean, a passage that is now made in less than six days. When Mr. Bissinger embarked for America, he had forty-five five-franc pieces in money in a belt in a chest. When he arrived in New York thirty of those had been stolen. His destination was West Union, where his cousin, Conrad Pflaumer, then resided. He came to Philadelphia by water, and to Pittsburgh by rail and the Harrisburg Canal. While boarding the canal boat at Johnstown, Pa., he discovered something in the water between the wharf and the boat, which on investigation proved to be a little girl about ten years of age, apparently drowned. She was a daughter of a member of his party, and was resuscitated and made the voyage to Adams County. At Pittsburg, he took steamboat for Manchester. He was told that there was no such town on the Ohio between there and Cincinnati. That if there was any such town it was below Cincinnati. So he took passage for the latter place. The river was low, it being in the month of July, and near Maysville the boat grounded on a bar. The emigrantS were ordered to carry the coal on the boat to a barge to lighten the craft so it could be floated off the bar. Some refused, and the crew tied ropes about their bodies and threw them into the river. Mr. Bissinger concluded to carry coal in preference to being ducked, when a well dressed young woman remonstrated with the offrcers of the boat and the emigrants were relieved of the duty imposed upon them, and at Cincinnati the officers and crew were put under arrest. Upon arrival at Cincinnati, Mr. Bissinger and his companions, while going up street, heard some persons singing songs with which he was familiar, and on entering the place found Some of his country people who directed him to West Union. He and his fellow emigrants again took a boat for Manchester, and arriving there in the night, they were put off on the bar, and when morning came, they looked about for the town.
This was August 1, 1846. All there was of Manchester was Andrew Ellison's little frame store, and about a dozen log houses. When Mr. Bissinger and his party landed at Manchester they were without a cent
692 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
of money and very hungry. He, Helmley, and Schuster started afoot to see if they could find the way to West Union. They met an old man who they afterwards learned was William Ellison, who, when they spoke the words "West Union," pointed the way which put them on the Island Creek road. About two miles from West Union, on the old Mancheter road, a man gave them a crock of milk and some early apples, the first food': they had tasted since they left Cincinnati, a period of thirty-six hours. Mr. Bissinger's uncle had left word with Marlatt, the tavern keeper at West Union, to be on the lookout for him and his companions, and: be took them to Frederick Pflaummer's, on the farm now owned by Jacob`? Brodt, on the Unity road.
Since then Mr. Bissinger has become one of the prominent citizens of Adams County. He has been engaged in the general merchandising business at Hills Fork for a great many years, where he has accumulated a competency for himself and family. He is the postmaster there, which position he has held for many years.
Jacob Burr
farmer, of West Union, was born February 6, 1856, on the old Burr homestead near Cedar Mills in Jefferson Township. He is a son of. Frederick Burr and Caroline Bieber. Frederick Burr was a native of Alsace-Lorraine, France, and was born in 1816. He emigrated to Pennsylvania when a young man, where he married Caroline Bieber, a native of Germany. In 1850, he came to Adams County and settled on the farm above mentioned, where he reared a family of six sons and one daughter. Jacob, the subject of this sketch, married Jennie M. Piatt, daughter of James Piatt, of near the Stone Chapel, in Tiffin Township. One son, Stanley, was born to them. After her death, he married Mrs. Lizzie McKenzie, widow of Peter McKenzie and daughter of John Crummie and Hannah Collier, his wife, of Cedar Mills. Peter McKenzie was killed in West Union by his horse running away with him. He left four interesting children : Susie, a bright and talented Miss of fifteen years; Henry D., twelve years; Mary F., nine, and Frank P., six. Peter McKenzie was a son of Peter McKenzie, Sr., who married Susan Bayless, and whose father was Duncan McKenzie, a native of Scotland and a pioneer of Adams County Contemporaneous with Massie, Donalson ands Leedom. He married Jane Ellison, a daughter of John Ellison, Sr. He died on the farm selected by him as his future home while the Indians yet laid claim to the country on September 19, 1832, in his seventy-eighth year. His wife died February 10, 1855, in her eighty-third year. Their song Peter McKenzie, was born January 14, 1811, and died May 4, 1881. Susan, his wife, was born January 11, 1815, and died in July, 1895. Peter McKenzie, son of Peter McKenzie, Sr., was born August 16, 1849, and died December 31, 1896.
The subject of this sketch, Jacob Burr, is a prominent farmer and stock raiser. He resided on the old Duncan McKenzie farm. He is a member of the Independent Order of Red Men, of West Union.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Samuel Burwell,
the veteran editor and publisher of the West Union Scion, was born in West Union, November 2o, 1822, the son of Nicholas Burwell and Sarah Fenton, his wife.. His father has a separate sketch, and no notice of his ancestry will be given herein. Samuel Burwell was born with a good constitution, the best capital which can be given a boy for a start in this life. He attended the schools of his district and was just as mischievous and devilish as most boys are, only a little more so. His boyhood was under Leonard Cole and Ralph McClure as teachers. They were firm believers in the doctrine of King Solomon as to the use of the rod, and they practiced their belief with emphasis, and Sam and the other boys of his time got the full benefit of it. Sam was one of the early sufferers from that custom instituted by Leonard Cole, of whipping every boy in school whenever one or more (always more) were detected in any mischief. The writer was one of the later sufferers from that same custom, though under different teachers from those who administered the birch to Sam. Both Sam and the writer attribute the regularity of their lives .to their early discipline in the West Union schools.
Sam Burwell was a boy left much to his own devices. He was very inquisitive and very fond of the society of those older than himself. He very naturally drifted into a printing offrce as early as the age of thirteen, and the year of 1835 found him at work in the Free Press offrce in West Union. When the Free Press suspended, he went to Hillsboro and worked in the News office. and while there attended the Hillsboro Academy, but his real work in learning the trade of a printer was with Robert Jackman in the office of the Intelligencer, from 1844 to 1846.
In 1848, Sam, while working for Judge John M. Smith. committed the very rash act of marriage. His bride was Miss Margaret Mitchell, daughter of Alexander Mitchell, who had died of cholera in 1835. However, much of a risk it was for the young printer to get married, (and the risk was entirely on the wife’s part, for Sam was a Mark Tapley kind of a young man who could have gotten on anywhere,) the marriage turned out happily.
On the seventeenth of February, 1853, the Scion was born. The writer remembers one evening shortly before that date, when he was a boy of ten, Samuel Burwell, a young man of thirty, came to his father's house to consult about starting a newspaper. In the same evening, the enterprise was determined on and it was named. F. P. Fvans suggested the name, the Scion of Temperance. It was thought best to start it as a Temperance paper, and hence its name. The "of Temperance" was dropped after two years, and it became a purely political newspaper. From its first issue, February 17, 1853, until the present time, the history of the paper and that of Sam Burwell have been identical. From that date the history of the Scion is a sketch of Mr. Burwell, and a sketch of Mr. Burwell is the history of the Scion. Not only that, but from 1853, the history of the Scion is an account of Sam Burwell's family. When he first began, he was full of enthusiasm, and he made the Scion a success from the start. Even his wife helped him on the paper in the early years of the enterprise. But he brought his family up on the paper and he brought others up. On the Scion he taught Henry Shupert and made him a printer. He died
694 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
in Cincinnati six years ago and left a handsome estate. Sam Burwell taught Col. John A. Cockerill the, printer's art and the latter became the most distinguished journalist in the United States. Orlando Burwell, Mr. Burwell's eldest son, was brought up a printer in the Scion office. He has been employed on the Times Star, as one of the beSt workmen, for twenty-seven years, and is one of the best printers, in Cincinnati. Clay, his fourth son, has been employed on the New York World for nine years. He learned his trade in the Scion office. His son, Bickham Burwell, was employed in the same New York offrce for four years and might have continued, but became tired of the work and secured an appointment in Washington. His son, Samuel Burwell, who died in 1891, aged thirty-six years, learned the trade in the Scion office and did his father good service for many years before his untimely death. His son, Cassius M., is with him in the business. He too was brought up and reared in the Scion office and has been a partner since 1887. When friend Sam "shuffles off this mortal coil" and takes up his residence in the old South Cemetery, doubtless "Cash," as he is best known, will continue the business. But the boys of the Burwell family are not the only ones who have been brought up in the Scion. Mr. Burwell's daughter, Ella, is the mailing clerk of the office and keeps the books. His daughter, Mararget, is an expert compositor and has worked in the office for fourteen years. Bickman Burwell, his son, is also a compositor in the office and foreman. So that the Scion is strictly a family newspaper edited and published by the Burwell family. The Scion never published less than 720 copies and its circulation is now 1,104. From the time the paper started, until the present time, it has been true blue Republican, and will so continue so long as the Republican party and the Burwell family survive.
The writer proposes to tell the truth about Sam Burwell. This article is not written for the present generation in Adams County. They have not taken much interest in this book, but this article and this book is written for posterity. In fifty or seventy-five years from now, the people living in Adams County will prize this work as a precious relic, and they will want to know all about the man who could publish the same newspaper for forty-six years. Sam Burwell's career will be a wonder in a hundred years from now, and hence it is important that the truth be now told and recorded for the benefit of unborn posterity. So here goes. Sam Burwell is a born exaggerator. Some uncharitable people have accused him of plain lying, but as that charge has been laid to every editor from King Solomon to the present time, we shall not notice it, and the most remarkable thing is that Mr. Burwell is not conscious of the fault. He will know it for the first time when he reads this book. But understand, Sam Burwell never told a lie in his life, either in the Scion or out of it, but he can no more help exaggeration than water can help running down hill. It was born in him, inherited, and could not be eradicated. With him, everything is the very best or the very worst. The village statesmen whom he admires are all V^rebsters and Clays. His enemies are the worst people in the world. The Devil himself, with his cloven feet, his dart tail and spouting brimstone, is a saint compared to them. The writer has fully tested Sam Burwell on this and knows whereof he speaks. Once he rode twelve miles with him and Sam began telling him
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 695
what a wonderful young man his brother, then living, but since deceased, was. The writer undertook to disparage his brother and tell what an ordinary young man he was, but it was of no use. Mr. Burwell had fixed his standards and no argument could avail. The young man, in his estimation, was the brightest and most talented who had ever lived, and no disparagements affected Mr. Burwell in the least. But, after all,, this habit of thought and expression is valuable in a newspaper man. People like condiments in the columns of a newspaper as well as in their food. It may be Mr. Burwell's peculiar traits have made the Scion what it is and kept it up.
Mr. Burwell is not a religious man, nor is tie irreligious. From his father's standpoint, he is not religious, but, in sentiment, he respects religion, and has as much of it as is safe for a newspaper man to have. The writer has always held the view that a newspaper man is not capable of being religious to any extent, and Mr. Burwell is much better than the average of them. Mr. Burwell has always made money but never saved it to any great extent. He has kept the Scion going as a newspaper for forty-six years. He has kept it to a high standard of journalism. He has kept his political faith all the time. He has reared a large family and has done it creditably. He has always paid his debts. There are people who say of him that if he had a million dollars income each year, he would spend a little more, but at the same time, there is no one who would do more good with the money than he. He has lived so long in Adams County that he has become one of its institutions and we do not know of another newspaper in the State which has remained for forty-six years under one management, nor do we know of an editor in the State who has conducted the same newspaper over forty-six years. He' stands as' a remarkable instance of a man who has followed the printer's trade for sixty-three years and yet is hale and hearty ; who has written editorials for forty-six years and yet can tell the truth, and does it once every week.
Mr. Burwell's friends are almost all in the cemetery south of town, but the younger generation respect him for his sterling qualities. He has been industrious and energetic. He has persevered and made his chosen occupation a success. He has kept ahead of the Sheriff at all times and been honest and honorable in all his dealings, and when Gabriel foots up his account in the ledger of life, he will find the good qualities will overbalance all those faults and sins his enemies attribute him, and he will receive his pass which St. Peter will honor at the wicket gate, and all we wish is that it may be a long time before he will have to apply for it.
Col. William E. Bundy.
William Edgar Bundy was born in Jackson County, Ohio, on the site now occupied by the city of Wellston, October 4, i866. His father, William Sanford Bundy, was wounded while in the service of his country, near Bean Station, Tennessee, as a private soldier, and died from the effects of his wound, January 4, 1867. His mother, Kate Thompson Bundy, was killed in an accident two years later, and their young son was raised and educated by his grandfather, Hon H. S. Bundy.
The subject of this sketch was graduated from the Ohio University in 1890 (of which institution he is now a Trustee) as a Bachelor of Arts,
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and has since attained the degree of Master of Arts. For two years he was editor of tile Wellston Argus, and then came to Cincinnati, attended' the Law School, and was graduated therefrom in 1890. During the year" 1890 and 1891 he was Secretary of the Board of Flections of Hamilton; County. He has been four times elected Solicitor of Norwood, and lite a beautiful home in that thriving suburb. He was married May 8, 1890 to Miss Eva E. Leedom, daughter of the late Ex-Congressman, John Leedom, of Adams County, and they have one son, William Sanfor Bundy (named after the child's martyred grandfather).
Mr. Bundy was Commander of the Ohio Division, Sons of Veterans in 189o, and was Commander-in-Chief of that order for the United States in 1894-5. He has always taken an active and practical interest in politics. In 1898, he was President of the Ohio Republican League, and during that year was appointed United States Attorney for the Southern, District of Ohio, for a term of four years. Through his own efforts` and industry he has attained a leading position at the Hamilton County bar.
Ambrose 0. Bowman
was born in Huntington Township, Brown County, Ohio, April 6, 1863, on the farm now occupied by Rev. T. 3. Bowman. George Bowman, great-grandfather of our subject, was a native of Pennsylvania, and came; down the river in the old keel-boating times, settled on the same farm,si which, in turn, has been occupied by Benjamin Bowman, grandfather,' and Patrick Bowman, father of our subject. Benjamin Bowman married Mary McFlwee, a woman of more than ordinary intelligence, and a lifelong advocate of the cause of temperance. His mother's name is Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Rachael (Housh) Senteny, of Virginia stock.
Our subject attended school until he was fifteen years of age, then went to the Lebanon University. In 1880, he began teaching in Lewis and Mason Counties, Kentucky. He attended the Southwestern Normal School at Georgetown, in 1883, and 1884, and taught in Brown County, Ohio, till 1894, when he located at Youngsville, and taught at that place in 1894 and 1895. From 1896 to 1899, he occupied the position of Principal of the Bentonville Schools.
Mr. Bowman is a natural born musician and has been successful as a teacher of vocal music and conductor of orchestra, band and choir.
He was married March 21, 1887, to Laura F. Johnson, daughter of William and Cindora (Shaw) Johnson, and great-granddaughter of Russell Shaw, the founder of Russellville, Brown County, Ohio. They have had four children. Frank died at the age of two years ; William, aged seven years; George, aged four years, and Idella, the baby.
From April, 1899, to October of the same year, he was engaged in canvassing for and writing sketches for this work, the History of Adams County, Ohio. He is highly esteemed as a citizen, and is regarded in music and the common branches, as a teacher of more than ordinary ability, and he has brought the Bentonville schools into a high standing in the period in which he has had charge of them.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 697
was born December 24, 1855, in the same house in which he now resides. His father was James Wilson Baldridge, and his mother, Margaret McVey. For further information as to his ancestry, we refer to the 'sketch herein of his brother, James W. Balbridge.
Our subject spent his boyhood on his father's farm, (now his,) and received a common school education. On November 3, 1881, he was married to Mary Fmma, daughter of James and Elizabeth McCutcheon, of Manchester, Ohio. They have five children : Delos, Delva, Florence, Blanchard, and John, all of great promise. In his political views, Mr, Baldridge is a Republican. He is one of the thoroughly reliable men of Wayne Township. He is observant of everything in the community and is remarkably energetic. He is prompt in all his engagements and honest in all his dealings with others. He has never sought a place in, and would not become a part of, the administration of public affairs, but he exerts a strong and beneficial interest in his community. He is deeply interested in public education and is an earnet advocate and supporter of whatever is for the good of the public. He is a member of the United Presbyterian Church of Cherry Fork, and a ruling elder therein. He performs his duty in that office with the same zeal and earnetness which he gives to all he does. As a farmer, he is a model for all of the name. He makes farming an honor, a pleasure, and a success. He is always ready to give any good cause a helping hand. Be is a man of strong convictions and of the strictest fidelity in every relation of life. He is respected as a man, esteemed as-a citizen, admired as a farmer, and relied upon as a true Christian. No one in his community stands any higher than he, and no one is more deserving of such estimation.
James W. Baldridge
was born October 14, 1833, at the old Baldridge homestead. He is a son of James W. and Margaret (McVey) Baldridge. His father was born in 1807, and died in 1807. His mother was born in 1811 and died about 1881. She was a daughter of Col. William McVey. His grandfather was a native of Pennsylvania, but came to Adams County in 1807, and settled first at Killenstown, where our subject was born. They lived at Killenstown for about fifteen years and then removed to Cherry Fork. His maternal grandfather (McVey) came from Virginia. The mother of our subject was born in Virginia. Col. McVey settled on the land on which North Liberty is built.
Our subject received a common school education, and such instruction as he could obtain from the North Liberty Academy. He was brought up a farmer. He enlisted in Company G, 129th 0. V. I., in July, 1863, and served until the following March. He was married to Mary Stewart, October 12, 1861. The children of this marriage are as follows : R. S Baldidge, of Butte City, Montana ; Finsher Wilson, in the Klondike gold region ; Anna Jane, wife of Wylie McKee, of Milroy, Ohio ; John Isaac, of Milroy, Ohio; Eva Leore ; James Roscoe, who lives at Butte City, Montana, and Margaret. Mr. Baldridge was married to Miss Margaret Jane Crawford, daughter of Robert Crawford, December 28, 1887.
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He has always been a Republican, and was elected Lind Appraiser of Wayne Township in 1890. He is a member of the U. P. Church at Cherry Fork. He owns a farm on the Youngsville turnpike, but lives in the village of North Liberty.
He is an active, energetic, industrious citizen, fully alive to all the questions of the day. Socially, he is a pleasant and agreeable companion and is the soul and life of any circle in which he is present. Men like he make life tolerable and agreeable.
Thomas L. Bratten
was born in Locust Grove, Ohio, December 17, 1874, the son of Charles H. Bratten and Caroline Leedom, his wife. He has an intermingli of Scotch, Irish, English and Swedish blood in his veins. He is one seven children. As a boy, he was honest and good-natured, but would always fight if necessary. He was content to have but one friend among the boys, and would attach himself greatly to that one. He was very fond, when a boy, of working about his father's shop, on any kind of machinery where he was permitted to do so. He was always very fond of the woods and fields, and nothing pleased him more than the privilege of strolling through them. Ezekiel Arnold gave him the name of "The World's Wanderer," for this trait.
He attended the village schools of Locust Grove until he was eighteen years of age. He then began teaching. His first school was at Palestine, Franklin Township, Adams County. The next year he was engaged as Principal of the Rarden schools in Scioto County. He has been engaged in Scioto County for six years with good success..
At school, he always ranked first in his classes. He has attended the Ohio Normal University at Ada, Ohio, and expects to graduate there soon. What education he has, has been obtained through his own efforts.
Mr. Bratten is a young man of the highest character. When he believes in a thing, he believes in it with all the force and power that is in him, and when he has formed a purpose, he carries it out. He inherited a disposition for information and Study and is very fond of reading the best literature. He is a very successful teacher, as is shown by the 'fact that he has been employed in the same school year after year.
William P. Breckinridge,
of Scott Township, Adams County, Ohio, was born October 7, 1831. He is the son of William and Martha McKinley (McCreight) Breckinridge. His grandfather, Judge Breckinridge, came from Paris, Kentucky, to Fincastle, in Brown County, in 1804. Judge Breckinridge married a Miss Wright, of Bourbon County, Kentucky. They had thirteen children, six daughters and seven sons. William, the third son, is the father of our subject. Judge Breckinridge bought a thousand acres of land near Fincastle, which he afterward sold and removed to Pontiac, Illinois, some time in the forties. In 1834, William Breckinridge, the father of the subject of our sketch, with four other families, moved from Brown County to Livingston County, Illinois, but not being satisfied, he returned after a few days' stay in Illinois, to Clinton County, Indiana, where he died on the fifteenth of August, 1846.
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Judge Robert Breckinridge was born September 27, 1774, in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His wife (Mary Wright), was born September 17, 1774, in the same county. They removed to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where eight of their children were born. He moved to Eagle Township in 1808, and while there served one term as Associate Judge. In distributing his land, he gave each of his sons one hundred acres, and teach of his daughters fifty acres, and sold the remainder of his land to Isaac Earles, when he emigrated to Illinois, in the Spring of 1836. He ,served as Associate judge of Brown County from 1825 to 1836. He died September 23, 1838. He was Captain of a company in the War of 1812. The mother of our subject was a daughter of David McCreight. He, with three other brothers, emigrated from South Carolina and settled in Scott Township, near Tranquility.
William P. Breckinridge, our subject, married Eliza N. Campbell, daughter of Major Robert Campbell, one of the pioneers of Buck Run. He, with five brothers, emigrated from Buck Run, Rockbridge County, Virginia, and all settled in Scott Township. Their descendants are scattered through the West. Our subject came to Ohio in the Fall of 1848 to Brown County, and went to school to John Eadinfield, who is still living. He came to Scott Township, Adams County, March 1, 1849, and he was married on the twenty-fifth of December, 1872. They have seven sons and two daughters. His father and grandfather were Democrats in their political associations, but all the family were members of the Associate Reform Church at Cherry Fork. Our subject is a Republican and a member of the United Presbyterian Church at Tranquility.
He enlisted in Company G, 172nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on the second of May, 1864, and served until the third of September, 1864. Samuel Laird was the Captain of the company and William A. Blair was Second Lieutenant.
A friend that has known him for thirty years says that he is beyond reproach as a man, a citizen, a neighbor and Christian gentleman. He has been an elder of the United Presbyterian Church at Tranquility for forty years.
Larkin N. Covert,
of Wamsley, was born in Brown County, Ohio, January 19, 1832. His father was Tillman Covert and his mother, Mary A. Riley. October 15, 1854, he married Martha A. Dalton, daughter of George W. Dalton, of Brown County, by whom he has had the following children: Nancy A., Arthur N., Mary P., Sarah M., Martha F., and Samuel L. In 1861, he enlisted as a Private in Company G, loth Regiment, 0. V. I., and participated in the many battles in which that regiment was engaged, from Shiloh till his honorable discharge at Fort McAliter, December 31, 1864.
Mr. Covert is a farmer, and affiliates with the Republican party. He is not a member of any church.
William Q. Campbell,
of Peebles, was born at Locust Grove, in Adams County, August 10, 1873. His father was James Q. Campbell and his mother's maiden name was Catherine J. Manahan. She was married May 28, 1849, to Charles Wilford Young. He died May 7, 1856, and she married James Q. Camp-
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bell, November 17, 1860. As the name implies, Mr. Campbell is descended from Scottish Highlanders. His father's parents were born in Maryland and removed, when young, to Butler County, Pennsylvania, where they resided until his father's death. His grandparents located in Maryland about 1765. James Q. Campbell was a member of the State Militia of Pennsylvania for five years. He was a member of the Militia of Ohio for five years, and served as a Private in Company K, 141st 0. V. I., in 1864. Our subject's mother was born in Adams County in 1830 and reared there. She is of the Tener and Porter families who settled in Maryland. in 1700, emigrating from Holland and Wales. These two, families located in Ohio in 1802, part settling in Adams County and a part in Ross County.
Our subject was educated in the Public schools of his home and began teaching in 1890 at Jaybird. He taught thereafter in the Winters and attended Normal Schools in the Summers of 1890, 1891 and 1892. From 1892 to 1894, he attended school and completed his studies in Cleveland, in 1894. From that time till 1898, he followed the profession of school teacher.
In 1898, he quit the profession of teaching and took up that of traveling salesman for art works and has made his business a great success. In politics, he is, and has always been, a Republican. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. At present he is pushing a patent, No. 633,503, known as the C. & M. self-adjusting gig saddle for all kinds of harness. In this enterprise, he is associated with William Mickey, of Peebles, and they are making arrangements for the manufacture of their patented device. Their invention seems to have great merit and it is to he hoped they will make their fortunes by it.
Our subject is an ambitious young man. He early qualified himself as a teacher and showed himself very efficient and competent in that profession. Everywhere he taught, he won the good-will and friendship of his pupils and their parents. His success prompted further efforts and he attended a number of Normal schools and took up the Study of higher branches. He also took a business course. He has successfully carried on an extensive work for a publishing house. He is of a genial and social nature and is fond of music. He has good conversational qualities. He is free from the use of spirits, liquors and narcotics. He is very energetic and industrious, and is disposed to lead in everything he undertakes.
Mr. Campbell has all those qualities which promise for him great success in life.
John Patton Caskey
was born January 1, 1849. His father was Alexander Caskey and his mother was Larissa Patton, born in Wayne Township. He attended the District school and the North Liberty Academy, and labored on his father's farm until he was twenty-seven years of age, when he became a trader. On November 9, 1872, he was married to Tina Patton. daughter of George Patton, of Harshaville, and in 1873, he located at Harshaville, and remained there until 1889, farming and merchandising. In December. 1889. he went to Portsmouth, where he is the junior partner in the firm of Harsha & Caskey. They built a mill in 1889, in Portsmouth, and have been engaged in milling ever since. He had one son by his first wife, George,
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born January 1, 1874. He is now a student at the Ohio State University, taking a mechanical and engineering course. His first wife died on the seventh of September, 1876, and in November, 1889, he was married to Miss Alma Fulton, of Bratton Township, Adams County.
Mr. Caskey has never sought or held public office. He has always been a Republican and thinks he always will be, in any event, so long as that party holds to its present tenets. He is regarded as one of the best business men in the city of Portsmouth.
Dr. John Campbell
is, on his father's side, of Scotch-Irish descent. His grandfather, William Campbell, came to this country shortly after the Revolutionary War, and settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania, a section of the country largely populated by Presbyterians from the North of Ireland and Scotland. They have been commonly known as "Scotch-Irsh," presumably from the fact that their ancestry, and it may also be added, their Presbyterianism, both were derived from Scotland. William Campbell was a member of Chartier's Presbyterian Church, the pastor of which was Dr. John McMillan, a very celebrated divine of those days and the founder of Jefferson College. The father of Dr. John Campbell, named John Campbell, lived on the old farm until 1846, when he moved with his family to Adams County, Ohio, near Youngsville, where one son, Richard Campbell, and two daughters now reside. Dr. John Campbell was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, February 9, 1828, entered Jefferson College in 1843 and graduated in 1847, receiving the degree of A. B.., and. later the degree of M. A. He then came to Adams County, taught school and tudied medicine with Dr. Coleman in West Union in 1851 and 1852. He practiced medicine at Tranquility until the commencement of the Civil War. In 1861, he united with Captain John T. Wilson in recruiting Company F, of the loth Regiment and was commissioned as First Lieutenant of the company, becoming, in process of time, Captain of Company I, of the same regiment, serving from October 1, 1861, to November 4, 1864. He afterwards practiced medicine at West Union until 1870, when he removed to Delhi, Ohio, where he continued in the practice of his profession until 1885. He was then appointed Medical Referee in the Bureau of Pensions, and removed to Washington, D. C. On the change of administration in 1889, he resigned and obtained an appointment as Inspector of the Equitable Life Insurance Company of New York. This he continues to hold and has charge of the district composed of 'the States of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, with headquarters at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he now lives. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Campbell was James Perry, of Shenandoah County, Virginia, who was born in that state and whose family had been settled there in Colonial times. The history of the family on this side of the house is very incomplete, but we know that some members of his maternal grandmother's family (Feeley) served in the Revolutionary War, and one of them, Captain Timothy Feeley, received from the Government a large grant of land in what afterwards became Highland County, Ohio, for his services.
702 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
Dr. Campbell was first married to Hattie Whitacre, daughter of Amos Whitacre, of Loudon County, Virginia, who at her death left a son, Amos Campbell, now a respected citizen living near Youngsville. On October 13, 1869, he was married to Esther A. Cockerill, daughter of General J. R. Cockerill. They have had one son and two daughters. One of the daughters, Mabel, died in infancy. The other, Helen M. Campbell, is their only child. The son, Joseph Randolph Campbell, an Ensign in the United States Navy, died of typhoid fever during the recent War with Spain. A separate sketch of him will be found herein.
Dr. John Campbell might have gone into the Civil War as a surgeon, but this he declined to do, and went in as a line officer in the famous company raised by the Hon. John T. Wilson. The record of the 70th 0. V. I. will show what valiant service he performed for his country. Dr. Campbell has always been noted for his modest and unassuming manners and his diffident disposition, but he never failed in any duty before him and has always filled the important public positions held by him with, the highest credit to himself and with great satisfaction to all concerned. He is a man of the highest integrity and commands the confidence and enjoys the highest respect of all who know him.
Thomas W. Connolley,
of Manchester, Ohio, was born near Bradyville, Ohio, September 21, 1839. His parents were Perry T. and Nancy (Burbage) Connolley. His mother was a daughter of Eleven and Sarah Burbage. Perry T. Connolley, his father, was born near Hagerstown, Maryland, February 7, 181o. His mother was born near Bradyville, Ohio, August 26, 1822. His grandfather Burbage came from Maryland and Settled near Bradyville. (See sketch of Burbage family in this book.)
Our subject was educated in the Public Schools of Manchester under William L. McCalla, the celebrated school teacher. His first school days were spent at the old Cropper schoolhouse in Sprigg Township and at the Horton Chapel in Bradyville. He entered the army on the fourteenth of October, 1861, at Camp Hamer, in West Union, and served as a member of Company F, 70th 0. V. I., until discharged August 14, 1865.' He was present and took part in the following battles : Shiloh, Russell House, Corinth, Billy Springs, Memphis, Vicksburg, Jackson, Miss., Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope, Big Shanty, Kenesaw, July 22, 1864, near Atlanta; July 28, 1864, near Atlanta ; Jonesboro, Statesboro, Lovejoy Station, Averysboro, Trenton, Atlanta, Bentonville, Columbia and Fort McAlister. He was in Sherman's March to the Sea and in 'the march to Washington, D. C. At the battle of Mississippi, he saved two wounded soldiers of the 90th Illinois from death by exposure to the chilly atmosphere. For twenty-five years past, he has held the offices of Marshal, Deputy Marshal and Constable of Manchester. In April, 1897, he was elected Justice of the Peace of Manchester Township, which office he still holds. He has been a Notary Public for sixteen years. In politics, he is a Republican and cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Se was a member of the County Republican Executive Committee for six years, and was a delegate to the Republican State Convention three times.
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His religious views are expressed in the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a member at Manchester, and he has been connected with the Sunday School of that church for fifty years. He has been an active and earnest member of the Grand Army of the Republic since 1867, and has held the following official positions in said organization : Adjutant of the Post, Chaplain, Sergeant, Major Post Commander, Post Commander Inspector, Installing Officer, Delegate, Commander of Battalion. He was a member of the Department .Staff for five years and a member of the National Staff for three years. He was a member of the National ComMittee in 1892.. He was Chairman of the Battle of Shiloh Association at Indianapolis one year.
On June 4, 1872, he was married to Miss Margaret J. Ramsey, by Rev. J. R. Gibson. They have one daughter, Cora F. Connolley.
Our subject enjoys the enviable distinction of having saved four people from drowning. He is life Secretary of the loth 0. V. I. Regimental Association, and is always found in the front rank in any G. A. R. Reunion, and in all patriotic work.
John Donalson Compton
was born in Manchester, Ohio, in 1844. The same year his father removed to the vicinity of Winchester, where he spent his boyhood until 1857, when his father removed to near Hillsboro, Ohio, and in 186o, he removed to Harveysburg, Warren County, Ohio. While residing there with his father, he enlisted in Company F, 12th 0. V. I., January 28, 1861, for three years, and was transferred to Company H, 23d 0. V. I., July 1, 1864. The 12th 0. V. I. was in eleven battles and engagements from July 21, 1861, to June 17, 1864, as follows : Scarey Creek, Gauley Bridge, Carnifix Ferry, West Virginia ; Bull Run Bridge, Virginia; Frederick, South Mountain and Antietam, Maryland ; Cloyd Mountain and Lynchburg, Virginia, and Fayetteville, West Virginia. His captain was Harrison Gray Otis, who is a Bragadier General in the Army in the Philippines. It will be remembered that the famous 23d 0. V. I. waS President McKinleys regiment. The President was First Lieutenant of Companies F, A, and K in that regiment and Second Lieutenant of Company D.
After his return from the war, our subject attended School at Harveysburg the following winter, and from 1866 to 1869, he was engaged in business with his father at Rome. In the latter year he went to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he was employed in the dry goods house of Rumsey, Roads & Reed, and later with H. Wait & Son, in the furniture business.
In 1874, he was married to Miss Mattie W. Mathews, of Cincinnati. They had two children: William M., who died in 1898, and a daughter now in the High School.
In 1872 sand 1873, he was employed as traveling salesman for the Sheboygan Chair Company; in 1878, he removed to Cincinnati and was employed as bookkeeper, first, with Butterworth & Company, and for twelve years with F. I. Billings & Company, furniture dealers.
He has lived at Dayton, Kentucky, since 1883, and served on the Board of Education and on the Board of Health of that city. He is now Deputy United States Marshal. at Covington, Kentucky.
704 - HISTORY Or ADAMS COUNTY
Adolph Caden was born in the Province of Saxe-Weimar, Germany, April 22, 1844. His father, Carl W. Caden, was a descendant of the family of Von Caden, and the last of that name, which is correctly spelled "Kaden." His father was extensively interested in the iron industry, operating a" large mill or "Hanimer-werk," but he disposed of a portion of his property and came to the United States in 1849, bringing with him six children. He settled first in Virginia, and afterwards came to Kentucky, where he farmed near the headwaters of Kinnikinnick. From there he moved to Buena Vista, Scioto County, Ohio, where he purchased an interest in the stone quarries lying in Adams and Scioto Counties. The subject of this sketch was sixteen years of age when his father moved to Buena Vista. He entered the business college in Cincinnati and assisted in the office of the stone quarry and in the stone mill until 1862, when he enlisted in the United States Navy and was assigned to duty on the gunboat, "Clara Dalton," which then lay at the mouth of the Ohio. During this service, he became disabled permanently.
In 1871, he was married to Miss Josephine Sturm, daughter of Julius Sturm, a prominent professor of music of Philadelphia, and later of Cincinnati. The stone company in which he was interested was quarrying stone in both Adams and Scioto Counties. When the present Buena Vista Freestone Company was organized, he became a stockholder in it and they leased the land of Wm. Flagg, which extended north of Buena Vita in Adams and Scioto Counties, but the principal part of which is in Adams. The quarrying of stone, selecting of sites for quarrying and operation of the same, were under the immediate superintendence of Adolph Caden, who possessed a thorough knowledge of such work.
He was much interested in geology and was a true lover of nature. During this time, he lived at Rockville in Adams County. Afterwards he removed to Buena Vista and later to Portsmouth, where he connected himself with the Otway and Carey's Run quarries. He died at Portsmouth, Ohio, on the seventh day of January, 1897, after a severe attack of pneumonia. He had been able to obtain but few educational advantages, but was a general reader and kept in touch with the events of his times. He was a great believer in education and an educational qualification for the right of the ballot: He was a member of the Republican party, but always studied every view of political questions. As an employer, he had the personal interest of his men at heart and did what he could for their comfort and happiness.
Mr. Caden, if noted for any one trait of character more than another, was noted for his human sympathy. He felt for all those about him who had, any claim to his sympathy and he expressed it in a practical way which won the hearts of those who received such expressions. His soul was full of charity for all men, and he was always willing to take his acquaintances at their own estimate of themselves. In judging of his fellows, he always aimed to leave out all selfish views. When he saw a course, which, in his careful judgment, he deemed right, no adverse criticism prevented his following it. While a German by birth, he was an ardent and loyal American in his feelings. He was a valuable and
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 705
useful citizen, and though his life was apparently uneventful, yet in its own course he managed to perform a great number of good deeds.
He was a Master Mason and a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Portsmouth, Ohio. His wife survives him and an only child and daughter, the wife of John H. Jenkins, of Portsmouth, Ohio.
Captain George Collings
was born in Highland County, Ohio, September 28, 1839. He attended school at West Union from his sixth year until the opening of the Civil War. He enlisted in Company D, 24th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, June 13, 1861, and was made Second Sergeant at the organization of the company. He was made. Second Lieutenant on October 7, 1862, and First Lieutenant on April 21, 1864, and was transferred to Company D, 18th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, April 27, 1864. He was made Captain, December 21, x864. He was placed on detached duty as Acting Commissary of Musters, May 13, 1865, and stationed at Chattanooga until October 9, 1865, when he was mutered out. He participated in the following battles : Cheat Mountain, West Virginia ; Greenbrier, Wet Virginia ; Shiloh, Tennessee; Corinth, Miss.; Perryville, Kentucky ; Stone River, Tennessee; Woodbury, Tennessee ; Tullahoma Campaign ; Chickamauga, Georgia ; Lookout Mountain, Tenn. ; Mission Ridge, Tennessee ; Ringgold, Georgia ; Buzzard Roost, Georgia ; Nashville, Tenn. ; and Decatur, Alabama. At the battle of Murfreesboro, he was shot by a musket ball which plowed a groove across the top of his head from front to rear. He fell and was left on the field for dead. His own command was driven back and a burying party found him and was about to bury him. One of the party claimed he was not dead and he was given the benefit of the doubt and sent to the hospital He did not become conscious for three weeks, and in the meantime, his companions reported him dead and buried. A. C. Smith wrote his obituary and it was published in the West Union Scion. Captain Collings had the pleasure of reading it after he recovered sufficiently, and he is the only man who ever lived in Adams County who has read his own obituary.
After the war, he returned to Adams County and studied law under the tuition of F. P. Evans. He was admitted to the practice in the Fall of 1866. In the same Fall, he was elected Probate Judge of Adams County to fill an unexpired term to February, 1867, and also the Fall Term from February, 1867, to February, 1870.
On February 25, 1867, he was married to Miss Harriet A. Bradford (as Probate Judge, issuing the license himself). He remained at Wet Union in the practice of the law until October, 1871, when he removed to Marengo, Iowa. When he reached there, he found the county in the threes of a county seat contest, and as he had jut passed through one in Adams County, he fled and located at Indianola, Iowa, where he spent the remainder of his life. At Indianola, he held the office of Justice of the Peace and County Attorney. The hardships of his military life brought on pulmonary consumption of which he died on July 24, I882., He died while holding the position of County Attorney. He was of a quiet and retiring disposition. While he showed himself fully competent for all the
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offices he ever held, yet he was not a man to push himself forward. He had a great deal of dry humor and was a very pleasant and agreeable companion.
Politically, he was always a Republican. His death was due as much to his army service as if he had died in battle. He had one son who died an infant. Ralph, his second son, resides with his mother in Indianola, Iowa.
George Davis Cole,
a native of Adams County, born August 18, 1834, made a career of which every citizen of the county may be proud. He was born at West Union while his father, James Mitchell Cole, was the Sheriff of the county. His father, who has a sketch elsewhere herein, was a man of strong and sterling character and of wonderful physique. His mother was Nancy Collings, sister of Judge George Collings, a woman of like great force of character. The first fifteen years of his life were spent on the Ohio River farm in Monroe Township, where he attended the District school. He then went to school at Manchester, Ohio, to William McCauley, a famous instructor of his time. After he left McCauley's school, he assiSted his brother, Collings Cole, in the management of a furnace in Kentucky until the age of twenty, when he began the study of law in Portsmouth under the instruction of his kinsman, Col. James W. Davis, then a member of the Portsmouth bat. He was admitted to the bar in 1856 and located in Piketon, then the county seat of Pike County. He remained there until after the removal of the county seat, when he removed to Waverly. The next year after locating in Pike County, he was elected to the office of Prosecuting Attorney, which office he held by successive elections for twelve consecutive years. In the administration of his public duties, he commanded the respect and confidence of all the people of the community.
He soon rose to be the leader of the bar, and his reputation as an able lawyer was well known in the surrounding counties. He had a natural talent for management. His judgment was correct in all matters in which it was exercised. His neighbors, acquaintances and friends sought his advice in business matters, and never in a single instance, did it fail. He never made a losing venture, and never advised any which proved disastrous. The same remarkable judgment which he exercised in the affairs of others, he exercised in his own, and never made a mistake in the management of his own business. Going to the county with only his wonderful natural abilities, he accumulated a fortune and never encountered a disaster.
In 1858, he was married to Miss Finetta Jane Jones, eldest daughter of James Jones, a prominent citizen of the county. Their only child, Adah D., is the wife of Wells S. Jones, Jr., conducting the Hayes, Jones & Company Bank in. Waverly. While Mr. Cole loved the association of his fellow citizens,. he had no taste for politics. Up to 1872, he was a Democrat. In 1873, he identified himself with the Republican party and the same year was a candidate for the nomination of Common Pleas Judge. From this date, he acted independently in politics, but on financial questions, the Republican party represented his views. In 1873, he became a member of the banking firm of Hayes, Jones & Co., and here his peculiar
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talents found exercise. He had a natural adaptation for the banking business, and he was a tower of strength in the institution. Every one felt and knew that he would make no mistake in the management of the bank and permit none to be made. His bank enjoyed the confidence of the community, and was estimated as strong and safer than the National banks. Gradually the banking business absorbed all his time and attention, and he gave up the practice of the law little by little until in 1885 he abandoned it altogether. He was a natural born financier. He never made a promise but it was fulfilled with exactitude, and his integrity was of the very highest order.
While he was always prompt to decide on any situation presented to him, his judgment always st00d the test of trial and proved the best course. At the time of his death, he had the confidence of the people of his county in financial matters to a greater degree than any other man who ever lived in it. Without exception, they would and did trust him (without limitation).
He was a man of fine and commanding presence, six feet tall and well proportioned. He was positive, emphatic and earnest in all his views, but at the same time an agreeable and pleasant companion. He became so absorbed in business and there were so many demands on his time, that, while naturally a robust man, he neglected those details of recreation and exercise necessary to good health and was stricken with paralysis and died February 9, 1899. It is believed by his friends that had he taken relaxation, recreation and exercise, he might have prolonged his life twenty years, but the cares of business were so exacting and his constitution naturally so good, that he neglected those details which would have saved him manly years. He died in the height of his powers, physical and mental, and in the midst of a busy career, but he left his banking business one of the best and strongest in the country.
His wife was in feeble health at the time of his death and survived him but little over two months.
Of the many sons of Adams County who have located elsewhere and had successful careers, none was more marked than that of our subject, and to his ancestors and to his instruction in his early years, he owed it
Mrs. Hannah Amanda Coryell
Hannah A. Briggs was born December 26, 1839, in Adams County. She was the youngest daughter of George Briggs and Rachael Blake, his wife. Her father was a farmer residing two miles east of West Union. As a girl, she was bright and