THE HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY, OHIO
1883 - By Leggett, Conaway & Co.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
V
(1907 - MARION COUNTY, OHIO - HISTORY - LETTER V)
MRS. LUCY (BENNETT) VANARSDALL, (Montgomery Township) Thomas Vanarsdall's widow, was born in Monroe County, N. Y., July 17, 1815, the daughter of Zadoc and Mary (Parish) Bennett. While on their way to Ohio in 1815, the father was overtaken by disease, died, and was buried near Olean Point; thereupon the mother returned, riding all the way on horseback. She died in Livingston County, N. Y., in 1860. Mrs. Vanarsdall was married to Thomas Vanarsdall October 15, 1837. He was the son of Garrett and Mary (Woodsbock) Vanarsdall, natives of Holland, but died residents of New York. Mr. and Mrs. V. came to Ohio in 1839, settling in Grand Township, and rearing a family of five children, all living--Julia E., Josephine, Jane, Charles and John. Mr. V. was an estimable Citizen, was Trustee of the township several years, and a liberal and active supporter of the Presbyterian Church. He was born January 11, 1807, and died May 15, 1876. His widow is highly regarded by, the community in which she resides, and is a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church.
H. T. VAN FLEET, (Marion Township) attorney, was born in Big Island Township, Marion Co., Ohio, March 9, 1837.He is a son of Miles W. and Evelyn Caroline (Knapp) Van Fleet, the former a native of Ontario County, and the latter of Warsaw, N. Y. Joshua Van Fleet, grandfather of H. T. Van Fleet; emigrated from Holland to America with his brother, John Van Fleet, when twelve years of age. He served during the last three years of the Revolutionary war, enlisting when fourteen years of age. He was subsequently a member of the Now York Legislature, and was a member of the Committee that drafted and reported the bill which was made a law abolishing slavery in the State of Now York. He also served on the bench of the County Court for a term of years. He came to Marion County in 1832, and bought 320 acres of land in Big Island Township, where he settled. He died January 8, 1848, at the age of eighty-four years. Miles W. Van Fleet and Evelyn Caroline Knapp were married in 1830, and the same year came and settled in Big Island Township. Mr. Van Fleet entered 100 acres of land in Dudley Township, Hardin County, where he now resides. H. T. Van Fleet, the subject of this sketch, was brought up on the home farm in Hardin County and educated in the schools of Marion and Bellefontaine. He taught two years, 1856-57, and in 1858 came to Marion and took a course in J. A. Field's Commercial College, and graduated. He read law with Judge John Bartram, and June 14, 1860, was admitted to the bar of Ohio. He entered upon his profession, and practiced till July 2, 1862, when he entered the ranks of the Union army as Second Lieutenant of Company E, Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, having recruited that company. He served till January 10, 1863, when, on account of ill-health, he resigned. On his return home, he resumed the practice of law, which he has since followed. He filled the office of Prosecuting Attorney from 1867. to 1869, and was City Solicitor of Marion for three years. He is now serving his second term as President of the School Board of Marion Union Schools, and has held various other local offices. Mr. Van Fleet has an extensive and successful practice in all the courts of the State, and also in the United States Courts. For a number of years he had a large criminal practice, but of late years has devoted his attention to civil ewes. He has taken an active and prominent part in all political campaigns for twenty years, and has been one of the leading stump speakers of the Democratic party in the county. He has represented his party as a Delegate in nearly every State Convention since the war. In 1868, he was a-Delegate to the Democratic. National Convention at Now York City; and it was by his motion in the caucus of the Ohio delegates that the delegation voted solidly for Horatio Seymour, securing his nomination. Soon after his return from the war in 1863, Mr. Van Fleet was nominated by his party for State Senator. He made a vigorous campaign, and although defeated by the Republican candidate, William H. West, he ran far ahead of his ticket. In addition to his legal practice, he has dealt in real estate, and now owns 540 acres of land, located in Marion and Hardin Counties, and is also engaged in stock-raising. September 29, 1861, Mr. Van Fleet was married to Miss Eleanor S. Shields, daughter of M. P. Shields, of Marion, and has one son-George H. The portrait of Mr. Van Fleet is given in this work.
CHARLES VAN HOUTEN (Pleasant Township) (1907) is an intelligent and respected citizen, born August 5, 1830, in New Jersey, son of David and Margaret (Lighthype) Van Houten. His father died when he was but thirteen years old. His people came originally from Holland, and he holds in his possession a Bible, published in 1674, which his grandfather brought from Holland and carried through the war for independence. Our subject came with his mother from New York State to Delaware County, Ohio, when quite young. At twenty-one, he visited California, remaining five years. In 1860, he bought a farm of 120 acres near Centerville, Ohio, upon which he lived about one year. In 1862, he moved upon his present farm, then eighty acres, belonging to his wife. He has purchased two lots near, of 102 acres, so that their farm numbers 182 acres of good land, valued at $80 per acre. He has an attractive home. Mr. Van Houten's married life has been subject to considerable transition. He first married Susan M. Roberts, December 4, 1850, who died within a year, leaving a son-Highalmer R. He married his next wife, Miss Harriet Jones. January 6, 1857, who died four years later, leaving no children. His last marriage was solemnized August 25, 1862, to Mrs. Mary Boyd, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Simpson, with no issue. Our subject enlisted in 1862, in Company B, One Hundred and Twenty-first Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, entering as a private, serving nearly three years, and was discharged as Captain. He was engaged in sixteen battles besides many skirmishes, and went with Sherman "to the sea." He was honorably discharged, having contracted disease, from which he never recovered. Mr. V. has served his township as Clerk two years and as Justice of the Peace for the last fifteen years. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church at Prospect. Mr. Van Houten has kept a record of the weather three times a day, continuously, for the last fourteen years, noting the change of the mercury in the thermometer and barometer, with remarks of storms, clear days, wind, etc.
JOHN A. VANORSDALL, (Montgomery Township) custom boot and shoe maker, is a native of Cayuga County, N. Y., and was born March 20, 1833, a son of Andrew and Caty (Vanorsdall) Vanorsdall. John A. came out with his parents to Ohio in 1846, at which time they located in Mifflin Township, Wyandot County; John A. remained on the farm until the age of twenty, when he learned the shoe-maker's trade, and has followed that business to the present time. He was married December 29, 1870, to Florinda C. Bailey; they have two children-Nellie and Findley. Mr. V. enlisted at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, in October 1861, in Company D, Eighty-first Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, to serve in the Union army during the civil war; served with the regiment in Missouri until March 1862. He took part, in the battle of Pittsburg Landing, the two battles of Corinth, and from Chattanooga to Atlanta in the Georgia campaign. His regiment was in the front, and he was present at the action at Snake Crook Gap, battle of Resaca, Romp Cross Roads, Big Shanty, Ackworth, Kenesaw Mountain, Decatur and in two battles in front of Atlanta, and in all the skirmishes of the regiment on that campaign. He was never wounded, although at one time the hair was cut close to his head by the passage of a bullet. He was honorably discharged, and mustered out of the service at Columbus, Ohio, in October 1864.
GEORGE W. VIRDEN (Montgomery Township) was born April 24, 1825, in Sussex County, Del., the son of Alanson and Elizabeth Virden, of French ancestry and natives of the same county. Having acquired a fair education, he continued with his parents until his thirty-fifth year. He came with them to this county, arriving October 3, 1833. He is a bachelor. He has always been a farmer; he now owns 260 acres of good land. For the past twenty-three years he has been keeping "bachelor's hall" living entirely alone, but winning the respect of the people at large. He supports the Democratic party, and has held offices in the township.
HENRY H. VIRDEN (Montgomery Township) is the second son of Alanon and Elizabeth (Wilson) Virden, born in Sussex County, Del., May 31, 1822. Ho came with his parents to Montgomery Township, in 1832. He embarked upon life independently, when eighteen years of age; worked for his uncle three years. June 17, 1849 he married Mary Edgar, daughter of John and Permelia (Johnson) Edgar, of Scotch and English ancestry respectively. This marriage has been blessed with four children-John A.. , born December 29, 1850; Diantha J., June 19, 1853; Martha A., August 24, 1857, and Norton S., February 24, 1859. Their mother was born November 14, 1829. Mr. Virden has been a farmer daring his entire life, and has accumulated a fine property, having a farm of 195 acres, valued at $80 per acre. He is a respected citizen, has been Trustee of the township several years, and believes in the principles of the Democratic party.
HENRY M. VIRDEN (Montgomery Township) (1907) is a native of Montgomery Township, born September 7, 1832, the son of William J. and Sarah A. (Vorhies) Virden, of English extraction respectively. Having received a fair education, he taught four terms, the 'Last one in Harrison County, Mo., in a log house with a sod chimney and clapboard roof. Returning from Missouri, in 1857, he became a laborer upon his father's and neighboring farms, until he married, October 31, 1861, to Josephine Vanarsdall, born 1840, a daughter of Thomas and Lucy (Bennett) Vanarsdall. Children-John E., born October 15, 1862; Charles H. (1907), December 19, 1865, and Maurice A. (1907), September 2, 1867. Mr. Virden is the oldest born resident in his township; he has been a faithful laborer, and as one product of his labor, has 320 acres of good land. He received from his wife and his father $5,000, but has made the remainder of his property; he is now worth $25,000. He was Trustee of the Township one term, and was appointed Postmaster at Cochranton in 1882. He is a good Republican, and he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
JOSHUA D. VIRDEN (Montgomery Township) is the son of Theodore Virden, born May 21, 1852. Having obtained a good practical education, he married, November 18, 1875, Miss Frances Ansleman, daughter of Charles and Annie (Pheltie) Ansleman. The name of their one child is Loy Milton, born May 13, 1883. Mr. Virden has been farming since his marriage, and owns today (1883) forty acres of land. He votes the Democratic ticket.
T. D. VIRDEN, (Montgomery Township) the fourth sun of Theodore W. and Sarah (Davis) Virden, was born in Montgomery Township September 1, 1847. Having acquired a fair practical education, he married, October 20, 1874, Mary E. Riley, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Powell) Riley, and they have had one child, George F., born January 16, 1876. Mr. Virden has been farming all his days, and has to-day (1883) a fine farm of seventy-one acres, upon which he has erected a suitable residence, and made other improvements. His specialty is the rearing of stock. He is a respectable citizen and a Democrat.
WILLIAM A. VIRDEN, (Montgomery Township) son of Theodore and Sarah (Davis) Virden, was born July 6, 1839, in Montgomery Township. The district school gave him his education, and he married, October 3, 1861, Miss Mahala Drake, daughter of Zephaniah and Barbara (Bibler) Drake, of German ancestry, and natives of Ohio. They were the parents of seven children, six living -Mahala, Amanda, David, Julia, Elmer and Martin. Andrew was killed in the late war, aged twenty-three years. The wife died March 14, 1878, and the father married again, Sarah E. Clark, November 30, 1879. He is one of the oldest pioneers in the county, and a member of the IOOF at La Rue. Mr. Virden has six children--Alanson, Annie B., Hellen A., John T., Ezra T. and Mary A. He commenced life with limited means, but has made a success of farming. He owns to-day (1883) ninety acres of fine land, with good improvements. He, too, is a Democrat.
WILLIAM J. VIRDEN, (Montgomery Township) the oldest pioneer citizen of Montgomery Township, was born in Sussex County, Del., December 8, 1804. He is a son of Mitchell and Navinna (Jefferson) Virden; his father, a native of the same county, was born September 16, 1774; he served in the war of 1812; he had four children by his first. wife, three of whom are living-William J., the subject of this sketch; John W., born July 23, 1807; Eliza, born April 1810, and Ann, born September 16, 1813, and died in 1868. By his second wife he had the following: Benjamin, Joseph, Henry, Mary J., Lydia E., Sallie and an infant. Mr. Virden died in Delaware in 1838; his first wife preceded him in 1813. Mr. Virden. the subject of this sketch, migrated to Ohio in 1827, and remained four years in Warren County. In 1831, he came to Montgomery Township and entered eighty acres of land; he married, October 12, of the same year, Sarah A Vorhies, daughter of Henry and Sarah (Hart) Vorhies, and grand-daughter of John Hart, signer of the Declaration of Independence, Mr. and Mrs. Virden have had born to them five children; of these, three are living-Henry M., born September 7, 1832; Ann E., March 3, 1834, and James B., December 2, 1838. Mr. Virden is the oldest living settler in Montgomery Township; he has always devoted his attention to agriculture, and has cleared 140 acres of land, owning at present a farm of 200 acres; he served as Trustee of the township twenty years, and as Justice of the Peace fifteen years. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and in politics is a Republican. Mrs. Virden departed this life February 11, 1879.