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500 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY


myself lucky and at once decided I should go to an animal show that was soon come to Newark. Thinking to put my money in a safe place, I pushed it between the logs of our spring house. On the day of the show, it was necessary for brother Charlie to use the ax in order to recover it for me. The show grounds were at that time where now stands the Hotel Sherwood.


A log school house, near my birthplace, the Reid farm on the Mary Ann Furnace road, was the first school to enroll me among its student body. The general make-up of this crude structure was in keeping with the rugged times. The windows were of greased paper, the seats were heavy, hewn slabs of wood; holes were bored into the log beneath the greased paper windows and in these holes large wooden pegs were inserted with slightly downward slant, while on these pegs other slabs were laid, which served as a place for the practice of writing, to which a large portion of the time was given, good penmanship being a much coveted accomplishment. Pens, at that time, were manufactured from the quills of the goose, the ink was a home manufacture of maple bark boiled with gun powder. Red ink was as easily made by extracting the juice from the pokeberry.


I studied arithmetic and geography and spelling from a Webster spelling book. I first learned to read from a little primer, then my reading was from the New Testament almost entirely. When somewhat older I had a book called the "Columbian Orator," which was a compilation of extracts from the speeches of the prominent patriots of the revolutionary period.


Township schools were open three or four months in the year, during the winter season; subscription schools were supported by those who were ambitious for better opportunities for their children and these were often held during the summer for the younger children. The teacher boarded about among the subscribers, the more children in the family, the longer the stay of the teacher; he was with us a large portion of the school term. The teacher of that day was stern and relentless; he flogged unsparingly for all classes of offenses. One winter I attended school in a log building where now stands the Weiant country home; we were taught by a Mr. Hughes from Hughesville, Virginia, who was a student of Denison College and had accepted the short term of the district school as a means of assisting him in his college course. He was an excellent teacher and the one from whom I am certain I learned the most. Another teacher, who left behind him the kindliest recollections, was a Mr. Westervelt, a theoolgical student from Oberlin, of whom I last heard in Iowa. These two were of irreproachable character, a virtue I can scarcely attribute to every teacher whose school I attended; their Monday morning dispositions testifying to the intemperance of the day before.


The Ohio canal and the boats on it were the never ending source of interest. It must have been between the years 1830 and 1835 that ex-President John Quincy Adams came to Newark to lecture on "Education." He came by stage to Portsmouth and by canal to Hebron, where he was met by a number of Newark citizens, and by them escorted on canal boat to Newark. His lecture was delivered in the First Presbyterian church.


Passenger packets on the canal were lightly built, prettily painted, carpeted and furnished. The horses towing them went at a trot and were changed at a distance of each ten miles. In pleasant weather the passengers rode on deck and as there was no smoke, cinders or dust, it made a very nice, clean way to travel,


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and was at once recognized as having many advantages over stage coach travel. The Zoarite settlement at Zoar, Ohio, was often the objective point of the many people wishing to make a canal trip; comfortable provision could there be made for a stay of several days, so that was an excursion often made.


When I was fourteen, my father talked strongly of apprenticing me to John I. Mooney, an excellent cabinet-maker of Newark. Many splendid pieces of furniture of his construction are owned in and about Newark today. However, there was much that a boy of my age could do on a farm, so father kept me with him while.


"He cut, he logged, he cleared his lot,

And into many a dismal spot

He let the light of day."


I recall very distinctly one day in September, when I was about fifteen, John and I were returning from brother Sam's, at Johnstown, where we had been sent on an errand. They had put something like a half bushel of turnips in the wagon for us to bring home. When we arrived in Newark, school had just been dismissed in the building which stood in the rear of the First Presbyterian church. As the boys rushed out, we recognized Dan and Will Darlington. We knew them well, as they often had visited us. We therefore gave each a turnip. I've looked upon scraped turnip as well worth eating. With that, the rest of the boys demanded turnips. We knew that we hadn't enough for them and have any left to take home, so we drove off. Then they began to pelt us with stones. That made me mad, so I got down from the wagon and ran every one of them into a yard around the old brick house that stood on the present site of the John Swisher home. I dared any one of them to come out, but they did not venture.


The following spring, brothers Clark, John and I went to the reservoir, now known as Buckeye lake. We drove there in a big wagon hitched to two horses. Two other young fellows joined us at Newark. We reached our destination in the afternoon and at once started to try our luck, the Newark boys for frogs, we for fish. It was not long before we had nearly filled the tub we had brought with us with cleaned fish. We placed it under the wagon and went away some distance to try another place. Upon our return we found, to our dismay, that some hogs had made their appearance and eaten all our fish. We regretted having placed the tub under the wagon rather than in it. I was discouraged, but John, having greater patience, set about catching more, so that we had a few to take home, after all. That happened sixty-four years ago, and I did not again visit the reservoir until within the last four years. Upon my first visit the canal portion only was free from timber.


A great many of the early settlers in the country east of Newark had emigrated from Virginia. My father came with his brother Henry and their father from Staunton in 1810. Through the third brother, Samuel, who was a circuit preacher of the Baltimore conference, traveling in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, Henry had heard of the Grimes family of Greenbrier, Virginia. Having laid his plans to go west with his father and brother, Henry started in advance of the wagons, his purpose being to visit the Grimes family. He traveled on horseback, following the emigrant road to the source of the Greenbrier river, where he turned into a mountain bridle path which brought him, after a hundred-mile


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journey, to the home of Felix and Catherine Grimes, where he presented an introductory letter from his brother Samuel, their pastor. They looked upon him favorably and he was able to persuade Mary, the second daughter, to become his wife and journey with him to share the trials and perils of a home on the frontier. Both on horseback, her dower of household goods in pack saddles, they returned the way he had come, two of her brothers accompanying them to drive her four cows. They met my father and grandfather, and then together the four took up their journey over the Alleghenies, crossing the Ohio river at Marietta, following the Muskingum to Zanesville, and the Licking to Newark, then but a very small village. They had expected to continue up the North Fork of the Licking to where Utica now stands, as they had friends there who had preceded them from Virginia, but finding the stream swollen and learning that corn was scarce there, they decided for the time to rent a log cabin of Mr. John Channel, on the south side of the Licking.


There we can picture this brave woman in her new home, meeting its discomforts and privations with true pioneer spirit. Fortune, however, favored their efforts, and at the end of three years, with the combined accumulation of the father and two sons, a tract of land was purchased on the Bowling Green, four miles east of Newark.


The year preceding war had been declared against the British, and news of it came as regularly as the irregular mail service would permit. The greatest anxiety was felt for fear of Indian raids, as reports had reached them of their depredations at Fort Dearborn. It was my delight, as a small boy, to have father tell how he removed the clapboard on the roof of their cabin and kept his gun by his head, thinking in case the Indians came they could make their escape through the roof.


William Montgomery, my father, enlisted in the war during the summer of 1813. His company toiled through the dense forests of northern Ohio to Sandusky, where they had been but a short time when news of Perry's victory was received, which virtually ended the war. So they saw no active service, but marched back by the way they had gone, to Mount Vernon, where the company disbanded, and those who lived in Newark, not caring to take the circuitous route of the highway, made their way through the woods "straight as the crow flies" and were soon at their homes. It was in October of that year that my father returned to Virginia and presented himself at the Grimes home and found favor with the youngest daughter, Margaret. When his visit was over, and he turned his face to the west again and rode out into the bright October sunshine, he had his life companion at his side.


It is easy to picture the reunion of the sisters and to understand the close friendship that then existed, and always has, between the two families of ten and eleven children, respectively.


Samuel Montgomery, the oldest brother, came to Licking county with the third Grimes sister in 1820. He continued to preach during the forty-seven years that he resided in this community. His eyesight completely failed him fifteen years before he died, but he had been such a student that his mind had been richly stored, and no one drew larger congregations than he.


My father and mother returned to Virginia to visit in 1819, taking with them brother Charlie, a baby of nine months. To make this journey they drove in a


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wagon to the Ohio river, taking their saddles with them, and the remainder of the trip was made on horseback. They returned by the same method.


Again to the subject of the early settlers. Among other Virginians were Solomon and Jonathan Wood. Solomon brought with him his bride, who was said to have been a descendant of Chief Justice Marshall. Their sister, Mary Wood, married Nathan Fleming before leaving Virginia, and they settled at Irville and were the parents of my wife's mother, Margaret Fleming.


Colonel Nathan Fleming, was born in Marion county, West Virginia, January, 1783. He was in the mercantile business in Irville, one of the early shippers to New Orleans, frequently going to that place himself. He was commissioned in the militia of Ohio April 3, 1812, by Governor Return Jonathan Meigs, and promoted to major October 29, 1812. He held this rank until October 15, 1818, when he was again promoted, this time to the rank of lieutenant colonel. His daughter, Margaret Fleming, married Beverly Lemert, whose mother, Elizabeth Glasscock, laid out the village of Elizabethtown. Lewis Lemert, father of Beverly, had power of attorney from George Washington to collect his rents on certain tracts of Virginia ]and. The document, made out by General Washington's own hand, is still intact.


Others that I remember well were James Stump and Levi Claypool, Cornelius Sidle and Eliphalet Vandenbark, all men of great integrity, cleverness and hospitality. Their homes were built of hewn logs and contained large fireplaces and chimneys. Having brought considerable means with them to this new country, they lived well for that day. They had pieces of furniture made by local cabinetmakers and would also occasionally have china and furniture brought from the east. These articles were spoken of by their less fortunate neighbors as "far sought and dear bought," but the appreciation shown at the present day of these antique articles proves at least that they were a good investment to hand down to their posterity.


Every man in those early days devoted considerable time to hunting. It was not a mere matter of passing the time, but a necessity. The rifle was kept in a convenient place at all times and frequently used. During my boyhood many deer were killed at the salt licks along the Licking river. The hunter would hide all night, as it was in the early morning that the deer would come for their salt.


I recall a story repeatedly told me in my boyhood, of some white men and Indians who were hunting near Black Hand, and their supply of lead having become exhausted, the Indians requested the white men to wait; that they would procure more. After several hours they returned, bearing lead ore. There was much speculation as to where the ore was procured, and repeated search was made for it. One man, Tom Moody by name, with others, devoted days to the search for it, and, failing to find it, they were inclined to the belief that it might have been found in the bed of the creek.


A "husking" was one of the prominent social episodes and, as well, a decided bit of assistance to the host with his work. It was held in the early fall, on a moonlight night. The corn having previously been hauled in and dumped into a large half circle, captains were chosen who alternately chose their side until the crowd was halved. The half circle of corn was divided into two portions equal in quantity, and each lot of participants, under the leadership of their respective captains, proceeded to husk. As the corn was husked it was tossed to the center

 

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in a pile, and the first side to complete its task proceeded to fall upon the opponents, man for man, in one grand wrestling match. "Bully" men were so called because of their reputation as wrestlers and huskers throughout the neighborhood. Other profitable pleasures were log rollings and quiltings, of which descriptions are numerous.

 

In 1844 I went into the mercantile business at Elizabethtown. My stock of goods had to be transported from Baltimore, where I went to select it. To go to that city I went by stage from Zanesville to Cumberland, Maryland. The Baltimore & Ohio railroad was completed from Baltimore to that point, and it was not then thought possible to build it further over the mountains. My purchase of goods was brought to Cumberland via the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. It was carried by wagons across the mountains to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and put aboard a steamboat on the Monongahela river, which went to Pittsburg and from thence down the Ohio river to Marietta, and from that place up the Muskingum to Zanesville, where the goods were. again placed on wagons and hauled twenty miles to their destination. The freight rate, now fifty cents per hundred from New York to Newark, was then two dollars and fifty cents per hundred pounds from Baltimore to Zanesville. Calico sold at from twenty-five cents to thirty-seven and one-half cents per yard. On the other hand, we paid but six cents per pound for butter, three cents for ham and from three and one-half cents to five cents per dozen for eggs, and many a dozen of the latter have I relegated to the garbage pile, having been unable to dispose of them at any price.

 

The country was full of produce for which there was no available market, and as cold storage was then an unheard of institution, the risk of handling perishables is clearly evident. I attempted to handle butter in quantity, shipping to Cincinnati by hauling to Zanesville and thence by boat to the larger city. I shipped one hundred kegs of butter, each keg containing one hundred pounds, for which I had paid six cents per pound, to Cincinnati by the route described. The product not selling readily, I went overland, driving over the National road to Springfield, which was the terminal for a railroad out of Cincinnati. All of my efforts to dispose of my stock of butter were without avail. I returned here and it was not until February, four months after having shipped to Cincinnati, that I disposed of the stuff, needless to say at a loss, selling it as grease to be refined into oil for lighting purposes.

 

The store room occupied by me in Elizabethtown was afterward familiar to the younger children as Aunt 'Dithas' house, one door west of the Methodist church. Notwithstanding such experiences as above related, I conducted this business for a period of five years at a modest profit, but, estimating at the expiration of that time, my most valued asset acquired while in business was my wife.

 

I met my wife after her return from the Granville Female Seminary in the spring of '46. We were married on the 12th day of January, 1847, my mother's birthday. Those who witnessed the ceremony were Ely Beckwith and Rebecca Smith, the latter a sister of William Phillip's wife, who were our attendants; my brothers, Charlie and Clark; a brother-in-law, James Taylor; a sister, Emily; the wives of Abner and Leroy Lemert; Elizabeth, the next younger sister, who came home from the Granville seminary to witness the ceremony, and the younger brothers and sisters. The only surviving witness of the ceremony is Mrs. Julia Lemert Bradfield.

 

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We had expected to make a trip to Columbus via stage from Newark, but the roads having thawed and then frozen during the week just preceding our marriage, I decided, after driving from Elizabethtown to Newark and return, the Sunday preceding our marriage, that it would not be a comfortable or pleasant journey. We came directly to my mother's house, which was located where Cary Montgomery now lives. At the dinner that day, given in our honor, were present Mr. and Mrs. Thomas O'Bannon, Mr. and Mrs. William Seymour, sister Nancy and husband, brother Sam, wife and daughter, Mary Jane, and Mr. and Mrs. William Moore, the latter a Darlington.

 

We went to housekeeping opposite the present Methodist Episcopal church in Elizabethtown and lived there while we built on the hill opposite, now the parsonage, and into which house we moved the following October. Our first baby was born there in November. Its life was a short one, dying the following June. In the spring of 1849 we moved to Newark. At this time, had I a better education, it would have been my desire to study medicine. It is a source of satisfaction that our son, Edward, born on the 15th of May of that year, inherited my ambition and has reached a degree of success far beyond the ken of my then limited vision.

 

At the time we came to Newark there was great excitement concerning the discovery of gold in California. I seriously considered becoming one of a party under the leadership of Ben Brice to go to California to seek my fortune. This project was abandoned, however, though quite a number from this community really did go. Cholera menaced the health and peace of mind of Newark's population throughout the two years that we resided there, in consequence of which business was much affected, for which reason, together with our own fear of the disease, we returned to our former neighborhood in the eastern part of the county. The physicians of the town, together with the town council, gave directions as to diet, and advised, where possible, moving out on to the hills surrounding the town. Dr. Cooper, who built the house now occupied by Charles Follett, died of cholera, as did. Joshua Mathiet, a prominent attorney and former mayor of the city, in whose office Jerome Buckingham had but lately entered for the study of law.

 

I bought three acres of ground on the Granville road, having a frontage of two hundred feet, later built upon by the late Daniel Wilson. We lived in a house which, strange to say, still stands on Granville street, unchanged in any way, notwithstanding the fifty-eight years that have elapsed. This we rented of Mr. and Mrs. Ells, who lived across the street, and were the grandparents of Mrs. Charles Hempstead. Other neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Colemen, grandparents of Dr. William Baldwin. I recall the names of still others who moved away, and I know of no connections of theirs now living in Newark at present.

 

The Sandusky, Newark & Mansfield railroad was completed while we lived here, and I well remember taking my wife to see the first engine in Newark, which I believe was made in New York and brought here by canal boat. It was a great curiosity to the majority of the inhabitants. I have previously spoken of my first railroad ride, which was from Cumberland to Baltimore. I took my wife to Mount Vernon as soon as the road was in running order, that she, too, might have the experience of being carried in this novel manner.

 

Shortly after this the Morse magnetic telegraph line was put up through the country from New York to St. Louis by way of Newark and Granville. It was

 

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one of the wonders of the day, and as we were living on the line of its construction, I remember well the curiosity it aroused and the doubts expressed as to the success of the undertaking.

 

In June of 1850 P. T. Barnum's Great Renowned Show pitched its tents on the commons where now stands Mrs. Kennedy's home. The parade formed on Granville street, in front of our house. A feature of the show was the famous Tom Thumb, whose beautiful little carriage, drawn by Shetland ponies, the outfit a gift from Queen Victoria, was standing in front of our gate. I had our baby, Edward, in my arms and asked permission of the driver to place him in the little satin-lined cab, which was graciously granted. After a ride of a few yards the baby strenuously objected to being removed therefrom.

 

When I ]eft Newark I bought a farm one-half mile south of Elizabethtown, which was on the line of the famous underground railroad. From that time until the opening of the Civil war it was no unusual sight to see negroes secretly transported north. The title of this farm was defective, and involved me in a lawsuit and the loss of the greater part of the farm. The case had so many unusual features that it has been placed on the Ohio records of the supreme court.

 

Granville College, later called Denison, for one of its early contributors, passed through a period of struggle and vicissitude, and as a means of contributing to its support an extensive canvass was made at that time for subscriptions, on payment of which a scholarship was issued which was to extend to the donor's children and grandchildren. My father-in-law, Beverly Lemert, gave the sum of two hundred dollars. Mr. Lemert asked me to go with him to Granville at the time this amount was paid. We drove there from Elizabethtown on a day in October, in a Rockaway buggy drawn by two horses. The twenty-five miles were made in comfort and good time.

 

The college was then on the Columbus road, two miles from town. We drove directly there, where we were received very cordially by the president, Rev. Jeremiah Hall. After our business was transacted we were urged to stay for supper with him, and I remember especially well the peaches and cream that were served us. A well cultivated farm was then in connection with the school.

 

We returned to the village and went to the Buxton House to spend the night. We sat through the evening in the bar room and I distinctly recollect that the topic of conversation was the recent encounter of a prominent citizen with a rattlesnake. This particular man had a great antipathy for snakes, and a few days before, coming upon one suddenly and without warning, he exclaimed, "God damn the snake !" The question discussed was, did he sin in saying these words ? and after much argument it seemed to be the opinion of the majority that he did not.

 

We spent a night not altogether undisturbed. Mr. Lemert shook his clothes in the morning, saying that he did not care to take any of "those" home with him.

 

On the strength of the scholarship mentioned, Thomas and Nathan Lemert attended Denison one and two years, respectively, and my son, Edward, was graduated. As there was no provision preventing these scholarships being transferred, they were in a great many cases rented, which was a violation of the original idea in issuing them. Their recall was asked about 1880, and almost every one was willing to return them to the institution which is now so firmly established.

 

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In 1858 I purchased the Beverly Lemert farm, one mile and a half northeast of Perryton, from which my children went out and to which they returned with their children and friends for forty-eight years certainly the scene of many happy gatherings.

 

In 1864 I went to Illinois to pay for cattle that John Montgomery and I had contracted for by mail. I carried with me seven thousand dollars, four thousand dollars in New York drafts and the remainder in bills, all in a case encircling my waist, made for the purpose. I arrived in Colunibus about seven o'clock in the evening and was obliged to wait until eleven for a train west. I walked up High street, and, seeing a theatre, I paid my admission and took a rear seat. At the same moment another man took a seat directly across the aisle from my own, and throughout the evening I was annoyed by the consciousness that this man was watching me. I left the theatre in good time to catch my train and hurried down High street, which was then enclosed by a high board fence, while the railroad station stood in the woods. I took the place allotted me in the sleeper. When I awakened in the morning and sat pulling on my boots I was startled to see in the next berth to my own the very man I had seen in the theatre on High street the night before. I very promptly said to him, "It strikes me very forcibly that I saw you in the theatre, sir." I saw no more of him after we left the train. Perhaps the consciousness of the money upon my person made me more suspicious than I otherwise would have been, but at the time I was firmly convinced that the man had a design in following me.

 

On another occasion I got off a train from Pittsburg, where I had just sold stock to the amount of twenty-five hundred dollars, all of which amount I had with me. Money was not trusted in banks nor checks accepted freely at that time. I had come through on a fast train, and it was only after much persuasion that the conductor consented to slow up at Black Run. He followed me to the platform and told me when to jump. The station waiting-room was closed, as it was nearly midnight, so I started immediately up the lane toward the Bald Hills. I had walked but a short distance—a few rods possibly—when a man slid down from the fence, upon which he had been sitting, and walked along with me. I managed to keep a step or two behind him, hoping that when the foot of the hill was reached he would take the cross road, but much to my disappointment he continued up the hill. The thought occurred to me that he must have his accomplices. I had no weapon other than a stout stick, but I was on the alert and assured myself that I was equal to him. When we reached the top of the hill, much to my relief, he turned off into a little lane which I afterwards learned led to his home. He had been sitting with a sick neighbor and was on his way home when, seeing the train coming as he reached the track, he waited to see it pass.

 

It was at the time of the numerous Blackburn robberies. I was returning from Frazeyburg on horseback. I had been there counting election ballots, and it was nearly twelve o'clock when I started for home. I had quite a little money with me at that time. As I came up a hill, wooded on either side, the mare I was riding stopped with a snort, and I, peering ahead, saw in the bushes at the side of the road what looked to be three men in their shirt sleeves. I debated in my mind whether or not it would be best to turn back, but knowing my horse, and that it could be depended upon for swiftness, I decided to dash by ; so, tightening

 

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the rein, I gave her a hard cut with the whip, which sent her forward like a flash to find my fright had been occasioned by a cow so striped that, as she lay among the bushes, I saw in her my three highwaymen.

 

In September, 1862, I was one of four to enlist from Elizabethtown at Governor Tod's call for protection for the borders of the state of Ohio. Fletcher Seward, Clay Lemert and my brother-in-law, Thomas Lemert, made up the number. Having already three brothers-in-law in the service, our going took the only remaining menfolk in Margaret Lemert's family. The word was brought to us in the afternoon.. We at once set to work molding bullets, making haversacks and preparing three days' rations, and were on our way to Newark before the break of the next day. John Follett, a younger brother of Judge Follett, and later a successful attorney in Cincinnati, was made our captain and organized the company. We went to Covington, Kentucky, where we stayed two weeks. Earthworks were thrown up and preparations made to meet the rebel general, Kirby Smith. The guns we used were not the regulation guns provided for the army, but the lighter hunting rifle such as might be found in every family. On account of our guns and the fact that it was the squirrel season, we were called the "Squirrel Hunters." The governor recognized these services by issuing lithographed discharges to which were appended his signature and the seal of the state.

 

In May, 1864, my company, H, of the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was called out to serve for one hundred days. We went to Baltimore, where we were detailed to guard Patterson Park hospital, containing four or five thousand sick, wounded and convalescent soldiers, dividing the time between that station and a fort on the Fredric road to Baltimore.

 

My leaving home at that time of the year left the management of the summer work of the farm for my wife and Mr. Tracy, a trusty man past middle life. We had six children at this time. Edward, the oldest, was fourteen, and so filled with the war spirit that it took much argument to convince him that he was much more useful at home than at the front. My wife proved her generalship in my absence. Twenty acres of new ground, plowed before my going, were planted in corn. To do this the ten-months-old baby was placed in the shade of a tree and amused by the small children, while those who could lent a hand to help their mother, Tracy and the hired girl to plant and cover the corn. The sheep washing and shearing was accomplished, wool reaching a profitable figure that summer, bringing ninety-nine cents a pound.

 

I have had a natural inclination a craving, I might say to read. While I was in the store at Elizabethtown I read Rollins' Ancient History. During the winters on the farm, when I was much of the time in the house, I read and reread Gibbon's Rome, Macaulay's History of England, Thier's History of the French Revolution, Plutarch's Lives, the writings of Josephus, Thackeray, Dickens and various works of fiction as they came to my hand.

 

The growth of this country, the inventions and improvements that have been made during my period of observation, are wonderful indeed. I well remember my first sight of a cradle in the wheat field. Up to that time the grain was cut with a sickle. After our men had watched the working of the cradle for some time, they returned to their sickles, saying that a cradle might do well on the hillside or in light grain. The cradle soon succeeded the sickle, while the reaper

 

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and binder and other more complicated machinery have replaced the cradle such has been the story of improvements and invention in every line of industry.

 

WILLIAM S. LOYD

 

William S. Loyd, well known as a representative of the farming interests of Granville township, was born in the city of Newark, Ohio, February 18, 1855. Like many of the valued residents of the community, he is of Welsh lineage, his parents, Robert and Mary (Davis) Loyd, having been natives of the north and south of Wales, respectively. In her girlhood days the mother came with her parents to the United States, the family home being established in Alexandria, this county, where she was reared. Robert Loyd was thirty-five years of age when he came to Licking county, and, locating in Newark, he turned his attention to the teaming business, while later he became a farmer. His death occurred in Newark, August 25, 1893, when eighty-one years of age, while his wife passed away in the county seat, in October, 1863. They were parents of six children : Elizabeth, now living in Newark ; Thomas D. and Mary J., who reside with their sister Elizabeth ; William S., of this review ; John D., of Alexandria ; and Persis Hammond, also a resident of this county.

 

William S. Loyd was reared in Newark and in this city he remained until nineteen years of age, when he came to Granville township, where he has since made his home. Following his marriage he purchased his present farm, comprising one hundred and twenty-six acres on Columbus road, adjoining the corporation limits of the village of Granville. Here he has erected a fine dwelling a large and substantial barn, and made every modern improvement, and the Crystal Spring Farm, by which name the place is known, is one of the valuable and attractive farm properties of the county, proving one of the most interesting features of the landscape. Everything about the farm is kept in good condition and an air of neatness and thrift pervades the place.

 

In 1881 Mr. Loyd was united in marriage to Miss Sarah E, Powell, who was born in Granville township, in 1856, and is a daughter of Rev. John and Mary (George) Powell, the former a native of Wales, and a minister of the Welsh Congregational church. Mrs. Powell was born in Morrow county, Ohio, October 10, 1823. Rev. Powell died in October, 1856, and his wife died in 1894. Rev. Powell came to the United States when a young man and located in Licking county. He was actively engaged in the ministry from the time of his arrival until his death. Rev. and Mrs. Powell were the parents of five children : William R.; Rees S.; Rachel M. ; Mary A. and Mrs. Loyd. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Loyd has been blessed with three children : William Franklin, John Ernest and Mary Edna, all yet under the parental roof, the family circle being unbroken by the hand of death.

 

In his political views Mr. Loyd is an earnest republican, believing that the basic elements of the party are essential to good government. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which he takes an active and helpful interest, serving now as steward and as a member of the finance committee. He is never neglectful of his duties of citizenship, and is interested in all that pertains

 

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to the material, intellectual and moral progress of the community. He deserves much credit for what he has accomplished in a business way, for he started out in life empty-handed and has worked upward until he is now numbered among the leading and prominent farmers of the county.

 



JOHN LEWIS MILLER.

 

John Lewis Miller, deceased, who devoted his attention to farming and stock-raising in Etna township, and who was highly respected for his useful and industrious life, was born one mile east of Wagram, December 5, 1856, on the farm on which he died April 29, 1902, after having spent his entire life in this township. His parents were Isaac and Sarah (Knepper) Miller. His father, who was a native of the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, came to this township when he was twenty-one years of age in company with his brother Alexander and settled in the woods in a one-room log cabin of the primitive type, having a clapboard roof with poles laid upon it to keep the boards from being dislodged. At that time only about one acre of the farm on which they located had been cleared and consequently its cultivation did not afford them sufficient sustenance but fortunately there was plenty of wild game, particularly turkeys and deer, so that they had an abundance of substantial food. However, little by little they cut away the forests and in course of time transformed the once thickly wooded tract into fertile fields from which they have since reaped many a bountiful harvest. Of the original tract Isaac Miller retained one hundred and sixty acres, the remainder reverting to his brother's widow. He endured many privations and was compelled to be content with very few of life's comforts during his early career. Many a time he cradled wheat for fifty cents a day which instead of being paid to him in coin was delivered in fat bacon at five cents a pound, but by hard work and perseverance he gradually bettered his condition until at his death he left considerable means and a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, provided with an elegant residence and substantial barn and other buildings. He was a strong supporter of the democratic party and for forty years voted no other ticket. His religious convictions were in accord with the teachings of the United Brethren church, of which both he and his wife were members and in the work of which they were leading factors.

 

Shortly after arriving in this township Isaac Miller was united in marriage to Sarah Knepper, who was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, April 15, 1816. He died January 7, 1887, and she entered into rest, January 8, 1897. She was a daughter of Jacob Knepper, a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, who at an early date came to this part of the state and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land for each of his fourteen children, the claims having been taken up in Licking and adjoining counties. Mr. and Mrs. Miller reared a family of thirteen children, two of whom died in infancy, the names of the remaining ones being : Alexander; Henry ; Jacob, a veteran of the Civil war, who served two years ; John Lewis ; Sarah Ault ; Mary ; Lucinda ; Andrew, a veteran of the Civil war ; George ; John; and William.

 

On the home farm John Lewis Miller was reared, working in the fields under the supervision of his father and during the winter season acquiring his education in the district schools. After completing his studies he remained on the old home-

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 513

 

stead, actively engaged in farming, until he departed this life. The farm contains ninety-six acres—a part of the original tract of one hundred and sixty acres belonging to his father and here in addition to providing for himself and family he also took care of his parents during their declining years until they entered into rest. Dl r. Miller was considered one of the most careful and prosperous farmers in this vicinity, taking great pride in the appearance of his premises and was always solicitous to keep his buildings and fences in repair so that his farm indicated the thrift and enterprise of its owner. He made stock the principal feature of his farm and in this was very successful. Since his death his family have engaged in running a dairy, keeping for this purpose nine cows, all registered stock.

 

On December 11, 1884, Mr. Miller wedded Hester A. Miller, a native of Fairfield county, Ohio, where her birth occurred July 6, 1863, and where she resided until she was united in marriage. Her parents were Peter and Katherine Miller, the former a native of Fairfield county, now residing in Pickerington, and the latter, who is deceased, a native of Belmont county, Ohio. They reared a family of ten children, seven of whom survive. To M r. and Mrs. Miller were born: Orpha, wife of Howard Cooper, living at Pataskala ; Edgar Allen, who received a teacher's certificate when he was fourteen years of age, taking charge of classes at the age of sixteen years and now a student at the Ohio State University, in Columbus; May, who teaches in the home schools; Stanley and Guy, pupils in the high school; Hazel, Raymond; Walter, Russell and Lester and Chester, twins, all in

school.

 

Mr. Miller was on the democratic side in politics and took an active interest in the educational affairs of the township, having served for many years as a member of the board of education. He was frequently called upon to become a candidate for a number of local offices but he repeatedly declined. In everything purposed for the good of the community he took an interest and having been a progressive man he was in favor of the promotion of all measures which in any way would add to the general welfare of the township. Aside from having been identified with an organization for the promotion of farming interests he was also a strong supporter of the Evangelical church to which he was a liberal contributor. He was a man of excellent character and of modest habits and his relations in the home, as husband and father and in the world, as an associate and business man, commended him to the highest respect and confidence of all who knew him.

 

LEVI WILLIAM HOLEY.

 

Levi William Roley is the owner of Highland Home, one of the finest farms of Granville township, comprising one hundred and ten acres of arable and valuable land. It is equipped with all modern accessories and conveniences and in its midst stands a large and beautiful residence. The appearance of the place indicates careful and practical supervision on the part of the owner who, in all of his life work, has so directed his labors as to win honorable and gratifying success.

 

Mr. Roley is one of Licking county's native sons, his birth having occurred in Franklin township May 28, 1850. His parents were Jesse and Elizabeth (Christ) Roley. The father, a native of Virginia, was born in 1825 and in 1830

 

514 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

was brought to Ohio by his parents, Thomas and Hannah (Hitt) Roley, who located in Perry county near Thornville, and after a few years came to Licking township, Licking county. Here Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Roley spent their remaining days and there they reared their family, numbering six children : William, John, Lewis, Mary, Jane and Jesse. The last named spent almost his entire life in this county and also followed the occupation of farming, finding it a congenial and profitable pursuit. He did not seek to figure in public life, but all who knew him respected him for his genuine worth and unassailable business integrity. His death occurred in Licking township in 1878. His wife was born in that township in 1830, a daughter of Frederick and Mary (Lones) Christ, who were natives of Pennsylvania and became pioneer residents of Licking township. Mrs. Roley still survives and now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. B. M. Irwin, whose husband is postmaster of Jacksontown. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Roley were born five children : Levi W.; Mary, the wife of John Stotler, of Licking township; ing county ; and Ida, the wife of Joseph Tavender, of Hebron, Union township. Rebecca, the wife of B. M. Irwin ; Hannah, the wife of Dr. G. W. Berry, of Hock-

 

Levi William Roley spent the first eleven years of his life at Amsterdam where he was born, and in 1861 his parents removed to Union township, locating south of Hebron, where he lived until twenty-six years of age. He was then married on the 5th of September, 1876, to Miss Clara A. Bounds, who was born in Licking township August 18, 1858, a daughter of George and Lavina (DeBolt) Bounds, the former a native of this county and the latter of Lasalle county, Illinois. For many years they resided on a farm a mile west of Jacksontown and there they passed away. They had three children : Mrs. Roley ; Nelson, who is living on the old homestead in Licking township ; and Harry, a practicing physician of Carroll, Fairfield county, Ohio.

 

Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Roley established their home in Licking township, where he carried on farming until about two years ago. He there owned and cultivated two farms, one of sixty-six acres and the other of sixty-two acres. He sold that property in 1906 and came to his present farm in Granville township. It is a beautiful and attractive property known as Highland Home. His residence stands one thousand one hundred and six feet above sea level. It is a commodious dwelling of thirteen rooms, built in modern style of architecture, and supplied with all modern conveniences. The house is piped for natural gas, which is furnished, by the Columbus Natural Gas Company and the Ohio Natural Gas Company, and there is also a gas well upon this farnf There are three bank barns and the buildings are situated on a large hill in the midst of fine old trees, the house commanding a splendid view of the surrounding hills and valleys, and is one of the most attractive country residences of Licking county. It is pleasantly and conveniently situated only a mile and a half from Granville on the Columbus road. Here Mr. Roley carries on general farming and stock-raising, making a specialty of dairying until about a year ago, when he sold his interest in that business.

 

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Roley has been blessed with three children: Clarence E., of Fort Wayne, Indiana, who is married and has one child, Doris; Oese; and Flossie, both at home. The parents are members of the Presbyterian church of Granville and Mr. Roley gives his political allegiance to the democratic

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 515

 

party. He keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day and is thus able to support his position by intelligent argument. He does not seek political preferment, however, and on the contrary gives undivided attention to his business affairs which, capably conducted, have brought to him a gratifying measure of success and he is classed today with the most prominent farmers of the county.

 

WILLIAM REES.

 

While a country boy may not have advantages along educational lines equal to those of a lad raised in the city, he has opportunities which are ultimately of greater worth than the learning of the schools and that enable him to lay a foundation upon which to build a successful career. Reared amid the peace and quiet of nature, with his thoughts, undisturbed by the din of busy business centers, and with a broad and free expanse above and about him, and at the same time pursuing an avocation requiring patience and perseverance, he is given to thoughtfulness by which he develops the better qualities of his nature and brings forth his latent possibilities.

 

William Rees, who was reared amid rural surroundings and who, having availed himself of his opportunities is now one of the most successful and prosperous agriculturists in Lima township, was born in Reynoldsburg, Franklin county, Ohio, November 21, 1846. His paternal grandparents were Thomas and Margaret (Bonham) Rees, natives of the Keystone state, where they were married. They came to this county at a very early date and located near Newark, where they remained for awhile and then removed to Franklin county, settling on a farm. Mr. Rees was employed as a boss during the construction of the Ohio canal and while acting in that capacity met with an accident which caused his death. He was a veteran of the war of 1812. His children were : John, Jacob, William, Eli,, Bonham, Mrs. Jane Reed, Mrs Ann Sinsebaugh, Mrs. Sarah Ashbrook, and Elizabeth.

 

John and Hannah (Child) Rees were the parents of William Rees. The latter was a native of Bristol, England, where she was born in 1814, a daughter of Daniel and Hannah (Fry) Child, who came to Lima township, Licking county, in 1830. They were the parents of the following children : Stephen, Daniel, Sarah, Hannah, Ann, Caroline, and Mercy. Mr. Rees was born at Smiths Mills, Newark township, this county, May 15, 1812, and when sixteen years of age went to Lancaster, Ohio, where he learned the saddler's trade, serving his appenticeship, and then removed to Reynoldsburg, Ohio, where he continued as a saddler for a few years and then followed general merchandising until 1855, when he removed to Illinois, remaining two years. In 1858 he bought the farm in this township on which he lived until the time of his death, September 12, 1902. His wife passed away in 1883. In politics he was a whig and then a republican, and was always active during political campaigns. He was a strong anti-slavery man and did all in his power to aid the movement which finally terminated in the abolition of slavery. He was a man of high moral qualities and a member of the Congregational church. John and Hannah Rees were the

 

516 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

parents of the following : Edmund and Ann are deceased. John H., of Columbus, is married and has one child. He served four years in the Ninety-fifth Ohi Volunteer Infantry. William is the next of the family. Charles is deceased and Amanda is the wife of R. P. Alward, of Newark, and has three children.

 

In the district schools William Rees received his education and at the ag of nine years his family removed from Franklin county to Carlinville, Illinois where his father conducted a general store for a time but in 1857 returned to the farm, on which William Rees has since resided. Here when he started he had farm containing fifty-three acres upon which he labored arduously, paying stric attention to his business, and he met with such splendid success that his accu mutations enabled him to increase his tillable land to three hundred and six acres, which includes three farms : the home farm of one hundred and eleven acres ; another tract of one hundred and thirty acres, located a half mile north of the home place; and a sixty-five acre farm situated one half mile south. Mr. Rees cultivates the entire acreage, all of which is highly improved, his farms being thoroughly equipped with buildings, machinery and all conveniences necessary to successfully prosecute the farm work. The old home farm is notable by reason of the fact that upon it stands the oldest frame school building in district No. 1, of this township, the edifice being close to the rear of Mr. Rees's residence. The building was of great age at the time his family located there in 1858, and it was used for school purposes for several years after that time, when it was finally abandoned and a new structure was erected in another section of the district.

 

Aside from general farming Mr. Rees pays particular attention to stock-raising, his stock consisting principally of Delane sheep and Poland China hogs. His enterprise and progressiveness have been well rewarded and he is now not only in comfortable circumstances but is prominent in the financial circles of the county, being a stock holder in the People's Bank of Pataskala. Until the year 1896 he gave his political allegiance to the republican party, but later shifted his support to the democratic party in order to vote for the Hon. W. J. Bryan, but of late years he has taken the stand of an independent and now casts his vote irrespective of party ties for the man whom he thinks best qualified to serve the interests of the commonwealth in the office he seeks. He is a prominent member of Pataskala Lodge No. 404, A. F. & A. M.

 

 



WILLIAM BURNHAM WOODS.

 

William Burnham Woods was of Kentucky parentage on the paternal side, his father being Ezekial S. Woods. On the maternal side he was of New England blood, his mother bearing the maiden name of Sarah Burnham. A native son of Newark, Ohio, his birth occurred on the 3d of August, 1824. Early in life he was inspired with an honorable ambition to excel in whatever he undertook and strove, with tireless industry and close application to study, to thoroughly qualify himself for any position in private or public life. After spending three years at the Western Reserve College he entered the senior class at Yale and immediately

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 519

 

took high rank as a scholar, graduating with honor in 1845. In 1883 his alma mater conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. He was admitted to the bar in November, 1847, and at once began the practice of law in his birthplace, continuing as a representative of the profession until he entered the army at the beginning of the Civil war. In 1856-7 he served as mayor of Newark and in October of the latter year was elected as a democratic member of the Ohio house of representatives, being made speaker on its organization in January, 1858. Having aspired to that position and prepared for it by diligent study, he fulfilled its duties with singular ability and was re-elected in 1859, again receiving the unanimous nomination of his party for speaker. As the legislature of Ohio is elected for two years, Mr. Woods' second term did not expire until the end of 1861. His course as a legislator upon pending measures affecting the state's action regarding the rebellion had been such that his entering the service as a volunteer in September, 1861, occasioned no surprise. He was commissioned as lieutenant colonel and participated in the engagements of Fort Donelson, Shiloh and Chickasaw Bayou and was wounded at Arkansas Post. He was subsequently with Grant before Vicksburg, took part in the siege of Jackson, Mississippi, and went with General Sherman on the march to Atlanta, participating in the conflicts attending the march and at its conclusion. His command formed part of Sherman's army in its march to the sea, and with it he entered Washington. During this time he had been brevetted a brigadier general on the 12th of January, 1865, for faithful and continuous service during the Atlanta and Savannah campaigns. He was afterward promoted to the rank of a major general by brevet, March 16, 1865, for gallant and meritorious service during the war, and on the 31st of May, 1865, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.

 

At the close of the war Mr. Woods decided to make the south his permanent home and located in Alabama, investing all his property there. In addition to engaging in the practice of law he purchased a plantation and went into the business of raising cotton near Montgomery, while later he invested in iron works at Tecumseh, Alabama, with his brother-in-law, General Willard Warner. Subsequently, after being raised to the bench, he removed to Atlanta, Georgia, on account of its healthful climate. In July, 1868, he was elected chancellor for the middle district of Alabama and filled that office until December 22, 1869, when he was confirmed by the senate as United States circuit judge, upon the nomination of President Grant, for the territory including Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, and took the oath of office on January 7, 1870. During the years he was on the circuit bench he edited four volumes of Woods Reports. The southern tier of states at that time abounded in intricate and complicated questions arising from the war and its consequences and the federal courts were much resorted to, as it was some time before any of the state courts became so organized and filled as to meet the wants of the community. The labors of the circuit and district courts were often herculean. It is but just to say that few judicial records exhibit a combination of greater impartiality, faithfulness and sound exposition of the law than those of Judge Woods during the eleven years that he officiated as circuit judge. On December 20, 1880, President Hayes nominated Judge Woods as an associate justice of the United States supreme court and. on the next day he was confirmed by the senate. He took the oath of office and

 

520 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

his seat on the bench on the 5th day of January, 1881. In the supreme court, Justice Woods always evinced not only an adequate familiarity with legal principles but great good sense and sound judgment in the views he took of complicated and difficult questions which came before the tribunal; and his unflagging industry and laborious preparation of cases made him an exceedingly useful member of the court. During the six years of his active life on the bench he generally wrote as many as thirty elaborate opinions in each term. Many of these were in patent and equity cases, requiring a careful analysis of evidence, often filling hundreds of printed pages. He was eminently happy in eliminating truth from a voluminous and complicated record and in applying the principles and doctrines of jurisprudence to the facts of the case. His knowledge and experience in relation to the laws of Louisiana and other southern states were often of great service to the court in deciding cases arising in that part of the United States. He had an abiding conviction that municipal corporations and even states ought to pay their just debts and he was never inclined to allow them to escape liability by any defect in technical formalities. His opinions were always lucid and to the point, without any useless display of rhetoric. Justice Woods began to fail in health toward the close of the term in April, 1886, and upon repairing to his circuit he utterly broke down while holding court in New Orleans, being obliged to return to his home in Washington. A visit to southern California during the fall and winter seemed at first to benefit him but his disease finally terminated in dropsy and he returned only to die. His death took place in Washington on the 14th of May, 1887, in the sixty-third year of his age. He left a widow and two children, a son and daughter. Justice Woods, though a man of great firmness and decision, was most genial, kind and humorous with his friends and in his home.

 

J. E. DEYO.

 

J. E. Deyo, the well known proprietor of the Hotel Hudson in Newark, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, on the 9th of December, 1863, his parents being David and Elizabeth (Gilliland) Deyo, also natives of this state. The mother passed away in 1886 and the father was called to his final rest in 1905. Their family numbered four children, namely : Joseph, a resident of Columbus, Ohio; J. E., of this review ; Mary, the wife of L. F. Mathews, of Columbus, Ohio ; and Clara, the wife of Vinnie Banhan, of Pickaway county, Ohio.

 

J. E. Deyo obtained his education in the common schools and remained under the parental roof until he had reached his majority. He was then engaged in the operation of a rented farm for twelve years and on the expiration of that period purchased a tract of one hundred and forty-five acres in McKean township, Licking county, which he brought under a high state of improvement as the years passed by. There are three gas wells on the property. In addition to the work of general farming he made a specialty of raising and breeding stock of all kinds, meeting with a gratifying and creditable measure of success in his undertakings. In 1906, however, he abandoned agricultural pursuits and, taking up his abode in Newark, Ohio, now manages and conducts the Hotel Hudson, a

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 521

 

twenty-five room hostelry at No. 45 Hudson street. A genial and popular proprietor, Mr. Deyo neglects nothing that can add to the comfort of his guests and is widely recognized as one of the substantial, public-spirited and progressive citizens of the county.

 

In 1884 occurred the marriage of Mr. Deyo and Miss Hallie Mayhew, a native of Madison county, Ohio, and a daughter of Washington and Susan (Iles) Mayhew. Her father is now deceased but her mother still survives and makes her home in Madison county, Ohio. Unto our subject and his wife were born two children: Dulcie, who has passed away ; and Earl R., at home.

 

In his political views Mr. Deyo is a stanch republican, while fraternally he is connected with the Odd Fellows lodge, No. 70, in Pickaway county. His good qualities, and they are many, have strongly endeared him to those with whom he has been associated and wherever he is known he is popular with a large circle of friends.

 

JOHN M. LAMBERT.

 

John M. Lambert, a well known breeder of Poland China hogs, in Newton township, and a representative of a family who were among the early settlers of this place, was born in Licking county, September 26, 1855, a son of James M. and Mary E. (Houck) Lambert, his mother having been a native of this county, while his father, who was born in old Virginia, came to this place with his parents in the year 1816. Here he remained throughout his remaining days engaged in agriculture. He was a carpenter by trade and an auctioneer, crying many sales. Throughout the limits of the county he was known as an upright, honorable and industrious citizen. In the family were eight children, namely : Sarah, who became the wife of Warren Stream and resides in Des Moines, Iowa; Francis, deceased; Susan, who wedded Jonathan Householder, of this county ; a fourth child, who departed this life in infancy ; Carrie, wife of T. H. Wheaton, residing in Toledo, Ohio; Norton, deceased; John M.; and Mary, who is the wife of D. C. Trent, of Toledo, Ohio. The elder Mr. Lambert passed away after a long and useful life on May 8, 1903, in his ninety-third year, having survived his wife thirty-two years.

 

In the common schools of his native town John M. Lambert acquired his education and at the age of fifteen years started out in the world for himself. His first work was that of a farm hand and thus he followed agriculture for nine years, at which period of his life he was married. He then rented his father-in-law's farm for eight years and at the expiration of that time, in 1889, his success had enabled him to accumulate sufficient means with which to purchase the farm upon which he now resides. The farm consists of one hundred acres of as fine land as there is in the county and Mr. Lambert, having been very attentive to his property, has supplied every needed improvement, such as an excellent dwelling, barns, outbuildings and other conveniences with which to make farming a paying proposition. Aside from producing hay, wheat, oats and general grain crops, he also engages to some extent in stock-raising, making a specialty of breeding Poland China hogs. Having thus engaged for the past fifteen years,

 

522 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

he has become an acknowledged authority on stock of that kind. In addition Mr. Lambert has carried on a dairy business for twelve years and, keeping on hand the finest kind of milk producing cattle, he is known throughout the county for the excellent quality of milk and butter with which he provides his customers, thus winning a wide reputation and a liberal patronage.

 

Mr Lambert was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Keeran, a native of Mary Ann township but reared in Newton township. She is a daughter of Job and Eliza (Allbaugh) Keeran. Her mother, who was a native of this county, departed this life in December, 1886, and her father, originally from Virginia, died September 14, 1902. They reared a family of seven children, one of whom- is Mrs. Lambert. By her marriage she has become the mother of three sons : Ralph H., who is in business in Newark; Arthur J. and Roy Dale, both of whom reside with their parents. Mr. Lambert gives his political support to the republican party and has served for several years as school director, while at the present time he holds the position of county commissioner, being now in his seventh year in that office. He belongs to the local Grange, Lodge No. 850, I. 0. 0. F., meeting at St. Louisville, and Lodge No. 4727, Modern Woodmen of America, in which he has passed through the various chairs. Faithful to his religious obligations Mr. Lambert finds time for church work and with his wife attends services at the Methodist Episcopal church, to which he is a liberal contributor. He is a man, whose good character and enterprising spirit has made him favorably known throughout the community and he enjoys the confidence and respect of all his neighbors.

 

HENRY CLARK LONGWELL.

 

Henry Clark Longwell is widely known as a successful and progressive representative of farming and stock raising interests in Liberty township, Licking county. Agricultural pursuits constitute his life work and in this connection he is meeting with gratifying success. Mr. Longwell was born January 6, 1851, in this county and is a son of James and Judith (Wallace) Longwell. His ancestors on the paternal side came from Virginia to Licking county in the early part of the eighteenth century, while his mother's people arrived in 1830 from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. James Longwell were the parents of five children : Mary E., who became the wife of James A. Miles and is now deceased; Henry Clark, whose name introduces this review; Emma A.; Perry A.; and Alva L. The father was a prosperous farmer and stock raiser who carefully managed his business interests and through his unwearied efforts gained gratifying success. He was also recognized as a man of sterling character who wielded a wide influence. He died in July, 1882, and was long survived by his wife who passed away in November, 1906.

 

Henry Clark Longwell has followed the vocation of his father, being trained under the parental direction for the work of the fields, while in the district schools he received his mental discipline. Since starting out in life on his own account he has made steady and substantial progress in his business career and is now one of the enterprising farmers of the community. His live stock interests are

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 523

 

also important and constitute a valuable feature in his business success. In addition to his interests of this character he is a director and the vice president of the Johnstown Building & Loan Association, has other business interests and is decidedly a man of affairs. He has learned the lesson that there is no such word as fail to the man of determination and industry and he never allows any obstacle to brook his path if it can be overcome by determined and honorable effort.

 

Mr. Longwell gives his political allegiance to the democracy but is not active in political matters, nor does he seek the honors nor emoluments of public office. However, he is in every sense of the term a public-spirited citizen, loyal to the best interests of the county. He resides on the old farm homestead where his parents lived and with him reside his sister Emma Arbilla and a brother Alva Lee, the two brothers being associated in their farming and stock raising interests. The Longwell home is one of the most attractive and hospitable homes in Licking county and the family is among the most intelligent and progressive.

 

GEORGE T. JONES.

 

George T. Jones, formerly identified with merchandising, is now devoting his energies to general farming and operates a tract of land of eighty acres in Granville township, owned by his daughter. While raising various crops, he makes a specialty of hay and potatoes and his capable business management is seen in the excellent results which are attending his efforts. Mr. Jones is a native of Horsham, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where his birth occurred November 10, 1832. His parents were Thom and Sarah (Jones) Jones, who in 1833 removed from Montgomery county to Licking county, so that the subject of this review has spent almost his entire life in the latter county. The family numbered ten children, of whom only two are now living : George T.; and Rachel, who became the wife of Robert Williams of Granville. They removed to Wisconsin and Mr. Williams is now deceased.

 

In Licking county George T. Jones was reared at a time when the district bore little resemblance to the present improved section of the state. There were still many evidences of Indian occupancy and of the more remote and prehistoric race known as the mound builders. Much of the land was still uncultivated, yet the county was attracting to it a class of progressive, enterprising citizens, who were clearing away the forest and transforming the land into productive fields. In the work of the home farm Mr. Jones assisted when not busy with the duties of the schoolroom. His early education was acquired in the district schools and later he attended the old Granville Male Academy. Granville has always been a center of learning an interesting college town whose influence has spread abroad through the labors and efforts of its many graduates.

 

After completing his education, George T. Jones learned the tinning business with his brother, Lewis Jones, and about 1853, three months before he attained his majority, he became a partner of his brother under the firm style of G. T. Jones & Company. Later they admitted another brother, E. W. Jones, to a partnership and continued the businagg until the death of Lewis Jones, after

 

524 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY

 

which the firm name was changed to Jones & Brother. Business was then carried on under that style until 1888, when George T. Jones sold his interest to his brother and turned his attention to farming. He has also acted as assistant to his brother, but gives most of his time to the management of his agricultural interests and the farm under his control has been brought under a high state of cultivation. His principal crops are hay and potatoes and, as he gathers rich harvests, his success is continually increasing, owing to the sale of his products. He is a man of tireless energy, with ability in management, and his carefully directed labors have gained him place among the substantial farmers of the community.

 

On the 26th of December, 1861, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Jones and Miss Arabella S. Lyon, a daughter of James and Jane Lyon, whose family numbered two children. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Jones have been born three children: Herbert Lyon, deceased ; Minnie B., who is at home with her parents ; and one who died at birth. The son Herbert was married and at his death left two children, Arthur Wright and Ethel Lyon.

 

Politically Mr. Jones is a republican who has continuously supported the candidates of the party for many years. His first vote, however, was cast for the presidential nominee of the abolition party. His fellow townsmen have called him to several local offices. He served as township treasurer for about eight years and was a member of the council for about four years, discharging his duties with credit to himself and satisfaction to his constituents. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church and he is most loyal to its teachings. For more than seventy-five years he has been a resident of this county, so that his memory forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present. He can remember a time when many of the homes were log cabins and when gigantic forest trees were seen where are now found waving fields of grain. A number of the leading towns and villages of this locality had not yet sprung into existence and the cities were of but little industrial or commercial importance. Much of the farm work was done by hand, for invention had not yet introduced the modern improved farm machinery which has so greatly lessened agricultural labor. As the years have gone by Mr. Jones has been much interested in the work of progress and has always borne his share in the task of general development and upbuilding. His fellow townsmen, too, have entertained for him warm regard because of his strict conformity to a high standard of life. He has been trustworthy and honest in all of his business dealings and has enjoyed to the full the good will and confidence of those with whom he has been associated.

 



JOHN D. LOYD.

 

John D. Loyd has become well known in Licking county as a successful dealer in wool, hides, pelts and poultry, which lines have claimed his attention for twenty years. At a more recent date he extended his efforts to include seeds, grain and feed and is now conducting a good store of that character in Alexandria. He was born in Newark, Ohio, October 15, 1858, his parents being Robert and Mary (Davis) Loyd, both of whom were natives of Wales, although they were married

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 527

 

in this county. They spent their last days in Newark, where Mrs. Loyd passed away at the age of forty-one years, while Mr. Loyd was eighty-four years of age at the time of his demise. He owned a small farm west of Newark and in the city engaged in teaming for many years. Their children were : Elizabeth, a resident of Newark; Thomas; William S., who is living in Granville, this county; John D.; Mary, also of Newark; and Persis, the wife of V. J. Hammond, of Hebron, Ohio.

 

John D. Loyd was only five years of age at the time of his mother's death. When fourteen years of age he came alone to Alexandria and in this district began working by the month as a farm hand. He had been employed in that way from the age of ten years and is truly a self-made man, who owes his success entirely to his own efforts, while his prosperity is the visible evidence of his life of well directed thrift and energy. For eight years he worked by the month as a farm hand for his aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth Charles, who became a widow after Mr. Loyd had been with her for a year. He then assumed the management of two farms, although but a boy of fifteen years, and conducted both until twenty-two years of age, receiving eighteen dollars per month in compensation for his services. Later he entered the employ of John Davis, of Alexandria, in the stock business, remaining with him for about five years, after which he went to Buffalo, New York, where he was employed in the stockyards for eight months. On the expiration of that period he returned to Licking county but soon afterward went to California alone and spent two years there on a ranch, working in the vineyards. On the expiration of that period he again came to Alexandria and with the capital which he had saved from his earnings he established business on his own account in 1889. Here he bought wool, hides, pelts, furs and poultry and has since continued in this line, handling those commodities on quite an extensive scale. Later he extended the scope of his activities by establishing a grain, feed and seed store and is today busily occupied with all of these lines, being recognized as one of the energetic and representative business men of the community. He purchased the block formerly owned by Oriel Jones, of Newark, which he now uses as a warehouse. It is two stories in height with a frontage of sixty-six feet and a depth of one hundred feet. In addition to his other interests he has also been a director of the Alexandria Bank Company since its organization. He possesses firm purpose and will brook no obstacle that can be overcome by determined and honorable effort. Work continuous, persistent work has been the basis of his success, making hith one of the substantial residents of the community.

 

In 1897 Mr. Loyd was united in marriage to Miss Luella Graham, who was born in Morrow county, Ohio, in 1864, a daughter of Benton and Candace (Stover) Graham. Her mother is now deceased but her father still lives in Morrow county. Mr. and Mrs. Loyd are well known here socially and the hospitality of the best homes is freely accorded them. He purchased and remodeled their present fine home and they delight in entertaining their many friends there. Mr.. Loyd was at one time active in the work of the republican party to which he still gives stalwart support. His business interests, however, leave him little leisure for participation in public affairs but as a business man he occupies a prominent place in commercial circles. In his earlier years he could speak, read and write the Welsh language, for it was the language used in his own home. His father had come to Ohio by canal in 1840 and was thus one of the early residents of this part of the state. Mr. Loyd has spent almost his entire life in Licking county,

 

528 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

save for brief absences and he is one of its self-made men, who deserves all of the praise which that term implies. There are comparatively few who have to start out as he did when but ten years of age, but he early resolved to win for himself an honorable place in the business world and his energy and industry are carrying him into important commercial relations.

 

HON. WILLIAM A. ASHBROOK.

 

In the field of political and commercial activity Hon. William A. Ashbrook has won distinction. He is now for the second term representing the seventeenth Ohio district in congress and is equally well known in banking and other business circles. He was born on a farm near Johnstown, July 1, 1867, and is a son of William and Lucy Ashbrook, who were pioneer residents of Monroe township. In the common schools he acquired his education and with characteristic energy has attained his present high position in the industrial, commercial and political world. Before he was eighteen years of age he began the publication of the Johnstown Independent and has since remained at the head of this paper which is now one of the best country journals of the state. It is devoted to the dissemination of general and local interests, is well edited and presents a most neat and attractive appearance, while its increasing circulation makes it an excellent advertising medium. His ability and prominence as a newspaper man has been recognized by the National Editorial Association which elected him secretary. His efforts and activity have been extended to various other lines and he is now the secretary of the Johnstown Building & Loan Association, one of the strongest financial institutions of its kind in the state. He is likewise cashier of the Citizens Bank of Johnstown, besides being connected in an official way with several banking institutions of Licking county.

 

Mr Ashbrook has long been active in political and state affairs and is a stalwart champion of the democracy. He served as postmaster of Johnstown during the first Cleveland administration but never actively entered political life until 1905, when he was nominated for representative from Licking county in the Ohio legislature. The ensuing election indicated his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen for he led the ticket by several hundred votes. During his term as representative, after a three days' convention he was nominated for the sixtieth congress at New Philadelphia June 8, 1906, on the two hundred and seventy-seventh ballot. At the election he received nineteen thousand eight hundred and ninety-two votes against nineteen thousand, four hundred and seventy-seven cast for M. L. Smyser, his republican opponent. He resigned his seat in the Ohio assembly to accept congressional honors and his record in the national law making body during his first term was such that at the convention of his party in 1908 he was recalled by reelection and at the ensuing election held on the 3d of November defeated his opponent by a unanimous plurality of seven thousand five hundred and seventy-two votes, carrying his own county by the largest majority ever given any candidate. This is at once indicative of the commendation which the public has for his official work and also plainly evidences his personal popularity.

 

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 529

 

Mr. Ashbrook was married to Miss Jennie B. Wilson, a member of a prominent pioneer family of Licking county, the wedding being celebrated on the 24th of December, 1889. At a recent date Mr. and Mrs. Ashbrook were with the congressional party that went to Panama to inspect the canal. They are prominent socially and Mr. Ashbrook belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Uniformed Rank, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, while in Masonry he has taken the Knight Templar and the Scottish Rite degrees and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine and of the Eastern Star. Such, in brief, is the life history of Hon. William A. Ashbrook, a man hardly yet in his prime, and his friends at home and abroad predict for him still higher honors in the political life of the state and nation. He is a democrat in politics but men of all parties delight to do him honor. He is held in the highest regard both in Columbus and in Washington, but in his home county has that warm personal friendship which arises from genuine appreciation of personal qualities.

 

DANIEL THOMAS.

 

Daniel Thomas, who is now living retired in Newark, was born in South Wales on the 22d of February, 1832. His parents, David and Mary Thomas, were also natives of that country and there passed away. Their family numbered eleven children, only two of whom survive, namely : Daniel, of this review ; and Griffith, who resides near Red Oak, Iowa.

 

Daniel Thomas acquired his education in the schools of his native land and in 1853 crossed the briny deep to the United States, taking up his abode in Licking county, Ohio. Throughout his entire business career he followed the plasterer's trade, being successfully connected with that line of activity until 1893, when he retired from active life and has since enjoyed the fruits of his former toil in well earned rest. Subsequent to his marriage, which was celebrated in 1856, he lived in Iowa for two years but on the expiration of that period returned to Newark, which has since remained his place of residence. He owns two store buildings and eight attractive and commodious residences in the city of Newark and is widely recognized as one of the substantial and respected citizens of the county. He is a self-made man, deserving of much credit for what he has accomplished in the business world, for though he came to the new world dependent upon his own resources for a livelihood, he has through his close attention, careful management and untiring industry, gained a success which now enables him to spend his remaining days amid all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life.

 

In 1856 Mr. Thomas was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Evans, also a native of Wales, who accompanied her mother on her emigration to the new world in 1841.

 

Mr. Thomas gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has ever taken an active and helpful interest in the local work of the organization, having served for four years as a member of the city council. For more than fifty years he has been a Sunday school teacher in the Congregational church, of which his

 

 

530 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

wife is also a devoted member. Having made his home in this county for more than a half century, he is largely familiar with its annals from a pioneer period down to the present time and is moreover well known and highly esteemed as one of the venerable and worthy residents here.

 

WILLIAM D. BELL.

 

William D. Bell, an enterprising and successful agriculturist, was born in Newton township, Licking county, Ohio, on the 28th of November, 1877, his parents being Meeker and Ellen (Donly) Bell, who were also natives of this county. The father passed away in May, 1908, having for two decades survived his wife, who was called to her final rest in 1888. Unto this worthy couple were born eight children, namely : Mary, who is deceased; Emma, a resident of Newark; Carrie, the wife of Charles Nash, of Newton township ; Dell, the wife of George McClain, of Licking county; William D., of this review; John and Ora, both of whom make their home in Newark; and one who died in infancy.

 

William D. Bell acquired his education in the common schools and remained under the parental roof until he had attained his majority. Subsequently he operated a rented farm for four or five years, on the expiration of which period he purchased a farm of one hundred and thirteen and a half acres in Newton township, in the cultivation of which he has been successfully engaged to the present time. He has placed many substantial improvements on the property and brought the fields into a state of rich fertility, so that he annually harvests good crops and derives therefrom a gratifying income.

 

September 20, 1900, Mr. Bell was united in marriage to Miss Seba Keller, a' native of Licking county and a daughter of Jacob Keller, who is mentioned on another page of this work. Unto our subject and his wife lave been born three children : Margaret, Leslie W. and Donald D.

 

In his political views Mr. Bell is a democrat, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Congregational church, with which his wife is also identified. Although still a young man, he has already won a gratifying and well nrrited measure of prosperity in his farming operations and both he and his wife are 'widely and favorably known throughout this county, where they have spent their entire lives.

 

J. E. HOUSE.

 

J. E. House, who owns and operates an excellent farm in Licking township, and is one of its worthy and enterprising citizens, was born on the tract of land he now cultivates, February 24, 1873, his grandfather, John House, having come to this district at an early date with his family, among whom was William, father of the subject of this review, a native of Pennsylvania, who was then but two years of age. Settling on a tract of land which was then in a primitive condition he

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 531

 

cleared and put it in condition for cultivation and there erected a log cabin which was their first dwelling. There William House was reared and subsequently was united in marriage to Effie Naylor, a native of Jefferson county, this state, who still survives, residing with her son, J. E. House, while her husband, who departed this life in 1897, was laid to rest in the Hebron cemetery in Union township. He was a man well thought of throughout this vicinity, and during his career his great energy and enterprise enabled him to so prosper that at the time of his death he owned two hundred and eighty-six acres of arable land. In politics he was a republican, his influence having been felt in local affairs inasmuch as he was a great advocate of improvements. He was also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. In his family were three children, namely : Emma, wife of Oscar Pennington; Cora, who resides with her brother; and J. E.

 

On his father's farm J. E. House was reared and there he acquired his knowledge of the art of husbandry, and during his boyhood days obtained his education in the district schools. After completing his studies he devoted his entire time to the pursuit of agriculture on the home farm, where he has since resided. He owns one hundred and five acres of land, the soil of which is in excellent Condition for raising general crops, and the premises being provided with all the appurtenances necessary to pursue agriculture, his farm is one of the most desirable in the township. Mr. House has been quite successful in raising general crops such as wheat, oats and corn, and also in breeding stock, which he carries on on a small scale. His home is one of the fine country residences.

 

On the 23d of December, 1896, Mr. House wedded Miss Nellie Gray, a native of this county, by whom he has had four children, namely : William, John Benton, Pearl and Harold. The principles of the republican party have always appealed to Mr. House as worthy of his support, and at general elections he regularly casts his vote for its candidates. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife is a member, and an energetic worker. Mr. House is a young man, and the aggressive spirit which he has thus far evidenced has already greatly added to his prosperity. Being a man of exceptional energy his enterprise will doubtless open up for him further opportunities so that he shall be able to be of even greater worth to the community than he is at present. His conduct is such as to merit the respect of all who know him, and being straightforward in his business transactions he is considered one of the township's most reliable citizens.

 

DAVID C. BROOKS.

 

David C. Brooks, who for many years was a noted educator in this state and who has rendered noble service as a lay preacher but is now engaged in agricultural pursuits in Liberty township, Licking county, where his ancestors have pursued the same occupation for more than a century, is a native son of this township, his birth having here occurred September 16, 1836. His parents were David and Jane (Butler) Brooks, his mother a native of McKean township and his father of the state of Maine. David Brooks came to this county in 1818 and two years later settled in Liberty township, where he actively engaged in the pursuits of agricul- 

 

532 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

ture and stock-raising until he departed this life in November, 1896, having survived his wife seven years. He was a man of considerable prominence throughout the community and, owing to his enterprising spirit and excellent qualities, he was esteemed by all who knew him, so that his memory will long linger among the residents of this county as that of a useful and noble man.

 

In the general routine of his father's farm David C. Brooks spent his boyhood days and in the meantime attended the district schools, where he pursued the course of study taught there. He next entered Hartford Academy and, upon being graduated from that institution, was matriculated as a student in Denison University, at Granville, where he was graduated when twenty years of age. Immediately afterward he engaged in teaching, which profession he followed until he was forty-five years of age. In the year 1864 he moved to Hancock county and was made superintendent of schools at Vanlue, at the same time engaging in general merchandising. Returning to Alexandria, this county, in the year 1865, he became superintendent of schools, which position he held for a period of two years, at the expiration of which time he relinquished the duties of that profession and returned to his farm in Liberty township, where he now resides. He was considered one of the most efficient teachers in the county and during his incumbency as superintendent of the several schools over which he presided he won great popularity for his learning and at the same time for his executive ability. Mr. Brooks, since resorting to agriculture, has been as successful in this occupation as he was as an educator. In connection with general farming and stock-raising he still to some extent engages in teaching, teaching private pupils when called upon by the residents of the community. His studious habits have led him to delve deeply into the literature pertaining to farming and, consequently, he has infused many novel and progressive ideas into his work, which have enabled him to follow agriculture by the most modern principles. His farm is well improved and under a high state of cultivation and, having made a profound study of the nature of the soils and or the adaptation as well of the rotation of crops, he is one of the most successful agriculturists in this section of the country, deriving from the ground the maximum yield per acre for the production of hay and the various cereals.

 

On October 23, 1862, Mr. Brooks was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Miller, daughter of John and Nancy (Sommerville) Miller, their families being 'of prominence in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks are parents of six children, namely : Ooloos; Nina May, who became the wife of William A. Rusler ; Jennie L., the widow of Edward Bishop ; J. Miller; Willoughby D.; and Leota E.

 

Mr. Brooks has always taken a great interest in the Grange, having been master of that organization in Alexandria and also the organizer of the seventeen granges in this county. His studious habits and wide knowledge have enabled him to be of great benefit to farmers and he has introduced many new features into the various departments of that occupation. He is one of the most highly respected men in the county and as an evidence of the great confidence in which he is held, he has been chosen to serve in every office of the township except that of constable and is now officiating as justice of the peace, having been performing the duties of that position for the past twelve years. Until the, year 1896 he gave his political allegiance to the republican party but since that, time has broken away from partisanship and now takes the stand of an independent, asserting his right during elections of casting his vote and using his influence towards the election of candi-

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 533

 

dates whom in his judgment he considers best qualified to promote the interests of the commonwealth. He is a stanch advocate of general public improvements, particularly of good roads. He has always been an advocate of an excellent school system, and has been instrumental in doing much toward bringing the schools of this country up to the required standard and keeping them in line with the progress of the times.

 

In church work Mr. Brooks is equally as active and enthusiastic as he is in political affairs. Although he was never ordained as a minister of the gospel, yet, his noble character and solicitation to do all he can for the moral and spiritual uplift of the community and to spread the glad tidings of the gospel, in which he finds the only hope of mankind and the restoration of society, has placed himself before the world as a minister and he has done much good in performing the duties of that office in many of the churches scattered throughout this and adjoining counties. He is a Wesleyan Methodist in religious faith and has always been an energetic worker both in the church and Sunday school. He is now a member of the board of trustees of the Congregational church at Alexandria and for years was superintendent of the Sunday school of that organization. Mr. Brooks is a highly educated man and one of refinement and culture and is known within a wide radius as one of the most valued representatives of the county.

 

ALLEN BARB.

 

Allen Barb, who owns a fine farm on the Hebron road in Etna township, where he makes a specialty of the dairy business, was born where he now resides October 23, 1863, and over a century ago when this part of Licking county was a vast forest, having in it scarcely an acre of developed land, his great-grandparents came from Virginia, settling in Rushville, Fairfield county, with their family. Among their sons was Bathuel Barb, who there wedded Elizabeth Sturgeon, with whom he subsequently removed to a farm situated one and a half miles east of that on which his grandson Alva Barb resides, and there they spent their remaining days. In their family were four children, namely: Robert, Allen, Alva, and Hester Jane. In this part of the country the maternal grandfather of Allen Barb also settled and bore the reputation of being the most powerful man physically in this part of the state, holding the record for being able to lift a full barrel of whiskey as high as his head and thus imbibing of its contents.

 

Robert Barb, father of the subject of this review, was born in Rushville, Fairfield county, September 5, 1835, and spent a great deal of his time in this township where he owned an eighty-acre farm, also possessing a farm containing one hundred acres in Fairfield county and another embracing twenty acres in Truro township, Franklin county, and after a useful career devoted to agriculture he departed this life March 9, 1906, in Reynoldsburg, in which place he had been living in retirement. His wife, Mary Ann Harmon, is a native of Etna township, where her birth occurred in July, 1838, and a daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Myers) Harmon, natives of Maryland who with their parents settled in Lancaster, Fairfield county, this state, where they were united in marriage. Mr. Har-

 

534 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

mon, who later removed to Etna township, where he cleared and cultivated a farm, passed away here in 1859, when in his sixtieth year. They reared a family of seven children : Orphie, Jacob, John, Sarah, Mary Ann, James Charles and Jane. To Mr. and Mrs. Barb were born: Jane, wife of M. D. Brock, of Summit Station; Allen; Harry, a resident of Fairfield county ; and Corrie, who lives in Reynoldsburg.

 

On his father's farm in this township Allen Barb spent his boyhood days and while assisting in the duties of the fields also attended the district schools, where he acquired his education. In 1878 he removed with his parents to their farm in Truro township, Franklin county, where he remained for ten years, at the termination of that time returning to his present place where he has since resided, cultivating one hundred and sixty acres of land located on the Hebron road, and here in connection with general farming he makes a specialty of dairying. This farm has always been in possession of the family and is bounded on the south by Fairfield county and on the west by Franklin county and, having had many years of careful attention it is in excellent condition and is one of the finest for the production of general crops in this part of the county.

 

In 1887 Mr. Barb wedded Elizabeth Bender, a native of Franklin county, where she was born September 15, 1866, and a daughter of Lewis and Helen (Ruppert) Bender, natives of Germany, both of whom passed away in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Barb have eight children : Frances, deceased; Eva ; Lewis; Robert; Hazel, deceased; Lloyd, deceased ; Ruth and Lawrence. Politically Mr. Barb is a strong prohibitionist and, believing that the prosperity of the country is more or less dependent upon the health and habits of its citizens and that the liquor traffic is detrimental and at the same time the arch degrader of morals, he stands on the side of those who are opposed to the manufacture and sale of intoxicants and, believing that the prohibition party must finally win, inasmuch as it is fundamentally right, he always votes that ticket and as far as possible uses his influence in the community to induce the citizens to espouse and advance its sentiments. He is greatly interested in the moral welfare of the neighborhood and, being upright in all his dealings and one who upholds all measures designed for the public good, he merits the reputation of being one of the township's most worthy citizens.

 



GEORGE W. VAN FOSSEN.

 

One of the venerable and honored citizens of Monroe township is George W. Van Fossen, who is now past the eighty-seventh milestone on life's journey. He was born October 11, 1821, in Bennington township, Licking county, and is therefore one of the oldest native sons living in this part of the state. Great changes have occurred within his memory. In his boyhood days the homes of the settlers were largely small log cabins scattered here and there in the midst of the dense forest, for the work of progress and improvement seemed scarcely begun. His parents, Jesse and Catherine (Greiner) Van Fossen, came to Licking county in 1811 from Augusta county, Virginia, and settled in Burlington township. All

 

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 537

 

around them was the green woods and there were still many evidences of Indian occupancy in this part of the state. Deer and many kinds of lesser game were to be had in abundance and there were other evidences of frontier life here. Many of the now populous and enterprising and prosperous cities had not then been founded nor had the county organizations in many districts been effected. The Van Fossens resolutely took up the task of establishing a home on the frontier and became factors in the pioneer development of this part of the state. They had been married in Virginia, September 11, 1807, and two children were born unto them ere their removal to Ohio. George W. Van Fossen was the seventh in a family of thirteen children, nine sons and four daughters. Both parents have long since passed away, but during their life of activity they left the stamp of their individuality for good upon the community. The father was one of the first to begin clearing the land and in course of time became one of the large landowners of the locality. He was a man of considerable influence, whose opinions came to be recognized as valuable concerning matters of public importance.

 

As a boy and young man George W. Van Fossen assisted in the arduous task of clearing the land and developing the fields. The forests were full of wolves and other wild beasts that frequently made the nights hideous with their howling. Game of all kinds was plentiful and the farmer boy was usually a hunter, early becoming skilled in the use of the rifle, his ability in this direction enabling him to keep the family larder well supplied with game. From his little log cabin home he made his way through the forest to another little log building, where he received instruction in the rudimentary branches of learning. In those days the requirements of teachers were not so rigid as at present and comparatively little instruction was given beyond reading, writing and arithmetic, and perhaps grammar and geography. Amid such surroundings, with plenty of hard work in the woods and in the cultivation of the fields, George W. Van Fossen grew to manhood.

 

On the 15th of April, 1847, he was united in marriage to Miss Fanny Lake, a daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth (English) Lake, who came to Ohio from the state of Virginia at an early date and settled near Zanesville. Six children were born unto them : Catherine, now the wife of Harmon Baker; James M.; Rovenna P.; Lucinda M., now deceased; Julia A., the wife of Horton Green; and one who died in infancy. 4 James M. Van Fossen resides on what was formerly his father's farm, two miles north of Johnstown. In 1874 he wedded Miss Anna Tippy, a daughter of James and Levina (Green) Tippy, of Monroe township. Her father, who had attained the venerable age of eighty-two years at the time of his demise, was born, reared and died on the same farm. Mr. and Mrs. James Van Fossen have three children : Clyde, who is on the home farm; Delmon, a resident of Detroit, Michigan; and Stella, the wife of Frank Needles.

 

Mr. Van Fossen has spent his entire life in one locality. As the years passed he became a successful farmer and stock-raiser and was among the most active and influential men of the neighborhood, always progressive, while his influence has been of great good. In the evening of life he can look back over the past without regret and forward to the future without fear. He has the respect, confidence and good will of the people who have long known him He has been straightforward in his dealings with his fellowmen, energetic and active in his business life and thoroughly loyal in all matters of citizenship. He has always 

 

538 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

given his political allegiance to the democracy and still votes with that party. His memory forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present, for lie has lived to see notable and remarkable changes here. In his youthful days there were no railroads, no mowing machines, harvesters, binders or threshing machines. The greater put of the farm work was done by hand, but invention has wrought a change in all this and in his farm work Mr. Van Fossen kept in touch with the trend of general progress and delighted in what was accomplished for the county's benefit and improvement.

 

JOHN WESLEY INNIS.

 

John Wesley Innis, a prosperous agriculturist of Etna township, now retired, who is the proprietor of what is known as the Summer Lee farm, on which he had for many years engaged in producing general crops and in stock-raising, was born near New Athens, Harrison county, Ohio, April 5, 1831, a son of Robert J. and Mary ( Webb) Innis, natives of that county. His paternal grandparents, Robert and Mary (Lloyd) Innis, were natives of Pennsylvania and were stanch Quakers. In their family were eight children : James, Henry, Robert, John, deceased ; Mary, Hannah, Katherine and Betsy. In the family of Robert Innis, Jr., were also eight children, namely : John Wesley ; Hannah, who departed this life in childhood; Mary ; Robert, of Columbus, Ohio; William, who met death from injuries received by falling from a tree; Jacob, who resides in California; Elizabeth ; and Amy.

 

John Wesley Innis was but two years of age when his parents removed to Clinton township, Franklin county, Ohio, where they settled upon a farm containing one hundred acres, and there in the neighboring schools he acquired his education. "He remained upon the home farm actively engaged in the pursuit of agriculture until he was twenty-four years old, but in the meantime taught school during the winter seasons and at intervals also traveled throughout several states, selling The History of Slavery and The American Encyclopedia. Subsequently he purchased a sixty-acre farm on the Westerville road, where he tilled his fields until the year 1867, when he established his residence at Wagram in Etna township. Upon his arrival here he purchased a farm of four hundred and fifty acres from Henry Miller, of Columbus, Ohio. At the time he negotiated for the land his sole capital was one thousand dollars while the price asked was twenty thousand dollars. However, he determined to take the risk and paid Mr. Miller all the money he had. In a short time after taking possession of the property he had cleared a portion which he disposed of at double the price he paid for it and there being on the remainder large forests of valuable timber, lie manufactured it into flooring which he hauled fourteen miles to Columbus. To a Mr. Carlisle, who was at that time one of the most prominent contractors of Columbus, he disposed of one hundred thousand feet of white ash, the sale of this timber greatly decreasing his indebtedness and making the way clear to a full deed to the property. His farm now contains two hundred and six acres, all of which he has highly improved and upon which, together with other substantial buildings, he has an ele-

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 539

 

gant residence of modern architecture which is supplied with every modern convenience. He engages in general farming and stock-raising, paying particular attention to breeding cattle and sheep, having two hundred head of registered Merino stock and ten head of the finest specimens of mulch cows. He also pays some attention to feeding cattle for the market. During the Civil war Mr. Innis, although he did not participate in any of the engagements of that strife, found time to aid his country and was called upon to serve for several weeks as a guard over the prisoners confined at Camp Chase.

 

On September 18, 1861, Mr. Innis wedded Caroline G. Allen, whose birth occurred January 18, 1838, and who departed this life December 8, 1871. They were parents of five children : Hattie, deceased; Annie May, who became the wife of Frank Brown, of Columbus, Ohio ; William A., who died in infancy; James H., who met with an accident with a runaway team, which caused his death at the age of ten years ; and Carrie 0., who passed away in her twenty-third year. On April 16, 1872, Mr. Innis married Mary Etta Scofield, who was born in Etna township July 29, 1842, a daughter of Grant and Mary Ann (Parker) Scofield, her father having been a native of Washington county, New York, where he was born October 20, 1814, and his wife of Granville, this county, where her birth occurred May 20, 1821. They passed away here in their seventy-seventh and seventy-third years, respectively. In their family were five children : Henrietta, Mary Etta, Louis L., Horace G. and Caroline Belle. Mr. and Mrs. Innis have the following children : Nettie Belle; Mary, who became the wife of D. Willard Evans, residents of Jefferson township, Franklin county ; and Byron S., who married Stella Richey, of Harrison township. He owns a fine residence in Wagram and operates his father's farm. Two sons, Charles and Lewis, departed this life in infancy.

 

Mr. Innis is a republican in politics and has taken considerable interest in local affairs, having been postmaster at Wagram for thirteen years, handling the mail at his residence for about ten years. He has also served as road supervisor and as a member of the school board. His long active career has been of great usefulness to the community, and he is known as one of the township's most prosperous and worthy characters.

 

LORA L. MARRIOTT, M. D.

 

Dr. Lora L. Marriott, a successful and well known medical practitioner of St. Louisville, was born in Eden township, Licking county, Ohio, September 18, 1870, his parents being George W. and Elizabeth (Larason) Marriott, the former a native of Licking county, and the latter of Knox county, this state. The mother was called to her final rest in 1874, but the father still survives and is numbered among the worthy residents of his native county. Unto this worthy couple were born two children : Amzi A., living in Columbus; and Lora L., of this review.

 

The last-named supplemented his preliminary education by three years' attendance at the high school and in .1892 he entered the medical college at Indianapolis, Indiana, from which institution he was graduated in 1896. Locating as a practi-

 

540 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

tioner at Hebron, he there remained six months and on the expiration of that period came to St. Louisville, where he has since been numbered among the prosperous and able representatives of his chosen calling. Moreover, he keeps in close touch with the progress made by the profession through his membership in the Licking County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is likewise surgeon for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad between Newark and Mount Vernon.

 

On July 22, 1897, Dr. Marriott was joined in wedlock to Miss F. Indus Madden, whose birth occurred at Reynoldsburg, Ohio, in 1877, her parents being Rev. T. N. and Virginia Madden. The father was born in Ohio in 1828 and the mother first opened her eyes to the light of day in Virginia in 1833. They are both still living and make their home in Hebron, where the Rev. Madden is still engaged in preaching the gospel. They became the parents of twelve children, of whom ten yet survive. Mrs. Marriott, who is a graduate of the Hebron high school, taught school for six years with gratifying success.

 

Dr. Marriott gives stalwart allegiance to the men and measures of the democracy and is at present serving as county coroner, which position he has filled for three years. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias lodge, No. 555, at Utica, has filled all the chairs in the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and likewise belongs to Maccabee Tent, No. 240, and the Modern Woodmen of America at Newark. Both he and his wife are devoted members of the Disciple church, and make their home in a commodious and attractive residence which the Doctor owns in St. Louisville. A man of genial nature and courteous disposition, he enjoys the kindly regard and esteem of all with whom he has been associated in professional or social relations.

 

EDSON POUND.

 

Among the industrious and enterprising agriculturists who have come from New York state to Newton township, Licking county, and have won prosperity in tilling the soil is Edson Pound, whose birth occurred in Orange county, New York, January 24,-1842, a son of Isaac and Sarah J. (Carr) Pound, who were also natives of the Empire state. In 1848 Isaac Pound took up his abode in Licking county, Ohio, purchased land and continued to make his home here until he passed away in 1894, at the venerable age of eighty-five years. His widow, surviving him for a number of years, was called to her final rest in 1903, when she had attained the age of eighty-nine years. Their family numbered ten children, namely Joseph, of this county ; Nelson, deceased; Henry S., living in New York ; Isaac and Samuel, who have also passed away; Edson, of this review ; Mary E., the wife of O. J. Green, of Licking county ; Sarah E., who is deceased; Ellen, the wife of P. Atherlon, of Delaware ; and Isabelle, deceased.

 

After acquiring his education in the common schools, Edson Pound was apprenticed to a carpenter with whom he learned his trade and, having become a journeyman, he pursued the occupation for a period of six years, when he went to Montana on a gold-seeking expedition and, after remaining there for about one year,

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 541

 

 

he came back home. Six weeks later lie returned to his native state and secured a position as fireman on the Erie railroad, which position he held for about a year. Subsequently he came again to this county, locating in Newton township, where lie has since engaged in general farming and stock-raising with the exception of four years spent in the general merchandise business in Newark. His farm consists of seventy-five acres of the finest valley land and from time to time he has put such improvements upon it in the way of buildings, machinery and drainage system as to make it one of the most productive farms in the county. Here he raises the cereals best adapted to soil and climate and at the same time gives some attention to stock-raising.

 

In 1866 Mr. Pound was united in marriage to Miss Dollie M. Stone, a native of Orange county, New York, and a daughter of Uriah and Mary (Dodge) Stone, a record of her father appearing in another portion of this volume. To this union was born a daughter, Clara G., who is deceased. Mrs. Pound having departed this life in 1872, Mr. Pound was united in marriage to Catherine J. Magill, a native of Newton township, where she was born October 2, 1852, and a daughter of John and Matilda Magill, her father having been a native of Pennsylvania and her mother of old Virginia. They came to this county at an early date and lived here until they entered into eternity, leaving a family of four children, one of which is now Mrs. Edson Pound.

 

Mr. Pound is a stanch democrat and one of the most pronounced in the county in the defense of its principles, to which he has given a profound and minute study which has long since brought him to the conclusion that they contain those policies best suited to establish the finances of the country upon a firm and immovable foundation and to insure the nation's permanent prosperity. He is one of the most active workers during election times and does all in his power by his vote and influence to put the candidates of his party in the offices they seek. He is an ardent church worker and, with his wife, attends divine services at the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a liberal supporter. Mr. Pound is an honorable man, highly respected throughout the community and one whose industry and example have done much toward preserving the welfare and interests of the township.

 

ISAAC NEWTON MILBURN.

 

Isaac Newton Milburn, a substantial farmer of Lima township and a veteran of the Civil war, is a representative of a pioneer family of this part of the state who trace their ancestry beyond colonial days. He was born in McKean township, November 13, 1834. He comes of English ancestry, his great-grandfather being a native of Londonbridge, England. The grandfather was John Milburn, a native of the Keystone state, who served five years in the Revolutionary war, in which he took part in seventeen battles and was wounded in the engagement at Brandywine. The parents of I. N. Milburn were Andrew and Elizabeth (Bowers) Milburn, who were natives of Greene county, Pennsylvania, where they were born on January 22, 1792, and August 12, 1799, respectively. There they were united in marriage in the year 1819 and in October, 1831, repaired to this county, locating in McKean township. Mr. Milburn purchased one hundred acres of timber

 

542 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

land for the sum of three hundred dollars and, having cleared off the tract, kept it under cultivation until he departed this life, August 5, 1858, his wife surviving him twenty-five years. He enlisted for military service during the war of 1812, but did not experience active service. Isaac Newton Milburn is one of ten children, the others being Uriah, Mrs. Mary Ann CritchCommingsda, John, Mrs. Rachel Conunings, Mrs. Elizabeth Martin, Mrs. Rebecca Gosnell, all of whom are deceased; A. J., of St. Albans township ; and Mrs. Sarah Ellen Harris, of Alexandria, St. Albans township.

 

After acquiring his education in the district schools of his native township, Mr. Milburn remained at home engaging in the duties of the farm until he enlisted, September 10, 1861, in Company H, Thirty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Captain John H. Putnam, and served in the Army of the Cumberland, taking part in the battles at Stone river, Hoovers Gap, Dalton, Buzzards Roost, Missionary Ridge and in many during the Atlanta campaign. During his military career he was taken ill and was compelled to spend two months in the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee. Upon receiving his honorable discharge at Atlanta, Georgia, on September 19, 1864, lie returned to Lima township, where he resumed farming, and after his marriage in 1865 he bought a dwelling at New Way, Liberty township, where he resided for several years and then returned to McKean township, where he remained until 1883, when he bought his present farm, consisting of seventeen acres located on Broadway, one mile east of Summit Station, Lima township. In addition to raising general crops he has paid considerable attention to fruit growing, making a specialty of strawberries, for the excellence of which product he is known throughout the county.

 

On February 9, 1865, Mr. Milburn wedded Jennie Rush, a native of Kirkersville, this county, where her birth occurred December 3, 1843, and a daughter of Benjamin and Katharine (Amspaugh) Rush, natives of Licking and Fairfield counties respectively. Mr. Rush departed this life before the birth of his daughter, Jennie, while his wife, who later was united in marriage to Serephus Martin, lived to the age of eighty-four years. By her first husband she had seven children, five of whom lived to maturity : Mary Elizabeth and Francis, both of whom are deceased; Benjamin, who served in the Seventy-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, deceased ; George C., of Company B, One Hundred and Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, who lost his life in a battle at Shelbyville, Tennessee, July 1, 1863; and Jennie. Mr. and Mrs. Milburn are the parents of three sons and a daughter : Rev. Ulysses Sumner Milburn, who was educated at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, and is pastor of the Universalist church at Oneonta, that state; Florence, the wife of. J. L. Converse, of Union county; Edwin Roy, clerk and freight agent for the railroad at Chicago Junction, Ohio, who wedded Laura Van Blarcom and has three children, Florence H., Leona M. and Ray ; and John F., freight agent at the same place, who is united in marriage with Iva D. Snyder.

 

Mr. Milburn is a representative citizen of the county and throughout his life has been a stanch supporter of the democratic party, being a firm believer in the fundamental nature of its principles to which he has given thoughtful study and which he is convinced contain the secret of the nation's financial power and permanent prosperity. Being a deep student of economics and general political issues in relation to the welfare of the country, he has become profoundly conversant along these lines and has won considerable distinction as a writer of political

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 543

 

articles. He is a man of broad sympathy who looks upon the world with kindness, always labored for and desiring the best. He is actively affiliated with the Universalist church at Summit Station, which he assisted in organizing and of which he is clerk and a member of the board of deacons. He is a charter member of Baird Post, No. 653, G. A. R., of Pataskala, and was one of those who were instrumental in banding the comrades together in this organization. Mr. Milburn is a man of strong character who has not only labored industriously to increase his pecuniary interests but has, as well, marked out a way of uprightness in life and, as a consequence, is not only in prosperous circumstances but also enjoys respect of the entire community.

 

DAVID McINTOSH.

 

David McIntosh, a prosperous farmer and representative citizen of Lima township, was born two miles and a half west of Newark on the Newark and Columbus road, March 20, 1833, a son of William and Jane (Wright) McIntosh. His grandfather, a native of Scotland and a weaver by occupation, went to Ireland in his early days and there spent the remainder of his life. In that country he married and reared a family of seven children, three sons and two daughters having departed this life there, while one daughter and one son settled in the new world. William McIntosh was born in Londonderry, Ireland, and died in this county in 1815, in his seventy-eighth year. With his first wife he came to the new world when twenty-four years of age, first settling in Virginia and later in Newark township, this county. He was a cooper by trade, and followed this occupation throughout his life. In Newark township his first wife passed away, leaving the following children: John, Robert, William, Mary, Mattie, Sarah, Emily, Evelyn and Eliza. His second marriage was to the widow of James Berry and a daughter of William Wright who, with his wife, came to this country from Ireland and settled in Pennsylvania, where Mrs. McIntosh was born. To this union was born the following children : Josiah ; Caroline, deceased; Melissa, deceased; and David. Their mother departed this life in the year 1858.

 

David McIntosh was a year old when his parents removed to the farm in Lima township. Almost the entire district at this time was thickly covered with forest trees, there being but small clearings surrounding the log cabins, which were scattered throughout the region. Here in the district school he acquired his education and then continued to live and work on his father's farm until the year 1893, also following the carpenter trade at intervals. He then purchased his present farm on the Broadway or Columbus and Newark road, midway between Summit and Pataskala. The farm contains about one hundred acres of highly improved land and in addition to a comfortable home, which was erected in 1869 by George W. Gilbert, there are also numerous outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock, and every convenience with which to successfully follow agriculture. Besides general farming, he has for the past ten years made a special feature of dairying and for this purpose keeps on hand a number of head of fine cows. He expects soon, however, to remove to Summit Station and turn his farm over to his son.

 

544 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

In the year 1857 Mr. McIntosh wedded Catherine E. Salts, who was born in Adams county, July 17, 1837, and came to this country in childhood with her parents, Andrew and Eliza (Neff) Salts. Her paternal grandparents were Hughey and Elizabeth (Hively) Salts, the former having been a soldier in the war of 1812. The mother of Mrs. McIntosh was a native of Fairfield county, Ohio, and a daughter of Christian and Betsy (Boos) Neff, natives of Germany, who became pioneer settlers of Fairfield county. Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh were the parents of the following children : Lottie, wife of Henry Looker, of Kansas; Belle, who wedded Richard. St. Clair, of Mount Gilead, Morrow county, Ohio; William A., of Taylor-town, Franklin county ; Xenophan, of Newark ; Laura, wife of J. T. Shawen, of Summit Station; Emma, deceased; Burt, of Taylortown, whose twin brother, Milton, died in his fourth year, in December, 1876; Charles, who passed away when six years of age in December, 1876; Herbert, who resides in Columbus, Ohio; Ernest J., of this township ; Emerson Gail, of Summit Station; Reason Rexford, now married and on the home farm ; and Elnora, now the wife of Jesse Dysart. Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh have twenty grandchildren and one great-grandchild. On June 11, 1907, they celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary and on that occasion there were four hundred and fifty guests.

 

Mr. McIntosh has been a life-long democrat and since April, 1878, he has officiated in the office of justice of the peace, as candidate for which he has never had opposition, and in addition to having served the township as trustee he has for the past twenty years been a notary public. Since the year 1869 he has been a popular member of Lodge No. 404, A. F. & A. M., at Pataskala. He is a man whose enterprise and straightforward dealings have won him the respect of his fellow citizens, and the rest from business which he expects now to enjoy has been worthily gained.

 



J. MILTON WRIGHT.

 

J. Milton Wright well deserves mention in a history of Johnstown and Licking county. He was for a long period closely associated with the agricultural interests of this part of the state and his careful management of affairs brought him the success which be is now enjoying and which enables him to live retired. He was born April 11, 1838, in Liberty township, and is a son of Wade F. and Mary (Hultz) Wright. The father came from Vermont with his parents in 1816 and was a direct descendant of a distinguished English family, tracing the ancestry to Samuel Wright, whose family had a coat of arms. He came from England to Connecticut, where he arrived on the 16th of May, 1675, after having bravely faced the dangers incident to a trip across the ocean at that day. His grandson, Simeon Wright, valiantly espoused the cause of the colonies and fought for the independence of the nation in the Revolutionary army, while his son, Simeon Wright, Jr., was a captain in the Thirtieth United States Infantry in the war of 1812. The last named was the grandfather of J. Milton Wright. He married Miss Susanna Abbott, a member of a prominent English family, and removed westward to Licking county, Ohio, in 1816, where he located on a farm three miles from Johnstown.

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 547

 

They made the journey on horseback and endured many hardships while on the trip, which was practically through an unbroken wilderness. In the midst of the forest they established their new home, becoming farming people of this locality. They prospered on the frontier, for they possessed a courageous spirit and willing hands, and bravely met the hardships and difficulties incident to frontier life.

 

J. Milton Wright in his youthful days assisted in clearing the land and in the general work of the farm, while his early education was acquired in one of the old-time log schoolhouses of the county. Later, however, he had the benefit of instruction in the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware. He then resumed farming and as the years passed met with success and made further investment in property. He now owns a fine farm in Liberty and one in St. Albans township and engaged extensively in general agricultural pursuits and stock-raising. In more recent years he has largely put aside the work of the farm and makes his home in Johnstown, although he still supervises his farming interests and from the rental of his properties derives a substantial income each year.

 

On the 8th of May, 1890, Mr. Wright was united in marriage to Miss Rose Green, a daughter of Andrew C. and Matilda (Smart) Green, whose grandfather, George Green, came from Virginia and settled in what is now Monroe township, Licking county, in 1806. He built the first frame dwelling in this county at a time when Newark constituted only a few log cabins. One daughter has been born unto Mr. and Mrs. Wright, Eva L. The family home is a center in the social life of Johnstown and its hospitality is one of its most attractive features. Mr. Wright is a member of the school board. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, while socially he is connected with the Masons and with the Knights of Pythias and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, while its teachings have proved the guiding force in his life and the basic element in all of his honorable relations with his fellowmen. He is today one of the oldest native sons of the county, having for more than three score years and ten been a witness of the progress and development of this part of the state, rejoicing in what has been accomplished, while in his own business career he has won success that results from close application and persistent effort.

 

C. B. WILSON.

 

C. B. Wilson, well known as a successful and energetic agriculturist of Newton township, was born in Newark township, Licking county, Ohio, April 10, 1865, his parents being David D., who was born February 14, 1825, and Catherine (Dinsmore) Wilson, born May 24, 1825, both natives of this state. The father, who carried on farming as a life work, passed away in July, 1907, but the mother is still living in Newark township, having attained the age of eighty-three years. Unto them were born two children : one who died in infancy; and C. B., of this review. The last named obtained a good practical education in the public schools and after attaining his majority rented a part of the home farm, in the operation of which he was engaged for thirteen years. On the expiration of that period lie bought the farm of ninety-six and three-fourths acres in Newton township, on

 

548 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

which he has since resided, having brought the fields under a high state of cultivation and development. He is practical in his methods and as the result of his well directed labor he yearly harvests good crops, for which he finds a ready sal on the market. April 29, 1890, Mr. Wilson was united in marriage to Miss Id M. English, whose birth occurred in Newark township March 1, 1867, her parent being. Nathaniel and Margaret English, both of whom are now deceased. Mrs Wilson was one of a family of six children and by her marriage has become th mother of two, namely : Ray, born September 9, 1892; and Delta Grace, who wa born March 5, 1897, and passed away June 25, 1903.

 

Mr. Wilson is a stalwart democrat in his political views and has capabl served as trustee. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons in Mary An township, being now junior deacon of the lodge. He also belongs to Moder Woodmen Camp, No. 4727, at Newark, and is serving as elder in the Methodis Episcopal church, of which his wife is likewise a devoted member. Throughou their entire lives, or for more than four decadethisthey have been residents of thi county and the regard and esteem which is uniformly accorded them is but merited tribute to their genuine personal worth.

 

David D. Wilson was twice married. His first wife was a Miss Stewart. The had three children, two girls who died in infancy, and Isaac W., who resides o the old homestead in Newark township.

 

ISAAC R. THARP.

 

Isaac R. Tharp, a prominent and prosperous farmer of Lima township, ha under cultivation a tract of land which his grandfather, who bore the same name settled in the year 1820. His grandsire was a native of Hardy county, Virginia born in the year 1796 and it was under peculiar circumstances that he came int possession of this tract of land, which contains one hundred and sixty acres and located two and one-half miles north of Summit Station, on Summit road. This farm was considered a valuable portion of the district and among others, wh wished to obtain it, was Leonard Lonis, who, knowing that Mr. Tharp was anxious to settle upon the tract, determined if possible to reach the land office at Chillicothe first and secure possession of the section and to this end, as soon as he had hea of the intentions of his competitor, he started out on horseback to accomplish hi purpose. In the meantime Mr. Tharp was not slumbering and, upon learning that Mr. Lonis was about to make the trip to the land office, he too started out at th same time for that place on foot and, owing to the nature of the country, he wa able to facilitate the journey by short cuts and succeeded in reaching the land office first and had just passed through the doorway when Mr. Lonis rode up. Mr. Thar secured the tract of land and Mr. Lonis acquiesced and good naturedly located on th farm adjoining him. Mr. Tharp's first work on the new land was the building of small log cabin, eight by twelve feet, in 1819, in the construction of which he wa assisted by Andrew Beem, who owned an adjoining piece of property, and in May, 1820, he took up his abode on the farm. One year later Mr. Tharp returned to his native state, where hey was married, and in the following spring he and his wife

 

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 549

 

set out for Ohio on horseback, bringing with them all their effects. The journey was long, rough and arduous but, both being young and vigorous, they bravely met the hardships of the trip and of the nights when they were forced to camp out under the blue canopy, regardless of the variable weather, and finally reached their new home in safety. His wife was Mary Magdalen Swisher, whose birth occurred in Hardy county, Virginia, in 1798, and who departed this life on their farm in Lima township in the year 1865. The cabin which Mr. Tharp constructed was made out of pole logs, and in the year 1827 he replaced his first cabin by one made of sawed logs and in this building the couple lived comfortably until the year 1856, when he supplanted the old log cabin by the present more convenient and modern building It is almost needless to mention that when Mr. Tharp settled on this tract of land it was in a wild state and that it required incessant application and hard work to clear off the timber and undergrowth and make the land fit for cultivation, but he finally succeeded and for many years conducted a general farming. He was a popular man in those days and noted not only for his progressiveness as a farmer but for his high moral character and his solicitation to contribute to the moral and spiritual uplift of the community. To this end he was always a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which for many years he was an enthusiastic class leader, the church he attended being located near his farm. A man of administrative ability and excellent executive judgment, he was chosen to serve as township trustee, in which capacity he officiated for several terms. He served throughout the War of 1812, having enlisted in a company from his native state. His family consisted of the following children : Katharine, who in her sixtieth year was united in marriage to James Banner; John, who was a blacksmith; Elizabeth, who wedded Washington Beem ; Philip; Annie, who passed away when seventeen years of age; and Joseph, the father of Isaac R. Tharp.

 

Joseph Tharp was born on the old homestead in the year 1832 and, after having spent his entire life there in the pursuit of agriculture, he passed away in the year 1883. His wife was Mary E. Beem, to whom he was united in marriage, January 20, 1857, and whose birth occurred on December 16, 1832, in Jersey township, this county, her parents being William and Katharine (Rhoades) Beem. Mr. and Mrs. Tharp were the parents of the following children : William P., who resides in this township, four miles north of Pataskala, where he cultivates a fifty-acre farm ; Margaret, widow of. Adolphus Knoelke, of Jay county, Indiana; George, who cultivates a part of a tract of land originally settled by his grandfather; Anna, deceased, wife of Willard Schultz; John, of Summit Station; Ella, whose death occurred at the age of eighteen years; Richard, an engineer on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, residing in Newark; and Isaac R. Two members of the family died in infancy. Mr. Tharp was a member of the Methodist church, gave his political allegiance to the democratic party and for two years served as township trustee.

 

Isaac R. Tharp, of this review, was born December 23, 1859. After acquiring his education in the district schools here he remained on the home farm, engaged-in its various duties, until he was twenty-one years of age, when he was married and started in business for himself. He first dealt in horses, which business he followed almost exclusively for a period of three years, when he began to devote more attention to general farming, in connection with which he made a specialty of breeding horses. For a while he rented the land which he cultivated and finally his success enabled him to buy two small farms, one containing twenty acres and