1100 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION many years after her husband's death, died in Pittsburg, Pa., at a son's home, both having been zealous adherents of the Baptist Church. Mrs. Mary (Harris) Elliott survived her marriage by only five years and her death occurred at Clarksville, Tennessee, in May, 1869, the subject of this sketch being her only surviving child. For his second wife Joseph Elliott married Miss Jeanette Watson, who was born at Woodstock, Province of Ontario, Canada, but who was a resident of Tennessee at the time of her marriage. She died at Clarksville, Tennessee, on the 18th of November, 1884, and is survived by one child, Kate, who has never married and who now resides in the home of her aunt, a sister of her mother, at Embro, a village in Oxford County, Province of Ontario, Canada. After the death of his second wife Joseph Elliott returned to Ohio, and he became the owner of a valuable farm property in Vinton County, where he maintained his residence for a number of years. While on a visit to the City of Zanesville, Muskingum County, he died on the 30th of May, 1903, honored by all who knew him. He was a staunch supporter of the cause of the republican party and was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, as were also both his first and his second wives. William U. Elliott, whose name introduces this article, was born at Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee, on the 10th of January, 1865. He was about four years old at the time of his mother's death and was soon afterward taken into the home of his paternal uncle, John Elliott, of Zanesville, Ohio, where he was reared to adult age and where he acquired his early education in the public schools, this discipline having later been supplemented by a course in the Ohio State University at Columbus, Ohio. He then joined his father on the latter's farm in Elk Township, Vinton County, this property coming into his possession after the death of his honored sire. Mr. Elliott has retained possession of the property and is giving to the same a general supervision. Its value is notably increased by the fact that the land is underlaid with a deposit or excellent coal, and the development of this deposit will eventually yield large financial returns. In 1894 Mr. Elliott removed to Waterbury, Connecticut, where he was superintendent of a department in one of the large brass manufactories of that section. In 1904 he returned to McArthur and assumed personal supervision of his farm and erected one of the most modern and attractive residences in the city, the same containing nine rooms and being equipped with the best of modern improvements and appointments. Mr. Elliott is liberal and progressive in his civic attitude, is a staunch republican in his political proclivities, has served with characteristic HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 1101 loyalty and efficiency as a member of the city council, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the local Presbyterian Church, in which he is an elder,—an office in which he succeeded his father soon after the time of the latter's demise. In the year 1889 Mr. Elliott wedded Miss, Mary A. Blackstone, who was born in Richland Township, Vinton County, on the 28th of November, 1868, and who is a daughter of Jacob and Rebecca (Jordan) Blackstone. Her parents were born and reared in Guernsey County, this state, of English parentage, and shortly after their marriage, in October, 1855, they removed to Vinton County and established their home on a farm in Richland Township, where they remained until 1904, when they removed to McArthur and laid aside the labors and responsibilities that has so long been their portion. Here Mr. Blackstone died in January, 1913; at the age of eighty years, and his widow, who celebrated her eighty-third birthday :anniversary in 1915, is more alert, vigorous and vital than the average woman many years her junior, as shown by the fact that she not only gives her personal attention to the domestic affairs of her attractive home in McArthur but also accords a general supervision to the business pertaining to her old homestead farm, of 160 acres, in Richland, Township. She 'is a devout and specially active member of the United Brethren Church, as was also her husband.; and he was a staunch republican in his political affiliation. This sterling and honored couple became the parents of seven children, all of whom are living and all married except one. Mr. and Mrs. Elliott became the parents of one who' was named Joseph Blackstone, in honor of his paternal and maternal grandfathers, but he died in early infancy. The Elliott home is known for its generous hospitality and Mrs. Elliott is not only its popular chatelain but is also otherwise prominent in the representative social activities of the community, both she and her husband having the unequivocal esteem of all who know them. EUGENE C. SWITZER. The superintendent of the Superior Portland. Cement Company at Superior in Lawrence County is one. of the best equipped men in his profession as an engineer in the Hanging Rock Iron Region. Mr. Switzer has had a long experience in civil and mining engineering, both in the East and in the Ohio Valley, is a man of college training, and has the most thorough qualifications for his present responsibilities. Mr. Switzer is in love with his work, and his whole energy is bent upon making the plant of which he has control one of the most productive and efficient in the country. Eugene C. Switzer was born at Bath, Steuben County, New York, September 14, 1875. His parents were Wallace D. and Harriet 1102 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION. (Knowles). Switzer. The father was born at Campbell, New York, in Steuben County in 1852, followed contracting and. building, and now lives at Newcastle, Pennsylvania. The mother who was born at Bath in Steuben County in 1856, died in 1891. Their four children were Eugene C., Sarah E., Lena H. and Erwin J. J. Eugene C. Switzer was educated in the High School at Emporium, Pennsylvania, until sixteen years of age, and after some practical experience along the lines in which he subsequently concentrated, entered Bucknell University and was graduated in the scientific course in 1900. Mr. Switzer was employed as civil engineer with the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railway for three months, being located at St. Mary's, Pennsylvania; spent a' year as mining engineer with. the Shawmut Mining Company, was for three years a construction engineer in the employ of the Carnegie Steel Company at Newcastle, Pennsylvania, and as construction engineer for one year with the Newcastle Portland Cement Company, and in 1906 came to Superior, in Lawrence County, Ohio, as construction' and mining engineer for the Superior Portland Cement Company. Mr. Switzer was advanced to his present position as superintendent of the plant on January 1, 1913. On November 19, 1902, Mr. Switzer married Margaret Patterson Taylor, daughter of G. O. and Margaret Taylor, of Aylmer, Province of Quebec, Canada. They are the parents of four children : Eugene Arthur, Wallace Taylor, Gordon Cuthbert, and Genevieve Clark. Mr. Switzer is a Knight Templar Mason. With his family he worships in the Baptist Church, and in politics is a republican. He is the owner of an automobile, and that affords the chief means for his recreation outside of business hours. JOHN LOUIS GAHM, M. D. The late Doctor Gahm, who died at Jackson July 6, 1910, was for a number of years one of the leading physicians of Jackson County and a member of one of the old and honored families of this section of Ohio. John Louis Gahm was born on a farm in Scioto Township of Jackson County, a son of Jacob Gahm, and a grandson of Jacob Gahm Sr.., who was born in Germany and came to America with other members of his family about 1835. He located in Scioto Township of Jackson County and secured there a large tract of timbered land. The rest of his active years were devoted to clearing off the forests and to tilling the soil and his death occurred in that vicinity when at a good old age. He reared four children named Jacob, John, Mary and Henry. Jacob Gahm Jr., the father of Doctor Gahm, Was born in northern Ohio while his parents were on the way to southern Ohio. He grew up on a HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 1103 farm and for a number of years has been prosperously identified with agricultural -,activities in Scioto Township. He married Elizabeth Flaker, who was born in Jefferson Township of Jackson County, a daughter of Christopher Maker, a native of Germany and one of the early settlers in Jefferson Township. Jacob Gahm and wife reared five children, named John L., Philip, Jacob, Mary and William C. The Late Dr. Gahm grew up on a farm, attended the rural schools and was a man of thorough and. liberal education. He was also a student in the Jackson High School, in the Normal University at Lebanon, spent about four years of his early life as a teacher and then took up the study of Medicine and was graduated from the Ohio Medical. College at Cincinnati. He opened an office for practice at Jackson, built up a large business and enjoyed a reputation as a splendid physician. His death came when he was in the prime of his activities and powers. Doctor Gahm married Millie Agnes Stephenson, who was born in Scioto Township, a daughter of William Stephenson. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Gahm has continued to occupy the old home in Jackson. She is, the mother of four children, Haldor L., Mabel, Heber and Jacob H. The son, Haldor, has graduated from the Starling Medical College at 'Columbus, and is now in active practice at Jackson. The daughter, Mabel, is the wife of C. S. Kinnison, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Heber was an employe of the D. T. & I. Railroad and at present is a pupil at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, while Jacob, the youngest, is a clerk in his uncle's store in Jackson. DANIEL C. GILL. More than a century ago Joseph Gill, grandfather of the subject of this review, came from Virginia and numbered himself among the pioneer settlers in the' midst of the forest wilds of what is now Vinton County, and the family name has continued to be prominently and influentially linked with the history of the county during the long intervening years, which have been marked by large and worthy achievement on the part of its various representatives. The Gill family was founded in the historic Old Dominion in the Colonial era and Joseph Gill, the founder of the Ohio branch, was a young man when he came to this state and settled on a pioneer farm in Elk Township, Vinton County, which county was not segregated from Athens County until many years later. Here Joseph Gill wedded his young and ambitious wife, who was likewise a native of Virginia and whose family name was Dunkel. Mr. Gill was one of those sturdy and aspiring young men who was well fitted to overcome the obstacles and surmount the other difficulties of pioneer life in the midst of a practically unbroken forest, and he reclaimed a productive farm in, Elk Township, where he ex- 1104 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION pended effectively much of mental and physical power in doing his part to further the march of civilization and progress. Both he and his wife lived to venerable age and continued to reside on their old homestead until the closing chapter in their mortal lives was complete and they passed forward to the "land of the leal." Their lives were marked by earnest industry and impregnable integrity of purpose, and they commanded the unqualified esteem of all who knew them. They reared a family of nine children, were earnest members of the Baptist Church and in politics Mr. Gill was an old-line whig. John Gill, father of him whose name introduces this article, was born a little more than one hundred years ago and was one of the elder members of the family of nine children, most of whom continued their residence in this section of the Buckeye State until their death. In 1849, while operating an old-time threshing machine that was made effective through the application of horse power, Mr. Gill had one of his legs crushed in the power machinery and when the leg was amputated according to the somewhat primitive methods of the day he was unable to stand the shock and his death resulted, he having been at the time about thirty-five years of age. In Pickaway County, Ohio, was solemnized the marriage of John Gill to Miss Eliza Hall, who passed her entire life in Ohio and who survived him by about fifteen years, as her death occurred in 1855, at which time she was residing near McArthur, the judicial center of Vinton County. She was about forty-five years old at the time of her demise, and so far as can be determined it is altogether probable that both she and her husband were active church members, his political allegiance having been given to the Whig party. They became the parents of three children, of whom the eldest is James, who has been for a number of years one of the prosperous farmers of Caldwell County, Missouri, where, now venerable in years, he still resides on his farm, near the Town of Breckenridge. He wedded Miss Nancy Dennison but they have no children. Daniel C., of this review, was the second in order of birth. Hattie, whose death occurred in 1913, was the wife of Ransom Sprague, and concerning them more specific mention is made on other pages of this work, in the sketch of the career of their son, Lewis W. Sprague. On the old homestead farm, in Elk Township, and two miles northeast of McArthur, Daniel C. Gill was born on the 11th of September, 1847, and there he was reared to man's estate, the while he duly availed himself of the advantages afforded in the common schools of the locality. He was a mere third at the time of his father's tragic death and but nine years old when his mother passed away. Thereafter he lived for some time in the home of his paternal grandmother. Soon after attain- HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 1105 ing to his legal majority Mr. Gill established his residence at McArthur, and during the long intervening years he has here continued successful operations in the conducting of a livery business. He is now the pioneer representative of this line of enterprise in Vinton County and it is specially interesting to record also that his barn, on Market street, is the oldest building in the county erected and still used for livery purposes. It was built more than seventy-five years ago as an adjunct of the pioneer tavern or inn known as the Sission Hotel, and the hotel building is still used for the purpose for which it was erected, it being now known as the Will House. Mr. Gill keeps the equipment and service of his livery up to high standard and has long controlled a substantial and profitable business. He is well known throughout this section of the state and commands secure place in popular esteem, besides having long been recognized as one of the successful business men and loyal and progressive citizens of his native county. He is a stanch supporter of the cause of the republican party, but has never sought or held public office of any description. As a young man Mr. Gill wedded Miss Theresa Lacy, who was born in Swan Township, this County, in 1844, and who was reared and educated in the county that has ever represented her home. Mr. and Mrs. Gill have three children, of whom the eldest is John D., specific record concerning him being given in the article that immediately follows the one here presented. Harley was a prosperous farmer near Breckinridge, Caldwell County, Missouri, but is now engaged with his father in the livery business at McArthur, is married and has two sons. Hattie, who still remains at the parental home, formerly served for several years as deputy in the McArthur. postoffice JOHN. D. GILL. In the foregoing article is given adequate record concerning the sterling pioneer family of which Mr. Gill is a representative of the fourth generation in Vinton County, and thus it is not necessary to give in the present connection further review of the family history, but it may consistently be said that both as a progressive citizen and enterprising business man 'Mr. Gill is fully upholding the prestige of the name which he bears. In his native city of McArthur he conducts a well equipped garage and as a dealer in automobiles, he is local sales agent for the Overland and Maxwell cars, the reputation of each of which is of the highest. Though he initiated business only in the spring of 1914, he has developed a substantial and successful enterprise and has sold many automobiles for both the Overland and Maxwell companies. His garage, which is thoroughly modern in its equipment and facilities, is eligibly: situated on South Market Street and occupies a building 40 1106 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION by 120 feet in dimensions, and these large and convenient quarters have been occupied by him since June, 1915. He has ample storage and garage facilities and gives to his' patrons the most efficient service, a repa department being maintained for the accommodation of the public. As the preceding article indicates, Mr. Gill is the eldest of the three children born to Daniel C. and Theresa (Lacy) Gill, and he has lived at McArthur from the time of his birth, which here occurred on the 22d of July, 1876. As a boy he began to assist in his father's livery business, and thus he early gained knowledge of successful catering to the demands of the public. He did not fail to make good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools, and thus his education along academic and practical business, lines was made one of symmetrical order. It may incidentally 'be said, as supplemental to the preceding article, that his father has been actively engaged in the livery business at McArthur for more than fifty years and that he still conducts the only enterprise of this order in the town. The initial business venture of John D. Gill was made when he was about eighteen years of age, when he engaged in the ice business in his native place. He built up a prosperous enterprise and continued to give his attention to the same for fifteen years, at the expiration of which he sold the business to good advantage. Mr. Gill has taken a lively interest in 'public affairs in his home city and county and is essentially liberal and public-spirited in his civic attitude. He has served since 1908 as city treasurer and is at the present time deputy supervisor of the board of elections for Vinton County. His political support of the cause of the republican party has been of stable and effective order and he has been influential in the local councils of the party. He was twice nominated for the office of county treasurer, but on each occasion a split in the party brought about such political exigencies as to compass his defeat. Mr. Gill is affiliated with the lodge of Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks at Logan, Hocking County, and since he attained to his legal majority he has been an active and popular member of the McArthur Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, in which he has passed all of the official chairs. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but attends the local Presbyterian Church, of which his wife is a zealous member. In the year 1906 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gill to Miss Ella Gorsuch, who was born in Meigs County, this state, in April, '1873, but who was reared to maturity in Vinton County, where she received the advantages of the public schools. She is a daughter of Nicholas Gorsuch, of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this work, so that further reference to the family history is not demanded at HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 1107 this juncture. Mr. and Mrs. Gill became the parents of four children John D. Jr., is attending the public schools, in which he is in the fourth grade at the time of this writing, in the autumn of 1915; Eleanor died at the age of five weeks; Alice L. was born August 2, 1911, and Edward L. was born January 12, 1913. GEORGE MARKINS is one of the young men in the industrial activities of Lawrence County, has had a thorough practical training, and his usefulness is indicated by his position as assistant master mechanic to the Superior Portland Cement Company at Superior. He has come up from the ranks of the laborer, knows his business as one who has learned it through actual experience, and is one of the most popular officials connected with this large industry. George Markins, was born in Aid Township of Lawrence County, Ohio, January 23, 1887. His father, Alexander, who was born in the same township of Lawrence County in 1861, is a miner, and is now connected with the Superior Portland Cement Company. The mother's maiden name was Elma Large, who was born in Aid Township in 1864. Their eleven children are : Sadie, Nora, George, Edward, Myrtle, Blanche, Ora, Maggie, William, deceased; Louis, deceased, and Willard. George Markins grew up in Aid Township, was educated in the public schools until sixteen, and then spent three years as a laborer in .the Ironton Portland Cement Company. Eight months were then employed in work for the railway, and in 1906 he joined the Superior Portland Cement plant as laborer for one year, for two years was miller in the plant, and then for two years was mechanical repair man. In June; 1913, came his well deserved promotion to the position of assistant master mechanic. Mr. Markins was married January 12, 1912, to Lillie Mays, daughter of John and. Mary' (Willis) Mays. Her father is a farmer in Lawrence County. To their marriage have been born three children : Thelma Pauline, Alexander and William. Mr. Markins is affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men, is a republican in. politics and his family belongs to the Methodist Church. Besides his work and profession he is the owner of eighty acres of wild land in Aid Township. HON. CHANDLER J. MOULTON. Now living retired from his long career as a merchant at Lucasville, Chandler J. Moulton started life' with little or no capital, gained experience while supporting himself, and finally embarked. in merchandising at Lucasville more than forty years ago, and has ever since been closely identified with the business and public life of .Scioto County. Mr. Moulton's service as a member Vol. II-30 1108 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION of the State Legislature brought him high credit, and throughout his long life he has manifested a high degree of public spirit toward all enterprises and movements for the improvement of his community. Chandler J. Moulton was born in East Randolph, Vermont, December 26, 1839, a son of Norman and Mary B. (Belknap) Moulton. Both parents were natives of Vermont, the father a farmer, and in 1848 they moved out to Ohio and located in the Scioto Valley near Lucasville. The father died in 1849. Chandler is the only one of the three children still living. Daniel died at the age of eighteen years. Sarah, who was the wife of Dr. J. V. Warick, was the mother of six children, and the three still living are : Mary, wife of Judge John C. Milliner of Portsmouth; Maggie, wife of John A. Long of Chicago; and Lou N., wife of Charles Anderson of Huntington, West Virginia. Chandler J. Moulton was ten years of age when his father died, and grew up on a farm near Lucasville. In spite of handicaps he managed to acquire a liberal education, first in the public schools and later in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. One year was spent in Illinois as clerk in a store, and after returning to Scioto County he was for two years a farmer. In 1867 Mr. Moulton engaged in business at Lucasville, managing a general store, and had soon built up a profitable enterprise. Mr. Moulton possessed the business judgment and the industry which are the first requisites of success in merchandising, and by a long course of honorable dealing and with his increasing esteem throughout the comcommunityrved by his store he built up a splendid business. For many years it was conducted under his individual name, and is now the firm of C. J. Moulton & Son. Besides merchandising, the firm speculates in timber, cattle and other commodities and have handled a great deal of property in the past thirty or forty years. Mr. Moulton was married September 16, 1876, to Mary C. Smith of West Union, Ohio. Mrs. Moulton. acquired her education in the public schools of the country districts and at the young ladies' seminary of Portsmouth. To their union were born six children : Frank W., who graduated in academics with degree of Bachelor of Arts at Athens College, later securing his degree of Bachelor of Laws from Cincinnati Law School, and is now an attorney at Portsmouth ; Arthur S., who is associated with his father in business at Lucasville ; Mabel, who received her education in the western college at Oxford and also in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, and is unmarried ; Jane, who likewise attended the colleges of Oxford and Delaware and is the wife of W. B. Rickey ; John, who was a student in the Keynon Military School and is a clerk in his father's store ; and Earl C., who attended school at Delaware and is a farmer in Scioto County. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 1109 Mr. Moulton is prominent in local Masonic bodies, having membership in the Lucasville Lodge Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Chapter No. 13, Royal Arch Masons, and Calvary Commandery of the Knights Templar at Portsmouth, also a member of the Ohio Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. For many years he has been one of the republican leaders in Scioto County. Four years the people kept him in the Legislature as representative of the county, and during that time he was one of the most active members at Columbus and chairman of the committee on public works. His interests are varied, and among other things he owns 900 acres of land. Mr. Moulton is an extensive traveler, has visited most of the states of the Union, and has been to Panama ,and also on a number of the island possessions of the United States. He has had a long and interesting career and one fruitful from every point of view. ROBERT W. BAIL. In his younger years Mr. Bail was one of the very successful teachers of Vinton County, though is perhaps best known over the county as a whole through his valuable service as county treasurer, an office from which he retired only about a year ago. He belongs to a family that was among the pioneers in crossing. the Allegheny Mountains from the original thirteen colonies into the vast and unsettled West. The Bails were especially identified with that section of Virginia, which is now the State of West Virginia. His great-grandfather was Thomas Bail, who was born in Sutton in what is now West Virginia, about 1775-76, early in the War of the Revolution. He lived in .that rugged district of Western Virginia, and along with farming he combined his activities as a hunter and woodsman. He lived to be an old man. His son, Robert W. Bail, grandfather of Robert W. of Vinton County, and probably an only son and child, was born near Sutton, West Virginia, January 13, 1813. He grew up and came to know his native hills and the forests and waters of West Virginia like a book. Like his father, he was proficient in all the arts and crafts of the frontier and was skillful with his rifle and also with the rod. By those accomplishments he did much to supply a living in addition to his main business as a farmer. Grandfather Bail married Alice Barnett, who was born in West Virginia of Maryland parents, who spent most of their lives in that state. Soon after their marriage Robert W. Bail and wife set out for a still more distant point in the Middle West. As was the usual practice in that time of limited transportation facilities, they embarked their family and possessions on a flatboat which voyaged down 'the Little Kanawha River and the larger Ohio River as far as Ironton. After landing they located in Lawrence County and lived in 1110 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION the neighborhood of several of the old-time furnaces of that date, the Vesuvius, Oak Ridge and Latrobe. There Mrs. Robert W. Bail died when between fifty and fifty-five years of age. Afterwards Robert W. Bail moved to Vinton County, and died there in 1893 in his eighty-first year. He was a democrat, and that has been the prevailing political faith of the family for generations. Robert's son, Isaac V., had moved to Vinton County. in 1873, and that was the cause of the father coming to this section. The only other two children in the family were Thomas and Felix, both of whom died in childhood in Lawrence County, having been victims of the scarlet. fever. Isaac V. Bail, father of the former county treasurer, was born in Lawrence County, Ohio, January 21, 1848. He was reared and educated there, having attended some of the old log school houses that then were in fashion. In .1867 he married Mary (Markin) Gates, widow of Frank Gates. Frank Gates was killed at Cloyd Mountain in West Virginia while a Union soldier with the Ninth West Virginia Volunteers, being at that time in the prime of life. In 1873 Isaac V. Bail and wife moved to Vinton County, and subsequently established a home in Vinton Township. He died on his farm home in that township March 20, 1913. He .was "a member of the Latter Day Saints Church. His widow is still living at Radcliff in Vinton County, and celebrated her seventy-second birthday in May, 1915. She is also a member of the same religious faith. While the family lived in Madison Township of Vinton County the following children were born : Robert W., James, who died at the age of twenty-eight after his marriage; Loie, who died at the age of nineteen, and William, who died at the age of twenty:. After the parents moved to Vinton Township their youngest child, Seth N., was born. He is now a farmer on the old homestead in Vinton Township, and by his first wife, Oro T. Harris, who died young, he had two children, Ronald and Marie; while by his second marriage to Laura McGee he had a son named Orin. Mr. Robert W: Bail was born in Madison Township of Vinton County, March 6, 1877. He received his early education in the public schools and when twenty years of age he took up his vocation as a teacher and followed it steadily for fourteen years in Vinton County. He has been one of the most proficient and capable rural schoolmasters and it is the large acquaintance he acquired while teaching, and the thorough integrity he has manifested in all his relations that brought him to the important county office of county treasurer, to which he was elected in 1910. He was re-elected, and served altogether four years.. It has been frequently said that the affairs of the county treasurer's office were never in better hands than while Mr. was in office. He had pre- HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 1111 viously filled the offices of township and school treasurer. He is an active democrat, and a man of leading influence in his home county. In Meigs County, Ohio, Mr. Bail married Cora M. Bratton. She was born: in Columbia Township of Meigs County, September 1, 1875, and was reared and received her education there. Her parents were Adam: and Millie (Chaney) Bratton, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. Her father was born in Meigs County in 1851 and her mother was born in 1860 in Western Pennsylvania. Millie Chaney came to Meigs County with her parents when she was a small girl. Her parents were Enos and Catherine (Boone) Chaney. Her mother Was a native of Pennsylvania and a direct relation of the noted Daniel Boone. Catherine Boone Chaney died in Clark County, Ohio, in 1915 at the age of eighty-six. Her husband fell while a gallant soldier in an Ohio regiment during the Civil war. Adam Bratton and wife after their marriage started out. as farmers in Meigs County, and all 'their children were born in that community. Later they moved to Vinton Township in Vinton County, and still occupy a farm in that locality. Mrs, Bail was one of a family of six sons and two daughters, namely : Gayley, who is married and lives in Meigs County ; Carrie, wife of J. M. Silves, a merchant at Point Rock in Meigs County, and they have one child. named Otho; Mrs. Bail, who was the third among the children ; Almeda, .Wife of William H. Little, a bridge carpenter in Clark County, and' they have two children named Clare and Edith ; Amy A., wife of Fern Vale, a locomotive engineer living in Columbus, and they have a daughter named Dorothy Helen ; Elmer, a commercial traveler for the Shredded 'Wheat Company, with headquarters at Cleveland ; Lola, wife of George Hess, who lives in Columbus, Ohio; Zelda, wife of R: H. Knapp of Vinton Township. Mr. and Mrs. Bail are the parents of two children. Flora M., born July 25, 1902, is now a member of the freshman class of the McArthur High School ; Olive Kathleen, born December 27, 1906, is now in the fourth grade of public schools. Mr. Bail is a member of the Christian Church, while his wife belongs to the Latter Day Saints. Fraternally he is. affiliated with the Blue Lodge of Masons at Wilkesville, Ohio, and with the Improved Order of Red Men at Radcliff. EMMETT ROBBINS. When a man whose personal knowledge and mature judgment caused him to speak of the present sheriff of Vinton County as ".a fine, wholesome young man," there is ample reason to understand the popular estimate which placed Mr. Robbins in the responsible county office, of which he is now the efficient and valued incumbent, his election to the position of sheriff having taken place in the autumn of 1112 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION 1914 and his assumption of office having occurred on the 4th of January 1915. His administration within the intervening period has fully justn fled the wisdom of the popular vote, and the interest in his prefermen is enhanced when it is stated that he is a native son of Vinton Count and that he had proved his ability and worth as a productive worke and loyal and public-spirited citizen prior to his advancement to his pres ent post, in which he succeeded William Fosse, who still lives near Mc Arthur, the county seat, and who likewise had proved an able incumbent in the office of sheriff. Prior to his election to the office which he no holds Mr. Robbins had been employed as a brick-setter in the service o the McArthur Brick Company, which controls one of the leading indus trial enterprises of Vinton County, and in the capacity noted he ha won favor and proved himself a faithful, diligent and effective worker. Sheriff Robbins was born in Knox Township, Vinton County, Ohio, on the 7th of February, 1886, and he was six years of age at the tim of the death of his father, Elihu Robbins, who passed away on the 25th of November, 1892. Elihu Robbins was born in Elk Township, thi county, not far distant from McArthur, the county seat, and the dat of his nativity was July 15, 1835. 'He passed his entire life in his native county and was long numbered among its representative agricultur ists and stock-growers, the while his steadfast integrity and well ordered life gained and retained to him the confidence and good will of a who knew him. He was a staunch supporter of the cause of the republican party was an earnest and consistent member of the Christia Church, in, the faith of which he was reared. He was a son of Jess and Minerva (Waterman) Robbins; the former of whom was born Jackson County, Ohio, on the 9fh of December, 1811, and the latter of whom was born in New Jersey, on the 2d of January, 1815, their marriage having been solemnized in Vinton County, on the 11th of March,. 1833, at which time this county was still an integral part of Jackson County. Jesse Robbins was thus a scion of one of the very earliest pioneer families of Southern Ohio and he himself became on of the pioneer settlers in what is now Elk Township, Vinton County, where he reclaimed a farm from the forest wilds and became one of the honored and influential citizens of the county. He continued to reside on his old homestead farm until his death, which occurred on the 5th of September, 1873, and his wife survived him by nearly a score of years, she having been called to the life eternal in April, 1890, at the venerable age of eighty-five years. Both were zealous members of the. Christian Church and were numbered among its foremost pioneer representatives in Vinton County, where he served many years as a deacon of the church, his political allegiance having been given to the republican party HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 1113 from the time of its organization until his death. Of the four children one son died young, and two sons and one daughter attained to maturity. On the 5th of February, 1873, in Athens County, this state, was solemnized the marriage of Elihu Robbins to Miss Rebecca King, who was born in that county, on the 25th of August, 1846. After the death of her first husband Mrs. Robbins became the wife of William Downnard, and they maintain their home in Elk Township, where Mr. Downnard is a prosperous farmer and highly esteemed citizen. Both are active and influential members of the United Brethren Church, in which they are affiliated with Mount Zion Church, in Richland Township, Mr. Downnard being a classleader in the same and his political support being given to the democratic party. Mr. and Mrs. Downnard have no children. The parents of Mrs. Downnard were born in Pennsylvania and she was the first of the children born after the family removal from the old Keystone State to Ohio. The present sheriff of Vinton County is the youngest of the children of Elihu and Rebecca (King) Robbins, and concerning the others the following brief data are given : Phoebe has been three times wedded and is now the wife of William Sears, of Mowbridge, South Dakota, her husband being a representative member of the bar of that section of the state, and the only child of this union being a son. The first husband of Mrs. Sears was Sigmund Dearth, who was killed in a railroad accident in Vinton County, Ohio, when thirty-five years of age, and who is survived by one son. The second husband, Frank Pileher, likewise_ was killed in a railway accident, when employed as a car inspector. Ann, the second child, is the wife of George McAfee, a successful farmer in Hocking County, Ohio. Charles resides at Butte, Montana, and has valuable farm interests in that state. Ile is married and has one son and one daughter. Nona now holds a responsible position in the Ohio tuberculosis hospital, in the City of Columbus. Nudia died in infancy ; Jesse now resides at Herrin, Illinois, and his only child, a son, was fatally injured by an accident which caused its death when but eighteen months of age. Emmett Robbins was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and his educational advantages in his youth were those afforded in the public Schools of his native county, within whose borders he has continuously maintained his residence and proved himself well worthy of the high esteem so uniformly accorded to him. His political allegiance is given without reservation to the republican party, and on its ticket he was elected to his present office, that of sheriff of Vinton County. He and his wife are active and zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of McArthur, in which he is serving as a member of the board 1114 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION of stewards, besides having formerly been assistant superintendent of its Sunday 'School. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, has passed the various official chairs in, the local organization of the Improved Order of Red Men and has represented the same in the Grand Council of Ohio, being now a trustee of the McArthur Council. He has served also in various official chairs in the McArthur Lodge of the Independent Order .of Odd Fellows, and is a valued and popular member of each of these fraternal organizations. On the 3d of October, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Robbins to Miss Eula B. Snook, who was born in Elk Township, Vinton County, on the 6th of March, 1887, and who is a daughter of John and Nettie (Colvin) Snook, the former a. native of Vinton County and the latter of Jackson County, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Snook reside upon their fine homestead farm, in Elk Township, and both are earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Snook was born October 31, 1859, and his wife was born in July, 1867. He is a democrat in politics and has held minor township offices. Of the children Mrs. Robbins is the eldest; Dallas E. is associated in the work and management of the home farm; and Gladys M. is a successful teacher in the school of her home district, after having completed the curriculum ,of the McArthur High School. Mr. and Mrs. Robbins have four children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here indicated : Kenneth, February 6, 1906; Edna, February 8, 1908; Mary, March 12, 1910, and Emmett Jr., January 4, 1913. DAVID C. MCKITTERICK. One of the young men actively identified with the larger industrial activities of the Hanging Rock Iron Region is David C. McKitterick, who for a number of years has been in the service of the Portland Cement Company at Superior. Mr. McKitterick has spent all his life in this section of. Ohio, and since beginning work at the age of sixteen as a clerk has steadily progressed to important responsibilities in connection with the cement industry. David C. McKitterick was born in Jackson, Jackson County, Ohio, October 22, 1884. His father, John McKitterick, who still lives at Jackson, was born in Ireland in 1848, came to America when a boy of twelve ,years of age in 1860, and has spent an active career as a cattle dealer. The mother, whose maiden name was Frances Martin, was born in Jackson March 24, 1851, and died March 4, 1913. There were five children: May, Fannie, John, David C. and one that died in infancy. David C. McKitterick was educated in the Jackson public schools, but at the age of sixteen left to take up the serious business of life, and began work as stenographer in the Portland Cement Company at Alma. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 1115 He was advanced to assistant superintendent at Wellston in Jackson County, held that position three years, and in 1906 came to Superior as stenographer and pay roll clerk for the Superior Portland Cement Company. In 1910 the company made him cashier, an office he now holds. Mr. MeKitterick was married February 7, 1906, at Berlin in Jackson County to Edith Woodruff, daughter of Joseph and Margaret Woodruff. Her father is a well known Wellston merchant. They became the parents of two children : Margaret, now deceased, and Marjorie. Mr. McKitterick is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner, a republican in politics, he and his family worship in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Jackson, and they are well known socially both in Jackson and in Lawrence counties. Mr. McKitterick gives close attention to his business, but finds recreation with his family in automobiling. CAPT. OLIVER S. MILLER. One of the honored old citizens of the Hanging Rock Region who deserves mention in this work was the late Captain Oliver S. Miller, representing one of the old families, himself a soldier of the Civil war, and for many years identified with business affairs in Jackson County. Capt. Oliver S. Miller was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, July 28, 1837, a son of James H. C. Miller and the latter's first wife, Calista (Story) Miller. James H. C. Miller was born in Massachusetts, in 1800, the son of Samuel Miller, a pioneer of Ontario County, New York, where the last years of his life were spent. James H. C. Miller acquired a good 'education, and when a young man went South, taught school and studied dentistry -and surgery. He was a man of parts and education, and a great traveler. He went to South America in the early days, and there participated in the revolution against Spain and held the rank of Surgeon in the troops led. by General Bolivar. Returning to the United'. States in 1836, Doctor Miller located in Ohio in Mahoning County, practiced medicine there for a time, but in 1838 moved to Jackson .County and settled in Bloomfield Township. Somewhat later he moved to the Town of Jackson, opened a drug store, and was also identified with the iron industry. During .the Civil war he went west to Nebraska, lived several years in that state, and then returned to Jackson, Where he lived :until death. Captain Miller was brought to Jackson County in infancy, was reared and educated there, and one of his first experiences in young ,manhood was as clerk in his father's drug store. In 1863 he assisted in recruiting Company F for the 129th Ohio Volunteer -Infantry, and was given a commission as captain in the company. He saw seven months of active 'service, and on receiving his honorable discharge returned 1116 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION home. In 1870 Captain Miller engaged in the mercantile business at Jackson, and for about twenty-five years was known to the community as a merchant. After that he lived retired until his death on July 22, 1914. Captain Miller married Phoebe Ann Steele. She was born at Caldwell, New Jersey, January 16, 1837. Her father, Lot Chester Steele, was born in the same locality in 1808, was reared and educated there, and early learned the trade of shoemaker. In 1838 Mr. Steele went west to Jackson, Michigan, lived there until 1848, and then came to Jackson for a number of years. Some time before the Civil war he was that early time nearly all boots and shoes were made to order and all by hand work, shoemaking machinery, having not yet been introduced to any extent. Mr. Steele set up a shop and continued in business in Jackson for a number of years. Some time before the Civil War he was appointed to the office of postmaster, served eight years in that position, was then in the grocery business a few years, after which he lived retired until his death at the age of fifty-eight. Mr. Steele married Catherine Maria Dodd, who was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, and died at Jackson, Ohio, in her eighty-eighth year. She was the mother of two daughters : Josephine E., who married James Dyer, and both are now deceased. Mrs. Miller,. the 'other daughter, was a teacher of music before her marriage. She and her only daughter now occupy the old home on Broadway Street in Jackson. The daughter, Miss Clara, has inherited her mother's musical talent and is also a teacher in that art. HON. JOHN R. FREINER. Both as a legislator and as a business man of distinctive initiative ability and progressiveness has Hon. John R. Freiner accounted well to himself and the State of Ohio during the period of his residence in Vinton County, and enduring honor shall be his for his able, loyal and productive service as a member of the State Legislature, from which he retired in 1914, after having served seven consecutive years as representative from Vinton County and as one of the most efficient and influential members ever sent from this county to the lower house of the Legislature. His record was one of characteristic energy, circumspection and determined effort to achieve worthy ends, and he made a definite and commendable impress on the history of Ohio legislation during the period of his earnest and well ordered service. Mr. Freiner was first elected representative of Vinton County in the Legislature in the year 1905, and the estimate placed upon him by his constituency was shown in his re-election in 1905 and for each term thereafter until that which terminated in 1914. While he was active and influential in all .deliberations and work of the House during the entire HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 1117 period of his membership he took the initiative in a number of specially important movements and introduced and championed to enactment a number of bills whose provisions have been of incalculable benefit to the people of the state in general. He is accredited with being sponsor for bill that resulted in the establishing of the two-cent a mile passenger fare on all railroads operating in Ohio, the bill having been introduced by him in the legislative session of 1906. Though measures of similar order had previously met with defeat in the Legislature Mr. Freiner presented the case with such vigor and effectiveness that the justice of the measure could not be denied and it was mainly due to his earnest work that the opposition to the bill was so emasculated as to make possible its enactment. He was prompted by a determination to make the passenger rate uniform and to do away with the special favors and privileges which enabled persons of influence and independence to obtain reduced fares or passes, while the humble laborer, and the woman in straitened circumstances was compelled to pay the three-cent rate. The indefatigable efforts put forth by Mr. Freiner in connection with this bill gained him special prominence and large popular commendation early in his career as a legislator, and it is sufficient to say that thereafter he not only upheld. his high reputation but also added much thereto through his further activities in the promotion of wise and equitable legislation. He was assigned to various important committees, including those of banks and banking, taxation, and mines and mining, of which last mentioned he was chairman, and he was fully as zealous and independent in the deliberations of the committee room as he was active and influential in the work on the floor of the House. of Representatives. In connection with industrial and commercial affairs in Ohio Mr. Freiner Iikewise has shown himself specially progressive and resourceful, and- he has achieved wide reputation through his extensive and successful activities in connection with fruit culture. On his farm in Madison Township, Vinton County, he planted in 1905 40,000 peach trees, and this became at the time the largest peach orchard in the entire state. Ile brought to bear the most approved and scientific methods in the development of this great orchard and his success proved an inspira- to others in essaying similar enterprises. In 1910 Mr. Freiner garnered and shipped from his peach orchard 100 car-loads, and a large part of the orchard is still producing effectively. Though he is a native of Ohio Mr. Freiner was reared and educated in Michigan, and there he continued his residence until 1885, when, as a young.. man of about twenty-five years, he returned to the Buckeye State and identified himself with the timber business. In 1892 he established his residence in the Village of Zaleski, Vinton County, and he 1118 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION has continued one of the representative citizens of this county during the intervening years, which have been marked by. large and worthy achievement on his part. Since 1905 he has maintained his home at McArthur; the county seat, and he continued his .active and successful operations as a lumber contractor and manufacturer for a quarter of a century, considerable attention still being given by him to this line of enterprise and the year 1914 having recorded the initiation of his activities as a railroad contractor, in which field of enterprise he is proving a successful operator. The political allegiance of Mr. Freiner has always been given unreservedly to the ,republican party, he has been a close student of economic and governmental affairs and has been a leader in the councils of his party in Southern Ohio during the major part of his residence in Vinton County. Mr. Freiner was born in Knox County, Ohio, on the 20th of April, 1859, and is a son of Lewis and Elizabeth (Thompson) Freiner, The former of whom was born in Germany and. the latter in the State of New York, their marriage having been solemnized at Newark, Licking County, Ohio, where .Lewis Freiner located soon after his immigration to the United States. From Ohio the family eventually removed to St. Clair County, Michigan, and later removal was made to a farm near the City of Pontiac, Oakland County, that state, where, the parents passed they remainderof their lives, Mr., Freiner having attained to the age of seventy-one years and his wife having passed away at the age of sixty-three years, a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They became the parents of two sons and two daughters, and both sons are residents of Ohio, while the sisters still maintain their home in Michigan. John R.. Freiner was a lad of seven years at the time of the family removal to St. Clair County, .Michigan, where he was reared to adult age on the: home farm, near. the City of Pontiac, and where he was afforded the advantages of the public schools. Of his final removal from the Wolverine State to Ohio adequate mention has already been made in a preceding paragraph. In Morgan County, Ohio, was. solemnized the 'marriage of Mr. Freiner to Miss Elizabeth Nelson, who was there. reared and educated, her par_ eats having continued their residence in that county until their death. Mr. and Mrs. Freiner are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and their pleasant home at McArthur is known for its gracious hospitality. They have no children. JAMES C. JOHNSTON. Though the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio has large and varied natural resources that have given impetus to HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 1119 the development of important lines of industry, the prestige of the districtas a center of effective agricultural enterprise has been continuously maintained at a high standard, with an intelligent, progressive and loyal contingent of citizens who have paid sturdy allegiance to the great basic industries of agriculture and stock-growing. In Vinton County one of the successful exponents of this important line of enterprise is James C. Johnston, who has been a resident of Swan Township from the time of his birth and who was born and reared on the fine homestead farm which he now owns and operates, in section 18. His status as a representative farmer and popular citizen of his native county well entitles him to definite recognition in this publication. Mr. Johnston was born on his present farmstead and the date of his nativity was April 24, 1872. He is a son of Thomas Johnston, Jr., who was born in Perry County, this state, a son of. Thomas Johnston,: Sr. The latter was born and reared in Ireland, of staunch Scotch-Irish stock, and came to the United States when a young man, actuated largely by the desire to avoid military service in his native land. He voyaged to America on a sailing vessel of the type common to that period and in Pennsylvania was solemnized his marriage to Miss Tabitha Chamberlain, who was born and reared in that state. From the old Keystone State they .came to Ohio in an early day and numbered themselves among the pioneer settlers of Perry County, where Mr. Johnston obtained land and engaged. in farming. Owing to its title being clouded, he finally lost this.property, and he then removed with his family to Hocking County, Where he improved a good farm and where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives, their remains being interred in the Fairview cemetery or old-time churchyard in, that county, and both having been earnest members of the Baptist Church; in politics Mr. Johnston gave allegiance to the whig party, and his death occurred prior to the Civil war. Of the children James, Andrew and Thomas, Jr., became substantial citizens of Ohio and all married and reared children, as did also the four daughters of the family, all of the children being how deceased. Thomas Johnston, Jr., was born in Perry County, Ohio, July 18, 1822, and was a young man at the time of the family removal to Hocking County,; of which Vinton County was then an integral part. In 1852, in what is now Vinton County, he wedded Miss Jane G. Fee, who was horn here on the 9th of April, 1832, a, member of one of the sterling pioneer families of the county, where she was reared and educated, and where she passed her entire life. Mrs. Johnston was a daughter of John and Sarah C. (Brewer) Fee, both natives of Pennsylvania and both of Scotch-Irish ancestry. They were early settlers of that part of Hocking County,. Ohio, that later was segregated therefrom to form Vinton 1120 -HANGING ROCK IRON REGION County, and here they passed the remainder of their lives, Mrs. Fee having died October 17, 1835, while comparatively a young woman, and he having attained to the, age of seventy years, his death having occurred March 6, 1878. They reared the following named children : Sandford, John, Jane, Sarah C., Christina, Sallie A. and Margaret. Thomas Johnston, Jr., and his young wife began their married life in Vinton County, where for a number of years he operated a grist mill near Zaleski, on Raccoon Creek. There were born to them seven children: John, Sanford, Sarah E.; Margaret, Doretta, Thomas P. and James C. In 1871 the family removed to the homestead farm now owned and occupied by James C. Johnston, of this sketch, the same being situated near the Village of Creola. Here Mr. Johnston purchased somewhat more than four hundred and twenty acres of well improved land, effectively watered and drained by Raccoon Creek and Brushy Fork. Here Thomas Johnston engaged vigorously and successfully in diversified farming and stock-growing, with special attention given to the raising of sheep, and he made excellent improvements on the farm, including the erection of a substantial nine-room house, a good bank barn, 50x40 feet in dimensions, and other excellent buildings which mark the model farmstead at the present time. He was one of the representative farmers and influential citizens of Swan Township until the time of his death, which occurred on the 20th of November, 1910, and his loved and devoted wife having been summoned to the life eternal on the 15th of February, 1906, Mrs. Johnston having been a devoted member of the Bible Christian Church at Creola and he having contributed liberally to the support of the same, as well as to other objects tending to conserve the moral and general civic wellbeing of the community, his political allegiance having been given to the republican party. The subject of this review is the youngest of the children, all of whom are married and well established in life, and he and. Thomas P. are the only ones of the number bora on the homestead which he now owns and occupies. James C. Johnston is indebted to the schools of his native county for his early educational discipline and from his youth to the present time has been closely associated with the work and management of the fine farm of which he is now the ,owner. By purchase and inheritance he came into possession of the major part of the large landed estate here accumulated by his father, and as a progressive agriculturist and stock-grower he is doing much to maintain the high prestige of farm enterprise in his native county, where he is well known and commands unequivocal popular esteem. In politics he holds tenaciously to the faith that has prevailed in the Johnston family and is a staunch advocate and supporter of HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 121 the principles and policies for which the republican party has ever stood sponsor in a basic way. All of his brothers likewise are staunch republicans and all are affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity, in which he himself holds membership in the lodge and chapter of the York Rite at McArthur and with the Council of Royal and Select Masters at Logan, Hocking County. Mr. Johnston is active and appreciative as a member of the Masonic fraternity and has passed the various official chairs in his lodge of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. On April 29th in the year 1908 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Johnston to Miss Alta Stuck, who was born in Richland Township, Vinton County, on the 10th of May, 1886, and who is a daughter of Eugene and Dana (Cozad) Stuck, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter in Ohio, in which latter state their marriage was solemnized in ,Fayette County. Shortly after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Stuck removed to Vinton County and settled on a farm in Richland Township; where they still maintain their home. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have five children: Thomas, Mary D., John F., Earl and Carrie J. REV. ROBERT CALLAGHAN. One of the oldest living citizens of the Hanging Rock Iron Region is the Rev. Robert Callaghan, whose useful life began in Madison Township of Jackson County November 26, 1829, more than eighty-six years ago. Rev. Mr. Callaghan became a minister of the Methodist Church before the war, and was for forty years in the active work as pastor and preacher and is now on the superannuated list, and lives.. quietly at Jackson, one of the much revered men both in his church and in the general ranks of citizenship. His father, William O. H. Callaghan, was born in Bath County, Virginia, 1797. The grandfather, John Callaghan, was born in County CoCork, Ireland, and a brother Dennis who also came to America and lived in Virginia. Grandfather John Callaghan was a young man when he came to. America, locating in Virginia and buying a tract of land in Bath County. Virginia was his home until 1811, when he became one of the pioneers of Ohio. At that time the only means of getting across the mountains into the Ohio Valley was either by walking or riding or driving horses or ox teams. The Callaghan family came through the mountain roads by. Means of wagons and teams and after a few months in Ross County located in what is now Jackson County where grandfather Callaghan entered a tract of government land in what is now Madison Township. The first home was a log house, occupied for several years until a better residence could he built. Grandfather John Callaghan died there at the age of eighty years. The maiden name of his wife was Margaret Hutchinson, who was born in Virginia of Scotch ancestry. 1122 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION She died when about seventy years of age. In their home were eight children; five sons and three daughters. Rev. Mr. Callaghan's father was about fourteen years of age when the family came to Southern Ohio. After he grew up he lived on the farm and finally succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead, which continued to be his home until his death at the age of eighty-two. He married Martha Hanna, who was born in Greenbrier County, Virginia, a daughter of John Hanna, a native of Virginia and a Revolutionary Soldier. John Hanna came to Ohio by the overland route with wagon and teams in 1817, locating in what is now Milton Township in Jackson County, and after ithproving a farm lived there for a number of years and finally died at the home of a daughter in Madison Township. John Hanna married Jane Grimes, who died at the old place in Milton Township. Mrs. Martha (Hanna) Callaghan was eighty years of age when she died. Long life has therefore been a characteristic of the Callaghan family in practically all its branches. Rev. Mr. Callaghan was one of a family of nine children whose names are : John, Robert, Jane, Benjamin, Martha, William, Angelina, Joseph and Charles. Robert Callaghan attended one of the primitive old log cabin schools kept in Madison. County during the days of his boyhood. It was a log building, with a chimney built up On the outside with sticks and clay and with a stone wall back of the fireplace. Benches were made of rough slabs without backs, and there were no desks in the modern sense of that term. Light was admitted to the building by the simple expedient of leaving out a log from one of the walls, and as there was no glass for a window the cold air was kept out and the light admitted through greased paper. After he had completed the curriculum of this little temple of learning he attended the Citizens Academy at Albany and later attended the Bartlett Commercial College at Cincinnati. Mr: Callaghan became a teacher at the age of seventeen, teaching his first term in the Callaghan schoolhouse, which was later known as the Fox Den School. His work as a teacher continued for several years. At the age of twenty-seven Mr. Callaghan was converted and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church and soon afterwards took up the study of theology. He was licensed as a local preacher in* 1858, and joined the Ohio Conference in the same year. For many years he was one of the vigorous religious teachers and leaders in Souther     io, and filled many pastorates in different localities. After forty  of active work, he retired from the ministry in 1899. In September, 1860, Rev. Mr. Callaghan married Mary E. Ridenour. She was born at Hanging Rock in Lawrence County, a daughter of Isaac and Eliza (Duduit) Ridenour. Her death occurred in July, 1910. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 1123 There were three children : Robert henry; Orin G., who died at the age of twenty-two ; and Martha E., who died when three years old. JOHN A. BLANK. The great modern industries require not only the services. of executives and business managers, but also of a corps of expert and technically trained men, many of them among the most competent scientists in the country. A number of such men are found in the industrial activities of the Hanging Rock Iron Region, and John A. Blank, the assistant superintendent and chief chemist at the Portland Cement Works in Superior is one of the valued representatives in this class. Mr. Blank is a chemist by profession, and has given his services to a large number of cement plants located in different sections of the country during the past fifteen years. John A. Blank was born in Lehigh County at Allentown, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1879. His parents were Richard B. and Louisa (Steckel) Blank. On both sides the families were among the pioneers of Lehigh 'County, having come there in the colonial days; and while the Blanks settled on Gordan River the Steckels had their home on Egypt Creek. In both communities are still standing the quaint old-fashioned stone houses, with their small, leaded window panes, that represent. the family homesteads through various generations, and are still owned by' descendants and are the centers for the family reunions which bring. together the widely separated clans periodically. Richard B. Blank was born in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in 1844, spent his active career as a farmer, and still lives at Allentown. The mother was born at Egypt in Lehigh County in 1846. Their seven children were : Maggie, Hattie, Anna, Florence, Edgar, John A. and Peter. John. A. Blank was educated in the public schools of Lehigh County, and spent four years at Muehlenberg College and specialized in chemistry for two years at Lehigh University. At the age of twenty-one Mr. Blank was made chief chemist at the Phoenix Portland Cement Company in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, a year later was made chief chemist at the Bonneville Portland Cement Company in Siegfried, Pennsylvania, antwo years later went to the Portland Cement Company at Penllyn, Pennsylvania. Two years were spent there, when he became chief chemist and remained for two years in the Lehigh Portland Cement Company 'at Newcastle; Pennsylvania, and then came to the Hanging Rock Iron Region and spent four years as chief chemist with the Superior Portland Cement Company. Mr. Blank left Lawrence County to become chief chemist of the Lehigh Portland Cement Company at Mason City, Iowa, for two years, but in 1912 returned to Superior and resumed his former duties as chief chemist. Since the spring of 1914 he has also Vol. II-31 1324 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION served as assistant superintendent, and is one of the stockholders in the company. Mr. Blank was married April 15, 1901, at Egypt, Pennsylvania, to Laura Peifly, daughter of George Peifly. Their three children are Katherine M. M., Allen J., and Marjorie L. Mr. Blank is a. Mason, a democrat in politics, and his church is the Reform Church. He finds his recreation in hunting and fishing and travel and also in automobiling. CARL O. WHITLATCH. Among Lawrence County's younger citizens, one who has busied himself with useful duties since leaving school and has a useful position in his community is Carl O. Whitlatch, at the. present time postmaster of Superior.. Carl O. Whitlatch was born. at Mount. Vernon, Ohio, April 4, 1889, a son of :William C. and Martha (Grimes) Whitlatch. His father was born at Vesuvius, Ohio,. in Lawrence County, in 1862, and now lives a Superior, while the mother was born at Mount Vernon in 1868. Their seven, children are: ;Carl O., Clarence, 'Earl, Grace, Ralph, Flora and one that died in infancy. Carl O. Whitlatch grew. up at Vesuvius, and gained an adequate education in the public schools. At the age 'of seventeen he began work as timekeeper for the Superior Portland Cement Company, and after 1 1/2 years was made bookkeeper for .the same company, continuing for 5 1/2 years. In 1913 Mr. Whitlatch received the appointment as postmaster of Superior, and has since given close attention to the details of that work and handles the office in a manner to popularize it with all its patrons. Mr. Whitlatch was married December 25, 1910, to Emma Pauline Duvendeek; daughter of Adam and Eliza (Putker) Duvendeck of Elizabeth Township, Lawrence County. They have one child, Harold Eu gene. Mr. Whitlatch.. is affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men, and is a Mason. His church is the Methodist, and he is a democrat. ITHAMAR B. BROOKINS. One of the well-known old residents of Jackson, Ohio, which city has been his home with the exception of a few years for half a century; Ithamar B. Brookins is 'a veteran of the Civil war, and has had a long and active career. Ithamar B. Brookins was born at Trimble, in Athens County, Ohio, November 25, 1846. In the paternal line he is a. son of Eleazar and Hannah S. (Price) Brookins, a grandson of Benjamin and Esther. Brookins, a great-grandson of Ithamar and Judith Brookins, and a great-great-grandson of Philip and Sarah (Keyes) Brookins. His maternal grandparents were James and Nancy D. (Bennett) Price.