650 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION who is a carriage trimmer by trade and vocation, and who now resides in the City of San Francisco, California, married Miss Blanche Rowe ; Miss Nora holds the position of stenographer in the office of the Ketter Buggy Company ; and Minnie is a student in the Ironton public schools. ELIAS NIGH. Born and reared in Ohio and a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of this favored commonwealth, it was given to Colonel Nigh to confer distinction upon his native state, which shall ever owe to his memory a debt of special honor. As a lawyer, soldier and legislator he wielded large and benignant influence, and his life was guided and governed by the loftiest principles of integrity, the while he had a deep sense of personal responsibility and so ordered. his life as to make it a veritable beatitude. Colonel Nigh died at his home in Ironton, Lawrence County, on the 24th of February, 1899, and his memory is revered by all who came within the compass of his strong and noble influence, so that this publication would impair its consistency were there failure to enter .a proper memorial tribute. Colonel Nigh was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, on the 16th of Feb-. ruary, 1815, and thus his death occurred about one week after he had celebrated the eighty-fourth anniversary of his birth. His father, Samuel Nigh, was a native of Maryland and came to Fairfield' County, Ohio, in 1802, 'before the admission of the state to the Union. This worthy pioneer lived up to the full tension of responsibilities and vicissitudes incidental to the formative period of Ohio history, was influentialin his community, and passed' the closing period of his life in Wyandotte County, where he died in 1877, at the age of eighty-three years. From a previously published memoir are taken, with slight paraphrase, the following statements concerning Colonel Nigh : "As a youth he was employed in business by General Reese, brother-in-law of Senator Sherman, and he passed several years in the home of Mrs. Sherman after the death of. her distinguished husband. While thus engaged he diligently employed his time in reading and study. For two years after attaining, to his legal majority Colonel Nigh was engaged in business for himself, and he then began the study of law under the preceptorship of Hon. Hocking H. Hunter, of Lancaster, the judicial center of Fairfield County. In the same county he pursued also, a: classical course in Greenfield Academy, an institution conducted by Professor John Williams, a very accomplished scholar. In the spring of 1843 Colonel Nigh was admitted to the Ohio bar, at Lebanon, Warren County, and in the autumn of this year he located at Burlington, Lawrence County, whence, in 1852, he removed to Ironton, the county seat. He was made colonel in the State militia ; he was thrice elected representative HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 651 in the Ohio legislature—in 1847, 1859, and 1876. In. 1877, as chairman of the standing committee on mines and mining, he introduced a bill to establish a chair of mining and mining engineering in the Ohio Agricultural College; also a bill to consolidate land titles in Ohio. He also prepared, and presented in the house, joint resolutions for the amendment of the state constitution in such manner as to make provision for the organization of its judiciary. "In 1861, at the inception of the Civil war, Colonel Nigh was tendered the rank of major in the First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and also that of assistant quartermaster of volunteers with the rank of captain. He accepted the latter overture and received his commission in August, 1861, with assignment to General Thomas' division, at Camp Dick Robinson, Kentucky. In the • spring of 1862 he was placed on the staff of General Buell, as the chief quartermaster' of the Army of the Ohio, and remained until General Buell was relieved from the command, in the following autumn. He was then assigned to duty as depot quartermaster at Louisville, Kentucky, and about this time he was tendered to office of colonel of a new Ohio regiment. He forwarded his resignation as quartermaster, but the government recognized the value of his services in the latter capacity and refused to accept his resignation, with the result that he was soon afterward made Chief quartermaster of the Sixteenth Army Corps, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. "In April, 1863, as a further reward for his meritorious services, Colonel Nigh was commissioned assistant quartermaster in the regular army, with the rank of captain. In June, 1864, he was given the additional duty of acting as disbursing officer of the entire Mississippi valley, from Cairo to Natchez. Early in the following month, after having rendered very valuable and distinguished service to his country,. Colonel Nigh resigned his office." Testimonials of appreciation of his services as quartermaster were given in many letters from official and representative sources, and there can be no impropriety in perpetuating in this review certain extracts from some of these letters. Lieut. Col. J. D. Bingham, chief quartermaster of the Department of the Tennessee, under date of June 13, 1864, wrote to Colonel Nigh, relative to the latter 's retirement from the post of chief quartermaster, of the Sixteenth Army Corps, in 'the following words: "I regret exceedingly that you are compelled to resign. You have rendered me such valuable assistance and performed your duties in such a satisfactory manner that I fear your place can not be filled in this department." Gen. S. A. Hurlbut; major general of volunteers, wrote as follows : "Dear Colonel : I can not permit you to go off the military stage with- 652 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION out some testimonial from me of my appreciation of your qualities as a man and an officer. I have no hesitation in saying that your duties as a chief quartermaster of the corps were discharged with a punctual fidelity and intelligent foresight and integrity that I have never known equalled. You retire, my dear Colonel, with unblemished honor, with the highest reputation for efficiency and integrity, and with the most complete condence and regard from your commanding general." In his final settlement with the government, Colonel Nigh's accounts footed up more than six million dollars. On the 1st of July, 1862, to meet a special exigency, Colonel Nigh ordered a detail of thirty negroes to be enrolled from among the camp followers to man a supply train, the detail of Union soldiers previously ordered for that purpose arriving too late for the train. This was the first instance in which negroes were similarly employed, and Colonel Nigh thus had the distinction of being the man who introduced negro labor into the -Union service. This example was immediately followed by other officers, the innovation being made known to and approved by the government authorities at Washington. Soon large bodies of negroes were actively engaged in doing much of post and other labor which had theretofore been performed by details from the volunteer Union ranks. For several years Colonel Nigh served as a member of the Ironton City Council, being called to the presidency of this municipal body, and also having been chairman of the committee on the construction of the Ironton waterworks. Further evidence of his strong hold upon popular confidence and esteem in his home city was shown in his election to the office of mayor of Ironton. In 1869 Colonel Nigh was appointed assessor of internal revenue for the Eleventh Ohio district, and he retained this position until the office was abolished, in 1872. All the positions which Colonel Nigh was thus called upon to fill were conferred upon him entirely without his seeking. Shortly after the close of the war he organized the Sheridan Coal Company of which he was president. After the war he brought from the South a number of those pitiable and helpless waifs of humanity, the negroes who had been slaves and had been made homeless and desolate by the Emancipation Proclamation,—a class thus suddenly compelled to depend on their own resources, while previously they had been care-free and without responsibility. Colonel Nigh brought them to Ironton, Ohio, helped them to find homes in a quarter of the town set apart for their exclusive' use, and he became at once their guide and counselor, with the result that he became deeply loved and revered by them. During the flood of 1884 Colonel Nigh devoted all his time and ener- HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 653 gies to the alleviation of suffering and the saving of property throughout the devastated district. In this connection he collected through personal effort large sums of money for the benefit of the sufferers. In politics, it is scarcely necessary to state, Colonel Nigh was a stalwart republican, and in a fraternal way he manifested his deep and abiding interests in his old comrades of the Civil war by retaining affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic. Of him the following consistent estimate has been written : "A leader in all good public works, a lawyer of marked ability, he was privately modest, retiring and unostentatious. The fundamental principles of his religion were honesty, uprightness and absolute justice, with charity to all men. I know of no more fitting words with which to close a brief sketch of this honorable, Christian life than those used by his lifelong friend and admirer, General Sherman, in a toast made to Colonel Nigh during a meeting of the Army of the Cumberland, at Washington, some years ago : 'A man who devoted four years of his life to his country in its greatest need, and saved for it millions of dollars ; who may not leave to his children great wealth, but will leave to them that which is a far more precious inheritance, an absolutely honest name.' " On the 5th of March, 1848, was solemnized the marriage of Colonel Nigh to Miss Alice Henshaw, of Lawrence County, who survived him by several years. They became the parents of eight children : Reese, Samuel Henshaw, Jennie, Julia, Mary, Elizabeth W., Alice Renshaw, and William Henshaw. Reese is deceased, as are also Jennie and Julia, the latter of whom was the wife of Charles B. Taylor. Mary is the wife of E. Stanley Lee,. and Alice H. is the wife of John Henry Queal. Samuel H. and William H. are associated in the conducting of an important lumbering business in Ironton and in the State of Kentucky, as will be noted by referring to the sketch of the career of William H. Nigh, on other .pages of this work. WILLIAM H. NIGH. On preceding pages of this publication is entered a memoir to the late and distinguished Col. Elias Nigh, whose name is 'held in enduring honor in his native State of Ohio, and whose noble achievements are briefly noted in the circumscribed tribute possible of incorporation in a work of this order. The son William H. is known as one of the representative business men of his native City of Ironton, where he is well upholding the prestige of the family name, but in the article here presented it is unnecessary to repeat the data that are given in the memoir of his honored father, as ready reference may be made to the article mentioned. 654 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION William Henshaw Nigh, secretary and treasurer of the Nigh Lumber Company, of Ironton, is thus identified with one of the important industrial enterprises contributing to the commercial prestige of his native city, and the president of the company is his elder brother, Samuel H., the two owning and controlling the business, in which they own equal shares and which, has been by them developed to large proportions. William H. Nigh was born in Ironton on the 8th of November, 1868, and continued his studies in the public schools of the city from an early age until he -had completed the curriculum of the high school. At the age of eighteen years he became associated with his brother Samuel H., who was engaged in the buying and shipping of lumber, with headquarters at Ironton. At the end of one year William H., then nineteen years old, was sent by his brother to Mississippi to assume the management of a saw mill owned by the latter on. the Yazoo River. William H. passed about three years in the supervision of the business in Mississippi and then, in 1890, he became associated with his brother in the purchase of a portable saw mill at Catlettsburg, Boyd County, Kentucky. This mill they continued to operate successfully in that part of the Bluegrass State for four years, and they still have large lumber interests in Kentucky. Mr. Nigh returned to Ironton, the two brothers here erected their present saw mill, at the foot of Ellison Street, in January, 1890, and having placed the same in operation in addition to their lumbering activities in Kentucky. The mill has been kept up to the highest standard and has the capacity for the output of 50,000 feet of lumber a day. Through progressive methods and definite circumspection the enterprise has been built up to a status of marked prosperity and it proves a valuable adjunct to the industrial activities of this section of the Buckeye State, as one of the foremost of its kind in the Hanging Rock Iron Region. The brothers effected the organization of the Nigh Lumber Company, which is in- corporated with a capital stock of $10,000, shared equally by the two. The plant and business at Catlettsburg, Kentucky, are conducted under the firm name of S. H. Nigh & Brother. He whose name initiates this review owns a half interest in each of these important business enterprises, as already intimated, and he is likewise associated with his brother in the ownership of a valuable tract of 7,500 acres of timber land in Kentucky: In Ironton he owns his attractive modern residence, known as a center of generous hospitality, besides other houses and lots; Mr. Nigh has proved a reliable and progressive business man and- a loyal and public-spirited citizen, with abiding interest in all that pertains to the welfare of his home city and county. In politics Mr. Nigh is aligned as a supporter of the cause of HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 655 the republican ,party, and he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic fraternity, in the latter of which he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, besides being affiliated with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Both he and his wife are zealous communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church and he is a member of the vestry of the parish of his church. In September, 1899, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Nigh to Miss Josephine Wood, daughter of- George- and Martha Wood, of Maysville, Kentucky, and the two children of this union are William H., Jr., and Samuel H. OSCAR M. COBURN. Threescore and ten years measures the length of Mr. Coburn's life to the present time, but measured by what he has experienced and accomplished, his career has many distinctions not dependent on the passing of time. Now living retired at Portsmouth, with abundance of material comforts, he spent his youth in the country district of Scioto County, won honors and rank as lieutenant during the war, and later devoted himself to varied business activities in this and other counties of Ohio. Oscar M. Coburn was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, December 25, 1844, and in the same house was born his father, Arthur A. Coburn, in 1810. The grandfather, a native of Ireland, at the age of twelve came to America with an older brother, who settled in New England. Subsequently Grandfather Coburn made his way into Northwest Territory, settling in what is now Columbiana County, where he secured a tract of timbered land about five miles from Salem and seven miles from Wellsville. Having improved a farm' he and his wife lived there until death. Their eight children were James, Thomas, William, Arthur, Samuel, John, Margaret and Sarah. Arthur A. Coburn was reared and married in his native county and made it his home until 1846. The previous year he had visited Scioto County, and entered a tract of government land in Madison township. He proceeded to clear up five acres, and in the same fall sowed it to wheat and also built a cabin of round logs, with spilt-puncheon floors. a mud and stick chimney, and the roof was covered with clapboards, rived by hand and held in place by weight poles. The door was also made of a heavy puncheon, with a wooden latch, lifted by a deer thong, and the neighbors afterwards measured the hospitality of the Coburn home by saying "the latch string always is out." When this part of his pioneer home-making was finished, he returned to Columbiana County for the winter, and in the spring embarked his household goods, stock, 656 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION farm implements, and family on an Ohio River steamboat, and came down the river to the new settlement. At that time there were no railroads in this section of Ohio, all transportation being by river, canal or highways. Mrs. Arthur Coburn was a type of the old-fashioned housewife. She carded, spun and wove both flax and wool, was the family tailor and dressmaker, and clothed them all in homespun. Mr. Coburn with the assistance of his growing sons, cleared a farm and later built a commodious hewed log house, which he weatherboarded and painted, and in which he lived until his death, in January, 1876. Arthur A. Coburn married Martha Caldwell. She was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The father, Joseph Caldwell, was born in Scotland, and on coming to this country located in Pittsburg, where for several years he was engaged in the manufacture of axes. Later he moved north of Pittsburg into Mercer County, and bought land that included Sandy Lake, remaining there until his death at a good old age. His wife survived to the remarkable age of ninety-eight. Mrs. Coburn was well educated, and was a teacher before her marriage. She died in July, 1880. Her children were Thomas, Phebe A., James, Harvey, Caldwell, Martha J., Arthur, Oscar M., Robert and Theodore. Four of these sons, including Oscar, were soldiers in the Civil war. Thomas was killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, another died at Lexington, Kentucky, while Harvey, who enlisted at the first call and fought in the first Bull Run, was honorably discharged and while coming home was crippled in a railway accident. Oscar M, Coburn grew .up in the community where his parents had settled when he was a child, and got his education from the rural schools. He was not yet seventeen when the war broke out, but he became one of the many boy volunteers who bore the brunt of the task of putting down the rebellion. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company E of the Thirty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was with his command in its various skirmishes, battles and marches until the battle of Perryville, Kentucky. There he received a severe wound, was taken to the hospital at Louisville, and was given an honorable discharge February 27, 1863.. Not yet satisfied with soldering, he again enlisted May 9, 1863, this time in Battery F of the First Ohio Heavy Artillery. He went by rail to Lexington, Kentucky, and thence marched to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he arrived the same month, being made corporal in his company. He had been in Knoxville only a short time when he was one of six detailed by General Schofield for secret service. This squad, commanded by George W. Kirk, crossed the mountains to North Carolina, their purpose being to discover a feasible route for an army. A Cherokee Indian was secured for a guide, but lost his way, and for three days they HANGING ROCK IRON. REGION- 657 wandered in the mountains without food. Many of the loyal mountaineers joined in the expedition and piloted the way to Camp Vance, where 354 Confederates were guarding 398 Union prisoners. On reaching that place, Captain Kirk, who then had about ninety men around him, concluded to capture the prison camp. Young Coburn was detailed to take a flag of truce into the camp and demand its surrender. He got into the camp at daybreak while its commander was still in bed. He gave the commander five minutes to answer his demand for surrender, and after a hurried consultation the demand was complied with. While these things were going on, young Coburn was too busy to write home, and his mother had addressed a letter of inquiry which fell into the hands of Capt. A. B. Cole, of Company F, First Ohio Heavy Artillery, and his reply to her in a letter which she carefully preserved, is an interesting document in Mr. Coburn's career, and the substance of it is copied as follows: The latter was addressed from Knoxville, August 2, 1864, and reads as follows: "Your note to the. Christian Commission was put in my hands this moment by one of the agents. You seek information of your son Oscar M. Coburn of my Company F, 1st O. V. H. A. I am surprised at this, for I had supposed that Oscar was very prompt in writing to his friends, and if he was not I know no good reason why you or any of his friends should hesitate for a moment to ask information of his captain, or rather of his former captain, for I am no longer so. Oscar is a first lieutenant in the Third North 'Carolina Cavalry. Oscar is in excellent good health and in fine spirits, and is a number one soldier. He was in my tent until 11 o'clock last night, and went to town but a few momenta since on business for his regiment. We the officers of his former regiment bought and presented him a sword. He is very well liked by his new friends. He went to North Carolina with Colonel Kirk of the Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry on his great raid when they captured Camp Vance and 300 prisoners. They had no white flag to send in when they made the demand for the surrender. Col. Kirk tore the tail or skirt from his shirt, and Oscar carried it in and made the demand for the surrender, which was complied with. In conclusion I would say that Oscar is very capable of taking care of himself, and you should give yourself no unnecessary anxiety on his account," etc. As the letter explains, after the capture of Camp Vance, Mr. Coburn and his comrades returned to the battery at Knoxville, Sand soon afterward he was commissioned lieutenant of Company D of the Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry. On December 29, 1864, he was wounded at the battle of Indian Creek, North Carolina, and for thirty-six years 658 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION carried the bullet in his body. At the close of hostilities he resigned his command and returned to the homestead farm in Ohio. After his marriage he began his career as an independent farmer on rented land at Lucasville, but two years later bought a sawmill and was a lumber manufacturer two years. His chief business, however, continuing for twenty-five years was as contractor in the building of roads, railroads, bridges and similar construction work. He then entered the merchandise business in Harrisonville and in Harpster, Wyandotte County, for a year, following which for two years he operated a roller flour mill at Stockdale, in Pike County. He next began investing in farm lands, buying a farm in Madison Township, and in time had about 600 acres. His home was in the country until 1895, when he moved to Portsmouth, bought a house on Summit Street and some unimproved land, and after making some improvements sold and bought 71/2 acres of the Young homestead, where he lived until October,. 1914, when he moved to New Boston, Ohio. Mr.. Coburn has laid out in lots :and sold a portion of this city property. At present his only business is in looking after his private interests. On July 24, 1867, Mr. Coburn married Elizabeth. Deemer, who was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Jacob and ,Susan (Bonzoe) Deemer, natives of the same county. Grandfather Deemer was a native of Germany, while Grandfather Bonzoe was born in France. Mrs. Coburn's parents settled in Madison Township, Scioto County, on a farm, in 1857, and her father died the same year. Her mother died at the Coburn home in 1884 in her eighty-seventh year. Mr. Coburn and wife have reared five children—Launa M., Lizadore, Ida Florence, Oscar M. and Ernest H. Launa is the wife of John R. Monroe, and their five children are' Ida F., who married John Spry and has two daughters, Goldie and Charlotte ; Enid, who married Sylvane Portee, and has a son Cullen; John; Edith and Harlan. The daughter Lizadore married John S. Violet, and their four sons are Raymond D., Charles J., Forest C. and Arlin. The daughter Ida is the wife of William M. Brown, and has a' daughter Wilma.. Oscar M., Jr., married May Wheeler. Ernest married Ethel Dugan. For many years Mr. Coburn took a prominent part in the affairs of the Grand Army. He was a charter member of Bailey Post No. 164, and later organized Scioto Post at Harrisonville. He is affiliated with the Harrisonville Lodge of Knights of Pythias. He was reared in the Presbyterian Church, while Mrs. Coburn is of the Lutheran Church. WILLIAM W. GATES, JR. Numbered among the representative business men of the City of Portsmouth, Scioto County, Mr. Gates is here HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 659 the treasurer of the Irving Drew Shoe Company, which is successfully-engaged in the manufacturing of shoes and which represents one of the important industrial enterprises of the city. Mr. Gates is a scion of a family that was founded in Ohio in the early pioneer days and that found representation in New England in the colonial era of our national history. On a farm one-fourth of a -mile distant from the Village. of Cheshire, Gallia. County, Ohio, William W. Gates, jr., was born on the 13th of March, 1863, and the place of his nativity was a house that had there been erected by his paternal grand father. He is a son of William W. and Alvina Elizabeth (Nye) Gates. William W. Gates, Sr., was born on a pioneer farmstead in the immediate vicinity of Marietta, Washington County, Ohio, on the 16th of October, 1827, and is a son of Samuel Haskell Gates, who was born in the Town of Kingston, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, on the 3d of September,. 1792. The latter was a son of John Gates, who became the founder of the family in Ohio, to which state he came in the early part of the nineteenth century and numbered himself among the pioneer settlers of Washington County. There he purchased a tract of heavily timbered land' and instituted the reclamation of a farm, this old homestead being situated about one mile northeast of the site of the present courthouse in the City of Marietta. His original domicile was a log cabin, sixteen feet square:with chimney constructed of sticks and mud and with the expansive fireplace that served both for warming and cooking purposes, a pony having been used in dragging the mammoth backlogs into the little building and making them ready for the fireplace. This primitive house continued to be the family home for several years and then a more pretentious structure was provided, though the latter also had no semblance of modern architecture and facilities. John Gates was a man of strong mental and physical power and great sincerity and force of character. He was a deep Bible student and devout Christian worker, and though not regularly ordained he was often called-upon to serve as a local .preacher. He was one of the influential and honored pioneers of Washington County and there both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives at Marietta, the maiden name of the latter having been Haskell. Samuel Haskell Gates, grandfather of him whose name initiates this article, was a youth at the time of the family removal from Massachusetts to the pioneer wilds of Ohio, and he and his brother Eben succeeded eventually to the ownership of their father's old homestead farm, upon which they erected a substantial two-story house of hewed logs, near the site of the original cabin. In Washington County he. learned the trade of cooper; which he successfully 'followed in connec- Vol. 660 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION tion with his farming industry. Later he purchased another farm in the same vicinity and there he continued to reside until 1835, when he sold the property and removed to Gallia County. In the spring of 1836 he purchased a tract of land in Cheshire Township, where he reclaimed a productive farm and in Gallia County he became also a successful dealer in farm produce, which he transported by flat-boats down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, in which city he found a profitable market for his produce, besides selling his boats, which were virtually impossible of the return navigation up the river. He made the return voyage to his home by means of the old-time packet steamboats, and he continued to reside on his old homestead in Gallia County until his death, which occurred March 23, 1847. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Wheeler, was born at Rutland, Vermont, and was a daughter of John Wheeler,' who set forth for Ohio in company with his family, the household effects having been loaded on a sloop for transportation by the. Great Lakes, but disaster having overtaken the little vessel, so that the goods of the sturdy pioneer was lost. Upon his arrival in Ohio Mr. Wheeler established the family home in Licking County, where he. passed the residue of his life. Mrs. Mary (Wheeler) Gates survived her husband and was summoned to the life eternal on the 8th of August, 1855, their eight children having been : William W., Henry W., Lucy A., Samuel H., John B., Abbie A., Harriet C. and Franklin 0. William W. Gates, Sr., was reared to manhood under the sturdy discipline of the home farm and finally he removed with his family from Gallia County to West Virginia, where he remained for a comparatively short period. On his return to Ohio he established his residence in Scioto County, where he leased a farm near Portsmouth and for several years there gave his attention to diversified agriculture and stock-growing. Venerable in years, he lived retired in the City of Portsmouth, secure in the high regard of all who knew him, until his death, July 7, 1915. His wife was born on a farm near .Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio, and is a daughter of Melzar Nye, who was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1785, a son came Ebenezer Nye, who likewise was a native of Connecticut and who came thence to the Northwest Territory, then including Ohio, in the year 1790. This was soon after the little settlement had been established at historic old Marietta, Ohio, and in the stockade there established as protection against the Indians he and his family resided five years. Later he purchased a tract of land nine miles distant from the now thriving city of Maretta, on the banks of the Muskingum River, and there he resided many years, as one of the sterling pioneers who aided in the social and material development of the Buck- HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 661 eye State in the early stages of its history; He had been a valiant soldier of the Continental Line in the War of the Revolution and he passed the closing period of his long and useful life at Barnesville, Belmont County, where he died in the year 1829. His wife, whose maiden name was Desire Sawyer, had passed to eternal rest in 1800. Melzar Nye. as a boy and youth gained ample experience in connection with the labors and hardships of pioneer life on the embryonic farm of his father, and as a young man. he 'assisted in the making of some of the original surveys in Washington County, where he finally bought a tract of land near his father's homestead. He cleared and otherwise improved much of this land and there remained until 1827, when he sold the property and removed to Meigs County, where he purchased a farm in Salisbury Township. He reclaimed this homestead and on the same passed the residue of his life, his death having occurred when he was eighty-eight years of age.. He wedded Miss Phoebe 'Sprague, who was born in Massachusetts, her ancestors having been numbered among the founders of Hingham, that state, and an excellent genealogical history of this sterling old family having been compiled and published by Warren -Vincent Sprague. Mrs. Phoebe. (Sprague). Nye was born in 1.788 and died at the age of seventy-two years. Her six children who attained to years of maturity were : Mary D., Margaretta Z., Sarah C., Melzar, Ahnira and Alvira (twins): Alvira, who was the wife of. W. W. Gates, Sr., died June 4, 1915. At this juncture is entered brief record concerning the children of William W. and Alvira Elizabeth (Nye) Gates: Ella is the wife of Irving Drew, the executive head of the Portsmouth Shoe Manufactory which bears his name ; Laura is the wife of Stephen Chick, of Portsmouth ; William W., Jr:, is the immediate subject of this review.; Hattie is the wife of Lewis Spencer, of Portsmouth; and Edward S. and John are deceased. Passing the days of his boyhood on the farm., William. W. Gates, Jr., acquired his preliminary education in the district schools. and supple- mented this by attending the public schools of Portsmouth. At the age of seventeen years he here entered the employ of the Drew-Selby Shoe Company, in various departments of whose factory he gained practical experience in all details of the business. He continued with this concern until the dissolution of the partnership of the principals, .in 1902,. and he then became associated with Mr. Drew, and others in organizing the Irving Drew Company, of which he became treasurer, an office of which he has been the incumbent from the time of the incorporation of the company. He has been one of the influential factors in the development of the large and substantial business of the company and 662 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION is known as an able executive as well as a man of broad and accurate knowledge of the practical details of the industrial enterprise with which he is identified. Mr. Gates is not only one of the substantial business men and liberal and progressive citizens of Portsmouth but has also ordered his life in such a way as to merit and receive the confidence and esteem. of all with whom he has come in contact. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and both he and his wife are members of the Second Presbyterian Church in their home city; he having served for more than a decade past as superintendent of its Sunday school. In the year 1888 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gates to Miss Harriet S. Chick, who was born on a farm in Clay Township, Scioto County, and who is a daughter of Charles and Sarah (Lawson) Chick, the former of whom died in 1877 and the latter in 1910. Charles Chick was born in Gallia County, this state, on the 23d of December, 1823, and was a son of William Chick, a native of. Somersetshire, England, where he was born in 1794. In 1817 William Chick, accompanied by his brothers, Charles and John, immigrated to the United States. In his native land he had learned the trade of stonemason, at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, and after coming to America he followed his trade several years, in Scioto County, Ohio. In 1828 he purchased a farm of 500 or 600 acres in the French Grant and removed his family there. In 1846 he purchased a tract of 237 acres, including the present site of the Burgess Steel and Iron Works, but while preparing to move to his new house was taken sick and died at the old homestead in the French Grant, his. wife, whose maiden name was Nancy Skinner, having preceded him to the "Great Beyond" the year previous. Both were members of the Baptist Church, in the faith of which they reared their eight children. Charles Chick devoted his entire active life to agricultural pursuits and became one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of Scioto County. He purchased the interests of the other heirs to his father's extensive farm and on the same he continued to reside until his death, his widow having thereafter removed to the City of Portsmouth, where she maintained her home during the residue of her life. In 1854 Charles Chick wedded Miss Sarah Lawson, daughter of John and Rebecca Watson Lawson, June, 1854. Thomas Lawson, grandfather of John Lawson, was a native of Hampshire County, Virginia, and a representative of that fine old commonwealth as a patriot soldier in the War of the Revolution. William Lawson, grandfather of Sarah Lawson, was one of the first settlers in Scioto County, Ohio, having located on the tract of land now occupied by the City of Portsmouth. Michael HANGING ROCK IRON, REGION- 663 Watson, great-grandfather of Mrs. Gates on the maternal side, was a native of Maryland, whence he removed to Kentucky in 1790, and from the latter state he came to Ohio in 1804 and became one of the very early settlers of Adams County, where he continued to reside until his death. JOHN L. HINZE. Nowhere can be found more attractive homesteads than those that adorn the landscape along the Scioto. River. One such farm that adds its measure to the general outlook in Washington Town-Ship of Scioto County is owned by John L. Hinze, who has spent all his life since boyhood in this vicinity, and has been known and honored for his success in the fundamental industry of agriculture and for his upright character and good citizenship. John L. Hinze is a native of the Kingdom. of Hanover, Germany, where he was born August 23, 1848, about the time of the Revolution which sent so many sterling German-Americans to the New World. His father, John L. Hinze, Sr., was a physician, was born, reared and educated in the same locality, and had a thorough training for his profession. In 1850, accompanied by his family, he came to America, and. for eight years was engaged by in practice at Clarksburg, then Virginia, and now West Virginia. At the end of that time he returned to Germany, but stayed only a year and a half, when he again came to the United States, and this time found a home in Scioto County.. He bought a- farm in Union Township, and thereafter combined the practice of medicine throughout the surrounding country with the Supervision of his farming interests until his death at the age of seventy-one. Doctor Hinze married Anna Mary Brandt, who was born in Hanover and died\ when about sixty-five years of age. There are three sons and one daughter: John L. ; Frederick, who lives in Pickaway County ; Henry, deceased; and Anna, the wife of William Buffinger, of Washington Township. John L. Hinze was about two years old when the family first came to America, and attended, the schools of Virginia for several 'years, had part of his education in Germany, and was in school at Portsmouth until ready to take up the serious responsibilities of life. In the meantime he had assisted in the duties. of the farm in Scioto County, and at the age of twenty-one started out independently. Though he had little. to begin with and has worked out his own . destiny, his success is not less substantial than that of many men better favored at the beginning. He farmed as a renter for .about three years, and then invested his surplus in hie present farm. It is located on the Galena Pike, and 100 acres lie in the rich and fertile Scioto Valley. During 664 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION his ownership some substantial buildings have been erected, including a. frame residence,. with two barns, and cribs with capacity of 6,000 bushels of corn on the cob. The buildings and their grounds are all in the Village of Rapptown, which is an addition to Davis Division. The location is on the west side of Galena Pike, and it commands a fine view of the Scioto Valley and the region beyond. Mr. Hinze was first married in 1871 to Elizabeth Malone. She was born in Washington Township, a daughter of Isaac and Mary Ann (Utt) Malone, her father of Scotch-Irish and her mother of German ancestry. Mrs. Hinze died in 1908, leaving the following children : Essie, Ida, John, Tracey, Homer, Carrie, Archie, Mabel and Glen. The daughter Essie married John Seymour and has one child, Elizabeth. Ida married Edward Long. Mabel is the wife of George Chackart, and has a daughter named Alna Lorene. John married Lola Seymour, and has a son, Ralph. Tracey married Miss Rose, and their two sons are Stanley and Cecil. Carrie married Esse Hill and has a daughter named Garnet. After the death of his first wife Mr. Hinze married Mrs. Elizabeth (Graham) Deal. She was born in Washington Township, a daughter of Peter Noel Graham, who was a native of Union. Township and his parents, James and Margaret (Noel) Graham, were among the pioneers of Scioto County. Peter N. Graham was a man of superior education for his time. During his residence in Washington Township from the age of sixteen until his death at sixty-four he proved himself a successful farmer and was honored with a number of local offices. He married Margaret Utt, who was born ink Pennsylvania, came to Ohio at the age of seven with her parents, and died at the age of thirty-nine. Mrs. Hinze's first husband, Henry Deal, a native of Kentucky, operated a stone quarry On Cary's Run for several years before his death, which occurred at the age of forty-one. Mrs. Hinze by her first marriage has four children, named Clara Belle, Elizabeth M., Henry V. and Wilber P. Mr. Hinze's parents were faithful members of the Lutheran faith, but as there is no church of that denomination in Washington Township he has united with and worships in the Old Town Methodist Episcopal Church. JOHN WITTMAN. One of the oldest men in Jackson County is John Wittman, who has lived in this part of Ohio more than three-quarters of a century. His years of activity were spent as a farmer, and have been fruitful in the things that go with material prosperity and also HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 665 in the honor paid a good citizen who rears a family of useful men and women. John Wittman was born near Allentown, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1830, and is now eighty-six years old. His father was Henry Wittman, a native of Pennsylvania, while the grandfather saw service as a teamster in the army of General Washington, and was at Valley Forge during that memorable winter that passed with so much suffering to the American .troops and with so much gloom to all the hard-pressed colonies. Henry Wittman for an occupation learned the trade of shoemaker. There were no shoe factories then, turning out footwear by machinery, and the cobbler was a useful man in every community, did all his work by hand, and made boots and shoes only by order. In 1838 he left Pennsylvania with his family and came to Ohio. No railroads had yet been built west of the Alleghenies, and the journey was made by wagon and canal boat. They tarried awhile in Stark County, then went to Columbus, and on reaching Piketon took a team and wagon for the rest of the distance to Jackson County. Their location was in Scioto Township, where several- Pennsylvania German families had preceded them. There Henry Wittman bought a tract of timber land, erected a log cabin, and that was the first home of the Wittmans in Ohio. The winter months were spent in cobbling for the settlers, while the rest of the year he spent in clearing off his land and tilling the soil. Henry Wittman died in that locality after a life of nearly eighty years. The maiden name of his wife was Lizzie Morey, a native of Pennsylvania and of German ancestry. She died soon after coming to Ohio, but six of her children grew up, as follows : Mary, Catherine, Jesse, Elizabeth, William and John. John Wittman, the only survivor of this family, was reared to the vocation of agriculture, and for an education had to depend upon the primitive instruction of subscription schools. After reaching manhood he bought an unimproved farm near the old home, and for many years was busied with its clearing and cultivation. He still lives there, and in spite of his age is a hale and clear-minded old man. John Wittman married Elizabeth Ann Elick, who was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1842. Her father, David Elick, was born in Germany, came to America in young manhood, and was employed in the iron works at Portsmouth, which city was his home until his death. Both he and his wife, whose maiden name was Anna Leser, died of the cholera in 1854. They left six children. Their son, David Elick, was well known in Portsmouth, where for years he published the Tribune, but in 1883 moved to Minneapolis, where he and Mr. Alvord founded the Commercial Bulletin. 666 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION Elizabeth Ann Elick was a small child when her mother died, and she made her home with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Leser, until her marriage. She died in 1910 at the age of sixty-eight. She was the mother of ten children, all of whom live to revere her memory. Their names are : Hattie, Ann, James D., John H., Frances E., George B., William J., Harry S., Cecilia C. and Jessie M. JAMES D. WITTMAN. One of the sons of John Wittman, whose career and family lineage are sketched above, is James D. Wittman, now secretary and treasurer of the Morning Star Publishing Company of Portsmouth, and for many years active in newspaper work. He was born in October, 1866, in Scioto Township of Jackson County, and spent his early life on the homestead still occupied by his father. The rural schools gave him his first instruction, and later h€ was a student in the Jackson Academy and in 1888 graduated from the National Normal University at Lebanon. His work, which he followed for several years, was teaching, and he was connected with the schools of Jackson County. From that he turned his attention to journalism, and for fourteen years was editor of the Jackson Herald. In 1914 he came to Portsmouth, and became one of the founders of the Morning Star, and is now secretary and treasurer of the company that publishes that paper. Fraternally he is a member of Trowel Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of the Royal Arch Chapter and the Council, and of Jackson Commandery of Knights Templar ; also of Theseus Lodge, Knights of Pythias. Mr. Wittman was married July 26, 1900, to Clara F. Drake, who was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, a daughter of Francis and Lyphenia E. (Shaw) Drake, who were natives of Plymouth, Massachusetts. GEORGE B. WITTMAN. Some of the best qualities of farming and general business enterprise are represented in the career of George B. Wittman, who is known pretty generally throughout both Jackson and Scioto counties, and is one of the largest farmers in Nile Township of the latter county. Mr. Wittman is a son of John Wittman, one of the oldest residents of Jackson County, a sketch of whom is given in preceding paragraphs. George B. Wittman was born in Scioto Township of Jackson County, October 28, 1873. His boyhood associations 'revolve about that locality and the old homestead farm, and while growing to manhood he attended the rural schools and got a practical training as a farmer. Farming was his regular business until 1899, at .which time he opened a. stock HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 667 of general merchandise at what was then called Whitman but is now Glade Station. Besides general merchandise he was also in the lumber business, and was the principal merchant of that little community until 1912. He then removed to farm he still occupies, in Nile Township, where he has 500 acres, a portion of it in the fertile bottoms along the river. Few farms in the township measure up to the general standard of improvement and management maintained by Mr. Wittman. His residence, built of stone, is one of the interesting landmarks of that community, and is one of the oldest homes still standing and in use in the county. While superintending the cultivation of his farm to general crops, Mr. Wittman is also clearing off the timber, which is being sawed into lumber for the local markets. Mr. Wittman was married in 1903 to Miss Blanche Gordon, a woman of education and culture, who has since presided over his home. She was born in Stockdale, Pike County, Ohio, a daughter of William B. and Mary Gordon. To their marriage have been born two children, Huber and Harold. Mr. and Mrs. Wittman are members of the McKendree Methodist Episcopal Church, while he affiliates with Alhambra Lodge, Knights of Pythias. Politically a democrat, he cast his first vote for William J. Bryan. ERNST HORSCHEL. Successfully conducting one of the attractive and popular meat markets of the city of Ironton, Mr. Horschel has shown marked ability and circumspection in catering to the demands of an appreciative patronage and is one of the substantial and loyal business men of the Iron City. Mr. Horschel was born in Germany, on the 16th of June, 1844, and is a son of Frederick and Barbara (Blackschmidt) Horschel, who passed their entire lives in the German Fatherland, where the father was a farmer and butcher, his birth having occurred in 1803, and his death in 1871, in which year occurred also the death of his wife, who was born in 1798 and who was thrice married, the name of her first husband having been Horn, and that of her second husband Cronacher. Henry Horn was the only child of the first marriage, and Frederick Cronacher the one child of the second marriage. Of the six children of the third union, Ernst Horschel, of this review, is the only one living, he being the youngest of the number. The names of the deceased children were as here noted : Andrew, Ernestina, Sophia, Edward, Rosina and Ernst. Ernst Horschel attended the schools of his native land until he was fourteen years of age, and thereafter he was employed at farm work and in the butcher shop of his father until 1864, when, at the age of twenty years, he immigrated to the United, States. He made Ironton, Ohio, his 668 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION destination and here he found employment in the meat market conducted by his two half-brothers, Henry Horn and Frederick Cronacher. In 1884 he opened a market of his own, and he has since continued without interruption in the meat-market business in Ironton, being now the pioneer representative of this line of enterprise in the city and having won success through industry, careful management and reliable service. Retaining the best traditions of his native land, Mr. Horschel has entered fully into the progressive spirit of the United States and is emphatically loyal and appreciative as an American citizen. He is aligned as a supporter of the republican party, and he and his family are communicants of the Lutheran church. Mr. Horschel has been ambitious and self-reliant and has made good use of the advantages afforded in the land of his adoption, with the result that his material success is on a parity with his personal hold upon popular confidence and good will. He is a stockholder in the Masting Steel Company, the Foster Stove Company, the Citizens' National Bank of Ironton, and a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of this city, besides which he is the owner of valuable real estate, including twenty-four acres of attractive hill land in Upper township, a residence and business building at 272 South Third Street and three business blocks opposite his meat market building on South Third Street. On the 18th of June, 1869, at the home of the bride's parents, in Scioto county, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Horschel to Miss Elizabeth Froncin, daughter of the late Frederick Froncin, and she has proved his valued helpmeet and devoted companion during the long intervening years. Concerning their children, the following brief record is given in conclusion of this sketch : Ernst F., who is the manager of the Ironton Automobile Garage, wedded Miss Anna Gills, and they have two children ; Henry C., who is associated with his father in the meat-market business, married Miss Lizzie Mahoney, and they have one child ; Frederick F., who is engaged in the insurance business and is serving as city treasurer of Ironton, married Miss Ida Delaney, and they have two children ; Ernestine, who remains at the parental home, is a talented artist who devotes special attention to china painting ; and Jacob is likewise associated with his father's business. GEORGE MAYNE, chief of the department of police of the city of Ironton, has won promotion to the head of his department both because of his fearlessness as an officer and his executive talents. A native of Ironton, he has been connected with the police force for a period of seventeen years, and his record is one of which any official might well be proud. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 669 Chief Mayne was born February 3, 1868, and is a son of John C. and Luema (Rowe) Mayne. John C. Mayne was born near Blossburg, Pennsylvania, in 1835, and in his native locality was engaged as a teamster and rolling mill man. Subsequently he enlisted for service in the Civil war as a member of the Forty-fifth Kentucky Mounted Infantry. After serving for eighteen months under arms he was made a teamster, and so completed his military service, being thus engaged for two years. Following his honorable discharge, Mr. Mayne came to the Hanging Rock Region, about the year 1865, and here continued to follow rolling mill work during the balance of his active career. Mrs. Mayne was born in Pike county, Kentucky, in 1840, and was eighteen years of age when she came to Ironton, Ohio, where she still makes her home. She has been the mother of six children, as follows : John A., George, Thomas R., Charles A., Esther A. and Grace. George Mayne received only ordinary educational advantages in the public schools, for at the age of twelve years he laid aside his books to begin to learn the trade of cooper. He continued to be employed at that vocation for some thirteen years, and then entered the rolling mills, where he remained three years. In 1897 Mr. Mayne qualified for the police force of Ironton and began his duties in that year, and as a tribute to his character as a brave, active and efficient officer, he speedily won promotion until February 13, 1914, he reached the height of his deserved promotions, being appointed chief of police. He has since demonstrated a marked administrative ability, and has instilled a new spirit of earnestness and reform into the service. Chief Mayne was married February 11, 1898, at Ironton, to Miss Emma Evans, daughter of Evan Evans of this city, and six children have been born to this union : Newell E., George E., Irving, Ruth, Elizabeth, and Avonell, of whom Ruth is deceased. Politically, Chief Mayne is a republican. With his family, he attends the Baptist church, in the work of which he has been active. He owns an attractive home and spends much of his time there, but is also fond of the companionship of his fellows and is a popular member of the Encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the Junior Order United American Mechanics. When he can spare the time from his arduous official duties he takes hunting trips and fishing excursions into the mountains, always accompanied by his family. CHARLES F. MILLER. A resident of Ironton since 1871, Charles F. Miller has been long identified with the business interests of this city, and through enterprise, industry and good management has gained a 670 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION place for himself among the substantial class of citizens. He is a native of Germany, born at Worms, November 29, 1848, and is a son of Charles F. and Kathryn (Mumm) Miller. His father, a police officer in Germany, never came to the United States, passing away in 1860, at the age of fifty years. The mother, born in Germany in 1830, survived until 1902. There were four children in the family : William, Louisa, Elsie and Charles F. Charles F. Miller attended the public schools of his native land until reaching the age of twelve years, at which time his father died and he was forced to go to work in order to assist in the support of the family. Learning the tinner 's trade, he worked thereat in Germany until 1866, and in that year, deciding that opportunities for success were greater in America, came to this country and settled at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, that city being his home until 1868. Following this he spent three years at Marietta, Ohio, but in 1871 came to Ironton, and here worked at his trade as a, journeyman until 1891, when, with Joseph Marquard as a partner, he established a business of his own. The firm of Miller & Marquard grew and prospered until 1901, when Me. Marquard died, and since that time Mr. Miller has continued the business alone. He has been very successful, and feels that prosperity has come to him because he has endeavored faithfully to give full value for every dollar received by him, and to give his own personal attention to details of the business. In addition to his place of business, on South Second Street, Mr. Miller owns his own home at No. 257 South Seventh Street. He is a valued member of the Chamber of Commerce, and in numerous ways has assisted in the growth and development of his adopted city, where he has resided for so many years. He is a democrat, but not a politician, and has never asked favors of his party. Mr. Miller is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic congregation and of the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Miller was married April 23, 1872, at Marietta, Ohio, to Miss Barbara Schillott, daughter of John Schillott, and seven children were born to this union : Clara, who married Matthew O'Shaunessy, a clerk at Columbus, Ohio, and has four children : Miller M., Mary, Kathryn, and Jack ; George, who married Nellie Gillman, a salesman and lives in Cali; fornia ; Emory, who married Lena Heitsman, is a tinner in partnership with his father, and has one child, Charles J. ; Otto, who is deceased ; Karl, who is single and resides with his parents ; Helen, who married Elmer Anderson, now employed by the Union Gas and Fuel Company at Huntington! West Virginia ; and Ida, who is deceased. The members of this family are all widely known and highly esteemed. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 671 JOHN D. HELBLING. The reputation of the successful general contractors of the Hanging Rock Region is not made in a day, prosperity in this broad field demanding not alone unusual abilities, but thorough training and broad experience. Commencing in business at Ironton some twenty-two years ago, John D. Helbling has steadily advanced to the front in reputation and the legitimate rewards of such a standing, and as a member of the firm of Wileman & Helbling shares in the prosperity that has come to one of Ironton's progressive ventures. Mr. Helbling was born November 15, 1864, in Brown County, Ohio, and is a son of Michael and Kathryn (Ring) Helbling. Michael Helbling was born in Pennsylvania, in 1837, and for many years was engaged in the manufacture of bricks, but since 1911 has lived retired from active pursuits, and now makes his home at Ironton. Mrs. Helbling, who was born in Germany, in 1838, and came to the United States in girlhood, died in 1912, having been the mother of nine children, as follows : May ; John D., of this review ; Nicholas H., who is deceased ; Margaret; William ; Kathryn ; Flora ; Charles D., and Luella, who is deceased. Until reaching the age of fifteen years, John D. Helbling attended the public schools of Ironton, and at that time began to learn the trade of brick mason, working in his father's brick yard and continuing to. be thus engaged until 1892. In that year he formed a partnership with Harry Wileman, under the firm style of Wileman & Helbling, and they have since carried on a prosperous and constantly increasing business, their plant and stock now being valued at $7,000. Mr. Helbling is a business man of more than ordinary ability, and his standing is that of one who adheres to the strictest principles of integrity and honorable dealing. Although he devotes the greater part of his attention to his brick manufacturing and general contracting business, he also has other interests, is a stockholder of the Ironton Artificial Stone Company, and owns his own residence on South Third Street and a residence property in the same locality. He is a valued member of the Chamber of Commerce, and his fraternal connection is with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. With his family, he attends St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Movements calculated to benefit his adopted city and its people always find in him a stalwart supporter, but he has taken no active part in politics save as a republican voter. On July 12, 1892, at the home of the bride, Mr. Helbling was united in marriage with Miss Kathryn Spanner, daughter of Conrad Spanner, of Ironton, and to this union there have come three children : Frances, Cecelia, and Emerson. The children have all been given good educational 672 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION advantages, and the Misses Helbling hold positions as stenographers in the office of the C. & O. Railway. The family home is at No. 196 South -Third Street. JOSEPH ABELE. Though he is able to claim the fine old 'Keystone State of the Union as the place of his nativity, this well-known citizen and representative business man of Ironton, Lawrence County, has resided in this city since he was a boy of five years, and here he has found opportunity for the achieving of marked success along normal and productive lines of enterprise, the while he has never permitted himself to be deflected in the least from the straight course of industry and integrity, with the result that he has not been denied the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem. Mr. Abele owns and operates a well equipped and thoroughly modern planing mill and _manufactory of sash, doors and blinds, the plant representing a valuation of about $9,000, and here he has built up a large and prosperous business; the scope and importance of which give him place as one of the substantial and influential business men of the thriving city of Ironton. Joseph J. Abele was born in the immediate vicinity of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the 5th of July, 1856, and is a son of Andrew and Nancy (Bulsinger) Abele, both natives of Germany, where the former was born in 1835, and the latter in 1848. The marriage of the parents was solemnized in their native land, whence they immigrated to America in the early '50s. They continued their residence in Pennsylvania until about the time of the inception of the Civil war, when they came to Ironton, Ohio, where Andrew Abele for many years held the position of superintendent of the yards of the firm of Wise & Worner, who operated the first planing mill in Ironton. In this city he continued to maintain his home, a sterling and honored citizen, until the close of his life, in 1909, his loved and cherished wife having been summoned to eternal rest in the preceding year, so that, after long years of loving companionship, they were not long separated in death. Of their eight children four are living: Joseph J., Cynthia, John, and George. Joseph J. Abele, as previously stated, was five years of age at the tune of the family removal from Pennsylvania to Ironton, and to the public schools of this city he is indebted for his early educational advantages, the discipline having been effectively supplemented by the lesson gained in the practical school of experience. At the age of thirteen years Mr. Abele began working in a saw mill, and he continued to be identified with various phases of lumber manufacturing until 1905, when he initiated an independent career by leasing the planing mill of the Ironton Lumber Company. This he operated about eighteen months and he then HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 673 purchased his present plant, in 1907, since which year he has here carried forward a specially prosperous business, his patronage being firmly based upon effective service and fair and honorable dealings. Mr. Abele gives close and effective attention to his business but does not permit the same to so hedge him in that he fails to accord loyal support to enterprises and movements tending to advance the social and material welfare of his home city, where he is known as a progressive and public-spirited citizen and as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the democratic party. In addition to his manufacturing plant he is the owner of the residence property which constitutes the attractive family home, and he is an active member of the Ironton Chamber of Commerce. He and his family are communicants of the Catholic Church, as members of the parish of St. Joseph's Church, and he is affiliated with the Knights of St. George. On the 15th of July, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Abele to Miss Emma Mary Hubbard, daughter of the late Michael and Eliza (Meyer) Hubbard, of Kelley's Mills, Lawrence County, and all of the four children remain at the parental home : Mary, who is a dressmaker by vacation ; Charles, who is associated with his father in business; and Alma and Julius. MOSES GREENBERG. For many years the United States and its business opportunities have been exploited in other lands, and to this country's shores have come people of every land to take advantage of these. A welcome has been extended to all, and many of the prosperous citizens of our most thriving communities are those of foreign birth. A native of Russia, R. Greenberg came to America in young manhood, and after some experience in various other sections, finally settled permanently at Ironton, Ohio, where he has since developed an excellent business and has taken his place among the men who are maintaining the city 's prestige in commercial circles. Mr. Greenberg was born in Russia, January 20, 1866, and is a. son of Joseph Greenberg, who was born in that country in 1803. The father was a teacher by vocation, and never came to the United States, dying in his native land in 1896. Mr. Greenberg never knew a mother's care, for she died when he was an infant, he being the youngest of a family of five children. He was educated in Russia, largely under his father's preceptorship until thirteen years of age, and at that time began to share responsibilities with his brothers and sisters in the support of the family. When nineteen years old he went to Turkey, which country he made his home until coming to America in 1888. For one year after his arrival he resided at Cincinnati, Ohio, and then went to Indian Territory, where he established himself in the general merchandise business and remained 674 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION until 1896, meeting with a fair measure of success. In that year he returned to Cincinnati, but in 1899 came to Ironton, where he engaged in the scrap iron and second-hand business, in which he has continued to the present time. This venture, commenced in a modest way, steadily grew under Mr. Greenberg's native industry and business ability, and is now one of the thriving enterprises of Ironton. He deals in wholesale hides, wools, scrap iron, metals, furs, roots, ginseng, beeswax, rubber and second-hand machinery, and. is the owner of his own business property on North Second Street, in addition to a comfortable, modern residence at No. 208 South Fifth Street. Mr. Greenberg is a stockholder in the Home Telephone Company and a director in the Ironton Malleable Iron Works. He holds membership in the Chamber of Commerce. His religion is that of the Jewish faith, and his political belief that of the republican party, although political matters have played little part in his life here. His success is well merited and has been gained through constant and sturdy application, good business ability and honorable dealing with those who have been associated with him in transactions. Mr. Greenberg was married June 30, 1890, to Miss Rosie Lapin, at that time a resident of Covington, Kentucky, but a native of Germany. They have had one child, who died in infancy. HARRY H. CAMPBELL. A man of marked prominence in business, political, church and social circles, Harry H. Campbell has been an important factor in the substantial growth and development of Ironton, and as president of the Ironton Wood Mantel Company, is the directing head of an enterprise that contributes substantially to the prestige of this city as an important business center. Mr. Campbell has been a resident of the city all of his life, having been born here May 17, 1853, and is a son of Hiram and Elizabeth (Woodrow) Campbell. Hiram Campbell was born at Blue Lick Springs, back of Maysville, Kentucky, in 1812, and as a young man migrated to Ohio, where for a long period of years he was identified with iron furnaces and was known, as a substantial and resourceful business man. In his later years he retired with a competency, and Jived quietly until his death, which occurred in 1896. Mrs. Campbell was born at Hillsboro, Ohio, in 1816, and is also deceased, she being the mother of four children, namely : Marie, who became the wife of J. H. Moulton and now resides at Ironton ; John W., whose home is in Virginia ; Joseph H., of Cincinnati, Ohio ; and Harry H. Harry H. Campbell received his education in the public schools of Ironton, and at the Miami University, and as a young man joined his father in business. Subsequently he embarked in ventures of his own,