A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2, Part 1

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : A.W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1248

USA > Ohio > Allen County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 1
USA > Ohio > Van Wert County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 1

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M. L

REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00825 2618

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016

https://archive.org/details/portraitbiograph02unse_0

A PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL

RECORD OF

ALLEN AND VAN WERT

COUNTIES, OHIO,

CONTAINING BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY

Prominent and Representative Citizens,

TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS OF ALL THE

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

AND BIOGRAPHIES OF THE

GOVERNORS OF OHIO.

977. 101 Ql 5 pv

1.2

CHICAGO: A. W. BOWEN & CO. 1896.

1620308

Mary.8 Davidson

169-170

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OF VAN WERT COUNTY.

farmer, and held a high peace in the esteem of his neighbors. He was conservative in his politics, and leaned toward democracy, but he was a member of no church, although strictly upright in his walk through life, and his death, which occurred in 1866, was sincerely mourned by his acquaintances as well as his immediate family. His widow is a member of the Dun- kard church, in which she takes a deep and lively interest and exercises a sincere spirit of christian charity toward all.

Peter R. Davidson laid the foundation for his education in a little log school-house of his native county, and also there learned the car- penter's trade, at which he worked until ISS3, when he came to his present home in Union township, Van Wert county, having purchased 140 acres of woodland, sixty acres of which he has cleared by his own labor, and this he has underdrained and brought to a high state of cultivation In 1893 he moved to Fulton county, Ind., where he went to recuperate the energies he had expended on his farm, but his business interest demanding his attention, re- turned to his farin the same year. In 1874, Mr. Davidson was wedded to Miss Mary E. Diltz, a daughter of William H. and Belinda H. (Conrad) Diltz. This lady was born in Allen county, Ohio, in November, 1853, and of that county her father also was a native. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and takes a deep interest in church work. Mr. Davidson is also a member of this church, as well as of the Convoy lodge of I.O. O. F., of which Mrs. Davidson has taken the Rebekah degree. In politics Mr. Davidson is a democrat. No children have as yet blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Davidson. By his own energy and industry Mr. Davidson has made a home from the wilderness of Van Wert county, and may well fell proud of the place he holds in the esteem of his neighbors and the citizens generally.

PILLIS M. FLAHARTY .- He to whose ancestral and personal history we now turn our attention is one of the representative men of the city of Van Wert, holding distinctive preferment as local freight and ticket agent for the Pitts- burg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad com- pany. and as agent for the Adams Express company, and on this score alone there is im- perative necessity that he be accorded atten- tion in this connection: But, superadded to this, there is an element which renders this consideration all the more congruous. in that his genealogy bespeaks a prominent identifica- tion with American history from the early colonial days, and which touches the annals of the pioneer epoch in the Buckeye state,

The earliest records extant. as bearing upon the ancestral histroy of our subject, begin with the great-grandfather, Amasa Flaharty, who was born December 25, 1755, and who died July 4, 1841, the place of his nativity being not definitely known. On the 15th of May. 1785, he was united in marriage to Mary Ridg- ley, who was born April 3. 1860, and whose death occurred February 21, 1843. They be- came the parents of six sons and three daugh- ters, concerning whom we make record. in or- der of birth, as follows : Nicholas, grandfa- ther of our subject, born July 14, 1786. died September S. 1870; Sem, born October 27. 1787, died at Fort Meigs, Ohio, having been a soldier in the war of 1812; Harriet F., born February 22, 1789, date of death not known: Eliza, born May :, 1790; Ruth, born Septem- ber 15, 1791; Enos, born March 4, 1793: Elisha, born July 18, 1794: Hannah, born De- cember 29, 1795; and James R., born May 30. 1798; the last named was a citizen of Michigan at the time of his death. Nicholas T. Flahar- ty, the grandfather of our subject, was united in marriage, November 1. ISto, to Eleanor Israel, who was born June 25, 1789, and who

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

died August 17, 1873, aged eighty-four years one month and twenty-two days. Her hus- band had passed away September 8, 1870, aged eighty-four years, one month and twenty- four days-in which connection there is a no- table coincidence in the fact that there was but two days' difference in the ages of this hon- ored couple at the time of demise. Their chil- dren were eleven in number, viz : Josephus, born August 8, ISIT; Charlotte, July 11, 1813; Perry, father of our subject, born July 14, 1815; Rachel, July 5, 1817; Zerniah, May 9. 1819; Eleanor, born February 3, 1821; Nicholas, Jr., January 17, 1823; Elzy, Jan- uary 21, 1825; Isreal, May 12, 1827; an infant, April 6, 1829; and Mary A., May 22, 1831. The great-grandfather of our subject came from Maryland to Belmont county, Ohio, at a very early day, this fact being known only through tradition handed down through suc- cessive generations. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis; and A. J. Fla- harty, brother of our subject, has in his possession the war pension papers of this Re- volutionary hero, together with a certificate as to his having been a soldier. His son, Sem, was an active participant in the war of 1812, having been in the marine service, and having been engaged in that famous battle on Lake Erie, commonly designated Perry's victory. He was on the sloop "Trippe," and the cer- tificate that he was a soldier in this fight, and entitled to prize money, is also in the posses- sion of A. J. Flaharty. Reference has already been made to the death of Sem Flaharty at Fort Meigs, as he had later participated in the Indian war.

The Flaharty family were for many gener- ations identified with agricultural pursuits and have been people of ntmost integrity and dis- tinctive intellectuality. The grandfather of our subject was an exceptionally bright man,

being well versed in ancient history, and hav- ing a marked mathematical ability, originating and practicing many rules in mathematics that would certainly have been of great practical value had they been published, but his natural repugnance to noteriety deterred him from giv- ing his rules to the world. He also had con- siderable musical ability and composed and arranged a number of excellent scores. Being a neighbor of the late Sam J. Kirkwood, war governor of Iowa, the two amused themselves by writing spicy letters to each other, granting most pleasing reciprocal courtesies.

The grandparents and all the aunts and uncles of our subject in the agnatic line are deceased, unless it may possibly be Elzy. who left this section of the union about 1855. and located in the west, never having returned here except on one occasion, about a quarter of a century ago, when he made a short visit to his relatives here.

Reverting at this juncture to the parentage of our subject, we find that his father. Perry F., was born July 14. 1815, and that his death occurred June 3, 1862, at Nashville, Mich. September 27, 1837, he was united in mar- riage, in Richland county, Ohio, to Susan Feazel, who was born April 9, 1820, and whose death occurred March 2, 1864, at Bellville. Ohio. Of the eight children of this marriage. we make record as follows: A. J. Flaharty, who was born November 16, 1841, resides at Bucyrus, Ohio, being an official of the Penn- sylvania Railroad company; Theresa J., born November 2, 1842; a daughter, born May IT. 1839, died in infancy; Milton E., born May 27, 1845; Miranda M., July 28, 1847; La- cinda E .. March 20, 1850; Winfield S. Sep- tember 30, 1852, and Willis M., May 28, 1859. Of the children the only survivors are Ad- nirum J., Milton and Willis M. After the death of his first wife, Perry F. Flaharty cou- summated a second marriage, being united to

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OF VAN WERT COUNTY.

Maggie Pervine, at Bellville, Ohio, on the 31st of October, 1865, and the children of this marriage were as follows: Nora L., born August 22, 1866; Bird C., February 25, 1871. and Shirley, September 26, 1879. The last named died February 28, ISS1, and the other two children are living with their mother at Sandusky city, Ohio. In religion our subject's parents were members of the Methodist Episco- pal church, and in politics the father was a stanch republican.

Willis M. Flaharty, the immediate subject of this review, was born at Bellville, Ohio, the date of his nativity having already been noted. His father, at the time, was engaged in the grocery and provision business at Bellville, but, about 1878, he disposed of his interests and removed to Nashville, Mich., at which place his death occurred. Willis was about five years of age when his mother died, and after the death of his father he was taken to the home of his brother, A. J., and there remained until he had attained maturity, securing such educational advantages as were afforded by the common schools. For a time he attended the schools during the winter and devoted his at- tention during the summer months to brick- laying, being at that time a resident of Nevada, Ohio. He next secured employment in the freight office of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago railway, and was eventually trans- ferred from Nevada to Bucyrus, where he was freight clerk for the same company four years, and also held for three years the position of ticket agent. In February, 1884, there came a further recognition of his ability and fidelity in his promotion to the agency at Nevada, and in 1887 he came to Van Wert and assumed his present important office, which he has since filled to the entire satisfaction of the com- pany and the public, enjoying a marked popu- larity in the community. The marriage of Mr. Flaharty was solemnized at Bucyrus, Ohio,

June 12, 1883, when he was united to Miss Mettie Weber, a native of Crestline, Ohio, and a daughter of Ludwig and Jerusha (Martin) Weber, and this happy marriage has been blessed by the birth of two children, Donna and Marguerita. Oui subject and his wife are devout members of the Presbyterian church, in which Mr. Flaharty is a trustee. In politics he renders an unswerving allegiance to the re- publican party, and in his fraternal relations he is identified with the Masonic order, in which he has advanced to the knight templar degree, and also with the Knights of Pythias. The attractive family home, in which a gra- cious hospitality is dispensed, is located on North Washington street.

AMES FEGLEY, one of the substantial farmers of Washington township, Van Wert county, Ohio, descends from an old Pennsylvania-Dutch family, but is a native of Ohio and was born on his father's farm in Delaware county, March 27, 1836.

Henry Fegley, the father of our subject, was born in Berks county, Pa., and was a son of Henry Fegley, one of the most extensive farmers of the county named. Henry, Jr., the father of James, our subject, was married in Berks county to Rebecca Miller, a native of the same county, the marriage resulting in the birth of eleven children, of whom nine reached maturity and were nanied Charles, Maria, Jacob, Caroline, Nate, James, Sophia, Henry and Rebecca. At an early day Henry Fegley, Jr., came to Ohio and settled on 100 acres of land in the woods of Delaware county within a mile and a half of the court house, and there all his children were born with the exception of the eldest three, who were natives of Berks county, Pa. The parents were influential members of the German Reform church, of which he was an elder, and in the faith of i

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

which he died at the advanced age of eighty- one years. He was a democrat in politics, a useful citizen, a well-to-do farmer, was honored for his upright character, and died without an enemy in the world.

James Fegley, the subject proper of this sketch, was reared on his father's farm in Del- aware county, received a good common-school education, and was married to Elizabeth Bell, also a native of Delaware county, born July II, 1842, a daughter of Samuel Bell. Mr. Bell was also a native of the Keystone state, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was an early settler of Delaware county, Ohio. He was a very successful farmer, and was the father of six children, named as follows: Jackson, Robert, Martha, Mary, Elizabeth and Jeremiah. Mr. Bell died in Delaware county at about the age of seventy years, a member of a branch of the Presbyterian church, and a highly respected citizen. His son Robert served through the late Civil war, was a brave soldier, and died at home during the war from the effects of ex- posure while in the army.

After marriage Mr. Fegley continued to re- side on a farm in Delaware county until Octo- ber 31, 1875, when he came to Van Wert county and bought his present farm in Wash- ington township-the entire eighty acres being covered with a wild forest growth, interpersed with ponds of stagnant water. But Mr. Feg- ley was a practical farmer, and soon erected a James Ferguson lived in Richland county until he attained the age of fifteen years, when with his father he moved to Kenton, Hardin. county, where his father owned and conducted a tannery. James learned the cabinet making. August 14, 1845, at Mansfield, Mr. Ferguson was united in marriage to Henrietta Stout, and in 1851 he sold his furniture store and pur- chased a farm in Union township, Van Wert county, to which the following year he moved his family. As the occupation of farming did log cabin, by degrees drained the ponds and quaginires, hewed away the forest and rank undergrowth, and now has as fine a farm as one would wish to look upon-the spots where his horses would mire down now producing the most luxuriant crops of corn. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Fegley, Estelle is still at home but a widow, Delpha Dora died at the age of twenty-one years, and Charles is married to Dora Carmean, and is settled on a farm in Washington township; the deceased husband not agree with him. he moved to Van Wert

of Estelle was Sherman Klinger, a grandson of Joseph Klinger, whose biography appears on another page. Mr. and Mrs. Fegley are strict members of the Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Fegley is a trustee. In politics he is a democrat, but is content to let others hold the offices. He is a most skillful farmer, and be- side his eighty-acre farm in Washington town- ship, he owns a forty-acre tract in Jackson township. He is a gentleman of the most rigid integrity, is charitable to all, and his neighbors respect him in the highest degree for his unusually good qualities of mind and heart.

JAMES K. FERGUSON. -- He to whose Career we now briefly turned attention is a native of the Buckeye state, having been born in Richland county, Ohio. on the 13th of August, 1822, and is justly en- titled to consideration as one of the honored pioneers of the state. He was one of the seven children of William and Amanda (Dround) Ferguson. William was a direct descendant of James Ferguson. the Scotch historian. Of the family we make a brief record as follows: James K., the immediate subject of this re- view; Sarah, the wife of Andrew Campbell, a resident of Kenton, Ohio; Mary, wife of Dr. George W. Cady, of Chicago; and Ellen. Elizabeth, William and Joseph, deceased.

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OF VAN WERT COUNTY.

in 1861. James became a member of the Masonic order in 1856 Of the children born to James and Henrietta Ferguson we make the following brief record: William, retains his residence in Van Wert, and on the 9th of April, 1884, was united in marriage to May Grady; Stont died in 1850; Mary was united in marriage to George Torrey, July 1, 1875; Laura is the wife of Brough J. Johnson. to whom extended reference is made on another -page of this volume; John, who is a painter by trade; Celina, who has been for the past eight years a teacher in the Van Wert public schools, is now instructor of the seventh grade and has worked her way from the bottom up, and is known as one of the most efficient and earnest workers retained in the excellent schools of the city; Charles E., a compositor of the Van Wert Times, was married on the 4th of Au- gust, 1891, to Bertha Rice, and Maud is a capable teacher of music.

Henrietta Ferguson, the wife of our sub- ject, was the daughter of William and Cath- arine (Rayboldt) Stout, born at Hagerstown, Md., September 3, 1824, the parents of the latter having been William and Ann (Strick- land) Rayboldt. William Stout's parents were Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Moltz) Stout, the former of whom had the honor of having been acquainted with George Washington. William Stout was born in Newmanstown, Pa., April 17, 1790, and for a number of years was en- gaged in school-teaching, a vocation which his father had also followed. War breaking out with England in 1812, he enlisted in the ariny and served until peace was restored. A few months previous to his enlistment as a soldier he joined the Masonic order at Baltimore, Md., and remained a true Mason throughout his entire life. For two terins he held the office of sheriff in Washington county, Md., from which state he moved to Mansfield, Ohio, in 1830, where he was engaged for many years

in the dry-goods business. His wife died the next morning after his arrival in the new home. They became the parents of seven children : Maj. Aaron R., Maria, William H., Catherine, Sarah, Henrietta and Elizabeth, all of whom are deceased except Henrietta. William Stout's second marriage occurred in IS31 to Mrs. Mary Van Horn Sanderson, who died in 1848. The venerable father passed away Sep- tember 8, 1874, having been known and hon- ored as a man of sterling character and one prominently identified with the history of the Buckeye state.

ATTHEW FILES, a substantial farmer of Union township, Van Wert county, Ohio, and father of Dr. Charles A. Files of Van Wert city, was born in Ross county, Ohio, June 25, 1825, a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Mahan) Files. The father, Robert, was born in Rock- bridge county, Va., and about the year 1778 came to Ross county, Ohio. He enlisted under Capt. McDonnell in the war of 1812, and in recognition of his services was awarded a land warrant for 160 acres, but his warrant he sold. He farmed in Ross nntil 1835, when he moved to Greene county, where his death occurred in 1848. Mrs. Elizabeth (Mahan) Files was born in Pennsylvania about the year 1782, her father, Matthew Mahan, being a Methodist minister, who devoted much of his time to the conversion of the Indians. Robert and Elizabeth were married about ISoo, the issue being eleven children, viz : Ruth, de- ceased wife of Ephraim Simpson; Polly A., wife of James Kennedy, of Michigan; Margaret. wife of Jacob Kennedy, of Michigan; Catherine .. deceased wife of Samuel Mcclellan: Matthew. our subject ; Betsey A., deceased wife of George Neidy: Jacob, of Nebraska; Sarah, who died in childhood; James, deceased; and Nancy, who

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

also died in childhood; and Eliza, deceased wife of John Morris, of Greene county, Ohio. The mother of this family died in Michigan in 1875. She had been a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal church, although her hus- band had held to the Quaker doctrine.

Matthew Files was reared on a farm in the woods of Ross and Greene counties, Ohio, and was deprived of all opportunities for gaining an education until after he reached his majori- ty. In 1846, he went to Carroll county, Ind., where for three years he kept a ferry on the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers, then came to Van Wert county, Ohio, and engaged in farm- ing in Ridge and Union townships, and has since been identified with the agricultural in- terests of the county. His marriage took place, in 1853, with Amarilla Snodgrass, daughter of Joseph and Eliza (Ballard) Snodgrass, two children being the result of the union-Dr. Charles A., mentioned above, and Joseph A., a farmer of Union township. Mrs. Files is a native of Greene county, Ohio, born in 1836, her parents having been early settlers of that county. Mr. Files has reached his three-score- and-ten, but is still hale and hearty, and is bringing his present farin, which he purchased in 1893, in the newest section of the county, to a high state of cultivation. He is greatly respected by his neighbors, and considered to be one of the most useful and substantial citi- zens of his township.

a HARLES A. FILES, M. D., of Van Wert, Ohio, was born in Xenia, Greene county, in the same state, May 13, 1857, and is a son of Matthew and Amarilla (Snodgrass) Files, at present residing in Union township, Van Wert county, where they first made their home when Charles A. was a lad of but nine years of age. Here our subject was reared and at-

tended the neighboring district school until he reached his eighteenth year, when he began teaching; in 1883, he was chosen principal of the Van Wert city schools, and held the posi- tion until 1890. On his assumption of the principalship of the public schools, Mr. Files began to devote his attention, during vaca- tions, to the study of medicine under Dr. W. H. Christopher of Van Wert, pursuing this course of instruction until IS87, when he placed himself under the tutelage of Dr. G. J. Eblen, with whom he studied until 1890, and then attended the Fort Wayne Medical col- lege one term, and next passed two years in study at the Ohio Medical university of Colum- bus, from which he was graduated March 13. 1894, and immediately entered upon the prac- tice in Van Wert, where a bright future evi- dently awaits him. The doctor was united in marriage April 2, 18So, with Miss Carrie C. Frazer, a native of Mercer county, Ohio, and this union has been blessed with the birth of two daughters-Rilla and Mabel. Mrs. Files is a sincere member of the Christian church, and the doctor is a meinber of the Improved Order of Red Men. In politics he is a repub- lican and his social standing is with the best citizens of Van Wert.

EV. J. H. FITZWATER, D. D .- A man whose life has been consecrated to the cause of humanity and the service of the Master, whose days have been filled with ceaseless toil and endeav- or, whose intellectual attainments are of high order and whose efforts have been so earnestly and devotedly directed as to insure the goodly harvest in its time, is peculiarly deserving of having incorporated into this volume a review of his life. Dr. Fitzwater holds distinctive preferment as presiding elder of the Lima dis- trict, Central Ohio annual conference of the

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OF VAN WERT COUNTY.

Methodist Episcopal church, maintaining his residence on North Jefferson street in the city of Van Wert.

He was born in Alleghany county, Md., June 1, 1851, being the fourth child of Nelson and Sarah A. (White) Fitzwater, the former of whom was born in Hampshire county, Va. (now W. Va.), May 31, 1817, being a black- smith by trade, a man of strong individuality and of the most sturdy integrity. He followed this trade the greater portion of his life, and lived to attain a venerable age, his death oc- curring in 1893; his widow still survives him, and retains her home in Beverly, W. Va. They became the parents of ten children, of whom a brief record is as follows: Lydia died in infancy, as did also William, who was the second in order of birth; Martha, born in 1847, is now widowed and has one child, and they also reside in Beverly; James H. is the imme- diate subject of this sketch; Clay, born in 1854, married Anna Daniels, and is a resident of Beverly; Lucy married Frank Scott, of Beverly, at which place she died in February, 1891; Jasper, Clarence, Err and Joseph died in infancy. Of the ten children but three -- Martha, Jame H., and Clay -- survive.

Rev. James H. Fitzwater received bis fun- damental education in the common schools of Beverly, W. Va., and later entered the State Normal academy at Fairmont, that state, in which institution he graduated with high honors in 1878. Thus reinforced in a practical way, he prepared to enter upon that line of technical study which should fit him for that high call- ing to which he had determined to devote his life. He accordingly entered Drew Theological seminary, the central theological school of Methodism, pursued his studies with earnest- ness and zeal, and graduated in 1883. In the year of 1895, in recognition of his distinguished services, the degree of doctor of divinity was conferred upon him by the faculty of Taylor

university. Our subject's first ministerial work had antedated to his graduation in theology; since, in 1875, he was licensed to preach, and thereafter served four years as a local preacher-one of these as pastor of White- hall M. E. church, Whitehall, N. J. He entered the Central Ohio annual conference in in 1883. having, however, served as pastor of the church at Delta for six months prior to this.

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A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2, Part 1

Author: Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago : A.W. Bowen Number of Pages: 1248

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : A.W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1248