USA > Ohio > Fairfield County > A Biographical record of Fairfield County, Ohio, illustrated > Part 14
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Dove, a daughter of Henry Dove, who came from Rockingham county, Virginia. in 1803, and entered land in Bloom, town- ship. The tract is still in possession of rep- resentatives of the name. He lived to the advanced age of ninety-one years, three months and eight days, passing away in 1856. Mrs. Dove's daughter was born in Bloom township and was one of seven chil- dren: Peggy, who became Mrs. Orwig: Ruben ; Jacob ; Sallie : Elizabeth, who became the wife of Solomon Kistler and died in Kosciusko county, Indiana: Elijah, who owned the old homestead, which for nine- ty-nine years has been in the family and is low owned by his son, Edward, who lives in Kansas: Mary, now Mrs. Hummell ; and Mrs. Laney Montgomery, of Fremont. Sandusky county, Ohio. Of this family Mary Dove Hummell was born in 1815 and by her marriage became the mother of twelve children, ten of whom reached years of maturity, while eight are yet living. The record is as follows: H. I., a skilled physi- cian, now practicing in Baltimore, Ohio; Sarah, the wife of William Jacobs, who re- sides on the old homestead ; Martin Luther, of Shelby county, Illinois; Jerome D .: Sa- luda, the deceased wife of Frederick Borchers; Elizabeth, the deceased wife of Philemon Barr: Margaret M. and Nancy. who live on the old homestead ; and Mary and Solomon, who died in infancy. The fa- ther of this family was a man of strict in- tegrity and sterling worth. He was a good mechanic and possessed many sterling qual- ities. He opened the first mine in Summitt Hill, Pennsylvania, and helped to run the first car and lay the first T track, being an
cmplove of Stephen Girard, for whom he was also engaged in building boats. His first trip to Bloom township was made on fout and the second time he came by stage, but while enroute had to assist in getting the stage out of the mud. As the years passed, however, he prospered and a com- fortable competence rewarded his labors, fie died December 17, 1870, at the age of sixty- five years and his wife passed away August 14, 1899, at the age of eighty-four years. She possessed a most remarkable memory and was often called upon to settle disputes in the neighborhood concerning lines, sur- veys, etc.
Jerome Hummell, whose name intro- duces this review, was reared upon the old home farm and acquired his education un- der considerable difficulty. He first at- tended the common schools and afterward the Pleasant Township Seminary, which he entered in August. 1860, spending three months there. He afterward became a sttt- dent in the Union schools of Baltimore. Ohio. Having no money he had to make his own way but his strong determination and laudable ambition enabled him eventu- ally to secure a good education. He after- ward engaged in teaching school at "Bin- ker Hill." in Liberty township, and for ser- enteen years continued to follow that pro- fession with excellent success through the winter months and in the meantime accumu - lated about four thousand dollars. The only money which he received from his father to assist him in securing his own education was eleven dollars and fifty cents. When thirty-eight years of age he had two hun- dred dollars and a horse and buggy. . At that
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time he began saving his money and to-day he is the owner of a very valuable prop- erty of three hundred acres, comprising some of the best land in Bloom township. fact, the farm is hardly equaled in Fairfield county. In addition to farming he has car - ried on operations in the grain trade, being the first man to ship a car load of grain down the valley. In 1862 he became a rep- resentative of mercantile interests in Bal- timore, as a partner of his brother. H. I. Hummell, under the firm name of J. D. Hummell & Brother. This connection was maintained for one year when our subject sold his interest to Edwin Ellis. In all his business undertakings he has manifested keen discrimination, enterprise and in- ยท flagging perseverance and these qualities have been important elements in winning nimi success.
Mr. Hummell was married July 4. 1878. to Miss Rosa A. Bounds, a daughter of David and Sarah ( Millhouse) Bounds. They have one child, Edmund Ray, who graduated from the law department of the Ohio University in June, 1902, and expects soon to enter Yale college. In politics Mr. Hummell has always supported the Demo-
cratic party. He has been called upon to fill a number of local offices. He has served as a member of the board of education: has filled many positions of trust: and several times has been called upon to ad- minister estates. In the fall of 1899 he was appointed by Governor Bushnell as a delegate from the Twelfth District of Ohio as a representative to the Farmers' Na- tional Congress, which was held in Boston in October. 1899. Through his personal work the route of the electric road from Columbus to Lancaster was changed for two miles to take in the town of Carro !!. But for his hard and persistent efforts the road would have passed one-half mile west of the town limits. Both he and his wife are devoted and faithful members of the Greenfield Presbyterian church in which he- has served as trustee and is now leading elder. Few men have manifested a deeper or more helpful interest in the public welfare than has Mr. Hummell. With keen fore- sight he has seen the possibilities of the country and has done his best to improve. these. As a citizen he is both public spirit- ed and progressive and all who knew him entertain for him the highest regard.
CHARLES ROBERT SHERMAN.
The name of Charles Robert Sherman figures conspicuously in the early history of Fairfield county and also in the history of the state. He, of whom we write, was prominent in civil and military circles andi
wion distinction as a most eminent member of the early Ohio bar. Ilis was a strong and upright manhood: the sterling qualities of his nature were inherited by his two sons, John and William Sherman, whose names
8
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adorn the pages of American history; the one attaining to the highest eminence as a statesman, the other winning military dis- tinction.
Charles Robert Sherman was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, on the 17th of Sep- tember. 1788. Ile was the eldest son of Judge Taylor Sherman and Elizabeth Stod- dlard. Taylor Sherman, son of Judge Dan- iel Sherman, was born in 1758 and was mar- ried in 1787 to Elizabeth Stoddard. They moved to Norwalk, Connecticut, where he spent his life, dying May 15. 1815. Eliza- beth Stoddard was born at Woodbury, Connecticut, June 17. 1767. After the death of her husband she came to Ohio with her children. living first with Charles R. Sher- man in Lancaster. Here her first daughter. Elizabeth, married the future Judge Parker. who studied law with Charles R. Sherman. and she went with them to live in Mansfield. Ohio. She was a granddaughter of Rev. Anthony Stoddard of Connecticut. She died in Mansfield, Ohio. August 1, 1848. Charles R. Sherman received a good educa- tion, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1810. May 8, 1810, he was married to Mary Hoyt, of Norwalk, Connecticut. a playmate from childhood. She was the daughter of Isaac Hoyt. a prominent citi- zen of Norwalk, a man in comfortable cir- cumstance -. She was educated at the Poughkeepsie, New York. Female Sem- inary.
In 1810, some months after he was mar- ried, he came to Ohio to look up a location. lle visited Lancaster and decided to make his home there, and in December of that year or in the winter of 1811 he returned to
Connecticut, where he remained until the summer of 1811, when he, in company with his wife and young child. Charles T. Sher- man, returned to Lancaster. The trip was made on horseback, and the babe was carried the entire distance resting on a pillow. The trip showed the pluck and spirit of this New England couple. Charles R. Sherman im- mediately became one of the leading spirits of his new home, and we find him within one year the major of the First Regiment of Ohio Militia. He was the brilliant young orator whe addressed the militia, called to- gether by the governor for the purpose of obtaining volunteers for the war against Great Britain. This event took place April 16, 1812. His speech was reported by San- dlerson's Independent Press and may be found in John Sherman's Autobiography. The result of this meeting was the raising of a company by George Sanderson, which was soon to be surrendered by General Hull at Detroit.
November 9. 1813. he was appointed by I'resident Madison, collector of internal revenue for the Third District of Ohio, which position he held for many years. In July, 1817. without previous notice, the government refused to take any money from collectors, except paper of the Bank of the United States. This order found large sums in the hands of his deputies in currency that soon became worthless. To add to this calamity, some of his deputies failed, and failure on his part could not be averted. Sherman went down, and his bondsmen. Judge Samuel Carpenter and Judge Danici V'an Metre, went with him. h is well known that Mr. Sherman subsequently made go!
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their losses and squared his accounts with For many years he was a very prominent the government. In 1823 he was elected and enthusiastic member of the Masonic fraternity and master of the lodge in Lan- caster. Judge Sherman was a hospitable man and his home was the center of a re- fined society. He entertained many dis- tinguished guests. Governor De Witt Clin- ton and the Duke of Saxe Weimer were en- tertained by him in the year 1825. one of the judges of the supreme court of Ohio by the legislature. His associates were Judges Pease, Hitchcock and Burnett, men of great 'ability and wide experience. It is sufficient evidence of his ability as a lawyer to know that the Ohio legislature thought him worthy to be the associate of such eminent jurists. He died at Lebanon, Ohio, June 24, 1829, in his forty-first year. in the prime of life and in the midst of use- fulness. It is safe to say that at the time of his death he was the ablest lawyer and most popular citizen of Lancaster, second to no man.
The first case of Charles R. Sherman as attorney at the Lancaster bar, that is re corded, is Fanny Mills against Jacob Boos, the overseer of the poor, for the restoration of her child Peggy, who had been taken from her on the plea that she could not sup- port her. She was an unmarried woman, the child a mulatto. The petition in this case is dated December IS, 1810. At the January term, 1812, he was prosecuting at- torney. But his name is not again men- tioned in that connection and the presump- tion is that R. F. Slaughter was sick or absent and that he performed the duty of prosecutor that term by direction of the CO1111.
Judge Sherman is described as a gentle. genial man with a brilliant mind and sound judgment, and both as judge and man of stainless integrity. He had the esteem and confidence of his associates upon the bench, and made friends in every court room and was the idol of the young lawyers of Ohio.
He was a trustee of the Ohio University at Athens, and a member of the committee that examined Thomas Ewing in grammar, rhetoric, languages, geography, natural and moral philosophy, logic, astronomy and mathematics. The committee expressed much gratification at his proficiency, and May 3. 1815, recommended hin for the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts and Sciences. The death of Judge Sherman left his widow with the care and training of eleven children, none of whom had reached their majority and with limited means for their support. The friends of Judge Sherman came to her relief and assisted in caring for the children. In the year 1844 she removed to Mansfield, Ohio, where John Sherman and the two youngest daughters made up the family. The young people soon married, but she con- tinued to keep house up to the time of her death. September 23, 1852. Her remains were brought to Lancaster and interred be- side those of her husband in Elmwood Cem- etery. The history of the eleven orphan children of Judge Sherman is a very re- markable one. The daughters were all hap- pily married to men who attained proni- inence in the communities in which they live. The sons were all successful men in business or in professions.
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Elizabeth married William J. Reese : Amelia. Robert McComb, of Mansfield : Julia, John G. Willock, of Lancaster : Susan. Thomas W. Bartley, of Mansfield, who be- came governor of Ohio and judge of the supreme court : and Farrie married C. W. Moulton. of Cincinnati. There are those still living in Lancaster who witnessed the corren and distress of the mother and her
small children on that awful day when the news came that Judge Sherman was dying in a distant town, but kind friends and time, with its healing power, soothed their sorrows and dried their tears. The good mother lived to see her children well estab- lished in the world and her two favorite boys just entering upon careers as wonderful and as honorable as any of the century.
GEORGE S. COURTRIGHT.
George S. Courtright has devoted his For some years thereafter he was a well life to labors wherein wealth and influence known educator in the line of his profes- sion. He was resident surgeon of St. John's Hospital in 1861, and of the Cincinnati Hospital in 1862, continuing in that ca- pacity until he went into the army in the month of November, 1862. entering the service as contract surgeon, remaining in that capacity until August, 1863. At that time he became assistant surgeon of the United States Volunteers, appointed by President Lincoln. He was sent to Burn- side's army in the Department of the Ohio and in October he received orders from the war department to report to Santa Fe. New Mexico, to the general then commanding that division. He made a trip from Kansas City to Fort Leavenworth and thence by stage, a distance of one thou- sand miles, to Santa Fe. The troops in that locality captured nine thousand Indians and held California and Utah. Ile was ap- availeth little or naught, the measure of success depending upon mentality, the abil- ity-both natural and acquired-and the broad culture of the individual possessing all the requisite qualities of an able physi- cian. Dr. Courtright has advanced to a position prominent in the medical fraternity of Ohio, and is now successfully practicing in Lithopolis. The Doctor was born April 27. 1840. in Pickaway county, Ohio, a son of Jesse D. and Sally ( Stout) Courtright, the former a native of Fairfield county. Ohio, and the latter of Pennsylvania. He was educated in the common schools and in South Salem AAcademy, Ross county, Ohio, and after completing his literary course took up the study of medicine, intending to make its practice his life work. He pursued his studies in Cincinnati and was graduated in the Medical College of Ohio in 1862.
Surge & Courtright.
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pointed major by brevet for gallant and a gifted teacher. Genial in disposition, un- meritorious service during the war. In De- obtrusive and unassuming, he is patient under adverse criticism, and in his ex- pressions concerning brother practitioners is friendly and indulgent. cember, 1865. the Doctor returned from Fort Craig. New Mexico, to Cincinnati, and in 1866 he became demonstrator of anatomy in the Miami Medical College, where he re- mained for two years. In 1868 he came to Lithopolis, where he has since resided.
The genealogy of the Courtright family is traced by Riker, the historian-genealogist, to the fourteenth century.
In May of that year he was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Cornelia Stevens, of Lebanon. Warren county, and they now have one son. Jesse Stevens, who is a resident of Pickaway county. The Doctor is a member of the Grand Army post and of the Loyal Legion. He is also a member of the soldiers' relief commission of Bloom township. He is a Knight Tem- plar Mason and has attained the thirty-sec- ond degree of the Scottish Rite. He is also identified with the Presbyterian church. is its treasurer, and for thirty-five years has been one of its faithful members. He was also president of the board of pension ex- aminers for nearly four years. He has served as the president of the school board of Lithopolis and takes a deep interest in everything that pertains to the public wel- fare. In politics he has always supported the Democratic party. In the line of his profession he is connected with the Hock- ing Valley Medical Association and is a life member of the State Medical Society of Ohio. He also belongs to the American Medical Association. He is an extremely busy and successful practitioner, constantly overburdened by demands for his services. both professionally and socially. He is a man of the highest and purest character. an industrious and ambitious student and was
The name was originally van Kertryk. and as family names were the exception and not the rule among our early forefathers. some difficulty has been experienced by genealogists in tracing the family history of many of the okl families. During the time of John Calvin the van Kortryks, like many other of the old and wealthier families, be- came Protestants ( or followers of Calvin ). They builded churches and the Protestants became very strong numerically as well as financially, but the church of Rome was very powerful. and by superior forces drove the members of the new religious sect front their native country. The van Kortryks inhabited the country along the borders of Spain and France, but the religious perse- cution drove them to Flanders and thence to Leerdom-central of the district stood the city of Leerdom, giving name to a coun- ty in which it was situated .- a level grazing country. otherwise called the Prince's Land. because inherited by a son of William of Orange from his mother, Anne of Egmont. In the language of the historian. "To Leer- dom had retired from the religious troubles in Flanders the family of Sebastien or Bastiaen van Kortryk-about all we know of this Kortryk progenitor with his royal Spanish name." During the humane rule of Philip the Fourth the condition of the
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Protestants became much improved, but later witnessed cruel persecutions. On the river Lys was builded a city named after the family. Riker says: "Kortryk was a Flemish town yet farther down the Lys, which within the previous century had wit- nessed cruel persecutions, and during the existing war (how great its calamities !) had changed hands four times in five years. But one of its families had escaped these last troubles by leaving some years before; we refer to the ancestors of the Kortrright or Courtright family, in its day one of the most wealthy in landed possessions in Har- lem."
Sebastien or Bastiaen von, or van, Kortryk was the head of the Courtright family as far as can be traced by gene- alogists. lle lived in the fourteenth cen- tury from all that can be learned of him. He was the father of two boys, Jan and Michiel. They were born at Leerdom. While they both married, we know nothing of the progeny of the former, but Michiel, or 'Chiel, Kortryk seemed to prosper. In twentieth century parlance he became "rich." and lived with his family for some time in a pretty village called "Schoonre- woerd," two miles northerly from Leerdom, his birthplace.
In and about Leerdom and Schoonre- woerd these people and descendants lived for about one hundred years. Selling out their estates, which the historian says were "large," they went to the city of Amster- dam, where they and their descendants lived for about another century.
On April 16, 1663, two of the van or von Kortryks, by name Jan and Michiel-
lineal descendants of the original Michiel or 'Chiel -- with their families embarked on a vessel called the "Brindled Cow." Jan Ber- gen, master, for New Amsterdam (New York). They arrived in New York and lo- cated in what is now the upper portion of the city and in the division of the county. The township lin which they lived was named after the family-Kortright, for the name had then been Anglicized to that extent.
The great-great-grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, Lawrence Kortright. was the eldest son of his father. Cornelius Kort- right. He was a merchant and became wealthy and prominent. In the old French war he was part owner of several privateers fitted out at New York against the enemy. He was one of the founders of the Chamber of Commerce. He had large interests in Tyro county lands. Before his death he conveyed his lands to his only son, John, the great-grandfather of the sul :- ject of this sketch. He died in 1794. By his wife, who was Hannah Aspin- wall, besides his son John, who was a captain and afterwards colonel during the Revolutionary war, but better known as "Captain John," he had four daugh- ters-Sarah, who married Colonel John Heylinger, of Santa Cruz: Hester, who married Nicholas Gouverneur, Esquire ; Elizabeth, who married Hon. James Mon- roe, who afterwards became twice governor of Virginia and twice president of the United States, and author of the famous "Monroe Doctrine:" and Mary, who mar- ried Thomas Knox, Esquire.
Captain John married Catharine, daugh-
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ter of Edmund Seaman, Esquire. He died in 1810, leaving a widow, who afterward married Henry B. Livingston, Esquire. His son John, the grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, emigrated from Pennsyl- vania about the beginning of the last cen- tury and located in Bloom township in 1802, where he lived continuously until his death, in 1863. His youngest son, Jesse D., married Sally Stout, to whom were born nine children, four daughters and five sons : Mary Jane, who married Thomas Cole, now deceased : Sarah, who married E. Westen- haver, now deceased; Elizabeth, now the widow of the late E. F. Berry ; John, a prom- inent farmer of Walnut township, Pickaway county; Judge Samuel W., of Circleville ; Dr. Alva P .. now deceased ; and Edson B., who died just as he had attained his man- hood; and the youngest girl. who died in infancy ; also George S., the subject of above sketch.
Before the Revolution the prefix van
or von was dropped, but the name was never completely .Anglicized until the lat- ter part of the eighteenth century, when by Common consent the first syllable was changed to "Court" instead of "Kort." The name became changed about that time in other respects, one of the family writing his name "Cartwright." Peter Cartwright, the world-famous Methodist preacher, was a cousin of grandfather Courtright. Another member of the family removed to Mary- land and his name was changed or cor- rupted to "Cutright," and we have in southern Ohio a large family or families by that name, descendants of the Marylander.
But the family as a family dropped the prefix "van" or "von." later Anglicized the second and later the first, so that the name has been for more than a century Court- right.
It would require a volume to give in de- tail the complete history of this family. the foregoing being but a brief synopsis.
.
JAMES W. WILSON.
James W. Wilson is a representative of pioneer families of Fairfield county and makes his home on section 33, Greenfield township, where he follows farming. Here he was born on the 5th of May, 1818. His paternal grandfather was the Hon. Nathan- iel Wilson. a native of Scotland, who after emigrating to the new world resided near
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, for a time and then came to Ohio, settling in Fairfield county, where he was a distinguished early resident. He served as a member of the state legis- lature and as a justice of the peace, and his worth and ability made him a leader of public thought and action. After about eight years' residence in Fairfield county he
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was called to his reward in the home beyond.
His son, William Wilson, the father of our subject, was born within two miles of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and there remained until his removal to Fairfield county, Ohio. He and his four brothers located near Lan- caster, three of them making their homes on section 33. The father of our subject was united in marriage to Rachel Wells, a daughter of General James Wells. an old Revolutionary soldier, who was severely wounded by the Indians. His ancestry could be traced back to James Wells, an Englishman, who on crossing the Atlantic settled in Baltimore, Maryland. He was twice married and had twelve children by each marriage. Among the number was General James Wells, who was born in Frederick county, Maryland, in the year 1751. while his death occurred on the 29th of January. 1814. when he was sixty-three years of age. Hle served as a soldier under Washington and tradition says that it was in the Revolutionary war that he won the title of general. In 1775 he married Rachel Brown, a daughter of Colonel Richard Brown. On the 17th of April. 1795. he was made an associate judge of Somerset county, Pennsylvania. Later he removed from that county to Holiday's Cove on the Ohio river, where his father-in-law then lived. In the fall of 1801 he arrived in Ohio, at which time there were only three or four log cabins at Lancaster, and when the land sales took place he bought twelve hundred and eighty acres in one body. in Greenfield township. He gave the greater part of his attention to farming and at one
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