A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 108

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio > Part 108

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QUINCY A. WATKINS. 1

Among the prominent retired farmers living in and about Columbus, Ohio, there is not one who is better or more favorably known than Quincy A. Watkins, who was born where he now lives, on section 2, Marion town- ship, Franklin county, October 4, 1827, a son of Aldrich and Clarissa K. (Torrey) Watkins, both natives of the state of New York.

Aldrich Watkins, one of the first settlers in Franklin county, Ohio, located in the woods in Marion township, where he made a farm and died at the age of fifty-eight years. In religion he was a Presbyterian and in politics he developed from a Whig to a Republican. A man of high char- acter and good ability, he was prominent in the county. His wife survived him until in her eighty-seventh year. They had two children who died in infancy and two daughters and three sons who grew to manhood and woman- hood, and Quincy A. Watkins was their third child and second son in order of birth, and is the only one of their children living at this time.

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Quincy A. Watkins was reared on his father's farm and his lot did not differ materially from that of other sons of farmers in his locality at that time. His home was as good as the average home there and he cherishes recollections of his parents who made life as attractive to him as was possible under the circumstances and amid his environments ; but he knew what hard work meant and did not shirk his responsibility. After the death of his father, whom he had assisted since his childhood, he took up farming for himself on the old homestead and continued with good success until 1898, when he retired from active life, the owner of two hundred and thirty-four acres well located and well cultivated.

February 23, 1860, Mr. Watkins married Amanda S. Corbin, a native of Amanda township, Wyandot county, Ohio, born August 10, 1841, a daugh- ter of William and Amanda (Sallee) Corbin, who were the parents of two daughters and a son. Their daughter, Matilda, is dead. Their son, Sam- uel, lives in Wood county, Ohio. Mrs. Watkins was only four days old when her mother died. For his second wife her father married Susan Archi- bald, who has borne him ten children. Mrs. Watkins was taken by her grandparents into their household and was in their care during her child- hood. At the age of twelve she returned to her father and remained with him until her marriage. She has borne Mr. Watkins three children, named Clinton, Grant and Virgie Amanda. Clinton married Effie Hendren and lives in Madison township, and they have sons named Grant and Pearl and a daughter named Grace. Grant married Nellie Long and died at the age of twenty-six. He had two sons, Philo E., who is dead, and Quincy Grant. Virgie Amanda married John Helsel and they have a son named Lehman Ersel. Mr. Helsel lives with Mr. Watkins and has the management of his farm.

Mr. Watkins is one of the old and reliable farmers of Franklin county, and he has been known to its leading citizens for many years and was brought up as a companion of some of the older of them. A man of much public spirit, he has always taken the lead in matters affecting the welfare of his township. Formerly a Whig, he has been a Republican since the days of Fremont and Lincoln. Mrs. Watkins is a member of the Lutheran church, as is also her daughter, Mrs. Helsel.

PERRY A. ROACH.

One of the prominent and influential business men of Columbus, Ohio, who have held public office for a number of years, is Perry A. Roach, the subject of this sketch. He was born in Gallipolis. Gallia county, Ohio, November 27, 1863, a son of Reuben W. and Mary V. (Workman) Roach, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The father of our subject was a farmer in early life, becoming a merchant later, and subsequently was interested in the flour-and-feed business in Gallia county. The grandfather of our sub- ject, Sidney Roach, was a native of Maryland and was one of the pioneer set-

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tlers of Gallia county. He married a member of the Koontz family, of Cul- peper Court House, Virginia, a well-known German-American family of that locality.

Our subject passed his early days in his native county, removing to a small village, where he attended school, remaining there until he was eighteen years old, when the family removed to Ross county, and it was then that the father of our subject opened his flour-and-feed business, locating in Chilli- cothe. Our subject taught school in that city during the following winter, but he had decided upon adopting the law as a profession and was eager to begin its study. His first reading was done in the office of Mayo & Free- man, in Chillicothe; subsequently he entered the law school in Cincinnati, at which he graduated in 1889.

Prepared by years of studious work, our subject now returned to Chilli- cothe and entered upon the practice of his profession, becoming associated with John C. Entrekin. This partnership continued until Mr. Entrekin was appointed United States revenue collector, when it was necessarily dissolved. Mr. Roach came to Columbus in 1890 and opened up an office here, and in 1895 he was nominated by the Republican party, in which he has always been active, as a candidate for justice of the peace, resulting in his election for a term of three years, and a re-election in 1898, which office he still holds.

In 1858 Mr. Roach married Miss Thalia Groninger, of Chillicothe, who was a teacher in the schools there for several years, and was a daughter of Abram and Amanda (Munger) Groninger. Four children have been born to them,-Rupert Darst, Merle M., Walter Reuben and Sage. The great- grandfather of these children is Louis D. Workman, who married Narcissa Worly and both are still living, at an advanced age, the great-great-grand- father Worly having attained the unusual age of one hundred and two.

Socially Mr. Roach is a member of the K. of P., and I. O. O. F., Lodge 474. He is a successful and influential politician, as well as an admirable business man, and is considered one of the representative men of his section of the city.

FRANK S. MILLER.

Industry, integrity and perseverance are the words which supply the key- note to the success of men like the subject of this sketch and a reason for their popularity with their fellow citizens. Frank S. Miller, who lives on the Groveport pike, a mile and a quarter beyond the corporation line of the city of Columbus, and is one of the well known farmers and business men of Frank- lin county, Ohio, was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, a son of Amos and Catharine (Stouffer) Miller. His father was a native of Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania, and lived there until 1885, since when he has been a member of his son's household. His mother was a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Miller had two sons and two daughters.

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E. J. is a resident of Columbus, Ohio; Emma married A. R. Geist, of Colum- bus; and Fannie lives with her father and brother.

Frank S. Miller is the second child of his parents and was reared in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and was educated in the public schools near his home. He engaged in fruit-growing in his native state and was ably instructed in it by his father. After he came to Ohio he continued in the same line of enterprise and his success has been marked. He raises all kinds of small fruits common to his latitude and employs eight or ten men from time to time and seven the year around. He married Mary E. Thomp- son, a native of London, England, who came to Springfield, Illinois, at the age of about eighteen months, and who has borne him two sons, Amos G. and Thomas R. Mr. Miller is a Republican of influence, and was elected clerk of Marion township in 1900. He is a modest, unpretentious, industrious and honorable citizen, whose influence has always been exerted for the good of his fellow townsmen, and who has always been found on the side of progress and up-to-date enterprise in the discussion of means to the public good .- an active man of strict integrity, who has been helpful and useful in all the rela- tions of life and who has the respect and good wishes of his townsmen because they know he truly merits them.

HENRY M. TAYLOR.

For eighteen years Dr. Henry M. Taylor has been engaged in the prac- tice of medicine and surgery, and as a representative of a profession wherein advancement depends solely upon individual merit he has gained a creditable position. He has not been without that laudable ambition which is the sphere of all effort, and his labors have been discerningly directed along lines that have led to his advancement and won him a name and place in medical circles of Columbus that are both enviable and creditable.

Dr. Taylor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 29, 1854, and is a son of Dr. William and Hannah (Lowe) Taylor. His grandfather, Henry Taylor, Sr., was also a physician and for many years' practiced his profession successfully in Philadelphia. He married Martha Metcalf, a daughter of William Metcalf, a physician and a minister. The father of our subject was born in Philadelphia, in 1831, and was a graduate of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. He afterward pursued a course of study in the homeopathic college in his native city. After successfully practicing medi- cine for some time he entered the ministry and devoted his attention to the spiritual needs of his fellow men, continuing to preach the gospel until his death, which occurred in Troy, New York, in 1884. He wedded Hannah Lowe, who was born at Valley Forge. Pennsylvania, in 1831, and was a daughter of Charles and Sarah (Clark) Lowe, who emigrated from England to the new world.

In the state of his nativity Dr. Henry M. Taylor of this review remained until 1861, and then accompanied his parents on their removal to Gettysburg,

HENRY M. TAYLOR, M. D.

- بيانات فزحف

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Pennsylvania, where he entered the schools, acquiring a good practical edu- cation. His father located at Gettysburg, and there the Doctor remained until he had attained his majority, completing his literary education in the high school of the town. He entered upon his business career in the line of merchandising and afterward learned the trade of foundryman, but, finding that an uncongenial occupation, in 1877 he began the study of medicine, under the direction of his father. He pursued his first course of lectures in the Jefferson Medical College and subsequently came to Columbus, Ohio, where he entered the Columbus Medical College, of this city, in which institution he was graduated in 1882, with the degree of M. D. Soon afterward he began practice and has' since been a worthy follower of his profession, which certainly ranks among the highest to which men devote their energies. In 1885 he was appointed assistant surgeon at the Ohio Penitentiary, serving until 1889. He then returned to Philadelphia and took a special course, being graduated in the Jefferson Medical College. When his work there was completed he resumed practice in Columbus, and in 1893 he was appointed assistant super- intendent of health in the city, and was also a surgeon to the police and fire department until 1895.

In 1885 occurred the marriage of Dr. Taylor and Miss Ella M. Grove, of Columbus, a daughter of Jacob B. and Charlotte Grove. They now have two children,-Marie Isabell and Marguerite Grove. The Doctor and his wife enjoy the warm regard of a large circle of friends, and their own home is noted for its hospitality. In 1884 he became actively engaged in military affairs, becoming a member of the Governor's Guard, O. N. G., as a private, advancing through the grades of lieutenant and captain, then regimental quartermaster, thence to the medical department as a captain and assistant surgeon, major and surgeon. He accompanied his regiment, the Fourth Ohio, through the Spanish-American war, being sent to Porto Rico with Gen- eral Miles. In 1899 the Doctor was appointed major and surgeon of the Second Brigade of the Ohio National Guard, which position he is acceptably filling. In his political associations he is a Republican and takes great inter- est in the success of his party, doing all in his power to promote its growth and secure the adoption of its principles. During his term he has been called to active duty in several riots, among the most noted being the recent riot at Akron, Ohio. His professional ability is widely recognized and is indicated by the liberal support which is accorded him, his patronage steadily increas- ing both in volume and importance.

HOWARD B. WESTERVELT.

The Rev. Howard Bailey Westervelt was born at Blendon, Franklin county, January 4, 1847, and was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity at Delaware, Ohio, in 1869, and that year entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. During the active years of his labors he was stationed at Royalton, Fairfield county ; Nelsonville, Athens county ; Zanesville,

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Muskingum county : Athens, Athens county; Portsmouth. Scioto county ; Cir- cleville, Pickaway county; Mount Vernon avenue, Columbus, and at other places. He was for some time until 1888 presiding elder of the Portsmouth district. He is now living with his son, Charles E. Westervelt, having super- annuated in his conference some years since. He is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of Wells Post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Colum- bus, Ohio, for he was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, having enlisted in 1864 in the Fifth Battalion, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. Later, upon the expiration of his term of service, he enlisted, in 1865, in the One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, where he saw active service in Virginia at Fort Powhattan.

The Rev. Alfred L. Westervelt, the father of the Rev. Howard Bailey Westervelt, was born in Franklin county, Ohio, and his life covered the period from 1820 to 1849, when he died at the early age of twenty-nine years, after having been for some years a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married, April 1, 1846, to Miss Sophia Bull, a daughter of Dr. Thompson Bull, of Clintonville. Dr. Bull was a pioneer in Franklin county, and three of his daughters married in the Westervelt family. The widow of the Rev. Alfred L. Westervelt married Johnson Ogilvie and is now living at Lorain, Ohio. She bore her first husband two children,-the Rev. Howard Bailey Westervelt, subject of this sketch, and Charles A. Westervelt, of Lorain, Ohio.

VALVERDA A. P. WARE.

Maryland ancestors have given to Ohio some of its best citizens. The old families of Maryland have taken a place in our national history as people of patriotism and progressiveness and their descendants in all parts of the country have ably maintained the reputation of their names. Among the most prominent citizens of Franklin county, Ohio, of Maryland nativity, is Valverda A. P. Ware, a prominent farmer of Truro township, who was born in Baltimore county July 30, 1833, a son of Nathan Ware and a grandson of Robert Prescott Ware.

Robert Ware was born in Maryland and was a captain in the Maryland state militia, with which he was in active service in the war of 1812-14. In 1820 he brought his family to Ohio, and located at Steubenville, Jefferson county, where he lived until the end of his life. His wife, Eleanor Gladman, who was also a native of Maryland, lived to the age of ninety years. Their son, Nathan Ware, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Balti- more county, Maryland, November 9. 1801, and received a good education there, which he completed at his own expense, paying for it money which he earned teaching school, a labor upon which he entered when he was nineteen years old. He was married, about 1830, to Eliza C. Barron, and they were the parents of fifteen children, of whom the following named ten grew to manhood and womanhood: Cornelia L., Valverda A. P., Evander T .. Julia

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B., Robert P., Nathan H., Randolph R., William B., Charles R. and Eleanor L. Cornelia L. is the wife of Aaron H. Green. Evander T. married Laura V. Coe. Julia B. is the widow of William H. Green, of Franklin county, Ohio. Robert P. married Mary Hanson, of Franklin county, Ohio. Nathan H. married Mary Price, and after her death Ellen Williams, of Licking county, Ohio. Randolph R. married Lannie Owings, of Baltimore county, Mary- land, where he lives. Eleanor L. married Samuel Pinkerton and they also live in Baltimore county, Maryland. William B. married Ida Ridgley and lives at Savannah, Georgia. Charles R. has married twice. His first wife was Mary Brain, of Frederick county, Maryland, and his present wife was a Miss Flanagan.

Valverda A. P. Ware married Mary Belinda Green May 29, 1860. Miss Green was a daughter of Gilbert Green, one of the early settlers of Franklin county, Ohio. That pioneer was born in Sussex county, New York, Novem- ber 27, 1804. He was married, October 3, 1826, in New Jersey, where his earlier years were spent, to Miss Melinda Harrison, and they had three chil- dren, named Aaron Harrison Green, William Henry Green and Mary Olivia Green. He moved to Ohio in 1831 and bought one hundred and eighteen acres of land in Truro township, Franklin county, and not long afterward bought one hundred and sixty acres more. His wife died about a year after their settlement in Ohio, and he was married, July 9, 1833, to Susan Taylor, who was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, September 21, 1808, a daughter of Robert Taylor, who was a pioneer in Truro township, Franklin county, about 1809. Gilbert and Susan (Taylor) Green had children as follows: Robert, Gilbert M., Sarah (who died in infancy), John Covert, Elizabeth J. and Mary Belinda. Gilbert M. married Elizabeth Marshall and lives at Columbus, Ohio. Elizabeth J. is the wife of A. D. Schoonover, of Newark, New Jersey. John Covert, who married Sarah J. Parkinson, is represented by a biographical sketch in this work.

Belinda Green, daughter of Gilbert and Susan (Taylor) Green and wife of Valverda A. P. Ware, received her early education in the district schools of Franklin county, Ohio, in log school houses with puncheon floors, split-out slabs for seats and slab desks supported on pins driven into auger holes into the walls. The school house where she attended school most was three-quarters of a mile from her father's house and she has a distinct remem- brance that during the winter months the walking along the wood road which led from the one to the other was anything but good. She finished her studies at the college at Reynoldsburg, Ohio, where she was a student for a year. After leaving school she taught school in Franklin county, "boarding around" with the parents of her pupils and receiving two dollars' a week in addition to her meals and lodging, and as a teacher she was often compelled to walk further than was necessary when she was a pupil. She has proved herself a model wife and mother and has watched the development of the county from a primitive condition to its present admirable state of cultivation and advancement. Valverda A. P. and Belinda (Green) Ware have had eight

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sons and one daughter, named as follows in the order of their birth: Gilbert Green. Prescott Barron, Vinton Taylor, Eliza Catharine, Valverda A., one son who died in infancy, William E., Oliver Morton and Charles Homer. Their eldest son, Gilbert Green, married a Miss Alice Mock, of St. Louis, Missouri, and they have children named Alice Eliza and Harold Homer. G. G. Ware is a shoe-manufacturer of Chicago, Illinois. Prescott Barron, a farmer of Truro township, Franklin county, married Zella Hanson, a daughter of Parson Hanson, and they have two children named Hugh Pearl and Blanche Elizabeth. Vinton Taylor, who is a farmer in Madison township, Franklin county, married Ella Stubbs, a native of Delaware and a daughter of Frank Stubbs, who was also born in that state. Eliza Catharine married John C. Oldham, a druggist at Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Valverda A. assists his father in the management of the homestead. William E. is acquiring a knowledge of the drug business under the instruction of his brother-in-law at Reynolds- burg, Ohio. Oliver Morton and Charles Homer are members of their father's household.

Mr. Ware came to Ohio in 1858 and after his marriage, in 1860, went back to Maryland, where he remained two years. In 1862 he returned to Truro township, Franklin county, where he worked rented land until 1888. He had early learned the carpenter's trade and he divided his time between the occupations of carpenter and farmer and was employed much of the time during the Civil war in building bridges for the United States government. In 1888 he moved with his family to the old homestead of Gilbert Green, Mrs. Ware's father, which has been improved until it is one of the most productive and valuable farms in the township, its acreage considered. Mr. Ware, while not a practical politician, has very decided views on all political questions' and is not without influence in his party. He has believed that the citizen who helps himself best helps his neighbors, and has devoted himself to his business rather than to office-seeking. He is deeply interested in public edu- cation. has always done his share toward the maintenance of religious worship and has in many other ways demonstrated that he is a man of public spirit.

MATHEW WESTERVELT.

Elsewhere in these pages will be found some statements concerning the origin of the American family of Westervelt and biographical sketches of some of its prominent representatives. The Ohio pioneer of the name was Mathew Westervelt, who came to Blendon, Franklin county, about 1818, with his brothers, Peter and William, and his sister, Catharine, who married Stephen Brinkerhoff. He had formerly lived at Poughkeepsie, New York, and was a man of more than ordinary business ability and experience. He bought six hundred and forty acres of land and each of his two brothers bought a like amount, making an aggregate of one thousand, nine hundred and twenty acres. With others he laid out the town of Westervelt, which was named in honor of his family. He was prosperous as a farmer, was prominent in public

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affairs and manifested extraordinary public spirit, donating to the town a young men's seminary, now Otterbein University, and the grounds upon which the college is located, and land at Westerville for a Methodist Episcopal church and a cemetery. He was an active member of the Methodist church and one of its most liberal supporters.

After coming to Franklin county Mr. Westervelt married Miss Mary Lennington, formerly of Poughkeepsie, New York, who died after having borne him five children. His second wife was Miss Abiah Leonard, a daugh- ter of a pioneer family of the county, who also bore him five children. His daughter Melissa married Jacob Connelly, who was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1810, and died in Franklin county, Ohio, in 1881. She died in 1892, aged seventy-five, leaving four children: Emeline Frances, who married Dr. S. H. Stewart, of Columbus; Russell H. Connelly, of Columbus, who is with the Coe & Spencer Company; Alice, who married John Breese, of Columbus; Estelle G., the widow of A. H. Adams, of Columbus; a son, James, died in 1857: Edgar Westervelt, a son of Mathew and Mary (Lennington) Westervelt, died at Galena, Ohio. Mary, daughter of Mathew and Abiah (Leonard) Westervelt, married Captain Milton Wells, who was killed in the Civil war at Chattanooga, Wells Post, Grand Army of the Repub- lic, of Columbus, having been named in his honor. Edwin Westervelt, a son of Mathew Westervelt by his second marriage, was three times married, first to Miss Minerva Goodspeed, then to Miss Sophronia Bull and afterward to Miss Marcia F. Bull. Three of his sons, Frank C. Westervelt, Howard Bailey Westervelt and Herbert L. Westervelt, live at Clintonville, Franklin county. The children of Mathew Westervelt not here mentioned left Franklin county years ago and the record of their careers is not accessible.

Mathew Westervelt died in 1849, aged seventy-seven years, and was' buried at Greenlawn cemetery, at Columbus, Ohio. The reader is referred to other biographical sketches in this work for further information concern- ing the Westervelt family.

CHARLES E. WESTERVELT.

Among the young lawyers of Columbus, Ohio, none has made more noteworthy progress and none stands higher as a citizen than the subject of this sketch.

Charles Ephraim Westervelt, a son of Rev. Howard Bailey Westervelt, was born at Clintonville, Franklin county, Ohio, October 24, 1871. His early education was received in the public schools of Nelsonville, Zanesville and Portsmouth. In 1888 he entered the Ohio University at Athens, at which he graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1892. The following year he spent in post-graduate work in history and literature, taking his Masters' degree in the spring of 1893. The following year he read law in the office of Judge Festus Walters, of Circleville, and in the fall of 1894 entered the senior class of the Cincinnati Law School, graduating with the class of 1895 at that

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A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 108

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1156

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156