A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 82

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 82

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His son, George McCormick (2d), was the great-grandfather of our subject. He was born in the Old Dominion and served in the continental line in the war for independence, holding the rank of major. His native state, at an early period of the Revolutionary war, raised two descriptions of troops, state and continental, to each of which bounties in - lands were promised. The lands within the limits of the charter of Virginia, situated to the northwest of the Ohio river, were withdrawn from appropriation on treasury warrants, and the lands on the Cumberland river and between the Green and the Tennessee rivers, on the southasterly side of the Ohio, were appropriated for these military bounties. Upon the recommendation of con- gress Virginia ceded her lands north of the Ohio upon conditions, one of which was that in case the lands south of the Ohio should be insufficient for the legal bounties to her troops the deficiency should be made up from lands north of the Ohio, between the rivers Scioto and Little Miami. Major McCor- mick was entitled, under these laws, to about four thousand acres, which he located, and for which he procured patents, in Fayette and Madison coun- ties, Ohio, but after paying taxes' on the lands for several years they were forfeited and never redeemed.

He was twice married. After the death of his first wife he removed to Kentucky, residing for some time on Bear Grass river. His death occurred, according to the federal records, at Harrodsburg, Mercer county, Kentucky, on January 30, 182Q.

Major McCormick's son, George McCormick (3d), was the grandfather of our subject. He was born in 1769 near Battletown, Clarke county, Vir- ginia, of his father's' first marriage. After the father's second marriage George McCormick, the third, went to live with an uncle named Burns, who resided on a farm on the Bear Grass. He was then apprenticel to the car- penter's trade, and subsequently served as a soldier under General St. Clair. Afterward, about 1802, he went to Washington, D. C., where he worked at his trade on the capitol. He had married, in Kentucky, Miss Anna Mariah Belt, who died at Washington, leaving two daughters' and one son.

The distinguished English architect, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, had designed, and at this time was constructing, the old house of representatives at Washington. McCormick and Latrobe came in contact and became well acquainted, and when Governor Worthington, then a senator in congress from Ohio, engaged Latrobe to design and construct, near Chillicothe, the mansion called Adena, the architect selected McCormick to superintend the mechanics engaged on the wood-work of that building. Accordingly McCormick arrived at Chillicothe in the autumn of 1805, or spring of 1806, with his three orphaned children, and set about his work. It was not long after he reached

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Ross county until he formed the acquaintance of the Armstrong family, who had come from the Wyoming valley in Pennsylvania and who had suf- fered in the military operations and massacre there during the war for inde- pendence, and distinguished themselves in the greater movements in the Revo- lutionary war. Miss Fannie Malone Armstrong became McCormick's second wife, and they continued to reside at Chillicothe until the following year after the site called Columbus was decided upon as the future seat of state government. At Chillicothe two daughters were born to them.

Having secured the contract to do the carpenter work on the first state- house, a brick building, at Columbus, McCormick and his family of five chil- dren removed to the embryo capital city in 1813. He acquired the original in-lot, sixty-two and one-half by one hundred and eighty-seven and one-half feet, at the southeast corner of High and Chapel streets, now occupied by the imposing business block known as Nos. 116-118 South High street, on the rear end of which he proceeded to erect a log house, which he and his increasing family occupied until they removed, some years afterward, to their small farm on the north side of Town street west of Parson's avenue.

The religious trend of the McCormicks for generations had been Cal- vinistic; but at this period the Methodist Episcopal church was aggressive in the propagation of its faith, through the agency of missionaries who were the most zealous and able in the ministry in the United States. George McCormick, a man of thought and action, had embraced the faith, but at the cost of serious estrangement between him and a much esteemed sister who lived at Mount Vernon, who was a stanch adherent to Presbyterian teachings and who denounced the apostasy. The records show that George McCormick and his wife Fannie, her sister Jane, and George B. Harvey, who, in February, 1814, married Jane, which wedding was the first to take place at Columbus, formed the first Methodist Episcopal church at Columbus in the fall of 1813. In December of that year, the membership having increased, a board of trus- tees, with McCormick as president, was selected, and early the following year the proprietors of the town site donated and conveyed to George McCor- mick, George B. Harvey and others as trustees, the lot on Town street where the Public School Library building now stands, for church purposes. In July, 1815, the "meeting-house," a small hewed-log building, was completed, at a cost of $157.531/2 "for material." In September, 1817, George McCor- mick and John Cutler were appointed a committee to have the "meeting- house chinked, daubed and underpinned, and to appoint a suitable person to keep it in order." In 1818 the house was enlarged by Michael Patton, under the direction of McCormick, at an expense of three hundred and sixty dollars, and from that time on various improvements were made, culminating in the commodious brick building which was' finally purchased by the city. The church edifice of this congregation is now located on Bryden Road and is known as the First Methodist Episcopal church, its members having recently cast off the historical title of Town Street Methodist church.

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In politics Mr. McCormick was a Whig. He was elected treasurer of Franklin county on that ticket in 1833 and served two years.

He left the impress of his individuality upon many public movements and measures which contributed to the general welfare, and his wife, a woman of refinement and character, performed her whole duty to her family and community. He died at Columbus on March 21, 1854, aged eighty-one years and six months. His remains were buried in the North graveyard alongside his wife Fannie, who had passed away on Christmas day, 1843, at the age of fifty-eight years. When the burying-ground was abandoned a few years ago the remains of the pioneer couple were removed to -Greenlawn, where they now rest, marked by the original stone.

By his first wife his children were: Mary, who married Hosea High and died at Columbus in 1891, aged ninety-three years and three months; Clarissa, who became Mrs. Turner and died at Zanesville, Ohio; and Middle- ton, who married Miss Fox, of Clark county, this state, and died there. By his second wife they were: Eliza, wife of Francis Asbury Crum, died at Columbus; Nancy, wife of William Grant, died at Springfield, Ohio; Francis A., father of our subject; William McKendry, married Margaret Martin, died at Columbus; George, married Sarah Barrett, died at Columbus ; Martin, unmarried, died at Columbus: Jane, wife of David Ball, died at Columbus; Fannie, wife of Benjamin Kelley, died in Iowa.

Francis Asbury McCormick, the father of the subject of this sketch and first son of George McCormick and Fannie Malone Armstrong McCor- mick, was born January 22, 1814, in a log house at the southeast corner of South High and Chapel streets, Columbus. He was the first white male child born at Columbus. Inspired by the teachings of Bishop Francis Asbury, his parents named the boy in honor of that divine. Young McCormick's edu- cation, like that of all those born in Ohio ninety years ago, was limited, and his schooling was confined to what he secured at home and at the subscrip- tion school of the village. At a very early age he was apprenticed to his maternal uncle, William Armstrong, to learn the tailor's trade, and when scarcely more than nineteen years old he set up in that business for himself, and in a few years carried on the leading tailoring establishment of the town.

When he had not yet reached his majority he was joined in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Harriet Crum, a lady aged seventeen, seventh child of Christian and Hannah Barr Crum. The wedding occurred on September 16, 1834, and the ceremony was performed by Rev. Edmond W. Sehon, of the Methodist Episcopal church. She was born near Winchester, Virginia, April 7, 1817, and died at Columbus, Sunday, March 3, 1895, aged seventy-seven years, ten months and twenty-six days. All but one of this generation of the Crum family were born in Virginia, all reached mature years and were mar- ried at or near Columbus, and all early in life became members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church.

It was in 1822 that Christian Crum, a native of Frederick county, Vir-

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ginia, who was the son of a Lutheran minister, with his wife and nine chil- dren, bade good-bye to their home in the Shenandoah valley and journeyed westward. They tarried at Wheeling, Virginia, then at Lancaster, Ohio, and lived for a time at Franklinton, but finally located on South High street, Columbus, on the lot now the site of the Great Southern Hotel. Soon after Christian Crum had established his family in their new home he and his wife united with the Town Street Methodist. Episcopal church, and from that time until their death both were consistent members thereof, the father for many years officiating as a class-leader. His death occurred October 1, 1851, when he was aged seventy-one years and eleven months. His wife died July 5, 1850, aged sixty-five years and eleven months, and both are buried in Green- lawn cemetery.

The children of this couple were: Francis Asbury, the eldest, married Eliza McCormick, died at Columbus; Sarah Ann, wife of Samuel Thompson, after his death married Dr. Thomas Towler, died at Columbus: James died unmarried ; Robert, married Miss Frank Seney, died at Toledo; Mary C., wife of William Searles, buried at Fostoria; Rachel Jane, wife of Joseph Fitz- water, died at Columbus; Elizabeth H., mother of the subject of this sketch ; Martha Linda, wife of Augustus S. Decker, died at Columbus; Mahala Mar- garet, wife of George W. Howell, died at Columbus; Henry Delano, mar- ried Matilda Seney, died at Tiffin.

Mr. McCormick continued in business at Columbus for a number of years and then removed to the Yazoo valley, Mississippi, where he carried on the tailoring business, but soon returned to Ohio because of his hatred of the institution peculiar to the southern states. About 1838 he removed to Illi- nois, then to Iowa City. Iowa, and then again returned to the place of his birth, and in 1848 was conducting a tailor shop on South High street. The Ohio State Journal was located in the building adjoining him. A young man named Legg, who spent his leisure hours at McCormick's store, was the foreman of the Journal composing room, and when news of the finding of gold at Sutter's fort reached the newspapers in the east McCormick and Legg read it all and were fired with ambition to participate in the search for the yellow metal. Forthwith they set about to find a way to reach California. Both succeeded in being appointed members of a United States surveying party bound for the coast, but before the appointments came they had assisted suc- cessfully in the organization, in February, 1849, of an association called the Franklin California Mining Company, into the treasury of which each member paid two hundred dollars. Legg withdrew from the company and accom- panied the surveying expedition and died of fever on the isthmus of Panama. McCormick, having been elected treasurer of the company, continued with it. At this time he had grown to be a man of financial standing in the commu- nity, being the owner of various fine pieces of property. He sold all but a home. On April 12, 1849, the Franklin Company, with Joseph Hunter, cap- tain; John Coulter, lieutenant; J. H. Marple, secretary : Francis A. McCor- mick, treasurer, and twenty-five others, left Columbus via the National road

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for Cincinnati bound for the gold fields. Their route was by water to St. Joseph, Missouri, then by wagon to the coast. The story of the company is. one of disaster and failure, as an association, but full of dramatic situations and thrilling adventures.

Mr. McCormick finally arrived at Sacramento City, after having walked the entire distance from St. Joseph. He was without a coat, barefooted, and had twelve dollars in silver on his person. On the first day at Sacra- mento he fell in with his former friend, Ebenezer Barcus, who had gone to the coast with another company, which had started later and reached there. first. Mr. Barcus, on the occasion of the reunion, was attempting to yoke a pair of cxen, with no success. McCormick, whose experience had been greater, proffered assistance and succeeded, and they immediately entered into a limited partnership with the purpose of merchandising at the mines on Feather river. They prospered, and subsequently associated J. C. Lunn with them. These three men, Messrs. Barcus, McCormick and Lunn, are probably the only members of either of the California companies of Colum- bus now living. They made money rapidly, and then lost their profits by a San Francisco bank failure; then prospered, and lost by robbery; and so on until McCormick, having had enough of California experience, returned to Ohio, in 1852, via the isthmus and the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

On his return to Columbus he engaged in the brokerage business, and in 1860 retired to Prairie township, mainly because of the failure on the part of the contractors' for one of the new railroads then being built into Colum- bus, Mr. McCormick having heavily endorsed their paper.

In California Mr. McCormick had walked thirty-five miles in one day to the polls in order to vote against admitting the territory as a slave state. In Ohio he voted the Republican ticket. During the war he was an inspector of clothing for the war department. When Horace Greeley ran for presi- dent he voted for him because he believed Greeley to represent Republican principles. Although Prairie township had long been Democratic as two is to one, he was elected justice of the peace. Among the many cases disposed of by him was one which gave him considerable fame. Two young men, whose parents had died, had divided all the inheritance, without a jolt or a jar, except a well worn copper kettle. Both claimed the article. The result was resort to the law. Justice McCormick patiently listened to the testimony and the arguments, and at the close of the trial reflected a few minutes. He then said that the costs in the case would be assessed equally against the liti- gants, and directed the constable to take the kettle to the village blacksmith and have it cut as equally as possible into two parts and give each of the brothers one part; that was done. The case was not. appealed.

The spirit of unrest was in McCormick from youth until long after mature years. A continuous quiet life at Columbus would have made him a mil- lionaire. Fortune ever pursued him; he as persistently, seemingly, evaded it, but it never forsook him!

'Squire McCormick and his wife lived together for sixty-one years.

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After eighty-eight years of a very active life he continues in full possession of his mental faculties and is in good bodily health.

Their marriage was blessed with the following children: Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Fannie Frances, who became the wife of James .E. Sehon and died June 12, 1871, at Columbus; Charles A., who died at Farm- ington, Iowa, March 27, 1842; Mary Iowa, who was born at Iowa City, Iowa, and is the wife of Westley O'Harra, of Columbus; William B., who is the subject of this review and the next of the family; Eleanor, who married D. M. Brelsford, of Columbus, and died in that city; Kate, who married Edward H. Clover and died at Alton, Ohio, April 9, 1880; Jane, who died in infancy ; Jane Delano, who is the wife of George U. Harn, of Columbus; and Mahala Margaret, who is the wife of William S. Sheehan, and resides near Alton, Ohio.

From the foregoing it will be seen that William B. McCormick is a representative of one of the oldest families of Franklin county. He was born October 10, 1843, in Columbus, on East Gay street, between High and Third streets, and resided in Columbus until seventeen years of age, during which time he pursued his education in the public schools. He then accompanied his parents on their removal to a farm near Alton, Prairie township, Frank- lin county. During the Civil war he enlisted as a private at Columbus for three months' service on the 27th of May, 1862, under command of Captain H. Burdell, of Company H, Eighty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. At Camp Chase, on the 23d of September, 1862, Mr. McCormick received an honorable discharge and then returned to the home farm, where he remained until March 3, 1863, when he re-enlisted as a member of the Twenty-second Independent Battery of Ohio Light Artillery for three years or during the war. When again mustered out at Camp Chase, on the 13th of July, 1865. he held the rank of sergeant. He continued with his battery, which was attached to the Army of the Cumberland, from start to finish.

Mr. McCormick was united in marriage, at Columbus, on the 2d of September, 1880, to Miss Louisa D. Koerner, who was born in New York city May 10, 1856, and spent the first seven years of her life in New York, and then became a resident of Columbus, where she was reared to woman- hood. Her father, John George Koerner, was born in the town of Wil- helmsdorp, Bavaria, Germany, May 30, 1823, and was a baker by trade. In early life he came to the United States and was married, in New York city, to Kunigunde Hoffman, who was born in Bavaria, about 1820, and came to the new world with her brother Frederick. She died in New York city in 1859, and after her death Mr. Koerner married Miss Elizabeth Hoover. Dur- ing his life he was a Mason of high standing. He died at Columbus in 1879, leaving one child, who is the wife of our subject.

Mr. and Mrs. William B. McCormick have three children, viz .: Fred- erick Koerner, born March 20, 1883 : Lena Dorretta, born December 2, 1884; and Ella Nora, born April 27, 1888. After his marriage Mr. McCormick located on a farm in Prairie township, Franklin county, Ohio. He cleared

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much of it and the place is now well improved and is devoted to general farming and stock-raising. He is a member of W. H. Elliott Post, No. 420, G. A. R., Department of Ohio, Alton, Ohio, of which he was the first com- mander, and he belongs to Encampment No. 78, of the Union Veteran Legion, of Columbus. In politics he is a Republican.

JOHN F. HAYNES.

Among the old and well known railroad men of Columbus, Ohio, none is held in higher esteem inside or outside of railway circles than John F. Haynes, whose residence is at No. 36 East Seventh avenue and who was born in Chilicothe, Ohio, September 24, 1851.

John Haynes, father of the subject of this sketch, was a prominent cit- of Chillicothe, Ohio, where for many years he held the position of freight agent. He was married in Trenton, New Jersey, and when comparatively young came to Ohio. His ancestors were English and lived in England far beyond the point in time to which he was able to trace his genealogy, and his father came to this country in early manhood. Mrs. Haynes is descended from old families in northern Ireland in the paternal line. Her grandmother in the maternal line was a native of Ireland, but her mother was born in the United States, Mr. and Mrs. Haynes died at their home in Chillicothe, Ohio, the former in 1870, aged forty-seven years, and the latter in 1897, aged seventy- six years. They had eight children namely: Hiram L., Priscilla, Raymond and William, all deceased; Edward J., train dispatcher at Chillicothe, Ohio, Nellie and Anna, both residing in Chillicothe, and John F.

John F. Haynes was educated in the public schools of Chillicothe, Ohio, and was married to Miss Alma Thompson, of that city, August 17, 1871, Their eldest daughter, Ira, was married in 1896 to George C. Blankner, formerly assistant attorney general of the state of Ohio and one of the most prominent young lawyers at the Columbus bar. Carrie was married, in 1895, to Logan McCormick, who is engaged successfuly in the portrait busi- ness on Broad street, Columbus. Their only child, Howard Haynes McCor- mick, was born August 26, 1897. Hattie is at home, and Dora was married to Walter Drayer, November 8, 1900. William Haynes, Mr. and Mrs. Haynes's youngest child, was born July 17, 1889, and is now in school. The family are highly respected by all who know them.

Mr. Haynes took up his career as a railroad man in 1866, and learned the machinist's trade. His first employment as a fireman was in 1872. A year and a half later he was promoted to engineer and he has been in con- tinuous service in that capacity ever since. For twelve years he was employed on the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio system, and for a year after that he was employed on the Cincinnati & Col- umbus Midland Road which was also merged into the Baltimore & Ohio lines. Since then he has been in the service of the Norfork & Western Railroad Company.

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Mr. Haynes has been a passenger engineer for three years. He became a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers at Chillicothe, Ohio, i11 1875, and for the past five years he has been chief engineer of division number seventy-two of that order. Mr. Haynes is a Republican and is a citizen of much progressive spirit. Mr. and Mrs. Haynes and members of their family are communicants of the Methodist Episcopal church.

GEORGE SCOTT.

Of the members of the faculty of Otterbein University at Westerville, Franklin county, Ohio, none is more efficient in the work of the class room than Prof. George Scott, Ph. D., some account of whose useful career it will be attempted here to give. Prof. Scott was born in New York city May 10, 1849, a son of John Scott, who was a native of the north of Ireland, and was there reared and married. His wife was Sarah Brown, a native of London- derry, who died in Canada, aged about seventy-five years. This worthy couple came to America in 1848, and located in New York city. From there the family removed to Ontario, Canada, where the father died at about the age of seventy-two years. Early in life Mr. Scott was a Baptist and Mrs. Scott was a Methodist, but later they attended the services of the United Brethren church, with which their children were identified.

Prof. Scott remained at home with his parents until he was about six- teen years old and attended school with such good results that he was at that early age able to take up the work of a teacher. As opportunity offered he was a student at the high school and later he was prepared for college at the Canadian Literary Institute, at Woodstock, Ontario. In 1875 he entered Alfred University, a Seventh Day Baptist college in Allegany county, New York, where he was graduated in two years and was almost immediately thereafter elected first assistant professor of Latin and Greek. Later he was made professor of Latin in the same college, where he taught until 1888, except during one year while he was at Yale. In 1888 he came to Otterbein University as professor of Latin. He got leave of absence in 1890 to spend another year at Yale, where he received his degree of Ph. D. His progress in his studies was so rapid that he was permitted to leave Yale before the expiration of the year and he went to Athens, Greece, and studied there for several months. From there he returned to Otterbein University, where since that time he has filled the chair of Latin until elected president of the institution July 23, 1901. During two summer vacations he has had charge of Latin classes at the Chautauqua assemblies.

Prof. Scott married Miss Mary J. Erb, of Berlin, Ontario, Canada, who died in December, 1896, leaving a daughter, Leona, who is a graduate of Otterbein University. Mrs. Scott was a devoted member of the United Brethren church. In 1898 Prof. Scott married Miss Isabel Sevier, of Knox- ville, Tennessee. They are helpful members of the United Brethren church.

GEORGE SCOTT.

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In politics Prof. Scott is independent, liberal in his views on political ques- tions and tolerant of the views of others. His public spirit impels him to take a helpful interest in everything that pertains to the advancement of Westerville.

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A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 82

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