USA > Ohio > Putnam County > A Portrait and biographical record of Allen and Putnam 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, pt 1 > Part 16
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J OHN A. BARR, a highly respected citi- zen of Beaver Dam, Allen county, and one of the veterans of the war of the Rebellion, was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, August 14, 1837. He is de- scended from Irish ancestry, his grandfather having emigrated from Ireland, and settled in Tuscarawas county. It is believed that his father, John Barr, was born in Tuscarawas county, and served as a soldier of the war of 1812-15, or, as it is sometimes called, the sec- ond war for independence. He was married twice; first, to a Miss Baker, by whom he had
three children: Thomas, Hughes and Mar- garet. After the death of his first wife he was married to a Miss Boone, who was born ir Maryland, of German ancestry, August 17, 1814, and died in Tuscarawas county, Jan- uary 9, 1859. After this marriage he settled down in Tuscarawas county on 100 acres of land, and cleared it up from the woods, mak- ing of it a good farm. To this second mar- riage there were born three children, one that died in infancy, and James and John A., the latter being the subject of this sketch. Thomas, a son by his first wife, was in the Nineteenth regiment Michigan volunteer infantry, and was killed at Resaca, Ga. James was in the Twenty-fifth Illinois volunteer infantry, and served three years, being in the Atlanta cam- paign and being wounded near Marietta, Ga.
John A. Barr received in his youth the ed- ucation common to boys of that day and age of the world. When he was but two years of age his father died and he was reared among strangers. He was living in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, when the war broke out, and was the first man in his company to enlist in the service of his country, becoming a private soldier in company B, Fifty-first regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, under Captain Woods, his term of enlistment being for three years or dur- ing the war. He served in this company until he veteranized at Shell Mound, Tenn., Jan- uary 1, 1864, and continued in the service un- til honorably discharged as a corporal, October 3, 1865, at Victoria, Tex. During his period of service he participated in the following bat- tles: Chickamauga, Lookont Mountain, Mis- sionary Ridge, and in most if not all of those of the Atlanta campaign, including Resaca, Burnt Hickory, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesboro and Lovejoy Station, and many smaller battles and skirmishes too miner- ous to mention. Afterward he was in the Fourth corps under Gen, Thomas, and fought
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at the battle of Franklin and that of Nashville, and then went to Texas, where he remained until honorably discharged. He was always an active soldier, ready to perform any duty assigned him, was never captured by the en- emy, and was never in the hospital. He was in all the battles, skirmishes, marches, and campaigns in which his regiment was engaged, except the battle of Murfreesboro, when he was sick in his tent. Always a faithful soldier, his duty was promptly and cheerfully per- formed. His left eye was blinded early in the war, and the sight of this eye was later entirely destroyed. He was promoted corporal for meritorious conduct near the close of his term of service. After the war was over Mr. Barr returned to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and not long afterward removed to Williams county, still later removing to Allen county, and was married at Beaver Dam, April 26, 1883, to Mrs. Levia (Dilly) Murray, who was born August 14, 1855, and is a daughter of Jacob and Anna (Johnson) Dilly.
Jacob Dilly was born in New Jersey July 15, 1809, of an old American family. On February 13, 1834, he was married in his na- tive state, and moved to Ohio, settling in Tus- carawas county in 1837, and in the spring of 1855 he moved to Allen county. The farm he purchased and cleared lies on the line of Monroe and Richland townships, and here he labored for years, making a good and com- fortable home for himself and family. In 1865 he removed to Beaver Dam and died when eighty-three years of age. Hle and his wife were the parents of nine children, beside Mrs. Barr, as follows: Margaret, Catherine, James, John, Leona A., and Aaron, and three that died in youth. John and Aaron were soldiers in the Civil war, serving in an infantry regi- ment. Mr. Dilly was a member of the Dis- ciples' church at Beaver Dam, was a repub- lican in politics, and a highly honored citizen.
Mr. and Mrs. Barr, soon after their mar- riage, settled at Beaver Dam and there he en- gaged in various kinds of employment for some years, such as farming, running a sta- tionary engine, etc. In politics he is a prohi- bitionist, and both are members of the Dis- ciples' church. They are the parents of two children, Sadie and Mary. Mr. Barr was one of the best and bravest of the soldiers of the Unoin army, and since then he has been one of the Union's best citizens, standing high as a man of honor and integrity. Mrs. Barr had been married, previous to her marriage with Mr. Barr, to George Murray, by whom she had one child, Wilda.
a URTIS BAXTER, one of the oldest and best known farmers of Marion township, Allen county, was born in Ross county, Ohio, October 26, 1822. His great-grandfather was a native of Ireland and an early settler of Pennsylvania. Samuel Baxter, the father of our subject, it is thought, was born in Knox county, Ohio, where he married Polly Boyd, who became the mother of three children -Sarah, Polly and John. Polly (Boyd) Baxter died in Knox county, where he married, for his second wife, Keziah Cremean, daughter of Curtis Cremean, and to this union were born nine children, viz: Jane, James, Maria, Sammel, Curtis, Smith, Rachael, David and Eliza, all of whom were born in Ross county, with the exception of Eliza, who was born in Allen county, Ohio. Samuel Baxter, in October, 1828, came to Allen county and settled on the Auglaize river, in Amanda township, abont seven miles south of the farm now occupied by our subject, Curtis Baxter. The county was at that time an utter wilderness, and Mr. Baxter's life here was but brief, as he died two years after his arrival, leaving his widow with her large family
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to struggle with the adversities of life in the dense forest. James, the eldest son, was at that time but fourteen years of age, and two years later the family moved to Huwey Run.
Curtis Baxter came to Allen county with his parents, reaching Amanda township Octo- ber 29, 1828, and still has a vivid recollection of the wolves and other beasts of prey, as well as the abounding deer and other game that roamed the forests through which his elders had to cut their way to reach a site for the erection of a cabin, and he also has pleasant memories of the superabundance of fish that made their home in the waters of the Auglaize river. The grist-mill was fifty miles away, and for daily use the pioneers ground their corn in honsehold hand-mills. An old fashioned log school-house, with split logs for seats and desks, and floors of clay or puncheons, was the temple of learning, and here Curtis re- ceived his limited education. Amid such scenes Mr. Baxter grew to manhood, but mar- ried early. Jannary 8, 1843, he took to wife Miss Emily Johns, daughter of Griffith and Rachael Johns, who were the parents of thir- teen children, viz: Sarah, Emily, Ethan, Vienia, Jesse, Biah, Martha, Louisa, Palina, Meliss, Tamsa, Eliza, and one deceased. The father lived to be over sixty years of age, and he and wife were members of the Methodist church.
After marriage Mr. Baxter settled on a farm of seventy-five acres in the woods, which farm he later increased to 202 acres, but of this he disposed of thirty-five acres subse- quently, retaining for his own use 167 acres, On this homestead have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Baxter eleven children, viz: Samuel MI., Eliza J., John, William A. B., David E., Curtis T., Clarissa A., Elizabeth, Emily M., Charles and one child that died in infancy. Curtis Baxter was a soldier in the late Civil war, serving in company A, Thirty-third Ohio
volunteer infantry, for eight months; his son, Samuel M., was also a soldier and served for two years in MeLaughton's squadron. Curtis was enrolled September 22, 1864, at Lima, fought at Averysboro and Bentonville, N. C., having accompanied Sherman on his march to to sea, and was present at the grand review in Washington, D. C., in which city he was hon- orably discharged June 5, 1865.
. November 14, 1888, Mr. Baxter was united in marriage with his second wife, Cynthia E. Hawkins. Of his children by his first wife, Samuel M., deputy sheriff of Van Wert county, and also city marshal of Van Wert city, mar- ried Mary J. Miller, who became the mother of four children, and then died; for his second wife he married Ellen Cahill, but to this union no children have been born; Eliza J., is the wife of William J. Judkins and has six children; John married Jennie Hayden, of Iowa, and has two children; William A. B. married Sarah Dennis, and has three children; David E., mayor of Delphos, married Vida Morgan, and has one child: Curtis T. married Osie Wester- field, and has four child; Clarissa A. married James E. Wickham and has three children; Elizabeth married Charles Mollenhour and has five children; Emily M. married David Rosell, and has six children; Charles M., married Estella Brickstell, and has three children.
Curtis Baxter is a highly respected citizen and has the full confidence of the people of his township, whom he has served as trustec, constable, as a member of the board of infirmary directors, and as a member of the school board. He is an ardent member of the Methodist church, in which he has filled the office of steward for many years, and his social standing is with the best fami- lies of Allen county, who have an enduring re- spect for him on account of his christian virtues and usefulness as a citizen, not to mention the esteem in which he is held as an ex-soldier.
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0 AVID BAXTER, Sk., a prominent farmer of Marion township, Allen county, Ohio, is a son of Sammel and Keziah (Cremean) Baxter, was born in Ross county April 28, 1828, and was about six months old when brought by his parents to Allen county. By reference to the sketch of Curtis Baxter, which sketch precedes this biographical notice, the reader will find further details relating to the history of the Baxter family. The opportunities afforded for an education in the pioneer days were somewhat meager and our subject was compelled to rest satisfied with the knowledge to be obtained in the old log school-house, but even that was sufficient for the requirements of frontier life. The services of om subject were in demand as a woodsman and farmer and he was, at a very early day, given full employment in clear- ing away the forest and in bringing the soil into a state of productiveness, and he manfully de- voted himself to the performance of these . duties on the homestead until he was twenty- two years of age, when he married Miss Eliza- beth Shock, daughter of Peter and Mary (Boyd) Shock.
Peter Shock was born in Allegheny county, Pa., in February, 1799, was married in his native state, and came to Allen county, Ohio, in 1846, settling in Amanda township on eighty acres of woodland. He and wife are still living at the ages respectively of ninety- six and eighty-nine years, and are the parents of eleven children, viz: Levi, Elizabeth, Huldy, Carlisle, Mary A., George, Catherine, Sarah, Alvina, William and Peter. The par- ents are members of the United Brethren church and are greatly venerated by their neighbors.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Baxter settled on thirty-seven acres of woodland, which Mr. Baxter cleared up and brought to a fine state of cultivation, and added thereto
until he became possessed of 213 acres, all of which he cleared from the timber as rapidly as he acquired it. He has now a most beautiful residence, and his farm buildings are models of convenience and neatness. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Baxter have been born ten children, viz: Lewis, Sinon P., William, Mary, James, Nelson, Franklin, Ulysses (who died at the age of ten years), Lester and Samuel, twins; Samuel died when six months old. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter are consistent members of the Methodist church, in which Mr. Baxter has been a class leader for twelve or fifteen years; as to a member of the church he can count the years back to the number of forty-six; but he does not confine his pecuni- ary aid to the Methodist congregation alone, for he has contributed to the building fund of every church edifice within a radius of ten miles from his home. In politics Mr. Baxter is a republican and has served as a member of the township school board; he takes great in- terest, indeed, in educational matters, and is equally ardent in his advocacy of good roads. He is a most excellent farmer, is straightfor- ward in all his dealings, and has the esteem of all the community in which he lives.
J OHN F. BAXTER, member of the Delphos city council from the Fourth ward, was born in Marion township, Allen county, Ohio, December 14, 1857. He is the son of Samuel and Mary (Robbins) Baxter, both natives of Ohio and both de- ceased. Our subject was reared on the farm in Allen county, and attended the district schools, securing a fair English education. He remained on the farm until 1880 and then came to Delphos, and has resided here ever since. His occupation has been chiefly that of a salesman in the dry-goods business, hay- W ing held positions with S. F. Shenk, H. J.
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Wolfhorst & Co., and other well-known firms. He has always been a stanch republican in politics and has taken an active interest in pub- lic affairs. He was the nominee of his party in the Fourth ward for city councilman in the spring of 1895, and was elected by a majority of twenty-seven votes, which was an increase over the party's last majority, and the largest republican majority ever given for councilman by the ward. In the council Mr. Baxter is one of the leading members. He is chairman of the claims connnittee, and is also on the com- mittee on street light and police, and on the committee on sewers and on committe on buildings and grounds.
Mr. Baxter resides on the corner of West Third and Bredick streets, in the Fourth ward, Delphos, Van Wert county. Mr. Baxter was married on December 25, 1887, to Cora A. Smith, daughter of Casper Smith, of Delphos. Mr. Baxter is a member of the I. O. O. F., fraternally, and the National Union Insurance company. Mrs. Baxter is a member of the Presbyterian church and of the Daughters of Rebecca. For twelve years she has held a position as teacher in the Delphos public schools.
AVID E. BAXTER, JR., mayor of the city of Delphos, Ohio, and one of the representative men of that city, is a native of Allen county, Ohio, having been born in Marion township, within five miles of Delphos, on the 29th day of April, 1858, a son of Curtis and Emily (Johns) Bax- ter, of whom a full biography is given above. While prominent in his neighborhood Curtis never sought public office, the only position he ever held being that of one of the first infirin- ary directors of Allen county. He and his three brothers-James, David E., Sr., and
Smith are the oldest living settlers of Allen county in point of time. Emily Jolins was also born in 1822 in Ross county, Ohio, Her death occurred on March 4. 1887. There were born to Curtis Baxter and wife seven sons and four daughters, one now deceased.
David E. Baxter, the eighth child born to his parents, was reared on the farm in Marion township, and while a boy attended the com- mon schools. When about eighteen years of age he began teaching, which he continued for a period of twelve years, and during that time, in the intervals between the terms of his schools, Mr. Baxter himself attended school at Elida, Ohio, and at Valparaiso, Ind. He began his political career in 1887, when he was nominated by the democratic party of Allen county for the state legislature, but was de- feated at the election, his party being generally disrupted that year. In 1888 he was elected as a democrat to the office of justice of the peace of Marion township, which office he holds at the present time, having been re- elected twice in succession. On June 30, 1888, he was appointed by President Cleveland post- master at Delphos, and held that office nearly through President Harrison's administration. His terin of office as postmaster expiring on Angust 15, 1891, he accepted the position of assistant postmaster under C. P. Washburn, and held that position for three meoths. In the spring of of 1892, he was elected mayor of Delphos, and in 1894 was re-elected to that honorable position. During Mayor Baxter's administration some of Delphos' most exten- sive street improvements have been made -- the Minute Fire department inaugurated, water works system constructed and the telephone exchange established. His administration has been singularly clean, energetic and satisfac- tory, winning for the mayor the high en- comiums of his fellow-citizens. Mayor Baxter has three times been a delegate from Allen
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county to the Ohio state conventions, taking a prominent part in all.
Mayor Baxter is one of a company of citi- zens who are engaged in the development of oil and gas wells in the neighborhood of Del- phos, the company having under lease 2,000 acres of lands. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the degree of knight templar, being a member of Shawnee commandery, No. 14, at Lima. He is also a member of the I. O. O. F., of which he has filled all the chairs. He is at present the wor- shipful master of Hope lodge, No. 214, F. & A. M., of Delphos. He is also a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, and the Knights of Pythias. In November of 1895 he was elected as representative to the grand lodge of I. O. O. F., from the twenty-sixth district. Prior to Mayor Baxter's appointment as post- master, he was a county school examiner for three months, which office he was compelled to resign upon entering upon the discharge of the duties of postmaster, but is at the present time examiner for the Delphos union schools.
Mayor Baxter was married on December 23, 1884, to Miss Vida B. Morgan, who was born near Gomer, Allen county, and is the daughter of Thomas B. and Margaret Morgan. To their union one son-Richard A .- has been born. Mr. Baxter is now reading law, with the expectation of making it his future profession.
ARION F. BEALS, a highly re- spected resident of Bluffton, Allen county, Ohio, and a veteran of the Civil war, was born in Liberty town- ship, Hancock county, Ohio, February 12, 1839, and descends from an old Pennsylvania colonial family of English extraction.
way, who was born near Chambersburg, Bed- ford county, the marriage resulting in thirteen children, all of whom lived to reach manhood and womanhood, viz: Henry, Jonathan, John, Isaac, Washington, Catherine A., Mary J., Hiram, Abraham, Marion F., Rebecca, Rhoda and Emeline. The father of this family came to Ohio in an early day and first located in Stark county, cleared up eighty acres of wild land, on which he resided some years and then moved to another farm, three miles away, comprising 120 acres, which he also cleared up and became one of the substantial citizens of the county. In politics Mr. Beals was a dem- ocrat. He was an upright and respected gentleman and died on his farm at the age of fifty-eight years.
Marion F. Beals, our subject, received a good education in the district schools of his native township and assisted his father on the farm until his enlistment, at Findlay, Septem- tember 6, 1861, under Capt. Henry H. Alben, in company F, Twenty-first Ohio volunteer in- fantry, for three years, or during the war. January 1, 1864, at Chattanooga, Tenn., he veteranized in the same organization, and served through until honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, July 25, 1865, thus serving a a continuous term of almost four years. He took an active and gallant part in the following sanguinary engagements: Ivy Mountain, No- vember 9, 1861; Bridgeport, Ala., April 15, 1862; LaVergne, Tenn., October 7, 1862; Nashville, Tenn., November 5, 1862; Stone River, Tenn., December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863; Tullahoma campaign, Tenn., June 23 to 30, 1863; Dug Gap, Ga., September 11, 1863; Chickamauga, Ga., September 19 and 20, 1863; Missionary Ridge, Ten., Novem- ber 25, 1863; Buzzard Roost, Ga., May 8, 1864: Resaca, Ga., May 13 to 16, 1864; New Hope Church, Ga., May 28, 1864: Kene-
Abraham Beals, the father of Marion F., was a native of the Keystone state, was a farmer and there married Miss Rebecca Alla- : saw Mountain, Ga., June 9, 1864, and (in the 2
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general assault) June 27, 1864; Vining's Sation, July 25, 1864; Chattachoochie River, Ga., July 6 to 10, 1864: Peach Tree Creek, Ga. ; Atlanta, Ga. (Hood's first sortie); Jonesboro, Ga,, September 1, 1864; Averysboro, N. C., March 16, 1865; Bentonville, N. C., March 19 to 21, 1865. During the Atlanta campaign, in which some of the battles above enumerated took place, the troops were under constant fire for nearly four months, Gen. Sherman having begun his march from Chattanooga, Tenn., May 4, 1864, and the fall of Atlanta having taken place September 2, 1864. In the Atlanta campaign the troops were for nearly four months under an incessant fire, but Mr. Beals passed unscathed through it all. Fol- lowing Gen. Sherman in the renowned march from Atlanta to the sea, he was present at the surrender of Johnston near Goldsboro, N. C., March 19, 1865. On the march from Raleigh, N. C., to Richmond, Va., a friendly race was made between the Fourteenth and Twentieth army corps, the march being executed in six days -- about thirty-three miles being accom-
plished each day. Many of the soldiers, during this march, dropped out of their ranks, overcome with fatigue, and many others were permanently disabled, among the latter Mr. Beals -- but he kept up with his company. He had experienced a similar march from Beaver Creek to Bowling Green in Kentucky, when his regiment marched twenty-five miles, making five miles the last hour, and then camped on ground covered with snow. Mr. Beals, as will be seen, has made an exceptionally fine mili- tary record.
February 11, 1864, while on veteran fur- longh, Mr. Beals married, in Hancock county, Ohio, Miss Samantha Reed, who was born in Putnam county, March 26, 1840, a daughter of James I. and Mary (Edgerton) Reed. The Reeds are of Irish descent, and were early settlers of Pennsylvania, and their history,
after coming to America, is as follows, as far as the immediate ancestry of Mrs. Beals is concerned or interested:
John Reed, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Beals, was a native of county Tyrone, Ireland, and there married Miss Elizabeth Irwin, a native of the same county. About 1800 they came to America and settled on a farm one mile from Darlington, Beaver county, Pa., where they reared a family of six sons and one daughter and where the parents happily passed the remainder of their days. The old farm is now the property of George N. and J. P. Reed, Jr., sons of J. P. Reed, eldest son of Samuel, sixth son of John Reed, the original settler. The children of John and Elizabeth (Irwin) Reed were born in the follow- ing order: William, who married Miss Eliza- beth Dilworth; both died in Beaver county, and their descendants are now living near Enon Valley, Lawrence county, Pa. John, the second son, married Isabella Erwin, and lived near Findlay, Ohio, the result of this union being James I., father of Mrs. Beals; Jane, John T., Edson S., Eli and Samuel; of these, Jane married Mr. Vaneman, but is now Mrs. Kerr; several of these children still live near Findlay. James Reed, the third son of John, the immi- grant, married Fanny White, and died in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1846; one of his children, Mrs. O. Donnell, is still a resident of that city. Joseph Reed, the fourth son, married Clemanda Kerr, was a Presbyterian clergyman and died in Freedom, Beaver county, Pa., in 1842; his only daughter, Elizabeth, is the wife of John V. McCullongh, and resides in Seattle, Wash. Robert Reed, the fifth son of John the first, settled on a farm near Auburn, De Kalb county, Ind., his eldest son, Joseph, died in Wasson, Ohio; his daughter, Flora, is married to James Wilson and lives near Ottawa, Ohio; his young- est son, Robert R., lives on a farin that formerly belonged to his father, whose body lies interred
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at Waterloo, Ohio. Samuel Reed, the sixth son of John and Elizabeth (Irwin) Reed, mar- ried Elizabeth Cunningham, and lived and died on the the old home farm in Beaver county, Pa., his children are Nancy J., John P., Archi- bald S., James J., Rebecca, Samantha, Eliza- beth and Isabella M. Elizabeth Reed, the only daughter of John and Elizabeth (Irwin) Reed, was married to Jesse Savine. The father of these children, died at Darlington, Pa., at the age of fifty-nine years, and his re- mains rest beside those of his wife, in the old Wilson cemetery, near that town, in Beaver county, Pa. John Reed (second), grandfather of Mrs. Beals, married Isabella Irwin in Mercer county, Pa., moved to Wooster, Ohio, and a few years later removed to Findlay, and there died. His four children were named James I., John (third), Ely (who was a soldier in the Civil war and died shortly after his return to his home, ) and Isabel.
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