A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio, Part 27

Author: Lyle S. Evans
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 549

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Walter J. Erskine received his education in the public schools and grew up on the home farm, on which he remained until about 1899, when he entered upon a period of railroading. For three or four years he was employed by the Erie Railroad as a brakeman, and for about 11/2 years held a like position with the Baltimore and Ohio, but finally returned to the farm and has since been engaged in agricultural pur- suits. He is now the owner of fifty-five acres of good land, on which he carries on diversified farming, a field in which he is making a decided success. He has good buildings and up-to-date equipment, and enjoys the reputation of being an authority upon many agricultural subjects.

Mr. Erskine was married in December, 1902, to Miss Alice Jones, daughter of Elwood and Mary Jones, residents of Lick Run, Springfield Township. Four children have been born to this union: Samuel B., who is attending high school; Mabel, in the graded school; and Elwood and Helen, who are at home. Mr. Erskine is a stanch democrat. He is not an office seeker, but is active in his support of men and measures which he believes will benefit his community.

JAMES O. HIGBY. An interesting fact of local and family history in Ross County is that the postoffice at Higby has been continuously under the management and direction of members of the Higby family through three generations, ever since it was established. The present postmaster is James O. Higby, a grandson of the original postmaster and merchant there. James O. Higby is a young and progressive citizen of Ross County, and is also active manager of the Higby store there, and is also conducting a farm in Franklin Township.

He was born at the old homestead in that township November 12, 1884. His parents were Charles D. and Mary L. (Crow) Higby. Charles Vol. II-14

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D. Higby was born in Richmond Dale of Jefferson Township, Ross County, on October 11, 1843. The grandparents were S. N. and Hannah (Davis) Higby, and this is a family which has been closely identified with the development of Ross County since pioneer days.

The late Charles D. Higby was reared in Richmond Dale, had some experience as clerk in a store there, and in early manhood, in 1861, enlisted in Company F of the Fifty-third Ohio Infantry. He was in his command with all its battles and marches until the close of the war, and his soldierly qualities gained him promotion from the ranks to quar- ter master sergeant. After the war he returned to Chillicothe, and for several years served as a deputy revenue collector under Marcus Boggs. After his marriage he moved to Higby's Station, and succeeded his father, S. N. Higby, as postmaster. When Charles Higby died, his suc- cessor was his son, James Higby. Charles Higby was postmaster and a general merchant at Higby's Station until his death in 1911. For about twenty-two years he also held the office of township treasurer, and that office his father, S. N. Higby, had also adorned for a number of years. Because of his varied prominence and usefulness, the name Charles D. Higby deserves a grateful memory in the minds of Ross County people. He was an active Mason, being affiliated with Scioto Lodge, No. 6, Free and Accepted Masons, with the Royal Arch and Council, and with the Knights Templar Commandery, No. 8, at Chillicothe. In political mat- ters he gave his support to the republican party. Charles D. Higby and wife had six children: Hattie D., wife of Hiram A. Smith, of Waverly, Ohio; Mamie B., still at home; Hannah D., wife of James E. Eisenhart, of Columbus; Charles Davis, Jr., who married Minnie J. Pendergrass and was drowned in the Scioto River March 10, 1914; the fifth child died in childhood, and the sixth is Mr. James O. Higby.

James O. Higby was reared in a home of substantial comfort and was given the advantages of the district schools and the Richmond Dale High School. Part of his early experience was connected with farm- ing on the home place, and he also became a clerk in his father's store. On the death of his father he assumed the management of the store as well as the postoffice and continued in that line until November 6, 1914, when the building was destroyed by fire, and Joseph Higby formed a partnership and rebuilt the store and added to its stock. While this partnership still exists, Mr. James O .. Higby is the active merchant.

Fraternally, he is affiliated with Orient Lodge, No. 321, Free and Accepted Masons, at Waverly, and belongs to the Royal Arch, the Council and the Knights Templar Commandery at Chillicothe. He is affiliated with Chillicothe Lodge, No. 52, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Politically a republican, he was for some eight or ten years town- ship treasurer, an office which his father and grandfather had filled before him. In 1915 he resigned this office on account of a department ruling by the Federal Government that Federal employes should not be permitted to hold local offices of this character.

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FRANK BYRON MAULLAR. Numbered among the public-spirited and esteemed citizens of Chillicothe is Frank Byron Maullar, an extensive dealer in real estate, active and prominent in business, political and social circles. A native of Ohio, he was born February 24, 1875, on a farm situated in Perry County, near Portersville, being a descendant in the fourth generation from the immigrant ancestor, Maurice Maullar, the line being continued through his son, William Maullar, and his grandson, George William Maullar.

A native of Holland, Maurice Maullar came to America in early life, locating in Pennsylvania ere the days of railroads or canals. At the foot of the Allegheny Mountains, on the main thoroughfare leading from the East to the West, he opened a public house widely known as the "Stone Tavern." It became a stage station, and had not only good accommodations for man and beast, but had stockyards connected with it, making it a convenient and favorite stopping place for drovers traveling across the country with cattle and swine. There he lived to a good old age, being a very popular "mein host." His wife, whose maiden name was Evon Stenlof, was also born and bred in Holland.

William Maullar was born in 1810, in the Stone Tavern, in Western Pennsylvania, and was there brought up and educated. After serving an apprenticeship at the blacksmith's trade, he came to Ohio, and having established a shop at Harrisville, Harrison County, operated it success- fully until his death, in 1843, while yet in manhood's prime. He married, after coming to Ohio, Elizabeth Davies, who was born in Belmont County, where her parents, John and Rachel (Collins) Davies, settled on coming from Wales, their native country, to Ohio. Her father was a stone mason, and in 1841 erected, on Captina Creek, a commodious stone house, in which both he and his wife spent their last years. Left a widow with three small children, Mrs. Elizabeth (Davies) Maullar kept her family together, and lived with her children until her death, at the age of seventy-six years. Her children were named John W., Jordan, and George William. Jordan enlisted in the Union army during the Civil war, and died while in the service, at Corinth, Mississippi.

George William Maullar, father of Frank Byron, was born in Har- risonville, Harrison County, Ohio, July 4, 1843, and was but an infant when his father died. Having unfortunately lost an eye when a small boy, he was not eligible for the army at the outbreak of the Civil war, but he enlisted as a drummer boy in Company E, Seventy-eighth Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry, and went to the front with his command. At Fort Donel- son, while the battle was raging the fiercest, he seized a gun, and from that time on fought in the ranks until late in 1862, when he was honorably discharged from the service on account of disability. Returning to Ohio, he engaged in farming, first in Morgan County, and then on his mother-in-law's estate, in Perry County. Coming from there to Ross County in 1877, he bought a home in Harrison Township, and eight years later removed to Londonderry, where he is now residing.

The maiden name of the first wife of George William Maullar was

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Sarah Virginia Waterhouse. She was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, a daughter of James and Octavia J. (Clayton) Waterhouse, the former of whom was born in New York State, of English and Scotch ancestry, and the latter in Culpeper County, Virginia. The mother married for her second husband Street King, of Oakfield Township, Perry County, where she spent the closing years of her life. Mrs. Sarah V. (Water- house) Maullar died in 1884, leaving three children, Frank Byron, James A., and Bertha, and Mr. Maullar subsequently married for his second wife Rilla Phillips.

Attending first the rural schools, Frank Byron Maullar continued his studies in the graded schools of Londonderry, and at the age of nineteen years began his career as a teacher in Vinton County, teaching for a term at Cox Postoffice. As a teacher he earned the money to further advance his education, and after attending the Ohio University four terms, went to Valparaiso, Indiana, where he was for one term a student at the National Normal School. Mr. Maullar was subsequently success- fully engaged in his pedagogical work until 1906, when he came to Chillicothe to establish himself in the real estate business, with which he has since been actively identified.

Mr. Maullar married, November 18, 1909, Almyra Donelson Wood- ruff, a daughter of John E. Woodruff, and granddaughter of Joseph Day and Susan Ann (Raynor) Woodruff, natives of New York State, and early settlers of Muskingum County, Ohio. Her paternal great- grandfather, Daniel Woodruff, a lifelong resident of New York State, married Hanna Trichtner. Her paternal grandmother, Susan Ann Ray- nor, was a daughter of Henry and Lois (Smith) Raynor, the former of whom was a native of England. Mrs. Maullar's father, John E. Woodruff, was born in the Empire State. He married Almyra Donelson, whose father, Levi Donelson, a native of Maryland, married, in Chilli- cothe, Elizabeth Roby, who was a Virginian by birth. Mr. and Mrs. Maullar have one child, Myron E. Maullar. Religiously, Mrs. Maullar is a member of the Walnut Street Methodist Episcopal Church.

Since casting his first presidential vote for William Mckinley, Mr. Maullar has been a faithful adherent of the republican party, for sixteen years having been a member of the republican executive com- mittee. He has served on the state senatorial committee, and has been a delegate to various district and state conventions. Fraternally, Mr. Maullar is a member of Scioto Lodge, No. 6, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of Chillicothe Chapter, No. 6, Royal Arch Masons; of Chillicothe Council, No. 6, Royal and Select Masters; and of Chillicothe Lodge, No. 52, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

C. H. LANDRUM is a worthy representative of one of the old estab- lished families of Ross County, and resides on his attractive homestead half a mile southwest of Higby, in Franklin Township. Mr. Landrum has given most of his brief career to farming enterprise, but he is now a rural mail carrier on route No. 1 out of Higby.

He was born on his father's farm in Franklin Township of Ross

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County, January 19, 1885, a son of W. T. and Mary (Borst) Landrum. W. T. Landrum, reference to whom will be found on other pages, was born in Richmond Dale of Jefferson Township, of German and Irish stock in the paternal line and of German ancestry in the maternal line. Mary Borst, who was born near Concord, Ohio, was also of German family. W. T. Landrum and wife had seven children: William H., of Franklin Township; Jacob R., now deceased; C. H .; Hannah D., wife of P. W. Workman, of Ironton, Ohio; Matilda, wife of C. E. Blaum of Waverly, Ohio; and Priscilla and Mary, now deceased.

C. H. Landrum grew up on his father's farm. He had the usual environments of the country boy, and was quite well educated. He attended the district schools and also took a business course in Chilli- cothe. He lived at home until December 30, 1908, when he married Miss Jessie Yoakum, daughter of Clay M. and Lottie (Weygandt) Yoakum, of Columbus, Ohio.

After his marriage Mr. Landrum located at Higby. Since February, 1907, he has been one of the rural mail carriers in this county. Politi- cally, he is a republican.

Mr. and Mrs. Landrum are the parents of four children: Roscoe H., aged six years; May Ardell, aged five; Charles Lewis, three years old; and Leslie Willard, now two years of age.

ROBERT LEE HARNESS. A representative of that broad-minded, well- educated and ever progressive element which is molding the present and future agricultural policy of Ross County is found in the person of Robert Lee Harness, who is now cultivating 348 acres of some of the best land to be found in Liberty Township. He was born in his present home, on the old homestead of D. R. Harness, July 8, 1869, and is a son of D. R. and Rachael (Vause) Harness.

Daniel R. Harness was born at Moorefield, Hardy County Virginia (now West Virginia), and there grew to manhood. He was still a young man when he came to Ross County and located in Liberty Town- ship, where his brother, Edwin, had preceded him some years. Edwin had married Mary Vause, and Daniel R. married her younger sister, Rachael, and shortly after their marriage they went to Illinois. There, however, they lived for only two years, after which they returned to Ross County and purchased a part of the old Col. William H. Harness farm of 1,138 acres. There they passed the remainder of their lives, developing a good farm and rearing a family that has been a credit to its training and to its community. They had nine children: Fannie, who is the wife of John H. Cunningham, of Bloomington, Illinois; Vir- ginia Lee, who lives at Chillicothe; Carrie, who lives with her sister Grace, in Liberty Township; Grace, who is the wife of James Vause, of Liberty Township; Robert Lee, of this notice; James, who died in 1899; Rebecca and Anna, who died in infancy ; and Elizabeth Lee, who died at eighteen years of age.

Robert Lee Harness was reared on the home farm in Liberty Town- ship, and received his literary education in the public schools, this being

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followed by a course in a business college. With this preparation, he returned to the home farm, a tract of 348 acres, on Chillicothe Rural Route No. 2, where he has since made his home. This property is devoted to the classes of stock and products which flourish best in this community, and each department is conducted according to the best scientific knowledge attainable. It would be difficult to find any advan- tage of country existence which has not been introduced on this model farm, or any luxury of equipment invented for the lifting of the drudg- ery of farm work.

Mr. Harness was married November 24, 1892, to Miss Sallie Graham Harness, daughter of Col. William H. Harness, who was first an infantry commander and later took command of Company B, Eleventh Virginia Cavalry, Laurel's Brigade, Stonewall Jackson's command. He fought through the four years of the Civil war and established an enviable record for gallantry and soldierly qualities. Colonel Harness, who was a member of an old southern family, never lived in Ross County, but passed his entire life in the Old Dominion State. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Harness, namely: Daniel R., who spent two years at the Ohio Military School, and is now at home with his parents; Marguerite Vause, a graduate of Glendale College and now attending the Grant Training School for Nurses; Lillian Lee, a graduate of the Chillicothe public schools; and Grace H., at home.

Mr. Harness is a democrat in his political views, but is not a seeker for public preferment. He is active as a good citizen in movements which make for beneficial results, and has demonstrated his possession of businesslike and honorable methods, and a progressiveness which must tend to the continued well-being of the community.

JAMES M. VAUSE. A Ross County farm that represents many of the ideals in the way of cultivation, productiveness, arrangement and equip- ment is that of James M. Vause in Liberty Township, on mail route No. 2 out of Chillicothe. At that location Mr. Vause has 416 acres, and there he illustrates his diversified enterprise as a farmer and stock raiser. He has always followed the plan of feeding his crops on his own land, and keeps good stock and has a fine set of building improvements. He may properly take pride in his farm, and it is really one of the high- class estates of the entire county.

Mr. Vause was born October 8, 1860, on the farm where his brother, Joseph Vause, now lives. His parents were Joseph I. and Jane D. (Foster) Vause. Joseph I. Vause, who was born in Moorefield, Virginia, came in infancy with his parents to Ross County, and the family then occupied a farm in Liberty Township now occupied by Mrs. Grubb. Grandfather James Vause acquired a large tract of land there, and in that locality Joseph I. Vause grew to manhood. He lived there until his marriage, and then sold his interest in the old homestead to Daniel Lunbeck and bought the farm where James M. Vause was born. That farm was originally owned by John I. Van Meter and is now the prop- erty of Joseph I. Vause, Jr. The father lived there until his death in

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1893. He and his wife had seven children who grew to maturity : Mary, wife of J. C. Foster of Higby, Ohio; Annie, widow of George C. Foster, of Ross County; William, who died at the age of sixteen years; Sallie, who is unmarried and lives at Roxabell; James M .; Nellie, wife of John I. Van Meter, of Chillicothe; and Joseph I., of Liberty Township.

James M. Vause spent his early boyhood on his father's farm. He received an education in the district schools and also attended the private academy conducted at Chillicothe by Professor Poe. He was thus well equipped when he started out in life on his own account, and for the past thirty-five years or more has been one of the progressive farmers of Ross County.

On April 4, 1889, Mr. Vause married Miss Grace Harness, daughter of Daniel R. Harness, and representing a well-known Ross County family elsewhere referred to in this publication. After his marriage, Mr. Vause lived on the Chillicothe-Richmond Dale Pike until 1893, and since then has occupied his fine home on the Lancaster Road.

Mr. and Mrs. Vause became the parents of seven children, and the five now living are: Ruth E., who finished the course in the high school and in the Glendale Academy, and is the wife of Thomas E. Porter, of Roxabell; Clifford is a graduate of the Ohio Military Academy at Col- lege Hill, Cincinnati, and is still at home; Irene and Alice are both students in the Glendale Academy; James W. is attending the public schools.

Fraternally, Mr. Vause is a member of the Chillicothe Lodge, No. 52, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Politically, he is a democrat. He has taken an active interest in local affairs, served four years as township trustee, and has also been a member of the township school board.

GEORGE W. MILLER. The business of farming has been the occupa- tion by which George W. Miller has accomplished a substantial success, and he is one of the native sons of Ross County and one of the most prominent citizens of Deerfield Township.

His birth occurred September 30, 1869, on a farm at High Banks, in Ross County. His grandfather, Frederick Miller, was born near Frankfort-on-the-Main, in Germany, grew up as a farmer and spent his life in that pursuit. His death occurred in Germany in 1854. His widow, whose maiden name was Magdalene Brust, was born in the same locality as her husband, and her parents emigrated to America in 1834, locating in Pike County, Ohio, where they bought a tract of timbered land six miles west of Waverly, and made a farm out of the wilderness before they died. Magdalene Miller, after the death of her husband, set out with her seven children to America, making the voyage on a sailing vessel that was forty-three days on the ocean. From New York she proceeded west to Pittsburg, where she arrived on the 4th of July. From that point on their westward emigration they embarked on a boat and went down the Ohio to Portsmouth, and thence by wagon and team to Pike County, where she joined her aged parents and took care of

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them during their declining years. After she arrived in Ohio she was married in Pike County to a Mr. Richert, a farmer living near Beaver- town. Mrs. Magdalene Miller lived to a good old age.

Henry Miller, who was born nine miles from Frankfort-on-the-Main, in Germany, October 8, 1848, was very young when he came with his mother to America, and his education, begun in his native land, was continued in American schools. He grew up to habits of industry and thrift and as early as thirteen began working by the month. At first his wages were only $9 a month and they rose as his usefulness increased. From the savings of his earnings made by hard toil he in the course of time was able to secure equipment and rent farming land. Gradually his means increased and he bought land of his own, and in 1883 acquired seventy-five acres in Scioto Township of Ross County. That farm has since been increased under his management to 243 acres. He also owns 276 acres in Deerfield and Concord townships. Henry Miller was during his active years known as one of the most progressive and successful farmers of Ross County. In 1907 he retired and has since lived in his home on West Main Street in Chillicothe. In 1868 Henry Miller mar- ried Elizabeth Hamman. She was born in Pike County, Ohio, a daughter of Philip and Martha (Bumgarner) Hamman and a granddaughter of Peter and Laura Hamman, both natives of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Miller reared eight children: George W., Magdalene, Henry C., Benjamin F., Mary E., John F., Carl and Alpha.

The son of a prosperous farmer, George W. Miller was none the less given a very thorough and practical training as a boy, and industry has been second nature to him. His early education was acquired in the public schools. When very young he began assisting his father on the farm, and until the age of twenty-two lived at home. Starting out to make his own way in the world, he rented land, and for a couple of years kept bachelor's hall. He then rented the Dick Fullerton farm until 1898, and in that year he located on the farm where he has since resided. This is one of the choicest tracts of land in Deerfield Township, and was bought by his father in 1898. George W. Miller is making a success of general farming and stock raising there, and the many people who know him speak most favorably of his intelligence and energetic qualities of character.

In 1893 he married Laura Ulen, who was born at Bainbridge, in Ross County. Mrs. Miller's father was Hamilton Ulen, who was also born in Bainbridge. Her grandfather, Amos Ulen, was of German ancestry and an early settler of Bainbridge. A miller by trade, Amos Ulen at one time operated the flour mill owned by Judge Benner, and afterwards operated mills in different places. His last days were passed in Frank- fort. Amos Ulen married Rebecca Middleton, of English ancestry, and both of them lived to a good old age. Mrs. Miller's father learned the trade of miller under his father, and was also employed in that business at different places. The last mill he operated was Barrett's Mill, in Highland County. His last years were spent in retirement in Bain- bridge. Hamilton Ulen married Emma Crooks, who was born in

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Bainbridge, a daughter of Andrew and Ann (Wetherbe) Crooks. Ann Wetherbe's father was one of the very first settlers in Southern Ohio, and at one time was part owner of the pike leading from Lancaster. Andrew Crooks was a hardware merchant in Bainbridge, where he spent his last days, and he and his wife both rest in the Bainbridge cemetery.

Mr. and Mrs. Miller are the parents of twin daughters, Marjorie and Marie. The daughter Marjorie is now the wife of Noel Wright, and they have a son named Miller Eugene.

In political matters, George W. Miller is entirely independent in local affairs, though nationally he is a democrat. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Clarksburg Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Frankfort Lodge of the Masons, and also the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Frankfort.

JAMES WATTS, whose life work has been farming, and who is suc- cessfully engaged in that industry in Union Township, represents a number of old and prominent families in this section of Ohio.

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A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio, Part 27

Author: Lyle S. Evans Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 549

Author: Lyle S. Evans
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 549