USA > Ohio > Ross County > A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio > Part 35
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Odd Fellow, who was then in the tailoring business, offered to lend Mr. West $50. Thus was started and established the firm of West & Fells. At that time Chillicothe had no railroad, but was the flourishing center of diverging routes over which thirty-five stage lines traveled, and that made Chillicothe the equivalent of a great railroad center of modern times. The firm of West & Fells soon contracted for the shoeing of the horses and the making of repairs on the stage coaches and carried on a very prosperous business.
In 1860 Mr. West sold his share in the business to his brother and bought a farm in Green Township. He was engaged in general farming there until 1884, when leaving his son in charge he moved out to Clark County, Illinois, purchasing 321 acres of land. For the next eleven years he was a farmer and stock raiser in Illinois, but in 1895 returned to his old place in Green Township of Ross County and has lived there in prosperity and ease for the last twenty years.
In 1852 Mr. West married Mary Carmean, who was born in Scioto Township of Ross County and who died in 1853, the year following her marriage. For his second wife Mr. West married her sister, Martha Carmean, who was born in Scioto Township July 30, 1836. Her father, Judge Carmean, was born in Frederick County, Maryland, a son of John Carmean, a native of the same state. John Carmean was a pioneer of Ross County, Ohio, came in the very early days, accompanied by his wife and some seven or eight children, and by several other families. The journey was made across the mountains and through Eastern Ohio by wagon and team. A cart carried all the household possessions of the Carmean family and at night they camped out by the roadside. They were early settlers in Pickaway County, where John Carmean secured land and improved a farm. He and his wife Nancy are both buried in the Salem churchyard. The father of Mrs. West was seven or eight years of age when brought to Ohio. At that time all the country was a wilderness, and the settlers secured their meat almost entirely from the wild game that filled the forest. No railroads were here for a number of years, and there were no convenient markets. Those who had cleared land and raised crops shipped the surplus grain down the rivers on flat boats. After his marriage Mrs. West's father settled in Scioto Town- ship and engaged his time in the clearing and tilling of the soil there. Mrs. West's mother was Mary Dehaven, who was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Harmon Dehaven, who moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1805 and improved a farm in Green Township. The maiden name of his wife was Magdalene Gearhart. Both are buried in the White Church cemetery. Mrs. West's mother was a typical pioneer housewife. She learned to cook by the open fire, also carded and spun and wove the cloth used for the family clothing. To vary the color of this cloth she used walnut hulls to make a brown tint and apple tree bark for a yellow color.
Mr. and Mrs. West reared a fine family of children. Two of their sons, John M. and Jesse, both died at the age of twenty-two. Irene May married Charles W. May and lives at Crockett, Houston County, Texas,
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and their two daughters are Grace and Essie. Grace May is the wife of Peter M. Jensen and has a son named Charles A. Mary, the second oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. West, married Seymour Shanton and they live in Green Township of Ross County, their three children being Gaylord, Ronald and Marthena. Zorah, the third child, married Charles Elder, who is now deceased, and Mrs. Elder has taken a homestead in Scott County, Arkansas. Pearl, the fourth child, married Mary Eben- back, and their two sons are Arthur and Ralph. Of these Arthur West, grandson of Mr. John H. West, married Marie Hutchins, and their son is named John Arthur; while Ralph, another grandson of Mr. West, married Anna Belle Denton, and has a son Robert. This child Robert in 1916 had living one grandfather, two grandmothers, two great-grand- fathers and two great-grandmothers. Olive, the fifth of Mr. and Mrs. West's children, married Jacob Daster and has two children named Genevieve and Marjorie. Martha, the youngest, is still living at home with her venerable parents.
Mr. and Mrs. West are among the very oldest members of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church at Chillicothe. Mrs. West joined the church at the age of thirteen and Mr. West has been a member since 1850. In early manhood in 1847, he also became affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has kept up his affiliations ever since.
WILLIAM R. DAILY. Scioto Township in Ross County has no more progressive and energetic farmer that William R. Daily. Mr. Daily was trained to farming as a boy, has made it a real business and has not only cultivated his fields with a maximum of return, but has been both a careful and judicious buyer and seller.
He was born in Seal Township of Pike County, Ohio, November 17, 1858. His grandfather was a native of Virginia and one of the early settlers in Pike County. His father, Ralph Daily, who was also born in Pike County, grew up on a farm and made agriculture the basis of his life's pursuit. He lived a long and useful career and died in the eighty-seventh year of his life. His wife was Emily J. Cross. She died at the age of sixty-seven, having reared the following children: Cath- erine H., Mary Jane, Susan, John, Charles, Maria, Hannah, Daniel and William R. Another child, the first, died in infancy.
Such opportunities as came for education and training in early youth William R. Daily wisely improved, and in addition to the district schools, he attended the Piketon High School. After years had matured his strength and given him some experience, he was associated with his father and brother in farming for a couple of years. Mr. Daily then rented the Sargent farm in Seal Township of Pike County, but in 1890 removed to Ross County and located on the Massie land in Scioto Township. Since then for a period of more than a quarter of a century he has successfully cultivated a large farm there, and is now operating 350 acres.
In 1885 Mr. Daily married Mary Landrum. They lived happily together for more than fifteen years, and Mrs. Daily died in 1901. For his second wife Mr. Daily married Emma Breunig. She was born in
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Cincinnati, and her father, Herman Marauth, was born in Germany, located in Cincinnati on coming to America, and died there when Mrs. Daily was only two years of age. Her mother, whose maiden name was Caroline Weekly, afterwards married Mr. Breunig, and Mrs. Daily took the name Breunig and was known as Emma Breunig until her marriage.
By his first wife Mr. Daily had eight children, named May, Claude, Edwin, Parker, Merle, Hazel, Robert and Edna. There is one daughter by the second marriage, Beatrice Geneva. Of his older children, his daughter May is the wife of Edward Cook, and they have a daughter named Helen. The son Claude married Lona Sanger. Edwin married Minnie Broft, and his three children are May, Dolorie and Edwin.
GEORGE W. FRY. One of the old and honorable families of Ohio bears the name Fry, and it was founded in Vinton County by the grand- father of Prof. George W. Fry, a representative citizen of Ross County, now a prominent resident of Richmond Dale. Grandfather Fry was a na- tive of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He and his family assisted in the early development of Vinton County and made honorable names for them- selves among the pioneers of that time. He served in the War of 1812.
George W. Fry, who has spent a large portion of his useful life in the educational field, was born January 8, 1838, in Vinton County, Ohio. His parents were Isaac and Hannah (Wyatt) Fry. The father was born in 1812 near Chillicothe, Ohio, but was reared near McArthur in Vinton County, to which place his parents moved in 1816. He was occupied during life in the pursuits of agriculture. In 1831 he was married to Hannah Wyatt, who was born in Vinton County, and in 1841 they moved to Jackson County and there passed the rest of their lives. They were the parents of a vigorous family of eleven children, seven of these still surviving.
The early education of George W. Fry was secured in the primitive log schoolhouse that was near his father's farm. He was yet young when he was permitted to teach in the district school, his first certificate bearing the date of December 5, 1857. He took a course in Gilmor's Academy, at Jackson, Ohio, and afterward alternated going to school and teaching until 1864, when he enlisted for service in the Civil war as a private in Company K, Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served until the close of the war and was honorably dis- charged October 9, 1865. In the state militia in 1863 he served as first lieutenant, Company I, First Regiment, Jackson County, when General Morgan made his spectacular raids in Ohio.
After his military life closed, Mr. Fry returned to Ohio and resumed his educational work, in 1894 receiving a life certificate through a state examination. Keeping thoroughly abreast with the times, Professor Fry for many years afterward continued an important factor in the teaching field, continuing active until 1913. In his fifty years' teaching he has been the principal of schools of Berlin and Wellston in Jackson County, Ohio; Hamden and Zaleski in Vinton County, Ohio; Wheelers- burg in Scioto County, Ohio; Frankfort, Adelphi, Bainbridge, and
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Richmond Dale in Ross County, Ohio. In addition he has also taught rural and select schools. He was appointed school examiner of Jackson County in 1872 and served under three appointments. He visited the Centennial at Philadelphia in 1876, the Cotton Exposition at New Orleans in 1885, the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, and the Lewis and Clark Exposition at Portland, Oregon, in 1905, and also visited various points in the Pacific States, including Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa grove of big trees. Mr. Fry has been in thirty-two states and the District of Columbia. .
Although independent in his political affiliation, he has frequently been called on by his fellow citizens to serve in responsible positions. He was township clerk of Milton Township for some years, at present is a notary public and for almost thirteen years has been a justice of the peace.
On March 8, 1866, Professor Fry was married to Miss Minerva Phil- lips, who died April 21, 1868, leaving one son, Charles, who is now a resident of California. On March 30, 1887, Professor Fry was mar- ried to Miss Ella M. Feurt, who was born in Scioto County, Ohio. Mrs. Fry was a popular teacher at that time, holding a state certificate, for life, and was well known in educational circles. They have one daughter, Georgia, residing at home. Professor Fry and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They are hospitably inclined and their many friends find a welcome in their beautiful home at Richmond Dale. Professor Fry belongs to Fenton Post No. 316, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he is chaplain, and to Adelphi Lodge No. 527, Free and Accepted Masons.
O. E. SIGLER. It is as the owner and operator of one of the finest farms in Jefferson Township that O. E. Sigler is best known. For thirty years or more he has devoted all his time and energies to farming, and is a man who possesses to an unusual degree the faculty of being able to get along well in the world. While the activities of home and farm have always kept him busy, he has not neglected the public welfare and has given some capable service in public office.
His farm consists of four hundred acres of timber and grazing land. His homestead is located a quarter mile east of Richmond Dale on the Jackson Road. It was on that farm that he was born November 18, 1862, a son of George and Elizabeth (Deshler) Sigler. On both sides he represents some of the early stock of Southern Ohio. His father, George, was born on an adjoining farm in Ross County, March 7, 1832. The Grandfather John Sigler was also a native of Ross County. The Siglers before coming to America were German people and in the old country the name was spelled Ziegler. They first located in Pennsylvania, and from there came to Ohio. Elizabeth Deshler, mother of O. E. Sigler, was born near Athens in the Ohio county of that name on June 21, 1834. Her father was Christopher Deshler. She was visiting in Ross County when she met George Sigler and their acquaintance ripened into affection and eventually they married. They first located on a small part of
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what is now the Sigler homestead. George Sigler was a carpenter by trade, and until he owned sufficient land to require his entire attention he followed his trade, but the last twenty-five years of his life were spent on the farm. He prospered, and in many ways was one of Ross County's leading citizens. He was one of the most active workers in the Methodist Church of his community. He and his wife had three children, and Mr. O. E. Sigler is the only one now living. The oldest was Emily Luella, who died when six or eight years of age. The youngest, Effie D., was born in 1872 and died in 1889.
Mr. O. E. Sigler, while living at home on the farm, attended the district schools and laid the foundation of a substantial education. Since early manhood his enterprise has been directed along the line of operating the mill by which he and his father for many years worked up some of their own timber and did custom work for their neighbors, and in season he ground feed meal and managed home affairs in a general way. He is one of the men who has made himself a helpful factor in Ross County. Since early youth he has been a member of the Methodist Church, and is one of the official board of his home church. For the past four years he has held the office of township treasurer, and has been quite active in republican politics.
By a former marriage Mr. Sigler is the father of two children: Miriam, wife of Leon Brant of Wakefield, Ohio; Florence, wife of Frank Kelley of Circleville, Ohio.
On July 4, 1907, Mr. Sigler married, for his present wife, Miss Anna Laura Kinney. She was born in Vinton County, Ohio, a daughter of Perry and Ann (Walker) Kinney. Her father was born in Jackson Township of Vinton County, February 25, 1847, and was of Scotch descent, while his wife, Ann Walker, was of combined Irish and English stock. Ann Walker's father was born in England, and was brought, when eight years of age, to Maryland and he subsequently became a settler in Muskingum County, Ohio, and from there moved to Vinton County. Mrs. Sigler, who is the oldest of her parents' ten children now living, grew up in Vinton County near Eagle Mills, and by attendance at the district school and by home study prepared herself for work as teacher. She first taught in Friendsville, Blount County, Tennessee, and remained there thirty months. Returning to Ohio she took a normal course at Chillicothe in 1901, and for two years taught in Scioto Town- ship. She accepted her next school in Richmond Dale, and during the two years spent there she became acquainted with her future husband. Afterward she became matron of the Home for Friendless Girls at Columbus, Ohio, resigning her position to marry Mr. Sigler. Mr. and Mrs. Sigler have one daughter, Elizabeth Lorraine, who was born August 30, 1909, and is now in school.
HIRAM E. BROWN. One of the oldest homesteads in Greene Town- ship is that occupied by Hiram E. Brown, who was born on the place where he still resides, had it as the scene of his early associations, and later as the stage of his material activities as a farmer and stockman.
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He is one of the most honored and respected citizens of that portion of Ross County.
He was born there July 19, 1878. His father, Hiram E. Brown, Sr., was born in Springfield Township of Ross County and the grand- parents were among the earliest settlers in that locality. The father grew up on a farm and lived in Springfield Township until 1842. He then identified himself with the westward movement, and set out for the territory of Iowa. In that early year there were practically no railroads west of the Allegheny Mountains, and his journey beyond the Mississippi was accomplished by wagon and team. His little family accompanied him and there were many incidents and adventures which have been handed down as part of the family tradition. In Iowa every- thing was new and primitive. Nearly all the land was still owned by the government and could be had by settlers at a dollar and a quarter an acre. Hiram Brown, Sr., bought some land in Des Moines County, but after a year on that portion of the western frontier sold out and returned to Ross County. Here he bought the land in Green Town- ship where his son and namesake now resides. The land when he first occupied it had among its few improvements a log cabin that had pre- viously been used for a stable. The building had no floor, and he car- peted it, with straw, and thus provided something in the way of a com- fortable habitation for the family during their first winter. His work as an axman in clearing away the forest began as soon as he purchased the land and had settled his family, and as a result of his labors con- tinued year after year he improved the greater part of the 300 acres and erected some very substantial buildings, some of which are still standing. Hiram E. Brown, Sr., died in 1885. He was three times mar- ried. His third wife, the mother of Hiram E. Brown, Jr., was Sarah Andrews. She was born at Waverly, Pike County, Ohio, and died at the age of forty-nine, leaving five children, named William, Norah Blanche, Hiram E., Pearl, and May. By his first marriage the father reared one daughter, named Sarah J., and there were two daughters by his second union, Ida and Anna.
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Reared in Ross County, Hiram E. Brown had such education as the district schools could afford, but his real preparation for manhood came in performing as strength permitted the duties of the household. He lived with his mother, and succeeded to the ownership of the old place, and for years has profitably conducted it as a farm and as a place to raise stock.
On March 18, 1903, Mr. Brown married Maude Blaine Dearth. She was born in Vinton County, Ohio, a daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Allen) Dearth. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have two children, Hiram E., and Thelma Mae. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are members of the Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church.
EDWIN E. SPENCE has been identified with the farming interests of Ross and Pickaway counties for a quarter of a century, and has made something more than a local reputation as a breeder of thoroughbred
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livestock. He has one of the very fine farms in Greene Township of Ross County and is a citizen whose ability in business affairs and strict probity are factors for good in any locality.
He was born near Vernon, Kent County, Delaware, November 12, 1861. His grandfather, Elias Spence, owned and operated a farm in Kent County and probably spent all his life there. He married a Miss Graham. Emory Spence, father of Edwin E., was also born in Kent County, Delaware, in 1835, grew up on a farm, and after some years as a farmer died, at the early age of thirty-five, in 1869. The maiden name of his wife was Anna E. Smith, who was born in Delaware. Her father, Col. John Wesley Smith, commanded a Delaware regiment in the Union army, but aside from his war service was a farmer in Delaware through- out his career. Mr. Spence's mother, after the death of Emory Spence, married again and now lives near Hobbs, Maryland. Edwin E. Spence has a sister, Alice, who is the wife of Harry Pickett of Philadelphia, while another sister, Anna, married B. T. Steedars of Maryland. His only brother, William, lives in Champaign County, Ohio.
Reared on a farm in Kent County, Delaware, Edwin E. Spence when not in school was busied with the varied responsibilities about the home farm. In 1887 he came to Ohio, and for several years was employed in farming in Ross County. After his marriage he moved to Pickaway County and rented land for several years. Mr. Spence had the fore- sight and good judgment to recognize that the best profits in farming lies in the raising of first class stock. He soon made a start on a modest scale in the breeding of Poland China hogs. In 1901 he introduced Shorthorn cattle and the distinctive part of his record has been con- cerned with the breeding and handling of livestock. Mr. Spence con- tinued his operations as a stockman in Jackson Township of Pickaway County until 1908, when he returned to Ross County and located on the Kellenberger farm in Green Township. Since then he has worked up a large business in the breeding of swine, cattle and poultry.
On February 18, 1886, Mr. Spence married Jessie Goldsberry, who was born in Deerfield Township of Ross County. Her father, George W. Goldsberry, was born in Concord Township, a son of Jeremiah and Ann (Plyley) Goldsberry, who were pioneers in that locality of Ross County. George W. Goldsberry married Mary J. Crumpton, who was born in Sussex County, Delaware, a daughter of Jonathan and Ann (Graham) Crumpton, who came to Ross County as early as 1833, locat- ing in Union Township.
Mr. and Mrs. Spence have always taken a very active part in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has served as superintendent of its Sunday school and as recording steward.
CHARLES GOODMAN. The rewards of a long and useful life have come to Charles Goodman, who recently celebrated his eightieth birthday. These fourscore years have been lived in Ross County, and his own achievements and character have been in keeping with the splendid
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record maintained by the Goodman family in this country for more than a century.
It was several years before the close of the eighteenth century, and when Ohio was included in the great Northwest Territory, that his an- cestors first came to Ross County and settled in what is now Green Township. His great-grandmother, Catherine (Gouger) Goodman, was the first white woman who is definitely known to have come within the limits of Ross County. She was born in New Jersey in 1732, went as a child with her parents to the wilds of Northampton County, Pennsyl- vania, and when a young girl she and a younger brother were stolen by the Indians. Her brother was cruelly murdered, but she was kept and well treated by the Indians, though retained as a captive for five years. During that time her captors remained in camp in what is now Ross County, and years afterward she recognized the place when she returned to Ross County to make it her permanent home. Afterward she spent three years in Canada with some French traders and was then released and returned to Pennsylvania. In the meantime her father had been slain by the Indians and her mother had disappeared, and she lived with friends until her marriage. She married George Goodman, great-grandfather of Charles Goodman. George Goodman was a native of Germany and had come to America in pioneer times settling in Berks County, Pennsylvania. After his death Catherine Goodman moved with her son John to Ohio, and lived there until her death in 1801. Her remains were laid to rest on her son's farm in Green Township, and quite recently her great-grandchildren erected a monument to mark the site. John Goodman, grandfather of Charles Goodman, was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, and about 1797 came to Ross County and selected land in Green Township. He after- ward built a commodious house and used it for purposes of an inn. It was an early hostelry which entertained a host of travelers in early days, and among them some noted personages, including President Monroe and General Hull. There John Goodman died in 1830, and his wife, whose maiden name was Charlotte Shoch, also a native of Pennsyl- vania, passed away in 1825.
Daniel Goodman, father of Charles, was born in Berks County, Penn- sylvania, and was only an infant when his parents moved to Ohio. He grew in the midst of such means and environments as belonged to the western frontier. He had Indians as playmates, and all the wild animals of the forest were around the little home in which he spent his child- hood. Neither railroads nor canals were built through this part of Ohio until after he was grown. For some years he and his brother, David, whose descendants are also found in Ross County, were in the transportation business, taking produce from the Scioto, Ohio and Mis- sissippi Rivers to New Orleans, where they sold their cargo and also the flatboats, and then returned north by such means as they could avail themselves of. They also took cattle and hogs across the mountains to Philadelphia and New York markets. At that time corn sold in the home markets for from twelve to eighteen cents a bushel. Daniel Good-
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