USA > Ohio > Ross County > A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio > Part 41
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John Wesley Timmons lived on a part of the farm where he was reared until September, 1849, and then moved to the vicinity of Clarks- burg, where he spent the rest of his days. During a part of his life he Vol. II-21
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filled the office of justice of the peace. His second wife Ann was a perfect helpmate. Her last work was one of unselfish devotion. She went to the Gettysburg battlefield in order to nurse a half-brother of her husband who had been wounded and who died on the battlefield, and she brought his body home. While at Gettysburg she cared for many other wounded soldiers, and one of them wrote home to his friends that "no one knew the good she had done while there." In three short weeks after returning from this mission of love she was laid away in the family burying ground. The remains of herself and husband have since been 'removed to the township cemetery at Brown's Chapel. Ann Elizabeth Pryor was born near Clarksburg, though across the line in Pickaway County March 9, 1817. Her parents were Samuel T. and Emily (Nickols) Pryor.
A daughter of these worthy parents, Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Harmount grew up in the old home at Clarksburg, attended the public schools there and was also a student in the Female College at Springfield. In 1861 she married Robert Simpson Harmount, son of George B. and Anna Mary (Baughman) Harmount. On May 2, 1864, three years after their marriage, Mr. Harmount enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, being in the 100 days services. His father, George Harmount, was a carriage builder by trade and a pioneer in that occupation in the City of Chillicothe. It is said that the first body for a stage coach ever made in that city was his handiwork. From Chillicothe he removed to Williamsport, where he spent his last days. Robert S. Harmount learned the trade of carriage and wagon builder from his father and as a young man located at Clarksburg where he conducted a carriage factory a number of years. After his marriage he removed to the Harmount homestead in Deerfield Township, eleven miles from Chillicothe, and was actively occupied with farming until his death at the age of sixty-nine.
Mr. and Mrs. Harmount reared six children: Louetta May, George P., Anna E., Timmons, Robert S. and Ralph. Louetta by her marriage to George C. Blue has two children, Samuel Francis and Charles. George married Martha Briggs. Anna, now deceased, married Wade J. Byerly. Timmons married Ida L. Wilkins, and their six children are Nellie, Harry, Arthur, Annie, Pryor and Mary. Robert married Addie Good- bar, and the four children that bless their union are Marie, Robert, Joseph and Catherine. Ralph married Rebecca Layton, and has three children, Gilbert, Harold and Forrest. Mrs. Harmount has seven great- grandchildren.
Thus the declining years of Mrs. Harmount are spent with the solace and comforts supplied by her children and her many grand- children. She has always been a reader, keeps up with current history, and has many things to occupy her mind at the delightful home where she lives. -
JOSEPH M. NORRIS. One of the homes that attract special attention by its improvements in Springfield Township is that of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Norris. Mr. and Mrs. Norris have lived there nearly forty
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years as active and successful farming people, have reared their chil- dren, and enjoy the good will and esteem of all the people in that locality.
Of old English and American colonial stock, Joseph M. Norris was born on a farm in Cass Township of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, May 14, 1848. His first American ancestor was a great-great-grand- father, who was born in England and, coming to America, settled in Virginia when it was still a colony. There he spent the rest of his days. Joseph Norris, the great-grandfather, was born in Virginia, January 10, 1729, indicating that the Norris family has been American stock almost two centuries. From Virginia he moved to Maryland, and lived in that state until his death at a very remarkable age. When he was one hun- dred and five years old he visited his son in Pennsylvania. Next in line is the grandfather of John Norris, who was born in Maryland, March 16, 1764, a little more than ten years before the Revolutionary war began. He moved from Maryland to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, buying a farm in Cass Township, and was one of the active and progressive farmer citizens of that locality the rest of his life. He was twice married, and the maiden name of his second wife, the grandmother of Joseph M. Norris, was Nancy Ann Walker. She died June 9, 1845.
James Norris, father of Joseph M., was born in Cass Township of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1813, and lived out his active career in his native county, where he was a farmer and where he died in 1901, when upwards of ninety years. James Norris married Sophia Park, who was born in 1818 and died in 1902. She was a daugh- ter of Alexander Park. Her children were named: Alexander, Mary Ann, Thomas Riley, James Wesley, Lydia Ellen, Rachel Emily, Joseph M., Eliza Jane, Phoebe Ann, and Burton DeForest.
Joseph M. Norris acquired a very good education while growing up in his native State of Pennsylvania, and when not in school acquired a training by work on the home farm. In 1867, before he was of age, he went West, and lived a number of years in the states of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Indiana. In 1878 he started East, but stopped and remained permanently in Ross County.
Here in 1879 he married Annie Elizabeth Gates, who was born on the farm where she now resides in Springfield Township, a daughter of Henry and Margaret (Day) Gates, prominent pioneers who are men- tioned on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Norris have reared three children, named Lillian, Sadie and Catherine. Mrs. Norris was liberally educated and prior to her marriage taught school in Ross County and also in McLean County, Illinois. Her daughters are also well qualified as teach- ers and Lillian and Sadie are now following that vocation. The daughter, Catherine, is the wife of S. A. Brown, and her four children, grandchil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Norris are named Grace, Dorothy, Carl and Ruby Margaret. Mrs. Norris was reared in the faith of the Society of Friends and has always held to that denomination.
HENRY GATES. One of the first families to locate in Springfield Township was the Gates family, headed by John Gates, who came from
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Virginia in the early years of the last century. John Gates was a native of Germany, where he was reared and educated, came to America in young manhood and after living in Virginia for several years started for the Ohio country. Arriving in Ross County he secured a tract of government land in section 24 of Springfield Township and devoted the rest of his life to clearing and farming it. He lived to a good old age. but his wife, whose maiden name was Bolinbroke, died in middle life.
One of their children was the late Henry Gates, who was born in Virginia in 1802 and was very young when brought to the State of Ohio. Here he grew up amid pioneer scenes. He wisely improved such ad- vantages in the way of schools as were afforded him, and by careful study fitted himself for work as a teacher. At the beginning he received only $10.00 a month and board. Schools were then conducted on the subscription plan, and he boarded around among the families who had children in school. He taught most of his schools in log cabins. School houses had none of the elaborate furniture now found in the most back- ward country school districts, and the seats were slabs supported by wooden pins, without backs and without desks.
During a part of the War of 1812, though he was only a boy at the time, Henry Gates substituted for an older brother, and later received a land warrant for his services. His widow also drew a pension for a number of years. After succeeding to the ownership of the old home- stead, he built a hewed log house, and that was the family home for a number of years until it was replaced by a larger and more comfortable frame house. Henry Gates died at the age of sixty-eight years.
He married Margaret Day, who died at the age of seventy. Her parents were George and Catherine (Weaver) Day. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Day reared seven children: Catherine, Mary, Margaret, Sarah, Melinda, Annie Elizabeth, and Lewis. Henry Gates was a devout mem- ber of the Lutheran Church. His daughter, Annie Elizabeth, who began teaching at the age of eighteen, and taught a number of years in Ross County and also in Illinois, is now the wife of Joseph M. Norris, and since her marriage she has occupied the old homestead in Springfield Township.
JAMES M. BUSH came to Ross County about twenty-one years ago. He is therefore comparatively a new comer, but has proved a very valu- able addition to the farming community and has made a great success in cultivating and managing his land. He owns a very valuable farm in Harrison Township.
He is of old Virginia stock, the family having lived in Western Vir- ginia in different counties that are now in the State of West Virginia. Mr. Bush, himself, was born in Braxton County, Virginia, now West Virginia, May 20, 1856. The original stock were German. His grand- father, Jacob Bush, was probably born in Lewis County, Virginia, moved from there to Gilmer in what is now West Virginia, and owned and operated a farm on which he spent his last years. He married a Miss Fisher, who was also a lifelong resident of Virginia.
Peter Bush, father of James M. Bush, was born also in Braxton
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County, West Virginia, learned the trade of blacksmith in early life. and during the war between the states enlisted and served in the Con- federate army. He became a member of the Tenth Regiment of Virginia Volunteer Infantry, a regiment that well earned the title of "The Bloody Tenth." On the second day of a three days' battle he was severely wounded, and laid two days before medical and surgical atten- tion could be brought to him. For a number of weeks he was confined in a hospital before being able to rejoin his command. With that excep- tion he was with his regiment in all its campaigns and battles until the close of the war. In the meantime he had acquired a tract of govern ment land in Gilmer County, Virginia, and while improving and cul- tivating it he also plied his trade as blacksmith, having a shop on his farm. After the war he resumed farming, and continued the quiet career of the agriculturist until his death at the age of seventy-five. He married Rebecca Staton, who was born in Braxton County, West Vir- ginia, a daughter of Oliver and Polly (Lowe) Staton. She died in 1869. when James M. Bush was thirteen years of age.
The latter grew up on the old West Virginia farm. As a boy the schools were conducted on the subscription plan and he made the best use of such opportunities as were afforded him for gaining an educa- tion. His practical education came from assisting in the work of the home farm, and he continued to live with his father until he was twenty- one. Later his father gave him a tract of land in the old homestead, and he was employed in farming that until 1885.
Selling out his interests in West Virginia, Mr. Bush then removed to Ohio, and after living for several years at Falls Run, he bought in 1900 the farm on Pine Run in Harrison Township, which he now owns and occupies.
In 1879 Mr. Bush married Columbia A. Heckert. She was born in Roane County, West Virginia, a granddaughter of Peter and Margaret (Wagner) Heckert. Her grandparents spent most of their lives in Gilmer County, West Virginia. Her father, William Heckert, was born in Gilmer County, and in young manhood sustained some injuries which incapacitated him for active service when the war came on. Most of his years were spent on his farm in Gilmer County. Mrs. Bush's mother was Margaret Fisher, who was born in Gilmer County, a daughter of Philip and Margaret Fisher.
Mr. and Mrs. Bush have been married more than thirty-five years. They have reared a large family of nine children, whose names are Lenora, Ira Asa, Francis M., Manley L., Staza Gay, Nettie Belle, Lida Reuben, Clyde Guy, and Ora Prida. The son, Francis M., married Anna May Boyce, and his two children are Helen Virginia and Arthur Curtis. The son, Manley, served for four years in the United States navy, during which time he visited the principal ports of the world.
JOHN STANHOPE. Now living retired at his beautiful farm home in Harrison Township, John Stanhope is one of the oldest native sons of this locality and the recollections of his lifetime include practically every important development in the event of progress since pioneer times.
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Mr. Stanhope has played his own part in life ably and well. He was a soldier during the dark days of the Civil war, and has filled his niche in the world with credit and honor. He represents a family which has been identified with Ross County more than a century, and he is himself the founder of a family that lived to do him honor.
He was born in Harrison Township, November 4, 1838. His grand- father, George Stanhope, spent his early life in the state of New Jersey, and in 1812 emigrated to the West, as Ohio was then known, and settled in Ross County. Like most of the pioneers he made the journey by team and wagon. On arriving in the wilderness of Ross County he bought a tract of timbered land including the southeast quarter of section 17 in Harrison Township. A century ago Ross County presented a very different aspect from what it does now. Nearly all the land was covered with heavy timber. There were no made roads. Travel was done largely by horseback, and following a rude trail made by the blazing of trees. After coming to Ross County, George Stanhope served as a soldier in the War of 1812. He was an officer and his sword is still carefully pre- served by his descendants. After the war he continued his work on the home farm until his death. He married Mary Fowler.
Thomas Stanhope, father of John, was born in New Jersey in 1802 and was ten years of age when brought to Ross County. He grew up in pioneer surroundings. For many years there were no railroads or canals through this section of Ohio and in order to market the produce of his fields he put it on board flatboats and floated down the currents of the Scioto, Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans. Arriving at the southern markets he sold both the boat and the cargo. Early in his career, Thomas Stanhope bought a tract of land in Harrison Township including the southwest quarter of section 17 and was engaged in general farming until his death at the age of fifty-nine. Thomas Stanhope married Mary Ann Dalrymple, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Miller) Dalrymple. John Dalrymple was a native of Scotland and his wife of Maryland. Mrs. Thomas Stanhope was five years of age when brought to Ross County, her parents first settling in Colerain Township and later in Harrison. Mrs. Thomas Stanhope was an accomplished pioneer house- wife. She learned to scutch the flax and could spin and weave both the flax and wool. For a number of years she dressed all her family in homespun, and cooked the meals by the open fire. She survived her husband and died at the age of seventy-two. Her six children were named George, John, William, Melinda, Elizabeth and Abigail.
John Stanhope became acquainted with those customs and practices which were characteristic of life in Ohio and the Middle West seventy or more years ago. The school he attended was conducted on the sub- scription plan. When only a boy he exerted his strength to help in the clearing of the land. That was a tremendous task and, viewed from a modern standpoint, was exceedingly wasteful of the magnificent timber which covered large portions of the county. It was the practice after the trees were felled to roll the great trunks together in a pile and then burn them. Besides the woodcraft which he thus learned, he became practiced in all kinds of farming as then conducted. When he was a
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boy, grain was cut with a sickle and cradle, and was afterwards threshed out by tramping or with a flail. He was a mature man before the first threshing machine operated by horse power was introduced.
From these employments of civil life he was called away by the war. In June, 1864, he enlisted in Company B of the Sixty-fifth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry. He joined his command at Chattanooga, and thereafter was with the regiment in all its marches and campaigns and battles until after the close of the war. He took part in some of those historic engagements which marked the advance upon and siege of Atlanta, and received his honorable discharge in June, 1865. After the war he returned home and again applied himself to the business of farming.
Mr. Stanhope and his brother George succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead in Harrison Township and they conducted it jointly until the death of George. The farm was then divided, and since then Mr. John Stanhope has kept his share and has carried on its cultivation very profitably. He has erected a fine set of buildings and has planted out many fruit trees. His home is pleasantly situated on the sunny side of a slope, and its surroundings are exceedingly picturesque and attractive.
On September 2, 1863, Mr. Stanhope married Sarah Barclay. Fully fifty-three years have passed since their wedding, and they are still con- tinuing life's journey together. Mrs. Stanhope was born in Green Town- ship of Ross County. Her father, James Barclay, was an early settler in that township, but some years later bought land in section 6 of Harri- son Township, and improved the farm on which he died at the age of sixty-four. James Barclay married Mary Pontious. She was born in Green Township of Ross County, a daughter of John and Mary (Eye- stone) Pontious, pioneers of Green Township. John Pontious and wife came from Pennsylvania to Ross County, and made the entire journey on horseback. They carried with them only a few cooking utensils and some bedding. James Barclay died at the age of sixty-four, having reared seven children, named Elizabeth, David, Sarah, Samuel, Jere- miah, James and Albert.
Mrs. Stanhope is herself a product of pioneer times and conditions. She was born in a log cabin, and as a girl she learned the art of cooking by the open fire, and spinning and weaving were among her other accom- plishments. Her father raised flax and also kept sheep, and these fur- nished the materials out of which all clothing was made in the early days.
Mr. and Mrs. Stanhope reared four children : William Riley, Frank- lin, Rosette and Mary Elizabeth. William R. married Emma Rothe, and their five children are Ernest, Nellie, Edna, Harold and Eva. Franklin married Alice Miller, and his four sons are Clifford, Tiffin, Harry and Frank. Rosette is married and her five children are Bessie, Herbert, Lena, Howard and Iva. Mary E. is the wife of John Miller, and her two children are Helen Elizabeth and Howard Franklin. A grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Stanhope is Ernest Stanhope, who married Blanche Hines, and their three children are Ernestine, Berlin and Gwendolyn.
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LEROY CLIMER. Many interesting associations revolve around the name of Climer in Ross County. It is a family which has been identified with this section of Ohio for fully a century. Before coming to Ohio they were successively residents of the Province of Pennsylvania and of Virginia, and it is nearly two centuries since the family stock was trans- planted from Europe to the shores of a new world. Out in Harrison Township is a fine old homestead which has been occupied by the Climers through four generations, and is now owned by LeRoy Climer, who was himself born there, and his children, and it is also associated with the early lives of his grandchildren.
Since the family came to America the name has been spelled variously as Clemmer, Clymer and Climer. The first American of the name was Valentine Clemmer, who was a bishop of the Mennonite Church and who came to America from either Germany or Switzerland in 1717. He settled in what is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Most of his descendants spell the name Clymer. A son of Bishop Clemmer was Christian Clymer, who was born in 1720 and became an extensive land owner in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Christian and Mary Clymer had a son, Isaac Clymer, who was born in 1755. Isaac was the great- grandfather of LeRoy Climer of Harrison Township. In the Pennsyl- vania archives, fifth series, fifth volume, page 357, are the muster roll and papers relating to the associators and militia of the County of Bucks. In the list of militia belonging to Captain Patterson's company of militia in Tinicum Township, returned May 22, 1780, is found the name Isaac Climer in the third class. This patriot of the American cause in the struggle for independence died in 1801. His wife was named Margaret.
Joseph Climer, grandfather of LeRoy, was born August 10, 1779, either in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, or Loudoun County, Virginia. He was also the founder of the family in Ross County. From Virginia he came to this county in Ohio in 1815 or 1816, accompanied by his family. One winter was spent on Lick Run, and he then bought a tract of timbered land in section 31 of Harrison Township. On that land he spent the rest of his days, bearing a sturdy part in the pioneer activi- ties of the county. In 1800 Joseph Climer married Elizabeth Ault. She died November 26, 1826. For his second wife he married Sarah Wolfe, of Clark County, Ohio.
Daniel Climer, representing the second generation in Ross County, was born February 6, 1810, near Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and was about six years of age when brought to Ross County. The schools in Ross County a century ago could not in any way be designated as public schools. They were maintained only a few months each year, and on the subscription plan. It was in such a school that Daniel Climer received all his fundamental education. There was no dearth of opportunity for practical training in such duties and accomplishments as were prin- cipally demanded of the sturdy manhood of the time. He lived on the home farm and assisted in its cultivation until his marriage, and then rented land from his father and subsequently became its owner. Most of his years were spent in the improvement of his land. Daniel Climer
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possessed a great natural skill as a worker in wood and iron, and employed his energies to render a valuable service to his community in the early days. Particularly was he a skilful maker of the old- fashioned grain cradles which were used in harvesting before the time of the reaper. He made about fifty of these cradles every year, and there was sale for every one of them. To some extent he was also a cattle dealer. His enterprise also went in the direction of building some of the first improved highways of Ross County. He was a large stock- holder, was the first president and for many years a director of the Walnut Creek Turnpike Company. Politically he was an ardent whig as long as that party was in existence, and afterwards a republican.
On June 13, 1833, Daniel Climer married Rebecca Jones, daughter of Aaron Jones of Hallsville. She died March 3, 1845. On March 28, 1847, he married for his second wife Martha Riley, daughter of Alex- ander Riley, who was a neighboring farmer. By the first marriage there were five children: Caroline, who married Thomas Wheeler; David; Margery; Joseph, who served in the Civil war and was killed in the battle of Perryville, Kentucky; and Sarah Ann. By the second marriage there were nine children: Edwin Parker, LeRoy, William Henry, Sidney, Daniel Watson, Quimby, Mary Jane, Nancy and Cynthia.
On the farm that he now owns and occupies, LeRoy Climer was born August 8, 1849. He had better school advantages than his father had before him, and the environment in which he spent his early youth was greatly different from what had encompassed the family home nearly half a century before. Farming was the occupation to which he was trained, and he adopted it on becoming grown. He started as a renter, but after the death of his father bought the old homestead, going in debt for a greater part of the purchase money. By constant industry and by intelligent management as a general farmer and stock raiser he soon had the farm paid for. This old place, which is one of the land- marks of Harrison Township, is well kept and shows great care in its management.
On March 10, 1875, Mr. Climer married Ellen Hammann. She was born on a farm in Beaver Township of Pike County, Ohio, March 10, 1851. Her father, Philip Hammann, was born on the banks of the River Rhine in Germany, a son of Peter Hammann. Peter Hammann brought his family to America when Philip was fourteen years of age, the little party consisting of husband and wife, and five children. They came on a sailing vessel, spending fifty-one days on the ocean, and after landing in New York came on west to Ohio and became early settlers in Pike County. Grandfather Peter Hammann died soon after his ar- rival there, being survived by his widow for several years. They reared four sons, Peter, Henry, George and Philip, and a daughter, Elizabeth. Each of the sons bought land in Pike County, and all spent their days there except Henry, who died in Illinois. Philip Hammann after reach- ing manhood bought a tract of timbered land in Beaver Township, and there erected the log house in which Mrs. Climer was born. He pros- pered by dint of much industry, and in the course of time had his land all cleared, provided with substantial buildings, and his later years were
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