USA > Ohio > Ross County > A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio > Part 51
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Mr. Wiltshire is a popular member of Scioto Lodge, No. 6, Free and Accepted Masons; Chillicothe Chapter, No. 4, Royal Arch Masons; Chil-
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licothe Council, No. 4, Royal and Select Masters; and Chillicothe Com- mandery, No. 8, Knights Templar. With his family, he belongs to the Vigo Baptist Church, of which he is one of the trustees, and his political belief makes him a republican. His support is accounted decidedly important in the advancement of movements for the welfare of his community, and this support, financial and personal, is freely given.
On March 29, 1896, Mr. Wiltshire was married to Miss Althea M. Lacey, daughter of Isaiah C. and Margaret (Stevens) Lacey. Mrs. Wiltshire was born at Eagle Mills, Vinton County, Ohio, where she grew up and was educated in the public schools, and was teaching in the Glade School at the time of her marriage. To. Mr. and Mrs. Wiltshire there have been born two sons: James Orville, a graduate of Doane Academy at Greenville, and now associated with his uncle, at Rich- mond Dale; and Eldred, who is now pursuing a business course at Chillicothe.
AUGUSTU'S NORTON. The career of Augustus Norton has been a long, useful and successful one, in which he has been engaged in a variety of pursuits, including merchandising, banking, farming, and hotel keep- ing. Also, this veteran of the Civil war has occupied positions of trust in the communities in which he has resided, and at the present time is postmaster at Vigo, an office which he has held since May, 1912.
Mr. Norton was born at Athens, Ohio, December 19, 1837, and is a son of Joseph H. and Rosanna J. (Johnson) Norton. His father was born in Cortland County, New York, near the Town of Homer, in Jan- uary, 1808, and was twenty years of age when he made his way to Athens, Ohio, here settling among the pioneer residents. Here Mr. Norton met and married Rosanna J. Johnson, who was born and reared at that place. Mr. Norton secured employment as a clerk in the general store kept at Athens, and after gaining sufficient experience and some small capital, founded with his brother the firm of Isaac & J. H. Norton, establishing a general store at Athens. Mr. Norton's brother died in 1837, and in 1841 he became sole owner of the business, which he con- tinued to be connected with until the time of his death.
Augustus Norton received his education in the public schools of Athens and at an early age began to learn the business methods in the store of his uncle and father. In the spring of 1859 he was admitted to partnership in the firm of J. H. Norton & Son, and continued in business activities until 1861. In that year he enlisted in Company F, First Regiment, West Virginia Cavalry, and at the organization of the regiment was elected first lieutenant. After one year he resigned his commission and returned to his Ohio home, where he organized and recruited Company I, Seventh Ohio Cavalry, of which he was made captain. With this command he served until January, 1864, when, owing to an injury, he was obliged to again resign from his military command and return to his home. At this time Captain Norton re-entered business with his father, with whom he was associated until about 1867, then purchasing the elder man's interests. He continued
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in business until 1869, when he was compelled to undergo an operation on one of his limbs, owing to an injury received while in the army, and thus he was unable to stand the confinement of mercantile life. Accordingly, he sold his business and purchased a farm in Athens County, on which he resided for something more than ten years. In 1880 he was solicited by the First National Bank to become its vice president and take active charge of its affairs, and after a short period was made president of the insitution and continued so for thirteen years, during which time the bank enjoyed the greatest prosperity and estab- lished an excellent reputation in banking circles of the state. In 1893 Mr. Norton disposed of his interests at Athens and went to Virginia, where he bought the old Joseph A. Seddon estate, known as Sabot Hill, on which he lived for ten years, then trading it for a hotel at Stanton, Virginia. His experience as a hotel proprietor covered a period of five years, and in 1908 he came back to Ohio, and located at Vigo two years later. In May, 1912, he was appointed postmaster, and this office he has continued to fill to the present time with the greatest ability and to the entire satisfaction of the people.
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Mr. Norton married Sarah Westcott Putnam, a daughter of George Putnam and a descendant of General Putnam, of Revolutionary fame. Mr. and Mrs. Norton were married in March, 1866, and are the parents of four sons and four daughters, all living, as follows: J. A .; Wil- liam H., a physician and surgeon, of Portland, Oregon, a graduate of Ohio University, at Athens, and of Johns Hopkins Institute, and now assistant dean of the University of Oregon; Earl L., who is a traveling salesman for the big packing firm of Swift & Company; Douglas P., connected with the Ford Manufacturing Company, Detroit, Michigan; Frances J., widow of the late C. S. Price, with whom she went to the Ohio University, at Athens, as a classmate, now editor of the Daily Leader, at Mount Clemens, Michigan, of which she was also formerly publisher; Alberta, who is the wife of James M. Rittebur, of Jefferson Township, Ross County ; Adele B., who is the wife of Paul W. Schauber, a druggist of Mount Clemens, Michigan; and Alice C., who is the wife of Allen G. Straight, of Mount Clemens.
Mr. Norton and the members of his family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a Mason and a republican. In whatever business he has centered his activities and in whatever community he has resided, he has always borne the reputation of an honorable business man and a public-spirited citizen, worthy of the confidence and respect of the people among whom he lived and with whom he labored.
LEWIS FRANKLIN MARINE. Under modern conditions, farm manage- ment is taking more and more the character of a profession. It requires expert ability, experience, sound judgment, as well as industry to man- age profitably and wisely a large landed estate. That is the business by which Lewis Franklin Marine has found his secure place in the community of Ross County. He is one of the most progressive men of that profession in Deerfield Township. In that rich and fertile part of
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SCHUYLER SLAGER AND FAMILY
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Ross County he directs and controls the operations of some 300 or more acres.
He was born on a farm near Allentown, in Fayette County, Ohio, August 14, 1872. His father, William Marine, was also born in Fayette County, April 26, 1845. The grandfather, Robert Marine, was a native of the State of Delaware and that state was also the birthplace of the great-grandfather, who subsequently became one of the pioneer settlers of Fayette County, Ohio. Robert Marine improved a good farm in Paint Creek Valley of Wayne Township, Fayette County, and both he and his wife, Serepta, died there.
William Marine, who was reared on a farm, made that the choice of his vocation in life, and subsequently bought a place near Leesburg, which he operated for many years. He is now living retired at Leesburg. He married Nora J. Ross, who was born in Fayette County, a daughter of Anthony Ross. They became the parents of six children, named Robert, Serepta, Lewis F., Arthur E., Nellie, and Charles.
One of this family, Lewis Franklin Marine grew up on his father's farm, attended district school, and became acquainted with all the details and phases of farm life as a youth. On starting out independ- ently he worked by the month for a time, then rented a small place near Greenfield three years, and with experience he began getting further ahead in the matter of prosperity every season. He afterwards rented the John McLean farm of 200 acres, in Fayette County, and after seven years there went to the Prof. John Shupe farm for two years. In 1908 Mr. Marine came to Deerfield Township, in Ross County, locating on the farm where he now resides. This farm comprises more than 200 acres of land, and he also leases another farm of 100 acres. He has all this land under thorough cultivation, and well deserves a place among the most successful agriculturists of Ross County. .
On August 29, 1893, Lewis Marine married Lutheria May. Mrs. Marine was born in Vinton County, Ohio, a daughter of Moses and Sarah May. To their marriage have been born five children: Ralph, Owen, Blanche, Roy and Mary V. Mrs. Marine and the children are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically, Mr. Marine is a republican voter, and is affiliated with Magenta Springs Lodge of the Knights of Pythias.
SCHUYLER SLAGER represents a younger generation of progressive farmers in Ross County. His active career covers about a quarter of a century and in that time he has managed his business affairs so energet- ically and with so much enterprise as to constitute a success that might well be envied by the prosperous merchant or manufacturer. He has not neglected his relations to the public at the same time, and has filled a number of local offices.
His birth occurred on a farm in the North Precinct of Union Town- ship July 1, 1870. Most of his own lifetime has been spent within the same township. His father was Jacob Slager, who was born on the River Rhine in Germany. His Grandfather Andy Slager was also a native of
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Germany, where he was reared and married. Many years ago he brought his family to America, being accompanied by his wife and five children. The sailing vessel on which they came met with adverse winds and was nearly three months in crossing the ocean. The family came direct to Ross County, the grandfather locating in Deerfield Township, and buying a tract of timbered land. There he erected a double log house and that served as the habitation of the Slager family for a number of years. Settlers in a new and largely undeveloped country, they had the courage and industry that enabled them to cope with all the difficulties and trials. Andy Slager began clearing up his farm, and lived on the place until his death. Both he and his wife lived to a good old age and are buried on the old homestead.
Jacob Slager, who was seven years of age when the family came to this country, continued his education in the pioneer schools of Deerfield Township. When only a boy he did such work as his strength allowed on the home farm, and after his marriage his father gave him a tract of land in Deerfield Township. That was his home until 1870, the year that Schuyler was born, and he then moved to the northern part of Union Township, buying a farm of ninety-eight acres. He busied him- self with its general cultivation and lived there until his death. Jacob Slager married Martha Jane Shasteen, a daughter of William Shasteen, one of the early settlers of Union Township.
Schuyler Slager was reared to habits of industry. Attending the district schools a portion of each year he spent the rest of the time on his father's farm, and when ready to start out for himself it was as a renter. Prosperity smiled upon him from the start, and in 1899 he bought a farm of 175 acres in Wayne Township of Pickaway County. After renting that farm for two years he then moved on it himself in 1901, and is still its owner. He then bought the Norman Lutz farm of 253 acres in North Union Township. His home place now comprises 260 acres, is a well improved farm, with excellent buildings, and well fitted for Mr. Slager's enterprise as a general farmer and stock raiser.
In June, 1916, he bought 365 acres of well improved land in North Union Township. Mr. Slager is vice president and stockholder in Ramy Company of Chillicothe; owns a half interest in a tract of 20,000 acres of timberland in Old Virginia; while he and his wife have a sixth interest in 330 acres of valuable land in Green and Deerfield townships of Ross County.
In 1900 he married Verbena Gartner, youngest daughter of Adam and Elizabeth Gartner, natives of Germany. Mr. Gartner was a promi- nent and influential farmer of Springfield Township, and a man the com- munity could be proud of; kind but firm; his word was as good as his bond. He took active part in everything that he thought would improve the community. Mr. Gartner died in 1913 in his ninetieth year and up to his death he was as active as a man at forty and successfully conducted his large affairs. A more loving father could not be found than he was to his family. He was never spoken of except in praise. Mr. and Mrs. Slager are the parents of two children Elizabeth Martha Gartner and one
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son Schuyler Philip G., who died at the age of two years and four months.
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They are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and workers in the Sunday School. Mr. Slager for a number of years has interested himself in local affairs and has filled with ability such offices as school director, road supervisor, and for six years was a member of the board of county commissioners.
JOHN ROCKWELL ENTREKIN. Many interesting distinctions surround the name of Entrekin, not only in Ross but in adjoining counties. It is a family that was established in Northwest Territory several years before Ohio was admitted to the Union. The various members of the family have played a worthy part in laying the foundations of civilization and in maintaining the various activities and institutions of their respective communities for more than a century. John Rockwell Entrekin, who represents the third successive generation of the family in this part of Ohio, is now living retired at his home in Frankfort.
He was born in Pickaway Township of Pickaway County October 1, 1844. The Entrekins were Scotch Covenanters. They lived in Dumfries- shire, their seat being located on Entrekin Water, a branch of Nith River, near the pass in the mountains known as Entrekin Pass. A description of this piece of rugged Scotch scenery is given in Crockett's "Men of Moss Haigs." Leaving Scotland on account of religious prose- cution, some of the family went to the North of Ireland, and from there came to America, settling in Pennsylvania. William Entrekin, great- grandfather of John R. Entrekin, was a son of Scotch parents. He married Elizabeth Hall, of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and later removed to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and in 1796 came to the North- west Territory, being one of the first settlers in Ross County. He located in Hopetown, where his wife died in 1800. At that time Ohio was a complete wilderness, with only a few scattered settlements north of the river. Indians roamed at will and claimed the largest part of the state as their hunting grounds. The pioneers like the Entrekins subsisted as frontiersmen, living on meat obtained from wild game, and practically without conveniences or facilities for transportation or any of the items of modern comforts.
One of the very distinguished characters in the early life of this section of Ohio was Col. John Entrekin, grandfather of John R. Col. John Entrekin was born in 1777, on the Hall farm on Willoughby Creek and the Cashtown Road. On that farm nearly a century later, on the morning of July 1, 1863, the great battle of Gettysburg opened. When he was thirteen years of age he accompanied his parents to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and from there, in 1796, came to the Northwest Territory. He distinguished himself as a gallant soldier in the Ohio militia during the days when Indian fighting was common, and especially during the second war with Great Britain, in 1812. He was a colonel in that war, and for many years was active in the state military circles. In 1819-20 he served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, and afterwards was associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas of
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Pickaway County. His first home in the wilderness of Ohio was a double log house, heated by fireplace, and his wife did all her cooking by the open fire. Colonel Entrekin bought a tract of timbered land in Pick- away Township, on the road leading from Portsmouth to Columbus. For years after he settled here there were no railroads or canals, and transportation was largely by flatboat down the streams or by stages which ran out of Columbus in every direction. Colonel Entrekin directed the clearing of a large amount of land in this section of Ohio. From the modern standpoint, the method of clearing was extremely wasteful of valuable timber. Logs of splendid black walnut and oak were rolled together in piles and burned, in order that the ground might be cleared for cultivation. Colonel Entrekin served for several years as justice of the peace. He was a model justice. Wherever possible he settled cases that came before him without trial or recourse to the law. This he did by giving good advice to the litigants, and oftentimes he sent the parties away friends when otherwise they might have been confirmed enemies. A great many experiences might be described in which the Entrekins shared during their early years in Ohio. All grain was cut from the fields with a sickle and trampled out with horses. Later came the cradle as an improvement over the old sickle, and finally threshing machines operated by horse power. The first threshing machines were extremely crude, and the grain, straw and chaff, all came out together, the straw being shaken out and the wheat and chaff put through a fanning mill operated by hand. John R. Entrekin worked with the first thresh. ing machine of this county. He also helped drive the horses tramping out wheat ready to be cleaned by fanning mills.
Col. John Entrekin married Nancy Crouse. That introduces another pioneer family in these annals. Her father, John Crouse, was born in what is now Carroll County, Maryland, January 13, 1759. He learned the trade of tailor. In June, 1776, he enlisted as a private at Fredericksburg for six months in a company of the Flying Corps enrolled by Capt. Jacob Good, of Col. Charles G. Griffith's regiment, attached to Gen. Rezen Beal's brigade. After his return from the war he lived near Sam's Creek, in Frederick County, Maryland. On May 14, 1782, he had conveyed to him five acres of land on the east side of Dollarhide Creek, on the road from Fredericktown to Baltimore. In 1788 John Crouse removed to Orange County, North Carolina, but in a few years returned to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and in 1798 came with his wife and six children to the Northwest Territory. During the same year he bought from William MeCoy and John De Rush a corn cracking mill on the Kinnikinnick Creek in what is now Green Town- ship of Ross County. There he erected the first flour mill in the valley. That was a splendid convenience to the early settlers and he did a large business and made money rapidly. This money he invested in lands until he was the owner of more than 5,000 acres in Ross, Pickaway and Delaware counties. He was as liberal as he was successful. He donated land in Kingston for the Methodist and Presbyterian churches. Both he and his wife were among the first members of the Methodist Church at Kingston. John Crouse married Catherine Umstead, a daughter of
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Nicholas and Ann (Davis) Umstead. John Crouse died in Kingston September 5, 1847, and his wife died August 5, 1850.
William Entrekin, son of Col. John Entrekin, was born in Pickaway Township of Pickaway County, March 12, 1812, a short time before the outbreak of the second war with Great Britain. As a young man he had many of the pioneer and frontier experiences. In 1832, at the age of twenty, he accompanied his father on a trip to what was then known as the Northwest, passing through the states of Indiana and Illinois and the territories of Wisconsin and Iowa. Much of Illinois and Indiana were still government land, and very few settlements indeed had been made in Wisconsin or Iowa. On the prairies of Iowa they witnessed almost countless buffalo. Chicago was a village when they passed through it, and apparently without promise for the future. While there. some parties offered to trade them a tract of land now included in the city for their horses.
William Entrekin, father of John R. Entrekin, became a prominent farmer and stock raiser. He raised mules, cattle and sheep, and even- tually succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead in Pickaway Township, where he and his father erected a commodious brick house, then an important landmark in the country. At that home he lived until his death on June 1, 1892. William Entrekin married Jane Bell. She was born March 7, 1820, a daughter of William Bell, one of the pioneer merchants of Circleville. Her death occurred May 28, 1910. Her four children were John R., Creatin, Flora Belle, and Tacy Crouse.
John Rockwell Entrekin, being the son of prosperous parents, was given an unusually liberal education for his time and generation. He graduated from the Kingston High School, spent one year in the Michi- gan State University at Ann Arbor and three years in the Ohio Wes- leyan University at Delaware. After completing his college course he returned home and took up farming as his regular vocation. For a number of years he was associated with his father, and his life's efforts have been judiciously bestowed and correspondingly rewarded. He remained on the old homestead until 1907, when he removed to Frank- fort to occupy the old Anderson home there.
Mr. Entrekin married Laura Anderson, a daughter of David C. and Sarah (Tulleys) Anderson. Mr. and Mrs. Entrekin have reared one son, named Carl Anderson. Carl Anderson, who was educated in the South Salem Academy, is now an electrician at Columbus. He married Margaret C. Coughman, of Washington Court House. For their wed- ding trip they went abroad with his Grandfather Anderson, and during the three months' tour visited the Holy Land and many of the principal points of interest in Europe. Carl Entrekin is an active member of Magnolia Lodge, No. 20, Free and Accepted Masons; Ohio Chapter, No. 12, Royal Arch Masons; Columbus Council, No. 8, Royal and Select Masters; Mount Vernon Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar, and Aladdin Temple of the Mystic Shrine.
Mr. and Mrs. Entrekin are active members of the Presbyterian Church and he is one of the regular attendants of the Bible Class of Sunday school at Frankfort. Fraternally he is also an active Mason,
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being affiliated with Frankfort Lodge, No. 309, Free and Accepted Masons; Chillicothe Chapter, No. 4, Royal Arch Masons; Chillicothe Council, Royal and Select Masters; Chillicothe Commandery, No. 8, Knights Templar, and has been a member of Kingston Lodge, No. 419, of the Knights of Pythias since 1890.
ALONZO T. SWEPSTONE. A man of prominence among the county officials, Alonzo T. Swepstone, of Chillicothe, sheriff of Ross County, possesses in a marked degree the discretion, trustworthiness, and force of character requisite for the responsible position he is so acceptably filling. He was born December 28, 1856, in a hewed log house in Richland Township, Vinton County, Ohio, on the same farm that the birth of his father, Charles Swepstone, occurred in 1833.
John Swepstone, his paternal grandfather, a native of Virginia, came to Ohio in pioneer days, accompanied by his wife and three children, making the journey with a horse and cart, bringing his household goods, and camping and cooking by the wayside. Purchasing from the Govern- ment a tract of forest-covered land in Richland Township, he made a small clearing, on which he first built from round logs a cabin, with an earth and stick chimney, but no floor. He subsequently built three other log houses, each one more pretentious than the previous one. The last that he built was a substantial hewed log house, the boards of which were sawed at the old water-power mill, dressed by hand, and held in place by wooden pins, no nails having been used in its construction. The roof was covered with boards rived by hand, and held in place by weight poles. John Swepstone was a man of versatile talents, a natural me- chanie, and could make a wagon, shoe a horse, or repair a clock, and was skilled as a millwright. For many years he served as justice of the peace, and the book in which he kept the record of his docket shows that the fines assessed were sometimes paid in coon skins, and very frequently in agricultural products. Redeeming a farm from the wilderness, he occupied it until his death, at the age of four score and four years. He married Sarah Brewster, and to them seven sons and an equal number of daughters were born, as follows: Jack, William, Edward, Samuel, Thomas, Charles, George, Jane, Cynthia, Tabitha, Temperance, Sarah, one whose name is not recorded, and Minnie.
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