USA > Ohio > Champaign County > A centennial biographical history of Champaign county, Ohio > Part 40
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phate in Florida. He is a man of genial nature, frank and straight- forward in all the relations of life and having that intrinsic integrity whose domination results invariably in gaining and retaining unequi- vocal confidence and esteem. He is honored as an able and conservative business man and public-spirited citizen. In addition to his interests in Champaign county he is the owner of a large amount of valuable farm property in Harper county, Kansas. In politics Mr. Woodcock exer- cises his franchise in support of the principles and policies of the Re- publican party, but, deeming his business affairs worthy of his entire time and attention, he has refused to be "afflicted" with public office of any nature.
On the 4th of September. 1856, Mr. Woodcock was united in mar- riage to Miss Loretta C. Curtis. of Franklinville, Cattaraugus county, New York, and of their children we incorporate brief record as follows : Dell is the wife of Frank Macken, of Wellsville, New York; Cora V. is the wife of George T. Alger of the same place ; Helen M., a success- ful and popular teacher, died at Orange, New Jersey, in 1893. at the age of twenty-nine years; Jesse remains at the paternal home, assisting his father in his business ; and Josephine is a popular and efficient teacher in the public schools of Urbana. Mrs. Woodcock and her children are members of the Baptist church.
MARION W. THOMAS.
As incumbent of the important and responsible office of treasurer of Champaign county, as a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of this favored section of the old Buckeye commonwealth, and as himself an able business man and representative citizen of Urbana,
MARION W. THOMAS.
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there is prima facie propriety in here according specific mention of Mr. Thomas.
Marion W. Thomas was born in Jackson township. Champaign county, on the 29th of October, 1865. and he has passed the major portion of his life within the confines of his native county. The family whose reputation for worthy accomplishments he so well sustains had as its first representative in Ohio his grandfather. John Thomas, who was born in the beautiful Shenandoah valley. Virginia, the name having been identified with the annals of the Old Dominion from an early epoch in its history. John Thomas became one of the first settlers in Jackson town- ship, Champaign county, whither he had come from his old home in Vir- ginia, and here was born his son William, who figures as, the honored father of the subject of this sketch and who has been a most faithful and zealous worker in the vineyard of the divine Master, as a clergyman of the Baptist church. He was born in this county and was reared on the old pioneer homestead, and in his early youth he began preparing himself for the work of the ministry, eventually realizing his desires and being ordained in the Baptist church. His advocacy of truth and justice has been eloquently urged upon his hearers during the long years of his active ministry and he has accomplished much in the uplifting of his fellow men, being ever animated by a deep human sympathy and imbued with a spirit of gentle tolerance, which has gained him the affection of those to whom he has ministered and over whom he has been placed in pastoral charge, his ministerial duties having in the past been associated with the work of his church throughout the greater portion of the state of Ohio. Rev. William Thomas is still living, having attained the vener- able age of seventy-seven years ( 1902). In carrying forward his work for humanity he found a devoted companion and coadjutor in the wife whom he married in early manhood and whose maiden name was Emily E. Watts and who was born at Mount Pleasant, Virginia, in 1828.
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When she was but five years of age she and her two sisters accompanied their widowed mother to Urbana, and here she was reared and educated.
From his worthy father Marion W. Thomas inherited studious and inquiring mental traits, and thus he found but imperfect satisfaction in pursuing his studies in the district schools of his native county. Never- theless. from general observation in the midst of practical duties and environment, he learned much that can not be imparted in schools and that is not recorded in text-books, and personal application and well directed reading, study and research have effectively supplemented the rudimentary discipline of the public schools. Thinking to improve his prospects by removal to the west, Mr. Thomas passed a summer in that section and this interval proved of adequate duration for him to arrive at the conclusion that Ohio was, after all, a desirable field for legitimate enterprise and activity, and upon his return he assumed the management of his father's farm, the place having been for years a source of pride and satisfaction to the latter, and he had devoted much care and attention to improving and beautifying this attractive rural home, while continuing his active ministerial labors. In 1883 Mr. Thomas made his initial efforts as a shipper of poultry, operating a branch house for Asa Stapleton dur- ing the winter season, when his attention was not demanded in connec- tion with the farm. He continued to be associated with Mr. Stapleton until the death of that gentleman. In 1891-2 he was junior member of the firm of Cline & Thomas, who engaged in the same line of enterprise, with the details of which our subject had become thoroughly familiar and along which he was destined to attain a high degree of success and the reputation of being possessed of excellent executive and administrative abilities and powers. In the fall of 1892 Mr. Thomas removed with his family to Saint Paris, and after the opening of the season of 1893 he effected a lease of the Stapleton poultry-packing house, and simultaneously formed a partnership with Dr. C. Jones, under the firm title of Thomas
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& Jones. They were thus associated in the poultry business until April. :895, when Mr. Thomas purchased his partner's interest and individually continued operations, his business for the ensuing year reaching the notable aggregate in transactions of fifty thousand dollars. He has ever since continued to be one of the leading poultry shippers of the state and is now carrying on operations upon a very extensive scale. In 1893 Mr. Thomas was elected to the office of city clerk of Saint Paris and two years later was chosen as his own successor in this office. In 1899 he entered the primary race for the office of county treasurer and in one of the most warmly contested campaigns in the history of the county was nominated as the Republican candidate for the office by a majority of four hundred and seventy-three, while in the ensuing election his majority was nine hundred and seventy-one. In 1901 Mr. Thomas was renominated with- out opposition and was elected by a majority of seventeen hundred and thirty .- a fact in itself sufficiently significant to render unnecessary any words ot commendation in this connection and showing that his admin- istration of fiscal affairs had been such as to gain popular approval and a flattering endorsement, while in this connection it should be noted that he is the youngest man who has ever held this office in the county. He has given an unwavering allegiance to the Republican party and has taken an active interest in its local work and cause. He is esteemed by all who know him, without reference to political affiliations, and is one of the most painstaking and conscientious of the officers of Champaign county. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men.
On the 3d of December, 1895. Mr. Thomas was united in marriage to Miss Ida L. Boyer, and they are the parents of two children,-Hazel L. and John. Mrs. Thomas is a lady of gracious presence and innate refinement, presiding with dignity over the home in Urbana, where Mr. Thomas took up his residence upon being elected to his present office.
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DR. ADAM MOSGROVE.
One of the pioneer physicians of Champaign county and a man who wielded an extensive influence, Dr. Adam Mosgrove, left the impress of his individuality upon the public life and is still greatly esteemed for his genuine worth as a citizen. He was born in Inniskillen, in the county of Tyrone in Ireland, August 12, 1790. At the proper age he was placed under the instruction of a private teacher and thus acquired a good Eng- lish education and was prepared to enter the medical college at Edin- burgh, Scotland. He became a student in the Royal Academy of Sur- geons at Dublin, Ireland, where he was graduated April 7, 1814. Im- mediately afterward he was commissioned as surgeon in the British Navy and on Easter Monday. 1816, left the Emeraldl Isle to assume the duties of surgeon on board the ship Charlotte, which sailed for the United States. When off the American coast the vessel became disabled in a storm and put in to the Pennsylvania Harbor for repairs but a dispute having arisen between the ship's officers and the British government the officers resigned their commissions and left the vessel in the harbor, where it remained until completely destroyed by decay.
Dr. Mosgrove was then in a strange land and had in his possession but seventy guineas. He started west to begin the battle of life, first lo- cating in Lancaster. Pennsylvania, but after a short time removed to Elizabethtown that state. In both places he practiced medicine and in the latter city was married, in 1817, to Mary Miller. About this time Dr. Mosgrove learned that George Moore, who was born in his own native town, had settled in Champaign county. Ohio, and the ties of nativity were sufficiently strong to attract him to the home of his old friend. In 1818, therefore. he packed his possessions in a wagon and with his wife started for the far west. arriving in Urbana in the latter part of June of the same year. Soon after arriving in this city the Doctor invested the few hun-
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dred dollars which he had saved in land and this was the nucleus around which the fortune, possessed at the time of his death, was slowly accumu- lated. He purchased a small farm house situated in Miami street, just west of what is now known as Douglas Inn, and that little frame dwelling continued to be his residence and office until he erected a new home on the the southeast corner of Walnut and Miami streets, where he resided up to the time of his death. The property is now owned and occupied by his son. James M. Mosgrove, M. D., a sketch of whom appears elsewhere. On the door of this residence is yet to be found the name of Dr. Adam Mosgrove, it being retained there by the son out of respect to the mem- ory of his father.
In 1833 Dr. Mosgrove lost his first wife and in the following year was married to Frances A. Foley, a daughter John Foley. a prominent pioneer citizen of Clark county, Ohio. There were no children born of the second marriage. The Doctor's eldest son. John A. Mosgrove, now deceased, was a prominent citizen of Urbana for a long period. Colonel W. F. Mosgrove, the second son, organized a battery during the Civil war and died in 1869. Dr. James M. Mosgrove is still residing in Urbana and is the youngest of the family.
The father was well known even beyond the limits of Champaign county and his professional services were frequently demanded long dis- tances from his home. For a number of years he practiced alone, but afterward became associated with Dr. J. S. Carter. Sr., who died in 1852, and their extensive practice was continued by our subject for many years. In those early days physicians made their calls on horse back and the Doctor being noted as an expert horseman rather enjoyed the long rough trips over the country. Sometimes he would hitch his horse in the woods at night rather than unduly tire his favorite animal, while he himself took his own needed rest upon the ground. Strong and robust, a picture of perfect health, and blessed with a kindly disposition, his coming was
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hailed with delight by the sick who confided in his professional ability and by those of health to whom he imparted a share of his own good humor. He was temperate in all things and abstained from the use of intoxicants even in a day when custom almost demanded it. Indomitable courage and industry were the remarkable traits of his character and whatever he undertook he carried forward to successful completion, for he persevered in the work with all the energy of a strong nature. No storm, no event, in fact nothing could ever prevent him from making his regular visits to his patients and no obstacle could successfully intervene between him and his professional duty. He was well known for his charity, aided the afflicted poor and would respond as readily to a call that came from the needy as from the wealthiest of his patrons. His noble generosity in his profession greatly endeared him to the poorer classes and made him warm friends who yet cherish his memory. A strongly defined sense of honor and old time courtesy were salient features of his character that made him a gentleman of high repute and he was also known as a faithful friend and entertaining companion. Exceptionally well preserved physically he looked much younger than his years, until he met with an accident by which one of his limbs was broken. From that time he began to decline and on the ioth of March, 1875, passed quietly and peacefully away in his eighty-fifth year, his wife surviving him until the first of September, 1879. when she was called to her final rest at the age of sixty years.
The Doctor had long been a worthy member of the Episcopal church and the final sermon was delivered by the pastor of that denomination in Urbana, while the interment was conducted by Knights Templar of the Raper Commandery, in the presence of a large concourse of people, who had assembled to pay their last tribute of respect to their old and worthy friend and physician. In his death the medical profession of Champaign county lost one of its oldest and most energetic members, he having been actively engaged in the duties of his profession for more than a half cen-
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tury. He was most kind and sympathic, diligent in his attention to the sick and suffering and was ever solicitous for their recovery, inspiring them with hope and confidence in his ability to effect a speedy cure. He enjoyed the respect and confidence of a large number of patrons and as a man and citizen was held in high regard by those whom he knew in all the walks of life. While in his native land he passed the various degrees of Masoury and at the age of twenty-six had attained the rank of Royal Arch Mason. Throughout his life he was an active and devoted adherent of the craft and held high rank in the order. Politically he was a stanch Democrat and several times was nominated by his party for Congress and for the state senate, but the opposition had an overwhelming strength in luis district and it was never anticipated that election was possible. The ouly political office that he ever held was that of deputy United States Marshal in 1830 and in that year he took the census of Champaign county. Such in brief is the history of Dr. Adam Mosgrove, and the annals of the county would be incomplete without a record of his life, for he was one of the most important characters that figured in pro- fessional circles through many years.
HARRY COOK, M. D.
Champaign county is fortunate in retaining within its borders a high class of physicians and surgeons, who honor themselves, their noble profession and the community through their able services and sterling characters. Among the younger practitioners of the county is Dr. Cook, of Urbana, a representative of the homeopathic school of practice and known as a thoroughly skilled physician and surgeon and as a gentleman well worthy the esteem and respect in which he is so uniformly hekt in the community. He is associated in practice with Dr. C. C. Craig. to whom individual reference is made on another page of this work, and to
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them is due the credit of establishing and maintaining that noble and finely equipped institution, the Urbana Sanitarium, whose value in the community can scarcely be overestimated. In the sketch of the life of Dr. Craig will be found more complete data concerning this institution, and to the same the reader is referred.
Dr. Cook is a native of the city of Springfield, Ohio, where he was born on the roth of February, 1873, the son of Dr. William A. and Anna ( Bechtel , Cook. Dr. William A. Cook was likewise born in Springfield, and he passed his entire life in his native state, being one of the repre- sentative homeopathic physicians of this section of the Union. He died at Tippecanoe City, Miami county, in 1890, at the age of fifty-two years. He was. graduated in the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College and was engaged in the practice of his profession in Cleveland, and Tippe- canoe City, Ohio, and for a time in the city of Muncie, Indiana. His widow now maintains her home in Fremont, Sandusky county. They became the parents of three children, of whom but one survives the fa- ther. When our subject was about six months of age his parents re- moved to Muncie, Indiana, where they resided about eight years and then removed to Cleveland, where Dr. Cook was engaged in the practice of his profession about seven years, after which he located in Tippecanoe City, where he passed the remainder of his life. Our subject received his early education in the public schools of the three cities mentioned and then began reading medicine under the effective and careful precep- torship of his honored father. In 1890 he was matriculated in the Chi- cago Homeopathic Medical College, where he was graduated with the coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine in the spring of 1894, his last year having been principally devoted to clinical work in the hospitals, so that ne was thoroughly fortified for the practical duties of his profession when his degree was conferred.
In May, 1894. Dr. Cook located in Urbana, and here he soon became
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known as a thoroughly skilled and discriminating physician, the confi- dence begotten leading to his securing a practice of representative char- acter. In June, 1899, he entered into a professional alliance with Dr. Craig, and this association has ever since continued, while they also con- duct the sanitarium, which receives an excellent supporting patronage and which affords the best of accommodation and the most efficacious treatment for those suffering from the various ills to which human flesh is heir. Dr. Cook is a member of the Miami Valley Homeopathic Medi- cal Society, in whose affairs he takes a deep interest. His political sup- port is given to the Republican party, and both he and his wife hold mem- bership in the Lutheran church, enjoying distinctive popularity in both church and social circles. On the 21st of October, 1899, occurred the marriage of Dr. Cook to Miss Grace, daughter of Christian Emrick, one of Urbana's representative citizens, and they are prominent in the social activities of the community.
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DAVID TODD.
David Todd was born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1790, being the son of James and Martha (Wilson) Todd, both of whom were likewise natives of the old Keystone state, with whose his- tory the respective families became identified in the colonial days. James and Martha Todd passed their entire lives in Pennsylvania, and there were born to them five sons and two daughters, namely : James, John, David. Samuel, Hugh, Mary and Martha. Samuel Todd came to Ohio in 1840, settling in Union township of Champaign county, where he died a short time afterward. David Todd. the subject of this memoir, in com- pany with three others, first came to Ohio in 1812, on a prospecting trip, 33
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the journey being made on horseback, and at that time visited Urbana, which was a small hamlet in the virgin forests, and upon his return to his native county he married and there engaged in farming until 1846, when he came through with a team and wagon to Warren county. Ohio, in company with his family. his brother John having located in that sec- tion of the state in the year 1832. Our subject and his family remained there a few months and in March, 1847, came to Champaign county and settled on Pretty Prairie, in Urbana township, where he passed the re- mainder of his useful and honorable life, engaged in agricultural pur- suits, in which he was exceptionally successful. He developed a fine farm, making the best of improvements upon the same, and at the time of his demise it was recognized as one of the most valuable farm prop- erties in this section of the state, giving evidence of the scrupulous care and attention bestowed by its progressive and able owner. In politics Mr. Todd was originally an oid-line Whig, but upon the organization of the Republican party he transferred his allegiance to this organization, which he believed had stronger claims upon popular support, and there- after he was an ardent advocate of its principles, though he never sought official preferment or consented to serve in any political position. His i eligious faith was that of the Presbyterian church, and his life, in all its relations, was lived in harmony therewith. David Todd entered into eternal rest in the year 1868, in the fullness of years and honored for his sterling integrity of character and his kindly nature, which had endeared him to a wide circle of friends. He married Sarah McCormick, who was horn in 1795. in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Henry and Jane ( Mitchell ; McCormick, and she passed away March 23. 1884, having been a consistent and devoted member of the Presbyterian church. The children of this union were twelve in number. namely : James Wil- son, who died at the age of twenty-one years: Jane McCormick. de- ceased ; Mary and Eliza, both deceased; Henry McCormick, deceased ;
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David Newton, who died at the age of five years; Thomas Mitchell, to whom individual reference is made in appending paragraphs; John E .. of Urbana township: Sarah Martha, deceased; Rebecca Nancy, de- ceased : and James Samuel, of Arcata, Humboldt county, California.
Thomas Mitchell Todd was born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of April, 1827, the son of David and Sarah ( McCormick ) Todd, mentioned above, and he received his early educational discipline in the common schools of his native county, supplementing this by a course of study in a local academy, so that his educational advantages were up to the normal standard of the locality and period. He was nearly twenty years of age when the family came to Ohio, and here he put his scholastic acquirements to practical test by teaching school dur- ing one winter in Warren county and one in Champaign county, being successful in his pedagogic efforts. He remained at the old homestead farm until his marriage, in 1857, when he settled on another farm in the same township and there continued successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1896 .- a period of nearly forty years, within which he had developed one of the fine tarm properties of this locality and attain- ing a high degree of prosperity. His landed estate comprises two farms, whose aggregate area is three hundred and thirty-seven acres. In April of the year last mentioned, Mr. Fodd removed to the city of Urbana, where he has since lived retired from active pursuits, having an attractive home and enjoying that quiet repose which is the fitting reward for years of active and well directed endeavor.
Mr. Todd has ever been a stalwart supporter of the Republican party, but has never aspired to the honors or emoluments of public office, though his position in the community was such that he was naturally called upon to serve in various minor offices, in which line he gave able and discriminating attention to the duties involved. For fifteen years he was a member of the board of directors of the county infirmary.
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sparing no pains to promote the well-being of this institution. He is a stockholder in the Champaign National Bank, of Urbana, and a member of its directorate. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and have for many years been active and influential workers in the same.
On the 12th of March, 1857, Mr. Todd was united in marriage to Miss Mary M. Rawlings, who was born in Urbana township, this county, on Christmas day, 1831, the daughter of James and Susannah I. ( Mc- Roberts ) Rawlings, the former of whom was one of the pioneers of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Todd became the parents of seven children, con- cerning whom we enter brief record, as follows: Susannah Irby is de- ceased ; David Solon is a resident of Columbus, Ohio; James Rawlings is a successful farmer of Urbana township; Alna remains at the parental home; Henry William is deceased: Thomas Rawlings conducts the old homestead farm ; and Pearl C., who for nine years has held a responsible position in the Champaign National Bank.
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