USA > Ohio > Adams County > A history of Adams County, Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time, including character sketches of the prominent persons identified with the first century of the country's growth > Part 103
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William Wilson Prather
was born December 16, 1844, near Buena Vista, in Scioto County, Ohio, the son of Henry Prather and Mary Rape, his wife. His mother was a sister of the late William R. Rape, of West Union.
Our subject was the second child of their marriage. His father removed to West Union, when he was about two years old, and resided there until the year 1865. In that year his father, Henry Prather, removed to Manchester, Ohio, and started the daily omnibus line from Manchester to West Union, the first that was ever run, going to West Union every morning and returning in the afternoon to connect with the evening boats. William attended the schools in Manchester until the twenty-fourth of October, 1863, when he enlisted in Company E, 91st Regiment, O. V. I., at the age of eighteen years, for a period of three years. He was promoted on June 1, 1865, to the office of Quartermaster Sergeant of the regiment which he held until he was mustered out on the twenty-fourth of June following. At the time he enlisted he left the school room to become a soldier. He was a conductor on the street car line in Louisville, Ky., from 1865 to 1867. In that year, he married Miss Rebecca Shriver, daughter of Joseph M. Shriver, of Manchester. He located there and engaged in the stove and tinware business. He continued in that business at Manchester until 1894, when he removed to Portsmouth and engaged in the wholesale tinware and crockery busi- ness under the name of the "Portsmouth Tinware Company," with John K. Peyton, Charles H. Zeigler and James W. Queary, his partners. He continued in that business in Portsmouth until 1898, when he returned to Manchester. Since 1898, he has been a traveling saleman for The James McDonald & Son's Company tinware and metal house of Cin- cinnati. He has a family of seven children, all living, as follows: Robert M., a dentist at Fort Worth, Texas; William Byron, city sales-
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man, in Cincinnati; Mary, the wife of Frank Gilfillen, a contractor, liv- ing in Northside, Ohio; Kate, the wife of A. F. McColm, a telegraph operator for the C. H. & D. Railroad at Carthage, Ohio; Mabel, the wife of Frank Cady, of Maysville, Ky .; Grace, the wife of Charles C. Burt, a traveling salesman for the Drew-Selby Shoe Company, of Ports- mouth, Ohio, and Nellie, who is at home.
Mr. Prather is a member of the Presbyterian Church and a Royal Arch Mason. He has always been a Republican. He is a good citizen, respected and highly esteemed by all who know him.
Robert W. Purdy, M. D.,
was born in Hillsboro, Ohio, in 1831, a son of Thomas E. Purdy and Eliza Wilson, his wife. Robert Purdy's grandfather was one of the first settlers of New Market, and was a native of Sharon Valley, Penn- sylvania. He died in 1888 at the age of eighty.
He received a common school education, and at the age of seven- teen began the study of medicine with Dr. J. W. Washburn, of New Market, Ohio, with whom he studied for five years, and in that period attended lectures at Starling Medical College in Columbus, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1858.
In the same year he was married to Ella Santee, daughter of Samuel Santee and Margaret Browne, his wife, and after the lapse of all these years, her hair is still as black as a raven's wing, as it was when the Doctor married her, and she is as young in spirit as forty-one years ago. In 1859, he practiced one year in connection with his preceptor, and in 1860 located in Bradyville. On August 11, 1862, he enlisted as a Private in Company E, 91st O. V. I., and served until February 18, 1863, when he was discharged by order of the War Department. He need not have enlisted as a private, and could have served as a surgeon, but he gave his services to the country as an ordinary soldier, though for a part of his service he acted as a hospital steward, being detailed for that service. On his discharge from the Ninety-first, he returned to his home and practice. On August 21, 1864, he enlisted as a Private in Company H, 182d O. V. I., for one year, and served until July 7, 1865. Again he might have gone as a physician, but went as a private. We take it his reasons were purely patriotic.
He practiced medicine in Bradyville from 1860 until 1880, when he removed to Ellsberry in Brown County, where he remained for three years. In 1883, he located in Mowrystown, Highland County, and re- mained a year. He then returned to Bradyville, where he has since resided and where he expects to remain till, to use a nautical phrase, after Admiral Dewey, "he is sunk by Death's superior weight of metal."
Dr. Purdy has had nine children, six of whom survive: Margaret, wife of Philip Flaugher, of Lexington, Ky .; Mary E., wife of Oscar Clark, of Kokomo, Jll .; Thomas, Letha, Edgar and Clifton. He is a Republican and is proud of it. He was Coroner of Adams County from 1891 to 1893. He is proud also of his record as a soldier and well he may be for he is the only man we have found in Adams County who was content to serve his country twice as a private when he might have
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served it as a surgeon. He is a member of George Bailey Post, G. A. R., at Aberdeen, Ohio, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Bradyville.
The Doctor takes life easy. His record is about made up and he has found nothing in it to be ashamed of. He has been a very useful man; always ready to respond to every professional call, regardless of color, race, or previous condition of servitude, or otherwise. He has done a great deal of good in his community. He rests his religious faith in the grand old Methodist Church, his political faith in the Re- publican party, and having done his duty as patriot and citizen, with the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius and the faith of St. Paul, he is ready to meet the Last Enemy whenever required.
James Thomas Pitts
was born April 4, 1846, in Greene Township, Adams County, Ohio. His father was James Pitts, a native of Lewis County, Kentucky. His mother was Keziah Tucker, a native. of Ohio. He was the youngest of four children. He was reared on a farm, and attended the District school. His father died when he was but ten years of age and he was thrown on his own resources. As a youth, he worked on a farm and drove teams for farmers in Scioto and Adams Counties in the vicinity of Buena Vista.
When the war broke out, he was fifteen years of age, but he was wild to go in. He was too young, but he gave his age as sixteen, and was accepted. He served until September 11, 1864, when he was dis- charged by reason of expiration of term of service. He left much broken in health, and on reaching home had pneumonia, typhoid, and remittent fever successively, and was given up to die. He ran away from his doctor as soon as he was able to travel, and on February 17, 1865, he re-enlisted in Company C of the 8Ist O. V. I., his former regiment, and was made company wagoner. He served until July 13, 1865, when he was mustered out, as the war was over. He came home a second time much broken in health, and it took him some time to regain his strength. As soon as he was able, he went to teaming. On May 29, 1871, he was married to Miss Mary A. Young, daughter of Thomas Young, of Greene Township, Adams County. He and his wife went to housekeeping in Buena Vista, and resided there a year. Mr. Pitts was born a trader, and moved to near Rome, Adams County, where he resided for two years. and then moved back to Buena Vista and engaged in teaming and farming. He bought the Flagg farm near Buena Vista, and lived on it until 1878, when he sold it to William J. Flagg.
He then bought the Lorey Adams farm, consisting of one hundred and seventy acres, two miles north of Rome, on the Mineral Springs road, and resided there until 1882, when he sold it and purchased the Solomon B. McCall farm near Buena Vista. He resided there until 1886, when he sold it to Richard Young and bought two farms from Judge Ousler, in Greene Township, in Adams County. He moved on to the one where Judge Ousler had had his residence, and resided there until February, 1890, when he traded his farms for lots in the city of Ports-
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mouth and moved there. He purchased a home at 1439 Grandview Ave- nue, on Lawson Heights, and resides there at the present time.
He enjoys the distinction of being almost the only man who went into the army at the age of fifteen, and came out at the age of nineteen, in July, 1865, having served nearly four years. He has two children: Elya Eleanor, former wife of Henry Kept, who has a daughter Myrtie, aged six years; and William, his son, aged fifteen years.
Mr. Pitts has always maintained the most amicable relations with all his neighbors wherever he has dwelt, and could go back and live pleasantly at any of his former homes. He is of an agreeable and oblig- ing disposition, but he cannot refuse a trade when it is offered; and yet, with all his trading, he has made and saved money; and he is an exception to the rolling stone adage, if moss therein means money. In his political faith, he is a Democrat, but he has never sought or held office, nor has it sought him. He is a teamster by occupation, and fol- lows it diligently. He is not a member of any church, but believes in the religion of humanity. He tries to meet every duty in life with a cheer- ful disposition, and so far has succeeded. He hopes to continue his bravery of spirit till he shall be called hence.
Robert Miller Peterson,
farmer, residing near Peebles, Ohio, was born July 5, 1854, near New- port, in Adams County. His father was Ralph Peterson, a native of Brown Couty, whose father, Ralph Peterson, came from the State of New Jersey. The name is Swedish, and Ralph Peterson's ancestors came to this country originally from Sweden.
Our subject's mother was Drusilla A. Wilson. Her father, Ralph Wilson, born in Pennsylvania, was in the War of 1812, and had nine brothers, all of whom were soldiers in the same war. He had five sisters. Our subject attended the common schools of his vicinity and . early displayed a thirst for learning. He attended several Normal schools in the county, began the work of teaching in 1873, and con- tinued it for ten years, working on the farm in the Summer months. From 1883 to 1885, he was engaged in merchandising at Dunbarton, Ohio, with J. W. Rogers, under the firm name of Rogers & Peterson. In 1885, he went to farming on the farm where he now resides, and has followed that occupation ever since. He was Clerk of Meigs Township from 1892 to 1896.
He was married September 19, 1883, to Miss Ellen M. Rogers, daughter of John Wilson Rogers. They have two children, Nellie B. and Ralph.
Mr. Peterson is not a member of any church, but believes in the broad religion of humanity. He is one of those with whom it is pleas- ant to meet and converse, and after meeting him one feels that he has met a fellow man whom it is a pleasure to know. He possesses much magnetism and he aims to do good to all with whom he associates and makes those persons feel he has benefited them. He is always ready to learn and equally ready to impart his information in a way to give pleasure to his hearers. In his political beliefs, he is a Democrat. He is a citizen, honest, industrious and upright, whose life can always be
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cited for good and whose place in the community is for usefulness. He is a prudent and safe counselor, an obliging and considerate neighbor. As a friend, he is faithful and true. His convictions on any subject are strong and not easily changed. With all these good qualities fully known and understood, he is highly esteemed among his neighbors and in the circle of his associates.
Rev. William J. Quarry
was born at Mossgrove, County Cork, Ireland, November, 1816, where his family had resided for generations. His father, James Quarry, was a descendant of one of Cromwell's officers. His mother's maiden name was Jane Shorten. Her home was at Pullerwick, and often visited by the Wesleys in their visits to Ireland. Rev. Quarry was raised an Epis- copalian and was baptized and confirmed in that church. In his boy- hood, he enjoyed the advantages of the common school system in Ire- land, but later on, when it entered his mind to preach, he was sent to Bandon, where he devoted himself to studying and teaching for eight years. In 1843, he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church and was licensed to preach. In 1844, after the death of his father, he con- cluded to emigrate to America, and he left Ireland on the fifth day of May, 1845, in the sailing ship "Virginia," with his sister. They were five weeks on their voyage to New York City. They came direct to Cincinnati, arriving there on the eighth of July. The following Decem- ber, Bishop Hamlin sent Mr. Quarry to Patriot Circuit. In September, 1846, he was admitted on trial to the Ohio Conference, and from that time on he labored in the ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church until 1879, when he retired from active work. In this period, he was preacher and pastor in twenty-one circuits and stations, first in the Ohio Con- ference, and afterwards in the Cincinnati Conference, and that without vacation or intermission. In 1852, while on the Lockland charge, on the ninth of September, he was married to Miss Harriet Elizabeth Bagby, who was a true helpmate and co-worker in all his ministerial labors, but especially in the Sunday School, where her natural talents found their best adaptation and the greatest success crowned her efforts.
To this union, one child was born, Miss Kate J. Quarry, who now resides at Felicity, and is Postmistress there.
In 1851, and again in 1873. he was located at West Union, the last time remaining there until 1876, when he located at Felicity, in Cler- mont County.
April 7, 1890, Mrs. Quarry was stricken with paralysis, and, after a short illness. died. The years of Rev. Quarry's life after this event were years of great physical suffering, but filled with hope and rejoic- ing. His home was one where his hosts of friends loved to go with words of comfort and encouragement. On February 9, he passed away after twelve days' sickness, with La Grippe.
Rev. Quarry was a man who was loved by all who knew him. He was a true Irishman and one of the best types of his countrymen. In his preaching, he was enthusiastic and earnest, and very successful. He and his wife are lovingly remembered by all their old friends in Adams County.
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Prof. Franklin Eugene Reynolds,
of Waverly, Ohio, is one of the foremost educators and one of the best teachers in Southern Ohio. He was born on the twenty-fourth of Jan- uary, 1870, the sixth son and eighth child of Stephen Reynolds and Maria Moore, his wife, near where the town of Peebles is, on the old Dunbar farm. His mother was a daughter of Newton Moore, one of the most successful of the Brush Creek farmers. His father was an extensive farmer and stock raiser and was very successful in each of those occupations. Our subject attended the common schools near his home until 1887, when he attended the school at Lebanon, Ohio, and grad- uated in the Scientific course in 1889. He began his career as a teacher in the Fall of 1889, and few have accomplished as much as he in ten years. From 1889 until 1892, he taught District schools in the Fall and Winter in Adams and Scioto Counties.
In the Summer of 1890 and 1891, he taught a Normal school at North Liberty, Ohio,in connection with Prof. J. W. Jones. In the Summer of 1892, he read medicine with Dr. George F. Thomas, at Peebles. From the Fall of 1892 until June, 1895, he was principal of the High school in Manchester. In the Summers of 1893, 1894 and 1895, he taught Summer schools at Manchester in connection with Prof. J. W. Jones. In the Fall of 1895, he was elected Superintedent of the schools at Manchester, and served until June, 1899. In the Summer of 1896, he taught a Normal school at Manchester. In the Summer of 1898, he taught a Normal school at West Union in connection with Prof. J. E. Collins. In the Summer of 1899, he attended the Summer post- graduate course at the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio. In the Fall of 1899, he accepted the position of Superintendent of the schools at Waverly, Ohio.
In December, 1895, he was granted by the State Board of School Examiners a Common School Life Certificate. In December, 1898, the same Board granted him a High School Life Certificate. Eighty per cent. of the teachers who taught in Adams County in the years 1898 and 1899 had been pupils of his in the County Normals, or Summer schools. In 1897, he was one of the County School Examiners of Adams County. Mr. Reynolds is a Free Mason. He is a member of the Blue Lodge and Chapter of Manchester, and of the Commandery in Portsmouth. He is also an Odd Fellow and Knight of Pythias and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Prof. Reynolds is a man of strong personality and exceptional at- tainments in the branches of learning he has studied. His perceptions are quick and keen. He is a disciplinarian and an organizer of rare ability. His influence for good, wherever he has taught, has been remarkable. His administration of the Manchester schools has been the brightest in their history. While the work in the common branches under his supervision was well carried on, he introduced new subjects of study and infused in his pupils a love of them and enthusiasm in the pursuit of them. Since his location at Waverly, he has become largely instrumental in the founding of the Riverside Tri-County Teachers' Association and is its President.
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He has tireless zeal and energy in his chosen profession. He puts his whole soul into his work, and makes the tedious pursuit of learn- ing attractive, delightful and interesting. He possesses strong will, wonderful energy and is full of confidence in his plans and projects. He has a fine constitution and excellent health. He has a sound mind in a sound body and conserves all his mental and physical forces. His carreer as a teacher fairly begun will be one of the best and most brilliant. He is a Democrat in his political principles, believing in "government of the people, by the people and for the people."
Walter Ellsworth Roberts.
" All are architects of fate Working in these walls of time ; Some with massive deeds and great, Some with ornaments of rhyme; For the structure that we raise, Time is with material filled; Our to-days and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we build."
It was upon the twenty-fourth day of February, 1870, that Walter Ellsworth Roberts received the first block from Time with which to build the structure of his life. He has not yet built with "massive deeds and great," nor with "ornaments of rhyme." Though fully as well has he built with the high prize of life, that crowning fortune of a man, which is to be born with a bias to some pursuit which ever finds him in em- ployment and happiness.
He was the youngest son of a family of eleven children, born to Isaac and Lucinda E. Roberts. His ancestry will be found in the sketch of Lincoln J. Roberts, his brother. His parents, with two children, came from Virginia to Adams County, Ohio, in 1851. They purchased land in the northern part of Winchester Township, where the subject of this sketch was born and where he still resides. His childhood days were spent much the same as those of most boys upon a farm, where many people think that what boys do on a farm is of no consequence. A careful observer would see, as Charles Dudley Warner has so well ex- pressed in his book, "Being a Boy," that "a farm without a boy would very soon come to grief."
His education was received in the District school which he attended until seventeen years of age. He then attended the North Liberty Academy and the Garret Biblical Institute of Evanston, Illinois, where his standing in his classes was always good, having never received a grade under ninety per cent. in anv study.
He united with the Seaman Methodist Episcopal Church on Feb- ruary 23, 1893, and was licensed a local preacher by the Quarterly Con- ference of Winchester charge in January, 1894. He has twice been chosen to represent his local church in the Lay Electoral Conferences, the first in 1895, at Hamilton, Ohio, and the next in 1899, at Dayton, Ohio. He has taken an active part in the Farmers' Institutes of the county, having been elected President of one session of the Institute at North Liberty, Ohio. Since 1895, he has been prominently identified with the Sabbath School work of the county, having charge of the
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Normal Department, and was the first Normal Secretary elected in the county. In November, 1898, at Russellville, Ohio, he assisted in organiz- ing a Normal Department in the Sabbath School work in Brown county, and enrolled the first student in that county, Mrs. Sallie Webster, a mis- sionary to Santiago, Chili. S. A.
Mr. Roberts is actively engaged in farming, having an attractive and delightful home on a farm of two hundred and twenty-six acres. He is a constant reader and a great lover of books. His library is one of the largest and best in the county, and all who call at Greenway Farm will be most hospitably received and entertained and find in Mr. Roberts a gentleman of delightful social qualities.
Joseph W. Rothrock,
of Washington C. H., Ohio, was born June 7, 1839, at Mt. Leigh, in Adams County. His father was Joseph Rothrock, and his mother, Sarah Mckinney. They were from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. He grew up on his father's farm, and after learning out at the District schools, attended the North Liberty Academy, and afterwards at Lebanon, Ohio.
For nine years, while a boy and a youth, he was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and helped two hundred slaves to freedom. He entered the service of his country October 6, 1861, as a Private in Company B, 60th O. V. I., a year regiment. His brother, Philip, was Captain of the company. . He was in the battle of Cross Keys and at Harper's Ferry. On June 25, 1863, he enlisted in the Second Ohio Heavy Artillery, Company B, and was made a Sergeant of the com- pany, August 5, 1863. He was promoted Second Lieutenant and assigned to Company I, December 28, 1864. He was mustered out August 23, 1865. He took up his residence at Winchester, Ohio, and began to trade in cattle.
On the seventeenth of August, 1867, he was married to Miss Effie J. Davis. He has a son, Frank, who is married and has one child. He is conducting a steam laundry at Washington C. H. He has a daughter, Anna, who resides with her father.
In 1884, he removed from Winchester, Ohio, to Washington C. H., where he has ever since resided. He is a Republican. He was born a Presbyterian and is a member of the church at Washington C. H., and a ruling elder therein.
He is genial and cordial in his disposition, ready to make friends and able to hold them. He is always interested in young people and desirous that they shall enjoy themselves. He is a man of strong busi- ness integrity and great fairness, honest and reliable in all his dealings. Those who know him best, admire him for his strong Christian char- acter, his devotion to religious convictions and to his church. He is wise in counsel, gentle in manner, devoted to duty and lived his faith every day.
James Polk Roush,
merchant, of Bentonville, was born in Sprigg Township, December 29, 1842, on the farm now occupied by Michael Smith. His grandparents, . Michael and Mary Frye Roush, were married in Shenandoah County,
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Virginia, in 1794, and removed to Adams County, in 1796, settling on the above mentioned farm. Michael Roush was a millwright and he built and ran a "horse mill," common in early times. It is remarkable that when Mr. Roush came to Adams County that stone was so scarce that he drove all the way down Suck Run without finding a wagon load for pillars for his house and used locust blocks instead, some of which may be seen under the old house to this day. Robert S. Roush, the father of our subject, was born September 6, 1814, at the old place. He married Mary Ann Hook, in 1837, the fruits of which union were Dobbins, Eliz- abeth, James Polk, Michael, Thomas H., John H., Franklin P., Wil- liam W. and George W. Mr. Roush, the subject of this sketch, received a limited education in the common schools of the township, and has given his attention mostly to farming until the last three years since which time he has been engaged in the dry goods and grocery busi- ness in Bentonville. He was married October 15, 1863, to Caroline B. McNulty, daughter of Asa McNulty, of Brown County.
The children born to them are Ida M., married to Thos. Sinniger, of Bentonville; Anna, married to James Sinniger, of Aberdeen, Ohio; Eliza Jane, married to W. J. Flaugher, merchant, of Bentonville; George C., married to Bertha Shipley (deceased), daughter of Milton Shipley, and Frank, married to Identie Smith. Mr. Roush is a Dem- ocrat of the old school, although he has never taken any active part in politics, preferring to give his whole attention to his business, at which he has been moderately successfully. He was elected Treasurer of Sprigg Township in 1899 without any solicitation on his part. Mr. Roush is known far and wide as a man upright in all his dealings and is rated "good" as a merchant in Bradstreet's.
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