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 105
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The theological and religious views were Unitarian, and formed along the line of the teachings of Theodore Parker, Edward Everett Hale, Horace Mann, Thomas Hill, and others of like views.
On the twelth day of August, 1852, he was married to Rachel Jane Gutridge, daughter of James Gutridge, a citizen of Concord Township, Highland County, Ohio.
The Hon. John Little, of Greene County, says of him: "There is no better citizen than Major W. L. Shaw. He served his country faithfully and well in the Civil War. As a business man, he ranks among the first."
Gen. J. Warren Keifer, with whom he served, says of him: "He was devoted to his duties as Adjutant General and Inspector General while serving on my staff in the Civil War. He was efficient, intelligent and tireless. There was no better officer of his rank in the Volunteer Army.".
Hon. James Sloane
was born February 22, 1822, in Richmond, Virginia. His parents were from near Belfast, in Ireland, and were Presbyterians. They had located in Richmond, Va., but a short time prior to the birth of their son, James. In 1827, they removed to Cincinnati, and in 1828, to a farm near Fayette- ville, Brown County, Ohio.
James Sloane was raised a typical farmer's son. He worked hard all Summer and attended District school in Winter. At seventeen, he received a severe injury, caused by a log rolling on his side and fractur- ing his ribs, from which he never fully recovered. In 1839 and 1840, he taught school in Brown and Clinton Counties. In 1840, he began the study of law with Judge Barclay Harlan, in Wilmington, Ohio, and graduated from the Cincinnati Law School in 1844. In 1845, he located in Hillsboro and began practice. In 1845, he was married to Miss Kate White, of Ross County, who bore him two sons, one of whom is Ulric Sloane, the eloquent advocate, now a resident of the city of Columbus, but well known to all the people of Adams County. In 1856, James Sloane was elected a Common Pleas Judge in the Fifth Judicial District on the Democratic ticket, but resigned after one year's service. He felt that he was made for the bar and not for the bench, and while his fellow members of the bar were of the opinion that he made an excellent Judge, he felt that the bar suited him better. He practiced law in Highland, Ross, Fayette, Brown, Clinton and Adams Counties. When the war broke out he organized Company K, 12th O. V. I., three months service,
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and went out as its Captain. He was wounded April 20, 1861, and mustered out July 6, 1861, to accept appointment as Captain in Com- pany K, 12th O. V. I., three years' service. He was severely wounded in the West Virgina campaign, at Scary Creek, July 17, 1861. His health broke down and he resigned November 25, 1861. He soon learned, after going into the army, that the injury received at the age of seventeen prevented him from performing the duty of a soldier and hence his enforced retirement. He practiced law in Hillsboro until 1868, when he opened an office in Cincinnati, where he remained until 1871, when he returned to Hillsboro. He died September 17, 1873, of conges- tion of the brain. He possessed high degree of natural talent. His mind was always clear and he possessed great analytic power. He was capable of great and continued mental effort and seemed to take pleasure in it.
He had a remarkable memory and a fertile imagination. In his temperament he was warm and impetuous. He was an eloquent and powerful advocate. His success was brillant, but with it all, he was a misanthrope and given to fits of melancholy. He could be a delight- ful companion if he chose, but did not often so choose. His last days were clouded by his fits of melancholy and he stood aloof from most of his friends. He is remembered by the bar in the counties before men- tioned as a lawyer of wonderful power and application.
Hon. Emmons B. Stivers.
Emmons Buchanan Stivers, a son of Lilley Stivers and his wife, Barbara Reynolds, was born in Fincastle, Brown County, Ohio, May 6, 1857. When in his fourth year his parents removed to a farm near Ash Ridge, Jackson Township, Brown County, where he was reared and where he received the rudiments of an English education in the Dis- trict schools. In 1876, he began teaching school as a profession and followed it with remarkable success for fifteen years, having in the mean time taken a course in the Normal University, Lebanon, Ohio, then under the control of President Alfred Holbrook.
In 1882-3, he had charge of the academy at North Liberty, Adams County, and in the Autumn of the latter year was elected Superintendent of Schools at West Union, receiving the highest salary ever paid in that position. On December 27, 1883, he was married to Miss Ida Mc- Cormick, a daughter of William McCormick, near Tranquility, Adams County. While a resident of West Union, Mr. Stivers edited and pub- lished The Index, afterwards merged into The Democratic Index, a news- paper of wide circulation. He also, in 1885, published his "Outlines of United States History." and a hand-book for teachers, titled "Recreations in School Studies," which has reached its tenth edition.
Having undertaken the study of the law in the office of Hon F. D. Bayless, while residing in West Union, in the Autumn of 1887, Mr. Stivers removed to Cincinnati to complete his course, and in 1888 he was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court at Columbus, Ohio.
In 1890, his health failing, he removed to his farm near his boy- hood home in Brown County, where he now resides, looking after his farming interests, his publications, and his legal practice.
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HON. EMMONS B. STIVERS
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In 1895, Mr. Stivers was elected by the Democratic party to repre- sent Brown County in the Ohio Legislature, and he was re-elected to that position in 1897. In 1899, he was elected to the Ohio Senate from the 2d-4th District, composed of the counties of Brown, Clermont, Butler and Warren, which position he is now holding. From 1897 to 1899, he represented the Sixth Congressional District as a member of the Demo- cratic State Central Committee. While a member of the Legislature, Mr. Stivers was placed on the most important committees such as the Judiciary, Railroads and Telegraphs, Insurance, Fees and Salaries, and Municipal Affairs.
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the K. of P. His domestic relations are most happy, and he has four bright and interesting children. His son, Ulric Stivers, was a Page in the 73rd Session of the Ohio Senate, at the age of nine years, being the youngest lad ever chosen to that position. He was chosen by the unanimous vote of the Senate regardless of politics, after the customary minority party Page had been appointed by the President of the Senate.
Joseph Patterson Smith.
Among the sons of Adams County, Ohio, who attained to position of prominence, perhaps the subject of this sketch was most widely known. Joseph Patterson Smith, son of John M. and Matilda A. (Patterson) Smith, was born in West Union, August 7, 1856, and received the prin- cipal part of his education in the Public schools of his native place. He had a retentive mind and was especially proficient in mathematics and history. From his father, he inherited a splendid memory and a love of statistics, and from his mother an energy and ambition that were characteristic of the man in later years. Like many of his companions, during the Summer months in his youth, he learned the only trade for which an opportunity was offered in West Union-that of a printer. At about the age of sixteen, he was employed for a few months in a nail mill at Bellaire, Ohio, but his constitution was too delicate for such an occupation, and it was abandoned. For a time, he attended the Un- iversity at Greencastle, Ind., supporting himself by labor at the printing case during the evening hours. Subsequently he taught for a few terms in the District schools of Ohio and Illinois.
From early boyhood, beginning with the "Reconstruction Period," Mr. Smith evinced a strong love for politics, and was noted among his townsmen for his knowledge and understanding of the questions at issue, and for his ardent Republicanism, long before he attained his majority. As an occasional local correspondent, he attracted the attention of the editor of the Cincinnati Commercial, and was employed by him as a "special" to travel over the State, in 1876, and write up the political outlook in each of the Congressional Districts. In this manner he be- came acquainted with the leading Ohio Republicans (of whom Major Mckinley was one) and formed lasting friendships with many of those who afterwards became noted in history of the State and Nation. From that time, until the date of his death, Joseph P. Smith was a prominent factor in Ohio politics. Almost wholly through his own exertions, Mr. Smith was successful in becoming the Republican caucus nominee and
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was elected Journal Clerk of the Senate in the Sixty-fifth General As- sembly. He was also for a time a Clerk in the Roster Department of the State Adjutant General's Office.
At different times during the years covering and immediately fol- lowing these periods, he edited the Western Star at Lebanon, the Cler- mont Courier at Batavia, and the New Era at West Union. In 1888, he became part owner and editor of the Daily Citizen, of Urbana, which gained a reputation under his management extending beyond the con- fines of the State. The Citizen was the first newspaper to advocate the selection of Wiliam Mckinley as the Gubernatorial candidate of the Re- publican party, and his name was kept at the head of its editorial col- umns from the day following Major Mckinley's defeat for Congress in the famous gerrymandered district, in 1890, until his triumphant elec- tion for Governor of Ohio, in 1891. A number of the campaign docu- ments used by the Republican State Committee that year (as were a number in subsequent years and also in the National campaign of 1896) were prepared by Joseph P. Smith. Throughout the period of his con- trol of the Citizen its editorials were widely quoted.
In 1891, the late John A. Cockerill, then editor-in-chief of the New York World, tendered Mr. Smith a position on the editorial staff of that paper; but the flattering offer, while appreciated as a gracious com- pliment, was declined, as he did not want to leave the State. A tender of the editorship of the Toledo, Ohio, Daily Commercial was accepted in Dec., of that year. While serving on the latter paper (in 1892), Gover- nor Mckinley appointed him State Librarian. Many useful, rare and valuable works were added to the library during his incumbency of the office. Especially is this true as to works of reference. In May, 1896, he resigned the librarianship to take a confidential position with Major McKinley, remaining with him throughout the Presidential campaign and until after the latter's inaguration as President of the United States, March 4, 1897.
It is a fact, which none acquainted with the circumstances will dis- pute, that no other individual in the State did more to bring about the nomination of Major Mckinley to the Presidency than Joseph P. Smith. Such was his love and esteem for the man that his every energy was exerted to the end that his friend might become the head of the Nation. His private papers, covering the years 1893, 1894, 1895 and 1896, now in possession of Mrs. Smith's executor and held as a legacy for his children, show that he was in correspondence and close touch with leading Re- publicans in every State and Territory in the Union during these years. No young man had a more extensive acquaintance,and none ever made more strenuous efforts to redeem all political promises. He was a thorough organizer and could see further into the effects of a political move than almost any other person engaged therein. And yet no one ever heard him boast of his influence, or personally claim to have done anything superior to that of the ordinary party worker. His mind was a veritable encylopedia of political information and a magazine of re- minisences of the politics and the politicians of the past and present.
On March 29, 1897, the President tendered Mr. Smith the position of Director of the Bureau of the American Republics, and his action
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HON. JOSEPH P. SMITH DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
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was approved by the Executive Committee of the Bureau. As the official head of this department, he was making its influence felt throughout the nineteen Republics included in its organization, and, had his life been spared, he undoubtedly would have been instrumental in more firmly uniting them to their mutual commercial benefit, and thus have more effectually carried out the original conception of the late James G. Blaine, as he outlined it at the Pan-American Congress in 1889-1890.
During his brief life, and aside from his other duties, Joseph P. Smith edited several works, including "The Speeches of William Mc- Kinley," which attained a wide circulation. He wrote numerous short articles of a political and historical nature, a biography of the President :or Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia for 1897, and a "History of the Re- publican Party of Ohio." Several contemplated works in various states of preparation were among his papers at the time of his death.
Never of the most robust health, but kept up for years by a wonder- ful will power, Mr. Smith was compelled to seek for rest and restoration of health in October, 1897. After battling bravely against a combina- tion of diseases, and after seemingly having conquered them, death came suddenly on the morning of February 5, 1898, at Miami, Florida, where he had been taken by friends during the previous December.
On April 14, 1886, Joseph P. Smith and Miss Maryneal Hutches, of Galveston, Texas, were married at the home of the bride's parents. Several children were born to this union, namely, Frank Hutches, at Galveston, Texas; Virginia Patterson, at Batavia, Ohio; Antoinette Barker, Mary Stow, John Michell, William McKinley, and Joseph Pat- terson, at Urbana. The last named was but five months old when his father died.
Maryneal Hutches Smith was born at Galveston, Texas, March I, 1860. She was educated at Abbott Academy, at Andover, Massachusetts, graduating in June, 1878. After her marriage, she resided for a time in Columbus, then in Batavia, and for the last ten years of her life in Urbana. Under the terms of her husband's will, she was left sole execu- trix of his estate and guardian of her children. Being a woman of brilliant mind and attainments, and endowed with a wonderful ambition, she ac- cepted the trust, and planned to make the futures of her children all that was anticipated and contemplated by her deceased husband. In June, 1898, without solicitation on her part, President Mckinley appointed Mrs. Smith to the position of Postmistress of the city of Urbana, Ohio. She was performing the duties of this office with credit and ability, as was evidenced by the improvements in the office and the increase in its re- ceipts, when the death summons came immediately and almost without warning. She died at her home in Urbana of apoplexy on the after- noon of September 12, 1898, or but a little more than seven months after the death of her husband. Thus, within that short space of time, the several children were deprived of the care of the parents who were gener- ous and indulgent to a fault. Together the earthly forms of their parents are resting in a beautiful plat in lovely Oakdale cemetery at Urbana.
At the time of his death the whole press of Ohio, and all the leading newspapers of the Nation, regardless of party, for he was recognized by the Democrats as an honorable opponent, and had warm personal
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friendships among them, spoke only in praise of Joseph P. Smith. Of the expressions used, no more candid and truthful portrayal of his life and character can be found than is contained in this extract from the Canton, Ohio Repository, of February 5, 1898:
"Supremely faithful and loving to his family, combined with his beautiful qualities of heart and brighest of bright intellects, his greatest virtue was his unfaltering loyalty to the cause of which were enshrined his brightest earthly hopes and ambitions.
"Had his physical body possessed the strength to support his in- domitable energy in the assiduous application of his remarkable intellect, few men would have equalled him in possibilities of attainment.
"His fertile head was a vertiable store house. History, ancient and modern, were constant and living pictures in his always lively memory. His brain seemed incandescent with the knowledge almost of the world, when ripe occasion made its demands on his resourceful mind. When working in the cause he loved the most, he knew no night or day. Sleep could only come when utter physical exhaustion forced tired nature to assert herself. * * *
"He was firm in the faith of Everlasting Peace to come. In Canton, in his tribute to a friend who had gone from earth, he wrote in par- aphrase :
"Tears for the living. Love for the dead."
"And yet, many is the heart that grieves, and myriad are the eyes that glisten today upon receiving the news from Florida at the taking away of an intellect so bright and a character so lovely, just as fame and fortune were at his feet in recognition of eminently patriotic service."
Andrew Jackson Stivers
was the second son of Robert Stivers, and Jane Meharry. Until his eight- eenth year, he lived on his father's farm. Here under the prayerful guidance of his pious mother, many lessons of patience and economy were learned; and the foundation for his future successful business career was laid. In 1836, he removed to Ripley, where his faithfulness and uprightness of character soon established for him a permanent place as a business man and a citizen. In 1847, he began his long and successful career as a banker; at that time the first bank in Ripley was founded, and for almost fifty years he was intimately associated with the Farmers' National Bank and Citizens' National Bank.
Mr. Stivers was married in 1845 to Miss Harriet Newall McClain. 'After six years of married life, Mrs. Stivers died in August, 1851. Mr. Stivers was united in marriage a second time, December 13, 1859, to Miss Catherine Maddox, who proved a faithful and loving wife through years of unusual happiness and prosperity, and who still survives him. The mantle of Mr. Stivers' unselfishness and prosperity has fallen upon his two surviving sons, John Robert and Frank Alexander Stivers, who are substantial business men of Ripley, Ohio, the latter being now President of the Citizens' National Bank, with which his father was connected for so many years. As a loving and devoted husband, a kind and generous
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father, a broad and honest business man and a loyal Christian gentleman, no words of eulogy are sufficient to express the nobility of character of Andrew Jackson Stivers, the subject of this sketch.
Andrew Jackson Stivers came from a long line of Virginia patriots and sturdy Irish ancestors. His grandfather, John Stivers, a native of Virginia, was born in 1764. He served his country in the Revolutionary War, as a member of the Virginia Militia, before he was sixteen years of age. Robert Stivers, father of A. J. Stivers, was born March 26, 1789, in Westmoreland County, Pa. He served as a Volunteer in the War of 1812, as an Ensign of Lieutenant Daniel Coe's Company, First Regi- ment, Col. Edward's Ohio Militia, on a general call to Sandusky.
At the time of enlistment, he was a resident of Adams County, hav- ing come with his parents from Virginia to Brownsville (then Redstone), Fayette County, Pennsylvania, thence to Ohio, and settled near Man- chester. It was here that Robert Stivers met Jane Meharry, and in 1815 they were married in Liberty Township.
Jane Meharry was a native of Ireland, born February 3, 1790, and came to this country in May, 1794, with her father, Alexander Meharry, and her stepmother, Jane Meharry. The family settled at Connellsville, Pennsylvania, in July, 1794, and in April, 1799, removed to Kentucky and shortly afterwards to Adams County, Ohio.
To Robert and Jane Stivers were born four sons and four daughters. Robert Stivers died July 12, 1855, and Jane Stivers died April 10, 1870. Both are buried in Briar Ridge cemetery, this county.
Isaac Smalley
was born August 4, 1825, the youngest son of Willian and Esther Smalley, near Jaybird, in Adams County, on the same farm on which he died, De- cember 21, 1899. He was a farmer all his life and had no ambition for public office. He was a prominent Free Mason. He was married Jan- uary 24, 1848, to Miss Hannah Parks, who survived him. She was a daughter of John and Eliza Parks, both of Hillsboro, Highland County. He and his wife lived on the same farm for fifty-two years.
They had four children, three daughters and a son, Ora, who resides with his mother. As a farmer, Mr. Smalley was very successful and ac- cumulated a competence. He was very fond of rearing live stock and especially horses, He was an excellent judge of horseflesh. He never held any office except that of Trustee of his Township. He was conserva- tive in all his views and actions.
He was strong in his feelings of either love or hate, but was highly respected in the entire circle of his acquaintances. He could have had a summer resort and village on his home farm on account of its remark- able medicinal and pure water springs, located on it, but preferred to dis- pense with those improvements and to be undisturbed on his farm sur- rounded by some of the finest scenery in Adams County.
Alexander B. Steen.
Alexander Boyd Steen, the fourth son and seventh child of Alexander and Agnes Nancy Steen, a twin brother of John W. Steen, was born near Flemingsburg, Ky., May 5, 1813. He was brought by his parents to Ohio in
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1820, and resided in the same locality, three miles northeast of Win- chester, Adams County, Ohio, almost seventy-five years. He was a child of the Covenant, descended from a long line of staunch Scotch-Irish Presbyterian ancestors, who had endured persecution and suffered impris- onment for their religious faith. He was a most saintly man, greatly be- loved by all who knew him, and his gentle manner, sweet devotion and absorbing zeal reminded one of the Apostle Saint John. He occupied comparatively a humble sphere in life, but no man in all that region ex- tended a wider religious influence than he. In private conversation, his spiritual insight and heavenly-mindedness was elevating to the soul. His faith in God's Word was unbounded, and the Divine promises were to him, living realities. He was no mere dreamer, thinking of future glory, but insisted upon the faithful performance of the practical duties of every day. He was not a learned man, but was more familiar with the English Bible than many professors of theology. He would quote from memory the verse and chapter of the Bible to substantiate his position upon any subject of conversation. By a fall, some years before his death, he was severely injured in the hips, which largely confined him to the house. He spoke of this afterwards as a special blessing, inasmuch as it gave him a better opportunity to study the Scriptures. He brought up his family of eight children in the fear of the Lord and all became members of the Mt. Leigh Presbyterian Church with which he was connected for more than fifty years. He died at his home near Winchester, Ohio, March 8, 1895, aged eighty-one years, ten months and three days. His body rests in the cemetery at Mt. Leigh. Alexander B. Steen was married by the Rev. Robert Stewart, March 29, 1838, to Miss Nancy Jane McClure, a daughter of Michael and Elizabeth McClure. She was born in Hillsboro, Highland County, Ohio, September 11, 1821, and died March 18, 1893, aged seventy-one years, five months and seven days.
Samuel Cummings Stevenson,
of Grimes Postoffice, was born March 11, 1838, in the old double log cabin at the mouth of Bayou Manyoupper, below the mouth of Ohio Brush Creek, the last bayou on the trip from New Orleans to Pittsburgh. His father was Richard Stevenson, a son of John Stevenson, a native of Donegal, Ireland, who made his escape to America at the time of the Emmett Rebellion, and built the double log cabin on the site of the old stone house at Pleasant Bottoms, at mouth of Ohio Brush Creek. Richard Stevenson was born October 11, 1798, in the old cabin above mentioned on the old Stevenson farm. He married Sarah Cummings, a daughter of Captain Samuel Cummings, of Lewis County, Kentucky, opposite the Stevenson home on the Ohio. He was a boat carpenter, and for years built flatboats at the mouth of Brush Creek and cordelled them to Ken- ยท hawah Licks, where they were loaded with salt for New Orleans. He lived at the mouth of the bayou till 1838, when he built the present brick residence, now the home of the subject of this sketch. He died July 7, 1855.
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