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 111
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of his services, his health was so broken by swamp fever that he was com- pelled to give up his chosen profession and he followed mecantile pursuits and farming, making several changes in his location. For the past nineteen years, he has been Professor of Mathematics at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois. He has always been an active church worker and especially in the Sunday School. He was never married.
George Marion Wikof
was born December 31, 1837, on Scioto Brush Creek, in Adams County, ten miles north of Rome. His father was James Wikoff and his mother, Rachel Prather, a daughter of John Prather, one of the old citizens of Adams County. Her brother, Henry Prather, is the one who started the West Union and Manchester Hack Line, and maintained it all his life. His parents had ten children and he was the fifth. He was reared near Blue Creek Postoffice and attended school there. He learned the vocation of a farmer, and when of age, purchased a farm in the vicinity of his birth- place. He was married October 8, 1863, at Otway, Ohio, to Miss Sarah Freeman, daughter of Isma Freeman.
In 1867, our subject sold his farm and moved to Rarden, Scioto County, Ohio, where he carried on the business of merchandising with the exception of three years, until 1888, since which time he has been engaged in farming and trading. His wife died on October 22, 1887. In 1894 and 1895, he was Mayor of the village of Rarden. He has had four children. His son James, his daughter Minnie, wife of John R. Davis, and his son John W., all reside in Rarden. His son, William, reached the age of twenty, a young man of the finest health and physique. In the Spring of 1898, he accepted employment in the C. P. & V. R. R., and on July 6, 1898, died of a blow received while riding on the top of a freight car while passing through the tunnel at Arion. Thus was this most promising young life cut off.
Our subject is a Democrat in his political views and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Wikoff tries to live according to the Golden Rule to the best of his ability, and comes as near to it as the average of humanity.
Gen. Allen T. Wikof
was born in Adams County, Ohio, on November 15, 1825, the son of John and Nancy (Jones) Wikoff, and was reared on his father's farm. He re- ceived such education as the common schools afforded and afterwards im- proved himself by private study. He began life as a farmer and continued it until July 25, 1862, when he enlisted in the 91st O. V. I., as First Lieu- tenant of Company I. He was promoted Captain of the company, No- vember 20, 1862, and served until the twenty-fourth of June, 1865. After his return from the army, he resided in Columbus and studied law.
In 1867, he was admitted to the bar but never actively engaged in the practice of law. In 1871, he was appointed Chief Clerk in the office of the Secretary of State, which position he held until he was elected Secretary of State in 1872. In 1874, he was renominated for that office by his party, but was defeated with the State ticket. In 1874, he was made Chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee, and served as such until 1876,
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when he was appointed Adjutant General of Ohio by Governor Hayes, and was also elected as the Ohio member of the Republican National Com- mittee. He resigned both last named positions in order to give his entire attention to the duties of Chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee in the campaign of 1876.
In February, 1877, he was appointed United States Pension Agent at Columbus, Ohio, by President Grant. He was reappointed to the same office by President Hayes in 1881, and reappointed by President Arthur in 1885, holding the office until July 1, 1885, when President Cleveland ap- pointed one of his own party in his place.
In December, 1885, he was appointed by the United States Circuit Court at Columbus, Ohio, Receiver of the Cleveland & Marietta Rail- road and sold it under order of the Court, July 1, 1886. On the reorgani- zation of the road, he was made President, Director and General Manager, and as such had charge of the road until the close of 1893.
In April, 1896, he was appointed by Governor Bushnell as a member of the Ohio Canal Commission.
In December, 1852, Gen. Wikoff was married to Angeline Collier, daughter of John Collier, of Adams County, Ohio. They have four sons living, Wheeler R., John B., James E., and Charles A. Since 1872, his residence has been in Columbus. He is a man of high character, esteemed by all who know him. His record as a business man, an army officer, and a public official, is without a stain or blemish.
Peter Noah Wickerham,
son of Jacob and Eve (Ammen) Wickerham, and whose grandparents on both sides were pioneers of Adams County, was born January 31, 1832, near Sinking Springs, Highland County, Ohio, and lived in Highland County until the Civil War. He was postmaster at Sinking Springs in the fifties. During the Civil War, he kept a general store at Locust Grove, which was looted by Morgan's raiders in 1863. He afterwards enlisted as a Private in Company I, 14Ist Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served from May 2 to September 3, 1864, under Captain George S. Kirker. He served Highland County as its Representative in the Sixtieth General Assembly, 1872-1873, and was in that time admitted to the bar. In 1880, he returned to Adams County and has resided there ever since and is now conducting a general store in Peebles. Mr. Wickerham is a Republican in politics and was the successful candidate of that party for County Treasurer, being elected to that office in 1889 and 1891, and serving four years, from 1890 to 1894.
Mr. Wickerham was married May 15, 1856, to Elvira, daughter of George P. Tener, of Locust Grove, Ohio, and their children are Oliver C .. who owns and resides in the house at Sinking Springs once owned and occupied by Charles Willing Byrd; Nancy E., wife of Theodore Getchell, Secretary of the R. R. Y. M.C.A., of Philadelphia, Pa .; Sarah Jane, wife of E. E. Neary, a dentist at Delaware, Ohio; Martha J., residing with her parents; Peter Ammen, who served in the war with Spain in 1898 with the Second U. S. Engineers and was Clerk in the Quartermaster Department under Col. Guy Howard, at Augusta, Georgia, until the Cuban Volunteers were mustered out. In June, 1899, he accompanied his chief to Manilla,
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where Howard was killed October 21. Ammen remains there on duty. Philip Sheridan is in school at Delaware, Ohio.
Mr. Wickerham is a member of the G. A. R .; is a Mason and Knight of Pythias and a member of the Peebles Methodist Episcopal Church. Socially, he has few, if any, equals in the circle in which he moves. He is the soul and life of any assemblage where he is known. To him more than to any one else is due the success of the Annual Pioneers' Reunion of Sinking Springs. He loves to tell humorous stories occurring among his friends, and it is reported that he occasionally tells them of himself, although the writer had not the time and was not able to make the research necessary to verify this statement. Mr. Wickerham has the happy faculty of being able to make an interesting speech on any occasion. In the forum he is at home and is always able to please, to amuse and instruct an audience. He ridicules the idea of being old or growing old, and claims he will always be young. He never has any tales of woe to tell and is never discouraged. He always looks at the bright side of things and it naturally reflects itself in him. He is of a very happy disposition, and without seeming to do so, is always seeking to make others happy. With such a disposition and such faculties, he is a very remarkable man to the commu- nity.
Peter Wickerham, Senior, was a soldier of the War of the Revolution and settled near Locust Grove about 1799.
James Oscar Wickerham, M. D.,
was born near Locust Grove, Ohio, October 12, 1864. His father was Peter Wickerham and his mother was Martha F. Tener. His grandfather and great-grandfather Wickerham were each named Peter. His great-grand- father, Peter Wickerham, came down the Ohio River in a flatboat in 1800. He settled near the site of the town of Peebles. In 1824, he devised to his son, Peter, the two hundred and seventy-five acres now owned by Jacob and Robert Wickerham. His grandfather, Joshua Tener, came to Locust Grove in 1816 with his father, Jacob Tener. His great-grandfather, Peter Wickerham, emigrated from Germany, and was among the first settlers of Adams County. Jacob Tener, his maternal great-grandfather, emi- grated from Baltimore.
Our subject grew up on his father's farm and had the benefit of the District schools until he was nineteen years of age. He spent one year at Lebanon and attended the County Normals. At Lebanon, he took the teacher's course together with special branches. From 1889 to 1894, he taught school. In 1894, he began the study of medicine with Dr. O. W. Robe, of Youngsville. He entered Starling Medical College in 1894 and graduated in 1897. He located at Youngsville, succeeding his preceptor and has practiced his profession there ever since.
In politics, he has always been a Democrat. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Seaman. He was married in 1895 to Miss W. E. Jeffries, a daughter of Thornton F. Jeffries, of West Virginia.
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William H. West
was born August 26, 1866, near Decatur, Ohio, son of George H. and Abigail (Pointer) West. Samuel West, his grandfather, was a native of Bracken County, Kentucky. He married Nancy J. Story, and they re- moved to Adams County in the forties. They reared a family of seven children. George H., the eldest son, was the father of our subject. He was married August 26, 1865, to Abigail Pointer, daughter of James and Susan Pointer, nee Armstrong, of the eastern shore of Maryland.
George H. West was a member of the 182d O. V. I., in the Civil War. The Pointer family and the Armstrong family emigrated together to Ohio in 1801. Both families settled in the river bottoms below Manchester.
Our subject spent his boyhood in Bentonville and received such education as the Bentonville schools afforded. He attended the Ohio Wesleyan University in the years 1888 and 1889. He also attended Normal schools at North Liberty, West Union and Bentonville. He has been engaged in teaching for several years. He has always been a Democrat, taking an active part in politics. He was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention in 1889, and has served on the Election Board of the county for several years, and on the Central Committee of his party. He was nominated in August, 1899, by the Democratic party of his county for Surveyor.
He united with the Methodist Episcopal Church of Bentonville on November 17, 1887, and was licensed by the Quarterly Conference as a local preacher in June, 1896. He is a graduate in the "Legion of Honor." He is a member of Crystal Lodge, No. 114, West Union Knights of Pythias ; a member of the Independent Order of Red Men. No. 133, of Bentonville, and a member of West Union Camp, No. 547, Modern Woodmen of America.
He was married August 27, 1890, to Hattie B. Mefford, daughter of Joseph N. and Minerva (Woodruff) Mefford, of Bentonville. Their children are Nellie P., Talma, Bessie M., and Opal M.
Mr. West is always foremost in local politics and educational affairs, and is respected by all for his high standards in morals and religion.
William Marion Wamsley,
the founder and original proprietor of the village of Wamsleyville, was born August 3, 1843, on the site of the village, the son of William Wamsley and Elizabeth Bolton, his wife, both natives of Adams County. His grand- father, William Wamsley, was a great hunter and loved that calling better than any other, though he was both a farmer and a tanner. He was one of three brothers, the original settlers on Scioto Brush Creek, and came from the State of Pennsylvania. The Indians were frequent visitors. to the new home of William Wamsley, the first in the wilderness. From them he learned that what is now Jefferson Township, had been a favorite hunting ground with them and that the site of Wamsleyville was one of their camping grounds. William Wamsley, the first, was a lover of nature and there was much to attract him to his location on Scioto Brush Creek. He was a successful hunter of bear and deer all his life, and the vicinity of his home was the last habitat of those animals in Adams County. He
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might have selected a fertile savannah or prairie and made his descendants rich, but the pleasures of the chase governed his selection. The original ancestor of the Wamsley family in this country came from Germany and the industry, energy, honesty and thrift of the German has displayed itself in each generation. Our subject left his father's home at the age of fourteen and set up in business for himself. He bought and sold stock from the age of fourteen, till the age of twenty, when he bought three hundred acres of land, including the town site of Wamsleyville. In that same year he built a grist mill and sawmill and soon after laid out the town. Mr. Wamsley is not and never was a practical miller, but he has conducted the milling business since 1863. He has added to his posses- sions until now he owns five hundred acres of land at and in the vicinity of Wamsleyville. While Mr. Wamsley does not profess to be a salamander, he has had a remarkable experience in the way of fires. Since originally erected, his mill has been destroyed by fire twice, and his barns twice. In April, 1888, his town was nearly destroyed by fire, but Phoenix-like, has risen from its ashes. He has had fine dwellings on the real estate owned by him, consumed by the flames, and yet notwithstanding all these losses, he has prospered and is prosperous.
Mr. Wamsley was married May 27, 1867, to his full cousin, Sarah W. Wamsley. They have one child, Milton Bina, born May 19, 1870. He resides in the town of Wamsleyville. He married Miss Amanda Thomp- son in 1896 and has two sons, William Klise and Butler Flack. He assists his father in his extensive business.
Mr. Wamsley, our subject, is six feet, tall, broad-shouldered and of a heavy frame. He weighs two hundred pounds. He has black piercing eyes and wears a full beard, now turned gray. He is a pleasant and agreeable man to meet and enjoys the society of his friends. Like his father and grandfather, he is a Democrat. He has been a member of the Christian Union Church for twenty-two years. He is a local minister in that church and as such exerts a great influence for good. He is a sucessful farmer and miller and would succeed in anything he would undertake. His energy and force of character so predominate his village, that it is better known as "Bill Town," than the proper name of Wamsleyville. He impresses all who meet him as a true man, and a more intimate acquaintance confirms the impression. He has been and is a power for good among his people, and his life has been a great benefit to those about him and dependent on him. Nature gave him the stamp of true manhood, and time and ex- perience have improved those elements of character which are the jewels of American citizenship.
Dr. James M. Wittenmyer,
physician, was born December 1, 1848, in the thriving village of Buford, Highland County, Ohio. He is a son of Daniel G. and Rebecca Murphy Wittenmyer, and a grandson of Daniel W. Mittenmyer, who, with his wife Sarah, came from Pennsylvania in early days and settled in the village of Jacksonville, Adams County, where he was a well-known grocer and storekeeper for a number of years. He died in his seventy-seventh year.
Dr. Wittenmyer attended the Public schools at Buford, and after- wards removed to Jacksonville with his parents in 1867. He taught school
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for a time and read medicine with Drs. John and J. W. Bunn, of Jackson- ville, and in 1872-4, attended lectures at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, where he graduated in the Spring of 1874. Returning to his home, after graduation, he formed a partnership with Dr. John Bunn, one of his preceptors at Jacksonville, and continued with him until 1879, when he took an office to himself. In 1885, he married Lizzie Graham, the ac- complished daughter of John Graham, a prosperous farmer near Dunkins- ville, and located at the new town of Peebles, near his former home, where he practiced his profession until elected Auditor of Adams County in 1893, when he removed to West Union. He was re-elected in 1896, and is the present Auditor of the county. He is a lifelong Democrat, and perhaps no man stands higher in the estimation of his party adherents than Dr. Wittenmyer. He has been a power in his party councils for years. In the Winter of 1898, his health failing he was compelled to give up the arduous duties of his office and seek relief on the coast of Florida, whence he has recently returned much invigorated, to the delight of his family and friends. He has a family of three bright sons, James G., Daniel L., and John E.
Rev. William Finley Wamsley, (deceased,)
was born May 21, 1839, on Turkey Creek, Adams County, Ohio. He was a son of Rev. Jesse Wamsley, and Mary McCormick. Rev. Jesse Wamsley was a minister in the Methodist Church for thirty years, but when dissen- sions arose over questions growing out of the Civil War, he joined the Christian Union, and served as a minister in that church for over thirty years.
Our subject was reared on a farm and also worked at the tanning business when a young man. He also taught school, and at the age of twenty-one years went into the general merchandising business, which he carried on at Wamslevville until his death, May 5, 1889.
October 19, 1865, he was united in marriage to Miss Jane Collins, daughter of D. S. and Maria Moore Collins. This union was a very happy one, and there were born to them two daughters, Mary Maria, who died March 8. 1868, and Julia Ellen, who married Hiram V. Jones.
Mr. Wamsley became a wealthy and prominent citizen of Adams County. He was a minister in the Christian Union Church, and a Justice of the Peace for years in Jefferson Township. He was one of the most prominent Democrats of the region in which he resided.
James Albert Young
is not a native Buckeye, but was caught young and has made as good a citizen as though born in the great State of Ohio. He is a native of Mifflin County, Pa., and was born June 7, 1844. His parents came to Ohio when he was but eighteen months old and located at Mt. Leigh, the nursery of many distinguished citizens. He has three sisters and one brother. His father was born in 1806. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Mt. Leigh and died in 1873. His mother died in Seaman in 1893. He re- ceived a common school education and labored on his father's farm until July 14, 1863, when he enlisted in Company G., 129th O. V. I. He was at the capture of Cumberland Gap. September 9, 1863. He was in the army of Gen. Burnside in the Longstreet campaign in East Tennessee in the Fall of
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1863, and marched, starved, fed graybacks and fought with the rest of them. He was in the noted encounter at Black Fox Ferry on Clinch River, December 2, 1863. He was mustered out March 8, 1864. He concluded to try military life again, and on August 31, 1864, enlisted in Company H, 173d O. V. I., and served until June 26, 1865. He was always ready for duty and rations and the Government had no more faithful soldier. After the war, he came back to the farm on which he was reared, and which he now owns, the Jonah Steen farm. He married Dorcas Glasgow, daughter of Andrew Glasgow. June 20, 1873. and has a son Frank, a bright young merchant and Deputy Postmaster at Seaman, Ohio. His wife died Feb- ruary 23. 1874. From 1873 to 1878, our subject traveled for D. H. Baldwin & Co., of Cincinnati, O., in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. While traveling, be became acquainted with Miss Sallie Plauch, of Elizaville, Fleming County, Ky., and as James always had winning ways, he married her January 24, 1878. They have two bright intelligent boys, Lucien Baldwin and Clarence Plauch, aged fifteen and twelve.
Mr. Young farmed from 1878 to 1888, when he moved to Seaman and built a hotel and livery stable, both of which he has conducted ever since. He has been a trustee of his township and was appointed Post- master at Seaman in 1897. He is a Republican and a member of the Presbyterian Church at Mt. Leigh. He works hard all week, and when Sunday comes he is always an attendant at the services, and has led the choir since 1865. He owns and manages, with profit, two other farms than the one already mentioned-the Aaron Steen farm and the Joseph Roth- rock farm.
Surrounded by an interesting family, prospered and prosperous, with the esteem and respect of all his neighbors, Mr. Young ought to be con- tented and happy, and we believe he is. It is a pleasure to meet him and spend some time with him in his pleasant hostelry, and no man more enjoys the company of his old friends than he. When he is called, he will be ready, but we hope he may not be wanted on the other shore for many years, as he is a most valuable citizen here.
He is energetic and enterprising and has made his business a suc- cess, and his good wife has largely contributed to the latter.
Newton Wesley Zile
was born near Locust Grove, Adams County, Ohio, December 8, 1863. His father, Lewis Zile, was born in Maryland, August 5, 1821. His father, Jacob Zile, born in Carroll County, Maryland, brought his family to Ohio in 1824. Jacob Zile was a soldier in the War of 1812. Our subject's mother was Caroline Cannon, daughter of Byas N. Cannon, a native of Delaware. His wife, Julia Ann Hern, was also from Delaware.
Our subject attended the common schools until the age of eighteen, when he became a teacher and followed that profession until the Spring of 1833, when he entered the Normal University of Danville, Indiana, and studied Civil Engineering and Surveying. In 1884, he attended the Normal School at Lebanon for two terms. In 1887, he was nominated by the Republicans for Sheriff of Adams County, but was defeated by a small majority. In 1887, he was appointed Deputy Auditor under Prof. J. W. Jones, who had been appointed by the County Commissioners for ten
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months. In 1889. he attended the Normal School at Ada, Ohio, and while there was appointed Postal Clerk in the United States Railway Mail Service. He entered on the duties of that position April 17, 1889, and remained in the mail service ten years. He was promoted rapidly until he was made a clerk in charge of a car in 1896, and served in that capacity until the twentieth of May. 1899. when he resigned on account of the impairment of his health.
In the Spring of 1894, he and J. R. Davis entered into a partnership in general merchandising at Locust Grove, at the stand formerly occupied by L. M. Davis. Since retiring from the Postal Service, Mr. Zile has de- voted his time to this business. He owns the farm upon which the town płat of Palestine was made by Peter Wickerham in 1837.
Mr. Zile has always taken a great interest in educational work and is possessed of one of the most extensive and best collection of books in the county. One who knows Mr. Zile best says of him : "He possesses all the sterling virtues which make a man respected by his fellows. By in- dustry. economy and temperance, he has acquired a competence. He is always ready to aid and contribute to worthy objects, either charitable or of public benefit. He is uniformly courteous to others, tolerant of their opinions and disposed to give due consideration to all their rights and claims. He is always willing to aid those who are ambitious to do well for themselves. While holding public office, Mr. Zile showed a wonderful administrative ability and earned the highest commendations for himself from those who supervised the work. He is one of the most earnest and enthusiastic members of his party, the Republican, and with some others like himself, properly distributed over the county and working as he does, Adams County would uniformly be a Republican county.
Mahlon Urton,
. one of the best known citizens of Adams County, is a native of Loudon County, Va. There he was born August 9, 1824, near Leesburg. His father was William Urton and his mother, Jane Pursel, both natives of Loudon County, Va., His father emigrated to Ohio in 1830, first stopping near Columbus, but soon after he located in Adams County near Youngs- ville. He brought with him seven children of whom our subject was the second. Our subject attended the common schools and among his teachers were Joseph Randolph Cockerill, afterwards Colonel of the Seventieth O. V. I. He was brough up to be a farmer and was another of the young men of Adams County who never taught a Public school. He began farm- ing on his own account, in 1848, near Louisville, in Adams County, and continued if for five years. On November 1, 1853, he was married to Miss Susan Frances Summers, a very attractive young woman of great force of character. They were married at Marble Furnace, by the Rev. David McDill, D. D., who has a sketch and portrait in this work. His wife was the daughter of Jacob Summers, a native of Loudon County, Virginia, born June 13, 1791. His wife, Elizabeth Elmore, was born May 11, 1789. They were married February 29, 1816. Elizabeth Elmore was the daughter of John Elmore, a soldier of the Revolution in the Continental line from Virginia, who served in that war seven years. As a lad he was in the French and Indian War throughout the whole of it. He was a native
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