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 112
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of Ireland. He lived to be 103 years old and when he died was buried with honors of War. His wife survived him some two years and died at the age of eighty-three. He received a land warrant for his revolutionary services, and it was located in Kentucky.
Jacob Summers, father of Mrs. Urton, was a farmer from Loudon County, Va. He was also a slave holder, but believed the institution was injurious to the States permitting it. In 1835, he sold his slaves and came to Ohio. He sold most of his personal effects and brought his family out in a two-horse carriage. His goods, such as he brought, followed in a four-horse wagon. He bought twelve hundred acres of land at Marble Furnace, at the time the furnace was abandoned, and owned it until his death, July 19, 1852. His wife died in 1874. He was a Whig all his life
Jacob Summers brought to Ohio four daughters and one son. He and his wife buried two infant sons in Virginia. Of the five children who grew to maturity. Mahala Elizabeth, born May 2, 1821, marired Hector Urton ; the next, Susan F., wife of Mahlon Urton, was born June 23, 1823; Ruhama Ann, born July 27, 1825, married Townshend Enos Reed; James F., the only son, who was born January 15, 1830, and as Captain of Com- pany B. 70th O. V. I., was killed in battle before Atlanta. July 28, 1864; Mary Ellen, born January 19, 1834, married Isaac Hannah.
Returning to our subject, Mahlon Urton, the farm on which he now resides was set apart to Capt. J. F. Summers in the division of Jacob Summers' estate. Mr. Urton purchased it of him and moved on it the fourth of January, 1859. The home, a one-story brick, was built by James and McArthur, proprietors of Marble Furnace. In front of it a long lawn has two rows of locust trees, the bodies of which have attained great pro- portions, and the surroundings proclaim that the builder of the home was a Virginian.
Mr. and Mrs. Urton have had five children born to them. Thomas Clayton, their only son, was born October 20, 1854, and died at the age of twenty-one, in 1876. Their daughter, Anna Belle, is the wife of William Snedaker, a farmer, residing near Tranquility. Their daughters Frances Lillian and Rosalie Jane are residing with their parents. Their daughter, Emma Florence, is the wife of Charles E. Miller, of Marble Furnace. Since the creation of Bratton Township from Franklin, Mr. Urton's home is in Bratton Township. Mr. Urton was a Whig during the existence of the Whig party and since then has been a Republican. As such he was a Commissioner of Adams County from 1888 to 1891, and he has been a Trustee of Franklin Township.
He was a member of Company K, 14Ist O. V. I., and served from May 2 to September 3, 1864. Mr. Urton possesses all the cardinal virtues and his life has been an illustrating of them. He is respected and esteemed by all who know him. If any one can get to heaven by living an honorable life, Mr. Urton needs to give himself no further concern on that subject. All who know cannot help liking him, and would not, if that were a matter of will. Mr. Urton's neighbors think that when the books are opened on the "Great Day," his account will be all balanced on the credit side. Such citizens as he are a credit to any community which they honor with their lives. .
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Edward K. Walsh
was born at Comstock, Scioto County, Ohio, on the fourth day of April, 1864. His father was Edward Walsh and his mother's maiden name was Margaret O'Brien. His parents were natives of County Clare, Ireland, and were married there. They immigrated to the United States in 1848, and settled in Bath, Maine. They came to Ohio in 1852 and located at Portsmouth, where they remained for a few years. They then removed to Comstock, in Scioto County, near the line of Adams County. They had five children, four sons and one daughter.
Our subject was reared as a farmer's son. He attended school at Wamsley, in Adams County, under the instruction of Professor J. W. Jones, now Superintendent of the Ohio State Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. He also attended a Normal school at Mt. Joy, under Pro- fessor Aaron Grady. He was a student at Lebanon, Ohio, under Pro- fessor William A. Clark, formerly of Adams County. He began the study of law at Lebanon in 1890, and continued it under the tutorship of the Hon. James W. Bannon, of Portsmouth, Ohio, and afterwards with the Hon. Theodore K. Funk, of the same place. He was admitted to the bar in December, 1894, and located at Otway, Ohio, where he was Mayor of the village for two years. He located at Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1897, for the practice of law, and formed a partnership with the Hon. Noah J. Dever, formerly Common Pleas Judge, who has a separate sketch herein. The style of the firm was Dever & Walsh.
He was elected City Clerk of Portsmouth on April 13, 1899, for two years. and is now holding that office. He was married January 4, 1900, to Miss Katharine Lehman, daughter of Theodore Lehman, de- ceased.
In politics, he is a Democrat of the straighest sect. In his religion, he is a communicant of the Church of the Holy Redeemer (Roman Catholic), of Portsmouth, Ohio. Mr. Walsh is a young man fond of social pleasures, and well liked by the general public. He maintains his law offices with the Hon. Noah J. Dever and Harry W. Miller, and practices his profession as well as attends to the duties of City Clerk. He is an industrious, hard-working and painstaking young lawyer who aims to do his full duty to his clients, and is regarded with great favor by the general public. Among his brethren of the bar and those who know him, he is considered as one who is bound to attain distinction in his pro- fession.
John Orlando Wilson
was born in Cincinnati, September 22, 1842, the son of Joseph Allen and Harriet Lafferty Wilson. He was an only son, His father, at the time of his birth, was Deputy Clerk of the Courts of Hamilton County, and resided in Cincinnati until 1844. His father died December 16, 1848, of consumption. His mother died August 12, 1850. He was then taken by his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Wm. F. Willson, and resided with them in West Union until 1851, when they removed to Ironton, Ohio and took him with them. He attended the Public schools in Iron- ton till about 1861, when he went to Illinois and engaged in school. teaching. On August 15. 1862, at Morton, Illinois, he enlisted in Com- pany G, of the 86th Illinois Regiment and served until June 6, 1865, when
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he was discharged. He returned at once to Ironton, and from there went to West Union, Ohio, where he became a law student under the late Edward P. Evans. He remained here during the Summer and Fall and in the Winter attended the Cincinnati. Law School. He was admitted to the bar at Portsmouth, Ohio, April 23, 1866. He then went to Cincinnati, where, on October 9, 1866, he was married to Pauline H. Weber, daughter of Prof. John Weber. There were two sons of this marriage, William F., born September 13, 1867, and Charles O., born May 26, 1873. They reside with their mother at Cincinnati. John O. Wilson first located at Elizabethtown, Illinois, as a lawyer and remained there one year. He then returned to Cincinnati and engaged in the drug business for eighteen months. He then located at Greensburg, Ind., but remained only a few months. He then went to St. Louis, Mo .. where he took up the practice of law with Judge Powers. He resided at St. Louis during the remainder of his life. In August, 1878, he went to Memphis, Tenn., on legal business. It was during the prevalence of yellow fever. His business required him to remain in Memphis some time. After he had been there eight days, he was attacked with yellow fever. He was sick some five or six days, when he died, alone, among strangers, and without the presence of a single friend. He was buried in the common grave with numerous other victims. His life was a sad one in the loss of his parents and in his own tragic death at the early age of thirty-six. His widow removed to Cincinnati, where she has since resided. Her sons are excellent young men with good positions and are doing their best for themselves and for her.
James P. Wasson.
James P. Wasson was one of those men for whom the world is better for his having lived in it. He was born in Wayne Township, Decem- ber 18, 1837, the son of Thomas Campbell Wasson and Martha Patton Campbell, his wife. His childhood and youth were spent at Cherry Fork and he received such education as the schools of his vicinity afforded. His religious training was careful and thorough by his father and mother and he was brought up in the United Presbyterian Church at Cherry Fork. Any one familiar with that denomination knows just what that means, and that training dictated and governed the whole course of his life. He was trained to the strictest habits of industry and economy and taught the art of farming. His father was one of the . most industrious and energetic farmers in Adams County and our sub- ject was like him. It was always a maxim in the life of James P. Was- son to make the best and the most out of every situation which con- fronted him, and in this he never failed.
On September 1, 1859, he was married to Martha Ann McIntire, his third cousin, daughter of Gen. William McIntire and Martha Patton, his wife, so that both he and his wife were great-grandchildren of John Patton. of Rockbridge County, Virginia. Directly after their marriage. they went to housekeeping on a farm of his father's south of North Lib- erty. In 1863,July 10, he enlisted in Capt. David Urie's Company G, 129th O. V. 1 .. and here the writer, who served with him, knew him best. He was appointed a Corporal and discharged all his duties as a soldier
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with the utmost fidelity. He marched over five hundred miles in the Summer heat and in the Winter's snow, and aften went hungry. He endured all the hardships of a severe campaign and never uttered a word of complaint. He seemed to think that he had enlisted to do and suffer these things for his country and he served the latter as he did his God, faithfully, and upon his conscience. In this service, the writer was his intimate friend and was with him every day. Had he lived in Cromwell's day, he would easily have been one of his "Ironside." With an army made up of soldiers like he, the United States could have subdued the world, if the war had been for a just cause, for he would have fought in no other. When he returned from his service in the army, he re- sumed his vocation as a farmer and resided on the same farm until 1869, when he took the Gen. William McIntire farm, where he continued to reside until March, 1877. In all of this time he and his wife were faith- ful members of the Cherry Fork church. Mr. Wasson was one of the most active and energetic men. This was his heritage, both from his father and mother, and their traits were intensified in him. For a long time he had felt that the rewards for farming in Adams County were inadequate, and he determined to remove to the fertile prairies of Kan- sas. Therefore, in March, 1877. he located in Douglass County, Kan- sas. Here he and his wife and family entered the United Presbyterian Church at Edgerton, in which he was made a ruling elder and held the office during his life. He was a faithful teachers in the Sabbath School. In the church, as in the community, he was always consulted and his advice taken and followed. He was of most excellent judgment in things, both temporal and spiritual. He was a wise counsellor and al- ways maintained the highest Christian character. In all things for the good of his church or community, he was foremost. He was taken with his mortal illness on the tenth of January, 1898, and died on the seventeenth, following. His death was a great loss to his family, his church and the community. His wife survives, and he left the follow- ing children : Cora Esther, the wife of Frank Wilson : Nora, the wife of Tweed Patton, formerly of Cherry Fork: Albertina, the wife of Clar- ence Wasson, also from Cherry Fork. and James Ormand, a son. He had a son, William Campbell, born in 1868, and who died in 1885. His daughters. sons-in-law and son all reside near the home in which he died. It is a gratification to the writer that this testimonial is in the History of his native county, where those who knew him for forty years in his childhood, youth and manhood, may recall his correct life and many virtues.
Rev. Nathaniel Massie Urmston
was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, April 12, 1799. He was the first child born there after the founding of the town by Gen. Nathaniel Massie, and was named for him. His father, Benjamin Urmston, was a com- panion of Gen. Massie in laving out the town. He asked for the priv- ilege of felling the first tree in marking out the town, and the privilege was granted him by Gen. Massie. Benjamin Urmston built a home in the new town, and it had glass windows and a shingle roof. However, he did not reside long in Chillicothe, but soon removed to a farm, and died in a short time after that.
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Nathaniel studied theology at Princeton, New Jersey. He had a school friend who resided in Danbury, Connecticut, and visited him there. He became acquainted with Miss Evaline Comstock there, and married her in 1826. He returned to Ohio and became a missionary for Ohio and Kentucky. His wife's health failed in this work, and he went to Connecticut, and there connected with the Congregational Church. In 1844, he located at Bainbridge, Ohio, in the ministry, and remained there until 1853.
He was then called to the Old Stone Church in West Union, Adams County, Ohio, to whch he ministered until 1857. While there he taught a select school which the writer of this sketch attended, and he can cer- tify that Mr. Urmston was a most thorough teacher. What Rev. Urm- ston taught, the writer learned and has never forgotten. In this place, in 1855, Rev. Urmston lost his wife. She rests in the Old South Ceme- tery at West Union.
His daughter, Miss Mary E. Urmston, also taught a select school for girls at West Union, and she was regarded as a most excellent teacher. She afterwards taught in the Young Ladies' Seminary at Ports- mouth, Ohio, for several years. She married the Rev. E. P. Pratt, D. D., of Portsmouth, Ohio, and is now his widow.
In 1857, our subject went to Missouri and preached there until the breaking out of the war. He then returned to the vicinity of Hillsboro, where he remained until his death on August 27, 1884. He married for a second wife. Miss S. Johnson, of Cornwall, Connecticut. His third wife was Miss Melissa A. Stover, of Highland County, Ohio, who survived hini.
He had seven children of his first marriage. His son, Lieutenant Thomas A. Urmston, of the Regular Army, was killed in one of the battles in Virginia. His son Comstock died in young manhood. At the time of his death, Rev. Urmston left two surviving children, Mrs. E. P. Pratt and Philander Urmston, of Muscatine, Iowa. Rev. Urmston was a man of strong conscience, and lived up to his belief. He believed in doing thoroughly everything he found to do, and followed that belief both in preaching and teaching.
Robert Hutchinson Wood 1
was born June 13, 1794. Stephen Wood, an ancestor, came from Eng- land and located in Hempstead, Queens County, New York. His youngest son, Benjamin, married Leah Robbins, in Hempstead. Joseph, the only son of Benjamin, was born in 1742, and was the father of seven children. His oldest son was Benjamin, born in July, 1769. Our sub- ject was the third son and sixth child. He was born in Mason County, Kentucky, where his father had removed. His eldest brother, Ben- jamin, moved to West Union in 1804 and resided there until 1815, when he removed to Chillicothe, Ohio, and afterwards to Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1823, where he died in 1824. Benjamin Wood kept a tavern in West Uuion where Lewis Johnson now resides, and was a Captain in the Mi- litia. The wife of Benjamin was Sarah Huston, born August 30, 1774. She died April 2, 1844, at Troy, Indiana.
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ROBERT HAMILTON
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Robert Hutchinson Wood was married to Sarah Lodwick, Septem- ber 29, 1818. She was the eldest child of Col. John Lodwick. Their daughter, Nancy Jane, married Dr. Hiram G. Jones, and was the mother of two children, a son and a daughter.
Robert H. Wood, our subject, followed the trade of a cabinet maker in West Union for many years. He had a shop in a building re- cently removed, just south of the residence of Dr. B. F. Slye, and resided in the house now owned by Dr. Slye. Mr. Wood was a highly esteemed citizen of West Union. He believed in advertising, and had a standing advertisement of his business in the Free Press, with a picture of a side- board as a part of his card. He was prosperous in his business and was the undertaker for the village. Many of the pieces of furniture made by his own hands are still in existence.
He died of consumption, July 30. 1835, and is buried in the Old South Cemetery at West Union. He was a member of, and an elder in, the Presbyterian Church there. He owned the ground occupied by the Old South Cemetery until 1834, when he conveyed it to parties having friends buried there, to be used for burial purposes.
Robert Hamilton
was born November 28, 1795, at Connellsville, Fayette County, Penn- sylvania. He was trained to the strictest belief and observances of the Westminster Confession, and it remained with him as the best part of himself all. his life. He came to Adams County in 1817, in a flatboat. He landed at the mouth of Brush Creek and walked up the creek to Brush Creek Furnace, where he engaged as a clerk under Archibald Paul, who was then running the furnace. At that time the furnace only ran on Sundays. On week days the forge ran to make hollow- ware, pots, kettles, stoves, andirons and all kinds of castings. Then a ton of iron was 2268 pounds and twenty-eight pounds allowed for sandage. The furnace at that time was run by water alone. When the water was low, they had to tramp a wheel to blow off, and the best they could do was to make two or three tons of iron a day. On the twentieth of July, 1825, Mr. Hamilton was married to Nancy Ellison, daughter of John Ellison. She was the sister of the late William Ellison, of Man- chester. The marriage ceremony was performed by the Rev. William Williamson, who signed his name to the certificate, V. D. M., (Verbi Dei Minister), which was the fashion at that time, which translated is "Of the Word of God, Minister."
Robert Hamilton was a resident of Adams County until 1828. In that time he laid the foundation of a successful business career. He was diligent in business, and of the highest integrity.
At that time it was thought a furnace must run on Sundays or the entire charge would be ruined, but Mr. Hamilton induced Mr. Paul to try the experiment of a change. It was found the iron produced was just as good. Mr. Hamilton was the first furnaceman in the country who stopped his furnace on Sunday.
The old Brush Creek Furnace was owned by the Ellisons and the Meanses. In 1828, Robert Hamilton and Andrew Ellison, son of the Andrew Ellison who was captured by the Indians in 1793, under the 58a
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name of Ellison & Hamilton, built Pine Grove Furnace in Lawrence County. Robert Hamilton fired it on January 1, 1829. Four tons a day was its capacity at starting.
After he located at Pine Grove Furnace, he became one of the founders of the church at Hanging Rock, and was a ruling elder in it from its organization to his death.
His first wife died June 23, 1838, and on February 20, 1839, he was married to Miss Rachel R. Peebles, a daughter of John Peebles and a sister of John G. Peebles, of Portsmouth.
Our subject's judgment was excellent and he was wonderfully suc- cessful in business. He amassed a large fortune of which his widow was largely the almoner. He was respected and esteemed by all who knew him as a man who lived right up to his standard, both in business and in religion.
He died September 11, 1856, in his sixty-first year, of a dysentery. His death was a great loss to the business community and to the church. It was almost a calamity, as his influence and methods were of an in- calculable benefit to those about him. His ashes repose in the beau- tiful Greenlawn Cemetery, at Portsmouth, Ohio. His widow, Mrs. Rachel Hamilton, survived until August 27, 1883, when she died, aged eighty-seven years and one month. She was noted for her pious life and good deeds. Her gifts to charities were many, large and continuous, during her whole life, but her gifts by will were also many, large and praiseworthy. She stated in her will, she feared she had not given enough for charitable purposes and therefore she gave her executor, her brother, John G. Peebles, $10,000 for charitable objects to be be- stowed in his discretion. Her memory is revered in the entire circle of her acquaintance. The Peebles-Hamilton Reading Rooms at Ports- mouth, Ohio, are a monument to her memory.
General Daniel Cockerill
was born in Loudon County, Virginia, in 1792. He resided there until 1837, when he removed to near Mt. Leigh, in Adams County, Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his life. In 1713, John Cockerill, of Westmore- land County, Virginia, purchased two hundred acres of land, for which he gave sixty-five hundred pounds of tobacco. At that time he owned other lands in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Thomas Cockerill, his son, re- moved to Loudon County, Virginia, in 1739. His will was recorded in 1777, and discloses the fact that he had a large family of sons and daugh- ters. One of his sons, Sanford Cockerill, was the father of Daniel Cock- erill, our subject.
Daniel Cockerill was in the War of 1812, and was a Sergeant. His services were rendered in the vicinity of Baltimore and Washington. He was brought up to the trade of carpenter. Just before the War of 1812, he built a meeting house for the Quakers, called "Goose Creek." Owing to the embargo act at the commencement of the war and the rise in prices after he made the contract, he lost one thousand dollars in com- pleting the meeting house. The congregation, on hearing of his loss, made it up to him.
He had four sons and two daughters. His sons were, Joseph Ran- dolph, who has a separate sketch herein, Giles Jackson, Daniel Talmage,
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and John Craven Calhoun. Daniel T. was Captain and Major in the First Ohio Light Artillery, and is now at the State Soldiers' Home at San- dusky. Giles J. was First Lieutenant and Captain in the same regiment, and is now residing at Wynwood, Indian Territory. His wife was Belle Dunbar, daughter of James Dunbar, who formerly owned the Stephen Reynolds place near Peebles, Ohio. He has a son, Ceran D. Cockerill, now a resident of Portsmouth, Ohio.
John C. C. married a daughter of Isaac Martin, of Mt. Leigh. He died about five years since at Metropolis, Ill. A daughter, Rebecca, mar- ried Alfred Eylar, and moved to Pontiac, Illinois, where she and her hus- band died, leaving two sons and one daughter. One son, D. C. Eylar, has. a separate sketch herein.
General Daniel Cockerill's daughter, Lydia Jane, married Levin Can- non, and both are deceased. They had five children, Daniel Cannon, of Lovett's Postoffice; Urban Cannon; Mrs. Anna Hamilton, of Locust Grove; Mrs. Flora Hughes, of Lovett's Postoffice; and Mrs. J. F. Wick- erham, of Peebles.
General Cockerill devoted himself entirely to agricultural pursuits after removing to Adams County. He was not a member of any church. He was an old-time Democrat until Fort Sumter was fired upon. The jar of that firing displaced all the Democracy in him, as he stated, and from that time until his death on May 10, 1864, he was an enthusiastic Republican and a most ardent supporter of the war measures. He thought the Southern States were not justified in secession, and he wanted to see them thoroughly whipped into submission.
He was a citizen of great public spirit, and believed in doing his full part in public affairs. He represented Adams and Pike Counties in the lower house of the Legislature in 1845 and 1846. In 1848 and 1849 he again represented the same counties in the lower house of the Legis- lature. At this session. by a joint resolution, he was made a Major- General of the Eighth Division of the Ohio Militia.
From the time of his location in Adams County, he was a man of influence, and was always held in public esteem. Among his virtues, charity and hospitality were the most prominent. In the practical exercise of these virtues he found great delight. He cherished great love for his native state, Virginia, but lost all patience with her when she seceded from the Union. It was his pride and pleasure to maintain hospitality as his Virginia ancestors had done before him. Everything he undertook to do, he endeavored to do with the best of his ability. He was for this reason a model farmer.
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