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 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115
A letter from him dated in 1859 to a friend in Scotland, gives some account of himself. He states in this letter that his father lost his life in the campaign of Gen. Anthony Wayne, against the Indians in 1793, and that his mother died six months afterward, leaving him to find his way alone, friendless and penniless, the best he could. He states that he was never in a school house in his life as a pupil. He says when he located in Cincinnati, he had but six cents left, and that he has never re- ceived a penny since except what he earned by his own hands. That his mental acquirements are what he obtained by his own creation as he passed along. He states that ten years before, in 1849, he closed his
accounts with the world and owed no man a cent. That he has not done a days work for ten years and don't ever intend to do one-that he does just what seems right in his own eyes. He says four of his children live in sight of his residence, that all of his children are industrious and doing well for themselves and their families. That he enjoys himself at reading and writing far better than he did in his younger days, and that he has no cares. That he has enough to keep him and his wife, who has cheered him in adversity and prosperity for fifty years, and that while he has but little, he considers himself richer than the Rothschilds. Then he comments on the Russian War, and gives an account of a trip to Iowa to visit a son located there. He gives a description of Iowa
Digitized by Google
261
POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTIES
as he found it, worthy of the pen of the best descriptive writer. He speaks of the approaching political campaign and defines the position of the three parties, Republican, Democrat and Abolitionists. He states that his friends, Thompson, (Peter) and Campbell and their fam- ilies, as well as himself, and all connected with him were Republicans. That the Abolitionists are right in the abstract, but as the constitution recognized slavery in the slave states, we must submit to slave states, but are opposed to admitting any more in the Union.
John Fisher was fond of writing for the newspapers and enjoyed a political controversy on paper. One or more of his political contro- versies got into the courts and cost him much expense and trouble, owing to its personal character, but those matters are better now for- gotten than remembered.
John Fisher was not a religious man. His philosophy largely took the place of religion, but he believed in right and justice. With him, the golden rule was the highest law. He believed in every man having a full opportunity to do the best he could for himself in the world, and in his doing right at all times. John Fisher's code of morality was the highest and of the best order. He lived up to it himself, and had no respect for the man who did not or could not live up to it. Had he lived in the days of the Greek philosophers, he would have been one of them, and the principal one among them. Probably he would have been a Stoic. He aimed to do his part in the world's work from his standpoint as he saw it, and in view of what he accomplished from his slavery point. We think his life and career was a credit to himself and to the com- munity of which he was a member. His descendants are all honorable, self-respecting and highly respected men and women, and the impress he left upon them, they need not be ashamed of, and the world can con- gratulate itself on the legacy he left it in his posterity. He died October 24, 1864.
Gen, John Cochran.
one of the most distinguished of the early citizens of Brown County, was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1781. His father, William Cochran, was an early pioneer of Brown County, was a native of Ireland and born in County Antrim in 1722. He was married in his native country to Elizabeth Boothe, and about the middle of the last century, emigrated to America. He served in the Revolutionary War, and resided in Pennsylvania, afterward in Kentucky, and about 1795 or 1796, came to the Northwest Territory and settled on the east fork of Eagle Creek, near the present eastern boundary of Brown County. He died in March, 1814, aged ninety-two. His wife, Eliza- beth, died October 21, 1823. John was about nine years old when his father came to Kentucky. He lived for a few years in the vicinity of the old settlement of Washington. When a small boy, he was at Fort Washington, on the site of Cincinnati, and saw corn growing on what is now Fourth Street of the Queen City. He was with his father on his settlement north of the Ohio, as above stated, and when about eigh- teen years old, became overseer of the Kanawha Salt Works, where he continued about seven years. Salt was one of the necessaries of life which it was most difficult for the pioneers of Kentucky and the North- west Territory to obtain. John Cochran is said to have shipped the
Digitized by Google
262
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
first boat load of salt down the Ohio River to Louisville, Kentucky. He came to what is now Brown County in about 1805 or 1806. He married Tamer Howard, daughter of Cyrus and Milly Howard, who was born in Montgomery County, Virginia. Her father for some years kept the ferry between Aberdeen and Limestone. John Cochran pur- chased a farm from Nathaniel Beasley, about six miles northeast of Aberdeen, on the east fork of Eagle Creek, in what is now Huntington township, on which he resided for the greater portion of the remaining years of his life. He served in the War of 1812 as deputy sergeant in the commissary department. He took much interest in the old militia musters and passed through all the grades from captain to brigadier general. He was known as General Cochran. In the year 1824, he was first elected rep- resentative to the legislature as a Democrat, and was re-elected in 1826, 1827 and 1828. In 1829, he was elected senator from Brown and Adams counties, and was re-elected in 1830, thus serving six full terms in the general assembly. General Cochran had but little education from books in his early life, never attending school but three months in his life. He was, however, self-educated. He was a man of strong convictions and remarkable memory. In his recollection of dates, he was seldom found to be in error. He carefully cultivated his memory in his early business transactions by imprinting facts on his mind, and he became marked for the tenacity with which he could retain everything he heard or read.
General Cochran was the father of thirteen children, five sons and eight daughters-Joseph, John, Milly, William, Mary, Elizabeth, James, Tamer, Ellen, Thomas J .. Sarah J., Malinda and Lydia. Of them, ten are now living. Mrs. Cochran died in 1855. She was an esteemed member of the Christian Church. General Cochran was a Mason, and assisted in organizing the first Masonic lodge in Brown County. In his business pursuits, he met with great success and died in possession of considerable property. In his old age, he resided for a time in Illinois, but he returned to Brown County and lived with his children. His death occurred at the residence of his son-in-law, William Shelton, in Adams County. He lived eighty-three years and died on his birth- day, September 19, 1864. His remains, with those of his wife, repose in the cemetery of Ebenezer Church. General Cochran left behind him a high reputation for ability and judgment and patriotism, and his name finds an honored place among the men of Brown County.
Joseph Riggs.
was born near Amity, Washington County, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1796, the eldest son of Stephen and Anne Baird Riggs. He had four brothers and six sisters. His father removed to near Steubenville, Ohio, when he was a child; and later to Sardinia, Ohio, where both he and his wife are buried. In August, 1817, our subject left his home near Steuben- ville Ohio, to visit his uncles James and Moses Baird in the Irish Bot- tom in Green Township, Adams County. While there he was offered the position of clerk in the West Union Bank, kept by George Luckey. This position he accepted on December 31, 1817; and in coming from Steubenville to Manchester, travelled on a flat boat.
While living at West Union he was a great friend of lawyer George
Digitized by Google
263
POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTIES
Fitzgerald, and frequently borrowed his fine horse to ride to North Liberty to court Miss Rebecca G. Baldridge, daughter of Rev. William Baldridge. On January 1, 1819, he was elected cashier of the West Union Bank ; and on December 8, 1819, he married Miss Rebecca Bald- ridge, before named. Soon after, they joined the Associate Reformed Church, at Cherry Fork. He served as cashier of the West Union Bank until 1823. On March 1, 1824, he was appointed auditor of Adams County, Ohio, to serve an unexpired term. He was elected and re-elected; and served from March 1, 1824, until the fall of 1831. In 1831 he was appointed a deputy surveyor of the Virginia Military Dis- trict of Ohio, for Adams County. While holding that office, he made a connected survey of all the lands in Adams County, and made a map of the county which remained in the auditor's office till it fell to pieces from age. Mr. Riggs was an accomplished surveyor, but when or where he learned the science we are not advised. He resigned the office of auditor on October 3, 1831, to accept the office of state senator from Adams and Brown counties, to which he was elected as a Democrat in 1831 and served until 1833. In the fall of that year he removed to Hang- ing Rock, Ohio. He remained there until 1837, when he removed to Ports- mouth, Ohio, where he resided the remainder of his life.
On reaching Portsmouth, in 1837, he and his wife connected with the First Presbyterian Church, and he was ordained an elder in 1838. . He served until February 9, 1875, when he connected with the Second Presbyterian Church. He was at once made an elder in that Church, and continued as such during his life.
In 1837 he opened a general store in the city of Portsmouth, and con- tinued in that business, either alone or with partners, for many years. He was a man of substance and of excellent business qualifications. In March, 1838, he was elected to a township office in Wayne Township, in which was located the town of Portsmouth. He was elected a member of the city council of Portsmouth, March 3, 1838; and continued in it, with intervals, until 1868. He was elected recorder of Portsmouth, April 10, 1838, and served until March 15, 1844, and again from March 17, 1848, to March 16, 1849 He was county surveyor of Scioto County from 1839 to 1841. On May 21, 1838, he was appointed on a committeeto secure an armory at Portsmouth. He was surveyor of the town of Portsmouth from November 7, 1845, to March 7, 1849, and again from 1852 to 1854. On December 4, 1846, he was appointed one of the first infirmary board of Scioto County, Ohio, and served by subsequent elections till 1852, and during that time he was clerk of the board. In 1860, he engineered the construction of the tow path from the city of Portsmouth to Union Mills, and charged $70 for his entire services. In 1867, he was president of the city council of Portsmouth. He was usually on the committee of ordinances, and was one of the most useful members of the council. He was responsible for most of the city ordinances and general legislation during his membership of council.
He was a public-spirited citizen, and was so recognized. When any delegation was to be sent on a public mission by the city authorities, he was usually one of it. In 1869 he retired from all business, and lived quietly until his death on July 28, 1877, at the age of 81 years, 26 days. He was a just man, a consistent Christian, and a most valuable citizen.
Digitized by Google
264
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
General James Pilson
was born in April, 1796, in Augusta County, Virginia, the son of Samuel and Dorcas Pilson. His parents emigrated to Adams County in 1807, and settled on Eagle Creek. Dorcas Pilson died in 1840, and Samuel Pilson in 1848. James taught school when a youth, and at the age of twenty was appointed surveyor of Adams County, and held the office two years. From the organization of Brown County, he was its county surveyor until 1824. In 1831 and 1832, he was a member of the house from Brown County, defeating Jesse R. Grant, father of President Grant, for that office.
He was for many years proprietor of Pilson's mill on Eagle Creek. The mill was built by Abraham Shepherd. For many years he was a brigadier general in the militia. From 1833 to 1835, he represented Adams and Brown counties in the senate. He was a man of good busi- ness capacity. of integrity and steady and reliable character. He married a niece of Gen Joseph Darlinton, daughter of his sister, Mrs. Edwards. She was a widow of George Sparks when he married her.
They had one son, Samuel Pilson, born March 7, 1843. Gen. James Pilson died April 4, 1880. He was a Democrat and a Republican. The writer remembers him very well and was a playmate of his son Samuel, also now deceased.
John Patterson.
John Patterson was born in Pendleton County, Virginia, Novem- ber 23, 1793, and died in Wilkins, Union County, Ohio, February I, 1859. His parents were James Augustine Patterson, of English de- scent, and Ann Elizabeth Hull (Patterson), of Dutch descent.
The family lived in that part of Virginia (now West Virginia) known as the "Backbone of the Alleghanies," and owned large tracts of land on the South Branch of the Potomac River. James A. Patterson rendered the American cause important service during the War of the Revolution, and for that reason became possessed of sufficient means to purchase a large body of land in Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, a part of which is now in the heart of the city of Pittsburg. Others had preempted a part of the land before he reached it, and he did not attempt to dispossess them.
John Patterson was but about eight years of age when his father died, in 1801, and in 1804 he was apprenticed for a period of ten years to Z. A. Tannehill to learn the trade of watchmaker and silversmith. His employer died in 1813, leaving his apprentice on his own resources. He then enlisted as a private soldier in a Pittsburg infantry regiment, serving in Gen. Adamson Tannehill's Brigade in what is historically known as the "War of 1812." He saw but little field service, but be- fore the war ended he was made a corporal.
In 1815 he went to Alexandria, Va., expecting to go into business, but his partner proved unworthy, and he returned to Pittsburg, enter- ing the employ of Mr. John Thompson. In the autumn of 1817 he emigrated to Ohio, making the journey down the Ohio River on a keel boat to Manchester, and thence overland to West Union, then one of the most promising settlements in the Buckeye State. Here he opened a jewelry store, made and repaired watches and clocks and man-
Digitized by Google
F
265
POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTIES
ufactured articles of silverware. Some of the spoons and possibly other utensils of his handiwork are still in existence. He afterwards estab- lished a tannery, and then one of the first wool-carding and combing factories erected in southern Ohio. In the spring of 1819 he was elected justice of the peace for Tiffin Township, and subsequently was twice elected to the same position. For several years he held the office, by appointment, of county collector of taxes. On January 27, 1827, the system of tax collecting then in vogue was abolished by the act of the legislature, which created the office of county treasurer, and the incum- bent of that office was made the only tax collector.
In 1826 Mr. Patterson was elected as representative from Adams County to the twenty-fifth general assembly of the state; in 1828 to the twenty-seventh ; in 1829 he was joint representative with Hosea Moore in the twenty-eighth general assembly. He was then, as always throughout his public career, an ardent Democrat. In 1833 and again in 1834, he was for the fifth and sixth times elected as representative in the legislature. He was elected as state senator from Adams and Brown counties in 1835 to the thirty-fourth general assembly; and in 1836 was elected as state senator from Adams, Brown, and Scioto counties to the thirty-fifth general assembly.
With the single exception of Hon. Thomas Kirker, Governor of Ohio, in 1808, who served as senator and representative for seventeen years prior to 1825, John Patterson was a member of the legislature longer than any other citizen of the county. He took high rank as a party leader and debater, and secured the passage of excellent laws. He was a firm friend of all public improvements, and heartily supported the "National Road" and all the various canal projects which were before the legislature during his eight terms of service.
In 1834 John Patterson, of Adams; Uri Seeley, of Geauga, and Jonathan Taylor, of Licking, were appointed by Governor Lucas as commissioners for Ohio to settle the boundary between Ohio and Michigan. The action of the commissioners was resisted by the Gover- nor and inhabitants of Michigan Territory, and for a time there was great excitement throughout the state, the militia was called out on each side, and for a few weeks there was every prospect of bloodshed. Happily for all concerned this was averted. This, and subsequent pro- ceedings relative to the disputed boundary line, are matters of record and a part of the history of the state, too lengthy for repetition here. Suffice it to say that the action of the commissioners was sustained by the governor and legislature of the state, and by the president and congress of the United States. The territory in dispute now includes the great city of Toledo.
On March 21, 1838, President Van Buren appointed Mr. Patter- son United States Marshal for the state of Ohio, as the successor of John Patterson, of Belmont County, who, though he bore the same name, was not a relative. The United States courts then were all held at Columbus, and thither Mr. Patterson removed his family, residing in that city from the date of his appointment until the expiration of his official term, July 10, 1841. His most important service was the taking of the United States census, during the summer of 1840. This im- mense and important task was solely in his charge, and it was per-
Digitized by Google
266
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
formed in a manner creditable to himself and to the complete satisfac- tion of the government.
Returning to Adams County, in 1841, Mr. Patterson resided in West Union until the summer of 1847, when he removed to York Township, Union County, Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his life on a farm in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture and stock raising. His remains were laid to rest in sight of his home, in the cemetery of the York Presbyterian Church, with which he was identified during the last twelve years of his life.
John Patterson was married three times. His first wife was Mary Brown Finley, daughter of Major Joseph Lewis Finley and Jane Blair Finley. They were married at her father's residence on Gift Ridge, south of West Union, November 10, 1818, by Rev. Thomas Williamson. Six children were born of this union, namely: Joseph Peter (died at Butler, Pa., March 4, 1856), Lewis Augustine (died at West Union, April 26, 1846), Matilda Ann (married John Smith, died at West Union, August 23, 1895), Thomas Reed (resides at Price Hill, Cincinnati, Ohio), Hannah Finley (married Lewis C. Clark, died at Manhattan, Kansas, April 23, 1884), and Mary Brown (married Jacob Dresback, resides at Paris, Ill.).' His first wife's remains were laid away in the old village cemetery.
His second wife was Miss Celia Prather, daughter of Major John Prather, of West Union, to whom he was married November 9, 1831, by Rev. John Meek. To them the following children were born: Al- gernon Sidney (died in infancy), Elizabeth Jane (married Benjamin F. Coates, resides at Portsmouth, Ohio), Robert Emmet (died at Nash- ville, Tenn., June 25, 1860), John Prather (died at Chicago Ill., Decem- ber 17, 1889), and James Hamer (died in infancy at Columbus, Ohio).
Mrs. Celia Patterson died at Columbus, Ohio, February 22, 1840. A number of years afterward her remains were removed to the West Union cemetery
His third wife was Miss Mary Catherine McCrea, a relative of Jane McCrea, whose tragic massacre by the Indians near Saratoga, N. Y., is narrated in the annals of the Revolution. They were married at Columbus, Ohio, on November 12, 1840, by Rev. James Hoge. All of their four children were born in West Union; three of them (James McCrea, Stephen Henry, and Celia Ann) died in infancy. Charles Moore, their youngest child, died in his seventeenth year (March 4, 1863), at Murfreesboro, Tenn., while in the service of his country as a volunteer soldier during the War of the Rebellion.
Mrs. Catharine M. Patterson was married to Andrew McNeil, of Union County, on June 16, 1862, who died December 31, 1889. She died at her home near Richwood, Ohio, October 27, 1893.
Col. Oscar F. Moore,
who represented Adams County as a part of the seventh Ohio sena- torial district in the fiftieth general assembly, and its first senator under the constitution of 1851, was born January 27, 1817, near Steubenville, the son of James H. Moore and his wife, Sarah Stull. His maternal grandfather, Daniel Stull, was a captain in the Revolutionary War. He graduated at Washington College, Pennsylvania, in the class of
Digitized by Google
--
267
POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTIES
1836. He began the study of law immediately, under D. L. Collier, then mayor of Steubenville. He attended one session of the Cincinnati Law School, and was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court at Steubenville, October, 1838.
In April, 1839, he located at Portsmouth, in the practice of the law, and continued to reside there the remainder of his life. In 1850 he was elected as a Whig to represent Lawrence and Scioto counties in the house of representatives in the last session under the constitution of 1802. He participated in the senatorial election in which Benjamin F. Wade was elected to the United States senate. In 1851 he was elected to the state senate, as stated at the opening of this sketch. He had as associates in the house, Col. J. R. Cockerill, of Adams County, and Hon. Wells A. Hutchins, of Scioto. In 1854 he was elected to the thirty-fourth congress as a Whig, representing the tenth district, com- posed of Scioto, Pike, Ross, Jackson, and Lawrence. On July 23, 1861, he entered the 33d O. V. I., as its lieutenant colonel. He was promoted colonel of the regiment July 16, 1862. At the battle of Perry- ville, October 8, 1862, he was wounded, captured, and paroled. He re- mained at home until February, 1863, when he was exchanged. He commanded his regiment in the two days' fight at Chickamauga, where the regiment met with heavy loss in killed and wounded. He served on court martials at Nashville, Tenn., in 1863 and in 1864, until July 20, 1864, when he resigned.
In politics he was a Whig until the dissolution of that party, when he was a member of the American party during its existence. After its dissolution, he went to the Democratic party, in which he remained during his life.
On September 19, 1843, he was married to Martha B., daughter of Hon. Thomas B. Scott, of Chillicothe. He had two daughters, the eld- est of whom he named Clay for the idol of his party, Henry Clay. She married Mr. George O. Newman in 1866. His second daughter, Kate, is the wife of Hon. James W. Newman.
As was said of him by the leading member of the bar in his county, and who practiced with him for over forty years :
"He was a man who had many warm friends, of liberal views, of a kind, charitable nature, and who scarcely ever expressed a harsh re- mark or used an unkind word to others. His life in this respect was a lesson of the broadest charity. As a lawyer, he had a wide reputation, and will long be remembered in southern Ohio. He was in active prac- tice at the Portsmouth bar for over forty years, a period longer than any other member has served; his ability was of the very highest order, and as adapted to the varied practice in the different courts, both state and federal, whether before court or jury, and whether relating to cases at law or in equity or to criminal practice, he had but few equals. He seldom made mistakes in the management of a case. Perhaps the most striking feature of his mind was the faculty of clear discrimination, which enabled him, with care and facility, to sift authorities quoted against him and explain the facts of a case so as to avoid legal princi- ples, supposed by an opponent to be conclusive against him. He had a keen relish for a "close case," full of surprises by the disclosure of un-
Digitized by Google
.
268
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
expected evidence which took the case out of the line of preparation marked out by opposing counsel.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.