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 34
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Our subject, John, the seventh child, was born March 14, 1770, in South Carolina. He grew to manhood at the place of his birth, and married Anne Williamson, the daughter of Thomas and Anne Williamson, of Spartanburg District, on the tenth of April, 1798. Prior to his marriage, he united with the Presbyterian Church. He lived in Union District, South Carolina, with his mother until after her death in 1799. Soon after his mother's death, he moved to Spartanburg Dis- trict, and engaged in farming, merchandise and tanning. At the time he removed to Spartanburg District, the only company of militia near his home had for their captain, one Burton, whose father had been a Tory in the Revolutionary War. John Means' dislike of the Tories was so strong that, though the law required him to belong to the militia, he would not join Bruton's company, but got up one of his own, rather
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than to serve under the son of one of those who had persecuted his father during the war. During the War of 1812, he was commissioned a colonel of the militia in South Carolina, but was never called into active service. He was a member of the South Carolina legislature in 1815 and 1816. He and his wife both believed that slaves had souls, and that they should be taught to read the Bible. This was not law- ful in South Carolina, Col. Means determined to remove to Ohio, where his brother William had preceded him in 1802, and his brother- in-law, the Rev. William Williamson, in 1805. He emigrated to Ohio in 1819 and took with him twenty-four slaves to give them their free- dom. On reaching Manchester, he purchased a farm one mile west of Bentonville, now owned by A. V. Hutson. He erected a suitable dwell- ing and buildings in 1824, and built quarters for his freedmen. In Oc- tober, 1821, he was elected county commissioner of Adams County and served one term. In 1824, he was elected a member of the legisla- ture from Adams County and served at the ensuing session and that of 1825. During his first session in legislature, the canal project oc- cupied very much attention, and at his first session, William Henry Harrison was elected United States senator, in place of Ethan Allen Brown, whose term had expired. He was re-elected to the twenty- fourth legislative in the fall of 1825, which remained in session from the fifth of December, 1825, until the fifth of February, 1826. During this session, there were land assessors chosen, who made their returns to the state auditor, and during this session, the first State Board of Equalization was created, with fourteen members, one for each congres- sional district.
Col. Means was in sentiment, anti-slavery, and an Abolitionist. He always declared slavery to be a moral and political evil, though he was not the same kind of an Abolitionist as the Rev. Dyer Burgess, who afterwards married his daughter. He and Mr. Burgess often had heated discussions on the subject of slavery, owing to their differences. He watched over and cared for his former slaves as long as he lived, and when nearing the end of his life, he often expressed himself grati- fied with his action in freeing his slaves, and bringing his family into a free state. He mined the first iron in Adams County. He built the Brush Creek Forge Furnace and made iron there. He was one of the partners who built Union Furnace, the first furnace built in Ohio in the Hanging Rock Region. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Manchester. He died on the fifteenth of March, 1837, and is interred in the Manchester cemetery, adjoining the Presbyterian Church. His wife survived him until November 30, 1840. He was a sincere Christian, an honorable, upright and successful business man. His wife was a remarkable woman. She was of the same views as her husband on slavery, and noted for her piety and good works.
It is mainly through their children this eminent couple are known to this generation. They had six children, Elizabeth Williamson, born in 1799, married Dr. Wm. M. Voris in 1827, and by him was the mother of three daughters, one of whom was the wife of the Hon. William P. Cutler, of Marietta, Ohio. Dr. Voris died of the cholera in Cincin- nati, June 8, 1835. In 1842, she married the Rev. Dyer Burgess, and became his widow in 1872, but lived until February 28, 1889, to the
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great age of ninety. A son, Thomas Williamson Means, was known to all the business men of southern Ohio. He was born in South Carolina, November 23, 1803, and came with his father to Ohio, in 1819. He married Sarah Ellison, December 4, 1828. He has a separate sketch in this book. Another son of Col. Means, the late Hugh Means, of Ash- land, Kentucky, also has a separate sketch in this book.
Col. Means tells us of himself and his views and labor through his children and grandchildren, who are foremost in the land, and the memory of a man who had the conscience and moral courage to be an Abolitionist in South Carolina in 1819, and to demonstrate his faith by removing hundreds of miles into a new country to free his slaves and to place his family in a free state, deserves to have a place of remembrance in the hearts of this generation. Such moral heroism should be inscribed in lasting tablets in the Treasure House of Fame.
General William Kendall.
His father, Jeremiah Kendall, was a relative of General Anthony Wayne. He was in the Revolutionary War for five years, entering at the age of eighteen years. He was wounded at the battle of Brandy- wine, and for two years afterward he was secretary to General Wash- ington. His wife was Rhoda McIntire of Scotch descent. Our sub- ject was born on November 23, 1783. Directly after the Revolutionary War, his father, Jeremiah Kendall, removed from Fauquier County, Virginia, to a farm near old Red Stone Fort, Pennsylvania. In 1784, he started with a flatboat to New Orleans, intending to take a cargo of buffalo meat, vension and other game, expecting to obtain it on his way down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Samuel Davis and Lewis Wetzel were with him as skilled hunters. When below the falls of the Ohio, they were attacked by six canoes filled with Indians. They fired a blunderbuss loaded with thirty-six rifle balls among the Indian canoes, and drove them off. After many adventures, they reached New Orleans, sold their cargo and walked back to their homes. Jeremiah Kendall served two years under General Anthony Wayne against the Indians. He was in the battle of Fallen Timbers and at the Treaty of Greenville, and was wounded several times in that campaign.
William Kendall was his oldest son, who first settled on Paint Creek in Ross County, but afterward went to the site of Portsmouth, Ohio, with Henry Massie before the town was laid out.
On May 29, 1806, William Kendall married Rachael Brown, daughter of Captain John Brown. The Brown residence stood upon the spot now occupied by the government building in Portsmouth, Ohio. Captain John Brown had been a Revolutionary soldier and an officer in the War of 1812. The old well was in the middle of Sixth street. A mill, a garden and an orchard were north of this. The farm covered what is now the Central Park of the city of Portsmouth. Ohio. William Kendall built the first court house in Xenia, and cleared the timber off the public square for that purpose. In 1809, he was elected an associate judge of Scioto County, but it does not appear how long he served, as the records during whatever time he served have been lost or destroyed.
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In the War of 1812, he commanded a troop of cavalry under Gen- eral William Henry Harrison, and the muster roll of his company is preserved. The same fall he was elected to the Legislature to represent Scioto County, and re-elected in 1813.
In Portsmouth, Ohio, he resided on the first alley below the Biggs House, and kept a store there. In a room on the second floor, was the Commercial Bank of which he was a director.
In 1816, he was treasurer of Scioto County, with a salary of $54.53. In 1818, he built, at the mouth of Brush Creek, as a home, a two story frame house, which is still standing, also a flouring mill, a store and two saw mills, and was in partnership with George Herrod, who mar- ried his sister, Elizabeth Kendall, while the family were still in Penn- sylvania. The firm started a boat yard for the construction of steam- boats and flatboats. In 1824he builtthe first steamboat in Scioto County. It was 'called the "Herald," and afterwards, the "Ohio." It ran on the Ohio River many years. The "Belvidere" was built under the super- vision of Captain Rogers and was owned by Lodwick & Company. Kendall and Herrod afterward became contractors for the construc- tion of the Ohio Canal. For fifteen years he was brigade inspector of the Ohio militia. He was also on the staff of Gov. Robert Lucas, who was his brother-in-law, and became a brigadier general of militia.
In 1820, he was auditor of Scioto County, but resigned in 1821. In December, 1821, he was elected to the Legislature to represent Scioto, Pike and Lawrence counties in the house. In December, 1822, he was elected to represent the same counties in the senate, and served until 1824. This same year he was a presidential elector and voted for Henry Clay, and in the same year was appointed deputy surveyor for the military districts of Scioto County, Ohio, and served until 1848.
In 1825, he was elected to represent Pike, Scioto and Lawrence counties in the house. In 1828, William Kendall built Scioto Furnace which was the first furnace in the southern Ohio iron field. He after- ward built Clinton and Buckhorn furnaces. The lot for the court house in Portsmouth, Ohio, was donated by Henry Brush. The con- tract for erecting the court house was let to William Kendall for $12,- 650, and he built it in 1837. It was considered a fine building in that day.
In 1828 and 1829, he represented Scioto, Pike, Jackson and Law- rence counties in the senate.
In 1835 and 1836, he represented the same counties in the senate. In 1836, he was presidential elector and voted for William Henry Har- rison. In 1837 and 1838, he represented Adams, Brown and Scioto counties in the house with Nelson Barrere, of Adams County, as his colleague.
In 1842, he was appointed post master of Portsmouth, Ohio, and served four years. He kept the post office on the corner of Second and Market streets, where the Massie Block now stands.
He was elected to the Ohio senate in October, 1847, and served un- til March 26, 1849. He served six terms in the house, and five terms in the senate.
His first wife, Rachael Brown, died November 26, 1820, and he was married to Christina Lawson, his second wife, on October 2, 1821.
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His son, Milton Kendall, married his wife's sister, consequently he was a brother-in-law to his own son, he having married the eldest daughter and his son the youngest. His second wife died August 2, 1840, and he married for a third wife, Mrs. Ruth Claypool, of Chillicothe, who sur- vived him a number of years.
He was a Whig, and took an active part in politics on that side all his life. During his entire life in Portsmouth there was no public en- terprise went on unless he was connected with it in some way or other. He took a prominent part in the affairs of the state. Whenever his party was in doubt as to a candidate, it was always suggested, "Let us take Kendall; he will make a safe and sure man," and he was. He had a habit of getting there and being elected. This was because he was al- ways popular. He was large-hearted and hospitable. He was candid, but at the same time never sought to obtrude his views on any one, and was tolerant. He was active in his habits, but his disposition was mild, and he was always calm and deliberate. He was the father of fifteen children, and left numerous descendants.
General Kendall came to Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1805, as a trader, and for several years was engaged in mercantile and trading pursuits. He was a faithful friend, a kind neighbor, and a public-spirited citizen. No man was more universally beloved and respected. He possessed uncommon equanimity ; he was seldom disturbed in mind or conduct, no matter what happened. He had a sound judgment. He died August 2, 1849, of a lingering consumption, perfectly resigned, having for a long time been expecting and desiring the final end. He was a tall, spare man, nearly six feet high, complexion between light and dark, blue eyes, and very active. He took hold of many enterprises and was very popular. No more active or energetic citizen ever re- sided in Scioto County, and none was ever more intimately connected with public affairs.
Hugh Means
was born October 14, 1812, at Spartanburg, South Carolina, the son of Colonel John Means, who has a separate sketch herein. His mother was Annie Williamson, sister of Rev. William Williamson, also sketched herein. His father and mother moved to Adams County when Hugh was but seven years of age. He received his education mostly in Ohio at West Union, Ripley, and other schools. He commenced his busi- ness career at West Union, at about sixteen years of age, with his brother, Thomas W. Means, who was engaged in merchandising there. He remained with his brother, Thomas, about three years, and then went to Union Furnace in 1831, first as a store-keeper, and afterwards sold their iron.
In 1835 he went to Greene County, Alabama, and engaged with his brother, James W., in merchandising. In 1837 he returned to Ohio on account of his father's death on November 15, 1837, and remained on the home farm in Sprigg Township, until his mother's death, No- vember 30, 1840. In that year he was married to Miss Ella Ellison, who died in Catlettsburg in 1851.
In October, 1843, he was elected to the Legislature from Adams County, and served one term. At that time, Adams, Fayette, and Highland were in one legislative district, and had two representatives.
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Burnham Martin, of Fayette County, was his colleague. After this, he was engaged at merchandising at Portsmouth, Ohio.
In 1847 he became one of the partners in building Buena Vista Furnace in Boyd County, Kentucky, with James W. Means, John Cul- bertson, and William Foster. In 1848 he built a residence in Catletts- burg, Ky., and removed his home there.
In 1851 he was married to Miss Amanda Wilson. He resided in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, until 1856, when he removed to Ashland, Ken- tucky, where he continued to reside the remainder of his life. He was one of the charterers of the Bank of Ashland, and was its president from its organization. He was one of the original owners of the town plat of Ashland, and helped to organize the town, and as such, was one of the original members in the Ashland Coal and Iron Company.
In 1872, when the Ashland National Bank was organized, he was made its president, and continued such until his death.
Politically, he was a Whig so long as that party existed. At the organization of the Republican party, he identified himself with that, and continued affiliated with it all his life. During the Civil War he was a staunch friend of the Union, and did all he could for its cause. However, he never put himself forward in any political movement.
He was a member of the Presbyterian Church since 1849. He was elected to the office of deacon, and was treasurer for many years. In 1872 he was made a ruling elder in the church, and served as such during his life. This was a position for which he was eminently fitted in every way. He kept himself well informed on all current topics of the day, and was deeply interested in all ethical questions. He, however, had no taste for speaking in public assemblies, but when he did speak, his character and life spoke for him. He was of polished manners, refined in taste, exceptional in correct habits, of the strictest integrity, and of great purity of life. He was respected, honored, and loved by all who knew him. His deeds of charity were numerous, but were done so unostentatiously that their extent could never be told. He had an interest in every enterprise of the church. He was diligent in his business and in his work for the church. In person, he was tall and slender, with admirable bearing, but always of a delicate consti- tution. He had no childern by his first marriage. By his second he had four. His eldest, William, died in 1878. His son, Charles W. Means, is cashier of the Ashland National Bank.
He died December 15, 1884. His widow and two daughters re- side in Asheville, North Carolina.
Henry L. Phillips
was born in Highland County, Ohio, September 13, 1829, received a common school education, studied medicine and began practicing in Adams County. He was married to Martha A. Bloomhuff, September 10, 1856. Three children were born to them: Cora, now a teacher in the public schools of Manchester ; Dudley B. and Fannie, now the wife of W. D. Vance. He entered the 70th O. V. I. in the fall of 1861, as first lieutenant and adjutant. He was afterwards made captain in the same regiment and detailed as acting assistant adjutant general. He was next made a lieutenant colonel, and continued in that grade and com-
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manded the 70th Ohio until it was discharged August 14, 1865. He was in all the important engagements in which his regiment participated and went with Sherman to the sea. In 1865, while still in the service, he was elected to the Legislature as the representative from Adams County. He was a member of Manchester Lodge, No. 317, F. and A. M., by which order he was buried July 27, 1866, having died of malarial fever and a chronic disease contracted in the army.
Joseph Wilkins Eylar
was born in Carlisle, Brown County, Ohio, March 11, 1847. Before he was a year old, his parents removed to Winchester, Ohio, where they resided until 1856, when they removed to Youngsville, where they resided until 1860, when they removed to West Union. Our subject attended pub- lic schools at Winchester, at Grace's Run near Youngsville, and at West Union. While in West Union, between terms of school, he went into the employment of Billings and Patterson, who were publishing the Democratic Union. In 1862, he went to Georgetown where he worked at the printer's trade under John G. Doran, publisher of the Southern Ohio Argus. In 1862, he went with his father in the army, acting as teamster and forage master. He was with Burnside's Army in East
Tennessee in 1863. Just before the siege of Knoxville, Eylar was one of a party sent with dispatches from General Burnside to the com- mandant at Cumberland Gap, directing the forwarding of commissary supplies. The party carrying the dispatches went from Knoxville to the gap by a circuitous route and narrowly escaped capture by the rebels. They, however, delivered the dispatches safely, and from there young Eylar went home. That winter he spent in school and from there went into the office of the Democratic Union, at West Union. He remained there until the summer of 1865 when he went to Fayette County and worked in a hub and spoke factory until September when he returned to West Union and undertook to establish a Democratic newspaper in Adams County. He walked over the county canvassing for subscribers and on the nineteenth of January, 1866, he launched the Peoples' De- fender on the troubled sea of journalism. As a newspaper, it was a suc- cess from the start. Mr. Eylar seemed to have a talent for newspaper work and was able to make the paper as good as it could be with the sup- port he had in Adams County. The paper and its editor, Mr. Eylar, prospered right along.
In March, 1889, he was married to Mary Ellen Oldson, daughter of James R. Oldson, of West Union. He has had four children, Mar- garet Ann, William Allen, James Norton and Lotta Sinclare.
In 1876, Mr. Eylar was elected to the Legislature from Adams County as the representative of his party and re-elected in 1878. Dur- ing his two terms, he secured the passage of more bills than any one who had ever preceded him in the representation of Adams County. He made a record as a most efficient legislator.
In 1890, after having published the Peoples' Defender successfully for twenty-four years, he sold it to Edward A. Crawford and removed to Georgetown, Ohio, where he purchased an interest in the Georgetown News Democrat and has been its editor and publisher ever since.
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Mr. Eylar is a Democrat in the intensest sense of the word. While there may be, and doubtless are, Democrats whose faith in the tenets of their party is only sentimental, that is not the case with Mr. Eylar. His democracy is eighteen carats fine. He not only believes it, but he thinks, acts and lives it. The Defender under his management was an able newspaper. Many thought at times he was too pungent and sar- castic and sometimes too abusive, but his friends stood by him and he succeeded.
Mr. Eylar is a good friend, a good neighbor, a bad enemy, and a good citizen. He believes in the broad religion of humanity and prac- tices it every day of his life. With the foundations he was able to lay in his boyhood and youth, he has made a superstructure with which he and his personal political friends can be well satisfied and of which they can be proud.
James L. Coryell.
James L .. Coryell was born near West Union, February 22, 1830. His father was Salathiel Coryell, and his mother, Nancy Holmes, daugh- ter of James Holmes. His father was born in Mason County, Ky., and located in Adams County in 1801. The Coryell family came from the state of New Jersey. Up to twenty years of age, our subject worked on his father's farm in the summer and attended school in the winter. At twenty years, he became a teacher in the public schools, followed that profession for about nine years, and in that time, was county school ex- aminer for two years. In 1853, he removed to West Union and became a teacher in the upper district, and when not engaged in teaching, was employed in the county auditor's office. He was always a Democrat, and in 1859, was by that party elected to the office of county auditor and re-elected in 1861. He filled the office with satisfaction to the public and great credit to himself. In 1864, he was elected justice of the peace for Tiffin Township and was re-elected in 1867, and served as such for about six years. During this time, he also followed the occupation of a surveyor. In the discharge of his duties as justice, he brought to his aid a calm, judicial mind and temper. He was a most excellent surveyor. In 1869 he was elected probate judge of Adams County and was re- elected in 1872 and 1875. In 1879, he was elected Adams County's rep- resentative in the Legislature and served two terms. In 1875 he was ad- mitted to the bar of Ohio. In April, 1886, he was again elected a justice of the peace in Tiffin Township, and continued to hold it by successive re-elections until the time of his death. He was first married to Miss Mary McGranagan, of Manchester, and by her was the father of three children ; Lydia, the wife of Orlando Burwell, of Cincinnati; Nancy, the wife of C. C. W. Naylor, of Manchester ; W. C. Coryell, the well-known attorney in West Union, and Julia, wife of Edward Hughes, of Man- chester, but now deceased. His wife died in 1866 and in 1869 he mar- ried Mrs. Hannah McFerran, widow of Major John W. McFerran, who died in the service of his country in the Civil War. From 1867 to 1880 and from April, 1889, until his death, he served as a member of the board of education of West Union. As a school teacher and surveyor, he was most efficient. As a public officer, he discharged his duties with promptness, thoroughly, and with satisfaction to all who had business before him.
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In the probate office, he systematized the manner of transact- ing its business and keeping its records. To all cases in that court he gave a patient and calm hearing, and in their disposition displayed a broad and sound judgment, which commanded the respect of all. As a lawyer, he was a safe and prudent counselor. He was not an advocate but in the management of estates, he had the confidence of all the people in the county, and that confidence was well deserved, and never abused. He was of an even and calm temper, never excited or perturbed, and at 110 time did he ever lose his mental balance. He had a taste for local history and reminiscences from boyhood, and his mind was stored with historical facts about the county and its citizens. Whenever he learned a fact, he never forgot it. His reminiscences of Adams County would have made a most interesting book. The writer has often suggested to him that he ought to have written the history of Adams County, and had he done so, it would have been a most readable book, but he never could be induced to write out and preserve the many interesting facts in the past of the county with which his mind was stored. The writer never would have taken an interest in the history of Adams County and this book never would have been written, so far as he is concerned, had it not been for the interest awakened in him by Judge Coryell, in his many interviews with him. On men and events in the past history of the County, Judge Coryell was a most interesting conversationalist, and no one could listen to him without becoming interested. The writer was not only deeply interested in the many events narrated to him by Judge Coryell, but also felt these events should be preserved in a printed book and hence this history, the work of himself and his associate, Mr. Stivers.
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