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 35
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And to Judge Coryell's wonderful faculty of remembering past events and relating them in an interesting manner to his friends, the patrons and readers of this work may largely attribute any pleasure they may have in reading that portion of this work prepared by the writer of this sketch.
Hon. John B. Young.
The paternal great-grandfather of our subject, Daniel Young, emi- grated from the north of Ireland to the state of New Jersey prior to the Revolution, in which he was a soldier in a New Jersey regiment. He was a pensioner, and died in Adams County, Ohio, and is buried in the Foster cemetery, in Greene Township. His son, Thomas W. Young, was born in New Jersey, September 4, 1783, and died January 10, 1867. He was the grandfather of our subject, and his wife was Mary Finney, who was born in Ireland February 11, 1788, and died in 1870. She is also buried in the Foster cemetery. Daniel Young, father of our subject, was born October 27, 1813, in Pennsylvania; and died in Adams County April 18, 1850. He married Clarinda Brooks, who was born in Che- mung County, New York, March 9, 18tt, and died September 14, 1860.
John B. Young was born February 19, 1839, in Jefferson Township, Adams County, Ohio, where he has ever since resided. When he was eleven years old, his father died, and John B. was put under the charge of a great uncle, George Young, with whom he made his home until his sixteenth year. After working for a few months for Daniel Spurgeon, he returned to his mother's home, where he remained until she married John Scott. In April, 1859, he entered school in West Union under the
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tutorship of the late Judge J. L. Corvell, and prepared himself to teach in the country schools of Adams County, receiving his first certificate to teach in the year 1859. While under the instruction of Judge Coryell, the latter became a candidate on the Democratic ticket for the nomina- tion for county auditor. He was anxious about the delegates from Jef- ferson Township, and sent our subject there to try to secure the pledges of ten delegates which were needed to insure the nomination for the judge. After much political wire-pulling, eleven pledges were secured, and the judge was assured the coveted nomination. This was the first political work of our subject beyond township affairs, and he had not then attained his majority.
In September, 1859, he began teaching in Jefferson Township at twenty-five dollars per month, paying five dollars per month for board- ing. He continued teaching as a profession until he enlisted in the Civil War, August 11, 1862, at Buena Vista, Scioto County, Ohio, under Captain Henry, Company H, 8Ist Regiment, O. V. I., Colonel Morton in command. He served until mustered out at Louisville, July 13, 1865. During his term of service, he was engaged in the following battles: Tuscumbia, Town Creek, Lay's Ferry, Rome X Roads, Dallas, Siege of Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy's Station, Kennesaw Mountain, Sherman's March to the Sea, the march through the Carolinas, and Bentonville.
Five days after his enlistment in the service, he was married to Deidamia Thompson, who has borne him ten children-Isaac D., Edmund Lee, Clement L., John H., Inda, Thomas M., Thomas E., Sarah, Mary and Anna.
In 1883, he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for representa- tive from Adams County in the Ohio Legislature; and after one of the most stubbornly contested political battles, he was elected, his opponent being Robert H. Ellison, of Manchester, a wealthy banker of that place. His record in the legislature was eminently satisfactory to his party, and he was nominated for a second term, but defeated by a few votes in a year in which the entire Democratic ticket was overwhelmed in Adams County. He has held many positions of trust and honor, and has long been a leader of the Democratic party in his native county. He is a member of the Christian Union Church, and has served for years as an elder in that organization.
William Alfred Blair,
a merchant of Tranquility, Adams County, Ohio, was born April 13. 1829, on a farm six miles northwest of Tranquility. His ancestors were of Scotch-Irish stock. Joseph Wallace Blair, father of our sub- ject, was born in Tennessee, December 22, 1799. When thirteen years of age, he accompanied his parents to Adams County, Ohio, and for a number of years was engaged in farming. His father, being afflicted with rheumatism, gave his attention to school teaching and merchan- dising, first opening a small store at Belfast, Highland County, Ohio, associated for a time with the Hon. John T. Wilson. The last twenty- five years of his life were spent on a farm of 155 acres, located near Russellville, Brown County, Ohio, where he died February 9, 1878, and was buried in the Red Oak cemetery in that county. Polly Ann Blair, mother of our subject, was born January 12, 1807, and died November
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HON. ANDREW CLEMMER SMITH
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12, 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Blair were married in i827, and were the par- ents of twelve children, six of whom are still living.
W. A. Blair, the subject of this sketch, received his education in the early days of his boyhood from his parents and in the district com- mon schools of those days in Adams and Highland counties. He re- mained with his parents until fifteen years of age, when he came to live with the Hon. John T. Wilson, of Tranquility, and was employed to do general work around the store. He remained with that gentleman nine years, and acquired an interest in the store. In 1853 he accepted a position in the dry goods establishment of B. L. Jefferson, of Ports- mouth, Ohio, and shortly afterward bought a half interest in the busi- ness, which partnership continued for two years. Mr. Blair next spent one year in merchandising at South Webster, Ohio, and in August, 1856, he returned to Tranquility and purchased the old Wilson store, then owned by Silcott & Mathews, and located on the hill. Five years later Mr. Blair built his present store room and dwelling, into which he moved in January, 1862. He was married September 18, 1856, to Mary Jane, daughter of John and Narcissa McCreight, of Adams County. Mr. and Mrs. Blair have had the following children: Frank Granville, born November 23, 1857, is conducting the store at Tran- quility, married Lulu America Wasson, by whom he had one child, Earl Clyde; John Joseph, born September 24, 1859, is engaged in the banking business at Peebles, Ohio, married Espy Jane Patton, and they have one child, Charles Patton; Spencer Wilson, born December 29, 1865, is employed in his father's store; Blanchard Grier, born January 18, 1869, is a clerk in the Ripley National Bank, Ripley, Ohio.
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W. A. Blair is a man of considerable means, of great business ex- perience and ability, and his probity of character and uprightness in all business affairs, are unquestioned by those who come in contact with him. He was in the Civil War, served as second lieutenant in Co. G. 172d O. V. I. While never aspiring to public honors, he was elected by the Republican party of Adams County, Ohio, in the fall of 1885, as representative from said county to serve in the sixty-seventh General Assembly of Ohio for the years 1886 and 1887. He also served the township of Scott, in Adams County, Ohio, as its treasurer from 1862 to 1886, about twenty-four years. In politics he is a Republican; in religion he is a Presbyterian. He was the intimate friend of the late Hon. John T. Wilson ,having known him from childhood, and so thor- oughly did he impress Mr. Wilson that he always placed the most im- plicit confidence in him, and at the time of his death, Mr. Blair was named as executor, without bond, of the Wilson estate, the largest es- tate ever left for settlement in Adams County, and he has conducted the administration of the estate with that care and fidelity Mr. Wilson an- ticipated.
Hon. Andrew Clemmer Smith
was born a musician. His father was a musician, a trait inherited from generations back. Our subject was born on the seventeenth day of September, 1836, at Mt. Leigh, in Adams County, Ohio. His father, Samuel Smith, was a wool carder and an instructor in vocal music and penmanship. His mother was Barbara Clemmer. Young Smith grew up in a home of industry, song, and peace, until the age of nine, when
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his parents removed to North Liberty, where he began to learn the wool carding trade. He spent his winters in the common schools, and his summers at work at wool carding. As might be expected, young Smith developed an extraordinary aptitude for instrumental music, and when a band was organized at North Liberty, under the instructions of Dr. L. D. Sheets, an eminent physician and musician from Baltimore, Md., Andrew was given a position as bass drummer, but in less than six months he was promoted to first B flat cornet. Much of his young manhood was spent in the study and practice of music, arranging music for bands, and instructing them throughout the counties near his home. He went to school, some time at the North Liberty Academy when the Revs. Fisher, Arbuthnot and Andrews presided, successively, over that institution. At the age of seventeen he became a teacher of com- mon schools, receiving a certificate of qualification to that effect from the county board. Not being able to obtain a school, at that time, he entered the wool carding mill of M. J. Patterson, of Winchester, and remained until the season closed in 1853, when he entered the dry goods store of George A. Dixon, of Winchester, as salesman. This place he held until the fall of 1854, when he obtained a school. As a teacher he was very successful, and held a prominent position among the teachers of Adams County. For four years prior to the Civil War, he was a teacher in the West Union schools. Two years of the time he taught under the late James L. Coryell, and two years under Rev. W. W. Williams. On July 18, 1861, he enlisted in the 24th. Regiment, O. V. I., at the age of twenty-six, as leader of the regimental band. On September 10, 1862, he was discharged.
He spent the time from September 10, 1862, until March 1, 1863, at his home in Winchester, Ohio. On the latter date he re-entered the military service as a first-class musician in the brigade band, 3rd Brigade, Ist Division, 21st Army Corps. On April 5, 1863, he left Adams County for Murfreesboro, Tenn., where on April 13, 1863, he was a second time mustered into the U. S. military service. On March II, 1864, he was made a leader of the band of the 3rd Brigade, Ist Di- vision, 4th Army Corps. He remained with this corps until the first of September, 1865, when he was discharged from the service of the United States at Camp Stanley, Texas. He, however, remained as leader of the band of the 21st Illinois, until that regiment was mustered out in December, 1865. He did not reach home until January 25, 1866. During his service in the Civil War he was present in the following battles : Cheat Mountain, W. Va., Shiloh, Tenn., Murfreesboro, Tenn., Smithville, Corinth, Dalton, Resaca, Atlanta, Chicamauga. Jonesboro, Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville. For personal service rendered Major General Thomas in front of Atlanta, Ga., in Septem- ber, 1864, Mr. Smith was granted a furlough for thirty days. While at home in this period, he was married to Miss Mary J. Puntenney, daughter of Mr. James Puntenney. At the close of the war he took up his residence at his wife's former home at Stout's Run, Greene Township, and, with the exception of three years in West Union, as a teacher, he has lived there ever since. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith five sons and two daughters, of which a daugh- ter and a son died in infancy. Edgar P., the oldest, is a U. P. minister,
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and lives in Huntsville, Ohio. Mary Maude married a Methodist Epis- copal minister, Rev. William C. Mitchell, and lives in Lynden, Wash- ington; Samuel James was born October 14, 1873, and died March 20, 1896; George H. C. and Harry E. were born October 22, 1879, and De- cember 28, 1883, respectively, and still live at home with their parents. Mrs. Mary J. Smith, his wife, was born November 16, 1842. In her young womanhood she was a student under Miss Mary E. Urmston, afterwards Mrs. E. P. Pratt, and under Jas. L. Coryell and Rev. W. W. Williams. She became a teacher and obtained great proficiency in music. For several years she was a teacher of piano music. Mr. Smith and his entire family, with the exception of his married daughter, are members of the United Presbyterian Church, living up to, and ac- cording to the ethics of all that church teaches man as to his duty, and the reasons for it. He especially loves to defend, bold and fearless, the sublimity of "the Songs of the Bible."
In politics Mr. Smith is a Republican of the "most straightest sect." He firmly believes that the principles of the Republican party carried out by the government are necessary to the welfare and contin- uous prosperity of the nation.
He was elected to the Legislature for the district composed of the counties of Adams and Pike in November, 1895, and re-elected in 1897. This office came to him unsolicited, and he discharged his duties as he has done everything in life,-on his conscience.
Mr. Smith is a man of the highest character. With every move- ment for the betterment and elevation of mankind, he has been identi- fied as an advocate. He has always been a man of generous and noble impulses. In musical culture and education he has been a pioneer in southern Ohio. Many persons owe to him the lifelong pleasures they have found in the enjoyment of musical culture. His record as a teacher, as a patriot, as a musician, as a citizen, a man, and a Christian gentleman is without stain or blemish, and is one of which he, his friends, and his posterity may feel justly proud.
Hon. Richard Ramsay
was born in Washington County, Ohio, but was from early child- hood a resident of Winchester, Adams County, Ohio, where in 1885 he died, at the age of seventy-four years and eleven months. He made the most of the common schools in his day, and thusadded to a mind of great natural force much acquired ability. His mind was well stored with useful information of which, owing to his mental discipline, he had ready command. He was a natural logician, and reasoned well on ques- tions of local and national importance. For thirty-one years he was a Justice of the Peace, though he accomplished as much by his unofficial counsels in reconciling the estranged as through the administration of the law. And so wise were his decisions that through this long period but few, if any, of his official rulings were reversed by the higher court. In 1873, he represented Adams County in the State Legislature. He was elected at a time when the opposing political party was in the as- cendency, so fully did he share the confidence of his neighbors, without distinction of party.
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In his early manhood, he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was a useful and influential member till his death. For thirty-seven years of this time, he was a local preacher; and for thirty-one years, a local deacon. His sermons were both scriptural and practical, and were very acceptable in the entire field of his labors.
In 1831 he was married to Miss Priscilla Reese, daughter of Major Jonathan Reese. In 1881 they celebrated their golden wedding, all their nine children and several grandchildren being present.
His was a beautiful character. He was gentle and kind, faithful and true. His disposition was even and winning. He had clear and deep convictions on all questions, and never failed in his loyalty to what he thought was right. His influence in the community was blessed, and aided greatly in the promotion of every moral reform.
His body was the first in this large family to be borne to its last rest- ing place in the cemetery of the village where so long he had resided.
Adams County in Congress.
By N. W. EVANS.
From the organization of the state until 1810, there was but one congressman, Jeremiah Morrow, a member of the first constitutional convention, and afterwards Governor. On February 14, 1892, the State was divided into six congressional districts. The second district was composed of Clermont, Highland, Fayette, Clinton, Greene, and Adams. John Alexander, of Greene, was elected in this district in 1812 to the thirteenth congress. He was re-elected to the fourteenth con- gress, and served from 1813 to 1817. He was born in Spartanburg, N. C., in 1777, where the family name was "Elchinor." He moved to Ohio, where he became known as the "Buffalo of the West." He was elected as a Democrat. He came to Ohio in 1802 with his family. He was a member of the state senate, December, 1822, to February, 1824, representing Greene and Clinton. He was a lawyer. He left two sons and had a large estate.
The next representative from this district was John W. Campbell, of Adams County. A sketch of him appears elsewhere. He was elected to the fifteenth congress in 1816, and served from March 4, 1817, till March 4, 1827, five terms. On May 20, 1822, the second ap- portionment was made and the fourteen districts were made. The fifth district was composed of Brown, Adams, Highland, and Clinton. John W. Campbell represented this district for two terms, residing in Adams County all the time. On March 4, 1827, he was succeeded by William Russell in the twentieth congress. Russell served three con- secutive terms, March 4, 1827, to March 4, 1831, being a resident of Adams County all the time. Thus Adams County had the first con- gressman from the fifteenth to the twenty-second congress, both inclu- sive, for sixteen consecutive years.
On June 14, 1832, the third apportionment was made, and nine- teen districts were made. Brown, Highland, Clermont, and Adams formed the fifth district, and Thomas L. Hamer was elected to the twenty-third congress as a Democrat. A sketch of him appears else- where. He was re-elected to the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth con-
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gresses, and served until March 4, 1839. Judge Campbell might have remained indefinitely, and so might Hamer, but each declined further elections, the first after five terms, and the second after three.
Then Dr. William Doane, of Clermont County, was elected to the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh congresses. He will not have a sep- arate sketch, and we will finish him right here. He was born in the state of Maine. He removed to Clermont County and filled several local offices. He was elected as a Democrat. July 15, 1842, at a spe- cial session of the legislature, as in 1832, the fourth apportionment was made and twenty-one districts created. Clermont, Brown, Highland, and Adams were the seventh district. In this district, Gen. Joseph Mc- Dowell, of Highland County, was elected to the twenty-eighth con- gress, and served two terms, 1843 to 1847. He was born in Burke County, North Carolina, November 13, 1800. He moved to Highland County, Ohio, in 1824, and became a farmer. He was a merchant in Hillsboro from 1829 to 1835. At that time he was admitted to the bar by a special act of the legislature. Previous to his election to congress, he was in the legislature, in the House in 1832 and 1833, and in the Sen- ate from 1833 to 1835. He attained distinction as a lawyer, was an earnest and eloquent man, true to his constituents, faithful in the dis- charge of duty, and was noted for being a Christian gentleman. To the thirtieth congress, in October, 1846, Thomas L. Hamer, of Brown County, was elected, but never sat. He died in Mexico, December 21. 1846. Jonathan D. Morris, of Clermont County, was elected to suc- ceed him. He was re-elected to the thirty-first congress, and served till March 4, 1851. He had been clerk of the courts in Clermont County from 1831 to 1846, was a lawyer by profession, and was a faith- ful, conscientious and popular official. For twenty-five years he was a controlling factor in Clermont County politics. He had the respect and confidence of the people of his county, and was a leader of public opinion.
In the thirty-second congress, 1851 to 1853, Nelson Barrere, a Whig, for the first time represented the district. He was a resident of Highland County when elected, but had resided in Adams County from 1834 to 1845, and while he had represented that county in the legisla- ture in 1837 and 1838. In 1853, he was the Whig candidate for Gover- nor, but was defeated by Mr. Medill. During the Civil War he was a Republican, but at its close became a Democrat, and remained such during his life. He was an able lawyer. He died August 20, 1883.
In 1852 the fifth congressional apportionment was made of twenty- one districts. The sixth district was composed of Clermont, Brown, Highland, and Adams. Andrew Ellison, a lawyer from Brown County, represented the district in the thirty-third congress, 1853 to 1855. Nothing is now remembered of him except that he was a lawyer from Brown County. He was elected as a Democrat.
In the thirty-fourth congress, Jonas R. Emrie, of Highland County, 1epresented the district as a Republican in 1855 to 1857. He was defeated for re-election to the thirty-fifth congress by Joseph R. Cock- erill, of Adams County, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere. Under the plan by which the Democratic party was managing its affairs in the district at that time, Col. Cockerill was allowed but one term, and in the
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thirty-sixth congress, 1859 to 1861, was succeeded by Col. William How- ard, of Clermont County. He was a distinguished citizen of that county, whose memory is still fragrant. Like Campbell and Cockerill, he was a native of Virginia. When a boy he learned the saddler trade. He was prosecuting attorney of Clermont County from 1845 to 1849; state sena- tor in 1849. He was a lieutenant in the Mexican War, and went into the Civil War as major of the 59th O. V. I., and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He was a patriot, and so disclosed himself in congress, but the Democracy of his district had at that time established a foolish custom that no one should have but one term, so he retired at the close of his term and gave place to Chilton A. White, of Brown County, who was elected to the thirty-seventh congress, 1861 to 1863, as a Democrat. In 1862 the sixth apportionment for congress was made, and the Republi- cans had the innings. There were nineteen districts, and the eleventh congressional district was composed of Adams, Scioto, Lawrence, Gallia, Jackson and Vinton. The district was Republican, but to the thirty- eighth congress, Wells A. Hutchins, of Scioto County, was elected as a War Democrat on a platform for the more vigorous prosecution of the war. A sketch of Mr. Hutchins appears elsewhere. He was a candidate to succeed himself, but was defeated by the Hon. Hezekiah H. Bundy, of Jackson County, who represented the district in the thirty-ninth con- gress, 1865 to 1867. A sketch of him appears herein.
In the fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second congresses, 1867 to 1873, John T. Wilson, of Adams County, represented the district. A sketch of him will be found herein.
In 1872 the seventh apportionment was made. There were twenty- one districts, and Highland, Brown, Adams, Pike, and Ross were made the seventh district. And Lawrence T. Neal, of Ross County, repre- sented it in the forty-third and forty-fourth congresses, 1873 to 1877. Henry L. Dickey, of Highland County, was elected to the forty-fifth congress from this district, 1877 to 1879.
In 1878 the eighth apportionment was made, and this was the first not made at a decennial period. It was made by the Democrats, all previous ones having been made by the Whigs or Republicans. There were twenty-one districts, and the eleventh was composed of Clermont, Brown, Adams, Highland, and Clinton. Under this apportionment, Henry L. Dickey, of Highland, was re-elected and represented the dis- trict, 1879 to 1881. In 1880 the Republicans controlled the Legislature and re-enacted the apportionment of 1872, making the ninth, and in this district, composed of Highland, Brown, Adams, Pike, and Ross, John P. Leedom was elected to the forty-seventh congress and served one term, 1881 to 1883.
In 1882, the decennial period, the tenth apportionment was made. Under this there were twenty-one districts, and the eleventh was com- posed of Lawrence, Adams, Scioto, Jackson, Gallia, and Vinton. In this district John W. McCormick, of Gallia, was elected to the forty- eighth congress, and served one term.
In 1884 the legislature was again Democratic, and that party took a turn at the wheel of fortune: The eleventh apportionment was made, and twenty-one districts were formed. The eleventh was composed of
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