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 39
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It is also to the interest of the state that, in case of war, its citizens shall place their entire property and their personal services fully at its disposal. A citizen who performs all these obligations is said to be patriotic, and the virtues of patriotism are more admired than any other, because what is given in that direction is given for the common good of all the people of the country.
One may take the entire list of patriots, from Leonidas, the Spartan, down to Lincoln, the great war president, or in our country, from Gen. Warren down to the last man who fell at Appomattox, and none can be found who did more work for his own country than the Hon. John T. Wilson.
He periled his entire fortune; he gave the life of his only son, and he freely offered his own. What more could he have done?
Patriotism is and must be measured by the station in life which a man occupies when his opportunity comes.
If each man does all he can, and offers or gives all he can, he is as great a patriot as any one can be. Measured by this standard, Capt. John. T. Wilson filled the full measure of patriotism.
When he came to the last of earth, he not only remembered those upon whom the law would have cast his estate, but he devoted the greater part of it to public benefactions and especially to the relief of the innocent unfortunates who were not responsible for their own misfor- tunes.
In his public duties as captain in the line, as brigade quartermaster, and as a representative in congress, he performed every duty apparent to him honestly and conscientiously, and in the very best manner in which it could be done. His entire life consisted in the performance of each and every duty as he saw it at the time. He never did anything for effect, or for show, or to be spoken of and praised by his fellow men.
In size, he was like Saul, head and shoulders above his fellows, over six feet high, but with a most kindly disposition. His features were at- tractive and commanding. He was willing to meet every man, to esti- mate him according to his manhood, and to bid him God-speed, if he deserved it.
He never tried to do anything great, but his punctuality to every duty before him, from day to day, made him known of all men. He simply tried to do right, and, this simple devotion to duty in war and peace, in public office and as a private citizen, cause his memory to be revered as a perfect patriot so long as his good deeds shall be re- membered.
Lawrence Talbot Neal
of Chillicothe, Ohio, was born at Parkersburg, Virginia (now West Vir- ginia), September 24, 1844; was educated at the Asbury Academy at that place; removed to Chillicothe in 1864; studied law there and was ad- mitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio, in 1866; was solicitor of the city of Chillicothe from April, 1867, to April, 1868, and declined
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re-election ; was elected to the Ohio legislature in 1867 and served two years and declined re-election ; was elected prosecuting attorney of Ross County in 1870 and held that office until October, 1872, when he re- signed and was elected to the forty-third congress as a Democrat, re- ceiving 13,379 votes against 12,106 for John T. Wilson, Republican. He was re-elected in 1874. He was the Democratic candidate for gover- nor in 1893 and defeated by about 80,000 plurality.
Mr. Neal is noted for his devotion to his party. He is a lawyer of respectable attainments and is now residing at Columbus, Ohio. He was not engaged in the Civil War and is unmarried.
Henry L. Dickey
of Greenfield, Ohio, was born in Ross County, Ohio, October 29, 1832; received an academic education ; studied civil engineering, and, subse- quently, the law, and is a lawyer by profession; was a member of the Ohio house of representatives in 1861, and of the Ohio senate in 1867 and 1868; was elected to the forty-fifth congress in 1876 as a Democrat, receiving 14,859 votes against 13,518 votes for A. Brown. He was re- elected to the forty-sixth congress in 1876, but in a different district. His father resided in Washington C. H., until our subject was fifteen years of age, when he removed to Greenfield, Ohio, where Mr. Dickey has resided ever since. He was, as a youth, a civil engineer on the Mar- ietta and Cincinnati Railroad during its construction. He resigned the position in 1855 and began the study of law with his father, who was a prominent lawyer and common pleas judge of ability. He was admitted to the bar in 1857. He afterward attended law school in Cincinnati and in 1859 he formed a partnership with Judge James H. Rothrock, after- ward supreme judge of Iowa.
On January 2, 1861, he was married to Miss Mary L. Harper. He was defeated for a second term in the lower house in 1863. From 1870 to 1872, he was chief engineer of Highland County in the construction of its turnpikes.
John P. Leedom
was born in Adams County on December 20, 1847, and received a com- mon school education. He graduated at the Smith Business College in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1863. He then taught in the public schools. He was elected clerk of the courts in Adams Co., in '74, and re-elected in '77. He was a member of the Democratic state committee in 1879; was elected to the forty-seventh congress as a Democrat, receiving 17,375 votes to 15,663 votes for the Republican candidate. . In this congress, he served on the committee on territories. He was a candidate for the forty-eighth congress, but was defeated by John W. McCormick, of Gallia County, by a vote of 15,288 to 13.037. He was elected sergeant-at-arms of the forty-eighth congress; also of the forty-ninth and fiftieth congresses. The defalcation of a trusted subordinate broke him down financially, and in health and spirits. He left Washington in October, 1890, and was never well afterwards. He had suffered much before with acute attacks of kidney trouble, and he died at Toledo, Ohio, March 18, 1895, and is interred in the Odd Fellow's cemetery at Manchester. He was married in 1869 to Ruth Hopkins, of Adams County. His children are Mrs.
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Eva Bundy, wife of Col. W. E. Bundy, of Cincinnati, United States attorney for the southern district of Ohio; Mrs. Effie Dugan, widow of the late Jesse Dugan, and a son, Wilbur H. Leedom, now a law student at Manchester. Mr. Leedom was a man of fine appearance and pleasing address, and was popular as a public officer. He made a good impres- sion wherever he went. Ill health and misfortune-the misfortune of trusting too much to others-cut short a most promising career.
John W. McCormick
of Gallipolis, represented in the forty-eighth congress, the district con- sisting of Adams, Gallia, Jackson, Lawrence, Scioto and Vinton counties. He was born in Gallia County on December 20, 1831. He was brought up on a farm and educated at the Ohio Wesleyan University at Dela- ware, Ohio, and at the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio. On leaving school, he engaged in farming and was elected delegate to the Ohio con- stitutional convention in 1873 and was elected to the forty-eighth con- gress as a Republican, receiving 15,288 votes against 13,037 votes for John P. Leedom, Democrat.
William W. Ellsberry
represented the forty-ninth congress for the eleventh district, composed of Adams, Brown, Highland and Ross counties. He was born at New- hope, Brown County, Ohio, December 18, 1833; received a good educa- tion in the public schools of his native county, finishing at a private acad- emy in Clermont County. After having taught school for two years, he ยท began the study of medicine with his father, Dr. E. M. Ellsberry, a noted physician of his time. He attended medical lectures at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, graduating there, and some years later he attended a full course at the Ohio Medical College, adding its diploma to the former. He continued in the successful practice of his profession until his election to Congress. He was appointed superintendent of the Central Insane Asylum, of Columbus, Ohio, in 1878, but declined to serve. He was three times chosen county auditor. At the outbreak of the war, he was one of the county military board. He was a member of various medical societies, including the American Medical Association. He was always a Democrat and was a delegate to the national convention, which nominated Hancock in 1880, and he was elected to the forty-ninth congress as a Democrat, receiving 15,251 votes against 14,841 votes for Hart, Republican.
Hon. Albert C. Thompson
On February 14, 1894, the legislature passed an act to apportion the state of Ohio into congressional districts, and amended the act of April 17, 1882. Under this statute, Ross, Highland, Brown and Adams coun- ties composed the eleventh district, and Vinton, Pike, Jackson, Lawrence and Scioto counties composed the twelfth district. Under this law, in the fall of 1884, Albert C. Thompson was elected congressman for the twelfth district, and W. W. Ellsberry, of Brown, was elected for the eleventh district. On May 18, 1886, by act of that date, congress was
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reapportioned into congressional districts, and the eleyenth district was composed of Adams, Scioto, Lawrence, Gallia, Jackson and Vinton. In this district A. C. Thompson was elected to the fiftieth congress, and re-elected to the fifty-first congress, and represented Adams County as its Congressman.
Judge Thompson was born in Brookville, Jefferson County, state of Pennsylvania, January 23, 1842. He was two years at Jefferson Col- lege, Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, his course ending with the freshman year. He was a student at law when the Civil War broke out. On April 23, 1861, he enlisted in the Union Army, and served as second ser- geant of Company I of the Eighth Pennsylvania, three months troops. The regiment served in Maryland and Virginia under General Patterson. On the twenty-seventh of August, 1861, he enlisted for three years in Company B, 105th Pennsylvania Infantry. He was made orderly ser- geant of the company, and in October, 1861, was promoted to second lieutenant and on the twenty-eighth of November, 1861, he was transfer- red to and promoted to the captaincy of Company K of that regiment. On the thirty-first of May, 1862, he was severely wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, and was again wounded on the twenty-ninth of August, 1861, at the second battle of Bull Run. The last wound was a serious one. A musket ball entered his right breast, fracturing his second and third ribs, and lodging in the lungs where it remained. He was con- fined to his bed by this wound for ten months. In June, 1863, he entered the invalid corps, but resigned in December, 1863, and resumed the study of law. He was admitted to practice in Pennsylvania on the thirteenth of December, 1864. In 1865 he removed to Portsmouth, Ohio. In 1869 he was elected probate judge of Scioto County and served from February 9, 1870, to February 9, 1873, and was not a candidate for re- election. In the fall of 1881 he was elected one of the common pleas judges of the second subdivision of the seventh judicial district of Ohio, and served until September, 1884, when he resigned to accept the nom- ination of his party as a candidate for congress to which he was elected and served as above stated. After he retired from congress he was appointed by Gov. Mckinley, chairman of the Ohio Tax Commission which made its report in December, 1893. He was chosen a delegate to the Republican national convention at St. Louis in 1896. In January, 1897, he was appointed chairman of a commission created by congress to revise and codify the criminal and penal laws of the United States, and served as such until he was appointed by President Mckinley, United States district judge for the southern district of Ohio. He entered upon the discharge of his duties as district judge on the twenty-second day of September, 1898. After his appointment as United Sates district judge he removed to Cincinnati, where he has resided since the first of Novem- ber, 1898.
During Judge Thompson's first term in congress he was a member of the committee on private land claims, of which committee he was a valuable member. In the fiftieth congress he served upon the invalid pension committee, and in the fifty-first congress upon two of the most prominent and important committees, namely, judiciary and foreign affairs. As a member of the first committee the judge was made chair- man of the sub-committee to investigate the United States courts in
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various parts of the country. The report which he submitted to con- gress as chairman of that sub-committee was among the most valuable of the session. It was during the fifty-first congress that the famous Mc- Kinley Tariff Bill was formed, and in the construction of that important measure Judge Thompson took no inconsiderable part, being frequently called into the councils of his party. Judge Thompson's career in con- gress was of material benefit to his adopted city, as it was through his efforts that a public building was erected in Portsmouth costing $75,000. The bill providing for this building was vetoed by President Cleveland in the fiftieth congress, but became a law by the President's sufferance in the fifty-first congress. A dike, known as the Bonanza dike, built in the Ohio just about that time, was also provided for through the same in- strumentality, at a cost of $75,000, and three ice piers built just below, were added at a cost of $7,500, apiece. The city of Portsmouth also re- ceived the boon of free mail delivery through the same source.
As a member of the Ohio Tax Commission he took a conspicuous part in its labors, and its work is now bearing fruit in the legislation of the state on this subject. The report of this committee received the highest praise from contemporaneous journals of political science.
As a lawyer Judge Thompson was well read in his profession, and was a diligent and constant student. He was painstaking, industrious, and energetic. He brought out of a case all there was in it, both of fact and law. His opponent in any case could expect to meet all the points which could be made aginst him, and would not be disappointed in this respect.
As a common pleas judge he gave general satisfaction to the bar and public. He was one of the ablest who ever occupied the common pleas bench in Ohio, and there was universal regret when he left the bench for Congress. As a federal judge, he has received many compli- ments, and it is believed by those who know him best, that he will make a reputation as such equal to any who have occupied that position in our state.
John M. Pattison
was born in Clermont County, Ohio, June 13, 1847. He entered the army in 1864 at the age of sixteen. He was admitted to the bar in Ham- ilton County, Ohio, in 1372. He was elected to the state legislature from Hamilton County in 1873. He was vice president and general manager of the Union Central Life Insurance Company in 1881 and was elected president in 1891. He was elected state senator in 1890 in the Brown-Clermont District to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Thomas Q. Ashburn. He was elected to the fifty-second congress on the Demo- cratic ticket by 16,110 to 13,157 for D. W. C. Loudon. After his con- gressional career, he resumed his connection with the Union Central Life Insurance Company and is now its President.
Gen. William H. Enochs
represented the tenth Ohio district in the fifty-third congress, of which Adams County was a part. While he was only Adams County's repre- sentative from March 4, 1893, till his death, July 13, 1893, yet he was well
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GEN. WM. H. ENOCHS
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known in the county and had canvassed it for the nomination to congress in 1890, when Judge Thompson obtained his third term. He is a good example of what the ambitious American boy can make of himself. He was born in Noble county, Ohio, March 29, 1842. His parents were Henry and Jane Miller Enochs. They removed to Lawrence County when he was a child.
He had the advantages of a common school education and was at- tending the Ohio University at Athens when Fort Sumpter was fired on. He at once enlisted in Co. B, 22d Ohio Volunteers and was made a ser- geant. Col. Wm. E. Gilmore, of Chillicothe, was colonel of this regi- ment. Hon. Thaddeus A. Minshall, now Supreme Judge of Ohio, was its sergeant major. Judge Guthrie, of Athens, was captain of the com- pany and W. H. H. Minton, of Gallipolis, the banker, its first sergeant. This regiment was mustered in April 27, 1861, and mustered out August 19, 1861. Young Enochs was afraid the war would be over before he could get in again, so he swam the Ohio River and enlisted in the 5th Virginia Infantry. At that time he did not believe he could get into an Ohio Regiment, so he enlisted in Virginia. In October, he was elected captain of his company, but owing to his youth, his colonel refused to issue the commission and made him a first lieutenant. He was recom- mended to be major of the regiment in 1862, but owing to his youth, was commissioned a captain. As such, he was in the battles of Moorfield and McDowell and of Cross Keys. He was in Cedar Mountain and the Second Manassas, and at the latter had command of his regiment, although junior captain. He was also in the battle of Chantilly. In 1863, the regiment was transferred to West Virginia. On August 17, 1863, Captain Enochs was commissioned lieutenant colonel. His regi- ment was in the Lynchburg Raid, which was a campaign of "marching, starving and fighting." In 1364, his regiment was in the battles of Bun- ker Hill, Carter's Farm and Winchester, Halltown and Berryville. At the battle of Winchester, September 19, 1864, Colonel Enochs was severely wounded by being struck on the head by a musket ball, and was supposed at first to have been instantly killed. At Fisher's Hill, Sep- tember 22, 1864, he displayed great bravery in leading his regiment to the attack and for this, was brevetted brigadier general. His regiment and the northwest Virginia were consolidated and made the Ist West Virginia Infantry. Near the close of the war, his regiment was sent to Cumberland, Maryland, where he was assigned to the command of the troops in that part of Maryland, and on March 13, 1865, was made a brigadier general. In the fall and winter of 1865 and 1866, he studied law in Ironton and was admitted to the bar in April, 1866. He located at Ceredo, West Virginia. After remaining there a year or more he re- moved to Ironton. He at once acquired a large and lucrative practice. For a long time he was general counsel for the Scioto Valley Railway Company.
In 1871 and 1872, he represented Lawrence County in the house of representatives of the Ohio legislature. In 1875, he was married to Miss Annis Hamilton, of Ironton. They had one son, Berkley, who was educated at West Point and is now a first lieutenant in the 25th U. S. Infantry and is with his regiment in the Philippines. During the Spanish War. he served with his regiment in Cuba.
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Gen. Enochs always had an ambition to represent his district in con- gress. This desire was gratified when, in 1890, he was elected to con- gress from the twelfth district, composed of Athens, Meigs, Gallia, Lawrence and Scioto. In 1892, he was re-elected to congress from the tenth district composed of Adams, Pike, Scioto, Jackson, Lawrence and Gallia. On the morning of July 13, 1893, he was found dead in his bed from an attack of apoplexy. A most promising career was cut short. He was the idol of the people of his county and respected, honored and beloved by the people throughout his district.
In the spring of 1893, he was full of projects for the benefit of his district and particularly for the improvement of the Ohio River. Had he lived, he would doubtless have had as many terms in congress as he desired and would likely have been governor of the state. He had the happy faculty of making all whom he met feel that he was their friend. He had some subtle unknown charm, of which he was unconscious, but which made him friends everywhere and attached them to him by indis- soivable bonds. His patriotism during the war was ardent, and never failed. It was just as strong in peace. All he achieved, all he accom- plished in his brief career was his own. He had no rich or powerful family friends. He had no aid or assistance whatever and his friends were all made on his own merits. He was generous beyond all pre- cedents, and any one deserving sympathy received the greatest measure from him. Once your friend, he was always such, and he made you feel he could not do too much for you. He believed in the brotherhood of man. His death at the time was a public calamity. He received a pub- lic congressional funeral and persons attended from all parts of the sur- rounding country. His funeral was the largest ever held in Ironton. He left the memory of a career of which every young American can feel proud and feel glad that a countryman of his had so distinguished him- self in the Civil War, at the bar and in the National legislature.
Lucien J. Fenton
was born on his father's farm near Winchester, May 7, 1844. The fam- ily were of English ancestry. Mr. Fenton's great- grandfather, Jere- miah Fenton, emigrated from Yorkshire, England, in the early part of the eighteenth century. He was a prominent and active patriot during the Revolutionary period. His son, also named Jeremiah Fenton, was born in Frederick County, Virginia, and died in Adams County, in 1841, at the age of seventy-seven years. Benjamin Fenton, the father of our subject, was born near Winchester, August 31, 1810, and died Aug- ust 13, 1870. His wife, Elizabeth Smith, was born in Pennsylvania, December 19, 1813, and died at Winchester, Ohio, November 5, 1892.
Mr. Fenton was a student at Winchester when the war broke out. On the eleventh of August, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, 91st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was with his regiment until September 19, 1864. He was wounded at the battle of Opequan Creek, Virginia, the ball lodg- ing in his shoulder. He was sent to the hospital at York, Pennsylvania, and was not discharged until May, 1865. He returned home in the fall and began a normal course at the Lebanon school, where he remained for three terms. He taught school for several years. In 1869, he en-
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tered the Ohio University at Athens, and took a Latin-Scientific course, leaving that institution one year before he would have graduated in order to accept the principalship of the Winchester schools, which position he held for two years. He then conducted the West Union schools for one year and the Manchester schools for five years, but he resigned in 1880 and was appointed clerk in the custom house at New Orleans. He was transferred, at his own request, from the custom house of New Orleans to the treasury department in Washington, D. C., March 15, 1881, in the office of the supervising architect. He remained in government service until October 18, 1884, when he resigned and returned home. The Win- chester Bank was organized at that time, and its original officers were as follows: George Baird. president, J. W. Rothrock, vice president, and L. J. Fenton, cashier. Mr. Fenton is still cashier of the bank.
Mr. Fenton is a trustee of the Ohio University at Athens. In 1892, he was a delegate to the Republican national convention at Minneapolis. In 1894, he was elected to the fifty-fourth congress and in 1896 was re- elected to the fifty-fifth congress by over 10,000 plurality. He was a member of the house committee on military affairs during the Spanish- American War.
On May 22, 1872, he was married to Miss Sarah B. Manker. They have three children, Alberta F., Clifton L., who was a captain in the Spanish-American War, and Mary F.
He served on the staff of the Ohio Department Commander of the G. A. R. in 1893, and on the staff of the National Commander of the G. A. R. in 1896.
As a soldier and patriot Mr. Fenton has an honorable record. As a teacher he won and held the high esteem of all the teachers of this county ; as a banker and business man he has shown a high degree of ability and has the confidence of the community ; as a citizen he has the respect of all who know him. He is an excellent example or what the ambitious young American may attain.
Hon. Stephen Morgan, M. C.,
a Republican, of Oak Hill, was born in Jackson County, Ohio, January 25, 1854; was reared on a farm and educated in the country schools and at Worthington and Lebanon, Ohio; taught in the public schools of Jackson County for a number of years; was school examiner for nine years, and principal of the Oak Hill schools for fifteen years ; was elected to the fifty-sixth congress, receiving 19,297 votes, to 13,769 for Alva Crabtree, Democrat. On April 10, 1900, he was renominated by his party for a second term.
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