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 69
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Mrs. Gowdy speaks of her father's family occupying a part of the house of the Rev. Dyer Burgess (now the Palace Hotel) soon after they came to West Union. Rev. Dyer Burgess and Rev. John Graham were kindred spirits on the question of slavery. Mrs. Gowdy says that while in Mr. Burgess' house the younger children were in fear and trembling, for the house had been treated to unsavory eggs and heavy missiles by the friends of human slavery. The children all stood in awe of the Rev. Burgess.
One would think, naturally, that a minister's home would be a sol- emn place, but his daughter Ellen says of her father's home, "It was a jolly place, if it was a minister's house." The young men and women of West Union all thought so, for they spent a great deal of time there. One young lawyer in the town was there so often that one night some of the mischievous boys took down his sign and put it up on the Rev. Graham's premises. The daughters, however, were agreeable and attractive and the young men were perfectly justifiable in their partiality for the minister's home. Mr. Graham was fond of vocal and instrumental music and often
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played the violin. His family were all taught to cultivate music and to- gether could and did carry all the parts.
If there is any point in the character of Mr. Graham on which more emphasis could be laid than another, it was conscience. He preferred to obey the law of God, shield and rescue the fugitive slave, even if thereby he violated the law of man and was compelled to suffer for it. He never failed to keep an appointment.
On July 1, 1849, he was in good health and in the full enjoyment of all his physical powers. Apparently, he had many years of usefulness before him. But the Dread Destroyer, the Asiatic cholera, was abroad in the land. On the fourth day of July, he had officiated at the funeral of Robert Wilson, who died of the cholera, and when he came home, he remarked that he had a singular dread of the disease. On the morning of July 13, both he and his son David were attacked with the disease. At that time, there was no particular fear of it and the neighbors came in numbers and tendered their ministrations. David, the son, though very near death's door, recovered, but the disease was too powerful for his father and on the fifteenth of July he passed away. He left two sons and three daughters.
The Rev. Henry Graham, his eldest son, is a minister at Indiana, Pennsylvania, and the father of eight children.
David Graham, a lawyer at Logansport, Indiana, died in 1887. He left three daughters who reside in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mrs. Ellen J. Gowdy, widow of Rev. G. W. Gowdy. resides at Des Moines, Iowa. She has one son living, a minister, and three daughters, one a teacher at Des Moines, one with her and one Mrs. D. B. Baker, whose husband is in the shoe business in New York City. This daughter is an artist as well as the one residing with her mother.
Mrs. Elizabeth F. Stewart, widow of R. E. Stewart, resides. at Al- bany, New York. She has four sons, all in the ministry, and two de- ceased.
Mrs. Sallie M. Gordon, the youngest daughter of Rev. Graham, is also a widow. She has one daughter and two sons, both ministers. All three of Rev. Graham's daughters' husbands were ministers, and of their sons, seven are ministers.
Abraham Hollingsworth.
In taking a review of early settlers of Adams County, the above name is not to be forgotten.
Near historic Winchester, Virginia, not a mile out of town, there stands a grand old stone house, surrounded on three sides by a clear, limpid, spring-fed creek, bordered by large shade trees. The stream is called Abraham's Creek, and was so named by Abraham Hollingsworth, who built the house before the Revolution. Across the stream to the left of the house is a stone flour mill as old as the stone mansion. The estate originally consisted of some four hundred acres, and was taken up by the Hollingsworth family about the time of Lord Fairfax's grant from Charles the Second. Lord Fairfax claimed his right to be prior, but the Hollingsworth of that day held out stoutly for his rights, and compelled a quitclaim from the English lord, who, though a lord by title, was a boor in his manners and style of living, and there have been Hollingsworths at Winchester from that day to this.
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Here on the twentieth of August, A. D. 1782, the subject of our sketch was born. His father's name was Robert, born in 1744, and died in 1799. His mother was Susanna Rice, born August 24, 1751, and died in 1833. Abraham was the seventh child of his parents; he had eight brothers and five sisters. The eldest son and child was born December 25, 1770, and the youngest December 13, 1796. These were the days when people believed in large families and had them.
The family to which Abraham Hollingsworth belonged, originated in the county of Cheshire in England, in the eleventh century. The name was originally Holly'sworth. There were abundance of holly trees grown on the original Hollingsworth manor, in Cheshire, England, and "worth" in original Saxon meant farm or fief, and "Hollyworth" meant Holly manor or farm, and the family took its name from the manor. The family had and has a coat of arms in the Herald's College; the shield contains three holly leaves vert, and the crest a stag's head. The motto is "Disce Ferindi Patienter"-Learn to endure patiently.
The stone house was started to be built by Abraham Hollingsworth, the great-grandfather of our Abraham. He made his will in September, and died in November. He must have owned an immense quantity of land, for he gave one son 250 acres, part of a tract of 1,050 acres which he owned on Opequan Creek. He willed to his son Isaac the stone house then unfinished, with the materials to finish it, and the lands which were with it. Isaac's son Robert was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. In England the family can be traced back to 1022, and in this country to 1682, when Valentine Hollingsworth, in England, came over with William Penn. There was a John Hollingsworth in England in 1559, who was a gentleman and occupied Hollingsworth Hall. He was an officer of the Herald's College. The Valentine Hollingsworth who came over with William Penn was the founder of the family in America. He was a Quaker as most of the Hollingsworths have since been. It seems he had a son Thomas married in 1692 in the form the Quakers used, and a certificate of the marriage, with the names of the subscribing witnesses, has been preserved and the following is a copy of it:
Whereas, That Thomas Hollingsworth, of ye county of New Castle and manor of Rockland, and Grace Cook of ye county of Chester, township of Concord, having declared their intentions of marriage before several monthly meetings of ye people called Quakers, held 12, 8, and 1, 14, 1691-2, at Concord in ye county of Chester, whose proceedings were allowed by said meetings.
Now these are to certify, all whom it may concern for ye full accomplishment of their said intentions, this 31 day of the first month, one thousand six hundred and ninety two.
Ye said Thomas Hollingsworth and Grace Cook appeared in an assembly of people, at a meeting for ye purpose, appointed at ye house of Nathaniel Park in Concord, and ye said Thomas Hollingsworth taking ye said Grace Cook by ye hand, did, in a solemn manner, openly declare that he took her to be his wife, promising through ye Lord's assistance, to be to her a loving and faithful husband until death should separate them. And then and there in ye said assembly Grace Cook did in like declare ye that she took said Thomas Hollingsworth to be her hus- band, promising through ye Lord's assistance, to be unto him a loving and faithful wife until death should separate them. And moreover, ye said Thomas Hollings- worth and Grace Cook, (she according to ye custom of marriage assuming the name of her husband) as a further confirmation thereof, did then and there to these presents set their hands, and we, whose names are hereunder written, being
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amongst others present at the solemnization of their said marriage, and subscrip- tion in manner aforesaid as witnesses thereunto, have hereunto set our hands the day and year above written.
Valentine Hollingsworth.
Henry Hollingsworth.
Nathaniel Park.
Jacob Chandler.
Lydia Hollingsworth. Samuel Hollingsworth. George Robinson.
Richard Hilaria.
Thomas Moor.
William Powell.
Robert Hutchinson.
Robert Pile.
Nathaniel Newland.
Nathaniel Cartmell.
Mary Conoway.
Thom. Hollingsworth.
Grace Hollingsworth.
Thomas Cox. Eliza Park.
Ann Hollingsworth.
Abraham Hollingsworth grew up at Winchester, Virginia, with the usual education that was then afforded in that locality. He learned the tanner's trade at Charlestown, Virginia, and went from there to Louis- ville, Ky., where he made a tanyard, and after living there a few years returned to Connellsville, Pennsylvania, where he was married to Miss Nancy Connel in 1814 and soon went back to Louisville, Ky., to reside. He remained there about three years, when he removed to West Union, Ohio, where he engaged in the business of tanning and currying, which he carried on until 1834, at the yard now owned by Louis Smith, when he retired from all' business and lived a life of ease and comfort until his death on March 7, 1864. Directly after his marriage he started back to Louisville with his wife. At Pittsburg they took a flatboat to Louisville, which was then a small place-so small that he personally knew everyone living there.
He was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church from 1820, and faithful in attendance on all the public services of his own church. At the weekly prayer meeting, he was always present and took part. The writer thinks he would have been more at home in the Pres- byterian Church. He did not like the revival meeting of his own church, though he attended them until after the sermon, when he would get up and leave. The scenes about the mourners' bench were distasteful to him, and he would not witness them; and he certainly believed in the Presbyterian doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints for he prac- ticed it.
His religion was the same yesterday, today and forever and he was always in grace.
At many of the Methodist revival meetings I have seen him, at the close of the sermon take his grandson, Pat Lockhart, and retire in the most dignified manner. He was a thin, spare man, tall and straight as an Indian and he always walked with a dignified carriage.
In politics he was a Whig, and afterwards a Republican. He was a great admirer and follower of both Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. In the year 1824, when Adams, Clay and Jackson were candidates for the Presidency, there was a light horse militia company in Adams County of which Mr. Hollingsworth was a member. At one of their muster days, after the drill and muster was over, and the company was dismounted, the commanding officer drew a line on the ground for his sword in front of the muster and requested all who favored Henry Clay for the Presidency to step out of the muster and cross the line. Mr. Hol-
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lingswort, Gen. Joseph Darlinton and John W. Kincaid promptly came out of the ranks and stepped across the line.
Though not an Abolitionist at the outset, he did not like to live in a slave state and for that reason left Kentucky. He first undertook to be in favor of the removal of the blacks from this country by coloniza- tion, but finding that impracticable, he became an ardent Abolitionist, and in his dying hours, he was greatly comforted by the fact that President Lincoln had freed the slaves.
He never held any public offices, except those of School Director and Justice of the Peace, two terms.
His home in West Union he owned from the time he came there in 1817, and the present Hollingsworth home, built on the plan of "Abra- ham's delight" at Winchester, Virginia, was built in 1836, in place of his former home taken down to make place for the new one.
The Maysville and Zanesville Turnpike was built between 1838 and 1840, and he superintended its construction between Maysville and West Union. He had three daughters. The first married a Mr. Lockhart. and reared a large family. She died three years ago at the home of one of her sons in Kansas.
Another daughter, Susan M., was one of the victims of the awful scourge of Asiatic cholera, and died July 7, :895, aged twelve years.
Mr. Hollingsworth's wife survived him several years and died at the ripe age of eighty-six.
Mr. Hollingsworth's daughter, Caroline, never married. She lived in West Union all her life and was most highly esteemed. She furnished the data for this sketch in 1894 and since then she has joined the silent majority.
Col. William Kirker.
William Kirker was born January 24, 1791, in the vicinity of Pitts- burg, Penn., the son of Governor Thomas Kirker and Sarah Smith, his wife. He was the eldest son and child of a family of thirteen. He mar- ried Esther Williamson and died February 10, 1857. His father moved to Manchester in 1792 and lived there until 1794 when he located on the well known Kirker farm in Liberty Township. In the War of 1812, he was a First Lieutenant and after the war, he was made a Colonel of the Militia, which position he held until near the time of his death. He was County Commissioner in 1825 and again in 1832. He was made an elder in the Presbyterian Church at West Union in 1826, his father being an elder in the same church. He was a delegate to the Presbytery from his church from September 29, 1826, many times, until April 5, 1854. He was always courteous and kind to everyone and was noted for his phil- anthropy. Judge J. C. Coryell said of him that he was the most useful man in his community, and that the poor, the widow and the orphan lost their best friend when he died.
His wife, Esther Williamson, was born on June 4, 1797, and died January 4, 1880. He had a large family of children whose descendants are scattered throughout the United States.
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Nathaniel Kirkpatrick,
late of Wayne Township, Adams County, was born May 29, 1816. By the time he attained manhood he began work for himself on a farm near Harshaville. He was married in 1841 to Margaret A. Patton, daughter of John Patton of Cherry Fork, born on the sixteenth of April, 1824. They had four sons, three of whom are now living. John Patton Kirk- patrick resides at Kansas City, born June 23, 1843. He married a daugh- ter of William L. McVey. Adams Anderson Kirkpatrick, who has a separate sketch herein, was born November 14, 1847, and Robert Stewart Kirkpatrick. His wife died soon after the birth of her youngest son, and he was married the following year to Mrs. America Kerr, widow of Rob- ert Kerr. They had one child, Oscar Bennett Kirkpatrick, born December 6, 1856, now a physician at North Liberty.
Nathaniel Kirkpatrick lived near Harshaville when he was first mar- ried. He then removed to the old home, now the property of Huston Harsha, occupied by a man by the name of Beekly, just before his first wife died, and he resided there until 1882, when he removed to North Liberty. While residing at Harshaville, he was one of the first elders in the U. P. Church at Unity, and after his removal to his home on Grace's Run, he was a member of the Cherry Fork Church. He was a trustee of Wayne Township for many years, but never sought or held any public offices, but he usually attended all the political conventions, either as a delegate or spectator.
Mr. Kirkpatrick was a man of wide and extensive reading, well in- formed on all current topics of Church and State. He was a man of very decided opinions, and was fond of giving expression to them. His opin- ions on religious and political subjects were well considered, and he was a leader among men. He exercised a great deal of influence in the circles of his own acquaintance. To him is entitled the suggestion which made the Hon. John T. Wilson first State Senator and afterwards Congressman, and many of the political results in his county and district were due to his suggestions. He was a very ardent Republican and always anti- slavery. He was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, from the station at Gen. William McIntire's to the house of Joseph W. Rothrock at Mt. Leigh, and has conducted many a fugitive over this route. No fugitive applied to him in vain, and no bondsman ever placed himself under his care and was returned to slavery. He was an Abolitionist al- ways, but prior to the war, thought it best to go into the Republican party and did so, but never acted as a third party man. Prior to the Republi- can party he was a Whig. He was a most agreeable companion, a good neighbor and a good citizen. He was always cheerful and genial, and it was always pleasant to meet him and converse with him. He appeared to be built on the plan of which there are very few models, and in this generation which has succeeded him there seems to be fewer. His pass- ing was a loss to the community and to all who knew him. He died June 20, 1886.
Col. John Kincaid
was born June 22, 1779, near Richmond, Virginia. He came with his father, Thomas Kincaid, to Limestone ( Maysville, Kentucky) about 1788. In 1797, he came to the settlement at Manchester and remained there un- til 1800, when he married Sallie Hannah, March 27, 1800, and moved to
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near the Kirker graveyard. Here he and his wife lived for a few years and then moved to what is now the old Kincaid homestead, where they died. They raised a family of eleven children, seven boys and four girls, The boys were Thomas J., John H., Dr. William P., Dr. Samuel W. and Dr. W. P. Kincaid, who was Senator four years from the Clermont County District. John Kincaid was one of the first Justices of the Peace of Liberty Township and served from 1818 to 1830. He was commis- sioned Captain of the First Company in the First Batallion, Third Regi- ment, First Brigade and Second Division of the Militia of this State by Gov. Thomas Worthington, May 19, 1815. He was commissioned Lieu- tenant-Colonel of the Second Regiment in the First Brigade and Second Division of the Militia of Ohio by Thomas Worthington, Governor, Oc- tober 20, 1818. He was commissioned Associate Judge for a term of seven years by Governor Allen Trimble, January 18, 1828, which he held at the time of his death, which occurred April 3, 1834. The letters and papers he left behind are living witnesses of a broad and well-balanced mind. He did as much for Adams County from 1800 to 1834 as any man who lived in it. In 1812, he raised a company at West Union for the war and was appointed Colonel of a regiment.
John Kincaid was a Presbyterian and helped to build and organize the stone church at West Union in 1809. But in 1830, the Presbyterian Church denounced Free Masonry and he was asked to renounce the order. which he positively refused to do, left the Presbyterian Church and joined the old Union Church at Bentonville.
John Kincaid was one of the charter members of the West Union Lodge, No. 43, Free and Accepted Masons, which was issued in 1817. He was the first Junior Warden and afterward Master several times. He was a Knight Templar Mason and his Royal Arch apron, sash and Knight Templar jewel are still preserved. The jewel is solid silver and finely engraved. They are all in fine condition and are nearing the cen- tury mark. The possessor, his grandson, W. S. Kincaid, prizes them highly. Money could not buy them. Sallie Kincaid, wife of John Kin- caid, died October 22, 1824, and on January 19, 1826, he married Dorcas Alexander.
On the morning of April 1, 1834, John Kincaid walked down across his farm to look at some calves and came in about ten o'clock, sick, and on the morning of the third, he was a corpse. He died at the age of fifty-five, yet he got in more than a good many men would in one hun- dred years. At the time of his death, he was the nominee of the Wnig party for Congress and would have been elected had he lived.
Joseph West Lafferty.
Joseph West Lafferty was born in Connelsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, October 27, 1809. In the year 1814 his parents emigrated to Ohio, settled on a farm three miles east of West Union and his father took up the business of wool carding and carried it on for more than thirty years.
From his majority until 1848, he was a Democrat. From November 15, 1834, until December 15, 1841, he was the postmaster at West Union. In 1848, he supported Van Buren on the Free Soil ticket. When the Re- publican party was organized in 1856, he identified himself with that and
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supported it until his death. He was an ardent supporter of the war for the Union and two of his sons were in the service.
When the Internal Revenue Act went into effect in 1862, Mr. Lafferty was appointed a Deputy Assessor for his county and served as such for several years. He took great interest in the advancement of the com- munity in which he lived and served on the Board of Education for a num- ber of years. He was a member of the Board when the separate dis- tricts were united and a schoolhouse for graded schools built. There was bitter opposition to the new districts and house, but Mr. Lafferty and others stood for the advanced ideas and they prevailed.
In March, 1839, he was married to Elizabeth Burwell, daughter of Nicholas Burwell, who survived him. His children were Sarah Rebecca. wife of Smith Grimes of Mineral Springs; Dr. Nelson B. Lafferty, of Hillsboro, Charles L. Lafferty, of Pittsburg, Penn., and Joseph and Julia E. Lafferty, of West Union. Mr. Lafferty was a student of men and affairs. He was a good reader and a careful thinker. He had pro- nounced views on all public questions and his views were all made and expressed after mature deliberation. It was always agreeable and profitable to listen to his discussion of any subject, because he would not express his views until after much study and after careful deliberation. His views were advanced on all subjects and they were earnest and conscientious. All evil and wrong was abhorrent to him. The emotions of his soul were always generous.
He had the dignity and air of a Chesterfield and it was inborn in him. He always wore a silk hat and wore a standing collar with stock. He was neat and careful of his personal appearance; he had a pleasing address and was always courteous to every one he met. No more of a gentleman in his manners and address could be found anywhere. He was a most useful and valuable citizen, always leading public opinion on all matters of public concern, general or local.
He died August 27, 1867, respected by all who knew him.
Andrew Livingstone
was an early settler of Adams County. He was born November 3, 1769, and must have located in Adams County about 1800. On February 10, 1810, he was appointed an Associate Judge of Adams County, and was reappointed twice, serving continuously in the office until February, 1832.
From April 13, 1836, for three years, he was a Justice of the Peace for Adams County. From July 10, 1841, to November 4, 1846, he was the postmaster at Manchester, Ohio. He died July 4, 1847, and is in- terred in the old cemetery at Manchester. His wife, Margaret, died August 17, 1826, at the age of forty-four years and he never remarried. He had two sons and two daughters. His sons were Samuel and Lucien. Samuel married Elizabeth Ellison. They lived on the Williamson farm near Manchester, but went to Minneapolis and died there. The daught- ers were Nancy and Lucinda Jane. Lucinda married David Ellison, a brother of William Ellison and lived and died in Manchester. She has a daughter, Mrs. David Stableton, residing in Manchester.
Judge Livingstone was a Democrat and a Presbyterian. He was a man of the highest integrity and often chosen as guardian and admin- istrator of estates. He enjoyed the confidence of the public all his life.
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COL. JOHN LODWICK
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Peter Lee
was one of Massie's surveyors and was a native of Mason County, Ken - tucky. He possessed a large fortune and was reported a liberal and honest man. He was unostentatious in his manner and respected by all who knew him. He was never married.
Peter Lee was one of Col. Robert Todd's expedition in June, 1787, which marked out Todd's Trace. He was still living in 1826 and testified in May of that year at Georgetown, Ohio, in a case of Martin v. Boone and McDowell, 2 Ohio, 237.
Colonel John Lodwick
was born in Winchester, Va., March 24, 1767. . There he was reared and there he married Elizabeth Cooley, a widow with one child in June, 1790. She was born in 1760. His eldest child, Sarah, married first to Robert Hood and for a second marriage to Alexander Woodrow, was born July 13, 1791, in Winchester, Virginia. With this child, his wife and step- child, he emigrated to Kentucky in 1792, and in 1794 took up his res- idence in the Stockade at Manchester, Ohio. He was one of the first grand jurors of Adams County, serving at a Court of Quarter Sessions held at Manchester, September, 1797. He purchased the Col. John Means farm, where A. V. Hutson now resides, directly after the treaty of Greenville, and moved there. His son, William, was born in Man- chester, January 14, 1794. Ludlow was born March 1I, 1796, and his son James, long a resident of Portsmouth, was born on the Means farm, March 15, 1798, and here on July 6, 1800, his wife, Elizabeth, died and was buried on the farm.
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