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 88
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
a similar position in the West Union schools. He was four times unan- imously elected to this position. At the time of his last re-election, in 1899, he was also elected to the superintendency of the Batavia schools, which place he accepted. This school has nine departments and one of the best High schools in Southern Ohio. Both when at Peebles and at West Union, Mr. Collins conducted a Summer Training School for Teachers, "The Tri-County Normal." As Principal of the schools for seven years, 1893 to 1899, he did much to advance the educational interests in Adams County. The total enrollment of the Tri-County Normal school under his manage- ment was over eight hundred, and more than eighty per cent. of the teachers actively engaged in'school work in this county at this time ( 1900) received their training in his school. Kentucky sent a number of students to this school as did the several counties of Southern Ohio. Since grad- uating from the University, his one aim has been successful school work. For some time he has been doing post-graduate work at the Ohio Wesleyan University, and in 1896 and 1897, respectively, he received common and high school certificates from the Ohio State Board.
One of his most intimate friends and classmates in the Public schools speaks of him as follows: "John Edgar Collins possesses some strong ele- ments of character among which is his indomitable will and steadiness of purpose. Every undertaking in which he is interested is carefully planned beforehand. With him, there is no pensive 'It might have been.' Thought precedes action with him. He knows the end at the beginning. His school work is planned with such accuracy that he sees the result as he leads his pupils to it. By nature he is a teacher, and it is in the school that he is most at home. Another extraordinary feature which he pos- sesses is his power to meet exigencies. At the most critical moment, he exercises the most deliberate judgment and meets opposition with the earnestness that brings the spoils into his hands. He is a man of re- sources. What he has become in the educational world is much the re- sult of his own effort. A constant student, he has shown his power for mastery of thought best when studying for examinations or for special work. He acquires knowledge with but little effort and has proved him- self a thoughtful, careful student, not only of books, but of men as well. In all his educational efforts, he has had the support of the best and most conscientious men. His powers as an educator and as an organizer have been proved not only by his public school work but by his successful train- ing of hundreds of teachers in Normal school, as well. His aim is high and he will leave a record which will be characterized by earnestness and many brilliant acts."
He was married to Ina E. Treber, daughter of R. W. Treber, West Union, August 15, 1900. She is a graduate in music, elocution, and mod- ern languages, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.
James F. Cornelius,
of Seaman, Ohio, is a native of Scott Township, in which he resides, and was born November 11, 1863, son of William and Mary (McCormick) Cornelius. His grandfather, James Cornelius, was a native of Ireland. Also, his maternal grandfather, Enoch McCormick, was a native of Ire- land, and both grandfathers were early settlers in Scott Township. James,
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our subject, spent his boyhood on his father's farm. He continued to fol- low that occupation until 1896, when he located in Seaman, Ohio, in the undertaking business, where he has continued ever since.
On the sixteenth of February, 1890, he was married to Miss Belle Williams, daughter of W. S. and Keziah Williams, of Irvington, Ohio. They have one daughter, aged eight years, Mary Dryden. He is a Dem- ocrat in his political faith. In 1895, he was elected County Commissioner on the Democratic ticket, and in 1898, was re-elected, by a majority of nearly eight hundred in a county nominally Republican by one hundred and fifty, on the head of the ticket, and is holding the office at the date of the preparation of this sketch. Mr. Cornelius is one of the prompt and reliable business men of Adams County and is highly esteemed by all who know him.
William Kirker Coleman, M. D.,
was born at West Union, October 27, 1853, the son of David and Eliza- beth Kirker Coleman. His father, David Coleman, M. D., has a sketch herein. His mother was a daughter of William Kirker, also sketched herein, and his wife, Esther Williamson, daughter of the Rev. Williamson. He is a great-grandson of Governor Thomas Kirker, and has had illus- trious examples before him in the careers of his ancestors. He was the eldest of three sons. He received his common school education in West Union and studied medicine with his father. He graduated at the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati in 1881. He at once began the practice of medicine with his father and continued it until his death.
He was married June 25, 1879, to Miss Mary Minnesota McFerran only daughter of Major John W. McFerran, who lost his life in the Civil War in 1862. There are three children of this marriage, John McFerran, a student at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; David C., and May L., both at home.
Dr. Coleman is fond of Masonry and is a member of West Union Lodge, No. 43, of the Chapter of Manchester, and the Commandery at Portsmouth, Ohio. He has served six years as Master of the Blue Lodge. He has been President of the Adams County Medical Society and is a member of the Ohio State Medical Society. He is a member of the Pres- byterian Church at West Union and a ruling elder therein, and he fills the office to the satisfaction of his church and presbytery. In politics, he is a Republican and has always taken an active part in political contests. He is President of the Adams County Bank, located at West Union, and under his management and that of Mr. Dickinson, that institution has been admirably managed. In his profession, no one stands higher and no one has to any greater extent, the confidence of the public. Dr. Coleman is a man of fine personal physique and of pleasing address. He fulfills the duties of every position he holds with honor to himself and with great satisfaction to his constituents. His distinguished ancestors can look down upon him from their high places and smile approval on his career, and he has no ground to be ashamed to compare his career with theirs. He has well performed his duties in every relation of life and has earned the commendation of all who know him, and who can do more?
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John Clinger, Jr.,
farmer, of Manchester, was born February 20, 1844. His father was John and his mother Mary (Mowrar) Clinger. His grandfather, Abra- ham Clinger, was born in Pennsylvania. His father, John Clinger, was born in Pennsylvania, February 19, 1815, and located in Adams County in 1832, coming down the Ohio River on a keel-boat. He landed at Man- chester, and settled on a farm in Monroe Township, where he now resides. He married Mary Mowrar, daughter of Christian Mowrar, one of the first settlers of Adams County. Christian Mowrar came from Pennsylvania in 1792 and joined the Massie colony in the Stockade, where he remained till the treaty of Greenville. He and his wife lived to an extreme age. John Clinger, Senior, raised a family of three sons and three daughters, and after the death of his first wife in 1854, he married Susan Tucker. John Clinger, Jr., the subject of this sketch, received his education in the common schools of the county. He enlisted September 18, 1862, at the age of eighteen, in Company F, of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry and served in that organization until the first of July, 1865 On the first of October, 1868, he married a daughter of Oliver Ashenhurst. Her father was born on the ocean on the passage from Ireland to America. Oliver Ashenhurst married Susan Parker, and located in Manchester, where he engaged in the milling business until his death, March 28, 1898. Mrs. Clinger is the only child of his first wife. Oliver Ashenhurst mar- ried for his second wife, Amy Phibbs, by whom he reared a family of nine children.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Clinger are : May Etta, wife of Stephen Thompson, of Manchester, Ohio: Leora Belle, in the employ of the Lang- don Grocery Company at Maysville, Ky. , William Oliver, who served in the war with Spain and is at present in the Philippines. Frank Arthur is a member of Company L, 22nd U. S. Infantry ; Bertha Florence is the wife of Frank Fulton Foster, of Manchester, Ohio; Amy A., is at Mid- dletown, Ohio, and Marguerite Lucretia is at home with her parents.
Mr. Clinger is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church at Is- land Creek. He is a Republican in his political views and as a citizen highly respected by all who know him.
Edward A. Crawford
was born December 28, 1861, near West Union, the son of Harper and Jane Willson Crawford. His father, Harper Crawford, enlisted in Com- pany K, 70th O. V. I., January 6, 1862. He died in 1885 at the age of forty-five. His eldest brother, William S. Crawford, enlisted June 13, 1864, in Company D, 24th O. V. I., Adams County's first company in the war, and was transferred to Company D, 18th O. V. I., June 12, 1864. This company was in sixteen battles and Crawford was mortally wounded at the battle of Nashville, December 15, 1864, and died December 29, 1864. He is interred in the Nashville cemetery at Nashville, Tennessee. He had a brother Gabriel who served in the Second Independent Battery of Ohio Light Artillery, enlisting at the age of nineteen.
Our subject attended school at West Union until he completed all which could be taught him there. He attended the Normal school at Leb- 46a
.
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anon in 1878 and 1880 and taught school in parts of the same year and was engaged in teaching school thereafter until 1890. From 1881 to 1885, he taught school at Waggoner's Ripple, Sandy Springs, Bradyville, and Quinn Chapel. From 1886 to 1888, he taught at Rome; from 1888 to 1889, he was engaged in the grocery business at West Union, and in the Summer of 1890, he taught a Normal school at Moscow, Ohio. In the Fall of 1890, he bought the People's Defender from Joseph W. Eylar, and has conducted that newspaper, a weekly, at West Union, ever since. In 1897, he bought out the Democratic Index, edited by D. W. P. Eylar, and consolidated it with the Defender.
He was married August 13, 1883, to Miss Mattie J. Pennywit, daughter of Mark Pennywit and his wife, Sallie Cox. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Politically, he has always been a Democrat. In 1887, he was the candidate of that party for Clerk of the Court, but was defeated by W. R. Mehaffey, by seventy-three votes. He was a dele- gate to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago from the Tenth Ohio District in 1896. His paper has been well and ably conducted since he has controlled it and is one of the best in Southern Ohio.
Mr. Crawford is a self-made man. He has made his business a suc- cess. He is known for his strict fidelity to his party. He is public spirited and takes an active part in church and social matters as well as political. He was elected Secretary of the Democratic State Executive Committee of Ohio in September, 1900.
Marion Francis Crissman
was born in Wayne Township, Adams County, Ohio, June 12, 1842. His father was Adam Crissman and his mother, Nancy Riley. They came from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in 1841, with five children. Mr. Criss- man enjoys the distinction of being the sixth of a family of seven brothers, no sisters having been born to his parents. He enjoys the further distinc- tion of having two of his six brothers ministers in the Presbyterian Church, both of them Doctors of Divinity. He enjoys the further distinction of being the great-grandson of General Thomas Mifflin, born in 1744, first Aide-de-camp to General Washington, member of the Continental Con- gress, Quartermaster General of the Revolutionary Army, Brigadier and Major General, member of the Convention which framed our Federal Constitution, Governor of Pennsylvania and one of the orators of the Rev- olution, and the best drill master in the Revolutionary Army.
Our subject attended school in the vicinity of his residence and at North Liberty Academy. He varied that, with labor on his father's farm until his majority. On the fourteenth of July, 1863, he enlisted in Com- pany G, 129th O. V. I., and was in the Cumberland Gap and Longstreet campaign in Middle Tennessee that Fall and Winter. He was discharged with that regiment in March, 1864, and re-entered the service August 31, 1864, in Company H, 173d O. V. I. In that he served until the war was over in East Tennessee. He participated in the celebrated campaign against General Hood and was in the final culmination at Nashville.
In 1866, he went into the business of a general store at North Liberty with William Caskey, under the name of Crissman & Caskey, and con-
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ducted that for about five years, at which time his partner retired. He conducted the business alone for about two years and then sold out to William Finney in 1872.
On March 1, 1867, he was married to Miss Isabella Caskey, who died in 1873. On January, 1875, he located in Manchester in the grain and seed business and has continued it ever since. In 1881, he and Nathaniel Greene Foster bought the Bentonville flour mill and they operated it to- gether until 1891, when he purchased the interest of his partner and has since conducted it alone.
In 1883, the firm of Crissman & Foster built the first telephone line constructed in Adams County, connecting West Union and Bentonville at Manchester with the Western Union Telegraph Company's lines, and have continued the same in successful operation until 1891, when Mr. Foster retired from the firm and the line has been continued since by Mr. Crissman. .
In politics, Mr. Crissman is a Republican, but has never sought any prominence in his party. In his religious faith, he is a Presbyterian, and is a ruling elder in that church at Manchester. On the sixteenth of July, 1874, he married Miss Anna C. Dunbar, daughter of David Dunbar, of Manchester, Ohio. They have two children, Carl, who has qualified him- self for a business career, and Augusta Belle, a young girl in school. Mr. Crissman has the highest character for business integrity and ability and has the confidence of the entire community, of which he is a part. He is a member of the Village Council and of the School Board. He has pros- pered in his business and is regarded as one of the best business men in the county. He has the most attractive home in Manchester, and is sur- rounded with all those outward conditions which make this life agreeable and pleasant.
Charles Craigmiles
was born at Franklin Furnace in Scioto County, Ohio, June 17, 1849. His father, of the same name, was a native of Ireland as was his mother, Rebecca Hamilton. His father and mother were married in Ireland and emigrated to America in 1848. They located in Adams County near Vaughn Chapel, but his father, being an iron founder, moved to Franklin Furnace shortly before his son Charles' birth. Our subject was reared at Franklin, Junior and Ohio Furnaces, as his father was employed at all three. The son went to school until he was ten years of age, when he went to work pounding lime at Empire Furnace. In 1860, his father removed to Adams County and lived there two years on the Ellison place, near Stone Chapel. In 1862, the father removed to Junior Furnace and resided there until 1865, when he removed to Marion County, Illinois. From there he went to Brownsport Furnace, Tennessee. The family came back to Ohio and located at Ohio Furnace in 1867. Our subject remained at Ohio Furnace until 1878. In 1877, he was married to Medora A. Fos- ter, daughter of James Foster, of Killenstown, Adams County. In 1878, he located in Portsmouth, Ohio, where he has since resided. When he first went to Portsmouth, he drove a horse-car for five months. He then went into the employment of the Portsmouth Transfer Company for three years, at the end of which time he took an interest in the business. He and Mr. Frank B. Kehoe conducted the business under the name of The Portsmouth Transfer Company, for eleven years. In 1894, he bought
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Mr. Kehoe's interest and since has conducted the business alone. He keeps moving vans and transfers all kinds of goods and merchandise. He has twelve teams and his place of business is on Washington Street in the city of Portsmouth, Ohio. He has seven children, five daughters and two sons.
He has always been a Republican. From April, 1897, to April, 1899, he was Street Commissioner of Portsmouth, Ohio, and never has held any other office. He is known to and respected by every one in Portsmouth as an honorable man and a good citizen. He has always prospered and it is because he conducts his business on right principles. He is a public , spirited citizen, always ready to do his part in any matter for the public good.
Robert MeGovney Cochran
was born May 1, 1846, at Manchester, Ohio. His father was Robert A. Cochran and his mother's maiden name was Elvira Bailey, daughter of John Bailey, of Winchester, Ohio. His father was a native of Adams County, Pennsylvania. They were married at Winchester, Ohio. They had twelve children, of whom Robert M. was the sixth. Our subject went to school at Belfast, Highland County, Ohio, his parents having moved there in 1848. His father was a cabinet maker and be followed that trade in Manchester, with L. L. Conner. Our subject lived in Belfast until 1861. In 1859, he began to learn the blacksmith trade with George Sailor, of Highland County. He continued that until June 24, 1861, when he enlisted in Company I, 24th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for a period of three years as a private. He was appointed Corporal, May 9, 1862. He was afterwards appointed Sergeant, September 19, 1863. He was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga in the right ankle and was laid up for six months. This wound produced tendo achilles and anchylosis. He was wounded in the shoulder at Stone River by a spent buckshot. He was in all the engagements and battles during the time of his service. He was discharged June 23, 1864, by reason of ex- piration of term of service. He enlisted as a Private of Company H, 175th Ohio Regiment, for one year's service, on September 27, 1864. He was mustered out with the Company, June 27, 1865. He was with this regi- ment at the battle of Franklin, and after the war he traveled for the Franklin Nursery at Loveland, Ohio, and was engaged in that until 1872. He traveled in Virginia and in Meigs, Lawrence, Gallia and Vinton Counties, in Ohio.
He was married March, 1, 1870, to Miss Madeline Oliver, daughter of John Oliver, of Adams County, and located at Dunbarton, Ohio, where he resided until 1880. In 1872, he began to farm two miles east of Peebles and has carried on a farm there ever since. On the first of Oc- tober, 1897, he was appointed Postmaster at Peebles, Ohio.
He then removed to Peebles and he has resided there ever since. He has one child, a son, Edwin, who married Miss Jessie Budd and resides on the farm near Peebles, where he resided prior to his removal to the village. He was Census Enumerator in 1890, but has held no other public offices than above mentioned. He has always been a Republican and be- lieves in that faith and is an active member of that party.
He is a citizen of high character and an efficient public officer.
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John Coleman,
of Youngsville, Ohio, was born November 7, 1816, near Cannonsburg, Pa., and resided there until March 27, 1831. His father, William Cole- man, was born June 17, 1791, and died July 15, 1864. His mother was Jane Boyce, born August 10, 1787. They were married October 1, 1811. She died September 6, 1858. In March, 1831, William Coleman moved with his family to Carroll County, Ohio, where he remained until 1846, when he removed to near Youngsville, Adams County, where our sub- ject now resides. When the war broke out, Robert" Coleman, John's younger brother, who was married and had a family and with whom John resided, wanted to go into the army. John insisted that he should not and that he, John, should go, as he was unmarried, and if he were to fall, it would make but little difference. The result was Robert yielded to John's insistence and John enlisted in Company E, 91st O. V. I., on August II, 1862, for three years. His age was given at forty-five, though he was nearer forty-six. He served until June 24, 1865, and was mustered out with the regiment. He was in good health and right with the regiment all the time. He required no favors of any kind. He was one of the very few of those who enlisted above the age of forty that was able to endure the hardships of the service for the period of his enlistment.
John Coleman is noted for his sterling integrity of character. With him a security debt is equal with that of any other, as he regards it as sacred as one the consideration of which came directly to him. He is not a member of any church, but is a liberal supporter of the Presbyterian Church at Mt Leigh. He was a Whig in the time of the Whig party and from the formation of the Republican party has been a Republican. From the time he came to Adams County, until the death of his brother, Robert, in 1881, he made his home with him. Since his brother's death he made his home with his brother's children. He and his brother Robert had but one pocketbook. They always lived together and what was John's was Robert's and vice versa. This harmony between the brothers was never disturbed during Robert's life and has continued between John and his brother Robert's children. There never was a word of friction be- tween the brothers, or between the uncle and his brother's children.
John Coleman, all his life, has been a lover of and a breeder of fine horses. Whether it was profitable to him or not, he must always have fine horses. He now has several in his stables and he would keep them if they were a positive loss to him, because he is a lover of animals ; and as to horses, the finer bred, the more he likes them.
John Coleman holds the thirty-third degree in Patriotism and he is and ever was a good citizen, in the superlative degree.
Samuel Paul Clark
was born April 7, 1827, in what is now Oliver Township, then a part of Wayne Township, on the farm now owned by the Rev. Thomas Mercer. His great-grandfather was born in Wales and emigrated to Ireland. His grandfather Clark was married in Ireland to Sarah Lama, and emigrated to Virginia about 1785 with his wife and two children, John and Mary. There were afterwards born to them in this country, Fanny, Sarah, James,
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Samuel, father of the subject of our sketch, Jane, Andrew, and Edward. They located in Adams County in 1806, on the Steck farm in Tiffin Town- ship. All of these children lived to maturity. Andrew, the youngest, died at the age of fifty-one.
Samuel Clark, father of our subject, was born in Rockbridge County, Virginian 1792. He learned the trade of tanning with his brother Jhoni. who had a tanyard at Cherry Fork, one mile south of Harshaville. He married Nancy Brown, December 20, 1821, and settled six miles north of West Union, on the West Union and Unity road, where he continued the business of tanning and farming until his death, March 22, 1869. He and his wife were devoted members of the Associate Reform Church at Cherry Fork, and he and Archa Leach were instrumental in organizing the United Presbyterian Church at Unity, of which he was a ruling elder from the time of organization until his death. His oldest son, James, remained at the old homestead, and continued the business of tanning in connection with farming. He married Margaret Holmes, who has been dead about ten years. He is now in his seventy-eighth year. Sarah, the second child, died in infancy. Samuel Paul, the third child, and our subject, is now in his seventy-fourth year.
He married Sarah Clark in 1851. To them was born one son, Marion M. His wife died in 1854, and he married Margaret Gibbony. To them were born four children. His son Marion married Mary Crawford, and resides on Wheat Ridge; Ora A., his second schild, is now the wife of Richard Fristoe, a prosperous farmer and stock dealer of Meigs Town- ship. They reside in the old Fristoe homestead at the bridge crossing Brush Creek. Mary Nancy was born July 15, 1860, and died December 16, 1895, unmarried. Carey V. was born September 7, 1865, and married Nora E. Hilling, and resides in the old homestead in Oliver Township.
The following are brothers and sisters of our subject: Mary, the fourth child, born April 16, 1830, was married to Cyrus Black, who died in 1864. She was again married to Rankin Leach and resides at Cherry Fork. Margaret, the fifth child, was born May 3, 1833, and died in 1891, unmarried. John was born November 18, 1835, and married Nancy Cole- man. His daughter, Martha L., was born September 4, 1838, and was married to George A. McSurely in 1869. They reside at Oxford, Ohio. Nancy A., twin sister of the daughter last mentioned, was married to J. W. McClung in 1859. He is an attorney at West Union, where they now reside. Andrew R. was born October 21, 1841. He married Celia Arbuthnot, daughter of. the Rev. James Arbuthnot. He removed to Nebraska, where his wife died, and he married a Miss Foster. They re- side at Pawnee City, Nebraska. He was a soldier in the War of the Rebellion.
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