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 98
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Our subject was married October 20, 1884, to Miss Margaret E. Carson, daughter of James Carson and Eleanor Greathouse, his wife, a woman of a most lovely and lovable disposition. The marriage was a very happy one. He and his wife located near Peebles. His domestic happiness was not, however, to last long. In June, 1896, he was taken with a catarrh of the bowels and the disease steadily progressed till the sixth of July. 1897, when he passed from Earth to Heaven.
During the thirteen years of his married life he was blessed with four children ; two of these died in infancy and two, a daughter, Mary Ellen, and a son, Alfred Alonzo, survive.
In his political views he was a Democrat. He was not a member of any fraternal organization. He was a member of the Chrisian Dis- ciple Church and lived up to its teachings. In all his tastes he was
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domestic. He felt that he belonged to his wife and children as well as they to him, and for this reason was not a fraternity man. He believed in doing the duty nearest to him and pursued it. Dying in the prime and high noon of life, he was not permitted to demonstrate what his energies, his mind and heart could accomplish, but his career to its ending gave promise of a life full of usefulness and honor. He was reserved in his intercourse with his fellows, unassuming and even tem- pered. He was honorable, just and obliging. He was most sym- pathetic with those in sickness or affliction, and they could and did most gratefully appreciate his ministrations.
He left a record of human sympathy, of religious feeling and ex- perience, of affection in his family and among his friends, of industry, economy, which will yield a sweet smelling incense so long as it shall remain. He did not live in vain and his memory is a benediction speaking blessed words to those who feel his loss.
Henry F. McGovney.
Henry Francis McGovney was. for twenty years, a prominent char- acter and moving spirit in the fierce political contests for which Adams County is conspicuously notorious. He was a Democrat of the Jack- son school. He believed in the principles and party doctrines as laid down and exemplified by that saint of Democracy, and by his works he proved his faith. The death of Henry F. McGovney lost to the Democ- racy of Adams County a faithful adherent and one of its safest coun- seilors. He served his party as a soldier in the rank and file as faith- fully as when a leader of its hosts. He gave to it, in financial support, more than he ever heceived from it. His party adherence sprang from love of principle, not from hope of gain. His party elected him Sheriff of Adams County in 1879, and again in 1882. In 1891, he received the nomination for the office of County Treasurer, but was defeated with others on the ticket through the efforts of the Populists, a political crganization which drew largely from the Democratic party in Adams County. In 1893, he was endorsed by Senator Calvin S. Brice for the United States Marshalship for the Southern District of Ohio, but through the efforts of Ex. Gov. James E. Campbell, chiefly, it is said, between whom and leaders of Democracy in Adams County there existed great political animosity, President Cleveland was persuaded to ignore Sen- ator Brice's recommendation, and he appointed another instead.
Henry F. McGovney was above the average in stature, of good per- scnal appearance, had an open, pleasing countenance, and was social and kind in his intercourse with friends and acquaintances.
Quiet and unobtrusive in his relations with men, yet he had courage when aroused such as made him no mean antagonist. An only son, reared to years beyond man's estate under the guidance of a loving but judicious father, surrounded with the comforts, but free from the foibles of life, he began his career as farmer, merchant, and politician, evenly poised and well equipped for the work which afterwards distinguished him in those respective spheres. He was the son of Scott McGovney and Hannah Fear, and was born and reared on the old homestead on Brush Creek in Jefferson Township, near the Osman bridge. He received the rudiments of an English education in the county schools of that vicinity.
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In his twenty-seventh year, he married Sophia Phillips, a daughter of Henry Phillips, at the time one of the largest landholders in Adams County. She died in October, 1896, and her loss saddened the remainder of his life. He had no children. He was prominent in Masonic circles and had served as Master of West Union Lodge, F & A. M., and was at the time of his death a member of Calvary Commandery, at Portsmouth, Ohio.
On Thursday, December 1, 1898, he died at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, from the effects of an operation performed there for cancer of the stomach. His remains were brought to his home in West Union and interred in the new Old Fellows Cemetery. He was in his forty-eighth year at the time of his death, having been born February 10, 1850.
George S. McCormick.
George S. McCormick was born March 27, 1822, near Steam Furnace, in Adams County. His father, James McCormick, was a native of Penn- sylvania, and his mother, whose maiden name was Hannah Hawk, was a Virginian. They were married in Pennsylvania, and very soon thereafter loaded their household goods upon a flatboat at Pittsburg and floated down the Ohio, landing at some point near Wrightsville in the year 1808.
James McCormick was a collier and molder, and soon found employ- ment among the furnaces which were then the principal industry in Adams County. He made his permanent home near Old Steam Furnace, where the subject of this sketch was born, never leaving the county except during the War of 1812, when he served with Gen. Wm. H. Harrison at Fort Wayne.
To him and his wife were born nine children, in the order named: Mrs. Jane Page, Mrs. Elizabeth Freeman, Mrs. Mary Wamsley, William, James, Charles, Mrs. Hannah Mitchell and George. Of these only Mrs. Margaret Freeman is living at this time (1898).
James McCormick was a man of magnificent physique, broad-chested, strong of limb and active. He had a firm set jaw, with a double row of teeth above and below, and soon became known as "Burr" McCormick, a name given him because of the fact that his hair, which was usually cropped close, stuck straight out. and was of a reddish hue, about the color of a ripened chestnut burr.
His advent among the furnace men of course created considerable speculation as to whether or not he was what they termed a "good man." He had hardly taken his place in the foundry before he was challenged by the "bully" of the furnace to a test at fisticuffs. McCormick was a strict Presbyterian, and did not believe in fighting, but when it come to a question of whether he should fight or be whipped, he chose the former, and soon made short work of his adversary.
This established his reputation at that furnace, but it did not end his troubles. Knowledge of his ability soon sped to rival furnaces, each of whom boasted their best man, and since he would not leave his home, pilgrimages were made to the furnace in which he found employment in order that he might be challenged. and the question of which had the best "bully" be thus settled. It is said that he never met defeat. He was
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regarded a strong man, not only physically, but mentally and morally, and many of his good qualities were inherited by the subject of this sketch.
In the early days of Adams County the opportunities of securing even a common school education were very meager. Three months of the year, George Smedley McCormick walked miles through mud and rain to the little log school house, for it was only in the dead of Winter, when all labor was at a standstill, that time could be given to the development of the mind. By sturdy perseverance and close application, at the age of eighteen, he found himself competent to teach, and took charge of his first school on the West Fork of Scioto Brush Creek. He followed this pro- fession for six years, teaching in both Adams and Scioto Counties. One of his first schools was in Nile Township, Scioto County, and the building is still standing. It is a log structure about fifteen by twenty feet, with one log left out of the side for a window. This crevice was closed by means of window 'glass and greased paper. Just under it, running the entire length of the building, was a desk, called the writing desk, at which the entire school were obliged to seat themselves when taking instructions in that branch.
His salary was seldom more than $12.50 per month, from which he saved until he was enabled to attend through two terms of the Ohio Wesleyan University, then in its infancy. He was a man of frugal habits, and of good business judgment. He never speculated, but was content to see his worldly store increase through the legitimate profit of trade. The first piece of money he ever earned was a "fi' penny bit," which he received from his brother-in-law, Moses Freeman, for ploughing corn one day on hillside ground prolific of stones and roots. As the value of the coin was but six and one-fourth cents, the reader will understand how well it was earned. With characteristic thrift he placed this money at interest, an elder brother being the borrower, and to the latter's surprise on the day of settlement the piece had doubled itself.
He began his career as a merchant in 1846 at the little village of Commercial, ane mile and a half below Buena Vista and just within the borders of Adams County. His capital consisted of one hundred and fifty dollars, saved from his earnings as a school teacher, and five hundred dollars borrowed from his brother-in-law, the Rev. Jesse Wamsley, of "Bill Town," now Wamsleysville.
In 1848, he built for Mr. Wamsley the first house erected in Buena Vista, after it was platted as a town, and placed in it the first stock of goods ever sold in that village. The site selected was the spot on which stands the family residence, in which he passed his last days. This house came into his possession about ten years before his death, though removed to another site, and is still in use for residence purposes.
In the Spring of 1850, he removed to Rome, this county, where he conducted a successful business for nine years. His health becoming im- paired, he purchased a farm in Nile Township, Scioto County, to which place he removed his family in 1859. In '62 and '63, he was engaged in merchandising for the second time in Rome, having for a partner George Lafferty, during which time his family remained on the farm.
After five years spent in farming he removed to Portsmouth in 1868, where he engaged in the grocery business. In 1870, he returned to his
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farm, and in 1875 the second time went to Buena Vista, where he remained constantly engaged in business until within a year of his death.
He began life with empty hands, a strong will and a clear intellect, and succeeded in leaving behind him ample provision for the wants of those nearest and dearest to him. He loved an honest man, and if there be added to his honesty intelligence, he always strove to make of such an one a friend. It was an impossibility for him to be anything but charitable, and the readiness with which he forgave those who dealt with him un- justly was often a source of annoyance to his friends and business as- sociates. This forgiving spirit cost him many a dollar, but amply were he and his frends repaid when, during his last illness, he rejoiced that he could leave the world bearing malice towards no man.
He was a man of many strong friendships, and especially did he like at all times the company of the young.
In those early days Masonry meant much, and he took a very great interest in the work, being at one time an officer in the lodge at West Union, although he lived as far away as Rome. He was also an Odd Fel- low, and a member of the Methodist Church. In politics, he was an en- thusiastic Democrat but was broadminded enough to recognize merit in any party and often voted for those of opposite party affiliations. He held a number of Township offices as a matter of duty imposed by good citizen- ship, but declined many honors proffered by his party which would have carried him into the arena of active party politics.
He was married in 1847 to Nancy Fleak, of Cincinnati. Seven chil- dren were born to them, only two of whom are now living. Charles 'A .. a merchant at Buena Vista, and A. F. McCormick, an attorney at Ports- mouth. Ohio.
Crockett McGovney
was born June 19. 1825. in Liberty Township, Adams County, Ohio. His father was Thomas McGovney and his mother's maiden name was Jane Graham. He attended the common schools in Liberty Township, and near his uncle, John Graham, on Ohio Brush Creek. He also took a course of bookkeeping at West Union. His wife was Sarah Holmes, the daugh- ter of Thomas Holmes. She was born November 28, 1824. They were married December 20, 1849. Directly after his marriage, he and his wife went to Olive Furnace in Lawrence County. where he was the furnace storekeeper for two years. From 1851 to 1854, he was storekeeper for Robert Scott & Company at Mt. Vernon Furnace in Lawrence County. In September, 1854. he made what now appears as a business mistake. He left the furnace region and returned to Adams County. He went into the dry goods business at Bentonville, but only remained in it for six months. At the end of that time, he built the flour mill in Bentonville in connection with Thomas Foster. He remained in this business until the Spring of 1857, when he sold out and went to Missouri. By August, 1857, he tired of that experiment and returned to Adams County. He estab- lished a dry goods business at North Liberty and continued in it six months, when he sold out to William L. McVey. He bought the flour mill at the same place and operated it until August, 1858, when he sold out. He removed to Manchester and bought the flour mill on Front 51a
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Street. He conducted this business and a coal yard in connection with it until March, 1866, when he disposed of it.
In 1863, he, David McConaughy and George S. Kirker, went into the pork packing business as Kirker, McGovney & Company. It proved dis- astrous and he sunk $4,000. From 1866 to 1872, he and William Hender- son, his son-in-law, conducted the dry goods business at Manchester. In 1872, he went into the planing mill business in Manchester and continued it until his death. This business was quite profitable and successful. He had two children, a son and daughter. His son, Lafayette, is a farmer near Aberdeen. His daughter, Caroline, was married to William Hender- son,.November 16, 1868.
Mr.McGovney had a natural taste and aptitude for business. He would have had success in any business he undertook unless he labored against conditions he could not control. Had he remained in the furnace region, he would have been one of the principal iron masters of the dis- trict. He succeeded in everything he undertook but pork packing, and would have succeeded in that were it not he was subject to conditions he could not control. The chief features of his character were industry and energy. When in a given situation where others were ready to give up and die, he began to work. He was always cheerful. While he was losing money in the pork packing business, he never complained. He worked for years under a business adversity which would have discouraged most men and soured them. He gave no outward sign of his losses, but went right along, just as agreeable to the public as though he were making money. He carried a mountain of debt and paid it off, principal and in- terest. While he lost money in the pork packing business, he made it back in the furniture business.
In politics, he was a Democrat and acted with that party until the second election of President Lincoln, when he became a Republican and remained such all his life. He was a very strong Union man and loyal to the Government in the Civil War. He never held any office but that of Village Councilman and never belonged to any secret society. He was never a member of any church, but inclined to the doctrines of the regular Baptist Church. He was frequently chosen Councilman of Manchester and fulfilled his duties most acceptably. He dignified the office and was the best one the village ever had. He had a good judgment of all kinds of property. He was relentless and untiring in the pursuit of business. He was the leading spirit among the business men of Manchester for years. His integrity was as fixed as adamant. He took sick and died at a time when his life was as full of business cares and responsibilities as it had ever been, but he met the final call with the utmost calmness and phil- osophy. He took sick August 27, and died September 2, 1890, of Bright's disease. Ten men like him would have made a city of Manchester.
Silas Dyer MeIntire
was born December 31, 1824, and was reared a farmer's son. He was married first to Caroline Patton, daughter of John and Phoebe Patton, on the third of March, 1852. The children of this marriage were Ambrose Patton, now living at Lima, Ohio; Ruth, wife of Henry Brown, of Wash- ington C. H .; Lizzie, wife of J. G. Glasgow ; Mary, wife of J. H. Morrison,
,
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of Bookwalter, Neb. His first wife died October 28, 1865, and on August 1, 1867, he was married to Sarah Marlatt, daughter of Silas and Jane (Cane) Marlatt, of Eckmansville. The children of this second marriage were Pearl, wife of Dr. E. F. Downey, of Peebles; Jane Faye, Anna L., Wilber, and Andrew Homer, residing at home.
While a young man, S. D. McIntire taught school until his marriage, and after that was a farmer in Wayne Township the remainder of his life. He was a member of the U. P. Church at Cherry Fork, Ohio, and a ruling elder for many years. He was Justice of the Peace for Wayne Township, 1857 to 1865, eight years. In politics, he was a Republican and anti- slavery man. His father, Col. Andrew McIntire, has a separate sketch herein, and is also referred to in the article under the title of "The Cholera of 1849."
'Squire McIntire, as he was familiarly known, was a man of high character, honest and honorable in all his dealings, and highly respected. He enjoyed the confidence of all who knew him. His widow survives him and resides with her four younger children on the old farm on which he lived and died.
Henry Harrison Mechlin,
manufacturer and dealer in lumber, of Winchester, Ohio, was born April 13, 1854, at Jasper, Pike County, Ohio, son of H. H. and Nancy (Coulter) Mechlin. William Mechlin, his grandfather, was one of the early settlers of Pike County, having emigrated from Butler County, Pennsylvania, in the twenties. His mother was a daughter of James Coulter, of Irish descent.
Our subject spent his boyhood on a farm in Pike County. He had such schooling as the District school of his vicinity afforded. As soon as he became of age, he became a traveler, visiting nearly every state and Territory in the United States. In 1879, he returned to Pike County, and engaged in the mercantile business for a period of three years and was quite successful. He then traveled through the South and Southwest until 1885, when he returned to Pike County.
He was married at Waverly, Ohio, to Miss Anna Burns, daughter of Robert Burns, April 18, 1886. After this, he settled at Coopersville, Pike County, and engaged. in the timber business. He remained here until 1893. when he removed to Winchester, Adams County, where he en- gaged in the same business, and has since continued it. He owns and controls the most extensive lumber and sawmill business in the county, using more timber than any mill in the county. Since his location, he has cut and removed more timber than any like plant in the county. His mills are near the depot and are equipped with the most modern machinery. He uses electric lights, having a dynamo, which furnishes light to his plant and offices. He has six children, five boys and one girl, Rexford K., James C., H. Mark. Russell P., Marjory, and Colin N.
He is a Republican and a member of the Methodist Church. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias; Lodge No. 484, at Winchester.
William L. Miller
was born January 19, 1857, at North Liberty, son of John W. and Mary (Foster) Miller. John Miller, his grandfather, was a native of Wash- ington County, Pennsylvania, and emigrated to this county in 1846, and
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settled near West Union. He married Mary Hamilton, of Pennsylvania. of Scotch descent, a sister of the Rev. James Hamilton, a noted Presby- terian minister. John W. Miller, the father of our subject, was the sec- ond son. He was born April 23, 1829, in Washington County, Pennsyl- vania, where he was a playmate of the Hon. James G. Blaine, in his boy- hood. He married Mary A. Foster, daughter of Col. Samuel Foster. Col. Foster's wife was Elizabeth McNeill, born July, 1829. He was Col- onel of the Militia and Sheriff of Adams County from 1837 to 1841.
Our subject spent his boyhood on the farm, received a common school education, and pursued his studies further at the Normal school at West Union. He engaged in teaching for several years, and for four years he traveled as an agent for a publishing house in Cincinnati. He was ap- pointed School Examiner of Adams County in September, 1895, and served three years during the same period he was a teacher.
In 1898, he removed to a farm in Wayne Township, and now gives his entire attention to the same. being the Gen. William McIntire farm. a noted "Station" in the days of the Underground Railroad.
He was married on September 19, 1887, to Kate R. Ellis, daughter of Hon. Jesse Ellis, of Aberdeen, Ohio. They have two children, Ulric Allen, aged eight, bright beyond his years. He could read the news- papers and write legibly at the age of four years, and is at present fore- most in his classes in the first year of the High school. Their second child, Jesse Loretus, is aged four years.
Mr. Miller's public career has been along lines perfectly satisfactory to his many friends throughout the county, although political demagogues tried without avail for a time to rob him of well-earned honors. He is one of the progressive men of the community in which he resides.
Robert A. Mitchell
was born October 26. 1833. His father was Alexander Mitchell and his mother was Eleanor Foster. They were married in Adams County and had six children. Of those living beside our subject are Mrs. Margaret Burwell, wife of Samuel Burwell, of West Union ; Mrs. Sarah Barber and Mrs. Martha Mackay, of Portsmouth. Mr. Mitchell was born on Beas- ley's Fork of Brush Creek, where his father had a saw and grist mill. His father died on June 4, 1835. of Asiatic cholera, as related in another place in this work. After his father's death, William Kirker settled the estate and the family moved to the William Kirker farm. where our sub- ject lived until 1852. At seventeen, he served a two years' apprenticeship at the cabinet making trade with George Lafferty and Joseph Hayslip. In 1852, he went to Ironton and engaged in pattern making for the Olive Foundry and Machine Works. In 1854, he returned to Portsmouth and engaged in the same occupation with Ward, Murray & Stephenson, and remained in this business all the time until 1870. At that time, he went into the brick business at Sciotoville under the firm name of McCormick, Porter & Co. He took the management of it and remained there for two years, when the business was changed into a corporation under the name of the Scioto Fire Brick Company. He became the manager of that and remained there until July, 1872, when they sold that and built the Star Brick Works below Sciotoville, under the name of McConnel, Towne &
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Co. It continued under that for five years, when it became the Scioto Star Fire Brick Works. He was manager and stockholder. In 1882, he went to Logan with W. Q. Adams, and built a fire brick works. He re- moved from there to Columbus and engaged in pattern making with the Scioto Valley Railroad Company and the Columbus Machine Company. In 1884, he removed to Portsmouth and was manager of the Portsmouth Fire Brick Company. In 1886, he went with the Star Brick Works and remained until 1897, and then went into the Portsmouth Planing Mill and was there one year. Since February, 1899, he has been with the Star, below Sciotoville.
He was first married in 1886 to Jane Miller. The children of this marriage were Frank, of Columbus, lately deceased; Mary, married Frank Brown and lives in Clay City, Kentucky, and William C., who lives in Dayton, Ky. His first wife died on February 11, 1866, and on February II, 1868, he was married in Portsmouth, Ohio, to Miss Maggie Wylie. The children of this marriage are Wylie T., a physician, practicing at Greenfield, Ohio, and married to Miss Minnie Eberhardt, of Portsmouth, Ohio; a daughter, Etta, married to William Mathews; Nellie, Anna Laurie and Robert. There are three children deceased, Maggie, died at the age of eighteen, and the other two in childhood. His mother is still living, past ninety-three years of age, and is remarkably well preserved for her years.
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