A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 91

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612

USA > Ohio > Scioto County > A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record > Part 91

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formation as to city matters. He was ever watchful of the city's welfare and was truthful and honest. Council resolved it had lost the best and most efficient clerk it ever had, and that he had the sym- pathy of the council. His salary was ordered paid him to date and that a copy of the resolutions be given him. As long as council had the election of clerk, Captain Cleveland was re-elected unani- mously, regardless of the political complexion of council.

Well might the Council have spread this testimonial on its journal. For years the Captain had done the work of the commit- tees of Council and they had only to sign their names to a report. Moreover when Captain Cleveland did this work for the members, it was done better than they could have done it themselves, and they knew it. His mind was a most perfect repository of the city's bus- iness. He knew every document and every book in his office and could find anything called for at once. It was a good, clean, easy job to be a councilman while Captain Cleveland was clerk. If a councilman, did not know everything about city affairs (which was usually the case) all he had to do was to ask Captain Cleveland and he was informed at once.

In 1869, the City Clerkship was elective by the people for once and Captain Cleveland was on the Republican ticket and Thomas G. Howell on the Democratic. The vote stood Cleveland 893, Howell 663, a majority of 238, the largest majority of any one elected.

No doubt every Democratic Councilman and city officer voted for the Captain. He was not a religious man. All his religious emotions evidenced themselves in his Masonry. He did more work for the City of Portsmouth in the administration of its affairs than any officer who ever held office under its municipal organization.

As City Civil Engineer, he was the best qualified who ever held the office. The sewers he built stand as well today as when he fin- ished them. The Captain was very fond of reading standard works on science and literature. He wrote out the manuscript of a scien- tific work which was never published. It is in the possession of his niece, Miss Clara Waller.

He survived until June 26, 1881, more than eight years after his stroke of paralysis, but he never recovered his power of speech or ability to write. He could see and could go about, but the world was dead to him and he to it. When stricken with paralysis he had been making his home with Robert Montgomery and he continued his home here until his death. His Masonic brethren and his wife's relatives looked after his comfort, but it seems the irony of fate that he should be compelled to live over eight years shut off from the world. No more useful citizen ever lived in Portsmouth.

Charles Chick

was born in Gallia County, Ohio, December 23, 1823. He was the son of William and Nancy (Skinner) Chick. William Chick, his

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HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

father, was born in Somerset, England, April 25, 1794. He, with two brothers, John and Charles, came to this country in 1817 and set- tled in Gallia County. John Chick for years was superintendent of Mt. Vernon Furnace. William Chick in 1828, purchased a farm of five or six hundred acres in the French Grant and removed his family there. He built the stone house on his farm which stood un- til 1900 when it was destroyed by fire. He had learned the trade of stone mason at the Portsmouth, England, Navy Yards. He also built the stone church near Powellsville which was torn down about 1892. He was baptized in the Church of England, but there was no Episcopal church near him and he gave his strong support to the Baptist church, which he built on his farm with his own hands and contributed very liberally to its founding. His children were: John, who died on "the Isthmus" while on his way to California; Charles, the subject of this sketch; William, aged seventy-seven, who resides at Walton, Indiana ; Elizabeth, wife of John Shope, who died at Pow- ellsville; Frank, who died at his home in Illinois ; George, aged sev- enty-five, of Newport, California: Hiram, aged seventy-three, of Sier- ra street, Los Angeles, California, and Vashti, aged seventy-one, the wife of James Davis, of Walton, Indiana. William Chick's wife died in 1845 and in 1846 he purchased the farm on the river east of the city which is now the site of the Burgess Mill and of Yorktown. The farm contained 237 acres for which he paid $5,000. In March, 1847, while the family were preparing to move to the river farm. he was taken sick and died. Charles and Vashti, the two children who were still at home, moved to the new farm. Charles bought out the other heirs and spent the remainder of his life there. In 1854, he was married to Sarah Lawson, daughter of Squire John Lawson, oldest son of William Lawson, pioneer of Scioto County and oldest son of Thomas Lawson of Hampshire County, Virginia, who was a soldier of the Revolutionary War. Sarah Lawson was also the great- granddaughter of Michael Watson, pioneer of Adams County, who was born in Maryland and emigrated to Mason County, Kentucky, in 1790, and to Adams County, Ohio, in 1804.

The children of Charles and Sarah Lawson Chick are: Eliza- beth, wife of Henry Amberg, Stephen C., Ida M., wife of W. D., Horr, Clara B., John W., Harriet, wife of William W. Gates, Jr., Ella E., Laura R., Walter A., and Pearl. One child Henrietta died when three years of age. AAll the children live in this city with one exception, John, resides on the Peebles farm at New Boston. Charles Chick died June 8, 1877. His widow resided on the farm until 1898 when she sold the farm and moved to this city. She had lived in the same house for forty-four years, having gone there when a bride. She and four children : Clara, Ella, Laura and Pearl now reside at 229 Gallia street. Charles Chick was a man of sterling qualities and the soul of honor; ever ready to lend a helping hand or

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do a kindness to a neighbor ; he was honored and respected by all who knew him. The "Golden Rule" was the rule of his life and what- ever he did was characterized by thoroughness. His farm was one of the model farms of the county.

William Crichton

was a native of Perthshire, Scotland, where he was born February 10, 1821. His father was David Crichton and his mother's maiden name was Elizabeth MacFarland. The father with one daughter came to Porter Township in 1832, leaving the family to settle up affairs at home and come over the following season. When the moth- er and children arrived, they found that the father and daughter had lately died, and they were thus thrown among strangers to wage life's battle, as best they could.

The children were: John, who early emigrated to the Pacific coast where he lived, unmarried, though in prosperous circumstances ; Andrew, a notice of whom appears in this volume; James who be- came partner in Buckhorn Furnace with Seeley, Willard & Company, married Ruby Whitcomb and left two children; Ernest and James, the former a partner, Secretary and Treasurer of a navigation com- pany in Portland, Oregon and Amelia who married a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Gamaliel Beaman and lived in Croton, Iowa, whose on- ly son David C. Beaman is a practicing attorney in Denver, Colorado: Elizabeth who married Doctor Josiah Haines, a practicing physician in Keokuk, Iowa: Janet now living in Wheelersburg, Ohio, unmar- ried, and William, the subject of this sketch, who died unmarried at the old home, in October, 1894.

When the gold fever broke out in 1849 Mr. Crichton caught it and became an Argonaut. He went overland to California with the party made up at Wheelersburg and a full account of his trip will be found under the article "Forty-niners." While in California Mr. Crichton turned to the carpenter's trade and worked in the erection of buildings in San Francisco. He soon tired of California and re- turned, by the Panama route. He concluded Scioto County was good enough for him and settled down to the life of a farmer. This occupation was to him a study, a pleasure, an esthetic recreation, as well as a source of profit. The first reaper introduced in Porter township, if not in the county, was one of the old, heavy McCor- mick reapers which he bought soon after it began to be manufactured. His tastes ran to wheat culture. It was he who first demonstrated, even before the days of commercial fertilizers, that there was money in wheat raising. His wheat yields ran up to twenty, twenty-five and sometimes thirty bushels an acre, in favorable seasons. So his neighbors began to take observations. And largely through Crich- ton's pioneer work in this direction, this section has become one of the famous wheat producing districts of the State.

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As a man he was far above the average in culture and intelli- gence. His reading was varied and extensive and few subjects came up that he was not competent to discuss intelligently. In 1869, he revisited relatives in Scotland and made a tour on the continent. He began keeping a diary at that time, in which he made entries daily thereafter up to the time of his death, so that on referring to this he could tell in a moment about the weather and seasons and all the occurrences of any importance on any day referred to. He was a good talker and a charming companion. A complete file of Harper's Magazine from the first number issued down to the time of his death had a place in his library. Flowers of many kinds, gor- geous beds of them in season, adorned his yard, kept fresh by a peren- nial spring in their midst, and in the cultivation of these, he took great pleasure and spent a large part of his later years. And withai, he wielded a facile pen and, on occasion, could write an idyllic sketch, or an ironic, biting screed. Not many knew that an occasional editorial from his pen would sometimes appear unsigned in the local press. A fine sense of honor, to those who knew him, formed the ineradicable substratum of his character. In matters of principle he was uncompromising. A trust of any kind was absolutely safe in his keeping. When abolitionism was a reproach he was one of two in his township who voted his principles. And he permitted no ques- tions of expediency to dim or blur his perceptions of what was honor- able and right. He was a fair type of the Old World country gen- tleman transplanted to the New.

Silas W. Cole

was born in Chenango County, New York, August 2, 1797. He re- ceived a common school education and in 1819 he went to Harris- burg, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in teaching English in a German school. In the summer of that year he walked to Pitts- burg. On leaving there he with two others went in a skiff to Ports- mouth, Ohio, where he landed and which place he afterwards made his home. As a youth he had been brought up to the trade of wagon maker. He located in Washington Township, and followed that trade there and in Portsmouth until about 1825. On November 22, 1822, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Huston, daughter of Wil- liam Huston, and settled in the town of Portsmouth, on the south- west corner of Second and Court streets. He continued to reside in Portsmouth until 1839, and from that year until 1840, he lived on a small farm along the canal on the West Side. In 1826, he was Su- pervisor of the east ward of Portsmouth, and the same year, he was Overseer of the Poor in Wayne Township. In 1827, he was one of the Health Officers of the Town, and in 1830, he was the Clerk of Wayne Township. In 1832, he was made an additional member of the Board of Health, in Portsmouth, on account of the cholera. In

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1833 and 1834, he was a member of the Town Council and one of the committee on claims. Thus he became one of the aristocrats of the town. In 1835, he was President of the Council. In 1836, he was allowed $100.00 for his services, caring for the streets. In 1837, he was elected street commissioner of the town of Portsmouth, when that office was first created. He served in the same office the fol- lowing year. In 1844, he was elected a County Commissioner and served one term. In 1837, he was elected County Infirmary Direc- . tor. He was re-nominated in 1867, on the Republican ticket; but went down in the great disaster to the Republicans in that year. However, he was re-elected in 1869 and served another term. In 1861, his wife died. In 1864, he married Mrs. Antoinette Squires, who survived him:

The following were the children of his first marriage: George W., who lives at Dry Run, this county; William Crayton, who resides at New Windsor, Illinois ; Charles Oscar, living at Cheshire, Ohio; Amos Burnham, deceased; Caroline, the widow of William Barber, who resides in Portsmouth, Ohio; Joseph H. hereinafter mentioned ; Silas, living in Washington Township; John, who lives on the Gable farm in Clay Township and James Madison of Hulett, Wyoming.

In politics, he was a Whig and Republican. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for fifty years and a consistent one at that. His son, Joseph H. Cole, entered Co. E of the 33rd Ohio as a private, and was appointed Sergeant, promoted to Second Lieu- tenant in 1863, and on September 19, 1863, was killed at the battle of Chickamauga.

Mr. Cole was a man of severe manners and of great dignity. He was one of the plain Methodists. Had he lived in the time of the Puritans, he would have been a Chief among them. He was al- ways frugal and industrious. He was regular in all his habits and positive in his opinions. Sometimes he appeared to be abrupt and cold, but with all he was a most excellent man and citizen and a very earnest Christian. With him religion was no loose sentiment, but a set of principles to be lived every day. He held many times the offices of Steward and Trustee in the Church. He died on the 6th of January, 1875, honored and respected by the entire circle of his acquaintance.

Captain Samuel Cole,

son of Benjamin and Hannah Coles, (Quakers) was born at Glen Cove, Long Island, June 8, 1808. His father was a farmer, came west at an early day, settled in Rising Sun Indiana, then re- moved to Franklin, Ohio, where he was engaged for a time in build- ing a part of the Ohio canal. In 1830, he went to Portsmouth, where with his brother-in-law, Lemuel Moss, he superintended the construction of the terminus of the canal; and also the excavations for the present channel of the Scioto river at its mouth. In 1835,

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he commanded the steamboat "Fairy Queen." Later he built the steamboat "Home" and ran her on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He was married, October 6, 1836, to Nancy Ellen Peebles, a daugh- ter of Robert and Jane Peebles of Newville, Penn. She came to Chil- licothe with her mother in 1828, and to Portsmouth with her sister, Mrs. Lemuel Moss. From 1837 to 1849, he was one of the owners of Moss's Mill near Portsmouth. With J. V. Robinson, he built the tannery at Springville, Kentucky, opposite Portsmouth; also in the firm of Robinson, Waller & Coles, carried on a commission bus- iness for many years. In 1854, he moved to Hanging Rock, hav- ing purchased an interest in Hanging Rock coal works and Pine Grove Furnace, and managed the coal works. In 1864, in company with his former associates and others, he purchased the eastern di- vision of the Lexington and Big Sandy R. R., and moved to Ashland. Ile was president of the company and had supervision of all its in- terests until his death. He was stricken with paralysis in July. 1869, and never recovered. He died March 8, 1871, leaving a wife and ten children. His son Thomas K., was killed November 19. 1864, near Bunker Hill, Va., fighting in defense of the flag of his country. His oldest daughter, Mrs. Martha M. Derby, died at Omaha, December, 1871. His wife survived him fourteen years. She was a woman of remarkable character, was the mother of thirteen children, of whom one son, Col. Frank Coles, and eight daughters survive her.

Hugh Cook

was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, March 13, 1785. In his father's family there were twelve sons and one daughter. Our subject came to Portsmouth, Ohio, in the year 181I, at the age of twenty-two. He was then married, but the name of his first wife was not preserved. There were two children of this marriage: John and Mary Ann, the wife of Judge Wm. V. Peck. Mr. Cook's first wife died May 29th. 1822, at the age of thirty-seven years and twenty-nine days. He married the second time on the 8th of October. 1822, to Mercy Smith, the widow of John Smith, and the mother of Luke P. N. Smith, Charles N. Smith and Joseph W. Smith. The following are the children of the second marriage: Alpheus; Margaret, married Wm. Salter, died in August. 1901 : Wm. Thaddeus, born October 15, 1828; Mercy, married Valklow, and Robert Hugh .. Hugh Cook was elect- ed Appraiser of Wayne Township in 1813 and 1816; and a Trustee of the Township in 1818. In 1819, he was elected Supervisor of Ports- mouth, Ohio, but declined the office, and Nathan Wheeler was ap- pointed in his place. From 1827 to 1830, Mr. Cook carried on a very extensive teaming business between Portsmouth and Chillico- the. James Emmitt and Samuel C. Briggs were among his drivers ; and James Emmitt claims to have laid the foundation of his fortune by working for Hugh Cook, as a driver of one of his teams. Mr.

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Cook was engaged in this business very extensively and must have had six or eight teams. In 1828, 1829 and 1830, he served as Court Constable. He was market master of the city in 1833. He was a man of substance and standing in the community, as he was accept- ed as one of the securities on Isaac Noel's bond, as contractor for the jail in 1834. He was jailer of the County in 1843 and 1844, and when John Cook was Treasurer in 1852, he was one of his bondsmen. He was always a Democrat, and was one of the seven Democrats in Scioto who voted for General Jackson in 1828. He was a carpenter by trade, but never followed it. He at one time owned the McDowell building on Front street, and afterwards owned property near the north end of Market street. At one time, he owned the property now occupied by the J. F. Davis Drug Company. He owned six acres on what is now the north side of Gallia street in the vicinity where Wm. Connolley now resides. He also owned what is now the George Ball Addition on the northeast corner of Gallia and Offnere.

Mr. Cook died at Portsmouth, Ohio, August 25, 1858, aged seventy-three years, five months and twelve days. His wife, Mrs. Mercy Cook, survived until February 2, 1885, when she died at Ham- den Furnace. Her maiden name was Mercy Stratton. She united with the All Saints Church in 1822, and was confirmed by Bishop Chase.

Henry Core

was born on Twin creek, Ross County, Ohio. The name was Ger- man originally, Kohr. He married Effie McDonald, daughter of Col- onel John McDonald, and was in the War of 1812. He was a Whig. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Church and during the old circuit riding days, his home was the minister's home. He and his wife had six children: Doctor James Core, of Homer, Illi- nois, a prominent physician and a member of the Legislature from that district, deceased several years ago; Catherine, wife of James A. Gun- ning, died in 1856, she was the mother of Mrs. John R. Foster : Elizabeth, widow of James Steele, formerly of Ross County, Ohio, but for many years resident of Marshall, Missouri, was another daughter. John Core died long since. He was long a resident of Red Rock. Iowa. Clay Core, another son, married and spent a long life in Il- linois and Anna Core, still living, is a resident of Tennessee. Henry Core came to Portsmouth in 1817, the year of his marriage. He opened a hotel on Front street called the Ohio hotel. It was said to have been built by Colonel McDonald. From Portsmouth, he re- moved to Frankfort, Ross County, Ohio, in November, 1829. and kept a hotel there. From there he removed to Bloomingburg, Fayette County, Ohio, where he engaged in farming and dealing in horses. He shipped droves of horses to the southern markets. In 1851, he sold his Fayette County farm and removed to Ross County where he rented a farm. In 1853, he bought a farm near Bourneville. He

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resided here until 1856, when he sold out and removed to Homer. Champaign County, Illinois.

Abraham Coriell

was a son of Elias Coriell, a native of New Jersey, who came to Scioto County in 1818. His wife was a Lucretia Covert. They had nine children : Isaac was the eldest, Daniel was the second, Eliza, who married Isaac Schoonover, the third; the fourth was Celia; the fifth: Peter; the sixth, Ira; the seventh, Fannie, who married Willian; Brown; and the eighth was a daughter drowned at the age of two years in the Alleghany river, as the family were emigrating to Ports- mouth. The boat in which they were traveling sank and they were unable to rescue the child. Their youngest child was Abraham, our subject, born July 28, 1818, in the town of Portsmouth, on Front street. Elias Coriell was brought up to the trade of hatter, but never followed it for, when he reached Portsmouth, he concluded that there were too many of his trade in the town. In the spring of 1819, he moved to the country, on Little Scioto, where our subject remained un- til he was fourteen years of age. At the age of sixteen he went into John Clugsten's jewelry store and served there as an apprentice until he was twenty-one years of age. On reaching has majority he went to Chillicothe and worked there one year in the jewelry store of A. J. Clarke. He then came back and worked with Mr. Clugsten till about 1842, when he started up in business for himself in Portsmouth, and continued until the year 1896, a period of fifty-four years. August 5. 1892, he was married to Mary White, a daughter of Daniel White. From the time of his marriage he resided in the city of Portsmouth. His children were: Electa Ann, wife of Peter J. Honaker, died in 1886; Henry Otterbein, died at the age of eight months; Ira Frank, died in 1898; Alice, wife of William Hancock ; and his son Edward, is Secretary of the Scioto Building Association ; and a daughter, Ella (lied at the age of five years. Mr. Coriell was a Whig as long as the Whig party lasted, and then became a Republican. In his early life he was a member of the Methodist Church, but about 1861, he became a member of the Christian Disciple Church, and has continued such ever since. His wife died May 17, 1895, and since then he has made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Hancock.

Catharine Murphy Cox,

widow of Martin Cox, was born October 18, 1815. When a girl she attended school three months a year, and stated that the teacher did not know more than a ten year old boy does now. The school house was of logs. She had to walk through wet swampy ground and would often sit with cold damp feet on wooden benches, nothing more than a board with legs. She thinks the boys and girls of today could not stand that. The teachers of her childhood whipped their pupils frequently, and the girls as well as the boys. She attended

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church about once a month but attended Sunday School every Sunday. Abner Ewing conducted it. Her father, Recompense Murphy, was not a member of any church until after he married his second wite. Her mother was an old school Presbyterian.

She saw the second steamboat go down the Ohio river. It was named the "William Putnam." When she was a girl, the banks of the river were inclined at about an angle of forty-five degrees, and did not begin to cave until the steamboats began to run regularly. The waves washed the sand out of them and then the banks began to crumble and this process has been going on ever since. This second boat which she saw was a stern wheeler.

The articles of table-ware in her time were all pewter. She re- lates that her father, Recompense Murphy, walked all the way from Adams County to New Jersey to get money to pay for his lands. He had bought six hundred acres and agreed to pay one dollar an acre for it. When she was a child, wolves were howling around her fath- er's house every night. There was an old man who bought six hun- dred acres of land back of Vanceburg, in the hills and undertook to start a sheep farm. He brought hounds with him and these hounds caused the wolves to leave the neighborhood. One night her father awakened her and her brothers and sisters and told them that it would be the last time they would hear the wolves, and so it proved. The hounds in Kentucky would run the deer into the Ohio river, and the people on the Ohio side would take them.

There was a young woman in the neighborhood named Blakemore. When she was about sixteen years of age. she left her home in Kentucky, crossed the Ohio river in a canoe and walked through the woods from the landing place opposite Vanceburg. to the cabin which stood where James McMasters now lives, more than a mile. She started in the afternoon to return home with a package she had obtain- ed at the house where Simon Smith then lived. The wolves followed her through the woods and she was compelled to undo her package and throw its contents on the ground. and afterwards, her bonnet and shawl and apron to delay the wolves. They would stop long enough to ascertain what was thrown down and to tear the articles up, and then they would follow. She managed to get to the river before they did and jumped into her canoe and pushed out into the water. The wolves followed as far as they could wade, but went back rather than swim.

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A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 91

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913 Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans Number of Pages: 1612

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612