A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 93

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 93

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James Smith Folsom.

From the published Genealogical Family Record, we learn that the Folsom family originated in England, the earliest known progeni- tor being Roger Foullsam who lived at Necton, County of Norfolk

JOHN DAVIDSON FEURT.

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and whose will was dated in 1534. For five generations the Foull- sams appear to have been large land owners there in Besthorpe, Windham, Burwell, Hackford and Hingham. Coming down to 1638, John Foullsam, the first of the Anglo-American line, and his wife Anna Gilman emigrated from Hingham, England to Hingham, Massachusetts. The immediate cause of their coming to America was ecclesiastical troubles and persecutions at home. They came for conscience sake, selling their lands at half their value. John was a sturdy character, well fitted to stand as the progenitor of the many thousands who have since born that name, or sprung from that source through collateral inheritance, now scattered through every part of the United States. Every Folsom in America, except one family in Georgia, is descended from this John of whom it was said.

"He was enterprising, courageous, prominent in the communities in which he lived, a leader in public affairs, determined on simplicity in religious worship and equity in the State, a solid, independent, right- eous and true man." While most family names which are distinc- tive tend to disappear, this one on the other hand has multiplied ex- ceedingly, until it embraces all manner and qualities of people, from the dead level of humanity, up to a great body of useful and respect- able citizens, including members of all the learned professions, edi- tors, authors, capitalists, inventors, railway magnates, naval and mili- tary officers, legislators, judges, congressmen, governors, and on up to Frances, the charming wife of Grover Cleveland. The emigrant John was an officer, and the Gilmans, his wife's people, were also prominent military men. And the military spirit thus prominent in the progenitors has been faithfully transmitted to all succeeding gen- erations, every war from the Indian and the French Wars down to the late Spanish war, having enlisted numerous representatives of this family. The records down to 1882 show more than 700 differ- ent surnames, other than Folsom, derived from female marriages into other families, some of the more common names embracing as many as forty or fifty individuals. Thus does the stream from a prolific stock continue to widen down the centuries.

James Smith, the subject of our sketch, appears in the sixth gen- eration in the line of descent from John, having been born at Point Harmar, Ohio, April 1, 1804. His father Samuel. who married Catharine Smith, bought the home in French Grant in 1805, moved down on a flat boat from Marietta, in 1806, and died there in 1813. Besides James S. there were born in this county, Samuel, Melissa and Mary, all of whom married and had large families. James S. married Sarah Bennett of Baltimore, in 1827, and had the following children : William, Catharine, Melissa, Mary, Albert, Minerva, Sarah and Henry. All his life, except a brief period spent at Ports- mouth learning the cooper's trade, was passed at the old home farm which he bought in early manhood. Junior and Empire furnaces,

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located a few miles back, had a tramroad to this place, and for many years he kept their landing, shipping iron, caring for the freight, and doing their receiving business. At the same time he farmed and merchandised and prospered apace. During the Civil War, the sales from his retail store became so large that he was required to take out a wholesale license. Just before the war he took a large quantity of pig iron in a settlement with the furnace companies at from $14 to $15 a ton. Later he disposed of it at $70. Yet he was not given to speculating. His favorite way of investing his surplus was in buying farms, which resulted in his becoming a large land owner. In 1852, he was elected a County Commissioner to fill a vacancy, by a vote of 1,407 to 1,069 for his opponent. He served about one year. He had no taste for politics except to be conversant with the affairs of the nation, and to maintain high fealty to his political party. From a previously written biographical sketch we reproduce the following which characterizes him suitably: "The one predomi- nant trait which gave form and texture to his whole character was his utter detestation of everything which savored of insincerity. Not a grain of dissimulation infected his nature. No motives of worldly policy could induce in him the slightest departure from an honest conviction. His loyalty to truth was ingrained and incorruptible. He would face the whole world in defense of his convictions. How- ever much one might differ from him in belief, there was that in the man which proclaimed that in his inmost heart he felt himself im- pregnable in his position. Hypocrisy or shams of any kind or what he believed to be such, he would denounce before all mankind if need be. And his clear steadfast eye carried the strong assurance that here at least was a man who had the fullest courage of his con- victions. This was the one overmastering trait in his character which commanded the respect of every man who knew him. The other prominent characteristic for which he will perhaps be longest remembered, was his unfailing readiness to help the poor. No one in distress, that was worthy, ever appealed to him in vain. His be- nevolence to any about him who might be in need was as steady as the flow of an unfailing fountain. Those whom he befriended will carry the remembrance of his cheerful acts of kindness long after the fitful fever of this life is o'er." In many respects he was a unique character. His disregard of conventionality not always dip- lomatic, was sometimes almost suggestive of eccentricity. Withal, his perceptions were exceedingly clear, the processes of his mind logi- cal, and his confidence in conclusions arrived at was immovable. In all business transactions he was the soul of honor, positive in man- ner, truthful in statement, energetic in action, prompt in decision, the possessor of executive ability in a rare degree. Among those who knew him his word was a guaranty, without future quibble or eva- sion. And in possession of the highest respect and confidence of his

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neighbors, he died at his old home October 3, 1883, in the eightieth year of his age.

Martin Funk

was born in February, 1762, at Stephenson, Frederick County, Vir- ginia. His father came to Pennsylvania from Germany in 1712. and afterwards located in Virginia. We cannot give the names of his parents, but believe that he was related to Captain John Funk, who was prominent in Frederick County, Virginia, eleven years before his birth; and also to Joseph Funk,

another prominent citizen of that county. Joseph Funk, on June 12, 1751, entered 205 acres on the river of Shenandoah within Josh Hite's claim. Capt. John Funk, on November 10, 1751, en- tered 341 acres on Cedar Creek and 150 acres on the south side of the Shenandoah under the Three Tops mountains. We have reasons to believe that our subject was of the same family. When he was a year and one-half old, his parents moved to Hagerstown, Maryland. At the age of nine years, they moved to Westmoreland County, Pa. While here in this county, he performed service in the Revolution- ary war, which is officially given under the title of Revolutionary Sol- diers. During his two months service he was a substitute for Robert Wallace. In his four months service, December, 1776, he was in New Jersey, and was reviewed by General Washington. It is said that on the review, he forgot the etiquette of the occasion and per- sonally addressed General Washington in broken English. He re- lates in his application for pension, that when he was serving in New Jersey. the British in small bands were traveling through the coun- try robbing the people. He and his party took four prisoners, a cart and horse, and two dead hogs, which the British had taken from the people. He relates that in 1778, while scouting he was chased by seven Indians to the Fort. Twenty-five went out and fought one hundred Indians, and nine of his company were killed. Mr. Funk in his application for pension gives the list of names of those killed and stated that the survivors had to fall back to the Fort. He further relates that in October, 1778, the Fort in which he was then stationed, was besieged by 110 Indians for thirty hours, and forty-five men, the garrison, repelled the attack of the Indians. He was married in 1789, in Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Studebaker, who was born in 1772. He emigrated to Oldtown in Scioto County, and arrived there June 25. 1798. His daughter, Catharine, was born ten days after their arrival at Oldtown. His eldest son, John Funk, was born in Pennsylvania in 1790. He married Margaret Glover, a sister of Elijah B. Glover, and raised a large family. His sons were Thornton, John, Melvin and Melvira, twins, Azel Glover, Samuel Martin and Margaret. Martin Funk's daughter Mary was born in 1792, his son Jacob, in 1795. His daughter Catharine, married John Timmonds, October 16, 1817, the ceremony was performed by John

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Brown, Justice of the Peace. Martin Funk brought considerable money with him. In 1809, he bought a quarter section of land from the United States, now the Micklethwait, Stewart and Tim- monds lands near the Children's Home. In 1810, he bought twenty- three acres along Lawson's run next to the river, and in 1811, twen- ty-five acres adjoining it on the east. He built a log cabin near the site of the old brick Micklethwait home near a fine spring, and started a distillery. Making whiskey was the only way of turning corn, selling at eight and ten cents per bushel into cash, and Mr. Funk was not behind his neighbors in this. He lived on the old Chil- licothe road, and he entertained wagoners to and from Chillicothe, and made much gain in that way. His home was a general stop- ping place. In 1811, there was a general muster on the portion of his place now owned by Gilbert Stewart. An eclipse occurred during the muster ; when the general call for militia was made in 1813, the place of rendezvous was Funk's. James Keyes tells of that meeting. All were there at twelve noon and marched away at two o'clock in the afternoon.

He tells that William Lawson, a neighbor, became much incens -. ed at Mr. Funk and one morning came over to whip him. Mr. Funk declined to fight till after breakfast and Lawson waited in the yard until Mr. Funk had breakfast. After breakfast Funk came out and asked Lawson, if nothing but a fight would do. Lawson insisted and both parties stripped to the waist. At it they went, and Lawson soon cried enough. Funk then said, "you had no break- fast while I did and so you have learned the folly of fighting before breakfast." The writer does not place the fullest confidence in this story. Historian Keyes had a vein of romance.

Mr. Funk was a man of great strength and muscular power. He could lift a barrel of whiskey. almost as easily as another man could lift a jug.

Mrs. Elizabeth Funk was an excellent cook and a most efficient nurse in sickness. Many of those attacked with malaria resorted to her home and remained there till cured. She, however, fell a victim to malaria prevailing in 1822, and died that year, at the age of fifty years. Her daughter Barbara married Joseph Micklethwait an En- glishman, and lived and died at the present Micklethwait homestead. She was born in 1801.

Martin Funk believed in attending to his own business and pros- pered by doing so. He never held any office, but that of fence view- er, and he was elected to that office in the years 1809, 1811, 1813, and annually until 1817. There were always two and he had as asso- ciates, William Brady, Sanders Darby, George Bowers, Abraham Stock. Aaron Kinney. John Simpson. Most times, persons were elected to this office in sport, but Martin Funk was elected in

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earnest, and served in earnest. It was an office never sought, but always thrust on the person elected. Mr. Funk left val- uable real estate which was divided among his heirs and afterwards made them rich. He died October 16, 1838, in his 77th year.

Benjamin Fryer

was born in 1794, but the place of his birth is now unknown. He located in Chillicothe about 1819. He was married August 18, 1814, to Catharine Jefferson, a sister of Mrs. John McDowell and Mrs. Bernard Kepner. They came to Portsmouth about the same time the Jefferson family did. Mr. Fryer had no regular occupa- tion, but did whatever he could find to do. When the Gaylord Roll- ing Mill started, he became a worker in it, and continued as such until 1846, when failing health compelled him to give up all manual labor.

He always took great interest in town and municipal affairs. In 1832, he was a member of the Portsmouth Board of Health, and again in 1855. During the time the coffee houses were rampant in Portsmouth, he was a member of the town council and uniformly voted against each and every one of them which applied for license. Moses Gregory and William Newman voted with him on the coffee houses. They were always in the minority but they voted their principles and were satisfied. In 1858, Mr. Fryer was a Trustee of Clay Township. In 1861, he was First Lieutenant of the third ward Home Guards, and was one of the most loyal men in Ports- mouth. In 1867, he was again a Trustee of Wayne Township.

He had eight children. His eldest was John Hamilton. Eliza, his second child, married Cornelius Moore of the French Grant. His daughter, Mary. died single at the age of thirty. Benjamin, his fourth child, born in 1823, enlisted in Company G. Ist O. H. A., De- cember 15, 1863, for three years. He died at Cleveland, Tennessee, April 2, 1865. His widow, Mrs. Matilda Fryer, resides on east Eleventh street. Asbury Walker was his fifth child. He became County Judge of Lewis County, Kentucky. He died, leaving a son Grant, who has a tannery at Vanceburg, and two daughters, Mrs. Lewis Stricklett and Mrs. Elmer Rowland.

Mr. Fryer was always a devout and pious member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. He was an old fashioned shouting Meth- odist. He believed in the discipline of the church and lived up to it. As early as 1834, he was a member of the official board of old Bigelow, and was always a class leader. When Spencer Chapel was formed he became a member of it. All who knew him believed in him. In his latter years, he was affectionately and reverently called "Father" Fryer, and in the Church he was regarded as an oracle and a leader. He is written up for this work because he was one of the truly good men of Portsmouth and if his spirit and those of Father

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HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

McDowell, Jacob P. Noel, and Job Ledbetter can be located, there is Heaven.

Wilson Gates,

the father of Erastus Gates, had a dry goods store in a frame building on the corner where Brunners are now located.

On November 30, 1820, he was married to Elizabeth Kinney, daughter of Aaron Kinney, by Rev. Stephen Lindsley.

On January 2, 1824, he was a member of the Council, in place of James Lodwick who resigned. He held this office until June 4. 1824, when he resigned. April 3. 1829, he was Health Officer of the city of Portsmouth. He was City Treasurer from 1830 to 1836.

In 1832, he built the brick residence just across the alley from Daehler's furniture store and resided there until 1843, when he sold his home to Charles Henking and removed his family to Memphis, Tennessee. He lived there until 1849, when he returned to Ports- mouth.

He died, July 29, 1849, at the age of fifty-seven, and was buried in the Kinney graveyard. His widow, Elizabeth Gates, lived to see her eighty-seventh year and died at the Dennison House, in Cincin- nati, Ohio, July 21, 1887.

Wilson Gates was a large, fine looking man, with light hair and a portly bearing. He was an active citizen, well esteemed by his cotemporaries. As a merchant he had to encounter reverses, but did so in a manly way. We regret we were able to obtain so little of him. but from what we could learn, he was one of the forceful characters of his time. His widow survived him thirty-eight years.

Thomas Gould Gaylord.

The Gaylords or Gaillards as it is in the French, were among the many French Hugenots that left their beloved shores of France to enjoy the freedom of religious and political thought and action that was afforded them in the new land across the sea. They settled with others in the old Puritan State of Connecticut and there founded the town of Gaylordsville. In time they branched out, some going south others to the westward. Silas Gaylord, the father of the subject settled on a farm near Utica, New York and there married Mary Gould. He was very religious in his tendencies, although they never carried him farther in the service of our Lord than a deaconship and eldership in the Presbyterian Church.

The wife and mother of Thomas was a stately commanding personage of great dignity and decision of action. From her Thomas got what proved so useful to him in his business life, quick percep- tion and instant action. Silas and Mary Gaylord were blessed with two children-both boys-Thomas and Horace. Thomas being more patterned after his maternal than his paternal-took the lead in every-

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thing and being an ambitious youth, while yet in his teens, after get- ting a good common school education, and after teaching a year as was the custom for one to do, before one was considered a thoroughly educated man, asked his father to aid him in furthering himself in the world and adopted New York as his initial point for a start. He was employed while there by a Mr. Greenfield, who was a very rich and influential queensware merchant, and he seeing that Thomas was. ambitious to rise above the ordinary man of that day, determined to aid him and made a proposition to him to start a queensware estab- lishment in Pittsburg, and place him at the head of it. Thomas read- ily accepted and moved to Pittsburg and opened his queensware store. Before leaving however, while on a trip to Johnstown, New York, he met and fell in love with Angeline Morrell, daughter of Judge Morrell, then a very eminent and respected Judge on the bench. They were married and Thomas took his young bride to Pittsburg. He was so successful in the queensware store that he soon made Mr. Greenfield a proposition to buy out his interest, which was accepted and he carried on the business himself.

About this time he set his brother up in the queensware business in Maysville, Ky., but with the appearance of cholera there in 1836, which carried off Horace and his entire family, he sold his store in Maysville and concentrated his attention to his Pittsburg house.

In 1837. Mr. Gaylord while on a visit to Portsmouth traded his queensware house and some mountain land in Pennsylvania for the Glover. Noel & Co. rolling mill of Portsmouth. This was his first appearance in the business community of Portsmouth. He moved his family there and set to work to re-model and modernize the mill and to build up a success in the iron business such as was his in the queensware business. New boilers were put in. The old fashioned "knobbling" furnaces gave place to the "puddling" furnaces and the "hammers" gave place to "rolls" and he soon had one of the most complete and modern rolling mills of the West.

In 1846, he left Portsmouth and moved with his family to Cin- cinnati and cortinued in the iron business under the name of T. G. Gaylord & Son. He gave his son Thomas Greenfield Gaylord, whom he had named for his friend Mr. Greenfield, a quarter interest to re- main in the business and promised him another part, as soon as he could pay for it out of the profits, which he soon did.

In 1858, while on a visit to New York, he was suddenly taken with a stroke of apoplexy and was found dead on the street. His remains were brought to Cincinnati and with his own workmen, who came in a body from Portsmouth to bring their last tribute to their beloved employer, as pall-bearers, he was laid away for his eternal rest in the Gaylord lot in Spring Grove cemetery, and afterwards his

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body was placed beside his wife in the Gaylord vault in Cincinnati, which had been built by his son Thomas G. Gaylord, Jr.

Mr. Gaylord never took much interest in politics for his own ad- vancement. He was a stanch Whig. His only public office being one of a committee of three including James Pursell, and Moses Gregory as fence viewers of Wayne Township. Outside of his mill- ing business he was director of the Portsmouth Insurance Co. He left what would be considered in those times a large estate.

A man of great personal magnetism, he made many friends, while his perception and nerve in business enabled him to be consid- ered among the foremost citizens of Portsmouth. He left a son, Thomas Greenfield Gaylord, and a daughter, Emma Gaylord. The former married Miss Grosbeck, of Cincinnati who died shortly after- wards. He then married Miss Pall of Philadelphia, by whom he had one son, J. Pall Gaylord, now living in Chicago. His second wife (lied a few months after the birth of her child. Mr. Gaylord then married Miss Alice Brannin a celebrated beauty of Louisville, by whom he had three children, two girls and a boy, Elsie Kilgour Gay- lord, Edith Pommeroy Gaylord and Thomas Gould Gaylord. Edith died at the age of six from diphtheria.

Emma, the daughter of Thomas, married E. H. Pendleton of Cincinnati, by whom she had eleven children, four of whom are liv- ing. Lucy, the oldest, married Ambrose White of Cincinnati E. II. Pendleton, Tr., married Miss Eckstein of Cincinnati ; N. G. Pendle- ton, married Miss Bessie Johnson of Iowa. and Susie G. Pendleton married Mr. Nathan Powell of Madison, Indiana.

Benjamin Brayton Gaylord

was born in Westernville. Oneida County, New York, November 26, 18II. His father was Dr. Chester Gaylord, and his mother was Lydia Brayton. When he was a child, his parents removed to Litch- field, Herkimer County, New York. There at the age of 15, under the preaching of Rev. Abner Towne, father of Judge Henry A. Towne, of Portsmouth, Mr. Gaylord became a member of the Presbyterian Church and continued such all his life. In the year 1839, he came to Portsmouth and was employed as a clerk for several years by his cousin, the late T. G. Gaylord, of Cincinnati, in the Gaylord rolling mill in Portsmouth.

In 1844, he became manager of Clinton Furnace and remain- ed such four years. He was also a stock-holder in the same furnace. In 1845, he married Margaret Jane Hempstead, daughter of Dr. G. S. B. Hempstead.

Returning to Portsmouth in 1848, he assumed full control of the Gaylord Mill and remained in charge until December, 1874, when, on account of failing health, he was compelled to retire. He was an incessant worker, a superior financier. He had the faculty of be-

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ing able to attend to a great many things at once. He was a man of remarkable foresight and would anticipate a coming crisis when others would fail to understand the situation. He was an eminently practical man and gave his personal attention to his business. He made a specialty of the manufacture of boiler iron and built up a reputation in this line second to none in the country. He held the love and affection of his employes, and they always regarded his interests as carefully as they would their own. He had but one strike in all his business career. He took special pains to encourage econ- omy, and exerted his influence to induce his employes to save their money and obtain homes for their families. In this way he gathered round him a class of steady, industrious laborers, many of whom be- came well-to-do and influential citizens of Portsmouth. To assist those who were willing to act upon his advice, he advanced them money for the purchase of property, and gave them convenient pe- riod for payment.

When the civil war opened out and the Government invited pro- posals for the making of gun-boat iron, the other mills along the Ohio river were afraid to undertake to make the iron because it in- volved such enormous expenditures and such expensive changes of machinery, but Mr. Gaylord accepted a contract with the Govern- ment to make the iron to sheathe the gun boats. His execution of the contracts were entirley satisfactory to the War Department and he made a very large sum of money for himself and for those in busi- ness with him.

He was not a graduate of any college, but was a self educated man. He read a great deal and digested what he read. For a great many years he was a member of the Board of Trustees of Marietta College and contributed several thousand dollars towards its en- dowment. He also gave liberally to the Lane Seminary at Cincin- nati, and in many instances, assisted young men in acquiring an ed- ucation. His benefactions to the churches and other parties were of the most liberal character. His pastor, the Rev. Dr. Pratt, said of him :

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A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 93

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