USA > Ohio > Allen County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 32
USA > Ohio > Van Wert County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 32
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Van Wert county and was employed in civil engineering until his appointment as county surveyor, in January, 1895, to fill a vacancy for eight months.
Mr. Malick was united in marriage Decem- ber 28, 1878, at Kearney. Nebr., with Clara L. Goff, a native of Van Wert county, Ohio, who was called away August 9, ISSI. Mr. Malick was next married in Van Wert, Octo- ber 9, 1883, to Mrs. Laura E. Allison, who was born in Maryland June 10, 1849, and who was by her first marriage the mother of two children, Maud and Grace. To Mr. Malick has been born, by his second wife, one child -- Virgie E. Mrs. Malick is a consistent member of the Presbyterian church, and in politics Mr. Malick is a democrat; he is also a member of G. A. R., a knight templar Mason, and a Knight of Pythias, and as a recompense for his war services is receiving a liberal pen- sion. He is exceeding popular among his fellow-citizens and is regarded as one of the most experienced surveyors and practical civil engineers in the county of Van Wert.
e LIJAH .P. MCNEAL, of Tully town- ship, Van Wert county, Ohio, now a business man of Convoy, and an ex- soldier, was born in Union county, Ohio, November 21, 1840, a son of John and Elizabeth (Irwin) McNeal, of Scotch-Irisli ex- traction. John McNeal was born in Pennsly- vania and was a son of Archibald, who caine from the north of Ireland. John was a young man when his father, Archibald, moved to Ross county, Ohio, and here John married Miss Irwin, who bore him eleven children, viz: James, Sarah, Mary, Christian, Catherine. Daniel, Elijah P., William, Irene, John and Ellen. Of these children four sons, all that were old enough, served in the late war, viz : | James, who was slightly wounded; Daniel.
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slightly wounded; William, also wounded. and Elijah P., whose war record is given further on. John McNeal was one of the original abolitionists, and was a farmer of Monroe county, Ohio, whence he came to Van Wert county in 1874, and here died at the age of seventy-eight years, a member of the Metodist Episcopal church.
Elijah P. McNeal, the subject of this sketch, enlisted at the age of twenty-one years in Pike county, Ohio, in company I, Sixty- third Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years, or during the war, under Capt. James Taggart and Col. John W. Sprague, and served until honorably discharged at Louisville, Ky., in July, 1865, the war having come to an end. He took an active and valiant part in the siege of Corinth and the battle at that point; at Luka, Parker's Cross Roads, and in the Atlan- ta campaign; at Resaca, Dallas, Pumpkinvine Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, and also on the march from Atlanta to the eastern coast. He was in the conflicts at Savannah, Buford, Col- umbia, and in all the innumerable skirmishes pertaing to this long march, which culminated in the grand review at Washington, D. C., May 23-24, 1865. From the national capitol Mr. McNeal's regimeut was sent to Louisville, Ky., where it was disbanded, as intimated above. October 31, 1867, Mr. McNeal was married in Union county, Ohio, to Miss Senia, daughter of Philip and Margaret Miller, the re- sult being the birth of one child-Flora D. In 1875 Mr. McNeal located in Convoy and engaged in general mercantile trade, then in the manufacturer of tile, and, in 1894, in the lumber business, in partnership with L. W. Lorber, under the firm name of Lorber & Mc- Neal, and down to the present time the firm has met with most flattering success. After his settlement in Convoy, Mr. McNeal lost his wife, and by his second marriage, with Miss Angie Knox, he is the father of one child-
John K. Mr. McNeal is a member of the G. A. R. post, No. 236, of Convoy, in which he has held all the offices with the exception of commander. He is also a Mason and a non- affiliating Odd Fellow; in politics he is a repub- lican, and has filled the offices of member of the board of education, member of the town ceuncil of Convoy, and at present is a member of the bord of health, beside having served as treasurer of the town of Convoy. With his wife he is a member of the Methodist Episco- pal church, in which he has been class-leader, steward and trustee. He is one of the sub- stantial citizens of Tully township, and his fortune has been made through his own indus- try, thrift and sagacity.
NDREW LYBOLD, farmer of Union township, Van Wert county. Ohio. was born in Germany, April 30. 183;, a son of John and Mary (Mar- gereth) Lybold, the former of whom was born about 1792, was reared a farmer and was also apprenticed to the trade of shoemaking. While serving this apprenticeship he was sent with a Hessian regiment of soldiers to aid Great Britain in her war against the United United States in 1812, and was a non-com- missioned officer. At the close of that dis- graceful attempt to subvert American liberty he returned to Germany and there married Mary Margereth, a daughter of Link Marge- reth, who bore him six children, named as fol- lows: Catherine, wife of Abraham Hurst. of Germany: Mary, wife of Albert Lybold. o1 Hardin county, Ohio; Catharine, wife . f Reuben Kemmerer, of Kenton, Hardin county: Nicholas, deceased; Margaret, wife of Dr Durbin, also of Kenton, and Andrew, the sab- ject of this sketch. After his marriage, John Lybold settled on a farm in his native land.
Andrew Lybold
497-498
-
angeline E. Lybold
499-500
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OF VAN WERT COUNTY.
where he died at the advanced age of eighty- eight years.
Andrew Lybold attended school in Germany from six years of age until fourteen, and then, with his sister Margaret, came to the United States, to escape military duty, and for awhile stopped with his sister in Hardin county, Ohio, where for a time he attended school and worked on a farm. In 1857 he went to Marion county Ohio, where for four years he worked as a farm hand for one employer, Robert Hopkins. October 21, 1861, he enlisted in company B, under Capt. James Brown, Fifty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years or during the war, and soon reached the rank of first lieuten- ant of company D. He served through the campaigns of Kentucky, Tennessee and Mis- sissippi, and took part in the sanguinary bat- tles of Shiloh, Stone River, Perryville, Chicka- mauga, Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. At Chickamauga he was wounded, September 20, 1863, by a rifle ball in the left hip, and was treated in the field hospital and in the hos- pitals at Stevenson, Ala., and Nashville, Tenn. On recovering, he rejoined his command at Chattanooga, and with it took part in the en- gagements at Rocky Faced Ridge, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain (where he was again struck by a rifle ball), Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Spring Hill, Franklin, Nashville, and a number of minor conflicts: He next campaigned in Tennessee, Alabama and Texas, and was mustered out at Victoria, in the lat- ter state, having been honorably discharged December 3, 1865. He then returned to his old position with Mr. Hopkins, and, October 22, 1866, married Miss Angeline Devinney who was born in Logan county, Ohio, in 1845, a daughter of Charles and Susan (Thomas) Devinney, the union being blessed with one child -- William L.
Charles Devinney, the father of Mrs. Ly- bold, was born in New Jersey, in 1800, and 22
was of French extraction; he was reared a farmer and was an early pioneer of Logan county, and to his marriage with Susan Thomas were born eight children, viz; Phebe J., wife of John Freer, of Fort Wayne, Ind ; Elizabeth, wife of Alexander Henry, of Logan county, Ohio; Sarah, wife of Daniel Harvey, of Allen county; Rachael, wife of David Cole, of Marseilles, Ohio; Lydia, wife of Enoch Eatherton, of Kansas; John, of Muncie, Ind., deceased; Maria, wife of George Cochran, of Middleburg, Ohio, and Angeline, now Mrs. Lybold.
After his marriage, Mr. Lybold rented a farm in Hardin county, on which he resided for three years, and then, in 1866 purchased a piece of wild land in Union township, Van Wert county. On this, in 1870, he built a house of logs, and cleared away the forest from seventy acres, all of which are now in an excellent state of cultivation and exhibit tlie work of an experienced agriculturist. His log cabin has been supplemented by a modern frame dwelling, and the place has been so im- proved that it compares favorably with any other farm in the township. Mr. and Mrs. Lybold are members of the Lutheran church, and Mr. Lybold is a member of Convoy post, No. 236, G. A. R. He has been a devoted lover of his adopted country, is a successful farmer and in every respect a deserving citizen. He is a republican in politics and for six years. from 1885, served most acceptably as infirni- ary director.
William L. Lybold, son of our subject, was born in Hardin county August 12, 186;, and was reared to his present calling-that of agriculture. April 29, 1891, he married Min- nie Coil, daughter of Mrs. Elizabeth Parrot. of Mercer county, Ohio. Mrs. Minnie C. Lybold was born December 3, 1870, and was a posthumous child, left to the care of her widowed mother. She has blessed her his-
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
band with two children, Edith and Ethel, and, with him, is a devoted member of the Church of God. In politics William Lybold is a re- publican. He has his residence on the old homestead in Union township, and, like his parents, 'enjoys the respect of all who know him or know them.
J OHN McMANUS, a skillful machinist, working for the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw Railroad company in Van Wert, was born May 7, 1849. He is a son of Thomas McManus, who was born in 1802, in Galway county, Ireland, the largest, and, next to county Mayo, the most populous, of the counties of the province of Connaught, in the west of the Emerald Isle.
While yet quite young Thomas McManus learned the trade of stone-mason, at which he worked during his entire life. He was a man of intelligence, skill and industry, and accumu- lated a comfortable fortune, and at the time of his death, in 1862, left his family well pro- vided for, so far as this world's goods are con- cerned. In 1848 he married Miss Winnie Fox, who was a native of the same county with him- self. To this marriage there were born three children, viz: Martin, Mary and John, the first two of whom died while yet young. The mother of these children died in 1855. Both parents were members of the Catholic church, and were good people, performing their duties to their family and to their church in a most prompt and commendable manner and spirit.
John McManus, the subject of this sketch, is the only member of the family that lived to mature years. Upon coming to the United States he landed at Portland, Me., and soon afterward made his way to Columbus, Ohio, where he met and married Mrs. Katie Cary whose maiden name was Katie Carroll. After remaining in Columbus about two years, he
removed to Convoy, Van Wert county, where he remained until 18;0, when he removed his family to Van Wert, where he has since resided. For nine years afterward he worked on the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad as section hand; then, for seven years, was en- gaged in the gas factory. Later he went to work on the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw railroad as section boss, having under him a gang of seven men. Still later he acquired the trade of machinist, and has ever since been employed in the capacity of a machinist by the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw Railroad company, giving them entire satisfaction in his work. John and Katie McManus are the par- ents of two children, viz: Willie, who was born August 11, 1872, is a boiler-inaker by trade, and is a very industrious and honest young man, and Mary, who was born Febru- ary 26, 1873. She is a very bright, intelligent and charming young lady, and is a member of the Catholic church.
Katie Carroll, wife of John McManus, was born in Ireland, August 16, 1837. She is a daughter of Michael Carroll, who was born in Ireland, and in his native country followed farming all his life. He was born in 1815 and died in 1875. He married Mary Carey, of Ire- land, by whom he had the following children: Bridget, Thomas, Mary, Helen, Michael, Katie and Jane. All are dead except Michael and Katie. All were married but two, Mary and Helen. The mother of these children died in Ireland in 1867. Both parents and all the children were members of the Catholic church. Mr. Carroll was a man of broad views and liberal thought. He was always ready to as- sist those in need, and many a man owes his start in life to his kind and generous help. Katie Carroll came to the United States in 1864, crossing the ocean in an old sailing ves- sel, named the Jane H. Gilton, and was seven weeks on the sea. When she landed in
£
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OF VAN WERT COUNTY.
Castle Garden, N. Y., she had never before seen a negro. In New London, Conn., she was married to a sea captain named Thomas Cary, who was afterward lost at sea. She then married Mr. McManus and is now living with him in Van Wert.
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3 AMES J. McMILLEN, a retired farmer and leading citizen of Ridge township, Van Wert county, Ohio, son of James W. and Mary (Leach) McMillen, was born in Somerset county, Pa., December 23, 1827. The father was also a native of Somer- set county, Pa., and a son of William McMil- len. The father of William McMillen was a native of Ireland, who settled in Pennsylvania. William McMillen received a common school education and learned the shoemaker's trade. He also was born in Somerset county, Pa. His wife, a Miss Mcknight before marriage, was also a native of Ireland and when a child came with her parents to Somerset county, Pa. They were the parents of six children; viz. : James W .; John, who in his youth went south; William, who was killed by the bite of a dog; Jane, wife of Zachriah White, of Somerset county, Pa .; Nancy, wife of John Stanton; and a daughter, who died in her twentieth year. Dennis McKnight, father of Mrs. McMillen, was a corporal in the American army during the Revolution, was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and served to the end of the war.
James W. McMillen was born December 22, 1794, was reared a farmer and learned the shoemaker's trade from his father. He pur- sued his trade, however, only so far as to pro- vide shoes for his own family. To his marriage with Mary Leach were born the following children: Martha, wife of John Mmnaugh of Cowden, Ill .; William, deceased in infancy; John, also deceased in infancy; Joseph L., a merchant and miller of Owaneco, Ill .; Jane,
widow of Abraham East, a farmer of Wash- ington township, Van Wert, county, Ohio; James J., the subject of this sketch; Sydney A., deeeased in childhood: Ephriam, broom manufacturer of Defiance, Ohio; Eli, of Cow- den, Ill .; Miranda, deceased wife of George Clutter, also deceased. Mary (Leach) Mc- Millen was born in 1796, in Pennsylvania, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1830 James W. McMillen emigrated from Somerset county. Pa., to Knox county, Ohio, making the trip in a wagon, in which he brought his family and household goods. He entered a tract of 200 acres of government land, and established his young family in a rented house in Brownsville, while he cleared a space and built a house of logs on his land. For twelve years he was identified with the agricultural interests of that county. He then disposed of his Knox county farm and moved to Allen county, where he purchased a farm on which he lived the remainder of his life, dying in March, 1880, having lost his wife on March 27, 1878. Politically, he was a stanch supporter of the democracy. He united with the United Brethern church, in early life. but later joined the Methodist Episcopal church. Associated with his father he assisted in build- ing the famous first national pike between Philadelphia and Pittsburg. He was a man of fine physique, possessed unusual force of character, was kind and benevolent in his practices, upright and honorable in his deal- ings, and a leader of men in the community in which he lived.
James J. McMillen was educated in the common schools of Knox and Allen counties, then taught in a little log school-house, fur- nished with puncheon benches and slab floor. He also engaged in teaching in Conrad district, Marion township. Allen county, Ohio, where he taught two terms. In 1852 he spent one term in Delaware university, Delaware, Ohio.
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after which he again engaged in teaching. With the money thus earned he attended a select school at Allentown, Ohio. September 7, 1854, he was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Gilliland, daughter of James G. and Margaret (Lawson) Gilliland. To their union ten children were born, viz: Joseph Warren, a prominent farmer and produce dealer of Union township; Alice, widow of M. D. Mann, and living with her two children in Van Wert; Phebe, who died in infancy; Alonzo B., a prominent lawyer of Albuquerque, N. M .; Ida, wife of Thomas Pollock, who lives near Mid- dlepoint, Ohio; Charles S., farmer and hay dealer of Woodburn, Ind .; Walter, who died in childhood; twin brothers, Albert and Del- bert, of Van Wert county, Ohio, and Hattie, the wife of Edward Carlo of Van Wert. The reader is here invited to peruse the history of the Gilliland family, to be found in another part of this volume.
In 1852, Mr. McMillen engaged in general merchandising at Elida, Ohio, to which he added, in 1856, a grain and produce business. The following year he sold his store, and gave . , his entire attention to the buying and selling of J OSEPH WARREN McMILLEN, grain dealer and shipper of Van Wert, Ohio, and farmer of Union township, was born in Elida, Allen county, Ohio, July 15, 1855, a son of James J. and Harriet (Gilliland) McMillen. The family came to Van Wert county and settled in Ridge township when our subject was but five years old, and here he grew to manhood and was educated. He assisted on the home farin until twenty-one years of age, and was then for four years en- gaged in teaching school in York and Ridge townships: resuming agriculture, for five years he farmed in Ridge township, and then pur- chased a farm of 240 acres in Union township in section No. 16, which is cleared and well improved, and underdrained thoroughly by grain, in which he was quite successful. In 1858 he purchased sixty acres of land in Allen county and began farming and dealing in stock. This he continued until 1860, when he moved to his present home, in Ridge township. He has cleared his farm from the woods, improved it with a neat residence and substantial farm buildings, and everywhere it bears the marks of his careful management and cultivation. In December, 1894, accompanied by his wife, he made a tour of the great west, visiting his sons in Illinois and New Mexico, and the incidents and observations of western life, written by him and published at the time in the Van Wert Times, show him to be a man of keen perception and careful thought. He is not a member of any church, though broad in : some 60,000 rods of tiling -- his chief product
his charity and liberal in his support of every public good. He was for years a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, Lima lodge, No. 205, and is held in high esteem by its members. He is also a member of Ridge grange, P. of H., and has done much to ad- vance the agricultural interests of the com- munity in which he lives. Politically he sup- ports the democratic party, and wields a strong influence in the ranks of that party. In his political associations he is above suspicion, and courts victory only by fair means, never buy- ing or selling a vote. He has been honored by the office of township clerk, though he dis- likes to have his name before the public. Both he and his wife engaged in teaching in their youth, and every child, with one exception, followed their example. In the record of this family there has been but one death in sixty- two years. No man stands higher in the con- fidence and esteem of his neighbors than Mr. McMillen, and all his works have been crowned with success.
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OF VAN WERT COUNTY.
being hay. In 1885, in company with his father, he began buying and shipping hay in large quantities, and this partnership lasted two years, since when our subject has been doing business on his individual account. In 1894 he handled about 600 carloads of straw and hay, beside other products. He buys grain at Cavett in considerable quantities, and shipped eighty carload of shelled corn between October, 1894, and close of the year. He employs four balers, who scour the country for hay, buy it up and bale it on the spot, as they take with them the proper machinery. His office in Van Wert is on North Walnut street, near the Pennsylvania railway line, where, during the proper season, he gives due attention to the buying and shipping of grain, hay and straw.
The marriage of Mr. McMillen took place in Van Wert, April 15, 1879, to Jennie Wil- more, who was born in Mercer county, Ohio, and is the daughter of J. Wilmore. This union has been blessed with the birth of six children, named Dale, Bernice, Nellie, Lewis, Ralph and Ferris. The parents are both members of the Presbyterian church, to the tenets of which they strictly adhere. Fraternally Mr. McMillen is a chapter Mason, and in politics he is a stanch democrat, but not a partisan for the sake of office, as he finds a business life to be more profitable than office seeking. He is upright in all his business transactions, is lib- eral and useful as a citizen, and in his social relations is all that could be desired.
J OHN MARK, a prosperous farmer of Jennings township, Van Wert county, Ohio, and a hunter, is a son of Allen L. and Frances (Kirkpatrick) Mark, and was born in Allen county, Ohio, January 8, 1857. Allen L., the father, was born in Fayette county, Ohio, January 8, 1824, and
was a son of Peter Mark, a native of Germany, who married Mary Magdalene Lagore, a native of France, who became the mother of twelve children, of whom three-Abner, of Missouri, Manigum, of Iowa, and Mathew W., of Fay- ette county, Ohio-are the only survivors, the father of our subject. having been the young- est of the twelve.
Peter Mark, grandfather of our subject, was a farmer and a very early settler of Fay- ette county. Allen L., his son, was reared a farmer in Fayette county, and August 17, 1845, married Frances Kirkpatrick, who was born in the county named December 2, 1826, daughter of John, who was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1790, and Elizabeth (Bush) Kirkpat- rick, who was born in Virginia in 1806. To Allen L. and wife were born nine children, viz: Jane, wife of Archibald Findlay, a farmer of Auglaize county; Simmons, who died at Savannah, Ga., while in the army; Moab, of Oklahoma; Andrew, of Jackson Centre, Ohio; Elizabeth, deceased wife of Pierce Wright; John, our subject; Joseph, of York township; and Marcus and Merriott, twins, of Jennings township. Jolin Kirkpatrick came down the' Ohio river on a flat-boat in 1795 with his par- ents; after he grew to manhood he entered a tract of land in Fayette county, as already indicated, and there died in the faith of tlie Presbyterian church, while his wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
After his marriage, Allen L. Mark located in Allen county, and in 1851 entered 120 acres of land, which he cleared and improved, and in 1862 returned to Fayette county, where he resided one year, and then came to Jennings township, Van Wert county, where he farmed until his death, March 12, 1887. He was a republican in politics, and very popular, serv- ing his fellow-citizens as township treasurer for a number of years, and also as township clerk and as justice of the peace; he was also very
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
prominent in the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was a local preacher and of which his widow is still a faithful member. This lady now makes her home with her son John, our subject, in Jennings township, where about four years ago she built their present handsome dwelling. In 1889 she moved to Spencerville, Allen county, where she passed two years, and then returned to Van Wert county. The only sister of Mrs. Mark-Hannah -- is the wife of Matthew Mark, of Fayette county, Ohio.
John Mark. the subject proper of this sketch, was reared to farming and also received his education in Allen and Van Wert counties. He has never married, but has always made his home with his parents, manifesting the same filial affection that he is now bestowing upon his mother. Mr. Mark takes a deep in- terest in hunting, is well-known among the sportsmen of his locality, and the past five consecutive winters has passed several months in Wisconsin and Michigan, engaged in the pursuit of game. He is, however, a farmer by profession. In politics he is a stanch and active republican, and takes a decided interest. in the success of his party; he is not a member of any religious denomination, but is liberal in his financial contributions to all. A genial friend and neighbor, and a public-spirited citi- zen, he is highly respected by the community in which he lives.
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