A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2, Part 67

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : A.W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1248

USA > Ohio > Allen County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 67
USA > Ohio > Van Wert County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 67

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

there were born five children, viz: Townsend Charles, Leonidas, Sarah, Caroline and Cora A., all deceased but Townsend Charles, the subject of this sketch. The mother of these children died January 14, 1868, and the father married, for his second wife, Lodemia Dorsey Ensminger, a native of Hancock county, by whom he has had two children, viz: Guy T. and Frank, the latter deceased. Mr. Wilkin- son is a republican in politics, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and of the order of Odd Fellows. He was in the late war, and has served as a member of the board of education and as a member of the corpora- tion council.

Townsend Charles Wilkinson was about seven years old when his parents moved to Putnam county, was educated in Columbus Grove, and there learned the printer's trade in the office of the Vidette, a local publication, and in this office he filled every position from that of "devil" up to and including that of foreman. In 1882 he accepted a position with the Van Wert Times, with which paper he remained four years. After this he was in the office of the Van Wert Republican nine years as owner and local editor, his partner being Dr. E. L. Wilkinson. In the fall of 1894 he sold his interest in the office and paper, and purchased, in the summer of 1895, the job printing office of C. E. Detter, which he has fitted up in a splendid manner, adding new type and other new material needed, and now has one of the finest job printing offices in northwestern Ohio.

October 5, 1887, Mr. Wilkinson married, in Van Wert, Ohio, Miss Ettie B. Mcconahay, who was born December 3, 186;, a daughter of A. P. Mcconahay. To their marriage have been born one child, Townsend Clarence Wil- kinson, August 8, 1890. Mr. and Mrs. Wil- kinson are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Wilkinson being a republican and a Mason.

864

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Mr. Wilkinson, when elected master of Van Wert lodge, No. 218, F. & A. M., was the youngest master ever elected to that position in Van Wert. At the present time he is pub- lishing the Van Wert Presbyterian, a local church paper. Mr. Wilkinson is an exemplary citizen, standing high in his church, in the Masonic fraternity, and in the republican party, of which he has always been an adherent since attaining his majority.

ENRY C. WILLIAMS, the subject of this biography, is a substantial farmer of Liberty township, and a repre- sentative citizen of the county of Van

Wert. He descends from an old New England family, his grandfather, Daniel Williams, hav- ing been a native of Connecticut, and for many years a resident of New London county, that state, near the towns of Colchester and East Haddam. Daniel Williams was of Scotch de- scent, and spent all of his life in his native county and state as a tiller of the soil. His son, also named Daniel Williams, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in the year 1790, in New London county, Conn., and at an early age was apprenticed to learn the carpenter's trade, which he afterward followed in connection with farming. The early life of Daniel Williams was one of great privation, and it is tated that his first pair of boots was not purchased until after he had reached the age of twenty-one years. He married, in Con- necticut, Alice Blish, daughter of Daniel Blish, and reared the following children: Daniel B .; Abraham F:, Henry C. and William T., all of whom grew to maturity and became heads of families. After his marriage, Daniel Williams, Jr., and wife immigrated to Ohio, and settled in Cuyahoga county, fifteen miles from the city of Cleveland, where Mr. Williams entered land and made a good farm, working, in the

meantime, at his trade. He became a large land owner in Ohio, and accumulated con- siderable wealth, the greater part consisting of real estate. He was a well educated man for his day, an old-line whig in politics, and, like his ancestors for many generations, was a Presbyterian in his religious belief. After his death, which occurred in 1843, his widow, a woman of noble character and fine intellectual endowments, kept the family together and gave all her children good educations. She taught for some time, and managed her husband's es- tate with tact and good judgment. She was a woman of wide and varied experience, having visited many states, and was highly esteemed by all who knew her. Her second husband, Sherman Skidmore, died October 11, 1888.

Henry C. Williams, the immediate subject of this biography, is a native of Ohio, born in Cuyahoga county, January 15, 1839. He was reared a farmer, and remained under the parental roof until he was twenty-one years of age, at which time he went to California in order to engage in gold mining in that far away part of the country. He made his trip to the Pacific coast via New York and the Isthmus of Panama, spent three years in the gold mines, and for the same length of time was engaged in the saw-milling and lumber business. During his sojourn in the west, Mr. Williams experienced many vicissitudes, met with inany thrilling adventures, and encoun- tered dangers, the narration of which would fill a good-sized volume. He was fairly successful in the mines, and lost nothing in his other business adventures in California. Amony the incidents which he relates, is that of an attempt on the part of fifty Chinamen to dis- lodge him from a little cabin on the Uba river. where he had taken refuge from these murder- ous celestials. He had on his person, at the time, about $3,000 in gold dust, and he de- fended himself all night long with two guns.

......

DAVID WRIGHT.

865-866

artis

OF VAN WERT COUNTY.

867

while his would-be captors hurled volleys of stones on the roof and. through the door and windows of his little fortress.

On returning from California, Mr. Williams visited the old home for six months, and in 1868, came to the county of Van Wert, locat- ing in Liberty township, with which part of the county he has since been prominently identiged. In addition to farming, which he has carried on with most encouraging results, since becoming a resident of Van Wert county, Mr. Williams has also been engaged in the manufacture of lumber, in Liberty township, with success and financial profit. He has succeeded in accumulating a comfortable for- tune, the greater part of which is the result of his persistent toil and excellent business man- agement, and he is now comfortably situated and enabled to pass the remaining years of his life in the enjoyment of the results of his labors. His home farm consists of 172 acres, well improved, containing a substantial brick residence, commodious barn and other build- ings, and he also owns valuable real estate in other parts of the county. Mr. Williams has made it a rule of his life to pay as he goes, and he has the satisfaction of knowing that there is not a man in the world to whom he is in- debted to the amount of one dollar. He is progressive in all that pertains to the growth and development of the township, and is an enthusiast in educational matters, having served as chairman of the school board of his township for several years. Politically Mr. Williams is a republican, but has never sought or desired official preferment. In religion he is liberal in his views, and accords the same freedom to others, but contributes to the sup- port of churches and all worthy charities. He belongs to the Odd Fellow and Masonic frater- nities, and also the Patrons of Husbandry, in the last of which he has held various positions.

Mr. Williams was married October 21,

1869, to Anna Catherine Brown, who died January 30, 1875, aged twenty-nine years, six months and twenty-four days. She was a de- vout member of the Lutheran church, noted for her christian activity, and was highly es- teemed by a large circle of friends and ac- quaintances; she bore her husband two chil- dren: Alice D., who married Otto Pollock, and Cora E., one of the successful teachers of Van Wert county. On the 5th day of Octo- ber, 1876, Mr. Williams married his second wife, whose maiden name was Catherine Dob- son, daughter of Hugh Dobson; she also was a Lutheran and a great Sunday-school worker, and her death, which occurred July 13, 1891, was a sad bereavement to the family, and a great loss to the community; she bore her hus- band three children, Chauncy H., Anna M .. and William H., all of whom are still living.

AVID WRIGHT, the subject of this biography, an old and well-known citizen of Jennings township, was born March S. 1821, in Montgomery county, Pa., a son of Jacob and Annie (DeHa- ven) Wright, natives respectively of Germany and Pennsylvania. Jacob Wright was a pros- perous farmer in Pennsylvania, and at the time of his death owned 200 acres of valuable land in the county of Montgomery; he departed this life at the age of seventy-four, his death having been hastened by reason of an accident; his wife died at the age of seventy-three; they were both devout members of the German Reform church, and reared a family consisting of six children. The oldest son, Samuel, died March 12, 1895, aged eighty-one years; Jo- seph died, September, 1892, aged seventy- three; the third in order of birth is the subject of this biography, who has reached the age of seventy-four; Jane, the elder daughter, mar- ried Henry Neevil, but is now deceased; Will-

....

868

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

iam died in April, 1895, and Mary, wife of Oliver Culp, is living at this time.

David Wright was reared to agricultural pursuits, and remained with his parents until his twenty-eighth year. On the 24th of Janu- ary, 1850, he married Hannah Knipe, daugh - ter of Joseph and Susanna (Sherer) Knipe, and five years later moved to Van Wert county, in company with his brother Joseph, who joined him in purchasing 160 acres of land. They held this land together for five years, at the end of which time David purchased his brother's interest and still owns the entire tract, to which he has made additions, until he is now the possessor of 268 acres. Mr. Wright's first dwelling was a very modest structure, made of small round logs with clapboard roof, through which, during part of the year, the winds and rains entered at will. This primi- tive residence was in due time replaced with a more comfortable and substantial building, and the present home is of modern design,

supplied with many conveniences. Mr. Wright's farm is a model of neatness, contains some of the finest land in Van Wert county, . and is well underdrained and thoroughly tilled.

. His barns are large and commodious, his other buildings are in keeping, and everything on the place bears evidence of the best kind of mangement. Mr. Wright has served as trus- tee of his township, having been elected as a democrat, to which party he has given allegi- ance ever since attaining his majority.

The oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Wright is Wilson Pierce Wright, who married Mary Elizabeth Mark, the result of which union was two children, David Allen and Edward Edgar. The mother of these children dying, Wilson Wright afterward wedded Rachael Burnett. who became the mother of one child, a daughter-Ethel. The second son of the subject is Bane Hickman Wright, who had a twin sister, Ann Elizabeth, the latter dying at

the age of twenty-one. B. H. Wright mar- ried Josephine Crider, and has three children: David Madison, Eva Alice, and Frances. The youngest son of the subject was Joseph Edgar Wright, who died at the age of eight months. The parents of Mrs. Wright. Joseph and Susannah Knipe, were natives of Pennsylvania ; the father died at the age of eighty and the mother at the age of eighty-two. They were Lutherans and came to Ohio about the year 1857, locating in York township, but spent their last days in the town of Spencerville. Allen county. Mrs. Wright had one brother and one sister, viz: Charles Knipe, who re- sides in York township, and Elizabeth, de- ceased wife of John Nunneviler. Mrs. Wright is a member of the Christian Union church, and a very estimable lady.

AVID W. WILLIAMS, of York town- ship, Van Wert county, is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, born April 16, 1853, and is a son of William and Ann ( Evans ) Williams, natives of Wales. The mother was a mere child when brought to America, and the fahter came to this country upon attaining his majority. The father was born December II, 1821, and died August 5. 1892; the mother was born March 25. 1828, and is still living in Venedocia, Ohio. The father was a boiler-maker and worked at this business at Cincinnati for more than forty years; was married January 18. 1840, and to his union were born eight children as follows: Sarah Ann, who became the wife of Owen Tudor, she and her husband being now de- ceased; Margaret Jones, widow of T. J. Jones, late of the firm of Davis & Jones, of Van Wert: David W., our subject; William Henry. who died in 1894, in Venedocia, and who had been associated in business with his brother. David W .. for a period of seventeen years:

869

OF VAN WERT COUNTY.

John R., in business in Minneapolis; Mary Elizabeth, deceased wife of David T. Jones, a contractor of Venedocia; Frances Ellen, and Rachel Susannah, both the latter of whom died in childhood.

In 1863 the parents of our subject came to Van Wert county, and purchased 120 acres of woodland, which is now a most beautifully improved farm and the property of our sub- ject and other heirs. David W. Williams had good school advantages, attended commercial college and taught school for several years. In 1877 he married Miss Elizabeth Morgan, the union resulting in the birth of eight children, Mary, Elmer, Alwin, Oscar, Ann, Norma, Willard and Ruth.

The first business venture of Mr. Williams was in the grocery trade, in which he embarked with a capital of $50, his storehouse being the Clover Leaf depot; for a year and a half he carried on business alone; he then associated with himself his brother-in-law, T. J. Jones, the business being conducted under the firm name of T. J. Jones & Co .; in ISSo William Henry Williams, his brother, was taken into equal partnership; Mr. Jones having retired in 1884, the business was conducted under the firm name of Williams Bros., and was dis- solved in 1894 by the death of William Henry, and immediately after the event M. P. Jones became his successor, and until June, 1894, the business was conducted under the style of Williams & Jones. The building used by Mr. Williams and his brother was erected by them and is still owned by our subject and the heirs of the deceased brother., Their business em- braced many branches, including many agri- cultural implements, boots, shoes, clothing and grain, of which latter they shipped large quantities. Mr. Williams was a notary for ten years and for nine years was agent for the Clover Leaf Railroad company. Notwith- standing the multiplicity of his business affairs,

he learned tolegraphy and was an operator for two years. Mr. Williams also established a paper known as the Venedocia Leader, of which he was himself the editor; he is pike commissioner, real estate and loan agent, is a inember of the Knights of Pythias, also of the Welsh Presbyterian church, and has been in the undertaking business for ten or twelve years. On January 23, 1896, he purchased the business of H. J. Lehinan & Son, of Van Wert, and now resides in that city. March 13, 1896, he also opened a branch store in Ohio City. He is well and favorably known throughout the township and enjoys the respect of all who know him.

EORGE C. WILSON, a native of the state of Ohio, and now among the very prominent farmers of Union township, Van Wert county, was born in Ross county in 1835, a son of John and Re- becca Wilson, natives of Virginia. James Wilson, grandfather of our subject, was a sol- dier in the Revolutionary war, in Washing- ton's army, and was severely wounded. He lived on a plantation in old Virginia until 1800, when he came to Ross county, Ohio, making the trip in wagons in midwinter, spending six weeks on the road and arriving on Christmas day. Here he bought a piece of land, cleared it and raised a respected family, and died. about 1838, in Cincinnati, at the home of a son, with whom he had spent the declining years of his life.

John Wilson, son of the above James and father of our subject, George C., was born in Greenbrier county, Va., about 1794, and was but six years old when brought to Ross coun- ty, Ohio. Here he was reared on his father's farm, and was identified with the agriculture of the county all his life. In 1815 he was united in marriage with Rebecca Hicks, daugh-

870

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

ter of Richard and Nancy (King) Hicks. This lady was born in Virginia in 1791, and was brought by her parents to Ross county, Ohio, in 1799, and here reared, surrounded by In- dians and wild animals. She bore her hus- band twelve children, seven of whom lived to maturity, viz .: James, deceased; Mary, de- ceased wife of George Wilson; Caroline, wife of Samuel Blake, of Ross county; Richard, deceased; Quintilda, deceased wife of Henry C. Roten, of Ross county; Hester A., and George C., our subject. Mrs. Rebecca Wil- son died in Ross county in 1867. Her hus- band, John Wilson, was an aggressive democrat in his politics and was frequently selected by his party to fill county offices; he was not a member of any religious organization, but was liberally generous in his support to both churches and schools, and was altogether a public-spirited, progressive and useful citizen. His lamented death took place in 1871.

George C. Wilson, the gentleman whose name opens this biographical notice, was reared to the noble vocation of farming on his father's homestead, and his education was ac- quired in the common schools of his native county. In 1865 he purchased a farm of seventy acres in Ross county, but this land he later sold and went to Hardin county, where he purchased and resided upon another farm for one year; selling this property, he removed to Washington, Fayette county, and thence, shortly afterward, to Clinton county, where he again purchased a farm, on which he made his home for six years; then sold, and purchased a farm in Washington township, Van Wert county, but this farm he soon traded for a tile factory at Middlepoint, and in 1891 sold his factory and purchased a farin in Union town- ship, Van Wert county, but later sold and purchased his present farm.

The marriage of Mr. Wilson took place in 1855 to Eliza Wood, who was born in Ross

county, Ohio, in 1832, a daughter of Benja- min and Jane (Winset) Wood, natives of Maryland. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have been born three childred, viz: Dr. Richard S., of Scott; Dr. John B., also of Scott, and William, deceased. Mrs. Wilson is a member of the United Brethren church, and Mr. Wilson, although not identified with any denomination, is not backward in pecuni- ary aid to all; in politics he is a stanch demo- crat, but is not an office-seeker, and devotes his attention to his own affairs and to the pros- perity of the community in which he lives.

ELSON L. WILLIAMS. - It is with distinctive satisfaction that the biog- rapher directs attention to the life- history of him whose name initiates this paragraph, for not only is the record of his personal worth and accomplishments such as bears its lesson, but in the tracing of his ances- tral history there issue many points of interest -- a narrative that tells of honest and indus- trious sons of the republic, that gives intima- tion of the deeds of loyal men who gave thein- selves to the defending of their country in time of warfare, and that speaks of incidental con- quests in the " piping times of peace." Our subject is a native of the Buckeye state, and there must be to him a due quota of satisfac- tion in reverting to the fact that his ancestral identification with the annals of Ohio dates back to the early pioneer epoch, while also tracing further into the remote past. when the American colonies had not yet thrown off the yoke of the English crown.

Mr. Williams, who is one of the represent- ative business men of the city of Van Wert, where he holds official preferment as the gen- eral manager and assistant treasurer of the Van Wert Natural Gas company, was born in Trumbull county, this state, on the 24th of

871.872

Viny Truly Yours Wilson R. Williams

OF VAN WERT COUNTY.

873

December, 1836, being the son of Hector and Mary (Marvin) Williams, the former of whom was born in Waterbury, Conn., February 4, 1798, a son of Daniel Williams, who likewise was a native of the Nutmeg state, being a clock manufacturer by trade and tracing his lineage back to stanch old English stock.

Daniel Williams, the grandfather of our subject, Nelson L. Williams, was one of that immortal trio-Daniel Williams, John Paulding and Willian Van Wert -- whose incorruptibility and true patriotism, in refusing to be bribed by the unfortunate English major, Andre, whom, it will beremembered, by every reader of American history, they had captured, and whose capture led to the detection of the traitor, Benedict Arnold -- Maj. Andre being hanged, as a spy, while, in honor of the captors the three coun- ties of Ohio-Williams, Paulding, and Van Wert-were named.

Daniel Williams immigrated to Ohio in a very early day, becoming a pioneer of the Western Reserve. He located in Trumbull county and there engaged in the work of re- claiming and cultivating a farm in the primi- tive wilderness, also finding a considerable de- mand for his services in the line of his trade. He had been loyal to the colonies and to the cause of independence, and served with dis- tinction in the Continental army, in which service his health became seriously and per- manently impaired through privation and ex- posure. His children were three in number, the two elder being daughters, each of whom lived to attain maturity, while the third child was Hector, the father of our subject. Hector Williams was but a child when his parents took up their abode in the sylvan wilds of the Western Reserve, and in Trumbull county he grew to man's estate, receiving his education in the primitive schools of that place and period, the accessories and advantages being perforce very meager in extent. In the year

1840 he removed to Mercer county, Pa., where lie purchased a large tract of land and engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1844, when he sold his large landed estate and returned to Trumbull county, Ohio, and was there actively concerned in business for ten years, after which he retired to. Sharon, Mercer county, Pa., where he passed the residue of his days, his death occurring in 1862. His wife, nee Mary Marvin; was a native of the old Keystone state, where she was born August 31. 1802, being the daughter of Lester and. Mary Marvin, who were among the earliest pioneers. By her union to Mr. Williams she became the inother of seven children, concerning whom we offer a brief record, as follows : Perry L., born February IS, 1821, died in October, ISSS; Laura is the widow of James Kennedy and resides at Sharon, Pa .; Lester L., born May 3, 1826; Riley D., born October S. 1828, died in November, 1864: Matilda, born No- vember IS. 1831, died in 1883; Alfred, born January 31, 1834; and Nelson L., the imme- diate subject of this review. The parents were devout Presbyterians, and in politics the father supported the democratic party until the inception of the republican party, when he identified himfelf therewith and ever afteward maintained his allegiance, being an earnest worker in its cause. He was a man of marked individuality, broad information and utmost integrity.

Nelson L. Williams was but four years of age at the time his parents returned from Ohio to Pennsylvania, and in the pioneer schools of that state and Ohio he received his educational discipline, continuing his studies until 1852, when he engaged himself as an as- sistant in a rolling mill at Sharon, Pa., retain- ing his connection with this line of industry un- til 1857, when he betook himself to Footeville, Wis., and there remained one year as a clerk in a mercantile establishment. His next

874

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

change was to return to the parental home at Sharon, Pa., and for a year he assisted his father in his agricultural operations, after which he was for four years employed in a clerical capacity in a hardware establishment at Mercer, Pa., beginning at the bottom of the ladder, but by fidelity and close attention to business gaining the position of chief clerk ere two years had elapsed. Having thoroughly familiarized himself with the details of this line of mercantile enterprise, he engaged in the hardware business in the same town, in 1864, associating himself for this purpose with J. P. Reed, who withdrew at the close of a year, his successor being W. O. Leslie, a brother-in-law of our subject. In 1865 the firm transferred their base of operations to Sharon, Pa., and there Mr. Williams retired from the firm, in 1870, and associated himself in the boot and shoe trade with his brother Alfred, this part- nership continuing until 1874, when he sold his interest in the business and went to Sioux City, Iowa, where he continued in the same line of business one year, and then, in 1875, returned to Sharon, and was there concerned in the shoe business two years, after which he removed to Oil City, Pa., where he associated in the operation of an oil refinery one year, and then engaged in the oil and gas business in Bradford, Pa., until 1881, when the firm with which he was associated sold out and en- gaged in the production and sale of natural gas, locating at Wellsville, Allegany county, New York, and piping the gas into the towns of Bolivar, Allentown, Richburg and Wells- ville-and indeed all over the field of Allegany county, owning over 100 miles of pipe line and drilling over 120 wells for oil and gas. In 1885 Mr. Williams disposed of his stock in this corporation, and in August, 1888, came to Van Wert, Ohio, where he became a stockholder in and assumed the management of the busi- ness of this company, and made an effort to

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2, Part 67

Author: Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago : A.W. Bowen Number of Pages: 1248

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : A.W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1248