USA > Ohio > Hardin County > A twentieth century history of Hardin County, Ohio : a narrative account of its historical progress its people and principal interests, Vol. II > Part 24
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GEORGE W. O'NEAL .- Progressive and enterprising. George W. O'Neal is actively associated with the industrial prosperity of Kenton, where he is carrying on an extensive and substantial business as an egg and poultry dealer and shipper. Ile was born, October 9, 1868, near Marseilles, Wyandot county, Ohio, a son of Jeremiah O'Neal. His paternal grandfather, James O'Neal, was a pioneer settler of Marion county. Ohio, where he took up land that was still in its primitive wild-
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ness, from which he improved a farm, and there resided until his death, in 1844. IIis wife, whose maiden name was Parthenia Riee, survived him, and married for her second husband C. C. Alford.
Born in Marion county, Ohio, March 15, 1842, Jeremiah O'Neal was but two years old when his father died. He subsequently lived with his mother and step-father, as a boy assisting on the farm, and having but little opportunity to attend school. In May. 1864, he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Forty-fourth Volunteer Infantry, and was with his regiment in its various marches and eampaigns in Maryland and Virginia until the expiration of his term of enlistment, when, in September, 1864, he was honorably discharged from the service. Re- turning home, he bought a threshing machine, which he operated a part of each year, the remainder of the time being engaged in the manufacture of staves. Coming from Wyandot county to Hardin county in 1882, he lived for two years in Patterson, and then located in Kenton, where he was for several years successfully employed in mercantile pursuits, but is now living retired. His first wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Bushong, was born in Hancoek county. Ohio. She died in 1874, leaving three children, John, George W. and William Edward. He married in 1877 Maria Reed, who was born in Ohio, and they have one child, Beatrice. Religiously he is a member of the Disciples church, and socially he belongs to Cantwell Post No. 97, Grand Army of the Republic.
Attending the public schools as a boy and vonth, George W. O'Neal began at an early age to assist his father in the store. Just before
attaining his majority he entered the employ of the Big Four Railway Company, in Marion, and later was transferred to the general office of the company in Cleveland. Subsequently accepting a position with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, he clerked for awhile in its Cincinnati office, and was then transferred to its office in Richmond, Virginia. Returning from there to Kenton, Mr. O'Neal became a elerk in the office of the Big Four Railway Company, his former employers, and continued in it for a time. Desirons then of embarking in business on his own aceonnt, he abandoned elerking and opened a fruit and con- fectionery store in Kenton. A year later, forming a partnership with his brother, he was engaged in mercantile business as a general merchant until 1893. In that year Mr. O'Neal established his present industry, beginning on a small scale, and each year increasing his operations, until now he is earrying on an extensive business in buying and shipping eggs and poultry to the New York markets.
Mr. O'Neal married. in 1892. Lillian F. Morris, who was born, January 12, 1870, at Patterson, Hardin county, Ohio, a daughter of Dr. William II. and Harriet Morris. Her father was for many years an active and successful practitioner in Patterson. Mr. and Mrs. O'Neal
have one child, Ilelen F. Fraternally Mr. O'Neal is a member of Latham Lodge No. 154, F. & A. M .; of Kenton Conneil No. 65, R. & S. M .; of Seioto Chapter No. 119, R. A. M .; and of Kenton Commandery, No. 58, K. T .; and also a member of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Masons, Valley of Toledo. Religiously he is a member of the Presby-
AGNEW WELSH
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terian church, to which Mrs. O'Neal also belongs. Politically he is a Republican.
JOHN QUINN is an old and venerable citizen of Taylor Creek town- ship, and has now retired from active life. He was for many years a snecessful farmer and stockman of Hardin county and has spent most of his life in agricultural pursuits. Mr. Quinn is a native of Logan county, Ohio, born along Wood river, October 24, 1827, a son of Michael Quinn, who was born in Queens county, Ireland, and came to America during the war of 1812. After spending six years in the British service Michael Quinn made his escape with others, and crossing the river at Detroit, settled in Logan county, Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his life on a farm and died in 1854. Ile married Polly Bailey, of Logan county, who died in 1848. John Quinn has a brother, Mart, of Indiana, and a sister, Mrs. Kate Chamberlain, a widow.
After attending the public school and acquiring a very fair educa- tion, John Quinn assisted his father in the work of the farm, and at his marriage built a small house on land adjoining his father's farm. In 1854 he removed to Hardin county, and cleared one hundred and twenty- five acres of land in Taylor Creek township. At first he built a log house and later built the comfortable house which is the present family home. Ile was among the first pioneers of the township. He has earned success by hard work and close economy in the early days, and now owns several farms, aggregating four hundred and fifty acres of land. He did considerable contraet work in his younger days and worked very hard to make his start in life. At one time he owned seven hundred acres, part of which he has deeded to his heirs. Ile paid special attention to stock raising, which he found very profitable, and by good management and keen business judgment he progressed very well after his start was made. Since 1900 Mr. Quinn has not done any active work, though he has good health and is active for one of his age. Ile has well earned the rest he is now enjoying. He is well known throughout the community, and is highly respected by all who know him. Politically Mr. Quinn is a Democrat, but is not bound by party ties and has never aspired to public office.
Mr. Quinn married Mary Ann Bailey, daughter of Silas and Harriet Bailey, and she was born in Kentucky. After her parents' deaths she was reared by a family in Bellefontaine. Mrs. Quinn died in 1902. To Mr. Quinn and his wife children were born as follows: Mart, who died at the age of twenty-one; Susanna, wife of George Roberts; Nancy Jane, deceased ; Harriet Emelia, living at home with her father ; and Ella, deceased.
AGNEW WELSH .- A man of brain and enterprise, Agnew Welsh. of Ada, is widely known throughout this section of Hardin county as the owner, editor and publisher of the Ada Record. a live, wide-awake newspaper, dealing ably with the leading events of the day. A son of George H. Welsh, he was born, April 11. 1856. in Crawford county, Ohio, coming on the paternal side of the house of excellent Welsh ancestry, his
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great-grandfather, John Welsh, having been a native of Wales. His grandfather, Zachariah Welsh, was born in Virginia, coming from there to Ross county, Ohio, in 1807, locating first near Chillicothe. He was a farmer by occupation, and in 1822 moved to Wyandot county, where he remained thirteen years. Migrating then, in 1835, to Crawford county, he there spent the remainder of his life.
George Welsh was born in Ross county, Ohio, but was brought up and educated in Crawford county, where he was for many years prosper- ously employed as a farmer, and as a stock raiser and dealer, living there until his death, September 12, 1903. IIe married Margaret J. Agnew, who was born in Mount Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, which was also the birthplace of her father, David Agnew, Jr., whose birth occurred in 1802. Her grandfather, David Agnew, Sr., a Scotchman, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and after leaving the army lived for awhile near Washington, Pennsylvania, from there coming to Ohio, and locating at Mount Vernon. The union of George Welsh with Margaret J. Agnew was solemnized May 29, 1855, and on April 18, 1856, after a brief but happy wedded life, she died, leaving one son, Agnew Welsh, of whom we write.
Spending his boyhood days in Crawford county, Agnew Welsh there acquired his rudimentary education, and in the spring of 1875 entered the Mount Union College. In August, 1875, he came to Ada, and the following two and a half years attended the Ohio Northern University. He subsequently elerked in a clothing establishment for a year, when, having become familiar with the details of mercantile pursuits, he bought out the book store of J. II. Kemerer, and managed it successfully until the summer of 1881, when his store and stock was destroyed by the dis- astrous fire that visited Ada. Mr. Welsh then bought, from E. L. Millar, the Ada Record, which he has since edited and published. It is a bright, newsy paper, with a circulation amounting to twelve hundred, and each issue receives a warm welcome from his numerous patrons. Mr. Welsh also has a well-equipped job office, and carries on an excellent printing business, keeping busily employed.
Mr. Welsh married, July 8, 1880, Cora E. Honfstater, who was born in Inron county, Ohio, a daughter of J. P. and Lorena Houfstater. Two sons and three daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Welsh, namely : Earl B., of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Dana E., in business in Ada; Rhea M., a teacher in the public schools of Ada; Opal M., a student in the University ; and Margaret A., a freshman in the Ada high school. Prominent in public matters, Mr. Welch has served as a member of the local school board since 1892, and has been both village and township clerk. Ife has been often urged to accept other official positions, but has invariably refused. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; of the Knights of Maccabees; and of the Order of the Eastern Star. Religiously Mr. Welsh is a trustworthy and valued member of the Christian church.
THADDEUS CARR, one of Taylor Creek township's representative farmers and stoekmen, has lived on the homestead which he now occupies
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throughout his entire life, and he was born there on the 11th of Septem- ber, 1873. Thornton Washington Carr, his father, born in Westmore- land county, Virginia, January 31, 1815, moved with his parents to Pennsylvania when a lad of nine years, later coming with them to Franklin county, Ohio, and finally, in 1872, to Hardin county. IIis father, John Carr, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and his mother was nee Rachel Reynolds, who died about the year of 1855. On coming to Hardin county the family took up one hundred and sixty acres of land, only three acres of which were partially cleared, and the place contained a small cabin. There the parents spent the remainder of their lives.
Thornton W. Carr, their son, after he had established his parents on this Hardin county farm, left for Wisconsin and the western states. where he worked for two years in the lumber camps and thus secured the money which paid for the land he had homesteaded. He then returned to the parental home. but in 1854 he again left it to engage in the grocery business at Rushsylvania, remaining there one year or until his marriage, and then coming to the homestead now the property of his son Thaddeus. He remained here until his death, which occurred on the 5th of March, 1900. IIe had attained in the meantime a high reputa- tion as a stock raiser, and he was one of the prominent business men of his township and county. a member of the Disciple church and an efficient and active local worker in the ranks of the Republican party. IIis first presidential vote was east for General Jackson. Lydia A. Howell, who became Mr. Carr's wife, yet survives her husband and is living in Hardin county with her son Thaddeus. She was born in February of 1834, a daughter of Henry Holsey and Mary (Tidd) Howell, the father born in 1802, becoming one of the early pioneers of Logan county, and the mother was born in October of 1807. Mrs. Carr has two living sons. Thaddeus and Calvin, and the latter is a stockman and shipper at Ken- ton. One son Robert H., was killed June 5, 1902, by being thrown from a horse. He was born in 1857. A daughter, Mary F., born March 5, 1859, married Judson Roberts, December 11, 1877, and died Jannary 29, 1879.
After putting aside his text books at the age of sixteen Thaddeus Carr worked on the parental farm, and after his father met with the accident which made him a eripple during the latter part of his life, he being the only son at home took charge of the farm, and he has ever since made a home for his mother. He is extensively engaged in both farming and stock raising, being a large breeder of sheep, hogs, cattle and horses. He is at the present time serving his second term as a member of the board of trustees for Taylor Creek township, and he is one of his community's active publie workers.
In 1894 Mr. Carr was married to Alferetta Ewing, who was born October 18, 1870, in Taylor Creek township. Hardin county, a daughter of Robert Irvin Ewing, who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1835, and he died in Taylor Creek township, Hardin county. March 10, 1898, when sixty-three years of age. He was a son of JJames F. and Elizabeth (Fleming) Ewing, from Pennsylvania. Robert I. Ewing came to Logan county, Ohio, in 1853, remaining there until 1858.
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when he went to Missouri, and while in that state enlisted in Carroll county in 1861 in Company G, Eighteenth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, for service in the Civil war, and his term expiring in 1864 he reenlisted and was made the sergeant of his company. He was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1865, and in the following year of 1866 he came to Silver Creek in Taylor Creek township, Hardin county, and was thereafter engaged in a mercantile business there until the time of his death. He was also during a number of years the postmaster of his
town. Mrs. Orilla J. Stevenson became the wife of Mr. Ewing, and she was a daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Jewell) Harris, Logan county farmers. Isaac Harris was one of the pioneer members of the Odd Fellows lodge at Belle Center, Ohio. Their children, not including Mrs. Carr, are as follows: Stevenson, living in the state of Washington ; Marvin Glenn, of Castle Rock, Washington; LeRoy, a farmer near Kenton; Desmoine, living in Taylor Creek township; and Nettie, the wife of Robert Sieg, of Union county, Ohio. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Carr are: Thornton W., born June 2, 1898; Robert J. and Carl M., twins, born June 20, 1902; Thaddeus, born November 18, 1904; and Katheryn, born October 2, 1906. Mrs. Carr is a member of the United Presbyterian church.
MRS. ELIZA SLOAN, widow of Thomas Sloan, of Taylor Creek town- ship, Hardin county, was born in May, 1836, in county Monaghan, Ireland, and is a daughter of John and Eliza (Wiley) Sloan. John Sloan, who died in 1866, was a son of James and Letta (Gilson) Sloan, and his wife was a daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann (Seroggy ) Wiley. He
Eliza Sloan married Thomas Sloan in Ireland, March 22, 1852. was born in Ireland, June 20, 1820, and died in Taylor Creek township, Hardin county, Ohio, February 29, 1880. He was a son of John Sloan, of the same county in Ireland as John (father of Eliza) Sloan. The former married Sarah MeClellan, also of Ireland. Thomas Sloan accompanied his parents to Hardin county, Ohio, in 1833, when he was thirteen years of age. They located near the old Sloan cemetery, which was located on land donated by the family for a cemetery, and John Sloan's wife was the first person buried there. They took up one hundred and twenty-three acres of land and built a small log house. Mr. Sloan died there April 1, 1864, at the age of ninety-seven years, and his widow died at the age of forty-seven years.
Thomas Sloan remained with his parents until his majority, and then for three years worked on a boat on Lake Erie. Returning to Hardin county, he found employment as foreman in the construction of the Mad River Railroad, now the Big Four, between Kenton and Hunts- ville. In 1851 he made a visit to Ireland and there met his future wife, being married the next year. The young couple took passage for America in the City of Manchester. spending four weeks on the trip. They located on the land where Mrs. Sloan now resides, owning first one hundred and eighty acres. Later they added one hundred and twenty acres and built a frame house which is still on the premises. The present home was erected in 1872, and is a comfortable, commodious
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dwelling, one of the most substantial in the section. Mr. Sloan cleared most of his farm himself and became very successful. He made all possible improvements and made a specialty of stock raising. He was an enterprising, ambitious man and well deserved success. He became a useful, public-spirited citizen, and had a multitude of friends. He was a member of the Reformed Presbyterian church and served many years as elder. Politically he was a Republican and active in the interests of his party. Mr. Sloan was always ready to give his support to any worthy cause and was liberal in his financial support to various churches in the vicinity of his home. He was a good neighbor and had many warm personal friends. He was familiarly known as "old Tom Sloan," and his neighbors and associates knew if called upon he would give them substantial aid and help them over difficulties. His widow carries out his policy of lending help to such objects as appeal to her sympathy and good judgment, and has accomplished a great deal of good on her own account. She was one of eight children, two of whom still live in Ireland. She is a member of the Reformed Presbyterian church of Bell Center and actively interested in its welfare. She is the only one left of the pioneer Sloan family. and has witnessed many changes and improvements in the vicinity of her home. In 1875 she and her brother John made a visit to their native country of three months.
To Thomas Sloan and his wife children were born as follows: John James, of Marion, married May Walters, and they have two children, Thomas Walter and Henrietta, the former of whom married Lulu B. Bland; Eliza Ann, married John Sloan, of Toronto. Canada, and they have no children; Robert Samuel, of Oklahoma, married Dell A. Rogers, and they have no children ; Letitia married Charles Wharton of Kenton, and they have three children, Eliza, Russel and Frances ; Sarah Frances, deceased; William MeClellan, a farmer of Taylor Creek township; Thomas Henry, a farmer of Taylor Creek township, married Agnes Richards and they have one child. Ann Isabel ; and Emily Jane, deceased, was the wife of George Fink ; David, deceased; Margaret Isabel, widow of Burton Wilson, living with her mother; and George J., who married Grace Davis West, and is a farmer in Hardin county.
William McClellan Sloan was born March 15, 1862. on the family homestead, and after his marriage bought one hundred and forty-two acres of the home farm, which contained from six hundred to seven hundred acres. At the death of Thomas Sloan the farm was divided among his children who survived. William M. Sloan has followed farming all his life and has made a scientific study of modern methods. Hle makes a specialty of high-grade cattle and horses. Hle married Jenny Skillman, daughter of Martin and Mary (Floyd) Skillman, who were formerly residents of Hamilton county, Ohio. Mr. Sloan and his wife have one child. David. He is a member of the United Presbyterian church of Belle Center. Politically he is a Republican and actively interested in local affairs. He served one term as township trustee. He is a progressive and enterprising citizen, and highly esteemed.
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JOHN D. FITZPATRICK represents one of the old and well known families of Ilardin county, one that has resided within its borders for many years, and he himself is one of Taylor Creek township's substan- tial agriculturists and business men and its present constable. He was born at the old homestead in Taylor Creek township, May 6, 1883, and his ancestry is found in the sketch of his father, George W. Fitzpatrick, on other pages of this work.
After leaving school at the age of seventeen John D. Fitzpatrick farmed with his father until his marriage, and he then came to his present homestead in Taylor Creek township, where he is well and prominently known as a general farmer and stock raiser. In 1907 he was elected by the Democratic party as the constable of his township, and he is now serving his second term in that office. On the 21st of December, 1904, he was married to Hattie Greentree, who was born in McDonald township of Hardin county on the 19th of August, 1885, a daughter of G. W. and Melvina (Broughman) Greentree, both of whom are living, the father being forty-six and the mother forty-five years of age. The paternal grandfather was Alexander Greentree. The child- ren of G. W. and Melvina Greentree, not including Mrs. Fitzpatrick, are: Estella, the wife of Thomas Campbell, of Roundhead town- ship; Mary, wife of J. A. Reed, of the same township; Anna, wife of Denny Stout, of Belle Center; and John and Martha, at home with their parents. Two sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick, William Earl, on the 24th of July, 1906, and John L., on the 2d of August, 1908. Mr. Fitzpatrick has fraternal relations with the Masonic order, affiliating with lodge No. 347 at Belle Center, and he is one of the Democratic leaders of his community.
HAMILTON E. HOGE .- A man of strong personality, energetic and capable, Hamilton E. Hoge holds a noteworthy position among the lead- ing citizens of Kenton, where he is actively engaged in the practice of law, and is serving as president of the First National Bank. A son of the Hon. S. L. Iloge, he was born, February 10, 1868, in Charleston, South Carolina, but was brought up in the north.
Coming with his parents to Kenton, Ohio, at the age of nine years, Hamilton E. Hoge was here partly educated, attending first the public schools and later Kenyon College. Ambitious to enter the legal fra- ternity, he subsequently began the study of law at the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1890. Immedi- ately beginning the practice of his profession in Kenton, he has met with well deserved success, and is now carrying on a remunerative business as junior member of the well-known law firm of Smick & Hoge. Ile possesses much financial as well as legal knowledge and ability, and in February, 1909, on the death of his father, was elected president of the First National Bank of Kenton.
Mr. Hoge married, on August 18, 1897, Minnie E. Schindewolf, daughter of Theodore Schindewolf, of Kenton, and of their union two children have been born, namely: Virginia and Marian. Fraternally Mr. Hoge is a member of Kenton Lodge, No. 157, Benevolent and Pro-
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teetive Order of Elks; of the Modern Woodmen of America; and of the college fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon. Taking an active part in publie affairs and political matters, Mr. Hoge is a member of the executive committee of the Republican party of Hardin county, and its ex-chairman, and for six years, from 1903 until 1909, was prosecuting attorney of Hardin county.
GEORGE W. FITZPATRICK is one of the venerable and honored residents of Hardin county, where he has made his home for many years and in all this time he has been one of its prominent agrieulturists. Ile was born in Virginia on the 10th of August, 1836, whither his father Ferrell Fitzpatrick, had settled on coming from the north of Ireland, the place of his nativity, when a young man of twenty-one, locating in Rockridge county. He married Sarah Black, a daughter of George Black, an English family, and she died in 1852, at the age of fifty years, surviving her husband, who was forty-eight at the time of his death. Ile was a stone mason by trade. Their children, in addition to their son George, were: James B., a Methodist Episcopal minister, who died in Mississippi ; Martha and Elizabeth, whose first husbands both died in the Confederate service during the Civil war, and Elizabeth subsequent- ly wedded a Mr. J. Clark, of Virginia, and Martha married for her second husband W. Hardington; John Fitzpatrick, the third ehild, served as captain of a company of infantry from Rockbridge county, Virginia, during the Civil war; and William Fitzpatrick, of Xenia, Greene county, Ohio.
After leaving school at the age of sixteen George W. Fitzpatrick spent two years in farming in Fayette county, West Virginia, and then with his employer he went to Greenbrier county in that state and spent the following two years, was then again in Fayette county one year, engaged in farming. and this brought him to the outbreak of the Civil war. But he did not espouse the cause of the south, as did his people, instead he came to Hardin county and enlisted from Columbus in 1863 in Company I, Forty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under the command of Captain Rarey, and he was with his captain when the latter was wounded and fell at his side. Mr. Fitzpatrick remained with his regiment until it was mustered out of service, and he was then trans- ferred to Company I, Fifty-first Ohio, which was later sent via New Orleans to Indianola, Texas, thence to Green Lake, that state, and they were mustered out at Victoria, Texas. He was captured after the fall of Atlanta in 1864 and was confined two weeks in prison at Macon, Georgia, and at Camp Lawton forty days, and was then exchanged. He proved a true and gallant defender of the Union, although to do this he fought against the land of his birth and against his own brothers, who had espoused the cause of the southland. Returning to the north via the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi river he located in Hardin county and bought fifty-one acres of land near Silver Creek, where his first home was a little log cabin which he built and which is still stand- ing, and there too he raised his family of children. With the passing years he has added to his original purchase until his estate now contains
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