USA > Ohio > Licking County > Newark > Centennial History of the City of Newark and Licking County Ohio > Part 39
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C. A. HATCH, M. D.
Licking county draws her citizenship from all parts of the country. Among the worthy residents that New England has furnished, Dr. C. A. Hatch is num- bered. He was born in Milford, New Hampshire, his natal day being July 7, 1852. His father, Charles G. Hatch, was a native of Massachusetts, and when a young man removed to New Hampshire. He married Elizabeth Blanchard, whose father was of French birth, and left France for the United States during the Huguenot troubles. He possessed considerable wealth, and sailed from his native land in his own vessel. Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Hatch began their domestic life in Milford, New Hampshire, where he conducted business as a dealer in carriages until the time of his death, which occurred August 12, 1901, when he was seventy- six years of age. His wife still survives.
Spending his boyhood days under the parental roof, Dr. Hatch was a pupil of the public schools, and there continued his education until he was graduated from the high school of Milford. He afterward matriculated in Dartmouth Col- lege, where he pursued a classical course that was completed by his graduation in 1875. He afterward attended medical lectures in the Dartmouth Medical College and also pursued a course of lectures in the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis, being graduated therefrom in March, 1877.
Immediately afterward Dr. Hatch came to Newark, believing that this city would prove a profitable field for professional labor. Here he has since remained in continuous practice within one hundred feet of his present location. He bought
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land here and erected the building in which he now has his office. His attention is given to the general practice of medicine and surgery, and his broad knowledge and wide experience well qualify him for the responsible and arduous duties which fall to the lot of the physician. He belongs to the Licking County Medical Society, the State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and aside from his practice he has been a director and president of the Home Building Association.
On the 18th of June, 1878, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Hatch and Miss Annie Grace Barrows, a native of Newark, and a daughter of Dr. Albert Barrows, who was born in Vermont, and for over forty years practiced medicine in this city, where he died in 1903. Dr. and Mrs. Hatch have had two sons. The older, Clark B., is now a physician of Newark, specializing in the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He was graduated from Doane Academy, of Granville, Denison University and the Ohio Medical University, and has pur- sued a special course of study in New York and Philadelphia. He spent one year in the Protestant Hospital, and in his practice has attained excellent success, par- ticularly in the line of his specialty. November 17, 1908, Dr. Clark B. Hatch was married to Goldneita Moe Green, of Johnstown, Ohio, a member of one of the representative families of Licking county, her grandfather, George Green, being one of the founders of Johnstown. The younger son, Albert B., died when but five years of age.
Dr. Hatch is a prominent Mason, belonging to the lodge, chapter, council and commandery. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity. At one time he belonged to the city council, but the demands of his profession leave him little time for active participation in public affairs. He is, however, interested in every plan of improvement for the benefit of the city, and these never seek his aid in vain. He is loyal in friendship, straightforward in business relations and at all times and under all circumstances is loyal to truth, justice and right.
M. W. SWISHER.
The life record of M. W. Swisher is the history of one who has wisely used his opportunities and has gradually worked his way upward in the business world until he is now numbered among the substantial agriculturists of Mary Ann town- ship. His birth occurred in Hardy county, West Virginia, September 30, 1830, his parents being Henry and Sarah (Huffman) Swisher, who were also natives of that county, in which they spent their entire lives.
The subject of this review was reared in Hardy county and his educational opportunities were limited to those offered by the common schools. When seventeen years of age he began working at the carpenter's trade, serving a two-years' appren- ticeship without practically any remuneration. He followed his trade in his native county until 1856, when he went to Missouri in company with his wife, having been married in October of that year to Miss Melinda V. Miller. After a period of three years spent in Missouri, during which time he followed both farming and carpentering, he made his way to Muskingum county, Ohio, arriving there in the
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MR. AND MRS. M. W. SWISHER
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year 1860, with his wife and baby and five dollars in money. At the end of eighteen months he came to Licking county, in 1862, settling on a farm two miles from Newark, and worked at his trade at that place for eight years, walking to the city each morning and walking home again in the evening. As the years have gone by, however, his financial condition has changed decidedly as the result of his own efforts, and as his sons have attained manhood he has been able to give to each of them a farm. His first purchase of land comprised thirty-five acres on Lover's Lane, Newark township. He made this purchase when he came to the county. The place lies just outside the city limits of Newark and for eighteen years he there made his home, after which he bought twenty-five acres adjoining. He also bought ninety-six acres in Licking township and in 1880 he removed to Franklin township, where he had purchased one hundred and twelve acres. In 1895, however, he took up his abode in Licking township, on a place of one hundred acres, which he had purchased there and it remained his home for seven years. He next bought ninety- two and a half acres in Mary Ann township and removed to his present location. His farm here is a well developed property, indicating in its neat and thrifty ap- pearance careful supervision and practical, progressive methods. He has labored earnestly and persistently to achieve the success which he now enjoys and in all his business career his integrity has stood as an unquestioned fact.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Swisher were born two children: Joseph M., deceased; Sarah Elizabeth, the wife of J. C. Anderson, of Newark. His first wife died in 1875 and he married his present wife in 1876. Her name was Susan Wilkin, and this union was blessed with two children : John W., a resident of Mary Ann town- ship; and Ida M., the wife of F. H. Wilkin, a resident of Franklin township. In 1872 Mr. Swisher changed his political allegiance which up to that time had been given to the republican party. Since then he has been a prohibitionist, for he is a stanch advocate of the temperance cause and believes it to be one of the paramount issues before the people today. He holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and his life in all its relations has been honorable and upright, gaining for him the respect of his fellowmen. In his business he has made substantial prog- ress. He is of a conservative nature, utilizing his opportunities to good advantage and whenever he has made changes in his place of residence he has always built up a good property, adding to the farm that he occupies the modern improvements and accessories known at the present day.
WILLIAM N. FULTON.
Macaulay has said that the history of a country is best told in the lives of its people, and certainly the record of William N. Fulton forms an important chapter in the annals of Newark, for he has promoted and controlled various busi- ness interests which have contributed to the substantial upbuilding of the city. A man of great natural ability, his success from the beginning of his residence here has been uniform and rapid and his advancement is attributable to the fact that he has noted and improved opportunities that others have passed by heedlessly, being quick to appreciate that which is worth while and equally quick in discarding that which is non-essential.
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Mr. Fulton is a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, born january 23, 1841. His father, Robert Fulton, was a native of the same locality, and the family is of Irish lineage, Abraham Fulton, the great-grandfather of our subject, coming from the north of Ireland to the new world early in the eighteenth century. He was accompanied by his wife, Maragaret Guthrie Fulton, and settled in West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, where some of their descendants still live. The father came to Licking county in 1843 and took up his abode in Burlington town- ship near Homer. He followed the occupation of farming and was prominent and influential in community affairs. For many years he filled the office of justice of the peace and his decisions, strictly fair and impartial, "won him golden opinions form all sorts of people." He voted with the democracy and his ideas concerning political interests carried weight in the local councils of his party. He married Keziah Newlon, also a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in which state their wedding was celebrated and their wedding journey consisted of their removal to Licking county. Robert Fulton died at the age of fifty-three years, while his wife survived to the ripe old age of eighty-one years. They had two sons, the brother of our subject being Henry II. Fulton, who joined the Twentieth Ohio Infantry and valiantly served until near the end of the war, when he was killed at Goldsboro, North Carolina.
William N. Fulton, reared on the home farm, early became familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. The country schools afforded him his educational privileges and in early manhood he purchased a farm near Homer, paying for it with his own labor. Later, however, he abandoned the plow and turned his attention to merchandising in Homer, becoming the proprietor of a dry goods store and also establishing a lumber yard there. He prospered in his commercial undertakings and thinking to find a broader field of labor in Newark, he removed to this city in 1873 and began purchasing suburban real estate, directing his energies toward speculative building. He improved much property, erecting at that time thirty houses and in addition to his building operations he engaged in the lumber business. Whatever he has undertaken he has carried forward to suc- cessful completion, for he has learned to make good use of his opportunities and has ever based his advancement upon the safe substantial qualities of unfaltering energy and unabating perseverance.
His fellow townsmen recognizing in him a citizen of worth called him to public office, entrusting to him the care of the public funds, when in 1877 they elected him county treasurer. He served for two terms of two years each, which is the law limit, and retired from office, as he had entered it, with the confidence and good will of all.
Mr. Fulton then resumed the pursuits of private life and in 1882, with others, organized the Peoples' National Bank, of which Hon. Gibson A. Atherton was elected president, with Mr. Fulton as vice president. On the death of Mr. Atherton Mr. Fulton succeeded to the presidency and continued as the chief exec- utive officer of that institution for fifteen years, his sound business judgment and discriminating sagacity being strong elements in the success of the bank. During the same period Mr. Fulton was president and Mr. Atherton vice president of the Advocate Printing Company for six or seven years. Mr. Fulton was then reelected to the position of county treasurer and once more served for two terms. making
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eight years in all. No other incumbent in the office has served for four terms and the fact that Mr. Fulton was called to the office by popular suffrage four terms was unmistakable evidence of the confidence reposed in him and the ability with which he discharged his duties. In 1902 he organized the Licking County Bank, of which he was elected president, continuing in the position to this writing. While rendering his county efficient public service and conducting important finan- cial interests, Mr. Fulton has at the same time been extensively and successfully engaged in the lumber business as exporter of walnut logs, and has likewise been president of the Pan-American Coal Company. He is a man of resourceful busi- ness ability, looking beyond the exigencies of the moment to the possibilities and opportunities of the future and accomplishing what he undertakes by reason of a strong, determined nature and the employment of modern, progressive business methods. Moreover he has ever believed that honesty is the best policy and has shaped his course in accordance with this old and time-tried maxim, his business reputation being unassailable.
In 1866 Mr. Fulton was married to Miss Belle Selby, a native of Homer, Ohio, and a daughter of Milton Selby, who was also born in Licking county, while her grandfather, the Rev. Caleb Selby, was a pioneer Methodist minister of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Fulton have become the parents of eight children: Harry S., now of New York; Maud, who married Dan Bushnell, but both are now deceased ; Jane H., now the wife of Henry Buell; Josephine, who married James K. Hamill, of Newark; Anne, the wife of John Holloway, of Kentucky ; Florence A., the wife of James R. Fitzgibbon ; Robert G., a civil engineer of Sandusky, Ohio; and Grace.
Mr. Fulton is an active and helpful member of the Second Presbyterian church and has served as one of its trustees for over thirty-five years. He is a high-minded gentleman, imbued with the courage of his convictions, holding steadfastly to what he believes to be right, and his name is an honored one in financial and commercial circles.
ROE EMERSON.
Step by step through successive stages of progress Roe Emerson has worked his way upward, and though he started out in life empty-handed, he is today numbered among the prosperous merchants of Newark, controlling a large and profitable business, which is the visible evidence of a life of well directed thrift and energy. A native of this county, he was born in Liberty township July 5, 1851. His paternal grandfather, Stephen Emerson, was the founder of the family in this county, coming from Concord, New Hampshire, in 1817. Here he turned his attention to farming and devoted his remaining days to the tilling of the soil. His son, George Emerson, was the first white child born in Liberty township. Another son, James Monroe Emerson, the father of our subject, was born in St. Albans township, Licking county, April, 1817, soon after the arrival of the family in Ohio. Although reared upon the home farm he learned the carpenter's trade ~ 1 for many years carried on business as a contractor, builder and undertaker.
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He spent his entire life in Liberty township, living and dying within a short dis- tance of the old family homestead, while his brother, George, spent his entire life upon the old home farm on which he was born and on which his parents had taken up their abode only a few months after their arrival in Licking county. Another member of the family, Jasper Emerson, who was the senior of George Monroe Emerson, removed to Iowa in the '50s and there died. His son, Stephen Emerson, a native of Licking county, was the father of the famous author, Willis George Emerson, who has produced a number of popular volumes, including "Smoky God," "Builders," "Buell Hampton" and others.
The father of Roe Emerson died at the age of sixty-five years while sitting at the table at the wedding of his son Mark. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Charity Elizabeth Platt, was a native of Toms River, New Jersey, and came to Licking county with her parents during her early girlhood. She died in 1891.
Roe Emerson was a pupil of the country school and the Johnstown high school through the days of his boyhood and youth, incidentally learning telegraphy, and afterward went to Missouri where he engaged in teaching school, following the profession for three years. He afterward went to Alexandria, where he was employed in the general store of Owen & Beaumont for seven years. At the expiration of that time he came to Newark and secured a position in the Amback Clothing Company's store, where he remained for three years. He afterward spent a year and a half in the employ of Charles Washburn, also a clothier, and then he engaged in business on his own account, purchasing Mr. Washburn's stock in 1887 and started in business on the east side. He afterward removed to the south side and thence came to his present location on the west side. Here he is con- ducting a good business, enjoying a constantly increasing trade as the result of his fair and honorable dealing, his reasonable prices and his earnest effort to please his patrons.
In May, 1894, Mr. Emerson was married to Miss Emma Kochendorfer, a daughter of F. Kochendorfer, editor of The German Express of Newark, and one of the prominent and representative citizens of the county. Mr. Emerson is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, and is in full sympathy with the beneficent spirit upon which these organi- zations are based. He gives stalwart support to the republican party, but is not an office seeker. A progressive and patriotic citizen, he is loyal to every move- ment for the general welfare and his influence is always found on the side of advancement and improvement. The same quality is manifest in his business and at the same time he conforms to a high standard of commercial ethics.
SIMEON IGNATIUS TATHAM.
Simeon Ignatius Tatham, who conducts a lucrative dairy business and at the same time engages in farming in Harrison township, this county, is a native of Muskingum county, Ohio, where his birth occurred February 13, 1866. His parents, Benjamin Franklin and Angeline ( Kelly) Tatham, are natives of this state and
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S. I. TATHAM
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now reside in Granville township, this county. The father came to this county when his son Simeon Ignatius was a little over one year of age and settled in Lib- erty township on a farm consisting of one hundred and eighty acres. There he pursued general agriculture until a few years ago when he retired from active life. In his family were eight children, namely: Charles E., who wedded Mary Falley, and resides in Union township; Simeon Ignatius; Harvey C., who wedded Hattie Fowl, of Harrison township; Myrtle, widow of Harry Spellman, who is now resid- ing with her parents; Congress J., a telegraph operator at Mineral Siding, who is united in marriage to Mabel Brooks; Abbey, who became the wife of Ollie W. Brown, of Johnstown; and Raymond and Dalton, who reside with their parents.
Simeon I. Tatham acquired his preliminary education in the district schools and subsequently took a normal course in an educational institution at Hanover and later repaired to Springfield, Ohio, where he completed a commercial course. He remained under the parental roof until he was twenty-one years of age, at which period of his life he became clerk in Conrad's Grocery Store, at Newark, Ohio, where he worked for six months and then went into the same business for himself in the eastern portion of that city. After conducting the business for two years he disposed of his interests and entered the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad as a clerk, officiating in that capacity for about one year and a half. At the termination of this time he sold a residence which he owned, situated at the corner of Cedar and Eastern avenues, and with the proceeds purchased a farm of eighty acres on Lowden street. There he resided for three years, engaging in general farming, and upon selling the place, he came to Outville, where he rented his present farm, which consists of two hundred and forty acres. On this farm he remained for about seven years, at the expiration of which period he bought the J. R. Channel farm of seventy acres, on which he erected a four thousand dollar residence-the finest in Harrison township. After two years he sold this and purchased one hun- dred and twenty-one and a half acres in Union township and in 1905 his present place, which originally contained two hundred and forty acres, seventy acres of which he later disposed of to Dr. Tetherman. On this tract of land Mr. Tatham has been devoting his attention principally to the dairy business and stock feeding. He makes a specialty of breeding and feeding Holsteins and at present has about seventy head of cattle. He has remodeled his home and the other buildings on his place are substantial and modern. Everything about the premises is indicative of thrift and progress and speaks highly for the enterprise and aggressiveness of the owner.
On April 18, 1888, Mr. Tatham wedded Dollie M. Romine, a native of Han- over township and a daughter of John William and Caroline Elizabeth (Reed) Romine. Her parents, natives of Virginia, lived in this county all their married life, he having been the owner of eight hundred acres of valuable land on which he carried on general farming. They had eight children, namely: Minor, who was united in marriage with Sarah Holmes, of this county, who died leaving her hus- band and one child, Ollie, wife of Emmet Hover; Charles, deceased ; Fillmore, who is united in marriage to Miss Ella Baughman, of Muskingum county, Ohio; Alice Florence, deceased, wife of Francis Marion Hayes, of this county; Laura J., who is the wife of V. K. Herendein of this county and has three children, Florence, Benton and Goldie; Leonard S., whose wife, Miss Alma McDonald before her mar- riage, passed away, leaving her husband and two children, Delbert and Minnie;
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Oliver, who wedded Emma Nethers, and resides in this county ; and Dollie M., whose birth occurred February 7, 1869. To Mr. and Mrs. Tatham have been born three children : Roe Emerson, who was born December 3, 1889, and passed away Septem- ber 15 of the same year ; Francis Marion, whose birth occurred April 27; 1890, and who departed this life March 4, 1892; and Earl Millard, born June 10, 1893, a student at the high school in Kirkersville.
Mr. Tatham has always voted the democratic ticket, because he believes his party platform embodies those policies which will advance the nation's interests and develop its natural resources, both to the financial welfare of the individual and of the nation at large. Locally he has served the township for seven years in the office of trustee and in 1908 was elected county commissioner by a large majority. He belongs to Lodge No. 704, K. of P., meeting in Alexandria, of which he has been a member for thirteen years; Lodge No. 586, I. O. O. F., meeting at Kirkers- ville, in which he has passed through the various chairs; and Blue Lodge, No. 404, A. F. & A. M., meeting at Pataskala. He is affiliated with the Baptist church at Kirkersville, of which he is a liberal supporter and, being a man whose life in every respect is upright, he enjoys the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens.
OLIVER PRESCOTT SOOK, M. D.
Newark has many able physicians, men whose ability classes them with the prominent representatives of the profession in Ohio, for they have not only kept up with the general progress of the profession but through original work and investigation have contributed to the sum of valuable knowledge concerning dis- ease and the best methods to check its ravages. Dr. Oliver Prescott Sook holds a position of prestige with the able members of the medical fraternity here. He was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, October 6, 1843, and is descended in the paternal line from German ancestry, his grandfather, Henry Martin Sook, with his brother Peter and his parents, left Germany for the United States, but while en route both the father and mother sickened and died. The two brothers were provided for by the captain, as was the custom in those early days, Henry being apprenticed to a saddler in Baltimore, Maryland, while Peter went to Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. The family name was originally spelled Zook, but Henry M. Zook changed the spelling of his surname to Sook. Many of Peter Zook's descendants are now residents of Perry county, Ohio.
Henry M. Sook, grandfather of Dr. Sook, came to Ohio in pioneer times and figured prominently in the industrial development of the section of the state in which he located. His early service in the employ of the saddler to whom he was apprenticed on reaching America had brought him an expert knowledge of the business, and he became widely known as a most competent manufacturer of saddles and horse collars. Ultimately, however, he gave up that business and turned his attention to the study of homeopathy, becoming a practitioner of that school. He was a pioneer in that field of professional labor when Hahnemann gave to the world the first knowledge of homeopathic principles, and he was also among the first to endorse the teachings of Swedenborg and to espouse the princi-
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