Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th, Part 78

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1086


USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th > Part 78


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ISAAC TUTTLE, one of the repre- sentative agriculturists of Green Town- ship, owner of a fine farm of one hundred acres located just southeast of Pitchin, was born January 15, 1840, in Springfield Township, Clark County, Ohio, on the farm now owned by Judge Kunkle, and is a son of John and Margaret (Prickett) Tuttle.


John Tuttle was born in Virginia and when a lad came to Ohio with his parents, Sylvanus Tuttle, also a native of Virginia, and his wife, who was a Miss Brown. They located in Clark County, where John became a farmer and owner of the Judge Kunkle farm in Springfield Township. There his death occurred when the subject of this sketch was quite young. He mar- ried Margaret Prickett, who was then a resident of Clark County and they became the parents of fifteen children, of whom but two are living: Harvey, now a resi- dent of Springfield Township, and Isaac, with whose history we are more directly concerned.


Isaac Tuttle obtained his early educa- tion in the schools of Springfield Town- ship and remained at home until his


MR. AND MRS. THOMAS M. HESS


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father's death. He then purchased a farm in Noble County, Indiana, where he remained for one year. He then returned to Clark County and bought his present farm of one hun- dred acres in Green Township, and has since resided here. He married Fannie E. Eichelbarger, a daughter of Michael Eichelbarger. Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle have four children, namely : Ermina B., Effie A., Harry E., and J. Elton. Ermina B. is the wife of Perry Herbert Stewart, of Green Township. Effie A. is the wife of Oliver E. Allen, Principal of the Jeffer- son school, Springfield. Harry E. mar- ried Mary Belle Mccullough and resides in Green Township. J. Elton married Annie E. Walters and resides in Green Township. Mr. Tuttle served in the Civil War a short time, enlisting in 1864. He has always taken a keen interest in polit- ical affairs, but has never cared to hold office, although he served as a school di- rector for some time and votes independ- ently.


J. L. COLEMAN, president and man- ager of the Home City Brewing Com- pany of Springfield, who has been a resi- dent of Springfield for the past twenty- eight years, is one of the leading and in- fluential business men of the city, and is financially interested in various business enterprises.


Mr. Coleman is a native of Ireland, where he spent his boyhood days, and at the age of eighteen came to America, lo- cating at Springfield, where he engaged for a time as a common laborer for Dr. Buckingham. He subsequently learned the moulder's trade, at which he worked


for over nine years, when he engaged in business for himself. He afterwards em- barked in the coal, coke and cement busi- ness at No. 1212 W. Main Street, where he is still located, doing an extensive and profitable business. He has been presi- dent and manager of the Home City Brewing Company since its organization in 1896, and has continued as such since its incorporation in October, 1906. Jacob A. Hax is the present secretary and treasurer. Mr. Coleman is also a stock- holder is various other business enter- prises of the city.


Mr. Coleman was united in marriage, in 1884, with Bridget Garrity, also a na- tive of Ireland, and to them have been born seven children-Raphael, John, Ed- ward, James, Thomas, Mary, and Helen. Religiously he is a member of St. Ra- phael's Catholic Church. Socially, he is a member of the Ancient Order of Hibern- ians (of which he was for four years a member of the board of officials) is a member of the Robert Emmet Club, the Springfield Commercial Club, and also of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.


LEMUEL LUTHER YOUNG, who is engaged in general farming on a well improved farm of seventy-two acres, lo- cated on the Urbana turnpike, about seven miles north of the center of Spring- field, was born April 11, 1861, in Moore- field Township, on the old Young home- stead, and is a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Hullinger) Young.


Jacob Young was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and when a boy came to Clark County with a Mr. Bullinger and family, for whom he worked for some time, and


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then found employment at Baker's Mill. This mill he operated for several years after his marriage, and then purchased the old Young homestead farm of one hundred and twenty-four acres, in Moore- field Township, which he successfully con- ducted until his death, at the age of eighty-two years. Jacob Young was mar- ried twice, and had one son by the first union, Samuel, who is deceased. His sec- ond marriage, which occurred in Clark County, was with Elizabeth Hullinger, who was born and reared in Terrehaute, a small village in Champaign County, Ohio, and was a daughter of Abraham Hullinger, a prosperous farmer of that county. Thirteen children were born of his second union, eleven of whom are still living.


Lemuel Luther Young was reared in Moorefield Township and received his educational training in the district schools enjoying one term's tuition under Will- iam M. Rockel, editor of this work, who was then a teacher in the Moorefield Township schools. At the age of about nineteen years he left home and obtained work at the Lagonda shops where he con- tinued for several years after his mar- riage. He then lived for' several years on a farm of fifty-one and eighty-six hundredths acres, which was situated in Moorefield Township, on the coun- ty line separating Champaign and Clark Counties, which he sold after the death of his first wife. Prior to 1903, he worked again in Lagonda, and then bought his present well improved farm in Moorefield Township, where he has since been successfully engaged in general farming.


Mr. Young was first united in marriage


with Lizzie Benedick, who died in 1899. She was a daughter of John Benedick, a well known farmer of Moorefield Town- ship. One child was born of this union, namely, Mabel R., who lives in Spring- field. In 1903 Mr. Young married May Goode, who was reared in Champaign County, Ohio, and is a daughter of Isaac and Anna (Leips) Goode, well known resi- dents of Urbana. Mr. and Mrs. Young have one child, Lemuel Luther, Jr.


Mr. Young is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias, No. 205 Springfield.


CHASE COLVIN, a leading business citizen of South Charleston, who is en- gaged in the wire fence business, both as a dealer and manufacturer, was born near Cedarville, Greene County, Ohio, March 1, 1864, and is a son of David T. and Maria (Larkin) Colvin.


The grandfather of Mr. Colvin, Thomas Colvin, was born in Pennsylvania, Oc- tober 16, 1798, but grew to manhood in Virginia, where he was married in 1826, to Rachel Taylor. David T. Colvin, father of Chase, was born in Frederick County, Virginia, February 18, 1829. By occupa- tion he was a farmer. On April 13, 1853, he married Maria Larkin, who was born June 25, 1831, and died December 14. 1898. David T. Colvin died December 21, 1886. They had six children.


Chase Colvin was educated at South Charleston and in the Nelson Business College at Springfield. After leaving school he continued to reside on his father's farm until he married, when he moved to South Charleston and engaged in his present business. He handles all kinds of wire fencing and manufactures


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steel fence posts. Mr. Colvin married Nellie Ramsey, who is a daughter of Will- iam J. Ramsey, of Madison Township, and they have two interesting children-Jane, who was born October 10, 1898, and Edith, who was born September 25, 1902. Mr. Colvin is a member and liberal supporter of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is an independent voter.


T. J. McCORMICK, a leading member of the Clark County bar, was born at Springfield, Ohio, and is a son of Mark McCormick, who located at Springfield shortly after the close of the Civil War.


He was admitted to the bar March 17, 1899. Since his admission with the excep- tion of two years during which he was as- sociated with the firm of Bowman & Bow- man, he has been alone in practice and has occupied large and well equipped of- fices in the Gotwald Building, Springfield. He is interested in the Clark County Building & Savings Company, being a director and also its attorney. He is vice- president of the Springfield and Clark County Humane Society. Mr. McCormick is a member of St. Raphael's Catholic Church and of the leading Catholic organ- izations, including the Knights of Colum- bus, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Knights of Total Abstinence, and other organizations of a similar nature. He be- longs also to the Springfield Commercial Club. He is numbered with Springfield's representative men.


WILLIAM S. RABBITTS, cashier of the Springfield National Bank, and one of the representative citizens of the city


of Springfield, was born 1855 in this city. He is a son of Charles Rabbitts, now de- ceased, a pioneer of Springfield, who es- tablished the first woolen mills to operate in this locality.


William S. Rabbitts was reared in Springfield and his early educational training, received in the public schools, was supplemented by a course of study at Wittenberg College. In 1873, after com- pleting his literary education, he entered the Lagonda National Bank as messenger boy. Here he continued until 1880 work- ing his way upward when he went to Boulder, Colorado, and accepted a posi- tion as teller in the National State Bank. After occupying that position for two years, he returned to Springfield and shortly after was tendered the position of assistant cashier of the Springfield Na- tional Bank, in which capacity he served until 1899. He then became cashier of that institution, which position he still oc- cupies.


Mr. Rabbitts is one of the foremost men of Springfield, enterprising and pub- lic spirited, and is held in highest esteem by his fellow men. He is part owner of the Commercial building, is treasurer of the Associated Charities, treasurer and stockholder of the Lagonda Club, a mem- ber of the Country Club, and also of the Commercial Club, of which he was for two years treasurer. Politically he is a Republican and is treasurer of the Re- publican Central Committee. Fraternally he is a prominent member of the Mystic Circle, of which he has been treasurer since its organization. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church, of Springfield.


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EBEN SKILLINGS, whose comfort- able home and fine farm of ninety-five acres are situated in Section 1, Spring. field Township, the latter lying on the line dividing Springfield from Green Town- ship, was born on this farm June 14, 1833. His parents were Lewis and Anna (Craig) Skillings.


The ancestral history of Mr. Skillings is very interesting. His grandfather, Lewis Skillings, was born in Prussia and became a soldier. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War England hired some 20,000 soldiers from the ruler of Hesse- Cassel and other German princes, to which troops the general name of Hes- sians was applied, and Lewis Skillings happened to be one of the soldiers dis- patched to the American coast. The task of fighting for an alien land did not in- spire him with much enthusiasm, and when the English vessel was off the shore of the state of Maine, Mr. Skillings, with a companion, managed to desert the vessel during the night and swim to the land, a distance of about a mile. They were as- sisted by a brave young woman, who hid them until pursuit was over. The name of this courageous and loyal maiden is not remembered, but she subsequently be- came the wife of Lewis Skillings, whom she had saved from certain death. They became parents of a numerous family and lived a happy and contented life until Mr. Skillings was accidentally killed while clearing up his farm in Maine.


Lewis Skillings (2d), father of Eben, was born during the Revolutionary War and was the eldest of the large family, of which he took charge after his father's death, providing for its members until he . was twenty-two years of age. In 1811, in


company with a Mr. Haywood, he set out from Maine to prospect in Ohio, desiring to find a more genial climate and better agricultural conditions. When they reached what is now Green Township, Clark County, Mr. Skillings decided to stop, but Mr. Haywood continued his journey and settled near Troy, in Miami County. Mr. Skillings entered a quarter section of land in what is now Springfield Township, but money was so hard to get in those days, on any terms, that he was obliged to release a part of this land in order to retain the rest, but at a later date he regained it.


Prior to settling permanently in Springfield Township he had visited other sections of the country, going as far south as Natchez, Mississippi, where he could easily have obtained a remunerative posi- tion as slave driver had he not scorned the offer. He returned north, lived for some time in Cincinnati, and worked in the salt works at Kanawha, on the Ohio River. After settling on a place of per- manent abode he was married to Anna Craig, who was a daughter of John Craig. The latter had served with his father, An- drew Craig, in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Skillings was born at Roxbury, Ver- mont, and her parents came to Clark County, Ohio, among the very early set- tlers. A family of seven children was born to Lewis and Anna Skillings, name- ly: Mary, who married James Leybourn; Hannah, who married William McKin- ney; Sarah, who married Abel Leybourn ; John, who died in 1852; Lewis, who is a prominent farmer in Green Township; Eben, subject of this notice; and Wesley, who died in 1861. The only survivors of the family are Lewis and Eben, the par-


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ents having also passed away, the father when aged eighty years and the mother at the age of seventy-three.


Even Skillings was reared on the home farm and has devoted the larger part of his life to its improvement. He was mar- ried, first, to Susan Runyan, who died in the spring of 1860, leaving one child, Laura, who is the wife of Rev. James H. Hollingsworth, a Baptist minister, located · at Clyde, Ohio. Mr. Skillings married for his second wife Phebe Paullin, who died September 2, 1881. There were six chil- dren born of that marriage, namely : Otis G., who is a farmer in Miami County ; Wesley, who is a farmer in Kansas; Luella, now deceased, who was the wife of James Rodgers; Elizabeth, who married Anson A. Garlough, of Green Township; Frank, who resides at home; and Byron E., who lives on a part of the home farm. Mr. Skillings was married (thirdly) to Lucinda V. Miller.


In addition to his farm in Springfield Township, Mr. Skillings owns one of six- ty acres situated in Harmony Township, and another that he owned in Green Township he has turned over to his sons. He is a leading member and a trustee of the Free Baptist Church at Pleasant Grove, in Green Township. In politics Mr. Skillings has always been a Repub- lican, but is now a Prohibitionist.


THOMAS COLLINS, one of Pleasant Township's representative citizens, enjoys the distinction of being the oldest Irish resident of Clark County and was the sec- ond of his nationality to settle here. He was born in Ireland in 1837 and is a som, of Henry and Nellie Collins.


The grandparents and also the parents of Mr. Collins died in Ireland. The six children born to Henry and Nellie Col- lins bore, respectively, the following names: James, Francis, Patrick, John, Thomas and Margaret. James lived and died on the old sod. Francis left home in early manhood and after working in Scot- land he went to America. He never for- got those he left behind and a part of his earnings were sent back each year to the little Irish home. Finally he sent money to pay the passage of his next brother, Patrick, to America, but the latter was not yet ready to leave Ireland, so the money was given to Thomas. Francis married Rose Brady, in New Jersey, and their children who survived infancy were, Margaret, Ella, Anna, Frank, Thomas and Mary. Patrick came to America in 1854 and joined his brother Francis in New Jersey, where he worked in a saw-mill, after which he came to Ohio, later went to Illinois and still later to Nebraska, where he died. John, the next brother, died in Treland, unmarried. Margaret, the only daughter, followed her brothers to Amer- ica, where she subsequently married Hugh Brady and died in 1905. She left five children.


Thomas Collins spent the first few years after coming to America, in New York and Brooklyn, working mainly as a lather, having learned that trade. He also made a number of voyages as a sailor to Liverpool and other points. He resided at Philadelphia for a short time, but in 1855 he turned his face to the West and came to Clark County. His first work was done in a tannery, and from there he began to clear land for Thomas Houston, by whom he was employed for two years,


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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY


after which he rented a piece of land, which he operated as a farm for three years. From there he moved to South Charleston and was engaged up to 1868 working for different farmers, in the meanwhile saving his money. When he had accumulated enough capital he bought a farm of fifty acres from Newton Con- way. It was wild land, but Mr. Collins cleared off the timber, of which he made railroad ties, and for seven winters he hauled wood to Springfield. By his con- stant industry and wise frugality Mr. Col- lins made money, but he was heavily taxed for various improvements, having to pay assessments for all the turnpike roads in this section. He continued by purchase to increase the acreage of his farm as fast as he was able. He now owns the home farm in partnership with his son James. It contains 170 acres, sixty-five of which Mr. Collins has re- served for himself. He still assists his son in the management of the place. They carry on general farming and make a specialty of raising cattle and hogs.


In 1855 Mr. Collins was married to Mary Lagion and they have had nine chil- dren, namely : John. H., Patrick, Thomas, Mary J., Christopher, Margaret, James, Patrick (2d), and Sarah. John H. Col- lins was born in 1856. He has led a life of adventure, leaving home in 1877. He was a soldier in the Spanish-American War. Patrick, who was born in 1858, died in 1862. Thomas, who was born in 1861, married Lillie Curney and they have four children : Anna, James F., Herbert and Edith. Mary J., who was born in 1862, is housekeeper for Father Hickey, of the Catholic Church at Urbana. Chris- topher, who was born in 1863, was mar-


ried in the West and now lives in Ne- braska, has one child, Thomas. Margaret, who was born in 1867, now resides at home and looks after the household af- fairs. She is the widow of Cornelius Lecy, who died in 1888. They had three children, Mary, Annie and Sarah. Mary, born in 1884, died in the same year, and Annie, born in 1885, died in 1886. Sarah Lucy, born in 1887, married Jeremiah Sullivan and they reside in Madison County, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan have two children, Francis, born in 1906, and Mabel, born in 1907. James, who was born in 1868, is part owner of the home farm. Patrick (2d), who was born in 1869, died in 1896. Sarah, the youngest of Mr. Collins' children, married August- us Seidler and they reside at Hannibal, Missouri. They have the following chil- dren: Warren, Viola and Vincent. Mr. Collins and all his family belong to the Catholic Church at London, Ohio.


CLARK E. JONES, justice of the peace and prominent citizen of Harmony Township, residing at Vienna, was born in Clark County, Ohio, May 13, 1869, and is a son of William Wallace and Amanda M. (Clark) Jones.


The branch of the Jones family to which Clark E. belongs is an old one in Clark County, his grandfather, J. Henry Jones, having been born here January 30, 1821. He died February 24, 1870. On March 19, 1840, he was married to Jemima C. Botkin, who was born March 14, 1820, and died February 5, 1875. They had five children: William Wallace, George Hamilton, Harriet Ann, and Virginia and Isabel, twins. George Hamilton, the sec-


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ond son, was born March 6, 1843, and was killed while serving as a soldier in the Union Army. Harriet Ann, born in 1845, married Jacob Yeazel. Virginia and Isabel were born September 28, 1858. They both survive, the latter being the wife of C. O. Neer.


William Wallace Jones was born July 29, 1841, and died December 20, 1904. He was married at Vienna, by Reverend Forshea, February 4, 1866, to Amanda M. Clark, and they had six children: Frank, Clark, Belle, Jennie, Burr G. and Scott H. Frank, born November 13, 1866, married Lizzie Baird, in 1891, and they have four children, Harriet E., Ilo, Eva and Mabel. Belle, born February 15, 1872, married Howard Logue and they have two chil- dren, Leah and Lydia R. Jennie, born August 11, 1874, married Wade H. Smith, and they have two children, Richard and Mary. Burr, born April 23, 1876, mar- ried Ethel Smith and they have three chil- dren, Robert, Shurrell and Wade. Scott, born August 1, 1883, resides at home and is employed by the Ohio Electric Rail- road.


Clark E. Jones was about ten years old when he came to Vienna, where he com- pleted his education and where his life has been mainly spent. He has been more or less continuously interested in farming, owning twenty-two and one-half acres in Pleasant Township, together with two valuable properties in the town. His mother still survives. She was born at Vienna, October 21, 1844, and is a daugh- ter of William B. and Rebecca Clark. Her brothers and sisters bore the follow- ing names: Martha A., Nancy T., Mary J., Thomas M., Albert H., Eli T., Anna


N., Lavinia, William B., Harriet D., Mor- ton and Sherman.


On March 12, 1891, Mr. Jones was mar- ried at New Moorefield, Ohio, by Rev. O. M. Sellers, to Nellie A. Baird. She was born in Clark County, Ohio, November 2, 1872, and is a daughter of William and Nancy J. (Kimble) Baird. Her great- grandparents, William and Dorothy (Cameron) Baird, lived in Pennsylvania until 1794, when they journeyed to Ken- tucky and in 1808 came from there to Ohio on horseback, settling in Harmony Township. William Baird had been a soldier in the Revolution and served as a guard over certain Hessian prisoners. Family annals tell that after he had heard some of his prisoners declare that they would never return to Germany, but if they could escape would become citizens of the great Republic, he exercised dis- crimination and permitted some to evade his vigilence, knowing that the colonies needed strong, sturdy men of that type. The Bairds originated in Scotland, were probably driven to Ireland by religious persecution and subsequently came to America. In Kentucky the Bairds and Breckenridges were connected by social and business ties.


The father of Mrs. Jones. was born in Clark County, Ohio, March 27, 1826, and died February 20, 1907. He married Nancy J. Kimble, who was born August 5, 1840. They had five children, namely : Clara E., born in 1869, married Frank C. Jones in 1891; Milton, born in 1870, mar- ried Flora Neer; Nellie A., Mrs. Jones; Eva, born November 2, 1875; and Laura E .. born November 14, 1877, married Minor Slagle.


Mr. Jones belongs to the Methodist


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Episcopal Church at Vienna, while his time of his death, he owned 550 acres. wife is a member of the Christian Church. He married Martha Miller, who was born He is a member of the Knights of Pythias . in Greene County, Ohio, and died in 1892, at this place, and has held all of the of- aged sixty-five years. Their family con- sisted of six children, namely: Albert, who resides at Yellow Springs, Ohio; Emma, who died young; William M .; Margaret; Ida, who married Charles Weaver; and John W. Cyrus Drake died in 1901, aged seventy-eight years. fices in its gift, being at present keeper of the records and seals. In 1907 he rep- resented the lodge at the Grande Lodge at Zanesville. He belongs to the higher branch, the Uniform Rank, at Springfield and also to the auxiliary, the Pythian Sis- ters.


In politics Mr. Jones is a stanch Re- publican and on that ticket he was elected justice of the peace to serve a term of four years, assuming the duties of the office in 1907.


WILLIAM M. DRAKE, whose valu- able farm of 272 acres is situated in Mad River Township, belongs to a pioneer family of this section and was born on his present farm, in Clark County, Ohio, April 29, 1856. His parents were Cyrus and Martha (Miller) Drake.


The grandparents of Mr. Drake, Will- iam and Ruth (Welch) Drake, came from Pennsylvania to Ohio on horseback. Their log cabin was one of the first that was built in Mad River Township and the land that William M. Drake now owns was then but a great extent of swamp and uncleared forest. They reared a fam- ily of seven children, namely: Jacob, John, Thompson, Cyrus, William, Jane and Elizabeth. The youngest daughter married D. Shellabarger. All have passed out of life. Cyrus Drake, father of Will- iam M., was born near Enon, Clark County, and he was five years old when his parents settled on the present farm to which he subsequently added until, at the




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