Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th, Part 88

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 88


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stock-raisers of Moorefield Township. He .She was related to the Virginia Ran- dolphs and gave her first son that name.


makes specialties of draft and road horses, hogs, cattle, etc. Mr. Phleger was united in marriage December 22, 1898, to Dora Bumgardner, a daughter of Levi Bumgardner, and to them has been born one child, Pauline Gladys. After his marriage Mr. Phleger lived on a farm of forty-five acres in Champaign County, Ohio, until March 6, 1906, when he removed to his present farm of 100 acres, which he had purchased in the pre- ceding January.


DANIEL RANDOLPH TAYLOR, postmaster and ticket agent for the elec- tric railroad and express agent for the Pacific Express Company, at North Hampton, is probably one of the best known men in Pike Township. He was born December 31, 1835, in Virginia, and is a son of Daniel and Mary (Crowisen) Taylor.


The parents of Mr. Taylor were born in Virginia. His father was a mill- wright by trade and in search of work he came on horseback to Zanesville, Ohio, in 1834. His young wife followed shortly afterward, with her infant son, Daniel Randolph, in her arms, also making the journey on horseback. She was left a widow soon after reaching Zanesville, her husband meeting death by accident in that city. She remained at Zanesville for sev- eral years, when she moved to Newark and then to Granville, Licking County, where she married David Southwick. To this marriage four children were born, two sons and two daughters. Mrs. South- wick died at the age of sixty-five years.


Daniel Randolph Taylor is a self-made man. His mother had been married but a few months to her second husband when the lad left home, determined to take care of himself and he never returned except to visit. He was about ten years old when he started to work in a rope fac- tory. The power was supplied by hand and it was his duty to turn the power wheel, receiving twenty-five cents a day for his labor, boarding himself in the meantime. Later he learned the cooper trade and after serving an apprenticeship of two years, went to Urbana and became an employe in the cooper shop of the Hag- genbaugh mills.


It was during his residence at this place and while he was working in these mills that he was married, January 4, 1854, to Harriet A. Merser, who was a daughter of one of the leading citizens of· Alexandria, Ohio, Dr. N. Z. Merser. This marriage was an elopement and had many romantic features. In the course of a few years the parents of Mrs. Tay- lor became so reconciled that they came to reside in the home of their son-in-law, where Dr. Merser died and where Mrs. Merser resided for many years after- ward. In following his trade, Mr. Tay- lor soon moved to St. Paris, Ohio, where he was working as a cooper when the Civil War was declared. He enlisted in the regimental band in the Forty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he remained for sixteen months, when a general order was given that all organizations of this kind should be mus- tered out. Mr. Taylor returned home, but three months later, at Columbus, he


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reenlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was assigned to band duty in the Third Brigade, Fourteenth Army Corps, in which he remained until the close of the war.


Mr. Taylor participated in many bat- tles and endured the privation and hard- ships which came to the gallant men of General Sherman's army. On the mem- orable march to Atlanta, which consumed ninety days from Rossville to the ob- jective point, from the third day the sol- diers engaged in fighting or skirmishing continuously. They remained at Atlanta for three weeks and then started by rail to Chattanooga. After a most trying series of raids in Alabama, the regiment. was again returned to Chattanooga and by that time, Mr. Taylor was so worn out that he was obliged to rest for sev- eral weeks in a hospital and was then given a furlough of thirty days, which he spent with his family in Ohio. On his way back to his regiment, he was stopped at Louisville by orders to take a large squad of furloughed soldiers to Bedloe Island, where he remained for three weeks. Then, with a force of 1,000 men he went aboard an ocean steamer bound for a North Carolina port, and from there they were distributed to their various commands, Mr. Taylor reaching his regi- ment at Goldsboro, on the day before the fight at Black Swamp. The regiment was then sent after the Confederate General Johnston and when within ten miles of Raleigh, they paused for dinner. At three o'clock that afternoon rumors were heard of the surrender of General Lee and be- fore they could reach General Johnston, he had also surrendered to the Union


forces. The regiments then had rations for fifteen days issued and orders given them to report at Richmond, Virginia. In the rapid march to the Southern capital, the army corps to which Mr. Taylor be- longed, was the first to reach Richmond, making the trip in seven days. They re- mained there three days and then received orders to march to Washington, where several weeks were passed and then the brigade was started to Louisville, Ken- tucky. They made the trip to Parkers- burg, West Virginia, in box cars, where they took boats on the Ohio River and thus reached Louisville. The brigade camped for five weeks in the environs of this city, when, as peace seemed to be firmly established, they were sent to Co- lumbus, Ohio, where Mr. Taylor and his comrades were mustered out in August, 1865.


The many events which Mr. Taylor had been called on to participate in and the trying scenes in which he so often was forced to take part, exerted a very sober- ing effect on his mind and resulted in his serious contemplation of becoming a min- ister. He still resides at St. Paris, where, in 1872, he entered the ministry of the Reformed Church, and served the congre- gation at Bradford, Ohio, for three years. From there he went to the Union charge in Clark County, where, for seventeen years he labored with great success, meet- ing the encouragement which causes true ministers to feel that their endeavors are blessed. During this period of seventeen years he received between 900 and 1,000 additions to the church, officiated at 500 weddings and preached 600 funeral ser- mons. During his last pastorate he re- sided at North Hampton, where he sub-


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sequently engaged in a shoe business. He gradually added other activities and be- came the agent of the local electric rail- road which opened for business July 4, 1903. Although he is a stanch Democrat he is an admirer of President Roosevelt and was appointed postmaster by him at North Hampton. Mr. Taylor has served as a justice of the peace and now holds the office of notary public.


Mr. Taylor has had four children, all born of his first marriage, namely : Harry, deceased; Leno;, Albert; and Ella, who married James Rector. Some years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Taylor married Anna M. Minnick, who still sur- vives.


On June 4, 1857, Mr. Taylor was made a Mason and a Master Mason in July of the same year. He belongs also to the Chapter. He has led a most interesting life, into which almost every element of happiness and pain has entered, and his reminiscences of its various phases are deeply interesting.


JOEL EBERSOLE, one of the most highly respected citizens of German Township, resided on a farm of 100 acres, which is situated on the Joel Ebersole road, six miles northwest of Springfield, is a member of one of the old pioneer families of this section. He was born on a farm in Bethel Township, six miles from Springfield, June 24, 1821, and is a son of Jacob and Sarah (Keller) Eber- sole.


ship, the same on which Joel Ebersole was born and reared. Jacob Ebersole married Sarah Keller and they had ten children, five sons and five daughters, all of whom, with one exception, reached ma- turity. The survivors are: Joel, who was the third in the order of birth, and John, who was the last born. Jacob Eber- sole was a farmer. He was a worthy, Christian man, being an elder in the Dunkard Church, and he performed the ceremonies of baptism, marriage and funeral for a large number of the fam- ilies in this part of the county in those early years. He died December 18, 1851, and was survived by his widow from Oc- tober, 1864. They were quiet, virtuous people, who found their greatest pleasure and happiness in working for the good of others. Both came of Revolutionary stock, their fathers entering the Patriot army when sixteen years of age and serv- ing like men, for six long years. Both were fine types of manhood, strong in body and courageous in spirit. Side by side they carried their muskets and side by side fought the enemy. Both escaped with their lives from the great struggle and both faced the future together in the wilds of Clark County, bringing their families with them from Lancaster Coun- ty, Pennsylvania. It was with the same friendly feeling that they secured their farms of 160 acres adjoining, and it gave them happiness to have the families united by the marriage between their chil- dren. Both of the grandfathers of Mr. Ebersole were buried, full of years, in Clark County.


Jacob Ebersole, father of Joel, came to Clark County in 1810, with his father Joel Ebersole was reared to manhood about one and one-half miles from his and his future father-in-law, John Keller. They settled on a farm in Bethel Town- present home, and he resided with his


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father until he was twenty-seven years of age. The main interest of his life has been farming. In 1854, four years after his marriage, he moved to Wells County, Indiana, where he resided for two years and ten months, at the end of this period returning to Clark County, at the earnest solicitation of his father-in-law, who de- sired Mr. Ebersole to assist him in the care of his three large farms.


On February 14, 1850, Joel Ebersole was married to Catherine Click, who was born in 1833, and they have the distinc- tion of being the oldest married couple in Clark County. She was reared on the present home farm, which has but recently been sold by Mr. Ebersole to his son, John H., from the age of three years. Her parents were Samuel and Mary (Garber) Click, who came to Ohio from Bridge- water, Virginia. They were very promi- nent in founding the Dunkard Church here and the father of Mrs. Ebersole was a man of large fortune. Mr. and Mrs. Ebersole have had eleven children, the four survivors being: John Henry, Clara B., Samuel W., and J. Grant. Five chil- dren died in infancy. John Henry Eber- sole, who now owns and operates the home farm, married Ida Grisso and they have five children: Ralph, Clarence, Orren, Alice and Ruth. Clara B. Ebersole mar- ried Neil Glass, who is manager of the Pacific Telephone Company, of Los An- geles, California. At the present writing (1908) Mrs. Glass is with her parents preparing to leave for her home at Los Angeles. She has resided prior to this for several years at Springfield and Chi- cago. Samuel W. Ebersole is a resident of German Township. He married Jen- nie Domer and they have two children,


Howard and Noah. J. Grant Ebersole, who is a commercial traveler for the Rey- nolds Company, at Piqua, Ohio, taught school for eleven years. Mary Elizabeth Ebersole, the oldest of the family, mar- ried Thomas Baker. She died May 3, 1904, leaving two children, Florence and Emma. Florence married Roy Ream of Northampton and has two children, Lu- ther and Catherine. Emma married Ver- non Swartzbaugh and they have two chil- dren, Daisy and Russel. Phebe Hannah Ebersole died aged three years, four months and twenty-four days.


Mr. and Mrs. Ebersole have been per- mitted to pass a long life together and although they have had sorrows as well as joys, they have been greatly blessed in many ways. They have all the comforts that their declining years demand and have devoted children and grandchildren to surround them with affection. Both have been somewhat crippled by paraly- sis, but both have regained their usual health and find pleasure in family life, social communion and church attendance. They have remarkable memories and can entertain the passing stranger so well with their reminiscences of the past that he would fain prolong his visit. They are valued and beloved members of the Conservative Dunkard Church.


JONATHAN D. BAKER, general farmer and owner of valuable farming land in Mad River Township, Clark County, Ohio, consisting of forty-four acres on which he resides and forty-two acres farther down the township which he rents, was born November 17, 1844,


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near his present residence, and is a son of Moses M. and Mary (Davis) Baker.


The grandparents of Mr. Baker, Jonathan and Sarah (Mulfred) Baker, came to Ohio in 1798, from Elizabeth, New Jersey, having made the entire jour- ney over the mountains on horseback. With them came a family by the name of Miller and three of Mr. Baker's brothers. The entire party settled first near Cin- cinnati, Ohio, and six years later moved to Clark County, buying government land in Mad River Township for $1.25 an acre. The land purchased by the Baker and Miller families consisted of a tract two miles square and practically the en- tire purchase is owned by the descendants of the two families, Jonathan D. Baker's farm having been a part of the old home- stead. Jonathan Baker was one of the founders of the Christian Church in this section of Ohio, and was appointed a deacon, holding the office until he was in- capacitated on account of old age. This office has been in the Baker family for 103 years, the father of Jonathan D. hav- ing been elected upon the retirement of Jonathan Baker and he being succeeded by his son, J. D. Baker.


Jonathan Baker was married in New Jersey, where he followed the cooper trade, to Sarah Mulfred and to this union were born nine children, namely: Benja- min, Meline, Moses, Miller, Milton, Alfred and John, sons, and Phoebe, who married Moses Wheeler, and Anna, who married William Layton, daughters. The death of Jonathan Baker occurred in 1840, being followed by the death of his wife in 1860, both passing. away in Mad River Town- ship. Mrs. Baker was seventy-two years of age at the time of her death.


Moses M. Baker was born within forty rods of his son's present residence, in 1809, and the old log house in which he was born is still standing. He spent all of his boyhood in this township, and helped to clear the home place. At the age of eighteen he went to Springfield, Ohio, which was then but a small village, with but one tavern. While there he learned the brick-laying and plastering trade and was engaged in this work until 1836. During this period Mr. Baker, in company with a merchant of Springfield by the name of Charles Caveleer, took a trip to New York to purchase goods, the entire trip being made on horseback. Moses Baker was married in Springfield to Mary Davis, who came with her par- ents from Wales when nine years of age. At the time of his marriage he built a home on Factory Street, Springfield. This house, which is still standing, he subsequently sold, after which he pur- chased a farm east of the old Baker home place in Mad River Township, and here the remainder of his life was spent. Moses Baker died in 1881, aged seventy- two years, his wife's death having oc- curred sixteen years previously, in 1865, when in her fiftieth year. They had the following children: Robert, deceased; Sarah, who married John Shellabarger, both deceased; Miriam, Jasper, Jonathan D. and Mary, who died young.


Jonathan Dickenson Baker was given his second name after an ancestor by the name of Dickenson, who succeeded Aaron Burr in the presidency of Princeton Col- lege. His boyhood days were passed on the home farm and his primary education was received in the old brick school which


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was later attended by his children. He later entered Adrian College, at Adrian, Michigan, and for the succeeding eighteen years taught school, first in Michigan and later in Clark County, Ohio. In his earlier professional work he devoted his winters only to teaching, giving his sum- mers to farming, but in the last few years he taught he devoted nine months to the educational field.


J. D. Baker was married (first) in Sep- tember, 1874, to Agusta Wilson, who died in 1882, leaving two children, Ber- nard M., who resides in North Dakota, and Mary, who married A. Bradley, also lives in North Dakota. His second mar- riage occurred October 20, 1885, to Emma Gill, a daughter of James and Olive (Austin) Gill, and a native of Bridgeport, Ohio. James Gill was born in Virginia and his wife in Wheeling, West Virginia. Two children have been born to the sec- ond union: Horace Gill, who died aged two years, and Helen, who attends the Enon High School. Mr. Baker is affili- ated with the Enon Christian Church, having been a member since 1861, and is serving as deacon. Politically he is a Re- publican.


JOHN L. PHLEGER, township treas- urer of Moorefield Township and a lead- ing farmer of this section of Clark Coun- ty, where he owns 153 acres of excellent land and superintends the W. S. Thomas farm of several hundred acres, was born at New Moorefield Village, Clark County, Ohio, December 12, 1859. His parents were Edward and Jane (Lynn) Phleger.


Edward Phleger was born in Mary- land and was a son of John Phleger. In


1847 Edward Phleger came to Clark County and engaged in work as a miller, working first at the old Snyder Mill in Springfield Township and from there all through the county. At one time he owned the Moorefield Mill, in partnership with his father-in-law, Joseph Lynn. In 1861 he began to farm the place which his son, John L., now owns, and he continued here for the remainder of his life, his death taking place in 1901. He married Jane Lynn, who died in 1895, and of this union seven children were born.


John L. Phleger was reared at New Moorefield, and with the exception of three years spent at Selma, he has al- ways resided in sight of the village. His life has been a busy one, occupied with attending to large agricultural interests and to performing the duties of public of- fice. He was appointed township treasur- er to fill out the unexpired term of the late James Clark and assumed the duties of the office on May 1, 1906, and in the fall of 1907 he was elected township treasurer on the Republican ticket. He is a man of sterling integrity and as such he enjoys the wide-spread confidence of his fellow- citizens. He is a charter member of Moorefield Council, Junior Order of American Mechanics.


Mr. Phleger married Nettie McConkey, who is a daughter of Enos McConkey, and they have one child, Williard. This son was born December 4, 1882.


W. H. SCHAUS, proprietor of the only exclusive china store in Springfield, has been for thirty years one of Springfield's most highly respected citizens and repre- sentative business men. He was born in


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Muskingum County, Ohio, in 1857, and at the age of sixteen years went to Newark, Ohio, where he learned the stone-cutters' irade, having previously learned shoe- making. In 1877 he came to Springfield and here conducted a china store under the firm name of W. H. Schaus & Com- pany for about four and a half years. He then disposed of the business and for five years was engaged as a traveling sales- man for a Pittsburg house, after which he established his present business, in which he has since continued. He is a man of high principle, possessed of up- to-date business methods and the success attending his efforts is well merited.


Mr. Schaus is also interested in various other enterprises of this community, be- ing director and treasurer of the Lagonda Box Company, director and treasurer of the Fortuna Fruit Company, of Spring- field and Cuba, and director in the fol- lowing business concerns: The Spring- field National Bank; the Peoples Light, Heat & Power Co., the Springfield and Xenia Telephone Co., and the Springfield and New Carlisle Telephone Co. He is also a director and ardent supporter of the following: The Springfield Cemetery Association, the Law and Order League, the Humane Society, and the Y. M. C. A. He is also closely connected with the work of the Y. W. C. A., being one of its fiscal trustees. He is treasurer of the Clark County Sunday School Association. He was the first president of the City Coun- cil elected under the new municipal code in 1903. He also served on the Board of Elections for four years. He is a man of public spirit and has done much to advance and develop the interests of this city. He was one of the trustees of


the hospital at the time of its erection, and is a member and served as president of the Commercial Club in 1900. Dur- ing his term as vice-president of the Com- mercial Club in 1899, in the absence of the president he issued a call for a citi- zens' meeting for making arrangements to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the city, and was selected as a member of the Executive Committee.


In 1886 Mr. Schaus was united in mar- riage to Miss Mollie McClintock, a daugh- ter of John McClintock, one of the pio- neers of Clark County. In January, 1905, he was deprived of the companionship of his wife and helpmate by death. Fra- ternally Mr. Schaus is past master of Clark Lodge, F. & A. M., and is a mem- ber of Moncrieffe Lodge, K. of P. He is a member of the Fourth Lutheran Church, being also one of its deacons, and super- intendent of the Sunday-school, and is always associated with the advancement of the plans of civic righteousness.


C. S. OLINGER, a member of the Springfield bar, who has been a resident of this city since July 27, 1887, was born at Brighton, Clark County, Ohio, January 27, 1864, and is a son of Joseph C. Olinger.


Joseph C. Olinger was born in Augusta County, Virginia, and came to Clark County in 1846, locating at Brighton. He followed farming in that vicinity from that time until his death, which took place May 25, 1894.


C. S. Olinger was reared on his father's farm and after attending the schools at Brighton entered the Normal School at Valparaiso, Indiana, where he remained for almost three years, completing the


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scientific course. For nine months there- after he taught the village school at Bright- on and then came to Springfield. Here he read law with the firm of Pringle & John- son, and was admitted to the bar in Octo- ber, 1889, immediately afterward opening an office in this city. He has taken an active part in public affairs and has been prominently identified with Republican politics. He was secretary of the Clark County Republican Central Committee during the late Senator Hanna's first campaign, and he served as a member of the Board of Education for three years. He has business interests at Springfield outside of his profession and is secretary and treasurer of the Bayonet Trolley Hasp Company, manufacturers of trolley hasps, trolley wheels and trolley poles and bases.


On August 1, 1895, Mr. Olinger was married to Mary E. Sparrow, of Spring- field, Ohio, and they have two children- Frances Marie and Robert Stanley. Mr. Olinger is a member of the Central Meth- odist Episcopal Church and is secretary of its board of trustees. He belongs to Moncreiffe Lodge, Knights of Pythias, to Springfield Council No. 240, Junior Order United American Mechanics, and is a charter member of the Modern Woodmen of America.


WILSON WALHAY, owner of a fine farm of 109 acres, situated in Bethel Township, not far from Medway, on the Valley Turnpike, engages in general farm- ing and stock-raising. He was born July 15, 1853, on his father's farm in Adams County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of William and Catherine (Rice) Walhay.


The grandfather was born in England and when he came to America he located on the farm in Adams County, on which his son William was subsequently born. The father was killed by runaway horses when William was only a lad, the young- est of the five children. With his widowed mother, William Walhay remained on the farm, which later came into his posses- sion by purchase. William Walhay was married (first) to Catherine Rice, who died aged forty-three years. They had six children : Eliakim, who died in 1907 ; Eliz- abeth, who is the wife of Oliver Karns; Angeline, who is the widow of Daniel Sheeley; John, who is deceased; Wilson; and Minnie, who married Dr. Stewart, of Carroll County, Maryland. William Wal- hay was married (second) to Mrs. Ruth Swope, who had a child by her former marriage.


Wilson Walhay was born and reared on the little farm on which his grandfather had first settled. It lies along Bear Mountain, and is about eight miles from the historic battlefield of Gettysburg. He remembers watching the progress of the battle from the top of the adjacent moun- tain. When he was sixteen years of age he went to Hagerstown, Maryland, where his uncle, Dr. T. Slusier, was practicing as a dentist, and after working for him for several months, became inspired with a desire to study dental surgery, but the money was lacking for college expenses · and he was obliged to abandon the idea. In 1875, accompanied by William Betner, he came to Osborn, Ohio, and immediately secured employment on the farm of Mich- ael Kline, in Bethel Township. Mr. Wal- hay remained with Mr. Kline during the succeeding winter, and then worked for




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