USA > Ohio > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of Wayne County, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 15
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he lived and died. His children were | three in number, viz .: James, Joseph G. and William, all now deceased. Joseph G., at his father's death, succeeded to the homestead, where he resided until his death, in 1872. His family consisted of six children, viz .: William H., Mettie ( Mrs. John B. Zimmermau), Charles P., Arthur, Howard and Alice.
The maternal grandfather of William H. Smith was Henry Frank, a native of Germany, born October 30, 1787, and who immigrated to America in 1791 with his parents, who located in Washington County, Pom. In 1792 his parents died, . and he was bound out to a farmer until twenty-one years of age, receiving for his services two suits of clothes and one pair of shoes per year. At seventeen years of age he ran away, and learned the potter's trade. In 1822 he came to Wayne Coun- ty, Ohio, locating in Canaan Township, where he worked at his trade and cleared a farm. In 1840 he moved to Chippewa Township, settling on the farm now occu- pied by his children, which he also cleared and improved, and here he resided until his death, which ocenrred in IS61. His wife was Jane, daughter of Charles and Mary A. Provines, of Washington County, Penn,, and by her he had five children, as follows: Margaret, Mary (Mrs. Joseph G. Smith ), Elizabeth ( Mrs. Almon Butler), James P., and Maria J.
(Mrs. Newell Collins). Mr. Frank was a member of the Presbyterian Church; in polities he was a Republican.
The subject proper of this memoir was reared and educated in his native town- ship. In early manhood he taught school, winters, working on the farm in summers. For four years he was a clerk in the hard- ware store at Doylestown of which he is now one of the proprietors, having pur- chased an interest in the business in 1585. December 27, 1870, he married Maria J., daughter of Thomas and Margaret ( Craw- ford) Lucas, of Chippewa Township. Wayne County, and by her has two chil- dren: Rhoda and Ley E. Mr. Smith is one of the representative citizens and busi- hess men of Doylestown, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Royal Areauum: he is a Republican.
P ITTLIP PFEIFFER is one of the representative farmers of Chester Township. His father. Philip Pfeiffer, was a native of Bavaria, Germany, born in 1793. He was married in his native country to Elizabeth Rein- hammer, and in 1833 they left their native land and set sail for the United States. They came direet to Wayne County, Ohio, and located in Chester Township, where
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he bought 110 acres of land, which to- gether they improved, making it their home until death. They were prominent citizens of the township aud esteemed members of the Lutheran Church. The father died in 1556, and the mother in 1572. They had a family of ten children, five born in Germany and five in Ohio: Elizabeth. Catherine, Jacob, Philomena, Caroline, Susan, Philip, George, Sarah and Louisa.
The second son, Philip, was born and reared on the homestead where he now lives. His interests have always been for the prosperity of his native county, and whatever promises to be of benefit finds in him a hearty supporter. He has never married, but makes his home with a sister on the old home farm. He has been in- dustrious and frugal, and has made many improvements on the farm. In politics he is a Democrat.
G J. EBRIGHT. the owner of the Longmeadow Stock Farm, in Plain Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, is a son of A. B. and Tamar ( Freese ) Eb- right, both natives of Pennsylvania. A. B. Ebright came to Ohio with his parents in 1831. He started in life without any worklly possessions, but with willing
hands and a determination to succeed. He tanght school for a period of fourteen years, in four sub-districts of Plain Town- ship. His first purchase of land was the farm now owned by his son, J. D. Ebright, in 1843. By prudence and industry he accumulated an excellent competency. which enabled him. before his death. to give each of his children a secure start in life. He was an active, efficient and consistent worker in and member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In educa- tional affairs he occupied the front rank in building up our common-school system. He was a great reader, a fluent talker, and well informed on the leading gnes- tions of the day. He devoted a liberal portion of his time to every enterprise for bettering the interests of Innanity. "The elements so mixed in him that Na- ture might stand up and say to all the world, this was a man."" In June. 1880, he was stricken with paralysis, by reason of which he gradually failed, till death relieved him of his sufferings July 27. 1997. His widow, Mas Tammer Eh- right. still survives him. As a helpmate, she was such in the highest sense of the word. Her life has been devoted to those with whom she was associated, exerting an influence by her Christian character that the sharp edges of the world cannot oflace. Their children were as follows: Francis, born April 19, 1912: Artmisa.
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born May 31, 1813, died September 13, 1869; E. F., born October 2, 18:45, living in Ashland County, Ohio; Ulalia, born May 11, 1851, died in August, 1855; M. C., born December 2, 1853, died April 13, 1879; G. J., born September 5, 1856; J. D., born June 17, 1859.
G. J. Ebright attended a commercial school at Akron, Ohio, and Vermillion Institute, Hayesville, Ohio, after which he taught school for five years, then set- tled in Plain Township, where he follows farming and breeding thorough - bred Short-horn cattle. He is a man in which the characteristics of his father are strong- ly stamped, being energetic and a man of the day. In 1882 he married Ella Os- wald, of Wayne County, Ohio, and their union has been blessed with the following- named children: Ulalia, born July 13, 1883; Melville, born August 5, 1885, both living. Mr. Ebright and family are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
D R. WILLIAM W. TAGGART, one of the well-known and highly es- teemed physicians of Wooster, Wayne County, was born in Belmont County, Ohio, August 20, 1819. His 1 grandfather, John Taggart, came to the United States from Ireland in 1771, and
on the breaking out of the Revolution entered the ranks of the Continental army, serving until the close of the struggle. By occupation he was a farmer, living first in York County, Penn., and from there removing to Jefferson County, Ohio, and finally to Belmout County, same, State. where he died in October, 1530, at the age of about eighty years. His wife, whose maiden name was Jane MeCartney, bore him uine children, four sons and five daughters.
Isaac Taggart, father of the subject of this memoir, and also a farmer, was a na- tive of Little York, Penn., born in 1750. He came with his parents to Jefferson County, Ohio, about the year 1797, and here grew to. manhood on his father's farm. At the breaking out of the War of 1812 he enlisted in the army, and spent one winter in camp at Mansfield, Ohio. After the war hereturned to the farm, and married Margaret, daughter of William and Margaret (Jackson) MeCaughey, and a native of Chester County, Penn. Both her parents came from Ireland to Amer- iea abont the year 1770, and her father became a soldier in the War of the Revo- Ition. About 1801 they moved to Jeffer- son County, Ohio, where Mr. MeCaughey followed his trade, that of weaver, and in 1836 he broke the thread of life, at the age of over seventy years. His widow died at the home of her daughter (the
Mym W. Taggart M.s.
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mother of our subjeet ), in Belmont County, Ohio, in her ninety-fourth year. Two sons and four danghters blessed their wedded life. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Taggart moved to Behnont County, Ohio, where they set to work to clear for themselves a home ont of the forest. John Taggart had purchased here 400 acres of wild land, and gave each of three of his sons 100 acres. On this l'arm they spent the remainder of their lives, and in June, 1830, Mr. Taggart was enlled from his labors; his widow died in 1869, at the age of ninety-three years. They were quiet, progressive people, Mr. Taggart taking little active part in polit- ical affairs. His widow retained her memory to a remarkable degree up to the day of her death. They were the parents of five children who grew to maturity, four sons and one daughter, all of whom, save our subject and one brother, have passed from earth. Of these, Isaac. an M. D., died in Belmont County, Ohio, in 1862; John, a farmer, died in Illinois in 1886; Margaret died at the age of eight- een years; Joseph now resides on the old homestend.
Dr. Taggart, the subject of this com- memorntive sketch, was but eleven years old when his Inther died, and being the eldest son in the family hnd carly in life to assume the duties of a man- working on the farm in summer, and attending the
old-time district schools in winter. When in his seventeenth yeur he commeneed school-teaching, a profession he followed for five terms. His summers he spent at Franklin College and in private schools, where he was prosecuting his literary studies; but having made up his mind that the medical profession should be his life-work, he began its study in the spring of 1841, in the office of Dr. H. West, of St. Clairsville, Ohio, with whom he remained two years, during which time he attended a course of lectures at Wil- longhby, same State. In the spring of 1843 he commenced practice at Vienna, Harrison Co., Ohio, but, not liking the place, he came to Wayne County in June, saine year, locating at Smithville. In 1846-47 he attended a course of lectures at Cleveland Medical College, from which he graduated the same year. June 1. 1813, Dr. Taggart was mited in marriage with Margaret McCaughey, daughter of William and Jane McCoy, and a native of Stark County, Ohio, born in March, 1817, and together they came to Smith- ville, ns above related. In 1860 he bought a farm some two miles cust of Wooster, on which he resided eight years, still practicing his profession, and in 1565 he moved finally to the city of Wooster, where he has since made his home. On the 23d of January, 1554, death took from him his beloved wife, then in her
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sixty seventh year. She was au esteemed member of the United Presbyterian Church, and an active worker in the Wo- man's Mission Society. She wasa woman of much more than ordinary exeentive ability, and was a successful teacher, a fond and devoted wife and mother, and her memory is fondly cherished by hus- band and children. She left four chil- dren. as follows: William Rush, who was for eleven years attorney for the Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad at Salem, Ohio, now practicing law in New York City; Frank, a lawyer in Wooster, Ohio; Clementine, keeping house for her father, and Margaret, now the wife of J. M. Greenslade, superintendent of public schools at Lima, Ohio.
The Doctor cast his first vote for Van Buren, in 1810, and remained a Democrat until 1854, when, not agreeing with his party on the slavery question, he became one of the organizers of the Republican party in Wayne County. In 1856 he be- came a candidate for the State Legisla- ture, but the county ( Wayne) was too Democratie to admit of his success in the campaign. During the War of the Rebellion the Doctor was in the Govern- ment service as examining surgeon for the first draft. In 1862 he became surgeon of the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio Volunteer fufantry, but. his health failing, he was compelled to return to Wooster, years, and the mother followed him to the
where for a time he was assistant exam- iner in the marshal's office. Dr. Taggart is an older in the United Presbyterian Church of Wooster, of which for many years he has been a prominent member. His life, both professionally and socially, has been a very active one, and now, at the age of seventy years, he is gradually retiring from the busy world, in the quiet enjoyment of the respect and esteem of a wide circle of friends.
G APT. G. P. EMRICH. This well- known gentleman is a native of Berks County, Penn., born Septem- ber 15, 1821. and is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth ( Keiser) Emrich, both born in the same county. His father was by oc- cupation a Farmer, and For several years after his marriage remained in Berks County, but in the spring of 1831 he determined to try his fortunes in Ohio, and made the journey, with his wife and four children, by wagon across the mount- ains. They safely reached their destina- tion in Wayne County, and settled on a Farm which he bought four miles north of Wooster, in Wayne Township, on which they passed the rest of their lives. The father died in August, 1563, aged seventy
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great hereafter in December following. They had spent a long and happy life to- gether, and in death were not long sun- dered. This worthy couple had one son and three daughters, as follows: Cather- ine, widow of Benjamin Norton, of Reeds- burgh. Wayne County: Lucetta, wife of W. D. Rath, of Wayne Township; G. P., and Lydia, wife of Dr. W. H. Hayes, of Lansing, Mich. The father was a pub- lie-spirited man, and an ardent worker in every enterprise for the good of Wayne County, where he owned a considerable quantity of land. From childhood he and his wife had been members of the Lutheran Church, and both possessed in a marked degree the confidence of their fellow-men.
The early life of the subject of this sketch was passed ou his father's farm, which he afterward owned. His earliest education was received in the primitive district schools of the day, but after com- ing to Ohio he had an opportunity to at- tend a select school, established to meet the need felt for a better education than was common at that day. When twenty- two years old he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Fryberger, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Fryberger, of Berks County, Penn. After a happy wedded life of about a score of years, she passed to . Wooster, Ohio.
her last sleep in April, 1863, at the age of Forty-one years, leaving four children,
viz .: Elizabeth L., wife of Rev. C. E. MeKane, of Kansas City, Kans .; Jacob W .. a manufacturer of Toledo, Ohio: Alice, now Mrs. W. H. Felger. of Mansfield, Ohio, and Florence, wife of Rev. C. H. Rockey, of Columbia City, Ind. In 1862. the Civil War being in progress, Mr. Emrich raised a company for the One Hundred and Twentieth Regiment Ohio Infantry, and was commissioned its captain. He saw active service, and took part in the siege of Vicksburg. the battle of Arkansas Post, and in minor engagements. On account of failing health he resigned April 1, 1863, and reached home but two weeks before the death of his faithful wife.
In August, 1565, Capt. Emrich was again married, his bride being Miss Kate Garver, daughter of Jacob and Mary ( Lu- .cas) Garver. Ilor father was an early settler in Wayne Conuty, and a leading Alder in the Dunkard Church. Capt. Emrich owned the homestead farm, on which he made his home until the spring of 1850. By this second nion two chil- dren were born: Charles F., a resident of San Antonio, Tox., and Edward L., a graduate in the classical course of Woos- ter University of the class of ISS9. how engaged in the study of medicine in the office of Drs. d. H. Stoll & Ryall, in
In 1859 the brick for our subject's commodious home on North Market.
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Street, Wooster, was made on the home farm, and the house was built in 1860. That same year the Captain was a candi- date for the office of county clerk, but, being an ardent Republican, while the county was strongly Democratie, he was naturally defeated, although running sev- eral hundred ahead of his ticket, showing the estimation in which be is held by those who know him best. Several years later he was a candidate for county treasurer, and again he was nearly elected. In the town- ship of Wayne he was elected township clerk and justice of the peace a number of terms.
cet for the good of the neighborhood and county. Both he and his wife attend the Presbyterian Church of Wooster, and the latter is closely identified with the wom- en's organizations of the church. He is a Master Mason, and a member of the G. A. R.
0 N. STODDARD, LL. D., of Woos- ter, Wayne Co., Ohio, is a descend- ant of the well-known Massachusetts family of that name, his ancestors having been among the Puritans who settled in Boston at an early day. His grandfather. Orange Stoddard, was a general in the Continental army during the struggle for independence. His father, James Stod- dard, was married to Miss Lucy Steel.
In 1880 Capt. Emrich left the farm and came to the home which he had built in Wooster, and has ever since resided there. With four others he formed a banking association in 1865, under the name of Bonewitz, Emrich & Co., which afterward The subject of these lines was born August 23, 1512. in the State of New York, and received his education at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., graduating in 1836. He then spent a few years in Virginia, two and a half years in Wash- ington, D. C., and three years in Ken- became the National Bank of Wooster, and was president of the same for fifteen years. Their business was not confined to Wayne County, they having business connections elsewhere, notably in Phila- delphia and New York. Capt. Emrich also engaged in dealing in real ostate, , tucky, and in IS-45 became identified with which he is still following at this writing. the Miami University, where he filled the 1 chair of natural science and chemistry. and for a time was president pro lem. This position he resigned in 1870, remor- ing to Wooster to accept a professorship He is an outspoken, thorough-going busi- ness man, whose word can always be de- pended upon, and who possesses the con- fidence and respect of those who know him. He is ever willing to help any proj- in the university there, which had just
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been opened. In this connection he con- tinned until . 1854, when he resigned. Since then Dr. Stoddard has given a year- ly course of lectures to the senior class of the university upon the " Relations of Mind to Body." While at the Miami University Dr. Stoddard kept complete records of the rain and snow fall, temper- ature, etc., and since coming to Wooster has given the same subjects considerable attention, reporting the results of his ob- servations to the Ohio Bureau of Meteor- ologieal Research, and also to the Weather Bureau at Washington.
Dr. Stoddard has been three times mar- ried. His first wife lived only about fif- teen months, and died in Washington, D. C. His family consists of four dangh- ters by his second marriage: the chlest is Mrs. Lucy S. Hamilton, of Washington Court House, Fayette Co., Ohio; Mrs. Alice Ankeney, of Alpha, Ohio; Louise W., who is unmarried and living with her father, and Mrs. Mary S. Longbrake, of Minneapolis, Min. The Doctor is a man of decided political views, but has never taken an active part in public affairs. Hle | Lisbon, Columbiana Co., Ohio, whither is a member of the Presbyterian Church ut Wooster, and for forty years has been to the War of 1812. These offices ho an older in that denomination. The pres- held nearly the whole time he remained ent wife of Dr. Stoddard, to whom he was ! in the county. In the spring of 1518 married in 1886, was Mrs. Mary J. Cul- , President Madison issued a call for a bertson, a daughter of the well-known special session of Congress, and Mr. Beall Gen. Reasin Beall. She was born in was chosen to a seat, where he served with
what is now the flourishing city of Woos- der, but the site of which was then a farm. In this place her life has been principally passed. She was the youngest of eight daughters. Her parents had but one son, who died before reaching three years of age.
GEN. BEALL was a native of Maryland, born in Montgomery County in 1769. His father, Zephaniah Beall, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and he himself was a soldier in the War of 1812, serving with Gen. William H. Harrison in " Mad " Anthony Wayne's command, being made an ensign at the time of the latter's ap- pointinent, and he was a warm personal friend of the afterward President Harri- son. He also, in 1790, took part in an expedition fitted out to march against the Indians on the Miami. His civil career was no less distinguished. When but fourteen years oldl be entered the office of Hon. Thomas Scott, prothonotary of Washington County, Penn., and later was clerk of the court of common pleas, and also of the supreme court. at New The had moved from Pennsylvania prior
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credit to himself and satisfactorily to his constituents. In 1815 Gen. Beall removed to Wooster, and was appointed register of the land office at that place. This position he held until 1824, when he re- signed it. In 1840 he was chosen a presi- dential elector, and had the satisfaction of casting his vote for his old friend, Gen. Harrison. November 4, 1794, Gen. Beall was nnited in marriage with Miss Rebecca Johnson, who bore him nine children, Mrs. Stoddard being the sole survivor. The mother passed from earth August 30, 1840, and two and a half years later her husband joined her on the other shore, dying February 20, 18443, and two days later his body was interred in the Wooster Cemetery with military honors.
native of Chambersburgh, Franklin Co., Penn., born in 1803. He grew to manhood in his native county, where he learned the trade of shoemaking, and in 1824, when twenty-one years of age, was united in marriage with Naney Ann Rodocker, a na- tive of York County, Penn., who had been reared near Massillon, Ohio, where her par- ents had settled when she was bet six years of age. Of their marriage eleveu sons were born, of whom there are now surviving but our subject and one brother, Isaiah B., of Sugar Creek Township, in this county.
Peter Shilling and his family decided to make Wayne County their home, and here the father cultivated a farm, and for a number of years carried on his trade in Such is in brief the record of the life of one who bore no insignificant part in the history of his times. A man of ability and of undoubted integrity, he left his , impress on the community in which he connection therewith. In 1879 the last summons came to the mother, who passed away at the age of seventy-eight years. having been born in 1801, and in 1ss1 the husband and father followed his life's lived, and in the guidance of whose public partner to the grave, aged seventy-eight affairs he took a leading part, and his , years also. Mr. Shilling was one of the death was regarded as a public loss.
founders of the Reformed Lutheran Church at West Lebanon, in Sugar Creek Township, and always remained a pions and consistent member. He and his wife enjoyed the esteem of the community, and were universally respected for their good qualities and upright lives. The paternal ancestors of the family were of English-
S S. SHILLING, one of Wooster's well-known citizens, is a native of Wayne County, born October 30, 1828. His Father, Peter Shilling, was a German origin, and on the maternal side
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were of Dutch extraction, and had settled in this country in Puritan times.
S. S. Shilling, the subject of our sketch, was reared upon the farm, and received his education in the log school-house of the period. At the age of seventeen he was hired out to a neighbor to work for seven months for $50 and his board. The fol- lowing June he attended school at Mas- sillon, Ohio, and the ensuing winter he began teaching. This occupation he fol- lowed for four winters, and in 1849 learned the new art of daguerreotyping, and opened a gallery at Massillon. Two years later he removed to Canton, Ohio, and the following year, 1552, was united in mar- riage with Miss Allatha Cole, daughter of Joshua and Caroline ( Armstrong ) Cole, a native of Richinond, Jefferson Co., Ohio. Her paternal ancestors were of English lineage, and her grandparents were na- tives of Maryland. On her maternal side her ancestors came from Ireland, at a very early day in the history of the country. When Mrs. Shilling was but eight years of age her parents removed to Stark County, !
Ohio, where the husband and father went to his last sleep in 1881, at the age of eighty-two years. The widowed mother still lives on the home farm, and is now (1558) aged eighty-six years. To this worthy couple had been born eight chil- dren, of whom but three now survive, and Mrs. Shilling is the only one in Wayne
County. Mr. Cole, by reason of his un- failing good nature, was familiarly known by all who knew him as " Unele Josh," and was noted as a fine marksman, a de- sirable accomplishment in those times. He was strongly attached to the Repub- lican party from its formation ; was a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church; was in every way highly esteemed by all who knew him, and was greatly missed.
After his marriage our subject moved to West Lebanon, where he engaged in mercantile business, which he carried on there until 1861, when he removed to Wooster, and built the house which has since been his home. He was engaged in MeDonald's foundry at Wooster. He was a member of the Wooster National Guards, and in 1861 was called out, and went with his company to Washington, whence they were sent to man Fort Ethan Allen. near Georgetown, on the Potomac. The guards were discharged in Septem- ber, and on his return to Wooster Mr. | Shilling resumed his employment in the iron works, where hecontinued until 157 1. when he purchased the Newman Bus Line, which he ran for twelve years, when he retired from the more arduons labors of life, and has since been engaged in busi- ness as a broker, taking life more easy.
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