County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical, Part 66

Author: Weston A. Goodspeed, Charles Blanchard
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 885

USA > Ohio > Williams County > County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical > Part 66

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EMANUEL FIGGINS is the fourth of a family of five children born to Samuel and Lydia (Fiddler) Figgins ; is a native of Brady Town- ship, and was born October 30, 1855. His father and mother are natives of Richland County, Ohio, and of Pennsylvania. They were married in Richland County, April 16, 1846, and there the father worked for a time in a woolen factory, near Mansfield, and afterward engaged in farming on shares. About 1850, he came with his wife and family to this town- ship, bought eighty acres of unimproved land, built a cabin, and cleared up a farm, which is now highly improved and is owned by Emanuel, Mr. Figgins having died August 16, 1879, a prominent member of the M. E. Church. Mrs. Lydia Figgins, also a member of the Methodist Church, died May 8, 1877. Emanuel Figgins received a fair education in his youth, and on June 4, 1876, married Sophena Altaffer, a native of Jeffer- son Township, this county, and daughter of Frederick and Sarah A. (Meng) Altaffer, natives, respectively, of Virginia and Richland County, Ohio. The three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Figgins are named Samuel F., Clinton O. and Bertha May. Mr. Figgins is a Republican in politics, and he is one of the enterprising young farmers of Brady.

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GEORGE W. FINCH, M. D. (deceased). Something over thirty- six years ago, Dr. George W. Finch and wife came to West Unity, his worldly possessions consisting of a horse and $10 in cash. The cash, with the exception of 50 cents, he expended for medicines, and immedi- ately began the practice of his profession. He rapidly rose in the confi- dence and esteem of the people, and erelong had an extensive and lucrative practice. The year following his arrival, he erected an office, and soon after, on the same lot, constructed what at that time was thought a fine residence. Dr. Finch was born in Belmont County, Ohio, June 15, 1819, and was a son of Nathaniel Finch, a native of New Jersey, and of Scotch and Irish descent. At the age of three, George W. was taken by his parents to Richland County, where his youth was passed on his father's farm. He was educated at Delaware College, and at the age of twenty-two commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Teagarden, of Mansfield; and, after graduating, began practice at Frederickstown, Ohio. He was first married to Mary Morrow, a native of Richland County, who bore him five children, two of whom only are now living-George W. and Mary M. Mrs. Finch died at her home in West Unity, in September, 1865, a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. January 1, 1877, Dr. Finch married Mrs. Lucy E., widow of Dr. Samuel Eckis, but shortly after died at his home, July 13, 1879. He was a member of the order of A., F. & A. M., and was a fine scholar, a superior physician and a high-minded gentleman. His widow, Mrs. Lucy E. Finch, was born in Ellsworth, Mahoning County, Ohio, April 17, 1823, and is a daughter of James and Mary (Smith) Byers, American born, but of Scotch ances- try. She was educated at an Academy in Atwater, Ohio, and at the age of twenty-three married Samuel Eckis. They read medicine together, and graduated in the same class at Cincinnati, in 1852, and together practiced medicine for several years in Southern Illinois, where, in 1859, Dr. Eckis died. After his death, Mrs. Eckis taught school for several years in Southern Ohio and Indiana. In 1864, she came to West Unity, and was employed as the Principal of the High School for three years- until her marriage with Dr. Finch-after which she became the almost constant companion of the Doctor in his office and in his practice. At his death, she took up and has since continued the extensive practice left by him, and has met with marked and unusual success. She is well skilled in her profession, and is a lady of fine literary attainments.

GEORGE W. GRINDLE was born in Wayne County, Ohio, March 16, 1836, and is the oldest of the five living children of Abraham and Susanna (Gill) Grindle, of Cumberland County, Penn. Abraham Grindle came to this State when a young man ; was married in Wayne County ; was engaged in various pursuits in different parts of the State until 1864,

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when he came to West Unity, where he is living, retired, at the age of seventy-four. He is now, and has been for fifty years, a member of the Church of God. George W. Grindle enlisted in August, 1861, as a private in Company I, Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the greater part of which company he had recruited. In August, 1862, he was promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant, and transferred to the regular Quartermaster's Department; next, he was detailed as Orderly on Gen. Nelson's staff, and at the commencement of the Vicksburg campaign, in 1863, was attached to the staff of Gen. Dacorda as Orderly, and afterward to that of Gen. McClernand, by whom he was promoted to a Second Lieutenancy. In December, 1863, he was appointed Deputy Provost Mar- shal of the Fourteenth Ohio District, under Capt. Drake; was returned to the Quartermaster's Department at Nashville in August, 1864 ; he resigned in November, and in January, 1865, came back to West Unity and re- cruited three companies in this and Fulton Counties; he was commis- sioned First Lieutenant, April 13, 1865, and was mustered out in Sep- tember, 1865. Mr. Grindle has been three times married, and is now engaged in the stationery business at West Unity. He is one of the charter members of Royer Post, No. 109, G. A. R.

WILLIAM B. HAGER was born in Vermont, March 15, 1819, one of the seven children of Simeon and Mary (Baldwin) Hager, natives respectively of Massachusetts and Vermont. The father was a Revolu- tionary soldier, and was under Washington at the battle of Yorktown, Va. He came to Union County, Ohio, in 1820, and afterward moved to Madison County, where he died in 1843. W. B. Hager, though receiv- ing only the ordinary education in the log schoolhouse of his youth, is a man of extensive reading, and is well informed in general matters. In 1848, he left the homestead, which had been willed to him and his young- est brother, and engaged in the tanning business in Union County, Ohio, with a brother-in-law, William McCune. In 1855, he came to Montpelier, this county, and operated a flouring-mill and woolen factory till Septem- ber, 1861, when he enlisted in Company E, Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry ; was soon appointed Drum Major, and as such served till Octo- ber, 1862, when failing health necessitated his discharge. Immediately thereafter, he received a Lieutenant's commission and was detailed to recruiting service, and so served till the close of the war. In 1862, he moved to West Unity, and operated a woolen mill at that point from 1865 to 1880, when he was appointed to his present position of second assistant engineer at the State House in Columbus. He was married, in 1843, to Miss Amanda Pennington, of Union County, Ohio, and daughter of Thomas and Ann E. (Holliway) Pennington, and by her became the father of three children. Mr. Hager has been a Notary

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Public and Township Clerk for Brady Township for several years. He, as well as his wife, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a local preacher. Also a member of Superior Lodge, No. 179, A., F. & A. M., and of Royer Post, No. 109, G. A. R. He is & local writer of some note, and in 1853 published a volume of poems, entitled "The Green Mountain Buckeye's Lament."

FRANK O. HART, M. D., was born in Pulaski Township, this county, May 22, 1855, and is the eldest of the three children of Julius C. and Martha M. (Fish) Hart. Julius C. Hart was of New England ancestry, and a direct descendant of John Hart, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. One of the Hart family received a large military land grant on the Western Reserve, in payment for services rendered during the Revolutionary struggle, and to this, with many of his relatives, he emigrated at a very early day. Julius C. Hart came to this township with his parents when but a small boy, and was here reared amid all the hardships and privations of a frontier life. He taught several terms of school in this and Fulton Counties, and in the fall of 1861 he enlisted as a private in Company E, Sixty-eighth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, and served till the close of the war, when he was appoint- ed United States Detective for Tennessee. He died at Nashville, May 1, 1870, and was buried with Masonic honors. Frank O. Hart was educated at the Shelby High School, in Richland County, Ohio, and in September, 1873, commenced the study of medicine with Dr. J. C. Clay, at Shelby He graduated at Cincinnati in' 1877, and at once began prac- tice at West Unity, where ever since he has been meeting with every success. He has a fine library, and is posessor of one of the rarest collections of relics of the Mound-Builders to be found in the United States. December 19, 1878, he married Celesta A. Arter, a native of Crawford County, Ohio, and daughter of C. M. and Harriet (Beam) Arter. The Doctor is an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Patriarchal Circle, and in 1880 was elected Coroner of the County by the Republicans. He is the father of one child-Lena M., born January 1, 1882.

BENJ. HARTMAN is the second of a family of ten children, six of whom are still living, born to Henry H. and Leah (Lookinbill) Hartman, natives respectively of Perry and Berks Counties, Penn. He was born in Berks County, Penn., January 15, 1831. Henry H .. Hartman, between the ages of sixteen and twenty, worked at the carpenter's trade, and for two years after at coffee-mill manufacturing, near Pottsville ; he then went to Perry County, bought an eighty-acre farm, sold out in 1846, and went to Cumberland County, where he engaged in farming until 1854, when he came to West Unity and operated an ashery for two years ; he then built a distillery at the same place, which he ran for about two years,

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and then retired from active business to his farm of eighty acres north- west of the town. He was three times married-first, in Pennsylvania, to the mother of Benjamin, who died in 1843 ; second, to Anna McFar- lin, who died at West Unity, in October, 1878; third, to Mrs. Susan Crum, in April, 1879. Benj. Hartman worked with his father until twenty-one years of age; then worked for a year in a tan factory, and then, in 1852, came to Brady Township, where he worked out for four years. In 1856, he bought an unimproved farm, which now comprises 110 acres, all under a high state of cultivation and well improved. He also purchased other land, which he has deeded to his children. He was married in January, 1858, to Lavinia A. Shoemaker, a native of Summit County, Ohio, and daughter of John and Anna (Belford) Shoemaker, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Hartman have had six children, five of whom are still living-John H., George R., Edward, Jacob and Cora M In politics, Mr. H. is a Demo- crat, and is an enterprising citizen.

ALMON W. HAYES is the eldest of five children born to Almon and Esther C. (Betts) Hayes, natives of Hartford County, Conn. Almon Hayes, Sr., was a blacksmith, and came with his wife to Richland County, Ohio, in July, 1820, where, on the 13th of September following, Almon W. Hayes was born. Mr. Hayes entered a tract of 100 acres in Rich- land, then an unbroken forest, built a log cabin and cleared up a farm, and there resided until his death in 1856. He had been School Exam- iner for five years, and for many years was a member of the M. E. Church, of which his widow, who still resides on the homestead, is also a member. Almon W. Hayes worked on his father's farm and in the blacksmith shop until 1844, when he came to Brady Township, where he bought eighty acres of unimproved land, built a cabin, and put in a crop of wheat, and, in 1846, brought in his family. He still occupies this land, which is now well improved. Mr. Hayes assisted in building the first schoolhouse in his district, which was the third built in the township. He dug the first grave in the cemetery near his home in September, 1849, and the last one July 25, 1882; in all, he has dug 412 graves in this cemetery. Mr. Hayes was the first to discover, concealed in a hollow log, the body of little David Schamp, who was murdered in 1847, by Daniel Heckerthorn and Andrew Tyler, an account of which will be found on page 241 in the his- torical department of this volume; and also assisted in the arrest of Tyler. Mr. Hayes was married, March 4, 1846, to Angeline Warren, a native of Geauga County, Ohio, and daughter of Orrin and Experience (Bartlett), Warren, natives of Vermont and Connecticut. Mr. Hayes is a Republican, and he and wife are members of the Evangelical Association. They have had born to them nine children, the youngest four of whom are still living.

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HINMAN & SON, undertakers. Richard Hinman, the senior part- ner of this firm, was born in Hartford County, Conn., June 25, 1805. His parents, Ared and Polly (Richards) Hinman, also natives of Con- necticut, came to Ashtabula County, this State, in 1831, but, owing to the hostility of the Indians, returned as far as New York State, where they remained four years, and then came back to Ashtabula ; resided there thirteen years ; moved thence to Beaver County, Penn., and then to Licking County, Ohio, where the father died in 1850; the mother died, November 1, 1858, at West Unity. At the age of nineteen, Rich- ard Hinman began to learn the carpenter's and joiner's trade at Morgan, Ohio ; served two years and a half, and then joined Lester Stevens in the manufacture of farming-mills, and subsequently carried on the same busi- ness at various other points. October 1, 1829, he married Miss Electa Root, daughter of William and Abigail Root. She was born in Con- necticut, May 12, 1811, and bore her busband a daughter and & son-Caroline, born August 21, 1829 (died May 8, 1843), and Wil- liam, born in Medina County, Ohio, October 1, 1831. Richard Hin- man came to West Unity in 1852; commenced work at carpenter- ing, but soon after started undertaking, at which he is still engaged. William Hinman, the junior partner, married, September 28, 1875, Miss Viola Coffee, daughter of Milton and Tacy (Haycock) Coffee, and to their union three children have been born-K. Pearl, Fidelia and Blanch Clio. William enlisted in the Third Ohio Cavalry August 20, 1861; took part in the battle of Shiloh, the pursuit and capture of John Morgan, the battle of Missionary Ridge, and many other skirmishes and light engagements. He was discharged under General Order No. 126, War Department, in August, 1862. He re-enlisted in the same company and regiment in 1864, and served till the close of the war, and was in the party that pur- sued and captured Jeff. Davis. He was mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., June 17, 1865. In politics, he is a Republican, a member of Lodge, No. 179, F. & A. M., and of Royer Post, No. 109, G. A. R.

RICHARD P. HOLLINGTON, retired merchant, was born in Worcestershire, England, March 28, 1822, the eldest of five children of Joseph and Mary (Perry) Hollington. The Hollingtons were remarkable for their longevity, and the grandmother of Richard P. reached the age of one hundred and four years. On her one hundredth birthday, she walked one mile and a half to visit her daughter, returning also on foot. Joseph Hollinger was a soap and candle manufacturer, and also a whole- sale grocer at Redditch. In 1833, he came with his wife and five chil- dren to this country and settled in Wood County, Ohio, then a wild country, where he entered 400 acres of land one mile south of Bowling Green, built a two-story log house and cleared a farm, and here died in

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1848. Although not a member, he was a regular attendant at church, was strictly moral and deeply religious. He was a fine scholar, an ex- cellent actor and a wonderful vocalist, having a strong, clear and melo- dious voice that ranged through three octaves, and at one time he had been offered liberal inducements to appear on the London stage. Richard P. Hollington received a very fair education in his native land, and in the seminaries of this country, and at the time of his father's death was at Berea, Ohio, attending school. He was appointed administrator of the estate, and performed his duties to the satisfaction of all concerned. He then engaged in the stock business for two and a half years on his own account, and as agent for a Cleveland firm ; and then went to Delta, Ful- ton County, and entered a general mercantile business and the manufact- ure of pot and pearl ash, in company with J. P. Gates, under the firm name of Gates & Hollington; a year later, moved to Johnson's Mills, same county, and took charge of a branch house, under the firm name of Hollington & Gates ; two years afterward, engaged in the same business in Burlington with John Lutes, under the style of Hollington & Lutes; four years after, he sold out and bought Johnson's flouring-mill and saw- mill in the same county, which he ran about three years. In the fall of 1860, he came to West Unity and resumed general merchandising, and, in 1865 or 1866, associated with him Mr. Elliott, under the firm name of Hollington & Elliott ; in April, 1881, he disposed of his mercantile busi- ness and retired. During all this time, he had been transacting a real estate business on his own account, having bought and sold over twenty farms in Fulton and Wood Counties, besides property in Toledo, Wauseon and Burlington. He is at present owner of several large farms in Will- iams, Wood and Fulton Counties and much valuable town property, and his residence at West Unity is the finest in the county. Mrs. H. was married, in 1849, to Mary A. Cummings, a native of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and daughter of Joseph and Lucy Cummings, of New England de- scent. To this marriage there has been left but one child, John A. Both Mr. and Mrs. H. are members of the M. E. Church, of which for about twenty-five years he has been a Steward, and never yet has he per- mitted a pastor to depart without receiving his salary. He is a Free- mason, and in politics is a Republican, but no office seeker, and has re- peatedly refused any remunerative office in town, county or State.

ANDREW J. HOOVER was born in Cumberland County, Penn., October 1, 1846, the second child in the family of six born to George W. and Rebecca M. Hoover. The family came to Williams County in 1852, and at the age of eighteen Andrew was apprenticed to Davis & Snedaker, tinners, at West Unity, and served three years. He hen made a trip for a year to Kansas and Nebraska, and on his return entered the employ

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of the same firm. Two years later, he formed a copartnership with W. H. Shepherd, and bought out Davis & Snedaker; ran the business about eighteen months, and then sold to Grisier Brothers in 1874. He pur- chased the stock of tin and tools, and is now, conducting a first-class hard- ware, tin and agricultural implement store. From 1876 to 1880, he served in the Common Council; in 1879 and 1880, was Township Trust- ee; in 1881, was Township Clerk, and was re-elected in 1882. October 20, 1872, Mr. Hoover married Miss Alice Ronk, daughter of James and Mary (Money) Ronk, and born in Fairfax County, Va., January 13, 1853. The children born to this marriage are Claud Earle and Arthur Guy. George W. Hoover, father of our subject, served during the late war in the One Hundred and Ninety-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was in the army of the Potomac. His mother, Mrs. Rebecca M. Hoover, died in Mill Creek Township, December 1, 1877, and her re- mains lie in the Master's Cemetery, four miles northeast of West Unity. His maternal grandfather, David M. Baird, died in 1873, and was buried in the Schiffler Graveyard.

ALONZO R. HYATT was born in Lockport, Brady Township, Septem- ber 7, 1846, and is the eldest of the four children of Seth B. and Eleanor (Bodel) Hyatt, natives of Wayne and Ross Counties, this State. Seth B. Hyatt came to Brady Township about 1843; taught school a few years ; was elected County Surveyor, which office he filled for fifteen or sixteen years, and here was married. Mrs. Eleanor Hyatt died in February, 1855, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Hyatt then moved to Bryan, and engaged in the grocery trade. In May, 1856, he married Miss Emily Keeler, a native of Huron County, Ohio, and daugh- ter of Louis and Rebecca (Stephens) Keeler, of England. In the spring of 1857, Mr. Hyatt withdrew from trade, and retired to his farm in the township; but in 1864 returned to town, where he has since been en- gaged in the brokerage business. Alonzo R. Hyatt received a fair edu- cation when young, and worked on his father's farm until January, 1864, when he enlisted in Company C, Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with his regiment until the close of the war, participating in all the battles of the Atlanta campaign, and receiving a severe wound in the left thigh at Jonesboro. He was mustered out at Cleveland, in August, 1865, and then worked at various points in Ohio and Indiana for several years. December 2, 1873, he married Emily L., daughter of Lemuel M. and Melisendra (Hart) Boothman, and native of Jefferson Township, this county. In March, 1874, he moved upon the old farm in Brady, and there he still resides. He is the father of two living children -Donald A. and Conroy E., and there was one born to him now

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deceased. In politics, Mr. Hyatt is a Republican, and his family is among the highly respected of the township.

MATTHIAS KELLY, son of John and Christina (Brothers) Kelly, was born in Stark County, Ohio, October 18, 1827. He is a woolen manufacturer, and began learning his trade at fifteen, and followed it until he came to this county in 1851. Then he went into the lumbering trade in Pulaski Township, and was quite successful for thirteen years. In 1866, heengaged again in the wool carding, cloth dressing and dyeing busi- ness in Pioneer, and in 1868, with others, erected a large mill. This last venture did not prove satisfactory, and Mr. Kelly sold out and moved to Bryan. Eighteen months later, he returned to Pioneer, and with a partner again ventured in milling. This did not pay as well as expected. He sold his interest and came to West Unity, in 1878, and took charge of the woolen mill here, of which he has had the superintendence ever since. In the spring of 1881, he started eight hose-knitting machines, which were destroyed by fire, August 14, 1882, but soon replaced. Of these machines Mrs. Kelly has sole charge. December 5, 1850, he mar- ried Miss Caroline L. Allis, born in Hampshire County, Mass., October 3, 1831, and daughter of Lemuel and Lydia L. (Beals) Allis. She came to Ohio at the age of three, had the advantage of an academic education, began teaching at the age of fifteen, and so continued until her marriage. She has borne her husband six children, three of whom are living- Edwin R., Ida P. and Howard Burt.

STANLEY KENT, Postmaster of West Unity, was born in Colum- biana County, Ohio, August 3, 1832. He is & son of Dr. Thomas Kent, of Bryan, one of the foremost physicians of Williams County, whose biography will be found in another part of this work: Stanley Kent was educated at Bryan, and at the age of sixteen began to learn to be a cabi- net-maker. After finishing his apprenticeship, he worked two years as journeyman and then set up in business for himself. In 1851, he came to West Unity and entered the dry goods store of A. J. Tressler as clerk, and remained with him till he sold out in 1860; then engaged with Mr. R. P. Hollington, successor of Mr. Tressler, with whom he remained till 1866 ; then formed a copartnership with D. C. Baxter and carried on trade under the firm name of Baxter & Kent until 1871, when Mr. Baxter accepted the position of cashier in the First National Bank of Bryan ; he then formed a partnership with E. C. Orton in the dry goods and general merchandise trade, and in 1874 bought out his partner's interest and con- tinued the business until 1876, when reverses caused him to suspend until 1880, when he resumed the business and continued it till he sold out to A. P. Grisier. In August, 1881, he started the grocery trade in connection with the post office, the appointment to which latter he re-

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ceived in November, 1871, and which he still retains. March 16, 1859, he married Miss Sarah J. Baxter, who was born in Richland County, Ohio, in 1835, and to their union have born two children, viz .: Leland B., September 13, 1861; and Frank A., June 19, 1864. Mr. Kent is an active business man and a public-spirited citizen, and in politics is a Republican.

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County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical, Part 66

Author: Weston A. Goodspeed, Charles Blanchard Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 885

Author: Weston A. Goodspeed, Charles Blanchard
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 885