USA > Ohio > Coshocton County > Historical collections of Coshocton County, Ohio : > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21
255
Brief Biographical Sketches.
Matthew Trimble died at his home in Perry township, March 13, 1871. He was a native of Donegal, Ireland ; had been many years in Coshocton county. He was sixty- six years of age. Was a devout member of the Protestant Episcopal church.
William Pancake died May 26, 1867, in Warsaw. He was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and in early life removed to Colum- biana county, and thence, after a few years, to Coshocton county, where he married, and became a permanent resi- dent. Ile was in his seventy-fifth year. Had been many years a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Reuben B. Whittaker, for more than forty years a resident of Coshocton county, died on his farm, in Jefferson town- ship, on the 11th of April, 1868, in the sixty-eighth year of his age.
Rev. James W. Pigman was born near the town of Cresap, Allegheny county, Md., in 1806; settled in Coshocton in 1810. His connection with the Methodist Episcopal church commenced in 1837, and he continued as a local preacher until 1866, when he became a minister in the Christian Union church, and so continued until his death, which occurred in Perry township October 26, 1869.
Samuel Brilhart died at his home, in Monroe township, September 23, 1870, in his seventy-sixth year. IIe emi- grated from the State of Virginia in 1836; was one of the pioneers of Monroe township. He was a member of the Nazarene Baptist church, and left quite a large family.
Matthew Ferguson, a well-known resident of Roscoe, died of apoplexy on March 4, 1871, in the eightieth year of his age. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1792, lived for a time in Zanesville, then ten years in Coshocton, passing thence to Roscoe, where was his home for thirty-seven years. He was a hatter by trade. He was several times elected a justice of the peace. Ile married Miss Mary Smeltzer in
256
Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
1819, by whom he had twelve children. He was a " char- ter member of Coshocton Lodge of Masons."
John C. Tidball was born June 5, 1801, in what then was Allegheny county (now Lawrence), Pa. He graduated at Jefferson College; was ordained a minister in the Presbyte- rian church, in 1826, at Island Creek, O. He subsequently preached at Morrisville, Belmont county. His unques- tionable ability was connected with a certain measure of eccentricity which frequently involved him in more or less of trouble, often leading to expostulations on the part of his brethren in the ministry, under which he grew some- what restive. While in Belmont county, he became more and more dissatisfied with the position of his own and also · of kindred churches upon the matter of slavery. Meanwhile his health was quite impaired. In this state of things, he turned to the law, and having read with Carlo C. Carroll, of Belmont county, was admitted to the bar, practically demitting the ministry. He came to Coshocton in 1848, and practiced more or less until his death. His keen insight and earnest and impassioned delivery were marked features in his practice; but calm investigation and cool judgment were not always so apparent, and his success in business was only moderate. His thorough clas- sical education made him a valuable man in school matters, and to his efforts must, in some considerable amount, be attributed the deepened and enlarged interest in education apparent in the town of Coshocton soon after he came into it. He connected himself with first the one and then the other of the Presbyterian churches of Coshocton, and main- tained his position as a Christian man unto the last. He had in earlier days paid no little attention to medical mat- ters, and was ready on all occasions to visit the sick, and make himself useful in times of affliction. He was a very zealous politician-intensely anti-slavery. He had, how- ever, little disposition to carry his partisanship into his social relations, and was in every way a kind neighbor and clever citizen. He had a large vein of humor, and keenly relished the ludicrous. His power of facial expression was
257
Brief Biographical Sketches.
wonderful-quite in the style of his friend, Sam Galloway, of Columbus.
In the summer of 1863, he got word of the serious illness of a son, then in the army at Vicksburg, and against the counsels of his friends he went to visit him. The son recovered before the father reached the place; but the old gentleman took sick, struggled back home, and died in a few days, on the 11th of August, 1863.
While preaching at Island Creek, he married Miss Hun- ter, who, with her children, N. R., Haddasah, and W. S. Tidball, still live in Coshocton. Theophilus Tidball, of Bedford township, is a foster-child, adopted when an in- fant.
Joseph B. Crowley was, as the son of an old citizen (John Crowley), much in public service, as a soldier in the Mexi- can war, and for his manly appearance and social habits very highly esteemed by a large circle of acquaintances. He was born October 24, 1837, and died in the prime of his manhood, being at the time of his death fairly entered upon his thirty-seventh year. He married, in 1855, Miss Louisa Williams, who, with one child, survived him.
Clark Johns was born in New Castle township, and died in Coshocton, in his young manhood, June 13, 1863. The " lot " having designated him for a soldier, he, taking his privilege, enlisted in one of the companies which had gone out from Coshocton, where his home and business had been for some time. He was soon promoted to be lieutenant ; was taken sick, sent home, and died in a few days, on date above given. He married the daughter of John Burt, and left her and one child.
C. C. Nichols, son of Eli Nichols, of New Castle town- ship, died in hospital at Clifton, Tennessee, January 14, 1865. He was forty-two years of age, and held the rank of captain in the 183d regiment of Ohio volunteers. His remains were finally placed in the home cemetery. "He was," says a friend, " the child of ups and downs." He
258
Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
was present at the first sack of Lawrence, Kansas, and gave his aid in making that state a free state. He after- ward spent some time in Colorado, and took an interest in laying out St. Charles, which afterward became Denver City. Ile undertook the opening of an expensive gulch, and spent all he had on it, without avail. In the fall of 1863, he entered the military service, continuing therein till his deathı.
Wm. B. Glover was born in Clark township, April 26, 1832. While teaching school in Indiana he enlisted in the 21st Indiana regiment, and afterward became a lieutenant in heavy artillery service. While engaged in the siege of Port Hudson he was taken sick and placed in hospital. Thence he was brought by his father to his home in Cosh- octon county ; and here, after being home some three weeks, died, on the 18th of June, 1864.
Joel Clark Glover, brother of the above, was born De- cember 6, 1846; and, having enlisted in the army, died in September, 1864, at Wilson's Landing, near Richmond, Virginia.
Many noble young men like these fell, as they, during the late war of the rebellion, but few families have such a noticeable record as that of which they were members. At one time no less than six sons were in the military service, and two others were represented by substitutes.
Thomas Carroll, Jr., M. D., was born in Keene, in 1838. After attending medical lectures, he commenced practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Entering the medical de- partment of the army, he was stationed in Washington City, and afterward in Philadelphia. He died while acting assistant surgeon at Jackson Barracks, New Orleans, Lou- isiana, April 23, 1867. His remains were brought to Keene.
Robert S. McCormick was the son of a substantial farmer in Keene township. In his twentieth year (1861) he en-
259
Brief Biographical Sketches.
listed in Capt. Wm. Marshall's company of the Eightieth regiment, O. V. I. He was wounded at Mission Ridge and captured, and for fourteen months suffered all the horrors of Andersonville, whereby he was made a mere skeleton, although when he enlisted being six feet two inches in height and weighing 200 pounds. At length being ex- changed, he was brought to Savannah and there detained by military movements. He afterward laid sick for a month at Annapolis. In the summer of 1864 he reached his home, receiving an honorable discharge at end of term of enlist- ment. For many months he sought to recover his health, at his home and in a health institute in New York State, but in vain. He died at home, January 26, 1866. He was one of that great company of victims of the selfish ambi- tion, greed, and cruelty which possessed the men who brought about the terrible " War of the Rebellion."
Asa G. Dimmock was well known to the people of Cosh- octon county, as being for ten years editor and publisher of the Coshocton Democrat. He was also, for two terms, prosecuting attorney of the county, and at that most im- portant era in its history, the robbery of the county treas- ury, made his mark in that capacity. He was the son of a Baptist clergyman, was bred to the newspaper business, and was connected largely with the press, editing or pub- lishing papers in Harrison, Holmes, Wayne, and Erie counties. He was in the Ohio State Senate as a member and also as clerk. He also served several years as warden of the Ohio penitentiary. In 1867 his health very seriously failed him, and on May 17, 1869, he died at the house of his sister, in Montrose, Penn., in the fifty-sixth year of his age. Of exceedingly pleasant manner, shrewd in manage- ment, and exceedingly self-sacrificing, he was always popu- lar, commonly poor. He was twice married-had one child by first wife. His surviving widow resides at Mil- lersburg.
M. C. Mc Farland, was a son of one of the most substantial citizens of Bedford township. His youth was spent on the
260
Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
farm, at school, in teaching, and in reading law. He was for several years deputy clerk of the court and county school examiner. In 1863, he was elected probate judge, and subsequently re-elected, keeping, it is said, the records of the office in unusually neat and correct manner. Before his second term expired, his health was greatly impaired. Having spent some months in vain efforts to re-establish his health, he at length died at the house of his father-in- law in Newark, on the 12th of July, 1870, in the thirty- sixth year of his age.
He was a man of more than usual talent, literary taste, and social excellence. He married a daughter of Judge Wm. Sample, and by her had one son.
Samuel Ketchum died June 29, 1871, aged about forty- three years. His father was from the State of New York. With good common education, he entered upon active life. He was well known as the treasurer of Coshocton county, and from his difficulties growing out of that position he found re- lief only in death. Having plead guilty to the charge of em- bezzlement, he was sentenced to the penitentiary for five years, and became an inmate of that institution on the 1st of March, 1870. His health rapidly failed him, and in fifteen months he was pardoned, on representations made by the warden and physician, by Governor Hayes, and re- turned to his home. While in prison, he professed thorough penitence, and claimed to have little hope for the present life, and none for that to come, save by the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. In the hope of this mercy, he passed away -recognized by the world as a man of considerable refine- ment and of generous impulses, to be pitied, however much blamed. An aged, faithful mother, a wife true when all else failed, and two children bitterly lamented his death.
Samuel Morrison died in Coshocton on the 20th of August, 1871, in the seventy-third year of his age. He was born in Virginia ; was brought to Coshocton county when only two years of age; he grew up with the county ; held sev- eral offices of trust, among others that of sheriff. His
26I
Brief Biographical Sketches.
death was the result of an apoplectic stroke. His wife died some time before he did. Of his children (seven daughters), Mrs. R. W. Thompson is dead ; Mrs. Banks in Minnesota ; Mrs. Marvin in Michigan; Mrs. Hankins in New York ; Mrs. Rev. Robert Beer in Indiana ; Mrs. Kep- ner in Columbiana county ; and only Mrs. W. H. H. Price, of Coshocton, is in the county.
John Morgan died at his residence, a few miles east of Coshocton, September 14, 1866, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. He was born in New Jersey, October 9, 1789. He was among the carlier settlers of Coshocton county, cultivating a farm until old age and illness interfered. He was for twenty-five years a member of the White Eyes Bap- tist church.
Charles S. Barnes was born in Fayette county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1798. The family removed to Jefferson county, when Charles came to Coshocton county, settling as a farmer in Bedford township, and becoming one of its most highly esteemed citizens. He was probate judge from 1855-1858. He was for many years a class leader and steward in the Methodist Episcopal church. His death occurred on the 17th of May, 1866, at his home in West Bedford. Several of his children abide in the township.
William Henderson died at his residence, in New Castle township, in 1866, having been many years a farmer and stock-man in Coshocton county. He was in his seventy- first year ; came from Pennsylvania ; was married in 1837; connected by the marriage of his children with several of the prominent families in the west part of the county.
George Darling, youngest son of Isaac and Jane Darling, died at Holton, Kansas, October 30, 1870, aged twenty-five years. His mother had gone on a visit to a daughter in Kansas, and was there taken sick with typhoid fever. Af- ter a lingering illness, her recovery was despaired of, and her friends notified. George went to be with her in her
262
Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
last moments, and was himself smitten with the same dis- sease, and in one week died, the mother following in a few hours. The bodies were brought to the old home, near Warsaw. George had only been married a few months (to Miss Foster), and was a very popular young man, and the circumstances of the death made the event a notable one in his old neighborhood.
Samuel Squire, Sr., died on the 24th of November, 1874, at his residence in Jackson township, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. He was brought as a child to Coshoc- ton county, in 1814, being then eight years of age. His parents came from Rutland county, Vermont. He took possession of the place where he died, in 1832. He was a deacon.in the Regular Baptist church. He left children and a large circle of relatives.
Nicholas Bassett came from Mohawk valley, New York, · and settled in Linton township, more than forty years ago. He died on the 11th of March, 1875, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. A friend says : " He was a very active and energetic man in the days of his strength ; firm in purpose and vigorous in action ; a man of noticeable sort in speech and movement. His politics and his religion (the one Democratic and the other Presbyterian) were two things never lost sight of."
Samuel H. Scott, brother of Matthew elsewhere men- tioned, was for some forty years a citizen of Virginia town- ship, engaged in farming. He had been out of health, was coming to his home from Adams' mills, walking on the railroad-track, was overtaken by a freight-train, and mis- calculating as to time failed to get out of the way before the train, then "slowed " very much, struck him. The nervous shock in his enfeebled and diseased condition was too much for him, and he died in a few days, his death oc- curring March 5, 1875. He had been for many years a member and for a few years an elder in the Presbyterian
263
Brief Biographical Sketches.
church. His wife (Miss Jane Denny) survives him, without children.
Dr. W. H. Vickers died in Linton township on the 12th of February, 1875. On the evening of the 11th, he left his home, in Jacobsport, to visit a patient, Mr. M. B. Carr, one mile beyond Linton. He found Mr. Carr very low with pneumonia, who, also, as well as to administer med- icine, asked the doctor to write his will. The doctor, after finishing the patient's will, conducted the evening devo- tions for the family, and was about to retire to bed, about eleven o'clock, when he complained to Mrs. Carr of feel- ing unwell, and asked for a little water and camphor, which were got for him, and after taking some he went to bed with one of Mrs. Carr's sons in an adjoining room. The next morning he was discovered to be seriously ill, and, having been removed to his home, died about four o'clock in the afternoon. He had established himself very thor- oughly in the regards of the community, and was a prom- inent member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Thompson Carnahan was born in White Eyes township, April 24, 1841, and died in Adams township (on a little farm which for some years had been to him a retreat after his work as a teacher was done), July 13, 1876. Obtaining the elements of a good education in the district school, he himself commenced to teach in 1860. In the summer of that year he attended the Normal School at Hopedale, in Harrison county, and having taught during the ensuing winter, took another term at Hopedale in 1862. In the fall of 1862, he went into the army, enlisting in the Ninth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. He continued in service two years, and having been wounded at Big Shanty, Georgia, returned home and resumed his work as a teacher. In 1866, after attending one term, he graduated at the Poughkeepsie (New York) College. Having taught several of the most prominent of the country schools, and the one at Bakers- ville, he became the teacher of the grammar school in Cosh- octon in 1871. The next year he took charge of the Ros-
264
Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
coe schools, and continued there until smitten by the dis- ease (paralysis) that laid him low in death. Always some- what out of health, his conscientious faithfulness led him to unduly tax himself with his professional work, and about a month before his year was up, and some two months be- fore his death, he reluctantly ceased to teach. But the bow had been drawn too far, and the string was already virtually broken. Returning after the school year was closed (his wife having finished his work therein) to his farm near Bakersville, he for a time seemed to improve, but soon sank down in a peaceful death.
Conscientious and carefully trained in the principles of the holy Christian religion from his childhood, he made a profession of his faith in the Presbyterian church, at Bak- ersville, in 1870, and subsequently was an elder in the Presbyterian church of Roscoe.
With no special advantages of worldly sort and despite poor health he attained a scholarship that had merit above what his modesty disposed him to widely manifest, and showed what industry and conscientiousness may achieve even in comparatively early years. He married, in 1869, Miss Eliza J. Stonehocker, who, having herself been much engaged in teaching, proved a worthy help-meet in his school work, as otherwise.
27713
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.