History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 114

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 114
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 114

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).

Entering the army he was commissioned assistant surgeon of the 126th Ohio volunteer infantry, November 18, 1862 and sur- geon of the regiment February 8, 1864. In the ensuing March he passed the examination of the United States board of exam- iners at Washington, D. C., and was commissioned assistant sur- geon, United States volunteers, by the President, April 21, 1864. The inauguration of the Wilderness campaign being at hand, he resolved to hold this commission and remain with his regiment. Assigned to the operating staff of his brigade, the work was in- cessant, trying and exhaustive. Upon the arrival of the army at Cold Harbor, he reported to the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac and was assigned to duty with the depot field hos- pitals at White House, Va.

In the latter part of June, 1864, these hospitals were removed to City Point, Va. He was on duty here for awhile with the Sixth Army Corps Hospital, and also with the Fifth Army Corps Hospital. On December 22, 1864, he was placed in charge of the Cavaly Corps Hospital, principally for the purpose of effect - ing its reorganization. Early in January, 1865, he was placed in charge of the depot field hospital of the Sixth Army Corps, and retained that position until after Lee's surrender, when all the hospitals of the place were broken np.

May 26, 1865, having remained until the last moment, he transferred all the remaining hospital inmates aboard the hospital steamer " Connecticut" in charge of J. B. Hood, surgeon United States soldiers, for transit to Washington City. He was then ordered to duty at Camp Dennison Hospital, June, 1865. under Dr. MeDermot, anrgeon United States volunteers. .

On the following August 12th, he was ordered to take charge

328

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

of the City General Hospital, at Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was eventually mustered out October 16. 1865.

November 7, 1865, he removed to Barnesville, Belmont coun- ty, Ohio. After reaching home he received a brevet promotion from the United States government, and was appointed United States Examining Surgeon for pensions in the year 1868, which position he still holds.

He has since been a successful practicing physician, and has a wholesale and retail drug store in Barnesville.

WILLIAM REED-The Reeds are of Irish extraction. The grandfather of William migrated from Ireland and located in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1835, at the age of eighty. William was born near Hookstown, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in 1812. His parents were Alexander and Mary Reed, nee Lance. Alexander was a farmer, who removed to a portion of Richland county, now a part of Ashland county, Ohio, in 1815, then to Wayne county, Ohio, and finally to Kosciusko county, Indiana, where he died in 1861, at the age of eighty. He was twice married; first to Mary Lance who died when Wil- liam was an infant, and second to Cassander Keyes, who is living though over ninety years of age, in Kosciusko county, Indiana.

William, when a boy of sixteen, went to Wooster, Ohio, to live with William Larwell. After remaining one year he be- came a member of Hon. Benjamin Jones' family of the same locality, with whom he was associated for four years. He then removed to Noblestown, Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he commeneed to learn under the direction of his brother John, the "art and mytery of shoemaking." The latter remov- ing from Noblestown, William sought his way to Cannonsburg, in the same county, where he completed his service and re- mained three years. His subsequent removals were : to Wheel- ing, remaining one year; Fallstown (later known as Beaver Falls) where he married Eliza, daughter of William and Cassan- der Grafton, three years ; Little Pittsburg, Wayne county, Ohio, one year ; Richmond, Jefferson, Ohio, seven years ; Burlington, lowa, twelve days; Pomeroy, Meiga county, Ohio, one year ; Richmond, Ohio, one year; Peru, Miami county, Indiana, twenty-eight days; Leesburg, Carroll county, Ohio, five months, and arrived in Barnesville in the spring of 1845. In all these years he was engaged in his trade, and he is to-day the proprie- tor of an extensive boot and shoe store at Barnesville. He has served in the council several terms and has been identified for many years with the Methodist Episcopal church, and the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife died in 1875, at the age of sixty-two. He was again inarried in 1877 to Mrs. Eliza Worthington, nee Lynn, widow of Dr. Wm. McK. Worthington. His children are Wesley, (deceased) John W., Wm. McK., Ada- line, deceased, B. P. Menander and Emeline. The latter is mar- ried to Dr. H. W. Baker, Mayor of Barnesville.

ROBERT PRICE was born in Calvert county, Maryland, Octo- ber 7, 1788, and was at his death 82 years and 6 months old. His death occurred in April, 1871. In 1815 he removed with his family to Barnesville, Ohio, in the vicinity of which he resided for about twelve years, living most of the time on the farm known as the Albert Broomhall property. When he came to this county he could have had the choice of the lands at govern- ment prices, but ill-advised friends told him not to invest in them, as the country would never be settled. A few years, however, saw most of the land occupied by actual settlers, or owned by small capitalists, while his own small means had been wasted in seeking a livelihood as a renter. In 1825 he sold a horse and an extra feather bed, and with the proceeds entered the half-quarter section upon which he died. Here, at spare times, he cleared some land, planted an orchard and built a house, into which he moved on the 2nd of March, 1827. A short time after his arrival at Barnesville, he returned to Maryland, and assisted in the emigration of Benjamin Mackall, Sr., and his only known living relative, the Rev. J. D. Price, who died a number of years since. The latter had a brother who left Mary- land before him, but whether living or dead is not known. Mr. Price was twice married. Of the seven children of his first marriage, two only grew to the age of majority, and but one is now living. He married for his second wife Sophia Wilson, daughter of Rev. William Wilson, of West Liberty, Virginia. By this marriage he became the parent of nine children, six of whom are still living. He was probably the oldest white man living in Warren township at the time of his death, and very few lived here longer than he did. His character for honesty, sobriety, truthfulness and benevolence, had always been of the highest repute. None can say that a promise onee made by

him was ever wilfully broken, Neither can it be said that he ever misrepresented an article, he might wish to sell, in order to enhance his gains. The virtuous poor never sought his help in vain. While he hated imposture and deceit of every descrip- tion, and was cautions of the plansible tale of suffering where the facts were inaccessible, yet every known case of real want found in him a friend in need. He made no public profession of religion, but was a man of daily prayer, and sought to live according to the gospel of Christ. He received the teachings and doctrines of the Bible, as held by the orthodox churches, with implicit confidence, and his last remembered words were the expressed hope that his sufferings would end in the "rest of heaven." He was retiring, diffident, and self-distrustful to a fault. So much was he burdened by this almost absolute char- acteristic, that it was exceedingly painful to him to be noticed in any public manner whatever. It was for this reason that he refused to attach himself to the church. Unable, by reason of this failing, or rather excess of modesty, he could not be per- suaded to assume responsibilities that his disposition unfitted him to fulfill. Stern in his manner, and firm in his convictions, yet he lived at peace with his neighbors, respected and honored by all who knew him, and died without an enemy.

JOSEPH PRICE, a son of Robert and Sophia Price, was born in Warren township, Belmont county, on the 5th of August, 1832. He was reared on a farm and received a fair English education in the common schools. On the 10th of December, 1858 he mar- ried Sallie L. Birket, of Loudon county, Virginia, by whom he became the parent of seven children, whose names are: John F., Sophia E., Robert G., Susan R,, Thomas D., Annie C. and Walter S. Mr. Price resided on the farm which was originally entered by his father, three miles west of Barnesville, until the 6th of December, 1878, when he removed to the town and has resided here ever since.

THOMAS MCCALL, a son of Alexander and Margaret McCall nee Fergue, was born in Chartiers township, Washington conn- ty, Pennsylvania, in 1807. Alexander's father, John McCall, and his wife Jane McCall, were born in Scotland. He served in the revolutionary army. He died in 1810, nearly one hundred years old ; his wife subsequently, about the same age. Alexau- der was born in York county, Pennsylvania. He, with his wife and three children, Jane, Thomas and John, came to Wheel- ing creek, in the north side of Union township, Belmont conn- ty, in 1811. He had served as captain and major in the Penn- sylvania militia when engaged in actual service under the gen- eral government, and for this reason "escaped" service in the war of 1812. He died in 1833, in his sixty-fifth year; his wife, in 1839, about seventy years of age. Their children were: Jane, married to Thomas Wilson, deceased; Thomas, married to Mariam Harrah ; John, married first to Margaret Taggart, de- ceased; second to Mary Fulton; Sarah, deceased, married to John Trimble; and Mary, married to John Vincent. Thomas McCall's children are: Tabitha J., married to Wm. Bell ; John T., married to Anna Chandler; Alexander, deceased ; Charles H., married to Louisa Vance ; Hugh F., deceased; George S., deceased ; J. H. ; Margaret T. ; Thomas E. ; and Mariam A., de- ceased.

JOHN ELLIS .- He was born in Harrison county, Ohio, in 1804. His parents were Jonathan M. and Martha Ellis, nee Ogan, who were married in 1798, near Winchester, Va. They, with their children, migrated to Harrison county in 1803. In 1805, Jona- than's father entered a section of land in what was subsequently Flushing township, Belmont county, and he gave Jonathan eighty-six acres of it, and the latter with his family, entered into possession of the land in the same year. He resided on the place till 1834, and then removed westward, dying in Indiana in 1842, in his sixty-fifth year. His wife has been dead for many years. Their children were Naomi, deceased, Elisha, Elizabeth, deceased, John, Bevin, Sarah, deceased, Uphemy, deceased, Jonathan, Peter M., Martha, Theodore, Salmon, John, deceased, and Catharine, deceased.

John Ellis was married in 1825 to Hannah Barnes, a relation of James Barnes, of Barnesville founding fame. She died in 1873, over seventy years of age. Their children were Mary, married to John Scolds ; Martha, deceased, married to James Norris; Charlotte, married to Thomas Jefferson Piekering; Nicholas Garrett, deceased ; Leven Barnes, married to Rachel J. Hoover; Jonathan M., married to Maggie Barnes ; Han- nah, married to F. W. Hunt; Jesse Bailey; John H., married to Mary E. Brown ; and Florida, married to William M. Nace. Our subject was for several years a farmer, and subsequently

329

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES,

for over thirty years a carpenter. Four of his sons and five of his sons-in-law served in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion.

JACOB BARNES, born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1808, was the son of Henry and Margaret Barnes, nee Oldshue. The former died at the age of twenty-five, when Jacob was only one year of age. The latter, after a widowhood of eighteen years, married Frederick Roach. In 1832 the family removed to Noble county, Ohio. Mrs. Roach died in 1868, nearly seventy- one years of age, and her husband, a few years previous, in his sixty-fifth year.

Leven Barnes, our subject's grandfather, was the cousin of James Barnes, the first proprietor of Barnesville, and came to the latter place in 1813. He resided about a mile west of Barnesville on the property later known as the Henry Barnes farm. He died in 1836. His wife was Hannah Slack. Their children were Henry, William, Moses, Nancy, married to John Fligor, Elizabeth, married to Thomas Roach, Polly married to Thomas Barnes, and Hannah, married to John Ellis.

In 1842 Jacob removed to Warren township, Belmont county, and continued as heretofore to farm, and for several seasons packed tobacco. In 1863 he made his permanent residence in Barnesville, and has generally been employed in packing to- bacco.

His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of William and Margaret Edgar, nee Croy. Their children are Wm. Henry, Margaret Ann, married to Jonathan Ellis, Swazey, Jacob Francis, and Lizzie, married to John Heed.

ROBERT HODGIN .- In the early part of the present century, several families (among whom were the Plummers, Griers, Croys and others ) members of the Society of Friends or Quakers. migrated to Belmont county, and their settlement was the objec- tive point toward which a large number of Georgians were at- tracted, both on account of the salubrity of the climate and the fertility of the soil, the fame of which had reached their neigh- borhood, and the ties of religion and amity, joined to a natural antipathy to the institution of slavery.

In 1803 the Hodgins, Todds, Williams, Vernons, Sidwells, Millhouses, Childreys, Hayes, Stubbs, Pattens, and other fami- lies, from a section of country about fifty miles northwest of Angusta, arrived in Warren township.

Our subject's father, Wm. Hodgin, was born in Georgia. He, in 1802, in company with William Patten, visited this portion of the Ohio valley. They examined thoroughly the lower Miami lands, (as they were termed ), but on account of the sick ness gen- erally prevailing they decided to move to the Friends' settle- ment in Belmont county.

Mr. Hodgin left the necessary money with Jonathan Taylor to enter two sections of land. Mr. Taylor attended faithfully to the business, and Mr. Hodgin (in 1803) found himself the owner of the sections of which the Win. Bundy and the Lindley Bundy farms form parts. His brother Stephen accompanied him to his new home. Ho (Win. Hodgin) died in 1820, in North Carolina, while en route to Georgia, at the age of 54. His wife, who was Agnes Childrey, died several years later at the age of 74.

The children were: Mary, John, Sarah, William, Martha, Laban, Robert, Rebecca and Stephen, several of whom accom- panied their parents on the trip to Ohio.

Robert was born in Warren township in 1805. He at the age of nineteen, began to labor at the millwright trade, and farmed when not engaged in that calling. In 1837 he removed to Barnesville, and in later years was in the grocery, drug, and other business. For several years he has retired from active work.

He was married in 1828 to Ennice, daughter of George and Elizabeth Starbuck. The latter were born and married in North Carolina, and removed to Warren township in 1806. George Starbuck died in 1815, at the age of forty-one, and his wife, Elizabeth Starbuck, died at the age of seventy-four. Their children were: John, Rachel, Elisha, Mary, Lydia, Ennice, Elizabeth and George, Elizabeth, George, Elisha and Eunice, are the only children still surviving.

ABEL LEWIS .- Ile is a native of Mount Pleasant township. Jefferson county, Ohio, where he was born in 1810, and was the son of Jacob and Mary Lewis nee Bundy. The Lewis's are of Welsh extraction, and their migration to America and location in Philadelphia, dates from 1680. Our subject's father, Jacob Lewis, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania. In 1802, he 42-B. & J. Cos.

moved to Jefferson county, Ohio. Prior to this, he had resided near Centerville, Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he was married in 1798. His grandfather, Samuel Lewis, accont- panied his father to Washington county. The latter's wife was Deborah Richardson. Both he and his wife lived to an advanced age.

In 1822, Jacob Lewis removed to Smith township, Belmont county, and purchased the old Levi Pickering saw and grist mill, since known as the Lewis's Mills. He died in 1827, in his sixty-eighth year. His wife, who was the daughter of Joshua Bundy, was born in North Carolina. She died in 1858, eighty- two years of age. The children were Ira, Abel, Reese, Hannah, deceased, married to Charles Griffith, deceased, and Rachel, de- ceased, married to Martin Foreman, deceased.

Mr. Lewis resided at the mill, in which he was a partner for several years, subsequently engaging in farming, from 1822 to 1863, removing in the latter year to Barnesville. He has been twice married : first to Lucinda Gregg, daughter of Stephen and Asenath Gregg nee Mead (who were born and married in London county, Virginia, and removed to near Belmont, Belmont coun- ty, in 1804) who died in 1861, at the age of fifty-two : and sec- ond, in 1863, to Hannah Hirst, daughter of David and Ann Hirst nee Smith, who migrated from Loudon county, Virginia, to Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson, county, Ohio, in 1815, and removed near Flushing, Flushing township, Belmont county, in 1817.

JAMES T. Moore .- Our subject is the son of Hezekiah and Har- riet Moore nee Smith, and was born in Fairview, Guernsey coun- ty, in 1844. Mr. Moore migrated in 1824 from Virginia, where he had been a farmer, and located in Barnesville, where he ,en- gaged in merchandizing and buying tobacco. He subsequently resided at Fairview and Middletown, Guernsey county. In 1849, he removed to Barnesville and was in the grocery business. He also was an engineer for several years, receiving several injuries while employed in that capacity. He died in March, 1877, six- ty-three years of age ; his wife's death occurred in 1858, in her thirty-seventh year. The children were Wm. H. (served in 3d O. till 1864) married to Mary J. Fowler; Mary C., married to John Fowler ; James T., married in 1869 to Mary V. Moore, daughter of Elijah and Rebecca Moore nee Fowler; Elizabeth, married to Frank S. McCormick ; Annie M., married to John R. Scott; Samuel W., in the regular army ; and Harriet E, married to John Steck.

James T. Moore entered as a private Company F. 30th Ohio, in August, 1861, and was mustered out in September, 1865. He was the captain of the Tom Young Guards, and since Novem- ber, 1877, has been the major of the 2d Ohio National Guards.

ASA WELLONS .- This venerable citizen is a native of South- hampton county, Virginia, where he was born on the 23d of February, 1802. He is the son of Robert and Sarah Wellons nee Wooten, who had a family of ten children-eight sons and two daughters-our subject being the seventh child. On the 19th of February, 1827, he left home and came to Ohio, and settled near Barnesville, on the farm now owned by Joseph Gibbons. On the 5th of October, of the same year, he was mar- ried to Miss Asenath Davis, daughter of Moses Davis, a native of Virginia. Mr. Davis was a pioneer of Belmont county, who came to Ohio at an early day and settled on Captina for a short time, and then purchased a farm near Barnesville, where he re- sided for twenty years, after which he removed to Somerton, built the finest honse in that place, and bought several tracts of land adjoining the village. Hle was an nousually large man, weighing 300 pounds, and had ample strength to endure the hardships ofthe pioneers. He died Jannary 1, 1844, aged about 63 years. His wife died on the 9th of June, 1838.

Asa Wellons learned the trade of a wagon-maker at Flush ing, with Jesse Lundy, and afterwards removed to Somerton, where he followed his trade, remaining at the place thirty years, during which time he also erected and successfully operated a carding machine. Disposing of his property, he purchased a farm in 1850, one and one-half miles north of Barnesville, re- maining there until the fall of 1855. Returning to Somerton, he engaged in business for four years and then for one year re- sided in the village of Malaga, in the adjoining county. After this Mr. Wellous came back to within two miles of Barnesville, where he remained two years and then settled down at his pres- ent location, taking charge of the first toll gate established on the Barnesville and Somerton pike, the duties of which position he faithfully and honestly fultills. He reared a family of four children, all of whom are still living. Mr. Wellons has been a

330

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

man of regular and moral habits-never indulging in the use of intoxicating drink or profane language.

MRS. ANNA BARBARA JENKINS .- This lady-the widow of Andrew Jenkins-was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania in 1800, and was the daughter of Samuel and Cornelia Anni Crossman. She was married in 1819 to Andrew Jenkins, and resided for ten years in Franklin county. He was a black- smith, and worked at divers places, as the following partial list of removals indicate. We only insert the more important. IIc removed to Monroe county, Ohio, remaining one and a half years; Union county, Ohio, a few months; Patterson's Mills, (Belmont Mills) Belmont county, abont a year; Farmington, a few months; St. Clairsvillo, a few months; Bridgeport, about a. year; Bealsville, Monroe county, and vicinity, three years; Wheeling, Va., one year; Goshen township, nearly five years ; near Morristown and in the town, five years; Temperanceville, one year ; Bealsville and vicinity, ten years; Lampsville, a few months; Burton Station, a year and a half; Mount Olivet, six months; Barnesville, about six months; Mount Olivet, six months ; Barnsville, one year; Zanesville, six months ; Mount Olivet, about thirteen years, and April 3, 1878, to Barnesville, where he died in June, eighty-two years, one month and nine days of age. Verily, "After lite's fitful fever, he sleeps well." Their children are: Rachel, Jemima, Rhoda Ann, deceased ; Re- becca, deceased; Henry Purdy, deceased; Lydia Ann, deecased ; Joseph C., Mary Elizabeth, deceased ; Martha Ellen, and Sarah Melinda. Mrs. Jenkins has fifty-three grandchildren and thirty great grandchildren. She is hale and hearty, and can walk her four miles withont difficulty. She hears with case, and bids fair to mark her centennial.

W. C. WATSON .- John Watson, the great grandfather of our subject, came to what was subsequently Mt. Pleasant township, Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1798. His son, John Watson, was born on the Atlantic ocean in 1781. He and Eber Brooks built the first school house in Jefferson county. He died in 1844; his wife in 1848, at the age of sixty-two. The latter's son-John F. Watson-was the father of our subject. He was born in Jeffer- son county, and located in Morristown, Belmont county, in 1848. For several years he was a merchant in the latter place and Lloydsville. He was married in 1850, to Hannah L. Price, (a daughter of Smith T. Price, who located in Gray Shot, Mus- kingum county, in 1806, and removed to Morristown, where he died in 1832, at the age of forty-four. He was a merchant, Jus- tice of the Peace, Postmaster and hotel keeper.) The children were W. C., Mary F. (married to John Renner) and J. F., de- ceased.

Mrs. Watson was again married in 1861, her husband being Henry T. Barnes, a son of David Barnes, and a nephew of James Barnes, the founder of Barnesville. Mr. Barnes was a tobacco broker. He died in 1873, at the age of sixty-eight. An- nie Lee Barnes was their only child.

W. C. Watson was born in Morristown, in 1852, and removed to Barnesville in 1863. In 1870 he removed to Pittsburgh, and was the ticket agent of the Pennsylvania railroad at the east end. On his step-father's decease, he returned to Barnesville, and succeeded to his business as a tobacco broker, and is now a member of the firm of Howard & Watson, tobacco merchants. In January, 1878, he was appointed by Governor Bishop State inspector of tobacco, a position created by the Legislature at the session of 1877-8.

MRS. ELIZABETH BARNES-This lady, the widow of Abel Barnes, a nephew of James Barnes, the founder of Barnesville, was born near Cove Mountain, in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th of February, 1800. Her parents, Isaac and Susan- nah Wilson, nce Thornberry, were married in Martinsburg, Va., December 20, 1794. In 1814 the Wilson family came to Bel- mont county, and located on the place about a mile from Barnes- ville, where the toll gate is situated. Mr. Wilson died on the 9th of March, 1837, in his sixty-eighth year; his wife, on the 15th of November, 1836, in the sixty-seventh year her age. The children were Cabel, deceased, Elizabeth, William, deceased, Joseph, deceased, Lydia, deceased, Josiah and Mary.

Elizabeth was married to Abel Barnes on the 20th of March, 1817. After their marriage they resided in Barnesvill where he worked for his uncle. At the end of that time he had saved enough money to enter one hundred and sixty acres of land, and thereupon became the owner of the place about five miles south of Barnesville, of late known as the Hobbs farm. After resid- ing there about forty years (where their house for years served

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.

History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 114

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728