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 210

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 210
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 210

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).

607

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES. "

of the counties of Jefferson and Columbiana. In 1862, he was appointed by President Lincoln, Assessor of the 17th Congres- sional District, Ohio, and served in that office for five years, After the close of the war he purchased the old Smith farm, on Short creek, in Warren township, and is now one of the most successful farmers and wool growers in the county of Jefferson.

SAMUEL LINDSAY .- The parents of the subject of this sketch, Joshua and Catharine Lindsay, were natives of Baltimore coun- ty, Maryland, where their son, Samnel, also was born October 10, 1800. The family removed from Maryland in 1815, and set- tled in Brooke county, Va., where his father died June 6, 1836, aged 66 years. His mother died in Illinois, December 25, 1865, aged 89. Samuel Lindsay, was first married to Rebecca Worth- ington in 1829. She died in 1859. He next married Mary Tweed, of Wellsburg, in 1861, who died in 1877. His last mar- riage took place December 5, 1877. Mr. Lindsay carried on different trades during life, and was always a man of enterprise and energy. The maiden name of Mrs. Lindsay, his third and present wife, was Emily E. White. She first married Edward Gibbons June 30, 1836. He died February 3, 1841. Her next husband was J. P. Liston, October 31, 1854, who died November 29, 1862. She then married Joseph Long, April 20, 1865. He died August 3, 1868. Her next and last marriage was with Mr. Lindsay, as above mentioned. The son by her first marriage, Edward J. Gibbons, enlisted in the 30th Ohio Regiment, Com- pany G, and served during the war. He enlisted August 20, 1861, and was discharged August 20, 1865. Her stepsons by her second marriage, Albert and Joseph R. Liston, also served in the Union army in the war of the rebellion. Albert served up- wards of a year, and Joseph R. several months. Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay now reside in their comfortable home in Tiltonville, Jefferson county, surrounded by all that is required for happi- ness and comfort.

JOHN MEDILL was born September 2, 1826, in Washington, Pa. He was a sov of Joseph and Nancy Medill. His father, Joseph Medill, was a native of Ireland, county of Monaghan, from which place he emigrated to this country in 1814. He came to Philadelphia, where he remained a short time, then worked on a farm for a Quaker in the state of Delaware, and through the influence of this gentleman, he got a contract for making a pike, and has during his life made over one hundred miles of that kind of road. The last contract for building pike was the Williamsport, which runs to Washington, Pa. He married Nancy Fleming, and remained there a year, then emigrated to Jefferson county, and died in Martin's Ferry, aged 87 years. John Medill, the subject of this sketch, was reared a farmer. He married Miss Susan Pumphrey in 1846, and has reared a fain- ily of six children, only three of them living. He was edn- cated at Mt. Pleasant Academy and at the common district schools. M :. Medill has been very prosperous. He now owns four hundred acres of choice land, and has erected on it the best farm house in the county. His place is known as "Fairview Farm."

SMITHSON HAYTHORNWAIT was born in Warren township April 28, 1826. He was the son of Richard and Mary Haythornwait, who were natives of Yorkshire, England. Richard Haythorn- wait was born May 3, 1776, and was married in the Church of England to Miss Mary Parkinson in 1815. They emigrated to America and came to Jefferson, where they settled in 1820. Mr. Haythornwait died April 16, 1852, aged 77 years. Mrs. Hay- thornwait died February 15, 1847, aged 53 years. Smithson Haythornwait was the eighth of a family of fourteen children. He was married to Miss Mary Ann Maxwell, daughter of Alex- ander Maxwell, August 14, 1851. They have but one surviving child, a daughter, of a family of three children. This daugh- ter, Mary Isabel, was married November 26, 1878, to Henry C. Wilkinson, at McCoy Station. She was married by the samo minister, Rev. Mitchell, who married her father and mother. Mr. Haythornwait has a pleasant home; the farm is located in Warren township on what is known as Mount Pleasant Ridge, and contains 210 acres, well improved. He is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian Church, generally known as Mr. Mitchell's church. Mrs. Haythornwait's grand- parents were natives of Ireland. They emigrated to America about 1782, and settled near Winchester, Va. In 1810 they came to Jefferson county, Ohio, and settled on the farm now owned by Mr. Haythornwait. Her grandfather died April 21, 1830, aged 76, and her mother died March 1, 1836, aged 78 years. Her father also lived and died on this farm. His death occurred

December 1, 1870, in his 77th year. This farm is known as the Maxwell homestead. Mr. Haythornwait is now in his 53d year.

WILLIAM AND AARON SCAMEHORN .- These two brothers are the sons of Solomon and Sarah Scamehorn. and grandsons of Luke Scamehorn. Their father was born in Washington coun- ty, Pennsylvania, and emigrated to Jefferson county in 1797, five years before Ohio became a state, and settled on Block House run. Their grandfather, Luke Scamehorn, was killed by the Indians at the time the attack was made on the Wellsburg fort. He, with five others, were on their way to reinforce the fort, when they were attacked by Indians, and but two of the six escaped. Their father assisted in cutting the road through from Wellsburg to Cadiz, Harrison county, Ohio.

WILLIAM SCAMEHORN now occupies the old homestead farm of his father. He was married to Ann Eliza Martin in 1849. They had born to them three children, but one, George, of whom are now living. His wife died in 1852; one son was killed by lightning in 1870 ; the other died when one year old, a year af- ter his wife's death.

AARON SCAMEHORN was born in Warren township, May 12, 1820. He was married to Emeline Marshall, February 23, 1854. They have reared a family of four children-three son and one daughter. Mr. Scamchorn is fifty-nine years old, has always resided in Warren township ; possesses a farm of one hundred and ten acres of choice land, and is a sound old Democrat.

SAMUEL MYLER .- The grandfather of this sketch was a na- tive of Ireland, and emigrated to this country before the revolu- tionary war. He was engaged in that struggle from the battle of Bunker Hill to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781, which closed the contest. He was lieutenant in Captain Christy's company, and was wounded at the battle of Brandy- wine. He at one time resided on Turtle creek, at what was known as the Dirty Camp farm, Allegheny county, Pennsyl- vania. The origin of this name was from General Wayne's army, which encamped there in a very wet muddy time. His father was born in . Center county, Pa., July 4, 1776, and died July 4, 1828, aged 52. He was married in 1808, to Miss Elizabeth McMannis, who was a native of Maryland. The marriage took place in Allegheny county, Pa. He resided in Pittsburg several years engaged in " stilling." He afterwards bought a farm and engaged in farming, but presently sold it and removed to West- moreland county, Pa., and lived there until his death at the time above stated. Samuel Myler, the subject of our sketch, learned the trade of wood turning, near Pittsburgh, which he followed till near the age of 34, when he engaged in the mercantile busi- ness, which he carried on until December 4, 1867, when he was. entirely burnt out, losing everything he had. This was after his removal to Jefferson county, Ohio. He then returned to his old trade of turning, at which he is still engaged, on Rush run, Ohio. He married Sarah Cleland, April 26, 1846, and has reared a family of ten children, seven of whom are now living.

S. LISBY .- The subject of this sketch, the son of Solomon and Elizabeth Lisby, was born in Warrenton, May 28, 1834. His father was born in Maryland, in 1788, and emigrated to Portland, Warren township, Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1801. He was one of the first settlers of the county. Land at that time was $1.25 an acre. In 1814 he married Miss Elizabeth Pastors. They reared a family of twelve children, seven of whom are now living. He also served in the war of 1812, and died at the age of 77 years, in Portland, in the house now owned by his son. Mrs. Lisby also died in the, same honse in 1873, aged 89. Mr. S. Lisby married Mary A. Gardner in 1863, and still resides on the old homestead. -

DR. R. VON MURALT .- This gentleman was born in Germany October 10, 1846. He received his education at the University of Gressen, in that country. He emigrated to this country in 1868, and located in Pittsburgh, where he engaged in the prac- tice of medicine-allopathie. He remained there four years, then came to Wheeling and engaged in the same profession. Here he remained four years and finally located at T'iltonville and engaged in the practice of his profession, which he is sne- cessfully following. He was married to Mary Spencer, Decom- ber 28, 1876.

S. J. THERY. - S. J. Thery was born December 25, 1799, in the townof Tiene, France, and emigrated to New York in 1827, where

608

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

he remained one year and then came to Steubenville, Ohio, walk- ing the entire distance in seven days. After arriving at Steuben- ville he followed weaving for four years, when he went to Til- tonville in the fall of 1832, where he followed different branches of trade, making frequent trips down the river as second pilot. He wove the first Persian cloth ever manufactured in this coun- try. Persian cloth derived its name from William McKee, who gave it that name in this country in 1844 on Short creek, War- ren township. Mr. Thery married Sarah Dexter; who died. He afterwards married Sarah Chapman. They have one sou, who lives in Illinois. Mr. Thery is now in his 80th year and lives in Tiltouville, Ohio.

CHRIST. VERWOALT .- The subject of this sketch was born in Brunswick, Germany, January 19, 1838. His father was also a native of the same place, where he married Hannah Hasper in 1832. The family emigrated to Warrenton, Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1855, and settled near Williamson run, on the farm now owned by N. Lewis. The father died May 13, 1874, aged sixty- five years. The mother resides with her son Christ. and is now in her 75th year. Mr. Verwohlt married Miss Christiana Brand- fass in 1860, has three children, a farm of 245 acres of choice land, two houses and lots in Warrenton, also twenty-six adjoin- ing. He was educated in Germany, and is now in the forty-first Year o. his age.

MISS HELEN HODUENS .- This lady, daughter of James and Sarah Hodgens, was born in Washington county, Pa. Her father was a native of Armagb, Ireland, and emigrated to Amer- - ica in 1807, and settled 'near Taylortown, Washington county, Pa., where be remained about eight years ; he then removed to Cross creek valley, same county, where he resided fifteen years. Ile then came to the farm now owned by Miss Helen, It then contained five hundred acres, but portions of it have been sold off until now it contains a little over one hundred acres. Her father died of this farm, August 11, 1856, aged seventy-two years. Her mother died October 11, 1866, aged eighty years. Miss Helen Hodgens still resides on this beautiful farm, which is located in Warren township, on the line of the C. & P. R. R., facing the Ohio river. It is one of the most beautiful locations in that section of the country.

NOAn TILTON was born on the same farm he now resides on near Tiltonville, Warren township, Jefferson county, Jannary 4, 1809. He is the son of Joseph and Mary Tilton, who were both natives of Washington county, Pennsylvania. Joseph Til- tou, father of Noab, was born December 30, 1766, and came with his parents to this country in 1775. The grandfather of Noab, as hear as can be learned, was born about 1723. Joseph Tilton was among the first settlers of Jefferson county. It is said he would 'grub and work hard all day long, come in at evening, cat his Johnny cake, get down on his knees to peep through the window to keep a watch for Indians. This old pioneer died in 1860, aged cigbty-three years. His son, Noah Tilton, the subject of this sketch, was born on the old homestead, and the old house is still standing. Noah had three brothers and seven sisters, all grew to manhood and womanhood, but two. None of the fa'm- ily is now Jett but our subject, who was educated in the old log huts, with greased paper instead of glass' to admit light through the windows. He was married to Nancy Stewart in 1837, who died in 1847. He married for a second wife, Mrs. Eliza A. Coale, November 23, 1848. They have reared a family of five children ; one daughter dying October 3, 1871; three boys and one girl now living. Mr. Tilton is now in his 71st year, hale and hearty and retain's his faculties. He owns a fine farm of one hundred and sixty-six acres, well improved and facing on that beautiful river, the Ohio.

J. D. STRINGER .- This gentleman was born in Chester county, P.a., December 1, 1800. His father was also born in the same county, in April, 1752, and emigrated to Belmont county in 1805, with his family, which consisted of father, mother and thirteen children, of which our subject was the youngest. He settled on what is known as Scotch Ridge, Pease township, where be fol- lowed farming for a living until his death, which occurred in 1834, at the age of eighty-four years. Of this large family, but two are now living, J. D. Stringer, our subject, and Mrs. Rebecca Pickens, who resides with her grandson in the village of Malaga, Monroe county, Ohio. Mr. Stringer's grandfather, as' Dear as can be learned. was a native of Chesbire, England, and was born about the year 1692. Nothing of a positive nature can be learned in regard to his great grandfather, except the name,'

which was William Stringer. J. D. Stringer, onr subject, removed from Belmont to Jefferson county in 1837, three years after his father's death, and settled on the farm on which he now resides, near Portland station, Warren township. He was married to Miss Miriam Tilton, daughter of Joseph Tilton, of Tiltonville. They reared a family. of two children, both sons. His wife died in 1834, three years after marriage. Of these two sons but one now remains, named William, after his grandfather. The other son, Joseph, died in the fall of 1877, in his 44th year. Mr, Stringer now resides with his son on the farm. This son, Wil- liam, was married to Abzira Hutton, October 24, 1862. They now have a family of eight children. Old Mr, Stringer is in his 80th year, mind still good.

COL. EDWARD M. NORTON.

[By non, Ralph Lcet, Ironton, Ohio.]

On the 24th day of July, 1812, iu the then quiet village of Germantown, Pennsylvania, now a portion of the city of Phil- adephia, while an infant repubhe was giving renewed assurance of its birth, was born Edward M. Norton. He came from a sturdy English lineage, who were fully imbued with the princi- ples of Democratic freedom. His grandfather, Thomas H. Nor- ton, though a native of London, England, beard with impatience the immortal resolutions declaring that his adopted country ought to be freed of English oppression, and true to his convic- tions, gave evidence of his valor upon the fields of Monmouth and Brandywine. He served the entire period of the revolu- tion under General Washington and General Greene, as an of- ficer. At the close of the Revolution, he engaged in busi- ness as a clock and watch maker, in Germantown. Captain Thomas H. Norton, his son, after arriving at maturity, engaged in business as a brass founder, in Philadelphia. The effect of the embargo of 1812 proved ruinous to his business. He was captain of the Germantown Blues, and served during the war of 1812; was the organizer of the company. After the war he was compelled to seek business somewhere else. This he found as superintendent of a brass foundry in Richmond, Va .. about the year 1817. Captain Norton died in 1824, from the effects of over exertion in attempting to extinguish a fire of the tobacco house in the city of Richmond, baving labored with a company of which he was chief, two days and nights without intermis- sion. He lett a widow and four children, viz: Edward M., the eldest and subject of our sketeb, George W., Frederick D. and Eliza. The family, left in straightened circumstances among strangers, decided to return to Pennsylvania, and shortly there- after removed to Phoenixville, in that state. Here the broth- ers learned the art of making nails. At the age of seventeen, young Edward, our subject, found himself out of employment on account of the stoppage of the works in which he was en- gaged. It was then that he, with two comrades, Jesse Neal and William Brooks, entered into an enterprise at once courageous and heroic. They expected to find remunerative employment at Pittsburgh, 380 miles to-the westward. Their joint cash capital, amounting to $19, being divided among them-Neal having 86, Brooks $8 and young Edward $5. It was something of an un- dertaking for these youths, but they walked the whole distance through. Arriving at Pittsburgh, they were sadly disappoint- ed in finding the iron business prostrate and no work to be bad. Perhaps it could be obtained at Brownsville, a short distance up the Monongahela river. Neal determined to remain at Pitts- burgb, but Brooks and young Edward, with high hope, set out tor Brownsville, only again there to meet with disappointment. Now, their condition was truly pitiable-hundreds of miles from home, without friends and without money. Necessity now compelled them to turn their faces bomeward. The journey was safely accomplished on foot, they paying for their food and lodging by manual labor. At the Phoenix mills Edward ob- tained employment, and remained there till he reached his majority, having in the meantime married Miss Kneeland, a daughter of Joseph Kuiceland, of Vermont. Edward M. Nor- ton had not the advantages of a school education. The neces- sities of a dependent motber, brothers and sister, demanded the immediate fruits of his labor. Thus he was reared at home, and learned good manners, if nothing else, and a manly inde- pendence of mind, yet he is positive that he cannot remember the time when he was unable to read. He was married at the age of twenty years to Miss Kneeland who was eightecu. They lived happily together for forty-seven years, she being a faith- ful companion, sharing and comforting him in his adversities and successes. She was loved and esteemed 'y all who knew her.

"VINE CLIFT," FARM AND RESIDENCE OF COL. E.M. NORTON, (PORTLAND STATION.) JEFFERSON COUNTY, OHIO.

00 00

MRS.D.C. NORTON.

COL.E.M.NORTON.

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

After Mr. Norton's marriago he removed to Pittsburgh, find- ing employment as a nailer in the establishment of William Lip- pincott, where he continued to labor until 1846, a short time prior to the conflagration that consumed the greater part of the busi- ness portion of the city. He then removed to Brownsville and engaged as a nailer in the works of Edward Hughes, remaining in that connection about one year. At about this time, Mr. Nor- ton found himself in possession of about $8,000, the result of in- dustry and frugality. He felt there was a better field before him and he became eager to aet as a director rather than as one to be directed, He presented to Messrs. E. W. Stephens, Robert Morrison and John Hunter, of Wheeling, Va., the project of erecting nail works separate from a bar mill, which was approved. This was the first enterprise of the kind west of the Allegheny mountains. The most experienced men in the business pre- dicted it would fail. The works were presently erected at Wheeling and named the Virginia mill. Mr. Norton built the nail cutting machines with hisown hands, aided by a blacksmith. Here his economic ingenuity manifested itself by the application of the heat from the heating furnaces directly to the boilers, thus furnishing the motive power for the mills without the ex- pense of stack and usual supply of fuel. Here began a marked change in the position of one of the most remarkable characters in the iron business of the Mississippi valley. The transition was made; he was no longer the employe, he was the employer of labor.

During his long struggle with poverty, rising slowly through the mechanical departments of his trade, he had been a faithful student of the great question of the relation existing between employer and employe, of labor to capital, and was now to reduce to practice the theories advanced by such writers as Victor Con- siderant, Albert Brisbane and Horace Greeley in the association of capital and labor. He saw that to succeed as a manufacturer, there must be a community of interest between eapital and labor. He presented his views and theories to S. H. Woodward, Wm. Bailey, Calvin Doty and some fifteen or twenty young mecban- ics of Pittsburgh, who were induced to join him in a new enter- prise. Uniting their capital, which amounted to $40,000, they placed it in the bands of Mr. Norton, with which he and Mr. Wm. Bailey erected the Belmont nail works of Wheeling. The busi- ness conducted under the firm name of Norton, Bailey & Co., was successful even beyond the most sanguine expectations of its founders. At the expiration of four years the "La Belle" works were built out of a portion of the earnings, and were con- ducted under the firm name of Bailey, Woodward & Co. This enterprise, also, proved a success. In both establishments the stockholders and workmen were united in the same persons. Success was the result.

Some time after this, Colonel Norton organized at Benwood, W. Va., four miles below Wheeling, another company for the manufacture of nails, under the style of Norton, Mendenhall & Co., with a capital of $300,000. This establishment consisted of nail mill, rolling mill and a stone coal smelting furnace of thirty tons capacity at Martinsville, which was the first stone coal blast furnace erected upon the Ohio river. The whole establishment was placed under the control of Colonel Norton, president, and Major Alonzo Loring, secretary, the present successful man- ager of the Benwood works. In these works, as well as at the Belmont and La Belle, the stock was largely distributed among the workmen, and as a result, the Benwood works were among the most successful in the United States.

About this timo the Norton Bros. learning that the extensive Star nail works at Ironton, Ohio, built by Peter, James & Co., were for sale, organized a company and made the purchase, and were incorporated under the name of the "Belfont Iron Works Company," with Capt, George W. Norton as president. Here- tofore charcoal alone had been used for the smelting of iron in the Hanging Rock region. E .. M. Norton was desirous to test the coal found so plentifully in Kentucky and West Virginia to see if it could not be made to serve as a substitute for charcoal. Capt. G. W. Norton procured two barge loads of Kanawha coal and two of Ashland coal and shipped the same to the Benwood works for a practical test. The result was more than satisfac- tory. The Belfont works then constructed a forty-ton blast fur- nace at Ironton, in which Ashland coal was successfully used, and thus it was that the Norton Bros were the first to introduce the Hanging Rock iron region to its own coal as a reducing agent in the manufacture of pig-iron.

Captain G. W. Norton, having keen killed by a steam boat explosion prior to the completion of said furnace, Colonel E. M. Norton, severed his connection with his West Virginia in- terests and succeeded his brother at the Ironton works, as pres- 76-B. & J. Cos.

ident of the corporation. The Norton Bro's. proclaimed the coming of a new era in the history of the manufacturing inter- ests of Hanging Roek Iron region where life, energy and eo-op- peration were to be found. Colonel Norton continued as president of the Belfont works at Ironton until 1873. He then projected the erection of the largest and most complete nail works in the United States, and at Ashland, Kentucky, the Norton Iron works demonstrated the practicability of the conception, with its fur- nace for the manufacture of pig iron, large rolling mill, beating furnaces and nail factory running eighty cutting machines, em- ploying in its departments, six to eight hundred persons with a capital of one million dollars, it stands a monument to the energy, enterprise and wisdom of its founder owning twenty thousand acres of land, stores, houses, &c., &c.

In poltics Mr. Norton was reared a Demoerat, casting his first presidential vote for Martin Van Buren. In 1844, he was a candidate for the Pennsylvania Legislature upon the " Liberty Ticket," and of course was defeated. He organized and was president of a " Fremont" club at Wheeling, Va., in 1856, and there formed the nucleus of an anti slavery party with affiliations in various parts of the state of Virginia. In the year 1860 he saw his free soil party strengthened by the accession of Alfred Caldwell, S. H. Woodward and Archibald Campbell, editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer, Hornbrooks and others. This organiza- tion determined that Virginia should be represented in the Chicago convention of 1860. The crisis had come when the people were to choose between the able and accomplished states- man and shrewd politician, W. H. Seward and the plain, unpre- tentious, but equally able statesman, Abraham Lincoln, whose sympathies were with the laboring man, and for western in- terests.

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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 210

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