History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 101

Author: H. J. Eckley, William T. Perry
Publication date: 1921
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 678

USA > Ohio > Harrison County > History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio > Part 101
USA > Ohio > Carroll County > History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio > Part 101

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).

John McGregor, his father, was a graduate of Glasgow University, and a rare scholar and teacher. Coming to this country he established three academies in as many cities. Forty years after his death his students from numerous states erected a monument, imported from Italy, at his grave in Wadsworth, Ohio, and assembled to unvell it and spend a day in reminiscence, song and story. All who assembled were gray- haired men and women. John McGregor taught mostly without books and every lesson was a lecture.

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In conclusion is entered brief record concern- ing the children of Mr. and Mrs. Lawler. Ed- ward Fenton Lawler, eldest of the children, is now editor of the Carroll Chronicle; Martha is the wife of Homer J. Richards of Carrollton, and their children are John L., Joseph V., Mary, Tom and Martha; Mary, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lawler, is the wife of Frederick W. McCoy of Carrollton, and they have one daughter, Mary Margaret; Anna is the wife of William A. Dorgan, of Terre Haute, Indiana, and they have three children, William Lawler. Catherine Cecelia and Emma Isabella; Archi- bald died in 1887, at the age of five years; and John Malcolm and Joseph Vincent, Jr., are twins. the former having been graduated in Rose Polytechnic Institute at Terre Haute. In- diana, a civil engineer by profession and voca- tion. He married Miss Caroline Stockon and they maintain their residence in Cheyenne, Wyoming. John M. Lawler and Dr. R. T. Ship- ley were the first two from Carroll County to volunteer to serve in connection with the na- tion's participation in the World war, and, in the Engineering Corps. He was first at Camp Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, later stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and at Camp Sher- man, Ohio, and finally assigned to Camp Custer. Michigan, where was organized a company of which he was made captain, and he was then sent to France, where he continued in active service fourteen months, his entire period of service having comprised two years. Joseph V. Lawler, Jr., is associated with his brother Ed- ward F. in the publishing of the Carroll Chron- icle. He married Miss Rosella Stevenson of Pittsburgh and they have two children: Helen Patricia, 6, and Joseph V., III, aged 4.

JAMES F. LAWLER was born at Carrollton. judicial center of Carroll County, Ohio, in March. 1851, and in the public schools of the county he acquired his youthful education. For two years he was employed at farm work, be- sides which he gained skill as a carpenter and followed that trade for several years at inter- vals. He worked in The Chronicle office from 1887 until June, 1914. when an aged sister in- duced him to go to Terre Haute and live with her. both of them having been left alone. It is scarcely necessary to state that James F. Law- ler, like his father and brother, is a stalwart in the camp of the democratic party, and he has been zealous and influential in the promo- tion of the party cause in Carroll County.

In 1882 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lawler to Miss Mary Atkinson, who likewise was born and reared in Carroll County, her father, the late Hon. Isaac Atkinson. having been one of the early settlers. He had been so actively identified with the organization of Carroll County in 1832 that he, in recognition of his great public services, was elected as the county's first representative in the Legislature. In dogged determination to advance the public interests he had few equals in the state.

Mr. and Mrs. Lawler had three sons born to them, two of whom are living: Frank of Saint Louis, a locomotive engineer, and Fenton, of Indianapolis, who conducts a linotype school.

Mrs. Lawler and the oldest son, Robert F., passed away in early life.

WILLIAM L. CUMMINGS, who for the past twenty years has been the efficient and popular local agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad at Station 15, in Monroe Township, Harrison County, and who resides upon his excellent farm not far distant from this station, is a native of this county and a representative of one of its sterling pioneer families. He was born on the old homestead farm of his father, on Plum Run, Monroe Township, September 14, 1862, and is a son of Philip and Rebecca (Cox) Cummings. His father was born in a pioneer log cabin on Plum Run, Monroe Township, this county, January 28, 1821, and had the dis tinction of being the first white child on the course of the little stream mentioned, while the little log cabin in which he was born was the first erected in the immediate neighborhood, the same having been constructed of round logs and its dimensions having been only ten by fourteen feet. Philip Cummings was a son of James and Mary (Peterson) Cummings, both natives of the State of Delaware. James Cum- mings was born in Kent County, that state, in 1781, and was there reared to manhood. He went forth as a bugler in a Delaware regiment in the War of 1812, and in 1815, after the close of the war, with teams and wagons he and his family set forth on the long and arduous jour- ney through the wilderness to Ohio. He took up Government land in Monroe Township, Har- rison County, which was then a part of Tus- carawas County, and here instituted the devel- opment of a frontier farm in the midst of the forest wilds. He was one of the influential and honored citizens of this pioneer community and remained on his Plum Run farm until his death. in 1845, his widow having accompanied some of her children to Iowa and having died in Buchanan County, that state, in 1851. when sixty years of age. Both were zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and num- bered among the charter members of the church of this denomination on Plum Run, in which James Cummings served as steward and class leader. He was a man of superior education and had marked musical talent, as a vocalist. He and his wife became the parents of four sons and four daughters, all of whom are now deceased.

Philip Cummings was reared under the con- ditions and influences that marked the pioneer days in Harrison County, and here he continued his residence until 1847, in which year he mar- ried and went to Iowa, where he took up 120 acres of Government land with the intention of becoming a pioneer farmer of the Hawkeye State. He soon returned to Harrison County. rnd he abandoned his plan of removing to Iowa, as he was able to trade his land in that state for his father's old homestead farm, which be sold a few years later. He eventually became the owner of a valuable landed estate of 400 acres. upon which he made the best of improve- ments, including the erection of a fine farm house and other farm buildings of the best type. At the time of his death he was the oldest

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native resident of Monroe Township, and had a record of having cleared and reclaimed more land than any other resident of the township. He was a staunch abolitionist during the period leading up to the Civil war, and thereafter was a leader in the local councils of the republican party. He served more than a quarter of a century as township supervisor, and for an equal period as a member of the School Board of his district. He was liberal and public- spirited, his life was marked by a high sense of stewardship, and he commanded inviolable place in the confidence and respect of his fellow men. This honored pioneer was eighty-eight years of age at the time of his death, and his widow survived him by several years, she hav- ing passed away at the age of seventy years.

January 12, 1847, recorded the marriage of Philip Cummings to Miss Mary Anne Trimble, and she died March 11, 1856, two of the three children of this union having attained to years of maturity-Sarah A. (Mrs. Perry Dempster), and Mary R. (Mrs. John T. Carson). On the 18th of June, 1856, Mr. Cummings married Miss Rebecca Cox, who was born in Monroe Town- ship, this county, a daughter of William and Editha Cox. Of the five children of this union two are living-Ida M., wife of Amos Host, of Monroe Township, and William L., of this re- view. Mrs. Cummings entered into eternal rest on the 18th of March, 1872, and the third mar- riage of Mr. Cummings was with Sarah E. Ellis, who was born in Tuscarawas County, a daugh- ter of Nathan and Margaret Ellis, pioneers of that county. Of this marriage were born four sons and one daughter-Melville, Manton Mar- ble, Laurette N., Montcalm, and Gillespie Blaine.

William L. Cummings early began to lend his aid in connection with the work of the home farm, and as a youth he profited duly by the advantages offered by the district schools of Monroe Township. He has been continuously associated with farm enterprise during his en- tire mature life, and though his official duties as station agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad require a goodly part of his time and attention, he finds satisfaction and profit in maintaining also the active management of his excellent farm, which comprises 132 acres. After his marriage, in 1884, Mr. Cummings was for eight years engaged in the mercantile business, as the owner of a general store at Philadelphia Road, but he has at no time severed his allegiance to farm industry. For the past twenty years he has served as the local station agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Philadelphia Road on the Panhandle Division of the Pennsylvania Lines, and no citizen of Monroe Township is better known or held in higher esteem. Mr. Cummings gives his support to the republican party and is affiliated with the fraternal or- ganization known as the Tribe of Ben Hur.

On the 8th of May, 1884, Mr. Cummings was united in marriage to Miss Laura Brown, daughter of James and Rebecca Brown, of Mon- roe Township, and they have three children : Philip, who resides at Dennison, Tuscarawas County, married Miss Olive Patterson, and they have two children-Paul and Ruth; Lenora is the wife of Emmerson R. Rainsberg, of Frank-

lin Township, Harrison County, and Bessie re- mains at the parental home.

ORSON O. Cox. Among the farmers of recog- nized moral and material worth whose labors have helped largely to develop the interests of East Township, one who has been the architect of his own fortunes and has worked his way unaided to prosperity is Orson O. Cox. Mr. Cox is one of the agriculturists of his com- munity who has found success through special- izing, devoting himself principally to fruit and berry culture and to the raising of White Leg- horn chickens, and in both connections his property, known as Grand View Fruit Farm, has gained something more than local distinc- tion.

Mr. Cox was born November 12, 1872, in East Township, Carroll County, a son of James and Anna Jane (Downer). Cox, and a grandson of James Cox, an early settler and agriculturist of this township. James Cox the younger, father of Orson O. Cox, was born on the old family farm in East Township, where he grew to manhood, and here married Miss Downer, who had been brought as a child from her native Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Cox rounded out useful and success- ful careers in East Township, where both passed away. They were the parents of the following children : Lorinda, the wife of James Crawford, of Los Angeles, California ; A. M., of East Town- ship; J. E., of New Philadelphia, Ohio; Elmer E., of East Township; Ephrain E., of Salina, Kansas; Casper G., of Columbiana County, Ohio; Perry O., of East Township; Orson O .; and Jennie, the wife of Calvin Creighton, of Mount Union, Ohio.

Orson O. Cox is indebted to District School No 1, of East Township, for his education, and to the teaching of his father for his agricul- tural training. He was reared to the pursuits of the soil and remained under the parental roof until the time of his marriage, when he was twenty-six years of age, at which time he began operations on his own account on a prop- erty east of his present location, which he rented for twelve years. He then bought his present farm, known as Grand View Fruit Farm, a tract of fifty-six acres which he has brought to a high state of cultivation, and on which he has erected modern buildings and in- stalled up-to-date equipment and improvements. Mr. Cox has met with much success in the rais- ing of thoroughbred White Leghorn chickens, a field of business endeavor in which he has built up a large patronage and something of a reputa- tion, and has also been more than ordinarily prosperous in his operations as a grower of berries and peaches, both of which are of an excellent quality and meet with a ready sale. He is thorough, systematic and painstaking in his work, and is truly typical of the most worthy and substantial agricultural element in Carroll County.

In April, 1898, Mr. Cox married Miss Bertha Moore, who was born in Augusta Township, Carroll County, daughter of Samuel and Sophia (Thompson) Moore, natives of Ireland, and to this union there have been born three children :

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Gracie N., Duane Russell and Ralph Arnelda. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are members of the Presby- terian Church, in which Mr. Cox is an elder. In politics he is a republican. As a man of public spirit, with the interests of his commun- ity at heart, he has taken an active and helpful part in various township movements, and has rendered satisfactory and conscientious service in the capacity of member of the Board of Township Trustees, an office which he filled for two terms. As a fraternalist he has been through the chairs of Tent No. 1316, K. O. T. M., Kensington ; and holds membership in Tent No. 61, K. O. T. M., of Hanover, Ohio.

JOSEPH MCLANDEBOBOUGH owns and maintains his residence on one of the excellent farms of Monroe Township, Harrison County, has made many improvements on the place and has marked the passing years by successful enter- prise as one of the substantial representatives of farm industry in his native county. He was born on a farm near Scio, North Township, this county, on the 7th of September, 1855, and is a son of John and Anna (Eli) MeLandsborough, who were venerable and honored citizens of Harrison County at the time of their death, the father having developed one of the fine farm estates of North Township and for a number of years gave special attention to the dairy business.

John McLandsborough was born in Otley, Yorkshire, England, October 17, 1824, and was ten years of age when he accompanied his fa- ther and older brother, Andrew, to the United States, in 1834, the father having come to this country in 1831 and having purchased 106 acres of land in North Township, Harrison County. John McLandsborough assisted in the reclaim- ing and development of the pioneer farm in North Township, this county, and he remained on the old homestead until the death of his fa- ther, when he removed to the farm on which he passed the remainder of his life, he having accumulated a valuable landed estate of more than 500 acres. He was a man of prodigious energy and industry. commanded unqualified popular esteem and was one of the substantial and influential citizens of North Township, where he died when seventy-nine years, three months of age, his wife having been about sev- enty-four years of age at the time of her death. He was a republican in politics and served ef- fectively in various township offices. The mar- riage of John McLandsborough to Miss Ann Eli was solemnized August 16, 1849. Mrs. McLands- borough was born near Cadiz, Harrison County, a daughter of George and Sarah Eli, who were sterling pioneers of this county. Mr. and Mrs. McLandsborough became the parents of ten children-Andrew. Jenette (Mrs. Benjamin Cal- cott), Joseph, Alice (Mrs. John Kearns). Will- iam. Ellsworth, Sigel, Lincoln, Mary Katura (died in childhood), and John.

Of the genesis of the McLandsborough family another publication has offered the following data : "The MeLandsborough family had its origin, according to tradition, in Scotland, where the name is said to have been Lameric; but for four and one-half centuries the ancestry is

traceable to that part of Scotland in which the Covenanters had their abiding place, the Mc- Landsborough family representatives in Scot- land having all been identified with this re- ligious body.

He whose name initiates this review is of the sixth generation in line of direct descent from Andrew MeLandsborough, who was a farmer and shepherd in Scotland. The next in line of descent was his son John, who married Mar- garet Sloan and became by her the father of two children, John and Andrew, the latter of whom died in England. John, grandfather of Joseph McLandsborough of this sketch, was born in Scotland, in 1782, and at the age of twenty-one years he established his residence at Otley, Yorkshire, England, where for forty years he followed the vocation of draper. His first wife, whose family name was Johnston, died in Scotland, as did also their only child, a daughter. For his second wife he wedded Elizabeth, daughter of John and Elizabeth Har- rison. He visited America several times and here purchased property, including the land in North Township, Harrison County, Ohio. On this land he established his residence in 1834, and here his death occurred March 14, 1857, at which time he was seventy-four years of age, his wife having died February 14, 1839. Of their children Michael and Margaret died in England; Andrew was a resident of Mahaska County, Iowa, at the time of his death; John, father of the subject of this sketch, was the next younger son; Anna and Catherine died in childhood; Elizabeth became the wife of John Sproul and they established their home in Jas- per County, Iowa; Robert died in England; and James died after the family home was es- tablished in Harrison County.

Joseph McLandsborough gained his early edu- cation in the public schools at Scio and re- mained at the parental home, as his father's assistant in the work of the farm, until the time of his marriage, in 1879, when he began independent enterprise as a farmer. In 1884 he established his residence upon his present fine farm, of 126 aeres, in Monroe Township, and his progressiveness has been shown in his reclaiming ninety-two acres of this tract through an effective system of drainage. He has erected good buildings on the place and has been unequivocally successful as a vigorous ex- ponent of agricultural and live-stock industry. He is a republican in political allegiance and his wife is a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church.

The year 1879 recorded the marriage of Mr. McLandsborough to Miss Eliza Cameron, daughter of Thomas Cameron, and of this union have been born two children. Pearl Susan, Anna Alice, the latter of whom died at the age of three years and nine months. Pearl Susan Mc- Landsborough was born June 23, 1882, and she was reared and educated in her native county. On the 1st of October. 1901, she became the wife of Joshua D. Brown, and they own and reside upon a farm not far distant from that of her father. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have seven children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here designated: Frances Eliza,

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April 2, 1905; Ray M., December 10, 1906; Wilma Jane, July 8, 1909; Eugene Elmo, No- vember 8, 1911; Joseph J., February 26, 1915; Carl E., March 23, 1917; and Edna Belle, April 8, 1919.

. JAMES B. GLADMAN. It has been the purpose of the editors and publishers of this history to give in its biographical department as complete data as possible in connection with the various families represented, and it has been found expedient not to repeat in any sketch the record that has already been given in another. Thus in reviving the history of the honored pioneer family of which James B. Gladman is a mem- ber ready reference may be made to the ample record appearing in the personal sketch of his older brother, Thomas Gladman, on other pages of this volume. Special interest attaches to the prestige of Mr. Gladman as one of the repre- sentative farmers of his native county by rea- son of the fact that he owns and resides upon the fine old homestead farm which was the place of his birth, in Franklin Township, Harrison County. Here he was born on the 5th of March, 1857, a son of David and Elizabeth (Lyons) Gladman, concerning whom due record is given in the previously mentioned sketch of Thomas Gladman.

In the district school known as the Browns- ville school, in Franklin Township, James B. Gladman received his youthful education, and from his boyhood to the present time the old homestead farm on which he was born has been the stage of his productive activities, which have marked him as one of the prosperous and influential representatives of general farm in- dustry in his native county, his farm being well improved and comprising 137 acres. In addition to his appreciation of the splendid re- turns the old homestead has given him in re- sponse to his well directed activities as an agri- culturist and stock-grower, Mr. Gladman places also a high value on the place by reasons of the gracious memories and associations which at- tach to it. Mr. Gladman is a democrat in po- litical allegiance and he and his family hold membership in the Christian Church at Tap- pan, in which he served four years as an elder.

On the 16th of October, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gladman to Miss Emma J. Billingsley, daughter of William P. and Leah (Randall) Billingsley, of whom more specific mention is made in the personal sketch of their son Nicholas W., on other pages of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Gladman have two children : William D., who owns and resides upon a farm of seventy-seven acres, adjoining that of his father, is one of the progressive farmers of the younger generation in Franklin Township. the maiden name of his wife having been Flora Buffington. Elizabeth Leah remains at the parental home.

NICHOLAS W. BILLINGSLEY has shown his loy- alty to and appreciation of his native county by continuous and effective association with farm industry within its gracious borders, and he is now numbered among the successful agri- culturists and stock-growers of Washington

Township, Harrison County, where he owns a well improved farm of 103 acres, given over to diversified agriculture and the raising of ex- cellent grades of live stock.

Mr. Billingsley was born in Washington Township, this county, on the 1st of January, 1863, and is a son of William P. and Leah (Randall) Billingsley, the former of whom was born in Belmont County, Ohio, where his fa- ther, William Billingsley, was a sterling pio- neer settler, and the latter of whom was born in Washington Township, Harrison County, a representative of an honored pioneer family. William P. Billingsley became one of the pros- perous farmers and influential citizens of Wash- ington Township, Harrison County, where he continued to reside until his death, April 10, 1916, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest and both having been consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of their children the first, Sarah Margaret, died in early childhood; James L. resides at Lorain, this state; John A. B. is a resident of Uhrichsville, Tuscarawas County; Marion L. maintains his home in the city of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania ; Albert N. is a resident of the state of Iowa ; Nicholas W. is the immediate subject of this sketch ; Emma J. is the wife of James B. Glad- man, of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this volume; and Ida A. is the wife of Reuben Lyons, of Uhrichsville.

Reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and afforded the advantages of the schools of his native township. Nicholas W. Billingsley re- mained on the old home farm of his father un- til the death of the latter, and in the meanwhile his marriage occurred, in 1888. In 1916 he re- moved to his present farm, on which he has con- tinued his progressive and successful operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower. He is a republican in politics, served four years as as- sessor of Washington Township, one year as real-estate appraiser of the township and one year as a member of the school board.

In 1888 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Billingsley to Miss Mary E. Tennent, daughter of Robert and Caroline (Auld) Tennent. and of this union have been born three children : Leah is the wife of Lewis Morgan, and they have three children, Mary Margaret, Rebecca Jane. and a son. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan reside in the city of Joplin, Missouri, where Mr. Morgan is a teacher in the public schools. Oliver W. died at the age of twenty-one years. and Margaret died at the age of six years. Mr. and Mrs. Bil- lingsley are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Tippecanoe.

WESLEY H. SHEPHERD. There are many rea- sons why a special tribute should be paid to the memory of Wesley H. Shepherd in the as- sembling of the individual and family records for this publication. He was a representative of one of the old and honored families of Car roll County and in his personal character and achievement gave to the world assurance of strong, noble and useful manhood. He passed virtually his entire life on the fine old home- stead farm which was the place of his birth. in Loudon Township, Carroll County, and was

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History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 101

Author: H. J. Eckley, William T. Perry Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Number of Pages: 678

Author: H. J. Eckley, William T. Perry
Publication date: 1921
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 678