History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 128

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 128
USA > Ohio > Carroll County > History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio > Part 128

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 Vickers, the elder, was born in England in 1791, and he was twice married, the first time to a Miss Carnes, by whom he had five children, namely : Cornelius, Mary Ann. Asenith, Isaac and Ruth. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Vickers was married to Anna Bridge- man, born in Franklin Township, Harrison County, Ohio, a daughter of Philip and Sarah (Carnes) Bridgeman, and their children were: John. James and Thomas, of whom the last named died when very small. Brought up in the faith of the Society of Friends, later on in life Mr. Vickers joined the Methodist Episco- pal Church. After locating in Franklin Town- ship, he continued to live in it the remainder of his life. A man of unusually fine character he made his mark in his neighborhood. and his advice was sought by many who learned to rely on his judgment.

John Vickers, whose name heads this review, was given such educational advantages as the district schools of his native township afforded until he reached the age of thirteen years, when he began to earn his own living by working for others, doing as a general thing carpenter work. Until he was married Mr. Vickers continued in this line, but after he had assumed new respon- sibilities he began to want a farm and in 18$7 bought his present property of ninety acres. mor- ing to it from Harlem Springs in Carroll County where he and his wife had been living. Mr. Vickers has put all of the improvements on his place, including the present buildings, and the premises show that the owner takes a pride in having everything in first-class order. Since buying his place Mr. Vickers has been a general farmer and stockraiser, but does not specialize on any one thing, finding it more profitable for him to follow his present lines.

On February 19, 1885, Mr. Vickers was united in marriage with Margaret E. Arbaugh, a daugh- ter of William and Anna Arbaugh. There are no children. Mr. and Mrs. Vickers belong to the Presbyterian Church of Deersville, Ohio.

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For twelve years Mr. Vickers was a trustee of Franklin Township, and he was also on the township school board for six years, in both offices giving the people of Franklin Township a faithful service, and safeguarding their inter- ests. While he is deeply interested in the ad- vancement of this community he does not favor any wasting of the taxpayers' money in for- warding movements which do not insure per- manent and safe results, and he can always be depended upon to weigh both sides carefully before coming to a decision on public matters.

FREMONT SHOTWELL. The permanent value of this publication as a vehicle for the perpetua- tion of personal records of those who have played worthy part in the development and up- building and the continued progress of the coun- ties represented, is enhanced specially by the fact that within its pages is given considera- tion to so goodly a percentage of the present-day farmers in the two countles. In Freeport Town- ship, Harrison County, an enterprising husband- man who well merits such recognition is Fre- mont Shotwell, who was born in Washington Township, this county, August 5, 1856, and is a popular scion of a family that was founded in this county in the year 1813.

Mr. Shotwell is a son of Arrison and Mary (Dickerson) Shotwell. the former of whom was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in 1812, and the latter in Short Creek Township, Har- rison County. Ohio, a daughter of Barrick Dick- erson, who was a member of one of the best known pioneer families of the county, as records of other representatives will show by referring to other pages of this work. Hugh Shotwell, grandfather of him whose name introduces this review. was born at Rahway, Union County, New Jersey, in which commonwealth the orig- inal American progenitors settled as early as 1665, upon immigration from England. The family were members of the Society of Friends. and though this organiaztion has ever been op- posed to war it is a matter of family tradition that Hugh Shotwell was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. while he further transgressed the ancestral faith by marrying outside the So- ciety of Friends, the family name of his wife having been Arrison. For this action he was not only dismissed from the religious organiza- tion mentioned but was also disinherited by his father. In 1792 he settled at Brownsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where he re- mained until 1813, when he came with his fam- fly to the wilds of Harrison County, Ohio, and purchased land five miles west of Cadiz. There he continued as a pioneer farmer until 1828, when he removed to Washington Township, where his death occurred in 1853, his wife hav- ing passed away in 1837. Hugh Shotwell took up Government land, the deed to which, bearing the signature of President Madison, is still in the possession of the family. His remains rest beside those of his wife, in the cemetery of the Corinth Baptist Church, situated on a part of the old homestead farm which he obtained from the government.

Arrison Shotwell was a small child at the time of the family removal to Harrison County.

where he was reared under the conditions of the pioneer era, and where he eventually en- gaged in farming, in Washington Township. In 1861 he removed with his family to Franklin, Pennsylvania, but five years later, in 1866, he returned to Ohio and established his home in the city of Cleveland, where he continued to re- side until his death, in 1893, his widow passing away in the following year and both having been earnest members of the Baptist Church. They became the parents of six children: Eliz- abeth, who was born in 1836, died in 1903; Vic- toria was born in 1839; Andrew J., John T., and Austin are deceased; and Fremont, who is the only survivor.

Fremont Shotwell was a lad of about ten years when the family home was established in the city of Cleveland, and thus was afforded the advantages of the excellent public schools of the Ohio metropolis. As a young man he en- gaged in market gardening and fruit growing near that city, and with this enterprise he was successfully associated until 1902. During the ensuing two years he was not actively engaged in business, but in the spring of 1904 he re- turned to his native county and established his home on his present fine farm, comprising 145 acres of the productive land of Freeport Town- ship. He has made many modern improvements on the place, including the remodeling and en- larging of the most of the buildings, and in con- nection with his well-ordered agricultural enter- prise he makes a specialty of breeding and rais- ing Holstein cattle and Duroc-Jersey swine. Mr. Shotwell has had no ambition for political ac- tivity but gives his support to the cause of the republican party. He is a bachelor.

SIMPSON H. MCCAUSLAND, who is now ap- proaching the age of three score years and ten, is a resident of Lee Township, Carroll County, within whose borders he was born October 6, 1851, and he and his sister Sarah M .. who was never married, live upon the old homestead farm, he having returned to this farm in 1919, a number of years after the death of his wife. He is a representative of a family that was founded in Carroll County in the year 1807, and his grandfather, Joseph McCausland, became one of the first settlers in Lee Township, which was then included within the limits of Har. rison County.

Joseph McCausland was born in County Ty- rone, Ireland, where he was reared to manhood and where was solemnized his marriage to Mary Lindsey. In the year 1796 the young couple severed the ties that bound them to their native land and embarked on the old-time sailing ves- sel which in due course of time enabled them to land on the shores of America. They disem- barked at Wilmington, Delaware, in which state they remained about one year. Thence they re- moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania, and from the old Keystone State they came to Jefferson County, Ohio, in the first decade of the nineteenth century. It was in the year 1807 that they established their home in what is now Lee Township, Carroll County, and here, in the midst of the untrammeled forest, Mr. McCaus- land erected the pioneer log cabin which was the

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original family domicile-primitive in design and equipment but pervaded by a spirit of gen- erous hospitality. Joseph McCausland labored early and late in reclaiming his land from the wilderness, and as his sons grew to adult years they aided materially in the arduous work of developing and cultivating the land. On this old homestead Joseph McCausland died in De- cember, 1845, his wife having passed away in October, 1842, and the names of both merit high place on the roster of the honored pioneers of this section of Ohio. They were earnest mem- bers of the United Presbyterian Church and in politics Mr. McCausland supported the princi- ples of the old-line Whig party. Mr. and Mrs. McCausland became the parents of eight chil- dren-Lindsey, George, John, Joseph, William, James, Sarah and Thomas, and all are now deceased.

William McCausland, father of Simpson H. McCausland, passed his entire life in Carroll County and became one of the substantial farm- ers and influential citizens of Lee Township, where his home farm, of 100 acres, in sections 17 and 18, represented land which he had in- herited from his father's estate. He served in various offices of local trust, including those of township trustee, road commissioner and school director. He was about seventy years of age at the time of his death, April 2, 1876. Mr. Mc- Causland gave his political allegiance to the re- publican party and he and his wife were earnest members of the United Presbyterian Church. Mrs. McCausland survived her husband by more than a score of years and passed to the life eternal on the 17th of April, 1899. They became the parents of eight children-Joseph, Mary Ann and Thomas are deceased; Miss Sarah M. re- mains on the old home farm; Margaret Jane and William John are deceased; Simpson Henry, of this sketch, was the next in order of birth ; and Adeline is deceased.

Simpson Henry McCausland was reared on the old home farm and is indebted to the dis- trict schools of Lee Township for his early edu- cation. In his long and active career in connec- tion with the productive affairs of life he never found it a matter of expediency or desire to sever his allegiance to farm industry, in connec- tion with which he found his well ordered ef- forts rewarded with due success. After his marriage, in 1889, he settled on a farm of about thirty acres, in section 11, Lee Township, and to this nucleus he later added until he became the owner of a well-improved and valuable farm property of 180 acres, which he still retains in his possession and to which he continues to give his supervision, as does he also to the old home farm. where he has resided with his sister Sarah M. since the year 1919. His wife died on the 12th of February. 1900, and no children sur- vived him. Mr. McCausland has taken loyal interest in those things which make for the general good of the community and has been un- swerving in his support of the cause of the re- publican party. He has served as school direc- tor of his district. and his religious faith is that of the United Presbyterian Church, of which his wife likewise was a devoted member, as is also his sister Sarah M. Miss Sarah M.

McCausland was born February 27, 1842, and as a young woman she received the advantages of Harlem College, at Harlem Springs. There- after she taught school one term, and she re- malned with her parents on the old home farm until the close of their lives, cared for her ven- erable mother with affectionate devotion, and since the latter's death she has remained on the old home place, which is endeared to her by many hallowed memories and associations.

On the 1st of January, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. McCausland to Miss Mar- garet J. Smith, who was born in Guernsey County, this state, and who was a daughter of Archibald and Nancy (Moore) Smith, the for- mer a native of Ireland and the latter of Lee Township, Carroll County. Mrs. McCausland was forty-four years of age at the time of her death, which, as already noted, occurred in the year 1900.

STEPHEN G. DECKMAN, who owns and con- ducts a well-appointed furniture and undertak- ing establishment in the village of Malvern, Carroll County, is a son of the late George Deckman, who here established himself as a manufacturer of furniture nearly sixty years ago, and who long held precedence as one of the successful and representative figures in the manufacturing circles of this section of the state, as he built up a substantial and pros- perous industry and contributed much to the civic and material advancement of Malvern.

Stephen G. Deckman was born at Malvern January 20, 1867, and is a son of George and Mary Barbara (Young) Deckman, the former of whom was born in Prussia, Germany, May 7, 1833, and the latter was a daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Swigart) Young, who came from Pennsylvania and became pioneer settlers in Stark County, Ohio. George Deckman was the second of the eleven children born to Solomon Charles and Wilhelmina (Miller) Deckman. and was a child of three years at the time of the family immigration to the United States in 1836. The home was established in the city of Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, where the father fol- lowed the trade of shoemaker until 1854, when he came to Ohio and engaged in farm enter- prise in Stark County, where he also worked at his trade. In 1864 he removed to Steuben County, Indiana, where he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1886 and his widow surviving him by several years. Four of their sons were gallant soldiers of the Union in the Civil war, and all were members of Ohio regiments-Conrad, William, John A. and George.

George Deckman acquired his early education in the schools of Philadelphia, where at the age of sixteen years he was indentured to learn the trade of wood, bone and ivory turning. He served an apprenticeship of five years, and in 1854 entered service on the United States war vessel "Independence," on which he cruised in the Pacific Ocean and visited among other places the Sandwich Islands. After serving three years and four months he received his honorable dis- charge, and in 1858 he joined his parents in Stark County, Ohio. At Canton, the county

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sent, he worked at his trade a few months, and in 1859 established his residence in the village of Minerva, Carroll County, where he remained until 1862 and where he had established a mod- est furniture manufactory. In 1862 he trans- ferred his business headquarters to Malvern, where he erected a factory and began the manu- facturing of furniture upon a substantial scale and with a force of eleven employes. Himself a specially skilled artisan, he produced in his factory furniture of the highest grade and the business prospered, even under the depressed conditions Incidental to the Civil war. In May. 1864, Mr. Deckman subordinated his personal interests to tender his aid in defense of the Union. He enlisted in Company K, One Hun- dred and Fifty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was organized at Camp Chase and which shortly afterward reported to General Wallace at Baltimore, Maryland. It was assigned to the command of General Tyler, and a few weeks later it was assigned to guard duty over the large body of military prisoners at Fort Delaware, where it remained until the expira- tion of its term of enlistment, the regiment having been mustered out at Camp Chase, Ohio, September 2, 1864.

Upon his return to Malvern Mr. Deckman resumed charge of his furniture factory, and with the passing years he developed this into one of the substantial and important industrial enterprises of Carroll County, his connection with the business having continued until shortly before his death, October 1, 1901. His wife passed away a few years later. In the Deck- man factory was manufactured much of the furniture for the present courthouse of Carroll County, and the products of the establishment are to be found also in many of the homes of this section of the state, the concern having always maintained its reputation for the manu- facturing of high-grade furniture of the staunchest type and of all kinds.

George Deckman was a man of fine character and distinctive ability, and none commanded a more secure place in popular esteem. He served as township trustee and township treasurer of Brown Township, and also gave characteristic- ally loyal service as a member of the Village Council and the School Board. He was affili- ated with David Reed Post No. 142, Grand Army of the Republic, at Malvern. and also with the local organization of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Both he and his wife were earnest members of the Presbyterian Church. They became the parents of eight children, namely : Mary E., Charles J .. William H .. Elizabeth M .. Stephen George, Kittie A., John F. and Arthur W.

Stephen G. Deckman gained his early educa- tion in the public schools of Malvern. and as a youth he began work in his father's furni- ture factory. He familiarized himself with all departments of the work, his initial experience having been gained when he was a boy of ten years, and with the passing years he became his father's valued coadjutor in the management of the business. September 19, 1900. he became associated with his father-in-law in the pur- chase of the retail furniture and undertaking

business which had been established by his father, the furniture factory having been sold to a stock company after the death of his father and the enterprise being continued under the corporate title of the Deckman Furniture Company. Stephen G. Deckman is a stock- holder of this company and continued as gen- eral manager of the business for several years. His attention is now given almost exclusively to the management of his large and prosperous retail furniture business, in connection with which he maintains an undertaking department with the most modern facilities and service. This business has been owned individually by Mr. Deckman since 1915, his father-in-law and partner, John M. Swisshelm, having died in 1908, but the firm name of Deckman & Swiss- helm was thereafter retained until Mr. Deck- man purchased the interest represented in Mr. Swisshelm's estate and assumed full control of the business in 1915.

Mr. Deckman gives unfaltering allegiance to the republican party. He has served as a mem- ber of the Village Council and also as clerk of Brown Township. He was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of J. M. Telfer in the office of clerk of the Common Pleas Court, and by election he continued the incumbent of this office for a full term thereafter. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and he and his wife hold membership in the Christian Church in their home village.

August 29, 1889, recorded the marriage of Mr. Deckman to Miss Emma J. Swisshelm. daughter of the late John M. Swisshelm, of whom mention has been made in a preceding paragraph. Mr. and Mrs. Deckman became the parents of five children, of whom one son died at the age of seven months: Iva L. was grad- uated from the Malvern High School, and in May, 1920, was graduated as a trained nurse, after completing a thorough course in the train- ing school for nurses maintained in connection with the St. Luke's Hospital in the City of Cleveland : Fred H. was graduated from the University of Ohio as a member of the class of 1919. and now holds a position in the offices of the Cleveland Illuminating Company in the City of Cleveland : and Clarence and Emil are still students in the public schools of Malvern, the former being, in 1920, a member of the fresh- man class in the high school.

JOIN L. SNIVELY. No man in Washington Township is more substantially and honorably identified with the agricultural development and prosperity of this part of Carroll County than John L. Snively. Opportunity in the environ- ment of this thrifty farmer has never been allowed to knock twice at the door, but has been turned to the best possible account from both a personal and community standpoint. From small beginnings and without the encour- agement of money or influence he has come to be the owner of 200 acres of land in Washing- ton Township and 160 acres in Harrison Town- ship.

Mr. Snively was born in Brown Township January 19. 1861, a son of Joseph and Susan (Grunder) Snively. His paternal grandfather,

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John Snively, was born in Pennsylvania, where he married a Miss Ringle, and became an early settler of Washington Township, where he was engaged for many years in agricultural pur- suits. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Snively, Jacob and Elizabeth (Kail) Grunder. were born in Switzerland and were also early settlers of . Carroll County. Following their marriage Joseph and Susan Snively settled in their native township of Washington, where they lived on his father's farm. In 1860 they moved to Brown Township, to a farm of 110 acres given to Mr. Snively by his father, but in 1875 traded that property for a farm in Washington Township, on which they spent the remainder of their useful and honorable lives. Mr. Snively passed away September 26, 1905, and was followed in death by his widow in January. 1910. They were the parents of four children : Mary C., the wife of Lewis Castle- man, of Washington Township; John L .: Ida M .. the wife of William Dewell, of Harrison Township: and Laura V., who died as the wife of Edward Wherry.

John I. Snively attended the district school adjacent to his father's farm and resided under the parental roof until 1891, in which year he purchased ninety-one acres of land from his father in Harrison Township. He made that property his home until 1901, when he moved to his present farm of 200 acres, which he rented for about eight years before purchasing it. and here his activities have been centered ever since, although he also owns and operates 160 acres in Harrison Township. His farm is located in a very desirable locality, about four miles north of Carrollton, and Mr. Snively has installed numerous modern improvements and erected substantial buildings. That he has been a shrewd investor and practical manager is patent to all who note the general prosperity which surrounds his estate. In addition to rais- ing all the standard products of the region he is a breeder and shipper of registered Shorthorn cattle and a good grade of horses, and raises about 200 sheep each year. Ile has been pros- perous in his affairs, and his standing in busi- ness circles is that of a man of the highest and strictest integrity. He belongs to Liberty IIall Grange No. 2020. and in his political affiliation is a democrat.

Mr. Snively was married March 19. 1887. to Miss Frances Fletcher, a graduate of the normal school at Augusta, Ohio, and three sons have been born to them: Joseph E., born June 23. 1890, who served eight months during 1918 at Camp Sherman training for the World war, and he is a graduate of the Auctioneer Academy of Chicago: Thomas B., born August 25, 1895: and John A., born September 3, 1902. All the sons reside at home when not in school. and are assisting their father in his agricultural work.

WILBUR B. BIRNEY has found in his native county an excellent stage for his successful ac- tivities as an agriculturist and stock-grower. and he is now one of the progressive exponents of farm industry in Archer Township, where he owns a well improved place of 163 acres of

the splendid land of Harrison County. He was born in German Township, this county, on the 26th of May, 1881, and is a son of Oliver Birney, a sketch of whose career appears on other pages of this volume. The district schools of his native township gave to Wilbur B. Birney his early educational training, and from his boyhood until his marriage he continued to be associated with the work of his father's farm. In 1906 he bought one of the old Birney estate farms-a tract of 124 acres in Green Township, and here he and his wife maintained their residence ten years. In the spring of 1917 be sold this property, and thereafter he passed one year on another farm in the same township and the following year on a farm in Cadiz Township. In the spring of 1919 he purchased and removed to his present farm, which is one of the excellent places of Archer Township and on which he gives his attention to properly diversified agriculture and to the raising of live stock of good types. He is loyal and liberal in citizenship, with deep appreciation of the attrac- tions and advantages of his native county; is a democrat in political affiliation, and he and his wife hold membership in Asbury Chapel, Methodist Episcopal, in Cadiz Township.

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History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 128

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