History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 14

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 14
USA > Ohio > Carroll County > History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio > Part 14

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members of the same until their death, Mr. Murdock having served about half a cen- tury as an elder of this church.

William G. Murdock was actively concerned in the development and progress of Wellsville and was prominent and influential in community affairs. He served at one time as mayor of the city, which was a mere village when he there established his home, and he held also the office of township clerk, while it is alto- gether probable that he was the first president of the Wellsville Board of Education. He served about twenty-five years as justice of the peace and caused the office to justify its name. Of his many decisions not one met with reversal by courts of higher jurisdiction and his long incumbency of this office led to his becoming familiarly known as 'Squire Murdock. He was appointed by the State Legislature an associate judge of the county court, but declined to accept the position. He was active in politics and wielded much influence in the forming and directing of sentiment and action in his home community. He became acquainted with many leading men of his day and generation, includ- ing Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war in the cabinet of President Lincoln at the time of the Civil war, and the subject of this sketch likewise grew to know the distinguished secre- tary in a somewhat more intimate way. Wil- liam G. Murdock likewise served many years as a notary public, and as the leading citizen of Wellsville he delivered the address of wel- come, at the solicitation of the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, when that railroad sent its first train into Wellsville from Cleveland. He continued his residence at Wellsville until the time of his death, at the patriarchal age of ninety years, he having survived his wife by a few years. Of the six children two died in infancy, J. Graham Murdock, subject of this sketch, being now the only survivor; Mary died in girlhood; and John M. is survived by one son, William.

The Murdock family was founded in Mary- land in the colonial days and representatives later became pioneer settlers in Washington County, Pennsylvania, where James Murdock, grandfather of him whose name initiates this article, was a millwright by trade and a resi- dent of Cannonsburg at the time of his death. William G. Murdock was the eldest of his children.

The pioneer village schools of Wellsville afforded to J. Graham Murdock his youthful education, and he continued his residence in Columbiana County until he established his home at Malvern, Carroll County, where he has since remained and where, as before noted, he was engaged in the drug business for more than forty years. He has been a loyal supporter of measures and enterprises that have inured to the civic and material advancement of his home village and county, is a stalwart republican in politics, and has served continuously as notary public since 1871, his present commission ex- piring January 6, 1923. He has served also as clerk of Brown Township and he is, in point of continuous association, now one of the two oldest members of the Malvern Presbyterian Church the other being Mrs. Joseph Fishel. His

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wife likewise was a devoted member of this church, in the services and affairs of which she continued to take deep interest until her death, in 1907.

In 1863 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Murdock to Miss Martha E. Hewitt, who was born in Ohio in 1844, a daughter of John and Isabella ( Arbuckle) Hewitt. Mr. and Mrs. Mur- dock became the parents of four children, of whom the first, a son, died in infancy ; Rena M. was born in 1872 and died the following year; Lila was born in 1874, and her death occurred in 1880; and John H., the only one who attained to maturity, was born in 1882 and died in 1903, about the time of attaining to his legal majority, his death having been a severe blow to his devoted parents and a source of sorrow to his many friends. Sustained and comforted by abiding Christian faith and by the gracious memories of the past, Mr. Mur- dock, though deprived of both wife and chil- dren, is passing the evening of his life in peace and comfort, surrounded by friends who are tried and true, and held in unqualified esteem in the county that has represented his home for nearly sixty years.

JOHN RICHARD WILLIAMS, M. D. In point of years of continuous service Doctor Williams is the oldest physician and surgeon in Carroll County. From the standpoint of quality, rather than time, he is conceded to be one of the ablest professional men in this part of Ohio. An extensive town and country practice keeps him constantly busy, even after he has well earned a leisure through forty years of consecutive work.

Doctor Williams was born in Carroll County February 18, 1858, son of Major Robert F. and Mary (McGuire) Williams. Major Williams, who was a native of Washington Township, Carroll County, removed to Carrollton in 1833. Early in the Civil war he organized a company of volunteers, was elected captain, and his com- pany was mustered in at Camp Mingo August 22, 1862. The company . was assigned to the Ninety-eighth Ohio Infantry, and for over two years Captain Williams was with his command in some of the severest campaigns of the war. He was in the bloody battle of Chickamauga, after which he was with Sherman's army during its advance on Atlanta and the Georgia cam- paign, including the battles of Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Rome, Dallas and Kenesaw Mountain. During the advance on Atlanta .Captain Wil- liams was wounded by a minie ball in the leg. and on account of the crowded condition in the hospital and sultry weather gangrene set in, causing his death August 10, 1864. For about . a month before he received the wound he was performing the duties of a major, and the. com- mission for that rank was issued on November 3rd following his death.

June 19, 1856, Major Williams married Miss Mary McGuire, the daughter of Hon. Elisha McGuire, whose career and prominent relations with Carroll County are described elsewhere in this publication. Mrs. Mary Williams was born February 20, 1838, and died May 16, 1904, her death being the direct result of a fall. She was the mother of five children : Lee, who died

in infancy ; John Richard; Robert C., who has a distinguished record as a soldier, having when a youth taught school in Carroll County, gradu- ated in 1886 from West Point Military Academy, was commissioned a lieutenant and assigned to duty at Fort Randall, then Dakota Territory, and is now in the Philippine Islands, on the army retired list with the rank of colonel ; Emma W., wife of Mr. W. A. Miller, a retired minister of Conneaut, Ohio; and Mary Atlanta, who was born while her father was in the Atlanta campaign, Major Williams having se- lected the name for her, although he never saw her.

Four young children were left to the care of Mrs. Williams at the death of her husband, and she accepted and discharged her responsi- bility with a courage and fortitude that should make her example memorable not merely among her children and descendants. She kept her family together, reared and educated them. and saw them successful men and women long be- fore her death.

Doctor Williams was only six years old when his father died. He attended school regularly at Carrollton, but did much other work be- sides-clerking in a store for three years, and spending three years with a civil engineering party on railway construction work. He was also a teacher. In 1878 he began the study of medicine under that honored pioneer physician of Carroll County, the late Dr. L. D. Stockon, whose life is reviewed on the following page. He entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York, remaining a student there from 1879 until his graduation in 1881. He then returned to Carrollton and became associated with Doctor Stockon, a partnership that was continued un- til 1890. Since then Doctor Williams has con- tinued in individual practice until he has now given forty years to his profession. Inspired by a rugged devotion to duty and sustained by abounding physical health and a cheerfulness of spirit, he has performed his work year in and year out, making an aggregate of service that can not be measured by any of the ordinary standards of success. Even now his country travel in professional duty exceeds a thousand miles a month. Doctor Williams is exceedingly well preserved, and apparently can do as much work as he could in years gone by.

He served four years as county coroner, twelve years as a member of the Board of I'du- cation in Carrollton, ten years on the Board of Public Affairs, and for six years was pen- sion examiner. During the World war he was medical adviser on the County Draft Board. He is a member of the American Medical Asso- ciation, is a republican and a Methodist. The troubles of others and the constant demand for his services have in a measure mitigated the deep personal sorrow of Doctor Williams in the loss within recent years of his beloved wife and his favorite daughter.

December 13, 1881, Doctor Williams married Miss Irene Stockon, daughter of his former preceptor and medical partner, Dr. L. D. Stockon. Mrs. Williams was born in Carrollton December 13, 1863, was married on her eighteenth birthday, and only a short time after she was graduated from Beaver College. Ex-

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JOHN R. WILLIAMS M. J. LANAHAN H. S. VASBINDER

IRENE VASBINDER

MRS. IRENE WILLIAMS MRS. LOIS LANAHAN MRS. FLORENCE VASBINDER

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cept the time spent in college her entire life was lived in Carrollton, and almost thirty-five years in the happy companionship of her hus- band. She died suddenly after two days of illness from the "grippe" January 21, 1916. The nobility of her character was matched by the many absorbing interests she found in the life of her home and the community about her. For many years she was one of the devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and worked in church and other organizations through which she could give expression to her kindly, sympathetic nature. This constant sympathy she radiated to many of her husband's patients. and in this respect she was a valued partner in the success that has attended his practice. Mrs. Williams also possessed some of the rare quali- fications of a business woman. Through her untiring efforts local capital took over the rub- ber factory, and he was largely responsible for the purchase of that plant by Doctor Williams and H. J. Richards, and her subsequent in- terest in its operation was an important chapter in the industrial prosperity it achieved. This industry was the L. & M. Rubber Company, or, as now known, the Tuscan Tire & Rubber Com- pany, a large and profitable plant.

Doctor Williams was one of the committee of three which raised sixty thousand dollars to start the Carrollton Pottery Company, the members of the committee becoming trustees of the property. He was also on the committee to secure the location in Carrollton for the Al- bright China Company, and one of the trustees of the property.

The older daughter of Doctor Williams is Lois, who was born in Carrollton August 18, 1884. She was graduated from the Carrollton High School in 1902. Two years later she be- came the wife of Mr. M. J. Lanahan, a promi- nent shoe merchant of Carrollton, who died January 28, 1919. Since Mr. Lanahan's death she has shown much of the business and execu- tive ability of her mother in carrying on the enterprise. She lives with her father, and as- sists in caring for her little niece, Irene.

Florence, the younger daughter of Doctor Williams, was born in Carrollton November 8, 1895. She was a graduate of the Carrollton High School, also the Kent Normal School, hav- Ing taken special kindergarten training at the latter. and was a teacher in the Carrollton pub- lic school for two years, being greatly loved by the children, to whom she was a "little mother." "Babe." as every one knew her, was talented in music and art, contributing liberally of the same in both school and church. She became the wife of Harold S. Vasbinder. She died January 25. 1920. three days after the birth of her only child, Irene, who is now being cared for in the home of Doctor Williams, the object of her grandfather's idolized affection, a love and devotion transferred to her from her mother, whose death was a bereavement that no phi- losophy can attenuate and must be accepted as it is, an irretrievable loss.

L. D. STOOKON, M. D. There is abundant rea- son for the esteem in which the name Stockon is held throughout Carroll County, where almost from pioneer times members of the family have

been identified with the medical profession, and also with banking and other extensive interests. The late Dr. L. D. Stockon was a physician by training and through early years of practice, but is best remembered for his extensive finan- cial and business connections with Carrollton and the county.

He was born at New Hagerstown in Carroll County, November 4, 1838, son of Dr. Samuel M. and Caroline (Winchell) Stockon. The Stockon ancestry is English, and the family has been in America for several generations preceding the late Doctor Stockon. His grandfather, Samuel Stockon, was a ship carpenter by trade. lived at East Haddon, Connecticut, and in 1810 moved to Hartford. Connecticut. where he followed gardening. Dr. Samuel M. Stockon at the age of fourteen became an office boy in a physician's office at Hartford, Connecticut. After two years he left and for about two years taught school on Long Island. He then resumed his medical studies in a doctor's office, and after a couple of years entered Barkley College at New York City. He served as under-physician in Belle- vue Hospital until after the cholera epidemic of 1831-32. After graduating from the Bellevue Hospital Medical College he practiced for a short time at Collinsville, Connecticut.

At Collinsville September 15, 1833, he mar- ried Caroline Winchell, of an old and prominent Connecticut family. Dr. Samuel M. Stockon brought his bride to what was then the far west, and for about two years did a country practice in the small village of Brimfield in Portage County, Ohio. From there he removed to New Hagerstown, Carroll County, and for twenty years or more was a physician who spent the greater part of the hours of each day riding or driving about the country looking after his patients. In 1858 he removed to Carrollton, where he continued his practice until 1877. From 1876 be conducted a private banking business until his death on July 30, 1888. His widow survived him to very advanced years. passing away September 19, 1904.

The late Dr. L. D. Stockon had the example of his honored father before him in the choice of a career. He was educated in the public schools at Scio and Hopedale in Harrison County, and in 1859 began the diligent study of medicine with his father, with whom he prac- ticed until 1877 and then with Doctor McLean and later with Dr. Williams. For fifteen years he conducted a drug store at Carrollton, from 1889 to 1904. and then sold.

The late Doctor Stockon was president of the Carrollton Savings and Trust Company, and at the time of his death was reputed to be one of the wealthiest men in the county. His later years were given entirely to his extensive busi- ness affairs. These were the source of duties and responsibilities that he discharged with an eminent degree of fairness and justice to all concerned. He was a democrat in voting; until the democrats put up the free silver issue and was afterwards a republican. and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Doctor Stockon died suddenly of heart failure October 29, 1906. His beloved wife had died just three weeks previously, on October 8, 1906.

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They had been married nearly forty-five years. On November 23, 1861, Dr. Stockon married Miss Juliet R. Thomas, daughter of Osmon and Julia (Matthews) Thomas, of Streetboro, Ohio. Her father was a native of New York and her mother of Massachusetts. Dr. and Mrs. Stockon had six children : Caroline, Daisy and Samuel M .; all dying in infancy; Irene, the wife of the well-known Carrollton physician, Dr John R. Williams, to whom reference is made in the preceding sketch; Flora, who died April 13, 1917, was the wife of L. E. Keiper. There is a second son named Samuel M., who is living in Alliance, Ohio, conducting the Supreme Dairy Company.

JOHN A. FRAZIER has been engaged in inde- pendent farm enterprise in Short Creek Town- ship, Harrison County, since 1903, and in 1916 he purchased his present fine homestead farm, which comprises eighty acres, he having since sold twenty acres of the original tract of 100 acres. He is alert and progressive as an ex- ponent of agricultural and live-stock industry, and gives special attention to dairy farming, in which his success is proving unequivocal. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Harrisville, the while they are popular factors in the repre- sentative social life of their home community.

Mr. Frazier was born in Belmont County, Ohio, on the 18th of January, 1879, and is a son of John P. and Melinda (Satzer) Frazier, both likewise natives of Belmont County. John P. Frazier was reared and educated in Belmont County and was there actively identified with mining enterprise, principally in the position of mine foreman, during practically his entire business career. He is now living retired at Maynard, that county, his wife having passed to eternal rest in August, 1919, a devoted mem- ber of the Wheeling Valley Presbyterian Church, in which he likewise holds membership. Mr. and Mrs. John P. Frazier became the parents of eight children : Louemma, George W., Tem- perance, William, John Addison, Joseph B., Myr- tle and Elmer.

John Addison Frazier acquired his youthful education in the Wheeling Valley public schools, and as a young man he gained practical experi- ence in connection with farm industry. He remained in his native county until the autumn of 1903, since which time, as previously noted in this article, he has been actively identified with farm enterprise in Short Creek Township, Harrison County.

On September 3, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Frazier to Miss Sadie Good- win, daughter of Edwin Goodwin, of Short Creek Township, Harrison County. They have no children.

ROBERT REID COCHRAN. The late Robert Reid Cochran was one of the well-known and highly- honored men of Cadiz Township, where he spent his entire life as a successful and progressive farmer and raiser of registered short-horned cat- tle, in which latter enterprise he was the pioneer in Harrison County.

Mr. Cochran was born on "Oak Dale Farm" (the old Cochran homestead), one mile north from the city of Cadiz, on September 14, 1822, the son of Robert and Sarah Jane (Calhoun) Cochran, both of whom were natives of Penn- sylvania. Robert Cochran was born near the city of Harrisburg, in Dauphin County, Penn- sylvania, on September 15, 1771, the son of Samuel and Mary (Shearer) Cochran. As a young man he accompanied his parents on their removal to Allegheny County, that State, where the family settled on a farm on the Monongahela River, twelve miles distant from the city of Pittsburgh, at what was formerly Cochran Sta- tion, now the city of Duquesne. There, on April 24, 1800, he married Dorcas Neal who died on March 1, 1801, leaving a daughter, Dorcas (Mrs. Whittaker, deceased).

In 1800 Robert Cochran came to what is now Harrison County, Ohio, and purchased a heav- ily-timbered tract of Government land, one-half mile north from where was later located Cadiz, the county-seat. After making a preliminary clearing on his land he built his log cabin and gradually made other needed improvements, and then returned to Allegheny County, Pennsyl- vania, where, on April 7, 1807, he was mar- ried to Sarah Jane Calhoun, who was born on January 8, 1787, in Mifflin Township, that county. Following their marriage they returned to Harrison County where together, they bravely faced the vicissitudes and trials of pio- neer life, and to them the passing years brought success and happiness. Both died on their home- stead, the former on February 1, 1861, at the venerable age of ninety years, the latter on April 4, 1867. They became the parents of the following children : Eleanor, born February 11, 1808, died September 17, 1867; Samuel, born March 31, 1811, died December 7, 1899; David Calhoun, born August 1, 1814, died October 30, 1883; Mary Ann King (Mrs. William Harvey Caldwell), born December 11, 1817, died July 23, 1899; Robert Reid (subject), born Septem- ber 14, 1822, died September 2, 1902; Sarah Jane, born October 9, 1825, died August 5, 1911 (she never married and after the death of her parents always made her home with her brother, Robert Reid and his family; she was a woman of culture and refinement, and her memory will always be cherished with pride and gratitude by her nieces and nephews).

In his youth Robert Reid Cochran received educational advantages somewhat superior to the average of the locality and period. He early began to lend his aid in the work of the home farm of which he later became the owner, and which he developed into one of the finest rural estates in Harrison County. On this farm in ' 1811 Robert Cochran, Sr., built a brick resi- dence which was the first brick house in Har- rison County. This structure was razed in 1851 by Robert Reid Cochran; and was succeeded by a second brick residence on the same site, and in 1875 Mr. Cochran remodeled the latter into the present handsome and commodious brick residence, and this country-seat as well as its predecessors has always been noted for its cor- dial hospitality.

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On October 10, 1867, Robert Reld Cochran was united in marriage with Rachael Prudence Hedges, who likewise was born and reared in Cadiz Township, the daughter of the late Will- iam Dunlap and Mary Jane (McClelland) Hedges. William Hedges was a representative of one of Harrison County's earliest pioneer families, his ancestors, Samuel Hedges, having come here from Virginia in 1800, accompanied by his wife Prudence Dunlap. Mrs. Cochran's mother was born in County Down, Ireland, and was four years of age when, in 1829, her par- ents, John and Jennie (Beatty) McClelland, came to the United States and eventually settled near New Philadelphia, in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. They became the parents of the follow- ing children : Rachael Prudence (Mrs. Coch- ran). born November 16. 1844; John Norwood. deceased : Sarah Jane (Mrs. Alexander Osburn) ; Margaret Ann: Samuel Beatty; Martha Ellen, deceased, Mary Emma (Mrs. M. B. Osburn) : and Clara. Cora. an infant son, and William, all deceased.

To Mr. and Mrs. Robert Reid Cochran the following children were born: John William, Robert Emmett, Mary Eleanor, Frank McClel- land. Samuel Hedges (deceased). Reid Burch- field and Henrietta King.

John William married Grace Penwell, of Bel- grade, Mont., and resides at Lewistown, that State: and has one daughter, Kathryn Virginia.

Robert Emmett married Sarah Ellen Hoff- man, of Cadiz, Ohio, and resides on the farm in Cadiz Township. They became the parents of the following children : Mary Frances, Rob- ert E., Jr. (married Mary Evangeline Thorpe). and resides in Portland. Ore .; Reid Hoffman, born December 30. 1897. died September 23, 1910: Alice Calhoun. born November 4. 1899, died August 27, 1902; John Frederick. born August 31. 1901, died August 26. 1902: Clyde Carson, horn May 31. 1903, died October 28. 1920; Harold Benton, William Hedges. Samuel Raymond and Helen Florence.

Reid Burchfield. who is a civil engineer, mar- ried Eddie May Bontner, of San Luis Potosi. Mexico, and resides in that city. They have the following children: Reid B., Jr .. Edward Boatner and Edith May.

Mary Eleanor, Frank McClelland and Henri- etta King remain with the mother on the old homestead, of which Frank has had the active management since the death of his father.

Robert Reid Cochran was a man of sterling character and worthy achievement, loyal in all relations of life, an exemplar of the highest ideals of personal stewardship, and liberal and public-spirited as a citizen. He was a democrat in politics and a Presbyterian in religion. His father was a man of strong mind and fine char- acteristics, was an influential and useful citi- zen, and served many years as Justice of the Peace and surveyor. He also was a democrat and a Presbyterian.

GEORGE W. GLOVER. The early life of George W. Glover of Cadiz was passed in Jefferson County, where he was born May 27, 1840. and his father, Josiah Glover, was also born there in 1814, and died there in 1897, the parents both

being born in Smithfield Township. The mother was Mary Barkhurst, a daughter of William and Nancy (Hayne) Barkhurst. Both the Glover and Barkhurst families were pioneer residents of Jefferson County. The grandfather, Josiah Glover, and his wife, Nancy (Hall) Glover, came from near Baltimore to Jefferson County. Shortly after their marriage they lo- cated at Smithfield. He went to Missouri to look after some property when he was an old man, and died on a boat and was buried on the banks of the Mississippi River.

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History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 14

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