History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 25

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 25
USA > Ohio > Carroll County > History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio > Part 25

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JOHN B. GIFFEN. One of the leading business men of Harrisville is John B. Giffen, who for the past fifteen years has been conducting one of the leading mercantile houses and restaurants of this part of the county. He was born at Har- risville, October 26, 1875, a son of Samuel H. and Mary J. (Bleakmore ) Giffen, grandson of William Giffen, and great-grandson of John Giffen.

. The Giffen family originated in Glasgow, Scot- land, where John Giffen was born in 1765, and when he was four years old his parents came to America. William Giffen was born in Ohio County, West Virginia, to which locality his father had moved from the initial settlement in New York State, and he went on westward into Ohio, locating near Glencoe Station, Belmont County, Ohio, where his son Samuel H. Giffen was born in 1840.

Leaving the home of his father, Samuel H. Giffen traveled about for some years, living at Harrisville, Ohio, Wheeling, West Virginia, and Johnson County, Kansas, and then settled per- manently at Harrisville, where he is now living in honorable retirement. In the preceding sketch will be found the biography of Samuel H. Giffen and his first wife, the mother of John B. Giffen, as well as other matters of family history. Mrs. Giffen was born at Harrisville, Ohio, a daughter of George W. Bleakmore.

John B. Giffen attended the public schools of Harrisville and in 1890 went to Wheeling, West Virginia, to visit relatives, and while there at- tended school. He was also employed in a music store of that city. Going to Cleveland, Ohio, in search of a wider field, he was employed by the Kimball Piano Company of that city for two years, but in 1897 returned to Harrisville, where he has continued to live. . For the past fifteen years he has concentrated his efforts upon making his store and restaurant paying enterprises, and has succeeded in an admirable manner.

On April 14, 1904, Mr. Giffen was married to Hattie I. Watson, a daughter of J. W. and Mary Catherine (Morgan) Watson. Mrs. Giffen was a graduate nurse, having taken her course in the Old Wheeling Hospital at Wheeling, West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Giffen have no chil- dren. Although brought up in the United Pres- byterian Church, Mr. Giffen does not belong to it, but his wife does. He is a member of Saint Clairsville Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and also be-

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longs to the Knights of Pythias of Harrisville. In addition to his other interests Mr. Giffen is a director of the Adena Commercial and Sav- ings Bank of Adena, Jefferson County, Ohio, and in every line he is displaying excellent busi- ness ability, and discharging the duties assigned to him in a wholly efficient and praiseworthy way.

JESSE C. RUFF, whose effective administration in the office of postmaster marks him as one of the leading citizens of the thriving village of Minerva, was born in West Township, Colum- biana County, Ohio, September 5, 1857, and in addition to receiving the advantages of the pub- lic schools of his native county his ambition to gain a liberal education resulted in his attending Mount Union College in the years 1871 and 1872. At the age of seventeen years he engaged in teaching in the district schools, and he continued successfully to follow the pedagogic profession until 1886, after which he was engaged in farm enterprise for six years. In 1892 he became as- sociated with the operation of a brick yard at Pekin, Carroll County, and with this enterprise he continued his alliance twenty years. For the ensuing three years he was employed at the warehouse of L. Dennis at Minerva, and in 1916 he received appointment to the office of post- master of this village, a position in which he has since continued to give most effective and popular service, besides which his civic loyalty has been further shown in his service as a mem- ber of the Board of Education of the village, of which he was president fot some time. He is a staunch advocate of the principles of the demo- cratic party and has been active in the promo- tion of its cause. both he and his wife being members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

On the 20th of March, 1881, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ruff to Miss Mary M. Harsh, daughter of Isaac and Barbara Harsh, of Carroll County, and a granddaughter of the late Lewis Harsh, one of the sterling pioneers of this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Ruff have been born seven children: Charles resides at Malvern, this county; Homer, who is a resident of the state of California, married Miss Minnie Henry, of Malvern, and they have one child, Don; Wade, who resides in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, married Miss Olive Ruff, and their one child is a daughter, Betty; Mary died at the age of sixteen years; Emma is the wife of Otto Mount, of Cambridge, Guernsey County, and they have one son, Dick Wilson; John re- sides at Minerva, the maiden name of his wife having been Cleo Rue, and their one child be- Ing a fine little son, John, Jr., more familiarly known as "Jack;" and Goldie is the wife of J. D. Herr, of Chicago, Illinois.

JAMES W. WILKIN. Among the well-known farmers of Freeport Township, Harrison County, whose industry, energy and good management have placed them in comfortable circumstances and gained for them a reputable standing among their townsmen is James W. Wilkin, who has successfully pursued his vocation on his present property for twelve years. Mr. Wilkin was born in Belmont County, Ohio, July 31, 1860, a son of Thomas and Mary (Griffin) Wilkin.

The pioneer of this branch of the Wilkin fam- ily in Ohio was Archibald Wilkin, the grand- father of James W., who was born in Pennsyl- vania and in young manhood removed to Guern- sey County, this state, where he followed farm- ing during the remainder of his life. He was the father of the following children: Andrew, William, James, Archibald, Mary Jane, Cather- ine and Rebecca. Thomas Wilkin was born in Pennsylvania and as a young man adopted the pursuits of the soil for his life work, subse- quently following farming and stock raising in Guernsey and Belmont counties during the re- mainder of a long and honorable career. His death occurred in 1891. Mr. Wilkin married Miss Mary Griffin, who was born in Belmont County, Ohio, a daughter of James and Hannab Griffin, natives of Ireland. She died December 9. 1920. They had nine children, as follows: Margaret ; Elizabeth, who died as a child; Han- nah; Harriet; Martha; James W .; Thomas Henry ; John A., who died as a child; and Re- becca, deceased.

James W. Wilkin was given the advantages of attendance at the district schools of Guern sey County and resided on the home farm until! his marriage, in 1891, to Miss Lizzie Bond, & daughter of Joshua and Susanna ( Huffman)' .Bond. Following their marriage Mr. Wilkin! started farming in Belmont County, where he: remained until 1906, then removing to Scio, Ohio, where he resided for four months. At that time he made his advent in Harrison County, which has since been his home, and during the past twelve years has lived on his present farm of 160 acres in Freeport Town- ship. He carries on general farming and stock raising, and his labors have been attended with gratifying success, he being justly accounted one of the substantial men of his section. As a citi- zen he has given his moral and material support to worthy measures, and while he has never sought office or public honors has endeavored to assist in the securing of good officials and proper legislation. Mrs. Wilkin is a member of the Methodist Church. They have no children.

Thomas Henry Wilkin, a brother of James W. Wilkin, was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, January 15, 1864, and received his education in the public schools in the vicinity of the home farm. As a young man he started farming in his native county, where he became the owner of 160 acres, but in 1906 disposed of his hold- ings and moved to his present farm in Moore- field Township, Harrison County, where he owns a valuable and productive property, con- sisting of ninety-three acres." He does general farming and stock raising, in which he has achieved success, and since his arrival has made numerous improvements, including the building of a new barn. In 1895 Mr. Wilkin married Iona Campbell, daughter of Samuel and Eliza- beth (Donley) Campbell, and four children were born to this union : Dorothy Blanche, who mar- ried Worthy Milliken and has one son, Harry Raymond; an infant who died unnamed; and Freda May and Ralph Raymond, who reside with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkin are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Piedmont.

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DAVID A. KEAN. In ascribing the distinction of pioneer ancestry to citizens of the present generation in Carroll County more than ordi- nary prestige must be accorded to David Addi- son Kean, who is a native of Lee Township, this county, and who is one of the progressive farm- ers of this township. The original representa- tive of the Kean family in this section of the Buckeye State was John Kean, who was born and reared in Ireland and who received a liberal education. After his marriage he served about three years in the English army, his repugnance to this enforced military service finally resulting in his deserting from the ranks and making his way to the United States, he having first located in Washington County, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in teaching school. In 1814 his wife joined him in this country, and soon afterward they came to Ohio and established their resi- dence at Salem, Jefferson County. There they remained but a short time, and they then came to what is now Washington Township, Carroll County, where Mr. Kean took up a tract of wild land and instituted the reclamation of a farm, besides which he became one of the first school teachers within the limits of the county as now constituted. After here remaining several years he returned to Jefferson County and located near Bergholtz, where he passed the remainder of his life. Both he and his wife were of vener- able age at the time of their deaths. They be- «came the parents of the following children : Mrs. Jane Kelly, Mrs. Rosanna Sweany, John, Mrs. Mary A. Miller, Francis, Mrs. Isabella Ful- ton, Mrs. Matilda Wallace, Daniel and William. +Of the above named children John was the :grandfather of him whose name initiates this wreview.

David Addison Kean was born in Lee Town- ship, Carroll County, on the 28th of July, 1870, and is a son of Francis and Sarah (Hunter) Kean, the former a native of Jefferson County, this state, and the latter of Washington County, Pennsylvania, whence her parents, John and Christiana (George) Hunter, came to Ohio in the pioneer days. Francis Kean was reared and educated in this section of the Buckeye State and after his marriage he settled in Lee Town- ship, Carroll County, where he continued as one of the substantial citizens and representative farmers of the county until his death, on the 18th of March, 1890. The family name of his first wife was Hoobler, and of this union were born eleven children. After the death of his first wife he married Miss Sarah Hunter, and they became the parents of two sons and five daughters. Mrs .. Kean survived her husband fourteen years and entered into eternal rest on the 9th of May, 1904, both having been earnest members of the United Presbyterian Church.

David A. Kean remained on the old home farm until the death of his father, and in the meanwhile he had profited by the advantages offered in the Pleasant Hill district school, which he continued to attend at intervals until he was eighteen years of age. After the death of his father he assumed active management of the old home farm, and here he continued to care for his widowed mother with deep filial devotion until she too passed away. He then

came into possession of about ninety-two acres of the original farm of his father, in section 4, Lee Township, and there he continued his resi- dence until July, 1919, when he sold the prop- erty and purchased his present well improved farm of 150 acres in the northwest corner of Lee Township. Here he has a splendid field for his vigorous and progressive activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower, and in all of the relations of life he is well upholding the pres- tige of the honored family name. In addition to the home place he owns also another farm of 160 acres, this being likewise in Lee Township and being used largely for pasturage and the raising of fodder crops. Mr. Kean gives special attention to the raising of cattle, sheep and swine, and in this department of farm enterprise his operations are carried on upon a somewhat extensive scale. His home farm was owned in the pioneer days by a man named Wolf, who here maintained an old-time tavern and stage coach station for the accommodation of travel- ers passing along the road between Steubenville and Canton, the farm being about midway be- tween these no attractive cities. In the old Wolf Tavern were held pioneer court proceed- ings, and it was the stage also of public meet- ings of both political and social order.

Mr. Kean is a staunch supporter of the cause of the republican party, is affiliated with the Carrollton camp of the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his wife hold membership in the United Presbyterian Church at Carroll- ton, in which he is serving as an elder.

On the 14th of November, 1901, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Kean to Miss Anna Allmon, who was born and reared in Fox Town- ship, this county, a daughter of John and Lydia (Dennis) Allmon, and a granddaughter of Pres- ton and Elizabeth (Woods) Allmon, who were early settlers in Jefferson County. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Kean were John W. and Rebecca (Hart) Dennis, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and of Carroll County, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Kean have four children : Mary B., John F., David R. and Martha Lydia.

EMMETT THOMPSON. There are families who continue through succeeding generations in one community, and Emmett Thompson, of Cadiz Township, was born March 6, 1857, on the same farmstead where his father before him, Joseph L. Thompson, was born February 16, 1826. Thomas Thompson came to Cadiz Township in 1816, and for more than a century the Thomp- son family has gone in and out in the com- munity.

In 1849, Joseph L. Thompson married Mary Conoway. She was born February 28, 1831, in Archer Township. She was a daughter of Charles and Frances (Arnold) Conoway. Her father was one of the pioneer farmers of Archer Town- ship. In 1868 he removed to Richland County. The Conoway children are: Benjamin, John, Michael. Charles, Enoch, Sophia, Elizabeth, Mary (Mrs. Thompson), Rachel, Susan and Jane. Michael and Enoch were Civil war soldiers, Enoch being killed at the battle of Pittsburg Landing. The Thompsons and Conoways were

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all Methodists, and are cited as exemplary Chris- tian citizens.

Reverting to the Thompson lineage, Thomas Thompson, who planted the family tree in Har- rison County, was born, September 8, 1779, within the Revolutionary war period. He was ten years old when George Washington became president of the United States. On May 3, 1804, he married Mary Weston, of Huntington County, Pennsylvania. When they came to Cadiz Town- ship, Harrison County, they located on a farm- stead, where they lived the remainder of their days. He died there January 17, 1875. The children in the pioneer Thompson family are: Nancy, born September 25, 1806; John, August 13, 1808: Sarah, October 19, 1811 : Thomas, June 20, 1814; Mary, February 9, 1817; Catharine, June 22, 1819; Elijah, December 4, 1821 ; Joseph, February 16, 1826, and Rachel, June 28, 1828. The early Thompsons were Methodists.

Joseph L. Thompson was born, lived and died where the son Emmett Thompson was born. After the death of his father, Thomas Thomp- son, he bought the homestead of 180 acres and spent all of his life there. The children in his family are: Elosia, wife of Emery Birney; Rachel, deceased; Emmett, the subject of this review; Jennie, widow of Oscar Sparrow; Ju- nietta, who died in infancy; Mary, wife of Jo- seph B. Dunlap; and Eleanor, wife of Frank Drum. The mother died June 9, 1907, and the father died January 25, 1908-less than one year later.

There has been a genealogist abroad in the early Thompson family records, the family an- nals showing that the great-grandfather of Em- mett Thompson, the line coming down through Joseph from Thomas back to Thomas Thomp- son, was born December 7, 1744, in Center County, Pennsylvania, and that on August 23, 1768, he married Eleanor Lindsay who was born May 4, 1747. The Thompsons of that day and generation were: William, born April 1, 1769; Thomas, who died in infancy ; Elizabeth, April 26, 1773; Abraham, December 6, 1775; John, born February 6, 1777: Thomas already mentioned, born September 8, 1779. the child having the name given the second son who died, this one founding the family history in Harrison County ; Isaiah, born August 25, 1781; Amos, October 20, 1783; Nathan, July 8, 1785; Mary, September 6, 1787; Jonathan, August 5, 1790, and Joseph, November 25. 1792. The entire Thompson family were Methodists.

Emmett Thompson who looks back over such a long line of American ancestry, was educated in public school at Cadiz. He always farmed with his father and in 1888 he bought sixty acres adjoining the family homestead. He in- herited seventy acres and now owns 130 acres with substantial improvements on it. On Au- gust 30, 1888, Mr. Thompson married Abbie Busby. She is a daughter of Martin V. and Melinda (Hailey) Busby. Their children are: George B., who married Erma Cramblet, and their children are George Lawrence, Charles Edward and Helen Marie; Oscar V. married Marie Lockhart and they have a son, Robert; Clara is a teacher in the public schools at Kent, Ohio; Joseph L. married Bessie Stamm, and

their children are Marion Virginia and Edith Naomi ; and Martha E., Eloisa E., Mary A. and Emmett L.

As a slight resume, the Thompson family is Scotch Irish, the emigrants coming from Scot- land and locating in Center County, Pennsyl- vania, in the eighteenth century. Few families continue longer in one community than the Thompsons of Harrison County. It is written in the Bible that the places that know us now shall soon know us no more forever. Few other families have the heritage of more than a cen- tury in one community, the land titles always remaining in the same name, changed only by inheritance from father to son, and now there are Thompson children in the fifth generation.

JAMES W. NEWLIN, while residing in Cadiz, judicial center of Harrison County, where for the past quarter of a century he has been en- gaged in the manufacturing of ice cream on a modest scale, still gives his active supervision to his well improved farm of seventy acres in Short Creek Township, about two miles distant from Cadiz.

Mr. Newlin was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, January 24, 1858, and is a son of James P. and Elizabeth (Cochran) Newlin, the former of whom was born in Jefferson County in De- cember, 1817, and the latter was born in Har- rison County, a daughter of Martin Cochran and a representative of one of the well-known pio- neer families of this county. James P. Newlin became a skilled workman at the carpenter's trade, to which he gave his attention during the major part of his active career, in the meantime having developed an appreciable business as a contractor and bullder. He continued his resi- dence in his native county for many years and then removed to Belmont County, where his death occurred in 1881, and where his wife died in 1873. They were consistent members of the United Presbyterian Church. Of their children the eldest was William A., who entered the service of the Union at the beginning of the Civil war and who was killed while participating in the historic battle of the Wilderness; Mar- garet A. became the wife of Samuel Patterson, and both were residents of Kansas at the time of their deaths; Martha Jane became the wife of Rev. D. M. Sleeth, and both are now de- ceased ; Emma, the wife of Charles Balch, died in Kansas; Elizabeth became the wife of Rev. John Giffen, and accompanied him to Egypt, where he was in service as a missionary ; and James W., of this review, is the youngest of the number.

James W. Newlin gained his early education in the public schools of Belmont County, and later attended a high school in West Virginia . for two years. As a young man he initiated his independent career as a farmer in Belmont County, where he remained until 1886, when he came to Harrison County and engaged in the same line of industrial enterprise in Short Creek Township, where he still retains and manages his excellent farm of seventy acres, though he and his wife have maintained their home in the village of Cadiz since 1905. He is a loyal supporter of the principles of the repub-

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lican party, and he and his wife hold member- ship in the United Presbyterian Church at Cadiz. December 30, 1884, recorded the marriage of Mr. Newlin to Miss Elizabeth A. Davis, daugh- ter of Alfred and Sarah Davis, of Belmont County. Mrs. Newlin passed to the life eternal in 1909, and of their three children two are living: Gertrude M. is the wife of Rev. Wil- liam Brainard Jamison, a clergyman of the United Presbyterian Church, and they are in active missionary service in Egypt, as successful workers in that ancient land, their one child being a son, Wallace Newlin Jamison ; Roy died at the age of two years; and Mary is an official in the Young Men's Christian Association at LaCrosse, Wisconsin. In July, 1911, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Newlin to Laura May Holliday, who was born and reared in Harrison County, a daughter of Eldred G. and Mary (Cunningham) Holliday, both likewise natives of this county and both representatives of early pioneer families that settled in this section of Ohio more than a century ago. Eldred G. Hol- liday was long numbered among the representa- tive farmers of his native county, where he and his wife continued to reside until their deaths, when venerable in years, their children having been seven in number: John became a distin- guished clergyman of the Presbyterian Church ; Robert took charge of the old home farm in Har- . rison County upon which his great-grandfather settled in the early pioneer days; George like- wise became a prosperous exponent of farm in- dustry in this county; David became a leading member of the bar in the state of Kansas; Rev. Thomas E., a clergyman of the United Presby- terian Church, went as a missionary to India; Laura May, wife of Mr. Newlin of this review, completed her education in the college at Mon- mouth, Illinois, and is an active participant in the work of the United Presbyterian Church at Cadiz; and Nancy Bell, the youngest of the chil- dren, is Mrs. Nancy Wortman. Mrs. Newlin is the popular chatelaine of the attractive home at Cadiz and makes it a center of gracious hos- pitality.

J. OSBORN COPE is the owner of one of the well improved and ably managed farm proper- ties of his native county, 104 acres of the tract being in Cadiz Township and seventy-three acres in Nottingham Township, with the dividing line between the two townships thus traversing the farm. He is a representative of one of the old and prominent families of Harrison County, the lineage being traced back to English origin and the founder of the family in America having been Oliver Cope, who came from Wiltshire, England, and settled in Pennsylvania in 1687. One or more of his descendants became resi- dents of Virginia, and it was from that state that John Cope came to Ohio in 1812, and after remaining about a year in Belmont County came to the present Harrison County, where the family name has been one of prominence during the long intervening period of more than a cen- tury. In sketches appearing on other pages of this work will be found adequate data concern- ing the earlier members of this representative family in Harrison County.

J. Osborn Cope was born in Nottingham Town- ship, Harrison County, October 1, 1876, and is a son of Jacob and Amanda R. (Rose) Cope, both likewise natives of this county, the former a son of Samuel Cope, who was a farmer in Nottingham Township, and the latter a daugh- ter of Hugh Rose, another sterling pioneer of the county. Jacob Cope was for a few years a resident of Illinois, but all of the remainder of his life was passed in his native township of Nottingham, where he was a successful farmer and highly honored citizen at the time of his death, in 1897, his widow still maintaining her home in this county and being a devoted mem- ber of the Christian Church, in which he like- wise held membership. Their children are seven in number-Ida May, Nancy Emma, J. Osborn, Thomas Blaine, Lucy Lucretia, Walter Milo and Denver Lyle.

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History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 25

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