History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 33

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 33
USA > Ohio > Carroll County > History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio > Part 33

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In 1899 he was nominated for the office of Common Pleas judge in the sub-division com- posed of Harrison, Jefferson and Tuscarawas counties, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Fletcher Doughitt. Judge Shotwell was renominated and re-elected in 1901 and again in 1906, the last time without opposition, the re- publicans presenting no other candidate in the convention and the democrats none at the elec- tion. The work of this office was very heavy.

During nine of the fourteen years that Judge Shotwell served he did all the work of Tuscara- was County, and during seven of these years that of Harrison also. Thus in those seven years he tried the suits in the court of general jurisdiction for approximately 100,000 people. Then an additional judgeship was created for the sub-division owing to an accumulation of business in Jefferson County. And during the remaining five years of Judge Shotwell's judi- cial career he brought up the docket in Jefferson County besides doing the business of Harrison. Thus he had the satisfaction of seeing all the work done and the dockets up when he quit. He retired from the bench in 1913, receiving, as he went out a testimonial banquet from the bar of each county of the sub-division. And then, after thirty-three years of hard labor at the law. he quit the profession.

Judge Shotwell is the author of a Life of Charles Sumner, published by Thomas Y. Crow- ell & Company of New York, which has been favorably reviewed and has found its way into the principal libraries of the country.

On the 24th of December, 1884, Judge Shotwell married Miss Belle Mellvaine, of New Phila- delphia, Ohio. They have one child, Margaret McIlvaine, married to S. P. Mclaughlin of Waterloo, Iowa. There are four grandchildren : Nancy Shotwell, Margaret McIlvaine, Mary Eliz- abeth and Ann Parks.

In 1897 Judge Shotwell and his wife visited Europe, traveling through England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany and Holland. And since his retirement from the bench he has traveled extensively in the southern and eastern sections of his own country.

STUART B. SHOTWELL, JR., was born at Cadiz, Ohio, April 8, 1861, a son of Stuart B. and Nancy (Gaston) Shotwell. He was graduated from Franklin College in 1882, and after reading law with his father was admitted to the bar in 1884. For several years thereafter Mr. Shotwell was engaged in the practice of his profession at Saint Paul, Minnesota. to which city he had gone after his admission to the bar, and in that connection formed the acquaintance of men of extensive interests, and by some of them was in- duced to become vice president and treasurer of the Graves & Vinton Company, investment bank- ers and western managers of the Middlesex Banking Company. Still later Mr. Shotwell en- gaged in a brokerage business of his own, con- tinuing to reside at Saint Paul, where his death occurred May 22, 1910.

In 1892 Mr. Shotwell was married at Cadiz, Ohio, to Miss Caroline R. Mellvaine, a daugh- ter of Judge George W. McInvaine of the Ohio Supreme bench. Mrs. Shotwell died at Cadiz, April 7 ,1918, leaving one son, Stuart Mellvaine Shotwell, who was born at Saint Paul, Minne- sota, April 16, 1893. He was graduated from the public schools of his native city in 1910, and in the fall of that year entered Harvard University, and was graduated therefrom 'in 1914.

Immediately following his graduation Stuart M. Shotwell entered the banking house of Lee,

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Higginson & Company of Chicago, Illinois, and . Township, where he became the owner of an remained with this concern until in May, 1917, excellent farm and where he continued to reside until his death, in 1904, his widow still main- taining her home in that township and being a devoted member of the Presbyterian Church, of which he likewise was a member. They became the parents of eight children : Elizabeth (Mrs. James Henderson), Mary Eleanor (Mrs. Wil- liam Hedges), James Mitchell, Jennie (Mrs. Adam Porter), William (died in childhood), Charles F., Oliver J. ( married Lucy Wood) and John (died at the age of eleven months). he enlisted for service during the great war and entered an officer's training camp. He was commissioned a second lieutenant and was sent overseas with his command to France. While there he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, and remained abroad until July, 1919, when he was sent home and honorably discharged. At present he is in the bond de- partment of the Irving National Bank of New York City, New York. He was married in October, 1919, to Bernice Myers, of Berwyn, Illinois.

CHARLES F. THOMPSON is the owner of a fine farm property of 257 acres in Archer Township, Harrison County, and is In a significant degree to be classed as a vigorous and influential rep- resentative of agricultural and live-stock in- dustry in his native county. His farm is equipped with modern improvements, and its operations are carried forward according to ap- proved scientific methods, with the result that he gains from the property the maximum re- turns. He is a breeder of registered Shorthorn cattle, and has advanced views in connection with all features of productive farm enterprise.

Mr. Thompson was born in Short Creek Township, this county. on the 8th of February, 1869, and is a son of Joseph and Hannah (Shields) Thompson. whose marriage was solemnized in 1856. Joseph Thompson was born in Ireland in January. 1833, and his wife was born in Short Creek Township, Harrison County, Ohio, in 1836, she being a daughter of William and Ann (Thompson) Shields. William Shields passed the major part of his life in Short Creek Township, and for many years was engaged in the work of his trade, that of blacksmith, at Harrisville. Both he and his wife were mem- bers of the Presbyterian Church. They became the parents of nine children-Eli, James, Mary Eleanor, Hannah, Lydia Jane, Henry, Alice Ann, Sarah Elizabeth and Benoni. William Shields was a son of Benoni Shields, an hon- ored pioneer of Harrison County and one of whom more specific mention is made on other pages of this volume, in the sketch dedicated to Milton M. Shields.

James Mitchell Thompson and his wife, Elizabeth, remained in Ireland until about the year 1848, when they came with their children to America and established a residence in Canada, where his death occurred within the following year. Thereafter Mrs. Thompson and her children came to Ohio and established a home on a farm in Green Township, Harrison County, where the loved mother passed the re- mainder of her life. Her children were five in number-Joseph, James. Susan (Mrs. Joseph Mitchell), Nancy (Mrs. James Bullock) and Jennie (Mrs. James Howard).

Joseph Thompson, elder of the two sons in the above mentioned family, initiated his inde- pendent career as a farmer when he was a young man, and he remained in Short Creek Township until the early '80s, after which he was a farmer in Cadiz Township for four years. He then removed with his family to Archer

Charles F. Thompson acquired his youthful education in the district schools of Short Creek, Cadiz and Archer townships, and he remained at the parental home until the time of his mar- riage, when he was twenty-seven years of age. Since that time he has been independently en- gaged in farm enterprise in Archer Township. where his success is attested by the admirable appearance and general productiveness of his valuable farm. He is a democrat in politics, and he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church in the Village of Jewett. They have no children. The maiden name of Mrs. Thompson was Jennie Baker, and concern- ing the family more specific record is given on other pages, in the sketch of Andrew H. Baker.

JAMES M. THOMPSON, a brother of Charles F. Thompson, mentioned individually in the pre- ceding review, was born in Short Creek Town- ship on the 5th of February, 1862, and he like- wise is one of the representative farmers of Archer Township. He received the advantages of the district schools and from his young man- hood has been successfully engaged in farm industry in Archer Township, where his home- stead place comprises 145 acres, and where he owns also another farm of ninety-five acres not far distant from his residence place. He is a successful breeder of registered American De- Inine sheep and registered Shorthorn cattle. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party, and he served two years as assessor of Archer Township. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Jewett.

On the 20th of November, 1890, was solemn- ized the marriage of Mr. Thompson to Miss Nancy Reid, daughter of Nelson and Mary ( Hustis) Reid, whose marriage occurred on the 15th of August, 1867. Mr. Reid was born in Archer Township April 21, 1841, and here be passed his entire life, his death having occurred September 9, 1871, when he was only thirty years of age and his entire active career hav- ing been marked by close association with farm enterprise in his native township. His widow, who was born December 4. 1844, was a daugh- ter of John Hustis and survived her husband by many years. They became the parents of two children-Margaret E., who was born May 23. 1868, and whose death occurred November 4, 1881; and Nancy (Mrs. James Mitchell Thompson), who was born July 31, 1871, a short time prior to the death of her father. Mr. and Mrs. John Mitchell Thompson became the parents of ten children, concerning whom the following brief record is available; Joseph

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Reid, who was born September 6, 1891, married Miss Etta Patterson, and they have two chil- dren-Ralph Edwin, born November 12, 1916, and Eleanor May, born May 9, 1919. Alma Elizabeth Thompson was born January 19, 1894, and her death occurred January 16, 1909. Mary Leona was born. October 9, 1895. John Mitchell was born August 4. 1897; Walter Leslie was born September 28, 1899; Nancy Marie, July 24. 1902: Ruth Eleanor, May 31, 1905; Lucy May, May 5, 1907; Edna Frances, April 13, 1910; and Ralph Wayne, November 7, 1912.

K. W. KINSEY. It has been the privilege of Mrs. Emma H. Kinsey, of Cadiz, to "keep his memory green" by commemorating her husband, K. W. Kinsey, in the annals of Harrison County. The Kinseys belong to the early his- tory of the community. An old record shows that John Kinsey, an English Quaker, came from London, arriving at New Castle on the Delaware in the ship Kent June 16, 1677, com- ing as one of the commissioners for the settle- ment of West Jersey under the purchase by Edward Byllinge. He was five years ahead of William Penn in the New World. Settlement was made at Burlington, New Jersey, and at this time John Kinsey bargained for 300 acres on the west side of the Delaware, in the lo- cality afterward famous because of the treaty made between William Penn and the Indians- the treaty that was never sworn to nor broken, William Penn being a Quaker and opposed to the oath in such things.

While John Kinsey died before settlement was completed there, the Swede from whom he purchased the land made formal acknowledg- ment of his deed of conveyance to the widow, Elizabeth Kinsey, and thus the purchase was intact for the heirs. There was a son, John Kinsey, who came a year later to the colonies, and he afterward distinguished himself in pub- lic service, and in turn his son John, likewise a Quaker, later became chief justice of Penn- sylvania. His brother, Edmund Kinsey, mar- ried Sarah Osburn August 21, 1708, and in 1815 they moved to Buckingham Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, having friendly Indians as their guides, and there they made their homes in the wilderness, and from them the Ohio branch of the Kinsey family traces its lineage. Edmund Kinsey was much interested in the cause of religion and in 1720 he was one of the founders of the Buckingham meeting.

Edmund Kinsey was one of the foremost and most skilled mechanics of his time, and he established a scythe and ax factory in Buck- ingham. In it he installed a trip hammer operated by water power, which was a great improvement. There were nine children in his family, and from Benjamin, the eighth child, the Ohio family is descended. He was born October 22, 1727, and in 1749 he married Susannah Brown, and after her death he mar- ried Martha Waite in the year of the Declara- tion of American Independence. There were seven children by the first and nine children by the second marriage, one of them being George Kinsey, who on December 22, 1773, mar-

ried Mary Gillingham. In this family there were nine children : Sarah, Susannah, Edmund, James, Aaron, John, Charles and Ann, and it is through Charles that the relationship is carried down to the Ohio branch of the family.

Charles Kinsey was born May 19, 1786, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He was a hatter by trade, and on June 1, 1815. he married Ann Worrall in Philadelphia. When he was only ten years old the Kinsey family came to Mount Pleasant, where there was a Quaker settlement in Ohio, and from there he returned to Phila- delphia and worked as a hatter. When he mar- ried and came back to Ohio he settled in Cadiz Township, near the site of Lafferty's Mill, and here he continued the business of manufactur- ing hats until after the death of his wife, when he removed to Moorefield and continued making hats. On November 2, 1823, while a resident of Harrison County. a son of K .W. Kinsey, who is now commemorated in the annals of the community, was born. and he always lived in Harrison County. After going to Moorefield Charles Kinsey was married twice, the second wife, Talitha Catchel, becoming the mother of three children, and the third wife, Rody Boone, bearing him two children.

At the time of the gold discovery in Call- fornia in 1849 Mr. Kinsey spent five years in search of the precious metal. He returned to Moorefield and resumed the business as a hatter, finally removing to Flushing in Belmont County, where he died at the age of almost eighty-eight years. At the time of his death Mr. Kinsey was the oldest Mason in Ohio, having been a member since 1816, when he joined in Gallip- olis. His body lies buried in the Methodist Episcopal Cemetery at Flushing. The children born to Charles Kinsey from his first marriage were : Gillingham, K. W. and Sarah Jane, and the oldest distinguished himself as an artist, some of his pictures being still in existence.

When he was a boy of fourteen K. W. Kinsey became a "bound boy" in Cadiz, but it was an unsatisfactory arrangement and in time he left and went to Mount Pleasant. where he remained four years. When he returned to Cadiz he spent ten months in a private school taught by Joseph Wood. after which he was a teacher, and at times he served as clerk in different business establishments. In 1855 Mr. Kinsey was elected auditor of Harrison County, and in 1860 he was re-elected. Later he en- gaged in business in Cadiz, being one of the most extensive wool dealers in Harrison County.

On May 6, 1847, K. W. Kinsey married Sarah Jane Haverfield and they had an adopted daughter. Emma Bingham Kinsey. On Novem- ber 8, 1864, Mr. Kinsey married the second time, and the wife, Emma Holmes Kinsey, survives him, continuing her residence in Cadiz. She is a daughter of George and Hannah (Mansfield) Holmes, and her parents were pioneers in Har- rison County. Col. Joseph Holmes, grandfather of Mrs. Emma Holmes Kinsey, was the founder of the house of Holmes in the county. He mar- ried three times, his first wife being Hannah Linn. the second wife was Tacy Thompson, and the third was Hannah Mansfield.

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The children born to K. W. and Emma Holmes Kinsey are as follows: Mary is the wife of Charles Brown. George married Ruby Has- tings. His children are Kersey W. and Louise. Harry Kinsey married Mary Moore. His chil- dren are Sarah and Carolyn. George and Harry Kinsey live in Arcadia, Nebraska. Edith Kinsey is the wife of Edward Barringer. Her children are Marcella and Elizabeth. Nellie Kinsey is a supervisor of music.

The Commemorative Record of Harrison County gives a full history of the Kinsey fam- ily, and Mrs. Emma H. Kinsey adds something of the Holmes family story. Her father, George Holmes, who was a son of Col. Joseph Holmes and Hannah (Mansfield) Holmes, the latter a daughter of Thomas Mansfield, was a native of Short Creek, born there in 1799, while Ohio was still a territory. Colonel Holmes was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and he was a member of the first Ohio State Legisla- ture. His children were: George, Asa, Abra- ham. Joseph, Elizabeth, Mary, Susan and Cynthia. George Holmes owned about 500 acres of land in Short Creek and was among the well-to-do farmers of his day in Harrison County. The Kinsey family were members of the Methodist Church, and were always active in all movements for the welfare of the com- munity.

ABRAHAM M. BUSBY is another of the native sons of Harrison County who is here causing the earthi to bring forth its increase and who is known as one of the progressive and success ful exponents of agriculture and live-stock in- dustry in Archer Township, where he is the owner of the fine old homestead farm of 160 acres which was the place of his birth, the date of his nativity having been March 28, 1864. He is a son of Martin V. and Melinda ( Helea) Busby, honored citizens of whom adequate rec- ord is given on other pages, in the sketch of the career of another of their sons, John.

Abraham M. Busby is indebted to the district schools of his native township for his early educational discipline, and from his boyhood to the present time the old homestead farm has been the stage of his productive activities. In 1898 he purchased the interest of the other heirs and came into full possession of his valu- able farm, upon which he has since made ex- cellent improvements, including the erection of the present modern and commodious house, which is one of the attractive rural domiciles of Archer Township.

The political proclivities of Mr. Busby are indicated in his staunch support of the cause of the democratic party, and he is influential in community affairs, as is evidenced by his having served two terms as trustee of his native town- ship. He and his family hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Village of Jewett.

The year 1SSS recorded the marriage of Mr. Busby to Miss Mary Bell Dyson, who like- wise was born and reared in Harrison County and who is a daughter of Joseph and Julia ( Swan) Dyson. Mr. and Mrs. Busby have two children-Bessie May, who is the wife of James

A. Dodds, and Audra Beatrice, who remains at the parental home.

CHARLES E. LAFFERTY is well entitled to recognition in this history, not alone by reason of his personal achievement in connection with farm industry in Harrison County, but also by reason of his being a popular representative of one of the honored pioneer families of this county. He was born in Athens Township on the 8th of October, 1869, and he is a son of Edward and Sarah A. (Cooper) Lafferty, whose marriage was solemnized September 7, 1865. Edward Lafferty was born in Athens Township, this county. November 25, 1826. and received his early education in the pioneer schools. The original representatives of the Lafferty family in America came from England and settled in Pennsylvania about the middle of the eight- eenth century. In the old Keystone State was born Edward Lafferty, who there married Elizabeth Ramage. In the early part of the nineteenth century he came with his large family to Ohio and became one of the pioneer settlers in Moorefield Township, Harrison County, as now constituted. He purchased a large tract of wild land and began the reclaim- ing of a farm from the forest, the while he assembled his family in a log house of the type common to the locality and period. He was one of the venerable and honored pioneer citi- zens of the county at the time of his death, and his widow attained to the remarkable age of 111 years, her death having occurred August . 22. 1844, and both having been earnest mem- bers of the Nottingham Presbyterian Church. Their son Edward was born in Pennsylvania in 1789, and in his youth he assisted in developing the frontier farm in Harrison County. Here he married Margaret McFadden, a member of another sterling pioneer family, and they estab- lished themselves on a pioneer farm in Athens Township, where they passed the remainder of their lives, secure in the high esteem of all who knew them and both zealous members of the Presbyterian Church at Cadiz. Mr. Lafferty died on the 8th of November, 1836, and his widow passed to eternal rest on the 14th of September, 1864. They became the parents of ten children : Samuel, John, Eliza (Mrs. Thomas Guines), Margaret (Mrs. Luke Vorhees), George, Joseph, Hiram, Edward. Findlay and Mary Jane.

Of these children Edward was the father of him whose name introduces this review, and he was reared on the old home farm. the while he profited by the advantages of the common schools of the period. In 1865. as already noted, he married Miss Sarah A. Cooper, a daughter of William C. Cooper, who was a pio- neer settler of Nottingham Township, and whose children were nine in number-Benjamin, William, John. Stephen, Thomas. Elizabeth. Mary Jane, Louisa and Sarah A. Edward Lafferty became one of the substantial farmers in Athens Township, where he continued his residence until his death, April 2. 1886. His wife survived him by several years. Both were members of the Presbyterian Church at New Athens, and in politics he held to the ancestral

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faith, that of the democratic party. He well upheld the honors of a family name that has been one of prominence and influence in Harri- son County since the early pioneer era, and he and his wife commanded the high regard of the community in which they lived and labored to worthy ends. The names and respective dates of birth of their children are here made a matter of record; George T., March 26, 1867; Charles E., October 8, 1869; Eliza Caroline, Mrs. Charles K. Norcott, August 4, 1871; Wil- liam A. and Margaret E., twins, August 31, 1874, the latter being the wife of George McFadden; and Mary E., Mrs. Jesse Mitchell, November 22, 1881.

Charles E. Lafferty found the period of his boyhood compassed by the influences of the home farm, and in the meantime made good use of the advantages afforded in the district schools of his native township. There also he initiated his independent activities as a farmer, and there he continued this association until 1909, when he removed to his present farm in Nottingham Township, where he owns seventy- nine acres and has proved himself eligible for registration as one of the progressive agricul- turists and stock-raisers of his native county. He has been unfaltering in his support of the principles of the democratic party and his re- ligious faith is that of the Presbyterian Church. in the tenets of which he was reared.

On the 14th of June, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lafferty to Miss Luella Jones, who was born in Stock Township, this county, October 8, 1873, and who is a daughter of George M. and Mary E. (Laughlin) Jones, the former of whom was born in Belmont County, Ohio, and the latter in Cadiz Town- ship, Harrison County. George M. Jones was one of the young patriots who represented Ohio as a soldier in the Civil war. In 1861 he en- listed in Company K, Sixty-ninth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, and the history of this gallant regiment constitutes the virtual record of his military career, which involved participation in many important battles, as well as innu- merable skirmishes and other minor engage- ments. Mr. Jones was with General Sherman on the historic march from Atlanta to the sea and took part in the Grand Review of the vic- torious armies in the City of Washington. He was honorably discharged on September 21, 1864. After the close of the war Mr. Jones became a prosperous farmer in Stock Township, Harrison County, where he remained until 1890. when he removed to the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Lafferty in Notting- ham Township, where he remained until his death on the 26th day of January. 1917. his wife dying January 24, 1917. He was a man of worth and ability and was an honored mem- ber of the post of the Grand Army of the Re- public at Deersville. Of the three children Mrs. Lafferty is the youngest; Alfred P. resides in Carroll County, Ohio, and Ruth A. is the wife of Emmett Maxwell. of Nottingham Township. Mr. and Mrs. Lafferty have no children. Mr. Lafferty is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

ELMER E. BLACKWELL is one of the progres- sive farmers of Nottingham Township, Harri- son County, where he is the owner of an excellent farm of 137 acres and where he gives successful attention to diversified agriculture and to the raising of good grades of live-stock.

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History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 33

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