History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 55

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 55
USA > Ohio > Carroll County > History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio > Part 55

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Mr. Young's first business activities were in Jefferson County. In 1890 he bought the farm in Green Township. and since then he has lived in Harrison County. Since living there he has been operating a small coal mine in connec- tion with the farm and live-stock business, and beside his relation to the First National Bank of Hopedale as its president he has other busi- ness interests in the community.

HARVEY T. ELLIOTT. The Elliott family of which Harvey T. Elliott of Athens Township is a representative have been in Harrison County for many years. He was born October 17. 1883. in Short Creek Township. His father was R. Wilson Elliott and his mother, Laura Belle (Coulter) Elliott. The mother is a daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann (Sloan) Coulter, her father a Short Creek Township farmer. She was the youngest of the following : Sarah Jane,

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James, Angeline, Robert M., John R., Thomas, Mary Emeline (deceased), and Laura Belle. The Coulters were members of the United Presbyterian Church of Harrisville.

R. Wilson Elliott, father of H. T. Elliott, was a Short Creek Township farmer, and he always lived there. His children are: Mary Emma, wife of Philip C. Morgan; Harvey T .; Elmer C., who entered the World war service April 2, 1918, and had his military training at Camp Sherman. He was a member of Company D, One Hundred and Third Regiment of Infantry of the Eighty-Third Division, and in June, 1918, he sailed for France. He landed at Brest, on June 24, and was transferred from the Eighty- Third to the Twenty-Sixth Division, where he remained until he was mustered out after the signing of the armistice. He fought in the St. Mihiel Offensive September 12 to 16, 1918, in the Marcheville raid, September 25 and 26, and in the Verdun Sector from October 20 until the end of the war, November 11, and he was "over the top" five times in hard fought battles. He received his final discharge April 21, 1919, at Camp Sherman. He was a little more than a year in the service and had experiences that will never be forgotten. There was an oppor- tunity as well as a burden that confronted the young men of America, and those who went service all showed their patriotism when the freedom of the whole world was in uncertainty. There are two more sisters: Bessie Belle, wife of Earl Lamborn, and Georgiana, who married William C. Gillespie, of Athens Township. R. W. Elliott, the father, died in 1900. His widow survives, living in New Athens. She is a mem- ber of the United Presbyterian Church.

H. T. Elliott had educational advantages in Short Creek Township, and he had one year at the Band Box School, then attended public school at Harrisville. In 1911 he married Gretta Lyle, daughter of George and Nancy Jane Gillespie. Mr. Elliott began farming on the Anthony Aukerman place in Short Creek Township, but in the spring of 1913 they re- moved to the farm in Athens Township on the Cadiz and New Athens pike where he is engaged in general farming, combined with livestock, and where he has 1024 acres. Their children are: Alvin, born March 4, 1912; Clifford L., born November 10, 1913, and Harvey W., born December 3, 1919.

The parents of Mrs. Elliott were born in Bel- mont County, but they removed to Short Creek Township when they were first married. The father died in 1907, in Short Creek Township, but his widow survives. Their children are: Walter G., Harvey, Joseph, Eleanor (deceased) ; Gretta, Frank (deceased) and David. The fam- ily are Presbyterians.

WALTER HOLLE has been numbered among the vigorous representatives of farm enterprise in North Township, Harrison County, since 1911, when he came from his native state of West Virginia and purchased his present excellent farm of eighty-five acres. Here he gives his at- tention to well diversified agriculture and to the raising of excellent types of livestock, in

which latter department he specializes in the breeding and raising of pure-blood and regis- tered Poland-China swine. In personality and industrial achievement he has proved a valued and popular acquisition in the county of his adoption.

Mr. Holle was born in Doddridge County, West Virginia, at St. Clara, and the date of his nativity was August 25, 1854. He is a son of Ernest and Adaline Holle, his father having been born in Germany and having been young when his parents came to America and estab- lished their residence in Maryland, from which state removal was later made to Doddridge County, West Virginia. Mrs. Adaline Holle died in 1858, when her son Walter was but four years of age, and her husband died about two years later, in 1860. The three orphaned children, Walter, Henry and Mary, were reared in the home of kinsfolk in Doddridge County, and Wal- ter, the eldest of the number, was so young as to have but the vaguest memories of his father and mother, the while he regrets that their early death prevented him from gaining more than the most meager data concerning the fam- ily history. Henry, his younger brother, was still a bachelor at the time of his death, at the age of thirty-one years, he having been a con- ductor on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad be- overseas and those who only had training for . tween Wheeling and Grafton. Mary C., the only sister, is the wife of Lafayette Nicholson, of Coldwater, West Virginia, and they have four children-Clarence, Anna, Dallas and Julia. Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Holle were earnest com- municants of the Lutheran Church.

Walter Holle gained his early education in the public schools at St. Clara, West Virginia, and later was a student for two terms in the normal school at Fairmont, that state. As a young man he devoted a part of his time for eight years to successful service as a teacher in the schools of his native state, and he then turned his attention to farm enterprise in his native county, where he became the owner of a farm of 120 acres, as well as a farm of 137 acres in Lewis County, that state. In 1911 he sold his properties in West Virginia and came to his present attractive farm home in Harrison County, where gratifying success has attended his activities. He is well fortified in his opin- ions concerning governmental and economic poli- cies, and while a resident of West Virginia he represented his native county in the State Legis- lature during three different terms-those of 1891, 1893 and 1907. During his last term he was the author of the two-cent railroad fare bill that he presented and the passage of which he was primarily instrumental in obtaining in the West Virginia Legislature. He was other- wise influential in public affairs, and during the administration of Gov. A. B. White he served four years as a member of the State Board of Agriculture in West Virginia. He and his family hold membership in the Methodist Episco- pal Church at Scio.

In April, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Holle to Miss Emma Zobrist, who was born in the state of Connecticut, a daughter of Samuel Zobrist. Mr. and Mrs. Holle be- came the parents of six children-Cora E.,

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Retta R., Alma May, Laura E., Henry S. and Walter M. Cora E., Alma M., Laura E. and Walter M. are deceased, and the other children remain at the parental home, Miss Retta R. be- ing at the time of this writing the popular teacher in the school of her home district.

ROBERT T. SPRATT, postmaster of the village of Malvern, Carroll County, has been the ef- ficient and popular incumbent of this federal office since 1914, and prior to that year had been for some time engaged in the grocery business at Malvern. He was born in Malvern, Brown Township, this county, May 6, 1868, and is a representative of a sterling pioneer family of the county. He is a son of Dr. William R. Spratt, who was born in Brown Township, this county, September 27, 1837, a son of Andrew and Jane (Russell) Spratt, both natives of Ire- land, where the former was born in County Down in 1794, and the latter in County Tyrone. Andrew Spratt came from the Emerald Isle to America in 1819, and his future wife made the voyage to this country in 1822, their marriage having been solemnized in Pennsylvania, where he maintained his home at Cannonsburg for several years. In the early '30s Andrew Spratt took up a tract of Government land in Brown Township, Carroll County, where he remained and developed the productive farm which con- tinued his place of residence for many years. He finally retired and removed to Waynesburg, Stark County, where he died when about ninety- six years of age, his wife having been about eighty-five years of age at the time of her death. and both having been zealous members of the Presbyterian Church. Upon coming to Ohio he first located at Waynesburg, Stark County, in 1827, and there he remained until coming to Carroll County, as noted above. Of the four children the eldest, Nelson, died in October, 1916, ten days prior to the ninetieth anniver- sary of his birth; Ann Jane was a resident of Rome, Kansas, at the time of her death; Mary, eighty-five years of age at the time of this writ- ing, in 1920, is a resident of Pond Creek, Okla- homa ; and Dr. William R. is the youngest of the number.

Dr. William R. Spratt was reared on the old home farm in Brown Township, and after hav- ing profited by the advantages of the common schools he pursued a higher course of academic study at Richmond College in Jefferson County. Thereafter he was engaged in teaching school for ten years, and in the meanwhile he formu- lated definite plans for his future career. In consonance with these plans he began reading medicine under the preceptorship of Doctor Akin at Waynesburg, and later he continued his studies in the medical department of the Uni- versity of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Finally he entered the celebrated Starling Medical Col- lege at Columbus, now the medical school of the University of Ohio, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1865. During the long intervening period of more than half a century Dr. Spratt has been actively engaged in the practice of his profes- sion at Malvern, Carroll County, as one of the able and representative physicians and sur-

geons of the county and as a citizen who holds high vantage-place in popular confidence and esteem. He is a member of the American Medi- cal Association, the Stark County Medical So- ciety, the Ohio State Medical Society and the Canton Medical Society, of which last mentioned he is now an honorary member, and he is one of the leading and veteran members of the Car- roll County Medical Society. He is an ardent advocate of the principles of the Democratic party but has never been an aspirant for politi- cal office. He served four years as a member of the board of pension examining surgeons for Carroll County, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian Church, though his wife and chil- dren hold membership in the Methodist Episco- pal Church.

In 1866 was solemnized the marriage of Doc- tor Spratt to Miss Nancy Thompson, who was born in Carroll County in November, 1832, a daughter of Robert and Sarah (Downing) Thompson. honored pioneer settlers of the county. Of them more specific mention will be made in later paragraphs. Doctor and Mrs. Spratt became the parents of three children, of whom Robert T., of this review, is the eldest ; Anna J. was married to Emery Miller, of Alli- ance, in 1905 and after his death in 1908 she ·lived at the home of her parents until the year 1918, when she married Rudolph Marchal of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and they now reside at Mal- vern : Irwin died at the age of twenty-five years.

Robert Thompson, father of Nancy (Thomp- son) Spratt. was born in County Tyrone, Ire- land, in 1787, a son of William and Margry (McCamey) Thompson, and he was an infant at the time of the family immigration to the United States. After a tempestuous voyage of nine weeks the family arrived in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in August, 1789, and soon afterward the father purchased a farm near Mckeesport. Westmoreland County. that state. where he remained until 1808, when he sold his farm and came to what is now Carroll County, where he became one of the earliest settlers in the present Brown Township. He reclaimed a considerable part of his land to cultivation and here continued to reside until his death in 1821, his widow passing away in 1829. They became the parents of three sons and four daughters-Robert, Brown, John, Margery, Elizabeth. Mary and Jane. All of the daughters married and all remained in Carroll County until their deaths except Margery, who died in Stark County. Of the sons, Brown and John died while serving as soldiers in the War of 1812. Robert, the surviving son, was born in County Tyrone. Ireland. in 1787, as before stated, and was reared to manhood in West- moreland County, Pennsylvania, he having been about twenty-one years old when he accom- panied his parents to Ohio. He assisted in the reclamation and development of the home farm, which came into his possession after the death of his parents. In 1818 he married Miss Sarah Downing, daughter of James and Sarah Down- ing, both of whom were of Scotch ancestry and who came from Virginia to Ohio in 1806, their home being established on a pioneer and em-

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bryonic farm in Sandy Township, Stark County. Mr. and Mrs. Downing had seven children- James, Hugh, Adam, Drusilla, Susan, Margaret and Sarah. James Downing, Sr., was appointed by the Government to the office of captain of a body of Indian scouts, assigned to duty in pro- tecting the frontier and reporting the move- ments of hostile Indians. In this service he encountered numerous hardships and dangers, and in one conflict with the Indians he and his companions barely escaped capture and torture.

Robert Thompson continued to reside on his father's old homestead until he too was called to the life eternal, and he made the place one of the model farms of its day in Carroll County. He entered service and started for Detroit at the time of the War of 1812, but when General Hull surrendered the Michigan frontier city and garrison to the enemy Mr. Thompson and his comrades from Carroll county were dis- charged from the service. He was a whig in politics, held various offices in his township, and he was one of the substantial and influential men of Carroll County, where he accumulated 1,000 acres of fine land. He was not formally identified with any religious organization, but attended and supported the Baptist Church, in which his wife held membership, besides which he contributed to the erection of the Christian, Methodist and Presbyterian Church buildings in the village of Malvern. His death occurred June 14, 1844, and he left his widow with seven children, of whom the eldest, James, was but sixteen years of age. A woman of self-reliance and resourcefulness, Mrs. Thompson, with the aid of the older sons, was able effectively to retain and manage the large farm estate, which remained intact until the youngest child be- came of age, when the property was amicably divided among the heirs, the mother retaining the old homestead, and there remaining until her death, April 28, 1882, when eighty-two years of age. Robert and Sarah (Downing) Thomp- son became the parents of eight children, the second child, who was the first son, having died in infancy. The names of the other children were Margery McCamey, Lavinia, James Down- ing, John, Nancy Ann (wife of Doctor Spratt), William Irvin and Arminta Vienna. All of the children remained in Carroll County, married and reared their children except Arminta, who removed with her husband to the state of Kansas.

Robert T. Spratt, the immediate subject of this sketch, continued his studies in the public schools until he had duly profited by the ad- vantages of the Malvern High School, and there- after he was a student in turn at Scio College in Harrison County and the Duff Business Col- lege in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1889 he took a position as clerk in the hotel conducted by J. W. Burns in the city of Can- ton, Stark County, and later he formed a part- nership and became associated in the purchas- ing of a hotel at Lima, Allen County. There he remained five years, and thereafter he was identified with the hotel business at St. Louis, Missouri, about five years, after which he re- turned to his native county and engaged in the grocery business at Malvern. He continued this

enterprise several years and on the 1st of May, 1914, he was appointed postmaster of the village, a position of which he has since con- tinued the efficient incumbent. It is needless to say that Mr. Spratt is unflagging in his sup- port of the cause of the democratic party, and that he has been active in its campaign service and councils in Carroll County. In 1912 he was a presidential elector on the party ticket, and had the distinction of drawing the luck card which authorized him to bear the Ohio electoral vote to the national capital on the oc- casion of the first election of President Wilson. He had been a delegate to the Democratic State Convention at Toledo, where he was made presi- dential elector from his district. Mr. Spratt is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and he holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Spratt is a member of the Catho- lic Church of Malvern, Ohio.

In 1902 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Spratt to Miss Mary E. Wall, of Chicago, Illi- nois, and they have two children living, Robert W. and Katharine Elizabeth. Virginia, the old- est, died when twelve years of age.

WILLIAM M. WALKER, deceased, was born in Nottingham Township, September 4. 1856, and was a son of Lorenzo D. and Eliza M. (Furney) Walker. the former of whom was born in Not- tingham Township April 15, 1821, and the lat- ter of whom was born at Cadiz, the county seat of Harrison County, on the 6th of July, 1823- dates that indicate that the respective families were founded in the county in the pioneer period of Its history. Lorenzo D. Walker was a son of Robert and Ruth ( Poulson) Walker, who were born in the state of Maryland and who became early settlers in Nottingham Township, Har- rison County, where they passed the remainder of their lives and where Mr. Walker reclaimed and developed a good farm, both he and his wife having been specially zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and their names meriting high place on the roll of the honored pioneers of Harrison County. They became the parents of four sons and one daugh- ter-Wesley. Wilson, Nelson, Lorenzo D. and Nancy, who married John Davis, and all of the children are now deceased.

Lorenzo D. Walker passed his entire life in Nottingham Township, was one of its substan- tial farmers and representative citizens, and contributed his share to the civic and indus- trial progress of the county. He was sixty-one years of age at the time of his death, Decem- her 21. 1882. and his wife passed away on June 23, 1910, at the age of eighty-six years, their marriage having been solemnized October 28. 1840. Mrs. Walker was a daughter of Frederick and Deborah (Harris) Furney, both of whom were born in the state of Maryland, the former's father. Abraham Furney, having come to Harrison County in the early pioneer days and having become a large landholder in Cadiz Township, where he improved a farm and where he passed the remainder of his life. Frederick Furney likewise achieved prominent place as one of the successful farmers of Not- tingham Township, where occurred the deaths

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of both himself and his wife when they were well advanced in years, Mrs. Furney having held membership in the Christian Church. They became the parents of seven children: Sophia, Mary Ann, Susan, Catherine. Alice, Eliza M. and John. Lorenzo D. and Eliza M. (Furney) Walker were earnest and valued members of the Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church in Notting- ham Township. They became the parents of four children : Mary A., who died October 30, 1920; Nancy E., who married John Forney and is deceased ; Frederick W., who died August 17, 1920, first married Leah Randall and after her death he wedded for his second wife Mary El- len ; and William M., of this sketch, who died May 30, 1920.

William M. Walker attended the district schools of his native township and early began farming and stock growing. His entire active career was marked by close attention to the basic industries of agriculture and stock-grow- ing, and he resided continuously in Nottingham Township from the time of his birth until his death. Here his farm enterprise was conducted with marked success on his fine farm of 232 acres, and this and an adjoining farm consti- tuted his only place of residence from the time of his nativity to his death. In the live-stock department of his farm industry he gave spe- cial attention to the raising of sheep of excel- lent grade and type. He ever manifested a loyal support to measures advanced for the general good of the community, his political allegiance having been given to the republican party, and his wife was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her death oc- curred December 30, 1915.

February 7, 1886, recorded the marriage of Mr. Walker to Miss Ella C. Mallernee, daughter of David T. and Esther ( Irons) Mallernee, and a representative of a well-known pioneer family of Harrison County, within whose borders she passed her entire life. Mr. and Mrs. Walker became the parents of two children: Frances C. married James A. Irons, who has the active management of the Walker farm; and Ernest R. resides in the city of Columbus, Ohio.

The only son, Ernest R. Walker, was one of Ohio's gallant young soldiers in the nation's service in connection with the great World war. He was enrolled on the 15th of May. 1918, and was thereafter in training at Paris Island until the 22d of the following July, when he was transferred to Quantico. Virginia. After two weeks of discipline at the latter place he sailed for France, August 12. 1918. on the United States marine transport "Henderson," from which he disembarked at Brest, France, on the 26th of that month. He was assigned to the Eighty-Fourth Company. Sixth Regiment. of the Sixth United States Marine Corps. and was with his command in action on the St. Mihiel front and also on the Champagne front. Thereafter he was with his organization on the Argonne- Meuse sector, and thence illness caused him to be sent to one of the French hospitals on the 28th of October. After his partial recuperation he remained in France until February 3. 1919, when he embarked on the steamship "Levia- than," which arrived in the port of the national

metropolis of the United States on the 11th of that month. Later he was honorably discharged at. Quantico. Virginia. His record is one of ef- fective service as a member of the American Marine Corps, which won high honors in the great conflict on foreign shores. On January 18, 1921. he received his medal, voted by Congress, for enlistment and good conduct while in service. He is at present circulation manager of the National Stockman and Farmer, of Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania.

James A. Irons was born in Nottingham Township on June 30, 1887, the son of Jasper J. and Amanda J. ( Polson) Irons. On August 2. 1917. he married Frances C. Walker.

PRESTON H. DICKERSON. A well known and successful farmer of Short Creek Township, Preston H. Dickerson materially assists in main- taining the reputation of Harrison County as a superior agricultural region, the results of his labors bearing evidence of the fertility of the soil and of the good judgment he exercises in his farming operations. A son of the late Thomas Hudson Dickerson, he was born March 19. 1869, in the township where he now resides, coming from pioneer ancestry.

Thomas Hudson Dickerson was born June 8, 1832, in Cadiz Township, Harrison County. Ohio, being a son of Hiram Dickerson. Reared to agricultural pursuits Thomas Hudson be- gan farming on his own account in Short Creek Township, but later continued similarly em- ployed for a time in Athens Township, Har- rison County. Returning to Short Creek Town- ship. he resumed his agricultural labors, and was there engaged in general farming until his death, March 31, 1883. while yet in manhood's prime. He married, March 23, 1854, Hannah McCoy. who was born January 31, 1834, and died October 3, 1907. Her father. Thomas Mc- Coy. a son of John and Susanna McCoy, was born February 13, 1791, and married Hannah Walker, who was born August 7, 1794. a daugh- ter of Ebenezer and Mary (Major) Walker. Ten children were born of the union of Thomas and Hannah McCoy, as follows: Mary, born May 11. 1914: John, September 23, 1816: Mar- garet, February 2, 1819; Susanna, October 20. 1821 : Elizabeth, February 26. 1824; Ebenezer. December 24, 1826; Thomas. March 19, 1829: Sarah, January 28, 1832; Hannah. January 31, 1834; and Gabriella, born October 6, 1836.

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History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 55

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