History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 63

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 63
USA > Ohio > Carroll County > History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio > Part 63

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Jacob Stiers was born in New Jersey and was a boy at the time of the family removal to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where he was reared to manhood and where his marriage was solemnized. About the year 1810 he came to Ohio and settled in what is now Short Creek Township, Harrison County, where he reclaimed a farm from the virgin forest and where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, he having died January 1, 1837, at the age of sixty-six vears, and his wife having passed away in August, 1832, at the age of sixty-three years. They became the parents of nine children-Rebecca, Rachel, John, Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Jacob, Hannah (Mrs. Chris- topher S. Hall), and Henry. All of the children are now deceased.

Henry Stiers was not yet three years of age at the time when the family home was estab- lished in Harrison County. where he was reared on the frontier farm and where he gained a rudimentary education in the pioneer log schoolhouse. He was reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the pioneer church which he attended was a log structure situated on his father's farm, his father having hewed the logs and done all of the carpenter work on this primitive sanctuary. At the age of twenty-five years Henry Stiers initiated in- dependent farm enterprise near Mount Pleasant, Jefferson County, but he later sold this farm and returned to the old home to care for his

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venerable father, from whom he purchased the old homestead, at the rate of twenty dollars an acre. After his marriage he removed to an- other farm in Short Creek Township, and at one time he was the owner of a valuable landed estate of 400 acres of valuable land in Harrison County. He was one of the county's most pro- gressive and successful agriculturists and stock- growers, and was the first to introduce the raising of fine-wool sheep into this section of the state. He was a staunch republican, was liberal and loyal as a citizen and ever com- manded the high regard of all who knew him. Both he and his wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Stiers was born near Saint Clairsville, Belmont County, September 18, 1815, a daughter of Henry and Magdalena (Neat) Close, sterling pioneers of that county, to which they came from Mary- land. Mr. and Mrs. Stiers became the parents of ten children, one of whom died in infancy. John, George, Mary Olive and Laura are de- ceased; Harriet F .; Henry Bennet, the imme- diate subject of this sketch; and the younger daughters were given the names of Ellen Au- gusta, Emma Rebecca and Louella.

Henry B. Stiers acquired his early education in the district schools of Short Creek Township, and in his native township he has been actively identified with farm industry from the time of his boyhood to the present. His well improved farm is effectively devoted to diversified agri- culture and the raising of approved types of live stock. He is a loyal supporter of the cause of the republican party, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Shepherdstown.

On the 19th of April, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Stiers to Miss Mary Ethel McCleary, who likewise was born and reared in Harrison County and who is a daughter of the late Ephraim and Mary A. (Gillespie) McCleary, the former of whom was born in the State of Maryland October 19, 1810, and the latter of whom was born and reared in Franklin County, Ohio. Her father, Menzes Gillespie, was a soldier in the War of 1812. Mr. McCleary's first marriage was with Nancy J. Dunn, a daughter of General Dunn, who long represented Belmont County in the Ohio Legislature. All three children of this first marriage died in childhood, and Mrs. Nancy J. (Dunn) MeCleary was still a young woman at the time of her death. Ephraim McCleary was a blacksmith by trade, and he was a pioneer workman at his trade in the Village of Harris- ville, Harrison County, Ohio. In 1859 he re- moved to a farm near that village, and there he died on the 28th of April, 1874, and his widow passed away on the 19th of May, 1886. They became the parents of eight children, of whom Mrs. Stiers was the third in order of birth. Mr. and Mrs. Stiers have three children -John Clayton, William Henry and Menzes Phelps. John C., the eldest son, is district superintendent of schools in Washington County, Pennsylvania, where he resides at the county seat. He married Miss Margaret Sewell, and they have three children-Marion, Josephije and Aura Mae.

CHARLES E. ALLISON, whose pleasant home is situated just without the corporate limits of the Village of Hopedale, Harrison County, has since 1889 been actively engaged in the practice of law, with his native township as his place of residence and his professional headquarters.

Mr. Allison was born on his father's farm in Green Township, Harrison County, and the date of his nativity was April 26, 1863. He is a son of John R. and Nancy A. (Shamel) Allison, both natives of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where the former was born on the 12th of March, 1818, and the latter in the year 1835.

John Rea Allison was about seven years old when his parents came to Harrison County and numbered themselves among the pioneer settlers of Green Township, where the father reclaimed and Improved a good farm. John R. Allison was a son of James and Margaret (Hervey) Allison, the former of whom was born in Ire- land, whence he came to America when he was fifteen years of age, in 1805. At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, James Allison served an appren- ticeship at the trade of saddler and harness- maker, and his marriage to Margaret Hervey, a daughter of William Hervey, was solemnized at Cadiz, Harrison County. Ohio, where they thereafter maintained their home about seven years. They later resided in Stark and Tus- carawas counties, but in 1825 they came again to Harrison County and established their home on a pioneer farm in Green Township, where Mrs. Allison died in 1837, her husband having attained to the patriarchal age of ninety years and his death having occurred in 1881. In con- nection with the operation of his farm Mr. Allison worked at his trade for many years, with a shop maintained at his home. James and Margaret Allison became the parents of eleven children-Margaret (Mrs. John Gal- braith), John R., David, Henry, Sarah, James, Mary Jane (Mrs. John Hammond), Joseph, Elizabeth (Mrs. Daniel Eaton), Bell and Isa- bella. All of these children are now deceased. John R. Allison was reared under the condi- tions that marked the pioneer period in the his- tory of Harrison County, where he assisted in the activities of the home farm, besides which he learned the trade of tanner. As a young man he began independent operations as a farmer in Green Township, where he became the owner of an excellent farm of 110 acres, besides giving his attention to the operation of a tannery and to the driving of cattle to the eastern markets in the pioneer days. He was one of the sterling and honored pioneer citizens of Harrison County at the time of his death. November 29, 1902, when eighty-four years of age, his widow having passed away on the 10th of May, 1918, aged eighty-three years, she hav- ing been a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of their two children Charles E., of this review, is the elder, and Rowena M. is the wife of William J. Stainger.

Charles E. Allison passed the period of his childhood and early youth on the home farm and was afforded the advantages of the village schools at Hopedale. There also he attended Hopedale College, in which he was graduated in 1885, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

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and from which he received in 1887 the supple- mental degree of Master of Arts. In prepara- tion for his chosen profession Mr. Allison en- tered the Cincinnati Law School, in which in- stitution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1889 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He has since been continuously engaged in the practice of his profession in Harrison County, and has handled a large volume of law business, much of which has been of important order. He has remained continuously in Green Township. He was a resident of Hopedale from 1905 until 1918, in which latter year he removed to his present attractive home, just outside the corporate limits of Hopedale. Much of his law business has been as counsellor, but he has gained also a high reputation as a careful and resourceful trial lawyer. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Pres- byterian Church at Hopedale.

On the 14th of September, 1904, was solemn- ized the marriage of Mr. Allison to Miss Mary E. Hervey, daughter of David and Mary M. Hervey, well known citizens of Harrison County. Mr. and Mrs. Allison have no children.

WILLIAM G. KENT is not only one of the prosperous and enterprising representatives of farm industry in Nottingham Township, Harri- son County, but is also a native of this county and a scion of one of its old and influential pioneer families. His paternal grandfather, Absalom Kent (III), was born in Stock Town- ship. this county, in 1810, and was a son of Absalom Kent (II), who was born in Virginia in 1777, a son of Absalom Kent (I), who like- wise was a native of the historic Old Dominion State. where the family, of English origin, was founded in the early colonial era. Absalom Kent (II) came to what is now Harrison Coun- ty, Ohio, at a very early date, probably about the opening of the nineteenth century, and he settled in Stock Township, where he took a large tract of Government land and instituted the reclamation of a farm. Here he remained a number of years, but he finally removed to the State of Illinois, where he continued to reside until his death in 1875. His children were six in number-Absalom (III). Abner, John, Jacob, Jane and Mary. He became the owner of an extensive landed estate, in both Ohio and Illinois, and he gave to each of his sons 200 acres of land. Absalom Kent (III) was reared under the conditions that marked the early pioneer days in Harrison County, and he passed virtually his entire active life as a farmer in Nottingham Township. His first wife bore the maiden name of Mary Walker, and they had six children-Absalom (IV), John H., Joseph W., Stewart, William and Tabitha. For his second wife he married Sarah Traub, and they became the parents of one child, Sarah Jane, now Mrs. John Toole. After the death of his second wife Absalom Kent (III) married Margaret Worman, and their one child was Mary G., who married Samuel Grimes, of Cadiz. In politics Mr. Kent was a republican from the time of the organization of the party of that

name until his death, and his religious faith was that of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Joseph W. Kent was born and reared in Not- tingham Township, and there he continued his active association with farm industry during the major part of his active life, though he was for a few years a farmer in Washington Township and for a time in Tuscarawas County. As a young man he wedded Miss Janie Guthrie, who likewise was born in Harrison County, a daughter of Benjamin and Harriet (Fitzgerald) Guthrie, her father having been a farmer in this county and having finally removed to Uhrichsville, Tuscarawas County, where he re- mained until his death. His children were Mary, Janie, Thomas and Wilhelmina. Joseph W. Kent was about sixty-six years of age at the time of his death, and his widow survives, aged seventy-seven years, both having been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They became the parents of eight children : Nettle (deceased), Hattie, John T., William G., Caroline, Josephine, Ora and Cora.

William G. Kent was born on November 3, 1868. He gained his early education principally in the schools of Tuscarawas County and was about twelve years of age when his parents returned to Nottingham Township, Harrison County. In this township he has continued his alliance with farm enterprise during the inter- vening period, and also gave some attention to the mining of coal. Since 1908 he has resided on his present farm, which comprises 138 acres and is well improved, even as it is well managed in both its agricultural and live-stock depart- ments. In politics he is aligned in the ranks of the republican party and he and his wife are active members of the Bethel Methodist Epis- copal Church, best known as Bethel Chapel.

On the 30th of July, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kent to Miss Margaret V. Gaines, who was born near Little Rock, Ar- kansas, November 20, 1876, and who is a daugh- ter of Edwin Y. and Jennie ( Widdoes) Gaines. Mr. Gaines, who was a captain in the United States Army during the Civil war, continued his residence in Arkansas until his death, and his widow then removed with her children to Kansas, where they remained until 1888, com- ing then to Harrison County, Ohlo and estab- lished a home in Cadiz Township, where Mrs. Gaines remained until her death. Her children were three in number: Herbert (died in the same week as did his father), Anna and Mar- garet V. Mr. and Mrs. Kent became the par- ents of four children: Violet (died February 20, 1901), Lawrence R., Isabel and Viola.

GEORGE A. PHILPOTT has effected an excellent adjustment of the various forces and agencies that make for success in farm industry and is one of the staunch and progressive agricultur- ists and stock-raisers of Short Creek Township, Harrison County.

Mr. Philpott was born in Mount Pleasant Township, Jefferson County, Ohio, on the 11th of March, 1856, and in Bucks County, Pennsyl- vania, were born and reared his parents, Charles and Eliza Jane (Stradling) Philpott. Charles Philpott remained in the old Keystone State

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until he was about thirty-six years of age. com- ing then to Jefferson County, Ohio, where he remained until about 1860. He then came with his family to Harrison County and engaged in farming in Short Creek Township, where his earnest and well ordered endeavors brought to him a goodly measure of success. In this town- ship he and his wife continued to maintain their home until their deaths. They became the par- ents of four children : Louis, George A., Sarah Elizabeth, deceased, who became Mrs. Samuel Colville, and Charles Edgar, also deceased.

George A. Philpott was a child at the time of the family removal to Harrison County and was reared and educated in Short Creek Town- ship, where he was afforded the advantages of the district schools of the period. In this town- ship when he was a young man he initiated his independent activities as a farmer, and with the exception of seven years, during which he was a farmer in Jefferson County, he has re- sided continuously in Short Creek Township from his childhood to the present time. He now owns an excellent farm of 100 acres, in section 24, and on this place he established his resi- dence in the spring of 1901. He has remodeled the house and erected various new farm build- ings, so that the place has adequate equipment not only for the successful prosecution of all departments of productive farm industry, but also offers a pleasant and attractive home. Mr. Philpott takes loyal and helpful interest in community affairs, is a republican in politics but is a substantial citizen to whom the honors of public office have never appealed in a per- sonal way. His wife holds membership in the Presbyterian Church in the Village of Adena.

March 29, 1893, recorded the marriage of Mr. Philpott to Miss Belle M. Townsend, who was born and reared in Harrison County and who is a daughter of David and Adaline (Morris) Townsend, both residing in Short Creek Town- ship. Mr. and Mrs. Philpott have three chil- dren-Earl T., Irma Lucile and Wiley.

CHARLES ALLEN CHANEY. Among the pro- gressive young farmers of Athens Township is Charles Allen Chaney. He was born October 2, 1878, and has always lived in Harrison County. The Chaney family story began in Harrison County in 1805 with the coming of Thomas Chaney from Virginia. Nathan Chaney, of the preceding generation. was born in Mary- land. The Chaney ancestry came into the colonies at the time of the French and Indian war.

After leaving Maryland and locating in Vir- ginia, Nathan Chaney married Sarah Mansfield and seven daughters and six sons were born to them, among them Thomas Chaney. When a young man making his start he worked about the country at almost starvation wages, but be kept on adding to his savings until he finally acquired a competency. On September 25, 1836, he married Elizabeth, a daughter of James and Sarah ( Watson) Clark, of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Their children were Martha, Elizabeth. Mary, John and William. The sec- ond daughter became the wife of Thomas Chaney. While they had no money they had

courage and were industrious, and they were just the type of young people for the frontier community. They developed one of the best farmsteads in the county. They were the grandparents of Charles Allen Chaney.

The children born to Thomas and Elizabeth (Clark) Chaney were: James, John, William, Sarah, Martha, Samuel, Mary Ann, Elizabeth Ann, Mary Ellen, Thomas W., Hannah and Nancy. Some of the good old family names were made to do double service in designating the children, but Samuel is the one through whom the lineal descent is continuous to the next generation. He was born December 14, 1846, and grew up in the community. On Au- gust 5, 1875. he married Clarinda, a daughter of John and Eliza Jane (Morgan) Edwards. She was born September 12. 1856, and after their marriage they lived at the old Chaney homestead. Their children are: Ione Estelle. Charles Allen, William Vernon and Willis Craig Chaney. Ione Estella was born January 9, 1877. and died November 27. 1908. She was the wife of James Eaton. William Vernon was born April 10, 1885, and died May 4, less than one month later. Willis Craig Chaney was born September 13, 1886. The Chaneys are members of the Presbyterian Church in New Athens. Mrs. Chaney died September 8, 1913, and he died June 5, 1916, at the family homestead in Athens Township. The Commemorative Record says of Mr. Chaney : "Quiet and unassuming. his presence is, nevertheless, always felt and acknowledged," and that is sufficient tribute. The Edwards family had come from Belmont to Harrison County, and Clarinda (Edwards) Chaney also came of excellent parentage.

The Chaney young people attended the Beech Point country school, and later C. A. Chaney attended Franklin College. On October 15, 1902, he married Nannie E. Moore. She is a daughter of Walker and Sarah Rebecca (Camp- bell ) Moore. Their children are: Willard Doyle. born July 26. 1907; Oliver W., born Au- gust 4, 1911, and died January 2. 1912; and Sarah Agnes. born March 7. 1914. In 1914 Mr. Chaney bought the old homestead, and his livestock specialty is Jersey cattle.

WILLIAM S. CESSNA was a youth of eighteen years when he established his home at Cadiz. and from a modest clerkship in a local grocery store he advanced step by step until he became president of the First National Bank of Cadiz, which progress was won entirely through his own ability and faithful efforts. His record as one of the representative business men of Har- rison County is without blemish. while his atti- tude has at all times been that of a loyal and progressive citizen. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, and for ten years was successfully engaged in the practice of law. He then identified himself with a banking enter- prise, of which he long stood as a prominent and influential representative. He resigned the presidency of the institution in 1911. since which time he has lived virtually retired.

Mr. Cessna was born at Bedford. Pennsyl- vania, October 29, 1845, and was there reared and educated. He is a son of John J. and

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Nancy (Powell) Cessna, both natives of Bed- ford, and is a grandson of James Cessna, who was a prosperous farmer in Bedford County, where he and his wife, whose family name was Lysinger, continued to reside until their deaths. They became the parents of seven children-John J., Charles, Alexander, William, Polly, Susan and Margaret. Alexander Cessna came to Cadiz, Ohio, in the '50s and engaged in the work of his trade, that of tailor, but in 1884 he removed to California. John J. Cessna, father of William S., was for a long period a tailor at Bedford, Pennsylvania, and later en- gaged in the livery business in that city. He served one term as sheriff of his native county. He and his wife passed their entire lives in Bedford. Their children were five in number -John A .. William S., James P., Mary E. (Mrs. William C. Dorsey) and Frank P.

William S. Cessna continued his residence in the old Keystone State until he was eighteen years of age, when he came to Cadiz. He arrived in this village in 1864, and for a time was employed as clerk in the grocery of George Brothers. He then began the study of law un- der the preceptorship of William P. Lupton, and in 1871 he was admitted to the bar. He continued in the practice of his profession as one of the representative younger members of the Harrison County Bar until 1882, at which time he assumed the position of bookkeeper in the First National Bank at Cadiz. In 1884 he was appointed assistant cashier of the institu- tion, and later he was advanced to the office of cashier, of which executive office he con- tinued the efficient and popular incumbent until 1904, after which he was president of the bank until his retirement in 1911. He has at all times taken vital and loyal interest in all mat- ters pertaining to the welfare of his home vil- lage and county. He is a democrat in politics, and served two terms as mayor of Cadiz. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

On the 16th of May, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Cessna to Miss Laura McBean, a daughter of Dr. John and Belinda (Johnson) McBean. the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Harrison County, Ohio, where her parents were pioneer settlers upon coming from Pennsylvania. Dr. John McBean was a boy at the time of his parents' death and thereafter was taken into the home of an uncle who was residing in the West India Islands. Thence he finally came to the United States and established his residence in Ohio. He was a man of fine scholarship, and for a number of years was a teacher of Latin and Greek. He then prepared himself for the medi- cal profession, and for half a century was en- gaged in the practice of his profession at Cadiz. He was one of the best-known and most highly honored citizens of Harrison County at the time of his death, January 7, 1875. His widow survived him by several years. They became the parents of three sons and seven daughters. Doctor McBean was first a whig and later a republican in politics, and under the old judi- cial system of Ohio he served for a time on the

bench of the County Court of Harrison County. Mr. and Mrs. Cessna have but one child, Frank J., who maintains his residence at Cadiz, where he was born and reared. He married Miss Florence V. Martin, and they have three chil- dren-William M., Julia and Philip. .

AGER FAMILY. The Ager family of Harrison County is of Irish descent. The earliest known ancestor was James Ager, who lived in County Tyrone, Ireland, during the latter half of the eighteenth century. He was a farmer and land owner.

His son William Ager immigrated to this country in 1811, locating first in Virginia, where he married Elizabeth McFadden. Soon after- wards they removed to Montgomery County, Ohio, and later to Clark County, Ohio, where William Ager died in 1831.

Alexander Ager, a son of William, and father of the Agers born in Harrison County, was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1821 and died at New Rumley in 1898. He attended New Hagerstown Academy, taught district school for a time, and was talented as a musician and in early life taught that art. His real trade and occupation, however, was that of gunsmith, a work in which he excelled. Many rifles of his make are still in use. A few days before the capture of Morgan's raiders near Salem, Ohio, he and some neighbors started out with their squirrel rifles to assist in the capture. In the early '40s John J. Ager, a brother of Alexander, and a physician, performed the operation of trephining and replaced the lost bone with a silver plate fashioned by himself, thus saving the life of a boy whose skull had been frac- tured by the kick of a horse. This was an unusual operation for a country physician at that time.

In 1850 Alexander Ager married Susan Bishop, daughter of John and Naomi Bishop. It was in the beginning of the nineteenth cen- tury that John Bishop with his father, mother and family removed from Pennsylvania to what is now German Township. He was born in 1795 and died in 1891. John Bishop was a blacksmith and farmer. His wife was the daughter of Joshua and Catherine (Haun) Martin and a granddaughter of John and (Polly) Mary Stokes Haun. John Haun was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, having lived prior to that struggle in Washington County, Maryland, but enlisted in Virginia and was in a number of battles, having been severely wounded in the battle of Brandywine. Soon after the war he and his family settled near Germano. He is buried in Zion Cemetery near that place. Evidently John Bishop and wife were not believers in race suicide, for to them were born fourteen children. three sons and eleven daughters, all of whom reached the age of manhood and womanhood. Two of these children were living at the beginning of 1920: One, Vernella Bishop-Couch, at New Rumley. Ohio, and the other, Bathia Bishop Badger, at Unionport, Ohio. A son of John Bishop, Dr. Hiram Bishop, was a surgeon in the Civil war. His son and grandson are physicians, the son

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History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 63

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