History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 66

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 66
USA > Ohio > Carroll County > History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio > Part 66

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ERVIN M. MINARD was born in North Town- ship, Harrison County, on the 4th of July, 1857, and the patriotic significance of his natal day has not been more significant in his pronounced civic loyalty than have his fealty to and appre- ciation of his native county, in which he has found ample opportunity for successful achieve- ment as an agriculturist and stock-grower, with which important lines of industrial activity the family name has been associated in North Town- ship since the pioneer period in the history of the county. John and Frances Minard, grand- parents of the subject of this review, were among those who endured the hardships and well performed the labors that fell to the lot of the early settlers in Harrison County. John Minard was born in Germany and was a man of vigor and ambition when he came to Harrison County and took up eighty acres of Government land in North Township, where he reclaimed a productive farm from the forest wilderness and where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. They became the parents of three sons and several daughters, the names of the sons being Solomon. George and Daniel. Of these sons Daniel, father of him whose name introduces this article, was born and reared on the old pioneer farmstead in North Township, and there he devoted his entire active life to resourceful and successful farm enterprise. He developed a fine farm property of 200 acres, was influential in community affairs, and both he and his wife were earnest members of the Presbyterian Church at Scio. He died at the

age of sixty-eight years, and his wife passed away at the age of sixty-six years. The maiden name of Mrs. Daniel Minard was Rebecca Knouff, and she was born in German Township, Harrison County, where he father, John Knouff, was a pioneer settler and representative farmer.

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Minard became the par- ents of eight children-John, Amos B., Morris, Andora, Ervin M., Eunice, Luther and Grant. Of the number John, Amos B. and Andora are deceased.

Ervin M. Minard continued his association with the activities of the parental farm from his boyhood until the time of his marriage, and in the meanwhile he made good use of the advantages offered in the district schools of North Township. In 1887 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Margaret Buxton, who was born in Stock Township, Harrison County, a daughter of Haddon and Julia (McCrea) Buxton, who came from Pennsylvania and es- tablished their home in Harrison County in 1852. The father became a substantial farmer in Stock Township, where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives. For four years after his marriage Mr. Minard was en- gaged in farming in Stock Township, and he then, in 1892, assumed ownership of his pres- ent attractive homestead farm in North Town- ship, where he is the owner of a valuable and well improved estate of 240 acres, besides which he retains one-fourth interest in his father's old home farm of 200 acres. It is thus to be readily understood that he stands as one of the representative exponents of farm industry in his native county, where his loyalty has been shown in his ready support of measures and projects advanced for the civic and material good of the community. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. and he and his wife are active members of the Presbyterian Church at Scio. Mr. and Mrs. Minard have three children : Pearl is the wife of Everett O. McClain, of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this work ; Julia is the wife of Berlin D. Law, who likewise is repre- sented in a personal sketch immediately follow- ing; and Grace remains at the parental home.

BERLIN D. LAW is one of the progressive farmers of the younger generation in North Township, where he maintains his residence upon his excellent farm of 120 acres and is vigorously directing his attention to diversified agriculture and stock-growing. He was born in this township on the 4th of October, 1890, and is a son of William B. and Florence (Donald- son) Law, his father having likewise been born and reared in this county, a son of Matthew Law, whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Law, settled in Monroe Township, this county, about the year 1828, here passing the remainder of their lives. Matthew Law married Miss Re- becca Birney, whose death occurred in 1864. and he passed from the stage of life's mortal en- deavors on the 9th of September, 1879, when seventy-one years of age. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They became the parents of four children-

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John, William, Robert B. and Jane, the only daughter having died in infancy. Matthew Law became the owner of his father's old home farm in Monroe Township, and there he passed the major part of his life. William B. Law has well upheld the high prestige of the family name in connection with farm industry in Har- rison County, and he accumulated a fine farm property of 254 acres in North Township.

Berlin D. Law was but four years old at the time of his mother's death, but was reared and educated in his native county, where he lived with different families for varying intervals until the time of his marriage, on the 2d of April, 1912, to Miss Julia Minard, daughter of Ervin M. Minard, whose individual representa- tion precedes this sketch. Since his marriage Mr. Law has resided on his present farm, and the attractive home, with Mrs. Law as its popu- lar chatelaine, is further brightened by the presence of their son, Cliff M., who was born November 25, 1913.

JOHN T. SCOTT has proved himself well worthy of upholding and advancing the pres- tige of the family name in connection with farm industry and loyal and progressive citizenship in his native county, and is one of the repre- sentative agriculturists and stock-growers of North Township, in which section of Harrison County his father likewise followed farm en- terprise, while the latter's father, Robert Scott, was one of the pioneer settlers and substantial farmers of Rumley Township, this county. Rob- ert Scott and his wife, Nancy, became the par- ents of a fine family of fifteen children and were sterling pioneer citizens who had secure place in popular confidence and esteem, both having been prominent members of the Ridge Presbyterian Church, in which he served many years as a deacon.

John T. Scott was born in North Township, Harrison County, on the 27th of June, 1878, and is a son of Robert M. and Nancy (Sproul) Scott, the former of whom was born at New Rumley, Rumley Township, this county, July 8, 1840, and the latter was born in North Town- ship, February 27, 1837. a daughter of John and Jane Sproul. Robert M. Scott was one of the gallant young men who responded to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers when the in- tegrity of the Union was menaced by armed rebellion. He enlisted in an Ohio regiment of volunteer infantry in 1861, and he served during. virtually the entire period of the great conflict between the states of the North and the South, it having been his to participate in the many engagements in which his command was in- volved and to have made a splendid record as a valiant young soldier of the Union. He re- ceived his honorable discharge at Louisville, Kentucky, on the 10th of July, 1865. He then returned to the parental home in Harrison County, and later he was for a time a resident of Hagerstown, Carroll County, where his par- ents were then living. After his marriage, which occurred February 27, 1872, he continued his successful enterprise as a farmer in North Township, Harrison County, until his death, which occurred October 12, 1909, his wife hav-

ing been seventy-three years of age at the time of her death. He was an earnest member of the Ridge Presbyterian Church. Of the three surviving children the subject of this review is the youngest, and he is the only son; Serena Belle is the wife of John A. Thompson, of Scio, this county ; and Miss Mary E. likewise resides in that village.

John T. Scott gained his early education in the public schools of North Township, and he remained with his parents on the home farm until his marriage, on the 27th of November, 1901, to Miss Jennie Page, a daughter of Joseph and Ann (Oliver) Page. Joseph Page was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, in 1832, and in that county he passed the closing years of his life, his death having occurred in 1895. He was a man of fine intellectuality and gave about forty years of effective service as a teacher in the public schools, his later years having been devoted to farm enterprise in his native county. His first wife's maiden name was Lucinda Miser, and they became the parents of twelve children-Serena, Melissa, William O., Henry W., John A., Charles F., Forbes M .. Amos V., Thomas S., Joseph F., Clark H. and Elizabeth. After the death of his first wife Mr. Page wedded Mrs. Ann (Oliver) Page. widow of Jesse Page and a daughter of Alexander Oliver. Mrs. Page was born in Tuscarawas County and by her first marriage had two children-Alice A. and Mary. The two children of her second marriage are Marvin J. and Jennie (wife of the subject of this sketch). For the first year after his marriage Mr. Scott was engaged in farming in North Township, and for a period of about twelve years thereafter was identified with operations in the oil fields in this section of Ohio. In the spring of 1912 he established his home on his present farm, but for three years thereafter he continued to work more or less In the oil field. He now gives virtually his entire time to the management of his excellent farm, which comprises 167 acres and which he has made a center of successful agricultural and live-stock operations. He gives his politi- cal allegiance to the republican party, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Conotton. They have two children-George E. and Zema Pearl.

GEORGE A. SPEER maintains his home in the village of Georgetown in Short Creek Township, Harrison County, which place has been his stage of residence from the time of his birth until the present, save for an interval of about two years passed in the west. In the community in which he is best known he long followed the work of his trade, that of plasterer, but in the summer of 1920 he entered the employ of the Short Creek Company.

Mr. Speer was born at Georgetown on the 4th of March, 1864, and is a son of Charles E. and Hannah E. (Courtright) Speer, the former of whom was born at Coatsville, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1825, and the latter of whom was born at Mount Pleasant, Jefferson County, Ohio, on the 3d of June, 1832. The marriage of the par- ents occurred on the 28th of January, 1851, and the mother died on the 23d of February, 1865,

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when the subject of this sketch was not yet one year old. Charles E. Speer established his resi- dence at Georgetown about the year 1860, and here he passed the remainder of his life, his entire active career having been devoted to the trade of plasterer. He was one of the vener- able and honored citizens of Georgetown at the time of his death, May 18, 1918. He first mar- ried Miss Sophia C. Hutchinson, who was born in the state of Maryland July 6, 1824, and whose death occurred in 1849, the only child of this union having been a daughter, Mary A., now deceased. The names and respective dates of birth of the children of the second marriage are here recorded: Charlotte E., December 12, 1851; Elizabeth A .. November 21, 1853; James W .. September 30. 1855; Sydnie Ann, October 31, 1857, deceased; John S., September 14. 1859; Edmond E .. November 30. 1861, deceased; and George A., March 4, 1864.

On the 8th of May, 1873, Charles E. Speer contracted a third marriage. when Elizabeth M. Graham became his wife. She was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, July 1, 1838, and died in Georgetown in October, 1920. Three children were born of this marriage-Charles B., Feb- ruary 25, 1874: Walter G., September 7, 1875; and Clara P., February 4, 1882, deceased. The parents held membership in the Methodist Epis- copal Church, and at the time of his death the father was, from the point of years of active affiliation, the oldest member of the Masonic fraternity in the state of Ohio. He lived a use- ful. upright and unostentatious life and com- manded the unqualified esteem of his fellow men.

To the public schools of his native village George A. Speer is indebted for his early educa- tion. and as a youth he learned the trade of plasterer under the effective direction of his father. which he followed successfully for many years in Georgetown. It is needless to say that his native village is endeared to him by many gracious memories and associations and that he takes deep interest in all that concerns its wellbeing. His political support is given to the republican party.

September 26, 1896, recorded the marriage of Mr. Speer to Miss Hannah J. Shields, a daugh- ter of Joseph and Lucinda ( Ruth) Shields and a sister of Milton M. Shields, in whose sketch, on other pages of this work. are given ample data concerning the family history. To Mr. and Mrs. Speer have been born four children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here noted : Charles Joseph, May 2, 1897 : Floyd Clayton, September 8, 1900 (died July 28, 1917) ; Ada Lucille, October 16. 1903; and Wilma Crey, January 26. 1907.

WALTER S. SPENCE, M. D. While Dr. Walter S. Spence, of Hopedale, is an Ohioan, he is the son of an Irish immigrant. He was born May 25. 1866, in Jewett, Ohio. His father. Henry Spence. was born April 26 1827, in Ireland When he came to the United States he married Eliza M. Scott. of Carroll County, Ohio. Her father, Robert G. Scott, came from Washington County, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Elizabeth

(Steeves) Scott, was born in New Brunswick, Canada.

In the Spence lineage the grandfather, Thomas Spence, and the grandmother, Mary J. (Rainey) Spence. were from Ireland. It was in 1832 that they came to America and located in Utica, New York. In 1838 they came to Steubenville, Ohio. After four or five years they removed to Amsterdam, where they lived as farmers for many years. Their oldest son, Henry, is the father of Doctor Spence. His brothers and sisters are: Nancy, Mary Jane, William, James, Elizabeth, Violet, John and George. The children in the Scott family are: Belle, Dorinda, Eliza (mother of the Doctor), Ada, James, Riley, Chalmers and William. The generation enumerated were Presbyterians.

In 1864 Henry Spence became a merchant, and was located in Germano, Jewett, Kilgore and Germano again. He died there in 1909, having been a merchant many years. His wife died in 1894. Their children are: John K., Thomas O., Harvey, Margaret, Robert, Walter S., Carrie and William. After graduating from public school in Germano, Doctor Spence spent two years in the Normal School at Ada. In 1889 he entered the medical department of Western Reserve University, graduating in 1892, and he immediately began the medical practice in Germano.

From 1906 to 1909 Doctor Spence .practiced medicine in East Springfield, and then returned to his old practice in Germano, where he re- mained ten years. In the spring of 1919 he located in Hopedale and practices in the com- munity. In 1892 Doctor Spence married Mina J. Park, a daughter of N. R. Park, of Ada. Their children are Mignon Tragesez, Park R. and Donald S., and they have been given educa- tional advantages.

Doctor Spence reads the medical literature of the day, and is a member of both the Harrison County and Ohio State Medical Societies.

JAMES M. SPIKER was a young man when he became associated with the prosperous lumber business conducted by his father at Scio, Har- rison County, and in 1901 he was admitted to partnership in the business, of which he as- sumed full control upon the death of his hon- ored father on the 1st of July, 1918. This en- terprise had its inception in 1885, when the father. the late Gideon D. Spiker, formed a part- nership with Joshua Arbaugh and erected and equipped a planing mill at Scio. Mr. Spiker purchased his partner's interest in 1888, and thereafter developed a substantial and success- ful industrial enterprise in the manufacturing of sash, doors, blinds, etc., and the handling of lumber and building supplies. Since his death his only son has continued the business, in connection with which he is well upholding the prestige of the family name.

James Madison Spiker was born at Scio, his present home village, and the date of his na- tivity was November 22, 1872, he being the elder of two children, and his sister, Miss Kit- turah M., being likewise a resident of Scio. The father, Gideon D. Spiker, was born in Stock Township, this county, on the 26th of Decem-

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ber. 1846, and thus was one of the venerable native sons of the county at the time of his death. His father, William Spiker, was like- wise a native of Stock Township, where he was born in the year 1826, a son of Christopher Spiker, who was born in 1806, on the same an- cestral farm which was the birthplace of his son and grandson. Christopher Spiker and his wife, whose maiden name was Aerie Carnes, passed their entire lives in Harrison County, where the latter died in March, 1870, aged sixty- six years, and where his death occurred in 1879, when he was seventy-two years of age. He had not only been a prosperous farmer but had also operated a grist mill for many years. The original representatives of the Spiker fam- ily in America came to this country from Hol- land in the early colonial period of our national history, and the father of Christopher Spiker came from Pennsylvania to Ohio in a very early day and became one of the first settlers in what is now Stock Township, Harrison County, with the history of which county the family name has continued to be prominently and worthily linked during the long intervening period of more than a century.

William Spiker assisted in the work of the pioneer farm and grist mill of his father, and at the age of nineteen years he married Mary, a daughter of Adam Cottrell, her father having been a native of Scotland and having come to America when seven years of age, an orphan boy. He was a sterling pioneer of Harrison County. where he and his wife remained until their deaths in 1842 and 1886, respectively. After his marriage William Spiker engaged in farming, and ten years later he turned his at- tention to work at the carpenter's trade, as a contractor and builder. He was a resident of Deersville, this county, at the time of his death, and both he and his wife attained to advanced age. He was a stalwart republican, was influ- ential in public affairs of local order, served sev- eral years as township treasurer, and was for two terms a director of the county infirmary. His children were eight in number: Gideon D., Harvey, John C .. George W., William H., Jane, Margaret and Anna.

Gideon D. Spiker was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and in addition to at- tending the district schools of the locality and period he took a higher course of study in Scio College. He was twenty-three years of age when he completed his collegiate course, and thereafter he was for six years a successful teacher in the district schools of his native county. He then became a contractor and builder and erected many buildings in and about Scio, as well as in other parts of the county. In 1885 he was associated with Joshua Arbaugh in erecting a planing mill at Scio, and concern- ing his career from that time to his death ade- quate record has already been given in this article. Mr. Spiker was a staunch advocate of the principles of the republican party, was af- fillated with the Masonic fraternity, and be and his wife were earnest members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church at Scio. In 1871 was recorded the marriage of Gideon D. Spiker to Miss Lizzie B. Gibson, who was born and reared

in Stock Township and who was a daughter of Edward and Catherine Anna (Graham) Gibson. Edward Gibson was a pioneer settler in Tusca- rawas County, Ohio, where he remained a few years, after which he came to Harrison County and settled on a pioneer farm in Stock Town- ship. There he and his wife passed the re- mainder of their lives, and both held member- ship in the Pleasant Valley Methodist Church. They became the parents of six children-Anna, Mollie. Catherine. Margaret, Lizzie B. and James A. Mrs. Lizzie B. (Gibson) Spiker was sixty-seven years of age at the time of her death on May 14, 1917, and is survived by two children. as already noted in a preceding para- graph.

In the public schools of Scio James M. Spiker continued his studies until he had Abig availed himself of the advantage of the high school, and thereafter he pursued a higher academic course in Scio College. As previously stated, he became a partner in his father's planing mill and lumber business in 1901. and since the death of his father. July, 1918, he has successfully continued the business in an individual way. Since 1901 he has been secretary of the Home Savings, Building & Loan Association at Scio, and he is one of the most loyal and progressive citizens and business men of his native village. At Scio he is affiliated with the lodge of Free & Accepted Masons, and at Cadiz, the county seat. he holds membership in the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and in the Council at Uhrichsville. His political allegiance is given to the republican party.

The year 1900 recorded the marriage of Mr. Spiker to Miss Flora A. Starkey, daughter of Rev. William D. Starkey, D. D., a distinguished clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Both Mr. and Mrs. Spiker are zealous and in- fluential members of the church of this denomi- nation at Scio. They have four children- Mary K. (Spiker) Parman, deceased; William Draper, deceased; Elizabeth Anne; and George Donald.

ISRAEL RANKIN, whose death occurred on the 26th of June, 1904, had been up to that time the only representative of his generation of one of the oldest and most honored pioneer families of Harrison County. and his two sons, James J. and William D .. are associated in the own- ership and management of the fine did home- stead farm of 168 acres in Athens Township. Of the early history of the Rankin family in America the following interesting data is avail- able: The lineage is traced back to staunch Scotch origin and the first representative of the family in America was William Rankin. who settled in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The maiden name of his wife was Abigail Tassia, and their children were eleven in number. namely : William. Jr .. David, Matthew. John. James. Zachariah. Thomas, Mary, Abigall, Samuel and Jesse. The father and some of the children finally removed from Virginia to Washington County, Pennsylvania. where they lived in a block-house on their large landed estate of 1,800 acres. The son James was killed by the Indians when en route

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from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, in which latter commonwealth he had purchased a large tract of land. Thomas settled in Harrison County, Ohio, in 1805, long prior to the organization of the county under the present name, and here he passed the remainder of his life-the founder of the family in this now opulent section of the Buckeye State. His eldest son, James, was born in Mount Pleasant Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania, December 22, 1784, and on the 15th of December, 1809, he married Miss Hester Earley, who was born near Chartiers, Pennsylvania, May 31. 1793. They became the parents of eight children-Jane, Thomas, Mar- garet, Nancy, Sarah, William, Matilda and Israel. James Rankin served as a minute man in the War of 1812, and in 1813 he settled in Harrison County. Ohio, on the farm which later passed into the possession of his son Israel. subject of this memoir, and which is now the residence of his grandsons, James J. and Will- iam D. Thomas Rankin, father of James. died May 12, 1832. William Rankin, the founder of the family in America, was born in Scotland about the year 1720, and was in his eighteenth year when he came to the New World. Thomas Rankin married Nancy Foreman, and they be- came the parents of five children-James, Will- iam, David, Jane and Nacy.

Thomas Rankin participated in numerous bat- tles with the Indians during the period of his residence in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and one of these conflicts, known As the Poe battle. at the mouth of Tomlinson Run on the Ohio River, found the white men outnumbered by the Indians in the ratio of three to one. Of Mr. Rankin's part in this battle the following record is given: "He had taken shelter be- hind a tree, and an Indian who discovered his place of concealment drew his gun to fire, but in cocking his own gun Mr. Rankin broke the mainspring; one of Mr. Rankin's comrades, see- ing the situation, fired, and killed the Indian, whose gun was used by Mr. Rankin in his fur- ther participation in the fight." In 1805, as before noted, he came to Harrison County. Ohio. where he settled in what is now Moorefield Township. The Rankin Methodist Episcopal Church was the third organization of this de- nomination in eastern Ohio, and the original church edifice. a log building of the true pio- neer type. was situated on land deeded by Thomas Rankin for the purpose in Moorefield Township. The church organization was ef- fected in 1815 and this land deed was dated 1819. The church was organized by Rev. James Roberts and Thomas Dickerson, and among its members at that time were Thomas Rankin, Sr., Mary Rankin, James Rankin, Hester Ran- kin. Arthur Barrett, Sr .. Isaac Barrett, William Jones, Rachel Jones, Sarah Foreman, Martha White, Mary A. Moffit. Mary Love. John Porter, Samuel Jones and others. This faithful band of pioneer Christians first worshiped in the log cabin home of Thomas Rankin, who was one of the first trustees of the organization, the others having been Leonard Barnes, Ephraim Sears and Edward Ruby. The remains of Thomas Rankin and his wife rest in the pioneer cemetery adjoining the Rankin Church.

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History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, Part 66

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