USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 102
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107
Reared on the home farm in Union township, Edgar W. Hodge received his elementary education in the local schools of that neighborhood and early became actively associated with his father in the management of the large home farm. In due time the farming operations came to be directed under the firm name of S. M. Hodge & Sons and this arrangement continued, even after the death of the head of the firm, until 1903, when the firm name was changed to that of Hodge Brothers and has so continued to this day, the members of this firm being Edgar W., Harry D. and James R. Hodge. The farm plant of the Hodge Brothers is about the most extensive concern of its
1013
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
kind in the county, now comprising seventeen hundred acres of land, which is being cultivated in accordance with the latest methods approved in modern agriculture. Edgar W. Hodge has for years given his earnest attention to local civic affairs and has done much to advance the interests of good govern- ment in the community in which he lives. For three years he served as trus- tee of Union township, for six years he served as a member of the board of county commissioners from his district, two years of which period he was president of the board, and for twenty years served as a member of the board of education for Union township. He is a member of the Methodist Protestant church at Mechanicsburg and is also affiliated with the Masonic lodge at that place, having taken the Fellowcraft degree.
Edgar W. Hodge has been thrice married. In 1883 he was united in marriage to Lucy A. Guy, daughter of Edwin A. and Adelaide (McMullen ) Guy, and to that union two children were born, William Guy Hodge, who assists his father, and Helen May Hodge, who married Nathan E. Bum- gardner and is living at Springfield, this state. The mother of these chil- dren died in 1901 and Mr. Hodge later married Sarah L. Horr, daughter of Pierce and Laura E. (Baxter) Horr, and to that union one child was born, a son, John Horr Hodge. Mrs. Sarah L. Hodge died on July 31, 1910, and on October 30, 1913, Mr. Hodge married Lillian R. State, who was born at Springfield, this state, daughter of John and Harriet (Watkins) State, and who for twenty-three years before her marriage had been engaged in teaching school at Springfield. John State was a mechanic at Springfield. and his wife, Harriet Watkins, whom he married in 1851, was born in Cham- paign county in 1832, a daughter of Richard and Catherine ( Hedges) Wat- kins, pioneers of this section of the state. Richard Watkins was born at Annapolis, Maryland, and was a soldier of the War of 1812, who answered the call of the governor of Virginia when the British attacked Washington and who served at Baltimore when the British threatened that city. He later came to Ohio and in 1831, at Springfield, married Catherine Hedges, who had become a resident of that city the year before, having come over from Virginia in 1830. Richard Watkins and his wife had seven children. all of whom died in youth, save Mrs. State and one son, Richard Thomas Watkins, the latter of whom died at New Orleans, of yellow fever, October 27, 1858, he then being twenty-two years of age. To John State and wife six children were born. Of these Mrs. Hodge was the fourth in order of birth, the others being as follow: Ralph E., of Chicago; Fred, who died at his home in Dayton. this state, in August. 1904: Isabelle, who resided
1014
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
with her mother; Will C., who is living at Akron, and Eugene J., of East Liverpool, this state. Fred State married Mamie Wiley, of Loudoun county, Virginia, and was the father of four children.
JOSEPH CALLAND.
Joseph Calland, a substantial and progressive farmer, who has lived in this county for more than seventy years, and who farms in Harrison town- ship, was born in Adams township on September 21, 1846. He is the son of William and Elnore (Robinson) Calland, the former of whom was born in Adams township, Champaign county.
William Calland, grandfather of Joseph Calland, was born in Scotland, in which country he was married and there one of his children was born. Some years after his marriage he emigrated to the United States and on reaching this country he came along to Ohio, and subsequently settled in 'Adams township, Champaign county. Here the remainder of his children was born, four boys and five girls, as follow: Agnes, Lizzie, Mary, Susan, Sarah, William, Joseph, Samuel and Gresham. He was one of the pioneer farmers of this county and was generally regarded as an industrious and painstaking agriculturist, his early acquired habits of Scotch thrift being no small factor in his success.
William Calland, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Adams township, this county, and attended the early schools of the district in which he lived. He helped his father in the work of the farm, later securing land on his own account, which he worked to considerable advan- tage. He was married to Elnore Robinson and they became the parents of four children, two of whom are living in 1917, Joseph, the subject of this sketch, and William, a retired farmer, of Bellefontaine, Ohio. William Calland, like his father, was an industrious farmer and he and his wife were justly regarded as worthy citizens of the township and county.
Joseph Calland left Adams township and came to Harrison township at the age of twelve years. He attended the district schools of both town- ships and attained a fair degree of education for those early days. He worked on his father's farm up to the time of his marriage. On Novem- ber 9, 1872, he was united in marriage to Sarah I. Wilson, who was born in Harrison township, this county, and died in 1892. They were the parents of four children, namely: William, who married May Couchman and they
TOI5
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
are the parents of four sons; Nellie, wife of Fred Johnson, of Harrison township, and who has two children, Robert C. and Sarah Isabelle; Miles N., who married Edith Couchman and lives in Harrison township and has three children, Gilbert, Joseph and Donald, and one child that died in infancy.
Mr. Calland is the owner of over four hundred acres of prime land in Harrison township, all of which he has acquired by his own energy and perseverance, and where he is engaged in general farming, success attending all his efforts. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and is one of the deacons in the church. He was formerly a consistent supporter of the Republican party and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln for Presi- dent, but in 1896 changed his political views and became a stanch Demo- crat and has remained with that party ever since. He has furnished oxen for barbecues, first in 1896 and on four occasions since. He served as trustee of Harrison township for some years. He is a member of the Helmet Lodge No. 2, Knights of Pythias, and has ever been warmly interested in the affairs of that fraternal organization.
MAURICE E. HINTON.
Maurice E. Hinton, one of the well-known and substantial farmers of Champaign county and the owner of a fine farm of nearly two hundred acres in the neighborhood of Woodstock, is a native of the great Keystone state, but has been a resident of Champaign county since the days of his early childhood, having come here with his parents from Pennsylvania in 1861. He was born on a farm in Berks county, Pennsylvania, May 2, 1858, son and only child of Owen B. and Mary S. (Finger) Hinton, the former of whom was born at Morgantown, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1835, and the latter, in Chester county, same state, July II, 1835. Owen B. Hinton was a son of John and Sarah Hinton. He was married in his native state and remained there until 1861, when he came to Ohio and settled in Champaign county, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, useful and influential residents of the Woodstock neighborhood. Mrs. Hin- ton died on February 8, 1907, and Owen B. Hinton survived until Septem- ber 3, 1915, he then being past eighty years of age.
Reared on the home farm in the vicinity of Woodstock, Maurice E. Hinton has always been a farmer and has done well in that vocation, his
1016
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
farm plant on his well-kept place of one hundred and ninety-six acres in Rush township being one of the most up-to-date in its general equipment of any in that part of the county. Mr. Hinton has for years given close attention to the general agricultural affairs of Champaign county, long a member of the subordinate grange in his community and of the county grange, and is now master of the county grange. Politically, he is affiliated with the Republican party, but has not been a seeker after public office. In the general business affairs of his home community he takes an active inter- est and is a stockholder in the Farmers Bank of Mechanicsburg.
On October 31, 1879, Maurice E. Hinton. was united in marriage to Mella F. Middleton, who was born in this county, May 13, 1861, daughter of William and Estavilla Middleton, who were the parents of eleven children, those besides Mrs. Hinton living at this time being Cyrus, Rachel and Tilla. To Mr. and Mrs. Hinton seven children have been born, namely: & Warren Brooks, who married Maud Bay and died in 1902; Grace, who married Harry Borst, of Woodstock, and has four children , Glen, now living near Mechanics- burg, who married Bertha Douglas and has three children ;9Kate, who mar- ried Levi Keeran, of Cable, and has three children; 3 Mabel, wife of Dell Rutan, of Mechanicsburg, Ross, of Woodstock, who married Ethel Darrow, and Homer, who died on September 9, 1915. The Hintons are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and have ever taken a proper interest in the various beneficences of the same. They have a very pleasant home and have always taken an interested part in the general social activities and good works of their home community.
GRANT BURNHAM.
Grant Burnham, a well-known and progressive farmer of Goshen town- ship, this county, was born on the farm on which he is now living, on the Mechanicsburg and Woodstock pike, three miles north of Mechanicsburg. on rural mail route No. [ out of Woodstock, and has lived there practically all his life, with the exception of a few years immediately following his mar- riage, when he made his home in Union county. He was born on September 30, 1864, son of Andrew and Virginia E. (Crawford) Burnham, both of whom also were born in Ohio, the former in the neighboring county of Union and the latter in the village of Woodstock, this county.
Andrew Burnham, a son of Eliphas Burnham and wife, pioneers of
1017
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
Union county, was reared in that county and married Virginia E. Crawford, who was born at Woodstock, this county, a daughter of Dr. J. R. Crawford, for years one of Champaign county's best-known physicians. After his marriage he settled on the farm now owned and occupied by the subject of this sketch, in Goshen township, and there established his home, becoming the owner of a fine farm of two hundred acres and long recognized as one of the leading farmers of that neighborhood. Andrew Burnham was twice married. Mrs. Virginia Burnham died on the home farm, leaving three children, who are still living, the subject of this sketch having two brothers, T. E. Burnham, of Mechanicsburg, and Lincoln Burnham, of Urbana. After- ward Andrew Burnham married Nancy M. Amy, who died in August, 1907. and to that union one child was born, a daughter, Lydia A., wife of J. P. Bennett, of Columbus, Ohio. Andrew Burnham was a Republican and ever took an interested part in local political affairs. He died while on a visit at Dayton, this state.
Grant Burnham was reared on the home farm, where he is now living, and completed his schooling in the high school at Mechanicsburg. Upon leaving school he continued his labors on the home farm and after his mar- riage in 1896 made his home for a year in Union county. He then moved to the Kimball farm in Goshen township, this county, and there continued to reside until in 1906, when he moved back to the old home farm in that same township, where he has since resided and where he and his family are very comfortably situated. Mr. Burnham is doing well in his farming opera- tions and is also giving considerable attention to the raising of live stock, having a fine herd of pure-bred Guernsey cattle. He owns one hundred and six acres and has an excellent farm plant. Mr. Burnham is a Republican, but is not particularly active in political affairs.
On October 14, 1896, Grant Burnham was united in marriage to Maud C. Child, who was born in the neighboring county of Union on January 3. 1867, daughter of Simeon B. and Susanna ( Michael) Child, the former a native of the state of Vermont and the latter of Pennsylvania. Simeon B. Child was but a small boy when he came with his parents from Vermont to Ohio, the family settling in Greene county, where he grew to manhood, the family later moving to Union county, where he met and married Susanna Michael, who had come to Ohio as a girl with her parents from Pennsylvania. After his marriage Simeon B. Child established his home on a farm in Union county and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of five children, Carrie and Kate, who died in youth; Arthur, who is now living at Milford Center ; Maud, wife of Mr. Burnham, and
1018
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
Lottie, wife of L. C. Burnham. Mrs. Child was a member of the Methodist church and Mr. Child's belief was in the Seventh-Day Adventists church, though he attended the Methodist Episcopal church. During the last year of the Civil War he had served as a soldier of the Union, member of an Ohio regiment, and was a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Milford Center. He also was a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias at that place. Mr. and Mrs. Burnham have two daughters, Mildred E., born on July 29, 1900, who was graduated from the Mechanicsburg high school with the class of 1917. and Dorothy C., May 13, 1905. The Burnhams lean to the Universalist faith in their religious belief. They have a very pleas- ant home and take an interested part in the general social activities of their home community. Mr. Burnham is a member of Woodstock Lodge No. 167, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a past noble grand of the same.
JOHN W. EVILSIZOR.
One of the best-known and leading farmers of Champaign county is John W. Evilsizor, living in his beautiful home on "Spring Run Farm," a place constisting of one hundred and sixty-five and a quarter acres of fine farming land located two miles north of Terre Haute, in Mad River town- ship on rural route No. 4 out of Urbana, Ohio. Mr. Evilsizor was born in this county, December 31, 1865, and is a son of William and Julia Ann (Lee) Evilsizor, both of whom were also natives of Champaign county, Ohio.
William Evilsizor was born on a farm in Mad River township, this county, September 9. 1837, and died on July 20, 1895. He was a son of William Evilsizor, Sr., who was born in Kanawa county, Virginia, June 8, 1808, and died on July 25, 1892. William Evilsizor, Sr., came as a lad of six years with his parents to Ohio in 1814, where he was reared to manhood. He was twice married, his first wife being Nancy Jenkins, to whom he was married in 1829, and to this union thirteen children were born. The mother of these children died, and he again married Frances Jane Allison, and to this second union seven children were born. He was of the Baptist faith, and always took an active part in the affairs of the church. William Evil- sizor, Jr., married Julia Ann Lee, who was born in Champaign county, the daughter of William Lee, who accompanied his parents to this county from
1019
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
Virginia when an infant, the Lee family being among the pioneers of this county. William Evilsizor, Jr., and wife were the parents of eleven chil- dren, six of whom are now living: Laura A., wife of George Shaffer, a farmer of Mad River township; John W., of this sketch; Emory T., a resident of Mad River township; Marley E., living on the old home place; Verna A., of Mad River township, and Oran W., a farmer living in Jackson town- ship, this county.
John W. Evilsizor was reared on his father's farm in Mad River town- ship, receiving his education in the district schools of his home neighbor- lood, and lived at home until his marriage, when he started farming for himself on the place where he is now living, but in a different house, where he lived four years. He then moved to Clarke county, Ohio, where he rented land for three years, after which he lived on a farm on the Valley pike in Mad River township for three years. In 1900 he purchased his present farm, where he has since lived, and here he is very successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising, making a specialty of the breeding and raising of blooded live stock, such as Jersey cattle, Percheron horses and Duroc hogs. That he has made a success in his chosen calling is evidenced by the fact that he has one of the most attractive farm homes and well-equipped farms in the county. His buildings are all new and modern and beautiful in appearance, all being painted white. He has a modern and convenient home of eight rooms, a large barn seventy-six by forty-five feet in dimensions, and both house and barn are well-lighted by an acetylene gas plant. His farm is well-equipped, naturally for live stock, having natural spring water running through it; this, with the modern and scientific system with which Mr. Evilsizor operates, makes his farm one of the best in the county.
On September 12, 1888, John W. Evilsizor was united in marriage to Amanda Gentis, the daughter of Daniel and Clarissa (Netchman) Gentis, and to this union seven children have been born, four of whom are living : Alpha, a farmer of German township, Clarke county, Ohio, who married Nellie H. Foster; Edith, the wife of Alpha C. Faulkner, a farmer living west of Westville, in Mad River township; Ethel, at home, and Ada, now in her second year in the high school at Terre Haute, Ohio. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, while Mr. Evilsizor is of the Baptist faith, being one of the trustees of the Harmony Baptist church at Terre Haute, Ohio.
Mrs. Evilsizor was born on a farm in Mad River township, January 18, 1886, a daughter of Daniel and Clarissa (Netchman) Gentis, the former being
1020
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
a native of Clark county, Ohio, and the latter of Champaign county. They were the parents of eight children, the six who are living are: Frank, a farmer living in Jackson township; Tully, of Terre Haute, Ohio; Justin, also a resident of Terre Haute; Clifford, a farmer living on the Valley pike in Mad River township; Ernest, of Thackery, this county, and Amanda, the wife of John W. Evilsizor, the subject of this review.
THE WEST FAMILY.
One of the oldest families in Champaign county is the West family, which is of English descent and has been represented in this county since the year 1802, three years before the organization of the county. One member of the family, in this generation, Miss Jennie West, still occupies the old West homestead in Jackson township, living in the same house in which she was born seventy-seven years ago, and which was built by her father, Stockett West.
Basil West, a native of Maryland, was born on April 10, 1745, and he and his three brothers served as patriots in the Revolutionary War. He was a slaveholder, and with his wife lived successively in Maryland, Geor- gia, the Carolinas and Kentucky, finally crossing into Ohio in 1802, where he took a land claim one-half mile south of Westville. He later moved to Jackson township, building a log cabin home just north of what is now known as Bollinger's fish-pond. Basil and his wife, who was a Stockett of Virginia, were the parents of seven children: Stockett, John, Mary, Jere- miah, Basil, Damaris and Phoebe. These young people all were married in Ohio, but the pioneering spirit of their parents was strong within them and, with the exception of Stockett, they went farther west to establish new homes. John, who married Azubah Wilson, settled in Warren county, Indiana, and was the father of eleven children, the eldest of whom, George. was a captain in the Civil War.
Jeremiah West, who married Matilda Wilson of Miami county, also settled in Indiana, becoming a very prosperous farmer near Crawfordsville, and later a merchant in that city. He reared a family of four children, who in turn felt the call to go west, and at the presen day Judge Jere West, of the Montgomery county circuit court, is the only descendant left in Craw- fordsville, his six brothers and sisters all living in the state of Washington. Letitia West Lee, the only daughter of Jeremiah, is living in Oregon, hav-
1021
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
ing passed her eighty-fifth year. Her two daughters married brothers, Maurice and Will Thompson, authors and poets, who came North after the Civil War. Maurice Thompson, in his book, "Alice of Old Vincennes," named the heroine for his wife.
Basil West's daughters, Mary and Damaris, married brothers, Isaac and John Brier. Isaac owned and lived on the Jackson township farm now owned by Charles Slack, but later moved with his family to what was then known as Grande Prairie in Indiana. His grandson lives there today on the old Brier homestead.
Basil West, Jr., married Lillian Noe, who soon died. He then married Rachel Pond and they, too, lived in Indiana for a few years; later going to Washington, then to California. They were the parents of eleven chil- dren whose descendants are scattered through many of the Western states.
Stockett West, the eldest son of Basil West, Sr., was born in Mary- land, April 20, 1790. He first came into Ohio with his uncle, Adamson Cowhick, who erected a small pole cabin at Big Spring on Honey creek. A little later Stockett West entered a tract of land in the southwestern part of Champaign county, where he lived for several years, clearing and improv- ing the land. and becoming one of the most influential factors in the early development of that section of the county. He sold this land to Mr. Fields, and in 1826 entered another tract nearby, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, creating from the woodland wilderness a home which was and has continued to be one of the famous centers of hospitality in the county. Basil West and his wife passed their last years on this place with their son, Stockett, and finally were laid to rest in the old Honey Creek cemetery.
Stockett West was a tall, strongly-built man: he was raised a farmer but was a good blacksmith and carpenter; he could spin and weave witli great skill. The old home which he built shows many marks of his skill in . wood-working. He was a Whig and took an active part in local civic affairs. serving his township as treasurer and trustee. He was a great reader of the Bible and both he and his wife were identified with the Honey Creek Bap- tist church. While Stockett. John, Basil West were dyed-in-the-wool Bap- tists, their brother, Jeremiah, and many of their close friends were just as stanch Universalists. William and Wallace McCrea, Van Cox. Joseph Woods, Henry Merritt, Sam Bright, Rev. Thomas Price and Rev. David Scott frequented this home, and many heated religious discussions arose among these intimate friends.
On May 30. 1816, Stockett West married Elizabeth Merritt, who was
1022
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
born in Virginia, July 13, 1792, a daughter of John and Margaret Merritt. The Merritts were Virginians of German descent, coming to Champaign county in 1813. where John entered nine quarter-sections of land, which he afterward divided among his eight children, giving each child a quarter section and keeping one for himself. Elizabeth was a splendid woman, and was familiarly known as "Aunt Betty" by the many friends who loved her for her kindliness. Stockett West died on July 4, 1852, and his wife lived until October 2, 1876.
To Stockett and Elizabeth West were born nine children: John, Will- iam, David, Sarah, James, Henry, Jeremiah, Mary, and Jane. Five of these died in their early twenties. William, Henry and Jerry lived long, useful lives, each being well past eighty years of age at the time of his death. Jennie, the youngest of all. and the sole survivor, owns and occupies the old homestead., She is a very capable woman and a most charming hostess. For many years she has managed her farm, and has had great success in the breeding of fine Jersey cattle.
Henry West, who never married, always lived at the old home with Jen- nie, and was a most devoted companion. He was a well-read man, and an interesting talker on many subjects. He was a Civil War veteran. His death occurred on June 14, 1913.
Jerry West, who married Harriet Simpson, of Madison county, lived on a farm adjoining the home place. He was a very kind, good man. Be- sides his work as a successful farmer, he spent a great deal of time in the study and growing of fine fruits. Jerry died on April 21, 1912; his widow died on January 26, 1917. They were the parents of two sons, John Simp- son West and James Clyde West. John S. West was educated at Ohio Normal University at Ada and for several years was employed by the Erie Railroad Company. Later on he and Clyde West took up scientific farm- ing on their father's farm. Both were exceptionally fine young men, but unfortunately passed away in their early manhood. Clyde died on March 21, 1907, aged twenty-four. John died on October 22, 1911, aged thirty- four. Both were married but left no children.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.