USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 29
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It was on February 25, 1862. that George H. Gifford was united in marriage to Josephine Myers, who was born in Troy, this state, August 9. 1846, and to this union nine children have been born, namely: Effie M., Daniel Hicks, Catherine Theresa, George Augustus, Walter Cushman, Laura Marsh, Nicholas P. H., Edward Cranston and Rosanna.
Effie M. Gifford, born on December 26, 1862, married Daniel A. Fox on August 9, 1883, and to that union eight children have been born, namely : Emery G., born in June, 1884: Chester H., November 11, 1886; Walter S., February 15, 1889: Ivan E., July 17, 1801; Francis M., January 15, 1894; Kenneth K., September 2, 1896, who died in September, 1897; Daniel D .. February 14, 1900, and Harold, July 17. 1902, who died in 1916.
Daniel Hicks Gifford, born on January 10, 1866, is married and lives at Bellefontaine, this state, where he is engaged as a carpenter.
Catherine Theresa Gifford, born on April 20, 1867, died on April IT, :886.
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George Augustus Gifford, born on June 30. 1869. married Eva Spicer, June 9, 1897, and has five children, Catherine, Louise, Wilbur. Josephine and Charles.
Walter Cushman Gifford, born on July 9, 1871, married Catherine Martin on July 23. 1896, and has two children. Phyllis and Philip. He and his family now make their home in Urbana.
Laura Marsh Gifford, born on April 10, 1874, died on September 20, 1875.
Nicholas P. H. Gifford, now living at Columbus, Ohio, was born on August 4. 1876. On September 22, 1900, he married Nora Spellman and has three children, Marion, Paul and Donna.
Edward Cranston Gifford, who is a carpenter and builder at Woodstock, was born on September 15, 1880. On April 22, 1907, he was united in mar- riage to Gatha Huffman, who died on May 3, 1911, leaving two children, Opal F., born on April 12, 1908. and Dorothy R., September 6, 1910.
Rosanna-Gifford, who was born on December 2, 1884, was united in mar- riage on May 16, 1905, to George F. Thompson and has six children, namely : Francilla, born on February 20, 1906; Robert O., September 30, 1907 : De Witt, October 16, 1910, who died on November 27, 1910; Gifford, born on February 27, 1914, and Grace Annabelle, August, 1916.
LEVI YODER.
Levi Yoder, a well-known and substantial retired farmer of the neigh- boring county of Logan, now living at North Lewisburg, this county, is a native Ohioan and has lived in this state all his life. He was born on a farm in Logan county on November 3, 1852, son of Levi and Nancy (Det- wiler ) Yoder, natives of Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, who were married in that county and lived there until after four of their children were born. In 1848 Levi Yoder and his family moved to Ohio and located in Logan county where he bought a farm in the white-oak woods and proceeded to clear the same and there establish his home. He died there in April. 1852, leaving a widow and five children. Of these children the subject of this sketch was the last-born, the others being as follow: Martha, who died in 1913; Jonathan, who died on January 13, 1917: Jacob, who lives in Iowa, and Eli, who lives in Indiana. Levi Yoder and wife were mem- bers of the Mennonite church and their children were reared in the simple
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faith of that church. The Widow Yoder married, secondly, Jacob K. Yoder. also of Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, and to that union one child was born, a daughter, Lizzie, of West Liberty, this state. Mrs. Yoder died in Logan county in February, 1890, and her husband survived her until 1912.
As will be noted by a comparison of the above dates, the junior Levi Yoder was a posthumous child of his father and his widowed mother named him in honor of her deceased husband. John C. Yoder was his guardian and he was reared as a farmer. He was married at the age of twenty-four. and, in 1877, he began farming on his own account in Salem township. this county, and was thus engaged for five years, at the end of which time he returned to his home county and bought a farm in McCarthy town- ship (Logan county), where he made his home for sixteen years and six months. He then disposed of his interest there and moved to Zane town- ship, same county, where he bought a farm and where he remained for fourteen years, or until in December, 1913, when he retired from the active labors of the farm and moved to North Lewisburg, where he since has made his home and where he and his wife are very comfortably situated. Mr. Yoder still owns his well-improved farm of one hundred and thirty acres in Logan county and continues to give considerable personal attention to the operation of the same.
It was on January 16, 1877, that Levi Yoder was united in marriage to Rebecca J. Hartzler, who was born in Logan county, Ohio, a daughter of Joel and Lydia (Plank) Hartzler, natives of Mifflin county, Pennsyl- vania, who in 1885 came to Ohio and located in Logan county, later moving to Salem township, this county, where Joel Hartzler bought a farm and where he and his wife spent their last days, his death occurring in 1902 and hers in 1910. They were members of the Mennonite church and their children were reared in that faith. There were seven of these children, of whom Mrs. Yoder was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow: Isaac, deceased; David, of West Liberty, this state; Samuel. deceased; Benjamin, deceased; John, of West Liberty, and Jonathan, who is farming in this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Yoder ten children have been born, namely : Laura, deceased; Nannie, who married R. J. Eberling, of Sandusky county, this state, and has two children, Wilbur and Bertha; Harvey S., who married . Mary. Warner and died on July 30, 1916, leaving one child, a son, Carlton : Eli, who married Corena Folsenlogan and is now living at Indian- apolis, where he is engaged as a bookkeeper: Rudolph, a farmer, of Logan county, who married Norma Harding and has one child, a son, Floyd; Lydia Ann, deceased ; Bessie, who married Henry Coates, of Anderson, Indiana, and
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has two children, Ivan and Russell; Roy, deceased; Emma, of Anderson, Indi- ana, and Dora May, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Yoder are members of the Mennonite church and have long given their earnest attention to church work and other local good works.
GWYNN H. CLARK.
Gwynn H. Clark, a well-known building contractor at Woodstock and formerly and for twenty-five years a member of the common council of that pleasant village, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in Rush township, in the vicinity of Woodstock, October 15, 1860, son of George W. and Polly (Kimball) Clark, the former of whom was born in the state of Massachusetts and the latter in this state.
George W. Clark was but a lad when he came to Ohio with his parents from Massachusetts, the family locating near Brighton, where he remained until some time during the fifties, when he married and came to this county, settling on a farm in the Woodstock neighborhood in Rush township, where he was living when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted for service in the Union army as a private in Company G, Ninety-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with that command for nearly five years. during that time participating in some of the most notable engagements of the war, including the siege of Vicksburg and the battle of Gettysburg. During his military service Mr. Clark incurred physical disabilities that ren- dered him unfit for the continued hard work of the farm and some time after his return home he gave up farming and moved to Woodstock, where he engaged in the hardware business and was thus engaged for about seven years, at the end of which time he became a building contractor and was thus sticcessfully engaged until his retirement in the middle eighties. He con- tinued to make his home in Woodstock, where he had become very com- fortably established, and there he spent his last days, his death occurring in 1914. He and his wife were the parents of four children, those besides the subject of this sketch being Carrie (deceased), Celia and Guy.
Gwynn H. Clark was but a child when his parents moved from the farm to Woodstock and he received his schooling in the schools of that village. .As a boy he learned the practical details of the carpenter's trade under the careful instruction of his father and has ever since followed that trade, for
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the past twenty-five or thirty years having been engaged as a building con- tractor at Woodstock. During that long period as an active builder Mr. Clark has erected most of the business houses at Woodstock, as well as the larger part of the dwelling houses, and has long been regarded as one of the leading contractors in Champaign county. He is a Republican and has ever given his earnest attention to local civic affairs, for twenty-five years having served as a member of the common council of his home vil- lage, during which time he did much to promote the general interests of the town.
On February 5, 1888, Gwynn H. Clark was united in marriage to Mollie Riley. daughter of Samuel Riley, and to this union four sons have been born, Corwin (deceased). Charles, Herbert and George. Herbert Clark married Ruby Smith and has two children, Winifred and Clairette. The Clarks are members of the Universalist church and take a proper interest in church affairs. Mr. Clark is past noble grand of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has for years taken a warm interest in Oddfellowship.
ROBERT SANDERS.
Robert Sanders, a retired manufacturer of glue and soap at Urbana and one of the best-known citizens of that city, is a native of Scotland, but has been a resident of this country since 1849 and of Urbana since 1853 and is therefore fully entitled to be enrolled aoning the real "old settlers" of Cham- paign county. He was born in the town of Linlithgow, capital of the county of that name and one of the most interesting county seats in Scotland, situ- ated seventeen miles west of Edinburgh and twenty-eight miles north and east of Glasgow. Linlithgow is the seat of an ancient royal palace, supposed to have been erected by Edward I of England and the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. The old palace is preserved as one of the show places of Scotland and Mr. Sanders has been in the room in which the unfortunate Mary was born in 1542.
The date of the birth of Mr. Sanders was January 24, 1826. His par- ents, Robert and Elizabeth (Forgie) Sanders, also were born in Linlithgow, where they spent all their lives. Robert Sanders was a manufacturer of glue and was a citizen of some substance. He and his wife were the parents of six children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow : John, who spent all his life in his native
Potr Sanders
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Scotland, living to the advanced age of eighty-four years; Margaret, who died in infancy; Mary, who died in Scotland; David, a carpenter, who came 10 the United States in 1850, coming on out into Ohio and locating at Urbana, where he made his home for years, but is now living in Kansas, and James, also a carpenter, who is now living at Minneapolis, Minnesota.
At the age of twelve years Robert Sanders left his native Linlithgow and went over to the neighboring city of Edinburgh, where he served an apprenticeship of six years in a saddlery establishment, becoming thoroughly proficient in that line and also learned to become a skilled craftsman in the finer lines of wood-working with particular reference to the making of violins. In this latter line of craftsmanship Mr. Sanders retains to this day a hearty interest, the making of violins continuing to be one of the most engaging "hobbies" of the pleasant evening time of his life, a happy means of reliev- ing what otherwise might be a tedious retirement from the more active labors of life to one who has been as busy during a long and useful life as he has been. Upon finishing his apprenticeship at Edinburgh he returned to Lin- lithgow and there assisted his father in the manufacture of glue until 1849. when -- he then being twenty-three years of age -- he decided to come to this country, believing that he could pursue his trade to more advantage and better profits over here. Upon landing in this country Mr. Sanders came on out to Ohio and located at Chillicothe, where for two years he was engaged in the glue business. He then went to Columbus, where he spent eighteen months in the same line of business, and then, in 1853, located at Urbana. where he ever since has made his home. Upon locating at Urbana Mr. Sanders formed a partnership with Mosgrove & Moore for the manufac- ture of glue and soap and three years later took over the business on his own account and until his retirement in 1907 continued engaged in the manu- facture of those products, building up quite an extensive establishment and creating a wide market for his products.
Robert Sanders has been twice married. In the fall of 1853. the year in which he settled at Urbana. he was married at Columbus to Maria Andover, who was born in this state and who died at Urbana. He later married Christina McDonald, who was born in the north of Scotland, and to this union one child was born, a daughter, Jessie, who died in infancy. Mr. Sanders built a fine brick house on College Way and there he and his wife are still living, very comfortably situated in their declining years. They are earnest members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Sanders for years has been a member of the board of trustees of the same. In 1847 he joined the
(19a)
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Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Scotland and in 1850 joined again at Chillicothe, later transferring his membership to the lodge at Urbana, and still retains a hearty interest in Odd Fellowship, one of the oldest continuous members of that order in Ohio, his connection with the order covering a period of sixty-seven years.
FLOYD FREEMAN.
Floyd Freeman, well-known undertaker and funeral director at North Lewisburg and a former member of the common council of that village, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm near Mechanicsburg, in Goshen township, March 28, 1875. son of G. L. and Sarah E. (Moody) Freeman, both of whom were also born in this county and whose last days were spent at North Lewisburg.
G. L. Freeman also was born in Goshen township, son of George and Pleasey ( McCarty) Freeman, natives of Pennsylvania, who came to this county during the twenties of the past century and located on a farm in Goshen township, where they spent the remainder of their lives, substantial and useful pioneers of that community. On that pioneer farm G. L. Free- man grew to manhood and after his marriage to Sarah E. Moody, who was born on a farm near Mutual, in Union township, established his home on the home farm, which he later came to own, a very well-improved place of one hundred and fifty acres, and there he made his home until 1890, when he moved to Mechanicsburg, where for a short time he was engaged in the furniture and undertaking business. He then disposed of his business there and moved to North Lewisburg, where he engaged in the undertaking bnsi- ness and was thus engaged in that business there until the latter nineties, when his son, the subject of this sketch, took over the business and he retired. To G. L. Freeman and wife eight children were born, of whom seven are still living, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow: Maria. wife of Paul Hollingsworth; Metta, wife of Oliver J. Morgan: Lee, of North Lewisburg: Harry, of Columbus, this state: Carrie, also of Colum- bus, and Alice, at home.
Floyd Freeman completed his schooling in the high school at North Lewisburg and then began working in the grain elevator at that place and was thus engaged until 1898, when he entered Professor Renonard's Col- lege at Columbus and took a thorough course in embalming and the arts
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pertaining to the undertaking business, after which he returned home and took over his father's undertaking business, which he ever since has been very successfully conducting. Mr. Freeman's undertaking establishment is admirably equipped, everything being up-to-date and in conformance with the latest advances in that line, his equipment including a fine automobile hearse. Mr. Freeman is a Republican and has served the public in the capa- city of councilman from his ward in the village council.
In 1900 Floyd Freeman was united in marriage to Pauline R. Moore, daughter of J. F. Moore and wife, and to this union one child has been born, a son. Leonard. Mr. and Mrs. Freeman are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Freeman is a member of the official board of the same. Fraternally, he is affiliated with both the Masons and the Knights of Pythias and is past master of the local Masonic lodge and past chancellor commander of the local Pythian lodge, in the affairs of both of which popular order he takes a warm and active interest .
THOMAS L. TAYLOR, D. V. S.
Dr. Thomas L. Taylor, veterinary surgeon and one of the best-known residents of North Lewisburg, this county, was born at Norton, in Dela- ware county, this state, April 18, 1878. son of Dr. Elam and Margaret Taylor, the former a native of this state and the latter of New York state. whose last days were spent in Delaware county.
Dr. Elam Taylor, also a veterinary surgeon, was a veteran of the Civil War, having served for two years as a member of the One Hundred and Twenty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and four of his sons, half brothers of the subject of this sketch, served as soldiers of the Union during the struggle between the States, one of these sons, Albert Taylor, dying in Andersonville prison. The other soldier sons were Joel B., Adam H. and Henry Taylor. Dr. Elam Taylor was twice married, by his first wife hav- ing had five children, one daughter. Mary, besides the sons above named. Upon the death of the mother of these children he married again and by his wife, Margaret. had seven children, those besides the subject of this sketch. the last-born, being James B., Carrie F., Hattie B., Effie, Josephine and Louis.
Upon completing the course in the public schools at Norton, T. L. Taylor worked for a few years as a farm hand in the neighborhood of his
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home and then began the study of medicine in the office of his half-brother, Dr. Joel B. Taylor, at Broadway, in Union county, at the same time becom- ing engaged as a clerk in a drug store at that place, and was thus engaged for nine years, at the end of which time he decided to take up veterinary surgery, the profession to which his father had devoted his life, and with that end in view entered the Ontario Veterinary College at Toronto, and after a course of two years' study there entered the Grand Rapids Veterin- ary College, at Grand Rapids, Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1004, with the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Surgery. Thus admirably qualified for the practice of his profession, Doctor Taylor opened an office at North Lewisburg in that same year and has ever since been engaged in practice there, his professional duties taking him through three counties, his field of operations extending into the neighboring counties of Logan and Union, as well as widely throughout Champaign county, where he has an extensive practice.
In 1001, Dr. T. L. Taylor was united in marriage to Arie Harrington, a daughter of Lorenzo Harrington and wife, and to this union two chil- dren have been born, Bernard and Ruth. Doctor and Mrs. Taylor have a pleasant home at North Lewisburg and take a proper part in the general social activities of their home town, helpful in promoting all good causes thereabout. The Doctor is a Republican in his political affiliations and fra- ternally, is affiliated with the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons, in the affairs of which order he takes a warm interest.
BENJAMIN GRUBBS.
Benjamin Grubbs, a substantial retired farmer and honored veteran of the Civil War, now living at North Lewisburg, where he has resided since 1899, is a native of Ohio and has resided in this state all his life, with the exception of a period during the eighties and nineties when he was engaged in farming in Kansas. He was born on a pioneer farm near East Liberty, in the neighboring county of Logan, June 30, 1838, son of Chris- topher and Elizabeth (Skidmore) Grubbs, both of whom were born at Culpeper Court House, Virginia, and who had come to Ohio with their respective parents in the days of their youth, the families settling in this part of the state, the Grubbses in Logan county and the Skidmores in Union county.
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Christopher Grubbs was born at Culpeper on February 19, 1804, and was but a child when his parents, William Grubbs and wife, also Virginians, the former born on August 20, 1778, and the latter, November 21, 1778, came to this state in 1806 and settled at Middleburg, in Logan county, where William Grubbs opened a tavern and where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, influential pioneers of that community. Will- iam Grubbs and wife were the parents of nine children, the others being as follow: Mary, born in February, 1807; Abraham, December 22, 1809: Atlanta, November 2, 1810; Evelyn, July 10, 1812; Levi; Benjamin, May I, 1817; William, February 19, 1820, and Rebecca J., May 29, 1822. Chris- topher Grubbs grew up on a farm and after his marriage to Elizabeth Skidmore established his home on a farm in the immediate vincinity of East Liberty, in Logan county, but later moved to the adjoining county of Union and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, influential and useful residents of the community in which they lived, the latter dying at the age of forty-eight and the former at the age of fifty-eight. Christopher Grubbs for years served as justice of the peace in and for his home township and was familiarly known far and near as "Old Squire Kiffey Grubbs." He was an ardent Abolitionist and was a strong influence throughout this part of the state in behalf of the abolition movement during the days when that move- ment began to have serious agitation throughout the North. By religious persuasion he was a Universalist. His wife was a member of the Free Will Baptist church. They were the parents of ten children, of whom the sub- ject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth, the others being as fol- low: William S., a farmer, whose last days were spent in Logan county, this state; Atwell, a farmer, who lived in Union and Logan counties; Lydia Ann, deceased; Atlanta, who died in Kansas; James Madison, who is liv- ing at East Liberty, at the age of eighty-one years; Thomas S., a farmer and a veteran of the Civil War, he having served as a member of Company C, Seventeenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, who died at North Lewisburg; Evelyn, who died in Logan county; Oliver H., a farmer, liv- ing at Holton, Kansas, and Christopher, a farmer, of Pottersburg. this state.
Benjamin Grubbs was reared on the home farm, receiving his schooling in the primitive subscription schools of his home neighborhood in Union county and early became engaged in farming on his own account, being thus engaged when the Civil War broke out. On August 25, 1861. at Middleburg, he enlisted for service as a private in Company C, Seventeenth
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Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the first three-year regiment, under Col. J. M. Connell, and after thirty days at Camp Dennison went to the front, the regiment spending the following winter at Wild Cat Gap and at Somerset, Kentucky, in the spring of 1862 proceeding to Nashville and then to Pittsburg Landing to help General Grant, and was in every battle of the Middle department, under Generals Rosecrans and Thomas. At first the Seventeenth Ohio was equipped with the old Harper's Ferry muskets and it was some time after it entered the service before it was properly armed. Among the notable engagements participated in by Mr. Grubbs were the battles of Stone's River, Shiloh, Missionary Ridge, Jonesboro, the Atlanta campaign, and he was with Sherman on the march to the sea and thence to Washington, D. C., where he took part in the Grand Review at the close of the war and received his discharge in July, 1865, being mus- tered out with the rank of sergeant-major. During all that period of service he was absent from the regiment on sick leave but thirty days.
Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Grubbs returned home and resumed the pursuits of peace on the farm. He married in 1866 and continued farming in Union county until 1882, when he disposed of his interests there and moved to Kansas, buying a farm in Jackson county, that state, and remaining there for seventeen years, or until 1899, when he sold his Kansas farm and returned to Ohio, locating at North Lewisburg, where he ever since has made his home, now living comfortably retired.
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