History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 5

Author: Middleton, Evan P., ed
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1338

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CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.

C. Pearce took an active interest in local civic affairs and for some time served as justice of the peace in his home township. He was a duly licensed "local" minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and was widely known hereabout as a preacher of convincing power. To him and his wife eight children were born, Henry Clay, Lucas E., Abner B., John W., William Raper, Mary E., Richard S. and Harvey C.

Henry Clay Pearce received his elementary schooling in the local schools and at the age of twenty turned his attention seriously to the study of medi- cine, under the preceptorship of Doctor Carter and later under Doctor Daw- son, and thus duly prepared for entrance to college entered Starling Medical College at Columbus, from which institution he was graduated in 1863, though for five years previously he had been engaged in practice during vacations at Mutual, this county. In 1864 he opened an office for the prac- tice of his profession at Urbana and ever afterward regarded that as his established home, though for many years much of his time was spent in Columbus as a medical instructor. From 1866 to 1874 Doctor Pearce served as professor of physiology and microscopic histology in Starling Medical College and then, for a period of seventeen years, served as professor of obstetrics and surgical diseases of women in Columbus Medical College. For many years he was an active member of the Ohio State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association and in 1866 was appointed local sur- geon for the Pennsylvania Company, a position he held until his death, the longest period of such service on the records of that company. For nine- teen years the Doctor was a member of the local school board at Urbana. and for more than a half century he was a consistent and active member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Dr. Henry C. Pearce was twice married. In 1854 he was united in marriage to Sarah Jane Morgan and to that union five children were born, namely: Laura Etta, who married C. E. Macher, of Piqua; Ella, who married George E. Lee and is now deceased: Charles W., of Urbana : Henry M., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, and a daughter, who died in infancy. The mother of these children died in 1872 and in the fol- lowing year Doctor Pearce married Binnie A. Keller, daughter of William Keller, former mayor of Urbana, and to that union two sons were born, Dr. Frank C. Pearce, deceased, and William K., who died at the age of twenty-two years. The elder Doctor Pearce was a Scottish Rite Mason and a Knight Templar and for years took a warm interest in Masonic affairs in this state.

Henry M. Pearce received a practical education in the schools of his

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.

home city and early entered upon the study of medicine under the able pre- ceptorship of his learned father. Thus prepared for college he entered Star- ling Medical College in 1887 and on March 4, 1890, was graduated from that institution, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Thus equipped for the practice of his profession, Doctor Pearce engaged in practice at Urbana, in association with his father, and has ever since remained in that city, long regarded as one of the leading practitioners in this part of the state. In addi- tion to his general practice he has served for twenty-five years as local physician and surgeon for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. For eleven years he served as county physician and also for some time in the capacity of city health officer. The Doctor is an active member of the Champaign County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society and of the Amer- ican Medical Association and in the deliberations of these learned bodies takes a warm interest. He is a York Rite Mason and takes an active interest in Masonic affairs; he is past master of Champaign Masonic lodge and is past commander of Raper Commandery No. 19, Knights Templar. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party. For six years he served as member of the school board, of which he was president for one year.

In 1890 Dr. Henry M. Pearce was united in marriage to Anna M. Sleffel, a native of Australia, and to this union two children have been born, Linda Etta and Edwin Clay. Doctor and Mrs. Pearce are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take a proper interest in church work, as well as in the general good works and social and cultural activities of their home town.

JOHN PRINGLE NEER.

John Pringle Neer, one of Champaign county's most substantial farm- ers and landowners, an honored veteran of the Civil War, and former mem- ber of the board of county commissioners, now living retired at Urbana. where he has extensive banking and manufacturing interests, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in Concord township on April 27, 1842, son of Joseph and Margaret Susan ( Monroe) Neer, early settlers in that section of the county, whose last days were spent on their farm there.

Joseph Neer was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, August 7, 1804. and there grew to manhood, remaining there until after he had attained his majority, when, in 1826, he came over into Ohio, locating near Catawba,

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Penso J. P. Now.

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.

working as a cabinet-maker. He returned to Virginia then in 1831 and bought a tract of school land in Concord township. He set about clearing and improving the same, early becoming recognized as one of the most substantial and influential pioneers of that section. That pioneer farm is now held by the subject of this sketch. Joseph Neer was also a wagon- maker by trade and did considerable work in that line in early days, as well as a good deal of carpentering in the neighborhood of his home. On November 10, 1835, nine years after he came to this county, Joseph Neer married Margaret Susan Monroe, who was born on November 27, 1819, daughter of David Monroe and wife, who came to this county from Virginia in pioneer days, and after his marriage he established his home on his Con- cord township farm. He and his wife were members of the Methodist church and ever took an earnest part in church work, as well as in the gen- eral good works of the community in which they lived. Mr. Neer originally was a Whig. but upon the formation of the Republican party espoused the principles of the same and cast his vote for John C. Fremont. His death occurred on January 26, 1869, and his widow survived him for more than ten years, her death occurring on October 8, 1880. They were the parents of twelve children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being as follow: David C., a successful farmer in Allen county, Kansas; Ann F., who is now living at Bakersfield, Cali- fornia, widow of James W. Ellis; Eliza M., who died in southern Colorado on October 6. 1875, wife of Judge Joseph Van Offenbacker, who died at Washington, D. C., in January, 1895; Martha J., who died on September 16, 1870; Nathan A., a retired farmer now living at Pasadena, California ; Sallie C. living at Los Angeles, widow of Lowell T. Clemans; Joseph T., who married Lydia A. Bricker and is a well-known farmer in Concord township, this county; Mary F., wife of Charles W. McMaster, of Los .Angeles: Samuel J., a fruit grower at Green River, Utah; Elizabeth, who died in infancy, and James M .. a farmer and stockman in Cowley county, Kansas.

John P. Neer was reared on the old home farm in Concord township, receiving his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood, and was nineteen years of age when the Civil War broke out. Ou August 19, 1862, then being but twenty years of age, he enlisted for service in the Union army as a private in Company H, Forty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, being mustered into the service at Camp Chase at Columbus, and served with that command until he was mustered out with the rank of first lieu-

(4a)

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.

tenant at Camp Harker in Tennessee, June 12, 1865, the war then being over. Mr. Neer's first promotion in the ranks was to the position of cor- poral of his company, later to sergeant and then to orderly sergeant, serving with that rank until he received his commission as first lieutenant. During his long period of service he was a participant in some of the heaviest en- gagements of the war, including the battles of Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Pine Mountain and Lovejoy Station. One of the first engage- ments in which he took part was the battle of Dutton Hill, Kentucky, and he also took part in the pursuit of General Morgan. the Confederate cavalry raider, through Indiana and Ohio. On October 20, 1863, he was a par- ticipant in the battle of Philadelphia, Tennessee, in which his regiment lost, in killed, wounded and missing. one hundred and sixty-eight men. Later the regiment served in the campaign in eastern Tennessee and on November 15 of that same year, at Holston River, lost one hundred and one men, including five officers. In an engagement two days later, November 17, they had a brisk encounter with the forces of General Longstreet. In that latter engagement Mr. Neer was shot through the lungs and was taken to a hospital, being unable to join his regiment until after the siege of Knox- ville. From Tazewell, Tennessee, he then went with his regiment to Cum- berland Gap and thence on to Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, where he remained about a month, in command of a detail left to guard the town; returning thence to Tennessee by way of Knoxville, he finally proceeded on with the regiment to take part in the Atlanta campaign and was present at the siege of Atlanta.

Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Neer returned to his home in this county and resumed his place on the home farm. After the death of his father, in 1869, he purchased from the other heirs the greater part of the old homestead and continued to farm the same, gradually adding to his land holdings until he now is the owner of six hundred and eighty acres of well-improved land. In addition to his general farming Mr. Neer for years gave considerable attention to the raising of high-grade live stock and did very well. In 1881 he and a party of men went to England and Scotland and imported a number of fine horses. Some years ago he retired from the farm and moved to Urbana, where he since has made his home. Mr. Neer is an ardent Republican and has ever taken a good citizen's interest in local political affairs. From 1885 to 1891 he served as a member of the board of county commissioners and in other ways has contributed of his time and his abilities to the public service. He is vice-president and a member of the board of directors of the City National Bank of Urbana, is

FARM HOME AND BARN OF JOHN P. NEER.

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.

connected with the Mammoth Furniture Company of that city and is also a stockholder and a member of the board of directors of the Urbana Pack- ing Company.

In 1899 John P. Neer was united in marriage to Ida M. Goble, of Brooklyn, New York, a daughter of Ira and Catherine (Burke) Goble, and who died on April 5, 1911. Mr. Neer is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church and for years has been active in church work. He is a member of Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, at Urbana, and is now serving his fifth term as commander of the same, for years having been one of the most active members of the local post of that patriotic order.

WILLIAM R. WARNOCK.

The Hon. William R. Warnock, a distinguished veteran of the Civil War, former congressman from this district, former state senator, former judge of the court of common pleas, former prosecuting attorney for this county and for many years one of the best-known lawyers in this part of the state, now living practically retired at Urbana, was born in that city and has lived there all his life. He was born on August 29, 1838, a son of the Rev. David and Sarah A. (Hitt) Warnock and a grandson of the Rev. Samuel Hitt, who in 1809 had settled on a farm that is now included within the corporate limits of Urbana.

The Rev. David Warnock was a native of Ireland, born on February 14, 1810, who came to this country when he was eighteen years of age, in 1828, and who completed his education at Strongsville Academy, in the vicinity of Cleveland, this state. In 1832 he became a member of the Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church and spent the rest of his life in the gospel ministry, one of the best-known clergymen of his com- munion in Ohio, his long pastorate having included charges at Urbana. Bellefontaine, Sidney, Delaware, Circleville, Zanesville, Columbus, Cincin- nati and other places. In 1837. at Urbana, he married Sarah A. Hitt, who was born there, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Hitt, one of the pioneers of Champaign county and a man of large influence in his generation, and ever after regarded Urbana as his established home, though the itinerary of his ministry kept him much of the time in other cities throughout the state. The Rev. David Warnock and wife were the parents of nine children.

William R. Warnock was reared at Urbana and received his schooling

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.

in the schools of that city and at Ohio Wesleyan University, from which latter institution he was graduated in 1861, in the meantime having taught school, devoting his leisure to the study of law. In the summer of 1861, just after leaving the university, he recruited a company for service in the Union army to put down the rebellion of the Southern states, and in July, 1862, was commissioned captain of a company attached to the Ninety-fifth Regi- ment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and a year later was promoted to the rank of major. In December, 1864, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant- colonel and was mustered out with that rank in August, 1865.

Upon the completion of his military service Colonel Warnock returned to his home in Urbana and there resumed his law studies, under the precep- torship of Judge Corwin, and in May, 1866, was admitted to the bar, imme- diately thereafter forming a partnership with George M. Eichelberger and engaging in the practice of his profession at Urbana. In the summer of 1868 he married and established his home at Urbana, which ever since has been his place of residence. In 1872 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Champaign county and in 1876 was elected to represent this district in the state Senate. In the fall of 1879 he was elected judge of the court of common pleas and by successive re-elections was kept on the bench for ten years, or until 1889. In the fall of 1900 Judge Warnock was elected to represent this district in Congress and two years later he was re-elected, thus serving as congressman from this district from March 4, 1901, to March 4, 1905; in the meantime, while not engaged in the performance of his official duties, continuing the practice of his profession. Since retiring from Congress, however, Judge Warnock has been living practically retired from professional life, though still often consulted in an advisory capacity by his younger confreres of the bar. During the many years of his active practice Judge Warnock was connected with many of the important cases tried in the courts of this district and the reputation he won at the bar entitled him to recognition as one of the ablest lawyers Champaign county has produced during its history of more than a hundred years. Politically. Judge Warnock is a Republican; by religious persuasion, a Methodist; and, fraternally, is a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and is a Scottish Rite Mason, one of the few thirty-second degree Masons in Urbana.

On August 20, 1868, Judge Warnock was united in marriage to Kate Murray, of the neighboring county of Clark, and to this union were born three children, Clifford, Ann Catherine and Elizabeth. He represented the Methodist Episcopal conference at Cincinnati, at Chicago, Baltimore, Los

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.

Angeles and Minneapolis. He is commander of the Loyal Legion, com- mander of the department of the Ohio, Grand Army of the Republic, for many years, and trustee of the Ohio Wesleyan University for twenty-five years.

JOHN S. LEEDOM.

In the historical section of this work there is set out at length an ac- count of the services rendered to this community by the late John S. Lee- dom, who has been referred to as probably the most brilliant lawyer Cham- paign county has ever produced and whose participation in the public affairs of this county, including his service during the period of the Civil War, for many years exercised a potent and a wholesome influence upon all phases of local activity which his talents touched; so that at the time of his death, in the spring of 1899, there was general and sincere mourning throughout this entire section of the state.

John S. Leedom was a native of the old Keystone state, born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1825, son of Thomas and Ann (Stockton) Leedom, both also natives of Pennsylvania, who were married in that state and continued to make their home there until 1828, when they came over into Ohio and located on a farm in the neighborhood of St. Paris, in this county, where they established their home and where and at St. Paris they spent the remainder of their lives, useful and influential pioneers of that section. Thomas Leedom and wife were the parents of seven children. Upon his retirement from the farm Thomas Leedom moved to the village of St. Paris, where his last days were spent.

John S. Leedom was but two or three years of age when his parents came to Champaign county and he therefore was a resident of this county all of his active life. Reared on a farm in the vicinity of St. Paris, he received his early schooling in that village and upon completing the course there began teaching school and was thus engaged for several years, mean- while pursuing the course of study in the old Springfield Academy; after which he entered Indiana State University at Bloomington, Indiana, for the purpose of completing his law studies, which he had begun under Gen. John H. Young at Urbana, and was graduated from the university in the early fifties, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Upon receiving hi diploma Mr. Leedom returned to Urbana, where he was admitted to the bar and where he engaged in the practice of his profession, in association

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.

with General Young; later forming a partnership with James Taylor and upon the dissolution of that partnership became a partner of Jesse Lewis. which latter mutually agreeable arrangement continued unbroken until his death on April 19, 1899. The story of John S. Leedom's connection with the bar of Champaign county and of his services as county attorney and in other capacities of a public character is given elsewhere in this work, and the same therefore need not be enlarged on here, only to say that in all his service to the public and his practice in the courts, this brilliant lawyer ever had the common good at heart and his influence ever was exerted on the side of the right. During the progress of the Civil War, Mr. Leedom was a member of the Home Guard, popularly known at that time as the "Squirrel Hunters," and from the very beginning of the struggle between the states took an active part in the work of recruiting, influencing many young men to go to the front in behalf of the Union cause. Politically, he was a Dem- ocrat and for many years was regarded as one of the leaders of that party, not only in Champaign county and throughout this immediate section, but throughout the state, and his voice in the councils of his party was not without weight.

In October, 1852, at Piqua, this state, John S. Leedom was united in marriage to Louisa J. Furrow, born on February 9, 1831, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Furrow, and to this union four children were born, Anna Lawrence, Elizabeth, Louisa and Charles, of whom Miss Louisa Leedom, of Urbana, is now the only survivor. Anna Lawrence Leedom died in in- fancy and Charles Leedom died at the age of five years. Elizabeth Leedom ( deceased ), who was the wife of Joseph Perkins, had two children, Leedom Perkins and one who died in infancy.

JOSEPH A. HOOLEY.

Joseph A. Hooley, one of Champaign county's progressive farmers and the proprietor of a fine farm in Salem township, where he and his family are comfortably situated, has been a resident of this county for the past fourteen years and during that time has made many friends here. He was born on a farm in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, September 2, 1854, a son of John C. and Elizabeth (Hartzler) Hooley, both natives of that county, who spent all their lives there, earnest and industrious members of the large Mennonite connection in that place. John C. Hooley was a substantial

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.

farmer and a great lover of fine horses, for many years making a specialty of raising Percherons. He and his wife were members of the Mennonite church and their children were reared in that faith. Mr. and Mrs. Hooley, after more than fifty years of married life, died in the same month in 1893. Mrs. Hooley dying on April 8, of that year and her husband on April 26. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the tenth in order of birth, the others being as follow : Leah, who married Jacob Kauffman and spent her last days in Indiana; Mary, who married Jacob Zook and who, as well as her husband, died in Mifflin county ; Cath- crine, who is still living in that county, widow of Peter King; David H., a farmer, who died in Indiana; Lizzie, who is still living in Mifflin county, widow of D. H. Zook; Rachael, who married E. A. Zook and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased; Levi, a retired farmer, now living at Fair- view, Michigan; Sarah, unmarried, who is still living on the old home place in Mifflin county; S. M., who is now managing that place, and Fannie, tinmarried, who also continues to make her home there.

Until his marriage, at the age of twenty-six years, to Kate Hooley, daughter of David K. and Fannie (Hartzler) Hooley, both deceased, who was also born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, Joseph A. Hooley made his home on the old home farm, a valuable aid to his father in the labors of the same, and after his marriage he set up housekeeping and began farming in that county on his own account, remaining there until 1904, when he came over into Ohio and settled in this county, buying the Jacob A. Yoder farin of one hundred acres in Salem township and there establishing his home. Since taking possession of that place he has made numerous important improvements to the same and now has one of the best-kept farms and pleas- antest homes in that neighborhood.

Mr. and Mrs. Hooley have ten children, namely: U. S., who is now farming at Elverton, Oregon; Christ C., who finished his schooling at Goshen, Indiana, married Mrs. Laura Williams and is now farming in the neighboring county of Clark; Minnie, who is at home: Bessie, who con- pleted her schooling at Goshen, Indiana, and married Milton King, of Logan county, this state ; Mary, a teacher, who attended school at Goshen, Indiana, for two years after her graduation from the local high school; Jolin, at home: Mabel, who was graduated from the Kings Creek high school, took a supplementary course at Goshen, Indiana, and taught school for a couple of years; Sarah, at home; Andrew, who was graduated from the Kings Creek high school and is now attending college at Colorado Springs, Colo- rado, and Timothy, who is at home, engaged in operating the farm for his

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.

father. Mr. and Mrs. Hooley have ever been warm advocates of higher education and their children have been given excellent opportunities in that direction. The family have taken a proper interest in the general social activities of their home community since taking up their residence in this county and have done their part in promoting movements designed to advance the common welfare throughout that part of the county. They are mem- bers of the Oak Grove Mennonite church and take an earnest interest in the various beneficences of the same.

JOHN FRANCIS BRAND.

John F. Brand, a native and life-long resident of Champaign county, belongs to that group of citizens who do not hold themselves so close to the daily round of their duties that they cannot see what is going on around them. Man does not live unto himself alone, and the man who sees in his fellow citizens something of interest, something which they do for the good of the community as well as himself, is the man who makes for a better citizenship.

Such a man is John F. Brand. Born in Union township on June 18, 1848, the son of Major Joseph C. and Lavinia (Talbott ) Brand, he has made his home in Urbana since he was three years of age. He has been a witness to the city's growth for more than half a century and in this growth he has borne a prominent part. Beginning with a year's service in the Civil War when he was sixteen years of age, he has been active in business down to the present time, a period of fifty-four years.

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History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 5

Author: Middleton, Evan P., ed Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1338

Author: Middleton, Evan P., ed
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1338