USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 98
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John T. Brown is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of Plain City, in the neigh-
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boring county of Madison, March 14, 1876, son of David and Sarah E. (Taylor) Brown, both of whom were born in that same county, and the latter of whom is still living, still a resident of Madison county. David Brown was born on a farm in Summerford township, Madison county, this state, April 8, 1833, and there spent all his life, a substantial and reputable citizen. He served as a soldier of the Union during the latter part of the Civil War and was for years justice of the peace in and for his home town- ship. He was a Republican and ever gave a good citizen's attention to local political affairs. His death occurred on August 6, 1913, and his widow, who was born on September 19, 1843, is still living. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and her children were reared in that faith. There were twelve of these children, of whom eleven are still living, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow: Frank I., who is the official stenographer for the courts of Montgomery county; Clara, wife of Charles Ackley, of Plain City; Ida B., who is unmarried; Charles D., of Plain City, former representative from that district in the Ohio Legislature; Eva G., wife of W. H. Sidener, of West Jefferson, this state; Nell, wife of Ralph Demmitt, of Montgomery county ; Bessie F., unmarried, who is at home with her mother; Lulu G., wife of Ashton Gregg, cashier of the West Jefferson Bank; Lucile, wife of Frank Kimble, of Salida, Colorado, and Russell H .. who is looking after the home farm in the vicinity of Mechanicsburg. By a previous marriage David Brown was the father of one son, Will E. Brown, who was a resident of California for thirty years previous to his death in July, 1917.
Reared on the home farm, John T. Brown received his early schooling in the schools of his home neighborhood and was graduated from the common schools in the first class following the operation of the Boxwell law. At the age of seventeen years he began to teach school and later entered the National Normal School at Lebanon, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1899: later resuming teaching, and for two years taught in the grade school and in the high school at Mechanics- burg. After their marriage in the fall of 1901 Mr. and Mrs. Brown estab- lished their home on the old Davis homestead, which they still retain, a farmi of one hundred acres in Goshen township, and have continued to make that their place of residence. This farm is known as "Pleasant View Farm," two and a half miles south of Mechanicsburg. They have one of the best farm plants in that part of the county and the agricultural operations there are carried on in accordance with the latest and most approved methods. As noted above, Mr. Brown is a member of the Grange and has long been
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a lecturer in that behalf, as well as a lecturer before farmers institutes throughout the state, this latter position being under appointment from the State University authorities, he thus being one of the most widely-known agricultural authorities in the state. It seemed therefore but fitting that Governor Cox should name him as a member from this county of the Ohio state food commission upon the appointment of that body following the declaration of war in the spring of 1917. In addition to his general farming. Mr. Brown gives considerable attention to the breeding of registered Duroc- Jersey hogs and is doing very well in his operations. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Bank of Mechanicsburg and has ever given close attention to the general business affairs of his home community, one of the active factors in the promotion of such movements as are designed to advance the welfare of the community as a whole. He is a Republican and has rendered further public service as a member of the local school board.
On October 8, 1901, John T. Brown was united in marriage to Ella D. Davis, who was born in Goshen township, this county, July 24, 1875. daughter of John E. and Sylvia J. ( Fox) Davis, and who was graduated from the Mechanicsburg high school in 1894 and later was graduated from a college of art at Columbus. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have a very pleasant home and take an interested part in the community's general social activi- ties. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Brown is a member of the official board of the same. He is a member of Homer Lodge No. 474, Knights of Pythias, at Mechanicsburg. and takes a warn interest in Pythian affairs. Mrs. Brown is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mechanicsburg, a member of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and a member of Advance Grange.
John E. Davis, father of Mrs. Brown, was born on the farm on which Mr. and Mrs. Brown now make their home, August 31, 1844, and died on February 1, 1911. His widow, who still survives him, was born in Madison county, this state, August 9, 1847, and grew up at Tradersville, where she was married. On December 23. 1863, he then being but nineteen years of age, John E. Davis enlisted for service in the Union army, a member of Com- pany K. One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with that command served until the close of the war. During this service he was wounded three times and at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain was shot through the left shoulder. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Davis returned home and was actively engaged in farming until his retirement in 1897 and removal to Mechanicsburg, where he spent the rest of his life: continuing to manage the farm, however, until Mr. Brown;
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took charge of it in 1901. Mr. Davis was an active member of Stephen Baxter Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Mechanicsburg, was for many years commander of the post and ever took an earnest interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization. He was a member of the official board of the Methodist Episcopal church and was a member of the local lodge of Masons. He and his wife were the parents of two children, Mrs. Brown having had a sister, Luluona, who died at the age of three years and six months. The house on "Pleasant View Farm," now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Brown, was erected by the latter's father in 1872, but has since been extensively remodeled and improved.
JOSEPH MURPHY.
There are many industries in our modern life which were absolutely unknown before the Civil War. Changing conditions demand new indus- tries, and each year sees hitherto unknown industrial establishments making their appearance. In the days when Champaign county was still heavily forested there would have been no demand for such an establishment as the modern lumber company. The first company of this kind to make its appearence in Urbana does not date back more than four decades, but since that time the city has seen the location of a number of such concerns. For the past fifteen years the largest establishment in the city devoted to the handling of lumber and building supplies has been the Murphy Lum- ber Company, and for years it has been the only concern of the kind in the city. This company has enjoyed a prosperous career from the year of its organization, and its founder and moving spirit, Joseph Murphy, rightly deserves a high place among the men of Urbana who have been interested in its industrial development.
Joseph Murphy is one of that large group of men who have risen to a place in the world's activities through the exercise of their individual talents. Some men, as it were, have a business thrust on them; others develop the business which brings them before the world. To the latter class belongs Mr. Murphy. Born in Miami county, Ohio, on August 6, 1860, a son of William H. and Mary Murphy, both of whom were natives of this state, he has spent his life thus far in the state of his birth. When : he was five years of age his parents moved to Versailles, Darke county, where his father established a lumber and hardware business, which he continued until his death.
Joseph Mufl
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Mr. Murphy received his schooling in Versailles, and upon completing the course in high school, began teaching in the district schools of Darke county, and was thus engaged for five years. He spent his summer vacations assisting his father in the lumber business, and at the end of that time became a member of the lumber firm of Kusnick & Murphy, with which his father was connected, at Versailles. Some time later he moved to Covington and there engaged in the lumber business on his own account, remaining thus engaged at that place until in 1902, when he moved to Urbana and there embarked in the lumber business, under the firm name of the Murphy Lum- ber Company. He still owns and operates a lumber yard at Covington under the firm name of the Covington Lumber Company. Starting in a small way, Mr. Murphy has built up a business which is the largest of its kind in the county, and one of the largest in this section of the state. In connection with his extensive lumber yard he also operates a planing- mill and a cement-block factory, and is thus equipped to supply all the needs of the community for building material. His large plant on Miami street, adjoining the Big Four depot, covers more than an acre of ground, the main building covering twelve thousand one hundred and twelve square feet, while the separate sheds bring the feet under cover to eighty thousand.
Mr. Murphy was married in 1884 to Emma L. Worch, and to this union have been born five children : Opal. the wife of Rodney W. Martin, of Dayton, Ohio; Chalmer W., who is engaged in the lumber business at Xenia, Ohio: Hazel. the wife of Dr. C. D. Elder, of Marietta, Georgia; Joseph Ivan, who married Lucy B. Brown, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Brown, of Urbana; and Charles H., who is still living with his parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Murphy are members of the Christian church. Mr. Murphy is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, affiliated with the temple of this latter order at Dayton. In politics he is identified with the Democratic party, but has never been a seeker after political preferment. The family residence on Scioto street is a beautiful stone structure, finely furnishd, and ranks as not only the finest in the city, but also stands as one of the finest in the state. The yard presents a very attractive appearance. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy took it upon themselves to supervise the planting of the ornamental shrubbery in their yard, and the result shows that they used excellent taste in their work. One cannot find more attractive yards in the large cities. In the rear of the house is a fine stone garage, which comports in general architectural design with the house. Mr. Murphy is a firm
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believer in the old fashioned gardens, but his garden combines the merits of the ordinary garden with all the floral beauty which an artistic eye can arrange. In fact, everything about the Murphy home bears witness to the quiet taste of its owner.
Thus briefly has been sketched a recital of the main facts of Mr. Murphy's life. The fifteen years which Mr. Murphy has spent in the city of Urbana has given the public at large the opportunity to judge of his value to the community honored by his residence. During all these years he has been active in all the movements which have been advanced for the betterment of the city, and every worthy cause has found in him a worthy advocate. Whether it was the paving of the street, the improve- ment of any of the many public utilities, or the erection of public build- ings, Mr. Murphy has always been at the forefront of the group of public- spirited citizens who do things. In his personal relations he has been found true to the highest ideals of good American citizenship: honest in his con- victions, fearless in adhering to them, zealous in advancing them, he has in all things endeavored to fulfill to the best of his ability the duties of a patri- otic citizen of the Commonwealth. Such a man is Joseph Murphy, and it is such men who are the hope of our nation today.
MILES N. CALLAND.
Miles N. Calland, one of Harrison township's well-known and sub- stantial farmers and the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres on rural mail route No. I, out of West Liberty, was born in that township and has lived there all his life. He was born on December 8. 1877, son of Joseph and Sarah (Wilson) Calland, both natives of Champaign county. and the latter of whom died in December, 1892. To Joseph Calland and wife four children were born, three of whom are still living, all residents of Harrison township, the subject of this sketch having a brother. Willian A. Calland, a Harrison township farmer, and a sister. Isabel, wife of Fred M. Johnson, also a farmer in that same townhip.
Reared on the home farm in Harrison township, Miles N. Calland. received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and from the days of his boyhood was a valued help in the labors of improving and developing the home place. After his marriage in 1900, he then being twenty-three years of age, Mr. Calland established his home on the quarter section he
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now owns and has ever since lived there, he and his family being pleasantly and very comfortably situated. Mr. Calland has an excellent farm plant and is doing very well in his agricultural operations, carrying on the same in accordance with modern methods and in strictly up-to-date fashion.
On December 24, 1900, Miles N. Calland was united in marriage to Edith A. Couchman, who was born in Salem township, this county, Sep- tember 1, 1881, and to this union three sons have been born, Gilbert A., born on March 8. 1903, who was graduated from the common schools in 1917; Joseph N., June 6, 1907, and Donald C., August 7, 1911. Mr. Cal- land is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mrs. Calland is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically, he is a Republican. ever taking a good citizen's interest in local civic affairs; and fraternally, is a member of the local Grange, to the affairs of which organization he has for years given his earnest attention.
THE JOHNSON FAMILY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. By Thomas L. Johnson.
The ancestors of the branch of the Johnson family, who were early settlers in Champaign county, came from Great Yarmouth, England. One. Thomas Johnson, in 1700, eloped with a chancery ward, Mary Baker, and settled in Calvert county, Maryland, on St. Leonard's creek. Though he had committed a penal offense in running away with a ward of court, he braved the dangers of apprehension by the authorities and started back to England. The ship was captured by the Spanish, but he finally suc- ceeded in escaping and returned to America by way of Canada, to find his home burned by the Indians. He lived but a few years after his return. He left an only son, Thomas, born on February 2. 1702, who at an early age married Dorcas Sedgwick. Eleven children were born to this couple. and upon the death of his wife. Thomas took unto himself a second wife. whose maiden name is not known.
SONS OF THOMAS JOHNSON.
In 1738 Thomas Johnson moved to Washington county, Maryland. In 1732 his eldest son was born, named for his father. This son studied law at Annapolis, was a member of the Continental Congress and was
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chosen governor of Maryland in 1777. In 1791 he became an associate justice of the United State supreme court. He died in 1819.
The second son, James, was born in 1736 and died in 1809. He dis- covered iron ore in Washington county and built several furnaces. During the Revolutionary War he cast a large number of cannon and "furnished the Continental army with one hundred tons of bombshells."
Joshua Johnson, the fourth son, was born in 1743. In early life he went to England, and after the Revolution was appointed first American consul by President Washington.
John Johnson, the fifth son, born in 1745, became a physician. He died in 1811. Baker Johnson, born in 1749, also a lawyer, died in 1811. He commanded a battalion of infantry during the Revolutionary War. Roger Johnson, born in 1750, became interested in the iron business.
WILLIAM JOHNSON, HEAD OF THE FAMILY IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
William Johnson, the third son, was born in 1742 at Hancock, Mary- land, on the Potomac river, about thirty-five miles from Ft. Cumberland. His early life was the usual life of the pioneer boy, so far as we know. shortly after his birth, and from about the year 1750, there began to be much interest in the western country, all through Virginia and Maryland. That same year Christopher Gist left Old Town, Virginia, on a voyage of discovery for the Ohio company. In 1754 James McBride and party passed down the Ohio in canoes and a few years later came stories of the beauty and fertility of Kentucky, which later so well deserved the name of the "dark and bloody ground." A great movement set in that way following the mighty Daniel Boone.
For a long period of time it was generally understood that the ter- ritory lying to the north and west of the Ohio belonged to the Indians. while that on the south and east was open to the white man. However, the spirit of adventure and conquest was not willing to forego the virgin lands of the Muskingum and Miami valley, and sundry frontiersmen of treacher- ous and bloodthirsty temper, such as Cresap and Greathouse, cruelly murder- ing the family of the Indian chief, Logan, and other innocent Indians, brought on a condition of hatred, suspicion and open warfare, which ren- dered existence to the frontier of the utmost hazard. Finally Lord Dun- more organized an army to punish these Indian aggressors and a bloody battle was fought October 10, 1774, at Point Pleasant, which was most dis- astrous to the Indians. This victory for the frontiersmen was speedily
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followed by a treaty of peace on the Pickaway plains and served to weaken the confidence of the Indian as to his ability to cope with his paleface foe. and likewise admonished him that the white man would seek out the fertile places where he had so long made his home.
In 1770 Col. Ebenezer Zane and his two brothers, Silas and. Jonathan, had settled at a place on the Ohio called Wheeling Fort, and a center was established where began a colony of pioneers. In 1784 Virginia, which had hitherto made claims to the Northwest Territory, ceded all rights to the new government called the United States. In 1788 Cutler and Sargent located upon their purchase at Marietta. The year 1785 had seen a set- tlement made where Portsmouth is now located by four families from Red- stone, but the Indians were unfriendly and too powerful, and they had to abandon the enterprise. Shortly after the settlement was made at Marietta, and during the same year, some adventuresome spirits had gone down to the Symes purchase, a few miles above Cincinnati. They began a clearing in the forest, and very soon thereafter at Ft. Washington, now Cincinnati, and at South Bend, a few miles down, the river flatboats landed, and cabins began to be built. In 1790 some French frontiersmen located at Gallipolis, so that before the opening of the new century, there were quite a number of cabins on the Ohio river.
These events profoundly affected William Johnson, who seemed to possess a more restless spirit than his brothers. In 1765 he was married to Ellen Mills, who had reached the mature age of seventeen years, and they began to carve out their own destiny in the world, which, to them, was so full at that time of stirring events and important issues. Jacob, their first child, was born in 1767, and other children followed: Hannah, Ellen, Lydia and Jane, and two sons, Barnett and Otho.
WILLIAM JOHNSON GOES WEST.
The restless spirit of the times seemed to possess William and he felt that he must get away from present surroundings and become a party of that hardy throng which braved all dangers and hesitated at no hardship to reach the unknown West. But he had an invalid mother, not his own mother. but one who had come in and cared for the brood she found in the home. This mother, being unable to travel, there was much discussion in this valley cabin as to what should be done. This new, rich, alluring West must be seen and some of the prizes it offered to the early comer secured ; so William, his wife, his small children, his eldest hoy, Jacob, being twelve years old,
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and the helpless grandmother, decided to go out to this great West. They at once made preparations to travel over the road cut out of the forest by the unfortunate Braddock, toward the Ohio country. Their few pos- sessions were gathered up, a litter was constructed between the pack mules into which the helpless grandmother was placed and goodbye was said to the old home. Thus they moved out to find the new home beyond the Alleghenies. This move was in the fall of 1778, and when they came near Redstone Old Fort, an important place on this famous road, and where it first reaches the Monongehela, a halt was made and the new home chosen. The grandmother did not live to see the waters of the Ohio, for she died during the winter of 1780. Redstone Old Fort, or as it was sometimes called, Ft. Burd, was at the junction of Redstone creek and the Monongehela, and is now the site of the busy city of Brownsville. William did not long remain here. He crossed over into Washington county, Pennsylvania, on the west side of the river, and busied himself for some ten years in the business of clearing up the forest, making occasional visits to surrounding settlements, but all the while hearing the call of the great, splendid West to come out and be one of her sons-to start as her child in the most primitive way, and to live in a close and intimate relationship.
The records show that William Johnson enlisted in the Revolutionary War in 1777, and served until June, 1778. In January, 1780, he received a Virginia certificate for a tract of land "situate on the waters of Charteris creek." It was surveyed and contained three hundred and ninety-one acres. The patent was obtained November 20, 1786. On May 6. 1795, he sold this land. In April, 1786, he was appointed justice of the peace.
Jacob, the eldest son of William Johnson, now grown to manhood, was a vigorous, healthy, young man, fond of travel and anxious to see what was happening down in this great valley of the Ohio. Accordingly he sought some experience as a boatman. The river on which he had spent his boyhood, the beautiful Potomac, was not such a great stream as the Ohio and the Ohio swept away in the West, and the Mississippi, and far off, at the end of a five-months trip, was that fabled city on the other side of the world New Spain, New Orleans.
In the fall of 1798, William and Jacob Johnson, father and son, pos- sessed by this spirit which truly harried men out of the Eastern settlements, minist needs go to a country in Ohio, called the "Mad river country." So they procured some boats and, trusting to the river current, committed them- selves to the Monongehela, and in due season reached Cincinnati, or Ft. Washington. They came up the Miami, and into this "Mad river country,"
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concerning which the Indians told such good things. Shortly before they came, Isaac Zane had purchased a large tract of land and was living in his blockhouse on the present site of Zanesfield, Logan county, and William and Jacob visited him, spending a day or two.
A very early settler in Logan county was on one Job Sharp, who had located about midway between East Liberty and Middleburg, and having heard that a man by the name of Johnson and his son were stopping at Zane's a pressing invitation was sent that they partake of the Sharp hos- pitality, and they accordingly stayed over night with Mr. Sharp. There were a goodly number of Indians in the Mad river country and the house of Isaac Zane and his half-breed Wyandotte wife was a favorite place of rendezvous.
The Johnsons looked over the place they came to see, and were greatly pleased with its apparent fertility, and also felt that they could live here without too much crowding. On this expedition William and Jacob called at McPherson's store, kept by an Indian trader about six miles south of the present site of West Liberty. They saw the valley of Kings creek. and all the beautiful land lying to the west, and felt that here somewhere would be an ideal spot for a home. This country was then the Northwestern Territory and the population within the bounds of what is now Champaign and Logan counties did not. exceed a dozen white families.
I have mentioned Jacob's tendency to see something of the world, and on one of the trips down the Ohio, in the vicinity of Wheeling Fort, he met a young widow by the name of Martha Boggs McFarland, and, though he had grown to the mature age of thirty-two without having fallen under the spell of feminine wiles, this Ohio Valley woman captured his affections and being of a frank disposition, he immediately inquired if he might not claim her as his wife; without needless waiting they were married in 1799. Whether Jacob first met the noble woman who became his wife when he was on the trip to the Mad river country, or on some prior visit, this chronicler cannot say.
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