History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2, Part 4

Author: Byron Williams
Publication date: 1913
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 925

USA > Ohio > Brown County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2 > Part 4
USA > Ohio > Clermont County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2 > Part 4

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).

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Chilo, Ohio, and grandfather of Miss Leona Prather, now of Cincinnati. Mary Ann Molen was the wife of Capt. Grafton Molen, a prominent steamboat captain of the early days.

Erasmus Prather, brother of the original John Garrett Prather, settled on the hill about half way between Chilo and · Felicity. His wife was Elizabeth Mckibben, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Their children were Joseph Prather, Samuel Gar- rett Prather, Erasmus Prather, Nancy, Susannah and Louie A. Prather, Elizabeth Slye (wife of Esquire John Slye, of Lindale), Sarah Wedding and Mary Lanham. Of these, Jo- seph Prather married Sarah Mckinney, September 16, 1824, and to them were born Erasmus Jackson Prather, Joseph S. Prather, Wesley Washington Prather, John Garrett Prather (the second), Enos D. Prather, Ellen Goslin, wife of Peter Goslin, Mary Goslin, wife of James J. Goslin, and Caroline Wedding, wife of William Wedding. The Mckinneys are of Scotch descent.

This second John Garrett Prather, son of Joseph and Sarah McKinney Prather, was born in 1833, and resided all his life in and about Chilo, Clermont county, Ohio, where he died in 1891. His first wife was Susannah Muir, who died in 1856. His second wife was Eliza J. Shinkle, and the third Emily Dillon. By his first wife he had a son, John Seuvetus Prather, who was killed at New Orleans in 1896. His second wife, Eliza J. Shinkle Prather, bore him three daughters and one son, Mrs. Florence Richey of Felicity, Mrs. Mattie Terry of Covington, Ky., Mrs. Jennie Riley of Independence, Ky., and William Walter Prather, the attorney of Cincinnati. William Walter Prather graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science at the Northern Indiana Normal School in 1881, and received the degree of Bachelor of Law at the Cincinnati Law College in 1884. He was elected probate judge of Clermont county on the Republican ticket in 1884, at the age of twenty- six. He declined a second nomination, and has since been in active and successful practice of the law in Clermont and Hamilton counties. His offices are in Cincinnati, where he now resides. William Walter Prather married Margaret Cor- nelia Bicking, a daughter of Joseph Bicking, of Batavia, for- merly county treasurer. Their daughter, Florence Prather, graduated from Vassar College in 1908.

The Clermont Shinkles are descended from John Karl Schinkel, who emigrated from Edenkoben on the Rhine, and came over on the "Snow Ketty" in 1737.

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The Bickings came from Pennsylvania, where they were paper makers at Downingtown, near Philadelphia during the Revolution, and where a cousin, Samuel P. Bicking & Brothers, still operate several paper mills.

By his third wife, Emily Dillon, John Garrett Prather the second, had three children, Zelia, now deceased; Joseph D., now living in Evansville, Ind., and Homer, residing in Los Angeles, Cal.

THE RICKER FAMILY.

The Ricker family is of pure English extraction, tracing its lineage through the celebrated Wentworth family to Rynold (Reginald) de Wynterwade, a baron of great wealth, renown, and power, who lived at the height of his greatness in the year 1066, the time of the Norman invasion.

After twenty-eight generations, we find Elder William Wentworth, the first of the name in America. 1639. Mary Wentworth, fourth generation from Elder William Went- worth, married Jabez Ricker, and they had ten children, of whom Samuel Ricker married, 1790, Susanna, daughter of Benjamin and Mary Jewett. They were the first of the fam- ily to settle in Clermont county, Ohio. To them were born, Rufus, who laid out the city of Davenport, Iowa, where he was a judge for ten years; Jabez, who taught the first school in Union school house, in Monroe township; Benjamin Jew- ett; Samuel; Susanna, who married John Fitzpatrick; Eben, who married Harriet Pompelly.

Benjamin Jewett Ricker, born at Poland, Maine, was mar- ried November 24, 1816, in Campbell county, Kentucky, to Mary Reed Wilson, born in Durham, Maine, February 12, 1800. He died in October, 1861, and she died in December, 1859. Their children were: Elbridge Gerry Ricker, born in Clermont county, Ohio, July 31, 1818; Susan, born in Rush county, Indiana, in 1821, and married Joseph R. Foster; Ada- line, born in Rush county, Indiana, 1824, married Benjamin Frazee; Mary Ann, born in Rush county, Indiana, married Jacob Clark, and William Wilson Ricker, the youngest child, born in Clermont county, Ohio, married Mary Doane.

Elbridge Gerry Ricker was liberally educated in the best schools in Southern Ohio. He made farming his profession, and became one of the most noted agriculturists in the State.

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He was a very well known and active politician, being a warm advocate of the rights of the negro slave, and helping to found the Republican party in Ohio, in 1854-55. In 1855, he was elected a member of the legislature of Ohio, and in 1858, left his farm at Locust Corner, Ohio, to become a member of the board of directors and professor of agriculture of the Farmers' College, of College Hill, Ohio, where he successfully operated the experimental farm until the beginning of the War of the Rebellion. In the war, he was major of the Fifth Ohio cay- alry, and won a glorious name by his gallant conduct. He was elected treasurer of Clermont county in 1863, and served effi- ciently for a period of two years. On December 13, 1835, he was united in marriage to Margaret Foster, daughter of Lieut. Thomas and Sarah (Holly) Foster, and a granddaugh- ter of Thomas Foster, who was a son of Nancy Trigg, she being a daughter of Col. William and Jane (Smith) Trigg, the former of whom was a son of Abraham and Dosia (John- son) Trigg. Abraham Trigg came from Cornwall, England, in 1725, to Spottsylvania county, Virginia.

Leonard Raper, the maternal grandfather of Margaret (Fos- ter) Ricker, received his education at Oxford College, Eng- land, and came to America with Lord Cornwallis, acting as the latter's secretary until the surrender of Yorktown, after which he became loyal to the States government and was ap- pointed surveyor of the Second district of Ohio. He first lived at the old block house, but later moved to Williamsburg.

To the union of Elbridge Gerry and Margaret (Foster) Ricker were born seven children :

Benjamin Jewett, who was born September 14, 1840, and was major of the Thirty-fourth Ohio volunteers. Following the close of the war, he studied law, and was admitted to the Clermont county bar. He died at the home of his brother, Dr. J. T. Ricker, at Glen Rose, Ohio, September, 1907.

Rosella A., who was born April 1, 1842, married Dr. Edwin Freeman, a prominent surgeon of Cincinnati, who rendered gallant service to his country as a member of the Ninth army corps, and who afterward filled the chair of professor of sur- gery at the Eclectic Medical College. They had two sons and one daughter: Foster Freeman, unmarried; Dr. E. R. Free- man, who became professor of dermatology in the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati, and was a member of the staff of the Seaton Hospital, dying unmarried in 1912, and Rosella Margaret Freeman, married Alan Ross Raff. and to them have been born one child, Rosella.

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Thomas Foster, lost his life as a result of a wound received while serving his country during the Civil war. He died un- married, 1874.

Maria, who was born July 24, 1845, died July 8, 1872, un- married.

Edward, born October 8, 1846, died unmarried.

Joseph Trimble, born May 18, 1848.

Sarah Foster, born November 22, 1855, was educated at the Wesleyan Female College, at Cincinnati, Ohio, and married William T. Simpson, of College Hill, Ohio, who is vice-pres- ident of the American Rolling Mills Company, of Middleton, Ohio, and to them was born one child, Robert, who died in early childhood.

There is perhaps no family in Clermont county who has more intimate knowledge of the history of the county, its ad- vantages, improvements and advancement than the members of the Ricker family, who for many years have witnessed its growth and through long years have taken an active part in the progress that conserves commercial development and gen- eral prosperity of the community.

PERCY FRENCH JAMIESON.

Percy F. Jamieson, president of the First National Bank of Batavia, Ohio, and one of the progressive and successful busi- ness men of Clermont county, was born at Batavia, Ohio, July 24, 1868, son of Milton Jamieson, extended mention of whom appears on other pages of these volumes.

Mr. Jamieson, of this review, graduated from the Batavia public schools in 1887, then attended the University at Woos- ter, Ohio, joining the "Phi Gamma Delta" college fraternity, of which he is still a member. Soon after leaving college Mr. Jamieson accepted the position of secretary of Jones Brothers' Electric Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio, resigning within a year to become assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Batavia. He served the bank in this capacity until 1907, when he was elected cashier, and since January, 1912, has been the institution's efficient president. He assisted in the or- ganization of the Batavia Improvement Company, and has served as its president to the present time. In 1903 he formed a partnership with A. V. Carroll, of Williamsburg, Ohio, for the manufacture of machine tools, and one year later organ-

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ized the business into a stock company under the corporate name of the Carroll-Jamieson Machine Tool Company, serving since then as secretary and treasurer. The business has been very successful, the company owns its plant and ships machin- ery to all parts of the United States and is building up a foreign trade. In 1906, Mr. Jamieson started what is known as the Batavia Foundry Company as a partnership with James A. Norman, whose interest he purchased the same year; the plant was completely destroyed by fire, in February, 1912, but he rebuilt at once a much better building and the foundry is now doing a good business. He is a director and a vice- president of "American Liability Insurance Company," of Cin- cinnati, Ohio, besides other business interests.

While never in any sense a politician, Mr. Jamieson has served on the Batavia council, was president of the board of public affairs for six years and is at present a member of the school board. He has ever taken an active interest and part in / enterprises for the upbuilding of his home town. He was the organizer, in 1892, of the Batavia orchestra and is still leader.

September 26, 1894, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Jamieson and Miss Elizabeth Griffith, daughter of Thomas A. and Anna M. Griffith, of Batavia, Ohio. To this union have been born the following children: Donald G., born No- vember 6, 1895; Katherine, born February 12, 1897; Robert B., born May 4, 1900; Elizabeth, born May 26, 1903; Mary Vir- ginia, born September 19, 1905; and John G., born June 3, 1911.

Mr. Jamieson is a member of the time-honored Masonic fra- ternity, including the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Council. Both he and Mrs. Jamieson are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Batavia, in which he is an acting elder, being also superintendent of the Sunday school.

JAMES B. HOLMAN.

Mr. James B. Holman, an enterprising, energetic and pros- perous farmer of Brown county, Ohio, is successfully engaged in the pursuits of agriculture on his well improved and pro- ductive farm of two hundred and two acres in Sterling town- ship, two and one-half miles from Williamsburg. He also gives considerable attention to stock raising in connection with his general farming. Mr. Holman is a native of Brown

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JAMES B. HOLMAN

LUELLA (IRETON) HOLMAN

and their grandson, MALCOLM C. HOLMAN

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county, his birth having occurred April 23, 1847, his par- ents being James and Sarah (Bosier) Holman.

Mr. James Holman was born near Trenton, N. J., in 1797, and grew to young manhood in his native State. In the year of 1819 or 1820, James Holman and his brother, Francis, were influenced to come to Williamsburg, Ohio, by an uncle, James Perrine, Sr., who had left New Jersey in 1803 and settled on the Hawkin's Survey on the road from Williamsburg to Bethel. One of his sons, James Perrine, Jr., married Polly Kain, a daughter of James Kain, the first of all to settle in the East Fork Valley. A daughter of theirs married John Jamieson, and they were the ancestors of the Milton Jamieson family, of Batavia, Ohio, whose sketch appears elsewhere on these pages.

James Holman traveled on foot from New Jersey to Ohio, and his possessions at the time of his arrival in Williamsburg 'was the sum of three cents. He at once engaged as stage driver from Williamsburg to Chillicothe, and was thus occu- pied for several years. He followed other occupations as well and finally determined to become a farmer and stock raiser. As soon as he had saved sufficient money necessary to make the trip, Mr. Holman returned to New Jersey for his mother and father, the latter of whom was Joseph Holman. He se- cured a one-horse conveyance for their journey and he walked the entire distance to Brown county, where he established them in comfortable surroundings. The first land he was able to purchase, he deeded to his mother and thus enabled his parents to spend their declining years in comfortable en- joyment. He finally secured a fine farm of five hundred acres in Brown county and met with the success which he so well deserved. He operated a wood-working factory on his farm and hauled its products to Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. James Hol- man was one of and the eldest of five children, the others be- ing: Frank, who died in Brown county, and Anna, who mar- ried James Kain, of Williamsburg. The others remained in New Jersey. James Holman was one of the self-made men of his locality and owed his prosperity to his own energy and determination. He died on the farm he had opened to civili- zation, June 15, 1875, at the ripe old age of seventy-eight years. He was a strong pioneer, and the influence of his industrious life will ever live in the hearts of his descendants. In politics he was a staunch Democrat.

Sarah (Bosier) Holman was born in New Jersey and de- parted this life in 1855, aged about forty years. To the union

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of James and Sarah (Bosier) Holman were born five children, of whom James B., our subject, is the eldest. The others follow : Mary Ellen, died in infancy ; H. P., of near Creston, Iowa, is a farmer and stockman; William, resides with James B., and Sarah, who died in infancy.

James B. Holman was reared and has resided for the most of his life thus far, in Sterling township. During his boyhood and youth he attended the common schools of Brown county, and after his education was completed, in 1866, entered upon the profession of a teacher, which he followed for a period of eight years, teaching six months in each year. For two years following this time, Mr. Holman was in the employ of the Wheeler & Wilson Sewing Machine Company, as traveling salesman. Tiring of this occupation, he returned to his native county and receiving a portion of his father's farm, he became engaged as a farmer and as the years have passed he has added to until he has his present holdings. This farm has been his residence since the latter part of 1873, and having been trained along the lines of practical farming as he grew to manhood on the parental farm, he has displayed excellent business abil- ity and executive force in the management of his extensive agricultural interests.

When he had reached mature years, Mr. James B. Holman chose for the companion of his future years, Miss Sarah Louella Ireton, who was born in Clermont county, Ohio, April 17, 1856, a daughter of John and Sarah (Brasier) Ireton.

John Ireton was born in New Jersey and was brought to Clermont county when an infant by his parents, Obediah and Mary Ireton, the latter a step-mother. They located two and one-half miles northeast of Williamsburg, where Mr. Ire- ton engaged successfully in farming. He passed from this life in 1890, in the eighty-fifth year of his life. His wife, Sarah (Brasier) Ireton, was born near Lebanon, Ohio, and departed this life in 1897, aged seventy-nine years. She was an earnest member of the Methodist church for many years, but in later life she became a member of the Presbyterian church. They were the parents of the following named children: Samuel, Aleck, John, Obe, Mary (Holman), and Hattie (Johnson). Those who are deceased are: Lorenzo, a miner, was killed by a snow-slide in the West; Nancy and Deborah died in early childhood.

Into the family circle of Mr. and Mrs. James B. Holman have come two children to brighten and gladden the home, namely :

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James M., born April 3, 1874, is in the Quartermaster's De- partment of the Lakes, stationed at Chicago. He married Mary Clarke, and they have two children, Malcolm C. and Vir- ginia E. James M. Holman graduated from the Williamsburg High School, after which he took a three-years course at the Ohio Wesleyan University, of Delaware, Ohio. He then en- tered the law office of Ingersoll & Peyton, of Knoxville, Tenn., and later became stenographer for Colonel Lee, at Chicka- mauga, during the Spanish-American war. Since the close of the war, he has had charge of the supplies in the quarter- master's department.

Charles E., born in 1876, died at the age of two years and four months.

Mr. Holman has filled many responsible positions of public trust during his long and useful active life. In the fall of 1894, he was elected county commissioner of Brown county and served six years, from September, 1895. In 1894, Governor McKinley appointed him delegate to the Farmer's Congress, held in North Carolina. In 1912 he was appointed by Gover- nor Harman as a delegate to New Orleans, but did not attend. He has also served in the various minor local offices.

Mr. Holman was one of the organizers of the Williamsburg Home Telephone Company, in 1898, and has been the business manager of that company since its organization.

Socially, Mr. Holman has membership in the Clermont So- cial Lodge, No. 29, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is also past master.

Mr. Holman is a member of the Presbyterian church and be- lieves in Christianity without creed, recognizing that the true spirit of religion is in Biblical teaching and not by its inter- pretation by men.

Mr. James B. Holman is well known in the community where he has spent so many years, because of his charitable and kindly deeds. His thoughtful spirit, genial disposition and honorable principles have greatly endeared him to those with whom he has been associated.

In 1901, Mr. Holman was nominated on the Democratic ticket for member of the State Board of Public Works. He helped organize the first farmer's institute in Southern Ohio, and has taken an active interest in farmers' affairs, being now president of the Williamsburg Farmer's Institute; he has ad- dressed many institutes and is a recognized authority on

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matters along this line. He has for the past forty years been recognized as among the foremost of live stock auction- eers, having cried sales far and wide in Clermont and Brown counties.

GEORGE G. BAMBACH.

While George G. Bambach is not a native of Clermont county, having accepted the cashiership of the First National Bank of Bethel in 1904, he was born and reared in the neigh- boring county, the son of one of the most prominent Brown county families, who, by their progressiveness and enterprise, have made a substantial impress upon the counties in which they have lived.

George G. Bambach was born December 9, 1865, near Rip- ley, Brown county, Ohio, the son of Judge G. and Margaret (Hanstein) Bambach. The father was born in Germany in 1840, and at the age of nine years came with his parents to America, settling in Levanna, Brown county, Ohio. The mother was also born in Germany, coming to this country at the age of fourteen years. Judge Bambach's sketch appears elsewhere in this work.

George G. Bambach received his early education in, and was graduated from, the Ripley High School. In 1887 he was graduated from the Cincinnati Law School, and practiced law in Brown and Montgomery counties until 1903. At that time he decided to take up a business career rather than a profes- sional one, and for one and one-half years was cashier of the Ripley National Bank, and in 1904 removed to Bethel, where he was tendered the position of cashier of the First National Bank of Bethel, which position he still holds.

In 1894, Mr. Bambach was united in marriage to Miss Lina Ruckhaber, of Dayton, Ohio, born in Cincinnati, in 1865, daughter of Karl and Adelheide ( Heinebach) Ruckhaber, both born in Germany, locating in Ohio at an early date and pass- ing to another world years ago, leaving four children, three of whom are now living :

Julia, wife of W. H. Kimmel, lives in Dayton, Ohio.

Clara, widow of J. B. Heiss, of Dayton, Ohio.

Lina, wife of the subject of this sketch.

To George G. Bambach and wife four children have been born :

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Clara A., born in Ripley, Ohio, in 1895.

Margaret A., born in Ripley in 1898.

Josephine Julia, born in Ripley in 1900.

Karl G., born in Bethel in 1908.

Mr. Bambach has never been an active politician, but casts his vote with the Republican party, and when living in Rip- ley was honored by his fellow townsmen by being elected mayor of that city. He also holds membership with the fraternal order of Odd Fellows.

When the call came for our citizens to respond to the call for the defense of our Nation in the time of war, George Bam- bach was not found wanting, but served as a captain in Company H, Third Ohio volunteer infantry, in the Spanish- American war; also has served eight years in the National Guard, and six months in the United States volunteer service in the Third Ohio volunteers. His father and also an uncle of Mr. Bambach's, George Hanstein, served their country dur- ing the Civil war.

Mr. Bambach is a very courteous, intellectual man, of a modest retiring nature, which he certainly inherits from his father, one who does not push himself forward to positions of honor, but who can always be depended upon in times of need, and who is progressive in all ways of good for his community or his family. While he has lived in Clermont county only eight years, he has made his name stand for all that is good in business and social life.

He comes from the best type of German families, whose sturdy, enterprising stock has been one of the greatest factors in the upbuilding of our Nation, and his pretty home on Main street is one of the most popular in the city of Bethel.

W. E. THOMPSON, M. D.

Worldly goods and an influential position have been won by this gentleman, who is a native-born son of Clermont county, Ohio. Dr. W. E. Thompson, who has achieved not a little dis- tinction by his skill as physician and surgeon, was born in Bethel, in July, 1835, the oldest of the six children of Dr. William and Sarah (Hill) Thompson. The father, Dr. Wil- liam Thompson, was born in Danville, Ky., in 1796, and died in 1840, his burial being in Bethel. The mother, Sarah Hill,

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was born in Maysville, Mason county, Kentucky, in 1797, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-four years, her death occurring in 1891 at Bethel. The father settled in Clermont county, Ohio, in 1808, where he was known as one of the lead- ing physicians until his death. Only three of the six children of Dr. and Mrs. William Thompson are now living :

Dr. W. E., the subject of this sketch.

D. W., also a physician, living in Sardinia, Ohio.

Sarah R., widow of Oran V. Sargent, of Windsor, Ill.

Dr. W. E. Thompson received his early education in Bethel and later attended the Cincinnati Medical College, where he fitted himself for the active practice of medicine, and in 1860 he first opened up an office in Bethel, on Plane street, where for fifty-two years he has lived and worked and built up for himself the enviable reputation of the foremost physician and surgeon of his city.

In 1841, on the 5th day of June, Dr. Thompson was united in marriage to Miss Margaret E. Elrod, also a native of Clermont county, her parents being Thomas and Cynthia (Frazee) Elrod, of Tate township, near Bethel. Mr. and Mrs. Elrod were both natives of Kentucky, and were the parents of nine children, but parents and all the children, with the exception of Mrs. Thompson, have all passed away.

Dr. and Mrs. Thompson have one son and one daughter :

William A., a graduate in denistry, but now farming in Tate township, who married Susan Armour.

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History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2, Part 4

Author: Byron Williams Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Number of Pages: 925

Author: Byron Williams
Publication date: 1913
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 925