History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 91

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108

USA > Ohio > Clinton County > History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families > Part 91

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After their marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Dukin lived in Missouri for five years, where Mr. Dakin was engaged In business at Sedalla.

Four children have been born to W. H. Dakin and wife, Mabel Emma, Bertha Ines, Theobald O., and Walter H, Of these children. Mabel Emma was born on March 12, 1875, and died on May 4, 1004, unmarried; Bertha, November 22, 1877, and died on June 22, 1899; Theobald O., June 26, 1879. He is engaged in the insurance business and also owns a farm and is a graduate of Wilmington college, studied law at Cleveland and was admitted to the bar. He is a veteran of the Spanish-American War and is unmarried. Walter H. was born December 8, 1883, and died March 11, 1910. The mother of these children, during her youth, was educated in the Ohio Female College at Xenla. Both Mr. and Mrs. Dakin are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Dakin je a Republican, and has served six years as justice of the peace. He served as mayor of Sabina between 1881 and 1884, and, in 1911, was

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elected again to the same office. Fraternally, he is a member of the Masonic lodge and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Grand Army of the Republic, David Giffin Post No. 286, and was once commander and for years has been adjutant.

EDWARD MIARS HACKNEY.

Among the successful farmers of I'nion township, now In the prime of life and usefulness, is Edward Mars Hackney, who was born on April 22, 1877. in I'nion town- ship, Clinton county, the son of Oscar M. and Judith ( Haines) Hackney. Mr. Hackney's father was born in Chester township, Clinton county. April 14, 1852, and died on Jan- nary 3, 1859. His mother was born on January 20. 1848, in Unlon township. They had three children, of whom Edward Miars was the eldest. Of the other children, Hattie married Clinton Sherman, and Wilbur H., who is unmarried, lives with his brother, Edward. After her husband's death Mrs. Hackney was married to George Williams, and they are now In Dayton, Ohio, where he la a real estate dealer.

The paternal grandparents of Mr. Hackney were Bon and Mary ( McKay) Hackney, the former of whom was an early settler in Clinton county, Ohio, and lived in Chester township, where he owned one hundred acres of land. His wife was a native of Clinton county. They belonged to Jones Run Baptist church and Hved to rear a family of seven children. He died at the age of seventy-four, and she at the age of forty-four.

The maternal grandparents of Mr. Hackney were Joshua and Jane ( Miars) Haines, the latter of whom was a native of Virginia and the daughter of Martin and Jane (Summers) Miars, who, in 1811, came by wagon from Virginia and settled on a farm, where Edward Hackney now lives, comprising one hundred and four acres. At that time it was all virgin timber-land. They built a log cabin and lived on the farm until death. Jane (Mlars) Haines was one year old when she came with her parents to Clinton county, Oblo. She died in 1884 at the age of seventy-four. Joshua Haines was a native of I'nion township, Clinton county, Ohio, who was born in 1811, and died on September 10, 1875. He was the son of Jacob and Mary (Leonard) Haines, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania on February 19, 1778, and when quite young removed with his parents to Guilford county, North Carolina. In 1800 he was married to Mary Leonard, and three years later emigrated to Ohio, remaining at Waynesville a short time, after which he came to I'nion township, in the spring of 1804. His family then consisted of his wife, Mary, and one child. Here he resided until his death on June 17, 1854. Jacob and Mary ( Leonard) Haines had seven children. They had fifty cents and an ax when they settled in Clinton county, and owned at the time of their death seven hundred acres of land. Joshua Haines was given a farm by his father, Jacob, and added to his farm until he had at the time of his death three hundred acres of land. Joshua and Jane ( Miars) Haines had five children, three of whom, Martin, Mary and Hannah, are deceased. Mary married Inmes Williams, and Hannah married Edward Williams. Of the living children, Rebecca married Reese Oglesby, of Union township, and Judith is the mother of Mr. Hackney.

Oscar M. Hackney, father of Edward Miars, grew up on a farm and was married and lived on his wife's farm for a time, until 1880, when he purchased one hundred and four neres of the Miars farm. Later he remodeled the house. He was an ardent member of the Republican party. His family belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church.

Edward Miars Hackney was three years old when his parents moved to the farm where he now lives. He has made it his home ever since. He attended district school No. 11 in Union township, and after he grew to . manbood his mother gave the home farm to her three children. Later Edward Miars purchased seventy-six acres out of the John Ballard farm adjoining, and now operates it also. He keeps a herd of Jersey cuttle, Including twenty milch cows, and sells the milk at wholesale.

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On March 8, 1899, Edward Miars Hackney was marrled to Rosa B. Matson, who was born at Palestine, Illinois, the daughter of Daniel and Ann Matson, the latter of whom is deceased, the former living on a farm in Union township. Mr. and Mrs. Hack- ney are the parents of four children: Raymond, born in March, 1902; Wilford, March 17, 1905; Maynard, June 2, 1010; and Oscar, August 14, 1013.

Mr. Hackney is a Republican and has served as a school director; also as road super- intendent. He is a man of considerable Influence in local politics and is popular with his neighbors and well liked by the people of I'nion township.

JACOB NEWTON COLVIN.

Among the residents in the prosperous farming region in the neighborhood of Lynch- burg, in Clark township, this county, few are better known or held in higher esteem among his neighbors than Jacob Newton Colvin, a member of one of the county's oldest families.

Jacob Newton Colvin was born on a farm in Green township. Clinton county, Ohio. April 22, 1854, son of William and Mary (Conner) Colvin, the former of whom was a native of Kentucky and the latter a native of Maryland. William Colvin came to this county as a boy, his father, Henry Colvin, emigrating from Kentucky with his family. locating in Washington township, where he spent the rest of his life. Henry Colvin was a small farmer, owning but fifty neres, which he cleared from the forest wilderness and made into a habitable place. On this small farm William Colvin grew to man- hood, later locating in Green township, where his family was reared. He married Mary Conner, daughter of Jacob and Mary ( Robnett) Conner, both natives of Mary- land, who came to this county at an early day and located in Washington township, being among the earliest settlers of that section of the county. Jacob Conner owned a fırın of eighty acres, a corner of which he gave as a site for Bethel church, upon the organization of that church, the church still standing on the spot donated by himu. Late in life Jacob Conner moved to the village of New Antioch, where his last days were spent.

William Colvin became one of Green township's best-known farmers and ever dis- played a lively interest in the affairs of his home community. He and his wife were the parents of four sons and three daughters, who were reared on the Green township home farm. In his Inter years, William Colvin moved to Highland county, where he spent the remainder of his life. He and his wife were devout members of the Christian church.

Jacob N. Colvin grew to manbood in Green township, this county, receiving his education In the district schools of that vicinity, and In 1885 went to work on the farm on which he is now living, which belongs to his wife, his marriage occurring in Sep- tember. 1891, at which Ume he was married to Lucinda White, daughter of Jacob Fred- erick and Louisa (Troutwein) White, both natives of Wurtemberg. Germany. The former was the son of Jacob Frederick and Katherine ( Hildebrant) White, who, with their family, came to America In 1841, locating about two and one-half miles south of the village of Lynchburg, in Highland county, this state, where they bought a small farm of twenty-six acres. On this farm the senior White spent the remainder of his days, his wife, after his death, moving to this county, where her last days were spent in the home of her son, Jacob F., father of Mrs. Colvin, on the farm in Clark town- ship, which now belongs to Mrs. Colvin, through descent. her parents both being dend. Mrs. Colvin's mother was the daughter of Barnhart and Ruchel (Getz) Troutwein, also natives of Wurtemberg, who came to America with the sume party to which the Whites were attached and located on a farm of forty acres adjoining the farm which the Whites secured. There Barnhart Troutwein died. after which his widow made her home with her daughter, Mrs. White, mother of Mrs. Colvin, the rest of ber life. The

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Whites and the Troutweins were devout members of the Lutheran church and this is the faith to which Mr. and Mrs. Colvin adhere, they being regarded as among the lead- ing members of the congregation to which they are attached. Jacob F. White and Louisa Troutwein were married in Highland county, their respective parents being close neighbors there, and later acquired a farm of one hundred and seventy-tive acres, oue hundred and fifty of which is Included in the farm on which Mr. and Mrs. Colvin are Jving, the remaining twenty-five acres lying over the county line in Highland county.

To Jacob N. and Lucinda ( White) Colvin two children have been born, Bernice and Carmel. Mr. and Mrs. White take an active part in the affairs of their neighborhood and are held in high regard by all who know them.

TILGHMAN MCKAY.

The life history of the late Tilghman MeKay, one of the well-known and highly- esteemed citizens of Ciniton county, who passed away several years ago, shows what industry, good habits and stauch citizenship will accomplish in life. His life record was one replete with duty well done and conscientiously performed. Descended from one of the pioneer families of this section. in a quiet way he had much to do with the progress and prosperity of Clinton county during his day and generation. He was a man whose interests were ever centered in his family and his home and his church.

The late Tilghman MeKay was born on November 7. 1830, in Chester township. Clinton county, Ohio, the son of George Washington and Mary M. ( Ferguson) MeKay. The mother of Mary M. Ferguson was a popular young woman in the old colonial days of Virginia.

The Mckay family in America was established by three brothers, who immigrated from Scotland and settled In the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, where they remalned for several years. It is known that they came to America about 1690, but it is not known whether they brought their wives with them or not. One of the brothers moved to North Carolina about 1700 and a little later another moved to Pennsylvania. Little is known of either. The remaining brother was the aucestor of Moses Mckay, the grand- father of Tilghman, the subject of this sketch. Andrew MeKay, the father of Moses. and the great-grandfather of Tilghman, was born in Frederick county, Virginia, in 1728, and in 1755 was married to Jane Ridgeway, of New Jersey. They were members of the Society of Friends and were the parents of five children, Jacob, Moses. Enos, Patience and Margaret, all of whom reared large families. Andrew Mckay died in 1804. His widow later came to Ohio with the Whitaker family and made her home in Waynesville. She later married Joel Cloud in 1808 and died within a year, at the age of seventy-five.

Moses Mckay, the next member of the family in line of descent, was born on September 7. 1766. in Virginia, and was married on March 3, 1793. to Mrs. Abigail Shinn, In Frederick county, Virginia. He lived in Virginia until March, 1818, at which time the family moved to Warren county, Ohio, where they lived the remainder of their lives. Of their thirteen children, one who was born in 1806, died in 1810. The remainder grew to maturity and reared large families. The names of the children were: Rachel, Robert, Sarah, George, Frances, Margaret, Virginia. Mariah, Jonas, Levi D .. Jacob T. and Mary E. So numerous bad the Mckay family become by the time of the third generation, that the grandchildren of Moses and Abigail Mckay numbered ninety-seven and the great-grandchildren one hundred and seventy-nine.

George Mckay, the son of Moses and Abigail (Shinn) MeKay, married Mary M. Ferguson and to them were born ten children. Moses, born on November 6. 1823, married Rachel Faulkner ; Samuel, May 8. 1825. married Angeline Moore; Mildred. July 2, 1827; Jane, April 7. 1820, married Levi Shambaugh: Tilghman. November 7. 1830. is the subject of this sketch; Frank, January 12. 1833. married Elizabeth Peterson ; Alfred. June 29, 1835, married Louisa Miars; Mary M .. September 27, 1837, married Joshua

MR. AND MRS. TILGHMAN MCKAY.

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Oglesbee; Lucinda E., September 7, 1840; and George Washington, April 29. 1844, married Emma Daniels .. George Washington Mckay and his family were among the very earliest settlers in Chester township. Clinton county, Ohio. Of their ten children, only three, Jane, Lucinda and George W., are now living.

Educated in the common schools of Ohio principally. the late Tilghman Mckay, who was the fifth child in his parents' family, was married in 1853 to Sarah Jane Medsker, who was born at Hillsboro, Ohio, June 7. 1830. They were the parents of elght children, Mary M., who was born on October 9, 1854, and who was the wife of Lewis A. Smith, died on August 2, 1908; Oliver Elton, August 12, 1856. died on March 25, 1864; Sarah Alice, May 21, 1858, married Zimri Haines; Ella Florence, June 8, 1861, married Henry Pidgeon ; Lucy L., April 9, 1864; Jennie E., January 6, 1867; Adella C., June 1. 1889, married Horace Ellis: Daisy D., September 26, 1873, married Charles W. Babb.

The MeKay family are members of the " ethodist Episcopal church. The late Tilghman MeKay was quite active in church wo d ring his life and was a member of the church at Lumberton, In Liberty township. Alghman Mckay owned a farm of two hundred and forty-nine acres in Liberty township, which comprises a beautiful country home. His widow is now living on the farm with the unmarried children. One of the daughters. Jennie, who lives at home, is an artist of no small ability. She has done considerable landscape work and has also painted a splendid likeness of her father.

ROBERT WICKERSHAM WHITE.

One of the conspicuous names on the roll of Clinton county farmers is that of Robert Wickersham White, a splendid young farmer of Union township and a young man of high standing in the community, where he has been engaged for some time in managing his father's farm and stock raising industry. The White family has been prominently Identified with the material prosperity and agricultural growth of Clinton county and the life of Robert Wickersham White is closely interwoven with the history of the county. Various members of his father's family have been prominent in public life and have worthily discharged every position of trust and responsibility with which they have been charged.

Robert Wickersham White was born on January 23. 1877. on his father's farm in Union township. He Is the son of John D. and Laura B. (Truitt) White. the former of whom is a native of Wilmington, born on August 28, 1850, and the latter of whom is a native of Union township, the daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca Truitt. both of whom are deceased. They were married on April 2. 1882, and to this marriage was born one child, Robert Wickersham, the subject of this sketch.

John D. White is the son of Grafton B. and Sarah ( Morris) White and his father was born in 1825. at Georgetown. Brown county, Ohio, and died in 1858. His mother was born in 1826, in Wilmington, Ohio, where the Clinton County Bank is now situated. and died in 1875. Grafton B. White was the son of John D. White, Sr., who, after his marriage. came to Georgetown, Ohio, In Brown county, and followed school teaching. It was in Brown county that he was the teacher of a lad who was afterwards to become the foremost general in the Union army and the President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. Both he and his wife died in Brown county. He was of Scotch-Irish descent.

Sarab Morris, the mother of John D. White, was the daughter of Isaiah and Rhoda (Corwin) Morris, the former of whom was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, in 1786, and the latter of whom was born in Lebanon, Ohlo. The mother of Isninh Morris was a Corbly. His parents moved In humble walks of life and were neither very poor nor very rich. The maternal grandfather of Isainh Morris was a Baptist minister and Isalah Morris's father owned a small farm. He had eight children, four of whom, including Isaiah, immigrated to the west. Two sisters settled in Ohio and a brother became a well-known farmer in Indiana.

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Isaiah Morris came down the Ohio river with his uncle. a Mr. Huston, in a flat .. boat to Columbia, near Cincinnati, in the spring of 1803. His uncle opened a store at Columbia with goods he had brought with him. This store Isaiah Morris conducted until the fall of 1803, when the merchandise was moved to Lebanon. His uncle soon died leaving Isaiah, seventeen years old, far from home and entirely without friends, business or money. Warren county was organized in 1503 and David Sutton, afterwards General Sutton, was appointed clerk of the courts, Young Morris was given employ- ment in his office, where he wrote until 1811. He also wrote in Judge MeLean's office and between the two he had by this time saved about three hundred dollars. In 1811 he came to Wilmington and entered the mercantile business with William Ferguson, of Lebanon. They opened their first store In a frame house on the present site of the First National Bank. A few years later Mr. Morris was able to buy Mr. Ferguson's interest and continued the business alone. In 1812 Isaiah Morris married Rachel Car- penter, the step-daughter of Judge Francis Dunlavy, at Lebanon. They had two daugh- ters, Maria, who married Robert B. Harland, and Rebecca, who married Rev. Stephen Hollis. Mrs. Morris died in 1819 and in 1822. Mr. Morris married Catherine Trimble, of Hillsboro, a cousin of Allen Trimble. They had one son and two daughters. Two of these children, the son and one daughter, died in infancy. The remaining daughter, Sarah Ann, married Grafton B. White, the grandfather of Robert Wickersham White. Catherine Morris died In October, 1828, and in 1840 Mr. Morris married Rhoda Corwin, a sister of Hon. Thomas Corwin, of Lebanon. They had a sou and one daughter, Thomas Corwin and Mary Catherine. who married Robert W. Wickersham.

On June 3, 1816, Isaiah Morris was appointed clerk to the commissioners and this officer, until 1820, performed the duties of auditor. He held this office for one year. I'pon the death of Peter Burr in 181G, Mr. Morris was appointed to fill the vacancy thus occurring as clerk of the court of common pleas of Clinton county. He served in this office until the close of the third term in 1837. From 1812 until 1815, he was post- master of Wilmington. The postoffice and the clerk's office were both in Mr. Morris's store. He was the first representative of Clinton county in the Legislature in 1812 and again represented the county in 1815. In 1837 he was chosen by Clinton and Highland counties as a state senator for two years and in 1851 was elected a delegate for Clinton and Highland to the second constitutional convention of Ohio. The convention met in Columbus and after organizing, adjourned to Cincinnati and held their session in the summer of 1851, during which time they drafted a new constitution, which was approved by the people of Obio at the election following. Mr. Morris was the first mayor of Wilmington, serving from 1828 to 1830. He was not a member of any religious sect but had a warm feeling for all. He gave to the Baptists the lot on which their church Is built and in addition about eight hundred dollars. Of the one thousand acres of Clinton county land which he owned, much of it he purchased for seventy-five cents an acre. His health was in a failing state some two years before his death, which occurred on July 18, 1858, at the age of seventy-two.

Grafton B. White obtained a good education and was a lawyer by profession. Com- ing to Wilmington about 1842, he was a law partner of n Mr. Fuller and later the partner of Judge West, the father of the present Judge West. Grafton B. White served as prosecuting attorney of Clinton county one term. He died of tuberculosis in 1x58. He and his wife had four children: Carr B., who is an attorney of Seattle, Washing- ton; David, who died in 1908, and who was an attorney in Wilmington; Katie, who married Frank Noble and lives in Lynchburg, Ohlo; and John D.

The educational opportunities afforded many of the earlier sons and daughters of Clinton county were indeed remarkable and these advantages are due in a great measure to the interest of the Society of Friends.

John D. White, after attending the Wilmington public schools and the old seminary

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where the Friends church now stands, became a student at Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, where he remained for three years. He Intended to become a physician, but his health failing. he returned home. His mother having purchased fifty acres of land in Union township near Wilson Station, he lived out of doors there for the benefit of his health. After his marriage, he purchased the farm from his mother and added seventy acres more. In 1883 he sold the farm and purchased the N. H. Moore farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres in Union township, to which he moved. Later he added forty-six acres to this farm and in 1913 purchased seventy-five acres adjoining. He owns a pretty country home and is surrounded with all of the comforts and conveniences of country life.

John D. White Is a Republican in politics and for six years served as commissioner of Clinton county. He is a member of the official board of the Walnut street Church of Christ in Wilmington and is prominent in fraternal circles, being a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elka. He is an extensive feeder of sheep and hogs. Mr. White was formerly a director in the First National Bank of Wilmington. For the past ten years, he has spent bis summers In Petoskey, Michigan, a summer resort.

Robert Wickersham White attended the rural schools of Union township until he was sixteen years old and later became a student at and was graduated from Wilming- ton College in 1900, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Subsequently, he attended Johns Hopkins University, at Baltimore, Maryland, for one year, taking French and German. After leaving this university. be returned to his father's home farm in Union township and has been engaged in managing this farm ever since. After bis marriage in 1004. another house was built on the farm and he and his father have farmed the two hundred and ninety-seven and one-quarter acres together.

Mr. White was married on June 15, 1904, to Ella Smith, the daughter of James E. and Mary Elizabeth ( Osborne) Smith, a sketch of whose Ife appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. White have one child. Robert Wendell, born on September 6, 1907.

Robert W. White is identified with the activities of the Republican party. He served three years as township trustee of Union township and has been a member of the I'nton township school board for several years. The family are members of the Walnut street Church of Christ In Wilmington and Mr. White is a dencon in the church. He is also secretary and treasurer of the Clinton County Farmers' Institute Association.

FRANK RHONEMUS ...

A descendant of the union of two of the oldest families in Clinton county, Frank Rhonemus, a substantial farmer of the Lynchburg neighborhood, Is deeply interested in all that concerns the development of the county and is held in high regard in that section of the county in which he lives and where he is so well known.

Frank Rhonemus was born in Jefferson township, Clinton county, Ohio, on March 4. 1860. son of Jacob and Mary (Thornhill) Rhonemus, both members of pioneer families of that section of the county, the former of whom was born near the village of Cuba, in Washington township, and the latter of whom was born near the village of Macedonia. in Washington township.

Jacob Rhonemus was the son of Jacob and Sophia (Cluster) Rhonemus. the former a native of Virginia and the latter a native of Germany. The elder Jacob Rhonemus came to this county in the year 1808, as the driver of a six-horse team in the wagon train brought overland in that year by William Beggs. Liking the appearance of things in this part of the state, he decided to remain and never returned to Virginia. Though Clinton county had not been organized at that time, Jacob Rhonemus was discerning enough to see the immense possibilities the future held for this region and he secured a small tract of land, eighty-five acres, in the forest, cleared the same, erected a small

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History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 91

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1108

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108