USA > Ohio > Fayette County > History of Fayette County : together with historic notes on the Northwest, and the State of Ohio, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and all other authentic sources > Part 55
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He is a member of Temple Lodge No. 227, I. O. O. F., Fayette Lodge No. 107, and Chapter No. 103, F. &. A. M., and Ely Com- mandery No. 28.
He is now acting as a general agent for the house of Baldwin & Co., of Cincinnati, for the sale of pianos, organs, and musical in- struments generally. Having had some ten years experience with this house, he has become master of his profession, and well knows how to suit his customers. His place of business is on Court Street, opposite the Arlington House, where he is doing an exten- sive business, amounting to $45,000 per year. He handles nothing but first-class goods, among which are Steinway & Sons, Decker Bro's, Haines Bro's, J. & C. Fischer's, and other standard pianos, and Estey and Shoninger organs, with a full line of smaller musi- cal instruments, and a complete line of musical merchandise.
ROBERT S. SUTHERLAND.
Robert S. Sutherland, county commissioner, Washington, was born in Ross County, Ohio, July 14, 1825. He is a son of Robert and Hannah Sutherland, natives of Pennsylvania, who immigrated
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to Ohio about the year 1814, with a family of seven children, two sons and five daughters.
Robert S., our subject, was married in the year 1850, to Miss Hannah Parrett, daughter of Frederick Parrett, of Ross County. They had one child, Frederick R., who died in 1851.
Mr. Sutherland was elected county commissioner in 1873, and has filled the office since that time. He received his education in this county, where he has passed the principal portion of his life.
He now resides on a farm of one hundred and eight acres, situ- ated three miles north of Washington, in Union Township.
AMOS THORNTON.
Amos Thornton, coal dealer, Washington, was born in Union Township, this county, November 27, 1833. He is a son of Thomas and Mahala Thornton. His father was a native of Ohio, and his mother of Virginia. They had a family of eight sons, all of whom are living, except one.
Amos, our subject, was married January 5, 1857, to Miss Arty Allen, daughter of James and Elizabeth Allen, of this county. They are blessed with two sons, James A. and Charles L.
In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, 1st Ohio Cavalry, and was in the battles of Gettysburg, second Bull Run, cavalry fight at Brandy Station, and many others. He was discharged May 4, 1865.
He is a member of Fayette Lodge No. 107, F. & A. M. Re- ceived his education in this county where the principal part of his youth has been passed. He went to California in 1852, and re- turned in 1856 with a good share of the yellow dust. He is now engaged in the sale of black diamonds, in Washington, or, in other words, is extensively engaged in the coal business.
THOMAS . BRADLEY THORNTON.
Thomas Bradley Thornton, farmer and stock-raiser. His parents, Thomas and Leva Thornton, were natives of Norfolk, Virginia. They came to Ohio in 1809, and settled in the town of Frankling- ton (now included in the city of Columbus), where, two years after, the father died. Mrs. Thornton remained a widow some three years, when she married, for her second husband, James Coil, with
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whom she lived some seven years, when she died. There were two children by the first marriage. James Thornton, at the age of twenty, left home, and his whereabouts since that time are un- known. Thomas B. was born after the death of his father. There were three children by the second marriage, two sons and one daughter. William H. married, and died early. Elizabeth mar- ried, moved to Mercer County, and is now a widow. Perry mar- ried and moved to Missouri many years ago.
Thomas B., our subject, was born December 11, 1812. Being left without father, mother, or kinfolks, to care for him, he was compelled to care for himself as best he could. He found a good home in the family of Peter Fultz, with whom he remained until twenty-one years of age, learning the cabinet business. In 1834 he married Mahala Harper, daughter of Jacob C. Harper. Soon after their marriage they commenced housekeeping in the woods, on the same spot of ground where they now reside. They are the parents of eight sons. Amos, the oldest, married, and has a family living in Washington. James is married, and lives at Baxter Springs, Kansas. Anderson is married, and lives on his own farm near Washington. William H. is married, and lives near Solon, Madison County. Austin married, and died at the age of twenty- four. His widow is the daughter of Adam Glaze, and she remains single. Elan is married, and lives in the neighborhood. Thomas married, owns, and lives on the old George Miller farm, near Wash- ington. Noah owns and lives on a farm near Jeffersonville, in this county.
But few parents have been permitted to see so large a family of sons all grown up to manhood, married, and so well to do in life, as have Mr. and Mrs. Thornton. Seven out of the eight sons are now living, each in good circumstances, an honor to their parents, with bright prospects before them.
Mr. Thornton commenced life very poor, without money or kin- dred influences. He determined, early in life, to pursue a straight- forward, honest, truthful, industrious course, which he has carried out thus far, and it has proved to be a great success. He is one of the solid, wealthy men of Fayette County. He has dealt largely in real estate in his own county and elsewhere, which in the main has been a financial success. He was one of the originators of the Peoples and Drovers Bank of Washington, and has been one of its directors and principal stockholders to the present time. He has
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served his county as one of its commissioners and infirmary direct- ors for a number of years, and though nearly seventy years of age, is one of the most active, energetic, enterprising business men of the county.
Mr. Thornton lives on a five-hundred-acre farm, some four and a half miles west from Washington, situated between the Jefferson- ville and Jamestown pikes. He and his amiable wife commenced their married life on this farm more than forty-seven years ago, when all was a wilderness. They had the milk sickness, serpents, and all the difficulties incident to this new country, to contend with ; but these forty-seven years of earnest, honest toil, have brought grand results to this noble couple.
JOHN N. VAN DEMAN.
John N. Van Deman, lawyer (firm of Van Deman & Russell), Washington ; son of John L. and R. P. (Wilson) Van Deman; born January 5, 1845, at Washington; lived there, and attended village school, until February, 1858; then removed with his father to Frankfort, Ross County. They lived there two years, and then re- turned to Washington, where they have since resided. At the age of twelve he began to assist his father (who was a merchant) in the store, and very early acquired a taste for the mercantile business. At the age of seventeen he attended and graduated at Duff"'s Com- mercial College, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the following year went to Miami University, where he remained until twenty, then left college, in the middle of his senior year, to accept the offer from his father of a one-third interest in his dry-goods business ; and he then began business for himself, March 1, 1865, becoming at once the buyer for the new firm. The business was rapidly ex- tended, and a wholesale trade established, until their annual sales (which had been about $25,000) were increased to $85,000.
In 1872, he began to read law in his leisure hours, not then with the intention to practice, but for information. He had also re- ceived a course of lectures on commercial law while at Duff's Col- lege. As he advanced in the study it became more and more at- tractive, until, in 1876, he decided to, and did, quit the dry-goods business to enter the profession, and was admitted by the supreme court of the state to practice law, in about three months after leav- ing his mercantile pursuits. He immediately opened an office in
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Washington, and at once acquired a good business; and has since that time been actively and successfully engaged in the practice.
In 1873-4, he was a member of the city council. Is a Republi- can in politics, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and has been for years a worker in the Sunday-school, and in the temperance cause. Is also an active member of the order of Odd-fellows, in which he is prominently and favorably known throughout the state. He was married, May 14, 1867, to Lizzie Nash, daughter of Wil- liam and M. G. Nash, of Clermont County, who was born Septem- ber 12, 1847, and who died March 15, 1881. She was the mother of six children, who survive her.
SAMUEL N. YEOMAN.
Samuel N. Yeoman, merchant and railroad builder, Washington. The name was originally Youmans, being of English extraction. Two brothers, thus spelling their names, came from England to New York in an early day, the one going to New Jersey, the other to the South ; the celebrated Professor Youmans, of New York, be- ing a descendant of the southern brother, our subject being a de- scendant of the brother who went to New Jersey. The grandfather came to Ohio, and settled on the waters of Paint Creek, in Wayne Township, Fayette County, about 1811, where he erected, probably, the first grist-mill ever built in the county. This mill was erected where the Rock Mills now stand. Here the pioneer remained un- til his death.
Samuel T. Yeoman, his son, was serving in the war of 1812 when his father came to Ohio, but immediately after its close he also came to Knox County, Ohio, where he married Miss Nye, daughter of Ichabod Nye, the first sheriff of Knox County. In 1815, they removed to Fayette County, and settled on a farm near the town of Good Hope, in Wayne Township, and remained on this farm until 1829, when he removed to Springfield, and remained one year; thence, to Lebanon, and remained there one year. He then re- turned to Fayette County, and settled in Washington. In 1833, he was elected as a member of the General Assembly of Ohio. In 1836, or 1837, he engaged in the mercantile business, associated with Joseph and Amasa Olds as partners. In 1851, he retired from active business, and died in 1856. He served, with credit to him- self as associate judge, postmaster, and justice of the peace, in his
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county, and was one of the active leading politicians of his day. Mrs. Yeoman died in Washington, in 1872, in the seventy-fourth year of her age. They were the parents of twelve children, six sons and six daughters. Stephen D. died while a young man, un- married. Bethiah L. married, but she and her husband are dead. Gilbert L. M. died when a young man, unmarried. James L. died in infancy. Eusebia N. died at the age of thirteen. Jane M. was married to Theodore Ogle, who is now dead. She lives in Wash- ington. Josephine M. married Van M. Ogle, and lives on a farm in Green County, Indiana. Sarah died in infancy. Ascenith also died in infancy. Joseph Amasa Olds is married and practicing law in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Samuel N., our subject was born in Wayne Township, Fayette 'County, Ohio, in 1828. In the spring of 1849, he organized a com- pany of ten persons, all boys but one, and went to California in search of gold. This was probably the first company that went from this part of the state to California. The entire company reached there, and all but one of the number returned. This en- terprise proved to be a financial success to Mr. Yeoman, and after remaining there two years and some months, they returned to Fay- ette County. Soon after his return, he purchased his father's stock of goods, and commenced the mercantile business, continuing the same until the fall of 1853, when he sold out, and engaged in the real estate business until 1858.
In 1857, he organized a company, and built the first respectable hotel in the town, now known as the "Arlington Hotel." The same year Mr. Yeoman again entered the mercantile business, asso- ciating with him F. A. Nitterhouse and D. Ogle. They purchased the stock of goods owned by Zebedee Harper. He also established, the same year, a branch store in connection with Theodore and V. M. Ogle, in New Lexington, Perry County, and in that year retired from this establishment.
In the spring of 1861, Mr. Yeoman was appointed by the gov- ernor of Ohio chairman of the military committee of the county, and was soon afterward ordered to West Virginia, to look after the interest of the soldiers of his county. In June, 1862, while hold- ing this position, he applied to the governor for an appointment as major, for recruiting for the 90th O. V. I., and entered on the re- cruiting business June 21, 1862. In thirty days he recruited two full companies (C and K), and assisted to recruit two more com- panies, which were assigned to the 114th Regiment.
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August 1, 1862, he resigned his chairmanship, and reported, with . his companies, at Camp Circleville, and in less than three days thereafter was ordered to Kentucky without arms or equipments, and reached Lexington by rail in great haste. Received arms next morning, and was ordered at once to assist in covering the retreat at Richmond, Kentucky. He participated in the battles of Perry- ville, Stone River, Seige of Chattanooga. Was commissioned lieutenant-colonel after the battle of Stone River, and colonel of the 90th after the seige of Chattanooga, Colonel Rippey having re- signed.
The colonel remained with the regiment, participating in the battles of Jonesborough, Atlanta, Champaign, etc., and was mus- tered out of service, after having served three years, June 21, 1865. He had in all some thirteen hundred men under his command, but only had about three hundred and twenty-seven when mustered out. Mr. Yeoman was a brave, patriotic man, working faithfully and honestly to put down the rebellion and save the Union. He left his mercantile interests to the care of his partners, devoting his entire time and energies to his country's welfare. But few officers have been more devoted to the country's welfare than has Colonel Yeoman.
In 1866, Mr. Yeoman projected and started the Columbus and Washington turnpike; it being the first enterprise of the kind in the county under the " Free turnpike Act," which enterprise in- augurated a system of free turnpikes all over the county, which has resulted in a spirit of general improvement, that now makes the county one of the leading counties of the state. Mr. Yeoman was elected state senator from his district, composed of Greene, Clinton and Fayette counties, in 1867, serving two years, with marked ability. He was lected by the same district, to the senate of this state, in 1873, and again served the full term.
In 1869, he organized the Columbus and Maysville Railroad, (known as the blue grass road), became its president, surveyed and located the same; but because of Hillsboro being interested in another railroad enterprise, and not sympathising with this move- ment, it failed.
In 1875, the colonel took up the old Dayton, Xenia and Belpre Railroad, and organized the Dayton and Southeastern Narrow Gauge Road. He became its president, overseeing and giving it his entire attention ; and although the enterprise met with many
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reverses, he succeeded in its completion from Dayton to its intersec- tion with the Marietta road at Musselman's. He also assisted in the building of the branch road from Allentown to Waynesville.
In 1877 and 1878, he built a part of the Danville, Olney and Ohio Railroad in Illinois.
He also built the Indianapolis, Delphos & Chicago Railroad, and at this time is superintendent of the Indiana, Chicago & Northern Railroad.
In 1873 Col. Yeoman, in connection of Mr. F. A. Nitterhouse, commenced the building of a magnificent store-room, opera-house, etc., in Washington. He completed the store-room in 1874, but on account of the panic, and the stringency of the money market, the opera-house remains unfinished.
Col. Yeoman was the originator of the Washington Cemetery, and was its first president. He organized and planned its lay-out.
Probably no one man has done more for the improvement of the town of Washington, and the County of Fayette, than Col. Yeo- man.
In June 1853, Mr. Yeoman married Miss Susan M. Comly, of New Lexington, Perry County, Ohio. She is a most excellent women. They are without children. In politics the colonel is a staunch Republican. Mrs. Yeoman is a member of the Baptist Church.
GENERAL STEPHEN B. YEOMAN.
General Stephen B. Yeoman, attorney at law, Washington, was born in Washington, this county, on the 1st day of December, 1836, and is a son of Alvah and Elizabeth Yeoman. His father was a native of New York, and his mother of Virginia. His father came to this state about the year 1806, and his mother about 1815. They had a family of eight children, four of whom are living.
Stephen, the subject of our sketch, at the age of fifteen, shipped as a sailor; visited New Zealand and different points in South America, Asia, and Africa. After enjoying many adventures, and undergoing many hardships, finally returned to the United States. His great grandfather served with credit as a captain in the revo- lution, and his grandfather as a first lieutenant in the war of 1812.
When the late war broke out Stephen B. immediately volunteer- ed. Was under General Rosencrans, with whom he continu-
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ed as a private in the 22d O. V. I., Company F, and was afterwards in West Virginia, until his regiment was discharged by reason of expiration of term of service. At home he immediately com- menced recruiting, and returned to the field again, September 15, 1861, as captain of Company A, 54th O. V. I. He was then ordered, by General Sherman, to take ten picked men and pene- trate the rebel lines, in order to ascertain their forces. While gallantly in discharge of duty, he received the following wounds : Shiloh, April 6th and 7th, slight wounds in breast ; battle of Rus- sell House, June, 1862, in left leg, also, in arm and abdomen; Jan- uary 10th and 11th, 1863, wounded in right arm, entirely severing the arm below the elbow, which was amputated. For his distin- guished services he was promoted to major of his regiment, and on account of his serious loss, and not being able to return to his regi- ment, he resigned. He was appointed captain in the Veteran Reserve Corps, commanding Company C, 2d Battalion, on duty at Cincin- nati.
In May, 1864, he received from the President of the United States, the appointment of colonel of this regiment, and was de- tailed by War Department to Camp Caley, Virginia, as superin- tendant of recruiting service and chief mustering officer, of the northeast district of Virginia. November 29, 1864, he rejoined his regiment, and led this command in all the actions after that date. He has also been commanding officer of 3d Brigade, 1st Division, 25th Corps, and was promoted by the President of the United States, to Brevet Brigadier General of Volunteers, for his gallant services during the war; to rank as such from the 15th day of March, 1865.
He was married, in 1863, to Miss Cordelia A. Wood, daughter of Daniel and Tabitha Wood, of this county. They have five children living : Minnette, Ida C., Burton, Nellie and Grace, and one dead, Willard.
In 1866 he was elected probate judge of the county, which office he filled three years, and is now practicing law in Washington. He is a man beloved by all who know him, and is competent and well worthy of filling any office in the gift of the people.
ELMER W. WELSHEIMER.
Elmer W. Welsheimer, clerk of the court, Washington, was born
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in Ross County, Ohio, October 4, 1843. He is a son of William H. and Mahala Welsheimer-the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Ohio. They have a family of five children, two sons and three daughters, all living but Oscar, who departed this life in 1869.
Elmer W., the subject of this sketch, was married in 1867 to Miss Sarah A. Zimerman, daughter of Samuel Zimerman, of this county.
Our subject enlisted in Company G, Captain Irions, 73d O. V. I., Colonel O. Smith. He remained with his regiment until he was wounded, which occurred in Hooker's midnight charge on Raccoon Ridge, a branch of Lookout Mountain. The wound was in the left leg, and the foot was amputated. This was on the 28th day of October, 1863, near Chattanooga. He was also in the battles of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville, under Gens. Meade and Hooker. After his wound he was removed to three different hospitals, where he remained three months. He was then sent home, and received his honorable discharge at Columbus.
After his return home he attended school for two years, and then engaged in the mercantile business at Martinsburg, Ohio, where he remained for eight years. He was then elected Clerk of ยท
the Courts of Fayette County, and still retains that position.
He is a member of Wilstah Lodge No. 360, I. O. O. F., of New Martinsburg, and also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He received his education in Ohio, and has passed the principal part of his life in this county. He has three children, one son and two daughters : Ottis O., Olive, and Lulu, all living.
MANFRED WILLARD.
Manfred Willard was born in the village of Washington, Fay- ette County, Ohio, September 18, 1839, and is a son of Lockhart D. and Mary Jane Willard. L. D. Willard, a native of Massachu- setts, removed to this county in 1832, and was one of a family of three children. His wife, whose maiden name was Doron, was a native of Pennsylvania. Her parents removed with her to this county at an early date. She was one of a family of seven chil- dren. The marriage of L. D. Willard and Mary J. Doron was sol- emnized on the 5th day of December, 1838. They raised a family of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest.
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
Our subject was educated in the common schools of Massachu- setts, to which place his father removed about the year 1852. His youth was principally spent on the farm in this county At the age of sixteen he commenced land surveying, and continued in that business until 1860, when he removed to Mercer County, Illinois, and remained there in the business of farming until August 1, 1861, when he enlisted in the "Rangers," an independent company, raised and commanded by Captain Graham. This company successfully ran the blockade established by the governor of Illinois, and suc- ceeded in joining the army of the West, at Fort Leavenworth, about the 5th of August. From this point Captain Graham's com- mand was at once sent to Lexington, Missouri, where they remained in active duty until that place was surrendered, in September of the same year, by Colonel Mulligan, to the rebel General Price. In the seige that preceded the surrender, Willard was slightly wounded by a rifle ball removing the skin from the top of his head as it passed over.
As soon as exchanged, and in the winter of 1861-2, he raised a company (H) in the 60th O. V. I., commanded by Colonel William H. Trimble (than whom no braver man ever lived), which regiment participated throughout the campaign of Major-General John C. Fremont, resulting in driving Jackson out of the Shenandoah Valley.
In September, 1862, through the treachery or imbecility of Col- onel Miles, in command of the Union forces at Harper's Ferry, to which point Colonel Trimble and his regiment had been ordered, with other troops, Willard was again a prisoner to the rebel foe. Previous to the surrender, however, he was severely wounded in the left arm. Soon after this, he was honorably discharged at Camp Douglas, Illinois.
Returning home a mere skeleton, weighing less than one hun- dred pounds, he was elected probate judge of Fayette County at the same election that gave Governor Brough one hundred thou- sand majority over Clement L. Vallandigham. After the expira- tion of his term of office, he became cashier of the Fayette County National Bank, which position he held until that institution closed up its business in October, 1875.
In May, 1869, he passed an examination, and was admitted to the bar in his native town, and since the closing of the bank he has given his whole time and attention to the practice of his pro- fession.
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On the 7th day of April, 1863, he married Verselle S. Worley (formerly Knight) a daughter of Salathiel and Jane Knight, and grand-daughter of Colonel Joseph Bell. Mrs. Willard has one brother, Joseph Knight, now a resident of Fayette County, and one sister, Elizabeth V., who is now the wife of M. Herbert, Esq., teller in the Peoples and Drovers Bank of Washington. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Willard three children : Jane B., born on the 8th day of September, 1864; Laura A., born on the 17th day of February, 1867; and Herbert A., born on the 31st day of October, 1872.
MARSHALL J. WILLIAMS.
Marshall J. Williams, attorney-at-law, Washington, is a son of Dr. Charles M. Williams and Margaret Jane Williams, nee Mark, and was born February 22, 1836. From childhood he has been a close student, and at the age of nineteen graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, and soon after began his legal studies at Washington, with Nelson Rush. He completed his legal course at the age of twenty-one, and shortly after opened an office at Sigourney, Iowa, where he remained about one year. Becoming displeased with his location, he returned to Washington, and at once entered into a lucrative practice. He married Bertha Taylor, a lady of Clermont County, but no children followed the union.
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