USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene 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 76
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James H. Glass, blacksmith, is a son of Powhatan and Harriet (Wright) Glass, who were natives of Virginia. They came to Ohio
SILVER CREEK TOWNSHIP. 795
about the year 1823, and located in Highland County, where they remained a few years, and then removed to Madison County. Re- turned to Highland, perhaps in same year, where James was born, February 11, 1828; came to this county, about 1835, where they re- mained, perhaps, four years; then returned to Highland County, where Mr. Glass died in 1839. Mrs. Glass is still living. There
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were six children of this family, of whom three are living. Glass married a Mr. William Bragg after Mr. Glass's death, by which marriage she had one child, with whom she is living. James has been a resident of this county since 1839; except, one winter spent in Iowa. He learned his trade in this county, beginning as an apprentice in 1850. Has since been engaged in the business ex- cept four years, which time he was engaged in the confectionery business in Jamestown, where he has a residence, blacksmith shop, and business room. He is a good workman, and enjoys a large pat- ronage. He was married July 11, 1849, to Miss Hannah Turner, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Cruizen) Turner, seven chil- dren being the result of this union : Pauline A., Hannah A., Wil- liam P., Vinson A., Martha M., Harriet E., and Catherine V .; four of whom are living. William, Vinson, and Harriet are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Glass are members of the Christian Church of Jamestown.
Gideon Harness, farmer, son of Peter and Susannah (Shook) Harness, who were married in this county, in 1810. He died March 21, 1873, aged seventy-one years. She is still living, and was born in Virginia, June 10, 1804; came with her parents to this county, in 1810, where she and Mr. Harness were married, April 19, 1827. They had eight children ; seven of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Harness were members of the Methodist Church. He had been a member of this church for thirty years, and died in the faith in which he had lived. When they came to this county it was quite new and wild. They have witnessed and helped to make many changes. Gideon was born December 10, 1827, in this county, where he was reared, educated, and where he married Miss Eliza J. Smith, daughter of Charles, April 7, 1853. Two children was the result of this union : Marion and Rosa, both living. Mr. Har- ness has a farm of one hundred and eighty-seven acres, on which he lives, situated three miles southwest of Jamestown. He is a member of the Methodist Church of New Jasper, also a member of the Masonic fraternity of Jamestown. Marion is a member of the Baptist Church of Caesar's Creek society.
4
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
Orange S. Hatch, farmer, son of Ebenezer and Cynthia (Green) Hatch, is a native of New York, where he was married. She was a native of Connecticut. They were parents of ten children, of whom six are living. Mr. Hatch came to this county, in 1822, and located about two miles south of Jamestown, where he lived the remainder of his life. He bought forty acres of land for one hun- dred and sixty-two dollars and seventy-five cents, for which he could not pay at the time of purchase ; but by good management and in- dustry, he finally paid for it, and added to it, until he had a farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres well improved-on which he died, January 2, 1874, aged eighty-eight years. Mrs. Hatch, also died there, January 11, 1845, aged sixty-two years. When they came west, they located at Elizabethtown, Indiana, where they remained perhaps three years, then came to this county. Our subject was born August 18, 1826, on the farm where he was reared and where he now lives. He has a farm of two hundred and one acres, well improved. He was married October 22, 1856, to Miss Clarissa Thomas of Carroll County, Ohio. She is a native of Jef- ferson County, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (McDowell) Thomas. Four children are the result of this union: Emma O., John T., Minnie B., and Charlie G .; all of whom are living, save John, who died September 24, 1863, was born January 28, 1859. Emma was married to Allen T. Sutton, January 7, 1875. They have one child, John E. Mr. and Mrs. Hatch, and Emma, are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. He is also a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity of Jamestown.
Jonathan Jenkins, merchant, Jamestown, was born in Jefferson County, October 9, 1808, where he was reared. In his twenty- second year, he came to Clarke County via. McConnelsville, to which place he walked; thence to Marietta, and to Cincinnati by boat; thence to South Charleston via. Xenia, arriving April 26, 1830. He was engaged as clerk in a dry goods and grocery store six months, then he bought an interest in the business of his em- ployer, Charles Paist, and remained with him until 1833. He then came to Jamestown, where he has since lived. Was twice married, first to Miss Ann Dawson, a sister of Drs. Dawson, of Cincinnati and Columbus, May, 1834. Seven children are the result of this union, Charles P., Elizabeth, George, Mary, Harriet, William, and Samuel. George is the only surviving one. Mrs. Jenkins died November 4, 1844. He then married Lutitia Paullin, September
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19, 1847. He had seven children by this marriage: Minerva A., David, Edwin, Charlie, Lillie, Pollie A., and Lucy. Minerva and David are deceased. The mother died September 16, 1873. Mr. Jenkins was elected justice of the peace about 1856, and served about three years, but preferring to live a more quiet life, refused to accept any other office. He is a respected citizen of this place, where he has built a reputation as a business man, and has made many friends. His first wife was a member of the Campbellite Church; the second wife of the New Light Church. George served three years in Company E, Illinois Volunteer Infantry; was first lieutenant of United States Volunteer Infantry ; served two years, and then resigned the office. David was killed at Richmond, Indi- ana, by a railroad train, October 13, 1873. William served three years in the rebellion in the Twelfth Ohio Volunteer Infantry ; was killed in Arizona by the Indians, October 14, 1877.
Smith Jenks, farmer and stock dealer, Jamestown, is a native of this county; was born January 1, 1845, and is a son of Levi and Elizabeth (Sanders) Jenks, residents of Fayette County, where they were married in 1822. They had a family of eight children-our subject being the third-seven still living. Our subject was mar- ried in Fayette County, to Miss Rebecca, daughter of Enos and. Eunice (Ross) Harper, October, 1845. Two children, Alice J. and Levi E., both living, are the result of this union. Mr. Jenks has a farm of fifty acres, well improved, situated three miles cast of Jamestown, where he lives. He is one of Silver Creek Township's prominent stock dealers-trades in all kinds of stock. He served three months in the rebellion in Company C, Fifth Ohio Cavalry. Was in several heavy battles, and came home without a wound.
Edwin O. Johnson, farmer, Jamestown, was born in Highland County, on the fourth day of November, 1811, and is a son of Pleasant and Nancy Johnson. His parents are both natives of Vir- ginia; they were married there, and moved to Ohio in an early day, settling in Highland County, ten miles southeast of Hillsborough, and lived there twenty years; they then moved to this county, settled near Jamestown, and lived upon that place for twenty years: then they moved upon the farm our subject now owns and lives upon, two and one-half miles east of Jamestown. His parents are both deceased ; his mother was a member of the Friends' Church. Our subject's boyhood was spent upon the farm with his father; his ed- ucation was received in a log school house, and his advantages
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
were meagre. The school house had but one window, and it was a poor excuse, being a small hole cut in the side of the house and a greased paper placed over it to admit the light. He was married in December, 1833, to Hannah Watson. Nine children have been born to them : Pascal L., Theodore F., W. W., Louisa J., Enos L., Pleasant O., Mary, Jacob, and John W., all living, save the two last named. Some of them are married and doing well, and the others are with the old folks upon the farm. Mr. Johnson owns a fine farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres, under a high state of cultivation.
David D. Johnson, Baptist minister, was born in Hamilton Coun- ty, Ohio, October 21, 1816, and is the son of James and Hannah Johnson. His father was a native of Virginia, and his mother of Pennsylvania. His father came to Ohio more than eighty years ago, when the state was a vast wilderness, and settled on Short Creek, in Belmont County, where he remained but a short time, as he was a Methodist minister, and was moved from place to place, wherever his conference saw fit to send him. Nine children were the fruits of this union, of whom two sons and three daugh- ters are still living. Our subject, David, is next to the youngest. Mrs. Johnson died some forty years ago; her husband surviving her some thirty years, and dying in February, 1869. Thus passed away one of the early ministers, whose life was not one of ease, but hard and constant labor. Our subject passed his boyhood days with his father, and was raised to hard work. The rudiments of his education were obtained at the schools of the period. Was married in 1836, to Mahala Wolf, of Richland County, whose parents, both deceased, were very wealthy. Our subject was a carpenter by trade, and followed that occupation for some years. In 1850, he was ordained by a Baptist council, in Richland County. In the fall of that year he moved into the bounds of the Auglaize Association, and received his first charge in Willshire, Van Wert County. In about six months he moved from there to the Mad River Association, and from there to this county, where he has labored for twenty years, under the auspices of the Clinton Asso- ciation. These associations have received all his regular services. By his marriage he has raised ten children to manhood and womanhood, eight of whom are now living. Two sons were in the army, where one sacrificed his life.
William Johnson, farmer, Jamestown, is a son of Ashley and
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SILVER CREEK TOWNSHIP.
Elizabeth (Shields) Johnson, and was born in Clinton County, this state, April 9, 1821. Came to this county in 1846, and located on the farm where he now lives, which consists of one hundred and twelve acres. He had two hundred and twenty-seven acres before he divided among his children. He was married in this township, to Miss Abigail Shack, a daughter of Samuel and Abigail (McFar- land) Shack, February 14, 1844. Four children are the result of this union : James A., Francis M., Charlie M., and Cyrus H., all of whom are living, and all are married but Cyrus, who is at home with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are worthy members of the Baptist Church, he uniting in 1849, and she about 1840, and are good citizens. Their parents were also members of that de- nomination.
Elizabeth (Chalmers) Lackey, retired, Jamestown, is a daughter of John and Isabella (Turnbull) Chalmers; was born in Miami Township, this county, March 23, 1830; removed with her parents to Ross Township,, when three years of age, where she was reared, and where she married N. G. Lackey, October 29, 1846. There were cight children born to them : Isaac N., Isabella, Margaret. A., Johanna, John G., Nannie M., Rosa B., and Frank E. C., five living; Isaac, Johanna, and John, deceased, dying of diphtheria in Novem- ber, 1860. That year was one of sadness to this family. Mrs. Lackey's step-mother, who had been a mother to her, died in March; Mr. Lackey was thrown from a horse in June, receiving internal injuries, which resulted in his death, September 29, 1872. Mrs. Lackey's mother died in November, 1844. When Mr. and Mrs. Lackey were married, they had no money; but by their in- dustry and good management accumulated quite a fortune. The estate, after Mr. Lackey's death, was worth $2,000 in cash, and one hundred and sixty acres of land, where they lived. Mrs. Lackey would, with the butter and eggs, keep the table provided, and also the general wants of the house. The education that the children received, aside from common schools, Mrs. Lackey paid the ex- penses of out of her own earnings, doing it from choice. Maggie attended school in Xenia, and Nannie is there at this writing. Mrs. Lackey has a good residence in Jamestown, where she lives, and one hundred and sixty acres of land (the home farm) in Ross Township. Mrs. Lackey and the children are all members of the Methodist Protestant Church, as was also her husband.
Eliab Lathen, farmer, son of Bela and Mary A. Lathen, was
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
born in Fayette County, Ohio, August 17, 1835, and was reared and educated at that place. Came to this county in 1863, where, on the 24th of March, 1859, he had married Miss Virginia Har- grave, a daughter of Herbert II. and Millie Hargrave. In 1868 he moved to Fayette County, where he remained until 1874, and then returned to this county, where he has since remained. They have had eight children, five of whom are living: Bela F .. Charles, W. A., Margaret J., and Delia M .; Levi L., Ida E., and Delia, deceas- ed. They died at the respective ages of two months, three weeks, and ten months. Mr. Lathen has a farm of one hundred and seventy-two acres, well improved, where he lives, and two hun- dred and nine acres in Jefferson Township. This latter property is the result of his wife's industry and economy.
Andrew H. Long, retired farmer, is a son of James and Alice (Boggs) Long, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Ohio, where they were married, November, 1804. There were nine children in this family, of whom our subject was the fourth ; eight of them yet survive. Mr. Long died November 22, 1852; Mrs. Long died March 8, 1871, in this township. Andrew was born in this township, May 1; 1831, and here he was reared and educated. February 18, 1863, he was married to Miss Mattie B. Bell, a native of this county. She is a daughter of William and Rebecca Bell, who died in Shelby County, this state : the former, January 1, 1846; the latter, March 29, 1862. There were eleven children in this family, seven of whom are living. Mrs. Long is the eighth child. Mr. Long has been engaged in farming since his marriage, until three years ago, when he sold his farm and retired to his homestead, a large brick residence on west Main Street, Jamestown. Both himself and wife are members of the Methodist Church, which he joined some thirty years since; his wife having been a member thirty-seven years. Politically his affiliations are with the Republican party.
Thomas C. Moorman, the son of Micajah, who was the son of Thomas, who was the son of Thomas Moorman, who came from Ireland about the year 1690. His wife came from England, and they settled in North Carolina, and had four sons, Thomas, Chiles, Andrew and Achilles; and thus the Moorman family was divided into four branches. Thomas Moorman, the subject of this sketch, was a descendent of the fourth generation, and of the Thomas branch. He was born in Bedford County, Virginia, December 17,
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1755, and his wife Alphracia Hope, in Carolina County, Virginia, August 24, 1752. Our subject and his wife, daughter of John and Mary Hope, were married, December 22, 1775, and settled in Campbell County, near Lynchburg. They had eight children : Reuben, Micajah C., John H., Chiles, Thomas P., James, Charles T., and Nancy. The first three named married in Virginia, about the year 1806. Thomas C. Moorman, sr., bought one thousand acres of land in Silver Creek Township, Greene County, Ohio, of Colonel John Watts, of Lynchburg, Virginia. Having secured a home in the dense forest of the northwest, Thomas C. Moorman, sr., with all his family, except Reuben and John, started on the 25th day of June 1807, to move to Ohio. After a long and tedious jour- ney, they arrived in Highland County, in the fall. About six miles southeast of Leesburg, they moved into a small log cabin in the woods, cleared three acres of ground, put it in wheat, and one acre for turnips. During the winter and spring, Micajah C. and James built a log house on the late purchase in Silver Creek Township, about one mile and a half east of Jamestown, on the south bank of Silver Creek, for Micajah C. They boarded themselves and slept at Noah Strong's. In the mean time, the other boys cleared
fifteen acres in Highland County, for corn. During the summer, James and Thomas built a log house for their father, one mile east of Jamestown. The only persons living in the neighborhood at that time were, Noah Strong, Martin Mendenhall, Thomas Brow- der, Abraham Townsend, Harkles Turner, Allen Ray, and Chris- topher Hussey, who lived near Bowersville, on the Indian trail that ran from some point on the Ohio River through Highland County, passing by the way of Lexington, Reeceville, Bowersville, and Jamestown, along which the Moormans moved in the spring of 1809. Here upon the north bank of Silver Creek, our subject and his family settled as one of the first pioneers of this section of Greene County. The Indian trail served as a guide, but it was not a road along which a man might drive a wagon and team. They had to clear a road, and when they left the trail, they were guided by blazes. About four miles east there were two prairies, named by Thomas Moorman, sr., Elkhorn and Baldwin's; in one he had found a part of an elk's horn, from which circumstance it was named, and in the edge of the other a man by the name of Bald- win built a small log cabin, where he lived a few years, which fact gave rise to the name of that prairie. These prairies afforded
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
coarse grass, which was made into hay by the first settlers, until they could make meadows of their own lands. The workmen had to look out for the black rattlesnake, which infested these prairies. Interspersed and on the outer edge were thickets of underbrush, briers, vines, and long prairie grass, intertwined so as to form an almost impenetrable barrier to man and beast. One of these thick- ets, larger than any of the others, was known by the name of the Big Thicket, and served as a covert for wild beasts, such as deer, bear, wild-cats, wild-hogs, foxes, wolves, etc.
Thomas C. Moorman, sr., was a great hunter. On one occasion he took his son Chiles with him, and coming upon the track of a bear, the dogs followed it until they came up to Bruin, attacking and keeping him at bay until the arrival of the hunters, whereupon Chiles ran up to knock the bear in the head, and by some means missed his aim, and the bear caught hold of one of his legs. He could neither defend nor extricate himself until his father liberated him by aiming between the boy's legs and shooting the bear in the head.
Micajah C. was a blacksmith, and did all of that kind of work required in the neighborhood. Thomas P. was a surveyor, and did nearly all of that kind of work in this part of the county; he was occasionally called to settle the disputes between parties caused by the inacuracies of the surveyor. Chiles and James were the first members of the family that attended any religious meeting after moving to Greene County, which was held at David Falkner's, who lived near where Paintersville now is. The first religious meeting of Friends in the neighborhood, was held at Thomas C. Moorman, sr.'s, house, and continued there until about the year 1816. Friends then built a house on the southwest corner of Samuel Johnson's land, of logs, twenty feet square, divided into two apartments, by a plank partition running through the center, made in sections, so as to slide up and down; thus the two rooms could be converted into one. There was a door in each room, the men passing through one to their apartment, the women through the other to theirs. In time of business meeting, the partition was closed; thus constitut- ing two meetings of business, the men and women each having a clerk, and if any thing came up in either meeting requiring joint action, there was a messenger appointed to inform the other.
The first school house was built on the hill a few rods southwest of where James Heath now lives, and Zephaniah Leonard taught
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the first school. The next house was. built a few years later, on James Moorman's land, not far from the southwest corner ; Thomas P. Moorman taught the first school here. These schools were all supported by subscription; text books-Webster's spelling book, English reader, New Testament scriptures, Pike's arthmetic, Mur- rey's grammar, and writing. There were no copy-plates or printed instructions, the scholar depending entirely upon the instruction of the master, who would set copies, and show the pupil how to hold the pen, as well as to make and mend the same. They were all made of quills.
Thomas C. Moorman, sr., like a shock of wheat fully ripe, was ready for the harvest December 26, 1845, aged eighty-nine years. His estimable 'wife survived him six years, and was gathered to her everlasting home on August 18, 1851, aged ninety-nine years, lacking one day. Her's was a long and eventful life. Having the principal care of the moral training of a large family, together with the hardships incident to pioneer life, these conspired to make it a hard one, yet patiently and perseveringly she endured to the end. She was christened in the Established Church of England, but at about the age of eighteen, she was converted to Christianity, and joined the Society of Friends, and was a faithful and exemplary member during life, beloved and esteemed for her deeds of charity by all who knew her.
Reuben, oldest son of Thomas, married Lydia Johnson; had six children : Edwin O., Reuben, John T., Paulina, Charlotte, and Nancy. Micajah C. married Susanna Johnson, his first, and Ann Thomas, his second wife. By his first wife he had eight children : Thomas C., Christopher, Reuben, Apharacia, Mildred, Elizabeth, Polly, and Nancy. John H. married Elizabeth Johnson, and had seven children : Lodawic, James M., John, Lucy, Beteann, Virginia, and Missouri. Chiles married Elizabeth Watson, and had nine children : Thomas T., Watson, John, David, Matilda, Nancy, Leah, Malinda, and Elonar. Thomas P. married Dosha Paxon, and had thirteen children : John, Thomas C., James, Paxon, William N., Nancy, Melissa, Susanna, Apharacia, Mary, Elizabeth, Rachel, and Martha. James married Elizabeth Johnson, his first, and Mary Sexton, his second wife. By his first wife he had nine children : Manson H., Henry T., James, Reuben, Emily, Mary, Mildred, and Elizabeth. Charles T. Moorman married Matilda Watson. They had thirteen children : John M., Micajah F., Marshall, Jesse, Mat-
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
thew, Charles T., Paschal L., Eli W., Elizabeth Ann, Maria W., Malinda, Matilda, and Margaret.
Naney, their only daughter, married Pleasant Johnson, and had nine children : Thomas, William, Edwin O., Virgil, Jarvis L., Eli P., Apharacia, Palina, and Nancy.
Thomas C. Moorman, sr's, children are all dead. except James, who lives near Oldtown, three and one-half miles north of Xenia, and is in good health, being about ninety years old. Micajah F. Moorman, second son of Charles T. Moorman, sr., was born on the 8th of February, 1824; commenced the practice of medicine in Jamestown, in the spring of 1858; and was married to Julia A. Thompson, September 19, 1866. She was born October 22, 1832, in Guilford County, North Carolina.
David Moorman, farmer, is a son of Chiles and Elizabeth (Wat- son) Moorman, who were natives of Virginia, where they were reared. He came to Ohio, in 1807, located in Highland County, where he remained until 1809, when he came to this county, where he was married and lived the remainder of his life. Mr. Moorman came to this county, about 1810. They were parents of nine chil- dren, of whom six are living. He was born in this township, Sep- tember 29, 1829, where he was reared, and where he was married, January 4, 1856, to Miss Kate McAdams, a daughter of Francis; of which union there were five children; William C., Harry L., Anna M., and Estella C., are living; Ida May, who died at the age of six years. Mr. and Mrs. Moorman, are members of the Friends Church, which they joined in 1870. His father had been a men- ber of this church for years, and was among the pioneers of this township, and owned about three hundred acres of land, of which David has fifty acres situated about one and one-half miles east of Jamestown.
John C. Patterson, farmer, is a member of a pioneer family. His parents, John C., and Elizabeth (McFarland) Patterson, having come to Ohio, in 1815, located in Warren County, where they re- mained about twenty years, when they came to this county. They were natives of Greene County, Pennsylvania, where they were reared and married. When they came to this county, they located on a farm of one hundred and thirty acres, then in Cæsar's Creek, now in Jasper Township, where they remained twelve years. Here they cleared seventy acres of land, then went into the woods again and cleared another farm, in the same survey, where they died.
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