USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 11
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Walter C. Moorhead started a shop at Hartford on June 16, 1909, and he has already built up an excellent trade which extends to surrounding towns, even beyond Ava. Some coming from a distance and finding him too busy, return again rather than have their work done in their home town. A very large number of the horses in Pleasant City are brought to him at Hartford to be shod. Although a rapid workman, he is always busy and has to turn away work for lack of time.
Mr. Moorhead married Clara B. Mercer and by this union four children were born, Oscar, Ada, Jessie and Edna. His first wife died August 19,
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1899, after they had been married eleven years. He afterwards married Mrs. Mary (Hardesty) Fitch, on August 4, 1900. Her death occurred on Novem- ber 4th following, just three months after this second marriage. On April 24, 1902, he married Stella Hardesty, sister of his second wife, and to this union two children were born, a daughter, Virgil, and a son, Delmas. Mr. Moorhead's oldest daughter, Ada, is a teacher in the public schools, and his son, Oscar, is also licensed to teach.
Mr. Moorhead belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellow's and the Knights of Pythias, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Senecaville, where they maintain their home.
JOHN OGIER, JR.
The memory of the worthy subject of this biography is revered by a host of friends and acquaintances among whom he labored, having spent his energies through a long life of strenuous endeavor to make the most of his opportunities as well as to assist as best he could his neighbors to improve their condition. In all the relations of life he proved signally true to every trust ; possessing a social nature, by his genial and kindly attitude to those about him he won and retained the friendship and good will of all who knew him.
John Ogier, Jr., late of Cambridge, Ohio, and one of Guernsey county's most representative citizens, was born one and one-half miles north of this city, in 1829, the son of sterling pioneer parents, Thomas and Mary (Martin) Ogier. Thomas Ogier was a highly educated man, having received his edu- cation in the University of England, and he came to America from the isle of Guernsey with the early pioneers from that famed isle in the English Chan- nel who first settled Guernsey county, Ohio. He was a man of wide influence because of his high integrity and learning. He prospered here. becoming a large land owner, and he proved his ability and courage in surmounting many great difficulties that beset the life of one who dared take up his residence in a land filled with wild beasts and Indians, remote from the centers of civili- zation. Here he did his full share in starting the physical and moral develop- ment of this section and was a potent factor in the early stages of the county's advancement. He spent much of his time in labors for the general good while the newcomers were busy clearing the land and establishing homes; he was untiring in his efforts to establish schools and churches.
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John Ogier, Jr., grew to maturity in the midst of primitive surround- ings and under the wholesome influence of his discreet father's home. His education was made a matter of special care of the father, Thomas Ogier, although the son had only the advantages of the schools established in the new country, where facilities of all kinds were very meager, but under the personal instruction of his able and learned father he laid a broad and excel- lent foundation for an education which was later supplemented by home study and actual contact with the world.
The son, John Ogier, Jr., grew to young manhood in his native com- munity and early in life knew the meaning of hard work in the woods and on the farm, very willingly performing each task set him. He was married on October 15, 1875, to Sarepta Bonnell, daughter of Lloyd L. and Mariah (Sarchet) Bonnell. The Bonnells were a Virginia family, the ancestry originally coming from France, and were among the early settlers of Guern- sey county. The Sarchets were among the first from the isle of Guernsey to come to this county.
To Mr. and Mrs. John Ogier, Jr., one son was born, Thomas, who is engaged in the real estate business in Cambridge. After his marriage Mr. Ogier continued to live on the old home farm, and he became a large land owner and prosperous farmer. He was a man thoroughly alive to the neces- sities of the times and he gave liberally of his time and means to advance that which was best calculated to advance the material and moral welfare of the peo- ple ; he was devoted to his home and home surroundings. He was a man of broad views and positive convictions, yet possessing a liberal charity for those of opposite views. He was a Republican in politics and active in all public matters, though he never aspired to positions of public trust. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and a trustee in the same for many years and always active in church work and in the support of the same. The death of this excellent citizen occurred on June 15, 1891, resulting from an accident with a team of horses which ran away. He is buried in the Cam- bridge cemetery. No man left behind a more commendable record for upright living, his long life having been spent for the good of his community. He was a man of the highest sense of right and was honored and respected by all, a man of sterling integrity and fair in his dealings at all times.
The son, Thomas Ogier, resides with his mother in Cambridge, and is a well liked citizen and successful business man. He was educated in the public schools of this city, he and his mother having moved here soon after the father's death. After leaving the Cambridge high school he attended Scio College and since reaching manhood he has given his time to superintending
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the farmsteads in Cambridge township left by his father, and he also deals in real estate in the city and county. His mother has a host of warm personal friends throughout the county, is a lady of intelligence and refinement, fa- miliar with the world's best literature and the possessor of many estimable traits of character. She has been an able assistant in the management of the large and valuable estate left by her husband. She and her son are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church and active in church work, she being a leader in the societies of the local church. No family in the county is held in higher esteem than the Ogiers.
JAMES ELMER PATTON, M. D.
Good intellectual training, thorough professional knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attributes essential to success, have made Dr. James Elmer Patton eminent in his chosen calling, and he stands today among the enterprising and successful physicians in a community noted for the high order of its medical talent, while at the same time he has won the confidence and esteem of the people of Guernsey county for his upright life and genial disposition.
Doctor Patton was born on November 6, 1873, in Adams township, this county, not far from New Concord. He is the son of Robert W. and Martha E. (Mintier) Patton. The father was born in 1848 near Claysville, being the son of Hugh Patton, who came here from Harrison county prior to 1848, locating near Claysville, where he prospered, becoming the owner of three or four hundred acres of land, a part of which is now known as the Cook farm. He and his wife were well known to the early day settlers here and they both died in the fifties.
Martha E. ( Mintier ) Patton, mother of the Doctor, was the daughter of Thomas H. Mintier, who now lives at Rix Mills. She was born near Clays- ville and she grew to maturity and was educated there. Her parents came from Harrison county. After the Doctor's birth his parents moved to Mus- kingum county, locating near Rix Mills, where the father bought land, and there James E. grew to maturity and assisted with the general work about the place, attending the local schools, later went to Muskingum College about three years, then completed his literary education at Ohio Northern Univer- sity, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1899. He had long fostered a laudable ambition to become a medical practitioner and, with that end in
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view, he entered Starling Medical College at Columbus, Ohio, where he made a splendid record and from which institution he was graduated in 1903. In the latter part of that year he located at Byesville, which had been his home ever since and where he has enjoyed a large and growing practice, and hold- ing prestige second to none in the healing art, standing high among his pro- fessional brethren and the people in general. He has kept abreast of the times in all matters pertaining to his line of endeavor and is a broad-minded, capable, genteel, kindly-disposed gentleman. He is a member of the Guernsey County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Association and the Amer- ican Medical Association. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Byesville.
On December 23, 1903, Doctor Patton was united in marriage with Lucretia Harlin, who was born and rcared at Tonganoxie, Kansas. She is the daughter of P. H. and Charlotte J. (Ackley) Harlin and Doctor Patton met her in 1897 when traveling through the West. This union has been graced by the birth of one daughter, Roberta Ernestine. The Doctor and his wife are both members of the Methodist Protestant church. Their home is a very desirable property, well located in the central part of Byesville, and it is known as a place of good cheer to their many friends.
JOHN M. AMOS.
The name of John M. Amos stands deservedly high in the list of enter- prising business men of Guernsey county, his long, useful and unusually active career having been fraught with much good to himself and family and also to those who have come into contact with him. His life has been such that he is held in the highest esteem by all classes. He was born August 20, 1839, in Belmont county, five miles north of St. Clairsville. His parents were James G. and Jane (Gillespie) Amos. In April, 1848, these parents, with their four sons, settled in Monroe county, now Noble county, near Summerfield, where John M. grew to young manhood, working on the home farm and attending school each winter. In 1856 he spent the winter with his uncle, John Major, after whom he was named, in Belmont county, where he had the advantage of instruction under Alex. Wilson, a graduate of Franklin College and a renowned teacher. He became well educated and began teaching in the common schools at the age of eighteen years, and, saving his earnings, he began a course of study under the care
Fahrrad Amo.
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of Joseph C. Clark and Capt. William Wheeler, where he was a fellow pupil with John Hamilton, now a noted bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church. Later he entered, as a student, Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, when Rev. Dr. Loomis was its president, but owing to the breaking out of the Civil war his regular course of study was interrupted, and after one year in Ontario Academy, under the instruction of Professor Boyd, he pur- sued his studies as he taught school and worked on the farm, until, by private study and occasional recitations to tutors, among whom were the late J. S. Foreman and D. S. Spriggs, he completed a course of legal studies and was admitted to practice law in the state courts and later in the federal courts. He was also honored with the degree of Master of Arts by Allegheny Col- lege. He holds a high school life certificate from the board of state school examiners.
Mr. Amos pursued teaching as the principal of schools in Batesville and Caldwell and at the same time reviewing his legal studies, and he later en- gaged for about ten years in the practice of law. In 1872 he formed a law partnership with Fred W. Moore, an excellent young lawyer, and they bought the Caldwell Democratic newspaper, but Mr. Moore's death soon afterwards left Mr. Amos with the entire management of the newspaper and of their law business, which he soon practically abandoned and ever since has devoted his time and attention to journalism, from 1872 to 1884 with the Caldwell Press, and from 1886 to the present time with the Cambridge Jeffersonian, which he bought of the late John Kirkpatrick. He is now the president of the Jeffersonian Company and senior editor of the daily and weekly editions. He has been very successful in the field of journalism. He has made his paper here one of the best in every respect in this part of the state, valued as a news disseminator, an advertising medium and as an exponent of the people's rights. It is attractive in mechanical appearance and shows at a glance that it is under a splendid system and able manage- ment. It has rapidly increased in circulation, and the plant is equipped with modern appliances and is a valuable property.
Mr. Amos was married in 1862 to Elizabeth Franklin Mcclintock, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James McClintock, of Noble county, formerly of Pittsburg. Pennsylvania. To this union six children were born, four sons and two daughters, all living except the eldest son. James Ernest, whose death occurred on February 22, 1891, and the youngest daughter, who was called away in August, 1873. The wife and mother passed to her rest in 1873. Mr. Amos was married again, in 1875, to Mary E. Waller, of Jackson township, Guernsey county, who died September II. 1904. To this last
(35)
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union two sons, Harry W. and Frank B., were born. Four of Mr. Amos's sons are now associated with him as stockholders of the Jeffersonian Com- pany, in Cambridge. One son is superintendent of the J. E. Addison Manu- facturing Company and resides in Belmont, Ohio. The surviving daughter, Mrs. Kate A. Barker, resides with her father in Cambridge. All these chil- dren are married and five of them reside in Cambridge. Those associated with Mr. Amos in business are Thomas E., William Herbert, Harry W. and Frank B. John W. resides in Belmont, Ohio. The sons are all bright, well educated and enterprising business men and the entire family stands high in all circles.
U. C. PURDUM, D. D. S.
We here mention one of the citizens of Cambridge who can justly point with pride to his ancestors as honorable men of true worth, who gained by their many good qualities the esteem and respect of those who knew them, and who has himself made such a success of life as to be in every way a credit to his forefathers and to his city.
U. C. Purdum was born in Washington, Guernsey county, Ohio, on April 28, 1871, the son of Zachary A. and Mary E. (Colley ) Purdum. Elisha G. Purdum, his grandfather, came at an early day from near Baltimore, Maryland, to Center township, Guernsey county. He was a farmer and lived until 1901, dying in Idaho, where he had moved some years previously, most of his family having preceded him. Six sons and four daughters were born to him: Ann Rebecca, now Mrs. S. S. Sultzer, of Flushing. Ohio; Zachary A., deceased, father of U. C .; Rodolphus, of Nampa, Idaho; Chris- tian R., deceased ; Thomas, deceased ; William L., deceased; Mary E., now Mrs. Henry Wilterding, of Nampa, Idaho; Della, now Mrs. Melville For- dyce, of Cambridge ; John A., in government employ in the canal zone; and May, deceased.
Zachary A. Purdum was in the livery and stock business for many years in Washington. Guernsey county, then was three years in Idaho, returning to Cambridge, where he was engaged in the livery business until his death, Oc- tober 16, 1900. He was a man of influence and force, and had accumu- lated quite an estate in land and property.
Archibald Shipley, of the father's maternal ancestry, came to this county early from near Baltimore. He became quite prominent and was a large land owner and tobacco merchant. On account of his geniality and broad
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views on public questions, he was very popular, and was active in political affairs, but never held office. He died many years ago, highly respected by all who knew him.
The Colley family came early from near Baltimore. William Colley, father of Mrs. Purdum, was first a teamster over the National pike from Cumberland, Maryland, west, but soon after coming to Guernsey county en- gaged in the marble business in Washington, Adanisville and Zanesville. He was a man of high standing, whose counsel was often sought, and who filled many of the important offices of the township where he lived. Both Mr. Purdum and Mr. Colley were Democrats in politics. Mr. Colley and his family moved in the best circles. He died in January, 1891, and his widow on August 25, 1897. Both are buried in Washington cemetery. They were the parents of six children: Mary E., now Mrs. Zachary A. Purdum, of Cambridge; John Oscar, of Cambridge; Rolland W., of Columbus, Ohio; Amanda V., of Cambridge; Jennie N., of Cambridge ; Annie H., deceased, who was Mrs. Pearl McCreary.
To Mr. and Mrs. Zachary Purdum one son was born, U. C. Purdum, the subject of this sketch. He attended the public schools of Washington, and after graduating from them attended the Ohio College of Dental Surgery at Cincinnati, graduating in 1891. He practiced in Nampa, Idaho, for two years before graduation. After graduation he went to Pittsburg, where he remained one year. In 1892 he went to Buffalo for two years, practicing in the employ of other dentists. In 1894 he came to Cambridge and opened an office for himself, and has since been here. His office is finely equipped for the successful practice of scientific dentistry, and he has all the modern ap- pliances. He has been more than ordinarily successful in his profession.
Mr. Purdum was married on January 16, 1901, to Bertha May Shroyer, daughter of Solomon H. and Eliza (Brannan) Shroyer. Mr. Shroyer is a prominent man in Cambridge township, Guernsey county, and a farmer of considerable means. His family of four consists of Jennie T., now Mrs. J. W. Jacques, of Ft. Wayne. Indiana ; Henry C., of Cambridge; Howard S., of Cambridge ; and Bertha May, all of them living lives of worth. To Mr. and Mrs. Purdum has been born one son, Ralph E., a bright lad of seven years.
Doctor Purdum is a Democrat in politics, as were all his ancestors, but is not active, though interested in public affairs. He is a member of Cam- bridge lodge of Odd Fellows, and was a charter member of the Odd Fel- low's lodge of Nampa, Idaho, taking much interest in the order. He and his family are members of the Methodist church, also his mother, who now makes her home with her son. Mr. and Mrs. Purdum are prominent in the social
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life of the city. Mr. Purdum is a lover of a good horse and keeps a fine fam- ily driver, also enjoys a day's hunting or fishing as a relaxation from busi- ness. Being fond of athletics, he delights in a good game of baseball or foot- ball. In all respects he is a strong man, and he and his family stand high in the community.
DAVID LINN.
Prominent among the agricultural residents of Guernsey county is Squire David Linn, who is recognized over the county as a most progressive and capable farmer, one who has chosen to ennoble his chosen occupation, and who not only secures larger yields and greater profits than the majority of his neighbors, but who also obtains from his vocation a larger amount of contentment than the average man receives in life, and who has done much to aid in the development of his community.
David Linn was born about four miles southwest of Cambridge, Guern- sey county, on September 3. 1841, the fifth of nine children born to Samuel and Sarah Ann (Stout) Linn. Samuel Linn left his father's home in West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1807, when he was sixteen years old. He traveled west through the woods until he got to Guernsey county, and located at the place where David Linn was born, where he cut logs and built a little cabin. Then he went back after his father and two sisters, who con- stituted the family, the mother being dead. His father was at one time a very wealthy man, but had lost all. A few years later Sarah Ann Stout, then a young girl, came with her father from the foot of the Catskill mountains in New York and located just half a mile west of Samuel Linn's farm. The young people met, became attached to each other, and in course of time be- came man and wife. To their union were born nine children : Hugh, Samuel Morris, Nathan Johnston, Mary Ellen (the wife of J. T. Hartong), David, Sarah Elizabeth, Matilda Jane (the wife of James Mahaffey), Margaret Ellen and James Stout. Samuel Linn improved the farm on which he first located, and became prosperous and influential in the community. He died on this farm in 1880, aged eighty-eight years.
David Linn was educated in Muskingum College, and for eighteen years was an able teacher in the schools of Guernsey county, whose success was recognized by the profession and the public. At the time of his father's death he bought out the other heirs to his father's farm and began farming. He has made many improvements since that time, and it is easily apparent
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to the traveler that he has the best improved farm and the finest farm build- ings between Cambridge and Claysville. All the buildings are painted white and the most of them have slate roofs. Mr. Linn says that experience has taught him that good barns pay their own cost five times over. For thirty- two years he has lived on this farm of one hundred and sixty acres and cul- tivated it, raising crops which are the admiration of his neighbors. His wife also owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres north of Cambridge, which is well improved with a brick house and enormous barn.
For many years Mr. Linn has been justice of the peace, and has become widely known for the justice and reasonableness of his decisions, while he has never during all this time charged a fee. In 1910 he was appointed on the ap- praisement board, and resigned the office of justice of the peace.
On June 3, 1881, David Linn was married to Ellen Oldham, who was born near Barnes' mill at Pleasant Valley, Guernsey county, Ohio. Isaac Oldham, her grandfather, was born in Ohio county, Virginia, and there married Sarah Marling, of Maryland. Soon after he left her and, with his all on his shoulders, walked to this county, and locating on Wills creek, four miles north of Cambridge, where I. J. Oldham now lives, built a small cabin, and then returned for his wife. His father drove them through in a wagon, and on April 4, 1806, they set up housekeeping in that cabin, the first summer living in it without floor or door, or daubing between the logs. Their near- est neighbor was two miles east of Cambridge, and there was but one family
in Cambridge, the Van Rensselaers, at Wheeling and Seventh streets. There were many wild animals in the forests and a tribe of Indians was encamped in sight. Until the war of 1812 they toiled on in their new home. In 1807 Mrs. Oldham returned to her old home on a visit, making the trip on horse- back, and on her return her brother gave her an appletree switch. Arriving at home, she stuck it out back of her little cabin, little thinking that she would ever gather fruit from it, but the tree is still standing, over one hundred years old, and bearing early apples. They reared eight children, and lived to a ripe old age. After their death, their son, Marling Oldham, bought the farm, and at his death it became the property of his son, Isaac J. Oldham, the present owner.
Marling Oldham, the father of Mrs. Linn, was born on the farm where his father settled in 1806. He married Isabel Marling, who was a native of Maryland, but who was living in Ohio county. Virginia, at the time of her marriage. Marling Oldham bought other land and became the owner of three hundred acres, of which Mrs. Linn now owns part. Mrs. Linn grew up on the old farm, one of five children, two of whom died in infancy. The
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others are Mrs. Elizabeth Campbell and Isaac J. Oldham. In 1906 the Old- ham family celebrated on the old farm, with appropriate exercises, the cen- tennial of the arrival in Guernsey county of Isaac Oldham.
Mr. and Mrs. Linn have shown foresight by already preparing a large monument to be erected at their grave, although the memory of their lives and characters will be a monument even more substantial than this. On June 3, 1906, Mr. and Mrs. Linn had been married for twenty-five years, and Mr. Linn planned a silver wedding celebration as a surprise to his wife, at which one hundred and thirty-two people were present and wished the for- tunate couple many more years of the happy wedded life which has been theirs. Mrs. Linn similarly surprised Mr. Linn on the occasion of his sixty- eighth birthday.
Mr. and Mrs. Linn have taken eight different children from the orphans' home, and have given to them parental care, and six of them are now out in the world for themselves, doing well. They are: Thomas Powell, a farmer of Pennsylvania : William Styles, a farmer of Michigan; Cora Wendal, who married Arthur Wilkins, of Whiting, Indiana ; James Franks, deceased; Han- nah Sturtz, now bookkeeper and stenographer at the Harris Bread Board Factory, at a good salary ; Minerva Hale, now living in Cambridge; Thomas Albert Young, and May Jewel, now living with Mr. and Mrs. Linn. Surely heaven will reward the beneficence of this good couple in providing a home for these bereaved children, and in bringing them up to become useful men and women.
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