USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 16
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James Cubbison grew to maturity on the home farm, and on August 20. 1853, he was married to Ellen Nelson, daughter of Peter and Catherine Ann (Winters) Nelson. She was born and reared in Spencer township, this county. Her father was born near Delaware river in eastern Pennsylvania. while the birthplace of the mother was New Jersey. Peter Nelson and wife came to Guernsey county in the spring of 1833 and located where Mrs. Cub- bison was born.
The subject has devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits all his life, as before intimated, and he is the owner of an excellent farm in the eastern part of Spencer township, where he has spent most of his life, being very suc- cessful as a general farmer ; but in the fall of 1910 he moved to Cumberland. where he is now spending his declining years in peace, surrounded by all the comforts of life as a result of his former years of activity.
Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cubbison, namely : Dana, Pulaski (see sketch), James Quick, Mrs. Ella Belle Jordan, Jennie, Mrs. Iva Turvy and May.
Mr. and Mrs. Cubbison both belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. the latter having been a member of the same for over sixty years. This fine old couple, whom every one highly respects, were married fifty-seven years ago, dating from August, 1910.
During the dark days of the early sixties, Mr. Cubbison proved his loyalty to the government by serving in the Union army as a member of Company C, One Hundred and Seventy-second Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Jacob Winters, the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Cubbison, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, enlisting from New Jersey.
WILLIAM DENNISON GREGG.
The history of Valley township. Guernsey county, would be incomplete without mention of a man of excellent family and wide acquaintance, an able farmer and efficient miner, whose worthy character has gained for him many friends-William Dennison Gregg. He was born in Buffalo township, Noble county, Ohio, on October 4, 1859, the son of Col. William J. and Mary Ellen (Ball) Gregg.
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Col. William Jackson Gregg was born in Buffalo township, Noble county. Ohio. on September 2, 1830, the son of Jacob and Nancy (Heel) Gregg, both of whom were natives of Wales. William J. grew to manhood in the town- ship of his birth. In 1855 he married Mary Ellen Ball, the daughter of Jonas and Amy (Archer ) Ball, who was born at Sarahsville, Noble county, and lived there until her marriage. Her father was from Wales and her mother was born in Noble county. After their marriage, William J. Gregg and his wife lived on a farm in Buffalo township. In 1862 he enlisted in Company I, Sixty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served about a year, when he re- ceived a discharge because of sickness. After his return he joined the state militia, and became a colonel in that organization after the war. He spent his life in farming, and was one of the prominent agriculturists of his county. In politics he was a Republican, and for six years was commissioner of Noble county, besides holding other offices. In August, 1887, Colonel Gregg moved to what has ever since been the Gregg home, along the north line of Noble county, about two and one-half miles southeast of Hartford, Guernsey county. Colonel Gregg and his wife were both members of the Methodist Protestant church. He died on January 30, 1905, and his wife is still living on the home place in Noble county, which is just across the county line from the Walhond- ing mine No. 2 in Valley township, Guernsey county. Colonel Gregg was a man of much influence in his neighborhood, and highly respected.
Colonel and Mrs. Gregg became the parents of eight children: Jonas Homer, of Missouri; Mrs. Amy Ann Secrest, deceased ; William Dennison ; Mrs. Alice Pearl Secrest, deceased ; Mary Emily, now Mrs. Simon Isaac Dud- ley : Martha Jane, the wife of Charles Sherman Dotts, of Pleasant City; Louisa Belle, widow of Martin V. Cale ; Carrie, wife of Samuel Clark Groves, whose sketch see elsewhere.
William Dennison Gregg grew to manhood on his father's farm in Noble county. On March 1, 1887, he was married to Leah Birdilin Drake, the daughter of John W. and Mary ( Larrick) Drake. She was born near Mt. Zion in Buffalo township, Noble county, on March 14, 1865. Her father, John Wesley Drake, was born on February 2, 1837, and died on December 26. 1004. Ile was the son of Elisha and Rebecca ( Clark) Drake. Through Rebecca Clark, the family traces back its ancestry to a soldier in the American Revolution. Rebecca was the daughter of Benjamin and ( Gregory) Clark. Benjamin Clark, who lived from 1790 to 1872, was the son of a Revolutionary soldier.
The Drake ancestry can be traced back as follows : John Wesley was the son of Elisha, who was the son of John and (Kackly) Drake. John
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Drake's mother was a White before marriage, and the mother of Kackly, his wife, was a Whitman before marrying his father.
Mrs. Gregg's mother was from an old pioneer family in Guernsey and Noble counties. She was the daughter of James Hall Larrick and Margaret (Dudley ) Larrick. James Hall Larrick was the son of Jacob Larrick ( born on June 30, 1773) and Catherine ( Spillman ) Larrick ( born on April 2, 1785 ). Jacob Larrick was a son of Frederick Larrick.
For four years after marriage Mr. and Mrs. Gregg lived in Noble county. but in 1892 he bought a farm bordering on the south line of the eastern por- tion of Valley township, and has ever since been a resident of Guernsey county. His residence is large, well built and well kept, situated on high ground over- looking the valley near the Walhonding mine No. 2. Besides farming. he has engaged in coal mining for many years.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Gregg: Roy Raymond, born on January 26, 1888; Lora Lenore, born on May 9. 1890, and Byron, born on November 16, 1901. Mrs. Gregg died on November 23, 1901. She was a true helpmate, a loving mother, and a consistent Christian, both she and Mr. Gregg being members of the Methodist Protestant church. Mr. Gregg is a Republican in politics. He is a reckoned among the solid and substantial citi- zens of his community.
JACOB F. SECREST.
Jacob F. Secrest is remembered as a man of fine characteristics and a citizen of a high standard. He was born in Buffalo township, Noble county, Ohio, in July, 1831, and was the son of Isaac and Mary ( Slater ) Secrest, the latter being the daughter of John Slater, a Welshman who came to America in an early day and delighted in hunting deer with the Indians. Isaac Secrest was the son of Jacob Secrest, a German, who came from Virginia to Buffalo township, Noble county, Ohio, in an early day and located there. Jacob F. Secrest grew up at Pleasant City and ran the mill there from fifteen to twenty years. About 1875 Mrs. Secrest inherited a part of a farm west of Pleasant City and Mr. Secrest bought out the other heirs and there they made their home the balance of their lives. They became the parents of seventeen children, four of whom died in early childhood : thirteen of them are now liv- ing, nine sons and four daughters, namely : Charles W. is living on the old home place ; Andrew J. lives near the old home ; Mary Rosella, wife of Doctor Kackley, of Pleasant City; Ida M., widow of S. A. Bird, lives in Cambridge ;
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William Boone lives near the old home west of Pleasant City; Rebecca J., wife of Pulaski Cubbison, living in the west part of Valley township; Oleetha, wife of Charles S. Messer, lives in Fairview ; Curtis lives near the old home ; Levi E. lives west of Blue Bell in the edge of Spencer township; Francis M. also lives near the old home ; Other B., Noah Homer and John J. A. also live near the old home.
Politically, Jacob P. Secrest was a Republican and for a number of years ably served as trustee of Valley township. He was a Mason fraternally, and took an active interest in lodge work, for many years being master of the Pleasant City lodge. He also belonged to the chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Caldwell. He was a member of the Methodist church and was class leader in the same for many years. The death of this excellent citizen occurred on March 20, 1901. His widow, now seventy years of age, still lives on the old home place, strong and active for one of her years. She, too, is a faithful member of the Methodist church.
Mr. Secrest was the owner of an excellent and well-kept farm of two hundred and sixty acres west of Pleasant City. About thirty acres of this land has been laid off in town lots and comprises part of the Fairview addition to Pleasant City.
DAVID D. TAYLOR.
Few men of Guernsey county were as widely and favorably known as the late David D. Taylor, of Cambridge, who for more than three decades wielded a powerful and potent influence through the medium of the Guernsey Times, long recognized as one of the best edited newspapers in this part of the state. He was one of the strong and influential citizens whose lives have become an essential part of the history of this section of the state and for years his name was synonymous for all that constituted honorable and upright manhood. Tireless energy, keen perception and honesty of purpose, combined with every- day common sense, were among his chief characteristics and while advancing individual success he also largely promoted the moral and material welfare of his community.
David D. Taylor was born July 24, 1842, in Oxford township, Guernsey county, Ohio, and came to Cambridge with his parents in 1860. He led the life of a country lad in his youth and until he was eighteen years of age he at- tended school in that old district which has become a sort of mecca of patriots and statesmen and is celebrated in story and song as "Pennyroyaldom." Prac-
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DAVID D. TAYLOR.
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tically a farmer, something of a coal miner and a fairly expert typographer, he had taught a term of school and served four months as a soldier in the Union army, before casting his first vote for Brough as against Vallandig- ham in 1863. With a previous training at the Fairview select school of his brother, the late Congressman J. D. Taylor, he took a term at the Cambridge high school with Dr. S. J. Kirkwood, later professor of mathematics in Wooster University, and for a time attended a special select school taught in Cambridge by Rev. John S. Speer; D. D. He was a successful teacher, active in institute and other educational work, one of the four charter members of the Eastern Ohio Teachers' Association, served as school examiner of Guernsey county with Dr. John McBurney and Hon. R. S. Frame; served as coroner of Guernsey county once, and was postmaster of Cambridge for twelve years, first by appointment of General Grant, serving under four Presidents. In many public matters, in educational affairs, institutes and literary societies he was an organizer and leader. He was for a long time an officer in the Methodist Episcopal church, and as president of the Guernsey County Sunday School Union for seven years, he conducted large and interesting annual con- ventions. The presiding genius and program maker of the Pennyroyal Re- union, he gave that society a state-wide reputation as the greatest of all har- vest-home picnics. And all the while, he was, with brief intervals, connected with the Guernsey Times, the oldest paper in Guernsey county and one of the stanchest of Republican organs; first as an apprentice, local editor, partner sixteen years, and then sole proprietor and editor-in-chief until his death. As early as 1870 he had a financial interest in the Times and he made an outright purchase of a half interest on January 1, 1874, becoming sole proprietor in 1890.
To fight Democracy was a second nature to David Taylor, and in this business he was an old campaigner; but he made no compromises with what he considered to be wrong or unfair in his own party. As a result of his peculiar radicalism along this line, he was defeated by a narrow margin for the Legislature in 1887, although he had been fairly nominated on the first ballot over half a dozen other good candidates in the convention. At the next recurring convention he was again nominated by a unanimous vote, every one of the one hundred and forty-two delegates rising to his feet, and he was elected over the strongest candidate that the Democrats could set against him, and in that off-year (1889) Guernsey county gave the Republican nominee for governor, J. B. Foraker, a gain of one hundred over his vote of 1887, for re-election to a third term. In the next campaign, when Mr. Taylor was again the unanimous choice of his party, the Democratic, Prohibitionist and People's
(38)
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parties combined to defeat him, and incidentally a United States senator, and traded off everything and anything from governor down to accomplish their purpose ; but in this contest he gained his most signal triumph, coming out with a majority over all, which was almost equivalent to the high-tide Repub- lican plurality of about one thousand for Mckinley for governor.
As a member of the sixty-ninth and seventieth General Assemblies he was prominent and was author of the standard time law, the "masher" law, and hazing law, the first of which stopped every court house clock in the state about thirty minutes and made the time the same in every city. He was a member of the Commercial Congress held in Kansas City, being appointed by Governor Campbell. At the inauguration of William McKinley as governor, Mr. Taylor was a member of the escort committee and rode with Mckinley and retiring Governor Campbell in the inaugural procession, being the repre- sentative of the lower house of the Legislature. While a member of the lat- ter body he became popularly known as "Guernsey Taylor." In 1899 he was a candidate in the Guernsey district for state senator and greatly reduced the large Democratic majority. His last political ambition was for the nomina- tion of his party as their candidate for lieutenant-governor, and he had re- ceived testimonials from newspapers and friends in every part of Ohio prom- ising support, but this campaign was hardly on until he was taken sick, when he laid the whole matter aside in an effort for return to health.
Mr. Taylor's career was one of real accomplishment. Born among the unproductive hills of Guernsey county, he had a boyhood of hard work, went to the front when a boy of only eighteen years as a private in the Eighty-fifth Ohio Regiment, and after the war learned the printing trade, when he gradu- ated into the editorial chair. The immediate clientele of his paper, the Guern- sey Times, was not large, but it is doubtful if any rural weekly had a wider political influence. The paper was Taylor and Taylor was the paper. If he was for anybody or anything, there never was any doubt about it. He said what he felt, and he said it vigorously, and kept on saying it until his views made an indelible impression on his readers. He was an honest and true man, genial and generous. He was a friend, upon whose friendship one could rely whenever the opportunity offered for its service, and he was never in the "doubtful" column. He was of high character and his purposes were always true. He was a clear thinker and a vigorous writer. He had am- bition, and rightfully so, but he never fought save in the open, commanding the respect of both friends and opponents. As a legislator he was as breezy, aggressive and industrious as he was as an editor. It was his bill which made standard time legal in Ohio.
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One morning the papers contained an account of an unusually pitiable case of deception of woman. "Guernsey's" wrath rose. He quickly drafted a bill and made a speech which sent the bill racing through both houses. Hence the so-called "masher" law, applicable to married men who represent them- selves as single.
David D. Taylor knew no environment. All lines that were for the bet- terment of men and things were his and he used all of his powers for this pur- pose in all of the sixty-two years of his life. He signed the Washingtonian pledge at two years old with his baby hand in that of his mother and most faithfully did he keep the pledge and the Guernsey Times has been the ex- ponent of temperance that has kept the county in the front rank in that re- form. His truth and integrity none ever doubted and none ever dared to openly gainsay. In all of his many battles in his political career he was always glad and ready to shake the hand of the foe when the battle was over. He used all of his weapons and fought an open fight, but always with no characteristics of the assassin and with no personal feeling against the foe. The poor never sought him in vain and the weak he regarded as worthy of his best help. He was not a man of great means, but no public enterprise of Cambridge lacked his help and advocacy.
Mr. Taylor died at the family home in Cambridge May 14, 1905, and is buried in the cemetery of his home city. He was a good citizen of Cambridge and of Ohio. His friends, loyal and loving, are numbered by the thousands. Richer in good will than in material wealth, he departed this life leaving a heritage of memory that should be enough to console the last moments of the most fortunate. He was a picturesque character. In politics, in the editorial sanctum and society his personality was magnetic and his responsibilities were borne with courage and fortitude. As an editor he wielded a trenchant pen, as a politician he was not confined to the narrow lines of partisanship. He ably and completely filled his place in life ; his duties were well performed.
In 1871 Mr. Taylor was married to Martha Craig, of Cambridge, and to them were born seven children, three of whom, Margaret McFadden, Sam- uel Craig and David Danner, died in childhood. Rowland Corwin Taylor is special agent of the interior department with headquarters at Boise, Idaho. Maxwood Petty Taylor is managing editor of The Teller, Lewiston, Idaho. John Sherman Taylor is a law student at the Ohio State University, and Martha Craig Taylor who, with her mother, resides in Cambridge. Mr. Taylor was the son of Alexander Dallas and Sarah (Danner) Taylor and was a member of a family of nine sons and three daughters. Of this large family the only survivors are Dr. G. K. Taylor, of Cincinnati, and T. C. Tay- lor, of Washington, D. C.
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ALEXANDER L. COEN.
The family from which Alexander L. Coen, of Washington, Wills town- ship, descended was long an influential one in Guernsey county, the older members doing much to start the physical and moral development of the same.
Mr. Coen was born March 22, 1864, on a farm one and one-half miles south of Washington, and is the son of Samuel and Mary (Ferguson) Coen. The father was born near Coen's Methodist Episcopal church in Noble county, Ohio. His grandfather, Richard Coen, was an early settler of Noble county and was the founder of the Coen Methodist Episcopal church, four miles southeast of Senecaville, Guernsey county. He was a devout churchman and prosperous farmer, clearing his farm from the woodland. He lived and died on the farm near the Coen church and is buried in the Coen church ceme- tery. His son, Samuel, the father of the subject, came to Guernsey county in 1855 and married Mary Ferguson, daughter of Lemen and Lurinza Fergu- son, an early pioneer family of Millwood township, Guernsey county. Sam- uel Coen engaged in farming and was a prosperous man. He was also an extensive stock dealer in connection with his farm interests. He was always a Republican in politics, but not active in party work. He filled several town- ship offices and was a man of affairs. He was a lifelong member of the Methodist Episcopal church and a devout churchman. He left the farm in 1882 and moved to Washington, where he resided until the time of his death, which occurred in October, 1900, and is buried in the cemetery at Washington. His widow still survives, aged seventy-eight years, at the old family home in Washington.
Samuel and Mary (Ferguson) Coen had only one child, Alexander L., the subject of this sketch. The son spent his childhood and youth on the home farm until fifteen years of age and he was educated in the country dis- trict schools. Later he attended the Washington high school, and later still spent one term at Lebanon Normal School in Warren county, Ohio. When aged about sixteen years, he became the engineer at the flour mill in Washing- ton, having learned the engineer's trade prior to that. He followed engineer- ing, both stationary and railroad, for about ten years, and when a state ex- amination and certificates were required for engineers in Ohio, Mr. Coen was the eleventh to receive a certificate in the state, and when he first had charge of an engine, at the age of sixteen years, was the youngest engineer in the state having charge of an engine.
Leaving engineering, he took up the study of optics at the South Bend College of Optics, at South Bend, Indiana. He received his degree of Doctor
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of Optics from the South Bend institution and the Jacksonian Optical College, Jackson, Michigan, and has followed the profession ever since, having offices and residence at Washington. He has a very complete optical outfit and is a recognized authority in his profession. He has also farm interests requiring considerable of his time. Mr. Coen has always been a Republican in politics. Has served as a member of the county election board and has been a frequent delegate to the various conventions.
Mr. Coen was married in December, 1887, to Nellie Chapman, daughter of Dr. James and Amanda (Weaver) Chapman, of Washington, where Doctor Chapman practiced medicine for many years, coming to Washington from Mount Vernon, Ohio. Doctor Chapman and wife have been dead for several years.
To Mr. and Mrs. Coen one daughter has been born, Nellie, now Mrs. John Williams, in business in Washington.
Mr. Coen is not a member of any church, but Mrs. Coen is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and their daughter is a member of the Presby- terian church. Mr. Coen occupies the old family home in Washington.
ANDREW S. T. JOHNSTON.
A popular and highly honored citizen of Byesville, Guernsey county, who is too well known to need any introduction by the biographer, is Andrew S. T. Johnston, who was born in Richhill township, Muskingum county, Ohio. March 15, 1855. He is the son of Francis and Sarah ( Spencer) Johnston, the father born in August, 1812. near Tanela, county Fermanagh, Ireland, and he lived there until 1848. He taught school seven years, eleven months of the year. On June 20, 1848, he married Sarah Spencer, a native of Weymouth, nine miles from London. His people have lived in the same big stone house for nearly three hundred years. In the fall after their marriage Francis Johnston and wife came to America and located near the east line of Muskingum county, Ohio, between High Hill and Cumberland. There he bought a farm and went to farming. Two or three years later he sold the first farm and went to a place between High Hill and Chandlersville, and was there at the time the subject was born. This was the family home until 1869, when the parents moved to Claysville, this county, and lived there the rest of their days. There Francis Johnston engaged in mercantile busi- ness, and also owned a farm on which Claysville now stands. He was a
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man who took a high patriotic interest in public affairs. He was an ardent abolitionist and an active and faithful member of the Methodist church. From the time he was five years old he very rarely missed attending the regular meetings of his church. He lived to be eighty-nine years old, dying in 1900.
Francis Johnston was converted when a young man and continued a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church until his death. His life was a splendid representation of the qualities which make for Christian manhood. His life came to its earthly close full of years and honors. He was a teacher in the Sunday school and steward up to within a year of his death. His character was a rare combination of sweetness and strength. The uprightness, sincerity and manliness of the man were beyond suspicion. He was a scholar, and loved the Bible, the church and its ordinances. He died as the good die, with no fear in his heart, no cloud in his sky.
Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Johnston : Marie J., Maggie, Esther, and Andrew S. T. of this review.
Andrew S. T. Johnston was about fourteen years old when the family came to Claysville and there he has lived most of his life. He grew up in the mercantile business with his father. He attended Muskingum College, at New Concord, then returned to Claysville and continued with his father in the business.
In 1880 Mr. Johnston married Emma C. Brown, who was born and reared near Claysville. She is the daughter of William and Harriett (John- son) Brown. Her father was a farmer near Claysville and for three terms of three years was a county commissioner. After his marriage, Mr. Johnston went into partnership with his father, and thus continued as long as his father lived. After his father's death he became sole owner of the business and also owns the farm his father owned, adjoining Claysville. He also ran a creamery at Claysville about five years. For about thirteen years he was postmaster at Claysville, held that office even for a time after leaving Clays- ville, until a successor could be obtained. For many years he was township clerk, having held the office as long as he would accept it.
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