USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 17
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In 1901 Mr. Johnston sold his business at Claysville and moved to Byes- ville. Here he built and ran a laundry a few years in partnership with his son, Francis W. . Johnston. After Squire Elza Trott resigned as justice of the peace to become county clerk, Mr. Johnston was appointed to fill out his unexpired term. In the fall of 1909 he was elected to the same office, which he now holds, giving his usual high grade service. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, also of the Masons, having
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attained the degree of Knight Templar. He and his wife both belong to the Methodist Episcopal church.
Squire Johnston still has a Bible that was given to his father when he was eleven years old. It was given to the boy as a prize for being the best versed in the Bible of any in the class of which he was a member and in competition with men and women. It is a highly prized memento in the family.
Squire Johnston and wife have four children, Francis W., Harriett S., Edwin B. and Edna B. Edwin B. married Ethel Chapman, of near Byes- ville, and he now runs a store at Claysville.
Francis W. Johnston grew up at Claysville, and took a course at Mere- dith Business College at Zanesville. After leaving business college he came to Byesville and he and his father started a steam laundry, which they con- ducted about two and one-half years, but having been brought up in the merchandise business the son was dissatisfied with anything else, and went into the general merchandise business in which he is now engaged, in Byes- ville. They have a large and most complete stock of merchandise and enjoy a very extensive trade. Mr. Johnston belongs to the Knights of Pythias; the Pythian Sisters; Masons up to the Knight Templar degree; to the Order of the Eastern Star and to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Maccabees.
ROBERT NOAH ATKINS.
One of Cambridge's progressive and worthy young business men is Rob- ert Noah Atkins, for he has demonstrated beyond a doubt what one can do who has a well defined purpose, energy, persistency and who does not admit the word "fail" to his category. He comes of an excellent old family and was born in Cambridge in 1874. He is the son of Robert Henry and Martha (Hyatt) Atkins, whose life records are given in a separate sketch in this volume; suffice it to say here that they each represented pioneer families of the greatest worth.
Robert N. Atkins grew to maturity in his native town and attended the local schools, later attending the Ohio State University with a law course in view. He was compelled to give this up by the death of his father, and at the request of his mother he went to Chicago in 1892 and 1893 and learned the jewelry business in the Chicago Watch Makers' Institute, thoroughly mastering his chosen vocation. From there he went to Toledo, Ohio, where
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he was employed in jewelry work about eight months ; he was then employed at Newark, this state, about a year, and three months at Zanesville, then a year at Athens, after which he returned to Cambridge and took a position in the jewelry store owned by his mother, which had been established by his father about 1850. He remained in the store assisting his mother until about 1908, when he bought the store, which he has continued to conduct in a most satisfactory manner. It has never been out of the family since it was first started and is one of the best known and one of the most popular jewelry stores in Guernsey county, having a prestige second to none and drawing a trade from a vast territory. Here is always to be found a very large, modern and carefully selected stock of goods. The highest grade of repair work is also done promptly.
Mr. Atkins was married in 1895 to Queen Markley, of Newark, Ohio, daughter of George and Ellen ( Wilson) Markley, an excellent and influential family, and to this union two children have been born, Marian M. and Robert M.
Mr. Atkins is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and he and his wife belong to the Presbyterian church. He is a popular and highly esteemed young man and has ever sought to bear aloft the untarnished escutcheon of the family name, for the Atkinses have long been among the best known and most highly respected residents of Cambridge, both in busi- ness and social life.
JOHN L. BRUNER.
A member of as fine an old family as Guernsey county can boast, and a public spirited, progressive business man of strict integrity and high social standing is John L. Bruner, of Cambridge, who has spent his useful and very active life in his native locality and has played no inconspicuous role in the development of the same. He was born in this county, between Senecaville and Byesville, on January 12, 1844, and he is the son of John and Mary N. (McQuade) Bruner, both natives of Pennsylvania, the father born, it is believed, in Somerset county, in December, 1813, and the mother in West- moreland county, January 5, 1815. They were married May 3, 1836, and came to Guernsey county in the following November, locating on the Alex. Loflin farm, where they lived for four years, then bought forty acres in what was called the "military land," of which a part was cleared and im- proved. They established a good home here and paid for the land by hard
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work and economy, raising tobacco, wheat and hogs. They had a hard time getting a start and their first land paid for, but they prospered at length and finally added to their original purchase until the place consisted of two hun- dred acres. Their family consisted of ten children, of whom John L. of this review was the fifth in order of birth. The family continued to reside in that neighborhood until the children grew up and, in fact, that was the family home during the life-time of the parents, the father dying in October, 1894, when nearly eighty-one years of age. He was a Democrat, but no politician. He with his entire family belonged to the Presbyterian church. The mother remained on the farm after the father's death until she passed away, on February 23, 1907, having attained the remarkable age of ninety-two years, one month and eighteen days.
John L. Bruner lived on the home place until he was over twenty years of age. He proved his patriotism during the Civil war by enlisting, on July 24, 1864, in Company K, Eighty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he faithfully served until honorably discharged, being mustered out on July 4, 1865. He returned home and remained there until twenty-four years of age. In 1872 he moved to Kansas, where he engaged in farming and cattle and horses, the latter business growing rapidly from a small beginning ; he remained in the Sunflower state about fifteen months, when he returned to Guernsey county on a visit, expecting to go to Oregon, but while here he was married, in 1873, to Mary M. Rogers, daughter of Lawson Wesley and Alice Ann ( McGaw ) Rogers. The parents came from Hartford county, Maryland, about 1842 and located on the "military land" near where John L. Bruner was born. There her father followed farming nearly all his life, dying in 1883, his widow surviving until April 4. 1891, reaching the age of eighty-two years, five months and three days.
After his marriage, John L. Bruner, in partnership with his brother, bought a farm, two and one-half miles southeast of Claysville, and on Feb- ruary 12, 1874, he and his brother. Valentine M., moved there. About two years later, Valentine M. sold his interest to a brother-in-law, and on July 12, 1876, John L. Bruner rented a farm about two and one-half miles southeast of Rix's Mills, and lived there about four years, then moved back to south of Byesville and lived there a short time. He bought a half interest in the mill at Byesville and moved there in the fall of 1880. Eight months and four days later he sold out and traded part of the farm for a one-third inter- est in the Cambridge mills. In the fall of 1885 he disposed of his interest in these mills and went to Belle Center, where he engaged in the milling business until 1895, having a one-third interest in the mill there, which he
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traded on the last date mentioned for a farm in Logan county, but soon sold it and engaged successfully for a time in the insurance business, then moved to Bellefontaine and started his sons in a grocery, which was con- tinued about a year, when the store was sold and the family moved to Mechanicsburg and bought a half interest in a mill and lived there about two years, then moved to Kenton, Ohio, where they remained three years. While there Mr. Bruner bought an interest in a mill and elevator at Mt. Victory which they owned a little over two years; Mr. Bruner had a large grain trade, shipping large quantities in car-load lots. He moved to Byesville again in August, 1903, after having been away twenty years. He bought a bakery there and ran the same about eighteen months. Selling it in the spring of 1905, he went to Cambridge and bought the City Bakery, which he still manages with much success, enjoying an extensive trade, both whole- sale and retail; he ships large quantities of bread to other towns.
Mr. Bruner has never sought office, but while living in Cambridge the first time he was elected to the city council and was re-elected and served until he moved away. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian church. He is a Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
To Mr. and Mrs. Bruner six children were born, of whom four are liv- ing : Alma B .; Otho R., a traveling salesman; Mary Alice; John L., of Bluefields, West Virginia, where he is in the employ of a milling supply com- pany ; Myrtle Ethel died at Mechanicsburg in July, 1900, when eighteen years of age; Grace died when five months old in Cambridge. The two liv- ing daughters are still at home.
The parents of Mrs. Bruner were active and faithful members of the Methodist Protestant church. The father was born on September 18, 1804. The family settled in Jackson township, this county, in an early day. Mr. Bruner's father was a deacon in the Presbyterian church and his mother was for eighty-one years a member of the church.
CHARLES S. SHEPPARD.
As one of the younger class of lawyers at the Cambridge bar, the entire career of Charles S. Sheppard has been emphasized by persistent industry, strict attention to business, unswerving integrity, the closest application and study, and a degree of care, prudence and promptitude in the disposition of responsibilities intrusted to him, worthy of imitation.
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Mr. Sheppard was born December 10, 1871, in Belmont county, Ohio (near Fairview). He is the son of Dr. Isaac H. and Harriet (Grimes) Shep- pard. For many years the father was a successful and prominent practitioner in Guernsey, Noble and Belmont counties, and he and his wife are still living. making their home in Fairview, this county.
Charles S. Sheppard received a good education in the public schools, later attending high school and finished with a course at Valparaiso College, Val- paraiso, Indiana. He afterwards taught school for three years in Guernsey county, and later taught two years in a high school in Illinois. He was a very capable instructor and his services were in great demand, but he began the study of law early in life and left the school room for this profession, being admitted to the bar on October 14, 1897. For one year he practiced at the town of Fairview, then moved to Cambridge where he has since been very actively and successfully engaged in practice, building up a large and growing clientele.
Mr. Sheppard is an ardent Republican and he never loses an opportunity to further the interests of his party. He has been a member of the Guernsey county election board for some time. In the summer of 1905 he was nomi- nated by acclamation by the Republican county convention for the office of prosecuting attorney of Guernsey county, and he was elected at the polls in November following by a majority exceeding that given the regular party ticket, which is evidence of his general popularity among all classes. He made such a commendable record that in 1908 he was renominated by acclamation and again elected the following November by a like heavy vote, and he is now serving the last year of his second term, and he has made a most efficient and popular officer, standing boldly for law enforcement which he considers the essence of all good government. He is always faithful in the discharge of his duties. He has also a large general practice, so that he is always a very busy man, and he holds a very high rank as an attorney in all the courts of the county and the state. He is a broad-minded and prudent man, with a high sense of honor and integrity, and is worthy of the high esteem in which he is held by the citizens in all walks of life. He is a student of progress, well informed on the latest decisions and revised statutes and is profoundly versed in jurisprudence. He is a very careful investigator and is an eloquent pleader. He is influential in selecting good men for local offices, and he is regarded as a leader in political and civic affairs in Guernsey county.
Mr. Sheppard was married on August 3. 1899, to Della Gardiner, daugh- ter of John and Cecilia ( Moore) Gardiner, the representative of an excellent family, and she herself a woman of education, tact and refinement.
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Both Mr. and Mrs. Sheppard are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mr. Sheppard has been a trustee for a number of years, also a teacher of an advanced class in the Sunday school. He is a member of the Cambridge Country Club, and he enjoys an occasional game of golf for recrea- tion. The family home is at No. 212 North Tenth street and is a neat and desirable residence and a place of genuine hospitality to the many friends of the family. Mr. Sheppard's suite of office rooms are on the second floor of the Central Bank Building and his large law library and accessories make them among the most attractive and well equipped law offices in all southeastern Ohio.
OSCAR O. BELL.
The enterprising citizen whose name heads this article has been for some time identified in a prominent way with the industrial life of the city of Cambridge, and he has manifested an abiding interest in the public welfare of Guernsey county. By a life consistent in motive and action with correct ethics, he has won and retained the confidence of all who have had dealings with him in any way.
Oscar O. Bell was born in Liberty township, Guernsey county, Novem- ber 23, 1873, and he is the son of George and Mary (Milligan) Bell. The father also was born in Liberty township, and was the son of Hamilton and Nancy (Bell) Bell. The family lived in Indiana before they came here, having emigrated to Guernsey county about 1830 and located in Liberty township. Hamilton Bell opened up a very extensive salt works there and for many years carried on a very satisfactory business. He was a prominent man in this locality in those early days. George Bell was born in Liberty township in 1836 and during his younger years did a great deal of farm work, and also hauled salt for his father from the works to the surrounding cities and towns and the country districts roundabout. During the Civil war he was a soldier in the Union army, having enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and saw some hard service, being in nineteen noted battles. He was in Sherman's Death Valley campaign. Before his career in the army he was married, in 1858, to Mary Milligan, daughter of Alexander Neally Milligan and wife. She was born in Liberty township and lived there until her marriage. After the war George Bell continued at the salt works and also followed farming. He owned a good farm, on which he spent the major part of his mature life.
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His family consisted of twelve children, an equal number of boys and girls, all of whom are living, namely : Hamilton L. lives in Oklahoma on a farm; Ellen Jane, wife of Lafayette Hamilton, lives in south central Kansas; Amanda married Leslie Adams and lives in Liberty township, near Tyner; Margaret married John McKahan and lives in Jefferson township, this coun- ty; Della married Lincoln Hellar and lives in south central Kansas; John M. lives in Cambridge and is a mill worker; James M. lives at Uhrichsville, Ohio; Harriet married J. P. Lanning and lives in Center township, this county ; Oscar O., of this review ; Robert F. is married and lives in Washing- ton county, Pennsylvania; George W. lives in Cambridge and is timekeeper in the Inter-State Iron & Steel Company ; Mary is the wife of Parker Carson, a civil engineer, of Yampa, Colorado.
The mother of these children passed to her rest in Liberty township, on August 6, 1898. She and her husband belonged to the United Presbyterian church, and the father was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. This family is noted for its robust health; all the large family of children are now married and have children of their own with two exceptions.
Oscar O. Bell grew to maturity on the home farm in Liberty township where he was put to work in the fields when young and he attended the neighboring schools during the winter months. When only fifteen years of age he was given a teacher's certificate, and he began teaching school before he was seventeen years of age and, following that vocation with singular success for eleven years, he became widely known as an educator of a high order of ability. His services were in great demand and he taught in various parts of this county. He attended the normal schools both at Byesville and Kimbolton, also attended Muskingum College. After leaving college, he re- sumed teaching, which he continued with his usual satisfaction until 1901, when he abandoned the school room and moved to Cambridge where he be- came engaged in the bar mill of the Inter-State Iron & Steel Company. After working at general work for eight months, he became shipping clerk and has held that position, while the mill was owned by three different com- panies, which is an evidence of his ability, faithfulness and trustworthiness. In July, 1910, he was promoted to the responsible position of works auditor of the local plant, which he is filling with his usual ability and satisfaction.
Mr. Bell was married in 1895 to Mattie R. Porter, daughter of Harrison and Margaret (Mccullough) Porter. She was born and reared in Liberty township and lived there until her marriage. Her father was born at Kim- bolton. Her mother was the daughter of David and Anna Mccullough, and she was born in Liberty township. David and Anna Mccullough were old
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residents of this county. Mrs. Bell's father was a soldier in the Civil war, having been in the service about three years.
Mr. and Mrs. Bell are the parents of four children, named as follows : Howard Earl died in infancy ; Lula May, Oscar Ray and Harry Edgar are members of the home circle.
Mr. Bell is a loyal Republican, as were his ancestors. He takes an inter- est in party affairs and is ready to assist his friends. He and his wife belong to the First United Presbyterian church in Cambridge.
Personally, Mr. Bell is a genial, unassuming, companionable gentleman, highly educated, well informed on current topics of the day, frank, straightfor- ward and scrupulously honest, and he is a man who makes friends readily and has no trouble in retaining them.
PHILIP W. EATON.
One of the highly honored and respected citizens of Guernsey county, who is now living in the city of Cambridge, but who is still engaged in agri- cultural pursuits on his excellent and well improved farm, is Philip W. Eaton, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1839, the son of John and Harriet (Hunt) Eaton. In 1851 the family moved to Guernsey county, Ohio, and located a mile east of Cambridge on the old National road, where the father bought a farm which has been the family home ever since.
Philip W. Eaton was one of a family of five children, three boys and two girls. Of these, one brother, James, was killed on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad while it was being built in 1853; Mrs. Lydia Ann Jones, the eldest sister, died in Arkansas; those living are, Philip W., of this review; Mrs. Adeline Lowry, of Knox township, this county; Joel, of Bloomington, Indiana.
Philip W. Eaton grew to maturity on the home farm east of Cambridge and assisted with the general work about the place when he was a boy. He attended the district schools during the winter months, and he has made this place his home nearly all his life, his efforts as a farmer having been rewarded with a reasonable degree of success.
Mr. Eaton was married in 1858 to Maria Donaldson, daughter of Joshua and Maria Donaldson, and this union resulted in the birth of six children, namely : James Edwin, whose sketch appears on another page of this work; Anna, who died at the age of seven years; Dora Eunetta is the wife of Alex.
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Rankin, of Mckeesport, Pennsylvania ; William also lives in that city ; Hattie is at home with her parents; Charles lives near the old farm and is employed in the grocery business in Cambridge. .
Philip W. Eaton continued to make his residence on the old homestead until about 1900, engaging in general farming and stock raising and making a very comfortable living and laying by a competency for his old age. He purchased a home in Cambridge about ten years ago and has since lived here, but he has continued farming, as already indicated. He has a very pleasant home in this city and he has a host of warm personal friends throughout the county. Although now somewhat advanced in years, he is still hale and hearty and he has lived a life of which he has nothing to regret or to be ashamed.
Mr. Eaton's father passed away in 1853, and the mother subsequently married James Cullens and resided in Knox township, in the northwestern portion of this county, until her death about 1888. The Eaton family is one of the old and highly honored ones of Guernsey county.
JAMES ROSS McBURNEY.
A well known business man and progressive citizen of Guernsey county is James Ross McBurney, who was born in Cambridge, Ohio, on June 13, 1866. He is the son of Prof. John McBurney, a prominent educator who is given proper mention in another part of this volume. He grew to maturity in the city of Cambridge and attended the local schools, later taking a course in Muskingum College, from which institution he was graduated in 1891. He then entered Duff's College at Pittsburg where he taught for more than a year. He returned to Cambridge in 1893 and identified himself with the Cambridge Roofing Company as bookkeeper. In 1897 he was made secre- tary, which position he has continued to hold to the present time. He is a director and vice-president of the Guernsey Building & Loan Association.
On October 14, 1904, occurred the marriage of Mr. McBurney to Minnie E. Nash, the daughter of Rev. J. H. Nash and wife, whose biographical records are given in a spearate sketch in this work. The union of Mr. and Mrs. McBurney has been blessed by the birth of one son, John Dorman Mc- Burney.
Mr. and Mrs. McBurney are members of the United Presbyterian church.
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HOWARD W. ARNDT, M. D.
The gentleman to whom the following tribute is paid embodies all the necessary pre-requisites and necessary qualifications, in a marked degree, to insure success in the medical profession, and by energy and application he is drawing to himself a large and remunerative practice, and at the same time is building up an enviable reputation, being recognized as one of the leading physicians of Guernsey county and a man of honor and integrity at all times.
Dr. Howard W. Arndt, of Lore City, Ohio, was born April 12, 1872, near Senecaville, Guernsey county, but his paternal home was just over the county line in Noble county. He is the son of David and Elizabeth (Ward) Arndt. The father was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, while the mother is a native of Noble county, this state. The Arndts are of German descent, Grandfather Charles Arndt coming from Germany in 1818, first settling in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and he came to Noble county, in 1836. He was a cabinetmaker, being the first in the locality where he settled on the border line between Guernsey and Noble counties. His death oc- curred in 1861, after a useful and upright life. His son, David Arndt, the father of the Doctor, was a carpenter and followed that trade most of his active life. In an early day the Arndts bought land near Cambridge, and for many years the grandfather worked at his trade here; however, the family finally settled near Senecaville, where Charles Arndt spent the remainder of his life and he and his wife are buried in the cemetery there. When advanced in years, David Arndt gave up carpentering and devoted his attention to his farm near Senecaville, in Noble county. He is now living in retirement and with his wife lives at Senecaville, on the Guernsey county side, the town being on the dividing line between Guernsey and Noble counties. Mr. Arndt has reached the age of eighty years, while his wife is seventy-three. They have journeyed down life's pathway, through its sunshine and shadow, hand in hand, for a period of fifty-two years, this union having been a most fortunate and harmonious one. November 5, 1910, marked the fifty-second anniversary of their marriage. In their family were four daughters and one son : . How- ard W., of this review ; Allie, who married James Callow, of Platteville, Colo- rado; Texanna, who married George Black, of Columbus, Ohio; Ruth, who married Hugh Bergmer, of Senecaville; Bartha, who married Tecomseh Mc- Laughlin, a farmer living on the old homestead.
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