USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 20
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Joseph B. Dollison grew to maturity on his father's farm, which he worked when but a small boy, and he attended the public schools during the winter time. He later took the teacher's course at the Valparaiso (Indiana) Normal School, after which he taught in the district schools of Spencer town- ship for five years. He then went into the general merchandise business in Claysville, in which he continued successfully for five years. As a teacher he was progressive and popular and had he continued in that line of endeavor he would have no doubt become one of the leading educators in this part of the state. In 1895 he left Claysville and moved to a farm in Adams town- ship and engaged in the implement and vehicle business in Cambridge and had a good trade from the first. He always took a great deal of interest in the affairs of the Republican party, and, recognizing his worth and appre- ciating his efforts in this connection, his party, in the fall of 1898, elected him sheriff of Guernsey county, and he took office on January 1, 1899, when he moved to Cambridge. He made such a creditable record the first term that he was re-elected for a second, thus serving four years in a manner that won the hearty approval of all concerned, being an efficient and popular officer. He has never lost an opportunity to foster the principles of the Republican party. While living in Westland township he served as a member of the township board and the board of education and was township clerk for several terms. After coming to Cambridge he served as chairman of the Republican county executive committee for two years and was regarded as a very suc- cessful manager and one of the principal local leaders. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 448, of Cambridge.
Mr. Dollison was married in 1882 to Mary Steele, an orphan girl whose father was killed in battle during the Civil war. To this union nine children
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have been born, all of whom are living, namely: Cretie; Chloe, now Mrs. Paul Ralstone, of Cambridge; Gertrude, now Mrs. Charles C. McCracken, of Akron: Ralph H., who is in the office of the American Sheet and Steel Company at Cambridge ; Emma, Virginia, Mildred, Helen and Bernadine.
After leaving the sheriff's office in 1903, Mr. Dollison again engaged in the implement and vehicle business, which he has continued with his usual success to the present time. He carries a very carefully selected stock and en- joys a large and rapidly growing trade. He is an agreeable companion and a good mixer and is popular with all classes. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are active in church and Sunday school work. The family home, which is a pleasant one, is located at No. 1149 East Gomber street. It is a fine, modern residence, elegant in all its appointments and neatly kept, and Mr. and Mrs. Dollison are devoted to their home and family and find great enjoyment and diversion in the family circle, maintain- ing a model home.
JOSEPH B. FERGUSON.
The name of Joseph B. Ferguson is one that the people of Guernsey county is familiar with and one that all delight to honor, for his life has been led along lines of high endeavor and he has been faithful in discharging his duties in every respect. He was born August 15, 1844, in Cambridge, and is the son of Col. John and Eliza (Bute) Ferguson. The father was born in Cambridge and the mother near Uniontown. Pennsylvania. The great-grand- father, John Ferguson, came to America from Ireland in the early years of the nineteenth century and he first settled near Steubenville, Jefferson county, Ohio. Later he moved his family to Cambridge when only a few houses con- stituted the village and he became active and influential in the pioneer life here and he and his family were prominent here, as have been his descendants. His son, William, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. formerly owned a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, one mile north of Cam- bridge, and he was a man of wide influence and prominent in the affairs of the early settlers. His son. Col. John Ferguson, father of Joseph B., of this review, was thoroughly educated and became a man of great prominence. After leaving college he took up the study of law and in due course of time became one of the leading lawyers of this section of the state, becoming prom- inent in legal affairs, not only in Guernsey county but all over the state. He was a man of striking appearance and a fine horseman, and he never failed
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to attract a great deal of attention when astride his favorite charger. At the breaking out of the Civil war he became active in recruiting soldiers, aid- ing in the organization of several companies, before recruiting Company F of the Twenty-sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which company he went out as captain. This regiment first served in the Army of West Vir- ginia and later joined the Army of the Cumberland and was conspicuous in the service of that army, participating in most of the hard-fought battles in which that noted army took part. For gallant and meritorious service he rose to the rank of colonel and was placed in command of the Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Later he recruited the One Hundred and Seventy-sec- ond Ohio Volunteer Infantry for three months' service and he was colonel of that regiment during its service and with this he terminated his service in the army, having made a record of which his descendants may be justly proud. After the war he resumed the practice of law, which he continued with great success until shortly before his death, which occurred on October 5, 1886. Prior to the war he was a Democrat and served in the Ohio state Senate and he was also prosecuting attorney of Guernsey county in early life, filling these offices in a manner that reflected credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents. He was held in high esteem by men in all walks of life. His widow, a woman of many sterling characteristics, survived him until No- vember 19, 1901, and both are buried in the Cambridge cemetery.
Joseph B. Ferguson, of this review, was educated in the public schools of Cambridge, at Madison College and at Muskingum College, at New Con- cord, Ohio, being a student in the latter when the war between the states began. He proved his patriotism by serving through this war in a manner befitting a true American soldier. He rose to the rank of captain and, ac- cording to his comrades, he was very faithful in the discharge of his duties, although but a boy. After the war he joined the regular army and served as a commissioned officer for a period of seventeen years on the plains and in the West, participating in the Indian wars. After his career in the army he returned to Cambridge, took up the study of law with his father and was admitted to practice in September, 1878, and he has continued to practice in the Guernsey county courts ever since, also practicing in the district, Ohio supreme and United States courts. As a lawyer he is prompt, faithful and industrious in the preparation of his cases, courteous and dignified in his intercourse with bench and bar, and has so borne himself in his professional career as to command the respect and esteem, and often the admiration of his brethren in the profession. He is known to be an industrious, honest lawyer, his integrity unquestioned and his trustworthiness conceded. He is, in every respect, a worthy son of a worthy sire.
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Mr. Ferguson was married on April 8, 1891, to Ella M. Welsh. daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Welsh, of Loudonville, Ashland county, Ohio. To this union one child was born, who died in infancy.
Captain Ferguson is and has always been a Republican in politics and for many years he was an active factor in party affairs; but he has never sought office, even repelling any overtures in that direction. Yet few men are better informed or more interested in public matters. He and his wife are members of the First Baptist church of Cambridge and are active in church and Sunday school work. Both Captain Ferguson and his wife are fond of the company of their friends and they are most admirable hosts, especially enjoying the society of young people. The Captain is a very companionable man and one whom it is a pleasure to know. He has a pleasant and attractive home at No. 520 North Tenth street, Cambridge.
ALEXANDER ROBERT MURRAY.
Prominently connected with the business affairs of Cambridge is Alex- ander Robert Murray, of the National Bank of Cambridge. He was born on February 28, 1843, in Pictou county, Nova Scotia, the son of James and Isabella (Reid) Murray. The parents of James Murray were James and Isabella (Shepherd) Murray, and his wife was the daughter of James and Anna (Taylor) Reid. Both families were of Scotch parentage, originally of Bauff county, Scotland. Grandfather James Murray was a Baptist minister. and after coming to Cambridge preached in the old Baptist church. The Murrays were formerly Presbyterians, and one of the Murray great-grand- fathers was a delegate to the Presbyterian Reformation convention. The Shepherds were farmers in Scotland and held one farm for over two hundred and fifty years, the record being broken by Henry Shepherd, about 1890. Great-grandfather Shepherd was what they called a progressive farmer and tried to keep up with the advanced spirit of the times. He was the first man to introduce what was called the "bobtailed thresher" in his section of the country, a greatly improved piece of machinery of its time for threshing grain. The Taylors were merchants and professional men, and are today prominent in the legal profession and in politics.
James Murray, the father of Alexander Robert, was a ship-builder and ship launcher of prominence, and came to Nova Scotia with his family about 1830, where he was engaged in his work. While launching a large vessel he
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was seriously injured, from which he never recovered and which incapaci- tated him for his work. The family left Nova Scotia in 1850, and came to Lowell, Massachusetts, where the son, Alexander Robert, first attended school at Draket schoolhouse, where Gen. Benjamin F. Butler once taught. In 1851 they came to Cambridge, Ohio, coming by lake to Cleveland, from Cleveland to Newcomerstown by canal, and from Newcomerstown to Cambridge by wagon. They arrived at Cambridge after dark on a cold and snowy day in November, cold and hungry, and stopped at the Needham house, which was located on the south side of Wheeling, between Eighth and Ninth streets, where the Orme and Hoge buildings now stand. With the family came the grandfather. Rev. James Murray, the grandmother having died before the family left Scotland. In about 1840 three brothers of the father, William, Alexander and Robert, with their families, had come to Guernsey county, and were farmers and carpenters. The father died on February 1, 1852, as a re- sult of the injuries sustained when launching a vessel in Nova Scotia. Both the paternal and maternal ancestry were noted for their longevity, many of them living to be past eighty and ninety years of age.
James and Isabella ( Reid) Murray were the parents of six children : Anna, who married Samuel W. Moore; James, of Los Angeles, California ; Mary, who married George W. Gibbs, and, after his death, John McKennie; John R., a brave soldier during the Civil war, who married Susan White ; Alexander Robert ; and Isabella, who is the wife of Jedediah Williams, of Cambridge.
Alexander Robert Murray for almost a year following the arrival of the family in Cambridge was kept at home by a severe sickness, following which he attended the Cambridge public schools. When about fifteen years of age he entered the general store of William Ramsay, as a clerk, and was there employed for about ten years, when he was offered an interest in the com- mission house of Robbins & Company, of Baltimore, Maryland, which he accepted, and spent about nine years in that business. In 1880 he returned to Cambridge, and was tendered the cashiership of the First National Bank of Cambridge, which he accepted. In 1883 the bank was reorganized and took charter as the Old National Bank, which expired in 1903. The bank was then reorganized as the National Bank of Cambridge, and Mr. Murray was elected vice-president, which position he yet holds, and is recognized as a thor- ough banker and a high-minded gentleman.
Mr. Murray has always been a Republican, but not a politician, yet al- ways manifesting a keen interest in public matters and always a thoroughly informed and intelligent voter. In December, 1891, because of his well known
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business qualifications and high character, he was tendered unsolicited by William T. Cope, who was about to assume the duties of state treasurer, to which position he had been elected, the position of cashier in the state treas- urer's office at Columbus. This, because of other business duties, Mr. Murray was obliged to decline.
On November 5, 1890, Mr. Murray was married to Lila Morton, the daughter of Hon. Isaac Morton, a prominent citizen of Guernsey county, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Murray is a refined and home-loving woman, and is active in many good works for the betterment of the community in which she and her husband are such prominent factors.
Mr. Murray is a public spirited citizen, and actively interested in all movements having for their purpose the improvement of conditions. He served for a time as treasurer of the town of Cambridge. He is a thirty- second-degree Mason, and affiliates with the Methodist church, of which his wife has been an active member since girlhood. Mr. Murray is a man whom it is a pleasure to know. High minded, intelligent and agreeable, he is a most companionable gentleman, one in whom the public have confidence, and for whom all have the highest regard.
Mr. Murray's mother was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on October 31, 1815, and emigrated with her parents to Nova Scotia in early childhood. She was married to James Murray on June 30, 1833, who died in 1852, at the age of forty-seven. Left a widow, to fight the battle of life alone with her little flock, she right bravely performed the duty. A devoted mother and a genuinely Christian woman, she lived and died in the full faith of her God. honoring the memory of her departed helpmate with love and devotion to her children. She was a member of the Baptist church, and continued always faithful and contributed liberally of her time and means to the support of the gospel-a most lovable character.
HON. ISAAC MORTON.
Few names are better known or more highly honored in Cambridge than that of the Hon. Isaac Morton, who was lately one of her prominent citizens. He was born at Marlborough, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 22, 1810, and died at his home in Columbus, Ohio, on January 5. 1893.
The infancy of Isaac Morton was spent among the steady-going Quakers of Pennsylvania, whose spirit he early imbibed and from whose faith he never
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departed. He was the next to the youngest of nine children who came to Middleton, Guernsey county, in 1816, and after his father's death, in 1818, he went to Chester county, Pennsylvania, from whence, at the age of eighteen, he went to Philadelphia. He there learned the trade of a carpenter and builder and became one of the master mechanics of that city. As a con- tractor he built some of the finest structures on Arch street prior to 1838. He returned to Middleton and made his home with his brother, Jacob G. Morton, until February 14, 1840, when he was married to Rebecca Car- lisle. He then engaged in farming until 1849, when they removed to their farm near Cambridge, where he took up milling and other business. Mrs. Morton died in 1876. Of the six children born of this union, Clarissa died in 1845, in childhood, at Middleton; Clara died in 1886, at Cambridge; Mary is the wife of Charles L. Campbell, who was assistant cashier of the Guern- sey National Bank; Lelia is the wife of A. R. Murray, the vice-president of the National Bank of Cambridge; John C. is deceased, and Llewellyn lives in Chicago.
Mr. Morton was identified with different business enterprises, con- spicuous among which was a connection with the building of the Cleveland & Marietta railroad, and without his efforts Cambridge might not today be enjoying the advantage of competing railway transportation, which gave the town its first permanent growth and development. Having been a trustee of the Cleveland & Marietta railroad with Cyrus W. Field and John Peyton, he assisted General Warner as receiver, and was afterward president and treas- urer of the company until December, 1883, when in an accident in New York city he had both legs broken and was compelled to give up active busi- ness. It was after his marriage to Keturah Cogswell that he removed to Columbus, Ohio, in 1884, where he enjoyed a prominence and popularity allotted to but few men. Though he never held any great official or military stations, he was esteemed above many men who were so honored, and such titles as "Colonel" and "Governor" were affectionately bestowed upon him by those most familiar with his high social and intellectual qualities. He was prominent in connection with the affairs of all communities in which he lived, and active in the politics of his county and state.
Mr. Morton was a delegate to the Republican national convention of 1864, and, with his cool judgment and keen foresight, opposed the turning from Hannibal Hamlin and the substitution of Andrew Johnson as the can- didate for vice-president. He was the Republican candidate for Congress in 1878 in a district in which the gerrymander of the state placed Guernsey, Muskingum and Licking county with a large Democratic majority, yet he
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gave Hon. Gibson Atherton, his opponent on the Democratic ticket. a sharp combat and pressed him hard for the goal. He was a man highly regarded wherever known. A man of large intellect, with a well disciplined mind, fully informed on all leading questions of the day, of broad comprehension and liberal views, great executive ability and foresight, especially upon industrial and financial questions, he was distinguished for his sturdy common sense and practical administrative ability. He was esteemed above the many, at home and abroad, by his political associates and opponents alike, and his was no mediocre mind. Honest and upright in all business transactions, true to his friends and fair to his opponents, devoted to his home and family, his was truly a noble character. His body lies in the cemetery at Cambridge.
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LYNN S. REASONER.
From an old and prominent family is descended Lynn S. Reasoner, one of Cambridge's most representative men of affairs and one of the honored and public-spirited citizens of Guernsey county, having always striven to bear aloft the untarnished escutcheon of his influential and worthy progenitors.
Mr. Reasoner was born on April 24, 1851, in Adams township, Guern- sey county, Ohio, the son of Thomas H. and Nancy Ann (Lynn) Reasoner. The Reasoners were French victims of religious persecution, escaping to Germany and from Germany to America, and first settled in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. Peter Reasoner was the father of Benjamin, Joseph. John, Peter, Spears and Nathan, six sons and the following daughters : Nancy, Sarah and Catherine. John was the first of the Reasoners that came to Guernsey county, in the year 1802, and found his location. He returned to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and brought his family and located near what is now New Concord on the line dividing Muskingum and Guernsey counties. His family landed in their new home July 4, 1803, and at a later date the father of John, Peter Reasoner, came to the same location from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, with four of his brothers, his wife be- ing dead and his family grown, but his four brothers all brought families ; these brothers were John, Solomon, Benjamin and William. These with their families all settled in the vicinity of what is now New Concord, and within the boundaries of what is now Muskingum and Guernsey counties.
Catherine, the daughter of John Reasoner, who first came to Ohio, was the first white child born within the boundaries of what is now Guernsey
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county. She married John Connor, and for many years lived in the vicinity of Claysville, living to the age of ninety-seven years. John Reasoner's wife, the mother of Catherine, was the seventh woman living within the boundaries of Guernsey county at the time of the arrival of the family, and she lived to be ninety-six years of age. Her husband, John Reasoner, died a number of years prior. John Reasoner built on his farm the first horse mill, for grind- ing grain, the horse being the motive power and the grain came from the mill simply ground, without any separation of the meal and flour from the bran. A man by the name of Arnold afterwards built a grist mill, of water power, on the same site of the old horse mill.
The Reasoners, of which Lynn S. Reasoner is the direct descendant, represent six generations in Guernsey county, first Peter, the father of John, the father of Benjamin, the father of Thomas H., the father of Lynn S., the father of Jay A. All have lived in what is now Adams township, of Guernsey county, except Jay A., who was born in Byesville, Jackson town- ship, Guernsey county.
Thomas H., the father of the subject of this sketch, the representative of the fourth generation, was a farmer, as were all his ancestry, and a man prominent in the affairs of Adams township. His family consisted of seven children : Anna, deceased; Lynn S., the subject of this sketch; Margaret, (leceased ; Benjamin, deceased; McFarland, deceased: Jennie, who is now Mrs. Warren Young, of Muskingum county, Ohio; Celina C., now Mrs. Elmer E. Lorimer, of Zanesville, Ohio. The father died September 16, 1864, in the hospital at Rome, Georgia, being a member of Company H of the Seventy-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil war. His widow died at the age of eighty years in April, 1904. Mrs. Reasoner's ancestral line in Guernsey county is as follows: Hugh Lynn, the father of Samuel, the father of Nancy, the mother of Lynn S. Reasoner, the father of Jay A. Hugh Lynn came from Pennsylvania and located in Adams township, Guernsey county, Ohio, some years after the Reasoners came. Hugh Lynn was a wealthy man in Pennsylvania and dis- posed of his property, receiving in payment Continental money. He deposited the money in the bank and came to Ohio to seek a new location, found it and returned to Pennsylvania to get his money to pay for the new land. The banker would only give him Continental money such as he had deposited and in the interim between the deposit and the demand for his money again Con- tinental money had become not worth a continental, and he was transformed from a very wealthy man to a very poor one, and he never recovered the reverse in fortune.
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Lynn S. Reasoner, the subject of this sketch, was born on a farm and spent his childhood and youth after his father's death as a farm hand. He obtained his education in the country district schools and for a few terms in the schools of New Concord. He afterwards taught school for five years in Muskingum county, Ohio, and from school teaching he entered the mer- cantile business at Creighton in Knox township, Guernsey county. He re- mained in Creighton two and one-half years, when he went to Wakatonika, Coshocton county, Ohio, for two years and a half, where he engaged in the mercantile business. From there he came to Byesville, Guernsey county, in . 1884, and engaged in the mercantile business there for seventeen years. In 1901 he sold out this business in Byesville and came to Cambridge and en- gaged in the real estate business and has continued ever since.
Mr. Reasoner was married August 4, 1880, to Catherine M. Houseman, daughter of Johnson and Nancy (Gregory ) Houseman. Mr. Houseman was a farmer of near New Concord, Muskingum county, Ohio. The House- mans were prosperous farmers. Both the parents of Mrs. Reasoner are now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Reasoner were born two children, one son and one daughter, Jay A. and Ethel. Both are graduates of the Cambridge high school and Jay A., who is also a graduate of the law department of the Ohio State University, has been admitted to the bar and is now practicing law in Coshocton, Ohio. The daughter. Ethel, is a graduate from the Cambridge high school, taking both the classical and scientific courses, either of which requires four years for completion, and, combined, the two require six years for completion, but she completed the combined courses in four years and on graduation received two diplomas, a feat accomplished by no other girl stu- dent in the Cambridge schools up to this date. She is now a member of the class of 1913 in the art college at the State University at Columbus.
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