USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 25
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being a progressive farmer. He is an uncompromising Republican and has long taken much interest in political matters. He and his family are mem- bers of the United Presbyterian church, and for many years he was a deacon in the church and has always been active in church affairs and Sunday school work.
REV. ISAAC N. WHITE, D. D.
The good that a high-minded, whole-souled man like Rev. Isaac N. White does in this practical, worldly-minded age, cannot be measured in metes and bounds, and such an one should receive our heartiest commendations ; but a man of such pure ideals does not court the admiring plaudits of men, merely striving to do his Master's will.
Rev. I. N. White, of Fairview, Oxford township, Guernsey county, was born August 17, 1835, at Hickory, Washington county, Pennsylvania, the son of Nicholas and Ann ( Edgar) White, the father born in Canonsburg, Penn- sylvania, and the mother in Westmoreland county, the same state. The par- ents spent their entire married life at Hickory, Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, where they died many years ago, and where they are buried. The father was a farmer and a devout member of the Associate church, and died a member of that church in 1851.
Isaac N. White spent his youth on the farm, assisting in the general work, and his early education was obtained in the village schools of Hickory. He later attended Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1855. He then taught school in Natchez, Mississippi, for one year and in the fall of 1856 entered the theological seminary at Xenia, Ohio, prepara- tory to entering the ministry. He graduated from the seminary in 1859 and the same year was licensed to preach the gospel and was first called to the congregation at Hebron, in Washington county, New York, where he re- mained about three years. He then came to the Steubenville presbytery, Ohio, and was placed in charge of the United Presbyterian congregations of Leba- non and Glade Run, in Columbiana and Carroll counties, and was with this charge for ten years. He then came to Guernsey county, in the Muskingum presbytery, and was placed in charge of Fairview, Washington and Sandhill congregations. In serving these congregations he was to give Fairview one Sabbath and Washington the next Sabbath, and at the Sandhill church on the evening of his Fairview service, riding seven miles through all kinds of weather and bad roads to fill this appointment. He remained serving these
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three congregations for thirty years, resigning the charge on December I. 1904, and since that time he has not been engaged in active ministry. During all those years he was active not only in his own church affairs, but in all move- ments for the betterment of the local conditions, and was foremost in all work for the uplift of the people of all classes.
Reverend White has been twice married, first on October 28, 1865, to Mary Miller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Miller, of Hickory, Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania. Two children were born to this union, Alice M., at home, and John C., in business at Cleveland, Ohio. The wife and mother died in April, 1870, and his second marriage was in December, 1871, to Margaret McGowan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David McGowan, of Steub- enville ; no children were born to this marriage. In 1902 Muskingum College, at New Concord, Ohio, conferred on Reverend White the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. He has been a Republican in politics since the birth of the party in 1856, voting for John C. Fremont for President : has always been interested in educational matters and has served as a member of the board of education. After his well spent years he is now living a retired life in Fairview where he has since spent so many active and useful years. His ministerial labors and influence covered a greater portion of the eastern half of Guernsey county and his services were in constant demand in per- forming marriage ceremonies and conducting funerals of persons both in and outside of the church membership.
The daughter, Alice M. White, is a highly educated and cultured woman, being a graduate of Washington Seminary at Washington, Pennsylvania, and has been a teacher in the Western Pennsylvania Institute for the Deaf about ten years. During the summer of 1910 she made a tour of European coun- tries, visiting most of the cities and points of interest.
BENJAMIN OBURN POTTS.
Success has been achieved by Benjamin Oburn Potts, one of the enter- prising business men of Lore City, Guernsey county, because he has worked for it along legitimate lines and has not depended upon the assistance or advice of others, preferring, like all true Americans, to go it alone.
Mr. Potts was born on August 27, 1870, in Richland township, this coun- ty, on a farm two miles east of Senecaville. He is the son of Joseph W. and Sarah (Ward) Potts, both natives of Guernsey county. The paternal grand-
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father, Joseph Potts, came to Guernsey county from Pennsylvania with the early pioneers ; the Wards were also a pioneer family here, coming from the state of Pennsylvania, and they were all active and influential in the affairs of the early days here. Both the grandfather and father of the subject were farmers of modest means, but they were honest, hard-working people and had good, comfortable homes. The parents of Benjamin O. Potts are now resi- dents of Lore City.
The subject spent his childhood and youth on the farm in Richland town- ship, until he was twenty-eight years of age; he attended the country district schools during the winter months, working on the farm during the crop season, and there acquired habits of industry and developed a rugged constitu- tion. On June 20, 1901, he was married to Eva Todd, a daughter of Joseph and Ruth (Garvis) Todd, of Lore City. Her father came from England when a boy, locating in Guernsey county, and here he engaged in mining, which he continued to follow during the years of his activity. His wife died a few years ago. To Mr. and Mrs. Potts four children have been born, Harold V., Earl R. (deceased), Hershel R. and Ruth E.
On February 10, 1898, Mr. Potts came to Lore City and engaged in the meat business, which he has continued ever since, building up a very satis- factory and constantly growing trade, and maintaining one of the neatest, best equipped and popular meat markets in the county. He does his own killing and dressing of meats and there is great demand for his products. He has been very successful, and owns his place of business and a good resi- dence adjoining, which are on the principal business and residence street of the town, and he is in the very front rank of the town's business and progressive men of affairs.
Politically, Mr. Potts is a Republican and has long been deeply interested in public matters, and has ever stood ready to aid in any way possible the development of his community, believing it to be the duty of all good citizens to take part in the public life of his locality and help push forward the wheels of progress; however, he is in no sense an office seeker, preferring to give his entire attention to his business. He is a member of the Lore City board of education and takes a great interest in educational affairs and he is regarded as one of the most active and influential of the town's residents. He is a member of the Junior Order of American Mechanics, and the Lore City Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was one of the twenty-three char- ter members who transferred their membership from Senecaville to the Lore City Lodge on July 29, 1904, and he is active in lodge work. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, both being active in
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church and Sunday school work. He is well informed on public questions and is always able to defend his position on public questions and issues. He is popular in the community and a citizen of high repute, and he and Mrs. Potts have a wide circle of warm and admiring friends throughout the county, being prominent in the local social life.
REV. ALEXANDER GORDON EAGLESON, D. D.
Well known and highly esteemed among the residents of Guernsey county is the Rev. Alexander Gordon Eagleson, who has, in many ways, served his fellowmen and his God. He was born October 8, 1844, at Upper Buffalo, Washington county, Pennsylvania, the son of Rev. John Eagleson, D. D., pastor of the Upper Buffalo Presbyterian church for over forty years, and Mary (Gordon) Eagleson, a daughter of Alexander Gordon, Esq., and Eve (Fisher) Gordon, her father being a prominent farmer of Washington coun- ty. His mother was a full cousin of Major-Gen. George A. Custer, who served on General Grant's staff during the war of the Rebellion and was later killed in battle with the Indians. The place where he fell is marked by an imposing monument erected by order of Congress. Both the Eaglesons and the Gordons were Scotch people, the Eaglesons coming originally from Nor- mandy about the time of William the Conqueror. An uncle, Rev. George Gordon, an eminent Presbyterian minister, a prominent educator and an active anti-slavery advocate, suffered severe persecutions for abolition views and activities. Another uncle, Rev. Joseph Gordon, was a graduate of Washing- ton College, Washington county. Pennsylvania, in the same class with the Hon. James G. Blaine and a native of the same town. and with him shared, equally, the first honor of their class, and continued warm personal friends through life. His intense anti-slavery views subjected him to severe discipline by the church, from which he withdrew in 1846 and, with the aid of some others of like views, formed the Free Presbyterian church, as a protest against American slavery, and which continued till after the close of the war of the Rebellion, when slavery was abolished, when it dissolved itself, the object for which it had been organized having been accomplished, and its adherents. mostly, reunited with the Presbyterian church.
Both the Gordons, George and Joseph, died comparatively young men, but left their stamp upon the affairs of the community in which they lived and were active, and to this day many, among the older people, hold them in
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high esteem. Rev. Joseph Gordon edited The Free Presbyterian. George was president of Iberia College and gained a national reputation.
The father of Alexander G. Eagleson, the Rev. John Eagleson, D. D., died on January 23, 1873, at Buffalo, Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he had so long served the people of his church. He graduated from Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, Washington county, Pennsylvania. in 1829, at the age of twenty, and was the honor man of his class, an accomplished linguist, and received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Jefferson College, his Alma Mater, in 1859. Custom required the honor man to treat his class to the best of good rye whisky. But Doctor Eagleson, even at that early time, was so much of a temperance man that he declined to treat his class to whisky, but did buy them six gallons of the best wine, for which his class, in which there were many men who afterwards became eminent, held him in ideal respect. His family consisted of eight children, six sons and two daugh- ters: Hon. Andrew S., of Washington, Pennsylvania, who served his coun- try through the Civil war, and is prominent in the affairs of Washington county, Pennsylvania ; David S., a physician, is now deceased; Rev. William S., D. D., lives in Columbus, Ohio; Alexander was the fourth in the order of birth; Henry G. lives in Washington county, Pennsylvania; Jane, deceased, was the wife of Samuel Blayney, of Washington county, Pennsylvania ; Han- nah G. is unmarried, and lives in Clinton, West Virginia; George G. lives in Clinton, West Virginia. All of the family are graduates of classical institu- tions and are men and women prominent in their different localities. The father was a Whig and later a Republican in politics, and active in public affairs. A man of great intelligence and learning, he wielded a wide influence, both in church and state affairs. He was twice married, his first wife being Mary Stewart, the daughter of David and Mary (Byers) Stewart, of Dallas. West Virginia. She died in 1842 and was the mother of Andrew S., David S. and William S. His second wife was Mary Gordon, who was the mother of the subject. She survived her husband, dying in May, 1891, and both are buried at Upper Buffalo, Washington county, Pennsylvania, which was so long the scene of Dr. Eagleson's labors.
Alexander G. Eagleson was educated at Jefferson College and later at Iberia College, from which he graduated in the class of 1867, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts and later was given the degree of Master of Arts. He studied theology at the Western Theological Seminary, at Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, and was given the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Richmond Col- lege in 1906. In 1869 he entered the ministry at Bucyrus, Ohio, in the pres- bytery of Marion and was ordained in 1870 by the same presbytery, in serv-
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ices held at Delaware, Ohio. His first ministerial work was at Oshkosh, Wis- consin, where he organized the First Presbyterian church of that city, the congregation having grown large and wealthy, and now possesses the finest church building in all the Northwest. From 1873 to 1875 he was pastor of the Third Presbyterian church of Wheeling, West Virginia. In 1875 he came to Washington, Guernsey county, Ohio, as pastor of the Presbyterian church of that place, when that town and congregation were prosperous, and remained there four and a half years. In 1882 he became pastor of the Presbyterian church at Dallas, West Virginia. Following his pastorate at Washington, he spent two years upon his farm, three miles north of Washington. He re- mained at Dallas four years and went from Dallas to Freeport, Ohio, as pastor of the Presbyterian church at that place, and remained there two years, when, in the spring of 1888, he accepted a call to become pastor of the church at Hagerstown, Ohio, which he accepted, on account of the academy of that place furnishing a school in which he could educate his children. He retained this pastorate until 1892, when he returned to his farm where he has since resided. He has, however, been active in church work. Earnest in his advocacy of good roads, he has preached that doctrine, until his spirit has grown and much good has been accomplished.
Mr. Eagleson is also a skilled civil engineer and since coming to his farm has done a great deal of work along this line. His chief work, for twenty years, has been evangelistic, in which he has been very successful, and he has given the most of his time to evangelistic work in all the states of the middle West.
Mr. Eagleson was married on September 4, 1867, to Laura Finney, the daughter of David and Hannah ( Butler) Finney, of Holmes county, Ohio. Hannah Butler was the first white child born in Wayne county, Ohio. Both the Finneys and the Butlers were prominent families, cultured and refined, coming to Ohio from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. Eagle- son have been born eleven children, nine of whom are living: Mary Eva, born September 4, 1870, died on December 4, 1878; Walter F. is the pastor of the Second Presbyterian church of Findlay, Ohio; John P. is in the com- missary department of the United States Army at Chicago; William H. is in Minneapolis, Minnesota; David H. is in St. Louis, Missouri; James E. died November 30, 1903 ; Dwight A. is in Oilcentre, California : Laura Mable mar- ried Lewis Blundon, of Washington, D. C .; George I. is a student in the Carnegie Technical Schools of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Lillian M. is a student in Findlay College, Findlay, Ohio; Hodge M. is in the high school at Wash- ington, this county, and is the only one at home.
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The Reverend Doctor Eagleson is a Republican in politics and has always been active in public affairs, taking an intense interest in civil affairs, although he has never been an office holder. He has been an extensive contributor to the public press and is the author of several published sermons, among which are the "Biographical Discourses of Rev. H. C. Foulk," at one time pastor of the Presbyterian church of Cumberland, this county, and that of Rev. Samuel Patterson, D. D., for fifty years pastor of Deersville, Harrison county, Ohio. An article written and published in 1907, in opposition to the taxation of church property, when bills proposing such taxation were pending in twen- ty-two of the state legislatures, was extensively copied into the religious and secular press all over the country, and is believed to have been the cause of killing the proposition in all these states. He is well informed, thoroughly educated, high-minded, and a true Christian and friend to his brother man in every sense of these words.
JACOB H. HAYMAN.
The name of Jacob H. Hayman has long been associated with the indus- trial, civic and social life of Lore City and Richland township, and Guernsey county can boast of no more loyal or honored citizen, for he has always sought to bear himself in a manner becoming a true American and a gentleman of correct habits.
Mr. Hayman was born July 12, 1858, in Shenandoah county, Virginia, the son of Daniel and Lydia (Pence) Hayman. The father was a farmer, a man of small means and had twelve children. The son was born and grew up amid such environment as was usual with the Virginia farmer of that day. As he grew up there was little time for aught .but work and all the members of the family had a portion to perform. The son's educational opportunities were meager-in fact, prior to growing to young manhood he had never attended school. During three months of three winters he attended the coun- try district schools of Licking county, after he came to Ohio in 1875. His father died in 1870, and then the widow and the family, except this son, came to Licking county, Ohio, where the mother died in 1895. Jacob H. Hayman worked on a farm in Virginia for his board and clothes until he was sixteen years of age, when he came to Ohio in 1875, joining his mother and other members of the family in Licking county, Ohio. He assisted his mother in the care of the family and assisted in caring for his mother until her death.
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In 1883 the son left Licking county, coming to Washington, Guernsey county, and engaged in work connected with the lumber business, which he followed for two years, having saved some money and buying one team and borrowed money enough to buy another. While teaming with the first team he ever owned, his team was killed on the railroad tracks while in the pasture, and he was compelled to go to work again as a driver, until he had saved enough money to buy another team. This accident befell him in Licking county, prior to his coming to Guernsey. He had nerve and perseverance, however, and kept at it. In 1885, after these various experiences, he went in business for himself in the timber business. He bought a piece of timber near Gibson Station, on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, and, with his brother, cut and hewed the railroad ties and then hauled them to the station. This was his first experience in business for himself. He made money on this deal, then he bought more timber lands and had a like experience and made some more money and again added to his facilities and equipment. He continued in this way of adding to his capital as he cleaned up a piece of timber and in 1890 he bought a threshing machine and operated it for one season, when he traded the machine for a saw-mill, on the pike west of Washington and began operat- ing the mill for himself. He continued the saw-mill business successfully until 1901. During these years he had accumulated money and in 1892 bought a farm in Richland township, two miles west of Lore City, containing eighty- eight acres.
On December 22, 1887, he was married to Mahetable Rich, daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth ( Millhone) Rich, a farmer of Center township, one mile west of Lore City. Her father is still living, but her mother is dead. To Mr. and Mrs. Hayman have been born five children : Orville K., Abraham Roy, Paul (deceased ), and Howard and Hubert, twins. Mr. and Mrs. Hay- man first began housekeeping in Lore City and in the spring of 1888 moved to the farm known as the Wesley Gibson farm, two miles west of Lore City, and in the spring of 1889 he moved to what was known as the Alexander Laughlin farm in Richland township, near Lore City. He lived here three years and in 1892 he bought the old Hugh Brown farm of eighty-eight acres, one and a half miles west of Lore City, in Richland township, where he lived for nine years, engaged in farming and also extensively engaged in the timber business, also operating a saw-mill, working almost night and day. His mill was located near Hopewell, in Madison township, a long distance from where he lived, making it impossible for him to get home at night, his wife attend- ing the stock. He was operating several mills along the line of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, from Spencer, eighteen miles east of Cambridge, to New
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Concord, Muskingum county, eight miles west of Cambridge. In 1900 he built a fine modern home on the old Brown farm, and the following year, 1901, he sold this farm and bought the John B. Laughlin farm in Richland township, one-half mile west of Lore City, containing one hundred thirty- three and a half acres, where he still resides. It is a fine farm, splendidly improved. A substantial brick residence was on the farm when he bought it and this has been improved and modernized in every way. He built a fine, large bank barn in 1905 and other farm buildings. The place, which was naturally a fine farm, was badly run down, but he went to work to rejuvenate the same, with seven carloads of tile draining and refencing and fertilizing. The farm is now a fine producer. He now cuts about one hundred twenty- five tons of hay every year, whereas when he bought the same it was yielding almost nothing. Such has been the reward of industry and intelligent farm- ing. His farm is mostly in grass, still always raising some grain. In addi- tion to his fine farm and stock interests, he is still in the timber business, handling the product of two saw-mills, and handling a great many railroad ties for the various railroad companies ; also a large quantity of mine ties and also lumber for building and other purposes. He is also a breeder of fine stock, in cattle, sheep, hogs and thoroughbred Percheron horses, one fine im- ported stallion costing twenty-five thousand dollars. All of his stock is first- class in every particular. He is also extensively engaged as a chicken raiser, and his flocks of fine fowls number several hundred. He is a Republican in politics, not an office seeker, but always a voter, and has served seven years as trustee of Richland township. He has also served a number of years as a member of the Lore City school board. He affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife is a member, and is a liberal supporter of the church and all movements calculated to advance the best interests of the people. He favors public improvement along the line of good roads and good schools. In addition to the farm where he lives, Mr. Hayman has a farm of one hundred thirty-eight acres in Center township, one-half mile north of Lore City. The Hayman home, a large, substantial brick structure, large, airy rooms, all comfortably furnished, surrounded by a large, well-kept lawn, and standing on an elevation overlooking the broad acres of the fertile Leatherwood Valley, makes an ideal country home. Everything about the house and farm buildings and every corner of the farm indicates an intelligent care and attention. Everything is in perfect order and every nook and corner is free from accumulation of rubbish so often found on the farms. Mr. Hayman is an example of what industry and honesty combined with economy can accomplish. Starting at young manhood penniless, with no education,
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he has acquired more than a comfortable fortune, has gained an education equal to most men of much more superior opportunities, and has a character and reputation for honest and thorough reliability, a fine citizen, a splendid neighbor and a stanch friend.
JOHN H. BOND.
A successful business man of Lore City, Guernsey county, who believes in employing modern, twentieth-century methods, is John H. Bond, who, by his enterprise and wise discrimination, has not only labored greatly to his own advantage but also the community at large.
Mr. Bond was born on July 4, 1857, in Londonderry township, Guernsey county, Ohio, the son of Joshua Hood and Mary Elizabeth ( Huffman) Bond, the father a native of Guernsey county and the mother of Monroe county. Grandfather Bond came from Ireland direct to Guernsey county in the early pioneer days; two brothers, Larkin and Charles Bond, came with the grand- father and all settled in Guernsey county and became farmers, and all reared families. All three of the brothers are dead.
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