USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 30
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On June 16, 1902, Mr. Heiner married Mrs. Annis Annette ( Browning) Cook, who was born at Pentwater, Michigan, the daughter of Edwin Perry and Anna ( McAndrews) Browning. She was a Canadian, from near Mon-
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treal. When she was nine years of age her father came to Washington county, Ohio, where she grew to maturity. He was a native of Morgan county, this state, was a soldier in the Civil war, after the close of which he went to Michigan where he made his home.
Mr. Heiner has been very successful in business, and besides his fine drug store, he is a stockholder in the West Virginia Optical Company at Wheeling, also in the United Drug Company at Boston, Massachusetts. He also deals in real estate as opportunity affords for investment. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Byesville, and he has been a member of the Methodist church since childhood, Mrs. Heiner also being a member. They are the parents of one son, Lanis Browning Heiner.
Besides the properties mentioned above, Mr. Heiner has valuable hold- ings elsewhere, having a small tract, beautifully situated, three miles above Marietta on the Muskingum river, with the park club grounds on one side and the interurban line on the other, and, being in the oil region, it is very valuable ground. He also owns property between Byesville and Cambridge. He has been in the same business in Byesville continuously longer than any other man in this place.
ERNEST W. SMITH.
It is safe to say that no one is more familiar with the mining region of Guernsey county than Ernest W. Smith, the present able and well known as- sistant general superintendent of the Imperial Mining Company's mines anl those of the Vivian Collieries Company. He is popular with a large acquaint- ance, being a man of kindly disposition, pleasant, honest and thoroughly trustworthy, admired for his uprightness and business integrity.
Mr. Smith was born near Elba, Noble county, Ohio, July 27, 1871, and is the son of Jerry R. Smith and wife, records of whose lives are to be found on another page of this work. Suffice it to say here that they were of rep- resentative pioneer families and highly respected. When the son was about fourteen years of age he began working in the coal mines about Byesville and has been here ever since, making himself familiar with the various phases of the work in this field. While working at the old Central mine he proved of such value to the company that lie was made foreman, which position he held with credit to himself for about four years, beginning about 1895. During the next six or seven years he was hoisting engineer at the mines, after which he was made superintendent of the Ohio No. 2 mine, west of Byesville. About
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two years later he was made assistant general superintendent of all mines owned by the Imperial Mining Company and the Vivian Collieries Company, which responsible position he still holds, giving entire satisfaction in every detail of the work. He has charge of four large mines and about six hundred men, which position he has held about four years. He understands thoroughly every phase of mining work and he is very faithful in the discharge of his duties. He understands well how to handle men, keeps everything under an excellent system, and is a very important factor in the vast interests of the above mentioned companies.
Mr. Smith was married in 1896 to Nora Linkhorn, daughter of Joseph Linkhorn and wife and the sister of L. S. Linkhorn, county treasurer of Guernsey county, to whose sketch the reader is respectfully referred for the complete ancestry of the Linkhorn family. One winsome daughter. Helen. has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Fraternally, Mr. Smith belongs to the Masonic order, having attained the Knight Templar degree, and he and his wife are members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church and faithful in their attendance and support of the same. Mr. Smith has served four years in the village council and three years as mayor. He and his wife have a wide circle of friends here and stand high in the social life about Byesville.
ALEXANDER W. ARBUCKLE.
For many reasons Alexander W. Arbuckle, an honored citizen of Byes- ville, Guernsey county, is entitled to representation in this history, not the least of which is the fact that he is one of the loyal "boys in blue" who saved the national union for succeeding generations and to whom we owe too huge a debt of gratitude to ever be paid. He has spent practically all his life within the borders of Jackson township, where he was born on May 13, 1848. He is the son of James W. and Isabel ( Henry ) Arbuckle, both natives of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, from which state the father was brought to Guernsey county by his parents about 1810 and here he grew to manhood. He entered one hundred and sixty acres of land from the government in the southwest section of Jackson township. It was here that he married Isabel Henry. She was brought here when a child by her parents. James W. Arbuckle cleared most of his farm, which at first was all virgin forest. Later he traded for another farm in the same township, and he lived near Mt. Zion until his death
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in 1883. He was a Republican and a member of the old Cambridge Baptist church in its early history, being active and a regular attendant. His wife died in August, 1857.
Alexander W. Arbuckle, of this review, was the youngest of a family of ten children, of whom three were sons : Joseph died when eighteen years of age and James lived in Cambridge township, married and reared a family, devot- ing his life chiefly to farming ; one sister. Leah, still lives in this county and is now the widow of Jackson Burns, and lives near the old home in the western part of Jackson township.
Alexander W. Arbuckle remained on the home place until the latter part of the Civil war when, on February 22, 1864, he enlisted at Cambridge for three years' service in Company B, Ninety-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, although he was not sixteen years of age at the time. He was sent south and participated in the following engagements: Rocky Face Ridge, Adairsville, Resaca, Cassville, Dallas, New Hope Church, Pine Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain. He was seized with typhoid fever and was sent to the hospital at Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was detailed for hospital duty at Camp Dennison, Ohio, May 19, 1865, by special order from the war department. His regiment saw some very hard service during the closing days of the war, was under fire two hundred and twenty days and lost six hundred and seventy- three men in battle. Mr. Arbuckle was quartermaster of Davis Kimble Post No. 662, Grand Army of the Republic, at Byesville.
After the war he came back to the old home and remained two or three years, then went to Illinois and was there three years on a farm. Returning to this county, he was married on September 19, 1874, to Mary Jane Reynolds, of Jackson township, the daughter of Samuel and Leah (Sigman) Reynolds. Her parents came from the same county in Pennsylvania as did Mr. Arbuckle's parents and were old settlers in the county.
After his marriage Mr. Arbuckle farmed most of his life, although he worked some in the coal mines. About 1878 he bought a small farm near Mt. Zion and lived there until he sold it and moved to Byesville, where he has lived ever since. In 1886 he bought the place where he now resides at the corner of Second, High and Grant streets. About 1895 he bought a farm about a half mile west of Byesville where he maintains a dairy which is very popular with the people of this town and vicinity. Since about 1900 he has owned and operated a threshing machine. He also owned a farm in Cam- bridge township for five years, then sold it. He has a very wide acquaintance in this part of the county, where his threshing takes him through several town- ships every year.
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Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Arbuckle, James Leroy and Leah Belle. The son is in business for himself in Byesville, owning a harness and general leather establishment, and has a very satisfactory trade. The daughter married Owen Mackley and lives near her father in Byesville.
Mr. Arbuckle is a member of Byesville Lodge No. 763, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has taken an active part in the political life of his county and is an unswerving Republican. For eight years he was trustee of Jackson township, and in 1910 he was nominated for infirmary director by a good majority, and on November 8th was elected, his selection meeting with universal approval among all classes.
GEORGE R. SHAW.
There have come to this country from England and other alien lands men of limited financial resources, but imbued with a sturdy independence and a laudable ambition to succeed, and who have taken advantages of the wonderful possibilities afforded here. Gradually, step by step, they have risen to places of prominence in various lines of activity. Of these there can be none mentioned who deserve more favorable attention than the gentleman whose name opens this biographical sketch and who has for many years been an honored resident of Guernsey county, now retired and enjoying the fruits of peace in his beautiful home at Byesville.
George R. Shaw was born in county Durham, England, April 2, 1847, the son of William and Ann (Gowland) Shaw, and he grew to maturity in his native land and when only a lad of ten years he went to work in the coal mines, spending about twelve hours a day in the mines. This was pretty stern discipline for a boy, but he was courageous and it imbued in him a spirit of fortitude. He followed mining in England until 1879, then came to America. He was married in 1869 to Gena Nicholson, daughter of Ralph and Marga- ret Nicholson, who, too, was a native of county Durham, England. In 1879 Mr. Shaw came to Tioga county, Pennsylvania, and engaged in mining ; after remaining there six months he came to Bellaire, Ohio, where he remained about a year, then moved to Guernsey county, locating at Scott's mines. After a separation of a year and eight months, his family, having remained in Eng- land, joined him here and they made their home at Scott's mines about five years. Mr. Shaw then came to Byesville and began working in Nicholson's mines, the Pioneer and the Ideal mines. While at the Pioneer mine he was
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made mine foreman. In 1900 he went to the Ideal mine as superintendent and had charge of operating the mine, continuing as superintendent of that mine until May, 1909, at which time he had about four hundred men under his control. Upon the date just mentioned he retired from active work, re- signing his position. He thoroughly understood every phase of his work, was a man who believed in inaugurating a perfect system and he handled his men in a manner that brought the best and greatest results, and in what- ever position he occupied he gave it his closest attention and gave the ut- most satisfaction to his employers.
About 1905 he built a handsome residence in the northwest part of Byesville, where he now resides ; a large, concrete, handsomely finished and tastily arranged dwelling, around which is a well kept and inviting lawn abounding in flowers and shrubbery.
Twelve children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Shaw, six of whom were born in England, one shortly after Mr. Shaw left for America. They are: Ralph, a miner, lives with his parents ; James married Myrtle Bean and lives at Byesville; he is also a miner and has two children, Russell and Annis; Margaret died when twelve years of age: Mary Ann married William Spencer and lives in Byesville, and they have four children, George, William, Jennie and John: Georgie died when sixteen months old; John lives in Byesville and is a miner : George died when about ten months old; Lizzie is at home with her parents : Thomas is an engineer at the Ideal mine : Richard married Ethel Carr and lives in Pennsylvania where he is engaged as an electrician; Eman- uel died when seven months old: George is at home with his parents and at- tending school in Byesville.
Mr. Shaw is a member of the Knights of Pythias at Byesville. He is a man who is well known to the mining world of Guernsey county and he has always been well liked and respected.
DAVID S. BURT.
In placing the name of David S. Burt in the front rank of the business men of Guernsey county simple justice is done a biographical fact, universally recognized throughout this and adjoining counties by men at all familiar with his history. A man of judgment, sound discretion and business ability of a high order, he has managed with tactful success important enterprises and so impressed his individuality upon the community as to gain recognition
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among its leading citizens and public spirited men of affairs. He was born northwest of Byesville, in this county, where the present golf grounds are located, in 1856, and he is the son of Eli and Nancy (Smith) Burt. The Burt family was a large and prominent one. The first one of whom there is any record in Guernsey county was Luther Burt, who was a native of the isle of Jersey, prior or during the year 1810. His children were John, David. Luther, William, Daniel, Polly, Nancy, Eliza and Asenath. Daniel married Catherine Waller, probably from Virginia. After their marriage Daniel and wife lived a short distance northwest of Byesville. He was a farmer all his life and owned probably three hundred acres of land. In his family were three sons and six daughters, one of the latter dying in infancy : the former were John, Eli and William. Eli married Nancy Smith, daughter of Peter and Catherine ( Ridingheur) Smith. She was born and reared near Wash- ington, Ohio. Her parents came from Washington county. Pennsylvania, but her mother was reared in Westmoreland county, that state. Nine months after their marriage Eli Burt and wife went to live on his farm northwest of Byesville. He first bought seventy-five acres, and paid for it by dint of hard work. Later he added more from time to time until he had six hundred acres and he became very prosperous. They also owned property in Byes- ville and in Cambridge. Their family consisted of eight children, namely : John Perry died in the army when twenty years of age; Sarah Catherine died when twenty years old; Nancy Lizzy died when thirteen years of age; Roland died when nearly eight years of age: those living are Jennie, who married William Nicholson : William Burt lives in Cambridge: David lives . in Byesville; Rhoda Ann is the wife of J. A. Hoopman, whose sketch ap- pears in this work.
David S. Burt, of this review, lived on the farm northwest of Byesville until he was twenty-two years old. When a young man he went to Cam- bridge and took up the study of dentistry with Doctors Jefferson and Cooper ; after remaining with them eight months he returned to the farm near Byes- ville and moved to Byesville when only six houses were in the town. It was in 1880 that he came here and this has been his home ever since, having lived here at a longer continuous period than any other person. After moving to near Byesville he ran a blacksmith shop for about a year, from 1877 to 1878. On January 1, 1879, he married Lucinda A. Hoopman, daughter of Elijah Hoopman and sister of J. A. Hoopman. After their marriage they lived on the farm one year, then, in 1880. moved into Byesville, where he has lived ever since. He lived on the farm the year he ran the blacksmith shop. In the latter part of 1880 he began in the livery business in Byesville, having
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started the first livery barn here. After conducting the same for one year he sold out to Lennie Petters, then ran a saw-mill one year near Byesville. He maintained his residence in Byesville, although he built a sales barn in Baltimore, Maryland. Later he opened a similar sales stable in Cleveland, Ohio, then took charge of the Cleveland mail service and had thirteen wagons, running from the postoffice to trains and boats. After two years he resigned this position to become postmaster at Byesville, the duties of which he dis- charged in a very faithful manner for a period of nine years. In 1904 he built the Burt block, the largest block in Byesville, which is assessed for taxa- tion for over twenty-three thousand dollars. He is also interested in several coal mines, oning all the coal and one-fourth interest in the equip- ment of the Cambridge Valley coal mine. He built the glass plant in Cam- bridge in 1903. In 1902 he built the brick and tile plant in the northwestern part of Byesville. He also built the big brick school house on Sixth street. He built the rolling mill at Cambridge, also the pottery plant at Cambridge and the rolling mill at Marietta, also a glass plant at Pleasant City. He built so many houses in Byesville that he has earned the sobriquet of "The Father of Byesville." He is also an extensive contractor on public works, con- tracting and building roads. He and his sons maintain a large mule barn at Byesville and one at Zanesville. They buy and sell annually hundreds of horses, mules and ponies, the two latter classes of stock for the coal mines, and this firm supplies a large per cent. of mules and ponies used in the mines of southeastern Ohio, selling probably in all one hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth annualiy, many sales being made over the telephone, the purchasers not seeing the stock until delivered, probably one-half being sold in this manner. Mr. Burt enjoys a unique reputation in this respect. His reputation for honest dealing and his known superior judgment of livestock is such that those de- siring to purchase are willing to order by telephone or mail, knowing that they will not be taken advantage of, and no dissatisfaction has ever arisen. He is a very potent factor in the business and political life of Guernsey county ; although an unassuming man and always very busy, yet he takes an abiding interest in public matters. Being the owner of the plant of the Guernsey Times, at Cambridge, he uses the same to encourage clean politics and the general good of this community.
Mr. and Mrs. Burt have four sons and two daughters, namely: Walter is in charge of the barn at Zanesville; Bertha married Charles Shryer and lives in Byesville: Roy married Daisy Borton, who has charge of the mule barn at Byesville; Charles L. is at home and assists his father in his busi- ness; William married Grace Rose, daughter of Doctor Rowles, of Cam-
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bridge ; he is an electrician and lives at Byesville ; Beulah, the youngest daugh- ter, is living at home with her parents.
Fraternally, Mr. Burt belongs to the blue lodge, chapter and command- ery, being prominent in Masonic circles.
JOHN WIRES.
Nearly a century has dissolved in the mists of time, the most remarka- ble century in all the history of the race of mankind, since the honored and venerable subject of this sketch first saw the light of day. Heaven has boun- teously lengthened out his life until he has seen the crowning glory of this the most wonderful epoch of all the aeons of time, rewarding him with an unu- sual span of years as the result of virtuous and consistent living in his youth and years of his manhood, until now, in the golden Indian summer of his life, surrounded by comfort and plenty as a result of his former days of in- dustry and frugality, Mr. Wires can take a retrospective glance down the corridors of the relentless and irrevocable past and feel that his has been an eminent, useful, successful and happy life, that has resulted in good to himself and his family, and to his fellow man.
John Wires, one of the best known citizens of Jackson township, Guern- sey county, who has lived in this county longer than any other man and who is probably the oldest man in the county, having passed his ninety-third mile- stone, was born in Harrison county, Virginia, November 28, 1816. He is the son of Benjamin and Nancy ( Dennison ) Wires. In the fall of 1818 they came horseback, through the almost interminable forests, from the Old Do- minion to Guernsey county, Ohio, crossing the Ohio river at Marietta, the mother carrying the subject in her lap most of that long journey. They arrived in Jackson township when there was not so much as a path to Cam- bridge from the vicinity where they located, the vast forests abounding in all kinds of wild game and neighbors were few and far remote. Benjamin Wires entered land from the government and also bought eighty acres from John Tingle, and began life in true pioneer fashion, suffering the usual hard- ships and deprivations of the first settler. Later he taught school there, being, no doubt, the first man to teach in that part of the county. He is described as a man of strong characteristics, yet unusually mild in manners and dis- position, so that children all loved him, and he was a man of usefulness in liis community and did much to start the physical and moral development of the
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township. His family consisted of ten children, of whom John, of this re- view. is now the only one living. He well remembers the old log house raisings, when residents came for miles around to help. The elder Wires moved onto his land before a single tree had been felled by the axe, and he cleared and improved it, raising tobacco and other crops, and established a very com- fortable home here, being assisted in its development by his son, John, of this review, who grew to maturity here and has spent nearly all of his long, useful and successful life in this locality, taking a conspicuous part in the general development of the same and watching with delight its steady growth from a wilderness to its present prosperous state, and it is indeed interest- ing and instructive to hear him recall reminiscences of the early days, for he has an excellent memory and is unusually well preserved for one of his advanced years.
About 1842 Mr. Wires married Susanna Linton, daughter of Samuel and Susanna ( Brady) Linton, the daughter having been born in Guernsey county. Her father was a tinner at Cambridge, later moved to Jackson township and lived near where Mr. Wires was reared.
In mid-winter, in the early forties, the subject, with his wife and three children, went to Laporte, Indiana, having been induced to go there to take charge of a farm owned by Chauncey Brooks, a wholesale merchant of Balti- more. They made this trying trip in wagons in January, the trip requiring fourteen days. After remaining there one year they returned to Guernsey county.
Seven children were born to Mr. Wires and his first wife, four boys and three girls: Samantha, wife of David W. Nosset, lives on the home place with her father : William H. H. lived in Pennsylvania and was claim agent for the Pennsylvania railroad, dying in 1901 : Mary married Rev. W. A. Robinson, deceased, he being a Methodist minister, and she now lives with her daughter, Mrs. James Purkey, in Cambridge; Benjamin F. died Septem- ber 26, 1903. leaving a widow, but no children; he lived at Connelsville, Pennsylvania : Thomas Jefferson, who lives at Georgetown. south of Cam- bridge, married Ida Kitchen, of Clark county, and they have four children, living: Martha A. died when nine years old; John C., who lives in Indianapo- lis, married Cora Nichols, of Tremont City, and they have three children, two sons and one daughter.
The mother of these children was called to her rest in 1882; she was a member of the Mt. Zion Baptist church and a good, kind-hearted woman.
A year or two afterwards Mr. Wires married Fannie Mackey, of Adams township, this county, where she was born and reared. She is the daughter
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of Richard and Margaret Mackey, and is a member of the United Presby- terian church, while Mr. Wires holds membership with the Mt. Zion church. He has voted for seventeen Presidents, being a Republican in national poli- tics, voting for the best man in local affairs. He voted for William Henry Harrison and attended his funeral, and he remembers seeing Daniel Web- ster and Henry Clay riding in the same carriage in that funeral procession.
HON. NATHAN BAY SCOTT.
What of the man and what of his work? This is the dual query which represents the interrogation, at least nominally entertained whenever that discriminating factor, the public, would pronounce on the true worth of the individual. And sooner or later, indeed, it may be frequently, that these questions will be asked of everyone, high or low, whether public or private citizen, for our reputations are, in a way, the property of the public, but our character is quite another thing. The biographer is pleased to write of the man who has both a good character and a good reputation-they do not al- ways go hand in hand. The career of Hon. Nathan Bay Scott, the present honored and prominent United States senator from West Virginia. who is too well known to the readers of this history to need any formal introduction in these pages, indicates the clear-cut, sane and distinct character, and in re- viewing the same from an unbiased and unprejudiced standpoint interpreta- tion follows fact in a straight line of derivation. It is consonant that such a review be entered in this publication, and that without the adulation which is so intrinsically repugnant to the man as he stands among his fellows. The county of Guernsey naturally takes pride in the life and work of this dis- tinguished citizen and consistency demands that he be given specific mention in a work which purports to deal with the representative families, past and present, of this county, of which he is a native.
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