USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 34
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On July 25, 1899, Mr. Burt was married to Lacy Odessa Larrick, the daughter of Jesse and Mary Viola Larrick. The Larrick family is a pioneer family of Guernsey and Noble counties. To this marriage was born one son, John Burt, on February 13, 1902.
Mr. Burt is a member of the Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias at Pleasant City. He owes his success to these facts : In any position he has held he has done his best for his employer's interest; he has always been willing to assume responsibility when necessary for the interest of the com- pany ; and he is not a mere driver, but is reasonable and receives the loyal co-operation of his men.
WILLIAM JOHNSON ADAIR.
Influential and prominent in his neighborhood, a man who has made a success of his vocation, and has in many ways aided in the development of his community is William Johnson Adair, who was born on March 11, 1853, in the northwestern part of Valley township. Guernsey county, the son of Joseph and Sarah Ann (Johnson) Adair.
Joseph Adair was born either in Washington or Greene county, Penn- sylvania, and came to Belmont county, Ohio, with his father, Robert Adair, when young. About 1846 he came to Guernsey county and located in the
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southwestern portion of Valley township. In February, 1848, he was mar- ried to Sarah Ann Johnson, the daughter of William and Charlotte (Lazear) Johnson. Her parents came from Pennsylvania, where they were married in 1814, and shortly after the birth of Sarah Ann Johnson, in 1828, they came to the southwestern portion of Valley township, where the Opperman mine is now located. Charlotte Lazear was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth ( Braddock ) Lazear; Thomas was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Stewart) Lazear. Thomas died in 1858, at the age of eighty-eight ; Joseph died on August 15, 1822, at the age of ninety-seven. All the Lazear family down to Charlotte were buried in Greene county, Pennsylvania.
The Johnsons and Adairs were both Scotch-Irish, their ancestors being Presbyterians, and originally Scotch Covenanters, and both families came to this county from either Washington or Greene counties, Pennsylvania. Joseph Adair was in his early days a carpenter here. In 1852 he moved from the southwest part to the northwest part of Valley township, which remained the family home. Here Joseph died in 1864; his wife survived until Decem- ber, 1903.
William J. Adair was one of six children: Almira married Robert Davidson, and lives in Spencer township, Guernsey county ; John Wesley was born in 1850, and died in February, 1879; William J. was the third child in order of birth; Isabel was born in 1857 and died in 1876; Charlotte married Jacob Salladay, whose sketch see; Joseph Howard was born in 1864, and died in 1867. Joseph Adair was a Democrat and was township trustee for many years. He and his wife were both faithful members of Bethel Metho- dist church and were highly respected by all who knew them.
William J. Adair grew up in the community in which he was born, and was in his twelfth year when his father died, after which his mother bought, pursuant to an agreement made by the father, the farm two miles west of Derwent, where William J. has since lived. He was married in December, 1873, to Mary Elizabeth Clark. the daughter of William F. and Ala (Greg- ory ) Clark. Her mother was born in September, 1828, the daughter of Noble and Sarah ( Spencer) Gregory. Her father came from Ireland, and her mother from New Jersey.
William F. Clark was born in March, 1825, and reared northwest of Pleasant City in Valley township and was married in December, 1851. He is the son of Benjamin and Mary Ann (Gregory) Clark. Benjamin Clark came from Pennsylvania in very early days. William F. Clark and wife were the parents of eight children. Martha Jane died in childhood. Mary E. is the wife of William J. Adair. Clarissa lives in Valley township with her
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mother and brother Samuel. Samuel Gregory now lives with his mother on the home farm. Rosa died when a young woman. Allen and Alice were twins, Allen is a physician of Joplin, Missouri. Alice married Hayden Mc- Kinley, and lives in Kansas, not far from Joplin, Missouri. Martha Jane was the wife of Joseph Davidson, and died on June 4, 1896, leaving one son, Clovis. William F. Clark was a Mason, and he and his family were mem- bers of the Methodist church. He died on December 22, 1894. His wife survives, and is in her eighty-sixth year. Mr. Clark was a trustee of the church, and a steady, faithful member.
To Mr. and Mrs. Adair six children were born: Olive is at home with her parents. Ross Wesley, who is pastor of the Methodist church at Lari- more, North Dakota, married Maud Elizabeth Carmen, of East Liverpool, Ohio, and has one child, Robert. Emma Charlotte is teaching at Joplin, Missouri. Ala is teaching at Amsterdam, Ohio. Joseph Peragoy is attend- ing Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois. Leonard Benson is at home with his parents.
William Adair has held various township offices. He is a member of the Masons at Pleasant City, and he and his wife and children are members of the Methodist church at Derwent. in which he is a class leader, trustee and Sunday school teacher. Mr. Adair owns two hundred acres of well-kept and well-improved land, surrounded by exceptionally well-trimmed hedges. the whole forming a most pleasing appearance. He and his wife are hospitable people, of irreproachable character and very highly esteemed. The boys are all members of the Masonic fraternity and Olive is a member of the Eastern Star chapter.
ROBERT I. SHEPLER.
A prominent farmer of Valley township, Guernsey county, in the activ- ities of which community he takes full part, and in whose development he has aided, is Robert I. Shepler, who was born in Westmoreland county. Pennsylvania, on June 30, 1833, the son of Jacob and Mary (Stewart) Shepler. His father died about six weeks before Robert was born, and his mother afterwards married Daniel Call. Jacob Shepler left six children, besides two that died in infancy. Those who survived were Joseph W .; Hannah O., who married James Waddell: Rachel, the wife of J. W. Harris ; Margaret, who died single; Lucinda, the wife of Porter Houseman; Robert I., the youngest, and now the sole survivor.
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When Robert I. Shepler was sixteen or seventeen years old he and his brother Joseph and sister Rachel came to Guernsey county. Hannah had already married and gone to Coshocton county. The brothers and sister settled east of Cumberland, and bought a farm in a section called Flat Woods, and here Robert lived until his marriage to Sarah Ann Moore, of Spencer township, a native of the county and a daughter of John C. and Nancy ( Ward) Moore. Six children were born to this marriage: John Wilson, who died when less than two years old; Alice, now of Columbus, a prescrip- tion clerk in a wholesale drug house; Alvin, who married Marie Byron, of Cleveland, and now lives at Denver; Elmer, who was for twenty years a druggist at Byesville, married Alice Johnson, the daughter of Jesse L. and Jane Johnson, of Valley township, to which marriage one son was born, Raymond, now attending school at Columbus, his parents' present home; Violet, the wife of Justus Lowry, who died in the spring of 1906, leaving two children, Russell Shepler and Gertrude, while a third child, Porter, died at the age of two; Annie, who married Doctor Campbell, of Hartford, was left a widow on February 21, 1897, and now lives in Pleasant City with her half sister, Mrs. Dr. Bown. After his marriage Mr. Shepler continued farm- ing near Cumberland; his wife died on February 20, 1866.
In April, 1865, Mr. Shepler enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Seventy-second Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war, receiving an honorable discharge.
On August 4, 1867, Mr. Shepler was married a second time to Mrs. Nancy C. (Clark) Johnson, the widow of William T. Johnson, and a daugh- ter of Samuel G. and Mary Ann (Longsworth) Clark. Samuel G. Clark was the son of Benjamin and Mary (Gregory) Clark. Benjamin Clark was born in Ireland, came to this country as a lad, and located in Pennsylvania, where he was married and two of his children were born. About 1812 he came to Guernsey county, Ohio, and settled a mile northwest of Pleasant City, where some of his descendants still live on land that he bought in pioneer times. Samuel G. Clark was born and reared there, and married Mary Ann Longs- worth, a native of Maryland, the daughter of Solomon and Catherine Longs- worth, who came to the northern edge of Valley township early and settled, where Mr. Longsworth dealt in tobacco, as well as farmed. Mrs. Shepler was born and grew up near Pleasant City, and married William T. Johnson, a son of William Johnson, a pioneer of the southwestern portion of Valley township. One child was born to this marriage, Charlotte Ann, who married James M. Wilson, of Valley township, and died on May 28, 1883. Mr. John- son died on June 12, 1861.
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After his marriage to Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Shepler moved to his present home in the southwest part of Valley township, where they have lived more than forty years. Four children were born to them: Mary Lucinda, the wife of Doctor Bown, of Pleasant City; Samuel Jackson, who married Catherine Gregory, lives on the home farm, and has five children, Hubert, John Irvin, Martha Elizabeth, Mary Lois, and Elmer Merrill; Martha, the wife of P. U. Hawkins, a Methodist minister of Bristolville, Ohio; and Asbury Lowry, who died on November 27, 1'895, aged sixteen.
Mr. Shepler has been a farmer all his life, and now owns two hundred and sixty acres, all in the southwestern part of Valley township. He follows general farming, is very capable, and has prospered. In early life he was a Republican, but for many years has been an earnest Prohibitionist. He and his wife are members of Bethel Methodist church, and he is recording steward, district steward and trustee of the church. An honest and hardworking man, an active and earnest Christian, Mr. Shepler is much respected and esteemed in his community.
HOMER S. GANDER.
Throughout Valley and Spencer townships, Guernsey county, the Gander family has been well known for many decades, having been prominently identified with agricultural and other interests and ever maintaining a high standard of citizenship. One of the best known of this name is Homer S. Gander, who was born near Cumberland, Spencer township, this county, March 4, 1877, the son of David and Rhoda ( Moore) Gander. The father was born, reared and educated in the same locality as his son, Homer S., and he was always known as a hard-working, honest and worthy citizen.
Homer S. Gander lived on the home farm until he was twelve years of age, then began coal mining at Byesville in the old Pioneer mine. He worked in the mines around Byesville seven or eight years, then went to Pleasant City and worked in the Walhonding mine. After he was there a few years he was promoted to a position as boss driver, then was made pit boss, which position he held about a year, then, having proven his ability and faithfulness, he was made superintendent of the Walhonding mine, filling that important position in a manner that reflected credit upon himself and to the entire satis- faction of all concerned. From there he went to the Trail Run mine No. 2, for the same company, and was there about four months, then was transferred to the Walhonding mine No. 2, where he sunk a shaft and was there six or
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eight months. He then went with the Ford Collieries Company and was sent to Pennsylvania, where he sank two shafts, remaining there four or five months, then came back to Guernsey county, on February 8, 1910, and sank the shaft at the New Buffalo mine in the northeast part of Valley township. About April Ist following he took charge of the Hartford mine, of which he is now superintendent. He has about two hundred men under him, under- standing well not only every phase of mining, but also how to handle his men so as to get the best results possible, being popular with them, for they appreciate his good judgment, fairness and good will. His rise has been steady and sure, since he started as a boy in the mines at seventy-five cents per day, having, by diligence and faithfulness, risen to the front, showing that he possesses unusual ability in gaining the loyal co-operation of his men in the mines.
Mr. Gander was married to Nellie Secrest on September 22, 1899. She is the daughter of James Madison and Frances (Young) Secrest, of Pleasant City, a sketch of whom appears herein. Her paternal grandfather was Har- rison Secrest, an old resident of Valley township, and a prominent citizen in the early days among his neighbors. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gander, three sons and one daughter, Paul, Edwin, Mildred and James.
Fraternally, Mr. Gander is a member of Masonic Lodge No. 360 at Pleasant City and stands high in the order.
L. Ş. LINKHORN.
Owing to his loyalty to his county, his scrupulously honest dealings with his fellow men and his genial disposition, L. S. Linkhorn, the present efficient and popular county treasurer of Guernsey county, has won the undivided re- spect and esteem of all who know him, and he is regarded by everyone as being among the most enterprising and representative citizens of Cambridge.
Mr. Linkhorn was born on August 30, 1870, in Jackson township, this county, and is the son of Joseph and Temperance (Selby) Linkhorn. Both parents were born in Guernsey county, Ohio, and both are still living, the father being a successful stock dealer, having been a shipper of livestock for forty years. He is well and favorably known throughout this and adjoining counties. Politically he is a Republican, and has always been active in party affairs.
L. S. LINKHORN.
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L. S. Linkhorn was educated in the schools of his native community, the Byesville schools, and later at the Northwestern University at Ada, Ohio. Dur- ing his boyhood he also assisted his father in his business. At the Northwest- ern University he specialized in the commercial course. Prior to going to Ada he worked in a tobacco warehouse as a packer and there earned his first dollar. He also clerked in a general merchandise store in Byesville. After leaving the university he went to Kansas and engaged in farm work for one year. He then returned to Guernsey county, and soon after was appointed a deputy sheriff under Sheriff James Mason and he served eighteen months in this capacity. He then entered the employ of the Morton Tin Plate Com- pany, whose mill was just starting operations in 1893. He was employed in this mill and its various changes of ownership for about fifteen years, learning the trade of sheet roller, which he followed for the last eight years of that time.
Politically, Mr. Linkhorn is a Republican and he has always been active in party matters, an interested advocate of the issues he espouses and always prepared to ably defend them. In the summer of 1908 he was nominated by his party for the important office of county treasurer and was elected the same fall, assuming his official duties in September, 1909, and is now serving his first term, and he made such a splendid record that he was renominated for a second term in 1910, without opposition. He is a careful, obliging, com- petent public official, and stands very high with all classes and parties. . He has served his party as a member of the county central and executive committees and is a frequent delegate to party conventions.
Mr. Linkhorn was married on March 24, 1897, to Mary E. Chambers, daughter of John A. and Lucinda (Stoffer) Chambers, of Kimbolton, Ohio. To this union three children have been born, Adrian T., Walter L. and Audry.
Mr. Linkhorn is a member of Pleasant City Lodge, Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Cambridge.
Mrs. Linkhorn is a member of the First United Presbyterian church, where the family all attend and are active in church and Sunday school work. For recreation Mr. Linkhorn enjoys hunting and fishing and is a lover of out- door life. The family home, a comfortable and hospitable one, is at the cor- ner of Gomber and Highland avenues, Cambridge.
Jesse Linkhorn, grandfather of the subject, was one of the early pioneers of Guernsey county. He was a farmer and carpenter. He married Sarah Wilson. Jesse Linkhorn was born in Guernsey county. Lloyd Selby, grand- father, and Thomas Wilson, great-grandfather of the subject, were among the
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earliest pioneers of Guernsey county. The latter entered government land in Jackson township at an early date, and was an influential man, and both were largely instrumental in the subsequent development and progress of Byes- ville and Jackson township.
The Linkhorn family and progenitors have been identified with Guern- sey county from its organization, taking an active and influential part in its history and development. Lloyd Selby was the first railroad station agent at Byesville, and was one of the early merchants of that town.
JOHN BLAIR BRATTON.
A well known and representative citizen of Cambridge is John Blair Bratton, city councilman and a man highly respected by all, having main- tained a reputation for square dealing with his fellowmen and being public- spirited and upright in all his relations with the world as well as in private life. He was born in Cambridge township, Guernsey county, in 1861, and he is the son of Samuel and Elizabeth ( Blair) Bratton. A complete sketch of these parents will be found on another page of this work.
John B. Bratton spent his early boyhood on the home farm and when very young assisted with the work during crop seasons. At the age of fifteen years he took up coal mining, which he followed three or four years, then went to the city of Newark, Ohio, and learned the machinist's trade. In the month of December. 1889, he came to Cambridge and started in as assistant chief engineer at the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company. About two years later he was promoted to be chief engineer, which important position he held with entire satisfaction for a period of seven years, then became a shearman in the same plant, which position he has held ever since to the utmost satisfaction of his employers, being an expert in this particular line of work. He has always believed in doing well whatever was worth doing at all, and this has, no doubt, been very largely responsible for his suc- cess in life.
Mr. Bratton is a loyal Republican in political matters, and he has long taken an active interest in local affairs. In the fall of 1908 he was elected to the city council of Cambridge, and he is now serving his second term in that body, being a very faithful exponent of the people's rights and very careful to look after the general interests of this city in every way. He keeps well posted on current affairs and is a man of ability and is eminently trustworthy.
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Fraternally, Mr. Bratton belongs to the Improved Order of Red Men, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Fraternal Order of Owls.
Mr. Bratton was married in 1883 to Martha Warren, daughter of John and Eliza Warren; she was born and reared in Cambridge township. This union has resulted in the birth of five children, namely: James Francis ; Walter died in April, 1907, when twenty years of age; Hazel; Warren and Olive are twins.
James Francis Bratton was educated in the home schools and when he reached maturity he married Julia Weyler, and they have three children, John Wesley, Walter and Gladys Elizabeth. James Francis Bratton is a machinist by trade, and a very skilled one, and is at present filling the position of shear- man in the same plant in which his father is employed.
The other children are all at home with their parents. Hazel Bratton is stenographer and bookkeeper in the office of the director of safety in Cam- bridge, and she is very apt and rapid in her work. Mr. Bratton is attached to his home and family and provides well for their comfort.
CHARLES W. FRYE.
The name of Frye has long been an honored one in Jackson township, Guernsey county, and the present sketch deals particularly with two bearing that name, who have added to its luster, a father and son, the former one of the best known and most respected residents of the county, the latter a man of honor and integrity, one of the ablest farmers and most substantial and influential citizens of his community.
Charles W. Frye was born on July 26, 1857, in the northwestern part of Valley township, Guernsey county, Ohio, on his father's farm, situated on the Clay pike. He is the only son of John and Rhoda Ann ( Moore) Frye. (For ancestry of the Frye family dating back to its home in Germany before the American Revolution, see sketch of Henry Ferguson Frye, father of John Frye.)
John Frye was born on the old Trenner farm, a short distance northwest of Derwent. During his young manhood he was a teacher, and taught school for eight or nine terms, while his father was keeping a store along the Clay pike. He lived at home until, on August 13, 1854, he was married to Rhoda Ann Moore. She was born and reared near Derwent, and was the daughter of Joseph and Mahala (Collins) Moore. (For fuller details concerning
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Moore family, see sketch of Thomas I. Moore.) For two or three years after marriage John Frye and his wife lived at Hartford, where he was teaching school. He then bought a farm northwest of Byesville, where the brick plant is now located, and lived there thirteen years, until after the war. On April 27, 1861, he enlisted in Company. E, One Hundred and Seventy- second Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, being commissioned as a lieu- tenant, and was honorably discharged on September 3, 1864, after much arduous service. After the war he was one of the leading members of Davis Kimble Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He bought a quarter section of land a mile and one-half southwest of Byesville, and added to this later forty acres, and then eighty more. Part of this land was bought by his son, Charles, as he grew up and worked and earned money.
Although a Democrat, and living in a township that was always Re- publican, John Frye was for thirty-nine years a justice of the peace, and dis- charged the duties of his position so efficiently that no decision of his was ever reversed by a higher court. He became well versed in civil law and the law of estates, and was in demand to act as administrator, executor or as- signee, being at all times engaged in such work. People came long distances for his advice. While he was justice of the peace, the above duties and those of his office kept him so busy that his docket entries had to be made at night. It was accepted that he was the best informed man in the community. A member of the Lutheran church, he was a thorough Christian and was never heard to speak ill of any person. His death occurred on April 3, 1897, just two days before he would have been re-elected to the office which he had held so long.
Charles W. Frye lived on the farm with his father, in his younger days teaching school-for a few years. His farm is one of the best and most pro- ductive in that community, and he has an unusually fine country home. In politics he is a Democrat, and has been for about twenty years a member of the board of education of Jackson township. An unusual incident of his experience is that while a member of the board that employed John A. Bliss as a teacher, he also attended Mr. Bliss's school as a student.
Charles W. Frye was married on December 29, 1881, to Marcielene Grant, a sister of John R. Grant, of Byesville, whose record gives the family history. She was born on the old Bye homestead across Wills creek from Byesville, and lived at Byesville until her marriage. Mr. Frye is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and in daily life applies the teachings of that order. He is an upright and reliable man, popular among his neighbors, and prominent in all the activities of the community.
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SAMUEL CLARK GROVES.
Descended from ancestors who took a prominent part in the affairs of their community, himself a young man of high standing and honorable career. the records of Valley township would be incomplete without mention of Sam- uel Clark Groves. He was born near Cumberland, Guernsey county, Ohio, on November 4. 1871, the son of David and Rebecca Elizabeth (Clark) Groves.
The Groves family has a tradition to the effect that the family was origin- ally that of Von Graf in Germany, that the ancestors were expelled for polit- ical reasons, and later came to Maryland with Lord John Calvert, first Earl of Baltimore. Jonas Groves, the father of David and grandfather of Samuel C., was born in Maryland, and was, with a brother and sister, brought to Noble county, Ohio, by his parents, locating in the neighborhood of Mt. Ephraim when the country was all new. Here the children grew up, and many of their descendants are still well known residents of that locality, in which David Groves was born. Rebecca E. Clark was born a short distance northwest of Pleasant City and was the daughter of Samuel G. and Mary Ann (Longs- worth) Clark, for whom see sketch of Robert I. Shepler. After marriage David Groves and his wife lived for about a year in Noble county, then moved to near Cumberland, Guernsey county, where they lived for about ten years. on a farm of eighty acres, which in 1880 he sold and then bought a farm in the western portion of Valley township, consisting of three hundred and twenty acres, where he made his home until his death. Two children were born to his first marriage, Mary Edith and Samuel Clark. Mary Edith mar- ried Lawrence Garber, an attorney, and died on the first Monday of Septem- her. 1907. She left four children, Anson, Ethel, Ruth and Martha, while her fourth child in order of birth died in infancy. Mrs. David Groves died in February, 1896, and in 1899 David Groves married Mrs. Martha J. Heinlein. and thereafter made his home in Pleasant City, though still supervising his farm. His second wife was a sister to his first wife. David Groves died in 1902. In politics he was a life-long Republican. During the Civil war he served in the One Hundred and Sixty-first Ohio Infantry, and was wounded in the leg while in action in Maryland, and it was from trouble caused by this old wound that his death was occasioned. David Groves was a man of strong character and considerable influence in the communities in which he resided.
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