USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
Samuel C. Groves grew to manhood on the home farm in Valley town- ship. He attended college at New Concord, and also took civil engineering at Ada, Ohio, graduating in 1894. For two terms before attending Ada he
774
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
taught school, and after leaving college he engaged in civil engineering in con- nection with farming. For three years he was civil engineer for the National Coal Company, and did their engineering work at the Little Kate, Little Kate No. 2 and Minnehaha mines, also making out their pay rolls and performing other services. He has also done engineering work at a number of other places. For some years he has had charge of the old farm, and now owns the entire place, having bought out the other heirs. In politics he is a Republican, and has often been urged by his friends as a candidate for county offices.
In 1898 Samuel C. Groves was married to Carrie D. Gregg, who was born near Chaseville, Noble county, Ohio, the daughter of Col. William J. and Mary ( Ball) Gregg. Her father was a soldier in the Civil war, and was nearly blinded in the service at Charlestown, South Carolina. Her mother was descended from the famous Ball family of Virginia, of whom George Washington's mother, Betty Ball, was a member. Mrs. Groves attended nor- mal school at Cambridge, and taught for six years. When Mrs. Groves was teaching school she gained a great reputation for cleanliness, not only in the school room, but in the grounds and general surroundings. She required the children to keep clean and keep their books clean and to always put their books away in their proper place. She is a strong advocate of better sanitary con- ditions in our schools, a matter which she believes every mother should be- come interested in. Her home and home surroundings are a fine example of her idea of cleanliness. Mr. and Mrs. Groves are the parents of three inter- esting little daughters, Ellen Jane, Elizabeth and Marjorie. Both Mr. and Mrs. Groves are members of Bethel Methodist church, as were his parents. They live in an unusually comfortable and well improved country residence. Mr. Groves is reckoned as one of the solid and substantial citizens of the county, and has by his true worth made many friends.
JOHN BENSON FISHEL.
Among the representative and progressive farmers of Valley township is John Benson Fishel, who was born in the township on January 2, 1861, the son of Henry and Hannah ( Storer) Fishel, and who has since made the township his home and has aided in its great development since his boyhood days.
Henry Fishel was born just west of Pleasant City on January 27, 1825, the son of Philip Fishel, Sr., and Katherine (Trenner) Fishel, who came to
775
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
this county from West Virginia in 1819, and bought one hundred and sixty acres just west of the present site of Pleasant City. Philip Fishel, Sr., who was influential in early times, died in 1842. Henry Fishel spent his life on the home farm. His wife, Hannah Storer, was born at Horseshoe Bottom, Pennsylvania, on September 30, 1822, and was brought by her parents to this county when five years old. She bore to Henry Fishel six children, three of whom died in childhood. The living are Mrs. Rachel Caroline Secrest, the wife of James Hudson Secrest, of Pleasant City, who was born on March 22, 1859; John B. ; and Asbury P., born on April 1, 1863, who married Mary C. Frye, and lives at Ashtabula, Ohio. Henry Fishel and his wife were mem- bers of the Bethel Methodist church, in which he was a trustee and class leader. He died on April 3. 1906, closing a long and useful life ; his wife had died on August 13, 1895.
John B. Fishel grew up on the home farm, attended normal school at Cambridge, and afterwards taught school from 1882 to 1895. During this period he taught at Claysville, Pleasant City, and other schools in Guernsey county. He was married on June 7, 1888, to Anna M. Bugher, the daughter of George and Joanna (Wilson) Bugher. George Bugher was born in the southwest part of Valley township, the son of George Bugher, Sr., who came to this county from Maryland in the early days when the country was un- settled. Joanna Wilson was born in Guernsey county, near the line between Jackson and Westland townships. George Bugher, Jr., moved after his mar- riage to a farm of one hundred and seventy acres, west of Blue Bell, where he lived until his death, combining the stone and brick mason's trades with farming. In politics he was an ardent Republican and, being a man of strong character, was possessed of considerable influence in many ways in his com- munity. He died on his farm on April 13, 1899; his wife died on April 18, 1900.
To Mr. and Mrs. John B. Fishel five children have been born: Beryl, on April 3, 1889; Waite P., on December 9, 1890; one who died in infancy, born in 1894 : Gail B., born on March 3, 1901 ; and Arden Petty, born on July 16, 190.4. Beryl has taught school for three terms, Waite for two, and both are successful in their work. In the spring of 1895 Mr. Fishel came into posses- sion of eighty acres of the home farm, and in 1905 he bought the other eighty from his father, who afterward lived with his son until his death. Mr. Fishel has since followed farming on this home farm, and has a pleasant home in the Fairview addition to Pleasant City, while his farming operations have prospered, and have gained for him a competency. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fishel are active members of Bethel Methodist church, and he has for several years
776
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
been superintendent of the Sunday school. They are highly respected in their neighborhood. Mrs. Fishel is a woman of more than ordinary ability and accomplishments and has greatly aided her husband in their progress through life, while she has been a model mother to her children, and has borne her full share in all the activities of her community. She also taught school several years before her marriage.
WILLIAM H. DAVIS, JR.
Success has been won by William H. Davis, Jr., of Byesville, Guernsey county, because he has persevered in the pursuit of a worthy purpose, gain- ing thereby a most satisfactory reward. He has been fortunate in the line of endeavor which he has chosen for a life work. He has sought to master the working of that subtle, evasive, inscrutable and possibly unknowable thing men have named electricity, and while neither he nor such a wizard as Thomas A. Edison could tell you what electricity is, they know a great deal of its mysterious workings and bid it do valuable service in furthering man's work and pushing forward the car of civilization. This is truly the electric age. and future centuries will refer to it as such, just as we today speak of the Stone age ; so he who knows aught of electricity nowadays is a useful factor in the industrial world. The success Mr. Davis has achieved as an electrician and superintendent of electrical plants stamps him as a man of much innate talent and capacity, and having at the same time the ingenuity to put his knowledge into practical form.
Mr. Davis was born in Doylestown, Ohio, September 22, 1878. He is the son of William H. Davis, Sr., whose complete sketch appears on another page of this work. His mother was known in her maidenhood as Mary Cook, of Hubbard, Ohio, the daughter of Thomas Cook and wife, an old fam- ily there. The mother of William H. Davis, Jr., died when he was about two years of age: the father and the rest of the family made their home at Sherman, Ohio, until the subject was ten years of age. During that period the father re-married and in 1888 the family moved to Byesville.
After receiving a good common school education, supplemented by much miscellaneous home study, William H. Davis, Jr., went to Chicago in 1896 and took a position with the Morgan-Gardner Electric Company, remaining there until 1898, when he went with the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, of Columbus, Ohio, manufacturers of electric machinery. Later he returned to
777
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
Chicago and found employment with the Goodman Manufacturing Company in 1900, also electric manufacturers. After remaining with this firm a short time, he returned to Byesville, where he has remained practically ever since. He took a position as electrician with the Wills Creek Coal Company, when it had only two mines. The business has grown until now eleven mines are operated, but they are owned by the Cambridge Collieries Company, and Mr. Davis has remained in his old position, being now superintendent of electrical equipment for all their mines, a very responsible and important position, which he is filling with his usual satisfaction and in a manner that reflects much credit upon his ability.
Mr. Davis was married in 1905 to Maude Grant, daughter of John Roland and Sadie L. (Orr) Grant, whose life records appear on another page of this work. Mrs. Davis was born and reared in Byesville and was educated in the local schools, and she has always been popular with a wide circle of friends here.
Fraternally, Mr. Davis is a member of the Masonic order, having at- tained the Knight Templar degree in the York rite; he is also a thirty-second- degree member of the Scottish rite. Personally, he is a genial, whole-souled young man and is popular with all who know him. He has a handsome, mod- ern home in the north side of Byesville which is often the gathering place for the many friends of the family.
SAMUEL ARTHUR FINLEY.
The Finley family is one well known in the neighborhood of Pleasant City, where its members have for four generations resided and taken an active part in the welfare and development of the community. Samuel Arthur Fin- ley, a representative farmer of Guernsey county, was born near Ava, Noble county, Ohio, on July 12, 1853, the son of John F. and Mary Ann ( Secrest) Finley. John F. Finley was born in the northern part of Noble county, three miles south of Pleasant City, the son of Samuel and Katherine (Frame) Finley.
Samuel Finley was born in Pennsylvania in 1800, and Katherine Frame was born in the same neighborhood not far from Pittsburg. Both attended the same school in childhood. When he was about eleven years old and she was nine, the Frame family moved to Guernsey county, Ohio, and settled not far from the head of Leatherwood creek. Samuel's playmates said to him,
778
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
"Well, Sammy, you'll never see your Katie any more," to which he replied in the piping voice of a little boy, "When I get big I'll go out west and hunt her up and marry her." When Samuel was eighteen years old he did come west, equipped with an outfit to keep "bach," consisting of two frying pans. Game was then abundant, and he saw one evening a bear in the woods near the pres- ent location of the Detroit mines. He entered one hundred and sixty acres of land, naturally as good as any in the county, then found his Katie, whose memory had never left him, and they were united in marriage. To get money to buy his marriage license he had to sell one of his two frying pans. But the youthful couple persevered, and improved the farm, on which they made their home until 1857, when they bought a farm near Cumberland, on which they spent the rest of their days, and this farm is still in the family possession. They were the parents of twelve children: Ebenezer, Elizabeth, James (who died in 1834, aged seven), John F., Katharine, Becky, William, Joseph, Sam- uel, Sarah, Ezra and Mary Melvina. Their son Samuel was bitten by a dog in childhood, and never recovered from the shock.
John F. Finley married Mary Ann Secrest about 1848. She was the daughter of Isaac and Mary (Slater) Secrest, and her maternal grandfather was John Slater, an old deer hunter of what is now Buffalo township, Noble county, whose wife was the first person buried in Buffalo cemetery. Isaac Secrest was born in Virginia in 1798, came to Ohio at an early day, and set- tled in Buffalo township of Noble county. He and his three brothers, James, Nathan and Jacob, were all large landowners. After marriage John F. Fin- ley lived near Ava for a while and owned a large farm there, part of which was his before his marriage. When his parents moved to the vicinity of Cumberland he bought the old farm that his father had entered, lived on it for eight years, then sold it and bought a farm where the Derwent mine is now, which he later sold, and, moving to Cambridge, lived in retirement until his death. His wife died on May 30, 1903. He was a man much respected and esteemed by those who knew him.
Samuel A. Finley was one of eight children: Isaac Wilson, Samuel A., Mary Catherine, Loamie R. (deceased), Lines E., Minnie M., Willie G. and Cora. Samuel lived with his parents until he was about twenty-four. On October 12, 1876, he was married to Arthella Secrest, the daughter of David and Sarah J. (Miller) Secrest. David was a son of John and Sallie Secrest, who came from Virginia. (For more about the Secrest family see sketches of William Secrest and Noah E. Secrest, Sr., of Hartford.) Arthella Secrest was a twin and one of thirteen children, and was born and reared near Hart- ford, Valley township. Since his marriage, Samuel A. Finley has followed
779
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
farming as his chief occupation all of his life. He has several tracts of land in Valley township, and residence property in Pleasant City. For four years after marriage he lived on a farm near Derwent, then lived at Hartford for twelve years. In 1891 he moved to Pleasant City, where he has lived ever since. Of his three children, one died in infancy and two, Zula Esther and Sonora Edna, are living. Zula Esther married Robert M. Shields, who was born in Jackson county, Ohio, in 1877, and is a son of John W. and Jane (Russell) Shields. They are living in Pleasant City, and have one daughter, Hilda Bodurtha.
Mrs. Finley died on January 7, 1908. She was a woman who well de- served the esteem of her neighbors and many friends and the love of those in her house. She always looked carefully to the needs of her family and was a model wife and mother and a consistent Christian, being a member of the Lutheran church, of which her husband, her daughters and her son-in-law are members. Hers was truly a beautiful character. Mr. Finley is a modest man, kind and generous to all, of unquestioned honesty and integrity, who deserves and retains by his true worth the respect and good will of all who know him.
JAMES F. HAWES.
Among the men of influence, and who is deserving of the large success he has attained and of the respect and esteem which all who know him freely give, is J. F. Hawes, of Jackson township, who was born in 1867 in the southwestern part of this township, Guernsey county, where the Buckeye mine is now located. He is the son of Joseph and Mary ( Mullen) Hawes, the former born in Maryland. He was the son of John Hawes and wife, and during his youth the family came to Guernsey county and located in the north- east corner of Spencer township. There John Hawes became owner of a farm, probably entering it direct from the government, for it was all new land. This is about the oldest family still represented in that locality. There John Hawes lived the balance of his life and prospered, becoming the owner of a large tract of valuable land, probably four hundred acres. He and his wife assisted in organizing the Disciple church in that locality and he re- mained a faithful member of the same the rest of his life. In later years his hearing failed, and it was necessary for him to have his chair placed near the preacher in order to hear the sermon. When it was possible for him to do
780
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
so, he was in his accustomed place. He was a good and useful man and hon- ored by all who knew him.
Joseph Hawes was one of a family of eight children, an equal number of boys and girls, named as follows: Joseph : John died in Valley township about 1902, leaving a wife and two sons, who are now living in Indiana ; Frank went to Boise, Idaho, when the gold excitement drew men West and he lived there until his death in 1909; Fletcher was killed by the Indians in Idaho about 1880: Michael, who was a physician and was a surgeon in the Union army during the Civil war. He died in Claysville, Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1905 ; the sisters were, Mrs. Catherine Collins, now living at Colum- bus : another sister married a Mr. Heskett and lived in Belmont county ; an- other married a Mr. Hickison and lived in the West.
Joseph Hawes married Mary Mullen, who was born and reared in the same neighborhood as Mr. Hawes. He became a prosperous farmer in the southwestern part of Jackson, buying several tracts of land at different times, aggregating three hundred acres, all of which he owned at the time of his (leath. He was trustee of the township and was a man of good standing in the community. He was a member and a liberal supporter of the Disciples church, of which his wife was also a member. They were the parents of the following children: Oliver F. lives at Pleasant City : John L. died in Butte, Montana, about 1885; Lilla Anderson lives in Spencer township on the old Dennis farm; Olive Belle is the wife of J. B. Neeland, of Valley township. and is now living at Hartford; Sadie Ann is the wife of A. S. Secrest, of Hartford: James Franklin, of this review : Clarence Glenroy lives in Clays- ville and owns the old home farm, where Joseph Hawes, his father, first set- tled after his marriage, at Buck's mines; Maggie Elizabeth, who died when about twenty-one years of age, was the wife of Charles Barton.
James F. Hawes, of this review, grew to maturity on the home place in the southwest part of Jackson township and there worked on the farm. In 1889 he was married to Villetta F. Beckett, of Spencer township, the daugh- ter of John and Lottie (Lyons) Beckett, both natives of Noble county, Ohio. They came to Spencer township, this county, about 1872 and lived on a farm there until about 1909, then moved into Cumberland, where they now live. In 1890 Mr. Hawes built a substantial and attractive residence, near that of his father, and lived there until 1908, then built the cozy home where he now lives, near Harmony, in Jackson township. It is a commodious and nicely furnished home, and is well kept. Mr. Hawes is trustee of Jackson town- ship, and fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, Cambridge Lodge No. 301.
781
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. James F. Hawes: one died in infancy ; one son and one daughter are living. Rominie R. and Lot- tie M.
JOHN L. McCREARY.
Individual enterprise, which is so justly the boast of the American peo- ple, is strikingly exhibited in the career of the gentleman whose name forms the caption of this sketch. While transmitting to posterity the record of such a life, it is with the hope of installing into the minds of those who come after, the important lesson that honor and station are sure rewards of indi- vidual exertion.
John L. McCreary, an influential citizen of Center township, Guernsey county, was born April 8, 1872, in the same community where he still lives, and he is the son of Hugh A. and Mattie ( McKelvey ) McCreary, the father a native of Guernsey county and the mother of Belmont county, Ohio. The paternal grandfather, James McCreary, was one of the first settlers of Center township, having come from Pennsylvania when a young man and married Margaret Laughlin, daughter of another pioneer family from Washington county, Pennsylvania. Both grandfathers were farmers and large land owners and became prosperous. They and Hugh A. McCreary were all greatly interested in public matters and were well informed and progressive citizens. Each of them filled offices of trust and importance in the town- ship. Five sons and two daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hugh A. McCreary, namely: John L., of this review; Mary R. married John A. Burris, of Klondyke; Robert C., of Washington township, this county ; James H., of Byesville, this county. These children were by Mr. McCreary's first wife, whose death occurred in April, 1884. His second marriage was to Sarah E. McConnell, daughter of Thomas and Lucy (Smith) McConnell, of Center township, and this second union resulted in the birth of the following children : Ethel M., single; Walter H .; Thomas H. ; Dwight, deceased. The father's death occurred in February, 1908. He was a Democrat in politics and a member of the Presbyterian church and active in the work of the same, and he was highly respected by all who knew him.
John L. McCreary spent his youth on the home farm and assisted in the ordinary work about the place, also assisted his father in the lumber and timber business, which was for a time on an extensive scale. The early edu- cation of the son was in the district schools of the country, and later he was
782
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
a student of the Northwestern University at Ada, Ohio, for one year; he subsequently studied at Muskingum College at New Concord, Ohio, com- pleting three years' work in two, but he was prevented from graduation by sickness, being a student in the classical course. After leaving college he was with his father in the lumber and timber business and their operations were extensive for some time. In January, 1902, he engaged in the mercantile business at Klondyke, Guernsey county, which he conducted until February, 1909, when he sold out and bought the interests of all the heirs in the old home farm and he is now a farmer. His place consists of two hundred and fifty acres, lying in a rich section of Center township, and no better place for general farming purposes is to be found in the county ; but while he devotes his attention to his farm, he maintains his residence in Klondyke. He is also a stockholder and vice-president of the Guernsey Oil and Gas Company, oper- ating in this county, and he is a stockholder in several other companies. and was one of the promoters of the Cambridge and Byesville Driving Park Association, being a director in this company for a number of years. He is a lover of good stock, and everything that tends to general progress finds in him an interested advocate. He is a business man of extraordinary acumen and whatever he turns his attention to brings gratifying results. He is a Democrat in politics and he has always been active in the affairs of the party and public matters. He has served as a member of the Democratic county committee for several years and he has been a frequent delegate to district, county and state conventions. In 1908 he was nominated by his party as a member of the Legislature from Guernsey county and at the following elec- tion in November he overcame a normal Republican majority in the county of more than two thousand and was elected by a majority of eighty-two over his Republican opponent. This is certainly a criterion of his high stand- ing in this county and of his genuine worth. As a member of that important body he served on the important committees of public ways and turnpikes, public printing, and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Xenia. He made a record that reflected much credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of his constitutents, and he was re-nominated by his party for a second term.
Mr. McCreary was married on December 25, 1903, to Elizabeth Rigby, daughter of William and Mary (Moss) Rigby, of Cambridge, an estimable English family who came to America some twenty-five years ago and Mr. Rigby is extensively interested in coal operating mines. To Mr. and Mrs. McCreary two sons have been born, Hugh R. and William L.
Fraternally, Mr. McCreary is a member of Lore City Lodge of Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He belongs to the Presbyterian church and
783
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church; both are active church and Sunday school workers. Mr. McCreary has an attractive and pleasant home, neatly kept and nicely furnished; standard books and the best cur- rent literature are to be found in his private library and his home in Kipling is one of the township's noted centers of hospitality. Personally Mr. Mc- Creary is a gentleman of fine address, genial, generous, broad-minded and a good mixer, a man eminently worthy of the high esteem in which he is uni- versally held.
CHARLES R. AUSTIN, M. D.
Among the prominent and successful physicians of Guernsey county is Dr. Charles R. Austin, who was born in Dresden, Ohio, August 15, 1871, the son of Dr. D. A. and Bethany (Springer) Austin. The father, who was born in Clinton county, Ohio, in 1822, was a successful practitioner and con- tinued in his profession until about 1894. He was a Quaker, and gained quite a little attention as an Abolitionist, being a promoter of the famous "under- ground railway." He died two years after his retirement from active prac- tice, in the month of April, 1896, being survived by his wife for several years, she having died at Byesville, Guernsey county, on the 24th of July, 1906. She was a woman of beautiful character, and an active worker in the Baptist church, of which she was a member. There are now five children living : L. L. H., Dr. J. S., Dr. Charles R., David A. and Laura Merriam Austin.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.