USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 39
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After his marriage Mr. Koren remained in the coke fields of Pennsyl- vania two years, or until 1901, having been employed in the coal mines. Upon the date mentioned he came to Guernsey county and took a position in
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the Black Top mines, remaining there nearly five years, and from there he moved to Byesville, where he now resides. He built a neat and comfortable home on Fifth street and went into the grocery business. He did very well at this, but sold out a year later and bought a half interest in the Byesville Milling Company. On July 28, 1910, he bought out his partners and is now sole owner of the mill, which is one of the best and most popular in this and adjoining counties, its superior products being eagerly sought after. He understands thoroughly the management of this business and, owing to his honest and straightforward methods and his desire to please and treat fairly his customers, he has built up a large and rapidly growing patronage. Thrift, diligence, sound judgment and economy have marked him as a man of pru- dence and business ability. Besides his mill, Mr. Koren is a director in the Byesville Loan and Building Company. His is an unusual record and a very praiseworthy one. He came from a foreign land, speaking a strange language and without means, and he worked as a miner until he could save enough with which to go into business : he has advanced continuously until he is now one of the successful and prominent citizens of Byesville.
Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Koren, Mary, Mike, Joseph and Emil. Mr. Koren is a member of the First Slavak Catholic Union, he and his family all belonging to the Catholic church.
MATTHIAS C. ANDERSON.
Among the honored veterans of the Civil war living at Byesville, Guern- sey county, is Matthias C. Anderson. There is much that is commendable in his life record, for he has been found true to duty in every relation, whether of a public or private character, and while energy and unbending industry have been salient features of his business career, he is equally well known for his uprightness and the honorable methods he has always followed and for his loyalty to every trust reposed in him. Mr. Anderson was born in Richland township, not far from Lore City, Ohio, April 28, 1837. He is the son of John and Hannah (White) Anderson. The mother, who was born in Bel- mont county, was a daughter of John White and wife. John Anderson was born near White Haven, England. He worked in a canvas factory in boy- hood in England, then became a sailor, and was in the English navy, and near the close of the war he deserted the English warship off the shore at Charles- ton, South Carolina, with three companions, rowed ashore and ran away into
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Virginia, traveled at night and hid during the day, until convinced that they were safe. He went on to Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where he got a place weaving with an old Irishman. The runaway sailors had a novel way of choosing their route of travel. They set up a stick at cross roads and which ever way it fell two out of three times they went in that direction. Mr. Anderson stayed in Beaver county several years, and then came down the Ohio river with people en route to Kentucky and left them at Wheeling. He came to Belmont county, Ohio, and went to weaving with a man named James White, whose niece, Hannah White, he married. He then set up an estab- lishment of his own for weaving, had a loom, a swift and quill and wheel, along with the other things needed for the work. Hannah White's father was from Maryland and her mother was German. Her wedding dress was calico at one dollar a yard.
Before the National pike was built, Mr. Anderson and wife emigrated to Guernsey county in wagons, driving his sheep. Guernsey county was woods and swamps then. A sheep got swamped, the father tried to get it out and fell back into the mud himself. His wife had been so opposed to coming that she thoroughly enjoyed his discomfiture. He bought a farm of eighty acres, in Richland township, a few years later, when it was all in woods, buying the land from Jack Barrett, an old hunter. Deer and wild turkey were very plen- tiful then. He counted eleven deer at one time in a wheat field. John and Hannah Anderson had two children born in Belmont county, the others being born in Guernsey county. One died in infancy, the others were: Sarah. James, Katherine, John, William, Thomas, Mary, Amanda and Matthias. Mary is living on the old homestead and she and Matthias, of this review, are the only survivors of this large family.
John Anderson bought eighty acres of land and eventually had one hun- dred and sixty acres. He kept on weaving, lived all the balance of his life on the farm in Guernsey county, and became a good farmer later in life, though ignorant of it in early life.
He and his wife belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church, he having been converted at Senecaville after he was married. His mother belonged to the Church of England.
Matthias C. Anderson, who grew up on the home farm, was the young- est of the family. At the age of fourteen he was put to plowing and worked hard at this and general farm work. On January 22, 1862, he enlisted in Company B, First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, and was in the Army of the Cumberland. He was fortunately never wounded nor taken prisoner, but at Pittsburg Landing he took the fever and was in the hospital about a month at
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St. Louis. He was hurt by a falling horse at Clifton, Tennessee, before the spell of fever. He was discharged, because of disability, the last of Decem- ber, 1862, or first of January, 1863. He stayed at home, disabled by ill health, nearly a year, unable to work, but when he got stronger he farmed for his father, who was getting old.
On October 25, 1866, Mr. Anderson married Catherine E. Rogers, daugh- ter of Lawson W. and Alice A. (McGaw) Rogers. After his marriage Mr. Anderson stayed a year on his father's farm, then bought a farm two miles south of Byesville, in Jackson township, in the spring of 1868. They lived there until 1904. then moved to Byesville, where they now reside and live a retired life. He subsequently bought fifty-one and one-half acres, now own- ing in all one hundred and thirty-one and one-half acres.
Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. The first, Hannah Alice, died in infancy. Two daughters and two sons grew to ma- turity, namely : Charles Melvin, who resides in Byesville; Orthello L., who lives in Columbus, Ohio, and has a jewelry store there, married Mary Engle; Minnie J. married Benson Larrick, and lives at Ava, Noble county, where he is in the grocery business ; she has two sons, Benson Melvin and Dwight O .; Floral L., who is at home with her parents in Byesville, is a woman of much thrift and business ability. The whole family are members of the Methodist Protestant church.
Lawson A. Rogers and wife, parents of Mrs. Anderson, lived in Hartford county, Maryland, and were married there. In October, 1842, they came to Guernsey county, Ohio, and settled in Jackson township about four miles southeast of Byesville, not far from Hartford. There they bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, most of which was in the woods. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson still have eighty acres of the original farm. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rogers: Sarah J., George F., Lawson H., Cath- erine E., Mary M., Roland J. and Lucinda S. Sarah Jane is dead. Lawson H. Rogers enlisted in the army, on August 18, 1862, in Company H. One Hundred Twenty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was in the Army of the Potomac and took part in the battle of Winchester and many others. He was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of the Wilderness, was taken to Richmond, then to Lynchburg, Virginia, and died a prisoner of war. His left limb was amputated before his death. He is buried at Lynchburg, Vir- ginia. George F., who lived two miles south of Byesville, was a farmer and he died in 1908. Mary M. is the wife of John L. Bruner, of Cambridge, whose sketch appears elsewhere in these pages. Roland James died February 28, 1905, in the old home neighborhood, south of Byesville. Lucinda S, is
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the wife of Joseph F. Bruner, brother of John L. Bruner, and lives in Rich- land township, on a farm. Lawson Rogers and wife lived the rest of their lives on the old home in this county. Both belonged to the Methodist Protes- tant church.
When Mr. Anderson's mother first came here, nearly a hundred years ago, she planted an apple tree that still bears fruit. It was grafted and for a time bore four kinds of apples. Their old country home was a beautiful place, not fancy but well kept, with many beautiful rose bushes and orchards and well kept lawns. There remains about one hundred and sixty-eight acres in the old homestead. The family are plain and substantial citizens, thor- oughly reliable, industrious and thrifty, praiseworthy citizens, esteemed and honored by all who know them.
ALBERT E. PITT.
One of the successful and deserving young men of Cambridge, Guernsey county, and a scion of an excellent and highly honored old family is Albert E. Pitt. He has labored persistently along legitimate lines in order to advance himself and has never depended upon anyone for assistance, preferring to hew his own way to success.
Mr. Pitt was born December 4, 1879, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and is the son of Edward D. and Margaret (Jarvis) Pitt, both born in England, where they grew to maturity, were educated and married, soon afterward com- ing to America. Mr. Pitt was a direct descendant of the famous Sir William Pitt. Having learned the trade of iron worker in his native country, Edward D. Pitt followed the same after coming to America, being employed in the iron mills at Pittsburg. In 1886 he moved his family to New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where he worked in the iron mills until 1890 when he moved to Cambridge at the opening of the Cambridge Sheet Steel Company and he was one of the first heaters employed in this mill. He was very skilled in his line. His death occurred in November, 1909; his widow is still living. The elder Pitt was an extensive traveler and, being a close observer, he was a well informed man and took much more than a passing interest in the affairs of his county, desiring to see better conditions for all classes. He was a firm believer in the republican form of government and he was an active worker in the ranks of the Republican party, in its caucuses, conventions, etc., but he was not an officer seeker himself. He was also active in labor organizations,
ALBERT E. PITT.
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in fact, every movement having for its object the betterment of the laboring classes and the general good.
Albert E. Pitt was educated in the public schools of New Philadelphia and when seventeen years of age he entered the iron mills of that city as an apprentice, learning the trade of rougher. When the foundry was moved to Cambridge he came here and was employed in the mills here and has since re- sided at this place.
Mr. Pitt was married on November 26, 1900, to Minnie May Williams, daughter of Charles and Catherine (Tregoweth) Williams, of Youngstown. Ohio. Mr. Williams was a brick contractor. For the past ten years he has been in the Klondyke gold field in Alaska. His family still reside in Youngs- town. Mr. and Mrs. Pitt have no family.
Since their marriage Mr. Pitt was employed in the mills of Cambridge until the summer of 1909, since which time he has been employed at Martin's Ferry, Ohio, in the iron mills there, but he still resides in Cambridge where he has a very comfortable home. He is an expert in his special line of work and his services are in demand wherever there is an iron mill.
Politically, Mr. Pitt is a Republican and he has long been active in the affairs of the party, his first presidential vote being cast for Roosevelt in 1904, having missed his vote for Mckinley in 1900 by just one month. He has frequently been a delegate to county, district and state conventions. On June 28, 1910, his party nominated him for state senator in the eighteenth and nineteenth senatorial district of Ohio. His candidacy was universally regarded as a most fortunate one, owing to his general popularity with the party and his recognized ability and genuine worth and his public spirit. He is well qualified for any public trust that might be reposed in him, since his integrity and sincerity cannot be questioned. Like his honored father be- fore him, he has always been active in labor organizations and has always stood ready to do what he could in bettering the condition of the laboring classes. He is a member of the Iron and Steel Workers Union and has filled several offices of the association. He was active in the organization of the Trades and Labor Assembly of Guernsey county and served for two terms as president of that organization. He has always been active in every move- ment calculated to promote the interests of labor. He was legislative repre- . sentative of the Ohio Federation of Labor in the seventy-eighth General As- sembly of Ohio. He very worthily aspires to the position occupied by his father, who was recognized as a world wide friend of organized labor. He was presented with a very handsome loving cup by the Amalgamated Asso- ciation or Iron and Steel Workers of Etouria, England.
(52)
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The father's family consisted of Harry E. Pitt, of Cambridge ; Albert E .. of this review ; William E., of Pittsburg, and M. Emmiluine, a labor evange- list who is also engaged in newspaper work in Pittsburg. In 1907 the father returned from Cambridge to Pittsburg to reside, having retired from mill work, and his death occurred in the latter city. among his early friends and associates and where he had been a great factor in many public movements.
Albert E. Pitt is a worthy son of a worthy sire. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are active in church work. Mrs. Pitt is a cultured and refined woman. Mr. Pitt is a nephew of Rev. Henry Pitt, vicar of St. Mary Magdalene's church at Surrey Square, London, England. Rev. Henry being a brother of Edward D. Pitt, father of the subject. This is indeed a most distinguished family. A deceased sister of Albert E. Pitt, Queen E., who died in August, 1904, at the family home in Pittsburg, was a great Sunday school worker in the Baptist church and was a teacher of English among the Chinese in the city of Pittsburg, and a young woman greatly admired and beloved for her many commendable qualities of head and heart.
CHARLES MELVIN ANDERSON.
A popular and successful merchant of Byesville and one of the progres- sive and public spirited citizens of Guernsey county is Charles Melvin Ander- son, a man who is deserving of the confidence which all classes repose in him and of the large success which is today his, for he has lived a very industrious and honorable life and has sought to keep untarnished the excellent family name which has been known here for several generations. His birth oc- curred in Jackson township, this county, on October 12, 1868, and he is the son of Matthias C. Anderson and wife, who are fully mentioned in another sketch in this work. Young Anderson grew to maturity on the home farm and there began working when a mere boy, attending the district schools dur- ing the winter months. He later took a term in the Byesville high school under Prof. John A. Bliss. While a young man he did quite a large amount of agency work, taking orders for tea and other commodities. His mind was always commercially inclined and he very early evinced marked innate ability in the mercantile field. He began working in a general store at Trail Run, in Jackson township, for O. E. and Caleb Trinner. He then went with Moss Brothers & Rigby, with whom he remained until they sold out to the Wills Creek Supply Company.
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In October, 1899. Mr. Anderson came to Byesville and started in busi- ness for himself, buying a gents' furnishing establishment of J. E. Addison & Company, and he at once put in a stock of shoes and clothing, taking as a partner in business his brother, O. L. Anderson. They enjoyed a liberal pat- ronage from the first, being men of hustle and true business ability. In 1903 Charles M. purchased the interest of his brother. O. L. Anderson, going to Col- umbus, where he opened a jewelry store. On September 22, 1904, the store ad- joining that of the subject was entirely destroyed by fire, including contents. Only a five-thousand-dollar insurance was carried on a twelve-thousand-dol- lar stock of goods. After the fire Mr. Anderson bought a half interest in the lot where his store was located and he and L. S. Resoner built the large cement block building in which the store is now located at Depot and Seneca streets, Byesville. Mr. Anderson's was the first stock of clothing in Byes- ville and was the only stock for many years, and, although it has since with- stood a great deal of competition. it is still growing and does a very large business, having a prestige second to none. On April 8. 1905, the new build- ing was finished and Mr. Anderson took J. E. Booth into partnership with him. In the fall of 1907 he bought Mr. Booth's interest. In the summer of 1903 Mr. Resoner sold his interest in the building to John Carnes, of Cam- bridge, and he is still part owner of the same with Mr. Anderson.
Besides his large clothing store, Mr. Anderson has other interests, being regarded as one of the leading business men of the county. He has an inter- est in the Hall Gas Engine Works and in the Citizens five, ten and twenty- five-cent store at Cambridge.
Mr. Anderson has been a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias for about twenty years.
On October 1, 1902, Mr. Anderson was married to Nancy Adeline Coulter, a lady of culture and refinement and the representative of an excellent and in- fluential old family. She was born at Cutler, Washington county. Ohio, and is the daughter of Isaac B. and Esther C. (Goddard) Coulter. Her father was for many years prominently engaged in business at Cutler, and when Mrs. Anderson was fifteen years of age she went into her father's store. He dis- posed of his business, retaining, however, the dry goods department of his store, which he moved to Byesville, locating three doors from Mr. Anderson's place of business. The daughter took charge of the store, which was the first exclusively dry goods store in Byesville, and it was while she was con- ducting the store that she and Mr. Anderson met. Her parents still reside at Cutler, her old home. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ander- son, named as follows: Mary A., Harry C., Esther E., Ida M. and Bertha L.
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Mr. and Mrs. Anderson belong to the Methodist Protestant church, and they are both prominent in the social life of this community and have a host of warm personal friends Like the rest of his family, Mr. Anderson is a diligent, honest, straightforward, genial and genteel business man, who makes a success of whatever he turns his attention to, and he has so conducted his business that he has the confidence and good will of all classes. He is a man of broad charity and kind impulses and always ready to do his full share in promoting the general good of his community.
JAMES ARTHUR PRYOR.
Biographies should not be published unless there is something in the life and character of the individual worthy of emulation or imitation by others under like circumstances-certainly not for self-aggrandizement ; but sufficient has been drawn from the life history of James Arthur Pryor, a well estab- lished and progressive business man of Byesville, to show that there is some- thing in the inner life of this man worthy of more than incidental mention. He began life practically at the bottom of the ladder, but he has climbed to the top with no help but a brave heart, industrious hands and an intelligent brain, and he is a splendid example of what may be accomplished in this country by thrift and perseverance, even under discouraging circumstances. He is a very affable gentleman, keen, far-sighted, energetic and he is held in highest esteem.
Mr. Pryor was born July 27, 1878, at Waterford, Ohio, and is the son of James Alexander and Arminta (Davis) Pryor. When he was six weeks old his mother died and the father afterwards remarried, and James A. was left with his sister at Waterford, in Washington county, Ohio, moving to Ava at the age of four years. He lived with her until nine years old, then went to Waterford to live with another sister, with whom he remained about two years, after which he spent two years with his brother, Walter Pryor, at Chandlersville, then spent a year with E. A. Atchison, at Spratt, Ohio, on a farm, as all his boyhood had been spent. At the age of thirteen he worked for his board and clothes for a time, then went to Pleasant City with a sister and attended school there. A year later he went to work for R. O. Knott, at Pleasant City, for the salary of six dollars a month and boarded himself, in a clothing and gents' furnishings store. He was with Mr. Knott for two years and nine months, at the expiration of which time he went to Macksburg and
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was overseer of a hotel, known as the Hamilton house. Sickness compelled him to relinquish that position, much to the regret of everyone there, and he returned to his sister at Pleasant City, where he worked in the general store of C. J. Kinsey for three years, clerking. At the age of twenty-one he was married to Carrie B. Scholl, of Tuscarawas county, Ohio, the daughter of Charles and Emma ( Unger) Scholl. Her mother was a daughter of Josiah Unger, who was a leader in the Civil war. The next venture made by Mr. Pryor was to borrow one hundred dollars of one Isaac Secrest, of Pleasant City, giving his note therefor, and bought with this samples of merchandise, from which he took orders, and filled them. Inside of six months he had paid off the note. He continued in that way for one year, then opened a small store at Pleasant City in a room fifteen by thirty-one feet in size.
In 1903 Mr. Pryor moved to Byesville, Ohio, and there bought a lot and built a store on Sixth street, of that town. He carried on merchandising at this place for about two years, at the end of which time, with undaunted cour- age, he sold his little store and took over the property of "The Big Store," owned by T. F. Slay. It was really a big store, and it seemed to some that it was ridiculous for him to think of buying it with his limited means.
Nothing daunted, however, he went to E. F. Meek, who, though not a personal friend nor relative of Mr. Pryor, endorsed his notes for three thou- sand, seven hundred and fifty dollars, due in nine and eighteen months. By energy and close application to business he persevered and the notes were paid off in less than sixty days. He worked like a man possessed, which is certainly great evidence of his thrift and tact.
In February, 1908, Mr. Pryor was involved in a deal in options for coal land. His partner withdrew because of lack of capital to carry it through, leaving on Mr. Pryor the burden of the whole deal. In this he again showed his ability as a financier, by landing the deal in less than three days, in a way most pleasing and gratifying to himself. He left the deal in the hands of good, reliable and financially responsible people to continue the development of one of the best blocks of coal in Guernsey county. He next consummated a deal for buying the C. S. Gager Dry Goods Company's store in Byesville. He then bought the lot where his new store is now located on Depot street. one of the best sites in Byesville, and erected the brick building he now occu- pies, which ranks among the finest in Byesville. September 24, 1908, the building was completed and the store in its new quarters ready for business. The store occupies two floors, each thirty-five by one hundred and twenty feet, without a pier or a post, as large a clear floor space as can be found in any store in this county. In 1908 and 1909 he bought and sold ninety-four
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different pieces of real estate, in Byesville. In 1910 he completed another handsome brick business block, adjoining the one occupied by his store, the new one being occupied by Eberle & McCormick's furniture store, and Beckett & Peter's pool room, both establishments being of high grade and a credit to the city. Besides the deals above mentioned, Mr. Pryor has been interested in many other enterprises. Mr. Pryor also owns several good business loca- tions in Byesville, all on paved streets and well kept up. His home is one of the modern and attractive ones of Byesville. He seeks good property as the basis of his investments. In addition to his other business ventures, he has an establishment at Byesville, where he sells buggies, wagons and farming imple- ments. On October 5. 1910, he purchased his old stand opposite his large drygoods store, which he sold to the firm of Gaskill & Froelich, general store, three and one-half years ago, where he has an extensive and growing trade. This, in connection with his other mercantile interests, is probably the largest business of the kind in Guernsey county.
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