USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 41
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in the Army of the Cumberland and participated in many engagements, being at the siege of Corinth, Mississippi, and Perryville, Kentucky, and various other fierce battles. His health was broken by the service and he has never been a robust man since. He has always been identified with farming and stock raising. In 1888 he moved to Senecaville from the farm, but kept his farm and coal land interests actively in hand until about three years ago, when he gave up much of this active work and has been living a retired life. He is a Republican in politics and has been active in public affairs. He has served as mayor of Senecaville and on the school board for ten years, is al- ways interested in education and progress and always in the forefront of all movements calculated to advance the best interests of the people. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and his wife is a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church and an ardent church and Sunday school worker, a most excellent woman. Mr. Moser is a most excellent citizen and few men have the confidence and respect of the people to the extent that he has.
ANDREW MOORE.
Among the truly valued and interesting characters of early days in Guernsey county were the two Andrew Moores-father and son. This memoir will treat especially of the son, who was the father-in-law of Col. C. P. B. Sarchet, of Cambridge. The father, Andrew Moore, Sr., was de- scended from Scotch-Welsh ancestry, who settled at an early day in New Castle county, Delaware. The first American ancestor of this family es- tablished a "smithy", blacksmith shop, near New Castle, which trade was handed down from father to son. It was there that Andrew, Sr., learned the trade. At his majority he married Elizabeth Bines, by whom nine chil- dren were born: Robert B., William, James B., Andrew, Thomas, Jacob, Maria, Harriet and Eliza. Soon after his marriage he removed to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where Gen. Robert B. Moore, late of California, and William Moore, of this county, were born. About 1797 he removed to Washington county, Pennsylvania, where James B. Moore, of Cambridge, was born. Still following the western tide of emi- gration, the year 1803 found him located at Wellsburg, West Vir- ginia, where Andrew was born, February 12th of that year. Mr. Moore the following year removed to Newellstown, Belmont county, Ohio, and in April, 1806, settled near what was then called "Smithton" (now the Lost
ANDREW BINES MOORE.
MRS. ELIZABETH MOORE.
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town), and after the formation of Guernsey county it was called Frankford on the Zane Trace, or old Wheeling road, and there opened up what became a notable place, Moore's Tavern, known far and near for its good cheer and hospitality. To the hotel was attached the "smithy," where glowed brightly the blacksmith's forge and sounded the ringing anvil. Here young Andrew spent his youthful days as the son of a pioneer backwoodsman, doing such labor on the farm and about the tavern as one of his years could do. He was apprenticed to learn the trade of a tanner, when sixteen years of age, to a Mr. Erskine, at St. Clairsville. When he had served his time and secured his freedom suit, three months' schooling and his Bible, the last item in the agreement, he set out for the East, where he spent several years in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Wilmington as a "jour" tanner. He was unsuccessful in his efforts and returned to his father's place and in 1826 was united in marriage to Margaret Bines, by which union he had one son, Robert B. Moore. He commenced to work with his team on the National road, then being constructed, and during the time there engaged obtained sufficient money with which to purchase one hundred acres of land in the Salt creek valley, west of Middleton. After the completion of that great highway in 1829 he opened a tavern in Middleton, which he owned until the death of his first wife. In 1834 he married, for his second wife, Eliza- beth Riggs, and removed to the farm. By this marriage he had three chil- dren, Mrs. C. P. B. Sarchet, Maj. James W. Moore and Mrs. Henry L. Twining, all of Guernsey county and all present at his funeral.
During the time of his keeping tavern, Mr. Moore was largely engaged in driving horses, cattle and hogs, with his brothers, and made many trips over the far-away mountains. He thus formed a large acquaintance and knew and was known by all the leading drovers over the National pike. About 1845 he commenced wagoning west from Wheeling, with the old- fashioned white-covered broad tread wagon, removing again to Middle- town, and in 1848 to Cambridge, purchasing the old homestead of Gen. Rob- ert B. Moore and a part of the old Chapman farm. He continued in the business of wagoning, through cold and heat, year in and year out, until the completion of the Central Ohio railroad in 1854, when he began to haul coal from his own farm to Cambridge and was thus engaged until about 1870, when he felt old age creeping on. Worn out with the life of exposure. he retired and spent the remainder of his days an almost helpless invalid. with his children, enjoying the confidence and respect of the entire com- munity. He departed this life at the home of his son-in-law, C. P. B.
(53)
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Sarchet, of Cambridge, Thursday, September 2, 1880, aged seventy-seven years and six months, and was laid to rest in the Cambridge cemetery, where repose so many of the old pioneers.
JAMES L. DILLEY.
Among the native-born residents of the vicinity of Senecaville, Richland township. Guernsey county, who have reached a well merited success there must be included the name of James L. Dilley, for, having applied himself in a most assiduous manner to whatever he undertook, he has been largely re- warded. No man is better known in this section of the county than he, and his career has a double interest when it is learned that he is one of the hon- ored veterans of the great civil conflict of nearly a half century ago, having gone forth, like the patriotic Spartan of old, to do or die for his country on many a sanguinary field of combat.
James L. Dilley was born March 24, 1841, in Cambridge, Ohio, the son of Valentine J. and Amanda W. ( Hutchison) Dilley. The father was born in Richland township, and the grandfather, Joseph Dilley, came to Guernsey county from New Jersey with the early pioneers. Both grandfather and father were farmers. The father was also a shoemaker and conducted a shop at Cambridge for a number of years and in 1845 moved to Senecaville, where . he conducted a shop for some years, but later engaged in farming in different parts of the county and eventually returned to Senecaville, where he died in June, 1886, and his widow on April 8, 1906. He was a Republican in politics and active in public affairs, but not an office seeker, though he served as a member of the first town council of Senecaville and also as assessor of Rich- land township. He was a man of sterling character and integrity. The par- ents had a family of twelve children : James L., the subject of this sketch; Richard H., of Cambridge : Susan, deceased ; Joseph, of Duncans Falls, Musk- ingum county, Ohio; Mary Ann, deceased ; Caroline E., now Mrs. John W. James, of Maxburg, Washington county, Ohio; Minerva U., now Mrs. Rich- ard Lowry, of Senecaville : Harriet, deceased; Amanda, now Mrs. James Nel- son, of Senecaville ; William, deceased ; Ephraim, deceased ; Sarah Frances, deceased.
James L. Dilley, who was the third in order of birth, grew up in Seneca- ville and obtained his education in the public schools. In 1858 the family moved to Cumberland, Guernsey county, and from there to Maxburg, Wash-
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ington county. There, on October 26, 1861, he enlisted in Company G. Sixty- second Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for three years' service in the Army of the Potomac, during the Civil war. He served three years and on January 1, 1864, he re-enlisted in the same company and regiment for an- other three years, or during the war. He served until the close of the war, and was mustered out on July 15, 1865, serving almost continuously for four years. His regiment was mostly with the Army of the Potomac and he par- ticipated in twenty-six battles, the Sixty-second Regiment being always on duty and on the firing line. On April 6, 1865. just three days before Gen- eral Lee's surrender, Mr. Dilley was wounded in the right thigh in the battle of High Bridge. Virginia, having passed through without any serious injury up to that time. His limb was amputated and was so injured that an artificial limb was impossible. He had a splendid record.
After the close of the war Mr. Dilley returned home. His parents were living in Maxburg, Washington county, Ohio, where he engaged in the mer- cantile business with his brother, Richard H. Dilley. He was in business there for about four years. He was married September 4, 1868, to Clara A. Miller, daughter of Samuel and Charlotte N. (Goodwell) Miller, of Maxburg. Ohio. To this union were born the following children: Sarah Francis, deceased ; Joseph, deceased : William, of Caldwell, Ohio, and Lillie, deceased ; Samuel. of Senecaville; Inez, deceased ; James A., of Senecaville; Helen, deceased ; Mildred, at home.
After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Dilley lived in Maxburg for about one year, when they removed to Duncan's Falls, Muskingum county, where he was engaged in the jewelry business for nine years. In 1880 he moved to Senecaville and engaged in the jewelry business until 1908, when he retired from active business.
Mr. Dilley is a Republican in politics and always has been an active party man. He has served as assessor of Aurelias township, in Washington county, for two years. He has served as a member of the town council of Senecaville for twenty years, and is now president of the same. He has served as a member of the Republican county central committee for years and has been a delegate to county, district and state conventions. He is now a member of the Guernsey county soldiers' relief board. He is a member of the Buchanan Post No. 541, Grand Army of the Republic, and has been commander of the post and is now adjutant. He has been a delegate to the state encampment and is active in all work of the Grand Army of the Re- public. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Dilley
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is an adherent of that church and a liberal supporter of the church. He is also a member of the Senecaville board of education, is a man of high standing and a splendid citizen in every respect.
WILLIAM P. EVANS.
In all the various lines of business which have received the attention of William P. Evans he has shown remarkable aptitude and has been uniformly successful in each, being a man of inherent business ability and of pleasing address, so that his dealing with the general public is made easy and he holds high rank among the leading business men of Cambridge and Guernsey county.
Mr. Evans was born on March 30, 1859, to Nantytlo, South Wales, and is the son of Evan and Sarah (Jones) Evans. The father was a carpenter and died when the son was a mere lad, and the latter went to work in a rolling mill. He was only seven years of age when his father died and, having to hustle for himself, his early schooling was meager, but this deficiency has been overcome in later years by miscellaneous reading and home study. He worked in the iron mills of his native town until 1878, when he was nineteen years of age, then emigrated to America, first locating at Niles, Ohio, where he worked in the iron mills, remaining there until April, 1883, when he moved to New Philadelphia, where he found employment in the iron mills as a shearer. He lived in that city until 1891, when he came to Cambridge and was one of the first employes in the Cambridge Iron & Steel Company's mills, when it first became an industry, and he has been with the same mill ever since and has continued at the same job, which is evidence of his re- liability and skill,-in fact, he is regarded as an expert in his line.
Mr. Evans was married on March 27, 1880, to Ann Evans, daughter of Reece and Jane ( Roberts) Evans, of Hubbard, Ohio, her father being a coal miner and a native of Wales. He has been deceased about thirty years, but his widow still survives. To Mr. and Mrs. Evans four children have been born, namely: Ann, now Mrs. William E. Westbrook, of Newark, Ohio; William lives at home; Evan R. is also a member of the family circle; both these sons work in the mill with their father ; and Susan, who is also at home.
Mr. Evans has a very comfortable dwelling in Cambridge and also a fine farm of one hundred and fifty-seven acres in Jefferson township, where he spends his vacations with his family and where he contemplates retiring at an
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early date, giving up mill work and taking life a little easier, for forty-five years in the mill entitles him to a little respite. It is his intention to make this a model farm and to make a specialty of high-grade livestock.
Politically, Mr. Evans is a Republican and he has always been active in party affairs. While a resident of New Philadelphia he served as constable, and while there he was injured by an explosion in the mill and was inca- pacitated for work for a full year. During the months of convalescence he attended a normal school, taught by John P. Kuntz, in the basement of the court house, this being his first and only schooling, and he made wonderful progress during those months. He was at that time very poor and had a wife and one child. John M. Custer, a cousin of the famous General Custer, made it possible for Mr. Evans to attend school and live comfortably at the same time, he thus owing the former a debt of gratitude and reverence which he has never felt that he could adequately repay, although the financial part of the debt was long ago settled.
Mr. Evans is a member of the New Philadelphia lodge of Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a member of the Episcopal church and his wife belongs to the Baptist church. He is a man of strong convictions and sturdy integrity and his word is his bond. As a friend, he is a strong advocate and as an opponent he is fair but unrelenting. He enjoys travel and has just recently returned from an extended western trip. He visited relatives in Seattle whom he had not seen for forty years, since leaving Wales. He has never visited his native country and has become thor- oughly Americanized and a strong supporter of our government. While re- gretting his own lack of educational advantages, he is giving his children every opportunity in that line.
NATHANIEL LEPAGE.
Having been born and reared in Guernsey county, and having spent his very active and useful life here, it is doubtful if any man in this locality is better or more favorably known than Nathaniel Lepage, of Senecaville, Rich- land township. Honesty and fair dealing have been his watchwords, and these twin virtues have been personified in his active life, so that he has al- ways enjoyed the friendship and respect of his neighbors and wide circle of acquaintances. Born April 7. 1841, in Cambridge township. this county, on a farm, he is the son of Thomas and Rachel (Sarchet) Lepage. Both par-
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ents are natives of the isle of Guernsey, and came to America as young people. Father Lepage was an orphan, but the mother came with her par- ents in the year 1809, and they were active in the pioneer life of the locality. The father was a farmer of Cambridge township, and a large land owner and was a prosperous man. He was a devout churchman and one of the found- ers of the Methodist Protestant church in Cambridge and an active member in its affairs. He was a Whig in politics until the formation of the Republican party, when he became a Republican. Always interested in public affairs, but never an office seeker, he devoted his time to his stock raising interests. He died in 1870, his wife dying a number of years prior, in 1845, and both are buried in a private family burying ground on the home farm, two miles north of Cambridge. In the parents' family were nine children, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood and four of whom are now living: Adam, of Cambridge ; Mary Jane, now Mrs. John Campbell, of Cambridge ; Nathaniel, the subject of this sketch; Cornelius, of Cambridge. Those now dead are Peter, Martha, Cyrus, Thomas and Rachel.
Nathaniel Lepage spent his childhood and youth on the home farm, and was educated in the country district schools of the time in a log school house. He remained on the farm until he was seventeen years of age, when he began the trade of a tinner with Samuel Burges, of Cambridge. After learning his trade he came to Senecaville, in 1860, and established himself in the tinware and hardware business, which he continued until 1890, when he retired from the business and became postmaster at Senecaville under appointment by Presi- dent Benjamin Harrison. He served four years, when he was succeeded by a Democrat during the second term of President Cleveland. He was reap- pointed in 1897 by President Mckinley and served continuously until August 22, 1910, when he resigned on account of ill health. He is a Republican in politics and has been active in party matters. Has served as a member of the Republican county central committee, and was a frequent delegate to county and district conventions. He served as mayor of Senecaville for two terms and a member of the town council on several occasions, also as a member of the Senecaville board of education for a number of years. He is a member of the Senecaville Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has filled all the chairs in both lodges at two different times, and was a charter member of both lodges in Senecaville.
Mr. Lepage was married on October 10, 1862, to Lovina Leisure, daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. John Leisure, of Senecaville, the father being dead be- fore the daughter's marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Lepage were born two children, Lillie May, now Mrs. L. K. Thompson, of Brooklyn, New York,
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and another child who died in infancy. The wife and mother died August 13. 1865. Mr. Lepage's second marriage took place on October 18, 1867, to Mary E. Rose, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah Ann Rose, of Senecaville. To this union were born: Charles, of Senecaville : Leona, now Mrs. John W. Chester, of Nashville, Tennessee; Thomas F., of Guernsey county ; William B., of Hartford, Guernsey county ; Cora, now Mrs. Elmer Smith, of Lafay- ette, Colorado; Mary, deceased. The wife and mother died in June, 1877. Mr. Lepage's third marriage was solemnized on December 10, 1879, to Mary E. Mackvicker, daughter of Alexander and Martha Mackvicker, of Noble county. To this union no children have been born. Mrs. Lepage died on August 10, 1907. Mr. Lepage and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he has always been active in church and Sunday school work, and for forty-eight years has been a Sunday school teacher. He is a man of high character and enviable reputation. He has always been a public- spirited citizen, and all movements that have for their object the betterment of conditions and the uplift of mankind find in Mr. Lepage a willing and active supporter. He is now enjoying a retired life after many years of activity and push.
WILLIAM HAMMOND BLAIR.
The history of the loyal sons and representative citizens of Guernsey county would not be complete should the name that heads this review be omitted. When the fierce fire of the rebellion was raging throughout the Southland, threatening to destroy the Union, he responded with patriotic fer- vor to the call of volunteers, and in some of the bloodiest battles for which that great war was noted, proved his loyalty to the government he loved so well. During the subsequent years, up to the time of his death, he was re- membered among the honored and respected citizens of his community. In official positions and private life alike he proved himself every inch a man, standing "four square to every wind that blows," and he is eminently entitled to representation in a work of this character.
William Hammond Blair, a veteran of the Civil war, and for many years city marshal, and later chief of police of Cambridge, died at his home on South Sixth street, Saturday evening, October 22, 1910, about seven-fifteen o'clock, the cause of death being heart trouble, with which he had been afflicted for some years. The funeral services were held at the residence of the family Monday afternoon, October 24, 1910, at two o'clock, conducted by
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Rev. R. M. Elliott, pastor of the Second United Presbyterian church, and the interment was made in Northwood cemetery. The services were under the auspices of Cambridge Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was a charter member, and six members of the post, his comrades during life time, acted as his pallbearers.
Mr. Blair was the son of William and Mary ( Hammond) Blair and was born in Adams township, Guernsey county. July 22, 1837. His paternal grand father, Alexander Blair, and his wife, Susan Long, came from county Donegal, Ireland, to America about the year 1801 and settled in Brooks county, Virginia (now West Virginia). After living there a few years, they came to Guernsey county and settled in what is now Cambridge township, on the farm now owned by John Barnes. Alexander Blair was a native of Ire- land and his wife of Scotland. Their oldest child, Alexander, was born in Ireland in 1798. He married Isabel Nicholson and after their marriage they settled in Meigs county, Ohio. William Blair (father of the subject) mar- ried Mary Hammond and they lived in Adams township, this county. Mary married David Hammond and their children were as follows: James, who married Helen Caither and resided near Elkton, Kentucky; David married Mary Blair and they resided in this county ; John married Elizabeth Scott and they resided in Adams township, this county ; William married Matilda Parke and they resided in Adams township; Mary married William Blair, of Adams township; Jane became the wife of Samuel Achison and they located in Mus- kingum county, where she still resides, at the age of ninety-four years; Ann married David Dew and lived in Muskingum county ; Sarah married Thomas Ford and lived in this county.
The Hammonds settled in Guernsey county in 1818. William Ham- mond, in company with his brothers, John, Robert and David, came to this country from county Tyrone, Ireland, sometime prior to the Revolutionary war. They settled in the valley near the Susquehanna river, marked off their claims and opened up some ground for cultivation, but the Indians scared them away and they settled near Hickory, Pennsylvania.
John Hammond enlisted in the war and was wounded in the battle of Bunker Hill. William was too young to enlist, but boated provisions for . General Wayne and his army. William married Mary Wier, who had come with her parents from Scotland and settled near Hickory, their marriage oc- curring about the year 1796. He was a reed-maker by trade, and he and his wife eventually resided in Guernsey county. Mattie married James Gilkin- son and they settled in Illinois. Susan was married twice, her first husband being William McKee, after whose death she married John Herbert, and they
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lived in Knox township, this county. Alexander Blair was by trade a stone- mason. His son, William, was a school teacher and also worked at the stone- mason's trade.
William H. Blair, the immediate subject of this review, secured an educa- tion in the country schools, and at an early age took up the work of a car- penter. He was married to Elizabeth Mason, daughter of William and Sarah (Forsythe) Mason, October 4. 1860, and to them were born the following eight children, four sons and four daughters, one of the latter, May, dying when but seven years old, as the result of being kicked by a horse ; Mrs. Joseph Barr, of Cambridge : Frank C., of Cambridge : Allie, at home : William M .. of Martins Ferry ; Mrs. F. E. Geyer, of Cambridge; Alex, of Newport, Ken- tucky ; May, deceased ; and Charles, of Cambridge. These children, with the mother, survive.
The Seventy-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry perhaps saw as much hard fighting as any other regiment, and Company H had the reputation of being in a greater number of hard-fought battles than any other company in the regiment. Mr. Blair took part in about thirty-seven regular battles, in addi- tion to many skirmishes too numerous to mention or keep track of.
After his final discharge from the army, at the close of the war, Mr. Blair returned to his wife and again took up business as a carpenter. With his family, he moved from Adams township to Cambridge, about 1891. A stanch Republican, Mr. Blair immediately took an active interest in municipal politics. and shortly after coming to the city was elected city marshal. He served as marshal under Mayors John Longsworth. A. M. Baxter and J. W. Smallwood. During the latter's term of office the office of city marshal was done away with and the position was made appointive, under the title of chief of police. After serving as city marshal and chief of police for eight years and eight months Mr. Blair resigned January 1. 1906. and after that time lived a retired life. He still, however, took a keen interest in politics.
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