USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 43
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James Madison Secrest, of this review, grew to maturity at Pleasant City where he received a fairly good common school education. He began work in the woolen mill there as a spinner when a young man and he acquired a thorough knowledge of the woolen mill business. He also conducted a grist- mill and a saw-mill, and dealt extensively in the lumber business: he built a number of houses in Pleasant City and has been very successful in whatever he has undertaken there. He also became the owner of over three hundred acres of valuable farming land, a part of which is now laid off in town lots and he is now ( 1910) selling the fourth addition that he has laid out, these lots having been in great demand from the first owing to their desirable loca- tion and the reasonable price asked for them. Mr. Secrest has also dealt in livestock and has engaged in the butchering of pork, etc. He is a man of keen discernment and can foresee with remarkable accuracy the outcome of a present transaction. He is a persistent worker and an able manager, and. being honest and straightforward in all the relations of life, he has ever had the confidence and good will of his fellow men.
Mr. Secrest was married in 1870 to Elizabeth Dyson, daughter of Thomas
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and Christena Dyson, to which union one son was born, Abraham Thompson Secrest, whose birth occurred on September 14, 1870; he is living at Okesa, Oklahoma, where he is engaged in educational work and is at present the Republican candidate for clerk of Osage county, Oklahoma. This wife and mother was called to her rest on June 5, 1872, and on December 20, 1873, Mr. Secrest married Sarah Cochran, of Pleasant City. Of this union, one child, Blanche, survives. She has been employed in the Pleasant City post- . office for the past fourteen years. This second wife and mother passed away on November 22, 1878, and on July 2, 1879. Mr. Secrest was married to Rebecca Frances Young, who was born at Sharon, Noble county, the daughter of James William and Sarah ( Robison) Young. This union has resulted in the birth of six children, namely : Nellie Ethel married Homer Gander, whose sketch appears herein, and they have four children; Hulda, born August 21, 1881, married Harry Gander and has four children and lives in Pleasant City ; Martha Forrest, born October 19, 1883, married Harry Rainey and lives in Newark, Ohio; Arthur Ernest, born August 28, 1886, married Helen John- son, and lives on a farm in Noble county, and they have two children; Mildred Madison, born December 9, 1890, is attending school at Newark; Harvey Raymond. born January 11, 1893, is at home; Huldah belongs to the Daugh- ters of Rebekah and Nellie is a member of the Rebekahs and the Order of the Eastern Star.
Politically, Mr. Secrest is a Republican and he and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mrs. Secrest is a member of the Pythian Sisters.
FRANK E. BIRD, M. D.
Realizing early in life that success never smiles upon the idler or dreamer, Dr. Frank E. Bird, of Lore City, Guernsey county, has followed this aphorism and is one of the leading medical men of his locality, keeping abreast of the times in all matters pertaining to his chosen life work. He so orders his conduct that he has gained and retained without effort the confidence and good will of all classes, and he stands high among his professional brethren in this and adjoining counties. He has built up a large and ever growing prac- tice since locating here, and is one of the representative citizens of Wills township. He was born on September 27, 1866, in Buffalo township, Noble county, Ohio, the son of Absolom and Ellen ( Moore) Bird. The father was a native of Noble county and the mother was born near Cumberland, Guern-
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sey county. The subject's great-grandfather, George Bird, was a Hessian- German, and he and a brother, John Bird, were conscript soldiers of the British army and were brought to American colonies, being members of a regiment brought to the colonies by the British to fight the colonial armies in the Revolutionary conflict. The sympathies of both brothers were with the colonists and as opportunity offered at the battle of Brandywine, George de- serted and joined the colonial forces. Jolin, the other brother, was later taken prisoner by the colonial forces and swore allegiance to the colonial cause, where his sympathies were, and served until the end of the war. George, the great-grandfather, after the close of the war, went to Pennsyl- vania and married into a Quaker family and reared his family there. In his advanced years he and his wife came to Muskingum county, Ohio, where several sons had previously gone, and where both the great-grandparents died, and are buried in the cemetery near Blue Rock, Muskingum county. Joseph Bird, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came to Noble county, Ohio, from Pennsylvania and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in Noble county, in the early days. of the nineteenth century, and became one of the active pioneers of that county, where he spent his life and died on the home farm, first entered. He was succeeded in the ownership by his son, Absolom, father of the subject, where he spent most of his life and died on October 18, 1908, aged seventy-four years. His widow still lives in Cam- bridge.
The son, Dr. Frank E. Bird, was born on the original Bird farm in Noble county, where he spent his childhood and youth, and his early education was obtained in the district schools of the neighborhood. He later attended the medical department of the Ohio State University, prior to which he had learned the carpenter trade, with his father, who, in addition to being a farmer, was a carpenter. The son worked at the carpenter trade until about twenty-eight years of age, when he entered the medical college, graduating April 16, 1903, and began the practice in Lore City, where he has been ever since.
Doctor Bird was married on December 27, 1886, to Henrietta Clark, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah E. (Buckey) Clark, of Noble county. The Clarks and Buckeys were early pioneer families and grew into prominence. Mrs. Bird's parents are both living and have always been residents of Noble county. To Doctor and Mrs. Bird have been born five children : Inez, now Mrs. Sidney Knowles, of Newark, Ohio: Audley E. ; Anna M., now Mrs. Austin R. Bond, of Lore City; Charles C. and Joseph B.
Doctor Bird is a practitioner of the old school and a surgeon of well
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known skill and successful in both branches of practice, enjoying the full confidence and high esteem of the people of the community. He is a Re- publican in politics and always active in public matters ; not an office seeker, but devoting his time and energies to his profession and greater proficiency, with no time or inclination for outside interests. He has been a member of the county, state and national medical societies, and a member of Lore City Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his family affiliate with the Methodist Episcopal church, but are liberal contributors to the support of and upbuilding of all churches and to the general uplift of the com- munity. He is a splendid man, standing high both as a citizen and as a phy- sician.
JAMES LAUGHLIN.
One of the leading citizens of Pleasant City and one of the progressive and honored men of Guernsey county is James Laughlin, a man who has won success in life because he has worked diligently for it along legitimate lines and has sought to carry the Golden Rule into his every-day transactions, so that he has ever had the confidence and good will of his fellow men and is therefore eminently deserving of the large success that is today his.
Mr. Laughlin comes from a sterling old pioneer family, members of which have been prominent in the affairs of this locality for many decades, and his birth occurred in Buffalo township, Noble county ( formerly a part of Guern- sey county ), in 1844. He is the son of William John and Sarah (Secrest) Laughlin. The father was born in county Derry, Ireland, while the mother was a native of Ohio. The father emigrated to America in 1830 and located in the vicinity where the subject was born, having been accompanied by his parents, Joseph and Margaret Laughlin, and he grew to maturity on a farm and attended the pioneer schools. Upon reaching maturity he married Sarah Secrest, whose parents came from Virginia. William J. Laughlin was a farmer and stock dealer all his life and a man of prominence in his community, successful in business and a man whom his neighbors held in highest respect. His family consisted of eleven children, namely: Eliza Ann, wife of Joseph Secrest, deceased: Sarah Catherine died when twenty-four years of age; Maria is living with her mother in Noble county; Samuel lives in Buffalo township, that county ; Mrs. Rachael Rich, Mrs. Nancy Miller, Henry Kiser, William J., Jane. all living in Noble county.
The father of these children held a number of township offices and was
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a man of influence in his community. His death occurred when sixty years of age ; his widow is living and is active and hale at the advanced age of eighty- nine years. She has been a most noble and useful woman all her life and has a host of friends.
James Laughlin, of this review, grew to maturity on the home farm and remained there until 1864, in which year he proved his patriotism by enlisting in Company H, One Hundred and Sixty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and he saw some hard service, having been with Hunter in his raid up the Shen- andoah valley. He was at the battles of Stanton and New Creek, also at Liberty, near Richmond. He proved to be a very faithful and gallant soldier. and he was honorably discharged, being mustered out of the service at Colum- bus, Ohio, the latter part of 1864. He returned home and settled on a farm in Buffalo township, Noble county, where he continued to reside until 1880. He became the owner of an excellent farm there of one hundred and twenty- two acres. He was married in 1865 to Mary Secrest, daughter of Jacob and Margaret Secrest, whose parents also came from Virginia.
James Laughlin and wife were the parents of six children, namely : Margaret Secrest married George McC. Secrest. Jacob married Sadie Stew- art and they had two children ; he died August 1, 1898, having been killed in a coal mine by being struck by a car ; he was thirty years old and an excellent young man ; he left two daughters, Irene and Lurce. Justice Laughlin lives at Derwent and is engaged in farming : he married Cordelia Davis and they have three children, Cuba, Olive and Arthur. Lizzie Laughlin married James H. Secrest, of Hartford. Martha is the wife of Dr. James E. Robins. Cyrus lives in Pleasant City, but is now at Washington, D. C., in a govern- ment position ; his wife was Adena Kelley, a native of Washington. Kansas, and they have one child, Mary Frances.
In 1880 James Laughlin moved to Pleasant City and has since made his home here, with the exception of two years when he lived on his farm two miles east of Pleasant City. He also has another farm at Derwent, each of which is well improved, under a high state of cultivation and very valuable and desirable property. In 1880 he launched into the general mercantile business at Pleasant City, and a year later J. P. Stranathan became his part- ner and remained so until 1889. Then for several years Mr. Laughlin con- tinued to conduct his store alone. He always had a very liberal patronage and did a thriving business with the town and surrounding country. Taking an abiding interest in public affairs and in the general upbuilding of Pleasant City from the first, Mr. Laughlin became the logical man for postmaster and he was appointed to that position in the fall of 1880 and held the same with
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credit to himself and with satisfaction to the people and the department until 1888. The office was then called Dyson. Retiring from the mercantile busi- ness, Mr. Laughlin engaged in the stock business in addition to his farming, and he has continued buying and selling stock on a large scale ever since. He was mayor of Pleasant City about five years, during which time he did many things for the permanent good of the community. He is now very ably discharging the duties of township assessor. Politically, he is a Republican, but he was postmaster during both a Republican and Democratic administra- tion, thus proving his popularity here. He is one of the local leaders of his party and his counsel is frequently sought in party affairs. He is a faithful member of the Lutheran church, of which his first wife was also a member. Her death occurred in 1890, and in December, 1892, Mr. Laughlin married Naomi Taylor, who was born in Noble county, Ohio, but was reared in Valley township, this county. She is the daughter of William and Sarah (Hall) Taylor. Her father was born in Guernsey county and her mother came from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. They were married at Hartford and moved into Noble county, coming to Pleasant City, Guernsey county, when Mrs. Laughlin was a small child and there the parents spent the balance of their lives. Mrs. Laughlin has made her home at Pleasant City since child- hood. Her father died on September II, 1909, and the mother's death oc- curred on September 24, 1900. Mr. Taylor devoted his life to farming and was very successful. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Epis- copal church, of which Mrs. Laughlin is also a member.
THEODORE M. WILLS.
The Wills family is eminently deserving of conspicuous mention in this work, owing to the fact that the several members of the same have led lives of uprightness and have played their parts in a most commendable manner in the development of Guernsey county. One of the best known of the present generation is Theodore M. Wills, who was born at Buffalo, or Hartford, Val- ley township, this county, September 14, 1873, the son of John L. and Mary A. (Cale) Wills. The former was the son of English parents, and he was born in Anne Arundel county, Maryland, he and a sister being left orphans in early childhood. He came to Guernsey county about 1840, when he was just reaching manhood, and located near Buffalo, making his home in that locality the rest of his life, becoming well known and influential among the
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early settlers there. There he married Mary Cale, daughter of Henry and wife, and granddaughter of George Cale. This family was of Irish descent. and came to Ohio from Virginia when this country was a wilderness, there being only trails through the forests. They settled in what was then a part of Guernsey county, now Buffalo township, in the north edge of Noble county. At that time no cleared land was to be found in this locality outside the vicinity of Byesville. The Cale family has made its home in Buffalo town- ship ever since those pioneer days. Mrs. Wills' father, Henry Cale, reached the remarkable age of ninety-one years, and before his death he could count four generations of his descendants, Mrs. Wills' daughter (Mrs. Maggie Danford) having children and grandchildren living. There have been five generations of the Cale family already who have lived on the old Cale home- stead.
After his marriage John L. Wills followed tobacco raising on a farm which he owned near Hartford. He also became the owner of town prop- erty in Hartford. There he and his wife were faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church, he having been a member of the church over fifty years at the time of his death, and was sexton of the church for more than forty years. His death occurred in 1904, at the advanced age of eighty- two years: his good life companion surviving, makes her home in Hartford.
Theodore M. Wills is one of a family of four daughters and two sons : Maggie, wife of Hiram Danford, lives in Coffey county, Kansas; George lives at Hartford, where he is engaged in coal mining ; Hannah is the wife of M. L. Spaid and lives at Cambridge : Letha C. is the wife of John Young and lives in Cambridge; Theodore M., of this review ; Grace is the wife of Martin Wilson, and lives at Hartford.
Upon leaving school the subject began life as a merchant, first clerking in the store of M. L. Spaid at Hartford. In 1893, when only eighteen years old, he bought out his employer and has continued in business at Hartford ever since, having built up a very satisfactory and extensive trade and main- taining a popular and neatly kept store, filled with a large and carefully se- lected stock of goods. When he first took possession of this store only groceries and allied lines were carried, but later other lines were added and he now has a large assortment of general merchandise.
Mr. Wills was married in 1897 to Alma Corbett, daughter of Joseph T. and Rachael ( Rogers) Corbett, the father a native of Hopewell, near Can- bridge, this county. His father and mother came from the isle of Guern- sey in a very early day, and settled at Hopewell, where they bought a farm. afterwards moving to Pleasant City, where Mr. Corbett bought a mill which
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he operated. When Joseph T. Corbett was a young man, he went to Cam- bridge and conducted a book store for about four years, then moved to Hart- ford. After living on a farm a few years, he again moved to Hartford and conducted a store, and he was postmaster at that place for about twenty-five years. After the death of his first wife, mother of Mrs. Wills, he married Eliza E. Campbell, who bore him six children, one of whom, Charles W. Cor- bett, was a partner in the business with Joseph T. for about fifteen years, and who finally bought out his father's interest in the business about 1901. The death of Joseph T. Corbett occurred September 24, 1904. He was a member of the Lutheran church and an old and honored resident of Hartford.
Theodore M. Wills and wife have continued to reside in Hartford since their marriage. About 1901 he built a home at the east end of Main street, being one of the attractive residences of Hartford, and is known as a place of hospitality to the many friends of the family.
Politically, Mr. Wills is a Democrat and takes an active interest in his party, as did his father before him. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, while his wife worships with the Lutheran congregation.
BENJAMIN I. HILDERBRAND.
Herein is mentioned one who is well and favorably known by his fellows as a man of true and tried worth, one in every way entitled to mention in this work. Benjamin I. Hilderbrand was born August 3, 1874, in Bridgeport, Belmont county, Ohio, the son of William and Mary ( Sheldon) Hilderbrand. His father was a native of the Ohio valley, and an iron worker by trade. His mother was likewise a native of the valley, having been born in Pittsburg. They never became residents of Guernsey county, but his father died in Bridgeport in about 1887 and his widow still resides there.
Benjamin I. Hilderbrand was educated in the public schools of Bridge- port, leaving school at the age of twelve to work in the mills. His first work was on a guide mill, and he continued in the Bridgeport mills for about eight years, and in May, 1894, came to the city of Cambridge, to work in the Cam- bridge Iron, Sheet & Steel Mills, which had been organized and put into opera- tion only about two years previous to his coming. He was then what is known as a rougher, since has been a sheet roller, and is an expert in his line of work.
In politics Mr. Hilderbrand is a Republican and has been very active.
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For about six years he was a member of the city council, for one year of that time was president of the same and served on many of its important com- mittees. Much of the street paving and sewer construction of the city was done during his service in the council.
Mr. Hilderbrand is a member of Cambridge Lodge No. 448. Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks, of Cambridge Lodge No. 53, Knights of Pythias, and of the Modern Woodmen of America. He and his family affiliate with the Methodist church.
Mr. Hilderbrand was married on January 1, 1895, to Maude Hilde- brand, daughter of William C. and Margaret ( Jellison) Hildebrand, of Martins Ferry, Ohio. Her father was a nailer in the Martins Ferry Nail Mills and he and his wife were natives of Pennsylvania. The father is dead, her mother still lives in Martins Ferry. To Mr. and Mrs. Hilderbrand have been born three children, Marie, Nell and William W., all now at home and receiving the full advantages of the public schools of Cambridge.
While Mr. Hilderbrand had little school education, he is a well informed man. He has applied himself to good books and periodicals, and few men are better informed upon general and historical topics than is he. In all current affairs and public matters he is deeply interested, and is highly regarded by those who know him for his substantial, conservative convictions. He has provided for his family a pleasant and commodious home on North Sixth street.
JAMES E. SPAID.
From an excellent old Virginia family is descended James E. Spaid, a suc- cessful and prominent contractor and builder of Valley township. Guernsey county. He was born in the Old Dominion, but most of his life has been spent in the Buckeye state ; however, he has many of the commendable traits of the people of that historic southern country, which have resulted in his winning a host of friends and the good will and confidence of all whom he has met. He first saw the light of day in Hampshire county. Virginia, October 20, 1840, and he is the son of Enos and Rosanna (Stipe) Spaid, and the grandson of John and Mary (Anderson) Spaid. Frederick Spaid, brother of the subject's grandfather, was also a resident of Virginia. William and Michael, two other brothers of John Spaid, came to Guernsey county in an early day and died here, being the ancestors of most of the Spaids in this county.
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James E. Spaid grew to maturity in Virginia and he began business life very early, having clerked in a store until he was fifteen years of age, then learned the carpenter's trade which he followed until 1870, being a very skill- ful workman and meeting with success. When he was nineteen years old he went to Rumney, the county seat of Hampshire county, during the war be- tween the states, and enlisted in Company K, Hampshire Guards, Thirteenth Virginia Regiment, to fight for the South, and he participated in the first battle of Bull Run, which resulted in a Southern victory. Leaving the service, he came to Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1862 and was elected captain of the militia of Valley township by vote, having left the Confederate army on a furlough. On July 20, 1863. Governor David Tod, of Ohio, commissioned him captain of militia, which commission he still retains with the Governor's signature thereto.
Mr. Spaid was a Democrat in his young manhood and he was active in the party, being elected justice of the peace, which position he held in a very satis- factory manner for a period of twenty-one years, and the fact that he never had a case appealed from his court is proof that he was fair, unbiased and faithful in the discharge of his official duties. It was his custom to induce litigants to compromise their troubles amicably, when possible, and many of the members of the Guernsey county bar used to call him "The Peacemaker." He has been notary public for fully thirty years, and he has been called upon to settle up various estates in this locality, giving eminent satisfaction to all parties concerned in this line. He has in his possession several old documents of historic interest. One is a deed from the United States government, signed by President John Quincy Adams, in 1826, deeding land along the county line, just south of Hartford, Ohio. No names of counties are contained in the deed, and it was assigned from the land office at Zanesville. He also has a deed signed by President Martin Van Buren. Mr. Spaid has lived at Hart- ford ever since he came to Ohio and is one of the best known men in this locality.
On December 24, 1863, Mr. Spaid married Jane Dickerson, the daugh- ter of Asa and Catherine (Secrest) Dickerson, and a sister of George W. Dickerson, mentioned elsewhere in this work. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Spaid, namely : Sarah Catherine married Samuel Trott and lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan ; they have one daughter who is attending the university at Ann Arbor. Oscar M. lives in Hartford, married Emma Frye and has three children ; he is superintending the erection of the superstructure and machinery of various coal mines. Etta married P. M. Albin, lives near Hartford and has four children. C. J. is in the planing mill and lumber busi-
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ness, having a mill at Derwent, also one at Senecaville ; he also has three gen- eral stores, one each at Derwent, Hartford and Walhonding mine No. 2: he married Frances Marcus and lives in Cambridge. Walter A. Spaid, a car- penter, lives at Columbus, Ohio, married Sophia Vickers and they have one son, Oblenis. Blanche married James Nossinger, a railroad agent and tele- graph operator at Folsom, West Virginia, where they now reside. James E. Spaid is a member of the Lutheran church and is a man of high ideals and sentiments.
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