USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 44
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
JOHN T. FAIRCHILD.
The efficient and popular civil engineer, John T. Fairchild, of Cambridge, is a man who believes in doing well everything that is worth doing at all, and, having followed this rule, he has achieved an envied reputation in his chosen field of endeavor.
Mr. Fairchild was born in Putnam county, Ohio, July 24, 1868, and is the son of Jesse and Louisa ( Blakeley ) Fairchild. The father was a farmer and a large land owner, and he was one of the prosperous and influential men of his community. He is still living, but, owing to advanced age. is not so actively engaged in business as formerly, merely enjoying his declining years, surrounded by plenty as a result of his well spent and industrious life. His wife died several years ago.
John T. Fairchild grew to maturity on the home farm and assisted with the general work on the same when a boy. He obtained a good education in the common schools, where he evinced an especially strong inclination for mathematics. He taught school very successfully for several years, in the rural districts. Being ambitious to gain a higher education, he entered college at Findlay. Ohio, where he specialized in mathematics and he there made a brilliant record for scholarship. He graduated with the degree of Master of Arts in 1894, from the Ohio Northern University at Ada, Ohio. After he left school he was chosen president of Crawfis College in Putnam county, Ohio, filling that responsible position to the entire satisfaction of all concerned and in a manner that reflected much credit upon his ability. He also found time to contribute articles to The Teachers' Review and The American Mathe- matical Monthly, and, being a trenchant and entertaining as well as instructive writer, he was always assured an interested audience. He later prepared and published a book of mathematical solutions of knotty problems, which has proved to be a success, both from a scientific and financial point of view. It
862
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
bears his name and has established his reputation in the mathematical world as second to none. Later Mr. Fairchild secured the degree of Master of Philosophy and the degree of Civil Engineer from Ohio Northern University, at Ada, Ohio. He has had a vast amount of practical experience as a civil engineer with the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad Company, and he was for a time city engineer of Ada, Ohio.
Mr. Fairchild came to Guernsey county in 1906, and he engaged in mining engineering and general field work. He is a recognized expert all over the state of Ohio and is frequently called as a consulting engineer. He was ap- pointed city engineer for the city of Cambridge in January, 1910, and he is now engaged in an attempt to solve the water supply and pure water problems for the city. His record so far has been very commendable.
Politically, Mr. Fairchild is a Democrat, but he is not an active partisan. He believes in securing the greatest good for the greatest number, regardless of political affiliations.
Mr. Fairchild was married on December 27, 1904, to Cordelia Hyson, daughter of John and Margaret ( Miller) Hyson, of York, Pennsylvania, her father being a well known and popular minister in the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Fairchild is a well educated and highly cultured woman, and prior to her marriage she was a teacher of elocution in various schools and colleges.
One child, Margaret, has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are active in Sunday school and church work. They are lovers of good books and have a large and valuable library containing the world's choicest literature, and the best current literature finds a place in their cozy and attractive home. They are popular with a wide circle of friends owing to their genial dispositions, culture and genuine worth.
HENRY ARTHUR KOONTZ.
As the outside world is well aware, the chief industry of Guernsey county is coal mining and it necessarily follows that many of the leading and most successful and important business men are engaged in the coal business. One such is Henry Arthur Koontz, a man who is too well known, especially in Spencer township, where he maintains his home, to need any special introduc- tion in these pages to the readers of this history. Suffice it here to say that for years he has been a leader in the affairs of his community and his conduct in all the relations of life has been such as to inspire the utmost confidence of
863
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
his fellow men and gain their good will. He was born at Massillon, Ohio, July 17. 1880, and is the son of Charles E. and Mary ( Fetzer) Koontz, who still lives at Massillon, the father being a skilled blacksmith and tool dresser for stone, marble and granite workers.
Henry A. Koontz grew to maturity at Massillon, attended the public schools and the business college, receiving a very serviceable education. When about nineteen years of age he began working for his uncle, S. F. Fetzer, drill- ing for coal. After following that line of endeavor for a year or two he worked in a boiler shop, driving rivets in smoke-stacks for a time; a year later he returned to coal drilling and has followed that line of work ever since with much success. This work is done with an engine and a specially con- structed machine, similar to other deep-well drillers, but instead of using cable to let the drill drop into the boring, hollow rods similar to iron pipe are used, through which the material drilled is pumped out, where it can be examined. Mr. Koontz entered the drilling business for himself in August, 1903, about Derwent and Pleasant City and he has continued in Guernsey valley ever since with the exception of one summer in Perry county and a few months in Illinois. He came to this county in 1902 with his uncle for whom he worked until he started out for himself. He has been very successful and the importance of his work is recognized throughout the mining zone here.
Mr. Koontz was married to Hannah Robinson, on May 22, 1907. She was born and reared in the east edge of Spencer township, this county. Her parents are Lorenzo and Susanna (Ogan) Robinson, the father having been born in Noble county, March 30, 1846, where he devoted his entire life to farming. The mother was born and reared in Spencer township, this county. The parents of Susanna Ogan were early residents of that locality, her father having been born in Belmont county and her mother in Washington county, Pennsylvania.
Eighteen months after L. D. Robinson and wife were married they moved to the east part of Spencer township, where they lived until Mr. Robinson's death in 1901. From then until Mr. Koontz and her daughter were married Mrs. Robinson and her daughter lived alone on the home place. Since then they have all been living together there. The Ogans were an old family, as intimated above. and well known in early days here. Mrs. Robinson's father was Peter Ogan and his wife was known in her maidenhood as Elsie Mc- Comas. Peter Ogan was born in Belmont county, Ohio. His grandfather Fritter came from Ireland and served during the Revolutionary war. It is believed that all the Ogans in the United States were descended from Peter Ogan's grandfather Ogan. When Peter Ogan was a small child the family
864
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
came to Muskingum county in wagons and settled on an unimproved place, living in a cabin and beginning life in typical pioneer fashion. Elsie McComas was born in Pennsylvania and when six years of age her parents brought her to Muskingum county. There she and Peter Ogan grew up and were married and about 1840 moved to Spencer township, Guernsey county, and there they lived for sixty years in the same house. Peter Ogan was a preacher in the Baptist church and a very useful man in his day. He also followed farming and lived there until his death, which occurred when about eighty years old. His wife lived to be over ninety. They often related interesting incidents of their life here when the country was practically a wilderness, when the woods were filled with wild game and the wolves were very troublesome and bears were numerous ; even after they moved to Guernsey county some bears were seen by hunters. Their son William, brother of Mrs. Robinson, was a soldier in the Civil war, serving through the entire struggle, and he is still living, making his home in the state of Washington. The birth of Mr. Robinson oc- curred on March 30, 1846.
To Mr. and Mrs. Koontz one daughter has been born, Rosa Edith. The subject is a young man of generous nature, kind and obliging, good to his family and a man of exemplary character.
JOHN A. THOMPSON.
A fine type of the sturdy, conscientious American of today is John A. Thompson, prosperous farmer and honored citizen of Guernsey county and long a leader in the affairs of Cambridge township. He has lived a long and useful life and has noted great changes and taken part in vast improvements. He is deserving of the high esteem in which he is universally held because he has led a life of uprightness and of strict adherence to the Golden Rule.
Mr. Thompson was born April 26, 1838, in Monroe township, Guernsey county, Ohio, and he is the son of William and Sarah (Ansley) Thompson. The father was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, and he was about two years of age when his parents brought him to America. They settled in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where they remained for a number of years engaged in farming. The family came to Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1826 and settled in Monroe township, the father having died in Pennsylvania. They purchased a farm of one hundred and seven acres for four hundred and one dollars, the one dollar representing the present to the wife of the seller as compensation for signing the deed to the land.
JOHN A. THOMPSON.
865
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
William Thompson, father of John A., prospered at his chosen voca- tion and became a large land owner. He was a Whig in politics, later a Re- publican and was active in public matters. His family consisted of four daughters and three sons, namely: James, Mary Jane, Nancy, Margaret, Elizabeth, John A. and William H. The two last only are living. William H. served as a member of Company H, Sixty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil war, and the father was a soldier in the war of 1812. The latter died on February 9, 1880, and his wife died on July 14, 1878. Both are buried in the United Presbyterian cemetery. They were a highly respected couple and prominent in the affairs of the community.
John A. Thompson, of this review, grew to maturity on his father's farm and obtained his education in the district schools of Monroe township. He was married on September 19, 1861, to Mary A. Neel, daughter of Archi- bald and Eliza Ruth (Hughes) Neel, of Monroe township, and a prominent pioneer family. To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were born seven children, namely : Leona A., deceased; Ansley N., a farmer in Kansas ; Ulysses D. and Eliza Ruth (twins) ; the former is in business in Cambridge, and the daughter is now Mrs. Harry McCracken and lives on a farm in Guernsey county ; Sallie Kate is deceased, as is also Martha M. John M. is now with an exploring party in Alaska. The mother of these children died in March. 1886. and Mr. Thompson was married a second time, June 12, 1890, his sec- ond wife being Martha A. Boyd, daughter of Thomas and Martha (Allen) Boyd, of Harrison county, Ohio.
After his first marriage Mr. Thompson continued to live on the old home place in Monroe township until 1902 when he bought a farm adjoining the city of Cambridge and has since resided here, having been practically re- tired from active business for years. He has been a very successful business man and a good manager and has laid by a very comfortable competency. Besides his fine farm near Cambridge, he also owns a very valuable place of over three hundred acres in Monroe township, this county, which is all well improved.
Politically, Mr. Thompson is a Republican and he has always been inter- ested and active in political affairs, having filled several of the most important township offices in Monroe township, and in 1880 was land appraiser in that township. He was elected a member of the board of county commissioners in 1888 and very ably served nearly seven years, being recognized as a man of high official integrity. He and his family are members of the United Presbyterian church and are active church workers.
(55)
866
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
ROBERT T. SCOTT.
Under the teachings of an intelligent father and mother, Robert T. Scott, the well known and popular attorney of Cambridge, Ohio, early ac- quired those habits of industry and self-reliance which, linked with upright principles, have uniformly characterized his manhood life. He commands the unqualified confidence of the community, and deserves it, for his life has been led along a plane of high endeavor and he has done much for the better- ment of local conditions in many lines.
Mr. Scott was born December 3, 1858, in Cambridge township, one mile east of Cambridge on the old National pike, and he is the son of George and Caroline (Black) Scott. The mother's parents, Joseph and Eliza ( Hutchi- son) Black, grandparents of the subject, came from Culpeper Court House, Virginia, in the year 1804, when this was all a dense forest and people by Indians and wild game. The Scotts came from Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, to Guernsey county in 1838. Great-grandfather Charles Scott was a Presbyterian minister in the north of Ireland and he came to America, settling in Ohio county, Virginia (now West Virginia), near Wheeling. From there he moved to Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he built and established a pioneer church, the old log building which still stands. The grandfather, also named Alexander, was the only child of the family born in America, and was of that sturdy Scotch ancestry that stands for good; he was a farmer, but died while yet a young man. The son, George, father of the subject of this sketch, was one of six sons, he being the second in the family that was left with their widowed mother, and he was thus compelled to assume responsibil- ities early in life. When only eighteen years of age he drove a six-horse wagon team over the old National road from Cambridge to Baltimore, Mary- land, hauling produce east and merchandise back west. He continued this for several years.
The Hutchisons were Revolutionary soldiers, and grandfather Joseph Black was a soldier in the war of 1812 and the gun he carried during the war is now in the possession of the subject of this sketch. George Scott, the father of Robert T. of this review, was a soldier in the Mexican war and one brother, James Scott, served through the Civil war. George Scott, the father, was a farmer and later became a coal operator in the Guernsey county coal field, being one of the pioneer operators, and was successful. He died January 9, 1892, and his wife died in August, 1891.
Robert T. Scott was educated in the public schools of Cambridge, gradu- ating from the high school in 1876, and he graduated also from Muskingum
-
867
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
College at New Concord, Ohio. in 1879, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He then taught school in Guernsey county. Ohio, for some time, and worked at the coal mines of his father as a weigher to obtain money for a law course in the law department of Michigan University at Ann Arbor, Michigan, graduating from that department in 1882, and he was admitted to the bar on the recommendation of Hon. Thomas M. Cooley of Michigan. He went into the office of Taylor & Anderson as a law clerk immediately after- wards, and in 1884 he opened an office for himself in the Taylor block, Cam- bridge, and has been in the same location ever since. He is a most successful practitioner. He is a brilliant lawyer, persistent, careful and studious, and commands big cases and big fees. He ranks high in the county and state courts, being eligible to practice in all the state courts and all the United States courts and he enjoys a rapidly growing practice. He has a very extensive law library and fine appointed offices, and he holds a very high rank in the legal circles of the state. He is a Democrat in politics and a big man in the party councils of the state and even in the nation. He was mayor of Cam- bridge from 1888 to 1890, when the first big industry was secured and built in Cambridge by act of legislation, the bill being drawn by Mr. Scott ; estab- lished a board of health ; introduced telephones and numbered the houses in the city and thus started Cambridge on its boom. Never an office seeker, yet he has always been active and interested in public matters. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention which met in Kansas City and nomi- nated William J. Bryan, and has been a delegate to many of the state conven- tions and active in the deliberations. Mr. Scott is a charter member of the Cambridge Country Club, and sometimes plays golf. He is particularly fond of fishing and hunting and every summer spends several weeks in the Georg- ian bay fishing grounds, with a company of friends. He is also fond of hunt- ing and owns a brace of fine bird dogs.
Mr. Scott was married on October 28, 1886. to Jennie L. McCartney, daughter of Henry and Harriet (McMillan) McCartney, of Cambridge. Both parents are dead. To this union five children have been born. only three of whom are living. Mary died in infancy : Robert E., a junior in the Univer- sity of Wooster ; Robert Byron died at ten years of age : Gerlienda is at home : Harlan McCartney.
The family home is on North Seventh street and is a fine modern dwell- ing, with all modern conveniences and furnishings. A most inspiring and delight ful home atmosphere permeates the entire place, and Mr. Scott and wife are prominent in the social life of the city. Mrs. Scott is devoted to her hus- band and her home and family. He and his family are members of the First
868
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
United Presbyterian church and are active workers in church and Sunday school.
Mr. Scott is recognized as one of the leading public benefactors of this locality, always ready to do his full share in fostering any worthy movement, and he is in every respect deserving of the large success that has come to him and of the confidence and esteem that are reposed in him by all classes, irre- spective of party or creed, for he is essentially a man of the people in the broadest sense of the term.
ALEXANDER MCCRACKEN.
Alexander McCracken was the eldest child of William and Margaret (McClarey) McCracken, and was born November 22, 1814, in a log cabin on the back part of what is now known as the Hoge lot.
When he was about six years old his father removed to the farm one mile north of town. From there he came to town to school on the corner where the Hub store is now, and afterwards to a school held in the old Ogier house opposite the National bank. In 1822 his father moved back to town and engaged in blacksmithing and was afterwards in the dry goods business on the corner now occupied by Sarchet's music store. After he was through school he assisted his father in the store and in a tannery in which his father was a partner. After the death of John M. Allison, the partner, Mr. Mc- Cracken took sole charge of the tannery and later became the owner, con- tinuing in the tanning business, until 1858, when he and Joseph Thomas, of Cadiz, became engaged in the banking business. In 1869 he went to Phila- delphia, and was interested in a commission business and later in furniture manufacture.
He was married to Mrs. Sarah McFarren, of near Florence, Pennsyl- vania, November 14, 1839. To this union were born four children : Dr. W. A. McCracken and John McFarren, who died in young manhood, James Scott, who is a prosperous business man in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Mrs. A. A. Taylor, widow of Capt. A. A. Taylor, of Cambridge. Mr. and Mrs. McCracken returned to Cambridge in later years to make their home with their daughter and here Mrs. McCracken died in December, 1899.
Mr. McCracken still continues to make his home with his daughter, and is now in his ninety-seventh year, in mental and physical vigor excepting lame- ness from a fall. He takes a lively interest in current events, and is a
869
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
constant reader of the daily papers. He was the oldest voter in the county in the November election of 1910 and cast his seventy-fifth ballot for the Repub- lican ticket.
Mr. McCracken in earlier years was one of the active members of the Seceder, afterwards the First United Presbyterian church, in Cambridge, of which his father was the founder and sole charter member. He was a liberal contributor to the present building, and was for many years superintendent of the Sabbath school. He took an active part in the "underground railway" in slavery days and helped many a slave to freedom.
He was a member of the town council for many years and was also presi- dent of the school board and took an interest in all civic affairs at that time. He, with Samuel Craig and Judge Nathan Evans, laid out the South cemetery, reserving the square where the Woman's Relief Corps have erected a soldiers monument. As his health is now, he bids fair to reach the years of his grand- father which were one hundred and two.
JEREMIAH R. SMITH.
The life of Jeremiah R. Smith, of Byesville, Guernsey county, has not been devoid of obstacles by any means, and its rose has held many a thorn : but with indomitable courage he has pressed onward, with his face set in deter- mination toward the distant goal which he has so grandly won ; a life of sun- shine and shadow, of victory and defeat, but nobly lived and worthily re- warded, as such lives always are by the "giver of all good and precious gifts." His record is one that the young man might study with profit.
Mr. Smith was born at Watertown, Washington county, Ohio, December 11, 1848, and he is the son of William and Rachel (Hupp) Smith. William Smith was also a native of Washington county, Ohio, but the mother's family came from Pennsylvania. The subject's boyhood was spent on the farm until he was twenty-one years old. He went to high school at Middleburg and re- ceived a good education. He remained on the home farm after leaving school until he married Matilda Devoll, on September 17. 1868, when he was twenty years old. She was born in Noble county, near South Olive, and is the daugh- ter of Levi and Elizabeth (Young) Devoll. After she grew up her parents moved nearer to Mr. Smith's home. After their marriage they lived about a year on the home farm. The next year he started work, helping grade on the building of the Marietta railroad. He worked for them about four years
870
GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
as a hand, grading on track work, and was then made a section foreman. He remained section foreman about four years and from that he was employed to test coal territory for the Manufacturers Coal Company of Cleveland, Ohio, His work took him down the Guernsey valley into Guernsey and Noble coun- ties. After finding coal in good shape he was employed in mines, superintend- ing the sinking of shafts, putting in slopes, tracks, etc., and general super- vision of opening the mine. He then went back as section foreman for one year, and then came to the Central mine to open a slope and from there went to the Wilson farm near Byesville, tested coal and sunk a shaft and laid the track. From there he drifted back into the railroad work again for about two years, then returned to coal mining for about three years. After this he again returned to the railroad and became foreman of what is known as the "floating gang" and remained at this for about twelve years more. This work took him all over the road and he had from ten to thirty men under his direction. He was then made supervisor of the railroad, his duties being to see to and superintend the section foremen and see that the entire road is kept up. He held that for three years, then resigned and was made general super- intendent of the mines of the Wills Creek Coal company and remained there a year.
In politics Mr. Smith is a Republican. In November, 1900, he was elected county commissioner of Guernsey county and held office from September, 1901, for six years, two terms of three years each, having been re-elected in 1903. On December 6, 1876, he located at Byesville, and has made his home there ever since, except for one year when he lived at Cambridge. There were only fourteen houses in Byesville when he came, and he can name all the residents of the town at that time. The town was just a cross-roads ham- let.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith had a family of ten children, namely: Rose, the wife of John Trott, has four children and lives in Byesville. Mr. Trott is a brother of Elza Trott, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere. Ernest Walter Smith lives on Main street in Byesville and is assistant superintendent of the Imperial Mining Company. He had one daughter, Helen. Arthur C. is as- sistant statistician of the United Mine Workers Association, with headquarters at Indianapolis. He has had five children. Frank R., who died June 6, 1895, had been qualified as a teacher and was to teach at Kimbolton in the fall of 1895. Charles L. is in Byesville and is operator of electric machinery in the coal mines. Harry lives in Byesville and resides with his father, since the death of his wife February 16, 1910. He has one little daughter. He is employed as check-weighman for the miners. John is at home with his father
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.