USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 50
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Mr. Vankirk married, on June 25. 1892, while on a visit home from the west, Imogene M. St. Clair, daughter of Roland A. and Lozelle ( White) St. Clair, of Salesville. The wife's parents both are living. To this union have been born one son and one daughter, Mildred E. and John White Vankirk.
In addition to the duties as postmaster, Mr. Vankirk operates a flour ex- change and does considerable business. He is a Republican and has been very active in party matters, being a member of the Republican county central com-
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mittee and a frequent delegate to county, district and state conventions. He has also served as a member of the county election board and active all along the line of politics. He is a member of the Masonic order. Quaker City Lodge, and the Maccabees. He affiliates with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife is a member, and Mrs. Vankirk is active in church and Sunday school work. The Salesville postoffice is quite an important mail point in addition to the local business, having three rural routes and supplying a thick- ly settled portion of the county, a very efficient service being provided. Mr. Vankirk is a citizen of high character and standing and popular with all classes, and is a man of influence in the community in which he is such an active fac- tor. Always courteous and obliging, he is a stanch friend and fair opponent always.
DAVID L. COWDEN, M. D.
Of high rank among the physicians of Guernsey county is a man descended from an old and respected family, David L. Cowden, who was born on a farm in Millwood township, a mile north of Quaker City, on August 8, 1867, the son of William N. and Deborah ( Laughlin ) Cowden.
William N. Cowden was born on January 1, 1837, on the same farm where he now lives, and in a log house on the same ground where his present residence is located, the son of David and Marjorie (Kennon) Cowden. Both his parents were born in Ireland, his father being but ten years old when his parents came to this country, and his mother younger. His grandfather. William Cowden, came with his family direct to this locality, and took up one hundred sixty acres of land where William N. now lives. He prospered and bought more, and his son David added still more, until he owned several hun- dred acres of land. The Cowdens came to America in 1816, the Kennons in 1820. They were sturdy Irish Presbyterians and devout church people, prom- inent in the community. David Cowden died in August, 1874. and his widow passed away the following year. Their son, William N., grew to manhood on the home farm, assisting in the general farm work, and attending the dis- trict school, and later attending Muskingum College at New Concord for one year, after which he taught school for one year and then traveled a year to recuperate broken health. Since that time he has been engaged in farming. He has raised all kinds of stock, but has made a specialty of sheep raising and wool growing. For twenty-three years he was president of the Wool Grow- ers' Association, for six years a member of the Ohio agricultural board and
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for one year president of that board. Always active in agricultural matters, he was the first man in Ohio to urge the teaching of the principles of agri- culture in the common schools. For some years he was a lecturer for the state board of agriculture at farmers' institutes, in which capacity he was able and his work popular. In politics a Democrat, he has frequently been a candidate of the party, but in this overwhelmingly Republican county he was usually defeated. He has filled township offices and served on the school board. Mr. Cowden was the judge who awarded the prizes for Merino sheep at the St. Louis Exposition, and has served in the same capacity at numerous state ex- hibits. For his services at St. Louis he was awarded a gold medal by the board. As president of the Wool Growers Association he has appeared be- fore every congressional committee that has invited public discussion when tariff revision was on since 1867. Mr. Cowden was a member of the Ohio tax commission appointed by Governor Mckinley in 1893, a non-partisan board of four members, Judge A. C. Thompson, F. A. Augie of Cleveland, Theodore Cook, of Cincinnati, and Mr. Cowden, of Guernsey, whose duty it was to revise the tax system of Ohio. The committee worked six months before they reported to the Legislature, and a revolution in the tax system was the result.of the efficient work of this committee. Judge Thompson was the president of the committee, Mr. Cowden the secretary. This was perhaps the most lasting work in which Mr. Cowden has been engaged.
William N. Cowden was married in September, 1866, to Deborah Laughlin, the daughter of Thomas W. and Jane (Robe) Laughlin, of Wills township, Guernsey county. Both the Laughlin and Robe families were early settlers and prominent in pioneer affairs and public matters. To this mar- riage seven children have been born: Dr. David L., of Kimbolton: William K., an attorney of Huntington, West Virginia; Dr. Newell W., of German- town, Ohio; Dr. Harry S., of Columbus, Ohio; Jennie, who married Thomas E. Henderson, of Millwood township; Mary Henrietta, a missionary in India, and Deborah Lillian, at home. Mr. Cowden has been an elder in the church since 1874, succeeding his father. He is one of the best known and most successful agriculturists of the state, as appears above, and a man whom the citizens of Guernsey county are proud to claim as their own.
David L. Cowden attended the common schools of his township, and at- tended the Quaker City high school, after which he taught for six years in the schools of Guernsey county, and, with Prof. A. B. Hall, conducted for three years a normal school in Quaker City. He read medicine for two years with Doctor Trimmer, while engaged in teaching, and then entered the Ohio Med- ical University at Columbus, graduating in 1893. Beginning practice with
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Dr. J. W. Wright, a leading oculist of Columbus, Ohio, he remained with him for three years, then in 1896 went to Washington, Guernsey county, and was there three years, then, coming to Kimbolton in 1899, has been in general practice there and has been successful.
Doctor Cowden was married on September 1, 1891, to Cora Spencer, the daughter of Frank S. and Nora (Lee) Spencer, of Millwood township. Her grandparents, Asa and Phoebe ( Piggott) Spencer, came to Guernsey county in 1834 and spent the remainder of their lives here. Her parents are living in Spencer's Station. Five children have been born to Doctor and Mrs. Cow- den, Paul S., Russell Lee, William N., deceased, Harry Laughlin and Mary Nora.
The Doctor is a Democrat and has been active in politics. He has served as a member of the county committee, and as a delegate to county, district and state conventions. For eight years he served efficiently as mayor of Kimbolton, and is a man of strong public spirit. He is a member of the county, state and national medical associations, and attends their meetings, and in everything is up-to-date in his practice.
Doctor and Mrs. Cowden are members of the United Presbyterian church, and the Doctor is an elder in that congregation. He has a taste for music, which he has been able to cultivate, is a skillful violin player and com- poser of some merit. Music is his favorite recreation. He stands high in his profession, in the estimation of his colleagues and of the public, and has a large and increasing practice, while his culture and his social traits make him welcome in all social gatherings. Mrs. Cowden was formerly a teacher of elocution, attended the Quaker City high school, takes an active part in church work and in society, and is a woman of much intelligence and refinement.
WILLIAM F. JOHNSTON.
Among the successful and enterprising business men of Cambridge and a representative citizen of Guernsey county is William F. Johnston, who, al- though primarily interested in his own affairs, as is quite natural, manifests an abiding interest in the advancement and welfare of his community and for any measure or enterprise by which his fellow men may be benefited.
Mr. Johnston was born October 20, 1865, in the city where he now re- sides and which has been his home continuously. He is the son of William and Martha (Gibson) Johnston. both parents born in Guernsey county. The
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grandfather, James Johnston, was born in Pennsylvania, and the grandmother, Jennie Johnston, came to the United States from Ireland and landed in New York, reaching there the day war was declared in 1812. They lived for a time in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. The grandmother, who was known in her maidenhood as Jennie Mahaffey, made the journey from Phila- delphia to Pittsburg on foot, when sixteen years old, and carried a younger brother most of the two hundred miles. The grandparents came to Guernsey county among the very early pioneers, and the first eighty acres of land bought from the government in Adams township is still in the family, never having been transferred, belonging to the undivided estate of the father, William Johnston. The father was a farmer for a number of years, and about 1858 he came to Cambridge and engaged in the manufacture of carriages on Dewey avenue, and after the smaller factories were handicapped by the larger ones, he engaged in the feed business for a period of fifteen years, or until a few years prior to his death, in April, 1905, and when he retired he had the long- est record of continuous business years of any man in Cambridge. He was a Republican in politics and always interested in public matters, and for many years he was a member of the Cambridge board of education. He was a stal- wart character and a man of sterling integrity. His widow, who is still living in Cambridge, is known for her many charitable acts and general good works.
William F. Johnston grew to manhood in Cambridge and was educated in the public schools here. He began the trade of carriage painter at the age of thirteen years, working for his father. This he followed until 1889, then he went to Logan, Ohio, and was foreman of the finishing department of the Logan Manufacturing Company. He remained in that city for four years, or until the factory was destroyed by fire. He then returned to Cambridge and was with the Cambridge Chair Company until it failed. He then spent one year in the rolling mill, and in 1897 he engaged in the plumbing business with G. W. Branthoover as partner, and this business has continued ever since and has grown to large proportions and is very successful. They do every- thing in the plumbing and heating line and mine and mill supplies.
Politically, Mr. Johnston is a Republican, but he is not an active party man, though always advocating right measures in local, state and national offices.
Mr. Johnston was married on December 10, 1896, to Carrie E. Fleming, daughter of Benjamin F. and Elizabeth (Saviers) Fleming, residents of Guernsey county for many years. The father is deceased, but the mother is still living in Cambridge at the advanced age of eighty-one years. To Mr. and
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Mrs. Johnston two children have been born, a son and a daughter, Kathryne and William F., Jr. Mrs. Johnston is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mrs. Johnston is a regular attendant. He is a highly respected citizen and a progressive business man. His splendid residence, at No. 1012 Steubenville avenue, is modern in construction, arrangement and furnishings.
WILLIAM R. FORSYTHE.
Among the representative and progressive farmers of Liberty township, Guernsey county, William R. Forsythe stands high in the estimation of his fellows. He was born on August 11, 1850, on the farm where he now lives, three miles northwest of Kimbolton, the son of Robert H. and Rebecca ( Robe) Forsythe. His parents came to Liberty township from Wills township direct- ly after marriage, both having been born in Guernsey county, of which the Forsythes and Robes were both pioneer families. His father became a large land owner, a prosperous farmer and a man of affairs. He was a Republican. and was active in public affairs during the early years of his life and filled various township offices. A member of the United Presbyterian church, he was for many years an elder and was a devout churchman. He died in Janu- ary, 1909, aged eighty-nine, and his wife died in January, 1908, aged eighty- seven. Both are buried in Kimbolton cemetery.
Robert and Rebecca Forsythe are the parents of three sons and two daughters : Robert R., who served during the Civil war and gave his life to his country ; Sarah J., deceased ; William R .; Anna M., deceased ; and Elmer J., of Oregon.
William R. Forsythe spent his childhood and youth until his marriage with his father, received his education in the district schools, and taught school for four years. He was married on May 30, 1871, to Anna C. Kennedy. daughter of Benjamin and Margaret (Orr) Kennedy, of Jefferson township, Guernsey county, of which they were prominent residents. To Mr. and Mrs. Forsythe have been born six children : Ora A .. now the wife of Rev. W. W. Willis, of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, a graduate of Muskingum College and for years a popular and progressive teacher before her marriage ; Mary I., a teacher, a graduate of Muskingum College, at New Concorn, Ohio, now a student doing special work at the University of Michigan; Margaret R., a graduate of the Northwestern University at Ada, Ohio, and now a suc- cessful teacher at Carnegie, Pennsylvania : John H., deceased : Laura B., a for-
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mer student of Muskingum College, and now a teacher at Lebanon, Ohio; Craig R., a graduate of Muskingum College, and graduated from the Alle- gheny Theological Seminary, is now a United Presbyterian minister, located at Rock Prairie, Wisconsin.
For ten years after marriage Mr. Forsythe lived on his farm, about one and a half miles east of the homestead, and in 1882 he came to the old home farm and has since lived here. He visited the west early in 1882, with a view of location, but, concluding that Ohio and the old home farm were good enough for him, returned and bought the home of his parents. The farm consists of one hundred and ninety acres in the fertile Wills creek valley, and is well improved and well tilled, with good barns, stock sheds, and a con- venient modern house, everything being in good condition. He follows gen- eral farming and is an extensive stock raiser.
In politics, Mr. Forsythe is a Republican and is active in public affairs, being always a friend of education .. He and his family are members of the United Presbyterian church, and Mr. Forsythe has long been an elder, while all the family are active church workers. He is a strong and substantial man and citizen, and his family occupies a prominent place in the affairs and social life of the community.
GEORGE H. STOUT, M. D.
A useful and widely known citizen of Wills township, Guernsey county, Ohio, is Dr. George H. Stout, who has won an envied reputation in the med- ical profession and shown what a man of careful mental training, honesty of purpose and an abundance of zeal and perseverance can accomplish, although his early advantages were none too flattering. He takes high rank among his professional brethren in this locality.
Doctor Stout was born October 10, 1850, in Monroe county, Ohio, and is the son of Isaiah and Emiline (Cochran) Stout, the father born in New Jersey and the mother in Ohio. The father came to Ohio in 1830, when only seven years of age, with a half brother, and found employment with William Blackston, a merchant of Middleton. Guernsey county, Ohio, as a clerk and a farm hand for many years, until young manhood. He married in the fall of 1845 and went to Monroe county, where he remained one year, and during this time the son, George H., was born. He then returned to the farm, one mile west of Middleton on the National pike in Wills township. Mrs. Stout's grandfather, John Cochran, came from Ireland in the early pioneer days and
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entered six hundred and forty acres of land in the neighborhood of what is now Middleton, in Wills township, and the farm upon which Isaiah Stout set- tled was a part of that six hundred and forty acres of land, or, if not a part. adjoining it. John Cochran was an active man in the development of the country and built the first water grist-mill operated on Wills creek. He was a prosperous and leading citizen, and died about 1832. His son, the father of the mother of the subject of this sketch, Col. William Cochran, was colonel of a militia regiment and a citizen of great activity in farming and merchan- dising in Middleton for sixty years. He was active in public affairs and served as county treasurer for many years. He was prominent in everything that was for the good of the community. He died at his home in Middleton in 1878. Isaiah Stout, father of the subject of this sketch, was a prosperous farmer, and was active in public affairs, holding several important township offices. He died a young man, at the age of forty-nine, in January, 1872. leaving a widow and nine children living, four having died before the father, a family of thirteen children in all; of these, six are now living: George H .; Mattie A., now Mrs. William B. Hays, of Larned, Kansas; Thomas A., of Sheridan, Wyoming; Elizabeth J., now Mrs. James E. Cunningham, of Wills township; Sarah O., now Mrs. Edward Scott, of Bethany, West Virginia, and John F., an attorney of Omaha, Nebraska. The mother and widow died March 7, 1905, aged eighty years, never having married again. Both par- ents are buried in the Law cemetery in Oxford township, near the old Cochran home.
Dr. George H. Stout, who now lives in the old family home, spent his childhood and youth upon the farm and obtained his early education at the country district schools. He later attended Mt. Union College at Alliance, Ohio, taking the literary course, but graduating in the commercial and short- hand departments in 1876. He then engaged in school teaching and taught school for twelve years, and all this time in three adjacent districts in Wills and Oxford townships and was a successful, progressive and popular teacher. He had always entertained a desire to study medicine and gave up teaching to enter the Ohio Medical College at Columbus, where he attended one year, then entered the Eclectic Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating on June 5, 1879. Coming back to his old home, Middleton, he opened his office on June 7, 1879, and had a patient the first day of his practice and has been continu- ously practicing since that time in the same locality. He has established himself firmly in the good opinion of all, not only in the public mind, but in the opinion of his brothers in the profession as well.
The Doctor married, on March 15, 1881, Nora E. Hayes, daughter of
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Nelson B. and Rachel A. ( Blackstone) Hayes. Both the Blackstone and Hayes families were early pioneers and prominent in the same locality. No children have been born to this union.
The Doctor's practice has been general in all the surrounding townships, and he has been eminently successful. In addition to his practice, which has always been very large, he has acquired large land holdings, owning three hundred and ninety acres in the locality of Middleton in Wills township, and has given considerable attention to stock raising, sheep, cattle, hogs and horses. which he feeds for the market. He is a large wool producer, having almost every year flocks of from three hundred to four hundred sheep. His home, one mile west of Middleton, is situated on an elevation overlooking the beauti- ful and fertile Salt Fork valley and is one of the most attractive country homes of that locality. He is a Republican in politics and has been active in public affairs, especially during his younger days; he is never an office seeker, but always a voter and always attends the party primaries and caucuses, believing it to be the duty of all good citizens to thus participate in public matters.
In his early years of the practice Doctor Stout was a member of the Ohio State and National Eclectic Medical Societies. He is a man of strong per- sonality and few men have attained to a higher place in the estimation of the people among whom they have labored and lived. The love and reverence for Doctor Stout in the homes of the people whom he has so long served as a family physician is universal.
JAMES R. BARR.
The name of James R. Barr has been so indissolubly associated with progress in and about the city of Cambridge that no lengthy encomium would be required to acquaint the readers of this history of his activities and ac- complishments. Suffice it to say, in passing to the specific facts in his life history, that his has been a very active and successful career because he has worked along lines that never fail to result in good. He was born in Cam- bridge township, Guernsey county, on April 15, 1854. on a farm three miles north of Cambridge, and is the son of Samuel C. and Mary ( Dunning) Barr, both born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, from which they came to Guernsey county, Ohio, as young people, became acquainted after coming here and were married. Grandfather James Barr and his wife, Sarah ( Clemens) Barr. were born in Ireland and came to America about 1816 and first settled in
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Washington county, Pennsylvania, having journeyed from Philadelphia. where they landed, to their place of settlement in a one-horse dump-cart, which contained all their worldly goods, some members of the family walking. James Barr, the grandfather, was a linen weaver in Ireland and he followed weaving after he came to America, having his spinning wheel and his loom in his home. His son, Samuel C., father of James R. of this review. after com- ing to Guernsey county in 1838, bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres of timber which he began clearing. He prospered, in due course of time acquiring six hundred acres of land, and he was an extensive sheep raiser and wool grower. He was a Republican in politics, always active in public affairs, and he filled numerous local township offices and was always highly respected for his honesty and sterling worth. He and his family were United Presbyterians and devoted church people. The death of Samuel C. Barr occurred on February 7, 1902, and his widow died on January 22, 1908, and both are buried in the Cambridge South cemetery. Their family con- sisted of ten children, one dying in infancy ; the others, who are living. are : James R., of this review ; Jemima, who married George D. Willis, of Cam- bridge : John M., of the state of Washington ; Joseph E., of Cambridge : Sarah. now Mrs. Elmer Hague, of Cambridge; Mary married William Norris, of Cambridge; William L., of Cambridge; Samuel C., of Cambridge; Myrtle married Arthur Watson.
James R. Barr, who spent his youth on his father's farm, was educated in the country district schools and select schools, and he took a course in the department of pharmacy in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Prior to going to Ann Arbor he taught school for several years in the rural schools of Guernsey county. In 1880 he engaged in the drug business in Cambridge, but only for one year. Being a Republican in politics and active in party and public affairs, in 1881 he was nominated by his party as candidate for clerk of courts of Guernsey county and was elected. He served two terms of three years each in a manner that met with hearty approval of his con- stituents. He also served six years as a member of the Cambridge board of education, and for two years he was a member of the city council; he was mayor of the city of Cambridge from 1890 to 1894, during which time he made a record that was worthy of the highest commendation. He has been a member of the state central committee for three years, chairman of the Republican county committee for two years and he was a delegate to the Republican national convention that met in St. Louis, in June, 1896, that nominated William McKinley for President. He was appointed postmaster of Cambridge by President Mckinley in June, 1897, taking office on July I.
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1897, and he served by re-appointment until February 4, 1910, making, ac- cording to consensus of opinion, one of the best postmasters the city ever had. He is regarded as a leader in local politics and public affairs and is loyal to the best interests of this community at all times. Since leaving the postoffice he has been engaged in the real estate business and is enjoying a very good business.
Mr. Barr was married on April 7, 1880, to Adrianna Ferguson, daughter of Hiram C. and Amanda (Baldridge) Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson was a prominent farmer of Cambridge township, living retired during the latter part of his life in the city of Cambridge. He was a prominent, influential and highly respected man. He was a Democrat and a member of the Presbyterian church, as were all his family. Mr. Ferguson's death occurred on July 3. 1885, and his wife passed away on February 10, 1900. Both are buried in the South cemetery at Cambridge. Their family consisted of six children, all daughters, namely : Alice married Robert McConkey, of Cambridge town- ship; Mary married N. J. Hutcheson, of Cambridge; Jemima is a teacher in the Cambridge schools; Adrianna married James R. Barr, of Cambridge; May, now Mrs. J. Marshall Brown, of Cambridge; Carrie is living at home in Cambridge.
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