USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 52
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and public matters. He was originally a Whig and since the organization of the Republican party he has been an ardent Republican. Although always interested in public matters, he was never an office seeker. He has been a member of the Baptist church since childhood and always active in church and Sunday school work. He is a man of strong convictions and very methodical and conscientious in all his business matters, a sincere Christian man. Mrs. Green, mother of W. B., died about 1862, and Edward F. Green married Eliza MI. Graham, of an old established family of this county. She is living.
Willoughby B. Green is the only child of his parents. He spent his early youth on the farm on Noble county and was educated in the public schools of the home locality and also attended the Central high school at Williamsburg, Missouri, after the family moved to that place. He assisted his father in his farming and grain business and attended school until about twenty years of age, when he came to Cambridge from Missouri and learned telegraphy in the Western Union office at Cambridge and soon became the manager of that office, which position he held for eight years, when he was made manager in the Western Union office at Circleville, for one year, then, going to Mexico, was with the Santa Fe railroad and the Wells Fargo Express Company at Los Lunas, New Mexico, where he remained only part of a year. He then returned to Cambridge, from where he was sent to Charleston, West Virginia, as manager of the Western Union office for one year in an important and very busy office. Resigning at the close of a year at Charleston, he returned to Cambridge and entered the mercantile business with his father, remaining here until January 1, 1903, doing a very large and successful business at the corner of Wheeling avenue and Fifth street, which property they still own. After retiring from the mercantile business he engaged in the general insur- ance and real estate business, purchasing the old established business of Thomas G. Kerr, deceased, which consisted of some of the oldest and best companies doing business, and Mr. Kerr had represented these companies for about thirty years, the best of the companies including the Ohio Farmers, the Continental of New York, the Connecticut of Hartford, the American of New Jersey, the Fire Associations of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Fidelity Underwriters of New York and some twenty-five other companies, all strong and reliable. The business has grown under Mr. Green and he now has a larger line than any other agency in the county, having a business of over ten million dollars in force, by far the largest of any agency in the county. Mr. Green writes fire, life, accident, explosion, plate-glass, windstorms, secur- ity bonds, employes' liability, steam boilers and live stock insurance. He also handles real estate and makes loans. Mr. Green is a very busy man, and, in
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addition to his extensive business interests, he is a director of the Cambridge Loan and Building Company, and is active in the management, the company having a capital of one million dollars.
Mr. Green has been twice married, first. in November, 1880, to Anna Simons, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Simons, early residents of Cam- bridge. One son, Edward L. was born to this union, who is now the special state agent for the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, Con- necticut, his home being with his father in Cambridge. He is a bright, sitc- cessful young man. Mrs. Green died in the summer of 1885, soon after the return from New Mexico, where Mr. Green had gone because of the failing health of his wife. He was married on October 14, 1900, to Lyda D. Scott. daughter of Elza M. and Mary Scott, Mr. Scott being a prominent coal oper- ator and salt producer in Guernsey county. The Scotts were an early family in the county and Mr. Scott was among the best business men of the county. He was a very successful coal operator, doing business as the Scott Coal and Salt Company, four miles east of Cambridge on the Baltimore & Ohio rail- road. Mr. Scott died a few years prior to 1900 and his widow about 1899.
Mr. and Mrs. Green are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Green is an elder and trustee of the church, which positions he has held for several years. They are both active in church work and in the Sunday school, he being superintendent of the Sunday school for many years.
Mr. Green is a member of the Masonic order, also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, both the subordinate body and the encampment, and he has been a member of the board of trustees for many years and chairman of the board for.fifteen years. He was a member of the building committee when the fine I. O. O. F. Temple was built in 1896 and he is active in the work of both the Masons and the Odd Fellows, having passed all the chairs in the latter fraternity. He has represented the district at the grand encampment. He is a Republican in politics and has been active in the affairs of the party. He has served as a member of the city council for some years and was a mem- ber of the body when the saloons were first put out of Cambridge by a vote of six to four, in a council membership of ten. This was in 1901. He has al- ways been a temperance advocate and worker in the county. Mr. Green has never been an office seeker, but has always maintained a lively interest in public matters and keeps himself well informed.
Mrs. Green is an ardent church worker and devoted to her home and family. The family home, which is among the most attractive in the city, is located at No. 317 North Seventh street and everything about it indicates re- fined taste, culture and comfort.
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Mr. Green is a splendid citizen and, like his father, much can be said of him as a loyal and upright citizen.
Willoughby B. Green's son, Edward L., was graduated from the Cam- bridge high school, then entered the Ohio State University at Columbus, re- maining for two years when he entered business with his father, fitting him- self for special insurance work. In January, 1909, he became, as before stated, special state agent of the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, of Hartford, over a large class of applicants, and has made good, standing well with the company, the agents and the patrons and is recognized as a "live wire" in the insurance business. A fine young man in character, habits and business ability.
LILBURN C. ROGERS.
As long as history endures will the American nation acknowledge its in- debtedness to the heroes who between 1861 and 1865 fought for the preserva- tion of the Union and the honor of that starry banner which has never been trailed in the dust of defeat in a single polemic struggle in which the country has been involved. Among those whose military records as valiant soldiers of the war of the Rebellion reflect lasting honor upon them and their descend- ants is Lilburn C. Rogers, who is one of the honored citizens of Byesville, Guernsey county, where he has long maintained his home and led a life con- sistent with the truth.
Mr. Rogers was born on April 12, 1840, in Jackson township. this county, above Trail Run, and is the son of Roland and Mary (Cummings) Rogers. The father was born, it is believed, in Harrison county, Ohio, and was the son of William Rogers, who probably came from Harford county. Maryland; at least a large number of the Rogers family, his near relatives, came from there. Mary Cummings was born, probably, near Mansfield. Ohio, and was the daughter of James Cummings, a Protestant, who came from Ireland. Roland Rogers and wife were married prior to 1838, and about 1839 moved to Guernsey county, Ohio, and settled along Wills creek. less than a mile from Trail run, in Jackson township. There his father bought a farm and established the Rogers homestead. There, too, the parents of the subject spent the major part of their lives; although they lived awhile near Byesville, they died on the farm, the father's death occurring on August 15, 1895, and that of the mother three months later. November 16th. Roland Rogers was a Republican, having been a Whig in his earlier life ; he became
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an active Abolitionist and took part in assisting slaves to escape by way of the "underground railroad," when his son, Lilburn C., was a child. In the last years of his life the father was a Prohibitionist. He was a charter member of the Methodist Protestant church at Trail Run, and was an active and earn- est worker in the same. In politics and religion he was by nature a reformer. In his family were seven children, of whom five lived to maturity, namely : Mrs. Ellen Jane Hutton, deceased, was the widow of John Hutton ; Lilburn C., of this review ; James O., deceased ; William B., deceased ; Roland Jarvis lives between Trail Run and Senecaville on the home farm.
Lilburn C. Rogers grew to maturity on the home farm, and when twenty- one years of age he went west, spending nearly two years, principally in Cali- fornia and Oregon. The balance of his life has been spent in Jackson town- ship, this county. During the war between the states he proved his patriot- ism by enlisting in Company H, One Hundred and Seventy-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served very faithfully and made a good rec- ord as a soldier.
On July 31, 1866, Mr. Rogers was married to Sarah Louisa Hutton, daughter of Solomon and Mary ( Stewart) Hutton. She is the sister of Wil- liam A. Hutton, whose sketch appears on another page of this work, and in which may be found complete records of her ancestors who were an old and prominent family here.
Mr. and Mrs. Rogers are the parents of three children, namely: Francis A., who married Jenette Hood, lives in Cambridge, where he engages as a plasterer and concrete worker : Charles T., who married Elizabeth Hinchcliffe. lives in Byesville where he is following plastering; they have five children living, and one dead, Clarence C., Lilburn Carl, Irene, Gladys, Edmund, de- ceased, and Cecil Albert Rogers. Mary A. B. Rogers, the subject's daugh- ter, married Ed. J. Nichols and lives in Byesville, and they are the parents of three children, Edward Lilburn, Mary Marie and Russell. Mr. Nichols is also a plasterer.
For fourteen years after his marriage Mr. Rogers iived a mile north- west of Byesville, where he owned a farm. In April, 1882, he moved into Byesville, having sold his farm. He bought a small farm in Oakwood, now in the northwest part of Byesville, which he farmed, but made his home in Byesville at the time. That land is now laid off in city lots and is well built up. Mr. Rogers has lived to see and take part in the remarkable growth of this vicinity, remembering when Byesville was little more than an unimproved field, consisting only of a grist-mill, a saw-mill and about seven houses along the north side of what is now Main street and a shoe shop along the south side
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of the street. The only store was east of Wills creek where the old Jonathan Bye home still stands. He has been an interested spectator in witnessing the place grow from a straggling hamlet to a city. Politically, Mr. Rogers is a Republican and he and his wife belong to the Methodist Protestant church.
GEORGE MARTIN SMITH.
The representative of an old, well established and highly honored family and one of the public spirited citizens of the city of Cambridge is George Martin Smith, who occupies a conspicuous place among the business men of Guernsey county and he enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him. His record demonstrates the lesson contained in the old fable that where there is a will there is a way and that obstacles to success may be overcome by courage and self-reliance.
Mr. Smith was born in New Concord, Ohio, January 6, 1879, and he is the son of James Oscar and Margaret Elizabeth ( Long) Smith. The father was born in Guernsey county, near New Concord, Ohio, September 19, 1849, and is the son of Thomas Smith, Jr., and Georgianna (Gill) Smith; both born in the same part of this county. The mother's parents came from Balti- more to Guernsey county. Her father, George Gill, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and he lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and two years, dying July 21, 1892, and was buried in the old cemetery on South Eighth street in Cambridge. Thomas Smith, Jr., was the son of Thomas Smith, Sr., who was of German ancestry. The wife of George Gill was Elizabeth Mullen before her marriage. James O. Smith lived on the farm near New Concord until he was twenty-six years old. He went to Concord and was married, on April 1. 1875. to Margaret Elizabeth Long, who was born in Noble county, but was brought to Guernsey county by her parents, David and Isabella ( Wilson) Long, and was reared near Mantua. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Smith lived in New Concord several years, then spent nineteen years on a farm three miles west of Cambridge. In March, 1897, they moved to Cambridge and have lived there ever since. They are the parents of seven children, namely : Mrs. Jennie May Kelley, George Martin Smith, Mrs. Sadie Belle Pyles. Harry Jackson Smith, James Morse Smith, Freda Alice and Helen Amanda Smith.
George Martin Smith lived at New Concord until he was sixteen years old, when the family moved to this county and located at Cambridge, where
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they have since resided. Mr. Smith began life for himself as a driver for the United States . Express Company, which position he held for a period of six years. He next became a clerk in the offices of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road Company, remaining as such for six years and giving his usual high grade service. About 1907 he became the joint ticket agent of both the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore & Ohio railroad companies, which position he still holds to the entire satisfaction of his employers. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge and the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Smith was married in 1901 to Sarah Jones, daughter of John A. and Hannah (Evans) Jones. She was born at Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, and when a child her parents moved to New Philadelphia, where she grew to maturity. Her family moved to Cambridge about 1899, where they still reside. Her father, John A. Jones, was born in Douglass, Wales, about 1845, and he is the son of John and Elizabeth Jones. When he was twenty- one years of age he came to America and located at Niles, Ohio, where he remained about ten years, then moved to New Philadelphia, where they lived until about 1897, then moved to Cambridge, this county, where they still reside. He has been engaged in the rolling mills and is now in the sheet mill at Cambridge. In April, 1863, he married Hannah Evans, who was also born in Douglass, Wales, and was married there. She is the daughter of Evan and Elizabeth (Evans) Evans. There were six children in the family of John A. Jones and wife: James, John, Evan, Mrs. Anna Parr, Mrs. Hannah Winters, and Mrs. Sarah Smith, wife of George M. Smith, of this review. John A. Jones and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is also a Mason. To Mr. and Mrs. George M. Smith one son, George, Jr., has been born, his date of birth being September 8, 1907.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith both belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. They own a very cozy and well arranged home at No. 621 Foster avenue, Cambridge.
THOMAS PYLES.
One of the well known and successful business men of Cambridge and one of the most representative citizens of Guernsey county is Thomas Pyles. a man of sound judgment, wise discretion and keen business ability, as his rapid rise from a modest beginning to his present high standing among the enterprising individuals of this locality abundantly attests. By judiciously investing his means and managing his various affairs, he has come into pos-
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session of valuable property, and he is a man who takes much pride in the growth and advancement of his county.
Mr. Pyles was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1858, and he is the son of Thomas H. and Nancy J. ( Phillis) Pyles. About 1867 the family moved to Guernsey county, Ohio, and located about three miles east of Claysville, where the father bought a farm and established the family home. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Pyles, named as follows: Mrs. Rachel J. Stewart; J. J .: Jacob P .; Thomas, of this review : M. C .; Mrs. Ella Wilson and Mrs. Maggie Vessel; all but Jacob P., who resides in the state of Washington, live in Guernsey county. The father of these children, a man of much sterling worth, was called to his reward in the fall of 1903. He was a stanch Democrat and took a lively interest in public affairs, especially everything pertaining to his community. He was twice land appraiser and also township assessor. His widow, a woman who has a host of friends, is still living in this county.
Thomas Pyles lived on the home farm until he was about twenty-two years old. In 1880 he began learning the trade of marble and granite cutting near Claysville, and later worked under David K. Kyle in Cambridge, a vet- eran in that line of work, and he continued with Mr. Kyle until June, 1884, when he started a plant of his own in Cambridge. About 1890 or soon there- after he bought out the business of his old employer, Mr. Kyle, and combined it with his own, and he enjoys an extensive trade from the start. Five years later he bought the marble and granite business of Jed Williams and put his own plant and stock in with it. He now has a large modern plant, equipped with all the latest machinery pertaining to this line of work, pneumatic cutting tools, gas engine for power, etc. He has by far the largest business in Guern- sey county of this kind, and, indeed, his patronage is not limited by the boundaries of this county, but extends to remote localities of eastern Ohio. Only first-class material is used and only high grade workmanship is allowed to go out, consequently the large and rapidly growing prestige of this plant is well deserved.
In October. 1883. Mr. Pyles married Mary Crow, daughter of Thomp- son and Isabel ( Sherrard) Crow. Mrs. Pyles was born in the north part of this county and was reared and educated here, in fact, has lived here all her life. Her father came from Washington county, Pennsylvania, about the middle of the last century with his parents, who located near Kimbolton, this county. The mother of Mrs. Pyles was a native of Guernsey county and the grandparents were natives of Ireland.
Mr. and Mrs. Pyles have no children living. Roger T. died when four
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months old; they also had an adopted daughter, whom they took at the age of two years, about 1888; her death occurred in March, 1907, at the age of nineteen years.
Mr. and Mrs. Pyles are both members of the Second United Presby- terian church, of which Mr. Pyles is an elder, a trustee and a liberal sup- porter, interested in all phases of church work. He is a very successful business man and besides his marble and granite works he is interested in the Puritan Coal Company, and he has been very successful and now has a nice home and has laid by a competency for his declining years. Honesty and promptness are his watchwords in business, and, in fact, all the relations of life.
JOHN BARGAR CLARK.
Whatever of success has attended the efforts of John Bargar Clark, one of the popular councilmen of Cambridge, Guernsey county, has been entirely owing to his own endeavors, his energy, industry and natural ability. From small beginnings he has attained a prominence in the county which entitles him to be regarded as one of its representative citizens. He has maintained the reputation of his ancestors, long well established in this locality, for hon- esty and industry. He was born at Tippecanoe, Harrison county, Ohio, in 1859, and he is the son of John Miller and Elizabeth (Smith) Clark. The father devoted his life to farming and country blacksmithing and his death occurred on his farm in Jefferson township. Guernsey county, in January, 1901. His widow is still living on the old home place there, having attained the advanced age of eighty-two years. Her oldest son. George W. Clark, makes his home with her and manages the farm.
John B. Clark grew to maturity on the home farm and he went to work in the fields when quite small, and when twelve years of age he began work- ing in his father's blacksmith shop and worked there for about fifteen years, becoming a very skilled workman, enjoying a wide reputation in his locality in this line of endeavor. He then came to Cambridge and for seventeen years ran a barber shop here, which was one of the most popular in the city. He next engaged in the restaurant business on Wheeling avenue, near Seventh street, and he maintained the same with very satisfactory results for about two years and a half. On August 1, 1909, he opened the Princess theater, in the same block on Wheeling avenue, which he has managed very successfully to the present time and which was a popular gathering place for those
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seeking wholesome amusement from the start, and he has continued to be well patronized and popular with the masses.
Politically, Mr Clark has always been a Republican and active in public affairs. While living in Jefferson township, he very acceptably served as township clerk soon after reaching his majority. In the fall of 1909, he was elected to the city council of Cambridge and he is making a splendid record in this capacity. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen and the United Presbyterian church.
Mr. Clark was married in October, 1887, to Mary Catherine Taylor, who was born near Winterset, Madison township, this county, the daughter of James and Elizabeth (Smith) Taylor, old residents of that part of the county, where they were well known and highly respected. They are both now deceased. Mrs. Clark grew to maturity in her native community and was educated in the public schools. She is the mother of one son, Raymond Smith Clark, a lad of promise.
Temperamentally, Mr. Clark is a genial, obliging and sociable gentleman who has made many friends since coming to Cambridge.
JOHN H. HYATT.
One of the native sons of Cambridge, Guernsey county, is John H. Hyatt, a man who has lived to see wonderful changes take place in this community and who has assisted in the general development of the same, always taking much more than a passing interest in her affairs,-in fact. everything that tended to upbuild or benefit in any way Guernsey county, as did his honored father before him, and as a business man his life has been a busy and successful one.
Mr. Hyatt was born in 1853 and he is the son of Noah Hyatt, whose sketch appears in full on another page of this work. The son, John H., spent his boyhood in Cambridge and was educated in the public schools there. When sixteen years of age he began learning the tinner's trade which he followed with success for about five years. In 1875 he and his father entered into partnership and bought a hardware store in Cambridge, located on Wheeling avenue, between Seventh and Eighth streets. They continued in business there twenty-six years to the day, and enjoyed a very liberal trade with the town and county,-in fact, their's was one of the best known hard- ware stores in this and adjoining counties for many years. They always
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carried a full and carefully selected stock and they treated their thousands of customers with the utmost consideration, hence their large success was well deserved. The father's death made it necessary to close the business. Then the son turned his attention to the plumbing business, which he fol- lowed with very gratifying results for a period of four years, maintaining a very complete establishment, which he finally sold out. In 1888 he built for himself and family a very substantial and pleasant home on North Sixth street, Cambridge, in the best residence district of the city, and he still resides here.
Mr. Hyatt was married in 1880 to Florence C. Anderson, daughter of John and Amelia (Dallas) Anderson. She was born at Sewellsville, Bel- mont county, Ohio, and when she was three years of age her family moved to a farm near Hendrysburg, Belmont county, where they lived until 1878. when they moved to Cambridge, where the daughter married Mr. Hyatt. Her mother died on the farm in the month of August before they moved here; the father lived until April 16, 1893, when he joined his faithful life companion "in the sphere which keeps the disembodied spirits of the dead."
Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hyatt. The first, Amelia Alice. was taken away when six months old; the other, Helen, is at home with her parents.
Fraternally, Mr. Hyatt is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife and daughter all belong to the Presbyterian church and are faithful attendants and supporters of the same.
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