USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 53
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NOAH HYATT.
A well remembered and highly honored resident of Cambridge, Guernsey county, of a past generation was the late Noah Hyatt, a man of many esti- mable traits, whom to know was to admire and respect, for he lived a life consistent with the truth and higher ethics of life. Owing to his honesty, integrity, industry, public spirit and his manifest desire to aid in any worthy cause looking to the general good of the community, his name is peculiarly eligible for a conspicuous place in his county's historical annals, among whose pioneer citizens he was popular and influential. He was a fine example of the purely self-made man.
Mr. Hyatt was born in Centerville, Washington county, Pennsylvania, on July 11, 1810. He was the son of Eli and Ann ( Jamison) Hyatt. The
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mother was a descendant through her mother of a well known Springer family. The father died when the subject was a child. He was a tavern- keeper and after his death the mother continued to maintain the same with the assistance of her son, Noah. When sixteen years of age he went to Millsboro and worked in a fulling mill, then returned to Centerville and later came to Guernsey county, Ohio, with Major Joseph Bute, in 1830. Major Bute at once engaged in the general mercantile business in Cambridge and Mr. Hyatt was a clerk in his store, and later he engaged in the mer- cantile business at Cumberland. Returning to Pennsylvania for a short time, he came again to this county and re-embarked in the mercantile business in partnership with Major Bute, and they conducted a general store for many years, at the southeast corner of Wheeling avenue and Eighth street, and later in a room in the west side of the Shaffner block in Wheeling avenue. Mr. Hyatt was early engaged in farming, coming into possession of the site of the present Carson's addition when it was a wilderness. He had this and other nearby lands cleared, making a large and productive farm which he successfully managed for many years. He had been largely en- gaged in the horse, cattle, hog and sheep driving business to the eastern markets, in his younger days, and he kept upon his farm the best class of stock. He took a great interest in the advancement of agriculture in the county, and for many years he was prominently connected with the Guernsey County Agricultural Society, as manager and president. In October, 1849, he went into partnership with Samuel McCulley in the general merchandise business in Cambridge and remained thus for several years and afterwards he was in the grocery business alone. During his later years Mr. Hyatt formed a partnership with his son, John H., whose sketch appears on another page of this work, and they engaged in the hardware business for a period of twenty-six years, continuing, in fact, until the death of the elder Hyatt. He was a very successful business man, careful and a good manager, always looked well to the minute details and was fair and straightforward, thus gaining the confidence of his customers.
Noah Hyatt served as councilman in the village of Cambridge for many years and he was regarded as a safe and trusted counselor in the affairs of the village, and admired for his strict integrity. In politics he was an active Democrat and zealous in the support of his party's principles, but he never sought political preferment. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and was one of its most ardent workers and liberal supporters. At the time of his death he was the oldest citizen of Cambridge, having attained the ripe age of ninety years and six months, his summons to the silent land
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taking place on July II, 1900. He had been connected with the history of Cambridge and Guernsey county for a period of seventy years and was re- garded as one of the very best citizens of the same in every respect. being held in the highest esteem, as he well deserved.
Mr. Hyatt was married first to Bertha Bute, daughter of Major Joseph Bute, February 23, 1832, and her death occurred on April 19, 1841. He was married to Ellen Grimes on October 12, 1844, and her death occurred August 3. 1891. Of these two unions, Mr. Hyatt was survived by Mrs. R. H. Atkins, of Cambridge; Mrs. R. C. Bamford, of Hagerstown, Maryland, of the first marriage ; and Thomas G. Hyatt, of Chicago Junction, Ohio; Will H. Hyatt, of Chicago, Illinois; John H. Hyatt, of Cambridge; Charles M. Hyatt, of Marietta, Ohio; Rebecca Hyatt and Mrs. Betha Oldham, widow of William Friend Oldham, of Cambridge, of the second union. The last two named were at home, residing with their father and caring for him during his de- clining years.
SCHICK BROTHERS.
The Schick Brothers Laundry is not only well known to the people of the city of Cambridge, but all over Guernsey county and to many nearby towns, and in point of equipment, high-grade service and prompt attention to its patrons it stands second to none in southeastern Ohio, as all who have had dealings with these competent gentlemen can attest, for their object is to please, and they have put forth such praiseworthy efforts in this direction that their business has rapidly increased and is still growing, and they are in every way deserving of their success. Frank L. Schick and John Bernhard Schick, proprietors of Schick Brothers' Laundry, were both born in Cambridge, Ohio, Frank on September 27. 1861, and John, on September 25, 1866. They are sons of Frank L., Sr., and Harriett (Dorsey) Schick. Their father was born in Germany and came to America about 1853. He went first to Canada and engaged in stone masonry on the construction work of what is now the Canada Southern railway. He had previously learned the trade of marble cutter. He afterwards came to Ohio and worked on the construction work of the Central Ohio railroad, now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. He remained with the same railroad thirty-two years, either as a contractor or foreman of masonry construction, building bridges, abut- ments, stations, shops, etc. He made his home in Cambridge, Ohio, and built a good substantial home at No. 317 Clark street. After thirty years with the
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Baltimore & Ohio, he left them and went to contracting on public work. He was a thirty-second-degree Mason and prominent and active in that order. He was industrious, of strict integrity, steady and reliable and a man of ability in his line of work. His wife was Harriett Dorsey, daughter of Talbott Alnut and Sarah Kashaw (Barker ) Dorsey. She was born and reared in Calvert county, Maryland, and came to Barnesville, Ohio, with her parents, who kept a hotel there for some years. Beside Frank L. and John B. Schick, there were five other children of Frank L., Sr., and Harriett ( Dorsey) Schick, as follows: Joseph Lewis, of Newark; Julia Ann, de- ceased, who was the wife of Peter Haas; Willie, who died in infancy ; Fred- erica May is the wife of Adam Ritter, a tailor of Cambridge.
Frank L. Schick, Sr., died about 1892, and Harriet (Dorsey) Schick, his wife, lives in the old home on Clark street in Cambridge.
While they were young, the brothers worked with their father and learned the same trade and became expert. Frank followed the work six- teen years, and John did so for ten years. In 1893 the first steam laundry was erected in Cambridge, John assisting in the work and soon after becom- ing sole owner. It was destroyed by fire shortly afterwards, and in the spring of 1894 the brothers Frank L. and John B. formed a partnership and built Schick Brothers Laundry at No. 420 North Eighth street, and put in machinery and have conducted the laundry ever since.
About 1900 the laundry, building and machinery were completely destroyed by fire, only the boiler and engine being saved. With promptitude that wins in business, they at once set to work to rebuild and inside of four weeks were ready for business again. They get at least their full share of the business in Cambridge and in nearby towns where they have agencies.
Cambridge is fortunate in regard to the quality of work done by this laundry, as it compares favorably with that done anywhere in the United States. This has been the judgment of many competent to judge in such a matter.
Frank L. Schick is a member of Cambridge Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons. He was married in 1884 to Lillie B. Porter, daughter of John and Ruth ( West) Porter. She was born and reared in Belmont county, not far from Fairview. Mr. and Mrs. Frank L. Schick had five children, of whom three are living and two dead. Harry died when about six years old and Fred died when about seventeen years of age. Those living are, Charles L., who is helping his father in the laundry work, married Ethel Tudor, of Quaker City. Ruth and Frank are both at home with their parents at No. 329 Clark street, Cambridge.
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John B. Schick is a member of the Elks lodge, is a Republican in politics and has been a member of the school board of Cambridge. He has been superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday school for two years and is president of the Epworth League and was president of the board of stewards for eight years, where he has shown excellent ability to manage finances.
He and his brother do not do things by halves, but work hard and push what they take hold of to completion.
John B. Schick was married in 1884 to Dora Ann Bell, daughter of Thomas H. and Henrietta Bell. She was born at Zanesville, Ohio, and reared at Fairview. Her father was engaged in tool making and the higher grade of blacksmiths work in his early days, and was also two years in Blandy's machine shops at Zanesville, where Mrs. Schick was born. After moving from Fairview, when Mrs. Schick was a girl of seventeen, Mr. Bell was engaged in Marietta railroad shops here. Mr. and Mrs. Schick have two children, Iona May and Mary Ethel. The latter married George W. Schaser, a merchant tailor, and lives in Cambridge. She has three children, Ada Marguerite, Dora May and John Leo Schaser. Mr. Bell died August 8, 1905. Mrs. Bell lives in Cambridge on Turner avenue.
THOMAS W. FOWLER.
The life of the well known locomotive engineer and city councilman of Cambridge, Guernsey county, whose name introduces this biographical re- view, has been a somewhat strenuous but successful one, fraught with more or less hazard, but his duties have been bravely met in all walks of life and he is eminently deserving of the wide esteem in which he is held and of the comforts of material life which are his by right of legitimate conquest.
Mr. Fowler was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, June 28, 1865. and he is the son of Francis Marion and Sarah A. ( Shafer) Fowler, a well liked and industrious family. When he was four years old his parents moved to Licking county and there he grew to manhood on a farm, on which he worked when a boy and attended the public schools during the winter months. He always had an inclination for railroading and in 1885, when nineteen years of age, being of robust constitution, he found employment as fireman on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad and he has continued in the employ of this road ever since, being regarded as one of their most faithful and trusted
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employes. There has been but one month during the past twenty-five years that he has not drawn pay from this company, a somewhat remarkable record. After firing for four years, he was promoted to the other side of the cab, when twenty-three years old, and he has been an engineer ever since and is one of the best on the road.
Mr. Fowler made his home at Newark, Ohio, until January, 1900, when he moved to Cambridge, where he still resides. He lived first on Steuben- ville avenue, but two years later he bought a very neat and well arranged home on North Fourth avenue where he has since resided. He is an active Republican, and in the fall of 1907 he was elected to the city council of Cambridge, and performed his duties in such an able and satisfactory man- ner that in the fall of 1909 he was re-elected and is now serving his second term.
Mr. Fowler was married first in 1889 to Cora B. Willard, who was born and reared in Muskingum county, the daughter of John and Julia (Fletcher) Willard. Three daughters were born of this marriage, Lena May, Alice Mary and Frances Julia. The mother of these children passed to her rest in January, 1906. She was a faithful member of the Methodist church and attended the same seven years without missing a meeting except once when in bed with the measles. On February 19, 1910, Mr. Fowler married Mrs. Viola Grier, whose maiden name was Galloway, a native of Quaker City, Guernsey county, and the daughter of Caleb and Emeline (Lowe) Galloway.
Mr. Fowler has been a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers since 1890: he is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. He is a frank, friendly man, reliable, steady and accommodating and a good citizen.
JAMES BOYD PETERS.
From the far-off land of heath and thistle, the bluebell and the rose comes James Boyd Peters, and he brings with him all the fortitude, sterling honesty and solid judgment characteristic of the Scotch people. This is why he has succeeded and is now one of the highly respected and well established citizens of Cambridge, Guernsey county.
Mr. Peters was born in Maybole, Scotland, eight miles from the birth place of the famous bard, Robert Burns, whom he admires and with whose inspiring verse he is familiar, and although he will always, quite naturally. have a fond remembrance for the "banks and braes of bonny Doon" and the
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vale of Tam O'Shanter and the gorse-covered hill where lived the "cotter," he has been loyal to our institutions and is a most excellent citizen of our republic. He first saw the light of day in 1874 and is the son of John and Jean (Boyd) Peters. Part of his boyhood was spent on the home farm, then the family moved into Glasgow, where the son learned plumbing and hydraulic engineering at the big Blochairn Steel Works, a very large concern. When only sixteen years of age he left his native land and came to the United States, locating at Newcastle, Pennsylvania, and taking a position with the James P. Weatherill Company, a concern that made mill equipments and hydraulic machinery, etc. He remained with that firm for a period of ten years, or until the firm went into bankruptcy, then he came to Cambridge, Ohio, and accepted a position with the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company. where he holds the responsible position of shearman. He is an expert in his line and has always given the utmost satisfaction.
Politically, Mr. Peters is a Republican and, taking an abiding interest in local affairs, he was elected councilman in Cambridge, and, making a splendid record, he was re-elected in the fall of 1909 and is now serving his second term. He was reared a Presbyterian, and fraternally he belongs to the Masonic order. In 1909 he was master of Cambridge Lodge No. 66; he has attained the Knight Templar degree and is prominent in this order. He is also a member of the Maccabees and other organizations.
, Mr. Peters was married on August 21, 1905, to Agnes Cartwright, of Newcastle, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Charles Cartwright and wife. This union has resulted in the birth of the following children, namely : Charles, John, Jean, Mary, Idella, Margaret and James, Jr.
COL. JOSEPH DANNER TAYLOR.
No man who has lived in Guernsey county will be longer or more rever- ently remembered than the late Col. Joseph Danner Taylor, third son of Alexander Dallas and Sarah (Danner) Taylor, who was born in Goshen township, near Belmont, Belmont county, Ohio, on the 7th of November, 1830. When he was two years of age, his parents moved to Oxford town- ship, Guernsey county. For nineteen years he lived upon his father's farm, alternating with hard study during the winter months and summer evenings. He belonged to a family where mental cultivation and educational acquirements were justly held in pre-eminent esteem, and with the goal of
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literary and professional success steadily before his boyish ambition, it is not strange that he 'early developed a fondness for literary pursuits and persever- ing devotion in attainment of knowledge. After mastering such rudimentary branches of instruction as could be obtained in the district schools of that period, he attended various private schools in his own and adjoining counties, adapted to advanced scholars, where he prepared for college under the in- struction of some of the leading educators of the day. During his vacations he often taught district school to obtain funds to pursue his studies and, hav- ing to depend entirely upon himself, he studied, taught school and read law by turns during a period of several years. For a year and a half, beginning with the summer of 1854, he attended Madison College, covering the entire col- legiate course, except the Greek. Following his term at college he taught schools in Laughlin's and Center districts, and completed his experience as an instructor by teaching the Fairview high school, which was largely attended by teachers and those who were fitting themselves for that profession. Mr. Taylor was eminently successful as a teacher, was painstaking and thorough, spent nearly as much time in teaching out of school hours as in, and was always ready to assist a pupil whose means were limited, in books or tuition, often furnishing both free of charge, or taking his chances of remuneration in the future. His school at Fairview, in which he was assisted by Prof. L. J. Crawford, embraced a complete academic course, including the higher mathe- matics, and his classes in surveying and engineering were given abundance of field practice. He was proffered the superintendency of several prominent union schools, but preferred to teach a select school, which was more re- munerative. Having chosen the law as his profession, all his time, in the intervals of study and teaching, was devoted to a course of reading with that end in view. He was twice elected county surveyor, but resigned before the close of his second term, owing to a pressure of other duties. During the eight or nine years in which his attention was principally given to teaching, he contributed largely to the advance of public opinion in the matter of more liberal education, addressing many public assemblies upon the subject, organ- izing and presiding over teachers' associations and institutes, and impressing perceptibly upon the people his own advanced ideas on the subject. He left his post as teacher with something of reluctance, and entered the Cincinnati Law School in the winter of 1857-58, graduating there in spring of 1860. He was admitted to the bar before the supreme court in Columbus, a year in ad- vance of his graduation, and commenced the practice of law in Cambridge in the fall of 1860. He was school examiner of Guernsey county, but resigned at the breaking out of the war to enter the army.
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In the fall of 1861 Mr. Taylor purchased the Guernsey Times, then the only Republican journal in Guernsey county ; associated with him in that enter- prise was W. H. F. Lenfestey, of Cambridge, who assumed charge of the business department of the paper, while Mr. Taylor directed, inspired and shaped its editorial utterances. No one need be told the immense importance of a Republican paper of the strictest type in those days of doubt and vacilla- tion. Such was the Times. It upheld the administration of Lincoln with all the weight of its influence, and, through all the doubt and fear of the time, steadfastly supported the measures of the Republican party, advocating the vigorous prosecution of the war, approving and upholding the Emancipation Proclamation, and sternly rebuking the "copperheads" and "doughfaces" who remained at home to object and criticise while the nation was struggling for its life. Party feeling ran high in those days, and it required strength of con- viction and steadiness of purpose to conduct a newspaper safely and success- fully through the perils that beset journalism on every hand, but neither then, nor since, did Mr. Taylor ever falter in his allegiance to the principles of the Republican party. During his connection with the Times he edited it in per- son when at home, and at all times dictated its policy.
It cannot be said that the paper was conducted with an eye solely or largely to financial results. On the contrary, it was placed, so far as possible. in the hands of every voter, responsible or otherwise, in Guernsey county. Large numbers of copies were weekly sent to every regiment at the front which contained an Ohio man, and so thousand of dollars' worth of papers were freely and gladly contributed by the owners to the cause of republicanism and union among the very people who most needed such missionary work- those too poor or too indifferent to pay for a paper.
The result of his policy was like that of casting bread upon the waters, for, when the paper was sold in 1871, it was doubled in size, tripled in circu- lation, and had contributed to greatly increase the Republican vote and in- fluence in Guernsey county. Previous to 1862, when Mr. Taylor assumed editorial control of the paper, not more than half the county offices had been held by Republicans. At ensuing elections the party had gained such strength as to make a clean sweep, electing its entire ticket, and this result is a fair example of that of each election up to 1871.
When the war broke out Mr. Taylor was appointed by the governor of Ohio a member of the county and district military committees, and gave effi- cient service in organizing troops, and in procuring and forwarding needed supplies to the soldiers in the field. In the spring of 1863 he was made the candidate of his party for prosecuting attorney of Guernsey county. Pend-
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ing the canvass came Morgan's famous raid into Ohio, and Governor Tod's call for troops to defend the state. Mr. Taylor raised a company for the Eighty-eighth Ohio Regiment, and had it in camp in ten days, where he was, by unanimous vote of the company, chosen captain.
The regiment was placed on duty at Camp Chase, then filled with rebel prisoners. When sufficiently drilled for active service, Captain Taylor was among the officers of this regiment who petitioned the secretary of war to send them to the front, and the order came to this effect. The regiment was equipped for duty and ordered to Washington, when, to the infinite disap- pointment of officers and men, the order was countermanded upon the repre- sentation of General Richardson that the regiment could not safely be spared from Camp Chase, and they were accordingly remanded to the monotonous, though important duty, of guarding the thousands of Confederate soldiers then held in that prison depot. While in camp Captain Taylor was sent on several important details with picked men, where clearness of judgment and coolness of nerve were specially required and was eminently successful in all that he undertook. Soon after he entered the service he was detailed on special duty, and remained on detached service until the close of the war, serving as judge advocate of courts martial and military commissions, at Cin- cinnati, Indianapolis and at other places. In the latter part of 1864, after serving for some months as judge advocate at Cincinnati, he was appointed judge advocate of the district of Indiana, with headquarters at Indianapolis. The state of Indiana was then in a condition to warrant the gravest appre- hension of serious difficulty. Its military prisons were overcrowded with criminals and rebels, and in many places its citizens were on the brink of in- surrection. The treasonable organizations of the Sons of Liberty and Knights of the Golden Circle were in their palmiest days, and drilling of armed men by moonlight, and the schemes to release and arm the rebel prisoners at the North, had just been discovered. Under these circumstances it required ability of no ordinary type to manage the business of the military courts, and again the firmness of purpose and clearness of perception which had on previous occasions marked Captain Taylor's performance of duty, became signally apparent. The district to which he was called was in every- thing but the name a department, the judge advocate discharging his duties independent of any immediate supervision, and reporting only to the judge advocate general. The whole management of this department or district was given into the hands of Captain Taylor by General Hovey, who was then in command, and so well and faithfully did he perform the arduous and re- sponsible duties of his position that during the entire year and a half that he
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was engaged in this branch of service, involving the preparation and forward- ing of thousands of pages of reports, the carrying on of important investi- gations and the keeping of voluminous records, no report of his was ever re- turned from Washington, but all were found correct and approved by the war department. The vigor and promptness with which he despatched busi- ness were remarkable, and his untiring energy and industry enabled him to do what perhaps no other officer in the army did, or attempted to do. As soon as the necessary records, clerks, and reporters could be provided, he organized two military courts, and served as judge advocate of both, although his posi- tion as district judge advocate did not require him to serve in that capacity on either.
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