USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 54
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Exacting as were these duties, being. in fact, the duties of three ordinary officers, the situation was complicated by another circumstance. The people of Guernsey county had elected Captain Taylor prosecuting attorney, in pursu- ance of the nomination already referred to, and though he had a deputy who could very well attend to the duties of the office outside of the court room, his presence at the three sessions of the court in each year seemed indispens- able. His indefatigable labors at Indianapolis rendered it easy for him to obtain leave of absence to attend to these occasional duties at Cambridge. where, with unremitting energy, he disposed of his cases in the shortest pos- sible time, and hurried back to face his accumulated labors in Indiana. Thus his life became a constant round of ceaseless labor, and in the examination of hundreds of prisoners, the trying of many important cases, and the manage- ment and control of a vast amount of business, he gained lasting credit for the discretion, wisdom, and success of his administration.
In 1865 Provost Marshal John B. Cook was foully and deliberately mur- dered at Cambridge by two men, Oliver and Hartup. General Hooker, upon application of Captain Taylor, detailed him with a court consisting of eleven officers, to go to Cambridge and try the murderers. Intense feeling prevailed in regard to the matter, and the public excitement was not diminished by the arrival of the court, its reporters, clerks and attendants. A company of in- fantry acted as guards, and the servants of the officers being added, the retinue was no small one, and its coming put all Cambridge in a flutter. The court held its sessions in the town hall, and, as the trial was one of the most im- portant of the many that were held during the war, and one which attracted great attention throughout the country. it was one of absorbing theme of con- versation in the community. A most stubborn defense was made all along the line. and the trial, as it progressed, assumed. to some extent, a political char- acter. Four of the ablest lawyers obtainable were retained for the accused.
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and hundreds of witnesses were examined, and for three months the trial lasted, during which time Captain Taylor in the faithful discharge of his duties received many threats of personal violence from the prisoners and their sympathizers, as well as many encomiums for his management of the case from those who desired justice to be done. It finally resulted in the conviction of both prisoners and their subsequent execution at Camp Chase, in September, 1865, after they made a full confession of their crime. Captain Taylor received many warm expressions of gratitude from the citizens of his own and other counties for having been instrumental in ridding the com- munity of these men who had been a constant terror to law-abiding people for many years, and, by his skillful and acute analysis and management of the case, added materially to a reputation for legal ability already well established.
During his terms of service he was twice brevetted for valuable services to the government, on the recommendation of officers of the regular army as well as those of the volunteer forces, whose attention had been attracted by his judicious and conscientious administration of his office. These brevets being duly confirmed by the United States Senate, Mr. Taylor received his commission and ever afterward passed among his acquaintances by the mili- tary title of colonel.
At the close of the war and after he was mustered out of the service he was retained as special citizen judge advocate in the district of Indiana for the trial of two important cases in which the government was pecuniarily in- terested to the extent of many thousands of dollars. The first of these oc- cupied six and the second four months in its trial, and he was thus unable to return to private life until the summer of 1866. Having been, in 1865, re- elected prosecuting attorney, he held the office until 1867, and so vigorously did he enforce the law that when his term of office closed there was not an open saloon in Guernsey county. From 1867 he devoted himself, first to the Times until 1871, when he sold his interests, then to his law practice and to sundry private business enterprises, the latter almost without an exception con- nected with advancing the material growth and prosperity of his town. In- deed, it may be justly said that no man in Guernsey county did more to bene- . fit Cambridge than did Colonel Taylor. He erected several valuable blocks of buildings, thus giving employment to many persons, and adding to the ad- vantages of the town. He was retained in many notable cases, and while for years his law practice was second to none in Cambridge, he had an extensive practice in other counties and cities, especially in Cincinnati. Not the least of these important cases was that of the State against Kennon for the murder of Benjamin F. Sipe, tried in Belmont county, under a change of venue. In
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this case Colonel Taylor was appointed by the court and paid by the county commissioners, and was opposed by Hon. Allen G. Thurman and other lead- ing members of the Ohio bar. His practice extended through all the state courts, the district, circuit and supreme courts of the United States, to which last he was admitted to practice upon motion of President, then Congressman, James A. Garfield. In all his business, including the extensive practice of his profession, it is worthy of note that he never had a law suit on his own ac- count, and that he had a reputation for compromising and adjusting without a trial more cases than any other lawyer of his locality. In 1871 he associ- ated with him in the practice of law, under the firm name of Taylor & Ander- son, Col. T. H. Anderson, now justice of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, who had read law in his ffice.
From the personal and professional to the political record of Colonel Tay- lor is but a step. He was prominently identified with the Republican politics in the eastern part of the state for many years. In 1872 he received eleven or twelve votes for Congress in the convention which nominated Hon. John A. Bingham for his last term. He was later urged by his friends to again enter the lists, and in 1878 he would probably have received the nomination but for the fact that just before the nominating convention was held, the Democratic majority in the Legislature had completed their famous gerrymander by which Guernsey couny was thrown into a new and hopelessly Democratic dis- trict, in consequence of which his friends withdrew his name from the canvass.
He was by appointment of the governor of Ohio, a delegate to the Phila- delphia Loyalists' convention in 1866. He served as delegate in the Cin- cinnati convention of 1876, which nominated Hayes for the Presidency, and the Chicago convention of 1880.
From 1861, when he purchased the Guernsey Times, until his death, Mr. Taylor's influence and means were unselfishly devoted to his party.
With every enterprise that tended to the improvement of Cambridge. after his residence there he was closely identified. From 1870 to 1877 he was president of the Cambridge school board, during which time the union school building was erected, then one of the finest in eastern Ohio. He was trustee of Scio, Mt. Union and Ohio and Allegheny Colleges. He was prominent in securing the organization and location of the Marietta & Pittsburg, now the Cleveland & Marietta railroad contributing liberally of his means and time to the enterprise. He was active in the organization and management of several corporations for the development of local industries.
It was one of Colonel Taylor's cherished purposes to be able to assist worthy young men who were struggling. as he did in his youth, to gain a foot-
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hold in honorable business, or in the profession, or in obtaining a liberal edu- cation. None appealed to his benevolence in vain, and his heart and hand were ever ready to respond to the cry of the needy. He was a thoroughly religious man during his entire lifetime, an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, a member and for many years president of its board of trustees, and was a liberal supporter of all its enterprises. He was superin- tendent of the Sabbath school in Fairview, when he was engaged in teaching in that place, and later for seven years superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sabbath school in Cambridge. In 1880 he was one of the two lay delegates from the East Ohio conference to the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church held in Cincinnati, where he took a prominent part in the deliberations of every session. He was a delegate to the ecumenical confer- ence held in Washington, D. C., in 1892.
In December, 1866, Colonel Taylor married Elizabeth A. Hill, daughter of William Hill, of North Berwick, Maine. Mrs. Taylor died in April, 1887. Of this marriage there were born, William Hill and Gertrude Elizabeth, who survive him, and Joseph Clifford, who died in infancy. In November, 1889, Colonel Taylor married Caro M. Palmer, who, with the one child born them, Joseph Danner Taylor, Jr., still survives him.
Colonel Taylor was president of the Guernsey National Bank from its organization in 1872 until the time of his death. He was also a director and an officer of several corporations located in Guernsey county and elsewhere in addition to many other positions of trust and responsibility. "Being elected to fill the unexpired term of the Hon. Jonathan T. Updegraff of the sixteenth district in the forty-seventh Congress, he so ably represented his constituents that he was re-elected to the forty-eighth, fiftieth, fifty-first and fifty-second Congresses. He received important committee assignments, including a chair-
manship. His term of office expired in 1893. His congressional record was marked by the same fidelity and untiring efforts on behalf of the public which had always been one of his marked characteristics. In addition to general legislation he was then particularly interested in matters concerning the old soldiers and pensioners of the late war and also the wool industry, which closely concerned his constituents, and his services were so highly appreciated that his majority was largely increased at each election." For many years he was active in the councils of the Republican party in eastern Ohio, was once temporary chairman of the Ohio state convention. Though the mention of his name in connection with the gubernatorial nomination had attracted favor- able attention and a large circle of friends and acquaintances urged him to enter the field, he declined to allow the use of his name. He enjoyed cordial
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relations with Presidents Hayes, Garfield and Mckinley, serving several years in Congress with the latter.
Colonel Taylor was always a very busy man. He held many positions of trust and responsibility. In his three years as judge-advocate, four years as prosecuting attorney, seven years as president of the school board and nine years in Congress, a leading practitioner in his profession for many years, his record is without a stain. He possessed an engaging personality and those traits of character which win and retain a wide circle of friends.
This distinguished citizen passed to his reward at his home in Cambridge, on September 19, 1899.
JOHN ROLAND GRANT.
Back to the picturesque old colonial days is traced the genealogy of John Roland Grant, an influential citizen of Byesville, Guernsey county, and from that historic period to the present day the Grants have figured more or less prominently in various walks of life.
John Roland Grant is the son of William Merriman and Catherine Wash- ington (Rogers) Grant. William M. was the son of John Grant, of Balti- more, Maryland. John Grant was the son of Capt. John Grant, Sr., of the Revolutionary war. John Grant, Jr., of Baltimore, was an American soldier in the war of 1812, and died in Canada while on an expedition in pursuit of British forces. Capt. John Grant, Sr., came from Scotland with his brother and that brother was the grandfather of Gen. U. S. Grant. William M. Grant, the subject's father, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and at the age of nine years he was left an orphan and went to Pennsylvania in a good farming district and lived with one of his father's brothers, who reared him. When he became a young man he learned to be an auger maker, and became a very skilled workman. When about twenty-five years old he became an engineer on a vessel plying between Baltimore, Maryland, and New Orleans. He made his home much of the time with his brother, John Grant, who then lived at Natchez, and who invented the first dredge used in Baltimore harbor. Later John Grant was taken by the government to New York harbor to build a dredge there. He finally became very prosperous, and built the canal around the city of Natchez that was used by the government during the Civil war, and he made a great deal of money out of the canal tools. The subject's mother lived in Hartford county until her marriage, after which she con- tinued to reside there for some years.
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John R. Grant was born in Harford county, Maryland, in 1849. He was one of the family of nine children, as follows: Catherine Rogers Grant, widow of William Hoopman, of Byesville, whose sketch is noted elsewhere; Susannah Ames Grant, now the wife of John N. Fordyce, living in Harding county. Ohio: Anna Mary, wife of William Thompson, living near Lore City ; John Roland Grant, subject of this sketch; Lucinda Jane, wife of G. S. Trenner, the banker of Byesville, whose sketch appears elsewhere; Elizabeth Barrett Grant, of Ashtabula county, Ohio; Elizabeth Merriman Grant, widow of W. T. Trenner, deceased, lives in Byesville with Mrs. William H. Hoop- man; Marcieline Roby Grant, wife of Charles Fry, lives on a farm two miles from Byesville: Adora Mari married Elmer Burt and lives in Byesville.
It was in April. 1856, that John Roland Grant's parents came with their children to Guernsey county, Ohio. They located just east of Byes- ville on the north side of Wills creek, where the father, William Grant, bought the old John Bye homestead. For a time they lived in the old brick house that is still standing in good condition, but a few months later moved into the large frame house close by, which Jonathan Bye had just vacated. There was a store room in the latter house and there William M. Grant ran a general store about twenty years.
Mr. and Mrs. William M. Grant lived at Byesville the rest of their days. Mr. Grant was a Democrat, took an interest in the life of the community and held various township offices. Both he and his wife belonged to the Metho- dist Protestant church. Mrs. Grant died March 18, 1878, and he died May 30, 1885.
John Roland Grant grew up at Byesville to which he came with his parents in 1856. In May, 1873, Mr. Grant married Sadie L. Orr, daughter of Sanford and Phoebe ( Burt) Orr. She was born and reared near Byes- ville. After his marriage he built a house on Gomber street in Cambridge and took a position as baggagemaster and freight man for the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. He continued there about two years, then moved to the east part of the county and raised a crop of tobacco. The next spring, in the year 1877, he moved back to the home place east of Byesville and moved into the brick house on his father's farm, and it was there that Mrs. Davis was born, after which they remained there about two years, then removed to Byesville, engaged in various enterprises, chiefly running a compressed air machine at Old Akron mine. He continued there till the big shut down in the coal mine about 1888. He quit the mines at the expiration of that time and he and his brother. E. B. Grant, bought the store of Oscar Holberg and dealt in groceries and provisions under the name of Grant Brothers. They
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continued about three years and then, on account of hard times, sold out to L. S. Reasoner.
After that Mr. Grant and his brother and two others established a labor paper at Byesville called The Industrial. World. They published it about six months at Byesville, then moved it to Jackson county, Ohio, where they con- tinued about six months longer, and was there about three years longer, most of the time in the coal mines. At the expiration of this time Mr. Grant moved to Leesville, Carroll county, Ohio, and worked in the mines near Sherrodsville. Was there about two years, then imoved to Canal Dover and started to work building the new Reeves tin mill. When it was completed he was made night foreman and worked at that for about seven years, until the mill was closed down and removed from the town. He then went to Newcomerstown to take a place as night foreman at the new sheet mill there, but as the prospects there for a successful mill were discouraging he re- mained only three months, then removed to Canton, Ohio, where he took a job as night foreman of the Trust Mills about four years. Then he came to Byesville, and took a position laying the pipe line at Derwent, and then got to running the electric pump at the Ideal mine, and has been there ever since.
Mr. and Mrs. Grant have five children : John Roland, Jr., who married Margaret McClintock, of Urichsville, lives at Strutha, Ohio; Adora May married Andrew Tinker, of Conneaut, where they reside; Maude is the wife of William H. Davis, Jr., whose sketch appears elsewhere in these pages ; Sanford O. Grant, who married Jane Smith and lives at Cambridge. is a roller in the sheet mill; Myrtle married Charles Brand and lives in Byesville. Mr. and Mrs. Grant are both of Spiritualist faith.
JAMES MADISON WILSON.
The family of which the gentleman whose name heads this sketch is a member has been long and favorably known in Guernsey county, and for several generations the name of Wilson has been borne by many of the most prominent and active citizens of certain communities of that county. They have been men of industry and intelligence, who have, by the exercise of these talents, attained their success in life, and James Madison Wilson is one who has been aided to reach his own success by the memory of the family traditions and examples.
James Madison Wilson was born in the southwestern part of Valley
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township, Guernsey county, on November 18, 1856, the son of William Craig and Mary ( Seaton) Wilson. William Craig Wilson was born in Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 1809. His father was James Moore Wilson, who came with his wife from Vermont to Pennsylvania, and made that state his home until death. William Craig Wilson came to Guern- sey county in early days, first locating at Cumberland, where he was for several years a blacksmith. About 1831 he bought a farm of eighty acres in Valley township, and there spent the rest of his life. He prospered in farming, and added to his land until he owned four hundred and twenty-one acres.
William Craig Wilson was first married to Pulina Heinlein, by whom he had five children. His wife and three children perished when the cholera scourge swept over the county ; the survivors were Harriett, who married Dr. William Helm, and Sarah, who married Andrew E. Scott. William Craig Wilson afterward married Mary Seaton, who was born near New Concord in Muskingum county, Ohio, a daughter of Robert and Nancy Richardson Sea- ton. Three sons were born to this marriage, one of whom died in early in- fancy. The others are John William and James Madison. William C. Wil- son was a Republican, and held various township offices. He and his wife were both stanch members of Bethel Methodist Episcopal church, and were among its founders, while Mr. Wilson was identified with the church as an official all his life. He died on August 30, 1891 ; his wife survived until July I, 1907.
James Madison Wilson grew up on the home farm. He attended Mus- kingum College, also Northwestern University at Ada, Ohio. From 1881 to 1893 he was engaged in school teaching in Guernsey county, and since that time has followed farming on the old home place. As a teacher he was very efficient and commanded the love and respect of his pupils. He was married in 1882 to Lottie Johnson, the daughter of William Thomas and N. Cathren (Clark) Johnson, his neighbor from girlhood. Two children were born to them, both dying in early infancy, the mother and one child dying at the same time, on May 28, 1883, and the other child four days later.
In 1885 Mr. Wilson married Ida M. Crow, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Wilson) Crow, who was born in the same neighborhood as Mr. Wilson. John Crow was the son of William J. and Margaret Jane (Johnson) Crow. William J. Crow came from Pennsylvania in the early thirties, when he was about twenty-one, and entered a whole section of land from the gov- ernment. This was located in the southwest portion of Valley township, and part of it extended over into Noble county. He later bought more land, increasing his holdings to eight hundred acres. Here he married Margaret
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Jane Johnson, who was the daughter of John Johnson, one of the early set- tlers of Buffalo township, Noble county, whose farm adjoined Mr. Crow's. To this marriage seven children were born: Michael, John, Emma ( who married Samuel Dollman), George, Nan (who married James Dollman ). one daughter who died when two years old, and Alexander. John Crow mar- ried Elizabeth Wilson, the daughter of Thomas J. and - (Witten) Wil- son. She was the sister of Henry H. Wilson, whose sketch gives her an- cestry. John Crow continued on the old Crow homestead the remainder of his life. Five children were born to this marriage, William Thomas, Charles Franklin, Ida May, Theodosia and Mary Amanda. Mrs. Crow died on April 23. 1897. She had been a faithful Christian and a devoted mother. John Crow died on April 11, 1910. He was a lifelong Presbyterian, faithful to the teachings of his church, and well known and highly esteemed by those who knew him.
Mr. and Mrs. James M. Wilson are the parents of four children: Earl. who married Elizabeth Wilson, of near Cambridge, is a fireman on the Pan- handle railroad, and lives at Dennison, Ohio; Reed, the youngest, is at home attending school; Byrl Meredith, the oldest, died when two years old ; Paul C. the third son, died from accidental scalding when fourteen months old.
Mr. Wilson is a Republican and has held various township offices, to the satisfaction of the people. He and his wife are members of the Bethel Methodist church. Mr. Wilson has been active in his community in many ways, is an enterprising and progressive farmer, and a man of considerable influence, whose judgment is much esteemed.
JOHN A. VESSELS.
A successful and highly respected agriculturist and stock man of West- land township, Guernsey county, is John A. Vessels, who maintains one of the choice farms of his vicinity, which shows at a glance that its owner is a gen- tleman of not only good judgment in the matter of managing a landed estate. but also a man of correct taste.
Mr. Vessels was born in Westland township, this county, on August 5. 1844, and is the son of Nathaniel W. and Elizabeth (McIlvain) Vessels. Nathaniel W. Vessels was born in the state of Delaware and there grew up to manhood. He came to Belmont county, Ohio, while a young man and there married Elizabeth McIlvain, daughter of Andrew and Martha McIlvain. She
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was born and reared in Belmont county. Andrew McIlvain entered a hun- (red and sixty acres of land in Westland township, this county, having- walked all the way through the wilderness to Zanesville to enter his land, and then walked back home. The young couple, who became the parents of John Vessels, then came to the new farm and entered on the pioneer task of clear- ing the land and improving it. There the subject and six other children were born, namely: Annie, who married Benjamin Steele, is now deceased; John A., of this review : Sadie, who died when three years old; James W. lived in Cambridge, and died in the spring of 1910, leaving a wife and two sons and one daughter ; Erastus S. is married and is farming one-half mile south of New Concord, Muskingum county : Frances is the widow of Robert Rice and lives in Cambridge: Flora died in childhood.
John A. Vessels grew up on the home farm and was educated in the home schools. On August 5, 1862, when eighteen years old, on his birth- day, he enlisted in Company B. Ninety-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged after being disabled by illness. He was four months in the hospital and was discharged about a year after his enlistment. He re-enlisted about a year later in Company H, One Hundred Seventy-second Ohio Volun- teer Infantry. He was in the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, and other fight- ing and proved to be a very gallant soldier.
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