History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 123

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > Ohio > Knox County > History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present > Part 123

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CONGER, DANIEL, deceased, Wayne township, born in New Jersey, December 24, 1787, and was married to Mary Burch, who was born in Brooke county, Virginia, in May 1802. They had the following children : Elizabeth, born October 28, 1826; Catharine, January 8, 1828; Jane, October 31, 1829; Mary D., January 31, 1832; Daniel L., September 27, 1833; Hannah, December 27, 1835; Martha E., - Mr. Daniel Conger died November 4, 1845, and Catharine, September, 28, 1835. They came to Knox county in 1825. Mrs. Conger is still residing in this township.

CONKEL, JOHN, farmer, Howard township, post office Howard. He was born June 6, 1844 in Union township. In 1866 he was married to Miss Charlotte Hammon and settled on the farm where he now resides. They had three children, Laura, Charles and Birchfield.

His father was born in Pennsylvania and came to Ohio at an early day. His mother came from the old country. His father has been dead twenty-five years. His mother is still living on the old homestead.

COOK, SAMUEL N., painter, Fredericktown, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1846, and was married in 1872, to Mary E. Johnston, who was born in 1849. He was a soldier in the late war, in the Ninth Ohio volunteer cavalry, and served three years. Mr. Cook received a liberal education. He has been correspondent for several popular daily newspapers, such as the Cincinnati Times-Star, New York Dramatic News, and Mt. Vernon Republican. He has written and produced a num- ber of dramatic pieces. The Mayor's Daughter, has been ren- dered publicly in this city, and highly commented and ap- plauded. Two other of his productions, entitled The Wanderers Return, and Paul Black, (a war drama), are popular. Mr. Cook is engaged in the carriage factory of Stephens & Scott, as painter.

COOK, STEVEN, deceased, was born August 19, 1789, in Washington county, Pennsylvania ; removed to Knox county about 1814, was married to Susanna Elston October 29, 1810. Their children were Elston, Elizabeth, Sarah, Phebe, Isaac Newton, Oliver Cromwell, Emeline-four, Sarah, Phebe, Isaac and Emeline, still living. At the time of Mr. Cook's coming to Knox county wild animals of all kinds abounded, and he found it necessary at times to keep fires burning in order to protect his flocks from the ravages of the wolves. Mr. Cook was a hard-working pioneer, partially clearing up three farms in the forests of Morgan and Clay townships in those early times. He was elder in the Presbyterian church many years, when becom_ ing dissatisfied with the attitude of the church on the slavery question joined the Free Presbyterians. He died at his home in Martinsburgh May 20, 1870. Phebe, daughter of Mr. Cook, was married May 3, 1853, to Joseph Moore, two children being born unto them, Susan and Edmund L., the son dying April 3, 1863. Mrs. Moore was born on the farm on which she resides and has resided for the past sixty-two years, and is a very intelligent Christian lady, bcing with her husband a member of the Presbyterian church.

Isaac

Cole

Rachel Cole

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

COOPER, MRS. REBECCA, Hilliar township, was born in Green county, Pennsylvania, December 20, 1808. Her parents came to Ohio in 1810, and settled in Morgan township on the farm now owned by the brother of Mrs. Cooper (John Roberts). They settled in the woods and cleared up the farm. There were nine children in the family, five of whom are yet living. The parents both died on their favorite spot, the old farm. They were among the early settlers of this county. Rebecca was married to John Cooper June 4, 1842. As a result of this union they had a family of children, two of whom are living: Adaline, at home, Sarah B., married to Alonzo R. Hubbell and resides on the farm. Mr. Cooper died November 23, 1855. Mrs. Cooper recollects many of the early events of the county. Her mind is unimpaired and she can recollect dates with dis- tinctness. She has the esteem of all who know her.

COOPER, CHARLES, the senior member of the firm of C. & G. Cooper & Company, is the son of Carey Cooper, who em- igrated from Butler county, Pennsylvania, and located in Knox county about the year 1806. Charles and John are the only living sons of this early settler. Charles Cooper was born on a farm a few miles south of Mt. Vernon, January 2, 1811. He received such an education as the schools of that day could give. He was employed during the early part of his life on the home farm. In 1818 his parents moved on a farm three miles northwest of Mt. Vernon, where his father died in 1831. He re- mained on this farm until he moved to the Hamline farm, near Zanesville (now a part of that city), and engaged in the coal trade and dairy business, in company with his brother Elias. In this business the brothers continued for two and a half years. In 1834 they gave up their Zanesville farm and returned to Mt. Vernon. Shortly after their return to this county they engaged in the foundry business on a scale suitable to their finances. Their first efforts were devoted mainly to manufacturing plows and hollow-ware, and such castings as were mostly in demand in that day. In 1840 they commenced to manufacture thresh- ing machines. In 1842 they added to their business the manu- facturing of engines and saw-mills, and in 1850 they added to their list of specialties the manufacture of boilers.

Mr. Elias Cooper died in 1848. The business was conducted by Charles Cooper alone until 1849, when he sold a one-third interest to Mr. Thaddeus I .. Clark, and the business was con- ducted under the firm name of Cooper & Clark until 1851, when Charles sold a one-third interest to his brother, John Cooper, when the firm was changed to that of Coopers & Clark. Un- der this last name the business was conducted until 1857, when the brothers bought the interest of Mr. Clark, changing the name of the firm to C. & J. Cooper, which remained intact up to 1866, when they sold a small interest to Mr. Frank L. Fair- child, and also a small interest to Mr. I. Douglass Maxwell. The firm name was then C. and J. Cooper & Company. In the spring of 1869 the firm of Coopers & Rogers, proprietors of the Kokosing Iron Works was consolidated with the firm of C. and J. Cooper & Company, by which action Colonel George Rogers and Mr. C. Grey Cooper became members of the firm. Messrs. C. & E. Cooper established this firm on a capital of about eight hundred dollars, and their business amounted to between eight thousand and ten thousand dollars per year. The firm of C. and G. Cooper & Company, the successors to C. & E. Cooper, now do an annual business amounting to four hun- dred thousand dollars.

Their buildings are extensive. The moulding house is seventy

by eighty feet. The machine shop is two-story, thirty by sixty feet, built in 1842. In 1850 the firm erected a three-story build- ing in the form of an L, eighty-eight feet on Sugar street, one hundred and thirty-two feet on Sandusky street, and forty feet in width. In 1852 they built on the west side of Sandusky street a blacksmith shop forty by one hundred and twenty feet, a wood shop, forty-two by one hundred and twenty feet, a boiler shop, thirty-eight by one hundred and twenty feet. In 1866 they built an engine house thirty by thirty-five feet. In 1868 they built an erecting room thirty by eighty feet. In 1872 the firm added a two-story warehouse forty-eight by one hundred and twenty feet. In 1879 they built another warehouse, sixty by one hundred and thirty-six feet, on the corner of Sugar and West streets, and rebuilt their boiler shop, changing it from thirty-eight by one hundred and twenty feet to forty-five by one hundred and twenty-five feet, and also enlarged the engine house from thirty by thirty-five feet, to forty-five by sixty-five feet.

The motive power employed in this immense establishment now, and that used in its pioneer days, shows a remarkable im- provement, from a mere shed in 1834, to its present palatial ap- pearance in 1881, after forty-six years of changeful existence. In 1834 the original proprietors performed their work with an old horse and wooden gearing. In 1842 they put in an eight-horse engine; in 1846 an upright engine with a capacity of sixteen- horse power; in 1852 the motive power of an upright engine of twenty-horse power was required; in 1866 a forty-horse power was demanded; and now, in 1881, their immense business re- quires an engine of ninety-horse power. Such is the result of perseverance and tact.

At present the force employed is two hundred men in the va- rious departments, as follows: Four clerks, ten foremen, forty in moulding room, forty-five in boiler room, twenty in black- smith shop, twenty-five in paint shop, thirty-one in wood shop, twenty-five in pattern shop.

COOPER, COLONEL WILLIAM C., Mt. Vernon, law- yer, was born December 18, 1832, in Mt. Vernon, of American parentage, and of Scotch-Irish lineage. His parents were from Washington county, Pennsylvania. His father followed agri- cultural pursuits through Ilfe, and was a man of influence in the county, and filled the office of mayor of the city.

William attended the Mt. Vernon academy and other pri- vate schools until he was nineteen years of age, working on the farm during vacation. He then commenced the study of law with Colonel Joseph W. Vance and James Smith, jr., and was admitted to the bar when twenty-two years old. He afterwards became associated with one of his preceptors, Colonel Vance, and practiced his profession in that connection until 1864; when the firm was dissolved by the death of Colonel Vance on the battlefield. During the continuance of this copartnership they had the largest practice in Mt. Vernon. At the outbreak of the war the junior partner had enlisted in the Fourth 'Ohio vol- unteer infantry, and was elected first lieutenant of company B. He served with that command until January, 1862, when he re- signed and returned home to take charge of his business. In 1864 he was appointed colonel of the One Hundred and Forty- second regiment, Ohio volunteers, and served at Petersburgh during the period of one hundred days' service; this was imme- diately after the death of Colonel Vance. He then returned to Mt. Vernon, where he passed a year in real estate operations, and then resumed the practice of law for another year, alone.

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY

He afterwards associated himself with Henry T. Porter, with whom he practiced two years, when Lewis H. Mitchell was added to the firm, the name and style of which became Cooper, Porter & Mitchell. This copartnership was dissolved in June, 1875, since which time he has practiced alone, and enjoys an extensive and lucrative practice. He has filled several offices, having been elected prosecuting attorney in 1858 and reclected in 1860, his term expiring in 1862. In 1860 he was also elected mayor of Mt, Vernon, and reelected in 1862, his official term expiring in 1864. In 1871 he was elected a member of the Ohio legislature, where he served two years, but declined a reelection. In political views he is a Republican, and was chairman of the Republican State central committee for the years 1876, 1877, and 1878. He is now a member of the National Republican executive committee, a position he has held since 1876. He was a delegate to the National Republican convention at Phila- delphia in 1872, also Chicago in 1880. In February, 1877, he was appointed judge advocate general of the State of Ohio, with the rank of brigadier general, which position he held until January, 1878, when he was succeeded by General Samuel F. Hunt, of Cincinnati. In January, 1880, he in turn succeeded General Hunt in the same office, which he now holds. He has been repeatedly importuned by his political friends to be a candidate for Congress, but has refused to abandon his large business, which has for ycars been the leading practice in the county.

Mr. Cooper was married January 8, 1864, to Eliza, only daughter of Dr. John W. Russell, of Mt. Vernon. They have two children: Eliza R. and Sarah C.

COOPER, C. GREY, Mount Vernon, of the firm of C. & G. Cooper & Co., son of Elias Cooper, one of the founders of this firm, was born December 11, 1846, in the city of Mt. Vernon, and received his education in the public schools of the place. His first business employment was with the firm of Coopers & Rogers in the management of the Kokosing iron works, orig- inally established by General C. P. Buckingham, which the firm of Coopers & Rogers conducted three years. Mr. C. G. Cooper became connected with the firm of Coopers & Rogers in the fall of 1866, in which he continued until the two firms were consoli- dated in 1869.

COOPER, AARON, farmer, Wayne township, post office Fred- ericktown, was born in this township December 27, 1825, and was married in 1851, to Jane B. Morrison, who was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in 1821. They had two children: Hat- tie, born in 1853, and Phebc, in 1861. Phebe died in 1862. Mr. Cooper has always resided in this township, and owns an im- proved farm, with good buildings Their daughter, Hattie Cooper, was married to Raymond G. McClenland, and resides in Andover, Massachusetts.

CORCORAN, DENNIS, wholesale and retail dealer in malt liquors, cigars and tobacco, Corcoran block, West Vine street, Mt. Vernon. Mr. Corcoran was born in Kings county, Ireland, August 4, 1822. When nine years of age his parents emigrated to America and located at Columbus, Ohio, where they resided until 1848. Young Corcoran, during his residence, obtained his education and learnt the carriage business. In 1848 he settled in Mt. Vernon and commenced the carriage business, in which he continued until 1870. He then engaged in the liquor business, which he still continues, as a wholesale and retail dealer in malt liquors, cigars and tobarco. He is also sole agent for Wainwright's ale, and Born & Company's lager beer,

and proprietor of the Excelsior bottling works, stone front, West Vine street. This is the only first-class house in this line in the city.

CORNELL, JOHN T., carpenter .- He was born in Clark county, Virginia, February 8, 1839. He was married in Knox county, January 1, 1868, to Margaret J. Davis, who was born in Berlin township. They have five children. Edwin was born April 5, 1869; Nettie B., May 21, 1871; Willie C., April 5, 1875; Charlie, October 31, 1878, and Jane, November 5, 1879. Mr. Cornell came to Knox county in 1859. He was a soldier in the late war, a member of company G, One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, afterward a member of the Ohio National guard.

COSFORD, DAVID, was born in Ireland, August 15, 1831, where he grew into manhood. In 1851 he emigrated to America, and located in the northern part of Ohio, where he remained until 1857, when he came to Gambier, this county, where he engaged at work on a farm. In August, 1861, he enlisted in company A of the Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry, and served until March, 1864, when he reenlisted as a veteran in company A of the Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry. On re- ceiving a furlough of one month to enable him to visit his friends, he married Miss Mary Troutman, April 21, 1864, daughter of John and Elizabeth Troutman. On the first day of May he left home again for his regiment which was at Kings- ton, Georgia. In a few weeks after his return to the regiment they were marched to Kennesaw Mountain, where while en- gaged in battle on the twenty-seventh day of June, 1864, he received three musket balls-one in his thigh, and two in his left arm which caused his arm to be amputated. He was taken to the hospital, and remained until discharged from the service in June, 1865, reaching home on the nineteenth day of the same month. While in the service, he fought in several fierce engagements, viz: Carnifex Ferry, West Virginia; Antietam, Maryland; South Mountain, the seige of Vicksburgh, Jackson, Mississippi, and Kennesaw mountain, which put an end to his soldiering. After his return home from the army, he moved upon the farm in College township, where he is now living, and is engaged in farming.

COTTON, EMMETT, W., was born in Mt. Vernon, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, September 8, 1808, and is a son of Harris Cotton, a native of Virginia. Mr. Cotton, sr., set- tled in Fayette county, l'ennsylvania, about 1804 or 1805, and died there in 1815. E. W. Cotton, and his brother, Harris Cotton, settled in Bloomfield township, Knox county, in 1823, bringing their mother and three unmarried sisters with them. The balance of the family were married and remained in Penn- sylvania. Ile worked for different persons at clearing land, chopping wood, etc., for about eight years. His mother died in 1848, in her eighty-fourth year. He continued to support his sisters until their marriage. In 1833 he commenced teaching school ; taught select schools in Mt. Vernon about five years, during which time he read law and was admitted to the bar in 1836, but finding law did not suit him, after practicing five years, he quit. In 1842 he was elected justice of the peace, in which office he served for fifteen years, and during this time he read medicine, but never attended lectures. In 1846 he was elected to the legislature and returned for a second term, after which, in consequence of bad health, he retired from politics. He has been an amateur surveyor for forty-seven years, and deputy of every county surveyor since 1833, except the present

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

one. In 1870 and 1871 he was assistant engineer of the Cleve- land Mt. Vernon & Columbus railroad. He cast his first and last vote in Knox county, and has been a voter of this town- ship for forty-seven and one-half years; was married to Miss Sarah Merrill, daughter of Thomas Merrill, of Massachusetts, who came to Ohio in 1807 or 1808. Mrs. Cotton was born February 11, r8Ir. They were married January 21, 1830, and have had ten children, five of whom are living. All of his father's family came to Ohio, and three are living at this time.

COTTON, J. BENT, is a son of Hon. Emmett W. Cotton, one of the pioneers of Knox county, was born in Mt. Vernon, November 21, 1841, and received his preparatory education at the public schools of the city. When about sixteen years of age he served an apprenticeship to a carriage blacksmith, and followed this trade until 1862, when he enlisted in the Ninety- sixth Ohio volunteer infantry, and went into camp at Delaware. Upon his arrival at Columbus, Ohio, he was appointed recruit- ing agent, with commission of second lieutenant, after which he helped recruit a company and was assigned to the One Hun- dred and Twenty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, in which he served as second lieutenant until 1863, when he received wounds at Perryville, Kentucky, which disabled him, and he was dis- charged. Upon returning home he worked at his trade until 1874, during which all his leisure moments were spent in read- ing medicine. He is now practicing as veterinary surgeon with success, and continues to read medicine, having been a student of Dr. Gordon since 1875.

COTTON, EMMETT S., farmer, Liberty township, was born in Bloomfield township, Knox county, now Morrow, July 3, 1828. His father, Harris W. Cotton, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, emigrated to Ohio and married Abigail Craig, daughter of James Craig, a pioneer of Mt. Vernon, Ohio. They had a family of four children. He died in 1836. His wife married Jeremiah Debolt. She is now deceased. The subject of this sketch (E. S. Cotton) was raised on a farm and has always followed farming as his vocation. His schooling was that of the district schools. Mr. Cotton is one of Liberty township's best citizens, and is highly esteemed for his many good qualities. He married Miss Martha Ewalt, December, 1869, daughter of Isaac Ewalt, by his second wife. They have two interesting children: Frank E., born May 9, 1871, and Alice, January 19, 1876.

CONDON, J. T., farmer, Wayne township, post office, Fred- ericktown; born in Maryland, October 16, 1842, and was mar- ried in 1866 to Rosalia Berry, who was born in Knox county, Ohio, July 24, 1844. They have one son : Freddie B., born in Morrow county, June 25, 1870. Mr. Condon is a resident of Wayne township, and emigrated with his parents from Indianna to Ohio in 185r. He was a soldier in the late war; he enlisted August 19, 1861, in the Twentieth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry. He was in the Sherman march and rendered faithful service until the close of the war, and received an honorable discharge.

COUTER, JACOB, carpenter, Berlin township, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1839, and came to Ohio with his parents when he was young. He was married in 186r to Sarah E. Davis, who was born in Virginia in 1837. They have five children : William Franklin, born in 1866; Charles Edgar, in 1868; Winfield Scott, in 1872; James Finney, in 1874; and Robert Alexander, in 1880. Mr. Couter was a soldier in the

late war, a member of Company A, Twentieth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry; he served four years and received an honor- able discharge. He is a carpenter by trade, a skilful mechanic, and a good citizen.

COVER, W, H,, farmer, Middlebury township, post office, Levering; born in Richland county, Ohio, in 1841, and was married in 1865 to Mary E. Courson, who was born in Richland county. He enlisted in the late war; was a member of company B, One Hundred and Sixty-third regiment Ohio volunteer in- fantry; was engaged about four months. Mr. Cover owns an improved farm with excellent buildings. He is a dealer in stock and is a very prominent citizen of this township.

COX, WILLIAM, (deceased), was born in Hartford county, Maryland, in the year 1776, of English parents. At the age of twenty-five years he moved to Frederick county, Maryland, and engaged in mercantile business. While there he married Han- nah, daughter of Solomon and Susannah Shepherd, and reared a family of three children, Charles, William Baines and Ann Elizabeth.

In 1812 he made his first visit to Knox county, Ohio. Find- ing the country new and very heavily timbered, and feeling that it would not amount to much in his day, he returned home without having entered land, which was the principal object of his visit. After being at home a while, and not feeling satisfied with the result of his first trip to Knox county, he again made it a visit in 1816, after the close of the war, and found the country looking more home-like, with an occasional person with whom he was acquainted. He liked the appearance of things much better than on his first visit, but returned home without accomplishing anything in the way of land purchase.

At Wheeling, Virginia, he had a stock of goods, having shipped them to that point with the intention of taking them to Knox county and trading them for land. On returning to Wheeling, he reshipped his goods for home. On his way back he traded them for land in Pennsylvania, which in a few years became quite valuable, in consequence of having large quanti- ties of coal and iron ore in it. The discovery, however, was not made until after he had sold the land at a very small ad- vance.

His attachment to Knox county was very strong, and not- withstanding the fact that he had twice turned his back upon it, he again, with his family, in 1823, wended his way over the mountains to its attracting borders, and settled down in a log cabin on a farm in Berlin township, now owned by Burr Rob- erts, and generally known as "Maple Grove." His attach- ments were now so firmly fixed to Knox county, that he would gladly have become the owner of some of it; but fortune had so turned with him that he had not the wherewith to do it, and after a sojourn of five years in the land of his choice, he again left it and moved back to his old home in Maryland.

During his stay of about five years in that country he fell heir to several thousand dollars, through the death of a relative, and in 1833 he and his family again headed for Knox county. This was the fourth and last move over the Alleghanies. He now bought two hundred acres of the Ellicott land, lying near Fred- ericktown, which had just come into market, giving an average of about eighteen dollars per acre, for land no better than he could have had at Government price on his first and second visits. He was now settled for life, and after living many years in the enjoyment of good health, he departed this life at the mature age of eighty-six years.

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

During his last sojourn in Maryland his oldest son, Charles, learned the house-joiner trade, and worked many years at that business in Knox county. He was never married, but lived a quiet, Christian life, and died in the city of Delaware, Ohio, at the age of sixty-three years.

His second son, William B., while living in Maryland learned the shoemaking trade, and for about six years after coming to Fredericktown worked as a journeyman, after which for several years he carried on the boot and shoe manufacturing business. On the tenth day of October, 1844, he married Sarah Ann, oldest daughter of James and Elizabeth Rigby, of Frederick- town, Ohio, having a family of three children, viz: Sarah Eliza- beth, Otho Rigby, and William Lee. About the year 1856, he quit the manufacturing business, and commenced the sale of ready-made work, and has for many years been successfully keeping a shoe store in Fredericktown, Ohio.

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 123

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co. Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096