History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 124

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 124

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While a youth he displayed quite a taste for mechanism, and was noted for skill in manufacturing miniature mills, etc. His first pair of scales was made by himself. The first musical in- strument that he owned was a violin manufactured by himself. His first speculation was in an old watch, which he purchased at a cost of three shillings and sold for six dollars, after having repaired it by putting in four new wheels, and making it act something like a time-keeper.

In addition to close attention to business he was fond of books, and during the time that he worked on the shoe-bench he bought and read quite a number of useful books; and has at this time a well selected family library. He had more than or- dinary liking for debate and lyceum exercises, and will be re- membered by many of his lyceum friends whom he so often met in debate.

While he was not an enthusiastic politician, he was not desti- tute of an interest in home political matters, and was several times elected to township and municipal offices. Has been a member of the board of education between thirty and forty years consecutively; was elected to the Ohio legislature in 1857, and served two terms; was reelected in 1859, and served two terms, his tourth term ending in 1861, at the commencement of the War of the Rebellion.

His military career during the progress of the Rebellion was very brief and soon told. On March 4, 1863, when Kirby Smith attempted to raid Cincinnati, he, with many others from Knox county, responded to the call issued by Governor Tod for aid to defend our southern border against rebel incursion; and after aiding to guard the Ohio river at Anderson's ferry, below Cincinnati, for. several days, received a lieutenant's dis- charge from service, by C. W. Hill, adjutant general of Ohio.

Sarah Elizabeth, oldest child of W. B. and Sarah Ann Cox, died while an infant. Otho Rigby, their oldest son, is thirty years of age, lives in Galion, Ohio, having a wholesale and retail hardware store; married Hallie J. Boland, of Martinsburgh, Ohio, November 19, 1874; has one child, William Ralph, who is now in his sixth year. William 'Lee is not married, lives in Mansfield, Ohio, and is a partner in a shoe store with W. R. Rigby, his uncle.

James Rigby, deceased, was born in the State of Virginia on the third of May, 1788, and came with his parents at an early day to this country and settled near Lancaster, in Fairfield county.

At the age of twenty-eight he came to Newark, Licking county, and engaged in mercantile business in company with P. M. Weddell, with whom he continued as partner sixteen years.

In October, 1820, he married Elizabeth Smith, near Newark, and reared a family of six children, four boys and two girls. In 1821 he left Newark and came to Fredericktown. After a short stay in Fredericktown he moved to Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, and after remaining there about two years went back to Newark, having continued in the dry goods business at each stopping place. In the fall of 1832 he again came to Frederick- town, where he remained in the mercantile business between thirty and forty years.

In the early part of his business history in Knox county he had a large trade with the Indians, and was the leading mer- chant of the town for many years. Mr. Rigby was a great reader, and having an unusually retentive memory, he rendered himself very interesting in conversation. His political creed was Republican, and the antecedents of that party were his political antecedents; while he was an earnest partizan politician, he never sought, and seldom held office, which may be accounted for more on the ground of his business engagements than to a repugnance to office.

Mr. Rigby, after living a great many years in Knox county, died in the year 1867, at the age of seventy-nine years. Wil- liam Henry, oldest son of James Rigby, lives in Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, and is the senior partner of the boot and shoe firm of Rigby & Cox.

Otho Weddell, second son of Mr. Rigby, clerked for many years for P. M. Weddell, of Cleveland, Ohio, (his father's former partner), in the dry goods business in the city of Cleve- land. In 1865 he went to Iowa and bought land, intending to follow stock raising, but died in a few years. Sarah Ann, old- est daughter of Mr. Rigby, married W. B. Cox, of Frederick- town, Ohio; his second daughter, Laura Jane, married William Wensell, who now lives in Galion, Ohio. Lucian, third son of Mr. Rigby, is now living in Fredericktown, and is carrying on the saddle and harness business. Philanthropist, his fourth son, lives in Galion, Ohio, and is a machinist by trade.

COX, HARVEY, is a son of William Cox, and is a native of Green county, Pennsylvania, where he resided until coming to Knox county in 1836. He commenced life for himself working on a farm for his uncle, where he stayed two years, when he worked for Stephen Ulery, another farmer, for fifty dollars for the first year, one hundred dollars for the next, two hundred dollars for the next, and the fourth year he got two dollars per day, and was then taken into partnership in the stock business, and continued in the business six years, when the partnership was dissolved and he went into partnership with John Bell in the same business, with whom he did business about three years, since which he has been farming and dealing in stock.

Mr. Cox, by his diligence and economy, has been successful, notwithstanding his small beginning. He now owns a farm of about two hundred acres, within one mile of Mt. Vernon, on the Fredericktown road. He came to Mt. Vernon to live in 1862, where he has since remained.

He was married to Emeline, daughter of David Bricker, by whom he had four children. Losing his wife, he was married, the second time, to Catharine, the daughter of Eliphalet Tow- bridge, by whom he has had eight children, three of whom are living.

Mr. Cox has lived thirty-six years in Knox county, and has always enjoyed the esteem of his neighbors.

COX, WILLIAM D., farmer, Morris township, post office Mt. Vernon; was born in Knox county in 1851, and was married

cooper

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

in 1874 to Mary A. Alters, who was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1851. They have two children: Harvey Earl, born in 1875; and William Adam, born in 1877. Mr. Cox is engaged in farm- ing in this township.

COX, DAVID JAMES, farmer, Pike township, post office Democracy; was born in Richland county, in 1854, and was married August 2, 1875, to Elizabeth Shultz, who was born in this county.

When Mr. Cox was one year old his parents moved to Fay- ette county, Illinois, where they remained six years, then re- turned to Knox county, Brown township. In 1879 David Cox located in Amity. He owns a pleasant home, and is a good citizen.

CRAFT, ALBERT L., millwright, Middlebury township, post office Fredericktown; born in Morris township, February I, 1844, and was married December 30, 1875, to Susannah Zolman, who was born in Morris township, December 14, 1845. They have two children-Levi, born October 12, 1876; and Carrie. born June 14, 1878.

Mr. Craft is one of the members of the firm in the Craft mill, and is an energetic man.

CRAFT, HEADLY, miller, Middlebury township, post office Fredericktown; was born in Morris township in 1841, and was married in 1868 to Ellen Baxter, who was born in Middle- bury township, in 1846. They have two sons-Gaylord, born July 22, 1872; and William, April 11, 1877.

Mr. Craft engaged in the milling business in 1867 with John Boggs, and is still engaged in that business.

CRAIG, JONATHAN, Monroe township, deceased, a na- tive of New Hamphsire. was born in 1780, and learned the shoemaker's trade when a young man, which business he fol- lowed as his principal vocation for many years. For a number of years prior to his death he turned his attention to farming to some extent, and still worked some at his trade.

In 1805 he migrated to Knox county and located in Clinton township, near the Stilly farm. While living in Clinton town- ship he supplied the settlers with boots aud shoes for several miles around.

He was the first coroner in Knox county, elected in 1808. In 1812 he married Miss Polly Kyser, daughter of John and Mary Kyser, born in Virginia in 1793. Miss Kyser came to this county in 1810 with her mother and brother, John Kyser, her father having previously deceased.

Mr. and Mrs. Craig settled in Clinton township, remained some years; then, in 1816, they purchased and moved on the farm in Monroe township, now known, as the Craig homestead. There had been a small cabin built upon the land on which they moved and lived several years, when he erected a frame dwell- ing, which served them as an abode until he deceased May 5, 1850, at the age of seventy years.

His companion survives him at the age of eighty-seven years, and is living on the home farm, where she has resided since 1816. She is a pensioner of the War of 1812, her husband having been a soldier in that war. They reared a family of eight children, viz .: Priscilla, Ann, Sarah, John, Nancy, Clark N., James S., and Stephen. Three of the number have deceased-Priscilla, Sarah and John.

Clark N., served about four months in the late war in the One Hundred and Forty-second, Ohio volunteer infantry.

Stephen served about nine months in the Sixty-fifth, Ohio

volunteer infantry, and was discharged on account of disability. He then reenlisted and served about four months in the One Hundred and Forty-second, Ohio volunteer infantry.

CRAIG & BLACK, proprietors carriage shops, Gambier. These shops are located on South Acland street, Gambier. They were established by F. Penhorwood about 1850, who conducted them successfully for a number of years .. 'William 'T. Hart became a partner in the firm, and remained as such until 1873.

In 1874 Mr. Craig became a partner with Mr. Penhorwood and remained as such until the death of Mr. Penhorwood July 2, 1880. After the death of the original proprietor, Mr. Craig as- sociated with him Mr. G. A. Black, and the firm name is now Craig & Black. They manufacture all kinds of carriages, spring wagons, road and farm wagons, and everything in that line of business. All work is finished under roof, wood work, ironing, trimming, and painting. They also give special at- tention to horseshoeing. They are good workmen, and worthy of patronage. All work leaving their shops is warranted to be such as represented.

Mr. Black also carries on the harness business in their trim- ming rooms. He manufactures all kinds of harness, both light and heavy, and saddlery in all its branches.

CRANE, JOSEPH, farmer, post office, Shaler's Mills, was born in New Jersey in 1823; came to Ohio in 1840, and located with his parents in Mt. Vernon. In 1850 he married Ruth E. Gibson, who was born in Berlin township, Knox county, in 1823. They had three children, Samuel, borr. in 1854; Henry, 1861, and Mary, 1856. Mrs. Ruth Crane died in 1867. Mr. Crane has resided in this county since 1840. He owns the old home- stead where his wife was born. He is engaged in farming.

His father, William P. Crane, was born in New Jersey in 1795, and emigrated to Ohio in 1840. He was first married in New Jersey to Mary Haines who was born in 1792. They had five children, Susan, (deceased), Joseph, Henry, Lizzie, and Charles, who is a resident of Iowa.

Lizzie was married to Edward Prouty, and had one daughter, Emma. Mr. Prouty died in Iowa. The mother, Mrs. Mary Crane, died in Knox county, in 1850. Mr. Crane then married Lucinda Walker, and now lives in Richland county.

CRAVEN, HIGHLEN, farmer, Middlebury township, post office, Fredericktown, born in Virginia June 5, 1805, and was married in 1828 to Eliza Wynn, who was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1809. They emigrated to Knox county in 1837, and have the following family : Susan Margaret, born November 12, 1829; Harriet Ann, July 5, 1831; John Henry, December 2, 1833; Mary Ellen, May 26, 1836; Mahlon Taylor, May 22, 1840; James W., September 10, 1842; Francina Caro- line, March 22, 1845; Thomas Quigley, February 28, 1848; Ulysses Edgar, October 10, 1850; Cynthia E., March 18, 1853, and Walter H., September 15, 1855. The following have de- ceased: Mary Ellen, February 1, 1847; Harriet Ann, February 1875; Ulysses E., May 11, 1877, in Colorado, with small-pox. Mahlon K., was in the late war, having been a member of com- pany B, Fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, and was killed at Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, May 18, 1864.

James was also in the war in the same company with his brother. John Henry was in the Ninety-sixth Ohio volunteer infantry, and a member of company B. John H. was married to Francis Lynd, and now resides in McPherson county, Kansas. Thomas Q. was married to May Shaler, and resides in the same

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

place. James W. resides in Clear Creek county, Colorado. Francina was married to Evander Stevens and now lives in De Kalb county, Missouri. Harriet Ann married Isaac Lyon, but has deceased.

Mr. Craven settled in Middlebury township, bought land, mostly in the woods; he cleared and improved it, and now has one of the most beautiful farms in the county.

CRAVEN, LEANDER, Wayne township; farmer; post office, Fredericktown; born in Virginia in 1818, came to Ohio at the age of fifteen years, and married in 1842, Leonora Ewers, who was born in Virginia in 1824. They have three daugh- ters: Marcilla, now Mrs. Elias Cooper, who resides in this county; Lililias, now Mrs. Milton Grove, who resides in Mor- row county, and Linna Craven resides with her parents. Mr. Craven has lived in this township about twenty-four years, and is a good and respected citizen.

CRITCHFIELD, BENJAMIN, deceased, lloward town- ship, was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, May 18, 1797. He came to Knox county in about 1807, settling in this township, near where the village of Howard is now located. He was married September 11, 1820, to Miss Mary Welker. Their children were: Sabry, born May 3, 1822; Horace, January 9, 1824; Calvin, August 2, 1827; Marvin, January 20, 1829; Christie Ann, April 28, 1833; Nathaniel, February 25, 1835; Mary, April 27, 1838, and Roland, March 24, 1840. Mary died March 9, 1847. Benjamin Critchfield died February 16, 1878.

CREVELING, MARTIN, Pleasant township; farmer; son of Samuel and Elizabeth Creveling, was born in Iowa October 9, 1851. In 1853 his parents returned to Knox county, where they they had been living. He was brought up on a farm, and has followed farming as his vocation. In August, 1877, he mar- ried Miss Etta Moninger, born in Pennsylvania in 1856; daugh- ter of Henry Moninger. They settled on the farm in Pleasant township, which they purchased shortly after their marriage, and where they are now living.

CRIDER, WILLIAM, SR., farmer, Miller township, was born in Virginia January 19, 1810. IIe came of patriotic and heroic stock, his grandfather having been a soldier in the War of Independence, and his father, Martin Crider, a soldier in the War of 1812. Mr. Crider has yet in his possession the old powder horn his grandfather carried in the war. Martin Crider married Mary Nieswanger, a native of Virginia. In 1820 they came to Ohio and settled in Harrison county, where they remained three years, when they moved to Knox county, Ohio, and lived for some time in Pleasant township, and thence to Miller township, and from thence to Union county, where they died. They had ten children. The subject of this notice was reared on a farm, or rather was reared to clearing up the land for farming. He attended school but little but acquired sufficient knowledge of the rudiments to be able to transact bus- iness. He is a man who reads considerable, and has always been industrious. He married Miss Sarah Crottinger, a native of Pennsylvania, and in 1838 moved on the faim on which he now resides. They had a family of fifteen children, five of whom are yet living, viz .: Madison, Christina (married to Henry Rine), Phidelia (married to Fletcher Frost), Abigail (married to Charles Hooker), and William. Mr. Crider is a good farmer as is seen in his improvements, and the taste generally displayed on his farm.

CURTIS, WILLIAM, deceased, Mt. Vernon, was born in

New York city April 11, 1784. He was taken to Northampton, Massachusetts, by his parents when yet very young, and from thence to Vermont in 1794. About 1808 he went to Lower Canada and engaged in teaching, where he met and married Miss Sally, daughter of Zarah and Phialley Curtis, and sister of Henry B. Curtis, in 1809. Miss Curtis was born in Vermont April 30, 1791, and moved to Canada with her parents about 1798. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis emigrated to Ohio shortly after their marriage and located in Licking county, where they re- mained until 1827, when they moved to this county and located in Morris township, near Mt. Vernon. In 1835 they moved to Mt. Vernon where he passed the remainder of his days. He died August 15, 1858. Mrs. Curtis is still living at the good old age of eighty-nine years. They reared a family of ten chil- dren, viz .: Christopher C., Leonora, Julius C., Aldulia, Helen M., M. Hicks, Lydia P., Angeline E., William W., and Clarin- da A. Three of the above named are now deceased : Christo- pher C., Leonora, and Aldulia. Helen M., followed teaching school as a profession about twenty-five years, eighteen of which were passed in the public schools of Mt. Vernon. In 1877 she retired from teaching and is now residing in Mt. Vernon taking care of her mother in her declining days.

CRITCHFIELD, ALEXANDER, Howard township, farmer, post office, Howard, was born September 11, 1845. His father came from Pennsylvania in 1806, and commenced life on the old farm. He died September 16, 1854. His mother still re- mains on the old farm. She is seventy-four years of age. Al- exander Critchfield was married to Matilda Humbert January 12, 1867. They have one child-Emma, born August 22, 1868. Alexander Critchfield enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty- first regiment Ohio volunteer infantry in 1863. He went from Mt. Vernon to Chattanooga and remained at this point until the army started on the Atlanta campaign. After this he went to Florence, Alabama, as a scout, then to Gailesville and to Rome, Georgia, then to Kingston, and remained there until the army went with Sherman to the sea. From there they went through North and South Carolina, then to Richmond, Virginia, then to Alexandria, and from there to Louisville, Kentucky, and were there mustered out of the United States service. They then went to Camp Denison and were mustered out of the State ser- vice, and then went home.

CRITCHFIELD, CHARLES EDWARDS, lawyer and pro- bate judge, Mt. Vernon, was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, November 25, 1836. He spent his youthful days on a farm and teaching school. When seventeen years of age'he went to Cal- ifornia via Nicaraugua, and remained there seven years. He was engaged in mining about two years, and two years teaching, and three years on a ranche near San Jose. He returned to Ohio and settled in Mt. Vernon in March, 1862, and commenced reading law with Major W. R. Sapp, and read law two years. He was admitted to the bar in 1864. He was in practice about four years. In 1869 he was elected probate judge on the Dem- ocratie ticket by a majority of one hundred and seventy-four, althoughi the county was Republican. He was reelected in 1872. His majority was fonr hundred and twenty-five. He served to February, 1876. Ile then went to the practice of the law, and was thus engaged until the fall of 1878, when he was again elected probate judge by a majority of nine hundred, and which office he now holds. He was married to Miss Amanda Vincent, October 2, 1862, by whom he had two children-a son and a daughter.

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

CRITCHFIELD, MARTIN, Howard township, farmer, post office, Howard, was born in Howard township, March 10, 1840. He remained at home until 1868, when he went to Union township and worked on a farm. He was married to Mary Bradish July 4, 1870, and came to Howard township, where he has remained. His business has been farming, the greater part of the time.

CRITCHFIELD, LEWIS, Howard township, farmer, post office Howard. He was born August 17, 1812, in Howard township. In 1827 he moved to Brown township, remained there five years and then removed to Howard township. In 1838 he was married to Mary Jane Dawson and immediately settled on his present home, where he has lived forty-two years. They had the following children: Joseph, John, Eleanor, and Mary Jane.

Joseph enlisted in the Sixty-fifth regiment, O. V. I., in 1861, for three years; served his time, then reenlisted and was known as one of the old veterans. At the close of the late war he went to Texas with a number of other members of the Sixty-fifth regi- ment, remained there until the following January when he received an honorable discharge.

John married Mary E. Hammond in March, 1864, and set- tled in Union township on a farm only a short distance from the old home. They have two children, Lulu and Keturah.

Eleanor married M. Welch in 1868 and moved to a farm near Howard township. They had two children, Lewis and Charles.

Mary Jane married Thornton Whitworth in 1869, and settled in Howard township. They have two children, Abraham and Sarah E.

Mr. Lewis Critchfield has lived in Howard township sixty- three years.

CRITCHFIELD, CHARLES, Howard township, farmer, post offiec, Howard, was born in Pennsylvania in 1804, moved to Knox county in 1806, and settled on what is now known as the Upper Prairie Indian lands, in Union township, near Owl creek. He remained with his father at this place until he was twenty-three years of age. He was married in 1829 and moved to Coshocton county, Ohio, where he remained seventeen years, and then removed to Knox county and settled on the old home- stead, where he lived until 1878, and then moved to the farm known as the Indian Fields, on which he now lives. His father moved from the Upper Prairie, Union township, to Howard in 1809, and remained on the old homestead until his death, March 23, 1865. The day of his burial was his eighty-fifth birth-day.

Charles Critchfield buried his first wife in Union township in 1848 and married again in 1850. He had three children by his first wife. Amanda, who died in 1848 in her seventeenth year; George, who moved to California, and Charles Edward, for some time a probate judge. He had three children by his sec- ond marriage-Albert Judson (who died September 15, 185;, in his sixth year) and Ellen, who still remains at home.

CRITCHFIELD, HARRIS, Howard township, farmer, post office, Howard, was born in Howard township, Knox county, January 9, 1820. He married in 1851, and commenced business on his farm in Harrison township, where he lived fourteen years. On the fourth of April, 1868, he moved to the farm which he now owns. They have four children-Dora, Emma, Ellen, and Rosa. Dora was married to Clark Stow, December 19, 1872; Ellen to Legrand Britton, August 24, 1876; Emma to O. C.

Farmer, January 1, 1879; Rosa to W. T. Horn, January I, 1880.

CROUCH, JOHNSON, Pleasant township, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, January 10, 1819. He moved to Co- shocton county, Ohio, in 1836, with his parents, Robert and Mary Crouch. In 1842 he married Miss Hannah Gault, born in Coshocton county, in 1826, daughter of Adam and Margaret Gault. They settled on a farm in Coshocton county, remained there until 1867, when they moved to Knox county, purchased and moved on the farm in Pleasant township, on which they are now living. He has followed farming and stock raising as his vocation. Their union resulted in six children, only one of the number is now living, viz: Margaret, who married John Warman, and is living in Pleasant township.

CROWELL, FRED S., photographer, Ward's block, cor- ner Main and Vine streets, Mt. Vernon. Mr. Crowell was born April 26, 1844, in Huron county, Ohio, where he resided until 1856, when his parents came with their family to Mt. Ver- non. His first business engagement was with Moses White, bookseller and stationer, as salesman, with whom he continued two years. He then engaged with Hyde & Young, jewelers, where he remained two years, when he engaged in the photograph business in Payne's gallery, where he worked one year. He then went to Norwalk and engaged with Mr. Benham, with whom he remained only a short time. He went into Week's gallery at Sandusky city and operated there some eighteen months. In the galleries at Cleveland, and at Erie, Pennsylva- nia, where he operated a short time in each city. In 1866 Mr. Crowell went to Fredericktown and bought a gallery there, and run it for three years. In 1869 he sold out and came to Mt. Vernon and opened out an establishment, which he still contin- ues. He carries a stock of about five thousand dollars, consist- ing of a general supply of photo material, picture frames, art goods and cards. His establishment is the largest in the city, and the past productions of this gallery establishes the abili- ties of Mr. Crowell as an artist, and assures all patrons of ob- taining first-class work.

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 124

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