History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 127

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 127

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Mr. Bishop died in 1866. His wife survives him. Joanna was married to Joseph P. Davis, November 18, 1861. He was a native of the State of New York, and died in 1877. They had three children, viz: Anna Mary, born July 10, 1862 ; Cora Estelle, born January 10, 1866, and Ellen Adaline, born Sep- tember 26, 1868. Mrs. Davis is an estimable lady.

DAVIS, JOIIN M., farmer, Miller township, was born in Clinton township, September 28, 1853, is the son of George W. and Margaret Davis, nee Morton. Mr. Davis spent his youth on his father's farm, and, like farmers' sons generally, he worked during the summer, when old enough, and attended

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

school during the winter. On the twelfth of January, 1876, he married Miss Lucy W. Baxter, daughter of J. W. Baxter.

Mr. Davis is an energetic and enterprising farmer and an estimable citizen. They have two children, viz: George W. and Daisy M.

DAVIS, JOSEPH SLOCUM, Attorney at law and secretary of the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon & Delaware railroad company, Mt. Vernon, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, November 21, 1812. He is the third child of Henry and Avice Davis, nee Towne. His father was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, his mother in Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, where they were married, and came to Ohio in the year 1808, settling in Ross county. After a residence there of three years they moved into Pickaway county, remained there about four years, and then removed to Hillsborough, Highland county, Ohio, where they lived until they died. The father was engaged in mercantile pursuits.

The subject of this notice, when not at school, assisted his father in the store. In 1829 he entered the preparatory school at Gambier and continued two years in that department. He then entered the freshman class in Kenyon college, passed reg- ularly through the several college classes and graduated in 1835. He read law with the late Benjamin S. Brown, of Mt. Vernon, and in the winter of 1836-37 attended the Cincinnati law school, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He commenced the prac- tice of law in company with the Hon. C. Delano, and continued for several years, but after a severe attack of pleurisy his health failed to such an extent that he was compelled to retire.

He was twice elected probate judge of Knox county on the Republican ticket, this last term expiring in 1861.

In 1849-50-51 he was elected mayor of Mt. Vernon, and again in 1866-68-70 and 71.

He was the first editor of the True Whig, a newspaper es- tsblished at Mt. Vernon in 1848, to advocate the election of General Zachariah Taylor to the Presidency of the United States.

In 1850 he was appointed deputy United States marshal and took the Federal census of Knox county.

In the winter of 1864-5 he was appointed by President Lin- coln paymaster in the United States army-was ordered to Washington city, mustered into the service, and remained there until July after the close of the Rebellion.

He has always taken a lively interest in the public schools, and has been connected with the city board of education twenty- five years, or since its organization in 1856, is now and has been for the last nine years president of said board.

In 1869 the directors of the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon & Dela- ware Railroad company elected him secretary of said company, which position he still holds.

Mr. Davis is esteemed as a frank, candid man, of scrupulous integrity, modest and retiring in disposition, affable in his man- ners, reserved in speech, honorable in his dealings, and a relia- ble friend, but firm and decided in his opinions, prompt and conscientious in the proper discharge of every public or private trust committed to his care.

Mr. Davis was married to Miss Sarah B. Moore, who was born in Connellsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, March, IS13, the only daughter of Doctor Robert D. Moore. They have had four children, two sons and two daughters, all of whom are living. Captain Henry M. Davis resides at Santa Fe, New Mexico. Anna C., married to John W. Hall, lives in Washington city. Mary A. and Rorlin H. are at home.

Mrs. Davis died May 3, 1879-a Christian woman highly re- spected by all who had the pleasure of her acquaintance.

DAWSON, JAMES, Howard township, farmer, post office, Howard. He was born in Howard township, November 1, 1849. His father, John Dawson, died in July, 1858. His grandfather died at the same place just one-week previous. James Dawson was married to Etta Critchfield in January, 1875, and commenced business on the old farm. He has two children: Philip, born February ro, 1870; Catura, May 21, 1878. His mother lives with them.

DAY, STEPHEN, Union township, merchant, post office, Gann. He was born in New Jersey in 1815, and came to Ohio in 1830, and was engaged in farming on what is called the George Freshwater farm, where he remained until his twenty- first year; then removed to Rochester, Ohio; engaged in the grocery business for one year. He was then engaged in a flouring-mill at Roscoe, in Coshocton county, for one year. He then moved back to the farm and remained there for five years; then to Rochester; then to Oxford, Ohio; then back to the old home, where he purchased the Miller farm, and remained there . for about five years. From there he went to Oxford and en- gaged in the mercantile business for two years, and then to the old home again, where he remained until he sold it. He then went to Mt. Holly, and bought the Hast farm. He then sold the farm and went to Spring mountain, then returned to" Mt. Holly and lived there for a year. Then he purchased the Draper farm, and lived there for five years, and then returned for the last time to Mt. Holly, remained for one year, and then went to Cambridge. April 25, 1870, he started for California in company with his father, mother and wife; remained there for three months. Then he removed to Bloomfield, Davis county. Iowa, his wife remaining in California where his sons had set- tled. After going to a number of places he finally settled in Gann, where he is at present doing business with his younger son, selling dry goods, groceries, clothing, and doing a general mercantile business.

DEAN, BENJAMIN, Wayne township, farmer, post office, Fredericktown, born in Washington township, Richland county, in 1851, and was married in 1873 to Amanda Rowe, who was born in this township in 1848. Their children are James L., born April 2, 1875, and Charlie, October 23, 1878. Mr. Dean came to this county in 1868. He is one of the leading farmers of this township.

DEBOLT, REUBEN, Morgan township, farmer, born in Morgan township, January 19, 1812. His father, Abraham Debolt, was born and reared in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. The family came from Germany, near the river Rhine, but at what time they came to America is not known. They settled in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, whence a large connection has sprung up. As a class they are industrious and well-to-do, be- ing mostly farmers. The father of the subject of this sketch married Christiana Craiger, of Fayette county, Pennsylvania. About 1805 they came to what is the southeast part of Morgan township, where they lived and died.

The farm on which they first settled is owned by their son, Washington Debolt. They had a family of eleven children, one of whom died in infancy. The names were Isaac, Jacob, Daniel, Mary, Samuel-the above have deceased. . The living are Michael, Reuben, Elizabeth, wife of George Clark, Wash- ington, John, Rachel, wife of A. J. Hoten.

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

The subject of this notice was reared in Morgan township, and has always resided in the community, except nine years, when a resident of Licking county. December 7, 1837, he mar- ried Sarah French, who was born in Green county, Pennsylva- nia, in 1819, and came to Ohio with her parents. They had a family of nine children, viz: Mary, wife of James Vanvoris; William, Margaret E., Rachel, wife of Joseph Herrington; Christiana, Emma H., wife of Samuel Hall, and bella. Sarah J. and David have died.

Mr. Dehelt is a man of social qualities and an estimable citi- zen, a good farmer, and has the esteem of the community.

DELANG, HON, COLUMBUS, Mt. Vernon. Very few, if any persons in Knox county have been so long and so inti- mately connected with the various business enterprises, the di- versified scenlar interests, the educational, moral, benevolent and religious institutions, or who were more effective in move- ment: that tended to give shape and direction to the aflairs of social ile, and ferm the customs, manters, and habits of the people, that Hon. Columbus Dclano. For fifty years he has been prominent in the politics of Knox county. Fifty years ago he was admitted to the bar, and soon attained to the posi- tion of an able lawyer and a popular politician.

Columbus Delano was a native of Shoreham, Vermont; born there in 1809. In 1817, when a lad of only eight years, he was brought to Mt. Vernon, where his home has since been, a period of sixty-four years. He became a law student before reaching full manhood, having previously been indefatigable at his stud- ies, and diligent in the acquisition of knowledge, and in storing his mind with useful information. In 1831, just half a century ago, he was admitted to the bar, and as his friends predicted, soon became an eminently successful lawyer. Ilis ambition,

talents, excellent habits and exemplary deportment gave assur- ance of success an . distinction in his chosen profession, and his early promise as a lawyer was fully realized in after ycars. He became eminent as an advocate and criminal lawyer, and no less so as a criminal prosecutor, for he became by popular clec- tion, soon after he was admitted to the bar, the prosecuting at- torney of Knox county. The prosecuting attorney became an elective officer hy act of the legislature in 1832, and Mr. Delano, although a Whig, or rather a National Republican, was elected to that office, in a com.ty then decidedly and strongly Demo- cratic, which shows that he was then very popular with both parties.

Success continued to cho wn M. Delano's career as a lawyer until 1844, when he became a candidate for Congress in the dis- trict composed of the counties of Knox, Licking, and Frank- lin. The WLig party Lad nominated Hen. Samuel White, of Licking, as th, ir candidace, who had accepted the candidacy and canvassed a portion of the district, before his death of- curred. After due delileration and consultation among the leaders of the Whig party, it was decided to place Columbus Delano on their ticket in piace of their deceased candidate, Samud White, who had been regarded as the most popular Whig, as well as the ablest, in the district, which was generally conceded to le Democratic by a few hundred majority. Col- oncl Cale' ] MeNahy w. the cat didate of the Democratic party, and was considered the ablest political campaigner of his party in the district. He erd his competitor, White, were well matched .. orateis In fe. : promis cucus assemblies. They were, hated, Lotl. menref remis kalle force and! ability as stump orators, and the Whigs regarded it of paramount importance

to select the ablest man they had in the district to conduct the campaign against McNulty. The canvas was fierce and of doubtful issue, as was natural enough in so close a district, and the result was not known until after the last township in the district was heard from. Colonel MeNulty, it turned out, did not carry the entire vote of his party, and Mr. Delano received, by some hundreds, more than the full Whig vote of the district. and was elected a member of the Twenty-ninth Congress by the central or capital district of Ohio, by a majority of twelve votes. The popularity of Mr. Delano will appear more fully in the light of the fact that the district, at the same election gave to Governor Tod. the Democratic candidate, nine thou- sand six Inindred and six votes; to Governor Bartley, the Whig candidate, eight thousand, nine hundred and ninety votes, and to L. King, the Abolition candidate, five hundred and twenty- seven votes; giving Tod six hundred and sixteen majority over Bartley, and eighty-seven majority over both the Whig and Abolition candidates.

HIon. Columbus Delano served on the committee on invalid pensions, and made a vigorous speech against the Mexican war, which was widely circulated.

In 1846 Mr. Delano came within two votes of receiving the nomination of the Whigs for Governor or Ohio, William Bebb being his succsseful competitor in the convention, and who was also successful by a small majority.

Hon. Columbus Delano was a delegate to the National Con- vention at Chicago in 1860, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, and in that memorable campaign rendered yeo- man's service in behalf of the martyr President and the Repub- lican party generally.

In 1861 Mr. Delano was appointed commissary general of Ohio, and filled the office with great success until the General Government assumed the subsistance of all State troops. In 1862 he was a candidate for United States Senator, and on one of the ballots in caucus lacked only two votes of the nomina- tion. In 1863 he was elected to the house of representatives of Ohio, and was a prominent member of that body, taking a leading part in shaping the important legislation of the State during the last two years of the war.

Hon. Columbus Delano was a member of the National Republican convention held in Baltimore in the year 1864, serving as chairman of the Ohio delegation, and zealously sup- porting President Lincoln's renomination, and the nomination of Andrew Johnson for Vice-President. In the same year he was elected a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress, and served as chairman of the committee on claims. In 1866 Mr. Delano was a delegate to the Loyaliste' convention, held in Philadel- pha. HIc was also a member of the Fortieth Congress, taking his seat after a successful contest before the House of Repre- sentatives.

After his election to Congress in 1864 Mr. Delano relin- quished the practice of his profession, and became extensively engaged in sheep husbandry, agricultural pursuits, and in the business ot banking.

Mr. Delano, after the close of his service as a member of the Fortieth Congress, was appointed by President Grant commis- ri mer of internal revenue, and in 1870 be received the appoint- inent of Secretary of the Interior, succeeding Governor J. D. Cox, thereby becoming one of President Grant's cabinet. He tendered His resignation of this office in 1875, after a service of five years, wlucl: was accepted ly the President with expressions of satisfaction with the manser in w! ich he performed the duties

E. W. DOWDS.

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

that had devolved upon him, and with manifestations of regret in view of his desire to retire from public life.

Since Mr. Delano's resignation of the honorable position of Secretary of the Interior, he has lived in comparative retirement among his early friends in Mt. Vernon, which for sixty-four years he has called his home. There, amidst the elegance, the quiet, the contentment of a well ordered home, among cherished friends of earlier and later times, he enjoys the philosophic com- posure, the otium cum dignitate, the sage-like dignity, the leisure,

. the retirement becoming one whose years of activity, of success, of honor, have so largely outnumbered those of mankind gener_ ally; whose "ways of life" have been such as that his retrospec- tions would be pleasurable, he recalled with delight, and cher- ished with complacency.

Mr. Delano has led an active, useful, busy, laborious life, and has merited and enjoyed success and prosperity in a large measure. In peace and in war he has been patriotic; especially was he the friend of his country in the perilous years of the great Rebellion. Always the friend of Freedom and the enemy of slavery, none more zealously supported emancipation. Tem- perate, and the friend of temperance; the supporter of educa- tion and good morals; the schools, colleges and churches always found in him an advocate. His recent large gift to Kenyon col- lege was the liberal act of a noble man.

DENNIS, ABRAHAM, deceased, Berlin township, was born in New York; came to Knox county in 1865; he died in 1874. He had four children: William H., Martha, Laura E., and Philip H. Dennis. William died in Guernsey county, and left a family of eight children. Martha died in Knox county in 1875. Laura E. Dennis and her nephew, Willard, are living on the home place.

DENNY, JAMES A., was born in Jackson township April 4, 1840; he was married February 3, 1865, to Mary Ann Dugan. They have had eight children, viz .: Leona, Leota, Maude, Guy, Edith E., Downey E., Leroy, one infant not named. Leona, born November 22, 1865; Leota, November 22, 1866, Maude, January 15, 1867; Guy, July 2, 1870; Leroy, July 23, 1876; Edith E., June 26, 1878; Downey E., April 2, 1880; infant not named, April 21, 1874. Mr. Denny was a member of company I, Eighty-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, and company F., One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Onio volunteer infantry.

DEVER, BENJAMIN F., retired, Fredericktown, was born in Knox county April 17, 1833, and was married November 20, 1859 to Sarah Pollock, who was born in Washington county, Virginia, July 4, 1837. They have the following children, viz. : Franklin H., born February 2, 1858; Alfred D., July 17, 1860; Eddie, August 19, 1862; and Robert R., April 9, 1865. Mr. Dever has resided in Fredericktown for twenty-four years, and has been engaged in buying and selling horses, he has also been a drayman. Franklin H., has been engaged in the drug busi- ness for about six years, and is a good practical druggist. He has been elected marshal of the town two terms and is now constable of Morris township.

DEVOE, SAMUEL J., Pleasant township, son of Samuel and Mariam Devoe, was born in Richland county, Ohio, No- vember 20, 1817. He came to Mt. Vernon in 1837, and com- menced working at the carpenter and joiner trade, with Blake & Armstrong, and continued at his trade until 1856 or 1857; he then engaged in the manufacture of doors, sash and blinds, at Shannon's old buggy factory, which he operated successfully by

horse power, until about 1866, when he attached an engine to his machinery and continued in the business until 1870 when his factory was destroyed by fire, and since that date he has been engaged in farming. On the twenty-sixth of February, 1842, he married Miss Hannah Files, of Richland county, Ohio, who was born in 1821. In the spring of 1843, they settled in Mt. Vernon where they remained until 1866, when he purchased and moved on the farm, where they are now living, situated on the Gambier road, about one and one-half miles from Mt. Vernon. They have a family of seven children, three sons and four daughters.

DEWITT, BENJAMIN W., farmer, Brown township, post office, Jelloway, son of Jonathan and Mary Dewitt,, born in Richland township, Holmes county, where he was reared and received a part of his education. He graduated in Madison college, Guernsey county, in his nineteenth year; he then com- menced the teaching of school, which he continued for twenty- one quarters, teaching seven quarters in one district. He also taught vocal music in connection. On the eleventh day of No- vember, 1847, in his twenty-fifth year, he married Sarah A. Workman, of Knox county, James S. Blair officiating. She was the first daughter of S. C. and Mary Workman, born Septem- ber 6, 1828. After his marriage he moved upon a farm of his . father's in Holmes county, where he remained about one year. While there he taught one term of school in the town of Millers- burgh during the winter season; he then moved back to Knox county, Brown township, locating on the farm where he now re- sides, which was then known as the McCall and Stokley lands. By their marriage they became the parents of fifteen children : Normanda E., born February 5, 1849; Squire E., August II, 1850; James H., January 31, 1852; Jonathan C., April 1, 1853, and died August 4, 1853; Mary E., October 17, 1854; Solomon H., March 27, 1856; Sarah J., March 27, 1857, and died August 28, 1858; Priscilla S., August 8, 1859; Channing C., October 20, 1860; Benjamin F., July 18, 1862, died August 28, 1862; Osmer B., July 18, 1863; Elma F., Semtember 3, 1865; Harriet L., April 3, 1867; Susannah B., March 8, 1869, now dead; William F., December 8, 1870, died April 15, 1871, Mr. and- Mrs. Dewitt and family are members of the German Baptist church.

DEWITT, SQUIRE E., Jefferson township, farmer, post office, Jelloway, was born in Brown township in 1850. He was married in 1873 to Melinda Shambaugh, who was born in Ash- land county, Ohio, in 1848. They had three children-Charles Alpheus, born in 1874; Iva May, born in 1876; John H. O., born in 1879. Mrs. Melinda Dewitt died in 1879, in Jefferson county. Mr. Dewitt is a farmer by occupation and an active and enterprising man.

DETWILER, GEORGE W., Wayne township, farmer, post office, Fredericktown, born in Richland county, Ohio, in 1845, and was married in 1869, to Lydia Cassell, who was born in Knox county. Mr. Detwiler has been a resident of this town- ship ever since he came from Richland county, and is one of its active men. He was a soldier in the war, served out his time of enlistment and received an honorable discharge.

DIAL ISAAC, retired farmer, a resident of Monroe town- ship, this county, and a native of Pennsylvania, was born on the twelfth day of October, 1797, and came with his parents, George and Elizabeth Dial, to Ohio in 1800, who located near Coshocton, and remained about two years. In 1802 they moved to the Shrimplon prairies, near Millwood, this county.

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

They were living on the prairies when the first assessor came around assessing the property, after Ohio became a State in 1803, where they lived about five years. In 1807 they moved to Howard township, this county, on the land owned by William Hays, remained about one year, then, in 1808, moved on land now owned by T. K. Head, in Harrison township, where they lived during the War of 1812, and for several years afterwards. In about 1817 the father of Mr. Dial moved to Holines county, Ohio, and remained about two years; in 1820 he returned to this county, and remained a number of years, and then emi- grated to Illinois, where he deceased.

Mr. Dial was reared on a farm and has made farming his principal vocation during his life. When he came to this county a small boy, he spent many days at play with Indian boys. He says many a wrestle he has had with the sons of the red man. There were no white boys in the neighborhood that he could have for playmates. Their neighbors were few and far apart. Their nearest mill was at Zanesville, for several years, then the Banning mill was erected.

He was deprived of the privilege of obtaining an education in his forest home, as schools were very scarce in those days.

In 1818, he cut wheat off of the ground where the Theolog- ical seminary now stands. Around the building where you now see the trees standing, was at that time a cleared field. He helped to erect the first house for Bishop Chase, which was a hewed log structure, in which Warner Terry lived for several years.

January 20, 1818, he married Nancy Durbin, born in 1794. They settled in College township, where they remained about nine years. In 1827 they moved on the T. R. Head farm, in Harrison township, and remained five years. On March 14, 1832, he purchased the land on which he is now living, in Mon- roe township, erected a cabin, into which he moved his family ve same year. This served them as an abode for many years. He then erected his present frame residence on his farm. His companion deceased May 24, 1873. They reared a family of nine children-Maria, Lewis, William, Elizabeth, Miranda, Benjamin, Matilda, George, and Rhoda E. William and Eliza- bethi have deceased. Mr. Dial is still living and enjoying good health for a man of his age.

DIAL, JAMES, College township, miller and farmer, son of William and Rebecca Dial, was born in Knox county, Ohio, March 26, 1834. He was reared to manhood on a farm. In November, 1861, he enlisted in company K, of the Forty-third Ohio volunteer infantry, under Captain William Walker. He served three years and nine months and was discharged in August, 1865; after the close of the war, and returned home. In September, 1865, he commenced working in the Gain's grist mill, and remained with them about two years; then, in 1868, he purchased a one-fourth interest in the mill property, and con- tinued in that way about three years. In 1871 he became a one- third partner, and in 1875 he bought a half interest in it, which he retains. October 18, 1868, he married Miss Catha- rine Lauderbaugh, born in College township in 1847, daughter of John and Catharine Lauderbaugh, and settled where they are now living. They have a family of three children, two sons and one daughter. He followed farming in connection with milling.

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 127

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