History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 182

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

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Mr. Condon learned the shoe trade with his father in Mary- land, and has always been engaged in that business. He is a member of the firm of D. W. Condon & Co., leading shoe merchants of this city. Mr. Condon was a soldier in the late war. He first enlisted April, 1861, under Captain H. B. Ban- ning. They went to camp Jackson. They elected Professor Andrews (of Kenyon college) colonel. When. they came to organize their company they had too many men, consequently Mr. Condon was relieved. He enlisted in the spring of 1864; was a member of company H, One Hundred and Forty-second regiment Ohio National guards, under Captain Cochran and Colonel W. C. Cooper; he served four months and was honorably discharged. Mr. Condon has always been identified with the Republican party, and is one of the loyal men of Frederick- town.

DONAHEY, P. N., was born June 4, 1843, in Jackson township, Knox county, Ohio. He was married to Sophia M. Houck, August 31, 1869. They have had two children, viz: Willie J. and Lotta. Willie J. was born May 15, 1870; Lotta .

was born May 31, 1878. Mr. Donahey is engaged in the grocery business at Bladensburgh.

HOLLIBAUGH, JOHN F., shoe merchant. He was born in Richland county, Ohio, December 7, 1832; he was married November 8, 1857, to Louisa M. Hughes, who was born Sep- tember 6, 1837 in Berlin township in this county. They have seven children: Lee Porter born August 31, 1858; Delphene, February 17, 1860, Flora Alice, March 14, 1864; Estella Lutc, December, 16, 1866; Frederick Roston, July 16, 1871; Wilbert Alton, June 5, 1874; Ethel, November 11, 1878. Mr. Hollibaugh learned the shoe trade in Fredericktown, and has been engaged at that business since; he is a member of the firm of D. W. Condon & Co., leading shoe merchants of this city, and has been identified with the business interests in this place for some years. Mr. Hollibaugh was a soldier in the late war; he enlisted in the spring of 1864. He was a member of company H, One Hundred and Forty-second regiment Ohio National guard under Captain Cochran and Colonel W. C. Coop- er. He served out the time of his enlistment, and was honorably discharged.

HORN, ABRAHAM, was born January 2, 1813, in Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania, and was married March 16, 1837, to Miss Rebecca Staats, who was born January 28, 1818, in Butler township. They have had ten children, viz: Catharine, Jacob, Lonisa, Joseph S., Maria, Mary M., Magdalena, Selonia Alice, Rebecca Jane, William Osborn, Benjamin Franklin; all living except Joseph S. and Benjamin Franklin. Joseph S. was wounded at Big Shanty, Georgia, June 22, 1864, and died the following day. Benjamin F. died September 30, 1862; Catharine married William J. Withrow, April 22, 1860; Jacob was married to Isabella Withrow, June 22, 1861; Louisa was married to Jacob Delong January 15, 1863; Maria to Robert B. Giffen, June 21, 1869; Mary M. to Reason Lov- ett, February 7, 1869; Rebecca J. to Benjamin Ross, October 6, 1872; Jacob, married (second wife) Lydia Hall, September 23, 1873; W. O. to Alvila Bailey, November 2, 1878. Mr. Horn is owner of two hundred and ten acres of good farming land in Butler township, and three hundred and fifty acres in Jefferson township.

HORN, MARTIN C., deceased, was one of the wealthiest farmers of Clay township, owning about five hundred and thirty-seven acres of good tillable land at his decease. He was a native of Knox county, was born April 9, 1823, and married to Jane Crumrine November 11, 1847; six children being born unto them; three, Laura, Lennie, and Emma, are living. Mr. Horn was a highly respected citizen, very ambitious and indus- trious, and was census enumerator for the present census. He died at his home, near Martinsburgh, July 25, 1880.

HYATT, R., farmer, Liberty township. He was born in Liberty township, September 11, 1848, and is the son of Mescheck and Elizabeth Hyatt. He spent his youth on a farm, and has followed farming as his vocation. He spent four years in the Western States. He married Elizabeth Ann Bryan, No- vember 19, 1871. They have one child, named Maggie A.

JOHNSTON, SAMUEL K., deceased. He was born in Morris township in 1820; was married to Susan A. White, who was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1825, and came to Ohio in 1825. They had five children-Williard W., Mary E., Edwin F., Charles C., and Lee R.

Mr. Samuel K. Johnson died May 23, 1862.

Williard W. was a soldier in the late Rebellion, being a mem- ber of company A, One Hundred and Ninety-fourth regiment,

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

Ohio volunteer infantry. He is now a resident of Columbus, Ohio.

Peter Johnson, father of Samuel K., was a soldier in the War of 1812,

C. C. Johnson is a practical printer engaged with the Free Press, and is an industrious and active young man.

KNIGHT, JOHN, deceased, was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and married Jane Culberson. They had two daughters and one son.

Marth was born in Holmes county in 1840; married J. B. Nixon. The have three children-Luella J., Nettie B., and Maggie K. They reside in Johnson county, Indiana.

Maggie Knight is married to William Hall.

Henry D. Nixon has deceased.

Mr. John Knight died in Wayne county. February 2, 1850.

WALTER, GEORGE A., salesman, was born in Morris township, Knox county, in 1842, and he was married in 1870 to Mary L. Smith, who was born in Fredericktown in 1851. They have one son-Carleton C .- who was born March 14, 1872, in Mt. Vernon.

Mr. Walter learned the carpenter trade in Mt. Vernon, and continued to work at it until 1872, when he engaged in the butchering business with S. Kirby, and afterwards with M. P. Minteer. In 1880 he engaged with Braddock & Hurst as clerk and salesman, and is one of the active ind enterprising men of this town. He was a soldier in the late war. His father, Samuel Walter, was born in Frederick county, Maryland, in 1809; came to Ohio in 1836; married Mary Ann Clay, born in the same county in 1818. They had eight children-Jesse, deceased; George A., John W., Martha J., Mary E., Charles R., Orpha, deceased, and Sarah G.

Mrs. Mary Ann Walter died in 1879.

George Smith, father of Mrs. George Walters, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1824; was married to Abigail Tirrill, who was born in New Hampshire in 1826. They had two children-Mary and Ophelia.

Mr. Smith was engaged as travelling salseman for a manfac- turing house in Columbus. He died in 1856.

ALVERSON, THOMAS, farmer, deceased, Middlebury township, was born March 19, 1807, in the town of Guilford, Windham county, Vermont. His early ancestors were from Holland, and later in affinity with the English. In early child- hood he was taken to Moriah, Essex county, New York. His widowed mother being poor he was obliged to live with other families. By hard labor and strict economy he secured sixty acres of land, which he improved, and on which he built suit- able buildings. He was baptized by immersion in Lake Cham- plain. In his conviction of duty he had a very remarkable dream, in which he saw the Savior, with outstretched arms, standing in the sun.

Mr. Alverson was married to Miss Lucinda Doolittle. They moved on the farm he had formerly purchased, and remained there until the fall of 1837, and then moved to western New York, near Middleport, and remained there until the fall of 1839, when they moved near Medina, Michigan, to his brother, Oliver Alverson, and in the month of February, 1840, he emi- grated to Ohio and settled near the Quaker brick meeting- house, known as the Owl Creek settlement. In 1845 he pur- chased one hundred acres of land on the ridge, four and a half miles northwest of Fredericktown, in Middlebury township. Here his property increased to over six thousand dollars in ad-

dition to his real estate, which he loaned out. He had seven children, all of whom are living except the youngest-James T., born March 1, 1834; Sophia, November 4, 1836, and married to J. N. Talmage, living near Chesterville, Morrow county. Ohio; Emma, October 3, 1838, married to Miller Mendenhall, now lives in Green Vally, Knox county; Sarah, November 14, 1839, married to John Disman, now living in Lima, Allen coun- ty, Ohio; Byram, January 19, 1843, now a resident near Lone Star post office, Gentry county, Missouri; Louisa, May 3, 1844, now Mrs. William Schroeder, of Knox county, Ohio; and John P., May 4, 1849, died in infancy.

Thomas Alverson became a strong Abolitionist, voting for the first candidate for the Presidency nominated by the Aboli_ tion party-James G. Birney.

Mr. Alverson was powerful in his reasonings and arguments in favor of freedom and equal rights to all. He afterwards acted with the Republican party.

In September, 1866, during a season of tent-meetings at Fredericktown, Ohio, held by Elders Vanhorn and Lawrence, he embraced the doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventists, and became an ardent advotate of its faith, giving liberally to its institutions and missionary work. The subjects " Man's Nature and Destiny," "The Bible," "Seventh-day Sabhath," and the "Soon Coming of Christ," were his happy themes of conversa- tion and work.

The last year of his life was the happiest, during which time he visited relatives and friends in the east-Vermont, Boston, Massachusetts, and the Round Lake camp meeting in Maine, and then to his brother, Samuel H. Russell, of Crownpoint Essex county, New York, where he died September 11, 1878, at the age of seventy-one years, five months and twenty-two days. He leaves nineteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Mrs. Lucinda Alverson died December 28, 1864, and was buried in the Salem cemetery.

James T. Alverson, post office, Fredericktown, Ohio, born in Essex county, New York, came to Knox county, with his parents in childhood. Through industry, in teaching and labor- ing, he accumulated means to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of western land. He became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and for a time a faithful worker. He was married August 1, 1861, to Miss Rebecca Price, daughter of John and Barbara Price, of Morrow county, Ohio. She was an amiable and Christian lady. After their marriage they purchased nearly seventy acres of land in Morrow county, still retaining the one hundred and sixty acres of western land. Her useful life ended November 25, 1864, and her remains were interred in Bloomfield cemetery, near Sparta, Morrow county, Ohio. J. T. Alverson is left with one daughter, Luella J., now Mrs. Olmstead, and one son, James T., jr.

In early life Mr. Alverson was a Methodist in faith, but by reading and investigating the Bible he changed his religions views June 23, 1877. He kept the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, endorsing fully the Bible doctrines of man's nature and destiny, the seventh day Sabbath as in the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus Christ and his soon coming at the completion of his work as priest of the heavenly sanctuary; then the gathering home of all the saints, both dead and living, in the first resurrection; and finally, after the resurrection and destruction of all the wicked, enjoying the Sabbath with the redeemed in Christ in the earth made new. So August 27, 1877, he took a letter from the Methodist Episcopal church, being in good standing.

853

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

FIDLER, THOMAS, retired, post office, Fredericktown, was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1804. His parents emigrated to Belmont county, Ohio, when he was a child. He came to this county in 1824, and was married to Rebecca Shu- man. They had one daughter, Arminda; she married John Ewers, and is now dead. Mrs. Fidler died in Richland county.

Mr. Fidler was married (the second time) to Jane Dehart, who was born in New Jersey. Their children are: Marinda, now Mrs. James, a resident of Morrow county; Emily, deceased; Mary, deceased; Louis, deceased; Samuel A., deceased; Henry, married Mary Smith; he died in 1877; Anna, deceased; Deliah J., now Mrs. Wertz; Hannah L., now Mrs. Burson; they reside in Morrow county. Mrs. Jane Fidler died in 1872.

'Mr. Fidler is now living with his daughter, Mrs. Wertz. He has been a successful farmer, and has accumulated considerable wealth, and has a competency for old age. Uncle Tom, as he is familiarly called, is one of the best citizens of Middlebury township.

LEWIS, JOHN and HANNAH came to Ohio from New Jer- sey, in the year 1805, stopping lor a short time at Mt. Vernon, where there were two or three log cabins. They remained there only a few days, and following the trail of the Sandusky Indians on horseback for about ten miles in a northwest direction, they located in the wilderness on Owl creek, near what is now the village of Luzerne, in Wayne township, where they resided during the rest of their lives. Soon after selecting this place as their future home, they put up a cabin, fourteen feet square, of Buckeye logs, which was their residence for a number of years, and until they had aid enough to erect a house of heavy logs, about thirty feet square, which remained standing for a number of years. This building was used regularly for religious pur- poses, there being no church at the time in that part of the country. During the War of 1812, there was a fort, also a block- house, adjoining and communicating with this residence, and when these early settlers were threatened with danger, they would gather hurriedly together at this fort for protection. There were but few settlers in that part of the country prior to and during the war, and for some time Mr. Lewis' nearest neigh- bors resided at Mt. Vernon, and the nearest store and mill were located at Zanesville. The trail of the Sandusky Indians, used in going to and from Mt. Vernon and Zanesville, was within one hundred yards of his house, and his family was very frequently honored with their calls, which were usually friendly. These Indians would frequently have access to whiskey when meeting with white traders, and, when intoxicated, were sometimes troublescme customers. These early settlers had but little knowledge of the luxuries and comforts of modern homes. They owned a Bible, which was in many cases their only printed book, and constituted their only reading. A long rifle with a flint lock, a rude bed and 'a puncheon table, and but little more. Tea, coffee, sugar and flour were luxuries to be seidom indulged in. Their corn was pounded in a wooden mortar with a pestle, the finest part being used for bread and the coarsest for hominy. Their meat was mostly wild gaine, of which there was a great plenty. Mr. Lewis had some sing- ular and exciting experiences and adventures with the wild animals that infested the then unbroken forest. Wolf scalps were a legal tender, and were received in payment of taxes, and he, with the assistance of Mr. James Bryant, who came into Ohio soon after, killed fifty-three wolves in one winter. One of the traps used by him is still in the possession of the family.

Live stock had to be protected from these wild animals. One night Mr. Lewis was awakened by some strange noises made by his pigs in the pen, and, taking his rifle, he proceeded to ascertain the cause. Seeing some object moving about, he fired at it, and the next morning, on going to the place, found a black bear lying dead.

About the year 1820, Rev. Henry George, a Welsh Baptist missionary, came from the east and located in this neighbor- hood, and was the first ordained minister to conduct religious services in that part of the State. His first sermon was from the text, Isaiah 63: i. After he had labored a number of years, a little congregation was collected together, and a church was organized. They erected a log building that had neither stove nor fireplace, on the spot where now stands what is known as the Wayne Baptist church. At the dedication of this log church Mr. George preached from Psalm 122: i.

The first school building in this neighborhood was erected a little way east of Mr. Lewis' residence, was made of logs, and, having no glass, the windows were made of greased paper. Mr. Lewis raised nine children, three sons and six daughters. There are yet four living: William Lewis, near Waterford, in Knox county; Mitchel Lewis, near Morrison, Illinois; Mary Jackson, near Gallion, Ohio; and Jane Bonar, who lives in Beilville.

PHILO, GEORGE J., farmer, post office, Mt. Vernon, born in England in 1834, emigrated to America in 1854, and lo- cated in Knox county. In 1856 he was married to Christina Haines, who was born in Muskingum county in 1840. They have five children living : Jesse E., Alice E., John H., Charles . M., Agnes I.

Mr. Philo owns one of the best farms in Morris township, and is making a success of farming. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church at Mt. Vernon.

RINEHART, GEORGE, dealer in furniture. He was born in Morris township, this county; he was married to Hannah Jane Stinemetz, who was born in Mt. Vernon. They have four children: Ada A., Mary, Samuel, and Gracie.

He learned the cabinet-makers' trade, and has been engaged in that business over twenty years, also connected with furniture and undertaking; he is doing a good business.

NEFF PETROLEUM COMPANY. Mention has been made in the geological chapter of this work of the Neff Petro- leum company, whose operations are so extensive in the Ko- kosing valley in the eastern part of this county and extending into Coshocton county.

The work of this company, of which Mr. Peter Neff, of Gambier, is the heart and soul, is continually extending and has assumed much greater proportions than the people of the county are generally aware. Already Mr. Neff has expended more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in this region, and still the work goes on with increasing interest.

Last spring (1880) Mr. Neff sunk " Laurel Well" (No. 9) to the depth of one thousand and five feet, passing through the regular succession of sub-strata. Its log varies but little from the general developments in other oil regions. It is a gas well. Personally, Mr. Neff is, and has always been, much interested in the study of geology and archæology, and in the develop- ment and preservation or utilization of whatever is found under the earth's surface. In accordance with this feeling be bas all his life been collecting archæological specimens, and at present has in his home at Gambier one of the most complete and extensive collections of this character in the country, the larger

854

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

part of which has been gathered from the fruitful fields of Knox and adjoining counties. His "Sandstone Image," supposed to have been the work of the Mound Builders, is a rare relic, and is highly important as showing some sort of connection between this mysterious people and the Hindoos-the features of the image being of an unmistakable Hindoo type, or cer- tainly much resembling the images left by that people.

He has many other rare and valuable specimens, and is con- tinually on the lookout for others, his means enabling him to indulge his taste in this important branch of science.

The following is interesting in connection with the production of "Diamond Black" in which Mr. Neff is so largely engaged: "NOTES OF WORK BY STUDENTS OF PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY

IN THE

LABORATORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA."

No. VII.

Communicated by J. W. MALLETT, Professor of General and Applied Chemistry in the University.

Reprinted from the CHEMICAL NEWS, Nos. 978 and 979. LONDON: 1878.

Analysis of Lamp-black made from the Natural Hydrocarbon Gas of the Ohio Petroleum Region. By J. R. SANTOS.

This material is described in the following passage from my portion of the "Report of the Judges on the Philadelphia Ex- hibition of 1876" (Group III Chemical Manufactures); "One of the more interesting among the minor American exhibits consists of the fine lamp-black which has for about two years past been made at Gambier, Ohio, by imperfect combustion of the natural gas which occurs throughout the petroleum region, and which frequently escapes in such quantity from borings, yielding little or no mineral oil, as to give rise to the term 'gas- well.' There are two such wells in Knox county, Ohio, near the junction of the Kokosing and Mohican rivers, affording very large quantities of hydrocarbon gas, which Mr. Peter Neff, of Gambier, has utilized in the manufacture of lamp- black, which he calls 'Diamond Black.' He has patented, and uses several kinds of apparatus for burning the gas [of which two are described and figured in the Report]. In the building used, 1, 800 burners are at work, consuming about 275.000 cubic feet of gas per twenty-four hours, being about one-fourth of the available supply. The composition of the gas by volume is given as ---

Marsh gas. 81.4

Ethyl hydride 12.2

Nytrogen 4.8

Oxygen . 0.8

Carbon monoxide. 0.5

Carbon dioxide

0.3

100.0

"No mention is made of free hydrogen, though from the ex- periments of Professor Sadtler on samples of natural gas from Western Pennsylvania, it probably is present in small quantity. The lamp-black is at present manufactured to the extent of

about sixteen tons per annum. It is very fine and smooth, free from coarse or gritty particles, and of an intense blue-black color. The absence of oily matter is very strikingly shown by mixing it with water. Although from the large amount of air in the mass of loose powder most of it floats at first upon the surface, stirring soon mixes it in large quantity with the water, rendering the whole black and opaque; in its behavior it con- trasts strongly with the common lamp-black. It does not color ether, and the liquid, when evaporated, leaves but a trace of residue, while ordinary iamp-black, presumably from rosin, gives a deep yellow solution, leaving an orange-brown tar on evaporation. On burning a quantity of the diamond-black sufficient to fill a large plantinum dish, a barely visible trace of ferruginous ash was left, derived, no doubt, from the scraping of the metallic surfaces (on which the material was deposited and collected). This material is sold to makers of fine printing and lithographic inks inthe United States, and has been sent in small quantity to Europe. It deserves to become more widely known."

I have used this lamp-black for a number of laboratory pur- poses requiring an artificial form of carbon of very high degree of purity. Mr. Santos has analyzed it, with the following results:

"Sp. gr. at 17º C., after complete expulsion of air, equals 1.729. The air-dried lamp-black lost by exposure at ordinary tempera- ture over sulphuric acid 2.30 per cent of moisture, and a further loss of 0.40 per cent was experienced by heating to Tooº C. Continued heating to 200° and then to 300° under atmospheric pressure gave rise to no further loss, but a minute amount of water was expelled by subsequently hearing in a Sprengel vacuum.

The material dried at 200° C. gave in two combustions-

I. IL.

Carbon

96.041 96.011

Hydrogen

0.736 0.747

The occluded gases, driven out by heating to low redness in a Sprengel vacuum, * represented on calculating weight from vol- ume-

Carbon monoxide. I.378 p. c. by weight.

Carbon dioxide I.386

Nitrogen 0.786

Vapor of water. 0.682

There was also expelled, and condensed on the cooler part of the tube, 0.024 of a solid light yellow hydrocarbon, soluble in alcohol, fusible, and volatilizing rapidly under atmospheric pressure between 215° and 225° C. (impure napthalene ?)

Hence the composition of the lamp-black may be calculated as-

Carbon.

95.057

Hydrogen 0.665 )

Nitrogen 0.776

Carbon monoxide. 1.387 }

Carbon dioxide. 1,386 ]

Water 0.682

Ash (Fe2O3 and CuO) 0.055

100.000

* See similar results obtained by Wright and Luff for carbon pre- pared from sugar and from carbon monoxide .- Chem. Soc. fourz., January, 1873, pp. 18 10 20.

t Including the C and H of 0.024 solid hydrocarbon.

: These gases were doubtless partly formed from solid carbon and oc- cluded oxygen by the heat applied in vacuo.

1803.

INDEX.

KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.

ITS PAST AND PRESENT,

-CONTAINING-

A CONDENSED, COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF OHIO, INCLUDING AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE NORTH- WEST; A COMPLETE HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY; ITS TOWNSHIPS, CITY, TOWNS, VILLAGES, SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, SOCIETIES, INDUSTRIES, STATISTICS, ETC .; A RECORD OF ITS SOLDIERS IN THE LATE WAR; PORTRAITS OF ITS EARLY SETTLERS AND PROMINENT MEN; VIEWS OF ITS FINEST BUILDINGS; MISCELLA- NEOUS MATTER; MAP OF THE COUNTY; BIOGRAPHIES AND HISTORIES OF PIONEER FAMILIES, ETC.

COMPILED BY N. N. HILL, JR.

ILLUSTRATED.

MT. VERNON, OHIO:

A, A, GRAHAM & CO .; PUBLISHERS,

1881

Abbott, Jr .- 418 A .- 502 John S .- 583 Mrs. John-583 Ishan-583 Abernathy, Milo-399,414 Abrams, Bazil-104,105 Reuben-104 Ackerman, Amy Ann-847 Blanche-583 Carlo-583 Edith E .- 583,847 Ernest L .- 583

Ernest V .- 847

George M .- 482

Harvey-583,506 Mrs. Harvey-583 Ida C .- 583,847 James H .- 847

John-506,847

Mrs. John-847 Leander-506,508, 847 Louis B .- 571, 583,847 Mrs. L. B .- 583,847

Morgan-506,847 Rachel-847 Stephen-506 Stephen C .- 847 William A .- 583,847

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 182

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