History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Part 133

Author: Chester E. Bryan
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1207

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Fraternally, he was a member of the Masonic lodge; of the Grand Army of the Republic and also the Society of the Army of the Tennessee.

Doctor Beach was fond of agriculture and devoted to landscape gardening as well as his profession. He was fond of classical literature and read only the best books. He was the editor of the medical department of the old history of Madison county, and in his later years, being possessed of rare conversational power, was a delightful entertainer. He possessed social qualities of high order.

Mrs. Lucy Beach is one of the ablest women in Madison county. She has added to the Beach estate since her husband's death by successful farming and careful management. In 1895, when Ohio women were for the first time voted for as members of school boards, she was elected a member of the board of education of Deer Creek township, and was twice re-elected, serving in that capacity for sixteen years and was president of the board for six years. She was active as a member of the Woman's Club of London for fourteen years and has served as its president. As a member of the executive board of the Farmers' Institute she was for several years a valued helper in contributing to the success of the institute. She is a member of the county board of visitors for the charity and corrective institutions, and an enthu- siastic member of the Woman's Elective Franchise Association, having been one of its charter members and for three years its president. She was a state delegate to the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which was held in June, 1905, in Portland, Oregon. Ten years previously, in 1805, she was honored by William Mckinley, then governor of the state, by an appointment as delegate to the Atlanta, Georgia, Exposition, at which time she also represented the Woman's. Club of London as delegate to the convention of the General Federation of Woman's Clubs.

"The Cedars," where Mrs. Beach now resides in her beautiful country home, extends

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three miles along the National road. Hogs, cattle and horses are raised in great numbers on the farm, the labor alone costing twenty-five hundred dollars a year.

At "The Cedars," Mrs. Beach has extended her most genial and generous hos- pitality to her friends and the members of the various clubs with which she had been identified. She is a woman of rare business ability and social charm and has proved, as one interested in public affairs, a successful business manager, an efficient home keeper and a hospitable hostess. She is perhaps the best-known woman in all Madison county.

PIERCE M. GREGG.

Son of one of the most substantial and energetic men in the history of Madison county, Pierce M. Gregg, county commissioner of this county, president of the Com- mercial Bank of West Jefferson, and owner of two of the best farms in the county, has profited largely by the fine inheritance of energy, enterprise and industry which came to him from his father and is regarded as one of the most substantial and influential men in Madison county today. In both his private and his public relations with his fellow men, Mr. Gregg gives the best service at his command and his influence in many ways has been helpful, not only in the community in which he lives, but throughout the county at large and no one hereabout is held in higher esteem than he.

Pierce M. Gregg was born on a farm, which he now owns, in Jefferson township, Madison county, Ohio southwest of West Jefferson, on March 5, 1860, son of Ashton A. and Mary (Pierce) Gregg, prominent residents of that section of the county, the former of whom was a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of whom was born in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Ashton A. Gregg was twelve years of age when his mother brought him and his two brothers from Pennsylvania to Madison county, his father but shortly before that time having died in Pennsylvania. This pioneer mother, with ber sons, rode all the way here on horseback, their small possessions being brought in packs strapped on behind. Upon arriving in this county, Mrs. Gregg bought three hundred and thirty-three and one-third acres of land in Jefferson township, and there she spent the remainder of her life, becoming known as one of the most useful persons in that section of the county. As her sons grew to manhood she divided her land holdings among them, giving to each one hundred acres, reserving for herself only the small plot surround- ing the home she had erected in the wilderness.

On the three farms thus created these three brothers settled and all prospered. Ashton A. Gregg, in particular, by reason of the exercise of great natural talents and his energy and industry, grew in wealth and in the substantial character of his posi- tion in the community, gradually increasing his land holdings until presently he was the owner of two thousand two hundred acres of choice land in that section of the county. He was a progressive farmer and an extensive dealer in live stock and as he prospered largely, so he gave largely, being recognized in his day as one of the most liberal supporters of benevolent institutions and all good works in Madison county. To Ashton A. Gregg's union with Mary Pierce eight children were born, five of whom are still living, John T., of Columbus, Ohio; Arabella, of West Jefferson, this county ; Pierce M.,. the immediate subject of this sketch; T. C., of West Jefferson, and Arkansas, wife of John R. Engle, of West Jefferson.

Reared on the home farm. receiving his education in the district schools of that neighborhood, Pierce M. Gregg grew up to the life of the farm and remained on the home place until he was forty years of age, at which time he moved to his present fine home. "Hillside Farm," one and one-half miles southwest of West Jefferson. though

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still retaining the ownership of "Oak Grove Stock Farm" of three hundred and twenty- five acres, on which he formerly liv d, three miles southwest of West Jefferson. "Hillside Farm," consisting of seventy-two at. 3 of choice land, is one of the most attractive small farms in that section of the county and is an ideal spot for a home, Mr. Gregg and his family being very comfortably and pleasantly situated there. In addi- tion to his large farming and stock raising interests, Mr. Gregg has devoted no small share of his attention to other matters of a business nature and for some years has been president of the Commercial Bank of West Jefferson, a sound financial institu- tion which owes much of its present secure position in financial circles in this county to the energy and enterprise which Mr. Gregg has brought to the conduct of its affairs.

In 1884 Pierce M. Gregg was united in marriage to Margaret Roberts, who was born in Jefferson township, this county, daughter of Edwin Roberts, a prominent citizen of that township, and to this union seven children have been born, namely: Matthew, who married Ethel Roberts and is a well-known farmer of Jefferson township; Ashton, a graduate of the West Jefferson high school and of Bliss College at Columbus; Earl, a graduate of the same schools, married Emma Olney and is a farmer in Jefferson township; Charles, also a Jefferson township farmer; Herbert, a graduate of the West Jefferson high school, also a farmer; Helen, a graduate of the high school, living at home with her parents, and Lemuel. Mrs. Margaret Gregg died on October 22, 1903. She was a member of the Methodist church at West Jefferson, of which Mr. Gregg is also a member and one of the trustees of the church, and their children have been reared in that faith, the entire family being devoted to the good works of the community, all being held in the very highest esteem thereabout.

Pierce M. Gregg is a Republican and for years has been actively concerned in the county's political affairs. For years he served as land appraiser in Jefferson town- ship and has been a member of the township's board of education for the past twenty- four years, his energetic services in that connection undoubtedly having been produc- tive of great good to the schools of that part of the county. In 1912 he was honored by the people of Madison county by being elected to the important and responsible post of county commissioner and is now faithfully serving the county in that honorable capacity. Enterprising, energetic and public spirited. Mr. Gregg is bringing to his public service the same degree of energy which has made his personal affairs so eminently successful and it is but proper to say that he enjoys the entire confidence and regard of the whole community.

EDWARD J. ROBISON ..

Though it has been a quarter of a century since Edward J. Robison passed from the scenes of worldly activity. his memory still is cherished in Madison county and particularly in the city of London, where for years he was one of the county seat's most popular merchants, and it is but fitting that in this history of the county some slight tribute should be paid to his memory.

Edward J. Robison was born in Pickaway county, this state, on September 7,. 1850, son of Samuel and Margaret (Fitzgerald) Robison, who moved to this county when their son, the subject of this sketch, was a small boy, and the latter was reared here, receiving his education in the schools of this county, supplementing the same by a course of five years spent at Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware. Upon com- pleting this course he returned home and entered the drug business in London, and was thus engaged until a short time before his death, he having sold his store not long before the final summons came. During the period of his connection with the mercantile interests of the city he had several different partners, the firm name at

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the time he sold out having been Robison & Riddle. Mr. Robison also had extensive farming interests, operating the same in connection with his brother-in-law, William H. Riddle.

On November 20, 1878, Edward J. Robison was united in marriage to "Sallie" K. Riddle, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Warner) Riddle, both of whom were natives of this county, the former born at Mt. Sterling and the latter at London. Elizabeth Warner was a daughter of Henry and Keturah Warner, the former of whom was the son of Joseph Warner, who came to Madison county from Virginia or Maryland in 1802 and was among the real pioneers of the London neighborhood, he having been a man of large influence in the early days of the county seat. Joseph Warner was born in Maryland in 1738 and was a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolutionary War. When one hundred years of age he moved from London to Illinois, where he died in 1842, at the age of one hundred and four. Further details regarding the Warner family in this county are set out in the biographical sketch relating to Henry Warner, presented elsewhere in this volume.

To Edward J. and Sarah K. (Riddle) Robison were born three children, namely : Margaret Clifford, who married Warren B. Sisson, of Columbus, Ohio, to which union one child has been born, a son, Warren Robison; Samuel Edward, of Columbus, and Richard Harrison, who married Haysel Jones, youngest daughter of Senator William M. Jones, and lives in London, this county. All are associated with Bruce Tanner in the lumber business at Columbus and London.

Edward J. Robison died on April 27, 1891, and was widely mourned throughout this county, for he was a good man and an excellent and public-spirited citizen, who was per- forming a large work in his community. He was a member of the Methodist church, as is his widow, and their children were reared in that faith. He also was a member of the Masonic fraternity and was very popular among his lodge brethren, all honoring and respecting him for his many fine qualities of head and heart.

ORMOND MASTERSON BRYAN.

Ormond Masterson Bryan, the eldest son of Marcellus Leroy and Martha (Master- son) Bryan, was born in Columbus, this state, March 15, 1858, and came to London with his parents when but a few months old. Here he grew to strong manhood and lived to be a prominent citizen until called by death, September 7, 1908, aged fifty years and six months.

In 1874 he was graduated from the London high school in a class of six. After this he devoted several months to work in the Democrat office, at that time owned and controlled by his father, M. L. Bryan, and then took a year's course of study in the Ohio State University at Columbus. He then returned to London and resumed his work in the Democrat office, where he continued as local editor until his last illness and death. Nine years before this event he formed a partnership with his brother, Chester E. Bryan, and they purchased the newspaper under the firm name of C. E. & O. M. Bryan. The plant was greatly improved and the business enlarged, and the partnership was continued profitably until his demise. After his death, his interest in the business was purchased by his brother, Chester, who has continued as editor and sole proprietor up to this time.

Ormond M. Bryan became a member of the fraternal order of Knights of Pythias soon after he reached his majority. A few years afterward he joined the Odd Fellows and Masonic fraternities. He was a consistent member of these three organizations and in good standing at the time of his death.

Ormond M. Bryan was united in marriage to Almeda Shepherd, daughter of Nathan Shepherd, of Fayette county, March 28, 1889. Nineteen years of marital bliss and

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ORMOND M. BRYAN.

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happiness resulted, when the dread summons came for the separation. Four children were born to this happy home, and the first cloud of sorrow which marred its joy was the death of Omar, the first-born. The early death of this bright and promising youth, cut down at the age of fourteen, was a severe shock to these loving ones, yet has added another link which binds them to the other world. Three children remain : Dana C. Bryan, the proprietor of the London Auto Inn; Ruth and Albert Strain, the last two at home with their mother.

THE WILSON FAMILY.

From a sketch written by Dr. William Morrow Beach, December 20, 1882, and revised by the Editor of this Volume.

Jacob Wilson, the earliest ancestor of the Wilson family in Madison county, Ohio, so far as known, was an Irishman, who had married a German wife. In the year 1790 he left the south branch of the Potomac river in Virginia, not far from Harper's Ferry and emigrated to Kentucky, to what is now the county of Clark. In the year 1802, after having lived twelve years in Kentucky, he came to Ohio and settled on the headwaters of Beaver creek, Bath township, and county of Greene, near the present site of the village of Fairfield.

Jacob Wilson was the father of thirteen children or of twelve, as some of his friends believed. Their names, although probably not in the order of their births, were as follows: Jacob, William, Michael, John, James, Valentine, Jeremiah, Isaac, Daniel, Mary, Eleanor, Elizabeth and Rachel. Some of the friends have believed that there was not one by the name of Rachel.

Jacob Wilson, the first born of Jacob, the first known ancestor, remained in Ken- tucky until the time of his death, which was at a ripe old age. He became very wealthy. He became the largest holder of slaves in that portion of the state. He enjoyed the uneviable notoriety, also, of being the heaviest man in that part of the state, weighing at one time over four hundred pounds. He and his wife together weighed seven hundred pounds. He became the father of eight children, one of whom, probably, remained in Kentucky.

William Wilson died during the War of 1812, at Fairfield, Ohio, of "cold plague" or cerebro-spinal meningitis. He left three children, Susannah, Elizabeth and William.

Michael Wilson died in 1813, at Fairfield, Ohio, leaving three children, Washington, Josiah and Michael. Josiah is said to have been the brightest and handsomest man ever born into the Wilson family. He died at an early age.

John Wilson emigrated from Kentucky to Putnam county, Indiana.

James Wilson emigrated from Kentucky to Indiana, settling in the vicinity of Wolfe Lake. He became the father of five children.

Valentine Wilson, son of Jacob, the first known ancestor, came to Ohio with his father in 1802. He was born near Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, October 1, 1785. and moved to Kentucky with his father in 1790, when five years of age. He was seventeen years old when he came to Ohio, in 1802. In 1806 he was married to Eleanor Judy of Greene county, Ohio, daughter of John Judy, a Swiss, and Phoebe (Lamaster) Judy, his wife a woman of French parentage. To them were born six children : William D., born on February 27, 1807; James, December 20, 1808; John. October 19, 1810; Eli, July 12, 1812; Matilda, October 12, 1814; Malinda, January 12, 1817. Eleanor (Judy) Wilson died in 1819 and Valentine Wilson was next married to Susan Humble, who was born in Ohio, in 1799. To this marriage was born one son, Washington Wilson, September 7, 1821.

On August 18, 1825, Susannah (Humble) Wilson died. On June 18, 1827, Valentine Wilson was married to Nancy Roberts, who became the mother of nine children.

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Caroline M., born on June 28, 1828; Alexander Hamilton, February 7, 1830; Emeline, September 12, 1831; Mary Ann, October 1, 1832; Valentine C., January 19, 1834; Mar- garet, May 5, 1835, who died in infancy on June 3, 1835; Jacob W., April 29, 1836; Daniel Boone, December 4, 1837, and Nancy Frances, October 26, 1840. By the three marriages he became the father of nineteen children, seventeen of whom became heads of families. Margaret died in infancy and Daniel Boone died, unmarried, at the old homestead, April 26, 1860.

That Valentine Wilson was a man of no ordinary gifts, both mental and physical, seems to be a fact of general acceptance among those who knew him the most intimate- ly. He was a man of great presence of mind-which gift stood him in good stead on more than one occasion. Once, when riding after night, he was halted by highway- men who suspected him of having money in his possession, and when he completely disarmed by answering in a calm and unruffled tone of voice: "Well, well, boys, you have got me this time; I have twenty-five cents in my pocket, and if you will go back to the tavern with me we will take that out in a treat all round." They then let him pass without a search or further parley, without suspicion of the fact that be had upon his person, in "genuine coin of the realm" more than seven thousand dollars besides his twenty-five cents. He was also an unconscious psychologist. He could divine a man's errands when approaching him, when a long distance off, forming an opinion which was seldom founded in an error, as to whether he was coming to buy, to sell, or to borrow money, and he often robbed a refusal of its poignancy from this latter class by forestalling them with the question if they knew of any of their neighbors who had two hundred or three hundred dollars that they would loan for a few days. He died of dropsy, July 2, 1855, on the farm where he settled in 1816. From the small beginning of one hundred and sixty acres, his first purchase, in the thirty-nine years of his after life he accumulated about seven thousand acres of land besides over sixty thousand dollars in personal property, and died the wealthiest man who had ever been a citizen of Madison county.

Having come to Ohio with his parents in 1802 and settled on the headwaters of Beaver creek, Bath township, Greene county, where he remained until 1816, when he removed to Madison county, Valentine Wilson began his career on the headwaters of Deer Creek by buying one hundred and sixty acres. He added to the tract until he had at the time of his death nearly ten thousand acres of land, a thousand head of cattle and sheep. Nancy ( Roberts) Wilson survived her husband more than a half century. After her husband's death, she continued to live for many years on the old homestead on the banks of Deer creek. She was a devoted member of the Christian church, and died at Summerford in 1912.

Jeremiah Wilson, another son of Jacob Wilson, remained in Kentucky until the time of his death in 1864.

Isaac Wilson came to Ohio with his father in 1802. He remained at Fairfield, Greene county, Ohio, until his death in the spring of 1859. He was a short, heavy, very fleshy man who, in walking, stepped out a little more than the length of his feet. Mary Wilson married Daniel Funderburg, of Greene county, Ohio, but died early in life.

Eleanor Wilson married John Bradley, of Greene county, Ohio, but subsequently came to Madison county and both lived and died one mile north of Summerford, where Washington Wilson later lived.

Elizabeth Wilson married Charles Heffley, of Greene county, Ohio, but afterward came to Madison county, and settled near Summerford, where both died advanced in years.

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No information is available about Daniel and Rachel except what has already been stated.

William D. Wilson, the "land baron" of Madison county, was the first born of Valentine and Eleanor (Judy) Wilson. He was born in Bath township, Greene county, Ohio, February 27, 1807, and died of erysipelas at bis homestead on the Darby Plains, March 25, 1873. In 1829 he married Nancy Moore, of Madison county, Ohio, who died at the old homestead in September, 1882. Her father was killed by the Indians in the War of 1812. By this marriage there were born to them eight children: Alexander, Ellen, James Monroe, Lafayette, William M., Sarah, Washington and Taylor. William D. Wilson was no ordinary man. Those who knew him intimately and well related that in many respects he was the most remarkable man they ever knew.

There is no photograph or other likeness of William D. Wilson left, while living. There was a post-mortem photograph taken, but it is not a true likeness. He stood six feet in his boots. He was straight and with well-rounded and comely proportions, up until late in life, when he inclined to corpulency. His hands and feet were small and short; his hair dark brown, thick and oily; his head large-number seven and one-half hat-well rounded, and well balanced phrenologically; his complexion clear, and slightly florid; his lower jaw strongly set; his teeth short, even, pearly white, and without signs of decay up until the time of his death. His face was full, and his cheeks full, round and solid, like Bob Ingersoll's. There was an irresistible charm in his full, round, Saxon face-the honest inheritance from his Saxon grandmother. If one was, at first sight, when his face was severely in repose, impressed with the idea that he was somewhat gross and sensual, the varied expression of his wonderful eye, when he became animated, soon set that illusion aside. He was a good and enter- taining talker, with an inclination to ask more questions than he was called on to answer. If you were not on your guard, he would cautiously and quietly pump you dry, without giving back an equivalent, unless it was in the pleasure of his company. In conversation, his voice was agreeable and pleasing, but when it was raised to a high pitch, one would be reminded of the fable of the lion and the foxes-"One, but a lion."

In the race of life William D. Wilson commenced as his father before him had done-single handed and alone. He served his father faithfully and well up until he was twenty-one years of age. He then hired as an ordinary farm laborer, for three months "wet and dry," at seven dollars a month, to Judge John Arbuckle, a near neighbor. Shortly after this term of service, he married and bought two hundred acres of land, out on the Darby Plains, at eighty cents an acre. This was bought with borrowed money, his uncle Daniel going on his notes. The Darby Plains were mostly under water in those days during the wet season of the year; but they grew a rank, coarse kind of wild grass, which, if cut and properly cured, contained just enough nourishment to keep cattle from starving to death. As it had been with his father before him, when a boy at home, so it became with him now. They were not raisers or breeders of cattle. They bought them when two or three years old, and then kept them until fat enough for market. Sometimes a seven-dollar steer brought from the timber land in Indiana in the winter or spring and put on the open grass land of the Darby Plains, would bring twenty-five or thirty dollars in the fall of the year. These fatted cattle passed into the hands of another class of dealers, of which the Renicks, of Pickaway county, were the originators the class of dealers who took them on a six weeks' slow journey over the mountains, to the Baltimore or Philadelphia markets.

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History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Part 133

Author: Chester E. Bryan Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1207

Author: Chester E. Bryan
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1207