USA > Ohio > Madison County > History of Madison County, Ohio : its people, industries and institution with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 78
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Eng by E i Willums & Bro."!
Robi Boze
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directions and as president for many years of the London Exchange Bank of London, he exerted an influence in general business and financial circles second to none in this community. That this influence ever was exerted in behalf of the better interests of the county and that, in all his doings, Mr. Boyd ever was prompted by a desire to further the common good, his unselfish labors thus proving of large value to the public, is one of the best commentaries on his useful life than can be penned. He believed in his fellow men and they trusted him, few men in this county having enjoyed a larger measure of general confidence and esteem than he.
On October 18. 1849, Robert Boyd was united in marriage to Caroline M. Wilson, daughter of Valentine and Nancy (Roberts) Wilson, early settlers of this county, they having come here in the year 1810, and to this union five children were born, namely : Nancy, who married James W. Byers, of London, this county; Alice, who married the Hon. A. G. Carpenter, judge of the appellate court at Cleveland, Ohio; Albert W., of London: Caroline M., who married George W. Kohn, of Van Wert, Ohio, and Robert W., cashier of the London Exchange Bank of London, this county. The mother of these children died on February 21, 1900, and the father survived until February 15, 1905. Both counted their friends by legions and they were sincerely mourned, it being felt by all that their passing had created vacancies in the community life hereabout that would, indeed, be difficult to fill. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd were earnest members of the Methodist church and for many years had been among the most active workers in the congregation to which they were attached, Mr. Boyd long having been a trustee of the church, in which capacity his services were rendered with the same faithful regard to the best things that characterized all his service in this community. His was a well-filled and a useful life, and his memory long will be cherished in Madison county.
MRS. MINNIE J. BIDWELL.
Born in the city of London, and for a number of years prominent in the educational circles of Madison county, Mrs. Minnie J. (Creath) Bidwell was educated in the public schools of London, was graduated from the high school at the latter place in the class of 1887. and was also a student in Wooster University, of Wooster, Ohio, and at Chicago University.
Mrs. Bidwell is the fourth child born to her parents in a family of six children. Her parents were the late George and Josephine (Murray) Creath, the former of whom was born October 5, 1837, at Mt. Sterling, and who died July 28, 1903, and the latter was born November 23, 1859, the daughter of Maxwell and Jane (Armstrong) Murray. The late George Creath was a son of John and Elizabeth Creath. natives respectively, of Kentucky and Virginia, the former being born in Bourbon county, Ken- tucky, in 1897, and the latter in the Old Dominion state in 1794. John Creath was a son of William and Margaret D. Creath, the former of whom was of Irish descent and a pioneer of the state of Kentucky. In 1811 William Creath emigrated to Madison county, Ohio, and settled near Mt. Sterling, where his death occurred. He married Eliza- beth Robey. March 25, 1823. She was a daughter of Notly Robey. John Creath and wife were the parents of seven children, of whom Wiley, the last survivor, died several years ago. John Creath died January 15, 1881, at the age of eighty-three, while his wife had passed away previously in December, 1873. He was the captain of a militia company for seven years, and although reared in the Presbyterian faith, in later years became a member of the United Brethren church.
Mrs. Minnie J. (Creath) Bidwell taught twelve years in the London high school, and was principal of the high school for three years. This high school has an enrollment of one hundred and seventy-five pupils, graduating thirty-one with the class of 1915.
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During the previous year a class of forty-two was graduated from the high school. Mrs. Bidwell began her career as a high school instructor about 1903, and for a number of years taught English and history. Before this she had taught first in the schools of Range township, and afterward in the city schools, where she taught all grades (except the fourth) at various times.
While engaged in teaching Mrs. Bidwell was a prominent worker in teachers' insti- tutes and teachers' associations, including the National Educational Association. She has also been prominent in the work of women's clubs in Madison county. She is ardently devoted to educational work, and also takes an active interest in the work of the Presbyterian church, of which she is an earnest and devoted member. Mrs. Bidwell spent the summer of 1913 touring Europe. She visited Italy, Germany, England, Scot- land, Ireland and other old world countries.
On September 12, 1913, just after her return from abroad, Minnie J. Creath was married to Lester J. Bidwell, and they are now residing in London.
GUY UNDERWOOD.
Among the prominent London attorneys is Guy Underwood, a native of this city, who has served as private secretary to a member of Congress from this district, as assistant librarian of the House of Representatives, as Washington correspondent of the Ohio State Journal, and as campaigner in behalf of the re-election of President Taft in . 1912.
Guy Underwood was born in London, January 3, 1867, and is the son of the late Dr. A. H. Underwood, who was born on April 21, 1836, in Brimfield, Portage county, Ohio. Dr. A. H. Underwood read medicine with Dr. A. S. Weatherby at Cardington, Ohio, in 1862, and was graduated from the Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1865. He began the practice of medicine at South Charleston, and in February, 1866, came to London where he practiced his profession continuously until his death. September 2, 1890.
Born in London, reared in this city where he received the rudiments of an education, having graduated from the London high school with the class of 1884, Guy Underwood has become a well-known attorney in this section of the state. He taught school for four years in Madison county, and served as deputy county clerk for four years under Frank Dun and as deputy county treasurer under John T. Vent, serving the first part of two terms.
In April, 1890. Mr. Underwood was appointed bookkeeper in the sixth auditor's office of the treasury department at Washington, D. C. When George W. Wilson, of London, was elected to Congress, in 1892, he chose Mr. Underwood as his private secretary. This position was held for a period of one term, and Mr. Underwood was appointed as assistant librarian of the House of Representatives, which position he held . until 1901, a period of seven years. Mr. Underwood was Washington correspondent of the Ohio State Journel on the floor of the House of Representatives. In the meantime. he gradu- ated from the old Columbian. now the George Washington Law School, with the class of 1896, and later took a post-graduate course in the same school. He was admitted at this time to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. After leaving Washington, Mr. Underwood began the practice of law at London. He has since prac- ticed there, with the exception of about one year and one-half, in 1913 and 1914, when he was located at Seattle, Washington. A Republican in politics, Mr. Underwood "stumped" the state of Washington and also the state of Ohio in the second campaign of President Taft.
In June, 1901. Guy Underwood was married to Alice Guy, daughter of W. H. Guy
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of Pike township, Madison county, Ohio. They have one son, Guy Underwood, Jr., who is eight years old.
Mr. Underwood is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and at the old Columbian University, was a member of the Greek letter society, Phi Gamma Delta. Mrs. Under- wood is a member of the Episcopal church, and is prominent in the various societies and activities of this church.
CHARLES SHERWOOD.
The words "London. Ohio," with the trade-mark wreath in gold is the only adver- tisement on the end of the "London" copper-finished vault. This trade-mark is viewed by thousands every day at interments in every part of the United States. And so it is a fact that the "London" vault advertises Madison county.
This vault is a London invention. Several years ago Charles Sherwood conceived the idea of an ornamented vault. Up to that time grave vaults had been strictly utilitarian, made for use and, while there were a number that were made which were satisfactory, Mr. Sherwood felt that this article (used at a time of great tension) should be more than a mere steel rough box. So, after designing an especially effective lock and other mechanical features, he drew the original plans and took out patents on the device practically as it is made now.
The finished article, as made by the London Grave Vault Company, is conceded even by competitors to be the most beautiful and satisfactory article of its kind on the market. So that in this instance, as well as in others, London. Ohio, stands for "first grade." The vault was developed in its entirety in London by the best grade of designing talent that could be secured. It is first class in every particular as is the concern which makes it.
As the general manager of this concern, Mr. Sherwood is doing his share toward placing London as a high-grade manufacturing center. The carefully prepared literature of the company goes to all parts of the United States, and the company has customers now in forty of the states.
As the "London" vault is favorably known locally, it is scarcely necessary to refer to the beauty of the design, and to the security which it gives, not only from grave robbery, but from water in the grave. Many Madison county citizens have felt and appreciated the relief which this excellent device has given them at the one moment when any relief is so acceptable. This relief is not only due to the positive assurance of protection, but also to the beauty which this device lends to the last moment at the grave side. The time has passed when those who are left are called on to suffer from the thought that the remains of their beloved repose in a water-filled grave. The time is also passed when those who are left will remember only the crude rough-box that cov- ered the casket. For the beauty of the "London" vault, with its positive assurance of safety, has eliminated all of this.
If the "London" vault were a common-place steel box, as are all of the other vaults, while London might be proud of the success of the institution making such a vault, it would not have the satisfaction that it now has. For the "London" grave vault, in its beautiful copper finish and with its well-designed and massive bronze rests, is a thing of beauty. It stands in the first class. Mr. Sherwood's credit lies in the conception and execution of an article that is far in advance of anything of the kind that has ever been manufactured. And London and Madison county are. benefiting by this commercial and artistic idea properly put into execution.
The London Grave Vault Company is well worth a visit and any who are interested are always welcome to the factory, which is on the Big Four track. west of Maple street.
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It occupies two and one-half acres of ground, and the building is of brick and steel con- struction. The company does an annual business of one hundred thousand dollars and it is certain that this will be increased many fold in the next few years.
MICHAEL S. MURRAY.
That there are enormous differences in the casual power exerted by different minds, depending on their place of vantage in the social system, is, of course, true. Most men merely echo the prevailing opinion or swell the general tide of passion. Even so, such men in the aggregate give to opinion its tendency to prevail, and to passion its tidal and overwhelming power. But the contribution of a single member of the mass is not comparable with that of the individual who occupies a place of prominence or authority. Such a mind operates at a source, coloring all that springs from it, or at a crucial point, where every slight deflection is enormously magnified in the consequence. There are not a few such men of initiative in Madison county, one of the best known of whom is Michael S. Murray, the subject of this interesting biographical review, one of the most prominent and influential personages in this section of Ohio.
Michael S. Murray was born on a farm in Stokes township, this county, on Janu- ary 1, 1856, son of Martin and Bridget ( Roddy) Murray, both natives of County Mayo, Ireland, the former of whom was born near Castlebar, the chief town of Mayo, and the latter near the town of Ballina. Martin Murray emigrated to America in 1847, locating at Springfield, this state, near which city he engaged in farming. In July 1853, Martin Murray was united in marriage to Bridget Roddy, who had come to America in 1850, locating also at Springfield. In 1854, they came to Madison county. locating on a farm near the village of Solon, in Stokes township, where they remained until the year 1860, at which time they removed to a farm near Jeffersonville, in Fayette county. In 1866, they moved to the farm in Union township, Madison county, where they lived until 1892, in which year they retired from the farm and moved into the city of London, where their last days were spent, Mrs. Murray's death occur- ring in March, 1910, and Mr. Murray dying in December, 1911. They were the parents of eleven children, seven of whom are still living; the others, besides the subject of this sketch, being John, of West Jefferson, this county ; James, Martin, Mary and Margaret, of Columbus, this state, and Katherine, who is a nun in a convent in Kentucky.
Michael S. Murray was reared on the paternal farm. receiving his elementary edu- cation in the common schools of his home township, which was supplemented by a course in a select school at Springfield and at the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio, For several years then he taught school in this county, meantime reading law, and in 1884 was admitted to practice law at the bar of the Madison circuit court. in which year he moved to London, the county seat, which ever since has been his home. For more than twenty years Mr. Murray practiced law alone; in January, 1904, he formed his present effective and mutually agreeable partnership with P. R. Emery. From the very start Mr. Murray has occupied a prominent position at the bar of the Madison county courts and at the bars of the courts of adjacent counties, and few lawyers in this section of the state have a wider reputation than he. Vigorous, forceful, a master of the law. skilled in practice and possessed of a singularly engag- ing personality, Mr. Murray has made for himself a name to conjure with in the courts of this district and he possesses the utmost confidence and the highest respect of bench and bar alike. The firm of Murray & Emery has charge of the legal business of many important interests in Madison and adjoining counties. to all of which the most careful attention is given, among the firm's clients being the Madison National Bank and the extensive Houstonian interests.
MICHAEL S. MURRAY.
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On November 22, 1881, Michael S. Murray was united in marriage to Anna Galla- gher, of South Charleston, Clark county, this state, to which union three children have been born, namely : Mayme, who is at home with her parents; Frank J., who is probate judge of Madison county, and John Emmet, an attorney of Chehalis, Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Murray are members of the Catholic church and their children have been reared in that faith. They are earnestly interested in the good works of their home city and are held in the highest esteem by the entire community, their many fine qualities, both of head and heart, attracting to them a large circle of very warm friends.
Mr. Murray is a Democrat and his voice for years has been an infinential one in. the deliberations of the party managers of this district. He never has held office, though he was candidate, in 1908, for judge of the common pleas conrt of this dis- trict. Though he carried his own county and two others of the five connties in the district, he was defeated, the Republican "land slide" in the two connties that went against him being sufficient to turn the tide of popular favor against him. Mr. Murray is an active, energetic, public-spirited citizen and for many years has been regarded as one of the foremost leaders in the business and professional life of this section. He is a director in the London Exchange Bank and also holds other important con- nections, his position in business and financial circles being as firmly established as is his exalted position in legal circles.
SAMUEL S. VAN CLEVE.
One of the flourishing industries of Madison connty, Ohio, is the Madison Tile Com- pany, located between the Pennsylvania and the Big Four railroad tracks in the city of London. In 1896 the firm was established as the Van Cleve Brothers. The company now owns about seventy acres of fine clay and makes tile from four to twenty-fonr inches in diameter, having a capacity of six hundred carloads annually and employing about twenty-five men and six teams for delivering farm drain tile. The business has been growing for many years. the ontput in 1914 having been the largest in the history of the business. Within recent years, the capacity has been increased on several occa- sions. This business was started in a small way, but the capital has been increased from time to time, growing to its present large proportions.
Samuel S. Van Cleve, who has had charge of this plant for some time, formerly operated a plant at Big Plain, in Madison county, and has been in the tile business in this connty for twenty-five years. He had learned all of the details of manufacturing tile at the age of eighteen.
Mr. Van Cleve was born in Madison county, three miles west of London in Union township, August 15, 1866. He is the son of B. T. and Amanda Van Cleve, of Dayton, who came to Madison county in 1865, and who engaged in farming near Lilly Chapel in Fairfield township. Both died in this county.
In 1892 Samnel S. Van Cleve was married to Minnie Higgins, the daughter of Dr. C. W. Higgins, of Derby, Pickaway county, Ohio. Mrs. Van Cleve was born in Madison county. Her father was a successful physician at Big Plain for many years and one of the best-known men in this section of Ohio. He died at Derby, while engaged in the grain business and in farming. Mr. and Mrs. Van Cleve have been the parents of two children. Jane and Charles, both of whom live at home.
C. B. Van Cleve, one of the Van Cleve brothers, has been engaged in the manufacture of tile at different places in Ohio for the past thirty years or more. He is known as one of the most successful tile men in this state. Another brother, Simpson Van Cleve, of West Mansfield, Ohio, is engaged in the mannfacture of tile at Ada, West Mansfield and Marysville. He is one of the best-known tile manufacturers in Ohio at this time
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and it is his son, Harry, who is a member of the firm, the Madison Tile Company, at London. Still another brother, J. W. Van Cleve, is also engaged in the mannfacture of tile and was in partnership with S. S. Van Cleve until his death in March, 1913. after twenty-three years continuous experience in the tile business.
The Madison Tile Company has a business which extends all over Madison county, and all over this section of Ohio. They take contracts from county commissioners and some of these contracts amount to several thousand dollars. . In fact, the manufacture of tile under contract is one of the principle businesses of the Madison Tile Company.
THE ROWLAND FAMILY.
In a plot of ground a little way from Mt. Sterling, Monroe township, Pickaway county, Ohio, are the graves of three generations of distinguished men. Distinguished they were for love of country and love of liberty, a rich legacy to begneath to their children and their children's children.
John Rowland, the first of the name in the new country, was a soldier in the War of Independence. the record of his services being on file in the archives of Mt. Sterling chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. As has been written of him : "A young man of thirty-one at the time of the birth of the republic, he helped to rock the cradle and then participated in the life of the republic through its infant struggles, its vigorons youth and its matured manhood." John Rowland came to Ohio in a wagon from the state of Delaware in 1811 and bought a farm in Monroe township. Pickaway county, where he spent the rest of his life and was buried, his death occurring on March 18. 1850, at the great age of one hundred and five years and seven months. Mary Osborne, wife of John Rowland, died on February 26, 1858, aged one hundred and three years, and is buried by his side.
Samuel Rowland. the eldest of the eight children of John and Mary ( Osborne) Rowland. born on May 4, 1792, is the second soldier to be buried in the hallowed spot above referred to. He served in the War of 1812, receiving for his services a land warrant which he later sold in Circleville. About the year 1824 Samuel Rowland married Rebecca Dyer, a native of Virginia, a young woman of beauty and spirit, who came on horseback with a party of pioneers from Harper's Ferry, bringing with her her small sister and a young negro, her father having been a slaveholder. She was proud of her soldier husband and displayed for many years on the wall of their cabin his army cap, sword and musket. She died on September 2. 1872. aged eighty years and five months, and is buried in the Rowland cemetery.
The third soldier to be buried there is Samnel Rowland, Jr., third son of Samuel and Rebecca (Dyer) Rowland. While serving as first lientenant of Company E. One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, he fell a victim of fever and died at Youngs Point. Louisiana, February 15. 1863, aged thirty-five years.
Elza Rowland, eldest son of Sanmel and Rebecca Rowland, was born in Monroe township. Pickaway county. April 8, 1826. A young man of studions habits, by diligent application he acquired considerable education. being proficient especially in mathe- matics, and he readily passed the required examinations and for some years taught school. He had some knowledge of legal forms, such as agreements, leases and con- tracts, and his services were in frequent demand. As Squire Rowland. he was peace- maker and arbiter in all the neighborhood differences, and the marriage ceremony also was within his province. Being of a cheerful, genial disposition the squire was always a welcome guest at the social gatherings of his people, and the sick and the needy ever were subjects of his personal ministration. Squire Rowland was chiefly engaged in farm- ing and stock raising. his pride in this pursuit for years having led him to be an unfail-
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ing exhibitor and patron at the county fairs, which ,in an earlier time, were the great annual visiting seasons of the farmer. He bought and sold live stock, and for a number of years was perhaps the largest shipper to the Eastern markets in Ohio. At this writing, in his eighty-ninth year, he lives in his own home in Mt. Sterling, near the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. Wesley Beale, his only surviving child. With his great height, a family mark, and kindly dignity, he has a truly patriarchal appearance. For some years his birthdays have been occasions of general interest in the community in which he lives surrounded by the affectionate respect of many friends and greatly beloved by the children.
On October 2, 1846, Elza Rowland was married to Mariah Jane Thomas, a beautiful girl in her eighteenth year. Of gentle birth and exquisite breeding, she graced and dignified the cabin home. Like the Rowland family, of whom they were neighbors, the Thomases were pioneers, Jane Thomas's grandparents, Jeremiah and Ellen (Norris) Thomas, having come to Ohio from Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in 1807. Her great- grandfather, Jeremiah, a soldier in the patriot army during the War of the Revolu- tion, is buried at Harper's Ferry. His wife, Mary, came to Ohio with her family after his death and is buried in the Thomas burial ground on the banks of Clarks run not far from Mt. Sterling. The family records, which are filed with the Carnegie library at Mt. Sterling, show the family to be descended from Thomas Thomas, a native of Wales, who emigrated with his family to a plantation near Baltimore, Maryland, early in the seventeenth century. From 1651 until 1656 he was high commissioner of the provincial court.
One hundred acres and the cabin built of logs was a marriage gift to Jane Thomas and Elza Rowland from her father and mother, John and Abigail (Van Buskirk) Thomas, and was located on a corner of their lands. Describing her early surround- ings with loving remembrance in after years, Mrs. Rowland often was wont to relate that in going back and forth to her father's house, a daily occurrence to which she confessed with smiling apology, she followed a "blazed trail" through the wilderness. The trials and hardships incident to a new country were to her but pleasant duties: so, throughout her life responsibilities were assumed and disasters met with unflinching courage. Her world was bounded by home and children, and the death of three children, grown to manhood and womanhood, overwhelmed her with grief and shad- owed her remaining years. She died at her home in Mt. Sterling on May 29, 1905. aged seventy-five years, ten months. The family were of the faith of the Christian church and gave generously to its support. In times of health they were regular in attendance at the services.
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