USA > Ohio > Morgan County > History of Morgan County, Ohio, with portraits and biographical sketches of some of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 47
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68
364
HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
Side by side with her noble husband she has uniformly with grace, good sense, sincerity and generosity, welcomed and entertained relatives and friends as be- comes a wife of a leading and honorable citizen. She has by the same side per- formed that nobler office-wept with the sorrowing and had an unvarying smile and helping hand to welcome and encourage the broken in health and spirit and for their orphans. Mr. Duns- moor commenced his business career as a farmer immediately after his mar- riage; moving on his farm, he worked on it in the summer and taught school -and very successfully-in the winter. This-until he got his farm cleared- perhaps three or four years, when he sold his farm, moved to Brown's Mills, Washington County, Ohio, and engaged in the mercantile business, having bought his brother-in-law-H. Gard's- goods, the latter having previously been engaged there in the same busi- ness. While thus engaged he took in his brother Abner as a partner, when they enlarged their business by engag- ing to some extent in old-time flat- boating, i. e, buy or get made a boat of the style then in vogue, buy country produce (pork, bacon, flour, potatoes, etc.) sufficient to load it, and when this done, and at a proper rise of the river, one of the partners, assisted by about three men, would embark, generally for the Crescent City, though they would generally "coast as they went," ¿. e., sell to the natives at towns and large plantations at different points on their way down, tarrying at each as they found it to pay, winding up each trip generally at New Orleans by sell- ing the boat and its remaining contents, when-after seeing the sights of the city-they would return home on a
steamboat. Of the latter, however, there were few yet running compared with the present. Mr. Dunsmoor at this time and after he removed to Malta, Ohio (of latter more particulars farther along), made quite a number of these trips personally for himself and partners, meeting with various ad- ventures as he naturally would, some of which were exciting and dangerous. In after years it was a favorite and much- asked-for treat for his children and grand-children to hear him "tell stories of when he was down the river." Lack of space forbids the narration of any of them here except one briefly outlined. Mr. Dunsmoor at the ter- mination of one of these trips was sauntering along a street in New Or- leans when he was attracted by one of the oft-read-of slave auctions. He ap- proached and became a spectator. He saw among other sales a mother and her little child of perhaps three years put on the block and sold to different masters, and when the child was ordered taken away, the mother clung to it until the planter who had bought the child raised his cane seemingly to strike her. She then fell in a swoon and the child was removed from her arms, likely never again to nestle there in this world. Mr. Dunsmoor (to use his own words) quit the scene, and as he walked away exclaimed in the full- ness of his heart, "My God! is this the boasted land of liberty ? is this the asylum for the oppressed of every land?" This blot on our coun- try's otherwise fair escutcheon, Mr. Dunsmoor happily lived to see removed. After continuing in business in Brown's Mills some two or three years, (in 1837) he removed to Malta ; also his militia experience ended about this time or a
365
MALTA.
little before. On arriving at mustering age (18 years), he had joined a com- pany, raised, it is understood, in Barlow, Wesley and Roxbury townships, of which he was soon elected or appointed a subaltern officer, in which capacity he served a short time, when he was ap- pointed by his colonel, Ephraim Palmer, an officer of his staff-adjutant 1st Reg- iment, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division Ohio Militia, in which capacity he served until the regiment was disbanded, which was caused by important changes in militia laws. Upon removing to Malta, Mr. Dunsmoor entered into part- nership with William and Edward Mellor, and again carried on mercantile business for perhaps about three years, when he sold his interest to one or both of the Mellors. He next (in 1840) formed a partnership with John Timms, and yet again carried on merchandising and flatboating in connection-more of the latter here than when he was in the same business at Brown's Mills. (For further detail regarding this latter busi- ness see former mention of business done at latter point). This firm con- tinued in business about three years, when it closed out, the immediate cause of which well illustrates Mr. Dunsmoor's incorruptible honesty under trying cir- cumstances. Therefore it will be briefly narrated here: In 1843 he and Mr. Timms took their last boat down south ; it was loaded with pork, bacon, etc., but finding a poor market at New Orleans this time, they, by the advice of authority they deemed entirely trust- worthy (and likely it was) forwarded the cargo to a commission firm in New York to dispose of. They in due time received advice from the firm that their goods were sold and to draw on them "at sight," which they did, but the
paper was protested and they lost the entire amount, which, being a valuable cargo, left Mr. Dunsmoor worth $1,500, less than nothing; but he (in 1845) com- menced business again, this time that of selling clocks on commission, Allen Daniels furnishing the capital. He con- tinued in this business until 1848 or a little after, operating in the states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, when, though he had been quite successful, he was forced to quit the business, the chills and fever having fastened themselves upon him, which was a more serious matter in those days than now. He had, however, by this means been en- abled to pay all his debts dollar for dollar, which he did without his credit- ors having recourse on him in any way. He was very jealous of his reputation for honesty, and ever after this occasion- ally with great comfort of mind reverted to this incident in and part of his busi- ness career and to the fact that he had been enabled to pay in full, "no man ever having lost a cent by him." The same year he quit the clock business, he engaged with David Dickerson in the foundry business. He continued with Mr. Dickerson until 1850, the firm name being Dunsmoor & Dickerson. In 1851 the firm name changed to Dunsmoor, Guthrie & Co., but it is not known who, besides Mr. Dunsmoor and Mr. Guthrie composed this last firm, which continued the business until 1856 or 1857, when Mr. Dunsmoor sold his interest to Messrs. Guthrie and Seaman, and was the same year appointed secretary of a projected railroad known as the Pittsburgh, Mays- ville and Cincinnati Railroad, of which he was also a director. He continued secretary of this corporation for several years after work was stopped on the road. He since, at different times, has,
366
HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
been prominently connected with other railroad projects, by which it was hoped to develop his county and furnish a reliable communications for its citizens with the outside world. Lack of suffi- cient financial support has, however, heretofore prevented all these hoped-for improvements from being completed. In 1858 Mr. Dunsmoor bought the fur- niture establishment of Jackson Palmer, which business he energetically (as he did whatever he engaged in) carried on until his death, enlarging and im- proving the establishment from time to time, and eventually taking in as a partner a worthy nephew, Augustus, son of his brother Abner, which nephew he had raised as he would a son (he not being a son, nor an adopted onc, as sup- posed by many), his mother, as will be remembered, having died when he was but about two years of age. Three of his little orphan grandchildren met with the same benignant treatment, and as has been said before, his hospitable doors and great heart were always open to all of them to come and go as they listed. But the children designated, being orphaned at a tender age, had his more particular attention. Mr. Dunsmoor, during his life time, was by his fellow-citizens elected, and he served many terms as justice of the peace (than which there are few more honorable posi- tions among men, if elected, as he was, and the office filled as it was by him). He was frequently called upon to fill various other honorable and responsible posi- tions being one of those men always looked to by his neighbors for the management of their public affairs of moment, when wisdom, recognized character, and business tact were needed. Mr. Dunsmoor became a Master Mason in the McConnelsville Ohio Lodge,
February 2, 1846. He was instru- mental in organizing Malta Lodge, of which he was a member at the time of his death, and the last of its charter members. He had filled the several higher stations in the lodge most acceptably. . A good many years before he died he became a Royal Arch Mason, which he was in good standing ever after. He was a member of the Uni- versalist church for fifty years, also one of the original members of the McCon- nelsville church. He dicd October 28, 1883, having attained the age of seventy-six years. His wife, Lucy A., survives him. They had no children. Hiel Dunsmore, besides having the char- acteristics heretofore indicated, was a shrewd judge of men and their motives, of noble presence and dignified bearing, and "to a character of sterling worth united (as can be well said of his surviving wife) a genial, hearty tem- perament which rejoiced in the society of friends and found a chief pleasure of life in their companionship. A good talker, he possessed a fund of anecdote and reminiscence which together made him excellent company."
Mrs. Dunsmoor was born in Union Village, N. Y., April 8, 1825, and came to Morgan County in June of 1853, and was married to Mrs. Dunsmoor the following year. Her father, Stephen Atwood, was born in 1785. His father, Samuel Atwood, was a native of Massa- chusetts, and was born in 1754. Stephen married Miss Lucy Briggs in 1811. He was a farmer by occupation. In 1820 the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Duns- moor (Briggs) came to Chesterfield, where he died in 1821.
GEORGE L. CORNER.
Among the prominent pioneer citi- zens who have lived and died in
367
MALTA.
Morgan County, one of the most deserv- ing of a place in these biographieal sketehes is George Lowe Corner, a man of unobtrusive disposition yet of generally recognized worth and influ- enee.
The succession of events which de- termined his settlement in the county is ancestral history, interesting to quite a large family connection living in this region of Ohio, while having an appro- priate place in this memoir.
George Corner and Martha (Dumbill,) Corner, his grandparents, were well-to- do people of the middle class of Cheshire, England, where they acquired by purchase a tract of some eleven hundred acres of land in the wilds of Kentucky, with a view to emigration and settlement there. Accordingly, soon after, in the early part of the year 1795, they sailed for America, bringing with them all their immediate descend- ants, embraeing a number of grand- children.
A tedious voyage brought them to Baltimore, Md., and though here some of their party were smitten with yellow fever, they pressed toward their intended home, crossed the mountains, descended the Ohio River, and in August of the same year arrived at Mari- etta, O., leaving, however, one of their number, a victim of the fever, buried in the woods of Pennsylvania, near the " Big Springs " of the Juniata.
At Marietta, learning that their lands were far beyond and distant in- land from the river, they concluded to remain for a time under the protection of the stockade there, and the elder Corner entrusted the title papers to their lands to Herman Blannerhassett, then a noted lawyer of the vicinity, for the purpose of perfecting their
claim by such further measures as might be required. Before this was accomplished, Blannerhassett's house was burned and with it the title to their Kentucky purchase.
This occurrence determined the settle- ment of most of this family of immi- grants within the then extended limits of Washington County, O.
George, the grandfather and George, his son, (whose wife was Ann (Clark) Corner) settled on Wolf Creek, within the bounds of what is now Windsor Township, Morgan County, where to George and Ann was born, October 23, 1797, their fourth child, George L., believed to be the second white ehild born within the present limits of the county.
In 1802, the father being an invalid, removed to New York City to avail himself of medieal skill, but in the winter 1804-5 the family returned to their Wolf Creek home, leaving the husband and father buried on the banks of the Monongahela in a cemetery near Cookstown, Pa. On their return they found the grandfather had also deceased. The widowed mother, with her young family, had then and there to buffet with the hardships and privations of pioneer life. George L. remained with her on her little farm, aeting his part as a good and dutiful son, till, at the age of sixteen years, he was apprentieed to a Mr. Currier, of Athens, O., to learn the tanning and currying trade.
Upon completion of his indentures he found work, near Wheeling, Pa., upon the National Pike, then being built. By rigid economy and industry he saved money enough to make the first payment on a quarter-section of land, which he located in Union Township and upon which he built a cabin and
368
HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
made a little clearing, and again started out in quest of work to secure, what was then so scarce and yet so necessary to hold, the purchase-money for his deferred payments. After long and diligent search he found employment at his trade at Georgetown, Brown County, O., where he remained and wrought till his savings were suffi- cient to meet the payments on his lands and then returned to devote his energies, quite successfully, to establish- ing a tanning business and the improve- ment of his property.
As a citizen of Union Township he took a prominent position in its affairs for several years prior to his removal to Malta, in 1833, serving as justice of the peace to general acceptance. He was especially useful in harmonizing and adjusting suits and disputes amongst his neighbors. By reason of his sound sense, good judgment and strict in- tegrity his advice was sought in many affairs in the circles of his business and social acquaintance.
The business career of Mr. Corner has been so thoroughly outlined in the chapters of this history devoted to Union and Malta Townships, that it is not deemed necessary to reproduce it here. From 1833 until his decease he was successfully engaged in merchan- dising. For his first store building, at Malta, he went into the woods, felled the trees, and hewed the timbers.
He was held in high and general esteem for his solid, manly character, distinguishing traits of which were benevolence, candor, and a high sense of justice. Envy or malice had no place in his heart, and he preferred always to speak good rather than ill of others. In manner he was considerate, kind and engaging; calm, prudent and
self-possessed under adverse circum- stances. His public spirit was attested by the liberal aid he gave to every enterprise that tended to promote the welfare of the county.
Ilis educational opportunities, were of course, very limited, but he possessed good natural ability, and by attention to such opportunities as he had, he attained intelligence above the average. An earnest christian, he prac- ticed in his daily life the tenets of his belief. He was one of the founders of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Malta, and for many years its main stay and support.
His useful life closed August 11, 1857. His departure was widely lamented and the inquiry was frequently made, " who is there to take his place ?"
Mr. Corner was married November 28, 1822, to Miss Sarah W. Hart, then of Athens County, an estimable chris- tian lady of New England parentage, who survived him about three years. There were born to them nine children, May, Emily, Lucy, Eliza A., Sarah, Martha, Marcus L., George S., and Newell.
MALTA TOWNSHIP.
This township was the latest formed in Morgan County. It was set off in 1839, its territory being principally taken from Morgan Township, with the addition of a few sections from Deer- field. On the list of pioneer voters in Morgan Township, given in Chapter XVIII, will be found the names of many whose locations were within the present limits of Malta Township. Edward Miller, who was born in 1805, and who came to the township in 1806, says that they were few settlers until after the close of the war of 1812,
George horner
369
MALTA.
Then for a few years land was taken up rapidly and it was not long before all the most desirable tracts had been entered. Some of the old-time pioneer hunters alarmed at the encroachment of the settlers upon the territory where they had been for years engaged in their pursuit unmolested, left their little clearings, and with guns and axes upon their shoulders departed to the west- ward in search of regions where game was plentier and neighbors were fewer. But to those who had formerly enjoyed the comforts of civilization and who loved the companionship of their fellow-men, it was many years before their surroundings appeared other- wise than wild, desolate and forbidding. Indeed, as late as 1835, the aspect of the township was that of the prim- itive forest, broken here and there by a small clearing in the midst of which appeared a small log cabin. Many people now living can recall the time when deer abounded in the woods, and some yet survive who in their earlier years were not unaccustomed to the sight of the bear and the wolf.
The Indian trail from the north to the Ohio River led along the ridge a mile or more back from the Muskingum. This route was frequently used by the red men even after the country was settled by the whites. The Indians were accustomed to call upon the settlers with baskets and trinkets which they sought to trade for whisky, tobacco and other articles. At the house of Edward Miller, Sen., now the home of William Sherwood, they were frequent visitors, as Miller had hunted with them when a boy and understood something of their language and customs.
The monotony of life in the wilder- 24
ness was oceasionally enlivened by an exciting hunt for bears and wolves. At one time a party of men found a bear on Oil Spring Run and elosely pursued him until he took refuge inside a hollow sycamore tree. One of the number, a man named Briggs, arranged a prop against the tree and climbed up to the place where the bear was sup- posed to have taken refuge. He then cut a hole with an axe, but seeing noth- ing of the bear, inserted his head to reconnoiter. His face met the damp nose of the bear; his head was with- drawn very suddenly and he descended to the ground in the quiekest possible time, leaving to his companions the task of securing the bear. As the county paid a considerable bounty for each bear killed, hunters missed no opportunity of destroying these animals whenever it was possible, so that it was not many years until they disappeared altogether.
Most of the early settlers of this part of the county found their way to their new homes by means of eanoes and pirogues, transporting their goods upon the river either from Marietta or Zanes- ville. The river was the principal thoroughfare in the early years. Roads and horses and wagons belong to a later period.
Reuben Porter settled about 1815 where his descendants still live. His son Reuben is still living in the town- ship at an advanced age.
Thomas Risen settled in 1816 where George Warren now lives. His sons John, Joseph and Amos, still living in the county, are among the old resi- dents.
Near by was William Alloway, a tall lean Yankee. He remained but a few years when he went West.
370
HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
Rufus P. Stone, who was quite a prominent man in the early years of the county, lived on the present John E. Thomas farm in 1818. He came here from Washington County and resided here until his death. On the river be- low Stone, lived Henry Snyder and Theophilus Caton.
Benjamin Beckwith, whose descend- ants are still here, was an early settler on the school section. His son-in-law, John Wesley Johnson, was an early settler on the farm adjoining the Por- ters. He died in 1831 and the farm has since changed owners several times.
Hon. William M. Dawes, one of the early associate judges of the county, settled in the township as early as 1817. He had quite a large family. In con- nection with his sons he carried on distilling and tanning, kept a store and ran a carding machine. His son Henry moved to Malta where he became a prominent merchant. Judge Dawes sold out to Humphrey Rusk.
Edward Miller, Sen., settled on the present Sherwood farm in 1806 and resided there till 1816. Previous to his settlement John Lockhart had made a small improvement there.
Simeon Pool, one of the founders of Malta, was among the earliest settlers in the township. The present John Miller farm was included in his land. Samuel McCune, an early settler, lived on the next farm above Pool's.
Mrs. Clemans, of Penn Township, was one of the pioneer women of Malta. In 1810 her mother, Nancy Stone, in company with her uncle John Eveland came from Wilkesbarre, Pa. They made the trip over the mountains in a wagon containing their household goods and five children, arriving in Zanesville they completed their journey by river
to what has since been known as the Moore farm where they settled. Eve- land did not remain long, however, emigrating to Missouri. Mrs. Clemans passed through many hardships. She states that at one time the family were without bread for six weeks, subsisting entirely on corn and potatoes. Salt was obtained from "over the mioun- tains" by packing it on horses. In 1817 she was married to John Clemans a Virginian. He died in Malta. He was a millwright by trade.
Bill Hughes is said to have built the first cabin within the present limits of the village of Malta. Abe settled north of the town a little later and afterward moved west a few miles. Bill moved to the vicinity of Bald Eagle. Later both quitted the country. They were from Georgia and excellent types of the roving squatter characters, once familiar in nearly every part of the county.
Above the John Miller farm was a hundred acre tract entered at an early day by Captain Olney, an early settler of Washington County, whose son-in- law occupied it for a few years. This farm passed into the hands of James A. Gillespie in 1820, and about the same time he bought the one hundred acre tract above it of Gilbert Olney. The latter tract was first occupied by Samuel McCune, probably as early as 1812. He sold out to Gilbert Olney, from Washington County. The latter was not related to Captain Olney.
James A. Gillespie engaged in the manufacture of salt in 1829. He and Zurial Sherwood were then the only salt makers on the river between Malta and Eagleport. Gillespie's well proved a good one and his success was such as to lead others to embark in the business
371
MALTA.
and in a few years salt-furnaces were numerous along the river. The indus- try was an important source of revenue to the pioneers. Salt was one of the very few products of the county that could be sold for cash, and a ready market was found for it in Cincinnati and other cities. Many men were em- ployment about the furnaces, in the cutting of wood, and in the transporta- tion of the product to market, and thus salt-manufacture became an important interest.
James Alexander Gillespie was of Irish parentage. He was born in Mary- land, and came from Harford County in that state to Ohio. After a short time spent in Licking County, he moved to Muskingum County in 1814, and for four years plied his trade-that of a cooper-at John Matthews' mill at Moxahala, at the mouth of John's Creek. During this time he saved money with which he entered land in Morgan County. In 1818 he embarked in a pirogue with his family and goods, and landed at Malta. There being no wagons in the country, his effects were transported with sleds to the place that was to become his home. The land entered by him was a quarter-section, now occupied by the Barkhurst and Gillespie families. Mr. Gillespie fol- lowed his trade in connection with farming, and the articles manufactured by him found sale in Putnam. He was the principal cooper in the neighbor- hood. About 1827 he engaged in dis- tilling, which he followed for about two years. Ilis first distillery was on Oil Spring Run, but the following year he ran one located above McConnels- ville, on the east side of the river. In 1829 he engaged in salt-making, in which he was interested until his death.
He died in 1838. He was then engaged in keeping tavern in McConnelsville on the spot where the Koons House now stands. He was a prominent man and served as justice of the peace. His wife was Margaret McLeary, of York County, Pennsylvania. They had nine children, eight of whom grew to mature years- Jane (Kincaid), John McLeary, James, Mary A. (Fouts), Nancy (Fouts), Will- iam Thomas, Samuel Martin, Hily (who died young), and Margaret (Martin). Of these Jolin M., James, Martin and Margaret are living.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.