USA > Ohio > Morgan County > History of Morgan County, Ohio, with portraits and biographical sketches of some of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 51
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
eldest, was killed at the battle of Bun- ker Hill; Abraham also lost his life in battle; Asa passed through the war, coming out with the rank of major. Both he and his wife died at Waterford during the Indian war, and their burial place is unknown.
Nicholas Coburn, Sr., son of Major Asa Coburn, was born in Worcester, Mass., in 1772, and came to Marietta with his parents in 1788. In the spring of 1789 with his father's family he moved to Waterford and remained there through the Indian War. He was one of the party who went from Fort Frye (at Waterford) in 1791 to bury the victims of the massacre at Big Bottom. In 1794 Nicholas Coburn married Rosamond Olney, who came from Nova Scotia. During that year he settled opposite the site of Lowell, where he remained until the spring of 1796. He then moved to the north- eastern part of Windsor Township, and settled on the farm now owned by his grandson, Richmond L. Coburn. At that time his nearest neighbor lived at the mouth of Olive Green Creek. He planted on his farm one of the first orchards in Morgan County. Mrs. Coburn died in 1828, and Mr. Coburn in 1848. They reared a large family- eight daughters and two sons. Of the sons, Barzilla, the elder, moved to Mis- souri in 1839; the other, Nicholas, lived and died on the homestead.
Nicholas Coburn, Jr., was born March 24, 1804. In 1831 he married Elizabeth Cheadle, daughter of Richard Cheadle of Big Bottom. Mr. Coburn was a prominent man and served as a justice of the peace in Windsor Township for eighteen years. He was also a county commissioner for three years. He was an ardent whig, and attested his loyalty .
to his party by urging all whigs to at- tend the elections and vote. During the election of 1844, he discovered late in the afternoon of election day that one of his whig neighbors had not voted. He therefore went in search of him, and on asking the reason for his neglect of duty, learned that the man had stayed at home because he had no shoes to wear! Mr. Coburn thereupon took off his own shoes, had his neighbor put them on and hurry away to the polling-place, thus adding one to the number of ballots for Clay, while he himself walked home bare-footed, to the great amusement of his family.
Nicholas Coburn, Jr., died August 18, 1867, and his wife October 31, 1877. They had three children-Leonidas J., Louisa and Richmond L. Louisa be- came the wife of Edward Ellison, (now deceased), who was a minister of the M. E. Church.
Leonidas J. Coburn, a representative farmer and a most worthy citizen, was born September 4, 1832. In January, 1855, he married Susan Swift, and has six children : Don C., who married Emma Nulton; Nicholas, who married Jessie Nulton; Charles, who married Flora Bolinger ; Juniatta, Edward and Allen. Don C. and Nicholas are min- isters of the Methodist Protestant Church. Leonidas J. Coburn has served six years as a justice of the peace and now (1886) is serving his second term as one of the county commissioners.
Richmond L. Coburn, a prominent farmer, was born June 28, 1839, on the old homestead and in the old house which was built in 1813. He has always resided on the farm. Mr. Coburn was in the U. S. service in the Second West Virginia cavalry from 1861 to 1865 and participated in all the campaigns of
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that regiment. He was married Janu- ary 1, 1867, to Miss P. A. Hill, of Wash- ington County, whose parents were members of one of the early families. Mr. and Mrs. Coburn have four children, Nicholas Roscoe, Alexander Royal, Ray- mond Clinton and Richmond Walter. Mr. Coburn is a republican and a mem- ber of the Methodist Protestant church.
Simeon Evans, or Grandfather Evans as he was familiarly known, was born in Orange County, New York, in 1776, and came with his father, Nathaniel Evans, to Washington County in 1794. The family settled near Marietta and the elder Evans is buried in the Marietta cemetery. Simeon Evans was one of the early pioneers of Windsor Township, where he settled about 1796. He married Miss Elizabeth Mellor in 1799. She was of English birth, and came to America in 1795. They reared a family of eleven children,-six boys and five girls. All attained mature years. Of this large family only three, Sarah, Prudence and John, are now living. John and Joel were twins and inherited the old home- stead, one of the finest farms upon the river. Both married, the former for his first wife Miss Elizabeth Mathews. She lived but a short time and he was again married to Naney Hoon and reared a family of eleven children. Joel married Miss Rebecea Martin and the result of this union was seven children,-Laura, Murray (died in infancy), Edith, Arza, Simeon, Orville and Ada. The lives of these two brothers were almost insepa- rably connected. They did not seem to have a dual existence. For over sixty years they lived and did business to- gether without a single disagreement to mar the placidity of their lives. In 1881 John was compelled to leave the old home on account of the illness of his
wife and went to Oregon. The attach- ment between the brothers was so strong that Joel did not long survive the separation, and in February of the fol- lowing year he died. The name of Evans is one familiar to every one in the southern part of the county, where they are known as honest, intelligent and upright people. Simeon, the pro- genitor of the family in Morgan County, was a fine type of the pioneer ; he was a religious man, and in the early days his house was known far and near as the " preaching place " for the Meth- odists. He died January 5, 1861 ; his wife in 1838.
Sylvanus Olney, who was born in Nova Scotia in 1773, eame to Marietta at the age of nineteen and spent some time in the block-house there. He was a soldier under General Wayne for two years, and afterwards a second lieuten- ant under General Harrison in the latter's Sandusky expedition. He set- tled on the opposite side of the river from E. N. Olney's present residence, and his brother Asa on the place above him. About 1803 he moved to the north side of the river, having traded his land on the other side for the farm on which his son now lives. He was married in 1799 to Annie Slack, and probably settled on his first place about that time. His children by this mar- riage were John, Sarah, Daniel, Asa, Henry, Louisa, Louisiana, R. J. Meigs and Dexter. For his second wife he married Betsy Nixon, in 1819, by whom he had one child, Elias Nixon Olney. born May 15, 1825. Sylvanus Olney died July 11, 1866, in the 94th year of his age. Ile was a justice of the peace and a prominent man.
E. N. Olney has always resided on the homestead. He was married in
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
1852 to Lucy Ann Vaughn, who died in 1863. Their children were Sarah E. (deceased), Warren, Henry and Ells- worth (deceased). In 1864 Mr. Olney married Rebecca E. Muse, who died in 1874. Children : Luella T. and Edward G. In 1880 Mr. Olney married Mar- garet C. Murray. He is a democrat and a member of the Methodist Protest- ant church.
Henry Olney, an older son of Syl- vanus, married Joanna White and lived on part of the homestead, where he died in 1879.
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Elder William Davis, the first pastor of the Baptist church, was an early set- tler on the place now the Porter farm, above the farm of Robert Henery, 2d. He came from Montville, Maine, and preached through all the neighboring settlements. He was a fair speaker, but very tenacious of doctrinal points and might fitly be classed as a "hard shell." He was much respected. He reared a large family, none of whom are now left here. His children were Nancy, Peggy, Abigail, James Cyrus, Hannah, Mary, William and Sally.
Joshua Davis, a brother of Elder William, settled on the river above the I. N. Hook farm. He had one son, Elias, who died in Maine. The others all came to Ohio and lived in Morgan County. They were James, William, Cyrus, Israel, Joshua, Isaac, Levi, Asa, Abigail and Rhoda. All died in the county. Israel once went on a trip to New Orleans on a boat and walked home. He was a hard-working, indus- trious man. He built the chimneys in the house now owned by Samuel P. Pat- terson, boating the brick from McCon- nelsville, and carrying them in a basket on his back from the river to the house.
Levi Davis, a relative of Elder Davis,
and William Davis, 2d, were also among the early settlers. Levi had nineteen . children, all of whom are now dead or moved away. Thomas and Betsy (Sheets) only are known to be living. Their father, Levi Davis, came from Maine, and after a short stay in Wash- ington County, moved to this township about 1816. He first located on the place afterward occupied by John Henry, and afterward moved to the Blockhouse farm on Big Bottom.
James Nott, one of the pioneers of Windsor Township, was the son of Thomas Nott, and emigrated to Wind- sor Township from Pennsylvania in the year 1800. He married Miss Phebe Richmond, an aunt of Dean Richmond, one of the most prominent politicians and financiers of the State of New York. They reared a family of six children, three boys and three girls. Benjamin Nott, the eldest of the sons, was born in Windsor in 1806. Reuben H., the second son, was born in 1812, and Crayton B., the youngest, in 1814. Benjamin came to McConnelsville in 1821, and for six years was with Alex- ander McConnel in the tannery. In 1828 he married Miss Jemima Taylor and soon after engaged in the grocery business on the site now occupied by C. Burkholter. He was successful in trade and in addition to his store he " kept tavern." In 1837 he removed to . Malta, when he engaged in the dry goods trade. He remained in Malta, however, but about eighteen months, when he removed his stock to the build- ing where he had kept tavern. He ex- tended his business largely and in con- nection with his hotel and store ran a livery stable, carrying on a successful business until 1840, when he met with serious financial reverses. He died in
Obadiah Brokaw
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1843. In 1840 he united with the Baptist church and became one of the exemplary members of that denomina- tion. James E. Nott, a son, learned the printing business and in company with Messrs. Layman and Latton pub- lished the Marietta Republican. He was afterward a foreman on the Pitts- burgh Gazette. He died May 7, 1856.
Reuben H. Nott, born in 1812, learned carpentery, came to McConnelsville and worked at his trade. About 1850 he removed to Marion, Iowa, where he still lives. His oldest son, B. H. Nott, is a prominent business man of Marion, Iowa, and his second son, Julius, a den- tist of the same place.
Crayton B. Nott learned tailoring and carried on that business in McCon- nelsville. He was a sergeant in the 17th O. V. I. His leg was broken by a fall while in the service, and he died in the hospital at Crab Orchard, Ky.
The Taylor family were early pioneers of Windsor Township. Thomas Taylor and his wife, née Elizabeth Parks, and four children settled in this town- ship in 1802. They remained, however, but a short time when they went to Jefferson County, where Mrs. Taylor died in 1813. Six years later, 1819, Mr. Taylor returned to Morgan County with his family of ten children and entered the farm in Bloom Township, where he died in 1832, highly esteemed by all who knew him. Like many of the pioneers he was a great hunter and a man of unquestioned courage. On one occasion he was called to the house of a neighbor, and being in a hurry, neglected to take either his hunting- knife or rifle. On his way through the woods his path was crossed by a half- grown bear, which he attempted to capture with no weapon but a club.
The bear having the most endurance, he was not successful. On another occasion he heard in a thicket of bushes what he supposed was a fox or a coon. Thinking to frighten the animal, he sprung into the thicket from off a fallen log, when to his great surprise a huge panther sprung out before him with an unearthly yell. Afterward, in relating the incident, he said : " It would have been difficult to have told which was scared the worse, I or the panther."
Mr. Taylor was twice married. The children of the first marriage were John, Jane, David, Mary, Keziah, Ann, Elizabeth, Sarah, Jemima and Ruth. David was born in 1797 in Pennsyl- vania. IIe married Miss Phebe Creight- raf and rearcd a family of children,- Thomas, Mary A., John, George, Jemima, Brice, Lizzie and William. The latter was born in Bloom Township, May 24, 1843, and was elected sheriff of the county in 1884. He administered the duties of the office with eminent success and to the entire satisfaction of the people generally.
At a wolf-hunt in 1822 a young man named Joel Sherman was accidentally shot near the head waters of Mill Run. The hunters became demoralized through the free use of whisky, and neglected to act upon any concerted plan. Several of them, seeing a deer in a hollow, began firing at it. Levi Davis and P. J. Patterson, who were of the party, thinking themselves in the way of the bullets, hid under a log. The firing ceased, when Sherman was dis- covered to have been shot through the body. He was taken to the house of John Henery, where he died after suf- fering for several days.
James Patton, who was one of the inmates of the Big Bottom block-house
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and was captured at the time of the massacre, afterward returned to the scene of the old settlers' destruction, and spent a winter at the home of William Patterson. During his four years of Indian life he had become so accustomed to a hunter's bed and a hunter's accommodations, that he could not be induced to sleep on a bed, but stretched himself on a blanket in front of the fire. He described the block- house as having been built of green beech and sugar maple logs. He died at Belpre.
David Emerson lived early on the Samuel Buck place. He afterward sold out and moved further up the river. Asa Emerson lived above Hooksburg in a double log house built of buckeye. There was a large orchard on the place. He sold this place and moved to the Chute, where he built a brick house. He went to Illinois.
Among the prominent early families was that of Phineas C. Keyes, who lived where Mr. Outcalt now lives, where he owned a tannery. His chil- dren were Harriet, Martha, Juliet, Emily, Mary, George, Edward and Hiram. Edwin was captain of Com- pany B, 116th O. V. I., and was killed at the battle of Winchester. The chil- dren were well educated, and the family was most highly esteemed. Juliet (Mrs. Barker) is the only one of the family now remaining in the county.
Rev. N. B. Henery recalls the time when salt was $2 per bushel, and a day's wages was but 25 cents. He paid his first tax, on sixty acres of land, with 33 cents. In those days a deer-skin was worth 373 cents, and would pur- chase a quarter of a pound of powder. Whisky was 372 cents per gallon, and enough of it was manufactured to
supply the local demand, several prom- inent farmers operating distilleries. A bushel of wheat would purchase a gallon of whisky.
A few of the early settlers raised cotton, which they used with linen to manufacture homemade garments. Calico was then considered as fine and as stylish as silk is to-day. The girls went barefooted on their trips to town, putting on their shoes as they neared their destination. Economy had to be practiced in the matter of wearing apparel. Frequently one bonnet was made to do duty for several girls, each taking her turn in wearing it.
William Davis once cut the trees off three acres of ground for a pair of coarse shoes. Shoemaker Morgueridge, who lived where the infirmary now is, made them.
John and Ridgeway Craft and Elisha Hand lived on the river as early as 1817. They were noted fishermen and every nook of the river from their home to Zanesville was familiar to them. They carried on quite a business, marketing their fish in Zanesville, where they ex- changed them for salt, which they sold to the settlers.
Judge Gaylord thus wrote concerning there noted fishermen :
"In early days the most of the fish were taken on the trot line. Our early and most successful fishermen upon the Muskingum and in this neighborhood, were Hand and Craft. They fished to- gether and seemed always to be in good luck, catching fish in great numbers and where others would fail. They would catch in a night a half barrel or more upon their lines. They fished al- together with the hook and spear. They resided upon the river in Windsor Township, and emigrated hence to the
A. J. Donovan
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West some years ago, as their occupa- tion was gone when the waters of the clear and beautiful Muskingum became muddy and obstructed by dams, and violently disturbed by the paddles of the steamers. To the early settler, on the borders of our river, and even upon creeks, the fish taken furnished no small part of their animal food, especially in the spring and fall seasons. In the spring the fish were taken on hooks; but in the fall, after frost, when the water was low and clear, they were taken by torchlight with the spear or three-pronged gig. The mode of taking fish with the gig was thus: A large torch made from light wood splinters, was held up in the bow of the canoe, our only small craft in use in the early days, to attract the attention of the fish and give light to the spearsman. The canoe was guided by a man in the stern, giving it motion and direction with a paddle. A skillful spearsman, all things in working order, would often load a canoe during an evening's excursion. The light of the torch attracts the fish, and they seem to be amazed and will seldom try to escape, while by day-light scarcely a fish can be taken by this mode."
Frederick Eveland settled where Stockport now is in 1811. He occupied a double log cabin, in one room of which he kept saloon, while his wife, a relig- ious woman, lived and frequently had religious meetings in another room. Neither meddled with the affairs of the other, and they lived harmoniously to- gether. Frederick's sons, Nathaniel, David, Moses and John and several daughters, were also residents of the township. Nathaniel Lucas, a black- smith by trade, settled in the same neighborhood in 1811.
Barnabas Sutliff was among the ear- liest settlers. His wife was a sister of Simeon Evans. Barney was a stone- mason, a maker of wooden plows and of fanning mills of a primitive sort. The latter were constructed of hoop-stuff and deer skin. Sutliff and his wife died at Robert Henery's. Their sons were Abel and Carney, and their daughters, Temperance (Van Clief), Julia (Dear- born), Tacy (Henery), Sarah (Newton), Sabra (Newton), Hannah (Sidwell) and Matilda (Henery).
Gilbert Olds, who served in the war of 1812, settled in the southern part of the township prior to that war. Dr. Eph- raim Wright, one of the first members of the Baptist Church, was an early set- tler on the river. He was called Doc- tor, but never practiced medicine.
Evan Mc Veigh settled about 1817 on the farm where Orsemus Mc Veigh now resides. David Sells hved opposite the Big Bottom schoolhouse early. He was a soldier of 1812. Peter Eddleblute settled early in the vicinity of Roxbury.
The most connnon name in the town- ship is that of Henry, or Henery, as it is written by some members of the fam- ily. The Henerys are the descendants of Samuel Henery, who came to Ohio from Montville, Lincoln county, Maine, in 1814. With his family he arrived in Jackson Township, now in Noble County, on the 20th of September in that year. They came by wagon to Brownsville, Pa., and there the family embarked upon a barge for Pittsburgh, Mr. Henery proceeding to that place by land. At Pittsburgh he sold his horses, and the whole family then proceeded by boat to the mouth of Duck creek. In December of the same year Mr. Henery moved the family to the farm (still in the Henery name) on
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
which the brick church now is. Here he had purchased 160 acres of land from a man named Leavitt who had made some improvement upon the place. They brought a family of seven chil- dren, and three were afterward born to them. Robert, the eldest, is still living in McConnelsville. John married Lillis McGonigle, whose parents came from Vermont and settled near Lowell in 1812. She was born in 1800, and is still living on the farm, where she has resided since her marriage. The other members of this family were Jane, Nathan B. (still living), Samuel, Rhoda, Nancy (Mckibben) (still living), David (still living), and Charles. The latter died in New Orleans of cholera. All the other deceased members of the family ended their days in Morgan County.
At the time the Henerys settled on the river (1814), their nearest neighbor down the river was two miles distant. Nathaniel Eveland and William Hughes lived together on the farm now belonging to Robert Henery 2d. Hughes was a great bear hunter, and he and his large black dogs were familiar fig- ures in the woods for miles around. Going toward McConnelsville after leaving Nathan Dearborn's, there was no place improved until the farm of Timothy Gates, near McConnelsville, was reached. The east side of the river was the earliest route of travel. The Harmar and Lancaster road, on the west side of the river, was the first surveyed road.
William Patterson settled in this township in the fall of 1819. He came from New Hampshire to Marietta when ten years of age, and his father died of small-pox at that place. He was mar- ried near Lowell to Mary Harward, a
native of Pennsylvania. He first moved into an empty cabin on the farm opposite Windsor, and thence moved to his cabin on the hill, which he fin- ished and provided with a chimney after settling his family inside. His children were Jane H., Polly C., Phile- tus J., Peggy, Louisiana and George H., of whom Philetus J. is the only survivor. Win. Patterson died May 11, 1846, aged sixty-six, and his widow June 9, 1862, in her seventy-ninth year.
P. J. Patterson was born in Adams Township, Washington County, Ohio, June 2, 1809, and has resided in Wind- sor Township, Morgan County, since 1819. He was married in 1832 to Phebe M. Godfrey, a native of Maine, who is still living. Their children are Jesse W., Abigail M., Benjamin G. (deceased), Mary J., Henry G., Samuel P., Nancy J., and Lucy A. All four of the sons were in the service in the late war, and Benjamin G. starved in a rebel prison, dying at Danville, Va., Feb. 18, 1865, after about three years' service. He was in Company B, 116th regiment, a volunteer and a private. Mr. and Mrs. Patterson are members of the Baptist church.
George H. Patterson was born in Adams Township, Washington County, in 1818, and came with his parents to Morgan County in 1819. In 1842 he married Nancy J. Berkley, daughter of Rev. Reuben Berkley, pastor of the Baptist church. By this marriage he had three children, William B., Thomas C., and Elizabeth A. (deceased). Mrs. Patterson died in 1854, and in 1855 Mr. Patterson married Ann M. Murray, who died Feb. 29, 1876, having borne two children-Martha M. and Mary A. -both now deceased. George H. Pat- terson died Feb. 28, 1879. He served
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in several township offices, was an Odd Fellow, and a good citizen.
William B. Patterson, son of George HI. Patterson, was born January 6, 1843, and now resides on the homestead. In 1868 Mr. Patterson married Ellen M. Andrews. They have two children- Dora A. and Clarence D. October 4, 1861, Mr. Patterson enlisted in Com- pany B, 62d O. V. I .; went into the service under General Lander, in West Virginia; served in the department of the Shenandoah, Major General Banks commanding; department of the Rap- pahannock, Major General McDowell; Fourth Army Corps, Major General Keyes; Seventh Army Corps, Major General Dix; Army of the Potomac, General Mcclellan; Eighteenth Army Corps, Major General Foster; depart- ment of North Carolina; Tenth Army Corps, General David Hunter; Twenty- fourth Army Corps, Major General John Gibbon. He was in the battles of Winchester, Fort Wagner (where he was wounded), Deep Bottom. Peters- burg, . Appomattox, and others. Re- enlisted as a veteran ; mustered out at Columbus, O., in December, 1865. From the close of the war to 1881, Mr. Patterson was engaged as a traveling agent of eastern publishing houses. Ile is now farming.
Thomas C. Patterson was born in Windsor Township on the farm now owned by W. B. Patterson, June 30, 1851. Married to Mary A. Hindman Dec. 21, 1876. Children by this mar- riage: Oma Bell, Virgie Lee, Alfa Isora, and Don Carlos.
Timothy Blackmer, father of Jesse, located early where his grandson Timo- thy now lives. His son Henry was drowned in early years while crossing the river in a canoe at Luke Chute.
This occurred in the fall; his remains were not recovered until the next spring.
Ephraim Ellis was an early settler who came from Vermont. He lived on Big Bottom. His sons were Levi, Comer, Alfred, Isaac, Moses, Thomas J., John and Joel. There were three girls in the family. Levi, Comer, Isaac, Moses and Alfred settled and died in this county.
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