History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 37

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 559

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WILLIAM F. ALBRIGHT

is of German ancestry. He was born in Preble county, March 20, 1823. He was married in 1844 to Elizabeth Riner, of this county. Five children were born of this

marriage, four of whom survive. His first wife died in January, 1854. In December, 1856, Mr. Albright married S. Virginia Stroud, daughter of Rev. Asa and Mary E. Stroud, of Eaton. She was the mother of four children, three of whom are living. Mrs. Albright died January 31, 1683, Mr. Albright has always been a printer, having be- gun his apprenticeship when he was sixteen years of age. His career as a publisher began in 1854, when he entered into partnership with W. B. Tizzard, with whom he had served the most of his apprenticeship. He has had a share in the Eaton Register since 1854, and became sole proprietor of that paper January 1, 1874.

JOHN P. CHARLES,

the fourth and youngest son of Smith and Nancy (Ker- cheval) Charles, was born in Dixon. township, June 20, 1815. In 1853 he married Mrs. Sarah E. Jackson, widow of the late Dr. W. M. Jackson. She was born in New Hampshire, in 1823. Although raised a farmer boy he decided to enter professional life, and accordingly commenced the study of law with J. M. U. McNutt in Eaton. After the death of his legal friend Mr. Charles went to Tennessee, and finished his course of reading at Pulaski, in that State. In 1840 he was admitted to the bar. After his admission to legal practice he entered the office of Brown & Topp, where he remained only a few months before returning to Preble county. In 1841 he was licensed to practice in Indiana, but not liking his profession, gave up all ideas of further practice.

A few years after quitting the law he entered the jour- nalistic field, and during the years 1845-7, inclusive, he was connected with the editorial department of the Eaton Register, and in 1848 bought the Hamilton Intelligencer, which in 1849 he sold, in order to go with Secretary C. K. Smith to St. Paul, Minnesota, at the organization of the territory. Officiating as clerk of the secretary he wrote up the earliest records of that territory, and called the roll of the first legislature that ever assembled in that commonwealth. Returning from Minnesota he was, in 1850, appointed to a clerkship in the pension office at Washington, from which office he was removed during the Pierce administration, at the instance of one Pierce of Preble county. Subsequently he was engaged in land agency in Iowa, and later served some twelve years in business connected with the Pennsylvania railroad. For a time he made his home in New Paris, but is now a res- ident of Eaton. In 1880 he again entered the editorial field and assumed editorial control of the Eaton Reister, which position he still retains. He has, during his whole life, been a newspaper man, and when not engaged in editing a Republican journal has always been a faithful contributor to its columns. He excels as a political writer, and being well informed and endowed by nature with a forcible and clear style of writing, is entitled to no mean place among American journalists.

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John P (Potan

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HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.

L. G. GOULD,

editor of the Eaton Democrat, was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, December 17, 1831. He was the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Rice) Gould, both natives of the same State. When a boy of thirteen years of age the subject of our sketch beyan to learn the printer's trade, which he has since followed, with some intermissions. He was one of thirteen children, and his parents being poor the young man was obliged to support himself, and had no opportunities to secure an education except those which he made for himself. The printing office, how- ever, is a good school, and in it the young man not only made his living, but gained a practical education. In April, 1850, Mr. Gould, then aged eighteen, came to Eaton, and was employed for about two years in the office of the Eaton Democrat, then under control of his brother, W. C. Gould. He afterwards purchased the Lebanon (Ohio) Citizen, and in the summer of 1855 traded offices with his brother and became proprietor of the paper which he at present owns. He was married January 15, 1855, to Emily, daughter of Cornelius Van Ausdal. Two daughters were the result of this union, Edith L., and Mary V. Gould. In 1855 Mr. Gould retired from the Democrat, and for some twelve years he engaged in mer- cantile business and speculation. In the latter field of enterprise he lost all of his property and became serious- ly involved in debt. In December, 1870, he again became connected with the Democrat, which has since then had the benefit of his constant attention, and with good results, as is shown by its increased circulation and improved order of excellence. Mr. Gould has been for several years one of the trustees of the Dayton Asylum for the Insane, and has been honored by being called to various official positions in the gift of the town in which he resides.

JOHN P. ACTON.

The first representatives of the Acton family in Eaton were John Acton and his wife, Nancy Buchanan Acton. The former was born in Maryland, October 23, 1781. He married . his wife in Rockbridge county, Virginia, where she was born October 31, 1773. This couple, with their three children, located in Eaton in the year 1816, and the husband and father of the family immedi- ately opened a little shop and began making hats-a trade which was much in vogue in early years, and con- sidered one of the best a man could engage in. John Acton was, undoubtedly, a very good hatter, for he was successful in a pecuniary point of view and continued the business many years, in fact until a short time before his death. His shop, a small frame structure, stood pre- cisely upon the spot now covered by the parlor of John P. Acton's home, and the house in which he lived is still in existence, incorporated with his son-in-law's substan- tial residence which, by the way, improved this site and the general appearance of West Main street as long ago as 1840. Mr. Acton was a very hard working, active man, and saved by frugality much of that which his in-

dustry earned. The whole object and purpose of his life, however, was by no means saving a fortune, or even accumulating an independence. He was one of the most liberal men in the community, and liberal alike with his time and money. There was no measure of public good undertaken which did not receive the support of his labors and influence and means. He aided every church society which erected a house of worship in Eaton, during his citizenship, and it was very largely through his generosity that the "old public church" on the banks of Seven Mile, was brought into existence. He was not a member of any church, but a very moral man, one who by good works made manifest the posses- sion of a noble theory of life's responsibilities and duties. His wife was a communicant of the Presbyterian church, and that society received from the family a very liberal support. It was one of Mr. Acton's deepest grounded beliefs that the highest good, morally, and therefore ma- terially, was to be secured through education, and he therefore took an interest in school matters which was so constant and so intense as almost to become a noticable eccentricity in his nature.

No pains that he could take to improve the condition of the schools, or indirectly aid education, seemed too much for him, and no outlay of time or money too great. He was always active in looking out for the advance- ment of educational interests. For many years he was a school director, and during several terms was president of the board. In early years he was a lieutenant colonel in the militia, and not long before the close of his useful life was honored with the appointment by the governor of the office of associate judge of the Preble county court of common pleas. He was never an aspirant for public place; had he been he could, doubtless, have held almost any position within the gift of the county, for he was personally very popular and held in high esteem for his strict integrity of character, as well as his devotion to the public good. Politically he was a Democrat.

He died July 26, 1849, of cholera-one among the many of Eaton's worthy men who were cut down that year by the terrible epidemic. His wife died January 31, 1855.

This estimable pair of pioneers were the parents of three children, all of whom were born prior to the Ac- ton's immigration to Ohio. Mary R., widow of Samuel Robinson, is the oldest. She was born October 14, 1809, and is still living, and located near Eaton. Her sister, Isabella Hall, wife of S. H. Hubbell, was born Septem- ber 4, 1815, and is now a resident of Eaton. John P. Acton was born September 4, 1812, and is, consequently, in his sixty-ninth year. As boy and youth he had but very little schooling, a result caused in part by his eyes failing him, and in part by his rapid development to a condition of usefulness in his father's shop. Learning the hatter's trade at the age of fifteen he was soon placed in charge of the shop, his father stepping aside from the management to attend to other affairs, but retaining his interest. Young Acton only followed hat making for four or five years and then went into the grocery busi- ness, which he followed for seven years -- from 1836 to

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1843-a portion of the time alone, but the greater part in association with his brother-in-law, S. H. Hubbell. His store was where Andrew Coffman now conducts bus- iness. Soon after discontinuing the grocery business Mr. Acton engaged in the line which now occupies his attention. He began the business of buying and selling and manufacturing lumber. In 1849 he built a steam saw-mill just west of Seven Mile creek. He has been generally prosperous in conducting business at this mill, and quite uniformly so from year to year, with the ex- ception that the property was burned out in 1864. The mill was soon re-built, however, and the business has since been carried on uninterruptedly. Of late years Mr. Acton has made a specialty of manufacturing hard lumber, walnut and poplar, and has conducted this enter- prise on a large scale. His mill does but very little cus- tom work. Speculation has not engaged Mr. Acton's at- tention. The independence to which he has attained, financially, has been reached by the slow, sure, laborious processes of legitimate business. Many other enterprises than his extensive lumber manufacturing have received a share of his energy and activity. In 1872 he was one of four men who established the Preble County bank, a de- servedly successful institution. He has been for many years a very influential promoter of public improvements, and has done much toward giving Preble county its rail- road and turnpike advantages. He was a director of the Eaton & Hamilton railroad in the early years of its exist- ence, and is now one of the leading movers in the pro- ject of securing the construction of the Lake Erie & Southwestern railroad.

John P. Acton's name has become, during his long career in business almost a synonym for industry and in- tegrity. He possesses the most substantial kind of abil- ity and thoroughly practical business sagacity. His energy and enterprise have been something quite remark- able. His life has been characterized, too, by those qualities of kindness and benevolence which ought al- ways to be found in connection with ability and successful- ness. Politically Mr. Acton is a Democrat. He has never sought political preferment, and we believe that with the exception of being deputy to the county auditor, and adjutant to the militia, during his early years he has not held public office. His taste has not been in that direction and he has been too busily engaged with other affairs to take any further interest in politics than is the absolute duty of the citizen.

Mr. Acton was married May 16, 1841, to Burthenia M. Stephens, his present helpmeet. Six children were the fruit of this union, viz: John Thomas, deceased; Nancy Margaret, wife of H. C. Heistand; Harvey H., deceased; . Joseph W., Mary Isabella, and Elizabeth Ann, deceased.

Mrs. Acton was the daughter of John and Margaret Stephens, who came to Preble county in 1817, from Bourbon county, Kentucky, and located near Eaton. They were people very highly regarged among the early settlers. Both were members of the Eaton Methodist Episcopal church when it had only half a dozen com- municants. Mr. Stephens was clerk of Gasper township at the time of his death in 1827. He was born October

29, 1792, in Kentucky, and his wife, who is still living, was born in Maryland, February 12, 1794. They were the parents of nine children, of whom five are living : Margaret (Honey), Lucy A. (Ware), Joseph L., and Will- iam D., are deceased. Those living are: Thomas F., in Gasper township; John W., in Eaton; Burthenia M. (Mrs. Acton), and Nathaniel B., in Eaton, and Martin F., in Greenville, Ohio.

ANDREW JACKSON REYNOLDS

was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 14, 1831. His par- ents were Sacket and Mary Anne Reynolds. He gradu- ated at Woodward college, Cincinnati, in 1851, and at the Theological seminary of Princeton, New Jersey, in 1855. He was ordained as a minister in the Presbyte- rian church in 1856, was at Pleasant Run, Ohio, from 1856 to 1861; at Cumminsville, Ohio, from 1861 to 1869; at Lithopolis, Ohio, from 1870 to 1873; at Eaton, Ohio, from 1875 to the present.

He married Miss Charity P. Hunter, December 16, 1857, at Pleasant Run, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs Reynolds have had six children, of whom four survive-Clarence G., Mary E., Walter H., and Grace A., born respectively in 1859, 1861, 1864, and 1868. Clarence G. is a mem- ber of the senior class at the University of Wooster, Ohio.

Mr. Reynolds' ancestors, on his maternal grandmoth- er's side, whose maiden name was Dumont, were French Huguenots, who were persecuted by the State church for their religious opinions, and some of whom fled to Amer- ica. Mr. Reynolds still possesses two French Bibles, which belonged to their ancestors, and which are not only treasures to the antiquarian, but are mute witnesses to the nobility of soul which will not sin against con- science at the command of tyrants. Mr. Reynolds' ma- ternal grandfather was Captain Moses Guest, who served in the Revolutionary war, and was a man of great purity of character, and some poetic talent. He formerly lived in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and came to Ohio with his family in 1817. He died universally lamented in Cincinnati, in 1828, aged seventy-two.

Mr. Reynolds' father, Sacket Reynolds, was one of the earliest printers in Cincinnati, coming to that city in 1806. He was long connected with the newspaper press in Cincinnati, respectively in the Liberty Hall and Cin- cinnati Gazette, the National Republican, the Cincinnati Commercial, and the Cincinnati Press. He died in Cin- cinnati, aged seventy-one, in 1867.

THE QUINN FAMILY.

John Quinn, who was the ancestor of the family of that name in Preble county, emigrated from the North of Ireland, about the year 1750, and settled in the State of New Jersey. Some time after his arrival in America he married a Miss Crooks, by whom he had ten children, seven sons and three daughters, five of whom, four sons and one daughter, ultimately coming to Ohio. The sons who came to Ohio were: John, Robert, James, and

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Joseph C .; the daughter was Elizabeth, she married a man by the name of Bennett ; they moved to Indiana at an early day. John Quinn, the original immigrant, died in Maryland during the Revolutionary war. His sons, with the exception of Joseph C., were all born in New Jersey, but it is only necessary to speak of those who came to Preble county.

Of these, John Quinn, the oldest, was born about the year 1757; he removed from Maryland, or Virginia, to Georgia, where he married, and thence to Ohio; he entered the northwest quarter of section thirty-one, town six, range three east, and also the quarter north adjoin- ing the same. He settled on the first named tract and remained there until he sold it and moved to Delaware county, Indiana, about the year 1834. While in Preble county he was for many years a justice of the peace of Twin township, and married quite a number of persons, as is shown by the old records. He died about the year 1839.

Robert Quinn, the second in age, who came to Ohio, was born February 24, 1761. He removed, while a boy, with his father's family to Maryland, where he remained, with the exception of a short time that he lived in Vir- ginia, until he removed to Georgia in the year 1789. He served for a short period in the Federal army, during the Revolutionary war, and was married about the year 1787 to Elizabeth Lacey, a sister of General John Lacey, a provincial officer of that rank, holding his commission from the State of Pennsylvania, and captain in the Con- tinental army during the struggle for independence. The Lacey's were of Quaker stock, having emigrated from the Isle of Wight, in the year 1699, and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth, the wife of Robert Quinn, was born on the fourth day of December, 1760. She was a woman of more than ordinary ability and information for the times in which she lived, being well read in Homer (in translations, of course) and in the works of many of the best authors of her time. Robert Quinn and his young wife, after the birth of their oldest daughter, Jane, removed from Maryland to Georgia in the year 1789. They settled near Wrightsborough, in Columbia county, and here the remainder of their chil- dren were born. From Georgia they removed to Ohio in the year 1805, settling first near Germantown, in Mont- gomery county. From there the following year they came into what is now Lanier township, Preble county, although it was then all Hardin township, Montgom- ery county, and rented a farm about one and a half miles south of where West Alexandria now is. The same year he entered the southeast quarter of section thirty-one, town six, range three east, and shortly after the north- east quarter of section eighteen, in the same township and range. This latter he sold to a friend of his, Will- iam York, who emigrated from the same neighborhood in Georgia to Ohio, a few years later. To the first named quarter he removed with his family in February, 1807, and the day known among the early settlers as "cold Friday," was passed in an open camp. This farm he, with his son, opened up and it still remains the prop- erty of his descendants. Many hardships were endured,

but game was plenty (as were Indians also, though not at that time hostile), and the family larder, which was often scantily filled from the newly enclosed fields, was bounti- fully supplemented from the surrounding forests. He was a natural mechanic, a wheelwright by trade; he could make, and did make, almost every article used on the farm, from a wagon to a pair of shoes. He and his wife continued to reside here until his death, April 10, 1844, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. His wife sur- vived him a little over five years, dying in August, 1849.

Of his family, Jane, the oldest, was born at or near Georgetown, in the present District of Columbia, in 1788. She was married about the holidays of the year 1813 and 1814, to Finney Hart, and settled in Dixon township, Preble county. In 1849 she, with her husband and such of her family as were not then married, moved to Peoria county, Illinois, when she died about the year 1863. John Quinn, the oldest son, commonly known as Gen- eral Quinn, was born near Wrightsborough, Columbia county, Georgia, January 26, 1790, and was in his six- teenth year when the family came to Ohio. Like his mother, he had a great fondness for reading, and although his early education was limited, by the poor facilities that there were for acquiring knowledge in those days, yet by improving all that came in his reach he became finally a man of very good general information. On him in the beginning devolved a good part of the work of the farm, as he was the oldest son; and as years went by his younger brothers, James and Robert, grew up and mar- ried, leaving him still there. He served for six months as a solicitor in the War of 1812, in Captain J. C. Haw- kins' company of Ohio militia, and about the year 1824 he was elected general of the militia of Preble county, from which he obtained the title by which he was ever afterwards known. He served for one term as a member of the State board of equalization of real estate, and in the year 1830 was elected sheriff of Preble county, which office he held for two terms, retiring about January 1, 1835. In the fall of the year 1837 he was elected a member of the State house of representatives, holding this office for one term only, after which he held no pub- lic office. A Whig and a Republican in politics, although very decided in his convictions, he seldom en- tered, at least during the latter part of his life, into polit- ical arguments with his opponents, and never into heated controversies. A member during the latter part of his life of the Disciples or Church of Christ, and for many years an elder in that organization, he was with his relig- ious as with his political convictions, always firm, but always ready to concede to others every right which he demanded for himself. He was married July 19, 1831, to Mary Ann Pottenger, a daughter of Thomas Potten- ger, one of the pioneers of Butler county, in which county Mrs. Quinn was born, January 2, 1804. To John and Mary Ann Quinn five sons were born, all of whom reached manhood, and three are still living. During the time he was sheriff, General Quinn lived in Eaton. After the expiration of his term of office he returned with his wife and one son to the farm, where his father lived, and there his other four children were born. On this

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farm he continued to reside until March, 1872, when his age and infirmities compelled him to quit all labor; and as all of his living children had chosen other professions than farming he returned to Eaton to reside with his older living son, Robert W. Quinn, a lawyer of that place, with whom he and his wife continued to live until his death, which took place February 12, 1873. His wife survived him only two weeks, and the funeral discourse of each was delivered by Elder Levi Purviance, an aged minister who had united them in marriage nearly forty- two years before. He himself, who was nearly of the same age as General Quinn, survived them only about two months, dying in the following April. Thomas Pot- tenger Quinn, the oldest son of General Quinn, was born in Eaton, Ohio, July 6, 1832. He graduated at Farmer's college in 1853, and was studying law in Eaton in the summer of 1854, when the cholera broke out in the hotel at which he was boarding. He returned to his father's residence in Twin township on Saturday, but was taken ill with the disease on Sunday evening July 23d, and died the following day.

Robert Wilson Quinn, the second and oldest surviving son of General Quinn, was born September 28, 1835. He is a lawyer, resides in Eaton, and his biography is given more at large in the sketches of the Preble county bar.

John Willett Quinn, the third son, was born near Eaton, July 25, 1838, and died at Monterey, Virginia, April 28, 1862. He was raised on a farm, and was fol- lowing that business when the war of the Rebellion broke out. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted for three years in Camp Harris, company C, Seventy-fifth regi- ment Ohio volunteer infantry. The regiment remained in camp during the winter of 1861-62, and in March of the latter year was ordered into the field. After only about one months active service he was taken with ty- phoid fever, and died in a few days.

James Lacey Quinn, the fourth son, born September 21, 1841, is a physician of Eaton, and a sketch of him will be found in the history of the medical profession of the county.

Samuel Milton Quinn, the fifth aud youngest son, born February 5, 1844, is an attorney of the Cincinnati bar. He was educated at the common schools and at Farmer's college; and served four months in the army during the Rebellion. He studied law with his brother, R. W. Quinn, in Eaton, and was admitted to practice in the year 18 -. He afterwards took one course at the law school of the Cincinnati college, where he gradu- ated in the class of 187 -. He has since practiced in Cincinnati.

James Quinn, the second son of Robert Quinn, sr., was born near Wrightsborough, Georgia, in the year 1792. He came with his father and mother to Ohio, and served for about nine months as a soldier in the War of 1812. He was married to Sarah Glims about the year 1817, and died on his farm on the Dayton pike two miles west of West Alexandria, in the year 1839. He followed farming all of his life. By his wife he had five sons and two daughters, all of whom, except one

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History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 37

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 559

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 559