History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 104

Author: R. Sutton & Co.
Publication date: 1883
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 427

USA > Ohio > Shelby County > History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 104

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GOTTLIEB E. ALLINGER

was born in Germany in 1840; when six years of age he was brought by his father, Jacob Allinger, to Shelby County. Mr. Allinger is a mil- ler by trade, having commenced that business in 1863. In 1871 he built the Port Jefferson Flouring Mills for Messrs. Manning, Dunlap & Co. In 1873 he bought the same, and is now running it. He has ground as high as 52,000 bushels in a year ; their average has been 46,000 bushels of wheat per year, besides other grains. In 1861 Mr. Allinger married Miss Mary Conner. They have three children, viz., Jennie, born 1862; Lope C., born 1864; and Minnie, born 1866. Mr. Allinger has been trustee of his township four terms, clerk one term, and is treasurer of the township at the present time.

MILTON J. WINGET.

The ancestors of the Wingets of Shelby County were from England and Scotland. The date of their emigration to the United States is not known, but was prior to the Revolutionary war, for we find that both his grandfathers were in that struggle. They first settled in Pennsyl- vania. About the year 1800 they removed to Ohio and located, or rather stopped at Red Bank-now Cincinnati-where they remained during the Indian hostilities which were then going on along the borders of the Ohio. From there they removed to Tucker Station, Warren County, and from there to Greene County, O. Here the subject of our sketch was born in the year 1826. In the year 1829 his father, Wm. Winget, moved with his family to Champaign County, O., and remained there till 1831, when they came to Shelby County and located in Perry Township, on a piece of land he had entered in section 18. Here in April, 1831, he moved

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with bis family into his cabin without a door, window, floor, or chimney, and commenced in the green woods without money or means. They made their start, undergoing all the privations and hardships of the early pioneer. It was here in the woods and in the cabin school-house that young Milton received a few months of school instruction. His father died when Milton was but thirteen years of age. The support of the family fell upon him and an older brother, who cleared the farm and maintained their mother and the younger children. In the year 1851 Mr. W. married Miss Elizabeth A. Thompson, and the following year, 1852, he bought the old Hathaway farm at Port Jefferson, where he now lives. He lived with his wife seventeen years, when she died in 1868. The following year he married Isabel Grossman, who died in 1873. In 1875 he married Elizabeth Middleton. From this marriage there are two children, viz., Minnie A. and Alice M. The mother of Mr. Winget is now living with him, in her eighty-second year, being born at Red Bank Station in 1800. Mr. Winget is well and favorably known through- out the county. He has filled the offices of County Commissioner and Infirmary Director, and various offices of the township in which he lives.

ELBERT CARGILL,

the subject of this sketch, was born in New York in 1816. In the year 1819 he was taken by his parents to Muskingum County, O., where he lived till the year 1853, when he moved to Shelby County. In 1838 he married Miss Mary A. Launder, who was born in England in the year 1819. Their family consists of six children, viz., Elbert H., Isabel, Charles, Anna, Alice, and Cora. The Cargills originally are from Scot- land, but the date of their emigration to the United States cannot be given. They first settled in the State of New York. The Launders, Mrs. Cargill's parents, came from England to the United States in 1820, and settled in Muskingum County. Mr. Cargill is located on section 3, Salem Township, on what is known as the Samuel Taylor farm, which was entered as early as 1821.

ANDREW CARGILL,

son of David and Mary A. Wyant Cargill, was born in Zanesville, O., in the year 1836. His father with his family moved to Shelby County in 1849. Here, in the year 1862, Andrew married Miss Sarah Stout. Their family consists of three children, viz., Ulysses E., born 1863; Laura A., born 1866; and Sherman G., born 1868. Abram Stout, the father of Miss Cargill, settled in Shelby County in 1830.

JOHN CARGILL,

also a son of David Cargill, was born in Zanesville, O., in 1829. When twenty years of age he came to Shelby County. He learned the cooper trade, which he followed for several years; then bought a tannery, and for a number of years has been engaged manufacturing leather. In the year 1852 he married Margaret A. Strahlem. By this union they have five children, Medora J., born 1853; Mary A., born 1855; Ellen E., born 1858; Emma M., born 1866, and Sarah B., born 1868.

JOSEPH WATKINS.

Mr. Watkins and his wife, Sarah (David) Watkins, with their six sons and three daughters, moved to Shelby County in 1841. They at first took a lease of a piece of land on which they located and lived some eight years. During this time they bought eighty acres of land in Salem Township. They cleared their lease and also their own land, and built a brick house and frame barn. They had not a dollar to pay on their land when they bought it; but by industry and economy they paid for this, and have since that time added farm to farm until they now, as a family, have over 900 acres. What is remarkable of this family is, that there has never been a death in the family except the father, who died in 1866. Thomas J. Watkins, one of the sons, was born in Pennsylvania in 1827. He married Miriam Howell in 1852, by whom he had one child (Lucetta E.). Mrs. Watkins died in 1855. In 1864 he married Eliza- beth Hull. From this marriage there have been two children, viz., Naomi J., born 1865, and Mary E. A., born 1868.

BENJAMIN R. ROBINSON

was born in Warren County, O., in 1824. Married Miss Elizabeth Mit- chell in 1849, and moved to Salem Township, Shelby County, O., in 1852. They have had two children, Wm. E. and Adin W. The eldest son, Wm. E., a young man of promise, died very suddenly from hemorrhage while away from home, at the age of twenty-five years. Adin, the youngest son, has his home with his father.

JOHN HORNER,

son of John and Nancy (Consolver) Horner, was born in Salem Town- ship in the year 1843. When he was quite young his father died, and he was bound out to service till he became twenty-one years of age, but only remained in service till he was seventeen. He never had the ad- vantage of an education, always having been kept at work. In 1868 he

married Ellen Myers, a daughter of Daniel Myers. By this marriage they have three children, viz., Ida M., born 1869; Orista O., born 1872 ; and Dilla A., born 1875. Mr. H. is a farmer.

ENOCH RIKE

was born in Greene County, O., in 1819. Married Esther John of Mont- gomery County in 1841. Came to Shelby County in 1849. Their family consisted of three children, Sarah P., John C., and Benj. F. Mr. Rike's wife died May, 1875. In 1878 he married Mrs. Harriet Strahlem, the widow of David Strahlem, and daughter of George W. and Ellen (Thomp- son) Burgess.

Mr. Rike spent the greater part of his life on a farm; but, becoming somewhat enfeebled and broken down by hard labor, he retired from the farm and removed to Port Jefferson and engaged in the grocery and provision trade, and received the appointment of postmaster. In Sept. 1881, he passed away, esteemed and respected by all who knew him. Mrs. Rike was born in Seneca County, O., in 1835. Married David Strahlem in 1852. Their union was blessed with three children, viz., Ellen E., George W., and Minnie L. Mr. Strahlem died 1866.

DR. ALLEN HUSSEY.

The Husseys are of Irish descent. Came to the United States just after the close of the Revolutionary War, and located in North Caro- lina, where Christopher Hussey was born in 1781. From North Caro- lina they went to Tennessee; from thence to Greene County, Ohio, about 1810, where he married and raised a family of seven children. Stephen C. was the third child of this family. He was born in Greene County in 1819. In 1840 he married Miss Ann Wical. About 1843 he com- meneed the study of medicine, and graduated at Starling Medical Col- lege. In 1848 he came to Shelby County, and commenced the practice of medicine at Port Jefferson. He continued the practice of his profes- sion at this place until the time of his death, which occurred in 1871. They raised a family of eleven children. Mrs. Hussey and ten of the children are still living.

Allen Hussey was born in Greene County in 1848, about three months prior to the time his parents settled in Port Jefferson. He was raised in the village, worked on the farm until he was seventeen years of age. From this time he gave his attention to books, and soon commenced to read medicine with his father, teaching school and reading medicine at the same time. He graduated at the Ohio Medical College of Cincin- nati in 1872, and immediately commenced practice in Port Jefferson, where he still continues his profession. In 1871 he married Miss Jane Goble, a daughter of E. D. and Rebecca (Mattox) Goble. Their chil- dren are Wirt D., Howard, Weber A., and Ada B.

Dr. Hussey has been a successful practitioner since the time of his commencement. He has filled the office of township clerk, and at the present time is one of the trustees of the township.

GEORGE J. MITCHELL, EsQ.

Samuel Mitchell, the grandfather of the above, was a native of Eng- land. Came to the American colonies just prior to the Revolutionary War, and located in Pennsylvania. He and four of his brothers were drafted into the army. Here they became separated, and all trace has been lost of all except Samuel, the ancestor of the Shelby County Mitchells. He served through the war, and was at Yorktown at the surrender of Cornwallis. After the close of the war he settled in Mont- gomery County, Pa., where he married Melenda Cecil. They raised a family of eleven children. William, the eldest son, was born in Virginia in 1782, married Catharine Stafford, came to Ohio in 1808, and located in Miami County, where he raised a family of eight children. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812. He died in 1869, on the farm on which he first settled, at the age of eighty-seven years. His wife died in 1867.

George J. Mitchell, the subject of this sketch, was born in Miami County in 1816. He lived with his parents until twenty-three years of age, when he married Amanda F. Robinson in 1839. By this union they had three children, viz., Samantha J., William M., and Aden W. They moved to Salem Township in 1849, and located where Tileton is now situated. Here Esq. Mitchell and his estimable wife for fourteen years labored together, and had made for themselves a comfortable home, when she was called away by the hand of death in 1863. In 1870 he married Elizabeth Maxon, and the following year sold his farm, and bought property in Port Jefferson, where he now lives a retired life, having acquired a competence for his remaining days. He has filled the office of justice of the peace eighteen years, besides other offices of the township. The Maxons came from Virginia to Ohio in 1831, and located in Clarke County. Then came to Jackson Township, Shelby County, in 1839, where Mrs. Mitchell lived until the time of her mar- riage in 1870.

RANSOM D. EARL

was born in Auglaize County in 1849. His parents had settled there in 1832, they being among the first settlers in the east part of that

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county. Ransom was raised on a farm, and educated in the common schools of the county. In 1868 he married Samantha A. Hammack. By this union they have three children: Jennie E., Leonard E., and Leroy H. In 1869 he bought a farm, which he sold in 1871, and bought another, which he sold in 1881, and bought property in Tileton, Shelby County, to which he moved the same year. Here he started a store of general merchandise, and has established a flourishing trade. Mr. Earl is also postmaster.

PETER TRAPP

was born in Germany in 1801. Married Mary C. Kile in 1827. Came to the United States in 1832. They landed in Baltimore with only thirty-seven cents in money left after paying his expenses. They re- mained in Baltimore a short time, then went to Little York, where they remained until about 1838, when they came to Port Jefferson, where Mr. T. took a contract on the canal feeder, which he completed. He after- ward bought a farm in section 9. They raised a family of three chil- dren: Nicholas, born 1828; Peter M., born 1843; and John, born 1845. Mrs. Trapp died 1878, aged seventy-four years. Mr. Trapp died in 1881.

Peter M. Trapp, the second son of the above, married Marianna Gil- fillen, a daughter of James and Mariah (Carr) Gilfillen, in 1866. Their children consist of the following: Annetta T., Bailey A., James P., and Fletcher B.

WILLIAM AND OLIVER C. STALEY.

William Staley was born in Montgomery County in 1821, came with his father, John Staley, to Salem Township in 1831. In 1844 he married Barbara Harshbarger, a daughter of Jonas and Hettie (Jacobs) Harsh- barger. They had born to them four children, only one of whom is now living, viz., Oliver C., who was born in 1847 and married Miss Anna Cargill in 1869. They have two children, Orrin C. and Roger W. Mr. Staley, although comparatively a young man, has gained the esteem and confidence of the people of his township, which has been evidenced by his election to the offices of township clerk and trustee. He is located on section 20, known as the old John Staley farm.

JOSEPHUS DODDS

was born in Warren County, O., in 1804. In 1825 he married Miss Ma- tilda Le Fevre. In the year 1833 he entered his land in Salem Township, but did not move on it till the year 1840. By this marriage Mr. Dodds had fourteen children, seven of whom are still living. In the year 1861 Mr. D. enlisted in the 57th O. V. I. and was wounded at the battle of Shiloh, after which he was discharged. He also had two sons in the army, both of which were wounded at the battle of Atlanta and died from the effects of their wounds. Mr. Dodds' wife died in 1871, and he again married in 1872; he married Mary A. Le Fevre, the widow of Da- vid Le Fevre. Mrs. Dodds' maiden name was McKee. Thomas A. McKee, her father, settled in Orange Township, Shelby County, in 1809. He hewed the puncheon for the first floor that was laid in the town of Piqua.

FREDERICK BILLING

was born in Baden, Germany, in the year 1828, came to the United States in the year 1853, and first located in Fairfield County, Ohio. In 1856 he married Sarah Knasle. They moved to Shelby County in 1857, and rented land for a number of years. In 1863 he bought a piece of land; had only three hundred dollars to pay on it: he now has 160 acres of good land, well improved. They have raised a family of eight children.

EDMUND LYTLE

was born in Stark County, O., in 1814. Here he lived till he was past twenty years of age. While in Stark County he learned the tanning and currier trade. In 1834 he came to the town of Sidney and leased a tannery. He followed that business about nine years, then bought a farm in Clinton Township and moved on his farm. This farm he traded for one in Salem Township in 1875, where he now lives. In 1841 he married Catharine Wilkin, whose parents (Stephen and Sarah Wilkin) came to the county in 1837.

JOHN M. BRUNER

was brought by his parents to Shelby County in 1833. He was born in Greene County, O., in 1832. His parents located on a piece of land in Jackson Township, being nearly the first settlers in the township. Two years after their settlement the father (Joseph Bruner) went one day to where Port Jefferson now is; it was the day the lots were sold for the town. He remained all day at the sale. In the evening he started for home. This was the last that was seen of him alive. The country from where he lived to Port Jefferson was all woods, without a road. It was supposed he got lost. The following day the people of the country were aroused and collected together to search for the lost. Although diligent search was made by everybody throughout the whole country, yet they failed to find him. About a month afterward some three or four of the

neighbors were passing through the woods when they came upon the hones of a human being. They were identified by some pieces of clothing as the remains of Joseph Bruner. It was supposed he had got lost and was attacked by some wild beast and killed. His remains were found some three miles from home. Mrs. Bruner was now left with four small children, in the woods, with only about three acres of cleared land. Here Mrs. B. and her children remained and worked on their little place to maintain themselves as best they could. When John was ten years of age his mother died, and he was thrown upon the world to care for himself. After he grew up to manhood, having acquired a fair education, he commenced teaching school, which he followed for a num- ber of years. In 1856 he married Miss Minerva Dunston. In 1866 he moved to Putnam County, lived there till 1875, when his wife died. In the spring of 1876 he returned to Shelby County. In March, 1877, he married Margaret A. Staley, a daughter of Nicholas Staley. Mr. B. has had no children by either marriage, but has adopted a brother's son (Albert L. Bruner). He has quite a taste for music, and has made it a study, although he never had the advantage of a musical education except as he learned it himself by study at home. In 1871 he took out a patent for a transposing board, for the transposition of the musical scale, which is quite an ingenious and useful implement, making the transposition of the scale simple and easy for beginners.

DAVID A. HOBBY,

the subject of this sketch, was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1819. When only eighteen years of age-in the year 1837-he bought eighty acres of land in Salem Township, all in the woods. He commenced to clear his land, hired his board, but soon got into debt for his board. He then returned to Hamilton County, and borrowed money to pay his board bill. Again returned and worked on his land till the taxes be- came due. His taxes were only from one to three dollars, yet he says it was harder to raise that amount than it has been since for him to pay four hundred dollars. Money was not to be had for anything. After he began to raise produce on his land for sale, if he wanted a barrel of salt, or any other article, he would have to go to Cincinnati to find a market for it. Mr. Hobby has always been a man of feeble health, and very much of their success in life has depended upon his wife, who has always gone ahead in their labor, and did not only her part of the labor in the house, but that of her husband upon the farm, working out in the clearing both day and night; also working at the loom and spinning- wheel in the night time after working hard all the day helping to roll logs and burn brush. In this way they worked along, many times living on bran bread, until they have finally made for themselves a comfortable home. What was once a howling wilderness is now a beautiful farm, returning abundant harvests. Mr. H. has now 240 acres of well-improved land, all the product of his own labor and that of his estimable wife, who has stood by his side thus far through life.

Mr. Hobby married Eliza Slusser, who was born in Dayton in 1818. They were married in the year 1840. They have five children, two sons and three daughters, viz., Mary A., born 1841; Josephus, born 1846; Sarah A., born 1849; Seth, born 1851; and Margaret B., born 1861.

The grandfather of Mr. H. was a pensioner from the Revolutionary War, and his father was in the war of 1812.

WILLIAM LINE

was born in Brown County, Ohio, in 1833. Married Louisa Winget in 1855. They settled In Shelby County in 1867. They have four chil- dren: Mary E., born 1856; Charles W., born 1859; Sarah E., born 1866; and Nancy B., born 1x70. Mr. Line is a farmer by occupation; also a minister in the Christian Church.

SHADRACH C. BURTON

was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, in 1824. In 1826 he was brought by his parents to Turtle Creek Township, where he lived till the year 1856, when he moved to Salem Township. He was married to Miss Sarah Strouse in 1854. Their family consists of five children: Daniel W., Redosar E., Melinda J., William H., and Rebecca D. Mr. Burton is a well-to-do farmer, having 254 acres of valuable land, without an indebt- edness of one dollar.

Bazzel Burton, the father of the above, first came to the county in 1816 with his wife from Pickaway County. He entered land in Turtle Creek Township. They came with all their effects on horseback with two horses. The country was so new and wild that they soon got dis- couraged. So he gave a lease on a part of his land, and returned to Piqua, where he remained till 1826, when he returned to his land, and remained till he died in 1865. His wife died in 1860.

JONATHAN STOUT

was born in Salem Township in 1848. In 1866 he married Sarah Stock- still. They have but one child, Eddie. The parents of Mrs. Stout (E. D. Stockstill) came to the county in 1834.

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ROBERT B. CONKLIN, EsQ.,

was born in Champaign County, Ohio, in 1817. He resided with his parents till they moved to Sidney in 1836. He learned the chair-making trade with his father, which trade he followed for some fifteen years. Then, in 1851, moved on to his farm in Salem Township near Port Jef- ferson, where he now resides. In 1842 he was married to Ceriah Wag- oner. From this union they have only one child living, viz., William H., who was born in 1847. Now resides in Nebraska. Esq. Conklin's wife died in 1881. He has quite a reputation as a hunter. In the fall of 1837 he commenced camping out as a hunter, and has followed hunt- ing every fall from that time to the present, in all forty-four seasons. There is a remarkable circumstance connected with Mr. C.'s hunting experience. In the fall of 1840 Mr. William P. Reed and Esq. Conklin camped together while hunting in Shelby County, and have camped together every fall from that time to the present season, in all forty-one seasons. They have hunted together all over Northwestern Ohio; also in Michigan, and the present season went to the woods of Wisconsin. Esq. Conklin has the esteem and confidence of all who know him. In the year 1876 he was elected justice of the peace, which office he now holds.

WILLIAM SHINN, EsQ.

The Shinns are of English extraction, immigrating to America about the middle of the last century, and located in New Jersey. Here Wil- liam Shinn, Sen., was born in 1787. He married Jane Peacock, and moved to Warren County, Ohio, in 1815, and remained there until the fall of 1834, when he came with his family of seven children to Shelby County, and located in Orange Township, where he died in 1862, his wife having died in 1834.

William Shinn, Jr., was born in Warren County in 1818. Came with his father, William Shinn, Sen., in 1834. In 1839 he married Denithia Stoker, a daughter of John Stoker. By this union there were five children. Mrs. Shinn died in 1878. The names of their children were Jane, Brendella, Milton R., Welford E., and W. Ross. Esq. Shinn has been unfortunate in the loss of his property, but has had the esteem of his neighbors. He has filled the office of justice of the peace for four terms, besides having filled almost all the other important offices in his township. Such has been the confidence of the people in the county in Esq. Shinn that he has had the nomination of representative twice, commissioner twice, and treasurer once. Although the party to which he belonged was largely in the minority, yet he only failed in being elected by a small minority.

WILLIAM ESTEY

was born in Miami County, O., in 1828. He is a son of David Estey, who was born in New Brunswick in 1802, came to the United States in 1825, and located in Miami County, O. It was here that William was born, and lived until twenty-three years of age. In 1850 he married Elizabeth Kerr and emigrated to Iowa, where he remained some thirteen years. In 1854 his wife died, leaving two children, Sarah C. and Simon. In 1862 he returned to Miami County, where in 1863 he married Sarah A. Dixon, who died in 1877. In 1863 Mr. E. moved to Shelby County, on land he had previously purchased in Dinsmore Township. He has been one of the largest landholders of the county. He owned at one time 640 acres of improved land. He has made farming his avocation through life, but has made the most of his money by buying and selling land. He now owns 240 acres of land in Salem Township, 240 acres in Dinsmore Township, and 40 in Franklin. In 1878 he married for his third wife the widow of Franklin Dill, whose maiden name was Nancy A. Baker, a daughter of Moses E. Baker, Esq., of Van Buren Township. By this marriage they have one child, Clyde, born 1880. Mr. Estey has retired from farm labor, having a competence for the balance of his days.

JAMES PEGG.

The parents of Mr .. Pegg came to Ohio late in the fall of 1803, and located in Warren County among a colony of the Shakers, and gave all their property to the colony. The father was put into one family, the mother into another, and the four children into a different family. James Pegg was but an infant at the time his parents joined the Shakers. He was born in 1803. He lived in the colony until he was twenty-two years of age. He was given a common school education, but never knew what it was to have a father or mother. After arriving at the age of twenty- two he began to go out among other people. He found that he had been blinded, and he determined to seek more congenial society, where he could be his own man and enjoy the society of his fellows. He now spent five years of his life travelling from place to place, learning the ways of the world, until he finally located in Montgomery County, Ohio. It was here, in the year 1830, that he married Jane Dean. They remained there until 1837, when he removed with his wife and two children to Shelby County. Two years later his wife died, leaving three children, Mary, Elizabeth, and Robert D. In 1841 he married Rebecca Bozarth. By this marriage they had two children, James M. and Henry F.

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History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 104

Author: R. Sutton & Co. Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Number of Pages: 427

Author: R. Sutton & Co.
Publication date: 1883
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 427