USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Memorial record of the counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio > Part 15
USA > Ohio > Morrow County > Memorial record of the counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio > Part 15
USA > Ohio > Union County > Memorial record of the counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio > Part 15
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Dr. Burkam is the eldest in a family of nine children, six of whom are yet living. He was born and reared on the old home- stead where his father's birth occurred, and in the public schools of the neighborhood he began his education. His early privi- leges, however, were supplemented by study
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in the college in Athens, Athens county, Ohio, where he remained for two terms. He then spent two terms as a student in Concord, Muskingum county, Ohio, and completed his literary education in Bethany, Virginia, in the year 1852.
Wishing to enter the medical profession, Mr. Burkam then began study with Dr. Gilfillin, of West Alexander, Washington county, Pennsylvania. The following year he was a student in the office of Dr. Cray- croft, of Triadelphia, West Virginia, and later spent two years with Dr. Connelly. He then attended lectures at the Rush Med- ical College, of Chicago, and was graduated at that institution in the class of 1855, after which he at once entered the marine service of the United States Army as hospital stew- ard. After seventeen months he was pro- moted to the position of Lieutenant in the medical department and sent to the frontier. While on that trip he visited Florida, New Orleans, Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, and many other points. He was on the first Government boat that went up the Mississippi river, and in his official and pro- fessional capacity visited all of the main places on the frontier. After being mus- tered out at Fort Scott, in 1859, he returned to West Virginia.
It was at this time that the Doctor was united in marriage to Miss Rebecca J. Maple, a native of the Old Dominion. To them were born five children, but one of the number, Perry B., is now deceased. The others are Letha V., wife of Clinton'Higby, of Indianapolis, Indiana; Cobah, wife of Charles Watt, of York Center; Arizonia, wife of George Wells, of Galion, Ohio, and John W., who is employed as telegraph op- erator and station agent on the Hocking Valley Railroad at Lovell, Ohio.
After his marriage Dr. Burkam removed to Osage county, Missouri, and opened an office in Chamois, where he engaged in prac- tice until the early part of 1862, when he enlisted in the First Virginia Infantry. Af- ter serving for three months as a private he was mustered out, but at once re-enlisted, becoming a member of company D, First Virginia Infantry, with which he continued until the close of the war, when he was mustered out at Wheeling. He took part in the battles of Stonewall and Port Repub- lic, where he was wounded in the hip, after which he was transferred to the medical staff and did service in the Shenandoah val- ley until 1864, when he was sent to St. James. He was a second time wounded at Cedar Creek on the nineteenth of October, 1864, being surprised by a guerilla, who struck him over the head with a carbine, fracturing his skull, cutting his face and otherwise badly bruising him. He con- tinued on duty all through that day and on into the night. He was a gallant soldier, possessed of a spirit of bravery and courage that never faltered, no matter what his ser- vice. He acted as Brigade Surgeon with General Sigel, was then detailed to take charge of the field hospital, and at length was mustered out with the rank of Major.
On the twenty-seventh of July, 1865, Dr. Burkam came to Union county, locating in Newton, where he remained until the fol- lowing March, when he went to Broadway. He there made his home during the greater part of the time until 1884, engaged in ac- tive practice. During that time he did the largest business of any physician in the county. On leaving Broadway he removed to Harpster, Wyandot county, where he continued until 1891, in which year he be- came a resident of Vanlue, Hancock county.
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Since the twenty-second of August, 1894, he has resided in Byhalia, and has already built up a good practice. The Doctor is a member of Robins Post, No. 96, G. A. R., and in his political affiliations is a Repub- lican. He has always been an enterprising and progressive man in whatever commu- nity he has resided, and is recognized as one of the leading citizens of Union county.
ILLIAM BRUNDIGE, a farmer of Westfield township, is a son of Nathaniel Brundige, a native of Connecticut. He moved to New York State when about fourteen years of age, locating near Newburg, on the Hudson river. He came with his family to Ohio about 1806, and made a permanent settle- ment in Marlborough township, then Dela- ware county, where his death occurred at the age of eighty-four years. His wife, Annie Brundige, died there at about the same age. They were the parents of six children: Stephen, Nathaniel, Thomas, John, Annie Wyatt and Sarah Bush, all now deceased. The mother of our subject was Elizabeth Kniffen, a native of New York. The parents were married in that State, and came to Ohio in 1806, locating in the same township as his father. He cleared 160 acres of land. In political matters the father was identified with the Whig party, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Brundige were the par- ents of nine children, namely: Mary was the wife of Reuben Drake; Annie married James Trindle; Levina was the wife of Sam- uel D. Wyatt; Elizabeth was the wife of David Mitchell; Rachel was the wife of Luff S. Hull; James married Levina Bush; Sarah was the wife of Evan Norris; William is the
subject of this sketch; John married Harriet Taylor. The father died in 1825, aged fifty-four years, and the mother departed this life at the age of seventy-five years. They were Baptists in principle, but never united with any church.
William Brundige, the only one of his father's family now living, was born in Del- aware county, Ohio, December 3, 1808, the first male child born in that county. After the death of the father, the three sons re- mained on the old homestead with the mother, and William remained there eight years after his marriage. He then pur- chased and located on his present farm in Westfield township, then Delaware county. He now owns 425 acres, most of which is under a fine state of cultivation, and is en- gaged in general farming and stock raising. In an early day he was identified with the Whig party, and has since cast his vote with the Republicans. He has spent nearly his entire life in this county, and has been an active worker in its growth and develop- ment.
July 1, 1830, our subject was united in marriage with Philura Smith, a native of New York, and a daughter of Elijah W. Smith, one of the early pioneers of this county. To this union were born four chil- drea, the two eldest dying in infancy. Ben- nett S. married Jane McLead, resides in Del- aware county, and they have two children: William, who married Mary Price, and has four children; and Josephine, wife of An- drew Hushea, and they have one son. The second child of our subject, Harriet, is the wife of John C. Lewis, and resides in Ben- nington township, Morrow county. Our sub- ject made for his daughter, Harriet, a good provision, giving her $800 in cash, a team, three cows, and a large outfit of household
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goods. They also have two children, - Bryant and Philura Victoria. The eldest is married and has one child. Mrs. Brundige departed this life August 3, 1888.
EWTON E. LIGGETT, who holds distinctive prestige as one of the most enterprising and successful young business men of Marysville, Union county, Ohio, must assuredly be ac- corded representation in this volume. He traces his ancestral lineage, in the agnatic course, back to the Old Dominion, that cradle of much of our national history, that section so opulent in romance and in memo- ries of the chivalric days when "the first families of Virginia " were in the height of their gentle and stately glory. From records extant we are enabled to follow the geneal- ogy of our subject back to the original Vir- ginia ancestor, noting briefly, in passing the prominent part each generation has taken in contributing to the development and pros- perity of the sections of the Union with whose interests they have been identified.
Luther Liggett, of Mill Creek township, Union county, Ohio, was born October II, 1836, a son of Absalom and Millie (Carr) Liggett, the former of whom was born in Ross county, Ohio, October 9, 1810, the son of James Liggett, who was a native of Hardy county, Virginia (now West Virginia), where he was born in 1778. In 1810 James Liggett left his native State and emigrated to the wilds of Ross county, Ohio, where he remained for a period of seven years, when he removed to Delaware county, this State, and settled in that locality of which the vil- lage of Ostrander now forms a part; here he remained until the time of his death, which occurred in 1864.
Absalom Liggett was the fourth of a family of ten children, whose names are here given, in the order of their birth: Job, Joab, Abner, Absalom, William, Millie, Conrad, Susan, James and Gideon, -all of whom have now been gathered to their fathers. Absalom was married in 1833 to Millie Carr, who bore him ten children, eight of whom lived to attain maturity, Luther being the eldest of the family. He was married, in 1857, to Maria, daughter of James W. and Laura R. (Kinney) Wilkinson, and they became the parents of seven children, one of whom (a daughter) died in infancy; the remaining six still survive, namely: Newton E., who is the immediate subject of this review; James A., Louisa A., Mayne L., Clara M., and Henry C.
After his marriage Luther Liggett rented a farm and lived thereon until 1869, when he effected the purchase of ninety-six acres, which nucleus was subsequently enlarged by successive increments until he ultimately found himself the possessor of 300 acrse of inost valuable land. He gave special at- tention to the breeding of short-horn cattle and conducted extensive operations in this branch of his farming business. He served for four successive terms as a member of the Union County Board of Agriculture, having held the preferment as vice-president of the organization for two years. Trusted implic- itly by his fellowmen, and held in the high- est esteem, he was called upon to render service to the local public in numerous offices of trust and responsibility, having served as Township Clerk, Treasurer and Trustee. In October, 1882, he was elected a member of the Board of County Commis- sioners, and in this, as in all other offices which he had filled, he was faithful to the trust reposed in him, his efforts meeting with
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appreciative favor. In politics he was a stanch adherent of the Democratic party, and was an active worker in its cause, hav- ing been a delegate to State and county conventions on many occasions. He was distinctively one of the public-spirited men of the county, progressive and possessed of an intellectual individuality which enabled him to readily determine as to the merits of any cause or the expediency of any action looking to the benefit of the public. He continued to reside in Mill Creek township until his death, which occurred August 2, 1892. Within the latter years of his life he met with reverses, which seriously impaired his finances, but such was the intrinsic honor of his character and such the strength which enabled him to always live four square to his convictions, and such his fine appreciation of justice, that he liquidated all the claims against him at much personal sacrifice. He continued to take an active interest in the Agricultural Society of the county until his death, and when he was summoned "across the great divide" his friends, his neighbors and all who had known his honest worth mourned the loss of a true and good man, to whom most fitly might be given the "grand old name of gentleman."
Luther and Maria (Wilkinson) Liggett were the parents of six children, to whom we now call attention by a brief record: Newton E. is the immediate subject of this review; James A. is a resident of Watkins, this county, where he is engaged in the agri- cultural implement business; Louisa is the wife of G. C. Shields, agent of the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad Company at Marys- ville; Mayne L., who passed an examination before the State Board of Pharmacy in 1893, having also taken a course of instruction in chemistry, under the preceptorage of Pro-
fessor Young, of Ada, this State, now acts as assistant in the drug store of his brother, our subject; Clara M. and Henry C. are at home with their widowed mother, who resides one mile east of Marysville.
Maria (Wilkinson) Liggett, inother of our subject, was born in Marysville, Decem- ber 17, 1836, her parents having come hither that year. Here they continued their residence until 1857, when they removed to Butler county, Nebraska, where they both died-the father March 25, 1882, and the mother March 7, 1875. Mr. Wilkinson served as Probate Judge of Butler county for two years, and while a resident of Marys- ville had held preferment as Justice of the Peace.
Newton E. Liggett was born on the old home farm in Union county, June 21, 1857. He passed his boyhood days in assisting with the work of the farm and attending the dis- trict schools, thus continuing until 1876, when he entered the Marysville high school, where he remained for two years, and then secured a position in the em- ploy of McCloud Brothers, who were at that time engaged in the drug business in this city. With this firm our subject remained until 1890, with an intermis- sion of only two years, one of which was passed in the employ of Charles Hus- ton, a druggist at Columbus, and the other with the Marysville drug firm of Anderson & Son.
In 1890 Mr. Liggett succeeded to the drug business conducted by John F. Zwer- ner, and since that time he has been carry- ing on the enterprise most successfully; his salesrooms being the most attractive in the line that the city affords, while the stock carried is of representative order, complete in all staple and fancy lines. Special care
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and attention is given to the compounding of prescriptions, for which the facilities are unexcelled.
Mr. Liggett is a member of the Ohio State Pharmaceutical association. In poli- tics he espouses the cause of the Democratic party, and is now serving his second year as member of the City Council. Fraternally, he is a member of Marysville Lodge, No. 100, Knights of Pythias.
His marriage was celebrated in this city September 10, 1890, when he wedded Miss Anna Gibson, daughter of George and An- geline Gibson, and a native of Marysville. They have two children, Luther and Eugene. Mrs. Liggett is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and also of the King's Daughters and the Rebekah Lodge. Their attractive home is located on East Fifth street.
ALTER W. RHOADES, who is one of the representative agricul- turists of Union township, Union county, Ohio, and who has a rec- ord for loyal and valorous service in the late war of the Rebellion, is a native of the Buckeye State, having been born in Mus- kingum county, near the city of Zanesville, August 15, 1835, the son of William Rhoades, a native of Pennsylvania, and of German lineage. The mother of our subject, née Margaret Irwin, was born in New Jersey, and her ancestral line traces back to bonnie old Scotland. Representatives of the fam- ily participated in the war of the Revolu- tion, as well as in that second notable con- flict, the war of 1812. The venerable father of our subject died July 27, 1894, at his residence in the vicinity of Marysville, this county, having attained the age of
eighty-five years. The mother died at the age of seventy-one. William Rhoades was a Republican in his political belief, and re- ligiously was identified with the Presbyterian Church, retaining his latter days the honor won by a long life of activity and unim- peachable integrity.
His children were six in number, five sons and one daughter, of whom we make mention as follows: The eldest, Walter W., is the immediate subject of this review. Orville was a soldier in the late war, was taken prisoner and expired in the wretched prison at Andersonville; at the time he was incarcerated he weighed 190 pounds, but the confinement and the hardships endured caused him to waste away, so that at the time of his death he weighed only sixty- three pounds; he was a member of the Eighteenth regulars, and was taken prisoner at Resaca, Georgia. Jacob M. also went out in the nation's defense, enlisting in the 100 days' service: he died at Newton, Ohio. Horatio J., who was also in the same ser- vice, is now a resident in the vicinity of Broadway, this county; Cassius Y. is a res- ident of Newton, this State; also Marian F., the only sister, died years ago.
Our subject was reared to work on the farm, but was afforded the best educational advantages which were available, receiving a good education in the district, select and graded schools in Franklin county, and the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, and later on putting his acquirements to practical test by teaching for a time, prov- ing a capable and successful instructor.
At the time of the outbreak of the Civil war he was residing in Delaware county, this State, and in the hour of his country's need for valiant men and true, he was not found wanting, but enlisted August 9, 1861,
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as a member of the Eighteenth Regulars. His regiment proceeded at once to the front, and the record shows that it participated in not a few of the most desperate battles of the war, among those in which Mr. Rhoades took part being the following: Mill Springs, Petersburg, Corinth, Shiloh, Stone River, Chickamauga, the siege of Atlanta, and then back to combat General Hood's forces at Nashville, Franklin, Fort Fisher, Benton- ville, and Goldsboro. He then returned by railroad to New York, and thence to Ohio's capital city, Columbus, where he received his discharge in June, 1865.
After the war Mr. Rhoades resided for some time in Delaware county, and thence removed to Union county, having secured possession of his present fine farmstead in 1890, the place comprising sixty-nine acres, unsurpassed in fertility and well improved, the location of the farm being about mid- way between Milford Center and the county seat, Marysville. The residence is commo- dious and substantial, and there are all nec- essary outbuildings essential to facilitating the work of the farm.
Mr. Rhoades was married at the age of twenty-six years, being united to Miss Re- becca Johnson, the daughter of Levi and Margaret (Livingston) Johnson, both of whom were natives of the old Keystone State. The father died in 1872, his wife having passed away ten years prior to his demise. They had six children: Rebecca, wife of our subject, who was reared in Del- aware county, receiving a thorough educa- tion and being for some time engaged in teaching, in which line of effort she met with pronounced success; George W., who participated in the late war as a member of the Eighteenth Regulars, and is now a resi- dent of Prospect, this State; Margaret, now
residing in Cleveland, Ohio; Mattie, at the close of the late Rebellion, was married to Captain E. Hicks, now a resident of Grant City, Missouri; and Allie, wife of Dr. H. E. Hyatt, of Delaware, Ohio.
Mr. and Mrs. Rhoades became the par- ents of six children, namely: Maude, who was a successful teacher, is the wife of L. F. Wood, of Manchester, Tennessee; Claude O. is at home; Laud C. is a resident of Akron, Ohio; Zella, who died at the un- timely age of eighteen years, was the wife of J. Horney, and her only child, Cassius, is now cared for by his maternal grand- parents; Mattie and George Y. are at the paternal home. All of the children received good educational advantages, by which they duly profited.
Mr. Rhoads is a stanch Republican and has been an active worker in the ranks, hav- ing been a delegate to the County Conven- tions of the party on numerous occasions. Fraternally he retains a membership in Ran- som Reed Post, No. 113, G. A. R., of Marysville, which city is his postoffice.
S. TALMAGE .- We now direct attention to one who stands con- spicuous as one of the oldest and most honored pioneer residents of Morrow county; one whose identification with the history of the Buckeye State has been one of ancestral as well as individual order, and one who, after days of ceaseless toil and endeavor, is now passing the au- tumn of his life in retirement and gentle re- pose as a patriarchal citizen of the flourish- ing little city of Mount Gilead. A resumé of such a life can never fail to offer both lesson and incentive.
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D. S. Talmage is a native of Morris county, New Jersey, where he was born on the twenty-third day of April, 1814. His father, David Talmage, was likewise a na- tive of New Jersey, and was a shoemaker by trade, following this honorable vocation during his entire mature life. He came to Knox county, Ohio, in 1816, his son, the subject of this review, being but two years old at that time. In 1836 he located in that portion of Marion county which is now incorporated in the county of Morrow, and here purchased a small piece of land, upon which he made his home, devoting himself to the support of his family by working at his trade. Here he continued to abide, a simple, noble, honest man, until death came to him at the venerable age of seventy years. He was of English extraction, having been a descendant of one of three brothers who left the mother country and took up their abode in America at an early day.
The mother of our subject, nee Ruth Whitehead, was a native of New Jersey, where she lived until she had attained ma- ture years. She entered into eternal rest at the age of fifty-nine years. David and Ruth Talmage became the parents of three children, of whom we make record as fol- lows: Nelson is deceased; D. S. is the sub- ject of this review, and Maria is the wife of Elias Cooper, of Mount Gilead, this county.
As has already been stated, our subject was a child of but two years at the time when his parents left their Eastern home and located in the pioneer frontier settle- ment in Knox county, Ohio. His scholastic discipline was of necessity very limited in scope, for the pioneer locality had its educa- tional advantages as yet confined to the primitive log school houses, with their mea- gre accessories. Such advantages as these
little schools afforded, however, our subject was permitted to enjoy. At the age of six- teen years he apprenticed himself to learn the carpenter's trade, and served in this way for a period of four years. Being then twenty years of age, he began operations as a jour- neyman and was thus employed for one year, after which he determined to put his mechan- ical acquirements to a practical test by en- gaging in business upon his own responsibility.
In 1834,-two years prior to the removal of his father to this locality,-he came to Marion (now Morrow) county, and located in Mount Gilead, which has continued to be his home during all the long intervening years from that time to the present end-of- the-century period. At the time of his ar- rival here the town's population was summed up in the aggregate of 150 individuals. He became a prime factor in the substantial up- building of the village, and in conserving its general advancement to its present position of importance and prosperity. There are still extant not a few houses of the large number which were erected by him in the village and neighboring townships.
Two years after his arrival in Mount Gilead, -that is, in 1836, - he was united in marriage to Miss Susan Snyder, who was born and reared in Washington county, In- diana. The union thus cemented continued for more than an half century, fifty-six years, and was one of mutual devotion, unwav- ering sympathy, and earnest co-operation, --- a union in the higher and truer sense. In September, 1893, came to our subject the great loss and bereavement of his life, for then it was that she who had been his cher- ished companion during all the long years, with their varying lights and shadows, who had been a tender mother to his children, and who had stood tenderly by his side
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while the years left their impress in silvered hair and bowed form, was gathered home to the life eternal. Hers was a life which left a benediction to those who mourn her loss, and was one which bequeathed its own inea- sure of consolation.
Our subject and his wife became the par- ents of three children, namely: John, who was a brave and gallant soldier in the late war of the Rebellion, and who is now de- ceased; Sarah, who is the wife of James Al- baugh, and Nelson, who died at the age of sixteen years.
Mr. Talmage is one of the oldest settlers now living in the county, and is one to whom is not denied the full measure of respect and veneration due to the man who has lived an honorable and useful life, and whose days have been prolonged to the limit of the un- wonted four score years. For a number of years he was quite extensively engaged in the buying and selling of live stock, and he also owned a farm and operated the same successfully, notwithstanding the old saying that, "He who by the plow would thrive, himself must either hold or drive," the sim- ple fact being that our subject never gave a day's time to following the plowshare as it turned the willing soil. Though he has never sought public preferment, yet Mr. Tal- mage served his county capably and accept- ably for six years as Commissioner. He is an old-time Mason, having been identified with the various bodies of that noble frater- nal order since 18 -.
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