USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Memorial record of the counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio > Part 21
USA > Ohio > Morrow County > Memorial record of the counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio > Part 21
USA > Ohio > Union County > Memorial record of the counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio > Part 21
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Andrew Duncan removed from Washing- ton county, Pennsylvania, to Jefferson county, Ohio, at an early day and here he subsequently met his death, receiving fatal injuries as the result of an accident in a clearing, in which a log rolled upon him. The father of our subject was six years of age when his parents took up their residence in the Buckeye State, and he was reared to maturity in Jefferson county, remaining on the farm during his boyhood and early youth, and finally giving his time and atten- tion to acquiring the trade of a blacksmith, but subsequently became a leading farmer and stockraiser. He was an active partici- pant in the Black Hawk war and was a sturdy, loyal and honorable son of the Republic. In Holmes county where he finally settled and there passed the remain- der of his days, he was united in marriage to Frances Elliott, a native of the famous old county of Donegal, Ireland, where she was born in 1819, being only a babe of six months when her parents, James and Hes- ter (Stevenson) Elliott, emigrated from the Emerald Isle to America, settling in Holmes county. Here the Elliotts made their permanent home, the father being a stone mason by trade, but eventually engaging in farming. He was a man of literary tastes
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and became one of the prominent and suc- cessful men in that section, where he was one of the early pioneers.
William and Frances (Elliott) Duncan consummated their marriage in Holmes county, and there passed the remainder of their days, being honored and prominent members of the community in which they lived for so many years. He was killed by a falling tree, in December, 1877, and the mother of our subject entered into eternal rest in 1891.
They were the parents of six sons and six daughters, ten of whom are now living. The names of the family are as follows : Thomas E. (the subject of this review), Jane Carr, Mary, Andrew, Eliza, Fannie, Hed- dington, James, William, John, Emma Chase, Elmira Bickle and George. Emma Chase and George are deceased.
The parents were members of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, and the mother was particularly active in her devotions to the same. Andrew and James were soldiers in the late war of the Rebellion and the first named was severely wounded while in the service.
Thomas E. Duncan, the immediate sub- ject of this biographical resume grew to manhood on the parental farmstead in Holmes county, attending the district schools and subsequently supplementing the knowledge thus acquired in a rudimentary way by a course of study in the Ohio Wes- leyan University at Delaware.
Within the time that he was pursuing his literary education he devoted himself to school teaching at irregular intervals, thus assisting in defraying the expenses of his own education.
After he left college he at once made ready to take up the line of professional
study which should fit him for the practice of the law, entering the law office of Bar- croft & Vorhees, a prominent law firm of Millersburg, Holmes county; he continued his reading assiduously and, in 1862, was admitted to the bar upon examination at Columbus.
Now thoroughly re-enforced in a theo- retical way he at once proceeded to Carding- ton, Morrow county, where he proudly displayed his professional shingle and enter- ed upon the active practice of his profession. His technical ability, facility in debate and his judicial acumen in counsel gained him a representative clientage, as his power be- came known, and there he remained until 1878, when he came to the official center of the county, Mt. Gilead, where he has ever since continued in the practice of his profes- sion, and where he has risen to distinction as the result of the qualifications above noted, as well as the confidence begotten by the integrity of his character.
Politically he has always been an ardent supporter of the Republican party, and has ever been active in the support of its princi- ples and its candidates.
He was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Morrow county in 1868 and in 1870 was selected his own successor. In 1873 he was elected representative in the General Assem- bly of Ohio, and at the expiration of his term was chosen to succeed himself, having proved a capable and discriminating legisla- tor, and one to whose keeping popular inter- ests could be consigned without reference to party or political creeds.
Among other positions assigned him while in the Legislature, he was made chairman of the committee on the elective franchise. At this time, 1876, party feeling was at its highest tension, stimulated in part by the
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doubts involved in the result of the presi- dential election of that year and the charges of fraud upon the ballot box, and believing that the law intended to secure the purity of the ballot was imperfect, and that the public peace and the interests of the State demanded more stringent election laws, he undertook, formulated and introduced into the Legislature, and, after a long and bitter contest, secured the passage of the first reg- istration law in the history of the State. The wisdom of this legislation is shown by the fact that many of its provisions remain upon the statute books to-day. In 1882 our subject was appointed by Governor Foster, a member of the Board of Directors of the Ohio Penitentiary, a position which he held until 1884, when he was appointed by the Governor as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Thomas J. Kinney, deceased. He retained this incumbency for one year. In 1884 Judge Duncan was elected a delegate from the ninth Ohio Congressional district, as it was then composed, to the Republican National Convention, held in Chicago, and bore an honorable part in the proceedings of the convention, which resulted in the nomination of the Hon. James G. Blaine for President.
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In 1893 he became the Republican nominee for the important office which he had previously held by special appointment and was duly elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the second sub-division of the sixth Judicial district, receiving a majority of 700 votes in a district which gave a Democratic majority of more than 1,800 the preceding year. This circum- stance affords sufficient evidence of his pop- ularity in a pronounced way, and of the confidence in which he is held by his neigh-
bors and the voters of the district. The Judge has served the public in a more local way as a member of the Common Council of Mt. Gilead, and other local offices.
In all the public positions which Judge Duncan has been called upon to fill, he has at all times shown himself possessed of marked ability, and has discharged the duties of his various offices with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents.
In addition to the business of his profes- sion and the cares of public life, he has found time to devote to commercial enter- prises of considerable importance. He was for several years associated with the Duncan Brothers, hardware dealers, in Cardington, and was one of the organizers and principal stockholder in the Cardington Flouring Mill Company, and later on, in connection with Messrs. House & Dawson, built and equip- ped the Buckeye Flouring Mill, at Mt. Gilead, which enterprise has since been organized into a joint stock company, of which he is now one of the directors and principal stockholders.
Judge Duncan is now in the prime of his life, with abundant opportunities for usefulness, and is what you may call a busy man, with health, ambition and strength to carry forward successfully what- ever he undertakes. With a keen sense of honor, social and genial, he never for- gets a friend and many can testify to his generous magnanimity in helping them on in the world, and to his potent influence in the support of their cause.
At the breaking out of the late war he was connected with the United States Survey Service, in Colorado, where he had been allured by what proved to be extrava- gant stories of the rich gold find in that Territory. He had left his books and his
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home in high expectation of becoming rich and enjoying in life whatever riches bring. Reaching Denver, then containing but a few log huts and adobes, he found to his dismay that he had undergone the hardships of a long journey of thousands of miles with ox teams, much of the way over a trackless prairie and desert plain, to find himself de- ceived and his fond hopes blasted. He could not well return, and having by this time some experience as a frontiersman, well educated, young and active, he ap- plied for and obtained employment as above stated. In July, 1861, he received the first news of the war, and the officer in charge of the surveying party was ordered to re- port forthwith at Fort Leavenworth. Being again disappointed and out of employment in the western fastnesses of Colorado, nothing remained but to return, so turning his face eastward and with sturdy tread, he reached his home in Holmes county to find his old chums and the boys of his age in the army. So after recruiting his health and strength, now somewhat impaired by the hardships through which he had passed, he resumed the study of the law and the following year was admitted to the bar. The Judge says that this experience while a boy doubtless cured him of a roving disposition, which he suspects he had at that time.
Turning in conclusion to the domestic pages of Judge Duncan's history, we learn that on the 14th day of May, 1862, he was united in marriage to Miss Rachel, daughter of Major John and Sophia (Clark) Frew, the former of whom was a promi- nent dry-goods merchant at Coshocton, Ohio, for nearly a half a century; both parents are now deceased. Mrs. Duncan was born at Coshocton, in September, 1841, and was there reared and educated.
Judge and Mrs. Duncan became the parents of seven children, and of this number all are living save one. William F. married Elba Ireland and they have one child; he is a prominent young at- torney of Findlay, this State. Seth C. has been admitted to practice law but is now engaged as a traveling salesmen. The other children are Carrie L., Josephine, Mary, Thomas A. and Bessie. Thomas A. met his death at Cardington, Ohio, falling into a cistern and being drowned, at the age of two and one-half years. Josephine is the wife of Wert A. Robinson, a dry- goods merchant of Goshen, Elkhart county, Indiana. All the children were afforded exceptional educational advantages. The attractive family home is located on Court street. Mrs. Duncan is a devoted mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The family is a Methodist family.
J OHN NEWSON, who is one of the prominent pioneer residents and rep- resentative agriculturists of Gilead township, Morrow county, has lived on the farmstead which he now occupies since he was a boy of five years, and he has witnessed and assisted in its development from a sylvan wild to its present condition of high cultivation, has replaced the rude forest lodge by a modern and attractive resi- dence, and has attained to marked success in a material way as the result of his own efforts. Such a life history is one which offers the most perfect justification for a work of this nature.
Our subject is a native of Washington county, Maryland, where he was born on the 2d day of March, 1820, the son of Abraham Newson, whose place of nativity
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was the same county, where he grew to man's estate, coming to Morrow (then Ma- rion) county, Ohio, in the year 1825, when this section was yet, for the most part given over to the virgin forests and the do- minion of the Indians and the wild animals.
Abraham Newson located on the farm where his son, our subject, now lives, tak- ing up his abode in a tent until he could complete his log cabin. He secured this tract of wild land from the Government, this tract being 160 acres, and the place has ever since remained in the possession of the family. He afterward purchased 640 acres of school land, and at the time of his death had 1,000 acres. He was a Democrat of the Jeffersonian type, and religiously was a zealous adherent of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a man of gigantic phys- ical proportions, having weighed 448 pounds. His father, John Newson, was of Irish de- scent.
The maiden name of our subject's mother was Lucy Friend, and she was born in Mary- land, where she was reared. She died in the seventy-first year of her age. Her father, Jacob Friend, was of English ex- traction.
Abraham and Lucy Newson became the parents of twelve children, two of whom died in childhood, the others living to attain mature years, and seven of the number are living at the present time. Our subject was the second son, and was five years of age when his parents removed from their old home in the East and took up their abode in the Buckeye State. He grew up on the old homestead and received his educational discipline in the old log school-houses of the period, -the same having quaint and meagre equipments and accessories, the seats being rude slab benches, and heat being provided
by means of a huge fire in the center of the room.
John Newson remained on his father's farm until January, 1847, when was con- summated his marriage to Ruth Blakeley, a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, where she was born April 14, 1822, the daughter of John Blakeley, who was also a native of the same county in the Old Dominion State, as was also his father, William Blakeley, who was of Irish descent. John Blakeley came to Belmont county, Ohio, and there lived for eleven years, after which he came to Morrow county, where he passed the resi- due of his life, passing away in his eighty- third year. His wife, nèe Jane Talbert, was born in Virginia, the daughter of Thomas Talbert, who was likewise born in that State. She died in her forty-second year. Mrs. Newson was the eldest of a family of eight children, comprising seven daughters and one son. She was but four years of age when her parents came to Ohio, and was fourteen when they took up their abode in Morrow county.
After his marriage our subject located on a part of the paternal homestead and gave himself assiduously to its improvement and cultivation. At that time the nearest point at which groceries could be secured was eighteen miles distant, and for dry- goods they were compelled to go to Mans- field, -a distance of twenty-three miles. All kinds of wild animals native to this section were still abundant, and it was impossible for the settlers to raise sheep, on account of the depredations of the wolves.
Mr. Newson's residence farm is distinc- tively one of the finest in this section of the State, comprising 214 acres. In addition to this place he has another farm of sixty acres, in Congress township. He devotes
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his attention to general farming and to stock raising, and has ever been progressive and discriminating in his methods, avoiding old ruts and set habits and bringing to bear a mental function and business judgment in the operation of his fine farms.
Other interests of financial order are held by our subject: he is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Mt. Gilead, and in the Buckeye Milling Company, of the same place. He has accumulated a fine property as the result of his own well-directed efforts, and is honored as one of the successful men of the county and as one whose character is above reproach. In politics Mr. Newson is a stanch supporter of the Democratic party.
N. LAYMAN, proprietor of the tile works and saw mill of Center Vil- lage, Delaware county, also Trus- tee of Harlem township, was born in Morgan township, Knox county, Ohio, February 2, 1851, a son of Lewis and Mary (Frey) Layman, natives of Virginia. The father is deceased, and the mother now re- sides at Miller, Knox county.
L. N. Layman, one of nine children, four sons and five daughters, was reared on a farm, and received his education in the Knox county schools. In 1887 he became a partner in the ownership of the tile works and saw mill of this village. The factory is 22x200 feet, with a shed eighty feet in length, and is supplied with the latest im- proved machinery.
Mr. Layman was married at the age of twenty-two years, to Dorcus A. Harris, a native of Knox county, Ohio, and a daugh- ter of Simon and Mary Harris. To this union has been born three children,-Del-
bert Sidney, Evert A. and Airl Lester. In his social relations, Mr. Layman is a mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias Lodge, No. 645.
W. MICHAEL, President of the National Pen Art Hall and Busi- ness College, Delaware, Ohio, was born in Cass county, Indiana, March 14, 1845, son of Peter and Christina (Freshour) Michael.
The Michael family trace their ancestry back to the Old Dominion, some members of the family having occupied prominent and influential positions in Virginia. Andrew Michael, an uncle of our subject, was born near Berkley Springs, Morgan county, Vir- ginia, and served as State Senator. He was a Union man. Professor Michael's parents went from Virginia to Indiana in 1836, and established their home on a frontier farm. His venerable mother is still a resident of Indiana. His father died in that State in March, 1893, at the age of eighty-two years.
G. W. Michael is one of a family of thirteen children. His advantages for an education were very limited, the greater part of his youthful days being spent in farm work. Between the ages of seven and nine- teen he attended school from six to eight weeks each winter. In 1863 he went to Chatfield, Minnesota, where he worked as a farm hand six months, and with the money thus earned defrayed his expenses through school the following winter. In the spring of 1864 he enlisted in Company I, Eleventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and at the close of the war was mustered out of the service at St. Paul. He took part in the capture of Hood at Nashville. He was,
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however, chiefly on detached service. At Franklin, Tennessee, he received a wound in the right arm.
After his return from the war, young Michael entered the Hughs Academy at Lo- gansport, Indiana, with the view of teach- ing, and was a student there for six months. He then taught district school three terms. Feeling the need of a higher education, he next spent two years in Wittemberg College. After that he traveled and taught penman- ship. In the meantime he studied law, and in 1879 was admitted to the bar in Indiana. During the ten years he spent in traveling he was in most of the States and over a part of Canada. At Valparaiso, Indiana, he es- tablished a business college, and conducted the same for two years, and came from there to Delaware, Ohio, in 1880.
In September, 1880, Professor Michael established the school of which he has since been the head, and which is one of the most successful commercial colleges in the United States. From its beginning it has had a steady growth, and it now has an average annual attendance of between 500 and 600 pupils.
Professor Michael was married in Jack- son, Ohio, May 3, 1879, to Miss Ada C. Steruberger, and has three children, Her- bert S., George Edward and Morris S. He and his wife and two sons are members of the Presbyterian Church.
Politically, the Professor is a Prohibi- tionist, and by his party has been nominated for Representative in Delaware county, Ohio. Fraternally, he is identified with the G. A. R. and the F. & A. M., he having at- tained the thirty-second degree in Masonry. Personally, he is a man of fine physique, six feet high, weighs 200 pounds, and has a becoming dignity of bearing.
ILLIAM F. DAVIS, D. V. S., who occupies a representative po- sition in the ranks of that profes- sion which has shown such marked advances within the past decade and which is held in high repute, has been a res- ident of Marysville, Union county, Ohio, since June 10, 1893, and has already gained prestige and built up a fine business by rea- son of his unmistakable professional ability and his fidelity to his work. He is a native of Chillicothe, Missouri, where he was born April 6, 1868, the son of Moses F. and Bet- tie (Roebuck) Davis, who were respectively of Welch and English extraction.
Our subject was but a small child when his mother died, and shortly after this sad event his father removed to Ohio and took up his residence at Washington Court House, where William was reared, his father being a professional trainer and driver of fast horses. Our subject received his literary education in the public schools at Jefferson- ville, this State, continuing his studies until he attained the age of nineteen years, de- voting a portion of his time to handling track horses, under the capable direction of his father. He then entered the veterinary department of the Ohio State University, where he passed one year, after which, in 1891, he went to New York city, where he matriculated at the American Veterinary College, completing the prescribed course and graduating with honors, March 24, 1893. He then returned to his home in this State and for a time traveled into various sections of the same in the practice of veterinary den- tistry, in which line he is a most skilled op- erative. He finally came to Union county upon a visit, and being favorably impressed with the city of Marysville, determined to here establish himself in the practice of his
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profession. This he did and has since been located here, where his services have come into ready demand and where he is building up a lucrative practice. He devotes spe- cial attention to dental work, but is thor- oughly informed in all branches of the vet- erinary science.
He has always taken much interest in good horses, and has personally owned some very fine standard-bred individuals in the trotting and pacing field. He owns at the present time the pacing filly, Lady Ham- let, who is three years old and who made a race record of 2:24} in a race at Marysville, Ohio, September 28, 1894,
The Doctor is a member of the Ameri- can Veterinary Association and of the Ohio State Veterinary Association. Fraternally, he is identified with the Masonic Order, be- ing a member of Palestine Lodge, No. 158, F. & A. M .; with the Knights of Pythias, retaining a membership in Marysville Lodge, No. 100, and holding office in the same as Vice Chancellor, and with Marysville Lodge, No. 87, I. O. O. F.
Dr. Davis is a young man of pleasing address, is genial and courteous in bearing, and enjoys a marked popularity in the city which he has adopted as his home.
0 R. HARRY D. JONES, one of the leading young dentists of Delaware, Ohio, is a native of Bridgeport, Belmont county, this State, born May 30, 1868. His parents, Robert and Mary (Davis) Jones, are now residents of Delaware.
Dr. Jones spent his early boyhood days as a student in the public schools of Bridge- port and Delaware. When he was fifteen he secured employment in a grocery store, and
later, for some eighteen montlis, he clerked in the Delaware postoffice. On account of sickness he resigned the latter position. In 1885 he began the study of dentistry with Drs. Steves & Mitchell, and two years later he entered the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he graduated March 1, 1889. Im- inediately after his graduation he located in Delaware, at first, for a few months, being associated with Dr. C. G. Lewis. Then he entered into a partnership with Dr. A. M. Harrison, of Columbus, Ohio, having an office in both Columbus and Delaware, Dr. Jones taking charge of the latter. This partner- ship was dissolved in July, 1892, and from that time to the present he has been prac- ticing alone. His parlors are located at 523 North Sandusky street and he is doing a general practice. Ambitious and ener- getic and well equipped for his chosen pro- fession, he has gained a prominent position among the business men of the city.
Dr. Jones is a stanch Republican, and a member of the Presbyterian Church.
R OBERT B. KLOTZ, M. D., one of the able and enterprising young physicians and surgeons of Marys- ville, Union county, Ohio, was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, in the vicinity of the city of Allentown, on the 26th of October, 1871.
The parents of our subject, Jeremiah and Coraline (Seip) Klotz, were both of German lineage, but were natives of the old Keystone State, where their respective par- ents had taken up their abode in an early day. The mother died in 1887, and the father is at the present time residing in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
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Jeremiah Klotz was the keeper of a small hotel in the village of Guthsville, Le- high county, Pennsylvania, and here our subject was reared, attending the public schools and assisting his father in the hotel during the vacations. In 1883 the family moved to Allentown, where Robert was en- abled to continue his educational work in the public schools. Manifesting a desire to secure still further discipline in this line of preparation for the duties of life, he finally matriculated at the Muhlenburg College, Al- lentown, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, where he completed the work of the freshman year, after which he made ready to take up the special work of preparation for the pro- fession to which he had determined to devote himself. He accordingly entered the office of Dr. W. H. Hartzell, at Allentown, and after studying for some time under this able preceptor, he entered the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, where he completed the prescribed course, graduating with the degree of Doc- tor of Medicine in the class of 1893.
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