USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Memorial record of the counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio > Part 29
USA > Ohio > Morrow County > Memorial record of the counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio > Part 29
USA > Ohio > Union County > Memorial record of the counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio > Part 29
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ENRY V. SPICER, a prominent lawyer and well-known citizen of Richwood, was born in York town- ship, this county, January 10, 1863, a son of David W. and Keziah (Ross) Spicer. The father was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, September 13, 1822, and was a son of Jonathan and Levinah Spicer, na- tives of Pennsylvania and pioneer settlers in Muskingum county. Jonathan Spicer's father served through the Revolutionary war, in which he received three wounds.
David W. Spicer was raised on a farm, receiving a liberal common-school education. June 22, 1848, in Muskingum county, he was united in marriage with Miss Keziah Ross, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, May 20, 1825. He died on his farm
in York township, July 26, 1892. She is still living on the home place in York town- ship. Jane Spicer, a sister of David W. Spicer, married Levi Whaley, of this coun- ty. Catherine Spicer, the second sister, married William Howell. They moved to La Salle county, Illinois, where their chil- dren now reside. Adeline, another sister, married John Harriman, of Muskingum county, Ohio. The brothers of David W. . Spicer were: Ellison, William, and Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. David W. Spicer had nine children, namely: Jane E., Emily C., Joseph L., Franklin D., Henry V., Alexander J., Minnie D., William and Isabella. Jane E. is the wife of O. E. McAllister, a farmer of Taylor township. They have one child, Mertie V., aged twenty years, who recently married Allen Laughrey, also a resident of Taylor township. Emily C. married A. J. Middlesworth, a farmer near Byhalia, Wash- ington township; Joseph L. resides on the home place in York township; Franklin D. is a teacher by occupation, and a resident of Richwood; Alexander J. is engaged in the fire-insurance and real-estate business in West Mansfield, Logan county, Ohio; Min- nie, wife of J. S. McGinnis, of York town- ship, was married June 20, 1894; William and Isabella, deceased in youth.
Dr. Joseph N. Ross, the maternal grand- father of our subject, was a native of Holmes county, Ohio. He was one of the early settlers in Claiborne township, and was the second physician to locate in Rich- wood. His death occurred December 25, 1869, aged eighty-two years. He was a Democrat in his political views. The Doc- tor was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was three times wounded. An ounce ball which had passed through his right lung re- mained in his body until his death. He was
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twice married. His first wife, nee Mary E. Long, died near Ft. Wayne, Indiana, when thirty-nine years of age, from the effects of a bite of a spider. His second wife, Eliza Murphy, aged seventy-two years, is a resi- dent of Richwood. Dr. Ross was a promi- nent Mason, being a member of Mount Carmel Lodge, the oldest Masonic lodge in Richwood, organized in 1858, in the log house of Mr. Ross. He came from Zanes- ville to Richwood in 1840. Dr. Joseph Ross had seven children by his first wife: Emily Manchester, William Ross, Phoebe Balsley, Hiram Ross, Elizabeth Wynegar, Keziah Spicer and James A. Ross.
James A. Ross, a son of Dr. Ross, was born in Holmes county, November 9, 1829, and resides on a farm east of Richwood. October 27, 1852, he was united in marriage with Miss Nancy Headley, born January 4, 1833. Her parents, Isaac and Sarah Head- ley, were natives respectively of Pennsyl- vania and Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. James A. Ross have had three children, -Laura, wife of L. O. Slemmins; Lawrence, who was accidently shot and killed December 18, 1878; and Imogene, at home.
Henry V. Spicer, the subject of this sketch, was reared on the home farm in York township. During his boyhood he shared in the farm work, attending the coun- try schools a portion of each year. In 1881 he became a student of the Oberlin College, remaining there one year, and during the years 1885-6 he attended the Wesleyan University, at Delaware. He taught school and ably edited the Educational Sun for six years, from 1887 to 1893. Mr. Spicer has traveled through all the northern and north- western States to the Pacific ocean. Having read law for nearly a year, he then entered the law department of the Cincinnati Col-
lege, at which he graduated May 31, 1893, and was admitted to the bar on the follow- ing day. Soon after his admission he be- gan the practice of his profession in Rich- wood. Being a native of Union county, Mr. Spicer enjoys a wide acquaintance among the people, which has contributed greatly to his success, and has given him a good and growing practice. He has every reason to look forward to a bright and pros- perous future.
Mr. Spicer was married January 18, 1894, in the Grace Methodist Protestant Church, at Cincinnati, to Miss Lillian Kohl, born February 28, 1869, in Glendale, a suburb of that city, a daughter of Charles C. and Julia A. Kohl. The ceremony, which was an impressive one, was performed in the presence of five hundred witnesses, who were friends of the contracting parties. Her father was a real-estate and bond broker for a number of years. He died about twenty years ago at his home in Glen- dale. Her mother, who is a first cousin of Mrs. Murat Halstead, is living with her son, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Kohl was the first pupil who ever entered the Cincin- nati high school. Her father was the lead- ing book publisher of Cincinnati (Mr. Conk- ling). Mrs. Spicer is a lady of culture and refinement, and a graduate of the Cincinnati high school. She is associated with all social matters of Richwood and is a member of the Ladies' Literary Society, which is composed of the elite ladies of the town. She has two brothers, Charles N. and Ed- win C. The former is a bookkeeper in Chi- cago. Being a widower, he then married a second time, and his only child, Gladys, nine years of age, makes her home with Mr. Spicer. Edwin served for several years as shipswriter in the United States Navy, and
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now resides in Erie, Pennsylvania. While in the navy he traveled in all the countries of Europe, Asia and Africa, visiting Pales- tine and the Bible countries.
Mr. Spicer is a member of York Lodge, No. 672, I. O. O. F., at Summerville, also of Encampment No. 182, and of Rising Sun Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of Richwood. He is a Democrat in political matters, but is liberal in his views on all questions of the day. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Richwood, to which church he has belonged for eleven years. Mrs. Spicer, who has been a member of Grace Church, at Cincinnati, for years, united with the church of her husband, when she came to Richwood.
S AMUEL BENNETT, who is one of the old and honored residents of Cardington township, Morrow county, and whose fine farm home is located on section No. II, stands as the representative of families early settled in the Buckeye State, and as one particularly eligi- ble for biographic honors.
His father was James Bennett, who was a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- vania, where he was ushered into the world February 16, 1784, being the son of Isaac Bennett, who likewise was a native son of the old Keystone State, Bucks county, born November 7, 1762. He married Edith Lef- fert, born April 19, 1759. He was too young to be accepted for service at the time of the precipitation of the great Revolution- ary conflict, but he was on his way to join the Colonial army at the time the war closed. Isaac Bennett came to Ohio, first locating in Jefferson county, then in Cosh- octon county, and subsequently coming to
the home of his son, the father of our sub- ject, where he died November 20, 1849.
The maiden name of our subject's mother was Lydia Hardenbrook, and she was the daughter of Ludwig Hardenbrook, who came to Ohio in 1816, and settled in what is now Franklin township, Morrow county, then Knox, remaining in the county until the hour of his death. He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and four or five of his sons bore arms in the war of 1812. The mother of our subject was born in Virginia, near the northwestern State line, the date of her birth having been June 19, 1789.
James Bennett and Lydia Hardenbrook were married in Jefferson county, Ohio, and there remained until 1823, when they re- moved to what is now Morrow county and settled in Gilead township, where the father of our subject entered claim to eighty acres of land, and, in addition to this, purchased fifty acres of his father-in-law, there being at the time but few settlers in this locality. This farm now comprises 244 acres, which is in a high state of cultivation, it being one of the first places settled in this part of the county, and the fine residence and buildings have been erected by our subject, who, in his early life, assisted in clearing and im- proving the old homestead where he was reared. The father remained on this farm until he died, January 27, 1856, his widow passing away July 10, 1861. They were the parents of eleven children, ten of whom grew to maturity and five of whom are liv- ing at the present time, namely: Louis is a resident of North Dakota; Ann is the wife of M. L. Pinkley, of Rockford, Illinois; Mag- dalene H. is the widow of George Johnson, and is a resident of Warren county, Iowa; Lydia is the widow of Russell Hyde, and re- sides in Michigan; and Samuel is the subject
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of this review. The parents were devoted members of the Presbyterian Church, and were people of intelligence and spotless char- acter.
Samuel Bennett was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, March 2, 1822, and was but an infant when his parents removed to what is now Morrow county, and here he has vir- tually passed his entire life. He grew to man's estate on the old farm in the forest, while the red men yet found abode in the forest wilds of this section. Our subject had but little opportunity for acquiring an education, beginning to do hard manual la- bor while but a boy of seven or eight years. With devoted filial solicitude he remained on the old farmn until he had attained the age of twenty-three years, caring for his par- ents in their declining days. In the mean- time he had valiantly faced the problems of life and had assumed the responsibilities of the marital state. In the spring of 1845 he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Bovey, a native of Maryland, and a daughter of Jacob Bovey. After his marriage Mr. Ben- nett settled on his present farm, which he afterward purchased of Peleg and Robert Mosier. The farm was formerly the property of his father-in-law, and here he has contin- ued to abide for a full half century, his loved and devoted wife being his constant compan- ion and his earnest helpmeet until April 22, 1890, when she was called into eternal rest, after having played well her part in life. Mrs. Bennett was a member of the Protest- ant Methodist Church. They became the parents of five children, four of whom are now living, namely: John Clark Bennett, who married Sarah E. Crawford, and who lives in this township; Hiram Clinton, who married Henrietta Pugh, and who has six children; Walter, who married Belle Reed,
has six children and resides at Iberia, this county; and Amanda O.
Fraternally our subject is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, re- taining a membership in both lodge and en- campment. Politically he has been a stal- wart Democrat from the time of attaining his majority. He has been a member of the School Board for twelve or more years, and has been ever interested in educational matters, giving his children the advantages which he was denied in his youth.
J ASPER N. GOSNELL, who occu- pies the important office as County Clerk of Union county, Ohio, is a native of the Buckeye State, having been born in Licking county, July 26, 1843, the son of Abraham and Margaret (Arm- strong) Gosnell.
Abraham Gosnell was born in Hunting- don county, Pennsylvania, and in the year 1808 he came with his parents to Ohio, locating in Licking county, where he remain- ed until 1858, when he removed to Union county, having purchased a farm of 306 acres, lying in Taylor and Leesburg town- ships. The year after his arrival in this county he met his death as the result of an accident, having been killed by the explosion of a boiler in a sawmill. His widow is still living and retains her residence on the homestead farm in this county. Abraham Gosnell had been actively identified with the Whig party from the time of its organization and was not an inconspicuous worker in its cause. Religiously he was a zealous mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He left a family of seven children, touching whose lives we are enabled to offer the fol- lowing brief record: Ruth became the wife
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DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES, OHIO.
of Nathaniel Armstrong, of Wichita, Kan- sas, and is now deceased; Miranda is the wife of A. W. McCaney, of Taylor town- ship, this county; Jasper N. is the immedi- ate subject of this review; George W. is a resident of Carroll, Iowa, where he is en- gaged in the implement business; Franklin D. and Fletcher C. (twins) are both residents of Columbus, Ohio, the former being a member of the police force of the city and the latter devoting his attention to his trade, that of brick mason; John A. is a resident of Marysville, and acts as a deputy in the office of his brother, our subject.
Jasper N. Gosnell received sturdy dis- cipline in his youthful days, having been reared upon the farm and having received his preliminary educational training in the district schools. He continued amid such environment until the late civil war was precipitated upon a divided nation, when he promptly made ready to contribute his quota toward the defense of the stars and stripes. He enlisted, August 6, 1862, as a member of Company K, Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and his service continu- ed until December 8, 1864, when he was mustered out at Camp Chase. He partici- pated in a number of important engage- ments, among which may be noted the battles of Arkansas Post, Chickasaw, Vicks- burg, Jackson (Mississippi), Grand Coteau, and Sabine Crossroads. At the last-named place he received a severe gun-shot wound in his right hip, and for some five months was confined in St. James hospital, at New Orleans, after which he returned to Ohio and received his discharge, as noted, at Camp Chase. His war service finished, he resumed his educational work, entering the high school at Marysville, where he contin- ued his studies for some time and then re- 14
turned to the parental farm, where he remained about two years.
The first business enterprise with which Mr. Gosnell became concerned was the con- ducting of a general store at a little cross- roads town, but he continued in this line of mercantile trade only a short time, removing then to Peoria, this county, where he open- ed a general store, which he conducted successfully -until 1881, when he retired from the mercantile trade. He has since devoted his attention to the duties devolving upon him in the official capacities which he has been called upon to fill. He was elected Justice of the Peace and served in this office for a full decade; he also held the prefer- ment as Postmaster of Peoria for a term of eight years, proving a most capable and popular executive. In 1880 he was elected Land Appraiser and held this office one year. At the fall election of 1893 Mr. Gos- nell became the Republican candidate for the office of County Clerk of Union county, was elected by a large majority and entered into the discharge of his official duties in August of the present year (1894). His record as a painstaking and efficient execu- tive in other capacities stands as sufficient voucher that his work in the present impor- ant office will come fully up to the high standard which has hitherto been maintain- ed, and such is his capacity for details and systematic routine that the service can scarcely fail to be improved in many partic- ulars.
Our subject has always been stanchly arrayed in the support of the Republican party and its principles and has been an active worker in the ranks. Fraternally he retains a membership in Ranson Reed Post, No. 113, G. A. R., and in Broadway Lodge, No. 704, I. O. O. F., of Broadway, this
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county, having been the first incumbent as Noble Grand of the same, and having been a member of the order for a full quarter of a century.
Mr. Gosnell was married, March 11, 1868, to Miss Amanda Hartrum, a native of Franklin county, this State, and a daughter of Benjamin and Margaret Hartrum. Mr. and Mrs. Gosnell are the parents of three children: Nettie, widow of the late Weldon Hill, of Marysville; Howard married Miss Mary Reed and is engaged in public work in various points of the county; Otto is at home. Our subject and wife are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
ENJAMIN MARTIN, a Baptist min- ister, of Oxford township, Dela- ware county, Ohio, bears the name of one of his ancestors, who was among the earliest settlers of this county.
The elder Benjamin Martin came, with his large family, to Delaware county, Ohio, about the year 1813. He was a native of one of the Eastern States, and came to Ohio from Virginia, first settling in Ross county, and two years later removing to Delaware county, and taking up his abode in the woods of Troy township, where he and his sons improved a farm, and where he made his home until the time of his death, which occurred in 1852, when he was well advanced in years. He was an ordained minister of the Baptist Church, and gave most of his time to the work of the ministry. During the war of 1812 he went to the front and did valiant service. Financially he was successful, and he left his family in good circumstances. He mar- ried Margaret White, a native of Virginia, and the following are the names of their
children: James, deceased; Neamiah, a Baptist minister, deceased; Welcome, de- ceased; David, deceased; Jefferson; Polly; Hannah; Lydia; Grace; Elijah, deceased; and Ludlow, deceased.
James, the oldest of the family, was the father of our subject. He followed farming in Troy township, this county, where he accumulated and improved a large amount of property. He was married in 1823, in Troy township, to Dorcas Main, and they had a family of seven children, five of whom are living, viz .: Benjamin; Eleazer, who is engaged in farming in Kansas; Nea- miah, a resident of Troy township; Saburs, of Oxford township, this county; Valentine, deceased; James, of Troy township; and Mar- garet, deceased. Five of these brothers, Eleazer, Neamiah, Saburs, Valentine and James, served in the late war, and the last four were in Company C, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving 115 days.
Benjamin Martin was born in Troy town- ship, this county, June 23, 1825. He was reared to farm life, and was educated in the public schools, remaining at home until he reached his majority. To the 100 acres of land his father gave him he added forty acres more, and from the time he was twenty-one he devoted his energies to the improvement of this tract. At the time he came into possession of it only about seven acres of it were cleared. This clearing was probably the first that was made in the township. Here he erected a small frame residence and began life for himself. He was married, in 1848, to Caroline Main, a daughter of James and Eurana Main, and they settled in the little home he had pre- pared. As the years rolled by, and pros- perity attended his efforts, he increased his
Neury Amarin
Mrs Henry aunns
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DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES, OHIO.
landed estate until it amounted to 350 acres. Of late years, however, he has dis- posed of some of this property, and now retains only 260 acres. His farming oper- ations have been characterized by good management and have been attended with success. He is a stanch Republican, and has held various local offices, such as Town- ship Trustee, Assessor, etc. For several years he served as Justice of the Peace, and in the spring of 1894 he was again elected to that office.
His first wife died in 1864, leaving three children, -Rosett, deceased wife of Peter Schoof; Eneas, a farmer of this county; and Byron, deceased. Mr. Martin married again, in 1865, Miss Mary A. Clifton, a native of Perry county, Ohio, and a daugh- ter of John and Sarah (Miller) Clifton. She was born at Thornville, and, when about eleven years of age, came with her parents to Delaware. Her parents are now de- ceased. Mr. Martin and his present wife have three sons, Welcome C., Walter B., and Joseph C.
Mr. Martin has been a member of the Baptist Church since 1839, and since 1876 has been an ordained minister. Twice a month he preaches in his home church, and the other Sabbaths of the month he fills a charge in Fayette county. His sterling qualities and his true Christian character commend him to the people among whom he labors, and who entertain for him the highest esteem.
ENRY AMRIN. - It is our privilege at this point to revert to the life his- tory of one whose days have been filled with "ceaseless toil and en- deavor," who has attained to marked suc-
cess as a result of such effort, and yet who has had the mental scope to determine that the maximum of life is not rounded up in mere temporal possession, and has accord- ingly given of his hard-earned accumulations to a cause whose benefits he had himself been denied, -a magnificent benefaction whose dignity and worth shall be to him a memorial more lasting than "sculptured urn or animated bust." Henry Amrin is a plain, true, honest man who has not attained to massive deeds and great, but who has lived a simple life and gained success by the sweat of his brow, but who has had a prescience of the value of endowments which fit one for a wider sphere than that in which he has moved, and whose recognition of this truth has been in his giving far more than a tithe for an object whose rewards shall be reaped when he has been long gathered to his fathers. Such a life is one that offers the most lucid justification for the compila- tion of a work of this nature.
The first representative of the Amrin family in Union county, Ohio, was Abraham Amrin, who came hither from Belmont county, this State. He was born in Eastern Pennsylvania, and was the son of a father who bore the same Christian name. The senior Abraham came from Switzerland to America in a very early day, located in Pennsylvania and there reared a large fam- ily and there died, having been engaged in agricultural pursuits. The son Abraham grew to maturity in his native State, having been born about 1763, and there was con- summated his marriage to Mary Woolford, who also was born in Pennsylvania, and whose death occurred about 1830. Subse- quently Mr. Amrin married Nancy Cook, who survived him a number of years, his death having occurred in this county in 1845,
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at which time he had attained the venerable age of eighty-two years. He reared a fam- ily of eight children. He was an active and zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which denomination his grand- son, our subject, has given so munificently of his means. When he came to Union county he effected the purchase of a tract of 1,000 acres of land, and this he divided into such parts as to give to each of his seven sons 100 acres, the residue being retained by himself. The entire tract was entirely un- reclaimed, was heavily timbered, and was situated in Paris township. The land was improved by the family, but at the present time all has passed out of the possession of either the sons or their descendants, with the exception of ninety acres retained by Monroe Amrin. Holding so large an acre- age it was but natural that the Amrin fam- ily should ultimately become a prime factor in securing the development and furthering the higher interests of the township, and in- cidentally of the county and State. They contributed largely toward the establish- ment and maintenance of churches and schools, and gave their influence and support to all measures conserving the welfare of the community, the work being continued by one generation from the point where the preceding left the same.
We are able to give but a brief record concerning the history of the children of Abraham Amrin, but even this meagre record can not fail of interest. They were as follows: John; Henry, father of our sub- ject; Susan, who married Joseph Worley, and passed the remainder of her life in Wheeling, West Virginia; Andrew, Fred- erick, Jeremiah, Abraham, Moses, and one who died in early childhood. All these sons lived and married and reared families in this
county, and all save three retained their residence here until called upon to obey death's inexorable summons. Frederick, Jeremiah and Abraham removed to the far West after they had surrounded themselves with families. All were devoted to the re- ligion of their father, and all were zealous workers in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Andrew being specially prominent in this work, as was he also in local politics; he held the office of Justice of the Peace for many years, and his counsel was held in high esteem.
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