Portrait and biographical record of Fayette, Pickaway and Madison counties, Ohio : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States, Part 102

Author: Chapman Brothers
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Bros.
Number of Pages: 894


USA > Ohio > Fayette County > Portrait and biographical record of Fayette, Pickaway and Madison counties, Ohio : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 102
USA > Ohio > Madison County > Portrait and biographical record of Fayette, Pickaway and Madison counties, Ohio : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 102
USA > Ohio > Pickaway County > Portrait and biographical record of Fayette, Pickaway and Madison counties, Ohio : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 102


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Mr. and Mrs. Barger have been granted a family of four children: John W., born March 6, 1868, married Ida Kratzer, and resides in Leesburgh, bemg Assistant Cashier of the Leesburgh Bank; Harry Q. was born December 18, 1871; Leroy T., June 7, 1880, and Elizabeth Chloe. September 6, 1882. They are all being given good educations. Harry Q. attended the Portsmouth Military School for six months. and is now a student of the Ohio Wesleyan University. Mr. and Mrs. Barger are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which society our subject has been an active worker, serving in the capacity of Trustce, Steward and Class-leader. At the present time, he is Sup- erintendent of the Sunday-school where his son John W. is Secretary and his wife a teacher. The latter is connected with the Woman's Foreign and Home Missionary Society, and is a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. He of whom we write has served on the School Board of


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his district, and in politics votes the Prohibition ticket. Ile has been Township Trustee and was elected Justice of the Peace, but refused to qualify. The family have an extended circle of acquaint- ances in this section, where they are admired for their intelligence and uprightness of life.


ON. NELSON J. TURNEY was one of the most prominent citizens that Piekaway County has ever known. The part which he has played in its development well en- titles him to honorable mention in its history. He was born in Circleville, November 7, 1820, and died at his home in this city, March 4, 1883. Ile is a direct descendant of Daniel Turney, a French Huguenot, who, with his brothers, Peter and Adam, was driven from France in the latter part of the seventeenth century by papal persecution. They landed in Philadelphia in 1668. Henry Turney, son of David, was the grandfather of our subject. He removed to Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, Va., where he married Miss Embly, of German de- scent. They had six children, all of whom died yonng, with the exception of Daniel, father of Nel- son, who was born in Shepherdstown August 15, 1786. The father, Ilenry, removed to Chillicothe, Ohio, about 1800, and followed the occupation of a potter. Ilis death occurred in 1812.


Dr. Daniel Turney was graduated from the Medical College of Philadelphia and began the practice of his profession in Jefferson, Ohio, in 1806. Ile was married, November 5, 1816, to Jane Sirling, daughter of Gen. James Denny. They had four children, Henry, Nelson, Isabella and Samuel, all now deceased. Gen. Denny was one of the most prominent pioneers of the Northwestern Ter- ritory. Ile was born in Chester County, Pa., Sep- tember 11, 1767, and was in the War of 1812. He was married to Isabel Barr, of Wheeling, W. Va., in 1797, and in a keel boat removed to Marietta, Ohio, long before the era of steam navigation. In Marietta, his daughter, Mrs. Turney, was born April 11, 1798. Gen. Denny moved to Chillicothe in 1799


and came to Pickaway County in 1807. He was a Government Surveyor and owned the Fredonia newspaper, the first newspaper published in Pick- away County. In 1813, he was Clerk of the Courts of this county. He entered the United States' ser- vice in the war with Great Britain as Major and rose to the rank of Major-General. He died in Philadelphia November 23, 1815. Few men of his time filled a more honorable position in Ohio than did Gen. Denny.


The Huguenot emigrants to America contributed more, in proportion to their number, to the culture and prosperity of their adopted country than any other nation, and of his ancestry Mr. Turney of this sketch may well be proud. No less than three of the seven Presidents of the Philadelphia Con- vention during the Revolutionary War were of Huguenot parentage. The members of the Turney family became prominent in their various lines of business. Dr. Turney showed the superiority of the race in the skill, intelligence and energy with which he practiced his profession. He was a Sur- geon in the War of 1812 and rapidly attained emi- nence. His distinguishing characteristics were firm- ness and courage, qualifications indispensable to the successful surgeon. To these he added remark- able energy and great love for his profession, and his skill and ability were widely recognized. He won a foremost rank among his professional brethren of the State, and his death, in 1827, was considered an irreparable loss to the community as well as to his family, which consisted of wife and four children, the eldest of whom was only ten years of age at the time of the father's death. One son, Dr. Samuel D., who died in 1878, was an eminent man in his profession and served with distinction as a Surgeon and Medical Director during the Rebellion, being breveted for his meritorious conduct. He was also Surgeon General of Ohio under Gov. Hayes, and was a prominent and popular member of the faculty of Columbus Medical College.


Nelson J. Turney, whose name heads this sketch, was educated in the public schools and in Dr. Wash- burn's Academy in Franklin County. He was thrown upon his own resources when fifteen years of age and was employed as clerk in the Columbus postoffice under Belah Latham, an intimate friend


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of his father, and the father of the Hon. Milton S. Latham, a millionaire in California. In 1837, he entered the house of Fay Kilbourne & Co., of Col- umbus, where he remained until 1810, when, with his mother and her family, he returned to his na- tive town. Ile was employed by II. & W. Bell until appointed by the Board of Public Works as Col- lector of Tolls for the Ohio & Erie Canal at Cirele- ville, holding the position until superseded at the time of a change in the political administration of this country. In 1843, he entered the employ of the celebrated firm of Neil, Moore & Co., the ex- tensive and widely-known stage-coach proprietors. That was the day of stages. The coach wheeled through the village streets, its bugle awakening the echoes of the night, causing the inhabitants to start forth with more interest than a railway train ever occasions. While Mr. Turney was in the employ of the stage company, a difficulty occurred with a Missouri company and he was forthwith dispatched to Missouri with a full equipment of coaches and horses to run an opposition line in that State and bring the Western company to a realizing sense of their temerity in assuming to run counter to the will of the more powerful Ohio corporation. This prompt action of the Ohio company brought the Missouri company to terms when Mr. Turney had only reached Indianapolis, and he was at once ordered North with his outfit and distributed the horses and coaches along the Lake shore between Sandusky and Detroit. Ile established headquar- ters in Toledo and remained in charge until the spring of 1844, when he returned to Columbus. The following year, he removed to Philadelphia and spent about a year in the wholesale dry-goods house of Miller, Cooper & Co., after which he re- turned to the Buckeye State.


About that time, Mr. Turney married Miss Dor- othy, daughter of George Renick. of Chillicothe. Hle embarked in the mercantile business on his own account in Circleville and afterward sold out and went to Chillicothe. In 1850, he was again in Pickaway County and engaged in farming and stock-raising on an extensive scale. Twenty years after, with the intention of retiring from business, he sold his farm and removed to Circleville and there built a beautiful and commodious residence,


which is still the home of his widow. He took n deep interest in agriculture for many years and tried to secure a higher standard of excellence in farm management. He was an active member of the County Agricultural, Society from its organi- ization and served for many years as its President. Ile was a prominent member of the State Board of Agriculture from 1862 until 1870, and was Presi- dent of the Board from 1862 until 1863. He was much interested in the turnpike system and built the Circleville Pike to Darbyville. He was Super- intendent of the building of the Masonic Temple and was Chairman of the committee on arrange- ments on the occasion of its dedication, JJune 2, 1879, an event long to be remembered.


Few citizens of Ohio received a higher degree of respect and confidence than Mr. Turney. Ile ever discharged his duties with promptness and fidelity. Ile was appointed a member of the mili- tary committee of his county by the Governor in 1864, and performed his work in the most devoted and self-sacrificing way. He was active in provid- ing for and raising and equipping troops, and otherwise aided in sustaining the State in the dark days of the Civil War. Hle never received any compensation for his public services, but did all for the love of the canse. In 1859 he declined a nom- ination for the Legislature. In 1868. he was the Republican candidate for Congress, but the Dem- ocratic majority was too great to be overcome. In 1872, he was a delegate to the Republican national convention in Philadelphia. which nominated Gen. Grant for a second term. In 1871. he was selected by the Secretary of the Interior to go as a special agent to investigate the business of the Indian agencies of the Upper Missouri River. In the fall of the same year, in company with the Hon. B. R. Cowan, Assistant Secretary of the Interior. and Col. J. J. Woods, of Kansas, he appraised the Cherokee lands in the Indian Territory. The following year. he visited Sitting Bull's tribe, and. after three months spent in Montana among the savages, without an escort or protection, he led away three thousand of Sitting Bull's warriors and brought about thirty of the most influential of his chiefs to Washington, D. C. He did other service in this line. all of which was most ably performed. In


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1871, Mr. Turney was appointed by President Grant a member of the celebrated Brotherhood of Indian Commissioners, composed of men noted for their philanthropy, and did much to aid in the reform in the Indian service. He continued a member of the board until failing health compelled him to retire in 1875.


Mr. Turney was appointed by Gov. Hayes as Trustee of the Cincinnati Asylum for the Insane. On account of his well-recognized business capacity and integrity, he was chosen assignee in the bank- ruptcy of Lemuel Steele's estate, one of the larg- est in the Scioto Valley. Unassuming in manner, he was undemonstrative in the expression of his opinions, but none the less firm in his convictions and unswerving in their support and advocacy. He was brave and generous to a fault, and was not bigoted or puritanical in his creed. No one doubted his integrity, and the sobriquet of "Old Honesty,"which was conferred upon him by his as- sociate members in the State Board of Agriculture, was well deserved. In his life were made evident the best traits of his Huguenot ancestry. Honors were conferred upon him because of his worth, and he became prominent because his ability entitled him to high rank.


R EV. J. P. A. DICKEY. Although born in the neighboring county of Ross, Mr. Dickey has spent the greater portion of his active life in Fayette County, and since May, 1888, has resided in Washington C. H. For thirty- five years or more, he has been closely identified with the history of the county, and doubtless no citizen has accomplished larger results in the way of advancing the religious and moral status of his community. During almost the entire period of his residence in this county, he has served as Jus- tice of the Peace, and has also occupied other posi- tions of trust and responsibility.


In 1867, Mr. Dickey was licensed to preach in the Presbyterian Church, since which time he has filled different charges, among them the pastorates at Bainbridge, Wilkesville, McArthur and Hamden,


and at present is the minister in the last-named church. Through careful study, he has become well versed in Biblical lore and his deep earnest- ness and broad knowledge admirably qualify him for the laborious work of a preacher. Prior to his removal to Washington C. II., he made his home in Bloomingburgh, and still owns property in that village and a farm four miles distant.


Born May 4, 1828, our subject is the son of Al- exander and Jane (Henry) Dickey, natives of South Carolina. Removing from their native State, they resided for a time in Tennessee, thence removed to Kentucky, whence, after a short so- journ, they came to Ohio. Grandfather Dickey was the owner of a large plantation in South Car- olina, which Lord Cornwallis used for a camp dur- ing the Revolution. Our subject gained the rudi- ments of his education in the district schools of Ross County, and later attended Salem Academy." Ilis schooling finished, he commenced to farm, and removing to the northern part of Fayette County in 1857, followed agricultural. pursuits.


July 31, 1852, Mr. Dickey was married to Miss Hannah C., daughter of Col. Peterson, of Frank- fort, Ross County, and they became the parents of seven children, as follows: Edith Eliza, who died in Delaware November 6, 1882, and Hattie May, who died in Delaware, November 26, 1882; Eliza- beth J., whose death occurred August 23, 1878; one who died in infancy; Martin Luther, who is a farmer residing on the farm in the northern part of the county; Lieut .- Col. J. L., of West Point, Aide-de-Camp to the Governor of Iowa, and now Professor of Tactics in Griswold (Iowa) College; and Nellie J., wife of Charles Sturgeon, of Wash- ington C. H. The two daughters, Edith and Hat- tie, were lovely young ladies and were students in college at Delaware, Edith having almost finished the classical course of the Class of '83, when they were stricken with typhoid fever and died within twenty days of each other. Ilattie was of the Class of '85.


Mr. Dickey is a veteran of the Civil War, having enlisted August 15, 1862, in Company D, One IIundred and Fourteenth Ohio Infantry. With the Thirteenth Army Corps, he marched to the South, took an active part in the siege of Vicks-


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burgh, and was discharged at Young's Point, in 1863, on account of general disability. Ile then resumed farming operations, but soon entered the mercantile business, which he continued until he was licensed to preach. It has ever been his aim to help his neighbors and friends with good coun- sel and substantial assistance, when it was possible, and it is safe to say that lie is highly esteemed by everyone with whom business or social relations have brought him in contact.


The following article from the Presbyterian Ban- ner will be of interest to our readers:


A ROMANTIC CAREER.


One of the most interesting men in Washington C. H. is Rev. J. P. A. Dickey, JJ. P., supply of the Hamden Presbyterian Church of Vinton County, and who is called by his brethren in the Presbytery "The Bishop of Vinton County." The story of his life, as I heard it from his own lips, is decidedly unique in the ministerial annals of Presbyterianism. He is of South Carolina ancestry, and carries in his pocket a silver half-dollar whose date reminds him of the year of his birth, 1828. He says his father was very poor, and could only give him a long name, John Parsons Alexander, and as he has been a Justice of the Peace for thirty-five years, he has fairly purchased the degree, .J. P., which he adds to his name. He became a member of the Presbyterian Church at the age of twelve years. He always wanted to preach, and used to stand on the fence back of the smokehouse and preach to the sheep, which, he says, used to listen with as much interest and attention as the people do now.


Brother Dickey took his academic education at Salem Academy, but never went to college or a theological seminary. He says he is "a self-made man, and a little proud of the job." He served in the army during the Rebellion, and at its close was ordained to the ministry. His first field of service was in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Bainbridge, Ohio, for one year. He next supplied the Piketon Presbyterian Church, in connection with Waverly, where he built a church. After six months' service in the field, he supplied the church at Mt. Sterling a few months. Thence he went to Carthage, Athens County, where he was one year, then to Wilkesville, where he built another church. He remained here as supply for five years, and then went to Hamden, where he has now been four years. He also supplied McArthur for six months, where he also built a church. He has occasionally had a little help from the Board of IIome Missions, but for the most part has chiefly supported himself.


Hle is highly respected by the whole community, is heard with pleasure in the Washington C. H. pulpits, and "dispenses justice" fully as much to the satisfaction of the people as did JJohn Calvin himself, to whose picture 'Squire Diekey bears a striking resemblance. Ile does not wield the sword in vain, and is "a terror to evil-doers." 'Squire Dickey has never been to the General Assembly, because, he says, "the brethren always want to visit their relatives in the various cities, and I vote for them. But it is understood I am to go when the Assembly meets in Denver, as I want to see Pike's Peak." Ile has not taken a Presbyterian Church paper for twenty-five years, so that his vigorous views on Briggsism cannot be charged to the influ- ence of the religious press, which a speaker at the Detroit Assembly held responsible for the whole trouble. However, as a subscriber to the PRESBY- TERIAN BANNER from this on, he will be able to note more accurately the progress of the controversy.


NDREW CARY. Upon a beautiful and well-improved farm in Darby Township, Madison County, is situated the home of Mr. Cary. This handsome farm house? surrounded, as it is, by fine improvements and ex- cellent buildings, is situated two and one-half miles east of Plain City. Mr. Cary was born in C'anaan Township, this county, January 21, 1837, and is the son of Solomon Cary, who was born in 1809, in Madison County, and was there reared. His father, Abijah Cary, was a native of Pennsyl- vania, and came with his father, Luther Cary, to Ohio in 1790, and settled on Darby Creek in Canaan Township. There he died at the age of seventy three years. Luther Cary's father, John Cary, came from Ireland.


The mother of our subject was known in maidenhood as Anna Millikin, and was a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Ohio with her par- ents, James and Elizabeth Millikin, when she was about sixteen years of age. It was in Canaan Township, Madison County, that she was united in marriage with Solomon Cary, in October, 1835, and they located on a farm there. It was not un- til 1856 that they moved into Darby Township, where they remained upon a farm until 1877,


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when they moved to Plain City. Here they spent the remainder of their days, and both died at the age of seventy-three. They lie buried side by side in the old Plain City cemetery. Of their three children, the two sons are living, and the daughter died at the age of nine years.


Our subject was the eldest child in his father's family, and his brother John, who now resides in Plain City, was born October 28, 1840. Mr. Cary's first schooling was in Darby and Canaan Townships, this county. and he afterward studied in Plain City. He remained with his father until he reached the age of majority, assisting him upon the farm, and was married October 7, 1858, to Flora E. Burnham, a native of Ohio, who was born near Rosedale. Immediately after marriage, the young couple made their home upon the farm where they now reside, a place upon which but scant improvement had been placed, and of which only about forty acres had been cleared. Upon this place were born their four sons and two daughters: Annie is now the wife of James B. Smith, of Monroe Township, Madison County; Henry is a farmer in Darby Township; Nettie E. is the wife of J. G. Ilolycross, a farmer of Darby Township; and Rodney, Burnham and Frank P. reside at home.


Mr. Cary has six hundred and eighty-two acres of land in Darby Township, and across the line in Franklin County. His home farm consists of four hundred and fifty-seven and one-half acres, and his other place comprises two hundred and twenty-four and one-half aeres. There was a dense forest upon his property in Darby Township, and with his own right arm he cleared most of this land. He has placed as much as seven miles of tiling in the farm, beside the main outlets. IIe has been successful in carrying on a general line of farming, and has his place in an excellent state of cultivation. Ile has helped to make most of the pike roads in the county, and in various ways has helped forward matters of public interest. For many years he was School Director, and has been prominent as Trustee of the township of Darby. His political views are in accordance with the doctrines of the Democratic party, but he is in no sense a politician. Upon his farm he at one time


made a specialty of raising fine stock, devoting himself particularly to Short-horn cattle, and Shropshire sheep, but his main business has been in the line of general farming.


ON. WESLEY WORK, who has done con- spicuous public service and is influential in all things pertaining to the welfare of the community with which he has been so long and closely identified, is a man of wide experi- ence and of more than ordinary ability as a farmer and stockman who stands among the foremost rep- resentatives of the agricultural interests of Pick- away County, the farm on which he makes his home in Monroe Township being one of the best in its appointments and in the manner of its man- agement in this part of the State.


Our subject was born March 28, 1829, on the shores of Clear Creek, in Fairfield County. Jo- seph Work, his father, was born in Kishekockley Valley, northwest of Harrisburg, Pa., of which his father, David Work, was one of the first pioneer settlers. Ile was of Irish birth, and had come to this country after the Revolution. At first, he lived near Harrisburg, Pa., and carried on his occu- pation as a farmer. Ile finally came to Ohio with his family in a wagon, and was an early settler of Fairfield County, where but few pioneers had pre- ceded him, and there he spent his remaining days. HIe left a wife, who lived to be an old lady, and seven children, of whom the following are the names: Joseph, John, Henry, David, Robert, Eliz- abeth (Mrs. Carey), and Nancy (Mrs. Watson). Henry and David were tanners, and were among the early settlers of Ft. Wayne, Ind. Robert also located near that town on a farm, and became eminent in the public life of the county, which he represented in the State Legislature one term, and he was also Probate Judge.


Joseph Work, the father of our subject, was a farmer and owned a quarter-section of fine land on Clear Creek, in Fairfield County, where he lived many years. IIe finally removed to Hock-


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ing Township, where he bought two hundred and forty acres of landed property. He was a hard worker, and was possessed of great mechanical genius, and besides attending to his farming in- terests, made plows and did some cabinet-work. He dealt in stock extensively, often buying cattle and driving them to Philadelphia, where he se- cured a good market for them. In him the Methodist Church had one of its most earnest and useful members. Politically, he was a Whig until the formation of the Republican party, and then he joined that. He was a well-known figure in the military cireles of Fairfield County as Cap- tain of a company of citizen-soldiers.


The mother of our subject was Ann Harrison in her maiden days, and she was a native of Win- chester, Va., whence she came to Ohio with her parents in the early years of the settlement of this State. She was the mother of these eight children: Mary (Mrs. Geiseman), Martha (Mrs. Walker), John, Silas, William, Wesley, Margaret (Mrs. Schleich) and James. The mother was a de- voted Christian and a member of the Methodist Church.


The subject of this biography passed his boy- hood on his father's farm, working on it in the summer time as soon as large enough, and attend- ing school winters in the primitive log house of pioneer times, furnished rudely with slab benches, and conducted under the rate-bill system. At the age of seventeen, our subject crossed the mountains on his way to Philadelphia, five hun- dred miles distant, with a drove of one hundred cattle, which was quite a responsible task for one so young. He continued as a drover until 1857, making his headquarters one year in Philadelphia, and driving cattle from there to New York. At the age of nineteen, his father gave him an inter- est in the stock business and he began life on his own account. In the year 1857, he located at Ashville, this county, and engaged in feeding hogs at the distillery for the ensuing two years. His next venture was to buy a distillery, which he operated until 1864, when he sold it and bought seven hundred and fifteen acres of land here. He has disposed of a part of that traet, and now has five hundred and thirty-five acres of




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