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 91

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 91
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 91
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 91


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Our subject was reared in Franklin County, Ohio, and studied in the primitive schoolhouses, where oil paper was still in vogue in place of window glass. Later, he spent three months at Central College, which is near Columbus, and be- gan for himself at the age of twenty-one years. After leaving home, he farmed for a year with an uncle, who lived near Groveport, and for six months acted as guard at the penitentiary at Co- lumbus. He went South for three months, and later was called home by the death of his father, of whose estate he was appointed executor. He bought out the other heirs of the home farm. and lived there until eighteen years ago, when he dis- posed of that property and bought here. He has carried on mixed farming and stock-raising, and has had large crops of grain.


The young man was married in September, 1853.


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to Emeline Watkins, who was born in Hamilton Township, Franklin County, Ohio, in 1834. They became the parents of ten sons: Torey N., Her- bert G., Lincoln R. (deceased), Philo, James M., Malcolm, Frank, Isaac F. (deceased), Littleton A .. and Dixon F. The mother of these sons died No- vember 13, 1887.


The second marriage of Mr. Gray took place June 3, 1891, and he was then united to Annie Weigand, who was born in this county in Harrison Township. She is a daughter of Mr. Dill Wei- gand, lately deceased, a sketch of whose life will be found elsewhere in this volume. Our subject has four hundred aeres of improved land here, upon which he settled in 1874, and this is one of the finest farms in the township, and none is fitted up better with farm buildings and residence than his. At one time, he owned about one thousand acres of land, but exchanged a part of this for city property in Columbus, which is in both residence and business property, and also in a factory and some vacant lots. For five years, when he first came here, he raised an average of twenty-five thousand bushels of corn. He is a Republican in his political views, and both he and his good wife are active and efficient members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.


AMES A. BAKER, a contractor and brick mason of Mt. Sterling, has made his home in this locality for more than a third of a century. He was born in Albany, N. Y., July 22, 1837, and is a son of John and Sarah (Presgrave) Baker. His parents were both natives of Lincolnshire, England, where their marriage was celebrated. With five of their children, they emigrated to America in 1835, locating in Albany, where the family circle was increased by the birth of our subject and two daughters. Mr. Baker fol- lowed his trade of brick-laying in Albany for about ten years and then removed to Seneca, N. Y., where he spent his last days.


At the age of fifteen, our subject began to learn the mason's trade with his father, with whom he


worked for four years. He then went to Warrens- burg, N. Y., where he secured employment and engaged in brick-laying in various places in the Empire State. In 1859, he came to Ohio, where he began working on a farm, being thus employed for three summers. The Civil War was then in progress and on the 13th of August, 1862, he en- listed in Company G, One Hundred and Thirteenth Ohio Infantry, and before the regiment was or- dered South, he was married, on the 12th of Sep- tember, to Miss Emeline Puckett, of Mt. Sterling. Bidding good-bye to his young bride, he marched to the front and participated in the battles of Chick- amauga, Peach Tree Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, Franklin and others. In June, 1864, he was trans- ferred to Company C, First United States Regiment of Engineers, and was engaged in repairing bridges and other such work. He was never wounded or taken prisoner and was honorably discharged, September 26, 1865, in Nashville, Tenn.


Mr. Baker then returned home to his wife, who in the interval had resided in Mt. Sterling. She was born in Pickaway County, July 7, 1842, and is a daughter of James K. and Mary (Elmore) Puckett, who resided upon a farm in Pickaway County. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Baker have been born four children. Elva, born in Pleasant Town- ship, Madison County, July 16, 1866, is the wife of Harry Terry, of Mt. Sterling, by whom she has three children; Marietta, born in Fayette County, December 27, 1868, is the wife of Barton De Long, a molder of Mt. Sterling, and they have one child; I da Effie was born in Fayette County, August 26, 1871, and William A. was born in Mt. Sterling, December 22, 1873.


For three years after his return from the war, Mr. Baker engaged in operating a rented farm. In 1870, he came to Mt. Sterling, purchased a home and began working at his trade. IIe has since been a leading contractor of the city and has erected a number of the principal brick buildings in the place. Ile is an excellent workman and the liberal patronage which he has received is well deserved. Ile cast his first Presidential vote in Chat- tanooga in 1864, for George B. McClelland and has since supported the Democratic party. Himself, wife and daughters are members of the Christian


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DanielHetter


"BLACK MOUNTAIN FARM" RESIDENCE OF DANIEL HITLER, PICKAWAY TP., PICKAWAY CO., OHIO.


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Church and he has served as assistant Superinten- dent. Mr. Baker is also a member of the Patriotic Order of Sons of America and a charter member of Bostwick Post No. 406, G. A. R. Hle has attended both the National Unions held in Col- umbus. He is a public-spirited and progressive citizen, true to every public and private duty.


ANIEL HITLER, a wealthy and highly- esteemed farmer and native of Pickaway County, owns a large and valuable farm in Pickaway Township, advantageously situated on the Columbus, Circleville and Chilli- cothe Turnpike, to which is attached great histor- ical interest as the former site of the Indian vil- lage of Cornstock, named in honor of a famous Mingo chief.


Mr. Hitler was born in Washington Township, November 7, 1827, and is a son of JJacob Ilitler, a very early settler of the county, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume. Our subject was educated in the primitive log schoolhouse of pioneer days, and was reared on the old homestead in his native township, continuing to live with his father for over forty years. Ile located on his present farm in Pickaway Township March 17. 1871, and in 1883 built his fine large brick resi- dence. He has other buildings for every necessary purpose, that are spacious and well-built, and he has every convenience of a model farm. Ile owns six hundred and ninety-seven acres of valuable land, his homestead comprising three hundred and thirty-five acres, the farm lying on the celebrated Pickaway Plains. The soil is of a sandy loam, easy of cultivation and very fruitful. Mr. Hitler's mode of tillage is such as to produce the best re- sults, and no land in the vicinity yields more abundant harvests in repayment for good eare than his. It is also well adapted to raising stock, and fine herds graze in its pastures.


In reference to Mr. Hitler's farm as an historical spot, we quote the following from the pen of an enthusiastic admirer of the place:


"Mr. Hitler's farm is indeed emphatically .the classic ground of Ohio,' for on the site of his resi- dence was situated the Indian village of Cornstock named for the noted chief Cornstolk. Grenadier Squawtown, named for Cornstolk's squaw, was located just south of his residence, on land that he now owns. A short distance southeast. up the Congo Creek, stands the stately old elm. beneath whose spreading boughs Logan, Chief of the Mingos, made his famous speech, with which every school-boy is familiar, when Lord Dunmore, then royal Governor of Virginia, in 1774 con- cluded the treaty of peace with the Indians. whereby the Territory of the Northwest was opened for settlement to the whites.


"On his land once stood the town of Jefferson, the first seat of justice of Pickaway County. It was a lively little frontier town in its day, but its existence was ephemeral. and nothing is left of it but a single, tumble-down log cabin to mark the spot where it onee flourished. A short distance west of the home of our subject is Black Mountain, on whose summit, overlooking the entire plains, as well as the Valley of the Scioto for miles. the Indian chiefs met and held their councils of war. and no enemy could approach them undetected. The bones of the red men who once inhabited this region have been found in Mr. Hitler's very door- yard, and many interesting relics of the vanished tribes have been discovered on the premises."


A writer in speaking of the Pickaway Plains has said: "Lying in what may be appropriately called .The Garden of the State.' these plains embrace lands, which, when the first white settler came into the country. produced a hundred bushels of corn and fifty bushels of wheat to the acre. Blooming and beautiful, with Nature's most mild and tran- quil expression, a benison seems to have been breathed upon it by the great Author. As it lies to-day, in summer. crowned with russet-yellow of ripening grains, its broad expanse bathed in sun- shine, an undulating. shimmering, golden sca, in which, like neat green islands. fields of waving corn appear, there is nothing to suggest the tur- moils of savage war. or the wild scenes that have been enacted here. Here burned the council fires of the Indian. at which affairs of the nation were


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discussed, and peace or war decided upon. On these plains, at the old Indian villages, prisoners of war were put to death with horrid tortures.


"It was here that the tribes of Indians marched forth, fierce in their war paint, to meet Gen. Lewis; it was here that Gen. Logan made his famous speech, full of burning eloquence, and here that the campaign of Lord Dunmore was brought to a close by the truce at Camp Charlotte."


Mr. Hitler not only takes pride in his beautiful farm, with the many associations clustering around it of the aboriginal settlers of this region, long since vanished from these plains, valleys and for- ests that were once their home and hunting- grounds, but he takes a warm interest in all that concerns his native county, and looks with favor on whatever tends to its improvement. Ile is a man of sound, round-about common sense, a good judge in all matters with which he is conversant, and his friends find him wise and safe in counsel- ing them whenever they seek his advice in impor- tant matters. He is an uncompromising Democrat in his political sentiments, and has held various local offices. He was chosen Land Appraiser for Pickaway Township in 1890, and ten years prev- ious also performed the same duty.


The view of Mr. Hitler's homestead presented on another page is of especial interest on account of the historic associations connected therewith. We are also pleased to present the portrait of Mr. Hitler to our readers.


RA L. MAY. A prominent position among the farmers of Pickaway County is occupied by this young gentleman, whose farm is one of the best in Wayne Township, comprising two hun- dred and forty acres of as fertile land as may be found in a day's journey, and advantageously lo- cated on the Lick Run. He has met with flattering success in agriculture, both as a farmer and stock- raiser, and in the pursuit of his calling has been rewarded with a comfortable amount of this world's goods.


Born in Circleville, Ohio, March 28, 1854, Mr.


May is the son of Michael and Mary (Lutz) May. His father, who was born in Maryland October 7, 1798, learned the trade of a cabinet-maker in his youth and located in Loudoun County, Va., in his early manhood. In 1818, when twenty years old, he removed to Circleville, and for many years fol- lowed his trade there. With the exception of eight years spent in Wayne Township, he remained in Circleville until his death in that city, September 27, 1869. Ile was a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he served as Elder for a long period.


The father of our subject was twice married. His first wife, with whom he was united September 27, 1827, was Lydia Reiman, who died August 25, 1845. Eight children were born of this union, four of whom are now living. Afterward Michael May was married, September 25. 1849, to Mary Lutz, who died April 11, 1879. Ira L. was one of three children born of this marriage. He received his education in the public schools of Circleville, and graduated from the High School March 31, 1870. Subsequently, he took a course in surveying and engineering at Lebanon College. In 1871, he located in Wayne Township and engaged in farm- ing on the place where he still resides.


A very important event in the life of our sub- ject was his marriage, which occurred September 11, 1879, and united him with Miss Ada Lutz, of Ross County, Ohio. The parents of Mrs. May, Isaac and Susan (Barton) Lutz, are natives respec- tively of Salt Creek Township, this county, and Ross County, this State, and are very prominent people in the community where they have passed so many years. Through his farming and stock- raising enterprises, he has become quite well-to-do, and, although he no longer engages in actively tilling the soil, he still maintains a close supervision over his estates. Mr. and Mrs. May are the parents of five children, three of whom are living, namely: Isaac L., Percy and Leslie; Thompson and Law- rence are deceased.


Although every man is more or less of an enigma to his fellow-men, it is not difficult to sound the depths of Mr. May's nature sufficiently to discover that he is one who has accepted the Emersonian idea, that "the manly part is to do with might and


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main what you can do." Ile believes in the prin- ciples of the Republican party and nses his influence in behalf of its candidates. As an upright, con- scientious man, his opinion has weight with others, and with his refined wife he occupies a position of prominence in the community. Both are identi- fied with the Presbyterian Church at Circleville, and actively promote those measures which will uplift humanity and elevate society.


n ATHANIEL S. BARNETT, senior member of the firm of Barnett Bros., grocers, at No. 208 East Court Street, is a young man of high repute in business circles, who has made his way to the front among the business men of Wash- ington C. II. He was born April 11, 1855, in Washington County, N. Y., a son of one of its prominent farmers, J. S. Barnett. His father, who is still a resident of that county, was born in the State of New York in the year 1816, and has been twice married, the maiden name of his second wife, the mother of our subject. being Eliza Ann Cox. He became the father of thirteen children, all of whom grew to maturity, and nine of them are still living.


Our subject's education was conducted in the public schools of his native county, which he left at the age of eighteen, to engage in farming with his father. He remained with him, assisting him in the management of his farming interests, until he attained his majority. He then came to Ohio and began his career in the mercantile business in the employ of C. HI. Brownell & Brother, dealers in groceries and poultry. He was with them six years, and in that time thoroughly mastered every detail of the trade. At the end of that time, he bought a grocery with Mr. Saxton, and they carried it on together, under the firm name of N. S. Barnett & Co., three years. They then sold out, and our subject abandoned business for a year. In the meantime, he made a trip to his old home and spent some time among his former friends. Coming back to this county, he bought a stock of groceries and established himself in the


same room he had formerly occupied. He took his brother into partnership, and they have con- tinued together. They have a large and well- stocked store, carrying a complete line of groceries and provisions, and they command a fine trade, as they are enterprising, energetic and fully alive to the demands of their business, and their obliging and courteons manners make them popular with all with whom they have dealings.


July 2, 1878, is the date of the marriage of our subject with Miss Mamie, daughter of John Cissna, a prominent business man of Washington C. H. They have a very desirable home, replete with comfort, and one child completes their pleasant honsehokl circle, Earl R., who is now seven years old. Mr. Barnett is public-spirited, and all movements look- ing to the improvement of his adopted city are sure of his hearty approval and material assistance. As every intelligent and loyal citizen of this great Republic should be, he is deeply interested in pol- ities, and is a strong Republican, using his intlu- ence always in favor of his party.


LVA M. BUSH, D. D. S. Wonderful as has been the advancement of the last half- century, there is no indication that the climax has been reached, but the prospect for the future is in every way favorable to a pro- gress fully as great as that which in a retrospec- tive view seems remarkable. The incentives to industry and enterprise are as great now as at any period in the history of Fayette County, while the means of securing prosperity are daily multiply- ing.


It is not strange that the keen, shrewd young men of to-day are realizing that Horace Greeley's advice. "Go West. young man." is not applicable to the youth of the Buckeye State. The prospects for wealth and success are as inviting in Ohio as beyond the Rocky Mountains, in the sunset lands of the United States. Among the young men who are successfully following their chosen professions in the State of their birth. prominent mention be-


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longs to Dr. Bush, who located in Washington C. H. during 1888, and has since engaged in the practice of dentistry.


A native of Greenfield, Highland County, this State, and born January 19, 1867, our subject is the son of Jacob E. and Sally (Mathews) Bush. His father engaged in general agricultural pursuits and devoted especial attention to stock-raising until his death, which occurred when our subject was a lad of seven years. He and his widowed mother resided afterward with the family of J. S. Bush, a commercial traveler of Greenfield. In that village, our subject received his education in the common and High Schools, graduating from the latter institution in 1886.


After completing his schooling, our subject entered the dental office of Dr. Anshutz, with whom he read until he entered the Ohio Dental College at Cincinnati, graduating in 1889. Dur- ing his vacation prior to graduating, he opened an office in Washington C. H. and his time is now fully occupied in professional duties. His office in the Midland Block is supplied with all the most modern dental appliances, and he keeps abreast of the times by careful reading in both professional and general literature. Socially, he is a member of the Royal Arcanum, of which he is Secretary, and in his religious belief, is identified with the Presbyterian Church. September 19, 1888, he was married to Miss Minnie L., daughter of O. N. Wil- son, of Greenfield, and they have established a comfortable home in Washington C. H.


W ILLIAM ASHBROOK, an esteemed and venerable citizen of Ashiville, where he is living in retirement from active business, bears a name that is prominent in the pioneer his- tory of Central Ohio since the opening years of the present century, and various members of the family have been associated with the development of both Pickaway and Fairfield Counties. In the latter county, our subject has passed the most of his life until within recent years, he having been born there October 17, 1821, being reared in one


of its pioneer homes. His parents, William and Parmelia (Peters) Ashbrook, were early settlers thereof. They were natives of Virginia, his father being the son of an Englishman who had settled there during the last century. Early in the pres- ent century, the Ashbrooks migrated to Ohio, and took up their abode in a log cabin in the woods, in what is now Amanda Township, Fairfield County. They had but fifty cents in money when they arrived weary and travel-worn by their horseback journey across a rough, wild country, and they had many hardships and privations to endure before they became comfortably established in their new home. The father was an energetic wide-awake man, and he accumulated a comfort- able property by the aid of his no less capable wife. Ile was quite prominent in local public life, and served as Trustee of Amanda Township, always doing all in his power to advance its inter- ests. He was the father of eleven children, six of whom are living, namely: Mahlon, a resident of St. Joseph, Mo .; Edward, a resident of Fairfield County; William; Iva, wife of Daniel Kellerman, of Kansas; Melissa, wife of Benjamin Bowman, of Champaign County, and Minerva, wife of Benja- min Dunnuck, of Pickaway County. Over half a century ago, two of our subject's brothers, Absa- lom and Mahlon, came to Harrison Township and settled on the site of the present village of Ash- ville, which was named in their honor, and they became its leading business men.


Our subject was reared to man's estate in his native county, becoming strong, stalwart and self-reliant under the invigorating influences of pioneer life, having to bear the hardships usual in a newly-settled country. He went to school in a log cabin, but his educational advantages were somewhat limited. However, observation and ex- perience have made up in a great measure for these early deficiencies in intellectual training, and have helped him to a competeney. He owns a fine farm of one hundred and fifty acres of land in Fairfield County, and it brings him in a good income. For many years, he was successfully en- gaged as a farmer on his homestead, but in the spring of 1886 he abandoned his farm to take up his residence in the village whose early history is


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so closely linked with the memory of his brothers, and he has since lived here retired in a pleasant home, enjoying in a full degree the honor due to him as a man of sterling merit and a right loyal citizen. He is a Republican in his political views, and stands firmly by Ins party.


Mr. Ashbrook and Miss Nancy Hedges were married in 1844, and for over forty years they walked life's path together, and then death de- prived our subject of the companionship of one who had been to him a devoted helpmate and a true wife in every particular, her demise occurring October 28, 1886. She was a woman of marked excellence of character, steadfast in her friendships, and always neighborly and hospitable in her treat- ment of the people with whom she came in daily contact. Of the nine children born to her and our subject, these six are living: Elsie, wife of William Presler; Samuel, John, Ira, William, and Emma. Those deceased are Mahlon, Mary, and one that died in infancy.


G USTAVUS A. SCIILEYER, Assistant Cashier in the Second National Bank, of Circleville, Ohio, is probably one of the best informed men in the city. lle has a delightful home and an extensive and choice library. In the last few years, he has done more to further the interests of the city than any other man and almost every advan- tage that the town enjoys is owing in a greater or less degree to his push and energy. He believed in having a fine eity library and a suitable build- ing for it, and with this object in view, he ran as member of the City Council. Being elected, he at once commenced working for this, and by his efforts succeeded in getting the council to make a neces- sary appropriation for this purpose. The result is that Circleville has one of the finest memorial and public library buildings in the State. It is a fine large brick structure, located at the corner of Main and Pickaway Streets, and would attract the atten- tion of any one. Mr. Schleyer is at present Vice- president of the city council and one of its most active members.


Mr. Schleyer is a native of this State, born in Chillicothe, on the 7th of February, 1857, and re- mained there until four years of age. His father, J. F. Schleyer (see sketch elsewhere in this work), removed with his family to Circleville in 1865. In this city our subject received good scholastic advantages and attended the High School until he lacked but two months of graduating, when he was offered a position in the Second National Bank as collector. This was in September, 1872. when he was but fifteen years of age. Soon after, he took a special e urse in book-keeping during the evenings, and later a course by mail with Bryant & Stratton College, also studied stenography by mail. In 1875, he became individual ledger book- keeper and continued in that capacity until he was made teller in 1882. This position he held for three years and in 1885 was appointed Assistant Cashier.


Although young in years, Mr. Schleyer is one of the most progressive and enterprising business men of the county. He built his first house on Scioto Street, in 1881, and since then a handsome structure, designed by himself and wife, has been erected on that street, the cost of the same being $6,000. He also owns three acres within the cor- poration, and this is cut up into lots.




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