USA > Ohio > Knox County > The Biographical record of Knox County, Ohio : to which is added an elaborate compendium of national biography > Part 13
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FRENCH W. SEVERNS.
French W. Severns, who is now serving as county treasurer of Knox county, is a native of Cochocton county, Ohio, born in 1863. When a little lad of eight years he came to this county with his parents, Isaac D. and Elizabeth ( Mills) Severns, who are still residing upon a farm in Pleasant town- ship. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Severns, son of Joseph Severns, was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, and served
in the war of 1812 with the rank of first sergeant. He was at Detroit at the time of Hull's surrender and after the war he walked from that place to Coshocton county, Ohio. There he located lands in Newcastle town- ship, and upon the farm which he there de- veloped and improved he made his home until his death, which occurred in 1884, when in his eighty-fourth year. He was a very active and influential citizen there at an early day, served as county commissioner and filled other offices of public trust. He was married in Coshocton county to Miss Mary Darling, a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of the locality. Her father was a leading stock-raiser and his nephews now have the largest herds of shorthorn cattle in central Ohio.
Isaac D. Severns, a son of Samuel and Mary (Darling) Severns, came to Knox county with his family in 1871, and has since been identified with its farming inter- ests. He, too, is active and influential in county affairs, and has always given a stal- wart support to the principles of the De- mocracy. He wedded Elizabeth Mills, and their son, French W., is now the only one of their children living in this county. The others are Edgar C., a dentist practicing in Chicago, Illinois; Mrs. Thomas Hagerman, of Huron county, Ohio; and Mrs. Charles Hagerty, of Dodge City, Kansas.
In the public schools of Knox county our subject pursued his early education, and later attended the Northwestern University, at Ada, Ohio. Later he engaged in busi- ness in Michigan, but subsequently he re- turned to Knox county and took charge of his father's farm, which he continued to op- erate until 1899, making a specialty of the cultivation of fruit and of stock-raising.
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The work was carried on along progressive lines and his labors brought a good finan- cial return.
In this county Mr. Severns was united in marriage to Miss Olive Hagaman, of Mount Vernon, a daughter of John Haga- man, of that city. They have two children, Edna Mildred and Robert Baning. The parents hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and are people of the high- est respectability, enjoying the merited es- teem of many friends. Socially Mr. Severns is connected with the various Masonic bodies in Mount Vernon, the Knights of Pythias Lodge and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The fraternal spirit of these orders he exemplifies in his daily life, and is therefore accounted one of the loyal representatives of the different societies with which he is identified. He gives the greater part of his attention now to his official duties and his course indicates that the confidence reposed in him by his constituents is well merited.
JOHN M. FAWCETT.
Ireland has furnished to America an ele- ment of population which has been influen- tial in the advancement of civilization, patriotism and prosperity and for which our country ought to be and is duly grateful. Ohio was the objective point of many 'Irish immigrants of the better class, and Knox county received her quota of such pioneers. One of the prominent Irish names in Harri- son township is Fawcett, and of the family to which it belongs John M. Fawcett is a most worthy representative.
John M. Fawcett, who is one of the larg-
est land owners in Harrison township and whose home farm is in section 12, was born in that township May I, 1831, a son of Arthur Fawcett, a native of Ireland, who came to America when about twenty years old and locating at Steubenville, Ohio. He began life in the land of liberty by working willingly at whatever his hands found to do. He came to Knox county while yet a young man, found a wife in Pleasant township and began housekeeping in the woods in Harri- son township in a house of round logs, but this in time gave place to a house of hewed logs, from which he moved to a frame house on the farm which is now the home of his son, John M. Fawcett. This was built in 1852, and there he died in his eighty-second year. He was in the strictest sense of the term a self-made man, for he was orphaned in his childhood, and, left literally to shift for himself, made a success in life in every way. When he grew to manhood he es- poused the principles of the old Whig party, and he was one of the original members of the Republican party. He wielded a marked influence in public affairs, was well known throughout the county and his death was widely regretted.
Arthur Fawcett married Susannah Smith, who was brought by her parents when a child to Knox county. She died at the age of sixty-eight years. She bore her husband five sons and five daughters, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, and of whom the subject of this sketch was the eighth child and fourth son in order of birth. John M. Fawcett gained his educa- tion in one of Harrison township's old log school houses and established himself as a farmer, being thus employed until 1861, when he enlisted in Company K, Forty-third
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Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served as a private for ten months. He was then honorably discharged on ac- count of disability and returned to his home. He was married, January 14, 1858, to Miss Hannah Workman, who was born in Brown township, Knox county, Ohio October 19, 1839, and died in October, 1874, leaving the following named children : Workman, Ellen Jane, Annie, Frank, Henry and Dora, all of whom are living. Ellen Jane is the wife of George Lepley; Annie is the wife of Marvin Purdy; Dora married Benjamin Bebout ; Workman married Rena O. Daniel ; Frank married Bertha McKee; and Henry married Alice Lamson. April 11, 1875, Mr. Fawcett married Miss Nancy J. Workman, a native of Brown township and a sister of his deceased wife. Her parents were John J. and Lucretia (De Witt) Workman, early settlers of Knox county, Ohio. By his sec- ond marriage he has two daughters,-Mat- tie, who married Thomas Bebout, and Ida May, who is still a member of her father's household.
Mr. Fawcett has lived his life in Harri- son township with the exception of three years which, when a young man, were spent in McLain county, Illinois. He gradually acquired land until at one time he owned four hundred and twenty-two acres. He has divided two hundred and forty-two acres among his children, and devotes his home farm of one hundred and eighty-seven acres to general farming. He is a Democrat and is proud of the fact that he voted twice for William Jennings Bryan for the presidency. He has been treasurer and trustee of his township and has held other important local offices. He is a member of Leroy Baker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of
Mount Vernon, and takes pleasure in recall- ing army experiences by frequent com- munion with old comrades-in-arms. In township affairs he wields considerable in- fluence, and his public spirit has been many times put to the test, but has never been found wanting.
CHARLES R. BRADFIELD, M. D.
Dr. Charles R. Bradfield is a prominent physician of Danville, and has that love for and devotion to his profession which has brought to him success and won him a place among the ablest representatives of the med- ical fraternity in Knox county, his practice being large and remunerative. The Doctor was born in Brown township, Knox county, Ohio, on the 31st of May, 1846. His pa- ternal grandfather, James Bradfield, was a native of the Old Dominion, and there spent his entire life. He was a member of a prominent Quaker family and was of Eng- lish descent. His son, James W. Bradfield, the father of our subject, also claimed Vir- ginia as the state of his nativity, where he was reared to the quiet duties of the farm. Some time in the '3os he came to Knox county, Ohio, locating in Union township, where he remained for a short time, and then took up his abode in Howard town- ship. His next place of residence was at Danville, where he spent the remainder of his life in quiet retirement, enjoying the rest which he had so truly earned and richly deserved. He passed away in death at the age of seventy-three years, honored and re- spected by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. Prior to the Civil war he
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gave his political support to the Democracy, but later in life he became identified with the Republican party, and on its ticket was elected to many positions of honor and trust. For nine years he served ås justice of the peace of his township, and for eight years was the efficient commissioner of Knox county, and he also held the position of notary public. During the last ten years of his life he was engaged in settling estates, and it is often said that he did more busi- ness in that line than any other man in this part of the county.
As a companion for the journey of life Mr. Bradfield chose Miss Sarah Sapp, a na- tive of Union township, Knox couny, where she was reared, educated and married, and there her death occurred when she had reached the seventy-fifth milestone on the journey of life. Her father, Levi Sapp, was a native of the state of Maryland. In 1809 he accompanied his parents on their removal to Knox county, where they were among the early pioneers, and there his father, George Sapp, became a prominent farmer of Union township. He was of Dutch de- scent, and was a Catholic in his religious belief. In this county Levi Sapp was reared and educated, and his death occurred in Mount Vernon. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bradfield was blessed with eleven children, nine of whom grew to years of ma- turity, and all were born in Knox county. Those who still survive are: Charles R., the subject of this review; Lydia, the wife of William Body, a resident of Jefferson township; L. S., who makes his home in Liberty township, Knox county; William, also of Liberty township; Thomas J., of Holmes county ; and Mary, the wife of Al- bert Moor, of Canton, Ohio.
Dr. Bradfield, the eldest child in the above family, obtained his elementary edu- cation in the common schools of his town- ship, and later enjoyed superior advantages along that line in the academy at Danville. When nineteen years of age he began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Calvin Sapp, of Danville, who continued as his pre- ceptor for the following four years, on the expiration of which period, in 1870, our subject entered the old Cleveland Medical College. He subsequently matriculated in the Detroit Medical College, graduating at that institution with the class of 1871. With a thorough knowledge of the science of med- icine, Dr. Bradfield then entered upon the practice of his chosen profession in Danville, where he remained for one year, and for the following seventeen years he was a prominent medical practitioner of Mount Liberty. For the past thirteen years he has made his home in Danville. His skill and ability soon became recognized, and he was not long in building up an excellent practice in this city. His life has been characterized by energy, perseverance and hard work, and to these principles his success is due, and he now enjoys the honor of being conceded the acknowledged peer of any physician in Knox county.
The Doctor was married, January 5, 1868, to Miss Sarah Dunlap, a native of Butler township, Knox county, and a daugh- ter of Salathiel and Ann ( Burkholder ) Dun- lap, early pioneers of this locality. The Doctor and wife have had three children,. James D., at home; Elizabeth, the wife of Lieutenant Lanning Parsons, who served in the Cuban war in the Philippines, returning home as first lieutenant of the Fourth United States Cavalry, and now located at Fort
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
Leavenworth; and Estella, deceased. They also have two grandchildren,-Harriet E. and Isabelle. In political matters the Doc- tor gives his support to the Republican party, and religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has long served as a trustee. In his social relations he is a member of the State Med- ical Society, the County Medical Society, the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and of Mount Zion Lodge, F. & A. M., of Mount Vernon. As a citizen he ever stands ready to discharge any duty devolving upon him, but his extensive practice requires the greater part of his time and attention.
SIMON C. LEPLEY.
The well known representative of the honored family of Lepley whose name is the title of this sketch is an old citizen of Harrison township, Knox county, Ohio, having been born on the farm on which he now lives February 12, 1832. His father, George Lepley, a native of Pennsylvania, was at the age of eleven years brought to Knox county by his parents, who were among the early pioneers. He was reared in Harrison township and lived there the industrious and useful life of a progressive farmer, dying at the advanced age of ninety- four years.
George Lepley, father of the subject of this sketch, married Barbara Baughman, who was born in Pennsylvania and brought to Knox county by her parents. She lived to be ninety-five years of age. George and Barbara (Baughman) Lepley had eight chil- dren, of whom Simon C. Lepley was the
seventh in order of birth. The boy was reared to a practical experience of the work of clearing, improving and cultivating land and developed into a resourceful and suc- cessful farmer. Such educational advant- ages as were available to him he obtained in subscription schools taught in log houses of primitive construction, with slab seats and benches, puncheon floors, big open fire- places and windows of greased paper. He remained with his father, assisting him in carrying on the home farm operations until he was thirty-two years old.
In 1864 Mr. Lepley married Sarah Bean, a native of Jo Daviess county, Illinois. Miss Bean, who was reared and educated in her native county, was at the time of her mar- riage temporarily in Wisconsin, where she met Mr. Lepley, who was there on business and who brought her back to Knox county as his wife. They began housekeeping in a log house on the farm on which Mr. Lepley now lives, which later gave place to a more commodious and better appointed residence. In 1884 they removed to Mount Vernon, where for four years Mr. Lepley was en- gaged in the bakery business and where Mrs. Lepley died in 1890. After the death of his wife he went to Lima, Ohio, where he re- mained about four months, going thence to Columbus, Ohio, from which city he re- turned a month later to his farm, and he has since devoted himself to its management and to blacksmithing. His farm consists of ninety-five acres, well improved and under cultivation and equipped with a good resi- dence and adequate barns and other out- buildings.
Mr. Lepley is not without influence in township affairs and has twice been elected to the office of assessor. In politics he is
-
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independent, voting always for the man who he regards as best qualified for the place to which he aspires. He is a member of the Dis- ciples' church, has filled some of its official positions and been active in its work. He is honored not only as an old citizen of his township, but as a man of prominence and public spirit. Simon C. and Sarah (Bean) Lepley had three children, named Lawrence K., Lee and Jeanette. Lawrence K. married Effie M. Farmer and operates the home- stead; Lee married Anna Colgin, who re- sides on a near-by farm; and Jeanette re- sides with her brother and devotes herself to teaching music.
SAMUEL SEVERNS.
Samuel Severns has passed the sev- enty-fifth milestone on the journey of life, and having put aside the more arduous cares of business is now quietly living retired at his home in Mt. Vernon, enjoying a well inerited rest. He is a native of Virginia, his birth occurring in Botetourt county on the 14th of January, 1827, his parents be- ing Jonathan and Sarah (McNare) Severns. When he was five years of age his parents left the Old Dominion and removed to Knox county, Ohio, and in 1836 the father entered land from the government and began the development of a farm. The son assisted in the arduous task of clearing and improving the new farm as his age and strength would permit, and in the subscription schools he pursued his education, for there were no public schools at that time. On entering business life for himself he followed the oc- cupation to which he was reared, but later he abandoned farming and secured a posi- tion in a boiler yard. Subsequently he
drove a team for a Mr. Norton, and was thius engaged for eleven years.
On the 24th of November, 1853, Mr. Severns was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Jane Hickman, a daughter of Thom- as C. and Catherine (Fox) Hickman. Unto them were born six children, namely : Thom- as W., a brick mason residing in Mount Vernon ; William Bryant, a boilermaker who resides in Columbus; Robert E., who fol- lows the same line of business and makes his home in Mount Vernon; Iva May, as- sistant librarian in Mount Vernon; Frank Marion, a paperhanger and painter of this city ; and Fred G., who is a graduate of the Mount Vernon school and now employed as a salesman in Mount Vernon.
In his political faith Mr. Severns is a Republican, but while he has kept well in- formed on the issues of the day and stanchly supports the principles of the party he never sought office as a reward for party fealty. He holds membership in the Methodist Epis- copal church and his life is in harmony with its teachings. He was ever straightforward and reliable in business, faithful to his duties of citizenship and honorable in all life's re- lations.
THOMAS C. HICKMAN.
Thomas Chaney Hickman became one of the honored pioneers of Knox county and was deeply interested in its work and devel- opment, doing what he could to promote its welfare. He was a native of Pennsylvania and was a representative of an old Quaker family of that state. His parents were Thomas and Mary (Frame) Hickman, also natives of the Keystone state, and the father was a soldier in the war of 1812. When
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
eighteen years of age he came to Ohio and engaged in teaching school in Wayne coun- ty. He also studied surveying and he came to Mount Vernon to do clerical work for Mr. Kinton, one of the first officials of the county. He also did similar work for Audi- tor Ben Smith and a Mr. Herred, and thus he became widely known to many of the leading citizens. His worth and ability be- ing recognized, he was elected to the office of county surveyor and held that position for several terms, discharging his duties in a most commendable manner, owing to his skill in the line of his profession. He con- tinued to engage in surveying for many years.
Mr. Hickman was united in marriage to Miss Catharine Fox, a daughter of William . and Mary Fox, and unto them were born eight children: Robert M. and George Washington, both of whom are now de- ceased; Sarah Jane; Robert Marion, who is living in Warsaw, Indiana; Mary E .; Will- iam W., deceased ; Catharine, deceased ; and Thomas J., of Springfield, Ohio. The fa- ther died in 1869 and his loss was deeply felt throughout the community. In his work as county surveyor he had formed a wide acquaintance, and his genuine worth, genial disposition and honor won him many friends. He was an active factor in the early development of the county, and did much of the surveying during the period of the pioneer settlement here.
MARVIN LYBARGER.
Reference has been made in these pages to the value of Pennsylvania stock as an influence in western civilization and to the 7
prevalence of Pennsylvania blood in Knox county, Ohio. A representative of an old Pennsylvania family in Harrison township is Marvin Lybarger, a prominent farmer in section II, and the son of a pioneer. He was born there May 2, 1838.
Andrew Lybarger, father of Marvin Ly- barger, was born and reared in the Key- stone state and came a single man to Knox county, Ohio. He bought a farm in Har- rison township, on which he located after his marriage in a house of round logs, which as soon as possible he replaced with a house of hewed logs, the latter serving its purpose until it was superceded by a commodious modern residence. He cleared and put his land under cultivation and improved a good farm, successfully continuing its work un- til his death, which occurred before he was sixty years old. He is honored as having been one of the pioneers of Knox county, and he is remembered as a well educated, affable man who had been a school teacher in Pennsylvania. Long after he took up his residence in Knox county, the woods about him abounded in bear, deer and other va- rieties of wild game, and roving Indians fre- quently appeared in the Ohio settlements. His ancestors came from Germany, and in Pennsylvania were men of substantial worth.
Andrew Lybarger married Catharine Lybarger, also a native of Pennsylvania who had been brought as a child to Knox coun- ty by her parents, Frederick Lybarger and wife, who were early settlers in Harrison township. She died before she attained the age of seventy years. She bore her hus- band five sons and four daughters, two of whom died young and only four sons are now living. Of these children, the subject of this sketch was the seventh child and
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fourth son in order of birth. He was reared in Harrison township and gained a prac- tical common school education in the log school houses in his vicinity, mean- time gaining a good knowledge of farm- ing, in which he has been actively en- gaged until the present time. He was married on January 17, 1861, to Cleora Lepley, a native of Harrison township, born June 19, 1838, a daughter of William and Densey (Purdy) Lepley, of an old family in Knox county. Her parents were both na- tives of Pennsylvania and something of their history is given in a biographical sketch of her brother, Marvin Lepley, which appears in this work. Mrs. Lybarger, who was the third in order of birth of her parents' family of nine children, was reared and educated in Harrison township. After his marriage Mr. Lybarger located on what is now known as the Uncle Jake Welker farm in Harrison township and lived upon it until 1868, when he bought the farm known as the old Devore farm, in the same township, which was his home until 1890, when he moved to his present homestead, still retaining ownership of the Devore farm. The two farms aggre- gate two hundred and nine acres and both are under a good state of cultivation and well equipped for modern farming. Mr. Lybarger is recognized as one of the pro- gressive farmers of Knox county. He is de- voted to the general principles of the Dem- ocratic party, but is so independent of po- litical bondage that he makes it a rule to vote for men rather than measures. He is widely known as a stockman and has for years made a specialty of sheep, of which he has raised and handled large numbers, each year fattening a flock of from seventy-five to one hundred head.
Marvin and Cleora (Lepley) Lybarger have had four children. Their son Silas married Savilla Witt and has a daughter named Clorah. They live near his father. John A. died at the age of seven months. Their son, Emanuel S., who is a partner of his father, as is also Silas, married Bertha Eley. By his first wife, Ollie Henwood, he has a daughter named Lula M., and by his present wife has two sons, named Walter Henry and Clarence Dewey. Alfred Dean Lybarger, a young man of twenty, is still at home with his father.
MARVIN LEPLEY.
No eastern state furnished to the west a more valuable part of its pioneer popula- tion that Pennsylvania, and no state in the west is more greatly indebted to Pennsyl- vania than is Ohio. Prominent among the names of Pennsylvania settlers in Knox county is that of Lepley, which belongs to a family now well represented in Harrison township and in its various branches in other parts of the county.
Marvin Lepley, who is a prominent farmer of Harrison township, was born there October 26, 1847, a son of William Lepley, a native of Pennsylvania. In boy- hood the latter came to Knox.county and lived there until he was about fifty years old, when he was killed by an accident in a sawmill. Jacob Lepley, father of William Lepley and grandfather of Marvin Lepley, was also a native of Pennsylvania, and was the original pioneer of this particular fam- ily of Lepleys in Knox county. Densey Purdy, who married William Lepley and be-
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
came the mother of Marvin Lepley, was born in Pennsylvania and was brought by her parents to Ohio when she was two years old and later came with them to Knox.county. Mr. and Mrs. William Lepley had nine chil- dren, the eldest of whom died in childhood, the youngest at the age of eighteen years. Marvin Lepley was their seventh child and fourth son in order of birth. The recollec- tions of his childhood cluster around a little log house in the woods, which was the humble home of the family, and about a primitive school house, in which he attended an old-fashioned subscription school.
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