USA > Ohio > Knox County > The Biographical record of Knox County, Ohio : to which is added an elaborate compendium of national biography > Part 21
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
ginia. His grandfather, Jolin Loney, was born in the Old Dominion and emigrated westward, settling in Harrison county, Ohio, where he engaged in farming. Subsequent- ly he came with his family to Knox county, and here he entered about five eighty-acre tracts of land, afterward giving one to each of his sons. He also assisted his daughters in starting in life. In his family were four sons and two daughters, the third child and second son being John Loney, the father of our subject. His birth occurred in Harri- son county, Ohio, and there he was reared until his reached the age of twenty-one vears, when he came with his parents to Knox county. He afterward returned to Harrison county and was there married, following which he brought his bride to this county. He wedded Miss Elizabeth Kirkpatrick, a native of the former county, and through a long period they were representative farm- ing people of Pike township. They had three sons and two daughters, of whom J. Calvin Loney was the second. The father gave his political support to the Democracy, and held nearly all the township offices. He had a very wide acquaintance and the salient characteristics in his career commended him to the confidence and good will of all with whom he was associated. He died in his eighty-seventh year.
A life-long resident of Knox county, J. Calvin Loney first opened his eyes to the light of day in a little log cabin which had been built by his father, and when six years of age he began his education in a log school house, walking two miles in order to attend school. Throughout the period of his youth he pursued his studies for about three months during the winter season, and dur- ing the summer months he aided in farm
work. On the 13th of December, 1855, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary C. Ridenour, a native of Washington county, Maryland, who when about fifteen years of age came to Pike township, Knox county, Ohio, with her parents, Daniel and Sarah (Bene) Ridenour. They, too, were natives of Maryland, and in their family were eight children. On making their way westward they established their new home in a log cabin and experienced the toil and hardships and also the pleasures of pioneer life.
Mr. and Mrs. Loney began their do- mestic life upon the farm of one hundred and sixty acres which was owned by his fa- ther and on which they lived for thirteen years, when he purchased a tract of land on section 3, Pike township, continuing there to make his home until 1892, when he built his present residence in North Liberty. In the meantime he had added to his original tract of land and had become the owner of six hundred acres, but as his children started out in life he divided with them, thus enabling them to secure good homes. He is now living retired, leaving the development of his farm to others, the rented farm bring- ing to him a good income.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Loney was blessed with six children, three sons and three daughters, namely: Clarence, who married Louisa Wood and is living in Pike township; John Alvin, who married Sylvia Hibbitts and also resided in Pike township; Daniel W., a graduate of the medical de- partment of the state university of Michigan, who married Hallie Fulchs and is now prac- ticing medicine in Norwalk, Ohio; Annie, the wife of George Ridenour, a cousin, of Wayne township; Alice Belle, the wife of R. D. Horn, M. D., of Butler, Ohio; and
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Bernice, wife of Charles M. Leedy, a prom- inent farmer of Pike township. They also have lost three children in infancy. They have twenty-one grandchildren and these and the children of our subject were all born in Pike township with the exception of the two children of Dr. Loney. The family is one of prominence, and its representatives enjoy the hospitality of the best homes of this sec- tion of the county. Mr. Loney is and has been one of the leading men of Pike town- ship, and in his political views he is a Dem- ocrat. He has held local offices and has ever discharged his duties in a prompt and capable manner, betraying no political trust in the slightest degree. Industry formed the foundation upon which he reared the su- perstructure of his success. His name in business dealings is synonymous with hon- esty and in all life's relations he has been found true to upright principles.
JOSEPH A. FISH.
It is most fitting that many years of use- ful and honorable labor should be crowned with a well earned rest, that retirement from toil should offer opportunity for the enjoy- ment of life unharrassed by business cares or responsibilities, and such has been vouch- safed to Mr. Fish, who after many years of connection with agricultural interests is living quietly at his pleasant home in Lever- ing. He was born in Congress township, Monroe county, Ohio, September 29, 1838. His father, Henry Fish, was a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, and there spent the days of his youth. He wedded Mary A. Burson, also a native of the same coun- ty, and about 1831 they emigrated west-
ward, taking up their abode in Richland county, Ohio, whence they afterward went to Morrow county about 1832. There the parents spent their remaining days. The fa- ther was a Whig in early life, and when the Republican party was formed he joined its ranks, giving to it his loyal support through- out his remaining days. For about forty years he was a member of the United Brethren church, and his wife also held membership in that denomination. He passed away in 1884, at the age of eighty- three years, for his birth occurred in 1801. His wife, who was born in 1815, died in 1892. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, six sons and three daughters, all of whom grew to mature years and were mar- ried with one exception.
Upon the homestead farm in Morrow county Joseph Albert Fish remained through the period of his minority. He acquired his education in the district schools, and at the age of fifteen began learning the plasterer's trade, which he followed for about nineteen years. After his marriage he located in Congress township, Morrow county, where they lived for thirteen years, and then came to Middlebury township, Knox county, lo- cating on the farm where they resided un- til 1901, when he erected their present home in the village of Levering.
On the 13th of October, 1859, Mr. Fish was united in marriage to Miss Mary Fine- frock, a native of Richland county, Ohio, born June 11, 1840. Her father, Peter Fine- frock, was born in Pennsylvania and when a young man removed to Richland county, this state, where he met and married Elizabeth Wirick, a native of Guernsey county, Ohio. Mrs. Fish is their only child, and was reared in the county of her nativity. Her father
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
died in 1859, at the age of forty-two years, but her mother lived to be ninety-three years of age, dying on the anniversary of her birth, October 6, 1900. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Fish have been born two sons. John Frank- lin, the elder, married Emma Bayer, and they had one son, who died at the age of eight and a half years. Miles Jefferson wedded Glenn V. Killen, and their only child, a son, died at the age of six and a half years.
Although Mr. Fish now resides in Lev- ering he is yet the owner of a valuable tract of land of one hundred and twenty acres, which is located in Knox, Morrow and Rich- land counties, and which returns to him a good rental. In politics he is a Democrat and served as trustee of Middlebury town- ship and as school director. He has also filled other local offices, and no trust re- posed in him has ever been betrayed. So- cially he is identified with Owl Creek Lodge, No. 686, I. O. O. F., and has filled all of the chairs, acting as treasurer of the lodge since its organization. He has taken a very active part in its work and exemplifies in his life its fraternal and charitable principles. He also belongs to the Grange at Bateman- town. The success he has achieved in life is the reward of his own labors. He entered upon his business career without capital and has steadily worked his way upward, gain- ing a comfortable competence through un- remitting labor and capable management.
JOHN P. BRECKLER.
In Howard township resides John P. Breckler and the farming interests of the community are well represented by him, for
he is energetic and progressive, carrying on his work along modern lines. His birth oc- curred in Jefferson township January 24, 1848. His father, Francis Breckler, was a native of Pennsylvania and in early man- hood came to Knox county, where he mar- ried Catherine Heckler, who was born in the fatherland and came to America when a maiden of fourteen years. Mr. Breckler died at the age of thirty-five, after which his widow became the wife of Stephen Blu- baugh, and her death occurred when she was sixty-five years of age. By her first mar- riage she had five children, of whom our subject is the youngest.
John P. Breckler spent the first eight years of his life in his native township, and then removed to Brown township. His youth was one of toil, for at the early age of ten years he began to earn his own liv- ing, residing with his brother-in-law, Stephen Blubaugh. There he made his home until his marriage, which occurred September 11, 1871. Miss Laura A. Sapp became his wife. She was born in this coun- ty and is a daughter of George and Delia A. (White) Sapp. Two children grace this union, Stephen J. and Charlie C. Mr. Breckler includes in his family an orphan boy of sixteen years, Henry Francis Davis, who was taken by them when a child, and has received the same advantages as his own children.
After his marriage Mr. Breckler lo- cated in Brown township, but subsequently removed to Union township, and in 1875 came to Howard township, locating on the farm where he now resides. Here he has one hundred and four acres of good land, much of it being excellent botton land, and from the time of early spring planting un-
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til the crops are gathered in the autumn he is usually busy in the fields and the result of his labors is seen in abundant harvests. He realizes that there is no royal road to wealth and that untiring labor must prove the foundation for success. He voted for General Grant at one time, but has with this exception always given his support to the Democratic party, and in his religious faith he is allied with St. Luke's Catholic church in Danville. His entire life has been spent in Knox county, and as his career has ever been an honorable one he has many friends within its borders.
THOMAS RANDOLPH HEAD.
Labor forms the foundation of all pros- perity, and it is to his enterprising and well directed efforts that our subject owes his position as a leading and representative farmer of College township, Knox county. He was born in Hampshire county, Vir- ginia, on the 5th of August, 1823, a son of Nathan and Penelope (Wennan) Head, na- tives, respectively, of Maryland and Vir- ginia. This worthy couple became the par- ents of the following children, namely : Mary A., the widow of Joseph Dull; Nathan, de- ceased; Thomas Randolph, the subject of this review : Joseph and Hannah, twins, both of whom are now deceased; Sarah A., John and Penelope, deceased ; and Franklin, who makes his home in Missouri.
Thomas Randolph Head received but meager educational advantages during his youth, attending for a time a primitive log school house in Virginia, to which he was obliged to walk a distance of two miles. In
1835 he accompanied his parents on their removal to Pleasant township, Knox coun- ty, Ohio, the family making the journey in a one-horse wagon, and on the trip they were accompanied by another family, making a party of eighteen. In the fall of the same year the Head family took up their abode in Gambier, and our subject at that time was but twelve years of age. Until his twenty- second year he remained on his father's farm and he then began working for neighboring farmers by the month, continuing thus until 1849, when he embarked in the butchering business in Gambier, continuing that occu- pation for twelve years. His next vocation was that of buying and shipping cattle, hogs and sheep, which he found a profitable source of investment, but in 1898 he aban- doned that occupation, since which time he has devoted his attention to looking after his extensive landed interests. He now owns a fine farm of three hundred and sixty-four acres of excellent and well cul- tivated land, on which may be found all the necessary improvements of a well regulated homestead. For a time Mr. Head served as agent for Kenyon College, looking after its farms, houses and other property, and for a number of years he served as trustee and assessor of College township, discharging his public duties to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. All his trade transactions are carried on with the strictest regard for the ethics of commercial life, and in busi- ness circles his reputation for honesty is above question.
On the 21st of October, 1849, was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Head and Miss Angeline Darby, born July 17, 1826, and for just half a century were they permitted the privilege of closest communion, each being
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
a full complement to the other. On the 21st of October, 1899, just fifty years after their troths were plighted, was the companion- ship broken, she being called in advance, there to await a reunion that shall know no severance. She had been a patient sufferer for years, but for only a few months had friends feared the result. Hers was a noble life, filled with womanly love and devotion. Her loss was deply mourned not only by her immediate family, but by a large circle of friends.
The Republican party receives Mr. Head's hearty support and co-operation, while in his social relations he has been a member of the Masonic order for the past forty years, exemplifying its ennobling prin- ciples in his every-day life, and he is now a member of the thirty-second degree. Relig- iously he is a member of the Episcopal church and takes a leading part in its work, doing all in his power to promote its growth and success. Mr. Head contributes liberally of liis time and means to all worthy enter- prises, withholding not his support from any public movement or measure which he be- lieves will prove of benefit to the commu- nity.
JOHN JAMES TULLOSS.
The man whose name is mentioned above has been identified with Morgan township, Knox county, Ohio, for eighty-two years, and during that long period has been not only a living witness of the development of its history and prosperity, but a vital factor in its progress. John James Tulloss, son of John James and Elizabeth ( Honey ) Tul- loss, was born in Morgan township Septem-
ber II, 1820, was educated in its old sub- scription schools and has been an independ- ent farmer since he attained the age of twen- ty-one years except during four years, and has passed his entire life in the township, having liis home always on the same piece of ground. In religious affiliation he is a Primitive Baptist. Politically he has been a Democrat during all the years of his man- hood, and he has always been influential in local affairs and for six years hield the of- fice of township trustee.
October 24, 1844, Mr. Tulloss married Caroline Campnett Smith, daughter of James Harrington and Martha (Davis) Smith, who was born in the township April 8, 1826, and who has borne him children as follows: Emily, who died at the age of sixteen years. Byron Leonard, a druggist at Columbus, Ohio. He married Josephine Van Buskirk and had four children, three of whom died in infancy and one of whom, Clyde E., survives. His second wife was Sarah E. Dennis, who left one child living, Josephine R .; and for his third wife he mar- ried Mrs. Maggie Carpenter. The next in order of birth of John J. Tulloss' children was named John James, who died at thirty- one. Reese P., who died at thirty-four of an accident, a ball from a rifle which he picked up carelessly by the muzzle and which was discharged by the hammer coming in contact with a nail, penetrating his heart. Almina Weaver became his wife and bore him three children, named Reese Edgar, De Sylvia and Freddie Wayne. Benjamin Franklin went to Texas and was last heard from twenty years ago through a letter which he wrote announcing his intention of going up in the mountains with a large herd of cattle. George Washington married Rilla
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Boner, and lives in Wayne township, Knox county. He is a minister of the Primitive Baptist church. Cynthia Almeda and Caro- line Campnett are members of their father's household.
Captain John James Tulloss, Sr., was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, Septem- ber, 1784, and was married in March, 1815, to Elizabeth Honey, also a native of Vir- ginia, born about 1778. They had children as follows: Ann, who married Benjamin Seymour and lives in Kansas; Elizabeth, who married Charles Stevens and lives in Miller township, Knox county, Ohio; Will- iam, who married Cynthia Smith and after her death Felicia Scott, of Mount Vernon; Richard S., who was born in 1819, was for twenty years a justice of the peace in Mor- gan township, where he was a lifelong resi- dent, was a member of the Ohio state con- stitutional convention in 1870, and at his death, in 1892, left a farm of six hundred acres ; he never married; John James, who was next in order of birth; Benjamin, who married Margaret Campbell, and is living in retirement at Mount Vernon ; and Susan, who died March 28, 1899; and Rodham, who married Betsy Harris ; she died in 1873, he passing away two years later. The fa- ther of these children came to Licking coun- ty, Ohio, in 1807, and returned to Vir- ginia in 1814, and was there married in 1815. He was the captain of a Knox coun- ty company in the war of 1812. He bought five hundred acres of military land in Knox county and improved it into valuable prop- erty, which has since been divided into smaller tracts, and is still held by the Tul- loss family. While a resident of Licking county he made the first brick ever manu- factured in Newark. After his location in
Knox county he was a farmer until his death, which occurred when he was fifty- seven years old.
Azariah Davis, the grandfather of Mrs. Tulloss, was born in Greene county, Penn- sylvania, of Welsh descent, and was a sol- dier in the Revolutionary war. He married Elsie Van Meter, a daughter of Henry Van Meter and a native of Virginia, who had come on horseback to Greene county, Penn- sylvania, and in 1799 they went to Loudoun county, Virginia. James Harrington Smith, the father of Mrs. Tulloss, was born near Hagerstown, Maryland. When quite young he was taken to Pennsylvania, where he subsequently married. He settled in Ohio in 1811 and served his country in the war of 1812. He was the father of children named Azariah, Benjamin, Mary (Ist), John, Mary (2d), Sarah, Rebecca, James, Henry, Rachel, Caroline and Reese. Of this family of children Mrs. Tulloss is the only one living. Azariah was a citizen of Knox county. Benjamin lived in Morgan township eighty-nine years. Their daugh- ter lives on their old home farm on the New- ark road in that township. Mary married Reese McClellon and she and her husband both are now dead. John died of yellow fever at New Orleans, Louisiana. Sarah married Wesley McCune and had seven chil- dren, named Harrington, Charles, Henry, Margaret, Etwinna, Alexander and Charles, all now being deceased. Rebecca married Henry Crumley and they had children named Oscar, Sarah, Margaret and Saralı Adeline. James married Harriet Todd and she lives in Putnam county, Ohio. Their children were named Lafayette, Louisa, Julia, Kossuth, Jefferson and Ammie Caro- line. Henry married Sarah McVey for his
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
first wife and his second wife was Han- nah Harris, who also has passed away. Martha, his daughter, lives in Licking coun- ty, Ohio. His children by his second mar- riage were Elzie, Emma, Frank, Carrie; George, Reese and Mammie. The latter married Newton McVey and lives in Carth- age, Missouri. Caroline married John James Tulloss. Reese, who married Alice Fly, was killed by Indians in Arizona. Their children were named Cornelius, Reese and Cornelia. Benjamin Tulloss, a brother of our subject, was born December 25, 1768, and became one of the pioneers in Ohio some time after his brother. He married Mary Marshall and died in February, 1847, and his wife February 14, 1846.
DAVID BRICKER ELLIOTT.
The well-known farmer of Morgan township, Knox county, Ohio, whose name is above, and some account of whose useful life should be included in this work, was born in Knox county, August 30, 1856, a son of Samuel and Anna Belle ( Bricker) Elliott. He was educated in the public schools near his home and at Utica. He has been a farmer since he was twenty years of age, and has made a success in his chosen field of labor.
David Bricker Elliott was reared in the Presbyterian faith and carefully instructed in everything tending to make him a good Democrat. He has for years been influential in his township, and for a decade and a half has filled the office of school director. He was married December 12, 1878, to Miss Mary Warner, daughter of Jack and Emily
(Arven) Warner, who was born April 13, 1859, and who has borne her husband chil- dren as follows: Belle, born October 14, 1879; Samuel Arthur, born June 6, 1883; Emily M., born September 10, 1886, and died when five years old; Nellie, born Oc- tober 12, 1888; Tressa, June 26, 1892; Helen, February 2, 1895 ; Florence, Novem- ber 20, 1896; Wilbur, November 3, 1898; and James, April 15, 1890.
Samuel Elliott, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Clay township, Knox county, Ohio, December 25, 1839, and was educated in subscription schools near his boyhood home, which were taught in log school houses with puncheon floors and slab seats and writing benches. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and a lifelong Democrat, and several times filled the office of township trustee. Anna Belle (Bricker) Elliott was born in Knox county, Ohio, in 1837.
Patrick Elliott, grandfather of David Bricker Elliott, was born in Ireland, and when a mere child was brought by his par- ents to America. The family made the voy- age in a sailing vessel and located in Penn- sylvania, whence Patrick Elliott came to Knox county, Ohio, at an early date.
JAMES HONEY.
One of those old and honored pioneers who came early to Knox county, Ohio, and assisted literally "to make a wilderness bloom like a rose" and who influenced and participated in all its later developments was the late James Honey, who was born in 1799 and died in 1885.
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James Honey was a son of William and Nancy (Lathram) Honey, and first saw the light of day in Fauquier county, Virginia, and was there educated in the public schools. His father died when he was quite young. leaving a family of twelve children, named as follows: John, Elizabeth, George, Will- iam, Susan, Margaret, Allen, Ann, Lucinda, Frank, James and Frances, the last men- tioned of whom died in infancy. When about nineten years old he came with his mother to Knox county, Ohio, and bought one hundred and forty-six acres of military land in Morgan township, which he devel- oped into a good farm, on which his daugh- ter, Caroline, now lives, and which she man- ages with much ability. In politics he was a Democrat of the stanchest type. In re- ligion he was an old-school Baptist. He was a man of much energy and exerted a good influence upon the community in which he lived, and in his later years he took a pardonable pride in the fact that he had cleared a farm in the midst of a veritable forest and developed it into a valuable ag- ricultural property. His oldest brother, John, then quite young, rendered service in the war of 1812.
Mr. Honey was married in 1829 to Susan Sellers, daughter of Jacob and Mary (Beam) Sellers, who bore him children as follows: William, a farmer who lives at Red Oak, Iowa ; Nancy, who married Will- iam Mercer and died in March, 1901 ; Mary Elizabeth, who died at thirteen: Caroline M., who lives on her father's homestead ; and Margaret Jerusha, who is the wife of James Cooksey, living on part of the old homestead. The mother of these children died in 1876.
LEROY G. HUNT.
Almost continuously through the last decade of the nineteenth century Colonel Le- roy G. Hunt was in public office in Mount Vernon and no one has ever more capably, efficiently and faithfully served his fellow townsmen than he. For four years he was a member of the city council and for four years mayor, and throughout the period he exercised his official prerogatives in support of all measures of practical utility, of re- form and substantial progress.
Mr. Hunt is numbered among the na- tive residents of Knox county, his birth hav- ing occurred at Hunt Station in 1843. In the first decade of the century the family was founded in this county by Jonathan Hunt, the grandfather of our subject, who came from Maryland to Ohio about 1806. Here he began the development of a home upon the wild western frontier and aided in reclaiming this district for purposes of civilization. When the country became in- volved in a second war with Great Britain he joined the army and fought for the rights of the nation. He married Honor Wells, who resided near Wellsville, Ohio, and among their children was Thomas Hunt, who was born in 1811 upon the same farm where occurred the birth of our subject, and where he died in 1852, being killed by the falling of a tree. He wedded Miss Mary Baxter, a daughter of one of the pioneer settlers of Pleasant township, Knox county. In addition to our subject their children were: Thomas, who is now living in Mount Vernon ; Honor J., the wife of J. J. Phiffer, of this city ; Richard C., who was a member of Company G, Twentieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and is living in Los Angeles, Cali-
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