USA > Ohio > Knox County > The Biographical record of Knox County, Ohio : to which is added an elaborate compendium of national biography > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
CAPTAIN CHARLES HENRY COE.
Among the valiant men that Ohio sent to the front to aid in the preservation of the Union in the Civil war was Captain C. H. Coe who is now living a retired life upon his farm in Hilliar township, Knox county. With love for his native land, reverence for its institutions and its government and with a courageous spirit that enabled him to bravely face danger, he rendered to his country effective service and all through the years of his life, whether in times of peace or war, he has been a patriotic and public spirited citizen.
The Captain was born near Frederick- town, Maryland, November 5, 1823. His father, Joshua Coe, was also born in that state and was reared and married there. By occupation he was a farmer, following
that pursuit throughout his business career. In 1825 he emigrated westward to Licking county, Ohio, settling near Utica. In early life he had learned the brickmaker's trade and after coming to Ohio he manufactured all of the first brick used in the construction of buildings in Utica. Subsequently he re- moved to Knox county, where he died in 1841, at the age of fifty-seven years. He was a Whig in his political affiliations and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which he took an ac- tive and helpful part. He held a number of its offices and also filled political positions. His wife, who in her maidenhood was Mary Burgoon, was a native of Maryland, and a daughter of Francis Burgoon, who died in Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-nine years. Mrs. Coe passed away at the age of seventy-three. She was the mother of eight children, but the eldest, a son, died in infancy. The others were Katharine, Mary, Francis, Da- vid, Charles H., Thomas D. and William.
Captain Coe was only two years of age when taken by his parents to Licking coun- ty, Ohio, in 1825. His childhood days were spent in a manner not unusual to farmer lads of the period. He worked in the fields through the summer months and in the win- ter season he pursued his education in an old-time log school house. When seven- teen years of age he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a tanner and currier, and fol- lowed that pursuit until the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion. On the 27th of July, 1861, he went to Camp Chase, where he was offered the position of quartermaster by Colonel Fuller, but this he declined and was thereupon commissioned adjutant by General Buckingham to recruit soldiers. In
208
A CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
1862, however, he resigned that position and took the place of Elmer McNaughton, one of the drafted men, as a private. In September, 1862, when in camp at Zanes- ville he was appointed by Adjutant General George B. Wyatt to recruit for independent sharpshooters, securing one hundred and twenty-two men, and with these went to Cleveland to be tested, eighty-two of the number standing the test . as marksmen. On the 16th of October of that year Mr. Coe was commissioned as captain of the Sixth Company of Ohio In- pedendent Volunteer Sharpshooters, com- posed of his own recruits, who were the first soldiers armed with the Spencer rifle, the in- ventor visiting them and giving the officers a dinner at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Cap- tain Barber, who served as commander of the battalion, was disabled at Murfreesboro and as Captain Coe was the next oldest com- manding officer, he took charge of the bat- talion. On the 24th of June, 1863 they started on the Chattanooga campaign and Captain Coe, with his command, was in all of the engagements with General Rosecrans and was made quartermaster general. Captain Coe was with the forces of General Thomas, when the latter succeeded Rose- crans. In 1864, he was pronounced disabled by the surgeons, and on account of his disa- bility resigned his position and returned home.
On the 10th of November, 1844, Captain Coe had been married to Miss Eliza Ann Conard, a daughter of Joseph Conard, of Utica, the oldest settler of Knox county, having taken up his abode within its bor- ders in 1805 from Fredericktown, Virginia. Fredericktown, Ohio, was named by him and he took an active part in the pioneer
development of this part of the state. His daughter, Mrs. Coe, died December 7, 1873, leaving four children : Alice Filenia, Charles Wesley, Jennie Eliza and Judson Conard. On the 13th of December, 1875, the Captain was again married, his second union being with Miss Sarah E. Mills, the daughter of Samuel Mills. By this mar- riage there is one daughter, Lelia Pearl, at home and a graduate of the Harcourt Semi- nary.
In his early manhood Captain Coe voted the Whig ticket and on the organization of the Republican party joined its ranks and has since been one of its stalwart supporters. In 1851 he was nominated on the Whig ticket to represent his district in the state legislature and was everywhere known as the "boy candidate." Although there was a usual Democratic majority, such was his popularity and personal worth that he suc- ceeding in reducing the Democratic vote un- til he was defeated by only forty-one major- ity by John Bell. He has since declined the nomination for county treasurer and also that of state senator, but has held all the local township offices, including that of land appraiser, while for thirteen years he was assessor. Socially he is identified with the Masonic order and also belongs to Debolt Post, G. A. R. in which he has filled part of the offices. He is a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, and upright principles have ever actuated his life and shaped his dealings with his fellow men. He is now living retired but he still makes his home upon his farm, which comprises three hun- dred and fifty-five acres of valuable land in Hilliar township, in addition to which he owns property at Hot Springs, Arkansas. As a soldier on the field of battle, as an en-
209
OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
terprising agriculturist, as a representative of fraternal and church relations he has ever commanded the respect and confidence of his fellow men.
C. W. COE.
Through more than a quarter of a cen- tury C. W. Coe was a representative of the farming interests of Knox county and is now actively associated with his financial in- terests as president of the Building & Loan Association of Centerburg and as a stock- holder and director of the Centerburg Bank. He was born in Washington township, Licking county, Ohio, December 25, 1848, and is the second child of Captain C. H. and Eliza A. (Conard) Coe. His father, a na- tive of Maryland, emigrated westward to the Buckeye state and after residing for a time in Licking county became a prominent farmer of Hilliar township, Knox county. Mrs. Coe was born on the same farm where occurred the birth of their son, C. W. Coe, and died at the age of forty-nine years. Her children are: Alice P., the wife of George T. Rinehardt, of Hilliar township; C. W., of this review ; Jennie, the wife of J. S. Sutton, a resident of Hilliar township; and Judson, who is also living in Center- burg.
C. W. Coe was but fourteen years of age when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Knox county and much of his boyhood previously spent had been in work- ing in a tan yard. Here he attended the dis- trict schools and his advanced education was obtained by one year's study in the Lebanon Normal, one year in the Ohio Wesleyan University, and one year in the pharmacy
department of the University of Michigan. He clerked for a while in a drug store at Springfield, Ohio, and then located on the old homestead, where he engaged in agricul- tural pursuits and stock raising for twenty- seven years. He placed the land under a high state of cultivation and the well tilled fields annually returned to him golden har- vests. In 1893 he took up his residence in Centerburg, but he still superintends a fine farm of one hundred and sixty-nine acres, situated in Licking county and which was once the property of his grandfather, Joseph Conard, who came from Virginia to Ohio and secured this tract of land, from which he developed the first farm in Washington township. On coming to Centerburg Mr. Coe took his place as a prominent factor in financial circles and is now the president of the Building & Loan Association, the affairs of which are conducted on such a safe and systematic basis that the stockholders an- nually receive a satisfactory dividend on their investments, and at the same time the association is of vast benefit to the commun- ity, enabling many to obtain homes through the facilities thus afforded.
Dec. 25, 1880, Mr. Coe was united in marriage to Miss Bell Riley, a daughter of John and Susan (Curtis) Riley, who were early settlers of Knox county, and who had a family of twelve children, all natives of this county. Mrs. Coe, who is the youngest, spent her girlhood days here and after at- tending the district schools was for one year a student in a seminary in Delaware. Since 1893 our subject and his wife have occu- pied a very pleasant home in Centerburg. Socially he is connected with the Masonic order, being a member of the blue lodge at Centerburg, Clinton Chapter, No. 26, and
210
A CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Clinton Commandery, No. 5, K. T., of Mount Vernon. In politics he is unfalter- ing in his advocacy of Republican principles and religiously he is connected with the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is now serving as trustee. He has a business record which is unassailable and his social qualities and upright nature have gained him the confidence and esteem of many warm friends.
CARY E. WOLFE.
America has so many self-made men that often it is hard to point one out as es- pecially deserving of notice. Self-made men vary in kind as widely as in the sum total of their individual achievements, and if there is any representative of the class who should receive attention in a work of this kind it is the man whose childhood was marked with misfortune and poverty and who in spite of numerous obstacles and discouragements has inade his way to noteworthy and respectable success. Such a man is Cary E. Wolfe, a prominent farmer on section 19, Harrison township, Knox county, Ohio.
Mr. Wolfe may be said to be a product of Harrison township, having been born there May 9, 1856. He is a brother of Eli A. Wolfe, of Howard township, a bio- graphical sketch of whom appears in this work. Mr. Wolfe, who is the eldest of his parents' family of two sons and a daughter, was reared in Harrison township, where he received scanty schooling in the Dudgeon district. When his father died he was only six years old, and being the oldest of the family the care of the farm and a great deal of hard work devolved upon him in his ef-
fort to keep their little household together and place the family on a substantial foot- ing. He developed into a practical and suc- cessful farmer, and he is now the owner of one hundred and twenty-six acres of good land, which is under a high state of cultiva- tion, is well provided with buildings and is in every way well equipped for successful operations. He is a breeder of thorough- bred American Delaine sheep, of which he has a fine herd, more than twenty-five of his sheep being registered.
February 7, 1878, Mr. Wolfe married Miss Mary J. Ulery, daughter of Valentine and Lydia Ann (Uhl) Ulery. Mrs. Wolfe, who was the second of the five children of her parents, was born at Killbuck, Holmes county, Ohio, but was reared in Harrison township, Knox county, where she was edu- cated in the common schools. Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe began housekeeping in a log house on the site of their present residence. The latter was built in 1881 and is a substantial frame structure in every way adequate and comfortable. Mr. Wolfe, who is an ardent Democrat, has filled the office of justice of the peace for more than six years and has for many years been a member of the town- ship school board, in which capacity he was influential in improving the standard of the schools of the township and in erecting mod- ern school buildings. He was received as an Entered Apprentice, passed the Fellow Craft degree and raised to the sublime de- gree of Master Mason in Ohio Lodge, No. 199, Free and Accepted Masons, of Bladens- burg; is a member of the order of Wood- men of America, and is actively identified with the Patrons of Husbandry. He has long affiliated with the Christian church, in which for many years he has filled the of-
211
OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
fice of deacon, and in the good work of the church he has participated most helpfully.
Cary E. and Mary J. (Ulery) Wolfe have two daughters-Cordia May, who mar- ried Walter Earlywine, a contractor and builder in Harrison township, and Estella M., who is the wife of Willis Beboutt, and has a daughter named Mary Elizabeth, who is the only grandchild.
JOSEPH H. HAMILTON.
Rev. Joseph H. Hamilton is a super- annuated minister of the Methodist Protest- ant church, residing in Mount Vernon. For more than a half century he devoted his life to the work of the Christian ministry and the influence of his labors has been incalcul- able. He came to Knox county in 1855, and during the greater part of the time since that year his time and talents have been given to the work of uplifting his fellow men in this portion of Ohio, spreading the gospel among those with whom he has been asso- ciated and thus developing characters that exemplify all that is highest and best in life. Rev. Joseph Hamilton was born in Mus- kingum township, Muskingum county, Ohio, July 23, 1826, and is of Scotch lineage, for his grandfather William Hamilton was a native of Scotland and founded the family in America. In West Virginia occurred the birth of the Rev. William Hamilton, the father of him whose name introduces this record. He, too, became a preacher of the Methodist Protestant church, and as early as 1828 and 1829 he was engaged in pro- claiming the gospel to the pioneer settlers of this locality. He lived to be seventy-
eight years of age and left behind him the memory of a noble life which remains as a blessed benediction to all who knew him. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Lydia Springer, was a daughter of John Springer and a granddaughter of Chris- topher Springer, who settled in Wilmington, Delaware, before the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Hamilton died at the age of seventy years. She was the mother of ten sons and two daughters, and all of the former aver- aged six feet in height. Four of the num- ber served as soldiers in the Union army, in- cluding Captain H. C. Hamilton, of Rich- wood, Union county, Ohio, who commanded a company of the Ninety-sixth Ohio Infan- try. Another brother, Dr. Isaac Newton Hamilton, of Marysville, Ohio, was a sur- geon in the army, while a third. Dr. Thomas Benton Hamilton, was a surgeon with an Illinois regiment and died in Nashville, Ten- nessee. Another member of the family was Dr. John W. Hamilton, of Columbus, Ohio, professor of surgery in the Starling Medical College, and his sons are now eminent physicians in Columbus. One of his nephews was Governor John M. Hamilton, of Illinois.
In the common schools Rev. Joseph H. Hamilton pursued his education, and at the age of eighteen he began to preach. His time and talents have ever been devoted to the service of the Master and he has been instrumental in turning many from the er- rors of their ways to walk in the straight and narrow path which leads unto life ever- lasting. For five years he was pastor of the church in Steubenville, Ohio, and for two years in Circleville. He also spent two years in Lancaster and for three years oc- cupied the pulpit of the Methodist Protestant
212
A CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
church in Brownsville, Licking county. In 1855 he came to Knox county, locating at Fredericktown, where he preached for the church for a number of years. In 1865 he came to Mount Vernon and was pastor of the church in this place for twelve years. He had been connected with the Mount Ver- non circuit for five years, and in his min- isterial capacity has traveled extensively throughout this county, preaching and labor- ing for the upbuilding of the cause of Chris- tanity. During his long connection with the ininistry he has attended over fifteen hundred funerals and has performed twelve hundred and seventy-two marriage cere- inonies in Knox county. After fifty years of active work in the ministry he was re- tired in 1894 to a superannuated position, and his rest is well deserved, for with un- tiring zeal and in the most self-sacrificing manner he has labored for the church, whose interests have from his early life been most dear to him.
Rev. Hamilton was united in the holy bonds of matrimony, in Muskingum county, to Miss Charlotte M. Rodman, a daughter of Joseph Rodman, a native of Bucks coun- ty, Pennsylvania, and a representative of one of the old families of that state. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton have been born two sons and a daughter, the eldest being Ed- ward C., a printer of Mount Vernon. The second was Mrs. George Turner, of Mount Vernon, who is now deceased. She and her husband were of great assistance in church work and her loss throughout the commu- nity was deeply felt. Mary L., the young- est, is the wife of W. E. Jackson, of Mount Vernon. She is a graduate of Adrian Col- lege, of Adrian, Michigan, and is a teacher of music.
For fifty-five years Rev. Hamilton has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and for fifty-three years of the Masonic fraternity, and has been a most worthy representative of the fraternal spirit of these orders, whose beneficent teachings are founded upon the instruction which was given by Him who came to minister and not to be ministered unto. He is also identified with the Sons of Temperance, has been rep- resentative to the grand lodge and for years served as its grand chaplain. Whatever tends to advance kindliness, benevolence, tolerance, the good, the just, the true and the right has received his endorsement and his co-op- eration as far as it lay in his power to give. His church grew and prospered under his labors, and the influence of his life cannot be measured by any of the known standards of this life.
GOSHORN A. JONES.
General Goshorn Alexander Jones has passed the eighty-ninth milestone on the journey of life, yet is still actively concerned with business interests, managing his exten- sive realty holdings. His has been an active, industrious, useful and honorable career, and through more than two-thirds of a century he has resided in Mount Vernon, identified with the business affairs of the city and with all movements for the general welfare. He was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1812. His paternal grandfather was born in the little rock-ribbed country of Wales, and, deciding to try his fortune in America, became the founder of this branch of the Jones family. His son, Jacob Jones, the father of our subject, was also a native of
-
213
OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
Franklin county, Pennsylvania, whence he removed to Washington county, that state, his death occurring near Pittsburg. He married Elizabeth Goshorn, also a native of Franklin county.
In the state of his nativity General Jones pursued his education in the primitive schools of the times. It was in 1834 that he determined to leave Pennsylvania and seek his fortune in a district further west. Accordingly he made his way to Knox coun- ty, Ohio, and for sixteen years was con- nected with the mercantile interests of Mount Vernon, meeting with good success in that undertaking. In 1850, however, he turned his attention to contracting, and has since been engaged in that business. He has contributed in large measure to the upbuild- ing and improvement of the city as the years have passed by and now owns a large amount of property here, which he still man- ages, although he is now eighty-nine years of age. Such a history of continued useful- ness should put to shame many a man of much younger years, who, grown weary of the struggle and trials of business life, would relegate to others the burdens that he should bear.
In this city General Jones was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Raymond, a daughter of the Rev. Nathan Raymond, a Methodist Episcopal minister who resided in this city for a number of years, coming to the west from New York. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have two children, Fred, who takes railroad contracts and makes his home in Mount Vernon, and Ida, the wife of James Israel.
The General has been quite prominent in public affairs aside from his business rela- tions. In 1840 he joined the Ohio militia
as a member of the cavalry, was elected bri- gade general of the district and served with that rank for nine years, on the expiration of which period he withdrew from military service. For two terms he served as United States marshal under President Zachary Taylor, and for many years he was a mem- ber of the city council of Mount Vernon. He was born during the first administration of President Madison and has therefore lived during the rule of twenty-three of the twen- ty-six presidents of the United States. He has witnessed the wonderful development of the country from a period long remote to that seen by many men who are now prom- inent in business and at all times he has kept in touch with the universal progress. His life has been one of beneficial activity and in the evening of his pilgrimage he receives the honor and respect which should ever be ac- corded to one of advanced years.
GEORGE SYLVANUS BENNETT.
Dr. George S. Bennett is a native son of this city, and his early education was ob- tained in its public schools. His paternal grandfather, Sylvanus Bennett, was born on Long Island, but when a young man re- moved to a farm adjoining the fort of Ticon- deroga. He was a gallant soldier during the war of 1812. His father, John Bennett, was killed during the Revolutionary war. He was a resident of Long Island, where the family had been established at a very early date, they having come to America from England in the latter part of the seventeenth? century.
Clark Lester Bennett, the father of our
214
A CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
subject, resided on his father's farm at Fort Ticonderoga for a number of years, and the property is still owned by members of the family. In 1824 he came to Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he became well and favorably known. In an early day he served his local- ity as a constable and as city marshal. As a companion and helpmate on the journey of life Mr. Bennett chose Nancy Jones, the eld- est child of James. Jones, who came from Essex county, New York, to Knox county, Ohio, in 1824, where he became a prominent and leading farmer. His death occurred at the age of seventy-five years. Mrs. Ben- nett's maternal grandfather, Thomas Pat- terson, died in Essex county, New York, at the age of one hundred and twenty-four years. Her brother, Lorenzo Jones, was a brave soldier throughout the Texan war. Six children blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, and the brothers of our subject are: Captain Henry P., of Mount Vernon; Murry J., who died in Columbus, Ohio, in 1888, at the age of fifty-five years ; and J. Burr, who died at Columbus, Ohio, in 1890, at the age of fifty-one years. The first named, Captain Henry P. Bennett, served in the Mexican war as a member of the Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, while during the Civil war he was first lieutenant of Company B, Ninety-sixth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, and subsequently promoted to the rank of captain of Company A, of the same regiment. He died in Mount Vernon, November 2, 1901. J. B. Bennett was a member of Company E, Twentieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, during that memorable struggle. The daughters of the family were : Elizabeth, who married J. P. Snook, and both hie and his wife are now deceased; and Eliza, deceased. She became the wife of B.
A. F. Greer, of Knox county, Ohio. He also offered his services to his country when the trouble arose between the north and the south, becoming a member of the Twentieth Ohio Infantry, and after three years of faithful service he was promoted to the rank of colonel, serving in a regiment in Han- cock's Corps. He became very prominent in the public life of this county, and from 1873 until 1875 served as probate judge, and was also a prominent attorney of Mount Vernon. His death occurred in this city in 1880, at the age of forty-six years. The mother of our subject passed away in death in October, 1880, at the age of eighty years, and in the following year her husband joined her in the spirit world, dying at the age of eighty-one years.
George S. Bennett, whose name intro- duces this review, enlisted for service in the Civil war when eighteen years of age, be- coming a member of the Twentieth Ohio In- fantry, Company E, with Captain George Rogers in command. After one years' ser- vice therein he was made a member of the One Hundred and Forty-second Ohio In- fantry, in which he remained until hostilities had ceased and the country no longer needed his services. After his army career was ended Mr. Bennett took up the study of medicine under Dr. Matthew Thompson, re- maining under his able instruction for a time, after which he entered the medical de- partment of the Western Reserve College, of Cleveland, Ohio, in which he was gradu- ated in 1868. After leaving that institution he followed his chosen profession at Chester- ville, Morrow county, Ohio, for three years, and then returned to his old home in Mount Vernon, since which time he has been en- gaged in the livery business. He has met
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.