USA > Ohio > Knox County > The Biographical record of Knox County, Ohio : to which is added an elaborate compendium of national biography > Part 38
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to this county. Mrs. Beum was the only daughter in her parents' family, but she has three brothers living,-Daniel, Paul and William. Four children have blessed the union of our subject and wife: Alice Rus- sell, who resides with her parents and has one daughter, Nellie Russell; Corlin O., of Mount Vernon : Clarence O., deceased; and Agnes A., at home. Mr. Beum is a life-long Republican, and he is now holding the posi- tion of constable of this township. He is a man of sterling worth, and justly merits the high regard in which he is held.
JOHN SIMPSON.
John Simpson, a prominent early set- tler of Howard township, was born in Brown township, Knox county, Ohio, Sep- tember 2, 1841. His father, Samuel Simp- son, was a native of Pennsylvania, but when a young man he came with his par- ents, Jesse and Margaret Simpson, to Ash- land county, Ohio, the family locating in Hanover township. Shortly afterward, however, they took up their abode in Brown township, Knox county. In Jefferson township, this county, Samuel Simpson was united in marriage to Olive Melton, who was a native daughter of Knox county and a member of an old and prominent family of this locality. After their marriage they began their domestic life on a farm in Brown township, where the father passed away in death in 1846, aged thirty-two years. After his death his widow returned to Jefferson township, and was there mar- ried to William Blair. She was called to her final rest in 1892, at the age of seventy-
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
two years. By her marriage with Mr. Simp- son she became the mother of two children, and the brother of our subject, Meshic Simpson, is a prominent farmer of Jeffer- son township.
John Simpson, the immediate subject of this review, was only five years of age when his father died, and after his mother's sec- ond marriage he and his younger brother made their home with their grandfather, John Melton, in Jefferson township, our subject remaining with him until his eight- eenth year. He then began the active battle of life on his own account, and for the fol- lowing year was employed as a farm hand in this locality. He then removed to Kosci- usko county, Indiana, where for nine months he found employment in a sawmill, on the expiration of which period he returned to Jefferson township, Knox county, and for the following eight months was employed as a farm hand by Alexander Greer. After his marriage, which important event occurred in 1861, he located on a rented farm in Jef- ferson township, where he remained until the spring of 1864, and in that year he re- moved to Union township, Knox county, where he also rented land for one year. In 1865 he came to Howard township, but four years later he removed to Union town- ship, there spending the following two years, when, in 1871, he came again to Howard, purchasing the farm on which he now re- sides. At the time of the purchase his farm consisted of eighty-six acres, but as the years have passed by and success has rewarded his well-directed efforts he has been enabled to add to his original purchase until his landed possessions now consist of three hundred and twenty-seven acres of as good land as can be found in Knox county. His land is di-
vided into three tracts. Industry and perse- verance have been Mr. Simpson's chief char- acteristics through life, and have been the means of winning for him a desirable com- petence. He has risen to the high position which he now occupies in Knox county alone and unaided, and all that he now possesses stand as monuments to his thrift and busi- ness ability.
The lady who bore the name of Mrs. Simpson was in her maidenhood Miss. Drusilla Clark, and their wedding was cele- brated in Jefferson township, Knox county, in 1861. The lady was a native of this coun- ty and a daughter of Robert and Cynthia (Adams) Clark, prominent early settlers of this locality. They came from Pennsylvania to the Buckeye state. Twelve children were born unto the marriage of our subject and wife, namely: Salora, the wife of O. M. Drake; Elmer, who married Mary Deacons ; John, who married Jennie Matison and. makes his home in Berea, Ohio; Grant, who married Allie Barker, and resides in Mon -. roe township, Knox county; Quincy, who married Gertie Smith and makes his home in Howard township; William, who married Jennie Williams and is a resident of Mor- row county, Ohio; Elizabeth, at home; Charles, at home; Garfield, who is engaged in the hardware business at Fredericktown; Arthur, Harley and Lucy, at home. The children were all born in Knox county. Mrs. Simpson died February 20, 1885, and our subject was again married, February 23, 1887, to Mrs. Ehretta (Boone) Clark, of Howard township. Her two children are Bertie, wife of Frank Linn, of Wayne town- ship, and Hyla, wife of Harry E. Cassil, of Fredericktown, Ohio. Mr. Simpson has given an unfaltering support to the Repub-
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lican party, and for eighteen years he served as township trustee, while for many years he has been a member of the school board. His social relations connect him with the Masonic order, belonging to Danville Lodge, No. 546, F. & A. M.
MICHAEL BLACKFORD.
Many years have passed since the Black- ford family was established in Ohio, and since that time its representatives have been largely connected with farming interests here. Michael Blackford was a native of New Jersey, born in Sussex county, that state, on the 25th of August, 1797. There he was reared to manhood and after attain- ing adult life he was married to Miss Hiley Poulison, who was born in New Jersey, Jan- uary 17, 1802. In the year 1831 they de- cided to seek a home in the west-as it was then called-and made their way to Mor- row county, Ohio, where Mr. Blackford se- cured a tract of land and followed farming until his death.
Unto this worthy couple were born the following children: John; Charlotte; Lo- vina, deceased; Martha Elizabeth; Isaac; William ; Abbie Jane ; Lovina ; and Phineas, who has also passed away. Of this family Martha E. was married on the 17th of De- cember, 1857, to Jonathan Olin, a son of Jonathan and Amy (Johnson) Olin. He was born in Shaftsbury, Vermont, August 25, 1838, and Mrs. Olin was born in New Jersey, January 3, 1829. They resided upon a farm in Knox county, and although their lives were quietly passed, both command the warm regard of those with whom they came
in contact, so that Mr. Olin's death, which occurred February 22, 1887, was deeply re- gretted throughout the community.
Isaac Blackford, a brother of Mrs. Olin, married Lucinda Iden and they had three children: Alta M., the wife of William Gunsaulus, a resident of Mount Gilead, Ohio; Ella, deceased; and Wilbert Edson. The last named, born January 21, 1869, a nephew of Mrs. Olin, resides with her and operates the farm. He married Daisy Ir- win, a daughter of George and Minnie (Dalrymple) Irwin. She was born May 3, 1873, and by her marriage has become the mother of two children: Robert Neal, born November 6, 1896; and Ina May, born Feb- ruary 24, 1901.
Mrs. Olin has forty-six acres of fine improved land situated on the main road two miles from Fredericktown. There she has a beautiful residence, and the property, well improved, is very desirable and val- uable.
CHARLES WRIGHT DURBIN.
The subject of this sketch, who was a prominent citizen of Fredericktown, Knox county, Ohio, was born in Morris township, that county, August 17, 1864, and died at Fredericktown, December 25, 1891. His parents were John and Elizabeth (Wright) Durbin, who settled at Fredericktown when Charles was six weeks old. There the boy grew up and was educated in the village school, later taking a classical course at the Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio. For five years succeeding hlis graduation he was superintendent of schools at Fred- ericktown, and for about four years he filled
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
the office of county examiner of teachers. In politics he was a Republican, and his con- victions on religious questions led him to affiliate with the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Durbin married, December 28, 1886, Lina Craven, daughter of Leander and Leo- nora (Ewers) Craven, who bore him three children : John Vincent, born May 2, 1888; Pauline, born June 29, 1889; and Elizabeth, born September 7, 1891. Mrs. Durbin was born in Wayne township, Knox county, March 7, 1865, and was educated in the dis- trict schools near her childhood home and at the Union school at Fredericktown, grad- uating in the latter in May, 1882. Her par- ents were natives of Loudoun county, Vir- ginia. Her father was born in 1818, her mother in 1824, and the former died No- vember 28, 1895, the latter June 20, 1898. They were the parents of five children. Their daughter Clara died in infancy, their son, William Franklin, at the age of sev- enteen years, and their daughter, Marcella, married Elias Cooper and died in 1886, aged thirty-eight years, leaving daughters named Mildred and Ada. Their daughter, Lilian Elizabeth, married Milton Grove and lives in Morrow county, Ohio.
Mrs. Durbin's paternal grandfather, Mahlon Craven, was born in Virginia March 13, 1786, and married Hannah Iden March II, 1810, and they had children named Shel- ton, Samuel, James, Leander, John W., Thomas, Martha, Sarah E., Eliza and Mary. When their son Leander, father of Mrs. Durbin, was about fifteen years old they lo- cated in Knox county, Ohio, and in 1857 Leander settled in Wayne township, where he cleared and improved a large farm. Mrs. Durbin's maternal grandfather, Gregg
Ewers, married Elizabeth Ashford, who bore him the following children : Leonora, Eliz- abeth, Harriet, William Fenton and Mary. Leonora and William Fenton Ewers are dead. Mr. and Mrs. Ewers were of English birth, and they seem to have been brought when young to America by their parents. Mrs. Durbin has a sugar bowl that one of her great-grandmothers brought over with her from her native land, a memento which Mrs. Durbin prizes highly and which is an object of much interest to her many friends.
JAMES BELL.
There are capitalists who take up farm- ing and there are farmers who by good man- agement and close attention to financial in- terests develop into capitalists, and of the latter class is James Bell, land owner and money loaner at Martinsburg, Clay town- ship, Knox county, Ohio.
James Bell was born in the township in which he now lives September 20, 1839, the fifth child in order of birth of Meeker and Rachel (Crane) Bell, who had three sons and three daughters, and it is a note- worthy fact that he was their youngest son. A biographical sketch of his brother, Isaac Bell, now deceased, appears elsewhere in these pages. The young man was a mem- ber of his father's household until he at- tained his majority, meantime obtaining a fair education in the public schools of his day and locality. He then took up the battle of life independently, engaging in stock- raising, farming and in the wool trade. For three years he lived in Jackson township, Knox county. In 1868 he located in Clay
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township, adjoining his father's old home- stead, where he remained until 1886, when he bought the house and eight acres of land in Martinsburg where he now resides. He still has the care and supervision of over four hundred acres in Clay township, but the farming is carried on by tenants. He de- votes himself principally to general farming, but gives considerable attention to stock- raising and formerly gave considerable at- tenton to the settlement of estates. Polit- ically he is a Democrat, and as such has been elected to many important township offices. He has lived the most of his life of sixty- two years in Knox county, where he is well known and highly esteemed by all classes of citizens.
May 6, 1865, Mr. Bell married Sarah Paul, who was born in Clay township, a daughter of James and Sarah (Bane) Paul, who were pioneers from Pennsylvania in Knox county, where they located in the woods and took up the labor of improving the home farm. Mrs. Bell, who is the sixth in order of birth of the seven children of her parents, was educated in the public schools of Martinsburg and Fredericktown, and for some time before her marriage was a suc- cessfui teacher. They have one daughter, Otta S., who is a member of her parents' household.
THOMAS H. TRIMBLE.
Thomas H. Trimble is an enterprising and wide-awake business man of Mount Vernon, where he has been engaged in the grocery business for the past ten years. He enjoys a large and constantly increasing trade, his straightforward business meth-
ods, energy and unfailing courtesy securing to him a liberal and well-merited patronage. He is therefore justly numbered among the representative business men of this sec- tion of the county, and with pleasure we present the record of his life to our readers.
Mr. Trimble is native son of Knox coun- ty, his birth having occurred here in 1841. He is descended from Revolutionary ances- try, his paternal great-grandfather having participated in that memorable struggle for American independence. Thomas Trimble became the grandfather of our subject, and the latter's father, Samuel W. Trimble, came from Cumberland county, Pennsyl- vania, to Knox county, Ohio, in 1839, and here he spent the remainder of his days, passing away in death in 1855, at the age of forty-one yars. He was one of the early abolitionists and was an active and promi- nent worker in its cause. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Mary A. Caldwell, and was a native of Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Andrew Caldwell, also of the Keystone state.
Thomas H. Trimble, whose name intro- duces this review, enlisted for service in the Civil war in 1862, becoming a member of the Ninety-sixth Ohio Infantry, Company A, in which he served until the close of the struggle. He was made a member of the department of the Mississippi Gulf, and with his command he participated in many of the hard-fought battles of the war, in- cluding those of Mobile, Fort Morgan, Fort Gains, Spanish Fort, Whistler, Chickamau- ga, Vicksburg, Sabine Cross Roads and many others. He was mustered out of ser- vice on the 7th of July, 1865, and immedi- ately returned to his home to take up again
Thomas A. Frisable
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
the duties of a business life. For the past ten years he has been engaged in the gro- cery business in Mount Vernon, and in this undertaking he has met with a high and well-merited degree of success, and his is now one of the leading business houses in that line in this city.
The marriage of Mr. Trimble was cele- brated in Mount Vernon, Miss Ella Dickey becoming his wife. She is a daughter of James Dickey, a prominent farmer of Clin- ton township, Knox county. One son has blessed this union, Joseph D. Politically Mr. Trimble has been a life-long Republi- can and has always contributed his full share to the success of that party. In his social relations he is a member of the Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias fraternity. Honorable in all his business dealings, courteous in all life's relations, he commands the respect and confidence of his fellow men and is well known as an enterprising and reliable citi- zen of Knox county.
EDWIN J. CAMPBELL.
This influential citizen of Morgan town- ship, Knox county, Ohio, is a son of James and Eliza A. (Sperry) Campbell, and was born on the farm on which he now lives May 8, 1849. He was educated in the pub- lic schools of district No. 3, Morgan town- ship, and in a Cincinnati college, where he was a student for one year. After leaving school he engaged in farming on the old Campbell homestead and soon developed into one of the most successful farmers in the township. He now owns two hundred
and ninety-six acres of rich farm land, near- ly all of which is under cultivation, and be- sides raising general crops gives much atten- tion to stock-raising. His home is one of the most attractive in this vicinity.
In religion Mr. Campbell affiliates with the Baptist church. In politics he is a Re- publican, and he is an active and influential Patron of Husbandry. He has filled the offices of secretary, overseer and master of his grange, and is thoroughly devoted to all its interests. He was married, May 24, 1893, to Margaret D. Lewis, daughter of Samuel and Mary J. (Gallant) Lewis, a woman of high character and many accom- plishments, who had been to him in every sense a worthy helpmeet.
David Campbell, grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, emigrated to Ohio from: Virginia and settled in Butler township, Knox county, afterward removing to Mor- gan township, where he lived until his death, which occurred March 14, 1820. James- Campbell, father of Edwin J. Campbell, mar- ried Eliza A. Sperry and died March 21, 1894, aged seventy-four years. They had seven children, as follows: David Presley ; Mary Angeline; Martha; Elizabeth, who married William Sellers and died in Feb- ruary, 1894; Hugh S .; Edwin J. ; and Clyde Ernest. Samuel Lewis, father of Margaret D. (Lewis) Campbell, was a son of John Lewis and was born in Wales, August 8, 1832. He married Mary J. Gallant, a daugh- ter of Elisha and Eleanor ( Moore) Gallant, and had five children, as follows: Ella, who married Edward E. Jones and lives at Rich- wood, Ohio; Elisha Judson; Minnie, whc married Walter Cox, of Radnor, Delaware county, Ohio; Margaret D., wife of the sub- ject of this sketch ; and Elizabeth, who mar- ried Chauncey Prouty and is now a widow
19
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living at Radnor, Ohio. The father of these children died February 21, 1891, aged sixty- nine years; and the mother died August 20, 1900, aged sixty-four years.
MONROE JACOB SIMONS.
The late Monroe Jacob Simons was born near Brandon, Licking county, Ohio, July 6, 1832, and died at Fredericktown, Ohio, 'September 8, 1897. He passed his child- hood and youth in Homer, Licking county, and in 1852, at the age of twenty years, settled at Fredericktown, where he remained until his untimely death at the date above given, when he was accidentally smothered in a bin of wheat. His parents, Horton and Isabel (Dill) Simons, were people of intel- ligence and forceful character. Monroe Jacob Simons inherited much of their ex- cellent business traits, and for nearly thirty years was a dry goods merchant, and from 1885 until his death was a leading grain merchant in Fredericktown. He was a mem- ber of Thrall Lodge, No. 170, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, at Fredericktown, a Knight Templar at Mount Vernon, and a Scottish Rite Mason at Cincinnati. His life was ruled by kindness and benevolence, having united about 1884 with the Presbyterian church and thereafter was devotedly helpful to its interests. He held several township and city offices with honor and dignity, and was specially useful to his fellow citizens as a member of the board of education.
He was married to Miss Alice Smith, August 20, 1855. She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth ( Miller) Smith and was born at Henrysburg, Lower Can-
ada, April 13, 1835, and in 1848, at the age of thirteen years, came to Knox county, Ohio, where she made her home with Charles R. Hooker, who had reared her from a child of two and one-half years. Her fa- ther was born in Yorkshire, England, and emigrated to Canada in 1832, where his death occurred when Alice was but a small child. Her mother was born in Lincoln- shire, England, in 1811, and bore three chil- dren,-James J., John J. and Alice Smith, her death occurring June 21, 1892.
Monroe Jacob Simons and Alice (Smith) Simons had six children, who were born in the order here mentioned: Charles Hooker, 1857; Fred Decker, 1860; Albina, 1863; Maud E., January 13, 1865; George Lewin, 1867; John B., 1870. Charles Hooker, Fred Decker and John B. are busi- ness men of fine ability and high reputation. The two former are farmers, horse raisers and dealers, and their well cultivated land and other evidence of material prosperity speak well for their energy and good man- agement. John B. is an enterprising shoe merchant of Belleville, Ohio. Albina died October 28, 1863. Maud E. was educated in the schools of Fredericktown and in 1880 entered the Wesleyan College, at Delaware, Ohio, from which she went to the Mission- ary Training School for Home and Foreign Missions, at Chicago, Illinois. She took high rank as a student and developed marked artistic tastes, excelling in painting and wood-carving. She was deeply and fully converted during a revival season, and after having been given special training she was sent to Japan by the foreign branch of for- eign missions, sailing for Nagasake in 1889 for a stay of three. years. She was success- ful in her chosen work and in 1892 was
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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.
made treasurer of the missionary organiza- tion of her church in South Japan. She was at that time transferred to Yokahama, where for six years she faithfully and earnestly performed her allotted task as teacher in day schools and overseer of buildings destroyed first by earthquakes and then by fire, a heavy responsibility which she accepted cheerfully and discharged efficiently. Another of her duties was the preparation and publication of conference minutes. She remained in Japan to finish this last mentioned task and at its conclusion expected to return home by the next steamer, when suddenly she was called from her labor to her reward, being killed July 29, 1898, by a Japanese junk while she was out on the bay bidding God- speed to friends who were preceding her to America. She was buried on the afternoon of July 30, from her school chapel. The services were conducted by her pastor, Bish- op Cranston, and her favorite chapter of the bible (John XIV) was read and her favorite hymns sung. She left her work in perfect order. „She was to have come home to rest, but the heavenly gates opened suddenly and she passed within to be forever with her Master. While buried in a foreign land, yet she is buried among God's people. Her grave will be visited for all time to come by American missionaries and those whom she has taught the way of eternal life. In the spring time flowers will bloom over her form, planted by loving hands. In the Northern Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church September 24, 1898, the Rev. W. F. Whitlock offered a resolution to the effect that the conference had learned with sorrow of the tragic death of Miss Simons, mentioned her beautiful character and her splendid mission work in Japan which had endeared her to the whole church,
and expressing deep sorrow because of her loss to the church and to her family and friends. Especial memorial funeral service was held in her honor by her sorrowing friends and relatives at Fredericktown.
JOHN McDANIEL.
John McDaniel, who for many years was engaged in farming in Knox county, took up his abode within its borders in 1834, when the work of development here was still in its primitive stages. He was a native of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in Bedford county, that state, on the 17th of January, 1813, and his parents being Joel and Catherine (Smith) McDonald. His fa- ther was a carpenter by trade and also en- gaged in the manufacture of coffins and in the undertaking business. When the country became involved in war with Great Britain in 1775 he espoused the cause of the colonies, and, entering the Colonial army, served un- der General Washington in the struggle for independence.
John McDaniel, of this review, pursued his education in the schools of his native county, and when a young man accompanied his parents on their removal to Licking coun- ty, Ohio. There he remained until 1834, when he came to Knox county, settling in Wayne township. For fifteen years he was engaged in clerking in Licking county, but after coming to Knox county he engaged in farming, which he followed until his life's labors were ended in death.
On the 15th of April, 1850, Mr. Mc- Daniel was married to Miss Catharine Hughes, a daughter of John and Rebecca (Woods) Hughes. She is a granddaughter
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of Captain Elias Hughes, who won his title by valiant service in command of a company in the Revolutionary war. He was the first white settler in Licking county, Ohio, and entered large tracts of land from the govern- mient, but afterward lost much of it on ac- count of the depreciation in the value of continental money. During the war of 1812 he served as captain of scouting parties in Licking county and killed many a hostile In- dian who was connected with the bands of treacherous savages that menaced the fron- tier settlers. John Hughes, the father of Mrs. McDaniel, was born in Wales in 1785, and was about three years old when brought by his parents to America, the family locat- ing in Virginia, where they remained until the son was a youth of ten, when they came to Ohio and were the first settlers of Lick- ing county. He was married in that county to Rebecca Woods, who was born in 1802, and her brothers and sisters were William, George, Nancy, Clementine, Diana and Rachel. Mr. and Mrs. Hughes died in Lick- ing county, the father in 1847, the mother in 1844. Mrs. McDaniel was born in Lick- ing county, June 15, 1832, and came to Knox county at the time of her marriage. By this union were born seven children: Willard N., an engineer of California; Eliz- abeth, who is living in Cleveland; Isabel, of Mount Vernon; Susan, wife of George Walters, of Coshocton avenue, Mount Ver- non; Aaron D., who lives in California; Charles R., also a resident of that state; and Henry C., who is connected with the gas business in Mount Vernon.
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