The Biographical record of Knox County, Ohio : to which is added an elaborate compendium of national biography, Part 8

Author:
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 652

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A CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

the degree of Master of Arts. He read law under the guidance of his father, and in 1893 was admitted to the bar. The follow- ing year he began practice in his native city, entering into partnership with the Hon. H. D. Critchfield, who was appointed general counsel for the United States and Federal Telephone Companies, at Cleveland in 1900, at which time their business relation was terminated. Mr. Devin then became a partner of D. E. Sapp, under the firm name of Sapp & Devin and thus the firm stands to-day. He is enjoying a large law practice and is also connected with several important business enterprises, being secre- tary of the Mount Vernon Telephone Com- pany, vice-president of the Millersburg Elec- tric Light Company, a director of the Mount Vernon Gas Light Company and a direc- tor of the Sunbury & Galena Telephone Company. His business ability proves a desired factor in the successful control of these organizations.

Mr. Devin was united in marriage to Miss Fannie E. Marsh, of Indianapolis, In- diana, a daughter of Major F. E. Marsh, vice-president of the Interstate Life Insur- ance Company. They have two children- Fletcher M. and Elizabeth Curtis, aged re- spectively five and two years. Mr. Devin is a very prominent Mason and has filled the presiding chair in all the Masonic bodies in Mount Vernon, with the exception of the commandery, in which he is now serving as generalissimo. He is also connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent, Protective Order of Elks. His life is in harmony with the fraternal teachings of those orders. He is also a high type of the business man of the times-alert, enterpris- ing and progressive, quick to note and im-

prove an opportunity and with laudable am- bition advancing his interests along legiti- mate lines.

ARTHUR C. CASSELL.

The prominent citizen of Morris town- ship, Knox county, Ohio, whose name is the title of this sketch, is one of the leading farmers in his vicinity. He was born on the farm, where he now lives, in Morris township, March 15, 1851, a son of Bascom S. and Emeline Augusta (Norton) Cassell and a grandson of George and Sarah (Nel- son) Cassell. George Cassell was a son of John Cassell, who was born in Maryland and died there at a ripe old age. He mar- ried Sarah Nelson and they had children, as follows: Bascom S .; Sarah, who mar- ried John Lamb; and John Nelson, who mar- ried Jennie Staggers and lives at Aurora, Nebraska. Captain John Nelson Cassell raised a company for the Twentieth Regi- ment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was in nearly every engagement in which that body participated. Bascom S. Cassell was born in Maryland October 9, 1824, and was brought to Knox county, Ohio, at the age of twelve years, and during the remainder of his life lived on the farm on which he died January 10, 1901. He was an enter- prising farmer and business man and was well versed in the living topics of his day. Politically he was a strong Republican and he wielded much influence in his community and held numerous township offices. He was an ardent member of the Mount Ver- non Congregational church. In the closing years of his life he often referred to the primitive schools of Knox county, in which

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OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.

he received his early education, and in which he was a teacher for several terms. He mar- ried Emeline Augusta Norton, who bore him the following named children: Ar- thur Charles ; Mary, at home; and Gertrude, who was educated in the public schools of Knox county and at Oberlin College, at which institution she was graduated with high honors. She is the wife of Rev. New- ton W. Bates, a Congregational minister, her classmate in Oberlin, and now located at West Bloomfield, New York. The mother died February 7, 1897.

Arthur Charles Cassell was educated in the common schools, also at Mount Vernon College and at Oberlin. He chose agricul- tural pursuits for his vocation and soon de- veloped into a progressive, up-to-date farm- er. He is an active member of Green Val- ley Lodge of Grangers, in which he has taken a deep interest since his identification with that body. As a Republican he takes a leading part in local politics. He is a member of the Congregational church of Mount Vernon. December 2, 1892, he mar- ried Eva, a daughter of Frederick William and Sarah Jane (Hoke) Vohl, who has borne him three children, whom they named George Leland, Charles Howard and Dor- othy Anetta. Frederick William Vohl was born in Germany November 5, 1832. When he was nineteen years of age he set sail for American soil and in 1851 settled in Knox county, Ohio. He was a butcher by trade, which he followed for many years in Mount Vernon. Early in life he became a Mason, and later a member of the Order of Red Men. He is past grand in Lodge No. 20, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Mount Vernon, and represented that body in the grand lodge of the state. He now lives

on a farm in Clinton township. The Cas- sell farm, now consisting of two hundred and fourteen acres, was secured by George Cassell, who owned several hundred acres, and here spent his life, dying at about the age of seventy-five years. He built the pres- ent basement barn about sixty years ago. The old residence erected by Bascom Cassell was burned some years since, after which he erected the present one. Sarah J. Hoke, who became his wife, was a native of Penn- sylvania, and died when Mrs. Cassell was a small child.

FRANKLIN HARPER.

Franklin Harper, who has long been a representative of the journalistic interests of Knox county, was born in Mount Vernon April 18, 1858. His father, the Hon. Lecky Harper, was for forty years editor of the Mount Vernon Banner. The subject of this sketch learned the printing business in his father's office and was educated in the pub- lic schools of Mount Vernon, being gradu- ated in 1877. He read law in the office of Colonel W. C. Cooper and was admitted to the bar in 1879. The following year he opened an office for the practice of his pro- fession, but in June, 1882, an opportunity was offered him to enter the newspaper bus- iness, a strong taste for which he inherited, and he went to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he became a partner of George F. Hunter in the publication of the Chillicothe Advertiser.

While residing there, on the 5th of June, 1890, Mr. Harper was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Hanby, of Chillicothe, by which union two sons have been born, Don- ald and Kenneth.

A CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Upon the death of his father, in 1895, Mr. Harper sold his interest in the Chilli- cothe Advertiser and returned to Mount Vernon in November of that year, forming a partnership with his brother, William H. Harper, in the publication of The Banner, which partnership was terminated in June, 1896, by the retirement of his brother. The Banner had been published as a weekly paper until June 20, 1898, when Mr. Harper be- gan the issue of daily and semi-weekly pa- pers, which have so continued.

Mr. Harper is a member of the Masonic bodies and the Elks, being a past exalted ruler of the latter and a member of the board of trustees of the Masonic Temple Company. He is also a trustee of the Mount Vernon Board of Trade. In politics Mr. Harper is a Democrat and has taken an ac- tive and prominent part in the councils of his party, but has never held a public office. He has been a member of the Democratic state committee of Ohio several times, and was a delegate from the fourteenth Ohio district to the Democratic national conven- tion in 1896.

COLUMBUS EWALT.

In professional career advancement must depend largely upon individual merit. The aid of wealth or influential friends availeth little or naught, for success much rest upon broad and accurate knowledge of the prin- ciple of the science which the individual rep- resents in his professional life. When ad- vancement is secured, it is therefore evidence of ability of earnest effort and of strong purpose. These qualities have, during the years of his connection with the bar won for

Columbus Ewalt a creditable position among the lawyers of Knox county and will gain for him still greater importance in the fu- ture. He is now serving his second term as prosecuting attorney for the county and his re-election is an indication of the trust re- posed in him.

Mr. Ewalt was born in Liberty township, Knox county, in 1865, and is a representa- tive of one of the oldest families in this part of the state, almost ninety years having passed since his great-grandfather, John Ewalt, sought a home here. The family is of German lineage and was founded in America in colonial days. John Ewalt was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1760, and there resided until 1813, when with his family he started westward, travel- ing in the slow manner of the times until he arrived in Clinton township, Knox coun- ty, Ohio. Here he took up his abode just west of Mount Vernon. He brought with him his eleven children, whose descendants are now largely scattered over the west. His death occurred in this locality. His son, Richard Ewalt, the grandfather of our sub- ject, was one of the numerous family, and in Knox county he aided in the arduous task of reclaiming wild land for purposes of civilization and also shared in the various hardships and trials of frontier life. He married Miss Phoebe Douglas and among their children was William D. Ewalt. The last named was the father of our subject and was born in Morris township, this county, in 1828. He married Rizpah Moxley, a daughter of Stephen Moxley, who came to Knox county, Ohio, from Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1833, and located in Liberty township, where he spent his remaining days. The latter married Miss Watkins who was

OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.

also a native of Maryland and died soon after her arrival in the Buckeye state. He then wedded Miss Brown, of Liberty town- ship. Mr. and Mrs. William D. Ewalt be- came the parents of six sons older than our subject and three daughters younger, mak- ing ten children in all. One son, Clement V., died at the age of twenty-two years, and a daughter, Cora, passed away at the age of fourteen. The others are: Cassius R., a farmer of Liberty township, Knox county ; Stephen D., of Bucyrus, Ohio; Frank L., who is also living in Bucyrus; Dallas R., a contractor of Chicago, Illinois; Allan M., a resident farmer of Liberty township; Co- lumbus, of this review; Flora, who resides in Liberty township; and Hattie M., a teach- er of Olympia, Washington.

In the public schools of this county Co- lumbus Ewalt obtained his early education, which was supplemented by study in Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, and at Ada, Ohio. For five years he successfully engaged in teaching in this county, but this was merely a preliminary business step. Af- ter reading law with Judge Adams, of Mount Vernon, he was admitted to the bar and for nine years has been a practitioner at Mount Vernon, winning prominence as the years have passed by reason of his fa- miliarity with legal principles, his careful preparation of cases and a mind which read- ily determines the salient point in litigation.

Mr. Ewalt was united in marriage, in Mount Vernon, to Miss Emma Blair, a daughter of William H. Blair, formerly a well-known citizen of this place but now deceased. The lady for several prior to her marriage taught school in Mount Vernon, and, like her husband, ranks high in social circles where true worth and intelligence are

at par. He is identified with the Knights of Pythias and Masonic fraternities and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His political support is given the Democ- racy and on its ticket he was elected pros- ecuting attorney for Knox county in 1897 and again in 1900 and his present term will conclude an incumbency of six years. There has been nothing sensational in his career, every step has been thoughtfully and delib- erately made and every advance has been at the cost of hard and self-denying labor. He stands to-day a strong man-strong in the consciousness of well spent years, strong to plan and perform and strong in his credit and good name.

ABRAHAM MORNINGSTAR.

The honored subject of this review has spent his entire life in Knox county, where he has lived and labored to goodly ends, and it is with gratification that we offer in this publication a brief review of his genealogy and personal career. Mr. Morningstar was born in Butler township, Knox county, Ohio, on the 27th of May, 1852, and in the county of his nativity he was reared to the life of a farmer boy, while the common schools of his locality afforded him his edu- cational privileges. At the age of twenty- one years lie began the battle of life for him- self, working on the shares on the home farm until his marriage, which occurred on the 7th of August, 1881, Miss Nellie Purdy becoming his wife. Soon after their mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Morningstar removed to a farm of sixty-seven acres, which he had previously purchased and where they made

A CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

their home for one year, on the expiration of which period they sold that tract and pur- chased one hundred and sixty-one acres in Butler township. At that time the land was in its primitive condition, but Mr. Morning- star placed his fields under a fine state of cultivation, erected good and substantial buildings, and in many other ways added to the value and attractive appearance of the place. In 1892, however, he left that farm and purchased the land on which he now re- sides, located in College township and ad- joining the village of Gambier. It com- prises thirty-one acres, and has been placed under an excellent state of improvement; and he still retains possession of his farm in Butler township, thus making him one of the leading and influential agriculturists of the county.

In politics he is a Democrat, exerting his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of that party. In his social rela- tions he is a member of the Grange. Mr. Morningstar is one of the well-known men of Knox county, and all who are at all famil- iar with his record admire and respect him for all he has accomplished. His life his- tory contains many lessons which may well be heeded, for it illustrates what can be ac- complished through energy, enterprise and earnest purpose. He is to-day the owner of valuable land, and all his possessions stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise.

FRANK V. OWEN.

From a very early period in the develop- ment of Knox county the name of Owen has been associated with its history, for War-

ren Owen, the grandfather of our subject, leaving his home in the Green Mountain state, emigrated to Ohio when this locality was an almost uninhabited region. Here he aided in reclaiming the wild land for pur- poses of civilization and for a number of years was a leading farmer here, but died in Delaware county, Ohio, at the advanced age of ninety-four years. His son, Gilbert R. Owen, the father of Frank V., was born on the old family homestead in Middleberry township, Knox county, and there spent his entire life, devoting his energies to agricul- tural pursuits. As a companion and help- mate for the journey of life he chose Miss Elizabeth Green, a daughter of Benjamin Green, who came from Baltimore, Mary- land, to Ohio, and died in Perry township, Morrow county. Mr. Owen died in 1863, at the age of thirty-eight years.

Frank V. Owen was born in Middle- berry township, Knox county, in 1857, and at the usual age entered the public schools, therein mastering the usual branches of knowledge that constitute the curriculum in such institutions. His law studies were pur- sued in the office and under the direction of the firm of Cooper & Moore, and in 1884 he was admitted to the bar, since which time he has maintained an office in Mount Ver- non and now has a very extensive clientage of a distinctively representative character. He has tried many personal injury cases and engages in general practice. On his admis- sion to the bar he did not consider his stud- ies finished, but is continually adding to his knowledge and in the preparation of cases reviews every authority bearing upon the points in issue.

In this county, in 1894, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Owen and Miss Bessie

П. И. Очими

OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.

Johnson, of Mount Vernon, a daughter of Scott Johnson. They have two children, Elizabeth and Isabella, and by a former marriage Mr. Owen had two sons-Charles, who is a graduate of the high school of Mount Vernon and of Kenyon College and is now in Dayton; and Robert, who is a stu- dent in the Mount Vernon schools. So- cially Mr. Owen is connected with the Knights of Pythias lodge, and politically he is a Republican. In 1887 he was elected to the state legislature and served on some of the most important committees, and at once became an active and earnest advocate of those measures that were of most worth and importance to the citizens of the state, proving himself a capable member. In 1888 he introduced in the house a measure re- quiring all saloons to be closed on Sunday and it became a law and is now on the stat- ute books, not only of the state of Ohio, but many other states have copied from it. The law bears the name of its author and is known as the "Owen Sunday Closing Law." At the end of his first term he declined a second nomination, preferring to devote his entire time to his law practice, which had grown to large proportions. Mr. Owen is distinctively a self-made-man, having climbed from the bottom, round by round, until to-day his capability as a lawyer is widely recognized and is attested by the many favorable verdicts which he gains for his clients.

GEORGE W. PORTERFIELD.

The value of good Irish blood as a fac- tor in American civilization has been dem- onstrated in all parts of our country. In

his paternal line of descent George W. Por- terfield, who is a successful farmer on sec- tion 2, Clay township, Knox county, Ohio, is of Irish extraction. He was born on the farm on which he now lives April 3, 1835, a son of Samuel C. Porterfield, who was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and was reared and married in Venango county in the same state. In 1815 Samuel C. Porterfield emigrated from his old Penn- sylvania home to Knox county, Ohio, and located in the woods on section 2 in Clay township. The forests were full of wild game, and Indians roamed at will ìn con- siderable numbers. He made a little clear- ing, on which he built a small log house, and there the subject of this sketch was born twenty years later, and thus began his career as a pioneer in the Ohio wilderness.

Samuel C. Porterfield was in religion an adherent of the Presbyterian faith and dur- ing his active years took a helpful part in the work of his church, in which he held im- portant offices. Originally a Whig in poli- tics, he naturally became a Republican upon the organization of that party. He was in- fluential in local affairs and for some years filled the office of justice of the peace and at different times was elected to other town- ship offices. He was a charter member of the Masonic lodge at Bladensburg, and was prominent in many affairs throughout the county. He died in 1865. Samuel Porter- field, father of Samuel C. Porterfield, and grandfather of George W. Porterfield, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and his father, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared in the Emerald Isle.

Eliza Stevenson, who married Samuel C. Porterfield, and was the mother of George

A CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

W. Porterfield, was born and passed her early life in Virginia and lived to be sev- enty-two years old. George Stevenson, her father, was a soldier in the American army in the Revolutionary war and at one time was captured by Indians, making his es- cape only after an exciting experience. The Stevensons were of Scotch-Irish extraction. Samuel C. Porterfield saw active service in the war of 1812-14, which was afterward recognized by the government in a substan- tial way. His wife bore him ten children, named as follows, in the order of their na- tivity: Nancy, William, Sarah, Samuel, James, John, Robert, Elizabeth, George W. and Catharine. Of these only George W. and Elizabeth are living.

George W. Porterfield, the ninth in or- der of birth of the children of Samuel C. and Eliza (Stevenson) Porterfield, passed his boyhood and youth on the farm which is now his homestead. His school days were spent in an old-fashioned log school house, with puncheon floor and slab benches and desks, which stood near his home, and at the Martinsburg Academy, at which he was a student about a year. After completing his educational course he taught school in Knox county four years, when failing health compelled him to abandon the school room and seek outdoor life on the farm. He was married September 29, 1859, to Priscilla Hughes, who resided a mile and a half south of Martinsburg, Clay township, Knox coun- ty, Ohio. She was a daughter of John and Mary A. (Haver) Hughes, who were early settlers in the county. Mrs. Hughes, who was the third in order of birth of her par- ents family of five children, also finished her education at the Martinsburg Academy. She has borne her husband nine children, named

as follows, and of whom seven are living : Mary E., who married J. M. Porterfield; Jessie S., who married Henry Rice; Eliza O., who married William Melick; Estrella, who married E. L. Wolfe; Charles G., who was born on the night of the day on which General Grant was elected president, and married Violla Wolfe; Ida, who is a mem- ber of her father's household; Thomas, who assists his father in the management of his farm; Libbie, who became a successful teacher at the age of sixteen and died at the age of twenty-three; and Minnie B., who died in childhood.

After his marriage Mr. Porterfield bought the old Porterfield homestead of his father and has since been engaged quite ex- tensively in the wool and stock trade. His farm, which consists of four hundred acres, is supplied with good buildings and ade- quate equipments of all kinds, also liberally stocked with horses, cattle, sheep and swine. For a time Mr. Porterfield was engaged in merchandising at Bladensburg. He is a man of much enterprise and a public-spir- ited and patriotic citizen. A strict Re- publican, he wields considerable influence in his party, and has ably served his fellow townsmen in the office of justice of the peace. He is not a member of any church, but is liberal in his contributions toward the support of all the churches near his home, especially the Presbyterian church, at the services of which he and his family are at- tendants. He is a life-long resident of the township, and the sixty-seven years he has lived here have not been lived in vain, for not only has he prospered financially, but he has gained a reputation as an upright, pro- gressive citizen of which any man might be proud.

OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO.

JOSEPH S. DAVIS.

By the death of this honorable and up- right citizen the community sustained an irreparable loss and was deprived of the presence of one whom it had come to look upon as a benefactor and friend. Death often removes from our midst those whom we can ill afford to spare, whose lives have been all that is exemplary of the true and thereby really great citizen. Such a one was Mr. Davis, whose whole career, business, political and social, served as a model to the young and an inspiration to the aged. He honored the city which honored him with many positions of public trust. His labors proved of great benefit to the public and by his usefulness he created a memory whose perpetuation does not depend upon brick and stone, but upon the spontaneous and freewill offering of a great and enlightened people.

Mr. Davis was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, November 21, 1812, a son of Henry and Avis Davis. His father was a native of Cornish, New Hampshire, and was mar- ried in Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county, Penn- sylvania, to Avis Townsend, who was born in that place. Subsequently they removed to Ohio, locating in Ross county in 1808, while in 1811 they went to Pickaway coun- ty and in 1815 took up their abode in Hills- boro, Highland county, where the parents of our subject spent their remaining days. The father was a merchant of Chillicothe, and through the conduct of his commercial pursuits provided for his family. He had four sons : Dr. Edwin Davis, of New York city, now deceased; Rev. Werter Rennick Davis, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, who spent most of his life in Bald- win City, Kansas, where he was president

of the Baldwin University; Dr. William Davis, of Peru, Ohio; and the subject of this review, who was the second in order of birth. All were students in Gambier Col- lege, in Knox county, were Episcopalians, with the exception of one, in religious faith and all have now passed away.

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The Biographical record of Knox County, Ohio : to which is added an elaborate compendium of national biography, Part 8

Author: Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 652

Author:
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 652