USA > Ohio > Highland County > The County of Highland : a history of Highland County, Ohio, from the earliest days, with special chapters on the bench and bar, medical profession educational development, industry and agriculture and biographical sketches > Part 26
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John Bennett, infirmary director of Highland county, besides being a most excellent citizen in all respects, enjoys the distinction of being one of four brothers who each served three or more years in the Union army. Their grandfather, Isaac Bennett, who took part in the battle of New Orleans in 1815, was a Pennsylvania farmer of the olden times, used to run flatboats from Pittsburg to New Orleans during the navigation season and did a prosperous business in this line before the days of steamboating. With an eye to profitable investments, he made a trip to Highland county, Ohio, at a very early date, and bought a large amount of land in Liberty township, which was sub- sequently divided between his sons. He remained in Pennsylvania until about 1850 when he removed to Missouri and there spent the remainder of his life. Isaac and Jennie Bennett had six children, Campbell, Isaac, John, Phebe, Jane, and Nancy, all long since deceased. Campbell Bennett was born in Fayette county, Pa., mar- ried Sarah Smith, and about 1840 came to Highland county, where he settled on land inherited from his father. In 1847 he purchased a farm in Hamer township, on which he lived until 1877, when he removed .to Danville and served as postmaster. At the expiration of his term he returned to the farm where he passed away at the age of seventy-eight years, his wife having died in 1874. Of their seven children, George, Joseph and Eleanor are deceased, the living being Jacob, of Lincoln, Neb .; Francis M., of Kansas; John, subject of this sketch ; and Henry, of Hamer township. John Bennett, fifth of the children, was born in Highland county, Ohio, on the farm now
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owned by Ira Hiestand, January 1, 1846, and was consequently a little over fifteen years of age when the guns at Sumter electrified the nation. There was no more patriotic family than that of the Bennetts, the younger members of which furnished four recruits for different commands in the Union army. John Bennett, when seven- teen years old, enlisted in Company G, Eleventh regiment, Ohio vol- unteer cavalry, which did valuable service during its term of service. After a brief campaign against Morgan, the command was sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kas., and from there across the plains to Fort Laramie, Wyo. They wintered at that point and later had many fierce skirmishes with the Indian tribes who had been stirred up to hostility by agents of the Confederacy. The Federal cavalry was kept very busy holding the savages in check and in one of the numer- ous fights Mr. Bennett had a horse shot under him, though fortunate enough to escape serious personal injury. The Eleventh regiment re- mained in that wild country for three years, and in July, 1866, were sent to Leavenworth and thence to Columbus, Ohio, where they were mustered out. Jacob Bennett, second of the brothers in order of birth, served gallantly for three years as a member of the Eighteenth regiment Iowa volunteer infantry. Joseph, the third of these patri- otic brothers, was among the first to enlist in the First regiment Indi- ana volunteer infantry, and served with it for three years. Francis M. first enlisted in Company A, Sixtieth regiment Ohio infantry, and later became a member of Company G, Eleventh regiment, Ohio vol- unteer cavalry, with which he served three years. After his retire- ment from the army in the summer of 1866, John Bennett returned home and shortly afterward married Lydia M., daughter of William P. and Rebecca Webster, of Highland county. In 1872, he located in Dodson township and remained there twenty-five years, when he purchased the place in Hamer township, where he has since made his residence. In 1897 he was elected infirmary director of Highland county and was re-elected in 1900, being the only person on the Republican ticket that was successful that year. He is a member of the Masonic order, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Grand Army of the Republic at Lynchburg. Mr. Bennett's wife died in March, 1900, leaving four children : Etta J., George E., Myrta B. and Charles R.
John C. Bennington, a prosperous farmer and veteran of the civil war, residing in White Oak township, is a son of Campbell Benning- ton, before the war a prominent citizen of the township. Campbell Bennington was born on Eagle creek in, Brown county, and coming to Highland county to find employment when a young man, married Lucinda McQuitty, and settled in White Oak township, where he engaged in farming and stock raising. He had six children by this marriage: Lewis W., deceased; John C .; Mary A., widow of J.
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Peggan, of White Oak; Anna, wife of J. F. Reams, of Hamer; Lu- cinda, wife of John Emery, of New Market, and Adeline, who died in infancy. In 1851 the mother of these children died, and subse- quently the father married Elizabeth Umsetter, by whom he had four children, Hester, Charles, Edward and P. J., and removed to Iowa, where he died about 1879. John C. Bennington was born October 27, 1843, on the farm now owned by Amelius Sauner, and after the death of his mother, which occurred when he was eight years old, he lived with his uncle, Cary McQuitty, two years, and later with Cary Hicks. Afterward he was in the employment of Henry Kibler until the be- ginning of the war of the rebellion. Then he enlisted in Company A of the Sixtieth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and accompanied that command in its invasion of West Virginia from Parkersburg. In the spring of 1862 he was with his regiment in the Kanawha valley, marched to the support of General Milroy at Franklin, and proceeding into the valley of Virginia, encountered the forces of Stonewall Jackson at Strasburg, where they had a fierce engagement. Here Mr. Bennington was wounded, but not seriously, and though he was disabled for a short time he accompanied his regiment in its marches and engagements during that famous campaign, including the noted battle of Cross Keys. Returning with his command to Har- pers Ferry, he and his comrades were surrendered there to Stonewall Jackson, just before the famous battle of Antietam. Being imme- diately paroled, he returned to the Union lines, was sent to Annapolis and Baltimore, and thence to Chicago, where he was mustered out in November, 1862. In February, 1863, he re-enlisted in the Twenty- fourth Ohio light artillery, with which he was on duty guarding pris- oners at Sandusky, Johnson's island, and Chicago, during the remain- der of the war, finally being mustered out at Camp Dennison, in June, 1865. In the artillery company he held the rank of corporal. After the war Mr. Bennington was married in March, 1866, to Lucinda Winkle, daughter of Michael and Sarah A. Winkle, of White Oak township, and they began their married life where they now live. Seven children have been born to them: Cornelius, deceased ; Will- iam, of Concord township; Lewis C., in Oklahoma ; David C., also in Oklahoma; Franklin and Newton, at home, and John, in Hamer township. Mr. Bennington is the owner of 230 acres of valuable land, which he has well improved; is a member of the Grand Army post at Mowrystown and of the Christian church, and is held in high esteem by his neighbors.
William N. Berry comes of a family long prominent in the public life of Hamer township, his father having been justice of the peace for thirty years and he himself being an incumbent of the same office. His grandfather, Thomas Berry, a native of Rockingham county, Vir- ginia, and soldier of 1812, came in 1818 from Baltimore to Green-
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field, Ohio, where he bought a small farm and lived on the same until 1846. In that year he removed to Delaware county, Ind., and settled in the vicinity of Muncie, where he died at the age of eighty-eight years. By his first wife, who died some years before he left Ohio, he had six children, all now deceased, and by a second marriage in Indiana he had one child named Elizabeth. John Berry, the eldest son, was born in Baltimore, Md., in 1816, and was consequently an infant when his parents reached Ohio. At the age of sixteen he began learning the tanner's trade, which, with occasional interruptions, he followed until 1867. He married Mary E., daughter of James and Elizabeth Stewart, with whom he located on a place near Leesburg and after remaining there a year removed to a farm in Concord town- ship. Several years' residence in that locality was followed by a removal to Pricetown, where he conducted a tannery for Joseph Gosset about a year, and then made his final move to Hamer township. During his long residence here he became quite prominent in the pub- lic affairs of the township, being trustee and treasurer at different times and holding the office of justice of the peace for thirty years. By his first marriage there were nine children, of whom Phoebe A., Rachel E. and Sarah J. have passed away. Those living are James S., William N., Margaret, Jessie R., Thomas R., principal of the West End high school in Cincinnati, and Cynthia B. of Tacoma, Wash. The mother died when she was fifty years old and her hus- band married Caroline Kibler, who died without issue, his own death occurring at the age of eighty-two. William N. Berry, third of the children, was born in Concord township, Highland county, Ohio, De- cember 14, 1846, and remained at home until he was twenty-three years old. He mastered the tanner's trade under the efficient instruc- tion of his father and this he made his means of livelihood until his marriage to Nancy K., daughter of Marcus and Margaret Hawk of Brown county, Ohio. After this event Mr. Berry spent fourteen years as a farmer in White Oak township and then removed to the old home place in Hamer township which he had purchased. Here he passed the seven subsequent years, when he disposed of the property and bought the farm of 125 acres where he now lives. Besides his place he owns another tract of 120 acres in the same neighborhood, the two farms being cultivated for the usual standard crops and used for stock-raising purposes. While living in White Oak, he served three terms as trustee of that township and he is now holding the office of justice of the peace in Hamer township. His only fraternal connection is with the order of Odd Fellows, in Lodge No. 25, at Hillsboro. Mr. and Mrs. Berry have had seven children, of whom three died in infancy. The survivors are John H., Thomas E., George A. and Amy E.
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Andrew Bishir, retired farmer of Dodson township, is not only a descendant of old settlers but may be regarded as one himself, his birth having occurred at an early period in the history of Highland county. When his grandfather, Christopher Bishir, after tarrying a while in 1810 at the mouth of Crawfish river, came to Union town- ship there were comparatively few people there to greet him. In fact, the township had only been organized a year or two when this Pennsylvania pioneer arrived with his wife and children. Even in 1833, when he built his log cabin in Dodson township about one mile south of Lynchburg, the country was still wild and sparsely settled. Aside from the dangers of Indian hostility, which had hap- pily passed, the main features and characteristics of a wilderness were all still present. Neighbors were few and far between, few of the comforts of civilization were to be had and the wolves, still plentiful in the woods, made night hideous with their dismal howl- ings. Deer, turkey, panthers, bear and other wild game were yet abundant and the main reliance of the settlers for fresh meat. The pioneer alluded to had a son named after himself, Christopher Bishir, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1805, and after he grew to maturity in Ohio was married to Susan Hart, a native of North Carolina. This couple passed away, the mother in 1839 and the father December 24, 1883, after rearing seven children, of whom two sons and two daughters are living. One of the former is Andrew Bishir, the honored subject of this sketch, who was born in Union township, Highland county, Ohio, January 10, 1828. A few years after his birth he was taken by his parents to their new home in Dodson township, where he grew to manhood, and October 23, 1850, was married to Piety Ann Turner. This lady was a daughter of Calvin and Matilda (Wilson) Turner, Virginians who came to Ohio in 1830, and she was born March 5, 1832, during their residence in Preble county. Her parents went to Indiana in 1840, but after remaining there four years returned to Ohio, where they both died, the father in 1872 at Martinsville, when sixty-two years old, and the mother in 1893 at Farmers Station, in the eighty-fifth year of her age. The grandparents of Mrs. Bishir, Meador and Catherine Turner, the former born in Virginia in 1783 and the lat- ter in 1789, also migrated to Ohio in 1830 and both died in Clinton county, he in 1853 and she in 1872. Andrew Bishir, though reared on a farm, learned the cooper's trade and did considerable work in that line, which was also the calling of his father. He obtained the position of foreman in the distillery warehouse at Lynchburg and retained the same for eighteen years. May 2, 1864, Mr. Bishir enlisted in one of the Ohio regiments organized for the hundred days' service and was out with that command four months. Febru- ary 10, 1865, he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Ninety- second regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, under Capt. Joseph
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Gayman, and went with this organization to the lower Shenandoah valley in March. Their service was confined to doing guard and garrison duty at Halltown and other places in that portion of Vir- ginia until September 6, 1865, when they were paid and discharged at Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Bishir at the time holding the rank of ser- geant. Mr. and Mrs. Bishir have had seven children, of whom Isadora and Lizzie are dead, the living being Alonzo D., James W., Emma C., Mollie and Arthur A. They celebrated their golden wed- ding October 23, 1900, and the occasion was a memorable one for the large family connection, as well as the many friends of this ven- erable and highly esteemed couple. All the children were present except James, accompanied by their wives and offspring, the only notable absence being the wife of Arthur A., who was kept away by sickness. Besides these, Samuel Turner, of Sabina, a brother of Mrs. Bishir, was present, also her two sisters, Mary Dimmitt, of Marion, and Jennie Moon of Clinton county, and Mr. Bishir's two sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Fenner of Marshaltown, Iowa, and Sarah Walker of Vienna, Ohio. Originally a Democrat, Mr. Bishir was converted to Republicanism by the agitation of the questions grow- ing out of the civil war. He and wife are members of the Christian church and are passing the evening of their days in the quiet and retired life which fittingly ends so many years of activity.
Washington Blackburn was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, October 24, 1829. His parents were Ephraim, born 1788, and died 1836, and Barbara (House) Blackburn. His paternal grandpar- ents were Ephraim and Prudence (Rich) Blackburn. This Eph- raim was a commissioned officer in General Washington's army and was the son of Ephraim Blackburn, the Scotch ancestor who emi- grated to Pennsylvania about 1728. After serving an apprentice- ship of four years at the carpenter's trade, Washington Blackburn worked one season in the Shenandoah valley, and in the spring of 1851 came to Highland county, Ohio. Until 1866 he was a builder of houses and barns that are still a credit to his handicraft. Since that time he has been a farmer. For many years, while his children were growing to man and womanhood, he resided at what is known as the Blackburn homestead in Penn township. Recently he removed to a comfortable home in New Vienna and relinquished the active management of his real estate to a younger generation. February 25, 1858, he was married to Mary Ann, daughter of Charles and Betsey (Moore) Good, the former being member of a family belonging to the Society of Friends in Pennsylvania for generations. Charles Good achieved high reputation in Penn township for his modern and progressive methods in agriculture. He was regarded as one of the best farmers in the county, his life being one of great activity and made notable by his conscientious performance of every duty.
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The children of Washington and Mary Ann (Good) Blackburn are: Anna, at home; Charles G., mentioned more fully below; Ella, a graduate of the Philadelphia Woman's Medical College, class of 1898, for two years practicing in Indiana and recently removed to New Vienna ; Howard L., who married Nellie May Jones of Chil- licothe and is farming in Clinton county; Irene, a trained nurse residing in Philadelphia; Frank H., superintendent of the Incan- descent Lamp factory at Fostoria, Ohio, and Wilbur, a dentist at Shelbyville, Ind., who married Nellie Arthur. Charles G. Black- burn, second of the family in age, was born in New Vienna, Ohio, in 1863. In 1902 he removed to the Blackburn homestead. Here his maternal grandfather settled in 1854. For more than twenty years Charles Good labored to make the farm his ideal of a country home. Three generations have dwelt there and as yet the death angel has not crossed the portals. May the peace, the thrift, the quiet, of an old-time Quaker home long abound there. December 20, 1894, Charles G. Blackburn was married to Bertha, daughter of Elwood and Mary D. (Phillips) Hallowell, of Chester county, Pa. They came to Fairfield township in 1850, where Mr. Hallowell died July 9, 1885, aged about sixty-one years. The children of Charles G. and Bertha Blackburn are Joseph H., born October 15, 1897, and Charles G., jr., born February 24, 1900.
A. S. Boden, member of the milling firm which bears his name, has been prominently connected with the business affairs of Green- field for many years. His father, Hugh Boden, who is of Irish birth and now ninety years of age, opened business at Greenfield in 1868 and since then in one form or another has been identified with the city's interests. His principal line has been milling and pack- ing and his establishment has long been one of the industrial feat- ures of Greenfield. This "fine old Irish gentleman" reared three sons to perpetuate his name and continue in the line of employment to which he had devoted the principal part of his life. John Boden, the eldest, now in the milling business in Clinton county, has been quite prominent in politics, being the first and only Democratic sheriff of Athens county, Ohio. Stewart Boden is a member of the firm of Le Ferre & Boden, hardware merchants of Greenfield. A. S. Boden, the third of these brothers, was born in Athens county, Ohio, but reared and mainly educated in Greenfield. He followed gen- eral merchandising for many years and in 1899, in partnership with his brother, organized the Boden Milling company, which has since done an extensive business: In connection with their main line they deal largely in grain, feed and coal, and conduct what is recognized as one of the strong industries of the city. Since his residence in Greenfield, Mr. Boden has been a conspicuous figure in the political, fraternal and commercial life of the city. In 1900 he was elected
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to the office of city treasurer, a position which he still holds. He is quite prominent in free masonry, having been master in the lodge, high priest in the Royal Arch chapter, and Knight Templar. He is also a member of the Royal Arcanum and the Woodmen of the World. In 1887 he was married to Mary, daughter of J. M. Mur- ray, deceased, who for sixty years was in the undertaking and other lines of business at Greenfield. Mr. and Mrs. Boden have two sons, Stewart Murray and Hugh Langdon, both bright and promising boys.
Andrew M. Boggess, a prominent citizen of Clay township, is of an old Ohio family, being a grandson of John Boggess, one of the pioneers of Clermont county. John Boggess was born in Virginia, of an old family in that state, in early manhood he married Lutitia Mifflin, and soon afterward moved with his wife to South Carolina. Two years later they came with the tide of emigration from that state to Ohio, and settled at Denham's town, or Bethel, in Clermont, where John Boggess followed his profession as a surveyor, holding the office of county surveyor a long time, and marking the lands of many people in the wide area of the Virginia military reserve. He was also a member of the legislature and a justice of the peace, and was held in high esteem in a community which included such men as Senator Thomas Morris, Samuel Medary and Gen. Thomas L. Hamer. Five children were reared by him, all of whom are deceased : Samuel, John, Elizabeth, Jane and Ann. Samuel, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in South Carolina, December 2, 1802, in early manhood married Elizabeth Davis, a native of Ken- tucky, but reared in Clermont county, and began his career as a blacksmith and gunsmith, his occupation throughout life. He died at the age of thirty-two years, and afterward his widow removed with her six children-Lutitia, Mary, Jane, Eliza, Andrew M., and Bethana, to Highland county, where she lived to the age of ninety- three years. A. M. Boggess, the only son, was born February 12, 1826, near Bethel, Clermont county, spent his early manhood there, and moved with his mother to Clay township when he was twenty- five years of age. Later he was married to Mary Ellen Roberts, a native of Highland county and daughter of Abraham and Mary Roberts, and they went to housekeeping in a hewed log house on the farm of two hundred acres owned by his mother. In after years they built a commodious frame house, and made their farm one of the most handsomely equipped in the county. At one time Mr. Boggess was the owner of four hundred acres, but most of this he has divided among his children, of whom he has five: Mary A., wife of Charles Crawford, of Mount Oreb; Olive J., wife of Charles Brown, of Clay township; Edward M., M. D., of Washington Court House; Eva M., wife of Walter Brown, of Georgetown, Ohio; and
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Abe R., residing near the old home. Mr. Boggess is one of the influ- ential men of his township, and has been entrusted with numerous local offices, in all cases winning the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens. In politics he is a Republican.
Samuel T. Boggess, D. D. S., long and favorably known as a prac- titioner of dentistry at Greenfield, Ohio, is a native of Virginia. In 1858 he came from that state to Ohio, where he spent fourteen years in a dental office as preliminary to more elaborate preparations for the profession of dental surgery. In 1872 he matriculated at the Philadelphia Dental college, from which he obtained the degree of D. D. S. in the spring of 1873. Immediately thereafter he located at Jackson, Ohio, where he spent fourteen years in the prac- tice of his profession. In 1887 he removed to Greenfield, where he continued his professional work and thereby achieved both promi- nence and prosperity. Dr. Boggess is popular personally as well as in the line of duty and is thoroughly informed in the niceties and intricacies of his useful calling. In 1869 he was married at Athens, Ohio, to Eliza, daughter of Rev. H. J. Carr, deceased. They have a bright and interesting family of four children. Minnie, the eld- est, is the wife of Dr. E. J. Martin. Dr. John S. Boggess, at pres- ent assistant surgeon in the Marine hospital at Philadelphia, is an accomplished and highly educated gentleman. He holds a diploma with the degree of A. M. from the Ohio State university and was graduated as M. D. at the Miami Medical college. Charles Boggess, D. D. S., received his literary education at Portsmouth, O., and in 1897 was graduated as D. D. S. at the Ohio College of Dental Surg- ery. Since his graduation he has been associated with his father in the practice at Greenfield. Miss Martha Boggess, the youngest of the children, is at home with her parents.
Henry Bohl, of White Oak township, well known as a progressive farmer and stock raiser, was born near Fincastle, Brown county, Feb- ruary 17, 1861. He is the son of Henry Bohl, born in Germany in the year 1800, who came to America in his youth and made his home near Fincastle, finding employment in working by the month on a farm until his marriage to Mary Hennize, also a native of Germany. In his later years his industry and good management were rewarded by the accumulation of considerable property and a comfortable farm and home. The senior Bohl was an active member of the Lutheran church, and influential in the community until his death at the age of sixty-five years. There were ten children in his family: William, George, and Christopher, residing now in Brown county ; Henry, Jr., the subject of this sketch ; Mary, of Adams county ; Maggie, of Brown county ; Sophia, of Clermont county ; Kate and John, deceased, and one who died in infancy. Henry Bohl, the younger, whose name ap-
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