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 37
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John H. Hiestand, one of the representative farmers of High- land county, who cultivates a model farm in Liberty township, is descended from the pioneer ancestors mentioned above. John, son of Jacob and Mary Hiestand, married Sarah Sprinkle, by whom he had ten children, including four sons named Joseph, Henry, Jacob and Samuel, the latter of whom lives at Liberty, Ind., but the other
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three all died during the year 1898. Henry Hiestand was born on the homestead farm in Highland county, October 11, 1824, and remained at home until he was twenty-three years of age. He then purchased sixty acres of land which he farmed for fifteen years, meantime also doing considerable work at his trade as a stone-mason. Eventually he sold his first purchase and bought another farm where he lived until 1886 and then retired from active business, spending the remainder of his days with his children : December 30, 1847, he married Elizabeth A. Bronnell, who died May 16, 1852. March 10, 1853, he took a second wife in the person of Ellen, daughter of James and Delilah (Fenner) Moberly, early settlers of Highland county. She was born January 8, 1833, and since her husband's death has resided on the farm he formerly owned two miles east of Hillsboro. The children of Henry Hiestand by his second marriage consisted of a son and daughter, the latter being Orissa Bell, born March 22, 1854, and now the wife of Elisha S. Ervin, who owns a farm of 400 acres in Liberty township. John Henry Hiestand, the only son, was born in Liberty township, Highland county, Ohio, September 17, 1855, near the place where he now resides. After a few sessions at district school he became attached to farming and has since devoted himself enthusiastically to that occupation, own- ing now an elegant home and model farm two miles east of Hills- boro, besides 193 acres of the old homestead. In March, 1885, he was married to Priscilla W., daughter of Daniel and Mary (Hatcher) Williams, whose ancestry is ancient and honorable. Mrs. Hies- tand's father was the son of Thomas and Susan (Gall) Williams and her mother was a daughter of Peter Hatcher. Susan Gall was a daughter of George Gall, who was born in Berks county, Pa., Jan- uary 10, 1766, and enlisted June 28, 1781, in the Revolutionary army, marching through the Dismal Swamp and serving as a guard over the British forces that were taken prisoners at Yorktown. This old veteran of the war for independence came west in 1801 and located his land warrants in Highland county, where he has numer- ous descendants. The children of John H. and Priscilla Hiestand, besides one named Albert who died in infancy, are Clarence W., born April 24, 1886, and Nine Blanche, born February 19, 1888. Mr. Hiestand, his wife and children are all members of the Presby- terian church. His only secret society connection is with the Royal Arcanum and in politics he votes independently.
Charles E. Hixson, ex-treasurer of Highland county and at pres- ent the efficient cashier of the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank at Leesburg, comes of strong ancestral stock long connected with High- land county affairs. His father was Havilah B. Hixson, born in 1824 of parents who came early to the county, and his mother was Alice Woodmansee, of New Jersey, granddaughter of Francis Wood-
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mansee. The latter owned nearly sixteen hundred acres of land between Lexington and Vienna, and was one of an extensive connec- tion of Woodmansees who have been strong and influential in Fair- field township affairs since 1818. Charles E. Hixson was born in Clinton county, Ohio, in New Vienna, in 1850, and was well edu- cated in the common schools supplemented by a course at the Ohio Wesleyan university at Delaware. His first venture in business was as a farmer, which occupation was interrupted in 1892 by his accept- ance of the position of deputy county treasurer under Harrison Rhodes. An acceptable discharge of his duties placed him in the line of succession and in 1895 he received the Republican nomina- tion as candidate for the office of county treasurer. He was elected and after serving one term was reelected in 1897 by one of the larg- est votes ever cast in Highland county for any local officer. An unusually successful career in politics seemed now open to Mr. Hix- son and he was repeatedly urged to become a candidate for county auditor or representative but these tempting honors he declined for the purpose of entering the banking business. He was offered and accepted the position of cashier in the newly organized Farmers' and Merchants' Bank of Leesburg and was also elected a director of the same corporation. Among his associates in this enterprise are some of the strongest business men in Highland county and under his direction the new banking institution has proved very successful. In fact, Mr. Hixson is regarded as a cool-headed, conservative and unusually able financier which valuable business attainments are sup- plemented by a courteous personal address and popular manners. In 1878, he was married to Mattie E., daughter of S. W. and Lydia C. Horseman, members of one of the representative early families of Highland county. This union has resulted in the birth of two children, Roy P. and Bessie M.
John Newton Hogsett, at present holding the office of justice of the peace in Penn township, has long been a prominent figure in Highland county as agriculturist, superintendent of the infirmary, and a popular as well as progressive citizen in all the relations of life. His father, Thomas Hogsett, was married early in the year 1832 in Augusta county, Virginia, to Hannah Jane, daughter of John Edward and Mary Ervin. The honeymoon trip of this bridal couple was across the mountains and down the rivers to the "promised land" in Ohio where it was their intention to find a per- manent home. Mr. Hogsett's life was cut short in 1840, only eight years after his arrival in Ohio, and he left a wife with four small children, all of whom had been born in Highland county. The eld- est of these was John Newton, who is sketched more fully below, and the next was James, who died in 1893 at Hillsboro; Margaret, the only daughter, was the first wife of James Fettro; and Thomas
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E. is living on a farm immediately south of the infirmary. John Newton Hogsett was born in Liberty township, Highland county, Ohio, November 28, 1832, and received the usual common school education. After reaching suitable age he engaged in the business of farming and has ever since followed that occupation. In March, 1879, he was appointed by the board of commissioners superintend- ent of the Highland county infirmary and was regularly reelected until his terms embraced a period of seven years. He filled this difficult position with great satisfaction to all concerned, being greatly assisted by the tact and good management of his excellent wife. Early in 1901 Mr. Hogsett purchased a fine farm and ele- gant brick residence a short distance southeast of New Vienna, where he now resides. All things conspire to make this an almost ideal home. The grounds contain a magnificent grove of about fifty, ash trees, and the residence site overlooks a picturesque landscape in which the curving lines of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and the nearby village are conspicuous objects. July 3, 1901, Mr. Hog- sett was appointed justice of the peace for Penn township, to fill a vacancy, and in April, 1902, he was elected for a full term of three years. For twenty-five years he and his wife have been connected with the Patrons of Husbandry, and Mrs. Hogsett is holding her second term as Ceres of the Ohio State grange. Both have for a long time been connected with the Presbyterian church at Hillsboro, and Mr. Hogsett is a member of Lafayette lodge, No. 25, Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows. His marriage to Hannah Ellen Hughes, a member of one of the most prominent families in the county, occurred April 2, 1857. Mrs. Hogsett is a granddaughter of James Hughes, who came from Ireland with his wife and six children in 1816, lived in Virginia until 1825, and in June of that year emi- grated to Ohio. He located in Highland county and remained the rest of his life on a place about two miles east of the village of Mar- shall, which he had purchased on arrival. The youngest of his ten children was John L. Hughes, who in after years rose to influence and distinction in the politics of both county and state, became an extensive landowner, served as justice of the peace almost continu- ously for forty years, and in 1857 was elected representative of Highland county in the state legislature, a position he held for six. terms. Hon. John L. Hughes married Elizabeth Carlisle, and Mrs. Hogsett is a daughter of this union. For many years Mr. and Mrs. Hogsett had charge of the Highland county infirmary, she as matron and he as superintendent, to which position he was first appointed in March, 1879. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hogsett are Thomas Hamer, attorney in a leading law office at Cleveland, who married Rebecca S., daughter of Barclay Jones ; Frank Hughes, shipping clerk at the Hillsboro depot, who married Iva, daughter of William Roush of Fairview; John Vallandingham, who married Mary,
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daughter of A. E. and Barbara Mosier, and is superintending the Judge Hughes farın in Marshall township; Maggie Idalia, wife of Jacob H. White, doing farm work near Hillsboro; Jennie Kate, wife of Michael Rice, a farmer of Clinton county; Annie Lizzie, wife of Moody Mosier, shipping clerk in Bell's foundry ; and James Edward, who married Lillie Fettro and is farming on the old family homestead in Liberty township.
John V. Hogsett, son of John Newton and Hannah Ellen (Hughes) Hogsett, mentioned in the foregoing sketch, is one of the energetic farmers of Marshall township. He was born at the family home- stead in Highland county, November 6, 1862, and educated at the, high school in Hillsboro. After growing up he was engaged for a while in farming near New Vienna, but in 1901 accepted the super- intendency of the Judge Hughes farm, adjoining the town of Mar- shall, where he has since remained pleasantly located. While liv- ing at New Vienna, he served two years as master of Union grange, No. 77. He was initiated into Clinton lodge, No. 92, I. O. O. F., in 1899, and served as noble grand for 1901. November 28, 1888, he was married to Mary, daughter of Eliphas A. and Barbara (Gra- bill) Mosier of Paint township, in the vicinity of Rainsboro. Mrs. Hogsett's paternal grandparents were John and Nancy Mosier, who emigrated with their children from Uniontown, Pa., and located in Highland county. Catherine (Roads) Grabill, maternal grand- mother of Mrs. Hogsett, was the daughter of a pioneer who settled in Brush Creek township in 1802 and had reached the age of ninety- two years when she died December 25, 1900. Mrs. Hogsett was born March 10, 1870, and was educated at the Hillsboro Female Col- lege. Her two brothers are, Moody G., shipping clerk for C. S. Bell & Co., and Dempsey, telegraph operator for the "Big Four" railroad company at Indianapolis. Mr. Hogsett and wife are mem- bers of the Daughters of Rebecca lodge, No. 244, and take an active interest in all the affairs of the fraternity. They have two children : Harry Leslie, born February 7, 1887, and John Thomas, born Octo- ber 30, 1890.
Enos Holmes, M. D., was born in Tuscarawas (now Carroll) county, Ohio, January 13, 1821. As early as April 17, 1838, he was present at the organization of the Highland county Medical Asso- ciation, being at that time a student of medicine. All his fellow members of the society are now dead. Dr. Holmes was a son of Enos H. and Mary Wilkin Holmes. The father was born in Penn- sylvania and removed with his parents in the early pioneer days to Ohio and the doctor was the fourth in a family of twelve children. The ancestry were Scotch-Irish, including the Holmeses of Massa- chusetts and Pennsylvania, and the Huffs and Doddridges of Vir-
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ginia. It was a family of Methodist ministers and physicians, there being ten doctors of the name in the immediate relationship. Dr. Holmes passed his early life upon a farm, and until he was seven- teen years of age his education was obtained at the ordinary log schoolhouse common at that time, during the winter months when the active labors of the farm were suspended. He had early decided to adopt the medical profession and in 1837 began his reading at Leesburg, near which place his father had settled in 1831. In 1843, after having completed a thorough course of medical study and received his diploma with the degree of M. D., he commenced the practice of his profession at New Petersburg. He was a close stu- dent, not only in his profession, and was fond of general literature and a great admirer of the higher works of poetry, philosophy and metaphysics, and being a careful observer of men and current events became one of the most valuable of citizens, and a most companion- able and interesting associate. We find him at the age of twenty- two with his diploma and equipped for his practice, which he at once obtained, but with him thoroughness was more important than imme- diate gains, and he again in the winter of 1847 and 1848 attended lectures at the Starling Medical college at Columbus, and was gradu- ated there in 1848. He practiced with great success at New Peters- burg until 1850, and was known as a brave, upright, conscientious physician, as well as an enterprising, public-spirited citizen. This character he brought with him to Hillsboro when he removed in that year, and where for thirty-two years he was in the possession of a large practice, both as physician and surgeon. He held, up to the very hour of his untimely death, the entire and well merited confi- dence of the community. Those who knew him best learned not only to respect him, but to seek his society. Firm in his convictions, yet never intolerant, he was the type of the cultured physician and the affable gentleman. His dignity and ease of manner was inbred and he was warm-hearted and impulsive. Generous and sympathetic by nature, he possessed those traits which attracted rather than repelled. Dr. Holmes stood in the highest rank of the medical pro- fession and in the esteem of his brethren. During the civil war he served by the appointment of Governor Tod as examining surgeon, and while acting in that capacity was stationed at Young's Point and Millikin's Bend on the Mississippi, and at various places in Ken- tucky and Ohio. Dr. Holmes was from Methodist ancestry, and was for years an earnest and consistent member of that church. In his later years he acted with the Democratic party and in 1875 was the nominee on that ticket for state senator. From his earliest man- hood he was a strong anti-slavery man, and always opposed oppres- sion in every form. He was married in 1840 to Eliza A., daughter of Eleazer Huff, an early settler of Highland county. She died in 1847 and in 1849 he married the daughter of Britton C. Hulit,
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another pioneer of the county. She died in 1852 and in 1855 hẹ married Anna, daughter of John JJones. Dr. Holmes was physically a fine specimen of manhood. Of commanding appearance, strong and vigorous, he would, doubtless have lived to extreme old age but for his untiring devotion to his profession and almost constant expos- ure to all kinds of weather. He was determined to die in the harness, and thus he died. His last act was to prepare a prescrip- tion. Suddenly, without warning, the stroke fell. The great heart struggled for a moment and was still.
Gilbert Holmes, owner of a model farm and ideal home near Hills- boro, belongs to a family long identified with the agricultural inter- ests of Highland county. It originated in England with John Holmes who, after his emigration to America, settled on the Jersey coast, where he reared a family of seafaring sons. Among these was one named Jacob, who at length wearied of the uncertain "life on the ocean wave" and determined to seek his fortunes on the more solid foundations building in the mighty west. February 5, 1829, he married Sarah Worden in New Jersey, and with her and the children turned his face toward Ohio during the fall of 1840. After arriv- ing he located four miles north of Leesburg, where he farmed until 1857 and then purchased 160 acres of land in the northern vicinity of Hillsboro, where he passed the remainder of his days. Before his death, the tract originally purchased by Jacob Holmes had been added to from time to time, until it amounted to 450 acres of well improved land. Gilbert, son of Jacob and Sarah (Worden) Holmes, was born in Fayette county, Ohio, February 1, 1842, and until he reached adult age assisted his father on the farm during summer and attended the district school in winter. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, Sixtieth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, which was mustered out of service in the fall of that year. Soon after this, he went to Illinois and enrolled with the Fifty-eighth regiment Illi- nois volunteers, with which he remained in service until March 27, 1866. December 25, 1866, he was married in Henderson county, Illinois, to Lydia R., daughter of Samuel Snapp, a Virginian who followed blacksmithing at Lloydsville, Ohio. After marrying, Mr. Holmes farmed for his father until 1869, when he removed to War- ren county, Iowa, where he spent fourteen years and returned to Highland county to care for his aged parents. His mother died January 20, 1893, and the father passed away March 2, 1897. Another of the sons having taken the home farm at the appraise- ment price, Gilbert purchased the Bernard farm, two miles west of Hillsboro, which is in almost every respect a desirable tract of land. It consists of 463 acres, well adapted to all the cereals, fruit and stock ordinarily raised or cultivated in that part of Ohio, and over 400 acres of the entire body are improved. The buildings consist
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of a large two-story brick dwelling-house and two barns 45x60 feet in dimensions. Twenty-five acres of apple trees, seven hundred peach trees and many other fruits, both of the larger and smaller varieties, conspire with the other advantages to make this one of the model farms of the county. Mr. Holmes has numerous fraternal and social connections, being past-master of Hillsboro grange, No. 145, Patrons of Husbandry, member of the various Masonic bodies, and the Modern Woodmen of America, and commander of John H. Barrere post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Hillsboro. His chil- dren are Eva A., wife of Albert Walton of Warren county, Iowa ; Laura, living at home; Jessie C., wife of Jasper Bennett Brown, of Hogland Crossing; Walter A., dentist at Hillsboro; Fay G., assist- ing his father on the farm; and Carl E., a student at the Ohio state university.
Dr. Walter A. Hohnes, fourth of the family as above given, was born in Iowa, March 28, 1876, and after a preparatory course in the schools of his native state made preparations for the study of dental surgery. He spent the terms of 1896-7 and 1897-8 at the Ohio Dental college in Cincinnati and then entered the Cincinnati Dental college, where he was graduated April 6, 1899. Within a month after receiving his degree, Dr. Holmes had fitted up and opened a neat suite of dental offices in Hillsboro, where he has since devoted himself assiduously to the practice of his profession. His dental rooms contain all the modern instruments and apparatus necessary in the work of an up-to-date dentist, and during his residence of only three years Dr. Holmes has already made flattering progress towards the obtainment of a fine patronage. He is prominent in fraternity circles, being a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Elks, Ancient Order United Workmen, and Junior Order United American Mechanics. The family's religious affiliations are with the Method- ist Episcopal church.
Ralph E. Holmes, M. D., one of the most popular practitioners of medicine at Leesburg, comes of a family of physicians long promi- nently connected with Highland county's history. Dr. Michael Holmes was not only a pioneer in settlement but one of the first to practice the healing art according to the methods in vogue during the earlier decades of the nineteenth century. He left a namesake and nephew who, after his uncle's death, took up his practice and fol- lowed in his footsteps with such success as to add to the traditional reputation of the family as popular physicians. This second Dr. Michael Holmes was born in Highland county in 1823 and for a while after reaching manhood engaged in teaching school. Later he became a pupil in Starling Medical college at Columbus and in due time was graduated with high honors. Shortly thereafter, he located
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in the town of New Petersburg, in Paint township, where he imme- diately entered upon the practice of his profession. In 1870 he removed to Leesburg and continued actively engaged as a practi- tioner at that point until his death, which occurred in 1884. He obtained prominence and popularity, being one of the founders of the Southern Ohio Medical association, which afterward became so strong and influential. In 1851 he was married to Catherine Pierce, whose father, Benjamin Pierce, was a pioneer tanner and merchant at New Petersburg and died in 1873. This union resulted in the birth of Ralph E. Holmes, who was destined to head the third generation of doctors in the family. He was born near New Peters- burg, Highland county, Ohio, in December, 1853. His early educa- tion was obtained in the public schools and by study in the office of his father, where he qualified himself for the practice of medicine and was engaged in the same for several years before completing his course. Eventually he entered the Medical college at Louisville and after a thorough training in that institution was graduated with the class of 1891. Returning home he resumed the practice of his profession at Leesburg and has been quite successful, enjoying a large and lucrative patronage over a wide area of territory contigu- ous to his headquarters. Dr. Holmes is one of the progressive men of his community and in sympathy with all movements in the direc- tion of growth and advancement. He is a prominent member of the Highland County Medical association and keeps abreast of the times in all discoveries and improvements affecting the profession to which he has devoted his life. As a member of the board of healthi he lent his influence towards securing better sanitary regulations and improvement in hygienic conditions. In 1893, Dr. Holmes was married to Mary E., daughter of Shepley Holmes, one of the old and influential residents of Fairfield township.
Andrew Holt, a well known sawmill proprietor and operator of various kinds of farm machinery, has struggled up from poverty and hardship to the possession of a comfortable competence. His par- ents, Andrew and Darcas A. (Fisher) Holt, were natives of Virginia, who settled in Adams county, Ohio, and later in Jackson township, Highland county, where the father died about 1858. Andrew Holt, their son, was born in Adams county, Ohio, December 20, 1847, and his earlier years were saddened by a constant struggle against pov- erty and hardship. When a child ten years of age he was compelled to work on a farm for means to assist in supporting his mother, and every cent he earned was dutifully turned over to her. He never ceased to look after her welfare and comfort until she died at his house in the seventy-fifth year of her life. The civil war opened when he had scarce reached his fourteenth year, but he enlisted in September, 1861, in Company D, Sixtieth regiment Ohio volunteer
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infantry, and went with that organization to join Fremont in the valley of Virginia in the spring of 1862. They fought at Strasburg and Cross Keys and were later sent to Harper's Ferry to assist in guarding that supposed stronghold, but were cooped up and captured by Stonewall Jackson on his way into Maryland to fight the battle of Antietam. The Sixtieth regiment marched to Annapolis after parole and afterward was sent to Camp Douglass at Chicago and dis- charged. Mr. Holt returned home and in the late fall of 1862 re-enlisted in the Twenty-fourth Ohio independent battery, with which he served until the close of hostilities. This artillery organ- ization spent most of its time in guarding prisoners at Johnson's Island and Camp Douglass and was discharged in 1865 with high compliments from the commanding general for their efficiency and prompt performance of all duties. Mr. Holt was little more than a boy when the war closed but hastened home and set manfully to farm work by the month as a means of getting a start in the world. Event- ually he secured some land and spent seven years in farming on his own account but abandoned this to take charge of a grist mill and saw mill in Washington township. From that time on he has made a business of sawmilling and managing threshing machines, seed hullers and other farm machinery. At present he owns two steam sawmills, besides twenty acres of land, and does a thriving business in his line. October 9, 1872, he was married to Hester Milburn, member of one of the long established families of Jackson township. She is a daughter of Daniel and granddaughter of Thomas Milburn, the latter a pioneer settler. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Holt died in infancy but they have an adopted daughter, Bertha Johnson.
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