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 47
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Joseph J. Parker, a popular citizen of Lynchburg, is of French parentage and has the happy temperament and vivacious spirits so characteristic of the children of sunny France. It has been remarked that the people of no nationality are so averse to leaving their native land as the French and none suffer so much from homesickness. Hence, as a rule, they do not seek to become colonizers, but John and Mary (Bulport) Parker proved to be exceptions, as they left their native country in early life and crossed over to the United States with their parents, who settled in Brown county, Ohio, and there ended their days. When John Parker grew up he learned the coop- er's trade and has followed that occupation during the great portion of his life. In politics he is Democratic and his only fraternal con- nection is with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. At the present time, he lives with his wife at Lynchburg and their family consists of three sons. Joseph J. Parker, one of the latter, was born April 6, 1854, while his parents were living in Clermont county, Ohio. He was brought by his parents to Lynchburg when six years old and has resided all his life in that pretty Highland county town. After obtaining a fair English education in the high school, Mr. Parker followed the example of his father by learning the cooper's
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trade, which engaged his attention for seventeen years after he reached the working age. In 1888 he embarked in the business of saloon-keeping, to which he has since given his time and met with a fair measure of success. He is independent in politics, votes according to his best judgment and has never asked any party for office. He is a member of Lynchburg lodge, No. 15, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Parker was married in 1874 to Annie Halloday, of Highland county, by whom he has one daughter, named Luella, born March 25, 1878, who grew up to be quite an accom- plished young lady, having graduated with credit at the Lynchburg High School and subsequently married A. L. Bobbitt, by whom she has two children, Beatrice and Vivian.
Charles R. Patterson & Sons is the name of a popular and widely known firm of carriage manufacturers at Greenfield which is one of the largest concerns of the kind in Ohio and does an interstate busi- ness. As at present constituted it was established in 1893, prior to which time the firm name was Lowe & Patterson, under which title the business had been conducted for more than twenty years. Besides carriages, they manufacture buggies, road wagons and other wheeled vehicles, being equipped to do any class of work that falls in their line. Aside from Cincinnati, Columbus and Springfield, this plant in the lively little city of Greenfield yields to no other in Southern Ohio as to size or amount and quality of work or extent of trade. The firm ships goods to every part of Kentucky, deals exten- sively in distant Texas and in fact does more or less business in a score of states. Charles R. Patterson is not only the head of the firm but he is also the father of the sons who constitute the company. A native of Virginia, he has spent practically all of his life at Green- field in the manufacturing business, and is a mechanic of the very first order in his line, having no superior as a smith. He is besides an excellent business man, sound in judgment and full of enterprise and push. The two sons of this popular establishment were Fred- erick D. and S. C. Patterson (deceased), both born and bred in Greenfield and, so far as the literary part of their education goes, products of its fine common school system. Frederick D. Patter- son, the elder brother, after graduating in the high school of his- native city, took a course at the Ohio State university. The next five years he occupied the chair as professor of history in the Louis- ville Central high school, but eventually concluded to abandon the business of teaching to enter the carriage business in which lay his principal financial interests. With a view, therefore, of returning to Greenfield and joining his father in the manufacturing establish- ment he resigned his professorship at Louisville. Aside from busi- ness, he is quite conspicuous in politics on the Republican side, being-
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connected with the party clubs and a delegate to their last meeting in Springfield. He is looked upon as a rising young man, whose popularity aided by his marked ability promises for him high hon- ors in the ranks of his party. The Foraker club at Greenfield, of which he is an esteemed member, recently honored him by selection as the orator at one of their meetings. He takes great interest in the grand work of Booker T. Washington, and is associated with that famous educator in his efforts to establish the National Business League. In his religious affiliations Mr. Patterson is an Episcopa- lian and his fraternal connections are confined to Freemasonry in which he has reached the degree of master mason. He was married in 1901 to Estelline Postill, an accomplished young lady of Hopkins- ville, Ky., and with his wife occupies a front rank in Greenfield's social circles.
Louis Pausch, a veteran railroad employe, is one of the most public- spirited citizens of Leesburg, of which place he has long been a resident. He belongs to that industrious army of adopted citizens to whom the country is under so many obligations for the building of its vast and invaluable transportation system. Mr. Pausch bore his full share in the hardest of that work, the part devoted to the digging, track-laying and other features of the construction department, but. whatever he was put to do he did it so well as to invite commendation and insure steady if slow reward. Louis Pausch was born in Bavaria, Germany, December 27, 1834, and fifteen years afterward was on his way to America in search of that fortune which has been the lodestone of so many eager emigrants. He tarried awhile in the cities of New York and Philadelphia but eventually found his way to the land of promise in Ohio, where he called a halt and looked around for employ- ment. It was in 1852, when about eighteen years of age, that this venturesome young German secured work at Chillicothe in the con- struction department of the old Marietta & Cincinnati railroad. He put in about a year at various odd jobs and then helped lay the first track for this road into the city of Chillicothe. In the same year he was engaged in building the railroad through Ross into Highland county and in 1854 assisted in the track-laying from Greenfield to Leesburg on to the Clinton county line. After three years of service in the construction department, he was appointed section foreman ; in 1866 he was acting supervisor and two years later he was made supervisor, a position which he has held up to the present time, having charge of different divisions at various times. He is the oldest employe of the railroad in the department where he is engaged and can look back with pardonable pride on his long career, which began in poverty and has ended in substantial independence. Since locating at Leesburg Mr. Pausch has been a prominent factor in the town's growth and improvement. As a member of the board of education he
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has looked earnestly after the interests of the schools and in the city his services were invaluable during the era of street improvement, owing to his energy and skill as an expert road builder. He was made chairman of the committee on streets and pushed with intelligent vigor the work which resulted in such great benefit to the town's appearance and desirability as a place of residence. For the same reasons that always recommended him as the leader when any enter- prise was on hand requiring public spirit, Mr. Pausch was made chairman of the building committee that had charge of the construc- tion of the city hall, which has proved such a convenience and ornament to Leesburg. In 1857, he was married to Susan Roth, member of an old German family of New York state, who shares with him the esteem of a wide social acquaintance.
Wesley Pence, owner of a large and highly improved farm in New Market township and an extensive breeder of fine stock, is of the third generation removed from one of the first settlers of Highland county. The founders of the western branch of the family came from Virginia to Ohio in the early part of the last century and settled in Adams county, where they remained until about 1810. In that year they removed to Highland county, bringing their son Henry, who married Catherine, daughter of Isaac and Mary Layman, immigrants who came from Virginia in 1800. Henry Pence and wife located in what is now Hamer township, spent their lives in clearing and cultivating a pioneer farm and became the parents'of fourteen chil- dren, all of whom are now dead except John, Henry and Mahala, now Mrs. McKee. George Pence, fourth of the children in age, was born in New Market township, February 28, 1816, and remained with his parents until he had passed his majority. He married Catherine, daughter of Philip and Polly Wilkin, located on a farm and in time became a large land-owner, and passed away at the age of eighty-four years after becoming the father of the following children: Margaret, deceased ; Wesley, subject of this sketch; Franklin, of New Market township; Ellis, of Columbus ; Andrew W., of New Market; Polly, Sarah and Alice, deceased. Wesley Pence, second of the children, was born in New Market township, Highland county, Ohio, April 13, 1842, on the farm adjoining his present home place. In the summer of 1862 he enlisted in Company A, Eighty-ninth regiment Ohio Vol- unteer infantry, which was first sent to Kentucky and from there to West Virginia, where it went into winter quarters. Later it was ordered to Tennessee and participated actively in the campaigns which culminated in the battle of Chickamauga. Mr. Pence was discharged on account of disability and returned home, where he remained until the spring of 1864, and then re-enlisted in Company A, Hundred and Sixty-eighth regiment Ohio National Guard. This command was sent to Kentucky and after a hot fight at Cynthiana
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was mostly captured but soon afterward paroled. Later the regiment did guard duty at Cincinnati and in September was sent to Camp Dennison, where it was discharged from the service. When Mr. Pence returned home the second time in the fall of 1864, he resumed his occupation on the farm and shortly afterward was married to Susannah J., daughter of Carey and Sarah (Trop) Duckwall, descendant of one of the oldest families in the county. For awhile after marriage Mr. Pence resided in Liberty township, then pur- chased a place of 136 acres in New Market township, where he has since made his home. His original holdings have been increased to 530 acres, on which he has erected modern buildings of all kinds and in every way so improved it that it is now regarded as the best equipped farm in the township. He raises stock extensively, making a specialty of Shorthorn cattle, of which he has one of the handsomest herds in the county. As a farmer he is progressive and enterprising,. keeping well abreast of all modern improvements and well informed in all that concerns advanced agriculture. He is a member of Golden Ridge grange, No. 230, at New Market, and Hillsboro post, No. 205, Grand Army of the Republic. His religious affiliations are with the Mount Zion Reformed church and his political views are those of the Republican party. Mr. and Mrs. Pence have four children : Carey A., of Liberty township; William H., of Hillsboro; Sarah H., wife of Urban Orebaugh, and General George O., now at home.
Lewis Pence, postmaster, and a citizen of general usefulness and popularity at the village of Nevin in the township of Hamer, has a pioneer ancestry going back to the first decade of Highland county's history. His father, Peter Pence, was one of that remarkable family of fourteen children of Henry and Catherine (Layman) Pence, who are mentioned in more detail above. All save one of this large family reached maturity, married and had children of their own, thus. making the name Pence one of quite frequent appearance in the annals of New Market and other townships framed out of that orig- inal territory. Peter Pence, who was third in order of birth of the family of fourteen, learned the blacksmith's trade and earned the reputation of being the most expert mechanic in his line in Highland county. In 1833 he married Mary Ann Wilkin, born March 27, 1817, in New Market township, and daughter of Philip and Polly Wilkin of early pioneer fame. His first location after marriage was. on the place now owned by George W. Robinson, and about 1856 he purchased the place where his widow still resides. Although his main business after that was farming, he did not abandon his trade but devoted much time to his old calling as a horseshoer and wagon repairer and was so engaged until his death at the age of seventy- seven years. Peter Pence's marriage rivaled that of his father in fruitfulness, as it resulted in the birth of thirteen children. Of these'
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Catherine, Mahala, Peter, Sallie, Thomas H., Andrew, Mary J. and Philip have passed away, the last mentioned being killed in the army. The children still living are Rachel, wife of George Fawley, of Dan- ville, Ohio; John, of Liberty, and David, of New Market township; Lydia, wife of Jefferson Fawley, of Danville, and Lewis Pence, sub- ject of this sketch. The latter was born in New Market township, Highland county, Ohio, January 29, 1846, and remained at home until the twenty-fifth year of his age. Shortly after that period he was married to Mary Jane, daughter of John and Isabella Lemon, who had removed from Highland to Allen county, Ohio. After mar- rying, Mr. Pence lived about one year on the old home place and then removed to a farm in. Liberty township, where he spent eighteen months. Subsequently he returned to the home place and spent several years in different locations in Hamer township, after which he settled permanently at Nevin. He had learned from his father the useful and honorable trade of blacksmithing, and this he has steadily followed during the most of his life. At present he combines the two important roles of village blacksmith and postmaster, in addition to dealing in groceries and confectionery, and owns a small tract of land near the village, besides his home and other town property. He has served as township trustee and constable, and is much esteemed in all the relations of life. Of his four children, Emma: L. is dead ; Ella is assistant in the postoffice ; Ellis lives at Hillsboro and Ira at Dayton, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Pence, as well as their children, are members of the Reformed church.
Henry A. Pence, member of the board of trustees of Hamer town- ship, derives his origin from the old Virginia family mentioned in the preceding sketches, who journeyed to Ohio when it was still full of wild beasts and wilder men. Allen Pence was the sixth in age of the children of Henry and Catherine (Layman) Pence, and his birth occurred on the old home farm in 1826. When he reached matrimonial age he was united in wedlock with Margaret Strange, of a substantial Highland county family, and located on a farm of 100 acres, which is still in his possession. Subsequently he purchased a considerably larger farm to which he removed and has since made his place of residence. He prospered in his affairs and at one time owned 400 acres of land, most of which, however, he gave to members of his immediate family. Of his five children two died in infancy and John A., the youngest, passed away after reaching mature years. The two survivors are Mary E., wife of John Knupp of Hamer township, and Henry A. Pence, who was born on his father's farm in Highland county, Ohio, July 24, 1854. Shortly after reaching legal age he married Laura, daughter of Richard and Caroline Holt, and located on a farm of 130 acres, where he resided twenty years, since which time he has lived with his father on the homestead place. Mr. Pence
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has farmed in the usual way, cultivating the standard crops, raising stock and attending to the multifarious work incident to his calling. He has for some time been a member of the board of trustees of Hamer township and is serving his second term in that capacity. His fraternal relations are with Lynchburg lodge, No. 151, of the Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America, at Lynchburg. His only child, Richard A., resides in Dodson township, and the family are communicants of the Christian church.
Lewis S. Pittser, one of the esteemed citizens of Dodson township, comes of an old pioneer family and has many interesting stories to tell of the achievements and characteristics of his ancestors. The first of the name in America was John Pitzer (for so it was originally spelled), who came from Baden, Germany, about 1770, with his brother Michael, who was the father of twenty-four children by two marriages. John Pitzer settled in Berkeley county, W. Va., where he followed farming and weaving, reared a family and passed away. Among his ten children was John Pittser, born in January, 1777, who married Elizabeth Pifer and by her had two sons, Mathias and Jacob, and by a second marriage three children, Rachel, Adam and Andrew. Jacob Pittser, the second son of John and Elizabeth, was born in Berkeley county, W. Va., August 19, 1800, and in September, 1828, married Catherine Speagh. She was a daughter of Lewis Speagh, born about 1756 of German parentage, who settled in Wash- ington county, Md., followed farming and shoemaking, and by his marriage to Elizabeth Cramer about 1797 had the following children : John, George, David, Michael, Nancy, Catharine (born June 11, 1801), Mary, Charlotte, Rachel, Margaret and Sarah, all of whom except Michael, who died in infancy, lived to be more than sixty years old, and three reached the age of nearly ninety years. About 1824, Lewis Speagh migrated to Licking county, Ohio, and ten years later settled in Highland county, where he died October 26, 1855, at the age of ninety-six years. A very large German Bible, formerly owned by him, bearing date of publication, 1737, is now treasured by his grandson, the subject of this sketch, the leaves being fairly well preserved but most of the binding is long since gone. The lids, which still remain, are of wood, ten by nineteen inches and one inch thick. In September, 1825, Jacob Pittser and wife, his father and Uncle Michael with their families, and others who made a party of about twenty persons, started from Virginia, came in private conveyances by way of Wheeling and Columbus over the rough and difficult trails of those days, and eventually reached their point of destination in Highland county. The entire party settled on the banks of the East fork of the Little Miami river, where most of them spent the remainder of their lives. Jacob Pittser first leased and later bought
H-23
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part of a military grant belonging to Capt. William White, of Vir- ginia, to which he added by subsequent purchases until his holdings of land amounted to between four and five hundred acres. An inci- dent in his early life is worth recalling as an illustration of pioneer methods and hardships. Mrs. Pittser longed to see her father and mother, who had located in Licking county several years before. Though the distance was not great, as measured now, it was then almost as if an ocean lay between, so imposing were the difficulties of travel in a country covered by the primeval forest. Wheeled vehicles were not obtainable and would have been useless in the absence of roads, so the only recourse was to walk or ride horseback. The only beasts of burden in possession of the family was an old mare brought from Virginia and one of her colts three years old. So Mrs. Pittser courageously mounted the former while her husband bestrode the frisky colt, and they took turns carrying the six-months-old infant. Thus equipped, they started late in the summer of 1829 to thread their way through the wilderness, often traveling many miles without seeing a human being. The third day out, a drove of wild hogs by suddenly starting up from their brush covert so frightened the colt that Mr. Pittser was thrown headlong from the saddle, and narrowly escaped falling upon and crushing the baby. Aside from this acci- dent,, which was afterward often recalled and discussed around the fireside, the travelers reached their destination without further adventure after five days of wearisome and dangerous journeying. After a glad reunion, the Pittsers, a month later, arrived safely at their Highland county home, Mrs. Pittser bringing back a ten-year-old sister who remained an inmate of the household until her marriage in 1840 to Jacob Ellis of Clermont county. Jacob Pittser was a man of strong anti-slavery views and though a life-long Democrat aban- doned his party on that issue and joined the Republicans as soon as they became organized. He was also an ardent advocate of temper- ance and in later life was accustomed to vote at general elections with the Prohibition party. Shortly after its organization he became a member of the Methodist Protestant church and was chiefly instru- mental in building on his farm a meeting-house called "Pleasant Hill," which was an object of his solicitous care and generous contri- butions during the remainder of his life. He was an exhorter, held all the minor offices in the society and at different times represented the Lynchburg circuit in the Ohio annual conferences of the organiza- tion. He died January 6, 1886, and his good wife passed away December 20, 1888, on the old homestead, where they had spent together more than sixty years of joint trial and mutual happiness. The children of Jacob and Catherine Pittser were George W., William, Sophia, Lewis S., Martha J., Harvey A., Margaret E., and Mary C., the first born in Virginia in 1824 and all the others on the farm in Dodson township, near Lynchburg. The four now living are
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George W., in Van Buren county, Iowa; Sophia, in Sabina, Ohio; Lewis S., noticed below; and Margaret E., in Olney, Ill. Lewis Speagh Pittser, fourth in age of the children, was born one mile north of Lynchburg, Highland county, Ohio, on the farm where he now resides, July 3, 1831. His education was. obtained in the com- mon schools, followed by one term each in the graded school at Vienna and the Normal university at Lebanon. With this equipment, com- mencing in 1855 he devoted most of the next ten years to teaching in his own and the adjoining school districts. On June 30, 1857, he married Anna E. Moore, who was born near Winchester, Adams county, Ohio, October 24, 1836. Her parents, William and Margaret (Beam) Moore, were married January 15, 1828, and had nine chil- dren : Sarah J., Daniel, Samuel T., Harriet, Anna E., Margaret A., Colista V., Elizabeth A. and William. Those living are Sarah J., widow of Robert Orr, and Margaret A., widow of Jesse Wright, residents of Austin, Texas; Samuel, of Louisville, Ky. ; Harriet, widow of John Maines ; Colista V., wife of Theodore Gibner of Cin- cinnati, and Elizabeth A., wife of John Steen, of Flora, Ind. William Moore was a farmer and stockraiser in Adams county until 1852, when he bought a sawmill at Moscow, Clermont county, and was engaged in the lumber business until his death August 3, 1855. His widow survived him many years and died at Louisville, Ky., October 28, 1868. In 1864, with his brothers, George W. and Harvey A., Lewis S. Pittser enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Sixty- eighth regiment, Ohio national guard, with which he served under Captain Smith until honorably discharged. In the early spring of 1865 with his little family, he moved to LaSalle county, Ill., where he spent the summer in farming. In the fall he purchased a farm of one hundred acres in Scotland county, Mo., on which he built a house and made some other improvements, after which he again turned his attention to school teaching. Subsequently he sold his farm and became assistant teacher in a select graded school at Memphis, the county seat of Scotland county, Mo. In the fall of 1868, he organized a select school at Athens, in Clark county, Mo., employed an assistant and was doing very well until a small pox epidemic in the spring caused a sudden closing of the term. He and his family then went to Chatsworth, Ill., and the next few years were spent in teaching at various points in that state. In 1873, Mr. and Mrs. Pittser made a visit to the old homme in Highland county and spent two summer months most pleasantly with father, mother and other relatives, which period they often recalled as the most delightful of their lives. Returning to Illinois Mr. Pittser spent some years in teaching and later bought a farm in Iroquois county where he remained until 1888, when he sold out and returned to Highland county. In 1889 he purchased the old homestead of his brothers and sisters, occupied the same with his family and since has made his residence there. Mr.
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