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 48
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THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND.
Pittser cast his first Presidential vote in 1852 for John P. Hale and George W. Julian, and being strongly opposed to slavery was identified with the Republican party for many years, but is now independent in politics. In 1846 he joined the Methodist Protestant church, but after removing west affiliated with the Methodist Episco- pal church, in which he has constantly held one or more of the minor offices and been a member of the official board. Lewis S. and Anna E. Pittser have had four sons and a daughter: Milton L., born May 25, 1858, died May 11, 1860; Nelson H., born May 25, 1860, was mar- ried to Anna Harris in Louisville, Ky., November 26, 1887, and died October 25, 1890, leaving an only child, Eula B., born September 5, 1888, and now living at. Shawneetown, Ill .; Sarah V. D. was born May 26, 1865, in La Salle county, Ill., and married Ferdinand D. Ratcliff in Hillsboro, October 8, 1893. Jacob J. was born in Missouri November 18, 1867, and married Lilian Griffith in Lees- burg, Ohio, September 15, 1892, their children being Hazel G., born in 1893, and E. Eugene, born in 1899. William C. was born at Oliver's Grove, Ill., July 12, 1871, married Dora Miller of Piper City, Ill., September 19, 1895, and was killed in a railroad accident at Terre Haute, Ind., November 12, 1895.
Sampson T. Porter, of Brush Creek township, is a grandson of one of the pioneers, Joshua Porter, a native) of Maryland, who came to Brush Creek township about 1806, and built and operated one of the early saw mills. He married a Miss Tener, of Maryland, and had six children : Samuel, George, Jacob, Noma, Katie and Margaret. Samuel, born in Maryland, March 15, 1801, was only ten years of age, when his father died, and after that event he labored faithfully to assist the mother in rearing her children. In youth he learned the trade of a carpenter, and later, when the burdens of the family had somewhat fallen from him, he married Christina Garman, a native of Highland county, and they made a home of their own in Brush Creek township. Fifteen years later they moved into Adams county, and lived until 1868, and then to Mifflin, Pike county, and thence in 1871 to Highland county, where Samuel Porter died at the age of seventy years. During the greater part of his life he was engaged in milling. He had eleven children: Caroline and Peter, deceased ; Powell B., living in Kansas ; Samuel, deceased ; Francis M., of Ross county ; Sampson T .; Jacob, in Kansas; James D., in Pike county ; Anna and Henrietta, in Ross county, and one that died young. Sampson T. Porter was born January 3, 1842, in Brush Creek town- ship, was educated in the district school, and in early manhood entered the military service of the state, during the time of the great rebellion. He enlisted as a private in Company K of the Hundred and Forty-first regiment, Ohio National Guard, was mustered in at Gallipolis, and served for five months in post and garrison duty in
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West Virginia. At the conclusion of this duty, being honorably dis- charged, he returned home and for some time was in the employment of his father in the flouring and saw mills. Later he married Martha A. Bowles, and they made their home forty-two years in Pike county, bought the property in Brush Creek township where he now lives, thirty-six acres of land and one of the pioneer mills of the county, which he maintains in successful operation. He is one of the influential men of the county, and has been honored by the people of his township with the office of trustee two terms, and that of treasurer one term. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in politics a Democrat. Of his four children, Sadie is the wife of James Beekman, of Brush Creek; Callie is the wife of R. L. Leeper, of Pike county ; Samuel married Pearl Roads and resides on the old homestead, and Walter W., at home.
William F. Price, a well known citizen of Hillsboro, has long been a resident of that place and connected as agent with various business enterprises. Though of Kentucky birth he was of loyal lineage and served his country gallantly during four years as a sol- dier in the Union army. His father, William Price, was a minis- ter of the Methodist Episcopal church, formerly resident in Warren county, Ohio, and was highly esteemed as a good man in the relig- ious circles to which he devoted the labor of his life. He married Sarah King, a native of Reading, Ohio, by whom he had a large family of children, two of whom were among the great hosts who upheld the cause of the country in the dark days of the civil war. Alexander Price, who served two years and afterward was success- ful in business, died December 25, 1901. Mary P. Price, another of the children, married a Mr. Housley and is now residing at Grand Rapids, Ohio. William F. Price, the subject of this sketch, was born March 2, 1844, while his parents were living in Kentucky, and was consequently about seventeen years old when the opening guns of the civil war aroused the military ardor of the young patriot. He lost no time in seeking an opportunity to go to the front and this was afforded by his enlistment in Battery F, First regiment, Ohio light artillery. With this command he served from the beginning until the close of the great struggle, covering a period of four years, when he at length returned home found he had reached man's estate with all the responsibilities connected therewith. He located in Clermont county, Ohio, where he secured employment and worked until December 25, 1872, when he was married to Kate Alice Jones, a lady who came of an ancestry of soldiers in the various wars of the country. Her maternal grandfather, John Muir, married Mary, daughter of Squire Utter, who migrated from Pennsylvania and in 1792 settled near Felicity in Clermont county, Ohio. He served
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THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND.
in the war of 1812. Her paternal grandfather, Thomas Jones, was a colonel of militia before the war of 1812, and his son Jacob, who married Mary Muir and became the father of Mrs. Price, served on the Union side in the civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Price have two chil- dren : Florence, born November 27, 1873, married S. J. Hider, who is in the fruit and garden business; and Mabel, born March 27, 1893, is a student in the Hillsboro schools. Mr. Price has been a resident of Hillsboro for many years, serving as agent for various enterprises, and has a wide acquaintance among the city's business men. For a while he resided two miles west of Hillsboro but in 1901 purchased a comfortable brick dwelling house on South John- son street where he has since made his home.
William H. Pricer, veteran of the civil war with a long and hon- orable record, now resident of Greenfield, Ohio, comes of one of the old Ross county families. The founder of the family was Henry Pricer, who came from Pennsylvania when the settlement of Ohio had hardly well begun and bore his share of the burdens involved in the task of clearing the wilderness. Among his children was a son named Daniel, who was born on what is known as Pricer Ridge in Ross county in 1815, subsequently became a farmer and died at South Salem in 1890. He married Nancy, daughter of William Stinson, of Ross county, by whom he reared a family of seven chil- dren. Of these, Elizabeth and Martha J. died after marriage; James H., while serving in the Union army was taken prisoner at Little Blue, Mo., and is now a farmer in Illinois; Mary C. is the wife of a Nebraska farmer named Jack, and Nancy M. is married and living in the same state; Lucinda Ellen is the wife of Jacob Smith of Illinois. William H. Pricer, eldest of the children, was born and reared in Ross county and at the outbreak of the civil war was farming with his father. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in Company H, Twenty-seventh regiment Ohio infantry, which was sent to Missouri and took part in the campaigns against Van Dorn and Price. After much marching and counter marching, picket fight- ing and skirmishes innumerable, the Twenty-seventh regiment found itself hotly engaged in the great conflict at Corinth, Miss. In that battle, Mr. Pricer was wounded and being taken to the hospital at Jef- ferson Barracks, Mo., remained two weeks and was sent home on thirty days' sick leave. At the expiration of eighteen days, however, he reported for duty and rejoined his company at Ripley, Miss., after which he participated in all the lively skirmishes and large engage- ments which characterized the succeeding campaigns, notably the battles at Holly Springs, Iuka and Atlanta. Then followed the march to the sea, the trip up the coast through the Carolinas and battle of Bentonville, all winding up with the grand review at Wash-
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ington. Mr. Pricer was mustered out with his command in July, 1865, as a corporal, and immediately returned to his home in Ross county, where he resumed the peaceful pursuit of farming. For the ten succeeding years he carried on this business in Ross and Fay- ette counties alternately, removed to Greenfield in 1887 and for seven years has been overseer of the cemetery in that city. In 1868, he was married to Sarah, daughter of James McCann, of Highland county, by whom he has five children. Herbert Lee, the eldest, at present an electrician at St. Louis, Mo., was a member of Company E, Fourth Ohio regiment, in the Spanish-American war and took part in the Porto Rico campaign. Louis C., the second son, now an operator on the Vandalia railroad stationed at East St. Louis, was also in the Spanish war as a member of the signal corps. The other children are: Gertrude, wife of L. Mobray, electrician with the Swift packing house in St. Louis ; Madge and Harry, at home. Mr. Pricer is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and one of the comrades of Gibson post, Grand Army of the Republic.
Prof. Chilton A. Puckett, the efficient superintendent of the Lynchburg schools, was born near Berrysville, Highland county, Ohio, August 19, 1863. His parents, Alexander and Miriam (Waldron) Puckett were also natives of Highland county, the birth of the former occurring on February 22, 1833, and of the latter on August 14, 1833. Superintendent Puckett spent his youth on the farm assist- ing his father in its management, and during the winter season attended the district school. When he was about fifteen years of age his parents removed to Hillsboro, and this afforded young Puckett the opportunity he had long wished for to secure a better education and he entered the Hillsboro city schools and studiously applied himself to bettering his education. He made rapid progress and soon qualified himself for teaching, and has continued/ in that profession ever since. For three years he had charge of the New Petersburg schools and in 1894 accepted a position as an instructor in the Lynchburg high school, where his services were of such a satisfactory nature that in 1898 he was chosen superintendent, and has continued in that capac- ity ever since. Under his excellent management the Lynchburg schools rank second to none in the county. It is worthy of remark, that Prof. Puckett holds both grades of state life certificates, which of itself is sufficient evidence of his exceptional qualifications to fill the responsible position he now holds. On November 27, 1884, he was united in marriage with Clara E. Ballentine, daughter of Andrew J. and Catharine E. (Miller) Ballentine, the former of Scotch descent, born in Pittsburg, Pa., January 8, 1834, and the latter a native of Highland county, born June 7, 1841, both of whom are still living and respected residents of Highland county. Mrs. Puckett was born near Berrysville, March 7, 1863, and her entire life
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has been spent in the county. . To this union were born two children : George C. on October 10, 1886, and at present a student in the Lynch- burg high school, and Nellie E., born January 18, 1889, and who died August 20, 1892. George C. has decided, for himself, to study medicine as soon as qualified to enter a first-class medical college and is bending his energies in that direction. Professor and Mrs. Puckett are members of the Methodist church. He also belongs to the Masonic order and is a member of the Modern Woodmen, of America. The family stands high, socially, in the estimation of the people.
Harley S. Pulse, attorney and real estate agent, and otherwise prominent in the affairs of Lynchburg, is descended from one of the pioneer families now largely represented in various parts of High- land county. His grandfather, David Pulse, was born in March, 1766, and in October, 1788, was married to Sarah Fry, with whom he located near Smithfield, Va. Their son, George W. Pulse, was born at the last mentioned place December 23, 1784, and married Eliza Bonwell, a native of Kentucky. In 1817, George with his wife and one child, accompanied also by his parents, came to Ohio and located in Highland county, two miles west of Hillsboro. He lived there until 1833, when he removed to Dodson township, where he taught school and cultivated his farm. He died near Dodsonville, April 7, 1888, in the ninety-fifth year of his age, and his wife passed away in 1889 when about eighty years old. This venerable couple and fine sample of the early pioneers became the parents of a numer- ous progeny, whose descendants have been conspicuous in the devel- opment of Highland county. Among their children was Charles M. Pulse, born in Dodson township in 1849 and married about 1870 to Florence E., daughter of Tavner Layman, a resident of the Weber- town neighborhood. The children springing from this union were Walter S., born January 6, 1872; George B., born in September, 1881, an electrician at Montpelier, Ind .; and Harley S. Pulse, the subject of this sketch. The latter was born on his father's farm in Highland county, Ohio, June 22, 1875, and received his academical education in the schools at Lebanon. Subsequently he attended the National Law University and after his graduation there in 1896 located at Lynchburg, where he has since been engaged in business. At his pleasant quarters in the new Kleckner block, he carries on a real estate and general fire insurance agency and represents the Central Life insurance company, in addition to conducting his regu- lar law practice. Mr. Pulse's popularity is attested by the fact of his having been honored by two elections as mayor of the corporation and his general activity in the social and business life of the town. He is a past grand of Lynchburg lodge, No. 151, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, past patriarch of Lynchburg encampment, No. 172, and a member of Lynchburg lodge, Knights of Pythias. In 1897 he-
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was married to Josephine, daughter, of W. H. and Sarah E. (Lan- diss ) Hopkins, of Lynchburg, one of the old families of that part of the county.
Flavious O. Pulse, a prosperous farmer of Salem township, belongs to a family long identified with the agricultural interests of High- land county, and mentioned above. One of the sons of George Pulse, a settler of Liberty township, in the first decade of the nineteenth century, was John D. Pulse, born in Liberty township, in 1816. He maried Cynthia A., daughter of Michael and Polly (Walker) Stroup, a famous pioneer couple of New Market township whose lives are sketched at some length in another article of this volume. After
marriage, John D. Pulse located on a farm in Dodson township, where he prospered and was accumulating property rapidly when cut off in the prime of life. In 1855 he had made a trip to Iowa to buy land for investment and while there contracted typhoid fever which terminated fatally twelve days after he returned to his Ohio home. His wife, however, assumed charge of the business and managed it successfully until her death, which occurred in 1899 at the age of seventy-nine years. Her living children are Eliud S., of Dodson township; the subject of this sketch; Michael B., of Brown county, and John W., who resides on the old place. Besides these, Mary E., the first born, and Eliza J., the fourth in order of birth, have passed away. F. O. Pulse, third in age of the children, was born in Dodson township, Highland county, Ohio, March 13, 1845, and remained at home until he had completed his twentieth year. Determined to see something of the world before he settled down to business, he started out on a long trip the objective points of which were Vera Cruz and other cities of Mexico. He was absent a considerable time and, after traveling 12,000 miles without seeing a single person whom he had known before, returned home with the full conviction that the old song was correct in saying there was no other place like home. Shortly after returning, he married Mary E., daughter of John Cramton, of Highland county, and located on the farm which has since been his place of residence. He showed himself to be not only an industrious but progressive farmer and has increased his original holdings of 122 acres to nearly five times that amount, all of which with the exception of seventy-five acres is under cultivation. He has greatly improved his estate while it was increasing in extent, and it is now ornamented with a handsome and commodious dwelling house, besides the numerous other buildings necessary in first-class farming. Mr. Pulse has been honored by having a postoffice named after him and he deserves the compliment, as he is one of the repre- sentative farmers of the prosperous township of Salem. Of his five children, three were lost in infancy, the living ones being Lillie M.,
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wife of Fred Granger, of Hillsboro, and Clarence P., who is at home. The family are members of the Christian church.
Adna P. Pushee, after an active life in the construction and traffic departments of various railroads, is now living a life of retirement on his farm near Leesburg, Ohio. He was brought in touch with the transportation business when a boy, on account of the fact that his father was in the express business in the east during the incip- iency of the vast railway systems of the country. The family is of excellent New England stock and was represented by ancestors in the revolutionary war. The eastern home was in Grafton county, New Hampshire, where Adna P. Pushee was born in 1834, and in early youth obtained employment as a mail carrier. Later he as- sisted his father on a mail route and was thus engaged until 1852, when he joined the tide of Western emigration and in due time arrived at Chillicothe, Ohio. At that time the Marietta & Cincin- nati railroad was building and young Pushee worked for several years in different capacities for the contractors. Eventually he was given a job as fireman and from that in a few months was promoted to the position of engineer, being one of the first to have charge of an engine on that line. He was engineer of the first passenger train that ran from Chillicothe to Marietta and remained for several years with the company in the same capacity. Subsequently he was made foreman of the engine-house, and later general foreman of the machine shops and finally promoted to the position of master mechanic. After a short retention of this place, he returned to his original task in the cab of a locomotive, which he again resigned to take charge of a gang of men in the service of contractors. He worked on the first line of railroad constructed through Highland county, which is now part of one of the great transportation systems of the country. In 1866 he left Ohio to become superintendent of steam shovels on the old Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette rail- road, with headquarters at St. Paul, Ind. He was engaged for some time subsequently in the construction department of what is now the "Big Four" railroad, working first on the main line and later on the present Whitewater Valley division. Abandoning railroad employ- ment temporarily, he became superintendent of construction for a while on the Whitewater canal, and later was in charge of difficult work near Harrison, Ohio, for a hydraulic company, which he car- ried out with entire success. In 1871 he returned to his old love, the railroad business, and was employed by the Marietta & Cincin- nati railroad company in the responsible position of lost-car and freight agent, doing similar work at the same time for the Baltimore & Ohio and Ohio & Mississippi lines. He had charge of these im- portant trusts until 1876, when he resigned and retired to his country place near Leesburg, where he has since looked after his farming
ยท
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interests. He has a large and well improved farm which he manages by modern methods and keeps abreast of all the improvements relat- ing to agriculture. He has never been an office-seeker, but held the position of land appraiser, to which he was elected in 1890 and filled to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. In 1861, he was mar- ried to Martha A. Ladd, who died in 1879. To this union were born Minnie, Walter and Nellie, the latter deceased. October 5, 1880, Mr. Pushee was united in marriage with Hannah E., daughter of John Cox, one of the early settlers and prominent men of his com- munity.
Hon. Henry H. Redkey, of Concord township, former county com- missioner and representative in the Ohio legislature, is one of the notable men of the country who are descended from pioneer settlers. His grandfather, Adam Redkey, a native of Pennsylvania, and resid- ing after marriage in Washington county, of that state, came to Ohio with his wife and children in 1808 and settled on the north bank of Rattlesnake creek, in Paint township, near the site of New Peters- burg. Adam Redkey was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, and would have been one of the conspicuous men of the early days of set- tlement, but while making a trip to Pennsylvania soon after he had purchased land, he took the fever and died, leaving his wife and six children to the fortunes of life in the wilderness. These children, Joshua, Jacob, Adam, John, George and Nancy, all now deceased, became farmers and prominent in their day, and their descend- ants are to be found among many of the best families of the town- ship. John Redkey, born in 1797 in Washington county, Pa., was reared from boyhood in Highland county, and in early manhood mar- ried Anna Hiatt, with whom he went to housekeeping near Rains- boro. Four children were born to them-William, George, Nancy and Alvira-all now deceased. After the death of this wife, John Redkey removed to the vicinity of Marshall, and married Rachel Edenfield, a native of Delaware, whose parens, Samuel and Jane Edenfield, came to Marshall township in 1818. In 1850 he moved to Concord township, to a farm of 160 acres, then wild land, now occupied by H. H. Redkey. He served several terms as township trustee, was quite successful as a farmer and stock raiser, but died at the age of fifty-six years, his wife surviving him to the age of sixty- six. Both are buried at Wesley Chapel cemetery. Two children were born to them, the subject of this sketch, and S. E. Redkey, now in the real estate and insurance business at Cincinnati, Ohio. Henry H. Redkey was born at the home in Marshall township March 1, 1839, and was educated in the district schools of that town- ship and Concord. When the war of the rebellion came on, he enlisted as a soldier August 10, 1862, in Captain Barrett's company, and was mustered in at Camp Dennison, as a private in Company I
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of the Eighty-ninth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry. His first service was in Kentucky and West Virginia, and then in the vicinity of Nashville and Gallatin, Tenn., until the summer of 1863, when he was with his regiment in the famous Tullahoma campaign and took part in the battle of Hoover's Gap. Following this he accompanied the army in the Chattanooga campaign, and participated in the battle of Chickamauga, September 19-20, 1863, the greatest of the war in the west. The Eighty-ninth was among the regiments that lost heavily in captured, and Private Redkey was among the prisoners, and he continued in this unfortunate plight during the remainder of the war. He was confined two months at Richmond, Va., then at Danville until May, 1864, and after that at the notorious prison pen at Andersonville, Ga., suffering greatly from hunger and disease, until April 28, 1865. Thence he was taken to Jacksonville, Fla., and then the war came to an end, and he came into the hands of the United States troops, and was transferred by boat to Annapolis, Md., and thence to Camp Chase, Columbus, where he was honorably dis- charged June 8, 1865. When he reached home he weighed but seventy-five pounds, so severe had been his deprivations and suffer- ing, and it was a year before he could undertake any work. Since then he has been engaged in farming and stock raising, meeting with much success and winning recognition as one of the most notable breeders of Shorthorn cattle in the county. He is the owner of 226 acres of land, in a high state of cultivation. His public life has been one of honor and valuable service to the public. For twelve years he filled the office of county commissioner, and in 1895 he was elected representative of Highland county in the Ohio legislature, a place of honor that he occupied for two terms. He is a member of the Grand Army post at Sugartree Ridge, and is a prominent Repub- lican and earnest member of the Methodist church. In early man- hood he married Sarah E., daughter of Josiah Y. and Rebecca E. Steen, and they have five children: Cora E., widow of Frank Heatherington, late of Hillsboro; Edwin S., who married Agnes Cochrane and live's on part of the homestead; Nellie B., Harry S., a law student at Hillsboro, and Mary L.
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