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 53
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Joseph W. Spargur, a noted pioneer of Highland county, was born in Surrey county, N. C., March 1, 1781, son of John W. and Chris- tina Spargur, and was there married to Rachel, daughter of Bowater and Phoebe (Sumner) Burrows. In the year 1804 Joseph W. and his family, and his brother Reuben, came to Highland county, and settled on Fall creek, a mile west of the site of New Petersburg, and in what is now Paint township. After some years spent in clearing their farms, they built in 1810 a grist mill on Fall creek, which is now owned and operated by Milton Worley, who has recently remod-
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eled it. In 1815 the brothers sold their mill and lands and Reuben returned to North Carolina, while Joseph packed his goods and moved, cutting a road through the forest as he went, to the Rocky fork of Paint creek. There, in partnership with David Reese, he bought several thousand acres of wild land, built a log house and within a year built a log dam across the creek, and began the erec- tion of a saw mill, grist mill, wool-carding and fulling mills, which he successfully operated for a few years, a period during which the country was rapidly taken up by new settlers. He also built him a substantial brick dwelling house, which is yet in use. Then he encountered disaster. Having gone to Pittsburg, with a lot of flour and other supplies that he had hauled to the Ohio river from the mills, he made what seemed a satisfactory sale on sixty days' time, but was annoyed by a dream that his mills had been washed away and John, his oldest son, drowned. On reaching Portsmouth he received confirmation of the dream, that a flood in the creek had swept away his dam and wrecked his mills, but when he got to Sink- ing Spring he was told the glad news that his son was not drowned. Still later he received advices that the firm to which he had sold his goods had become bankrupt, so that the old saying was verified that disasters never come singly. Within two years, however, this ener- getic pioneer had built the new mills that are yet in operation, and he replaced the old dam with a permanent stone structure. By his first wife, Rachel, he was the father of ten children. After she died, in 1823, he married, in 1824, Abigail Moore, and they had eight children. All of the children were reared to manhood and woman- hood. Mr. Spargur died March 6, 1845, and his second wife sur- vived to January 23, 1886. About the year 1856 several of his chil- dren and their families emigrated to Iowa, and others have gone west from time to time, so that the family is represented in nearly every state west of Pennsylvania, while collateral branches from North Carolina are found throughout the south and southwest.
Philip Spargur, a brother of Joseph, came from North Carolina in 1809, and settled on a large tract of land near the present site of New Petersburg, with his wife and ten children. In 1833 another brother, Henry, and family, and with them, the father, John W. Spargur, came and settled near Spargur's mills, where the father died in a few years, and was interred in the Quaker cemetery in Paint township. Henry had twelve children, making forty children in' all for the three brothers. In 1846 two sons of Joseph Spargur, Joseph, Jr., and Allen, bought of the administrator of their father's estate several hundred acres of land, including the mill privileges. Subsequently a division was made, and Allen took part of the lands and the mill, which he operated until his death, February 4, 1864. Allen was born October 20, 1815, and was married in 1839 to Eliza- H-31
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beth (daughter of John Wade), who is yet living in Rainsboro at the age of eighty-two years. Nine children were born to them, of whom five grew up-Mary A., wife of Elisha Beaver, living on a farm near Rainsboro, with four sons and two daughters living; Henry W., a lumber dealer at Bainbridge, who married Elizabeth Kerns, and has four children: John S., a merchant, who married Anna Murdock, and has four daughters living; Marnida E., wife of E. F. Lucas, a farmer of Marshall township, who has two children; and Joseph A. W. Spargur, a prominent citizen of Brush Creek township.
Joseph A. W. Spargur was born June 9, 1844, was educated in the district school, and in youth taught school in Iowa. At twenty- one he leased the Spargur mills, operated them two and a half years ; then was a retail merchant in New Petersburg for three years; next was a commercial traveler for two years. Leasing the Spargur mills again in 1875, he bought out the interest of the heirs in 1884, put in the roller system, and since then has maintained the mill, with constant improvement, as one of the best in the county. This his- toric mill is now in the hands of the third generation of the family. Mr. Spargur was married October 19, 1869, to Clara C., daughter of Dr. A. A. and Ruth A. (Pearce) Murdock of New Petersburg. She is a granddaughter of James and Susannah Murdock, pioneers of Paint township, and Benjamin and Catherine Pearce, very early settlers of this community. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Spargur are Olive M., born in 1872, who was educated in the common schools and the female academy at Hillsboro, taught school two terms, and in 1892 married J. W. Watts (son of State Senator Watts, and grandson of Thomas Watts, who was an Ohio pioneer from Vir- ginia), who is an attorney at Hillsboro ; Ernest, born in 1875, a grad- uate of the Northwestern Ohio university at Ada, and bookkeeper in the Farmers' and Traders bank at Hillsboro; Leon, born in 1877, and educated at the university at Ada, and now assisting in the man- agement of the Spargur mills; Bessie A., a graduate of the Hills- boro high school; Roy, born in 1881, educated at the Hillsboro high school and a machinist at Springfield; and Herbert, born in 1884, now taking a three years' course at the Ohio Normal university at Ada.
On August 19, 1875, the heads of the Spargur families of the county held a reunion and dinner at Redkey's grove near Rainsboro, with such success that a meeting was set for the next year at about the same date. This was attended by more than a thousand of the Spargur family and their friends, and the reunion, which has ever since been had annually, speedily became one of the most popular events in the county. A speaker's stand was erected, at which many prominent men have been heard, with music for the entertainment of the gathering. During the last twenty-four years it is estimated
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that the annual attendance has been as large as five or six thousand people, who meet for the quiet and whole-souled enjoyment of fra- ternal relations.
Berry W. Spargur, of Paint township, a successful farmer and worthy citizen, is a grandson of the pioneer, Joseph W. Spargur, mentioned on preceding pages. His father, James Spargur, born March 31, 1827, was the son of Joseph W. Spargur by his second marriage to Abigail Moore, who was born January 15, 1807, died January 23, 1886. James married Elizabeth, daughter of Berry Smith. Her father came to Highland county from Henry county, Va., in 1807, being at the time but a youth, and in 1820 married Isa Beavers, daughter of Thomas Beavers, another Virginian pio- neer. By a second marriage, to Rebecca, daughter of George W. Butler, James Spargur had several children: Flora and George, who died about thirty years of age; Maggie, wife of J. J. Hughes ; Amanda, wife of Henry Copeland; Fannie, widow of Werter Rit- tenhouse ; Olive, wife of Sylvanus Ross; James, of Paint township, and Charles (deceased), and Rosa. Berry W. Spargur, son of James and Elizabeth, was born December 25, 1850, on the farm where he now resides. He received a good education, and was engaged for three years in teaching school. Since then he has given all his time to farming, in which his industry and good judgment have been rewarded with a gratifying degree of remuneration. He bought his present farm of 180 acres, three miles south of Rains- boro, in 1876, and has recently built a handsome home. His farm is a model one, and very productive of grain and livestock, and a good young orchard is coming into bearing. In June, 1888, he was married to Flora Countryman, daughter of William and Mary (Stultz) Countryman, and of one of the old and influential families of the county. Mr. Spargur is a member of Rainsboro lodge, No. 453, Knights of Pythias, and his wife is a member of the Rathbone sisters. They have three children : McHenry, born April 13, 1889; Grace, born June 21, 1890; Charles Homer, born April 19, 1894.
Bowater W. Spargur, trustee of Brush Creek township, and one of the successful farmers of the county, is a worthy representative today of the pioneer family described in the previous sketch. He is a grandson of the pioneer, Joseph W. Spargur. His father, Joseph Spargur, born March 3, 1809, in his youth learned the trade of a miller at the old Spargur mill, one of the landmarks of Highland county, and in early manhood married Nancy Beavers, who was born and reared in Paint township, daughter of Thomas Beavers, of Vir- ginia, who settled near Rainsboro in 1820. They had fourteen chil- dren : William, now living in Iowa; Sally, deceased; John, in Colorado; Rachel, deceased; Allen, in Iowa; one who died in
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infancy; Nancy, Joseph, Icy, Calvin, deceased; Thomas, of Paint township; Tenie, of Iowa; Bowater W., and Mary, of Brush Creek. The father, Joseph Spargur, operated the mill for a good many years, and later bought and occupied part of the farm where Bowater W. now lives. He acquired 266 acres of land, was quite successful in the accumulation of property, and was active and influ- ential in his social and political relations, serving several terms as justice of the peace and in other township offices, and being generally recognized as one of the most devoted members of the Universalist church at Rainsboro. He lived to the age of eighty-four years, and his wife to seventy. Bowater W. Spargur, subject of this sketch, was born on the farm where he now lives, June 22, 1856; was edu- cated in the district school, and in early manhood married Emma Bales, daughter of Andrew and Lucinda (Pummill) Bales, of Paint township. Upon the death of his father he bought the old home place of 266 acres, where he has ever since been successfully engaged in farming and stock raising. He has been active in political and social life, sustaining the record of his family as influential in the councils of the old Democratic party, and becoming a valued mem- ber of the lodge of Knights of Pythias, No. 453, at Rainsboro. He has held the office of constable one term, and is now serving his first term as township trustee. Four children have been born to cheer his home: Melissa, Edith, Joseph and Allen.
Earl Alvern Squier, who holds the prominent and responsible position of treasurer of Highland county, is a citizen of Greenfield where he has long been influential both in politics and business. His grandparents were Ludlow and Anna (Drake) Squier, of New Jersey origin, whose children were Phoebe, Abraham, Nelson, Sarah Anna and Rachel Jane. Nelson Squier, third of the children in age, was born in Washington county, Pa., in May, 1824, and came with his parents to Athens county, Ohio, and in 1866 removed to Green- field, where he was engaged many years in the drug business. In 1847 he was united in marriage with Murvinah, daughter of David McKee, by whom he had four children: Milford Alonzo, who died at the age of thirty ; Charles C., real estate dealer in Greenfield ; Wil- bur Ludlow, horse trainer in that city ; and the subject of this sketch. Earl Alvern Squier, youngest of the family, was born in Athens county, Ohio, in May, 1864, and at the age of twenty-one purchased his father's drug store in partnership with J. D. Eldrick. The firm of Eldrick & Squier continued the business until 1887, when Mr. Squier bought the interest of his partner and remained sole propri- etor for nine years, when he sold a half interest to H. G. Simons. Under this partnership the business is still conducted and has been in existence continuously since 1866. Mr. Squier was a member of the Greenfield board of education six years, served ten years as mas-
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ter of exchequer for the Greenfield lodge Knights of Pythias, and holds membership in the order of Elks, Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica and the Ancient Order United Workmen. In 1899, he was nom- inated by the Democratic party as their candidate for treasurer of Highland county and was triumphantly elected. In 1901, he was put forward again as leader of his party's ticket and received the cordial endorsement of a re-election for another term. Those famil- iar with the county's affairs declare that it has never had a more popular treasurer than Mr. Squier, who seems to have found a way to discharge his responsible duties that pleases all classes, irrespective of party. December 3, 1889, he was married to Nellie B., daugh- ter of O. W. Cone, who was formerly in the wholesale notion trade at Chillicothe. Their children are Nannie M., born October 9, 1891; Jaunatta Mae, born July 3, 1893; and J. Alvern, born August 3, 1897.
Samuel M. Storer, one of the leading farmers of Washington township, is the grandson of an Ohio pioneer, James Storer, a native of Pennsylvania, who married a Miss Hover in that state, and early in the period of settlement came west and made his home in Adams county, where he reared a family of four children, three sons and one daughter; the sons were Stacey, Wilson, and Henry H. Henry H., the father of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared in Adams county and married there to Celia Dryden, a native of the same county. There they lived until about the year 1848, when he bought a farm of 100 acres in Washington township, now owned by J. H. Storer. Subsequently he enlarged his possessions to 500 acres, dealt extensively in live stock in addition to raising the same, and altogether was one of the notable men of his day. He was honored with the office of township treasurer, and in the Pres- byterian church held the office of deacon and was considered one of the main supporters of local religious work. He died at the age of sixty-eight years and his wife at eighty. Their children were James, deceased ; Samuel M .; William, of Oxford, Ohio; Sarah E., de- ceased ; Judie A., wife of Dr. Glasgow, of Belfast, O .; and Anna B., Stewart A., and Emma J., deceased.
Samuel M. Storer was born in Jackson township, July 6, 1843, and was educated in the district school until the time of the civil war, when, though but a boy of eighteen years, he patriotically of- fered his services in defense of the nation. He enlisted in Com- pany L of the Second Ohio cavalry regiment, was mustered in at Camp Dennison, and thence went with his command into Kentucky and Tennessee. Throughout the war he took part in many raids, marches and skirmishes, as well as famous battles. He was in the fighting around Knoxville, in 1863, and in 1864 participated in the battles of the Wilderness and Hanover Court House, in Virginia.
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While on Wilson's raid, in Virginia, he was seriously wounded, so that he was compelled to lie for three months in Camp Stoneman hospital at Washington, D. C. Fever and wounds made him unfit for duty, and after a short visit home he was put in charge of a ward in one of the military hospitals, where he remained until the close of the war. In all he served two years and nine months. Resuming the work of the farm after the war, he was married in 1868 to Martha Shannon, daughter of a prominent Highland county family, and they began married life on a farm opposite his present place of 115 acres, which he subsequently purchased, and which he has enlarged to 344 acres. After the birth of five children- Emma V., wife of Joshua Gall, of Marshall township, and Adda M., Henry T., and Charles B., deceased, and James H .- his wife died, and about three years later Mr. Storer married Ellen Trout, dangh- ter of James Trout, a respected citizen of Jackson township. They have one child, Ettie M., wife of Rebert Countryman. Mr. Storer has a very valuable farm, upon which he erected in 1885 a substan- tial and comfortable dwelling. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, in politics a Republican, and highly esteemed by his neigh- bors.
Alexander L. Stroup, the popular trustee of Salem township, bears a name which was very familiar in the early development of High- land county. His grandfather, Michael Stroup, one of the most picturesque and interesting of the western pioneers, came to New Market late in the fall of 1801, and there was something both comic and heroic in the picture he presented. On his head he carried an eighteen gallon copper kettle, on his back a pack of tools, and in his hands a quantity of wood. With this outfit the wearied traveler rested after his long and tedious journey from Maryland and made arrangements to go into business. He was a manufacturer of hats and in this capacity became famous in after years throughout the pioneer settlements of central Ohio. The next spring George Park- inson, a hatter from Pennsylvania, arrived in New Market and entered into partnership with Michael Stroup. This resourceful pair soon had constructed a hewed log shop with a shingle roof, the first building of that kind in all the region around, but there was no wool to be obtained for hatmaking in that vicinity, so Michael Stroup mounted his horse and rode to Lexington, where he purchased one hundred pounds for as many dollars and brought back the load on horseback. In March, 1803, Michael Stroup was married to Polly Walker, who had emigrated to the falls of Paint Creek with her stepfather and mother four years before, and to New Market in the spring of 1801. This marriage was the greatest event of the kind that had occurred in the settlement, and has been already described in this volume, as well as other events of Michael Stroup's
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career. Michael and Polly Stroup lived together fifty-seven years and raised a family of fourteen children, all but one of whom reached maturity and married. He died in Dodson township in 1860 and his wife in 1866. Henry Stroup, one of the children of this remark- able pioneer couple, was born in New Market township, Highland county, Ohio, in 1805, and when a young man became a flatboatman on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He married Lucinda Liggett, a native of Clinton but reared in Highland county, and a daughter of William Liggett. He settled in Dodson township on a farm of 120 acres which he so greatly increased that before the end of his life he owned 500 acres of well improved land. He was prominent in the community and highly esteemed, held various township offices and enjoyed the reputation of being a good business man. Both himself and wife were about sixty-five years old at the time of their respective deaths and they became the parents of seven children. Of these, Mary J. and Delilah, first and second in order of birth, have passed away; Tillie A. is the wife of A. Tebau of Clinton county ; Rebecca is the wife of Absalom Tedrick of Dodson township; William is residing at the old home place and Michael lives in Dodson town- ship. Alexander L. Stroup, youngest of the family, was born in Dodson township, Highland county, Ohio, October 27, 1851, and after he grew up engaged in farming which has been the exclusive business of his life. In early manhood he married Laura, daughter of Jacob and Jane Cochran, of Highland county, and after four years' residence in Dodson removed to Salem township. He pur- chased eighty-eight acres which he has since improved by the erection of a modernly constructed house and has devoted his time chiefly to the cultivation of the soil and stock-raising. He has been several time's elected trustee of the township and is serving his third term in that capacity. Mr. Stroup is a member of the Christian church, a man of excellent standing in the business world and a good citizen in all that the word implies. Jacob, the eldest of his two children, died February 19, 1902, in his twenty-second year; Emmett, the other son, remains at home.
John H. Stroup, a well-to-do farmer of the Dodsonville neighbor- hood, belongs to a family long established and well known in that part of Highland county embraced in Dodson township. His grand- father, Michael Stroup, was a notable character in the early history of that region of Ohio. Born in Pennsylvania in 1780, he came to Highland county in the first year of the nineteenth century. For twenty-five years he followed his trade with success and became known far and wide as "the New Market hatter". He bought land extensively in Dodson township and in the course of time went there to live. It is related that in 1824 he built a large brick residence on this property which had been occupied for some years as a tenant
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by Zachariah Walker, brother of Michael Stroup's wife, who was Mary Walker. While this building was in progress, Harriet Stroup, the ten-year-old daughter of Michael and Mary, assisted by her sis- ter Margaret, who was still younger, came out from New Market and with the help of a brother cooked for the workmen. At the time this house was built it fairly "astonished the natives," as it surpassed any residence for miles around. It is still standing as one of the venera- ble landmarks of the olden time, though many subsequent brick struc- tures in that region have deprived the Stroup homestead of its original distinction. Zachariah Walker in 1820 started the first dis- tillery in the township on this farin of Michael Stroup, with two small stills of ninety to one hundred gallons capacity each. In the same year the first school house of the township was built on the land of Michael Stroup, on the north side of Dodson Creek, and it was a typical backwoods structure made of round logs with puncheon floor and slab seats. From all this it will appear that the Stroup family had their full share in starting the infant township of Dodson on the road to industrial as well as educational development. Michael Stroup at one time owned two thousand acres of land most of which is still in possession of his posterity. He died in 1860, and his wife six years later, after rearing a large family of sons and daughters. Simon Stroup, one of the sons, married Barbara Pulse, whose father was among the first who settled in the county. Simon became an influential citizen of Dodson township, of which he was assessor for thirteen years in succession, and had a family of twelve children of whom five are living. Among the number is John H. Stroup, who was born in Highland county, Ohio, February 6, 1849. He grew up on his father's farm and eventually became a farmer himself on the 105 acres of land inherited from his grandfather's estate. In 1872 he was married to Jemima H. Bogart, of Hamilton county, Ohio, by whom he has six children: Emma B., Eva L., Samuel, Lillie P., Sophia G. and Elliott. Mr. and Mrs. Stroup are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Lewis F. Stroup, one of the substantial farmers of Highland county, bears a name that was well known there before the organi- zation of Dodson township, where the family subsequently made their investments. As far back as 1801, Anthony and Michael Stroup, who came from Huntington, Pennsylvania, made their entrance into Highland county and settled at New Market. Michael was just twenty-one years old when he located there and some time after his arrival was married to Mary Walker, born in Kentucky in 1786. Of his subsequent career, the main facts are given elsewhere, and need not here be repeated. He was a man of great energy, and it is said, in illustration of this trait of character that he walked all the way from New Market to Mexico to join the Ohio troops while the
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war was prevailing in that country. Of his twelve children, only one, Elma Duval, is now living. One of the sons, Simon Stroup, married Barbara, daughter of David Pulse, and became a prominent and prosperous farmer in Dodson township, having inherited two hundred acres of his father's large real estate holdings. He held the office of assessor for thirteen consecutive years and in other ways figured influentially in the affairs of his township. Of the twelve children born to himself and wife, only five are now living, four sons and one daughter. Among the former is Lewis F. Stroup, who was born in Highland county, Ohio, October 22, 1837, and grew up on the farm, meanwhile attending the neighborhood schools. He started in business for himself at an early age and has made a success of general farming and stock-raising, owning 112 acres of good land and a fine residence which he built in 1888. September 10, 1863, Mr. Stroup was married to Mary E. Drais, of Highland county, and they have had the following children: Clement E., David, Charles and Ulric; Minnie, wife of Isaac Shaffer; Flora, wife of Mahlon Thompson, who died in 1899; Luca, wife of Joseph Wilkin; Clara, wife of Henry Swearingen, and Luella, at home.
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