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 54
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Simon Kenton Stroup, one of the enterprising farmers of Dodson township, bears a name which recalls to students of Highland county history many stirring events of the "brave days of old." Next to Daniel Boone himself, of whom he was a friend and companion, Simon Kenton was the most famous of those Indian fighters who shed such luster over the annals of early border warfare. Many of his adventures took place in that part of Ohio now contained in Ross and Highland counties, and Dodson township of the latter was the scene of one of his most noted engagements with the Indians, which has already been described. There is reason for joining together the names of Stroup and Kenton, as the grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a friend and admirer of the bold borderer who so bravely bore the banner of advancing civilization. Michael Stroup arrived in Highland county from Pennsylvania in 1801, just nine years after the occurrence of the battle above mentioned. He knew Simon Kenton quite well and the family traditions relate a story which would indicate that they were connected in business at one time. Kenton, it seems, employed Michael Stroup to open a road from New Market to Chillicothe, and he subsequently accomplished the task with the aid of only one man. Michael Stroup always insisted that he never got his pay for this work, but the reason for the non-payment is not now known. He made money, however, by his trade as a hatter at New Market, invested heavily in land in Dod- son township and became one of the large real estate holders in the county. His marriage to Mary Walker, and subsequent career, has been noticed in preceding pages, also the life of his son Simon, who
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married Barbara Pulse, and had a large family of children, among them the subject of this sketch. Simon Kenton Stroup, son of Simon and Barbara, was born in Highland county, Ohio, April 14, 1851. He grew up on the farm and in due time inherited 145 acres of his grandfather's estate, upon which he now resides. He is regarded as one of the enterprising and up-to-date farmers of Dodson township and his farm bears all the evidence of the fact in its neat appearance and handsome improvements. In 1890 he erected a commodious barn, which was followed in 1897 by a fine new residence, and few farms in the county are better equipped or more conveniently arranged. In 1879 he was married to Dorothy A. E., daughter of John and Sallie (Wilkin) Tedrick, early settlers of Highland county. They have four children: Della, wife of Howard Cochran, of Salem township; Mirtie M., Sallie E., and William Arlie Stroup. Mr. Stroup and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
William A. Styerwalt, member of the Greenfield city council, is an efficient member of the Boden Milling company and one of the most experienced men of the state in his chosen line of work. He has been in the milling business practically all his life, being familiar from boyhood with the hum and whir of mill machinery. It would be difficult to teach him much about that department of the business with which he is connected and he has long been recognized among the craft as a miller of the first rank. He has not only been a long time in the business but he has worked at it in many different mills in many different places. Born in the state of Pennsylvania, he was reared in the counties of Summit and Medina, Ohio, to which he was brought at an early age. He was about eighteen years old when he began work in a milling establishment in Medina county and from that day to this he has not been out of hearing of the whirring wheels for any great length of time. His second employment was in a mill at Akron, Ohio, where he remained until 1886 when he accepted an offer to go to Wilmington in Clinton county, Ohio. Here he remained for ten or twelve years and finally, in 1898, made his last move which brought him to Greenfield as a member of that popular and enterprising firm, the Boden Milling company. Mr. Stverwalt is not only appreciated for skill in his trade but for his geniality as a man and usefulness as a citizen. He had not been long in Greenfield before the voters of his ward determined to avail them- selves of his services as a member of the city council and accordingly he was elected to that body in 1900 and has since retained the posi- tion. He also finds time for cultivating the social side of life, and is a member of the Masonic order and the Woodmen of the World. January 4, 1878, he was married to Viola H., daughter of Stephen Kunkler, a farmer and contractor of Medina county, resident at
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Wadsworth. Mr. and Mrs. Styerwalt have four children : Oliver E., an employe in the Greenfield postoffice ; Pearl M., Myrtle V., and Raymond W. The family's religious affiliations are with the Metho- dist Episcopal church, in which Mr. Styerwalt holds membership in Greenfield.
Robert Sumner, deceased, late a substantial farmer of Paint town- ship, was highly respected during his lifetime as a worthy descendant of one of those noble old Quaker families who have done so much for the development of Highland county. His father, Absalom Sumner, who was born in North Carolina in 1786, rode across coun- try to Ohio when a young man to spy out the land as did Joshua of old. Pleased with the outlook, he concluded to become a resident of the fertile region drained by the Scioto. He bought two thousand acres of land, cleared a few acres, built a log cabin and then started back to North Carolina to fulfill a marriage vow made before leaving with one of the fair damsels of the old "Tarheel state." Unlike the custom now, with palace cars and ocean steamers, a bridal trip in those days often meant a long and wearisome ride over mountains and forests to a home which had little better to offer than a bed of leaves on a puncheon floor and a meager fare of home-made hominy. He was a member of the Friends which is the same as saying that he was a moral man, loving liberty and hating slavery. He kept a station on the famous underground railroad, and many a poor slave was checked through to freedom over the old Quaker's line. He was quite active in church affairs and exercised much influence in his community until his death, which occurred January 17, 1865. By his second wife, Abigail Sumner, he had six children of whom Eli, Joseph, Hannah, and Robert have passed away. The living are Mrs. Lucy King, a widow, residing in Indiana, at the age of eighty- five years, and Sylvania, widow of J. M. Conaway, of Atlanta, Ind. Robert Sumner, the youngest of the children, was born on his father's farm in Paint township, Highland county, Ohio, July 4, 1827. In early manhood he married Tabitha, daughter of Jacob Fittro, a West Virginia contribution to the population of Highland county and one of the early arrivals. Robert Sumner spent his entire life on his Paint township farm with the exception of three years devoted to the lumber business in Indiana. He was a devoted member of the Friends, holding various official positions, and when he died, Octo- ber 6, 1890, his remains were deposited in the Quaker cemetery near the unpretentious building where he has spent so many hours in sincere devotion. His good wife, who was an adherent of the same simple faith, survived him several years and passed away Decem- ber 9, 1899. Their union resulted in the birth of three children, the only survivor being Sarah Ellen Sumner, who was born August 6, 1872, and married George G. Garman, a native of Penn township,
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Highland county. Mr. Garman was born August 3, 1868, son of Hezekiah and Sarah A. (Rogers) Garman, the former of West Vir- ginia and the latter of Texas, who were married November 14, 1844, and the father died in 1875. Mr. and Mrs. George G. Garman have had three children: Roy, who was accidentally scalded to death when a little over two years old; Ora. S., nine, and Tabitha Nellis, seven years of age. Mrs. Garman inherited from her father 535 acres of land, divided into three farms, and her husband carries on general farming and stock raising. He is a member of Paint lodge, No. 453, Knights of Pythias, at Rainsboro.
Absalom Tedrick may be described as one of the self-made farmers of Highland county, inasmuch as the property he now owns is the result of his own industry and lifetime savings. His forefathers were Marylanders who made the long journey overland in 1830 and found homes in Highland county when that part of the state was still crude and but sparsely settled. Jacob Tedrick was married in Maryland to Catherine Potter before the emigration to the west was undertaken, and he was accompanied by his father, John Tedrick, who ended his days in Highland county. Jacob Tedrick died in 1863 and his wife in 1900, having reared a family of twelve chil- dren of whom nine are living. Among the latter is Absalom Ted- rick, who was born in Hanier township, Highland county, Ohio, December 24, 1842. He was reared on the farm, trained to do all sorts of farm work and when he reached manhood was qualified for the business on his own account and has been successful in his opera- tions. The sixty-five acres of land which constitute Mr. Tedrick's home place have been accumulated by himself in the course of an industrious life. As a citizen he stands high and is popular, as is proved by the fact that he was township trustee for ten years, mem- ber of the school board for fifteen years and five years president of that body. Mr. Tedrick belongs to the Lynchburg lodge of Free and Accepted Masons and the Ancient Order United Workmen. In 1865 he was married to Rebecca E. Stroup, member of a strong fam- ily connection identified with Highland county's history almost from its beginning. Her father, Henry Stroup, was one of the twelve children of Michael Stroup, the latter a Pennsylvania pioneer who arrived in 1801 and became wealthy and highly influential in the townships of New Market and Dodson. Mr. and Mrs. Absalom Tedrick have an only son, George Edward, who received a good edu- cation and taught school eleven years. At present he is a farmer and cultivates eighty-five acres of land which he has accumulated by his own exertions. George Edward Tedrick is a man of excellent business qualifications and was appointed as a representative of the Democratic party to audit the books of the Highland county com- missioners. He married Miss Ida L. Smith, of Dodson township.
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Frank Tedrick, one of the prosperous farmers of Union township, comes of a family who were identified with affairs of Highland county from the first decade after it was organized as a body politic. His great-grandparents were George and Mary (Hickson) Tedrick, natives of Virginia who reached Ohio in 1815, located in Highland county and there spent the remainder of their lives. They had four children, among the number being a son named John, born while his parents were living in Buckingham county, Va. He married Lydia Burton, was a soldier in the war of 1812, came with the elder rela- tives to Highland county and there ended his days. His son Fred- erick married Rosana Pugh, by whom he became the father of Frank Tedrick, who was born in Dodson township, Highland county, Ohio, February 13, 1854. As soon as he reached manhood he went into business for himself and now owns 107 acres of good land which he has cultivated with success. January 13, 1876, he was married to Lizzie, daughter of John and Susannah (Shoemaker) Webster, both of Highland county. Mrs. Tedrick's grandparents on her father's side were Thomas and Elizabeth (Pulse) Webster, early settlers of Highland county, and her maternal grandparents were James and Susannah (Newton) Shoemaker, who were among the first of the Virginia immigrants who settled in that part of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Tedrick have four children : John F., a farmer of Highland county ; Harley S., also a farmer; Hattie H., a successful teacher of music ; and Edna S., at home. The family are members of the Christian church.
James Scott Templin, during his eighty-eight years, saw prac- tically all of the growth, progress and development of Highland county. His birth occurred eight years after the county was organ- ized and one year before the laying out of the town of Leesburg where he spent the greater part of his life. So there was little of importance hapening in this county from its origin until 1901 which was not known to Mr. Templin, and he bore his full share in that long era of development which has made Highland one of the best counties in the state. His father was Salmon Templin, who moved in from Pennsylvania as early as the first half of the year 1800. This was five years before Highland became a county and fourteen years before Leesburg had existence even in imagination. White people were very scarce in that region when Salmon Templin arrived on the scene and as yet there was not a single settler in what afterward became Fairfield township. Some years after his arrival he married Catherine White and among their children was James Scott Templin, born in Highland county in 1813. Educational facilities were scarce in those days, even the historic old logcabin schoolhouses being few and far between. For a short time young James Templin had the good fortune to attend a seminary at Hills-
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boro, but most of his learning was acquired during the long winter evenings by the flickering light of tallow-dip candles. This habit, acquired in youth, never deserted him and all his long life he was a close student and omniverous reader, with the result of being con- sidered one of the best informed men of his community. In early manhood he identified himself with the interests of Leesburg and remained connected therewith during all the days of his active life. In fact, none of the citizens of this town did more to expand its trade and push it forward than James Scott Templin. In 1844 he engaged in the mercantile business at Leesburg and for many years was one of the leading merchants in a wide area of territory sur- rounding that village in all directions. He was always a moving spirit in the civic life of town and township and the records show that when Leesburg was first organized as an incorporated town, Mr. Templin was elected one of the three trustees, John C. Batten and Gerrard M. Johnson being the others, with Thomas E. Johnson as mayor and Silas Irion as recorder. Mr. Templin was a firm believer in the principles of Freemasonry and never lost an oppor- tunity to advocate and urge on others the beneficent advantages of this world-famous order. To him more than to any other was due the installation at Leesburg of a local lodge, and throughout his entire life he was regular in his attendance and enthusiastic in his support of this fraternal cause. Mr. Templin was a man of plain habits, gentle manners, highly cultivated and in sympathy with all that was ennobling and elevating. He had the absolute confidence of the people who knew him well, was popular in the best sense of that word and often called on to fill minor offices of trust and honor. His long and useful life terminated at Leesburg in 1901 and it is safe to say that few of her citizens were ever followed to the grave with more sincere mourning.
Daniel L. Tice, of Clay township, is one of the successful and influential farmers of Highland county, and is particularly entitled to credit for achieving his present station without the aid of ancestral acres, depending upon his own industry to rise from the position of a farm laborer to landowner and prosperous farmer. He is the grandson of a native of New Jersey, who went into the patriot army of the Revolution in boyhood, became a lieutenant and had a good record as a soldier. William Tice, son of the latter, was born near Trenton, N. J., February 22, 1801, and married Catherine Tice, a native of the same state, after which union the young couple came to Guernsey county, Ohio, and later to Clermont, where the father was occupied as a shoemaker and reared a family of twelve children. Of these, the eldest, John, fell while fighting for the Union, at the battle of Atlanta. Elias, Albert, Elizabeth, Ruth, Jane, and Delilah reside in Clermont county ; Thomas in Kansas, and James in Dayton,
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Ohio. Daniel L. Tice, the third child, and subject of this sketch, was born in Clermont county, February 10, 1836. He found employment as a farm laborer as soon as he was old enough, and in early manhood was married to Mahala Dunham, a native of the same county. They went to housekeeping, very poor in this world's goods, on a farm in Brown county, and two years later removed to Clay township where, in the course of the war of the rebellion, he purchased a small farm of thirty acres. During the latter part of the great war he served his country as a member of Company G, Hundred and Ninety-second regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, being mustered in at Camp Chase and sent to the Shenandoah valley, where the regiment did duty for some time. In all he served seven months, part of the time at a Maryland hospital. After the muster out of the regiment at Winchester, Va., Mr. Tice returned to his home and family and resumed his work as a farmer. Selling his small farm he purchased seventy-five acres in Hamer township, and after living there three years he bought the piece of one hundred acres where he now lives. He is now the owner of a valuable tract of 117 acres, well improved, and is recognized as a competent agri- culturist and stockman and good business man. Mr. Tice is a mem- ber of the Grand Army post at Buford, and of the Church of Christ, and politically adheres to the Democratic party. He has five chil- dren living: Viola, wife of L. Coffman, of Clermont county ; John William, of New Market township; Isaac, of Clay township; Mary E., wife of J. W. Campbell, of Sardinia, Ohio; Edward P., superintendent of the schools at New Vienna. The sixth child, George F., is deceased.
Arthur M. Tolle, of Clay township, was born in Concord town- ship, Highland county, August 11, 1859. He is a son of Harrison Tolle, a native of Kentucky, and grandson of Joseph Tolle. Harri- son Tolle was born in Kentucky, June 16, 1818, was reared at the farm home and educated in the district school, and in early manhood married Rachel Nailer, a native of Concord township, and daughter of Richard and Rachel Nailer. They began housekeeping in Con- cord township, and lived there until 1862, when he bought and moved to a farm in Clay township. He was engaged in the ministry of the New Light church for nearly forty years, assigned to various charges, and was widely known and held in high esteem by all who knew him. At the close of a useful and worthy life he died in Clay township, at the age of sixty-four years, and his wife sur- vived to the age of seventy-three. Their children were: John, now living in Buford; Lodeema and Cindilla, of Mount Orab; Lorana, at the old homestead ; Morilla and Ann, deceased; Arthur M. ; and Melvina, who lives at Franklin. Arthur M. Tolle, at twenty-seven years of age, left home and engaged in the general mercantile busi-
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ness at Buford, as a member of the firm of L. and A. M. Tolle. In this he continued for five years and meanwhile was married to Ella, daughter of John and Elizabeth Brown, and they began housekeeping on the place they now own, adjoining the home of her parents. In 1896 they moved to Alabama, but remained only one year, after which they returned to their former home, where they now reside. Mr. Tolle farms about 114 acres, and is quite successful in general agriculture and the raising of fine live stock. He is a member of the Methodist church, and is one of the leaders among the younger men of the township. Mr. and Mrs. Tolle have three children : Marie, John, and Rachel E.
Rodney T. Trimble, M. D., who has been a practicing physician at New Vienna for over thirty years, is a member of one of the most distinguished families of Ohio. The very name recalls all the stir- ring scenes of the state's early history-the period of exploration, the period of settlement, the hardships, trials and deadly dangers which beset those who first crossed the borderland between civiliza- tion and savagery. For the Trimbles were in the very vanguard, at the front as surveyors and settlers, in the lead when fighting was to be done, and called on to legislate and govern when peaceful pur- suits had succeeded to the wild and lawless methods of the aborigines. No history of Ohio is complete that does not contain the name of Trimble many times repeated and biographies of the heroic spirits who bore that name like an oriflamme across the Alleghenies, down the great river and throughout the mighty wilderness bordering it on either side. As far back as 1745 John Trimble emigrated from the north of Ireland to America and settled near Orange Court House, Va. He was a surveyor and in 1763 while on the frontier was killed by the Indians, his young married daughter and son James being taken captive at the same time but rescued by Captain Moffett and twelve men who rode one hundred miles in six days and surprised the savages in camp. James was born about 1755 and in 1774 participated in the famous battle at Point Pleasant between the American forces under General Lewis and the Indians led by the celebrated Chief Cornstalk. He gained the rank of captain in the Revolutionary war and in 1782 was married to Jane, a daughter of John Allen, of Augusta county, Va. Two of this lady's brothers were killed in the war for American independence. Allen, the sec- ond son of Captain Trimble, who subsequently became governor of Ohio, was born November 24, 1783, and when ten months old his parents, in company with five hundred colonists, migrated to Wood- ford county, Ky., and settled near the present site of Lexington. Though an owner of slaves by inheritance, Captain Trimble had an instinctive aversion to the institution and as soon as Ohio adopted an anti-slavery constitution he liberated all his bondsmen and deter-
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mined to remove with his family to the free state across the river. As early as 1802 he had come on an inspection trip with his son Allen and located twelve hundred acres of land on Clear creek, later moving to a situation three miles northeast from Hillsboro, to which he came in 1804 and built a double log house. He died the same year while on a trip to Kentucky, after which his widow and son Allen closed out the estate and removed to Highland county in the spring of 1805. Several of the sons of Captain Trimble arose to distinction. William A., the eldest, opened a law office at Hillsboro in 1811 and the following year was chosen as major in General McArthur's regiment, with which he took part in the sortie from Fort Erie and fell at the battle of Lundy's Lane, shot through the lungs. Recovering after a long illness, he was brevetted lieutenant- colonel and in 1819 was elected to the United States senate, but died in 1821 while holding that exalted office. His younger brother, Carey A. Trimble, who was a lieutenant in the same regiment, was captured on the frontier and taken to Quebec, from which place he was exchanged in June, 1813, and returned home by way of Phila- delphia. At the latter city his brother John A. was attending school and the two returned together to their Ohio home, coming through by the tedious stage route, then the chief means of overland travel. Allen Trimble, most distinguished of the family, served many years in both branches of the Ohio legislature, and in 1822, being speaker of the senate, became acting governor upon the elec- tion of Governor Brown to succeed W. A. Trimble in the United States senate. He was the recognized leader of the Whig party in the state and in 1826 was elected governor, being re-elected two years later despite the great wave then sweeping over the state for "Old Hickory" Jackson, who was first elected president that year. In 1814 four of the Trimble brothers, Allen, Carey, James A., and John A., were associated together in a mercantile venture at Hills- boro, but the first two retiring in a few years, the partnership was continued by the others until 1855. John A. Trimble, the junior member of this firm and youngest of the eight children, was born in Kentucky in May, 1801, and was consequently about four years old when his widowed mother made her permanent settlement in High- land county. As a member of Trimble Brothers he was prominently identified with the business affairs of Hillsboro for more than thirty- five years. Aside from mercantile life, he was clerk of the Highland county courts for two terms, for some time in the insurance business and served for eighteen years as postmaster at Hillsboro. He died at his home in that city in 1886, after reaching the ripe age of eighty- five years. In 1829 he married Lavina, daughter of Dr. William and Jane (St. Clair) Boys, the former a distinguished physician of Staunton, Va. The children resulting from this union were Will-
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