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 56
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Henry J. Webster, an enterprising merchant, and one of the lead- ing citizens of Belfast, is a son of Lewis F. Webster, for many years a merchant and prominent man of Concord township, and grandson of Thomas Webster, an early settler in Dodson township. Thomas Webster, the ancestor of the family in Highland county, was a native of Maryland, where he married Elizabeth Pulse. Soon after their marriage they came to Marshall township, and bought a small tract of land, in large part with money he had saved while employed at Washington, D. C. After a few years he moved with his family to Dodson township, where he and his wife both died at the age of about fifty-five years. Their children, ten in number, were William, George, Thomas, deceased ; John and Lewis, of Fairfax township; Eliza, living in Oklahoma ; Sarah, deceased ; James, of Wilson, Ohio; Julia, of Blue Creek, Adams county, and Elizabeth, deceased. Lewis F. Webster was born near Berrysville, in 1836, and remained
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at home until about twenty-five years of age, when he embarked in business as a merchant at Fairfax. At that place he has held the office of postmaster for twenty-four years, and justice of the peace for twenty years, and during one term he was trustee of Concord township. He and his wife are yet living at Fairfax, and have a host of friends throughout the southern part of the county. He gives his attention now mainly to farming, having retired from the cares of business life. Of his eight children William, the eldest, is dead; Henry J. is in business at Belfast; A. F. and Silsba also reside at Fairfax; Salome is the wife of John Woolums, of Concord township ; D. Homer lives at Fairfax, and Sarah E. and George H. are at the parental home. Henry J. Webster was born near Allens- burg, in Dodson township, August 18, 1865, was educated in the district school, and when he had reached manhood was married to Sarah Fenner, a native of Union township, and a member of one of the old families of the county. The first lived for a short time at Blanchester, Ohio, and then removed to Hillsboro, where he had a sewing machine agency for several years. Afterward they resided at Belfast, and he had the contract for carrying the mails on the star route between Belfast and Hillsboro for seven years. On April 1, 1902, he embarked in business at Belfast as a general merchant, putting in a well selected stock of groceries, stoves and furniture, farming implements, etc. Though a young man he is a leader in his community, and has been honored three terms with the office of township clerk. He has provided his wife and two children, Irl V., and Mildred B., with one of the neatest homes of the town. Socially he is popular and active, being a member of the following lodges at Belfast: No. 572, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; No. 696, Knights of Pythias, and No. 571, Modern Woodmen of America. He is noble grand of the Odd Fellows and has held all the other chairs, and has been clerk of the Modern Woodmen since the organi- zation of the lodge. In religious affiliation he is a Presbyterian, and in politics a Democrat.
Charles A. Welsheimer, proprietor of the noted Island Grove flouring mills near Greenfield, Ohio, is of Ross county nativity, but has been identified with the industries of Highland county since the ninth year of his age. Philip Welsheimer, of Pennsylvania, became a citizen of Ross county early in the last century and purchased a large tract of land in Buckskin township, in the clearing and culti- vating of which he spent the remainder of his life. He became the father of the unusually large number of sixteen children, among them being a son named David, who grew up on the farm and married Elizabeth, daughter of Morrow Adams, of Ross county. After farm- ing awhile he removed to Fort Wayne, Ind. After residing there a few years he came to Greenfield, where he carried on the grocery
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business for ten years or more. He had long had a desire to go into the milling business, and at length had an opportunity. As far back as 1802, one John Kingery had built a mill on Paint creek near what is now the town of Greenfield. It was a crude affair, being a one-story building about thirty feet square and built of logs. Rude as it was, however, it was much prized by the settlers, as before its construction they had no mill nearer than Chillicothe for the grinding of their corn. In 1830, after he had so improved his machinery as to make flour, Kingery sold his mill to Samuel Smith, and in after years a much better establishment was put up, passing through vari- ous hands until 1871, when it was purchased by David Welsheimer. This proved to be a more permanent change, as he made numerous valuable improvements and conducted the mill for many years there- after. In 1882 the structure was destroyed by fire, after which David Welsheimer erected one of the most complete flouring mills in that part of the state, which he called the Island Grove mill and elevator, and continued to manage until 1891, when he retired from business, his death occurring eight years later. He was a man of great energy and enterprise, full of public spirit and one of the most uesful as well as one of the most esteemed citizens of Highland county. It is interesting to compare his splendid and modernly equipped establishment with the old pioneer structure which it even- tually replaced. Kingery's millstones were made with a great deal of difficulty from a couple of native boulders, and still remain near the spot where they were so long in use, curious relics of a past and out- grown usefulness. Charles A. Welsheimer was only nine years old when his parents settled at Greenfield and may be said to have been brought up in a mill, as from boyhood he was associated with his father continuously with the exception of a few years spent in the lumber business in Kentucky. Welsheimer & Son was the firm in charge for a long time of the old Greenfield mills, which later became the Island Grove mill and elevator company. Since his father's
retirement in 1891, Charles A. Welsheimer has been sole proprietor of this well known concern and does business on an extensive scale. He manufactures the famous Arbutus brand of flour, which is very popular, and his trade extends throughout southern Ohio. Under his father and himself improvements were added from time to time so as to keep abreast of the latest inventions and processes and the capac- ity of the mill at present is fifty barrels of flour per day. In 1880 Mr. Welsheimer was married to Martha Ellen, daughter of John Hall, of Greenfield, by whom he has four children, Ruby, Walter, Annie and Mabel, the first two employed in the mill with their father. Mr. Welsheimer is a member of the Royal Arcanum and the Woodmen of the World.
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Joseph West, notable among the early settlers of this region of Ohio, was the ancestor of a considerable number of the prominent people of Highland and adjacent counties. He was a descendant of a progenitor who came from England in the early colonial days, and settled in Maryland and afterward moved to Virginia, establishing a family, of which one of the most famous members was Benjamin West, known alike in Europe and America for his genius as a painter. Joseph was married in Virginia to a Miss Ballinger, and in the year 1801 came with his family, in a party including his brothers John and Benjamin and their families, and settled four miles west of Sinking Spring, at Beech Flats. He became widely known among the pioneer inhabitants, and accumulated a consider- able estate. His family included eight children: James, Joseph, John, Benjamin, Isaac, Pleasant, Hugh and a daughter.
James West, an ancestor in the line traced in this sketch, son of Joseph, the pioneer, married Rebecca Nichols, a native of Virginia, and had eight children: Lucinda, Isaac, Benjamin, Sallie, Samp- son, Matilda, Nathan and Martha. He was a successful farmer in Brush Creek township for many years, dying at the age of seventy years. Some time after his death his widow and the family bought the farm now owned by the West heirs in Washington township, and she made that her home until her death at the age of eighty-three years.
Nathan M., one of the sons of James and Rebecca West, married Lucinda Ballentine, daughter of John W. Ballentine, of Scotch descent, and reared a family of six children, of whom the survivors are notable among the people of Highland county today. Nathan M. West devoted his life to farming, and his success and evident intelli- gence and good judgment made him an authority among his neighbors. His character was above reproach, and he was held in high regard for his unfailing honesty and integrity. As a young man he united with the Christian church, of which he was ever a faithful supporter. Unfortunately his life was comparatively brief, and he passed away at the age of forty-five years, leaving the mother to care for the children, a duty which she performed with such success that great credit is due to her. This worthy lady is yet living at the age of fifty-five years, is a devoted member of the Methodist church, and loved by a wide circle of friends and relatives. Their children are: Harlan, deceased; Matilda, wife of S. W. Spargur, of Washington township; Thomas J., Robert B., and Ellis E., of Berrysville, and Nathan M., a dentist at Sinking Spring.
Thomas J., the eldest son, surviving, and the head of the well- known firm of West Brothers, general merchants at Berrysville, was born September 20, 1872, on the home farm, and received his educa- tion in the district school and at Lebanon and Sardinia, Ohio. He began his manhood career as a teacher at the Paint schools, which he
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organized as a graded school, and remained with as principal until 1899, when he embarked in his present business as a merchant. Mr. West is making an enviable reputation as a straightforward and suc- cessful business man, and his high standing among the people of the township is shown by his election to the office of township treasurer, which he now holds. He is a member of the lodge of Knights of Pythias at Belfast, and a Democrat in politics, like his ancestors. In early manhood he was married to Bernice, daughter of Isaac and Amanda Harper, and granddaughter of Julia Higgins, a well-known pioneer of the county. They have one child, Lois Evangeline.
Robert B. West, another member of the firm of West Brothers, was reared at the old homestead and educated in the district school. He married Asenath Hatt, a native of Liberty township, and they began housekeeping at the old home, where they yet reside. Their home has been blessed with one child, a son. Mr. West is a member of the Methodist church and of the Knights of Pythias, and in poli- tics is a Prohibitionist.
Ellis E., the third member of the firm of West Brothers, was edu- cated in the district school and at Lynchburg, and before going into business taught school for two terms in the Buckley district. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, at Berrysville, and a Republican.
Robert R. West, proprietor of the noted Spring Hill farm, east of Hillsboro, and for thirty-five years a well-known breeder of regis- tered cattle, is connected by a direct line of ancestry with the men who helped organize Highland county. His grandfather, John West, was one of four brothers who came from Virginia at the beginning of the last century and joined his fortune with the little army then engaged in the settlement of Ohio. He tarried two years in. Ross county, three in Fayette and then located permanently on a farm of 212 acres which he purchased in Paint township, Highland county. He was a fine specimen of the type of western pioneers. Six feet two inches tall, of erect carriage and athletic mold, firm in flesh and capable of enduring the greatest hardships, John West lived ninety- five years and enjoyed excellent health to the day of his death. He did much for the public good by helping lay out the roads, establish schools and assist other agencies of civilization. He helped organize the first Disciples' church and donated land for the erection of a house of worship on his farm, being active all his life in religious, educational and charitable work. His wife was a fit companion for such a man, being a woman of strength both in mind and body, a good mother and good housekeeper, who enjoyed unusual health until the close of her earthly career at the age of ninety-three years. This venerable couple reared a family of nine children all of whom, with one exception, grew to maturity and themselves became the parents
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of numerous offspring. The list of those dead includes George, Isaac, Jackson and Andrew; Amos lives in Iowa; Hulda is the wife of Harrison Weyer; Sarah married Jacob Tominson and Catherine is the wife of Frederick Bumgarner, of Samantha. Allen P. West, the fourth in age of the family, was born in Paint township, Highland county, Ohio, December 9, 1821, grew up on his father's farm and spent sixty years of his life at that place. He married Isabelle, daughter of Robert Patterson of Marshall township, by whom he had four children; Cyrus, a resident of Fayette county; Robert R .; Sallie, wife of Hiden Ervin, of Washington Court House ; and Mary, wife of Charles Haynes of Hillsboro. In 1881 the parents removed to Washington Court House, Ohio, where they are living in retirement. Their son, Robert R. West, was born in Marshall township, Highland county, Ohio, on the farm adjoining his present place of residence, November 25, 1848. Besides the usual experience in the common schools of the district he spent one year at the college in Lebanon, Ohio. September 18, 1872, he was married to Ella, daughter of Samuel and Mary Lyle, of Liberty township. After this event, he moved to an adjoining farm of 300 acres, where he spent seven years and then returned to the old homestead, where he has since remained. Mr. West owns a large amount of land, consisting of 765 acres in the home place, a farm of 165 acres near Boston and another of 205 acres in Liberty township. His father had long been an extensive breeder and dealer in Shorthorn cattle and he has followed in his footsteps with an enlargement of the business and increased success. For thirty-five years he has been engaged in raising thoroughbred registered cattle and occupies a front rank among Ohio breeders of the famous strain known as the Shorthorn. His place, eight miles east of Hillsboro, is famous for its numerous springs, from which circumstance his stock have derived the name of "The Spring Hill Herd," and by this title are known far and wide among fanciers of fine cattle. Mr. and Mrs. West have four children: Roscoe is a farmer in Liberty township; Harry has a sawmill at Leesburg; Annie and Mary are at home. Like his forefathers for generations, Mr. West is a believer in the doctrines taught by the Disciples' Church and is a member of the local congregation of that denomination.
The West family, of Penn township, made its first appearance in Highland county about the year 1840. It originated with Eber West, who was born in 1770 in Allegheny county, Md., married Sarah Roland and removed with her to Pennsylvania, where he died in 1838. His son John was born December 17, 1797, and in 1840 migrated to Ohio with his mother, who died in Highland county December 16, 1848. John West was married to Elizabeth, daughter of John Randels, who belonged to that element in our nationality colloquially denominated "Pennsylvania Dutch." John West died near New
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Market September 3, 1861, and his wife passed away on the Baker farm in Penn township August 1, 1857, aged fifty-six years. The children resulting from their union were Isaac A., Jeremiah, Sarah (Yates) Enos, Belinda who died aged thirteen, Margaret who died at twenty-one, John and James Madison. Isaac Alfred West, eldest of the above mentioned children, was born October 8, 1825, and was consequently about fifteen years old when his parents settled in High- land county. He rose to a position of influence and was much respected in his community. For fifteen years he was justice of the peace in Penn township and held the office of county assessor. November 25, 1845, he was married to Eliza Jane, daughter of William and Margaret (Art) Woolums, the former born in Fleming county, Kentucky, March 19, 1822. The children of Isaac and Jane West were Sarah E., who married L. D. Crute and died June 28, 1872; William Alfred, a farmer of Liberty township; Isaac Newton, a machinist at Dayton; Charles P., a hardware merchant at Chilli- cothe; Samuel T., farming in Penn township; Wilson W., a farmer living near Samantha; Franklin M., sketched more fully below; and Edward, proprietor of a restaurant at Kingston, Ross county. Frank M. West, next to the youngest of the children, was born in Highland county, Ohio, November 9, 1860, grew up on the farm and spent most of his adult life in mercantile pursuits. October 26, 1884, he was married to Rachel, daughter of John and Rachel (Starr) Kerns, who located in Samantha at an early date in the county's history. Rachel was born November 17, 1861, near her present home. The children of Frank M. and Rachel West are Howard G., born May 28, 1885; Lucy, born December 15, 1886, is attending the Hillsboro high school; Georgia M., born July 23, 1888, and died in 1890. Starling and Overton, twins, were born April 1, 1891. Mr. West became a merchant at Samantha in 1884 and continued in that business until his death, which occurred November 5, 1899. Like his father before him he enjoyed general respect and was a man of influ- ence and prominence in that part of the county where his lot was cast. Besides the store building at Samantha, Mrs. West owns 108 acres of farm land and a comfortable residence, being highly esteemed in the social circle to which she belongs.
Samuel T. West, one of the energetic farmers of Penn township, is a member of the family bearing his name which is sketched in some detail in this volume. They came originally from the famous "eastern shore" of Maryland to Pennsylvania, and thence in 1840 to Ohio, the first emigrants in Highland county being John West, his children and his mother. From John's marriage with Elizabeth Randels a large family resulted and these in turn by fruitful mar- riages so increased the name of West that it became a very familiar one in Highland county. Isaac West, eldest of the children of John
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and Elizabeth, was especially influential not only in spreading the family name by his offspring but by the prominence and popularity he acquired in the community. Samuel T. West, one of his sons, was born in Liberty township, January 25, 1855, and went through the usual experiences of a farmer's boy as to work and education. He has devoted his whole life to agricultural pursuits and enjoys the reputation of being both an intelligent and industrious tiller of the soil. In January, 1900, he purchased a farm of one hundred acres four and one-half miles north of Hillsboro, to which he afterward added sixteen acres of new ground, and this place promises to become a model farm under the skillful management and progressive culti- vation of Mr. West. November 24, 1886, he was married to Kate B., daughter of William and Wilhelmina (Mundel) Boelzner, natives of Germany who came to America in 1849. Besides Mrs. West, the other children of the Boelzner family were Philip, who died when thirty-nine years old; William, a farmer and miller at Fairview ; Rose, deceased, who married Frank Ludwick, formerly of Kansas and later Oklahoma; Sophia, for many years a teacher; Amelia, wife of Nathaniel Roush, resident south of Fairview. During her girlhood and young womanhood Mrs. West taught school a number of years and gained high rank as a successful educator. The children of Samuel T. and Kate B. West are Ray Eliza, born September 24, 1887; an infant daughter, born June 23, 1892, died June 29, 1892, unnamed; and Nina Fay, born August 9, 1894. Mr. West has inherited those strong and social qualities of his father which gain and hold friends, and as a result he enjoys the esteem of all his neighbors.
Spencer D. West, of Rainsboro, treasurer of Paint township, is a descendant of William West, a native of Maine, who came to High- land county about 1830. His son, William, located in Loveland, Hamilton county, and died there in 1896. Another son, Albert, born in Marshall township in 1831, was educated in the district school, and in early manhood married Mary W., daughter of John Spargur, one of the prominent settlers of Paint township. They had eight children: John, now in Alaska; Sarah, who died at the age of twenty-two years ; Olive, residing at Springfield ; Spencer D., subject of this sketch; Schultz, in Alaska; Chauncey, who died at twenty-three years ; and Jesse and Cyrus, formerly of Seattle, Wash., but now in Alaska. Spencer D. West was born April 18, 1860, received a common-school education, and since his youth has been actively and successfully engaged in farming. His home, two miles east of Rainsboro, is an attractive one, on a farm of 145 acres, which is fertile and well kept. He is known and esteemed, not only through- out his township, but the county, and while serving his neighbors as
H-33
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township treasurer was honored with the Republican nomination for county commissioner in 1901, but, though he received a flattering support, the ticket was defeated. Mr. West was married Febru- ary 19, 1882, to Emma, daughter of Alfred and Catherine (Simbro) Shipton, and they have the following named children: Nellie, wife of Clem Wise, farming on the West place; Katie and Orville, at home, and James, who died in childhood. Mrs. West's father's fam- ily came from Pennsylvania to Paint township about 1830. She was born February 24, 1864, and is one of six children, the others being Nancy, who died in girlhood; Mary E., wife of James Pea- body, who owns a farm adjoining that of Mr. West; Granville H., who died in youth ; John, farming, near Rainsboro, and Emma.
Mrs. Mary S. Weyer, a woman of prominence in the religious and social, as well as the business life of Leesburg, Ohio, now resident on her country estate near that town, is of lineage both ancient and hon- orable. The family to which she belongs is of North Carolina extraction, her great-grandfather John Sanders being its most distin- guished representative in that state during the eighteenth century. We find his son, Thomas M. Sanders, among those who established the infant colony in what is now Fairfield township, Highland county, during the first decade of the nineteenth century. It is only necessary to glance over the first crude records to see that Thomas M. Sanders was one of the important men and figured conspicuously in the early history of the township. In 1807 he was elected clerk and re-elected in the following year; in 1810 he was chosen house appraiser and next year was given his old position as clerk in addi- tion to the duties of appraiser. His son Nathaniel was also for many years a man of influence in the community, taking an active interest in the affairs of town and township until the time of his death, which occurred in 1889 at his handsome estate east of Leesburg. He married Maria Heller, who came with her parents from Virginia to Highland county many years ago and died at her husband's home in 1876. Nathaniel and Maria (Heller) Sanders were the parents of Mrs. Mary S. Weyer, who has proven a worthy descendant of a notable ancestry by her superior accomplishments and aptitude for business. In her girlhood, after the usual attendance at the com- mon schools, she was sent to the seminary at Xenia, Ohio, for the purpose of receiving a thorough finishing. Her tastes, as well as talents fitting her for educational work, she took up with ardor into the profession of teaching, and was thus engaged at Leesburg for eight years subsequent to her departure from college. She proved to be one of the most successful as well as one of the most popular of the lady teachers, exhibiting ability both for imparting knowledge and maintaining discipline. Aside from her public duties, she found time for self-culture and for participation in public movements of a
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philanthropic or educational character. She is a member both of the home and foreign Mission societies, and lends encouragement to the cause of brotherly love by participation in the work of the Altru- istic society. She was one of the moving spirits in the establishment of the Farmers' and Merchants bank at Leesburg in 1901 and became a heavy stockholder in that institution. In 1891 she was married to William O. Weyer and at present resides on her farm near Lees- burg, occupying her attention with business affairs and the require- ments of social duties.
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