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 58
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Alleniah F. Williams, a prosperous farmer of Brush Creek town- ship, is a grandson of one of the early settlers of Jackson township, Elias Williams. The latter was a native of Rockingham county,
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Va., born in 1789, came to Highland county when about ten years old, and resided here until his death which occurred on February 25, 1838. In early manhood Elias Williams married Christina Coun- tryman, also a native of Rockingham county, Va., born about 1790, died August 25, 1879. They began housekeeping in Jackson town- ship, buying a tract of wild land. Their children were Polly, John, Eli, Nancy, Elizabeth, Henry, Anna, Eliza and Levi. John Will- iams, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Jackson town- ship June 6, 1807, and married Elizabeth Duncan, a native of Jackson township and daughter of Alexander Duncan. After sev- eral years they moved to Adams county, where Mr. Williams engaged in mercantile business at May Hill, and from there they returned to the vicinity of Belfast, and later moved to Brush Creek township. John Williams had four children by his first wife: John, deceased ; Sanford, deceased; Mary, wife of John W. Tener, of Belfast, and one that died young. After the death of their mother he married her sister, Mary, and they had ten children: Elizabeth, wife of J. M. Suiter, of Harriet postoffice; Susan, Eliza, and Amanda, deceased ; Ellen, wife of L. B. Coss, of Kansas ; Alleniah F. ; Agnes, wife of John Koger, of Paint township; Martha, wife of C. P. Dun- lap, of Greene county ; Thomas, deceased, and Anna, wife of John Dunlap, of Greene county. The father lived to the age of eighty- six years, and his second wife survives him, at ninety years, and very sprightly for that great age. Alleniah F. Williams, born in Jack- son township, June 7, 1847, received his education in the district school and the high school at Hillsboro, and in early manhood for four years was employed as a nurseryman. Afterward he was twelve years engaged in the profession of teaching, doing excellent work in the schools of his township. He married Iza R. Turner, born and reared on the farm where they now live, and except for the first year of their married life, they have made their home on the old Turner homestead, where they own 338 acres of land. Mr. Williams has made most of the improvements on the place, making it one of the most attractive of the region. He gives attention to the raising of live stock as well as farming, is a member of the grange of Patrons of Husbandry, in religious affiliation is an Universalist, and in politics a Democrat. Among his neighbors he is held in high esteem. Five children have been born to him and wife-Spees, liv- ing in Colorado; Laura A., deceased; Inis V., Carlton T., and Grace D.
James A. Williams, veteran of the civil war and trustee of Lib- erty township, is one of the most progressive and enterprising of Highland county's many bright farmers. He is highly esteemed both as a citizen and a neighbor, keeps abreast of the times in all lines of useful information and is ever ready to put a shoulder to
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the wheel in any worthy cause. He is a descendant of one of those sturdy old Quaker families who were driven out of North Carolina by their detestation of the hated institution of slavery. William Williams, son of Isaac, was born in North Carolina in 1774, and in 1797 was married to Phoebe Mendenall, of Guilford county in the same state. Early in the nineteenth century they became citizens of Highland county, locating in Penn township, where most of their eleven children were reared to maturity. The names of their off- spring, as preserved in the old family Bible, were Katharine, Mary, Josiah, Isaac, Robert, Joseph, John, Elizabeth, Ann, Jonathan and Phoebe. Jonathan Williams was born in Penn township, Highland county, Ohio, April 17, 1820, and in 1842 was married to Sarah Bailey, daughter of a prominent pioneer and leader in the society of Friends. The six children resulting from this marriage were Mary, wife of John Hustead of Penn township; Melissa, wife of John Denny; James A., noticed more fully below; Laura E .; Caroline, wife of Clark Woody; and Charles, a resident of the Indian Terri- tory. James A. Williams, third of the family, was born on the homestead in Highland county, Ohio, August 31, 1845. In the fall of 1864 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventy-fifth regi- ment Ohio national guard and served with the same until the expira- tion of his term in 1865. December 29, 1869, he was married to Rachel, daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Yost) Larkin of Harri- son county, Ohio. After his marriage, Mr. Williams lived a while in Penn township and then removed to Kansas, but not liking the prospect out there, returned to Highland county and located on the Bernard farm west of Hillsboro. This arrangement lasted until 1887, when he purchased an excellent place of 153 acres on Clear Creek, north of the county seat, where he has since made his home. That he is regarded as a reliable business man is evidenced by the fact that in the spring of 1902 he was elected trustee of Liberty township. He is well informed on all matters relating to agricul- ture, one of the county's most energetic farmers and in every way a clever and popular citizen. He belongs to the Union Veterans' Union and is one of the comrades of Hillsboro post, Grand Army of the Republic. The four living children of Mr. and Mrs. Williams are Isaac, born November 2, 1870, and now married and residing near Leesburg, Ohio; Oscar, born September 12, 1872; Margaret, born December 7, 1877, wife of Leslie Connell of Penn township; and Herbert, born April 3, 1890. Katie, the second born, died in infancy.
William H. Willson, M. D., is one of the most popular and prom- ising of the young professional men who make Greenfield, Ohio, their center of operations. He is a native of Highland county, was educated in her public schools and has spent most of the years of
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his life in her confines. At an early age he conceived a great admir- ation for the noble science of healing and determined to make a study of the same with a view to its professional practice. With this end in view, he became a student at the Medical College of Ohio in 1894 and continued in diligent attendance at all the lectures during the three subsequent winter terms. In the spring of 1897 he was made happy by the reception of the degree of M. D., conferred upon him by his alma mater. Immediately after his graduation, Dr. Willson located in his native town of Greenfield and entered upon the active practice of his profession among old friends and neighbors. He was so engaged at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war in the sum- mer of 1898. Actuated by a patriotic desire to do what he could in the cause of his country, Dr. Willson joined the Fourth regiment hospital corps and served with it during the Porto Rico campaign. Returning from the war he resumed his practice at Greenfield, which extends over portions of Highland, Ross and Fayette counties. In addition to his regular professional duties, Dr. Willson holds the position of medical examiner for several leading insurance com- panies. He is a member of the Highland County Medical society, a master Mason and communicant of the First Presbyterian church. On February 26, 1902, Dr. Willson was married to Bessie E. Hen- dry, daughter of Richard and Minnie L. Hendry. Her father, a native of Scotland, has been a resident of Cincinnati for a number of years.
Cyrus F. Wilson, a civil war veteran with a record of long and brilliant service and a prominent farmer of Greenfield, belongs to a family identified with the history of Madison township almost from the time of its organization. As early as 1810 his father, Adam B. Wilson, arrived from North Carolina and settled three miles south- east of Greenfield. He was a man of excellent business ability and great energy of character, qualities which made him one of the most influential citizens of the new county. Born in 1790, he served with credit in the war of 1812 and rose to the rank of lieutenant in his company. After coming to Ohio, he tarried a while in Ross county and was there married to Margery Dean, whose father, Abra- ham Dean, was among the pioneers who came in the latter part of the eighteenth century. In addition to his regular occupation as a general farmer and stockraiser, Adam B. Wilson held the office of justice of the peace for twenty-four years, and transacted a large amount of business of all kinds. He was conspicuously identified with the movement against slavery, but did not live to see that relic of barbarism wiped out, as he died in 1856, before the civil war had put an end to that great national disgrace. Most of his twelve chil- dren have passed away, one of the survivors being Cyrus F. Wilson, who was born in Highland county, Ohio, in 1839, and grew to man-
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hood on his father's farm. In December, 1861, he enlisted in one of the companies of the famous Seventy-third regiment, Ohio volun- teer infantry, whose fighting record was as brilliant as that of any organization in the army. In January, 1862, they were sent to West Virginia and in May fought against Stonewall Jackson at McDowell. They were seriously engaged at Cross Keys and Second Bull Run, losing at the last mentioned battle one hundred and forty- four men, killed and wounded, and twenty prisoners. The next severe engagement was at Chancellorsville, in May, 1863, followed by the bloody and decisive battle of Gettysburg, where the Seventy- third was hotly engaged during the three days' fighting and lost one hundred and forty-four men, killed and wounded, out of a total strength of about three hundred and thirty. In the next fall the regiment was sent west and was with Hooker in the hottest of the fighting at Lookout Mountain, where they again suffered severely. During the year 1864 they were with Sherman from Chattanooga to Atlanta, from Atlanta to the sea, from the sea up through the Caro- linas to Washington for the final grand review; then to Louisville, where the muster-out took place July 20, 1865. To have partici- pated in such a series of campaigns and battles in behalf of one's country makes a record to be proud of, and Cyrus F. Wilson shares with his surviving comrades the honor of having been with the "old Seventy-third" during all those terrible but glorious days of the mighty struggle for national existence. December 17, 1868, Mr. Wilson was married to Martha L. Douglas, member of the widely distributed and influential family of that name in Highland county. She is the daughter of James and grand-daughter of William and Mary (Scott) Douglass, who settled near Greenfield in 1810 and became wealthy land-owners of Madison township. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have three sons: Frank D. and George O., in business in Chicago, and James W., in Indian Territory. The parents are mem- bers of the First Presbyterian church at Greenfield, and Mr. Wilson revives old war memories with his comrades of Gibson post, No. 180, Grand Army of the Republic.
Frank L. Wilson, M. D., a prominent and successful physician of Greenfield, Ohio, was born and bred in Highland county. His grandfather, Adam B. Wilson, a native of North Carolina, was among the earlier settlers of Highland county, where he became a successful and influential farmer. Dr. James Leighton Wilson, son of Adam B., was one of the eminent surgeons of this section of Ohio. After obtaining a literary education in the Ohio University at Athens, he entered the Ohio Medical college, from which he was graduated about 1846 with the degree of M. D. After a year spent in the northern part of the state, he formed a partnership with Dr. Milton Dunlap for the practice of medicine at Greenfield, and
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this association was carried on profitably for a number of years. James Leighton Wilson was enthusiastically devoted to his profession and surrendered his whole life to its study and practice. His laud- able ambition and unwearied efforts met with deserved success, as he achieved rank as a physician and surgeon of unusual ability. He refused to lay down his work at the approach of ill health, but con- tinued to practice until a short time before his death, which occurred in 1899. He enjoyed the greatest consolation of a father in being able to leave behind a successor well worthy to wear his mantle and fully able to continue his professional work. This solace was afforded in the person of his youngest son, Dr. Frank L. Wilson. This gentleman had been well educated at the old academy of South Salem, and the Miami university. Subsequently he entered the Ohio Medical college, from which he was graduated in 1875 with the degree of M. D. In the year following, he became associated with his father in the practice of medicine at Greenfield, where he has attained a very prominent position among the physicians and sur- geons of southern Ohio. He is employed in his professional capacity both by the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern and the Ohio Southern railway companies, in addition to his extensive practice in Green- field and surrounding country. Dr. Wilson is a member of the Highland county Medical society and the fraternities of Knights of Pythias and the Elks. He was married in 1876 to Anna, daugh- ter of Judge John Eckman, a very prominent citizen of Greenfield, who was mayor of the city and at one time associate judge. Dr. Wilson and wife have two sons, of whom Charles D. is student at Miami university and Oscar is at home.
David C. Winkle, one of the model farmers of Hamer township, comes of an honorable Virginia ancestry first represented in High- land county about the year 1827. The new arrivals, who settled in White Oak township, included the parents and six children, among the latter being Michael Winkle, who was born in Virgina, August 9, 1815. The latter was an ambitious boy and so early as the twelfth year of his age began to make his own way in the world. There was but little he could do except the lighter work of farm and mill, but this he did to the best of his ability and with an industry that promised well for the future. Shortly after arriving at legal age he was united in wedlock with Sarah Ann, daughter of Henry and Catharine Surber, with whom he began housekeeping on a farm in White Oak township. Being a good business man and progressive in temperament he met with success in all his ventures, one of which was a water-power sawmill that ranked among the first of its kind constructed in the township. As a farmer he was enterprising and believed in keeping things in good order, one of his improvements being a brick house, something of a novelty on farms at that time,
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which was subsequently destroyed by fire. He was an active member of the Christian church, township trustee for many years and reached the age of eighty-four years before closing his earthly career. The postoffice of Winkle, the official name of the town of East Danville, was so called in honor of Michael Winkle, as a compliment to his popularity and worth as a citizen. His living children are Sarah Jane, wife of John Fender, of New Market township; Elizabeth, widow of Adam Redkey, of Hamer township; Lucinda, wife of John Bennington, of White Oak township; Rachel, wife of Hugh Vance, of Hamer township; the subject of this sketch; Isadora, wife of Amos Hawk, of White Oak township; and Cornelius, Mary C. and William H., deceased. David C. Winkle, next to the youngest of the nine children, was born in White Oak township, Highland county, Ohio, on the farm adjoining his present home, November 8, 1855. He was married in early manhood to Olive Elizabeth, daughter of James P. and Maria Roberts, of White Oak township, and immedi- ately located on the farm where hel still resides. The place at first consisted of 148 acres but he has added to the area until he now owns 300 acres, nearly, all of which is under a high state of cultivation. From time to time he has made improvements in the way of neat and commodious buildings, so that he has one of the most comfortable country homes in the township. Indeed, he is not only one of the representative agriculturists of his immediate neighborhood but is a model Highland county farmer of the up-to-date and progressive class. He has served nine or ten years as township trustee and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America at Hillsboro. Mr. and Mrs. Winkle have had six children, of whom Charles N., Carrie C. and Monta M. are living, and three died in infancy. The family are communicants of the Christian church.
Jacob M. Wisecup, a veteran of the civil war and one of the pro- gressive farmers of his community, traces his ancestry to a very early period in the history of Highland county. Jonas Wisecup, the founder of the Ohio branch of the family, located in Highland county as early as 1795 and established a distillery about five miles south- east of Marshall. By his wife Susannah he had twelve children, of whom Susannah, wife of William Cummings of Hartford City, Ind., is the only survivor. Jacob, the second son, was born about 1804 and in 1823 was married to Susannah, daughter of John Frump, by whom he had eleven children: John, a resident of Indi- ana ; Joseph, a farmer living near Carmel; George, farming at Bel- fast; Jacob M., further noticed below; William, a resident at Carmel; Mary Ellen, wife of Carey Skeen of Carmel; Daniel, a merchant at Bainbridge; Martha, wife of William Baird residing near Hillsboro; Allen F., farming near Belfast; Lydia Ann, who H-34
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married James Skeen and died in 1884; and Benjamin, a resident of Rainsboro. Jacob M. Wisecup, fourth of the children in order of birth, was married in 1868 to Margaret, daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Spargur) Montgomery, and connected with this event is a pathetic story of war times. In the fall of 1864, Jacob M. Wisecup and his bosom friend, William McCoy, enlisted together in the One Hundred and Seventy-fifth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry. This command was sent to Tennessee and participated in the bloody battle of Franklin, fought to check the advance of the Confederate General Hood toward Nashville and the North. Before entering this en- gagement, McCoy exacted a promise from Comrade Wisecup that should the former fall the latter would care for his widow. McCoy was mortally wounded by a shell and Mr. Wisecup himself severely injured in the head, the total loss of the regiment in killed, wounded and missing being about four hundred. He was in several other fights afterward and served with the regiment until its discharge in July, 1865. Three years later, Mr. Wisecup fulfilled the promise to his dead friend by marrying his widow, Mrs. Margaret (Mont- gomery) McCoy, and caring for her tenderly ever after as his wife. Their children are Elmer N., who served as a soldier in the Spanish- American war and is now at home; Clarence E., also in the war as a musician, going from Cuba to the Philippines and after two years returning to peaceful pursuits, being a student of dentistry ; Flor- ence, wife of Ealy Roads of Buford; Ernest Clark, attending the Hillsboro high school; and Lizzie Leota, wife of Thomas Brown, a carpenter at Hillsboro. Mr. Wisecup formerly resided near Hills- boro but in 1885 located at Belfast and ten years later purchased 183 acres of land near Dallas, where he at present resides. . A few years ago Mr. Wisecup erected a handsome residence on this place which is regarded as one of the model farms of the county.
Charles A. Woodmansee, of Highland, is a worthy representative of an old family conspicuous in the early settling and subsequent upbuilding of Fairfield township. The first arrivals came in 1818 from Monmouth county, New Jersey, and settled where Charles P. Woodmansee lived in after years. Samuel and Alice (Jeffrey) Woodmansee constituted the vanguard but they were followed later by several of their children who, with their descendants, eventually owned much of the land now included in the township. Samuel died in 1837 and his wife in 1836, having reared a family of twelve children. One of their sons, by the name of Isaac, born in 1785, settled with his wife and three children on Lee's creek, where James E. Moore subsequently lived. Among the children of Isaac Woodmansee was a son named James who was married June 20, 1841, to Sarah, daughter of Moses and Catherine (Underwood) Smith. James and Sarah Woodmansee had six children, as follows :
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Columbus, born December 10, 1844, married Polly Luttrel, and is a farmer in Clinton county; Matilda Ann, born September 5, 1846, married Cyrus Thornburg, a farmer of Highland county; Sarah Mary, born March 14, 1848, married Dr. William B. Graham, and is living in Indiana; Alice, born February 12, 1853, first married P. P. Cline, by whom she had one child, Marie, and after her hus- band's death she married Dr. Joseph Kyle and resides at Oriental, N. C .; James Smith, born August 29, 1856, married Ida May Til- den, and is a farmer of Highland county. Charles A. Woodmansee, sixth and youngest of the children, was born on the farm near High- land, Ohio, July 30, 1860. After preparing himself by good pre- liminary education, he devoted three or four years to teaching in the schools of Highland and Clinton counties. Wearying of that employment, he embarked in farming and followed this occupation until 1895, when he went to Chicago, secured a position with one of the large firms and traveled for the same several years throughout the West. In 1901 he returned to his old home, where he has since been engaged as special agent for the Equitable insurance company. September 14, 1882, he was married to Ida Adams, a member of one of the most substantial families in Fairfield township. Her father, Manlove Adams, who married Mary Ann Fulks, is among the enter- prising and progressive citizens and for years an important factor in affairs affecting the public interests. When his daughter married Mr. Woodmansee he made her a present of 224 acres of land near Leesburg, which for many years has been the country residence of the family. Mr. and Mrs. Woodmansee have two children: Hester Grace, born May 21, 1886; and Peter Leslie, born October 21, 1889.
Daniel D. Worley, of New Petersburg, bears a name long known in Paint township and identified with its history from earliest pioneer days. When Francis Worley, father of Daniel, arrived from North Carolina, the settlement was small and scattered and every- thing in the crudest condition. Highland county had not yet been organized and while there was an abundance of rich soil it was nearly all covered with heavy growths of timber, the clearing away of which required men of iron nerve and indomitable will. Francis Worley was able to buy land in Paint township for $5 an acre and all the corn he wanted at the rate of twenty bushels for one dollar. He "laid to" like the rest of them, however, and by patience and endless labor gradually hewed a home out of the inhospitable sur- roundings. He married Polly Worley and reared a family that equaled if it did not surpass those of the ancient patriarchs described in the book of Genesis. The sturdy boys and girls who made their appearance in regular order in this primitive household increased until they numbered fifteen and five of these are still living. Fran- cis Worley, who was an old-fashioned Whig in politics, a law-abiding
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man and good citizen in all respects, was gathered to his fathers at the age of seventy-six years. Daniel D. Worley, one of the survivors of the fifteen brothers and sisters heretofore mentioned, was born in Paint township, Highland county, Ohio, March 23, 1823. As he grew up he attended subscription school in a crude cabin presided over by various pedagogues from the "land of steady habits" and here picked up the "readin', writin' and 'rithmetic" which usually constituted the store of pioneer knowledge. In 1842 when about nineteen years old, he concluded to branch out for himself, and turned his face and footsteps towards southern Indiana. He lo- cated at Aurora, then a lively little town on the Ohio river, and embarked in blacksmithing but also did some farm work as a kind of side line. He spent ten years at this place, shoeing horses, iron- ing wagons and otherwise keeping himself busy, with the result that he saved a little money and with it moved farther on. Near Ottumwa, Iowa, he resumed his blacksmithing and prosecuted the work industriously for seven years, after which he took charge of a farm of 210 acres that occupied his time and attention until 1884. In 1886 he returned to Highland county and has since made his home at New Petersburg. March 14, 1847, he was married to Elizabeth Upp, descendant of one of the earliest of Paint township pioneers, and had by her five children all of whom died in infancy. The mother also passed away December 24, 1884, and Mr. Worley was married in 1887 to Mrs. Ruth Merdock, daughter of Benjamin Pierce, with whom he lived happily until her death, which occurred January 29, 1899. Mr. Worley is a member of the Baptist church and his political views find expression in the Republican platforms.
Henry Yochum, notable among the early comers of the German settlers of Highland county a little before the middle of the last cen- tury, was born in Germany in 1815, and was married there to Eva Eustus, a native of the same country. In 1843 he and his family came to America accompanied by his father, and after an ocean voy- age of fifty-six days, landed at New Orleans. Thence they traveled up to Ohio, and settled in White Oak township, Henry Yochum pur- chasing ninety acres on Bell run. Henry Yochum was a successful farmer and good citizen, and active in the advancement of the Ger- man Lutheran church. He lived to the age of eighty-two years, and his wife to seventy-seven. Eight children were born to them, of whom the following are living: Margaret Mignery, and Jacob, who is now one of the influential citizens of the township.
Jacob Yochum was born on the farm in White Oak township, now owned by Mrs. Mignery, November 1, 1845, was educated in the district school, and on attaining manhood was married to Mollie Purdy, a native of White Oak township. They began their married life on the old homestead, and eight years later bought their present
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home, where Mr. Yochum owns 161 acres of well-improved land. Four children were born to them-Charles L., of Mowrystown ; Ora B., residing in White Oak township; Daisy and Robert at home. Their mother died in 1884, and Mr. Yochum was subsequently married a second time to Annie Haup, daughter of John Haup, of Liberty township. Mr. Yochum is a successful farmer and an intel- ligent, business-like man, whose good judgment is in frequent demand for the public service. He has held the office of township trustee two terms, and land appraiser one term ; in politics is a Dem- ocrat, and his religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church.
Peter Yochum, of Clay township, a former township trustee, and prominent as a farmer and citizen, is a Pennsylvanian by birth and son of Friedrich and Marguerite (Hurning) Yochum. These par- ents were married in their native land of Germany, and came to the United States about 1834, settling first in Pennsylvania, where Peter Yochum was born to them August 22, 1835, and thence remov- ing soon afterward to Brown county, Ohio. A few years later they changed their residence to White Oak township, Highland county, and after a good many years there, they returned to Brown county, where the father died at fifty-nine years of age, and the mother at about sixty. Their ten children were Margaret, Peter, Mary, Liz- zie, Caroline, Frederick, John, Jacob, Henry and Kittie. Freder- ick, John and Kittie reside in Brown county, Mary at Carlisle, Ohio, Jacob in White Oak township, and the others, except the subject of this sketch, are deceased. Peter Yochum was reared at his parental home and educated in the district school; and when he came of age he went out for himself to work as a farmer by the month. Thus he continued until he was twenty-five years old, when he was married to Margaret Chavey, a native of Highland county. They went to housekeeping in Kentucky, but returned to Highland county in two years and occupied the farm now owned by John Mock. At this and another farm he lived five years, and then was able to buy a place of his own, containing fifty acres, which he has since increased to one hundred. Upon this he has ever since made his home. By his first marriage Mr. Yochum had twelve children, of whom six are living: Henry and Peter, residing in Clay township; Lewis and Mary, whose homes are in Nebraska; Kate, of Concord township, and Cynthia, of Clay township. After the death of his first wife he married Elizabeth Dunham, a native of Clermont county, and four children have been born to them, of whom Sylvester and Clarence are living. Mr. Yochum has a well improved farm, which shows the evidence of skilful husbandry. In addition to general agriculture he gives some attention to livestock. He is held in high regard by his fellow citizens, and for five years he was honored with the office
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of township trustee. In religion he is a member of the Presbyterian church, and in politics he is a Democrat.
The Zink family, long and favorably known in Highland, had representatives here when the county was little more than an unbroken wilderness, and the now beautiful city of Hillsboro a scrawny village of stumps and log cabins. Enoch Zink, born in Pennsylvania in 1784, son of John and Elizabeth Zink, was married in 1805 to Mary, daughter of John and Mary (Penn) Foster, and four years later migrated to Ohio with his wife and two sons. After a weary journey they arrived in Highland county in the fall of 1809, but the prospects were not reassuring. At that time hardly a begin- ning had been made in clearing the heavy forest growth characteris- tic of that part of Ohio. Here and there was a "patch" dug with infinite pains out of the heart of the forest and in the center a log cabin with a lot of "towhead" urchins playing around it. Now and then there were a few small fields, but there were as yet practically no roads and accommodations of all kinds were of the crudest char- acter. The embryonic city of Hillsboro was little more than a forest clearing, plenteously sprinkled with black stumps interspersed at intervals with crude cabins and the main street a prolonged mudhold, which had to be navigated rather than walked across. But Enoch Zink was possessed of the true pioneer spirit, not to be intimidated by ordinary difficulties, so he bought some land and set manfully to work to carve a home out of the forbidding wilderness. The place he selected was about four miles northwest of Hillsboro and there he reared his large family, eventually evolved a good farm and in due course passed away from the scenes of earth. His two older sons, John and Samuel, were born in Pennsylvania and after the arrival in Ohio the family was increased by eight more births, named in order Elizabeth, David K., Sarah A., Thomas F., Eli, Maria P., Milton P. and Wilson C., all of whom grew to maturity and fulfilled their duties as intelligent, worthy and industrious Christian men and women. Only two of this family of ten children are now liv- ing. Thomas F., fourth of those born in Ohio, was for many years a resident of Hillsboro, but is now living at Columbus. Milton P. Zink, next to the youngest of the children, has for fifty-two years been a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and member of the Cincinnati conference, but since 1889 has been retired from active service and a permanent resident of Hillsboro. He was married in 1855 to Mary J., daughter of John S. Beasley and grand- daughter of Gen. Nathaniel Beasley, who was appointed by the com- missioners to survey Highland county and locate the county seat. Posey B. Zink, son of Milton P. and Mary (Beasley) Zink, was born in Hamersville, Brown county, Ohio, October 14, 1861, and was graduated at the Hillsboro high school in 1882. For some years after
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leaving school, he clerked for the wholesale grocery houses of Scott & Roads and McKeehan & Hiestand, but in 1890 opened business as a retail grocer on his own account. In 1898 he removed to his present location at the corner of High and Walnut streets, where he has a double front, and in addition to a full line of groceries keeps novel- ties and queensware. October 3, 1894, Mr. Zink was married to Sarah E., daughter of Martin and Nancy McClure, one of the promi- nent families of Highland county, who are sketched at some length on another page of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Posey B. Zink have one daughter, Helen Beasley, who was born March 19, 1898.
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