The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 85

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254

USA > Ohio > Union County > The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record; > Part 85

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GEORGE EMANUEL FOX, contractor and builder, Marysville, Ohio, was born in Darby Township, this county, November 6, 1851, and is a son of George A. and Susanna (Kuhlman) Fox, natives of Bavaria, Germany, who came to America in 1844 and 1840, respectively. George is the eldest of five children-four sons and one daughter. He removed with his parents to near Marysville in 1854, from Columbus, Ohio, to which place they went soon after his birth. At the age of thirteen, he began learning the trade of masonry and bricklaying, and, seven years later, went to Columbus, in which place and others he followed his trade ten years, and then returned to Marysville. He is an efficient workman, and as monuments to his skill we mention the City Hall, Robinson Building, German Church, Tribune Building, Gunderman Building and a number of elegant private residences. He also built school buildings at the following places : Woodstock, Milford Centre, and Irwin Station. He was married January 24, 1876 to Miss Josephine daughter of Andrew and Margaret Burger, who has borne him four children, viz., Carrie, Nettie, Katie and Mary. Mrs. Fox was born March 19, 1853. Both are members of the German Lutheran Church. Mr. Fox affiliates with the Democratic party and is a member of the City Council.

GEORGE W. FOX, Chief of Fire Department, Marysville, was born in Paris Township March 20, 1855, and is a brother of George E. Fox, whose sketch appears in this work. He was reared to farm pursuits until eighteen years of age. at which time he began learning masonry and brick- laying with his father, with whom he served three years. He was afterward connected with his brother in the same business three years, and assisted in the erection of the buildings spoken of in George E.'s sketch. He has been a member of the city fire department since 1878, and was elected its chief in April, 1880, and re-elected in 1882. He was married January 17, 1878, to Barbara, daughter of George and Mary Geier, by whom he has had two children, viz., Mary and George William. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fox are exemplary members of the German Lutheran Church, and are socially esteemed by their many friends and acquaintances. Mrs. F. was born at Columbus, Ohio, in 1855.

WESLEY GARRARD, merchant, Marysville. This establishment was opened to the public by its present proprietor, November 19, 1858, at that time located in a building on the present site of the Farmers' Bank. This institution gained notoriety, and became widely known as the Buck-horn Store, by the sign of the horns over the door. The stock consists of groceries, hard- ware and notions-in fact any article not to be found elsewhere, from a wooden tooth-pick to an anvil, may be had at Garrard's. He purchased the premises of his present location, which he occupied in 1872. His stock is complete, and his trade solid and substantial. Mr. Garrard is a native of Harmony Township, Clark Co., Ohio, where he was born June 9, 1839 : he is the only child of Joseph and Lucy (Allen) Garrard, the former a son of Jacob Garrard, a native of Penn- sylvania, and a pioneer of Clark County. He afterward moved to Madison County, where he dicd. The maternal grandparent, Elijah Allen, was a native of Virginia, a soldier in the war of 1812, and among the pioneers of Madison County. The parents of our subject moved with the family to this city, where he, Joseph, lived to the close of his life, November 23, 1880. He was a social. genial, warm-hearted, home-loving man, who left a host of friends to mourn his loss. The wife and mother, who survives, is in the sixty-seventh year of her age. Mr. Garrard has been elected Justice of the Peace several terms, and will serve until April, 1883. He was Mayor of this city six years, and is serving the second term on the School Board at the present time, July, 1882, also serving the third year as School Trustee, and is an honored member of the Masonic order. His marriage to Miss Dorcas Cheney, of Jackson Township, Union County, was celebrated in 1859. Three children born to this union are all living, viz., Frank HI., Pearl C. and Clyde E.

SAMUEL G. GILCRIST, farmer, P. O. Marysville, was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, February 1, 1837. He is a son of Thomas C. and Eleanor (Guthrie) Gilcrist, the former a na- tive of Brooke County, W. Va., and the latter of Harrison County, Ohio; his father was born August 1, 1812; his parents, William and Jane (Smith) Gilcrist, were among the earliest settlers

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of Belmont County; they removed to Greene County about 1840, where they both died. Thomas C. Gilcrist married Ellen Guthrie, who bore him eight children, viz .- Samuel G., the subject of this sketch; William S .; Austin ; Adalaide, wife of William A. Hollenback ; Elizabeth J., wife of B. F. James; Robert A .; Mary R., wife of Nathan Hollenback, and Thomas F. Mr. and Mrs. Gilcrist resided in Harrison and Greene Counties till 1855, when they located in Mill Creek Township, this county, and the following year removed to Bureau County, Ill., where Mrs. G. died January 14, 1862. Samuel G. our subject, was reared to manhood by his parents, and was educated in the common schools and high schools of Princeton, Ill .; he followed teaching, of winters, for ten years ; in 1862 he removed to Marshall County, Ill., and in 1865 returned to Union County and located on the farm that he now occupies. His marriage occured September 9, 1862, with Miss Elizabeth Longbrake, a daughter of Levi Longbrake, one of the wealthiest citizens of Union County. Mrs. Gilcrist was born in Paris Township, September 80, 1844. Four children were the fruits of this union-Franklin M., born April 22. 1865 ; Levi L., born February 14, 1868 ; Ellen G., born May 13, 1872, and Samuel S., born August 3, 1878. Mr. Gilcrist owns a productive and well improved farm of 226 acres. Ile is engaged in the pursuits of agriculture and rearing fine stock, and ranks as one of the successful farmers of the county. He and wife are associated with the Disciples' Church, and are also connected with the Grange, with which Mr. Gilcrist has been prominently identified since its organization. He is now serv- ing the fourth year as Master and has also filled various other offices of that Order. He is a member of the Board of Township Trustees, and in politics is Republican.

MICHAEL GUNDERMAN, farmer, P. O. Marysville, was born in Germany, April 13, 1826 ; at the age of ten years his parents, George P. and Sophia Gunderman, emigrated to America and settled in Hamilton, Ohio, where they resided till 1840 and removed to Union County. Mr. Gunderman died in Marysville June 15, 1868, and Mrs. G., December. 1876. Michael is the eldest of eight children; he was reared to manhood on a farm and married, January 27, 1857, to Miss Elizabeth B. a daughter of John W. and Elizabeth B. Borger. Mrs. G. was born in Germany, January 10, 1836. Their nine children are as follows : Anna M., wife of John Tear- gardener, Elizabeth M., Anna M., John G , John K., Anna B., Lydia, John W. and John M. When Mr. G. was sixteen, he started for himself at wages of $3 per month, and now owns 105 acres of fine land. lle is by occupation a farmer ; for thirty-five years he followed the carpenter trade. Politically he is Democratic; he and family are members of the Lutheran Church.

HON. CORNELIUS S. HAMILTON (deceased). This gentleman, the circumstances of whose tragic death are well-remembered by the citizens of Union County, for many years occu- pied a very prominent position in his county and State. lle was chosen to represent the Eighth Congressional District of Ohio, in the fall of 1866, and at the time of his death, December 22, 1867, was yet a member of the National Legislature. The editor of the Marysville Tribune wrote of him as follow+ :

"No event has ever occurred in our midst that has cast so deep a gloom over our community as the death of Hon. C. S. Hamilton. He was one of the few men living of whom it might have been said in truth that ' he had no enemy.' He was always foremost in every enterprise de- signed to build up the interest of Marysville, as well as the entire county. IIe has left behind him monuments of enterprise that will call up his name for generations to come. He sympa- thized deeply with every work of charity designed to allay the miseries of others, or to carry on the religious enterprises of the day, and his purse and heart were ever open to all calls made upon him at home and from abroad. It has been truthfully said of him by a cotemporary that he was ' a man of decided convictions and an iron man, and had an impatience amounting to al- most intolerance on half-way measures.' No one was ever in doubt as to the position of Mr. Hamilton on any question. He was a radical in every sense of the term, believing firmly in the doctrine that no truth could be safely compromised with error; and thus believing, he acted upon the principle of rejecting any compromise which would have the least tendency to thwart any salutary end desired to be secured. This characteristie was backed by a judgment that never failed to inspire confidence in his views and sentiments. He possessed innate powers of mind, and such a clear conception of right as enabled him to grasp everything he desired to accomplish aml give it a practical turn, and every opposition manifested to what he considered to be right and proper only tended to develop a force of character which was irresistible. He was no dog- matist, but was always willing to hear the suggestions and opinions of others. He was one of the comparatively few public men whose mind was schooled to travel in the right direction from a high sense of honor. This gave him a strong hold on the affections of the people, which they at different times acknowledged by electing him to responsible positions in the State and Nation. Few men to our knowledge have combined more of good traits and less evil ones than Mr. Ham- ilton. He was the noblest work of God-' an honest man.' There was not a heart in Union County that was not touched by his untimely death. We are passing through a season of sorrow and gloom such as we have never witnessed. The town and county, as well as the family and friends, are bereaved of one whom to know was to love and respect, and his name and virtues will be cherished for long years to come."

Mr. Hamilton was the first person sent to Congress from Union County. He had been long

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an honored member of the bar of his county, and, at a meeting of that body shortly subsequent to his death, resolutions of respect were tendered to his memory, and earnest and heartfelt sym- pathy to his family. In Congress, the news of his death was received as a great shock, while the press of Washington City and other prominent points united in paying tribute to the memory of the good man fallen in the midst of his life-work. Hon. William Lawrence, of Ohio, a fellow- congressman, performed the duty of announcing his death in the House of Representatives, and in the course of his remarks gave the following facts in the history of the deceased :

" Cornelius Springer Hamilton was born January 2, 1821, in the Township and County of Muskingum, in the State of Ohio, where he resided with his parents until they and he removed to Union County early in 1839. His father and paternal grandfather were men of commanding personal presence, fervent piety, and much native force of intellect. An uncle, Rev. Samuel Hamilton, was, in the early part of his life, and perhaps to the age of fifty years, a man of very superior gifts. The mother of the deceased-of the family of the Springers-like her kinsmen, was distinguished by great force of character. She was diffident, quiet, with deep piety, untir- ing energy, and strong, vigorous intellect. The paternal and maternal ancestors belonged to the class of independent farmers. The father died only a few months since in the seventy-ninth year of hisage ; and though he raised twelve children, ten sons and two daughters, every one of whom when the youngest reached majority, yet it is said-and truly-that he did not live long enough ever to have heard one of his children swear an oath, to see one chew or smoke tobacco, or to know of one ever having been intoxicated, or even to have taken a dram at a place of pub- lic drinking. The energy, industry and pure morality of the parents were inherited by their children, including the deceased. Up to his eighteenth year, he labored assiduously on the pa- ternal farm in Muskingum, with the ordinary advantages of common schools for two or three months each winter during the latter half of this period. After the removal to Union County, for two years he directed and with great energy and determination assisted the labor by which the father's newly-acquired forest of 1,500 acres was in rapid process of being converted into de- lightful farms. During his twentieth and twenty-first years, he devoted about eighteen months with great industry in improving his education at Granville College. He early gave evidence of superior intellectual power, and during the years of his farm labor he was a daily student of history, biography, or other works. His early but well-read library consisted of Weem's Life of Washington, the Life of Marion, History of Western Adventures, Goodrich's History of the United States, histories of Rome and Greece, and American Biography, to which were added by his uncle, Rev. C. Springer, Johnson's Rambler. Boswell's Life of Johnson, and the Spectator. Upon the removal to the forest home in Union County, a good supply of works of standard poets was added-those of Pollock, Milton, Shakespeare, Pope, Goldsmith, Campbell, Lamb, Kirke White and Rogers, not omitting Burns. Though few, if any, surpassed Mr. Hamilton on that great forest farm in daily labor, yet he was a devoted and industrious student of these great masters. He realized the necessity of great application to develop the mind and store it with abundant knowledge, and he has illustrated the words of a great author of antiquity :

" ' Nil sine maguo, Vita labore dedid mortalibus ; '"

or, as Wirt has, with some latitude, translated it into his own almost unrivaled eloquence : ' There is no excellence without great labor. It is the fiat of fate from which no power of genius can absolve.'

"The age of twenty-two found this rising man a fine English scholar, with a rare knowledge of the authors I have named, and of that book of books, the Bible, which a father's care and a mother's love had earnestly and always taught him to study, to reverence, and to obey ; whose precepts he accepted and through life made a rule of practice and of faith by practice, rather than in professions, or in adherence to any particular and established school of doctrine. Of him it may be truly said, ' he loved virtue for virtue's sake,' and with a firm belief in the truths of Christianity his ' life was in the right.'

" He continued his agricultural pursuits up to about the year 1847. In the meantime, about 1845, he held the office and performed the duties of Land Appraiser and Assessor in his county. In 1850, he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention which, during its sittings in 1850 and 1851, framed the present Constitution of the State of Ohio. He was soon after admitted to the bar and engaged in the practice of the law. About the same time, he be- came the editor and proprietor of the Marysville Tribune, which he conducted with marked ability, contributing much to mold the political and moral sentiment of the community in which he resided. In 1856 and 1857. he represented his district in the Senate of Ohio with a fidelity and an ability which secured for him a high reputation throughout the State. During the first session, he was made chairman of a committee intrusted with the important duty of investigat- ing certain alleged frauds connected with the leasing of the public works of the State. His in- vestigations and researches were prominent topics of discussion by the press and political parties, but the concurrent testimony of all connected with them is that he dared to do what he conceived to be his duty, and no party fealty could induce him to swerve from that, whatever might be the peril to him personally or to the party whose general principles he supported. In the discus- sions to which this led he wielded a pen the power of which has never, perhaps, been more for-

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cibly felt in any State controversy ; but it belongs rather to the history of Ohio than to especial consideration here. When the national internal revenue aet of July 1, 1862, was put in operation, he was appointed by President Lincoln Assessor of the Eighth Congressional District of Ohio, and performed the duties of the office with an ability, energy and fidelity which commanded the publie approval and the confidence of all in his unsullied integrity. After the Philadelphia Con- vention of 1866, being opposed to the policy of President Johnson, he was relieved of the posi- tion he had so well and so faithfully filled. In August, 1866, he was nominated as a candidate for Congress in the Eighth Ohio District, and in October of that year was elected over his com- petitor by over 1,800 majority.

" While engaged in his duties here as a member of the present Congress, during the past month, he was notified by his wife that one of their sons was seriously afflicted with indications of insanity. He immediately repaired to his home to find his worst fears realized. On Satur- day, December 21, he had made arrangements to remove the insane son to an asylum on the Monday following. On the morning of the next day, the Sabbath, while engaged in feeding his stoek, the son, in a fit of frenz y, bereft of reason and unconscious of erime, with a strip of plank struck the fatal blows which, fracturing the skull of his father, produced instant death. This son is described in perhaps the last letter ever written by our departed colleague, thus : ' He has been one of the most quiet, industrious and exemplary boys I ever knew, and my chief reli- ance for the management of my affairs and the control of my other children in my absence.'

" Thus passed away, in the prime of manhood, by a sad calamity, just as he had entered on an enlarged sphere of usefulness, one among the able and useful men of the Nation, honored and beloved by all who knew him. Few men in Ohio wielded an abler pen, or wielded it from higher convictions of duty, than did Mr. Hamilton. * * * * When the Thirty-ninth Congress commenced the discussion of the great work of reconstruction, Mr. Hamilton wrote and published a masterly pamphlet in favor of extending suffrage to men in all the late insurgent States, regardless of race or color. It attracted wide attention and produced a deep effeet on the publie mind, being at the time of its publication in advance of publie opinion. * * *

" He has passed from earth to the ' sublimer views of another and a better world which Christianity has unfolded with such inexpressible glory-where this corruptible shall put on in- corruption and this mortal shall put on immortality.' Men pass away, but the lofty spirits that conceive, and, from right motives, execute good works here, these cannot perish :

" ' These shall resist the empire of decay, When time is o'er and worlds have passed away ; Cold in the dust the perished heart may lie,

But hat which warmed it once can never die.'

" Mr. Speaker, I move the adoption of the following resolutions which I send to the Clerk's table :

" Resolved, That in the death of Hon. Cornelius S. Hamilton, late Representative in Congress from the Eighth District of Ohio, this House has lost a worthy and useful member, the country a most estimable citizen, and his family, relatives and associates a steadfast and valued friend.

" Resolved, That, to give expression to our due appreciation of the talents, attainments and patriotism of the deceased, and to indicate their regret and sorrow for his lamented death, the members of this House will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days.

" Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the Journal of the House of Representa- tives, and that a copy thereof be sent by its Clerk to the family of the deceased.

" Resolved, That, as a mark of respect for the memory of the deceased, this House do now adjourn."

The announcement of Mr. Hamilton's death was made to the Senate by Mr. McPherson, Clerk of the House, and the members also adopted similar resolutions to those passed in the House. Mr. Hamilton was married to Miss Louisa Vansant, in Muskingum County, Ohio, and left the wife and six children, three sons and three daughters, to mourn him. He was the fifth in descent from Charles Christopher Springer, the Swede, of Wilmington, Delaware, so favorably referred to by Clay in his Annals of the Swedes, and by Ferris in his Original Settlers on the Delaware.

I. N. HAMILTON, physician, Marysville. Dr. Hamilton is a descendant of a State pioneer family. His father, William Ilamilton, was a native of Virginia, from which State he moved to Muskingum County, Ohio, in 1800, being among the first settlers to fell the trees and elear a cabin spot in Springfield Township. He served the county some years as Commissioner, and became widely and popularly known. He was a zealous worker in the cause of Christianity, and devoted many years as a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He grounded the first Methodist organization west of the Alleghanies, at Janesville, Ohio, and farther ex- tended his labors in making long eireuits. In 1838, he purchased 1,500 acres of land in Clai- bourne Township, Union County, upon which he afterward moved and settled with his family. The traet was a dense forest, and he, with his boys, set to work felling timber for a elearing. Large sugar trees yielded a good erop of sugar and molasses, which was followed by the first sown erop of eorn, and the work of clearing went on until 500 acres of dense forest had given way to smiling fields, and his aeres of woodland rapidly gave place to acres of wheat. On this

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farm he lived and toiled and sorrowed and rejoiced for thirty years, and in the bosom of it his body now rests in peace. He was the original organizer of the Methodist Protestant Church of Richwood, in 1838, and founded similar institutions at Essex, Pharisburg, Scioto and other points. At the time of his death, in 1868, he was in the seventy-eighth year of his age. His first marriage, to Miss Elizabeth Ewing, occurred in Virginia ; she died leaving four children. His second wife, Lydia Springer, was a native of Virginia, who died after bearing eight children. The subject of this sketch was the seventh son of William and Lydia (Springer) Hamilton, and was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, June 25, 1828. He was raised on a farm and learned to labor with his hands. He received the common school education of his day, and gave much of his spare time to the study of medicine. He remained on the farm until twenty-two years of age, and in 1852 entered upon a course of study in Starling Medical College. Subsequently, he began the practice of his profession at Amity, Madison Co., Ohio. Two years later, he re- moved to Unionville, Union County, and in 1862 he returned to the college for graduation. The Doctor became a resident physician of Marysville, in 1868, being in constant practice since that time. He enlisted in 1862, as private in the three months' call of the Eighty-sixth Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry, and was detailed Surgeon of the regiment, in which rank he served the call. He has been Examining Surgeon for pensioners, the past twelve years, served this city in its Council, is a member of the School Board, a tried member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the G. A. R. Also of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Doctor was married in 1850, to Miss Margaret C., a daughter of Michael Cramer, a pioneer of Union County, where she was born. Six children were born to this union, three of whom are living, viz .: Charles S., Frank N. and Michael N. The eldest son, George O., died at the residence of his parents, on Friday, September 1, 1882. He was a member of the Franklin County bar, and after his death a mect- ing of the bar was held at Columbus, with a full attendance, appropriate speeches were made and a touching memorial prepared. He was born January 11, 1851, and spent two years read- ing law in the office of Piper & Robinson, at Marysville, after which he attended Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of the State, May 27, 1874, and shortly afterward formed a partnership with Col. M. C. Lawrence, then one of the leading law- yers of Union County. In October, 1877, he went to Columbus as a member of the firm of Hamilton & Henderson, and continued in the practice there until compelled to give it up by reason of failing health. In July, 1878, his health began failing, and for two years thereafter he struggled to maintain his place at the bar, but in vain ; and at last was compelled to give it up and return to his home, where he died

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The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 85

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1254

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254