The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 91

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 91

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PARIS TOWNSHIP.

Asylum, Columbus, Ohio, where he remained for three years; resigning this position, he located, in the fall of 1860, at Atchison, Territory of Kansas, where he soon obtained a good business in his profession. In May, 1861, being informed by Senator Jim Lane that Kansas would not be called on for troops, he immediately returned to Ohio and presented himself to the First Exam- ining Board; not having ten years' experience as a physician, he could not be commissioned as Surgeon, but received the second commission, issued to Assist Surgeons, and was assigned to the Twenty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was recruiting in Camp Chase ; he assisted in the examinations of the recruits for this regiment. His commission was not issued until the 2d of July, although he was with the regiment and on duty for about one month previous. Went to the Kanawha Valley, Va., in July, 1861, and was constantly with the command, much of the time the only medical officer. The duties were very arduous-nearly all of the soldiers were taken from comfortable homes and the exposure incident to camp life caused a vast amount of sickness; at one time in camp on " Big Sewell Mountain," we had nearly three hundred cases of measels. He went into winter quarters in Fayetteville, Va., but as soon as he got comfortably situated the Twenty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry was ordered to Louisville, Ky., January, 1862, to report to Gen. Don Carlos Buell; was assigned to Hascall's brigade, Thomas I. Wood's division. As soon as the troops were organized into brigades and divisions, they were moved out on the road to Bowling Green, where the rebels were in force strongly fortified. We moved out in about six inches of snow, which soon became mud. This was a campaign which caused a large amount of sickness and was very severe on the surgeon, as the only sleep he could get would be on his horse on the march. While in Nashville, his regiment was complimented in general orders for " drill, cleanliness and health." Ile was with Buell at Pittsburg Landing ; here he had a large amount of surgical experience ; was appointed Medical Purveyor, and issued many tons of medicines during the siege of Corinth, and settled his accounts without the loss of a single package of medicine; was with his command, which was the first to enter Corinth. During the summer of 1862, he campaigned in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky ; was at McMinnville, Tenn., when Buell's army commenced its race with Bragg, for Louisville, Ky .; at the Perryville fight, followed Bragg nearly to Cumberland Gap, and returned to Nashville by the way of Columbia, Adams Co., Ky. At the battle of Stone River, was in charge of the hospital for Crittenden's corps. During the engagement, was twice taken prisoner; once taken to the Cedar brush by Dick McCan's Partisan Rangers to be hung, but was released by the op- portune passing by of rebel Gen. Joseph Wheeler, who ordered him back to his hospital; the second time taken escaped while the rebels were retreating. After the battle of Stone River, was ordered to report to Gen. Straight, who was going out on a reconnaissance to find where the rebel army had gone; was without provisions most of the time and the tremendous rains made every stream a river. Turning suddenly cold on the day of his return, his clothing was frozen so solid that he had to be helped from his horse and carried to a fire and thawn out. Was promoted to Surgeon for meritorious services and commissioned February 16, 1863, assigned to the Seventy-sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and joined this regiment immediately at Young's Point, La. Soon after his arrival was appointed on an Examining Board of Surgeons, to examine candidates for Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons, who had been elected by vote of regiments, without regard to qualifications. Participated in all of the campaigns of Steele's division around Vicksburg, and during the battles that preceded the investment, and during the siege was one of three Surgeons who constituted the " Operating Board." After the surrender, he was Division Surgeon for his division on the campaign against Gen. Jo Johnston's army, which resulted in the capture of Canton, Miss., and the destruction of machine shops and many miles of railroad, and the second capture of Jackson, Miss. On the re-organization of the Army of the Tennessee, the Seventy-sixth Ohio Infantry was assigned to the First Brigade, First Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps. In the movement across from Memphis, Tenn., to the relief of Chattanooga, the First Division marched from Corinth, south of the Tennessee River, to cover the main body of troops, who were going by rail. Soon after leaving Corinth, the division encountered about 10,000 rebel cavalry, and fought with them every day until the balance of the army had reached the vicinity of Chattanooga. This was a very hard campaign for the Surgeon, as they never left a wounded soldier to the mercy of the enemy. All of the wounded were taken with the command and well cared for until they reached Stephenson, where the wounded were sent to the hospital, and the command reached Chattanooga and was bor- rowed by Hooker and participated in the "battle above the clouds." Next day was in the battle of Mission Ridge, and after this was, November 27, in the bloody Ringgold fight, Taylor's Ridge. These engagements following in such rapid succession, gave the Surgeons an immense amount of work. In the winter of 1863-64, on the organization of the army for the Atlanta campaign, he was re-appointed one of the three Surgeons who constituted the " Operating Board " for the First Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, and continued to serve in this capacity until the close of the war. Was constantly with his command during the Atlanta campaign in the " march to the sea," and the winter and spring campaign through the Carolinas. Served four years and one month in the field, and during the whole time he was never absent from his command when it was on the march or in any skirmish or battle, and was always out with a detachment of the command when it went on any expedition, and frequently was out with other

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commands. He never hesitated in obeying the orders of his superior officer. Never excused from duty on account of sickness. Repeatedly performed all operations that are incident to battles-amputations of toes, foot, leg and thigh, many successful amputations through upper third, and neck of femur, excisions of shoulder joints, elbow and knee joint, and very many of shaft of bones, of ribs, and all manner of wounds of head and every portion of the human system. He was mustered out with his command at the close of the war. In 1866, he purchased a quarry of hydraulectum and built a mill on Silver Creek, in Clark County, Ind., six miles from Jeffer- sonville. Ile was successful in business, and invested some of his earnings in a Savings Bank ; the cashier stole the money and much of the deposits, and he, with three other directors, liave paid the depositors out of their private funds. 'This loss, with a large amount of security debts, has materially diminished his finances. He returned to Ohio in 1878, and is now engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Marysville, Ohio.

FRED. J. SAGER, County Surveyor, Marysville, is the youngest son of Frederick and Michell (Jolly) Sager, natives of Union County. The former was a farmer and miller by occupa- tion. He built the mill at Unionville and operated it until his death. He died November 6, 1858, aged forty-eight years two months and twenty-eight days. Ile was the sixth child of a family of thirteen children. He and his brother John owned the land and laid out the town of Unionville. Michell Jolly was a daughter of Jolin Jolly, an early settler of this county. Ile was a man of literary habits, and possessed a very good education for his time. In 1795, he wrote a treatise on mathematies, which is still in existence in manuscript form. It is an ex- haustive work, showing considerable ability, and embraces the science of mathamatics in all its branches, including geometry, trigonometry and surveying. Ile taught school, surveyed, kept accounts for farmers and served as the educated man of the settlements for miles around. Christian Sager, the grandfather of our subject, was one of a family of six children, and a native of Loudoun County, Va. He married Elizabeth Shover af Frederickstown, Va., and in the begin- ning of the present century, came to Ohio with his parents, George and Elizabeth (Sheets) Sager. The latter were the parents of nine children. The subject of this sketch was born at Union- ville, this county, September 26, 1851. When four years old his mother died, and two years later he was made an orphan by the death of his father. lIe was raised by three uncles until fifteen years of age, when he went to Delaware and worked his way through the union school and partly through college. He sawed wood, made garden and did odd jobs around town to obtain the means necessary to enable him to complete his education. After leaving school, he taught for two or three years in Delaware and Union Coun ties, and then began surveying. In the fall of 1875, he was elected Surveyor of Union County, taking his seat in the following spring, and is still the incumbent of that office, having been re-elected at the fall elections of 1878 and 1881. Ile has made an efficient and worthy servant of the public, and has aecom- plished work that shall stand as a monument of his ability long after his official term shall have expired. He has engineered over 200 miles of gravel road, and over 100 county and township ditches. In connection with the surveyors of the adjoining counties he has located, established and permanently marked the boundary lines of the county. Ile was one of the charter members of the Ohio Society of Surveyors and Civil Engineers, a scientific organization, embracing most of the prominent engineers of the state, and having for its design the mutual benefit ofits members in the discussion of scientific questions and other matters relating to the profession. Mr. Sager has been an active member of the society, and was elected President of the organization for 1882, and re-elected to the same office for the year 1883. He has made a study of and extensive researches in the land tenure of the State, and has made an especial study of the Greenville treaty line, of which he has thorough and complete information. On October 16. 1876, he married Miss Frances L Partridge, daughter of Reuben L. and Maria (Wolford) Partridge, two of the oldest residents of Marysville, the latter being the oldest native born citizen living in the town. To this union one child has been born, viz .: Frederick P. Mr. Sager is a member of the 1. O. O. F. Lodge of Marysville. During the rebellion his brother, Francis MI., enlisted in Company D, Fortieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and, after a year's service through the campaigns in Kentucky, he contracted consumption, and returning home, died in a few days. The only other survivor of Mr. Sager's parents is the present wife of J. P. Martin, of Darby Township. She is a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan Female Seminary, of Delaware, of the class of '68. Mr. Sager also has a half-sister living, who is a daughter of his father by his second marriage to Martha Marmon, of Logan County.

O. M. SCOTT, hardware merchant, Marysville. The senior member of the firm of O. M. Scott & Bro., whose name appears at the head of this sketch, came to this city in the spring of 1866, and established business- under the firm name of Henderson & Scott. In 1869, Hender- son withdrew his interest, and Mr. Scott succeeding, carried on the business with an interval of two years until 1882, when his brother was admitted to the concern. Mr. Seott occupied his present location in February, 1880, but continued in the sale of agricultural implements and manufacture of tinware at the old stand. The firm carry a stock of $15,000 to $20,000, and occupy the upper floors in manufacturing, and employ from twelve to fifteen men. We may judge something of the magnitude of their business when we record their sales of nearly $75,000 for the year 1881. The subject of this sketch was born in Licking County, Ohio,

Amore y Kring

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PARIS TOWNSHIP.

in 1837, and is the second son of James and Mary (Joselyn) Scott, the former a native of Washington County, Penn., and the latter of Maine. The parents, with lIugh, the father of James, settled in Licking County, Ohio, and were among its early pioneers. James, with bis family, removed to Delaware County, Ohio, in 1857, where he resided until the death of Lis wife in 1879, when he came to Marysville and is at this time, July, 1882, living with his son Judson J., in the seventy-sixth year of his age. O. M. Scott gave his services to his country in the three years' call for volunteers, and enlisted September 14, 1862, in Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was assigned to the Commissary Department most of the time, but par icipated in many of the hard-fought battles in which the regiment was engaged. He was wounded at the battle of Bentonville, N. C., March 18, 1862, while acting on the Staff of Gen. John G. Mitchell. He was discharged at Washington, D. C., as First Lieuten- ant, in May, 1865. He was married, in 1870, to Miss Hattie B., daughter of John Guthrie, and a native of Licking County, Ohio. Four children were born to this union, two of whom are iving, viz. : Dwight G. and Mary. Mr. Scott is a member of the I. O. O. F., G. A. R., and onnected with the Congregational Church.

G. L. SELLERS, grocer, Marysville. This enterprising citizen was born in Carroll County, Md., November 27, 1832. His parents, John and Catherine ( Weaver) Sellers, were both natives of that State, and became residents of the West in 1836, returning to Maryland three years afterward, where he died in 1879. His wife, who survives, is in the eightieth year of her age. They were the parents of nine children, six of whom are living. The subject of this sketch came to Marys- ville in 1853, and for four years conducted or superintended the tannery of his uncle, John Weaver. In 1857 or 1858, he was admitted a partnerto the concern, where he was engaged until the spring of 1862, when he tendered his service to the Union army, and, with Capt. Robb, of this city, raised Company E, Eighty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and entered the field in rank of First Lieutenant, serving during the call. On his return in 1863, the firm of Sellers & More- lock was instituted, and the firm crected a tannery east of the Tribune building. This firmn dis- solved in 1869, Mr. Sellers retiring from the concern, and in the following year he associated himself with W. M. Cartmell in the grocery business. This firm dissolved in January, 1872, and Mr. Sellers has conducted the business alone until 1880, when his son, John L., was admitted as a partner to the house. The concern carry a complete and choice stock of groceries, and have a substantial trade. Mr. Sellers has been connected with the I. O. O. F. society for twenty-five years, and filled all the chairs of that order. His marriage to Miss Eliza, daughter of Thomas and Eliza Snodgrass, was celebrated in 1857. Three children were the fruits of this union, two of whom are living, viz. : John L. and Effie E. The family are connected with the Presbyterian Church.

JOHN H. SHEARER was born in Perry County, Ohio, December 10, 1816. His father, Daniel Shearer, was born in Franklin County, Penn., in the year 1781. He emigrated to Ohio, in the fall of 1805, and settled in what afterward became Perry County. He was then in his twenty-fourth year, and was one of a family of twelve children, ten sons and two daughters, most of whom subsequently scattered through several States, and the second and third genera- tions, those who are living, have mostly become isolated and lost to each other. His mother, Martha Miller by maiden name, was a native of Lancaster County. Penn., but subsequently, with her father's family, moved to Dauphin County, same State, and from thence in the spring of 1806, to Fairfield County, Ohio. In the spring of 1807, the father purchased lan I, and located in east - ern Fairfield County, which afterward was made a part of Perry County, in the vicinity of the present village of Somerset. Both parents. it will be seen, were entitled to the honor of being among the early pioneers of that section, and did their full share in clearing out the intermin- able forests and changing the wilderness into a land of productiveness. The father's name re- ceives mention in Howe's History of Ohio, as having been among the first settlers. He died in 1820, at the age of thirty-nine years, having contracted disease while in the army in 1813, from which he never recovered. This left the mother with four living children, and a partially un- developed farm, to struggle with many hardships and privations incident to a new country. By prudent management the now "old home farm," upon which the subject of this notice first drew the breath of life, and which he loves annually to visit on account of the early associations connected with it, was cleared up, and in due course of time the fruitful fields yielded a sub- stantial return upon which to depend for support.

The original family consisted of three daughters and three sons, six in all. Three of these, two daughters and one son, died in infancy. The other three, one daughter and two sons, are still living, having came down contemporaneously for sixty years without a break by death. The subject of this notice is the fourth child and second son. The mother, Mrs. Martha Kish'er (having received this name by second marriage), died in Maryville, March 9, 1875, aged eighty- five years. His first school term of three months was in the summer of 1824. This was taught by a pious Catholic lady by the name of Catharine McClusky. He and his sister, Mrs. Margaret Brunner, now also a resident of Marysville, aged respectively eight and eleven years, had to walk cvery day they attended school a distance of two and a half miles to reach the rude school cabin, and in the evening walk back, making a distance of five miles per day, or thirty miles per week, to lay a small groundwork for their education. There were not many Saturday holidays

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for the teachers in those days. These daily journeys were made for two or three summers. They then moved into another district, and a new schoolhouse was soon after erected within half a mile of their home. Here there was usually a winter term of three months, about two-thirds of which time they were permitted to attend. At this place they completed their education, having attended some five or six broken winter sessions in all. The branches taught were spell- ing, reading, writing and arithmetic. Geography and grammer belonged to the higher branches. and were not taught in our schools of that day. Those branches were considered unnecessary as long as poople had to put so much of their time in clearing up the forests and prepare for more comfortable homes.

In those years, before machinery was called in to do the work, almost everything was done by hand; and it was a boy's highest ambition to learn some trade upon which he might depend in the future for a living, if necessary. By some strange intuition, which has always been inex- plicable to him, considering his limited education, the subject of this notice, in the spring of 1836, drifted into the printing office of the Western Post. This was the name of the only newspaper published in Somerset, the village near which he was raised. He started in for an apprenticeship of three years. He served the first year with Louis J. Moeller, who during the next year sold the office to S. H. McAfee and J. W. Ream, with whom he served the remaining two years, filling his contract faithfully in all respects; and although his situation during the first year was in many respects disagreeable, no one ever heard him utter a complaint. After serving his time, he attended a three months' term of school in the summer of 1839, which closed up his schooling and gave him a basis for future business operations. In August, 1839, he pur- chased a half-interest in the Western Post establishment, and in connection with several suc- cessive partners, continued the publication of the paper till 1844, when he became the sole pro- prietor. In 1855, the county seat was moved by a vote of the people from Somerset to New Lexington. The printing business, never very good there, was afterward in a manner obsolete. Soon after becoming involved as surety for his supposed friends he was forced out of business, and learned for the first time by sad experience how utterly impossible it is for a man to assume other people's responsibilities without sooner or later meeting with trouble. This calamity ex- hausted his effects, threw him upon the cold charities of the world-and they are cold-with many hundred dollars of debts unpaid. Ilungry creditors, to whom he never personally owed a dollar, with the sympathy of the tiger, helped themselves to full satiety as far as they could go. He has lived, however, to see some of those men in the same dilemma, and they have learned by experience, what they could not seemingly learn from the ties of sym- pathy. It is unfortunate that so many do not learn in time that it is not a good plan to run the risk of assuming other people's debts. Through a chain of gracious provi- dences, as plainly marked as ever occurred to the most favored, he landed, weary and foot- sore, in Marysville, in the latter part of August, 1858, to look out a new home. There were few railroads then, and his finances having become exhausted in trying to meet the clamorous de- mands of his creditors, he was compelled on the ground of economy to do considerable of walk- ing. One day, near the close of the month above named, he started from Somerset to make his way to Marysville, where an opening had been advertised in the Ohio State Journal. lle walked from Somerset to Newark, a distance of twenty miles, and thence rode by rail to Milford Center. Landing there, he learned that the train north had gone out about five minutes before, and he was compelled to add five miles more to the day's journey to reach his destination. Ile arrived in Marysville about sundown, with blistered feet, weary in body and distressed in mind. The situation was desperate, and he felt as though heaven had spread her darkest curtain of despair over him, and earth had closed all its avenues of hope.

The printing office-the Marysville Tribune-was owned jointly by C. S. Ilamilton and Samuel McBratney, the former a two-third and the latter a one-third interest. Hamilton was from home at the time, but learning from McBratney that the office was for sale, he began mak- ing inquiries as to the conditions of sale. The price asked was $1,500. much more than it was worth in its dilapidated condition ; but being prompted forward by some strange inspiration. he agreed to purchase it provided the payments could be made so he could be meet them when due. Without a dollar and apparently with a dark future before him, he entered into a contract to make certain payments to MeBratney for his share of the office, making no special arrangements about Hamilton's interest. They drew up a paper, stating terms of payment. The purchaser was to have possession of the office on the Ist of October following, which would be at the close of the ninth volume, and make his first payment of $300 on the first day of the following April. The one prominent idea with the purchaser was to get into business again; but for months afterward he felt alarmed at his own temerity in venturing upon an experiment which involved so much money, and had apparently so little of promise in the way of pecuniary return. The article was drawn up in a hurried manner, and both parties signed it. The north bound train being about due, the purchaser hastened to the depot so depressed in mind and spirit at the blind venture he had made, that he forgot to pay his hotel bill. This did not come to mind till nearing Delaware. Notwithstanding his despondency, new providences seemed to thicken around his pathway at every step. On getting off the cars to myke the change for Columbus, he felt sadly distressed over this circumstance; a stranger making a purchase of so much importance,

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and then leaving the town without paying his hotel bill, would not sound well, and leave a dark feature unexplained. He inquired of the bystanders if they kuew any one there from Marys- ville. "Yes," said one of them, " I live there." I called him to one side and explained to him the circumstance of my being at Marysville and forgetting to pay the landlord. He readily com- plied with the request to carry the money back and explain to the landlord how it happened. The image of this man will never fade from memory. He had what might be termed a rough exterior, but manifested such frankness of character and benignity of countenance that one might instinctively feel at home in his company. In the conversation, he asked " what was your business in Marysville?" The answer was, "purchasing the Tribune office. and that the pur- chaser would be on in a month more to take charge of the office." The reader will never be able to enter fully into the feelings of the broken-hearted purchaser, when that stranger to him, so providentially in the right place, put his hand approvingly on bis shoulder, looked him in the face and remarked, " I am rejoiced at this; I own a two-thirds interest in the paper, and it needs changing hands ; I am not able to run the office in connection with my other business, and you are the man I am looking for." These kind words fairly unmanned the purchaser and lifted a mountain from his heart. For the first time in his life he found the real meaning of the sentimeut, " A friend in need is a friend indeed." They then withdrew to one side and talked over the situation. Ile was given a full history of him who was soon to be the new proprietor of the Tribun .. Nothing was withheld, even down to the smallest minutia of his pecuniary em- barra-sments brought on by the bad faith of others; that he wished to get away from his troubles, and if possible, begin life anew. The story, instead of repelling, as it would many others, knit the good Samaritan closer to the wounded stranger. lle urged him not to wait a month before taking possession of the office, as was designed, but to come at once, and occupy the ground, giving at the same time assurances that he would stand by the office in every emer- gency. and assist also for awhile in its editorial management; and if need be, pecuniarily. Fortunately the latter proffer was never needed. This man, kind reader, was C. S. Hamilton. A better friend than he proved to be to the new purchaser of the Tribune, and stranger as he was, he makes the declaration broad and pointed, no man ever found.

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The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 91

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