USA > Ohio > Logan County > The historical review of Logan County, Ohio > Part 70
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WILLIAM M. COOPER.
William M. Cooper is one of the pros- perous and enterprising farmers of Logan county, his home being pleasantly located in Liberty township. He was born May 9. 1857. of the marriage of William and Mary A. (Stiles) Cooper. His father, a native of Ireland, was born on the 4th of October. 1822, and, thinking to better his financial condition in the new world, he came to the United States. He was united in marriage to Miss Mary Stiles, whose birth occurred in 1830 and they became the parents of three children, of whom Sarah Elizabeth is now the wife of James E. Funk and has one child, Gertrude. William M. is the second of the family and Thomas the youngest. The father died when William M. Cooper was but three years oldl. The mother kept the home farm and reared and educated the home in the town of Liberty; and Ira, who
At the usual age William M. Cooper en- tered the public schools and therein master- ed the branches of learning usually taught in such institutions. He continued his stud- ies until twenty years of age and in the periods of vacation he worked upon the home farm, where he now lives, assisting his widowed mother, and thereby obtaining practical knowledge of the labors of field and meadow. When he put aside his text books he resolved to make farming his life work, and has always carried on this pur- suit. He has become a good, practical farm- er and stock-raiser, making a specialty of shorthorn cattle. He is to-day the owner of a valuable and highly improved farm prop- erty. comprising one hundred and forty acres in Liberty township. His farm here is supplied with all modern equipments and conveniences, having good buildings which stand in the midst of fertile fields that re- turn to the owner good harvests.
On the 22d of February. 1890. Mr. Cooper was united in marriage to Miss Es- ther Dille, who was born in Liberty town- ship, Logan county, on the 11th of May. 1869. a daughter of Zenas and Harriet J. ( Pope ) Dille. Her father was born in this locality in 1836 and the mother's birth oc- curred on the 22d of November. 1846. Ait- er their marriage they took up their abode in the town of Liberty, and they became the parents of four children: Ada F .. who is now the wife of P. H. Riddle, a farmer, by whom she has two children; Esther, who is the second in order of birth and the honored wife of our subject ; William, who married Mary Burket, school teacher, and makes his
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resides in Bellefontaine, and is at present with the Big Four Railroad.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Cooper has been blessed with four children: Ches- ter W. Z .. Robert F., Leona E. and Beulalı F., and the family circle yet remains unbrok- en by the hand of death. Mrs. Cooper is a member of Mckees Creek Christian church. Mr. Cooper usually votes with the Democracy, for he is an advocate of free trade. While he keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day, as every true American citizen should do. he is not an active politician in the sense of office-seeking. preferring to give his atten- tion to his business affairs which are capably conducted with the result that in his farm work he has prospered. He is systematic in all that he does, thoroughly understands progressive methods of farming and his la- bors are meeting with very creditable suc- cess.
JUDGE JOHN A. PRICE.
Judge Jolin A. Price, one of the most able practitioners of the Logan county bar, whose legal learning and correct ap- plication of the principles of jurisprudence to the points in litigation have made him one of the successful representatives of the profession here. was born in Calloway county, Missouri, in 1840, but was only about three years of age when brought to Logan county, Ohio, where he has since remained. His father, Charles F. M. Price, died in Missouri and the mother then brought her family to this county, her death occurring in Bellefontaine in 1896, when she had reached the advanced age of eighty-two years.
The Judge acquired only a common school education, but reading and re- search have continually broadened his mind. He engaged in teaching for several terms in the district schools in early life and in 1860, when nineteen years of age. he entered the law office of the firm of Stanton & Allison, well known attorneys at that time. Two years later. in 1862, he was admitted to the bar before the district court as was the custom in that time. In 1861. however, he had offered his services to the government as a member of the Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the first regiment raised in Logan county. He was taken sick, however, and discharged at Columbus before the regiment was or- dered to the field. In the latter part of 1863. still desirous of aiding in the strug- gle to preserve the Union, he again enlist- ed becoming a member of Company K. Fifth Ohio Volunteer Colored Regiment. in which he was made first lieutenant. The command did service in Virginia and he was at the front until the latter part of 1864. In that year, while he was still in the army, he was elected prosecuting attorney of Logan county and served so capably that in 1866 and again in 1868 he was re-elected, the term being for two years. In 1869 he resigned the office in order to become a member of the Ohio legislature, to which he had been chosen by popular suffrage. He filled the posi- tion so acceptably that many expressed the desire that he should again become a candidate but he refused to accept the nomination and resumed the private prac- tice of law. In 1881 he was elected com- mon pleas judge of the district, compris- ing Logan and Union counties and in 1886 he was re-elected and for a third term in 1891, serving in that capacity continu-
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cusly for fifteen years. Mr. Price's term on that bench was distinguished by the highest legal ability. To wear the ermine worthily it is not enough that one possess legal acumen. is learned in the principles of jurisprudence. familiar with precedents and thoroughly honest. Many men, even when acting uprightly, are wholly unable to divest themselves of prejudice and are unconsciously warped in their judg- ments by their own mental characteristic or educational peculiarities. This uncon- scious and variable disturbing force enters more or less into the judgments of all men. but in the ideal jurist this factor becomes so small as not to be discernible in results and loses its poteney as a disturbing force. Judge Price was exceptionally free from all judicial bias. His varied legal learning and wide experience in the courts. the patient care with which he ascertained all the facts bearing upon every case which came before him, gave his decisions a so- lidity and an exhaustiveness from which no members of the bar could take excep- tion.
In 1865. in Bellefontaine. the Judge was urited in marriage to Miss Caroline McClure and unto them were born five children, of whom three are living. namely: Mrs. Effie Gladding, whose hus- band is a chemist of New York city ; Annie Allison, who is principal of a high school of Bellefontaine : and Carlotta K., the wife of T. M. Shea, an attorney of Bellefon- taine. The family home is located at No. 405 North Main street. Socially the Judge is a Mason and has attained the Knight Templar degree. In politics he is a Republican and he has served as a member of the board of education and as an alderman of Bellefontaine. In matters
of citizenship he is progressive. desiring the best interests of his locality and his efforts have been effectively directed in channels bringing the greatest good to the greatest number. He is now engaged in the private practice of law and has ar- gued many cases and lost but few. No one better knows the necessity for thor- ough preparation and in the argument of cases he is a logical, forceful and con- vincing speaker.
ORVILLE R. PEGG.
Orville Risley Pegg has led an active life. progressing through the improvement of opportunities and through earnest, per- sistent labor until now he is comfortably situated with only the memory of his early struggles and trials, the hard experiences of those days having all given place to the more comfortable conditions of the pres- ent. He is now a resident of Rushsylvania and is a native son of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Columbus on the 30th of De- cember. 1831.
On the paternal side our subject traces his ancestry back to Daniel Pegg. who was the founder of the family in America. From the records it appears that he settled in Philadelphia in the year 1676. Ten years later he purchased three hundred and fifty acres of land from Jurian Katz- fedder in the northern limits of Philadel- phia. William Penn transferred a portion of this tract to Daniel Pegg in 1684. Soon after purchasing Mr. Pegg deeded one hundred acres to Thomas Coates, his brother-in-law, and began improving the re- maining two hundred and fifty acres of his
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farm. He built a dyke in the marshy land so as to form low meadows and also built a brick kiln. He erected upon his place a two-story brick mansion, which was for many years a prominent land- mark and was generally spoken of as the "big brick house of the north end." It was situated upon Front street, a little below Green street. although at the time it was erected it was surrounded by his well developed farm and ro one had any idea the land would afterward constitute a part of one of the leading cities of the country. In 1709 William Penn proposed to rent the home for his residence. The cherry trees planted by Daniel Pegg were cut down and used for fuel by the British during their occupancy of the farm during the Revolutionary war. \ small creek wended its way across the farm and was known for many years as Pegg's Run. On its banks a body of Indians were fired upon by white men which brought an or- der from William Penn to make an earn- est inquiry to apprehend the guilty men. saying that the Indians must be appeased or evil would ensue. That occurred in 1711. The value of Daniel Pegg's farm in those early days is disclosed by a let- ter written by Jonathan Dickenson in 1715, in which he wrote that he could buy Daniel Pegg's farm fronting the Delaware river for fifty :""lings per acre. In 1729 Mr. Pegg advertised his farm for sale, de- scribing it thus: "To be sold or let. by Daniel Pegg. at the great brick house at the north end of Philadelphia, thirty acres of upland meadow ground and marsh." During the period of the Revolutionary war his brick house was known as the "Dutch house." both because of its pe- culiar form and also because it had long
been noted for holding Dutch dances called "Harpsesaw." a whirling dance in the waltz style. The first powder house ever erected in Philadelphia was built on the north bank of Pegg's marsh, a little west of what is now known as Front street. The family of Daniel Pegg consisted of Elizabeth. Jane, Nathan. Elias and Daniel, Jr. The father made his will on the IIth of February. 1702. He died soon after in the home of his eldest son, Daniel. to whom. according to the English custom. the larger part of the estate was willed. In his will Daniel Pegg made mention of his slaves, which is an interesting fact owing to his being a Quaker.
Daniel Pegg. Jr., who inherited the major part of his father's property, mar- ried. and died in January, 1732, leaving a widow and one child. Sarah. In his will he bequeathed the greater part of his property to his nephew, Daniel Pegg. a son of his brother. . \ brief history of Daniel Pegg. the second, shows the vi- cissitudes of human affairs. Possessor of the fee simple of a valuable property he left no rich heirs and in the settlement of his estate much litigation followed and the property became absorbed finally. Daniel Pegg, the third. it appears never realized from the estate, as in the records of the family the name does not occur after the second generation.
The family of Daniel Pegg, the third. so far as known, consisted of two sons, Elias and Benjamin. The latter never married and died in Norwich. Franklin county, Ohio. in 1830, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years. He was a brave and efficient soldier during the war of the Revolution. Elias Pegg, the other son of Daniel Pegg. the third, probably spent his
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boyhood days in and near Philadelphia. cating on a farm of nine hundred acres. At the beginning of the Revolutionary They left a number of relatives near Wheeling, West Virginia, among whom was Beal Pumphrey, a large planter who owned from forty to fifty slaves. Mrs. Pumphrey and Mrs. Pegg were sisters. There was also a brother of the Nonsettler family who died at the very advanced age of one hundred and fourteen years. war he was too young to enlist in the service, but his brother Benjamin being a little older, was of the first to raise his voice and hand against the oppression of Great Britain and was found fighting in the ranks at the battle of Lexington and faithfully served until the end of hostilities. Elias Pegg later entered the service and Near the close of the war of 1812 Elias Pegg received a good offer for his farm in Jefferson county and having heard much of the fertility of the soil in the Scioto valley he proposed to Henry Innis and Ephraim Fisher, two of his sons-in-law, that they remove to Franklin county and determine for themselves the truth of those reports. Accordingly they made the trip on horseback and after a week of travel arrived in Franklinton. Although these mon were Methodists, one an ex- horter and very earnest in church work, while another was a class-leader. they made a contract with each other that who- ever finished his meal last at the hotel where they stopped, should pay for the "stirrup dram" for the entire party. They supposed in those early days that they could not ride horseback without first tak- ing a drink of whiskey. On Mr. Pegg's return to Jefferson county he sold his farm and with his family removed to Franklin county early in the year 1817. There they met with a fair degree of suc- cess and enjoyed a happy home until 1732, when an epidemic of typhus fever broke out. prostrating more than half the peo- ple. During this siege of illness the good mother died and the loss was an irrepa- rable one to the family, consisting of father and ten children, namely: Cather- valiantly aided his struggling country for five years. The two brothers were mem- bers of the same company in a Pennsyl- vania regiment, fighting side by side. Both were afterward remembered and re- warded by their government with pen- sions. The Pegg family was originally of good old standard Quaker stock. holding to the religion of its fathers for three generations, but Elias Pegg. of the fourth generation, broke away from the religious moorings of the Quaker church and became a strong Methodist, much against the wishes of his father. He married Miss Elizabeth Nonsettler in 1786. Her peo- ple were of Dutch descent and always claimed to be of the blood of William, Prince of Orange. Mrs. Pegg was a woman of bright intellect and much force of character. steadiness of purpose, good- ness of heart and excellent business ca- pacity-in fact was an ideal wife and mother. Elias Pegg and his wife first set- tled on a farm in West Virginia, then a part of Virginia, where six of their chil- dren were born. There about 1795 Elias Pegg's father, Daniel, came from Phila- delphia to live with his son and continued to reside with him until about 1800, when he was called to the home on high. In the year 1801 Elias Pegg and his family removed to Jefferson county, Ohio, lo- ine, Rachel, Elizabeth, Isabel, Mary,
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Ezekiel. Margaret. Barbara. Elias and along some line of research. He was a Joseph. The eldest. Catherine, was born March 3. 1787, and Joseph, the youngest. was born May 25. 1809. being therefore fourteen years of age at the time of his mother's death. Eight of the children went to Franklin county. In 1825 Elias Pegg married Mrs. Holmes, a widow, who died in Clinton township in 1830. After her death Mr. Pegg made his home with different members of the family until he, too. passed away in 1838, at the age of eighty-four years.
At an early period in the development of Franklin county Joseph Pegg became one of its residents and through many con- secutive years he not only witnessed the progress and upbuilding of that portion of the state, but ever bore his part in the work of development. He arived in
Clinton township in 1833 and located upon a tract of wild land which he purchased. Thercon he had previously built a round log cabin containing one room. In it was a puncheon floor and on the outside a mud and stick chimney. Into this primi- tive home he removed with his wife and three children. In early youth he acquired a good education, partly in school and partly through reading and study in leis- ure hours. He followed teaching during the greater part of his life. beginning at the time when there was no public money to pay for teachers' services, and accepting in return for his educational labors the products of the farm-meat, flour and even fruit trees-and these he would have to sell to those who wished such com- modities in order to get money to defray his expenses. He was a very studious man, who loved books, and was always carrying forward his work of investigation
very close observer and in that way added not a little to his knowledge. He read law in connection with Reuben Beers. S. H. Webster and James Galbraith. They rented a room in Columbus and there they carried on their studies without the aid of a teacher, in this manner qualifying for admission to the bar. Mr. Pegg later opened an office in Columbus and subse- quently he went to Bloomington. Illinois, with the intention of practicing law there, but instead he took up teaching as a means of obtaining a livelihood. remain- ing. however, in the Prairie state but a short time. Returning to Columbus. Mr. Pegg resumed teaching and the practice of law. In the former profession he was exceptionally successful. He had a clear. strong mind, which erabled him to give forcible and pleasing expression to his thoughts and to impress them strongly upon the minds of his pupils. He served his townsmen in the capacity of justice of the peace and was ever fair and impartial in the discharge of his duties. He also served as clerk of the township for several years and was active in politics. doing all in his power to promote the growth and insure the success of the Democracy. with which political organization he was allied. He was also a man of strong re- ligious convictions and his early aspira- tions were for an education that would fit him for ministerial work, but later he be- came attracted by the law and changed his plan of life.
Joseph Pegg was married in Franklin township. Franklin county, to Miss Ma- tilda Crawford. Her father was a pioneer farmer and honored representative of the community at an early day. Eleven chil-
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dren were born unto Mr. and Mrs. Pegg. of whom ten are yet living. the eldest. Margaret, having been killed by a falling tree when a child. The others are Orville R., whose name introduces this sketch; Elias W. and George T .. who are resi- dents of Clinton township, Franklin county ; Emma M., wife of Alexander B. MeGrew. a resident of St. Louis, Missouri ; Mary, the wife of William Heverlo, who makes his home in Morrow county, Ohio: Jane, the deceased wife of John Kissinger. a resident of Pass Christian. Mississippi : Louis L .. a resident of Clinton township. Franklin county: Melissa. the widow of Erwin Maize, of Clinton township: Mon- roe J .. who is living in the same township ; and Thomas B .. who resides in South America.
The father of this family died in 1853. at the age of forty-five years, and the moth- er passed away in 1873. at the age of sixty- five years. The example which he left to his children was one well worthy of emula- tion. Although his educational privileges were limited he acquainted himself with the higher branches of learning. mastering bot- any, natural philosophy, physics, metaphys- ics and higher mathematics. He thus be- came a man of high scholarly attainments, of broad general information, and his studi- ous nature dominated his entire life. Dur- ing the days of his early residence in Franklin county he was the only strong educational factor in the settlement. He interested his neighbors in the erection of a school house and he had no difficulty in gaining the interest of the children or in maintaining discipline, nor was he forced to resort to harsh measures such as were employed by other teachers of the time. He had exceptional conversational powers,
was a fluent speaker, had a ready com- mand of the English language, and always managed to hold the attention of his audi- tors and both entertain and instruct them when he occupied a position upon the public platform. His services were in great demand as a Fourth of July orator, and upon other occasions when the public was addressed upon patriotic measures. He was extremely publie spirited and cham- pioned every measure for the public good. He was recognized as a leader in local pol- ities, and his influence along that line was strongly manifest. He was a man of fine . personal appearance and winsome personal- ity, and he left the world better for his hay- ing lived. His wife was a lady of sterling domestic qualities, devoted to her husband. to her children and to her home. She al- ways possessed business qualifications of a high order, and contributed her full share to the support of their large family. Of a deeply religious nature, she held member- ship in the Methodist Episcopal church, and was a consistent Christian woman in all that she said and did. She was left a widow when six of her children were small, but she bravely took up the burden thus devolving upon her, kept her children together. pro- vided for their necessities, gave them good educational privileges and prepared them for life's practical and responsible duties by the advantages which she afforded them and by her own teaching and example. No one well acquainted with both Mr. and Mrs. Pegg had anything but the highest regard for them on account of their many splendid characteristics and the children certainly have every reason to honor their name and memory.
Elias W. Pegg, their son's son, and third child, was born in Franklinton, June 17,
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1833. His early educational privileges prosperity. By purchase he has added to were such as the schools of that day afford- his possessions from time to time, until he now has two hundred and seventy acres of very valuable land. for some of which he paid as high as three hundred dollars per acre. Beginning in 1862. for many years he supplied the government with army horses, and he has also been engaged quite extensively in buying and shipping stock. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Pegg has been born one child. Elmer Ellsworth, who resides up- on his father's farm. He is a graduate of Ada (Ohio) College, where he pursued an engineering course, and is also a graduate of Bryant's Commercial College, of Colum- hus. He possesses superior mathematical attainments and engineering skill. He was married to Miss Ruth Wilcox and has two children. Florence W. and Mary. Elias W. Pegg gives earnest support to the Republi- can party, and has served his township as justice of the peace and as trustee, filling both offices for many years. For thirty-five years he has been a member of Capital lodge, No. 334. I. O. O. F., also of Capital encamp- ment. His long business career has resulted in large financial gains which have been ac- mired along legitimate business lines, and he is now regarded as one of the sound and substantial men of Franklin county. He is well preserved, both physically and mentally. having the vigor of a man many years his junior. ed, the school year comprising from two to three months during the winter season. During that brief period he continued his studies, and at the age of sixteen he left home, assuming the responsibility of pro- viding for his own support. He won his father's consent to this move, and his first undertaking was to drive stock eastward across the Alleghenies, making the journey on fout, a distance of about five hundred miles. He received forty cents per day for the time consumed in making the round trip. On the return trip he walked forty miles per day. the renumeration being on an av- erage of about a cent per mile. He after- ward began working on a farm at ten dol- lars per month, which he followed for three years. He then entered Westerville College, being about twenty years of age at that time There he prosecuted his studies until he had prepared himself for teaching. His first and last school was taught in a little log schoolhouse in the woods in Nor- wich township. Franklin county. He re- ceived twenty-four dollars per month for his services and boarded around among the parents whose children were student- under his instruction. When his first term was ended he rented a farm in Clinton town- ship and operated it for five years. On the Sth of August. 1858. Elias W. Pegg was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Kis- Lewis L. Pegg. the eighth member of the family of Joseph Pegg, was born in Clinton township. August 15. 1843. When he had attained the usual age he entered the schools of his neighborhood and on mas- tering the branches that formed the curric- tilum there. he further continued his mental training by two years' study at Otterbein College. at Westerville, Ohio. . At the age senger. a daughter of John and Catherine ( DeNune) Kissinger, of Mifflin township. He then purchased a farm of ninety acres which he afterward exchanged for the land upon which he now resides. taking up his abode there March 22. 1862. Farming has been his principal occupation, and it has been the means of bringing to him a desirable
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