The history of Champaign county, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory etc, Part 62

Author: Ogden, J. W. (John W.); Beers (W.H.) & Co., pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 926

USA > Ohio > Champaign County > The history of Champaign county, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory etc > Part 62

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167-Paul Igou,

194-John (Mi: o) Thomas221-James Ellis,

168-Benjamin Holycross, 195-Thomas Wilson, 222-Isaac Brown,

169-Pleasant Reams,

196-John B. Paden,

223-Ellis Miller,

170-Edwin Long,

197-John Pennington,

224-Walter T. Organ,

171-Salmon Cowles, 172-Benjamin Spiller,

199-Albert Cowles,

226-Adam Kerns,

173-John Goode,

200-Heaton Pennington,

227-Archibald Everett,

174-David Wilson,

201-Levi Williams,

228-Joseph Leach,

175-John Baldwin,

202-Thomas Wade,

229-Elisha B. Hess,

176-John Paige,

203-Samuel Marks,

230-John Hile,

177-Hiram Wilson,

204-Levi Atkinson,

231-John Thomas, Jr.,

178-Joseph Swisher,

205-Joel Inskeep, 206-James Cole,

233-Isaac Black,

180-Franklin Baldwin,

207-Richard Stowe,

234-Caleb Russell,

181-James McDaniel,

208-Nelson Hilton,

235-Samuel Hibbard,

182-George Holloway,

209-Woodmunsie Tallman236-Andrew Davidson, 210-Richard Baldwin, 237-Philip Hess,

183-Samuel Jones,

184-Shadrack Musteen,

211-Washi'g'n Woodward238-David Irwin,

185-Hiram Johnson,

212-Alex. St. Clair Hunter239-Reuben Pacson,

186-John Davison,

213-Benjamin Archer, 240-Holdridge Chidister,

187-Nelson Richardson, 188-Thomas Middleton,

215-Robert Pennington,

242-William Lary,

189-Wilford Allison,

216-Jacob H. Linville,

243-John Everett,

190-Nelson B. Johnson,

217-James Stubblefield,

244-Samuel Wilson,

191-Theodric Goode,

218-Thomas Brown,

245-Thomas Hunter.

192-Edward Spain,

219-Cephas Atkinson,

Of this vote the Harrison electors received 191, or 77 per cent of the entire vote ; the Van Buren electors received 54 votes, or 23 per cent of the entire vote.

SKETCHES OF THE PIONEER FAMILIES.

SPAIN .- Willis Spain came to Ohio, with the family of his father, in 1805. He was born in Dinwiddie County, Va., in 1796. His father, Hezekiah Spain, who died in 1827, bought one thousand acres of land on the east line of Wayne Township and on Spain's Creek, paying $2 per acre. On this farm his son Willis has lived about seventy years. He (Willis) married Nancy Spain, a distant relative of the family. They reared five sons and a daughter-Lemuel, Henry W., Fletcher, Newton, H. Wright and Elizabeth. These all married, and, in due time, the name Spain became a very common one in that locality, and remains so to this day. Mr. Spain early became accustomed to the rude life of a frontiersman, and as the native Indians frequently camped on the creek near the farm, he grew familiar with their mode of life, but never once thought of turning Indian himself. He embraced religion at fifteen years of age, under the preaching of Hector Sanford, at the house of his father, and has been in the church ever since. He has never been a party to a lawsuit; has gone twenty-eight miles, to Springfield, to mill ; has paid 25 cents postage on a single letter ; has shot wild game from his door-step; remembers that before the year 1828, they procured salt at McLain's, on Buck Creek, at $4 a bushel. They depended on the oak mast to fatten their hogs, and many times they fat- tened rather leanly on it. Though poor in purse, in that early day, it was

* NOTE .- On page 533, " The Presidential Election of October 13, 1840," should read "October 30, 1840."

198-Alfred Johnson,

225-John Miller,

232-Ross Thomas, Jr.,

179-Isaac G. Wilson,

214-Hilon Mead, 241-Jacob Karnes,

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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. .

always his aim to welcome the preachers of the church of his choice, and no preacher of the Methodist Church lacked for food, shelter and welcome. He remembers such preachers as Shaw, Young, Sanford, Henkle, Collins, Sale, Bascom, Trader, Cecil, and others of pioneer reputation. The worthy old man and his wife still live-more for the next world than this.

JOHNSON .- William Johnson came to Ohio from Western Pennsylvania in 1804, and settled on what has since been called the Paul Igou farm. He died in 1820. His four sons-Jacob, Barnett, William and Otho-figured promi- nently, as did their father, in the earliest settlement of the township .. He built a house, in 1806, near the present residence of Maria Hunter, having bought of James Denney three hundred and thirty-seven acres of land, including the present site of Mingo.

Jacob Johnson, the oldest son of William Johnson, married Martha McFar- land, a widow, in Virginia, in 1790. Her maiden name was Boggs. She bore two children by her first husband-John and Moses McFarland-both of whom came with her to this State. Jacob was the father of eight children. Of these, Mary, William, Lavina, Hiram, Nelson B., Jane and Alfred grew to mature years. He bought four hundred and seventy-eight acres of land in Mingo Valley, of James Denney, in the year 1804 or 1805, at $2.50 to $4 per acre, and moved on to it in April, 1805, and raised a crop of corn the same year ; the Indians had raised a crop on the same land the previous year. Hiram, Nelson B. and Alfred succeeded their father in the ownership of these lands ; it is now owned entirely by Alfred. [For further record of the Johnson family, see the biographical department of this volume.] Mary became the wife of Robert Blair. Lydia married Joseph O'Neil in 1826. After the death of Blair, Mary married Col. John Thomas. He died in 1851, and his widow finds a comfortable home with her sons, Ivan B. and F. M. Thomas, in Salem Town- ship.

Barnett Johnson, the second son of William Johnson, came to the State with his father, having married Elizabeth Best before leaving Pennsylvania. His children were Nancy, William, John, Lydia, Ellen, Barnett and Joseph. He was a cabinet-maker by trade, and died 1816.

Otho Johnson built the brick house now occupied by James Hunt, and, with his brother Barnett, owned the lands comprising the Atkinson farm, extending east to the survey line-Main street, Mingo. In 1833, Otho purchased a stock of goods of O. M. Herron, his nephew, who, a few months before, had estab- lished a country store on his uncle's premises, and had also established a post office-probably the first in the township-which was called Johnson's Store. This enterprise proving unsuccessful, the business and post office were aban- doned in 1835, and in 1838 Mr. Johnson sold his farm to Cephas Atkinson for $25 per acre, and the next year moved to Hancock County, Ill., where he died about the year 1870.

JAMES DEVORE was born in Washington County, Penn., and came to Ohio and settled on the B. R. Tallman farm about the year 1805. He occupied, under a lease for twelve years, after which he bought for $3.50 per acre, the farm now owned by his grandson, Aaron W. Devore, south of Mingo. He served as Justice of the Peace for some years. His children were Hester, Elizabeth, Moses, John, Joshua, Jacob and Mary. Hester married Matthew Wilson ; Elizabeth married John Inskeep; Moses' first wife was Rachel In- skeep, his second Jane Wilkins ; John married Betsey Buckler; Joshua married Elizabeth Sparks; Jacob married Lydia Organ ; Mary married Thos. Ballinger.

539

HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

GRAY .- Isaac Gray came to this county in October, 1811, and settled in Wayne Township, near where Samuel Pennington now lives. He was born in North Carolina in 1762, but moved to Grayson County, Va., in 1801. His wife was Lydia Robinson, her father, John Robinson, being a native of Mary- land. Mr. Gray had nine children, all of whom were born before he came to Ohio. He purchased of John Ballinger a squatter's right or lease at the place above mentioned, and remained eighteen months. For this claim, he traded two horses and a wagon, and with the right he received the corn raised thereon the same year. In 1812, he purchased of John Barrett, a Dutchman, a tract of one hundred and fifty acres of land, now owned by Jacob H. and B. A. Lin- ville. For this land, he paid two horses and a wagon. He improved this land and erected the house now on it. He spent the remainder of his days here, dying in the year 1831, at the age of sixty-nine. His wife was an ardent Quaker, and their house was for many years not only a preaching place for the early missionary preachers of that denomination, but a place of rest and welcome as well. Here Mildred Ratliff, John Garwood, Phineas Hunt, Priscilla Hunt and many others preached the Gospel. Mr. Gray served the township for many years in various capacities, and the elections were often held at his house. His oldest daughter, Elizabeth, became the wife of Ross Thomas. She lived and died at the Henry Breedlove farm. John, the oldest son, married Ellen Thomas, daughter of John (Mingo) Thomas. He died in 1836. Hannah mar- ried Richard Thomas. She died in 1829. Jehu died unmarried in 1822. Mary married Aaron Guthridge, in 1819. They had no children. Her husband died in Mingo March 17, 1874, aged eighty years. Mary still lives, and, at the age of eighty-four years, is noted for her remarkably well-preserved mental faculties and her great store of pioneer reminiscences. It is safe to say that no man or woman in Central Ohio has at command such an inexhaustible fund of old-time information. She is the only survivor of the once numerous family of Isaac Gray. Asa married Mary Ann Johnson for his first wife. His second wife was Catharine Walker, who still lives. He died in 1870, and is buried at Ryan's, in Salem Township. James married Hannah Robinson, and occupied the homestead until his death, which occurred in 1850. His widow died in September, 1874. Rebecca married Samuel B. Lippincott. She died in Sep- tember, 1831. Rachel married Samuel Taylor. She died in 1845.

Of the mother of this remarkable family, something more deserves to be said than that she lived and died. When the country was entirely new, and the roads and means of travel were very difficult, she served her fellow-beings as a nurse in times of sickness. For years, from far and near, her services were eagerly sought and freely bestowed on the suffering. By day and night, in sun- shine and storm, over roads next to impassable, sacrificing her own personal comfort, enduring fatigue, without pecuniary reward, she cheered the faint, raised the fallen and comforted the dying. She outlived her husband twelve years, dying in 1843.

MORECRAFT .- Hester Morecraft came to Ohio, with her family, about the year 1812, and settled near the present site of Cable, not many rods from the " Eden Home" of Joseph W. Johnson. She had five sons and two daughters. Richard was the oldest son, and was never a resident of this part of Ohio. He lived and died in Cincinnati. James lived in Northwestern Ohio during the greater part of his life. Samuel, we think, became a citizen of Auglaize County. Polly married Jesse Wickson. Jonathan was never married. He was widely known throughout the country ; was a man of great muscular

540

HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

strength, with courage to act when imposed upon, but not quarrelsome. Was a man of laborious habits and remarkably fine social qualities. He accumu- lated considerable property, and his aged mother found a comfortable home with this, her favorite son, until death claimed him. He died in 1835, in his thir- ty-seventh year. It was a favorite remark of his mother, "I have raised a. number of sons, but only one Jonathan." Nancy married George Williams, . and lives in Kingston, at an advanced age.

Simeon married Elizabeth Rice. They raised two sons and one daughter -James, John and Mary. He purchased the farm on which his son John now lives, of Everett Green, in 1850. The house was built by Wesley Hughes in 1834. Simeon was a man of frugal habits and was very industrious, and was esteemed for his excellent social qualities. He died in 1876, at the age of seventy-two years, leaving a handsome fortune to his heirs.

Hester Morecraft deserves to be remembered in history along with Lydia. Gray, as a woman who lived to bless her race. She gave much of her time to visiting the sick and ministering to the afflicted. There was no trial too great for her if enduring it brought relief to the sick; there was no sacrifice too costly if, suffering it, she brought comfort to the afflicted. Her services as a nurse were sought for many miles around, and her skill in this important sphere was acknowledged wherever she was known. She was an ardent Bap- tist, and the light of her Christian life outlives her fleeting breath.

IGOU .- Peter Igou figured prominently in the business affairs of Wayne Township from 1820 to 1850. He came to the township about 1820, from Ross County. He bought a tract of wild land and settled on it, on the left bank of King's Creek, near Mason's mill, which is now owned and occupied by Susan Wright, her son and daughter. His first wife was a Mckenzie. His second wife was Elizabeth Purtlebaugh, now the consort of B. F. Madden. By his first marriage, he had three sons and three daughters, who grew to man- hood and womanhood. Silas, the oldest son, married Merdula Johnson. He studied law, and became noted as a practicing local attorney and politician. He died about the year 1877. John married Hannah J. Thomas for his first wife, and Sarah Hefflebower for the second. He is a farmer of large expe- rience, and lives on the Dunlap farm, on Buck Creek. Aaron, the youngest son, died in 1852, and was unmarried. Mary Ann became the wife of Will- iam Johnson, and, after his demise, she married Eley Hallowell. Elizabeth married A. Evans, and lives in Cincinnati. Amanda became the wife of Will- iam Jenkins, and, with her husband, lives in Indianapolis.

Mr. Igou sold his farm to Thomas Baldwin, and bought the farm now owned by Martin M. Dickinson, in the southwest part of the township. About the year 1848, he built the Pearce corner, in Middletown, where, in 1852, he died. Igou was a man of generous heart, liberal in his views, fond of discus- sion, well read on the current topics of the day, gifted in conversation, a little too fond of litigation, a professed Universalist, a good neighbor and a kind hus- band and father. He served the township as Justice of the Peace for several successive years, besides filling other places of trust.

Paul Igou came to the township several years later than his brother Peter. His life and character differed from that of his brother widely. Paul settled on a piece of land southwest of Mason's mill, and adjoining the Richard Bald- win farm. He was a man greatly given up to making money by hard work, and many good stories are told of him, showing his rude habits. His wife was Ellen Westbrook, a native of Ross County. He had twelve children ; eleven

541

HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

of them lived to be men and women. The sons were Lewis, Joseph, Marion, Harrison and Reuben ; the daughters were Martha, Mary, Mahala, Susan, Elizabeth, Melinda and Nancy. Lewis died unmarried about 1856. Joseph married Frances Day, of Illinois. Marion married Elizabeth Bolley. Harri- son married Nancy Blubeck. Reuben died in his youth. Martha married Aaron Gray, and died in Illinois March 1, 1877. Mary married John Wild- man, and lives in Christian County, Ill. Mahala married George Keeley, and lives in Iowa. Susan married Samuel Ervin ; her husband was murdered by John Spyers, in the year 1877. Elizabeth married George Smith, of Chris- tian County, Ill., and is a resident of that county. Melinda married William Westbrook, of Christian County, Ill., she and her husband died in the year 1870, leaving four children. Nancy married Alexander Marshall, of Illinois ; she died in 1871.

Paul Igou lived in Wayne Township and pursued his inclination of hard work and making money until the year 1853, when he moved to Christian County, Ill. He still lives, at the age of eighty-three, and is reported to be very wealthy. He sustained the character of an honest man, was rude in his manners, a great reader, a fine talker, careless in his attire, fond of company and lived well about his house. Though he knew how to make money and how to keep it, he was a man of liberality and extensive hospitality.

MATTHEW MASON was a native of Virginia, and was born in 1789. He came to Ohio about the year 1824. He was the principal partner in the build- ing of the mill on King's Creek, which bears his name, and was, during a long and busy life, a man who never ceased in his efforts to accumulate wealth. He was a man of many good qualities, lived well, worked hard and dealt squarely with his fellow-men. He carried on a distillery in connection with Mason's mill for some years, and died October 3, 1869, in his eighty-first year. He was never married. His brother John was older, lived more secluded, was somewhat eccentric and lived to the ripe age of ninety-five years. He outlived Matthew a few years.

ALEXANDER SAINT CLAIR HUNTER was born in Virginia in the year 1795. Came to Ohio in 1811, and settled in the Mingo Valley, near the present village of Mingo, and on the farm now owned and occupied by William Winder in 1821. He was an active Methodist, and at his house was held the first Methodist class-meeting ever held in the valley, and out of which grew a soci- ety which still lives, after nearly sixty years have passed. His two sons, John S. and James W., were born natives of Mingo Valley. John S. married Char- lotte Moots in the year 1868, and James W. married Sarah L. Price in 1858. James moved to Illinois in the year 1867. John S. is a citizen of Mingo, and is noted for his retentive memory and quiet, social habits. The daughter, Mary Ann, died at the age of twenty-four. Sarah Jane married William Johnson in 1844, and lives near Cable.

Mr. Hunter died in April, 1856, aged sixty-one. His wife Sarah died in September, 1859, aged sixty-four years.

CEPHAS ATKINSON was born in York County, Penn., in the year 1790. His wife, Abigail Oren, was a native of Tennessee, and was born in December, 1795. They were Orthodox Friends, and were married by the rights of their church at Center Meeting, in Clinton County, Ohio, in the year 1815. They began life in a very humble manner, moving to a rude cabin on a lease in the neighborhood, and hauling their worldly effects upon a one-horse sled. By the strictest economy, in the course of a few years he was able to purchase a

542

HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

hundred acres of land in Greene County. This he occupied and improved, and in due time bought a tract of a thousand acres in Clark. He gave his attention to stock-raising, and prospered continually. In the year 1838, thinking to bet- ter his condition generally and provide for the future of his increasing family, he- sold his lands in Clark and bought of Otho Johnson, in the Mingo Valley, the farm now owned and occupied by his son-in-law, James Hunt. This farm comprises 333 acres, and included the farm of Maria Hunter, as well as the site of Mingo Village. Mr. Atkinson paid $25 per acre for these lands, and his object in coming to Champaign County was to give more attention to raising grain and less to the stock business -- a plan which he never fully executed. He became the father of a large family, eight of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, but the older sons were never permanent residents of Wayne Township. Near the close of life, he purchased 1,500 acres of land in Madison County. Of his family, the following brief summary may be made : Isaac married Nancy Gray, of Greene County. Levi married Mary B. Phillips, of Madison County. John married Nancy Phillips, of Madison County. Joseph was twice married. His. first wife was Sarah Edwards; his second, Alice Gladden. Jane married Will- iam Hannah, a Scotchman. William married Lucinda Fleming, a widow. Mar- garet C. married James Hunt, of Highland County, and is the only child who became a permanent resident of Champaign County. Thomas married Louisa Owen, of Kentucky. Mr. Atkinson and wife, as has been stated, were mem- bers of the Orthodox Friends' Church, were piously devoted to its doctrines and usages, and never faltered in their adherence to the principles of peace which this denomination is known to advocate. At one time in his life, Mr. Atkin- son, in obedience to his peace principles, refused to train at a general muster. He was fined, and, refusing to pay the fine, the officer levied upon and sold the side-saddle of Mrs. Atkinson. Mr. Atkinson was born, cradled and nurtured in the anti-slavery sentiments of his church, and from early manhood to ripe old age he spoke, prayed, sacrificed and planned to free the oppressed and strike the shackles of bondage from the limbs of the black man of the South. His house, in the Mingo Valley, was known as a place of refuge for the pant- ing fugitive pursued by the master who would drag him back to bondage. The. escaping slave always found in Cephas Atkinson a friend-one who secreted, fed and clothed him, and forwarded him to the next place of safety. He neither- recognized nor obeyed a law of the land which made him a slave-catcher, but he did recognize a higher law that offered liberty to the bondman and equality before the law to all. A volume might be written of the underground railroad experience of this conscientious old Quaker, but, unfortunately for the histo- rian, the record is buried with the martyr. The crack of the whip of the slave- owner, the baying of the blood-hound, the groans of the oppressed slave, have. become things of the buried past, and are now only spoken of as relics of the barbarism of the days gone by. Cephas Atkinson was scrupulously exact in his- dealings with men, paying and exacting the last penny ; uncompromising in his views, positive and unwavering in his devotion to a principle, liberal toward the church, diligent in business, fervent in spirit. He died possessed of a large. estate, valued at nearly $100,000. Though he did not live to see the realiza- tion of the hope of his life (the extinction of slavery), yet he died in the shadow of coming events which foretold freedom to the oppressed. He- died in November, 1860, aged seventy. His wife died in December, 1875, aged eighty years.

DAVID and ABRAM MARTIN settled in the northeast part of the township in 1831. David was born in 1805, and Abram in 1811. Their father,

548

HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

Benjamin, and his wife, Mary, came at the same time. They were of German stock, and well calculated to subdue the wild forests around them. Benjamin died in the year 1834, and his wife died in 1840. Their children were David, Abram, Rachel, Mary and Susan.

ISAAC EVERETT and his wife Margaret came to the township in 1810. He was born in Virginia and she in Pennsylvania. They settled one mile west of the village of Mingo, and besides clearing up a farm succeeded in raising a family of seven sons and two daughters-Samuel, Joseph, John, Francis. Isaac, Thomas, Archibald, Mary and Elizabeth. Mary married Daniel Cowgill, and Elizabeth is the wife of David Martin.

WILLIAM MIDDLETON was born in 1802, and came to Wayne Township from Brown County in August, 1824. He settled on the Ridge, on the head- waters of Treakles Creek, and occupied that farm nearly fifty years. His first wife was a Middleton, by whom he had seven children. This wife died in 1838. Thomas and John C., his sons, became citizens of the township. The latter did honorable service in the Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Elizabeth married Jehu Guthridge ; Sarah E. married Jefferson Applegate. His second wife, Estavilla Guthridge, bore eleven children-Rachel, Martha, Fannie, Diantha, Eliza J., Laura, Cyrus W., William G., Ida and Melatiah. Uncle Billy sustains the reputation of a man of honesty and integrity, and now lives near his old homestead at the age of seventy-eight.

JOHN MIDDLETON, Sr., and Elizabeth his wife, came to Wayne Township from Brown County in 1833. They were natives of Fairfax County, Va., and were born in 1778 and 1773 respectively. The husband was precisely five years the wife's senior. Mrs. Middleton's maiden name was West. They reared a family of six sons and føre daughters-William, Letta, James, Ellen, Susan, Winnifred, Thomas, Elizabeth, John, Sarah, George and Edward. William, the oldest of the family, was twice married. His first wife was Rachel Middleton, who died in 1838; for his second wife he married Estavilla, daughter of William Guthridge. Letta married David Hatfield. James married Mar- gerie Gillespie ; he died in Iowa. Ellen married Stephen Thompson. Susan married Abraham Thompson. Winnifred died at the age of fourteen. Thomas was twice married ; his first wife was Ibbie Keeley ; his second, Mary Bailor. John married Mary, daughter of Samuel McCumber. Elizabeth married Hamet Hatfield for her first husband, and Evans Perry for her second. Sarah married Hiram Durnell. George died at the age of eighteen. Edward married Eliza- beth Clinton. These sons and daughters. with their families, in time became quite numerous, and at one time outnumbered any other name in the township. Mr. Middleton purchased a tract of land in the southeast part of the township, near the source of Treakle's Creek; paying 87 cents per acre for a part of it, and $1.50 for the rest. He lived surrounded by his family, devoted himself to subduing the forest, and took some interest in the affairs of the township. He died in 1873, at the age of ninety-five. His wife died the same year, aged ninety years.

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The history of Champaign county, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory etc, Part 62

Author: Ogden, J. W. (John W.); Beers (W.H.) & Co., pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 926

Author: Ogden, J. W. (John W.); Beers (W.H.) & Co., pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 926