The history of Hardin county, Ohio, Part 91

Author: Warner Beers & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Warner Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1076

USA > Ohio > Hardin County > The history of Hardin county, Ohio > Part 91

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JAMES VANCE, liveryman, Kenton, was born in Knox County, Ohio, February 28, 1828, and is a son of William and Mary (McCullough) Vance. His father was a native of Ireland, born in 1791, and was a son of James Vance and Elizabeth Moore. William Vance emigrated to the United States in 1792, with his father, who settled near Martinsburg, Va., and subse- quently, in 1824, moved to Knox County, Ohio, being among the distin- guished pioneers. His father died in Knox County April 15, 1871, leav- ing one son, Andrew, to survive him. Andrew is still a resident of Knox County. William Vance was in the war of 1812. His wife was a native of Washington County, Penn., where they were married. She died in 1828, and was the mother of six children, four now living, viz., Margaret, wife of John McCreary, of California; Mary, wife of William Pool, of Kenton; William, resident of Fremont, Ohio, and our subject. The latter was reared on the homestead in Knox County, and when eighteen years of age learned blacksmithing at Mount Vernon, serving four years. In the sum- mer of 1850, be went to - -, where he remained two years, returning to Knox County. He was here married, in 1852, to Miss Sarah J. Walker, a native of that county. Two years after, he moved to Logan County; thence to Huntsville, where he followed his trade for nine years. In the fall of 1865, he removed to Pleasant Township, Hardin County, settling on a farm, and finally, in 1867, came to Kenton and opened in the livery business. He is the oldest man in Kenton representing this branch of business continuously. In 1872, he erected the stable now used by Mr. Van Horn, occupying it until July, 1880, when he sold it to take up quarters in the adjoining building, where he is now enjoying a large trade. His fam- ily consists of four children, three living, viz., William M., Randel R. and Emma M.

T. F. VAN HORN, liveryman, Kenton, was born in Warren County, N. J., in 1847, where his parents, also natives of New Jersey, are

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now residing. In the spring of 1869, our subject visited Montana, remain- ing there for three years, being engaged in mining, at which he was very successful. He then spent one year at home, and returning to the mines he subsequently left them for Knoxville, Iowa, where he carried on, for three years, the livery and stage line business. Again returning to his native place, he entered mercantile business, pursuing it for five years, and then came to Kenton. Here he established himself in the livery business in the spring of 1876, succeeding Lynch & Poor in the adjoining stable, and in 1881 he purchased his present commodious stable on the corner, where he keeps a full line of livery in horses, buggies and carriages. He uses from sixteen to eighteen horses, has a good trade, and also has an omnibus line run- ning from the Chicago & Atlantic road. Mr. Van Horn was married in Beth- lehem, Penn., in November, 1875, to Miss Miriam Freese, a native of Hope, N. J., and their family numbers three children, two living, viz., Carrie and Irving. Mr. Van Horn is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and is one of the substantial business men of Kenton.

LEVI WAGNER, farmer, Kenton, was born on the homestead farm of his father, Samuel Wagner, in 1837. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary A. Hosman, was a native of Richland County, Ohio, his father of Berks County, Penn. The latter came to Hardin County, from Pennsyl- vania, and settled on his present farm, which he had entered, taking up a large tract of land. He is still living, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. He had a family of eleven children, seven of whom are living. The subject of this sketch was married, in Hardin County, in 1862, to Miss Grace E., daughter of Alexander Morrison, and a native of Muskingum County, Ohio. To this union were born six children, all living, viz., Luella B., Harry M., Mattie I., Samuel A., Robert M. and Cecil C. Mr. Wag- ner's maternal grandfather was an early pioneer of this County. Mr. Wag- ner is a member of the Christ Church. He numbers among the oldest resi- dents of the county.

DANIEL H. WAGNER, farmer, P. O. Kenton, is the second son and fourth child of Samuel and Mary (Hossman) Wagner, born May 21, 1841, in Section 35, Pleasant Township, on the old home entered by his father in 1833, on which his parents still live. His father is of German descent, born in Bucks County, Penn., November 5, 1800. At the age of eighteen, he learned milling, and when twenty-five years old went to Hagerstown, Md., to superintend the then largest flouring mills in the country. In the spring of 1833, he came to Hardin County, and entered a large tract of land in the vicinity of Kenton, giving to his three surviving sons-Levi, Daniel and Phiotas -- as well as his daughters, large farms. Phiotas remained on the homestead, and married Emma L. Williams and has one child-Orpha May. Mr. Samuel Wagner, the father of our subject, was married, Decem- ber 25, 1834, to a daughter of Levi and Mary A. (Wilson) Hossman, and to them were born eleven children, viz., Susan (deceased), Levi, Citharine A., Daniel H., Mary A., Margaret E. (deceased), Samuel T. (deceased) Rachel E., Eunice C. (deceased), Isadore P. and Phiotas V. Mr. Samuel Wagner is the youngest child of fourteen children of John and Susan Wag- ner, who were born and buried in Pennsylvania. He is now nearly eighty- three years old, is smart and active, performing all the reaping and mow- ing of the homestead of 163 acres. Mrs. Wagner's parents, Levi and Mary Hossman, are of English descent; her father a native of Virginia, her mother born in New York City. They were married in what is now Carroll County, Ohio, and came to Hardin County in the fall of 1833, settling in

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Pleasant Township, Section 22. They died in Iowa, and were the parents of four daughters and two sons. Mrs. Wagner's great-grandfather was from London, and possessed great wealth. Daniel, the subject of this sketch, helped to clear the old homestead, also the farm in Section 27, where he now resides. On November 5, 1868, he married Rachel, eldest child of W. J. and Sarah Emmons. She was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, June 28, 1848, and was brought to Goshen Township, this county, by her parents, when but two years of age. The fruit of this marriage has been four chil- dren, viz., a son, who died in infancy; Carroll H., born March 15, 1872; William Dowling, born January 31, 1875; and Nellie E., born September 23, 1878, died July 24, 1879.

MOSES B. WALKER, LL. D., Kenton, was born July 16, 1819, in Ohio, and is a son of John and Mary (Davis) Walker, of Scotch-Irish de- scent. His ancestry, on the paternal side, is traced to John Walker, a na- tive of England, who migrated to the colonies with Lord Baltimore and settled in Maryland. The grandfather of our subject, Ignatius Walker, was a lineal descendant of John Walker, and was born on the Potomac River in Virginia. He owned slaves on his plantation in Virginia, and was an intimate friend of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. He was an officer during the Revolution, and died on the field of battle at Utah Springs. The father of our subject was born on the homestead in Virginia and set- tled in Kentucky, where he located military land. In 1798, he sought a new home in the Scioto Valley, now embraced in the limits of Pickaway County, Ohio. His wife was a native of Maryland and an aunt of Henry Winter Davis. Her father was a soldier in the Revolution, who died of wounds received at Utah Springs. At an early age, our subject worked on his father's farm. His rudimentary education was picked up at odd times from school books, and in his seventeenth year he entered the freshman's class of Augusta College, in Kentucky. Two years after, he returned home on account of poor health. . He subsequently went to Woodward College, in Cincinnati, remained there two years, and then, for three years, attended Yale College, an attack of hemorrhage of the lungs compelling his return home. Recovering his health, he entered on the study of law in Spring- field, Ohio, and the following year in Montgomery County, Ohio, under the preceptorship of Judge Joseph H. Crane, of Dayton, Ohio. He at- tended lectures at the Cincinnati Law School, from which he graduated with the class of 1846: The same year, he practiced his profession with H. V. R. Lords, opening offices at Dayton and Germantown. At this time, the Mexican war breaking out, he formed a company in and about German- town, and equipped it at his own expense. There being a surplus of troops, the largest part could not be mustered in, so were sent home. He conse- quently retired to his practice and continued until 1861, practicing under the firm name of Walker, Holt & Walker, one partner being Judge George B. Holt, an eminent lawyer of Dayton, the other his nephew. In 1850 and 1851, he was a member of the Ohio Senate. In 1864, and again in 1866, he was nominated to Congress, and was defeated, first by 1,600 and next by 600 votes, in the old Fifth District. At the breaking-out of the rebellion, Gov. Dennison tendered him command of one of the regiments, and he was commissioned Colonel of the Thirty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He ac- cepted a commission offered him in the regular army, on the condition he could go out with the Thirty-first regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His Ohio regiment became a part of the Cumberland Army, and he participated in all the engagements except at Mission Ridge. He was severely wounded

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at Hoover's Gap and at Chickamauga, after which he received a commis- sion as Brigadier General of Volunteers; also the respective ranks of Major and Lieutenant Colonel, by brevet, in the regular army. After four months spent in the hospitals, he returned to duty, and took part in the Atlanta campaign, after which he joined Thomas at Nashville. He was mustered out with his regiment and placed upon the retired list with the rank of Colonel, for wounds received at Chickamauga. At a critical period of the war, he was ordered home to deliver speeches at various points to counter- act the influences that served to injure the cause. All this he did, and also aided in fresh enlistments, and to arouse a general spirit of loyalty. This service he considers of more value than his conduct on the field. He was often intrusted with the most dangerous and important duties, and en- joyed the full confidence of Gen. Thomas, with whom he fought through the entire war. He was also among the brave old Fourteenth Corps. During the autumn of 1868, he was ordered to Texas for duty. He was sub sequently appointed Judge of the District Courts, and the year after was transferred to the Supreme bench. His colleagues were Ogden Evans and McAdo, A. J. Hamilton, Morrell Lindsay and Dennison. He served for six years, when Texas was admitted into the Union and returned to his home. He was re-appointed Supreme Judge by Gov. Davis, and went back to Texas and served three years under the constitution of 1869. He returned to the North in the fall of 1875, and settled in Kenton. For a time he engaged in the practice of law, but his declining health necessitated a retirement. He was married, November 10, 1842 to Miss Maria, daughter of Tobias Van Skoyck, a descendant of the Knickerbockers, and resident of Germantown, Ohio. Mrs. Walker died in July, 1853, leaving three children, all living. The oldest, Mary E., is the wife of John T. Carlin, of Kenton; John O. resides in Kenton, and Grace M. A. is the wife of P. M. Rutheraff, of Austin, Tex. On the 1st of May, 1855, our subject married Miss Mary H., daughter of Dr. Willis H. Hitt, of Vincennes, Ind. The eight children by this union are as follows: Willis S., Harriet R. (wife of Dr. L. B. Tyson, Kenton), Mosella, George W., Bessie F., Frank M., Mary E. and Della. Mr. Walker met with an accident, in the fall of 1879, at Springfield, Ohio, by falling into an excavation in a sidewalk, and was injured to such an ex- tent that he is obliged to use crutches, and is confined mostly to his home.

JAMES WATT, cashier and attorney at law, Kenton, was born in Ken- ton, Ohio, December 6, 1839. He is a son of Samuel and Sarah Watt and a grandson of William Watt. The latter emigrated from Ireland at an early time, and probably located at Philadelphia, then in Cadiz, Ohio, where he died. The father of our subject was born near Cadiz, Ohio, Jan- uary 16, 1805. His wife was a native of Jefferson County, Ohio. They were the parents of six children, four living. Samuel Watt was educated for a physician at Jefferson College, Washington Co., Penn., and studied under the tuition of Dr. Wilson, of Cadiz, Ohio. He practiced in Jeffer- son County, Ohio, until 1839, coming thence to Hardin County, locating in Kenton, where he followed his professional calling up to 1858. In 1848 and 1849, he represented Hardin County in the Legislature, and in 1858, was elected Probate Judge, serving three terms. He then retired from public and professional life, removing to Ada in 1873. His decease occurred in October, 1876. The subject of this sketch was the fourth child of his parents. He received his primary education from the schools of Ken- ton, and entered Westminster College, New Wilmington, Penn., in 1860, graduating in 1865. The following year he attended the Albany Law

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School, from which he graduated in the same year. He began his practice in Kenton in 1867, and pursued his professional calling until March of 1882, when he was elected Cashier of the Kenton Savings Bank. He served for two terms as Prosecuting Attorney in Kenton, and has always taken an active part in the growth and enterprise of that city. In 1873, he was united in marriage to Miss Ida M., a daughter of Harvey Chapman, of Hardin County. To this union two children have been born-Edna C. and Ida Marcella.

JASPER N. WELCH, County Auditor, Kenton, was born in Seneca County, Ohio, November 3, 1842, and is the eldest son of William and Margaret (Smith) Welch, the former a native of Seneca County, and the latter of Wayne County, Ohio. His grandfather, John Welch, was a Pennsyl- vanian, who came to Seneca County, Ohio, in the year 1819. He was Justice of the Peace for fifteen years, served one term in the Legislature and one in the Senate and was County Commissioner of Wyandot County for nine years. Although but a farmer, he all his life occupied positions of honor and trust. His wife's name was Sarah McMullin, a native of Pennsyl- vania. They moved to Wyandot County, Ohio, and settled near what is now Nevada, where John Welch died in 1860. The parents of our subject are at this time of that county, and have raised a family of six children, four of whom are living, viz., Jasper N., James A., Amanda A. and William M. The maternal grandfather of our subject, George W., a native of New Jer- sey, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was among the pioneers of Seneca and Wyandot Counties. He is now a resident of Blue Earth County, Minn., and is in the ninety -fifth year of his age. The subject of this sketch was reared in Wyandot County, where he lived until his enlistment in Upper Sandusky, September 11, 1861, in the Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company D. He enlisted as a private, was commissioned Second Lieutenant December 16, 1864, and First Lieutenant February 22, 1865, in which latter rank he served until the close of the war. In the summer of 1865, the regiment was sent to Texas, where they remained in service until December, 1865, and were mustered out at San Antonio, Tex., and dis- charged at Columbus, Ohio, December, 1865. He participated in the bat- tles of Stone River, Liberty Gap, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Atlanta campaign, where he was wounded May 27, 1864, and returned to the regi- ment in October. He then took part in the battles at Franklin and Nash- ville, Tenn. At Dallas, he received a wound in the right shoulder, May 27, 1864. Returning to peaceful pursuits in Wyandot County, he engaged in the lumber business, which he followed until 1870, and then came to Hardin County. He located at Dunkirk, in the livery business, which he subse- quently sold, and was employed as salesman in Mahan Brothers' agricult- ural implement and general store. In the fall of 1878, he was elected County Auditor and filled the position with satisfaction, receiving a re-elec - tion in 1881. He was united in marriage, at Fostoria, Ohio, May 4, 1871, to Miss Anna E., a daughter of Rev. James C. McClean, Presbyterian minister (deceased). She was a native of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Mr. Welch has a farm of 107 acres in Dudley Township, where he is engaged in raising thoroughbred merino sheep and Poland-China hogs. He is Vice President of the Ohio Spanish Merino Sheep-Breeders' Association, which was organized in 1882. Mr. Welch organized Company H of the Eleventh Ohio National Guards in June of 1877. He was appointed Captain, then Lieu- tenant Colonel in August of 1877, and in December, 1879, Colonel of the regiment, which position he resigned in June of 1882.

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L. H. WELLS, Sheriff, Kenton, was born in Hocking County, Ohio, March 7, 1844. He is the oldest living son of John and Rachal (McGillis) Wells, the former a native of the District of Columbia, the latter of Hock- ing County, Ohio. He is of Irish descent. His maternal grandfather, Thomas McGillis, a native of Ireland, was a soldier in the Revolution and in the war of 1812. He was a pioneer of Ohio, and was among the earliest settlers of Perry County, where he died at the age of eighty-six years. John Wells, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was a native of Ire- land, an architect by profession, and a pioneer of Perry County. He- erected the St. Joseph's Church at Somerset, in that county, and died in Lexington, Ky. The parents of our subject were married near Wolf's Station, Perry County, and settled in Hocking County, whence they moved, in 1875, and are now residing in Ada, Hardin County. They have reared a family of four children, two living-James H. and our subject. John Welch served three months in the Twenty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry ; re-enlisted in the First Ohio Cavalry in August, 1861, serving until after the close of the war; remaining to do active service in Texas, and was dis- charged in the fall of 1865. He was color bearer for two years, and then Commissary Sergeant, and participated in all the cavalry battles of the Cumberland. He was wounded in the left leg at La Vergne, Tenn., and was confined two months. The subject of this sketch followed farming until the breaking-out of the war, when he enlisted, in August, 1861, and was mustered, in October of the same year, in Company F, First Ohio Vol- unteer Cavalry. He fought in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, and in the Atlanta campaign, in the taking of Jonesboro and Mission Ridge. From Jonesboro, the regiment returned to Louisville, were re-mounted, and joined Gen. Thomas at Nashville. Our subject was mustered out at Columbus, Tenn., October 26, 1864, and re- turned home in the spring of 1865. He was married, in Perry County, Ohio, March 16, 1865, to Miss Eliza McGinnis, a native of Perry County. After marriage, he engaged in farming and stock-dealing. In 1868, he came to Hardin County, locating on a farm near Ada, in Liberty Township. He remained there until his election to the office of Sheriff in 1881, in which position he has given unqualified satisfaction to the people. Mr. and Mrs. Wells have had three children, all living, viz., William, Maggie T. and James H.

CHARLES WENDT was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, July, 1850, and is a son of Frederick and Fannie Wendt, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Switzerland. His parents have been residents of Camp- bell County, Ky., for thirty years, and previous to that lived in Hamilton County, Ohio, twelve years, and Mr. Wendt has been interested in the iron works of ship-building business for many years. Our subject was a mem- ber of a family of five boys and six girls, all living. He was for several years in the grocery business at Newport, Ky., and subsequently traveling agent for Voige & Winter, cigar manufacturers, of Cincinnati, Ohio, travel- ing through the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Mis- souri and some of the Southern States. In the fall of 1879, he established himself in his present business, opening the " Bee Hive Cash Grocery," in Kenton, Ohio. His store is complete, and fully stocked with staple and fancy groceries, fruits, etc. He carries a stock of from $6,000 to $7,000, and does a business of about $50,000 a year strictly cash. In January of 1880, he was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Marr Rhodes, daughter of William and Mary S. Rhodes, of Albion, N. Y. Her father is now dead,

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but her mother is living in New York. Mr. Wendt is connected with the Masonic Lodge of Newport, Ky., being a Knight Templar, and is a well- known business man of Kenton, Ohio.

CURTIS WILKIN, real estate dealer, Kenton, was born April 22, 1828, in Harrison County, Ohio. His father, William Wilkin, was the eldest son of James Wilkin, a native of County Antrim, Ireland, His mother, Mary Holmes, was the daughter of Jacob Holmes, who, with several brothers, was among the early settlers in Harrison and Jefferson Counties. William Wilkin removed from Harrison to Highland County in the year 1829, and resided there until the year 1846, when he came to Hardin County and set- tled in what was then Taylor Creek (now Lynn) Township, on the farm now owned by Henry N. Bradley. His was the first house in that part of the county between the Round Head road and the Scioto River. Here the sub- ject of this sketch grew to manhood, and, in October, 1852, was married to Sarah H. Maloy, who died May 3, 1864. In April, 1865, he was again mar- ried, to Mrs. Fietta Wilkin, widow of his cousin William F. Wilkin. In No- vember of the same year, he moved to Kenton, where he has since resided. At the time of the settlement of his father's family in Taylor Creek Township, that part of the county was a dense forest, and the hardships and priva- tions, though not so great as in former years, were sufficient to give a fair Jesson of the inconveniences attending the first settlement of a new county. Mr. Wilkin's early years were spent on a farm and teaching school. He filled the office of County Treasurer from 1874 to 1878, and is at present (1883) engaged in real estate business. He now resides in the western sub- urb of Kenton, on the Lima pike, about half a mile west of the court house.

JOHN W. WILLIAMS (deceased) was born in Woodsboro, Md., April 20, 1800. His father was a son of John Williams, who landed in America about 1760, and settled in the colony of New Jersey. He joined the patriot army at the beginning of the Revolution, and was killed at the battle of Trenton. He left one child, aged eight years, the father of this sketch. Near the close of the war, the widow married a planter from Vir- ginia, and moving there, nothing was heard from her afterward. Her boy was apprenticed to be a house-carpenter. Making his way into Maryland, he married, in 1796, Catherine, daughter of Col. Joseph Wood. She was born in Woodsboro, Md., in 1776. Her father, Joseph Wood, emigrated from Gloucester, England, in 1750, settling in Cecil County, Md., removing shortly after to Frederick Manor (now Frederick County), where he owned a large tract of land on Israel Creek. He laid out the town of Woods- boro, naming it after himself; opened up an extensive plantation, and erected the first grist mill of the State. He owned a number of slaves, whom he set free at the close of the Revolution, in which war he was com- missioned as Colonel. commanding the Cotocton Battalion. During the war, he loaned the Government a great deal of money, besides furnishing large quantities of flour, grain and cattle to the army. Part of his claim, amounting to $69,000, was paid in Continental money, which, becoming worthless, was all lost to him. The subject of this sketch moved, with his parents, to Tuscarawas County, Ohio, in 1811; thence to Kenton in 1833, and finally to Williamstown, of which latter village he was the proprietor, in 1836. In 1824, he was married to Mary Furgeson, by which union four children were born, the first in Kenton. Their names are as follows: James F., residing in Cowden, Ill., a private in the Mexican war, and who served as a Captain in the Thirty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry in the

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rebellion; Lewis H., also of Cowden, and who was a Captain in the same regiment; Catherine Miller (deceased), of Ramsey, Ill., and Elizabeth Gallagher, also in Cowden, Ill. The family landed in Kenton when the second child, Lewis, was eleven weeks old. Soon after removing to Will- iamstown, Mr. Williams' wife died, and he subsequently married Elizabeth, daughter of Joshua Hall, an early settler on the Blanchard River. To them were born the following-named children, all living, viz., John W. F., of Washington, D. C., residing in Schuyler, Neb., and who served three years as Sergeant in Company G, Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a com- pany raised in May of 1861 in Kenton; Nancy J. Mathewson, of Williams- town, Ohio; William H., of Schuyler, Neb., who enlisted at the age of fif- teen, at Kenton, in the Eighty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Angeline S. and Mary E., residing with the widow at Williamstown. Mr. Williams died at Williamstown, Ohio, in September, 1874. His family have quite a war record-his father was Captain in the war of 1812, stationed in defense of Baltimore; one son was in the Mexican war, and his only four sons en- listed in the Union army at the fall of Fort Sumter; his paternal grand- father was killed at Trenton, and his maternal grandfather was a Colonel during the Revolution.

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The history of Hardin county, Ohio, Part 91

Author: Warner Beers & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago : Warner Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1076

Author: Warner Beers & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Warner Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1076