The history of Madison County, Ohio, Part 114

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1180

USA > Ohio > Madison County > The history of Madison County, Ohio > Part 114

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES :

erected all the buildings and made improvements, till now he has a pleas- ant home with all necessary comforts, and a good farm of 300 acres, more than 200 of which are in pasture and cultivation. Mr. Lohr and wife have had ten children. eight now living-Thorressa, born December 19, 1845 (married Robert Moore): Berthier, born November 13, 1847; Clara, born March 22, 1851 (now Widow Pierce); Angenette, born October 10, 1853; Smith, born November 29. 1856: Ella, born October 4, 1859; Charlie S., born January 29, 1862; Flora, born November 30, 1868. Mr. Lohr is one of the prominent and reliable farmers of Deer Creek Township. He has held the office of Township Trustee several years, and that of School Di- rector for many years. He and family are members of the Presbyterian Church of London, to which he has belonged many years, and in which he has been Elder more than twenty years.

.ALEXANDER B. McMURRAY, farmer, P. O. La Fayette, was born in Westmoreland County, Penn., August 3, 1820. He is a son of Alex- ander and Ellen McMurray; he was born in Cumberland County, and she in Allegheny County, Penn. The grandfather, John McMurray, was a na- tive of Scotland, and when a young single man emigrated to America about 1774, and served in the war of the Revolution, after which he married and located in Pennsylvania, and finally died in Westmoreland County. Alexander, the father of our subject, married Ellen Simpson and located in Westmoreland County, where they lived till 1826, when they emigrated to Ohio and located in Highland County, where they lived two years; after which they lived two years in Ross County, and in January, 1830, they removed to Madison County and located in Deer Creek Township; here his wife died May 9, 1854, aged seventy-three years. He died October 5, 1867, aged ninety six years. They had eight children. six now survive-John, James, Ellen. Isabel, Sarah and Alexander, our subject, who was ten years of age when they came to Madison County, and here grew to manhood, fully acquainted with the early pioneers and the hardships and trials of those davs. He was married to Mary Houser, who was born in Fairfield County. Ohio, October 16, 1838; she was a daughter of George and Barbara (Miner) Houser, he a native of Virginia and she of Ohio. Their marriage was celebrated July 4, 1854. Mr. Houser and wife had five children, four now living -- Dorotha. Jane, Elizabeth. Mary and Ann Maria. Mrs. Houser died in 1840; he still survives and resides in Indiana, aged seventy years. Mr. McMurray and wife have had ten children. seven now survive-Alex ander, born March 18. 1855; Louisa. April 16, 1859: George November 17, 1863: Ella, July 17, 1868; Robert, February 4, 1870; Sallie, March 22, 1877; and Florence, born June 26, 1879. Mr. McMurray has made farming his occupation through life, and all in this township. but three years, from the fall of 1855 to the fall of 1858, during which he lived in Iowa. In September, 1861, he bought and located on the place where he now lives and has since resided. This farm consists of fifty-two and a half acres, which he purchased of Mrs. Rogers. Mr. McMurray has served his Township as Trustee, and is one of the early settlers of this county.

JOHN MINTER, farmer, P. O. La Layette, was born in Harrison County, Va., October 12, 1804: he is a son of William and Mary Minter, natives of Virginia. The grandparents were John and Elizabeth Minter, also natives of Virginia, who removed to Kentucky, and were among the early settlers of that State; they located on military lands, which, from the un- certain and imperfect titles which then existed, he subsequently lost. About 1802, they removed to Ohio, and were among the pioneers of Dela-

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ware County, where they lived and died. William Minter married Mary Stevenson, and resided in Kentucky till the spring of 1829. when they removed to this county and located in Deer Creek Township, on the tract of land still owned by his son John. our subject, at a point about one mile north of La Fayette. This tract of land he obtained on a military claim, which called for 6,6663 acres, of which he obtained about one-third; the balance be- ing absorbed by fraud and expenses of surveys, and in locating the lands. This land was then all in its natural state, with no improvements, and here Mr. Minter spent the active portion of his life; thence he removed to the town of La Fayette, where he passed the last years of his life. He died in August. 1858, aged eighty-two years; his wife died in February. 1868, aged eighty- seven years. Mr. Minter was one of the active, leading men of this com- munity, and held many offices of trust in the township, and as stated in the history of Deer Creek Township, he was the founder of the town of La Fay- ette. He was always ready with his means and influence to aid in all pub- lic improvements for the general good of the community; and many of his neighbors and acquaintances were the recipients of his kindness and finan- cial aid, even to the great injury of himself, and in his death the commu- nity lost one of her kindest and best citizens. He was the father of nine children -- four now surviving-John, Sallie (now Widow Quinn). William. Crawford and Ann (now Widow Rogers). Our subject grew to manhood in Kentucky, and was in his twenty-fifth year when he came to Madison County with his father. He was married. September 7, 1837. to Mary Delaney, who was born in Urbana, Ohio, November 18, 1818, a daughter of David and Sarah Delaney, a native of Champaign County, Ohio. They had but one child- Mary. Mr. Delaney died --- -; his wife died January 22, 1868. Mr. Minter and wife have had six children-Salome and Saline (twins) born April 12, 1839; the former died January 12, 1857; the latter June 2, 1857; Walter, born April 12, 1842, died June 15, 1844; Sallie Ann, born October 11. 1846. married W. H. Jones: Lewis K., born June 25, 1852; and Benjamin Franklin, born April 9. 1855. Mr. Minter resided upon the old home place of his father till about 1857, when he moved to La Fayette for the purpose of convenience to school. to educate his children. He has now lived fifty- three years in Deer Creek Township.

REV. SETH NOBLE,* deceased. Respecting the question of the early ministers of the Gospel in the county, I believe my grandfather- my mother's father-Rev. Seth Noble, was the first Presbyterian. I have in my possession a book of " notes " of his sermons, in his own handwriting, together with the dates and places where some of his sermons were delivered -about fifty in all-during the years of 1806-07. He was born in West- field. Mass .. April 15. 1743. and died in Franklinton-now embraced in the corporation of Columbus, Ohio-September 15, 1807, aged sixty-four years. His genealogy, as far as known. is as follows: Thomas Noble was admitted an inhabitant of Boston, Mass., on the 5th day of January, 1653. He was probably a native of England. In the year 1653. he moved to Springfield, Mass., and in about 1669, to Westfield. Mass. He married. November 1. 1660, Hannah Warriner, born in Springfield, Mass .. Angust 17, 1643, only daughter of William and Joanna (Scant) Warriner. To them were born eleven children, the third one of whom was Thomas Noble ("Deacon ^ Thomas), born in Springfield, Mass .. January 14, 1666, and died in West- field. Mass, July 29, 1750. aged eighty-four years. He married, December 19, 1695. Elizabth Dewey. born in Westfield. Mass., January 10. 1677, daughter

*By William Morrow Beach, M. D.

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of Thomas and Constant (Hawes) Dewey. and was ordained as Deacon in the Congregational Church May 25, 1712. They had eleven children, the first of whom was Thomas Noble, born in Westfield. Mass .. September 10. 1696, and there died February 18. 1775, aged seventy-eight years. He married (first). September 1, 1722, Sarah Root, born in Westfield, Mass., March 9, 1702, daughter of John and Sarah (Stebbins) Root. To them were born ten chil- dren. the youngest of whom being Rev. Seth Noble.

REV. SETH NOBLE, was born in Westfield. Mass .. April 15, 1743. He married (first), November 30, 1775, Hannah Barker, who was born in Rowley, Mass .. February 19, 1759, the daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Palmer) Barker, of Rowley, Mass., and Maugerville, N. S. She died in " Kenduskeag Meadow," (Bangor) Province of Maine, June 16. 1790. He married (second), April 11, 1793, Mrs. Ruhama Emery, of Bangor, Maine, who died in Montgomery, Mass., in October or Noven - ber, 1805. He married (third). Mrs. Mary Riddle, in June, 1807. He joined the Congregational Church at Westfield, Mass., May 5, 1770. His first settlement in the ministry was on the 15th day of June, 1774, over the Congregational Church in Mangerville, N. S., and the de. scendants of that society say that he was ordained at Newburyport, Mass. In 1784, New Brunswick was separated from Nova Scotia, and in 1789 the meeting house in which " Parson " Noble had preached was removed to that part of the town which is now Sheffield. and on the 13th day of July, 1876. Rev. Joseph Barker, a grandnephew of Mrs. Noble's, was settled as their pastor. Rev. Seth Noble's ministry at Maugerville continued until 1777. when upon the arrival of an armed British schooner, which had come to enforce the oath of allegiance to King George, he fled, narrowly escaping with his life, as he was an ardent advocate of the cause of the Colonists. He became, for awhile at least, a soldier in the Revolutionary army. On the 7th day of June, 1786. he was engaged as the first settled religious teacher and preacher by the citizens of Kenduskeag Meadow (Bangor) at an annual salary of £70. He was inducted into office September 10, 1786. He was not only the first settled minister, but in 1790 he was deputized to go to Boston and procure from the General Assembly an act of incorpo- ration, under the name of Sunfield; but being a teacher of sacred music, and passionately fond of the solid old minor tune of " Bangor," he erased " Sun- field " and inserted Bangor in the petition. The field over which Mr. Noble presided included Bangor, Brewer, Eddington. Hampden, Holden and Or- rington. He added to these duties the instruction of youth in English branches, and also in singing. Deacon William Boyd, of Bangor, says " he was a good singer and had a clear and pleasant voice. He taught those who were natural vocalists to sing by note. and was the first teacher of sacred music in the place." During the Centennial exercises at Bangor in 1876, a brother of Vice President Hannibal Hamlin's was the orator. In his oration, he presents the foregoing facts, dwelling upon them at length. In 1797 he left Bangor and returned to New Market, N. H., where he had previously ministered to some now extinct Presbyterian congregations, and in 1799 went to Westfield, Mass., the place of his activity, where for two years he supplied vacant pulpits in Beeket, Blanford, Feeding Hills, Iro- land, Montgomery. Russell and Springfield. From the 4th of November. 1801. he was the first settled pastor of the church at Montgomery, Mass . up until his removal to Ohio in the spring of 1806.

The only printed productions known, from the pen of Mr. Noble, is a nineteen page pamphlet of two sermons preached at West .ampton, Mass ..

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June 26, 1802, and published by T. M. Pomeroy, of Northampton, in 1804. I have in my possession a lengthy letter written me in 1876, by Rev. Elisha D. Barrett, of Assumption. Ill., who was, at that time, the oldest living Alumnus of Williams College, in which he says: " I well remember Rev. Seth Noble as the first pastor at Montgomery. He was tall and slim, but very active and energetic. His step was quick and firm, and his gait grace- ful. He wore a white wig, which he used to powder. His complexion was ruddy." " As a preacher he was sound and able; and his sermons were scholarly, unique, systematic and evangelical. On one occasion, a child by the name of Bartholomew was killed by a falling tree, and Mr. Noble preached the funeral discourse over the open grave from Ecclesiastes ix, 12. The effect was electrical, and proved the most dramatic scene I have ever witnessed." The Congress of the United States gave public lands to the Nova Scotia refugees. The refugee lands extend from the Scioto, at Columbus, Ohio, to the Muskingum, at Zanesville. Mr. Noble's share- 320 acres -fell where Columbus now stands. In the spring of 1806, he

came to Ohio and settled in Franklinton. He built a house on his land. which Mr. Albert Bartholomew, now of Detroit, Mich., a grandchild, re visited and recognized about thirty years ago. His first recorded sermon preached in Ohio was at J. Andrus', at Worthington, April 9, 1806. He preached at Granville, Licking County, August 17, 1806; at Franklinton, August 24, 1806; " Derby " (Big Darby) September 22, 1806; Bixby's (Dela- ware), April 11, 1807,and at Berkshire. Delaware County, May 24 and 27, 1807. In 1847, whilst I was a dry goods clerk in the store of George A. Hill & Co., in Plain City (then Pleasant Valley). James Ewing. the first white settler of what is now Union County, told me that Mr. Noble had frequently been a guest at his house, and had preached there a number of times. There were a number of Presbyterians along Big Darby, north of Ewing's, and among his other preach - ing places were the honses of the Mitchells and Woods, the father of the late banker. William Wood, of Marysville, Ohio, and also at a point or points on Little Darby, over about the Fullington settlement. Mr. Wood was himself ordained in 1807 or 1808, as is shown by letters now in my possession. Mr. Noble had not infrequently ministered to Presbyterian con- gregations in New Hampshire, in and around New Market, both before and after his settlement at Bangor, Maine; and it is presumable that he fell into the Presbyterian ways of his congregations in Ohio with but little ombar. rassment. History is history; and Mr. Noble was not only the first pastor at Maugerville, at Bangor, and at Montgomery, but he was doubtless the first preacher to the Presbyterians at Franklinton, where he was on a salary and preached regularly, twice on each alternate Sunday, in 1807. where he had a church organization of fourteen members, of which Mrs. Lucas Sulli vant was one. I saw, when a boy, among my mother's papers, the list of names of these fourteen members; and these fourteen persons were undoubt- edly the persons who, in 1808, composed the " First Presbyterian Church," at the time of the ordination of the Rev. James Hoge.

Mr. Noble's last recorded sermon was preached in Franklinton, August 9, 1807, from Matthew, xi, 28-"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He died on the 15th day of the follow- ing month (September), and was buried in the old Franklinton Burying- ground; but the " march of empire." sweeping over and beyond, has left no token or sign of the exact spot where his body was laid to rest. His children by his first wife were as follows: Seth. born August 5. 1777, at Maugerville, N S., was lost at sea off the New England coast, October 20, 1798, aged

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twenty-one; Joseph, born at New Market, N. H., June 13. 1783, died about 1869, at Brighton, N. B., aged about eighty-six; Sarah, born June 1, 1785, and died in Montgomery, Mass., November 15, 1836, aged fifty-one; Benjamin, born June 25, 1787, died in Brighton, N. B., April 12, 1860. aged seventy-three; Hannah (my mother), born in Kenduskeag Meadow (Bangor), Maine, September 11, 1789, died in Amity, Madison County, Ohio, November 17, 1854, aged sixty-five. The children by the second mar- riage were Betsey, Thomas, Polly and John Adams, all of whom are now dead.

WILLIAM CLARK SIDNER, farmer, P. O. West Jefferson. was born on the place where he now lives January 5, 1845; he is a son of Jacob and Margaret R. Sidner, he a native of Kentucky, and she of Licking County, Ohio. The grandfather, Philip Sidner, was a native of Virginia, who emi- grated to Kentucky with ten of his brothers, and settled there in an early day. Some of them were extensive slave owners, but manumitted their slaves prior to the war About 1802, Mr. Philip Sidner, with his family, re- moved to Ohio and settled about four miles south of Columbus, on the Sci- oto River; thence he went back to Kentucky, but returned to Ohio in 1806, and here remained till his death. He was buried at Jefferson. Jacob was born in Kentucky in 1799, and was raised in Ohio. When about twelve years old, he, with his sister, settled on the old " Ewing " farm, now owned by G. G. McDonald. In 1818, they settled on the place where his son, our subject, now lives. He married Margaret R. Irvin, by whom he had seven children. five now survive-Irvin, Wesley, Angeline, William Clark and Theotis. Mr. Sidner was twice married; by his first wife, Miss Ewing, he had five children, three now living-Samuel, Philip and Elizabeth Jane. Mr. Sidner died in February, 1880, and his wife in August, 1880. He experienced his full share of the trials and dangers of pioneer life, having been one among the earlist settlers, and he had lived in Deer Creek Town- ship nearly seventy years. He was an energetic, industrious farmer, and be- came owner of about 900 acres of land; he was a mau of undoubted honor and integrity, and an earnest member and worker in the Methodist Episco- pal Church. He was one of the organizers of the Upper Glade Church, a Steward in the same and a Trustee for many years. The subject of this sketch was married, February 24, 1870, to Sarah J. Jones, a native of this county, by whom he has two children-Ernest L. and Earl Anson. Mr. Sidner located on the home place, where he still resides and where he has lived from his birth. Here he has a fine farm and good improvements. constituting a pleasant home.

JOHN SNIDER, farmer, P. O. La Fayette, was born in Germany Sep- tember 19, 1821; he is a son of Henry and Catharine Snider, natives of Ger- many, who lived and died in their native country. They had three children, two of whom, George and Sophia, remained in Germany, where they were residing when last known of them. The other child was John, our subject, who, when about eighteen years of age, emigrated to America and came to his uncle, Jacob Snider, who had previously come to this country, and was residing at La Fayette, this county. He arrived here in the fall of 1839. In 1846, he was married to Martha Verner, a native of Pennsylvania, by whom he had one child- Henry-now a resident of Iowa. His wife died July 16, 1849, of that terrible scourge-cholera. On April 22, 1851, he married for his second wife Drucilla Ellsworth, a native of Clark County, Ohio, and a daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth Ellsworth. By this union they have four children-Alpharetta E. (now wife of Dr. J. W. Chance, of

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London), Minnie L., Ida L. and Annetta E. Mr. Snider, after he came to La Fayette, learned the blacksmith trade, which business he followed about three years, when he entered upon the grocery trade, and finally extended his business into a general stock of goods, such as a country trade demands. In this he continued until the spring of 1864, when he purchased and lo- eated upon the farm where he now lives and has since resided. He now owns 600 acres of good land with good buildings and improvements, con- stituting a pleasant farmer's residence. Mr. Snider is strictly self-made; start- ing in life poor, he has by his industry and good business taet, accumulated a good competency, and is now one of the most reliable and respected farm- ers of Deer Creek Township.

CHRISTIAN VOLKA, merchant, P. O. La Fayette, was born in St. Louis, Mo., November 25, 1837; he is a son of John and Catharine Volka, natives of France, who emigrated to America while young; they grew to maturity and were married in Columbus, Ohio. He was a shoe-maker by trade, which business he followed in Columbus, Cincinnati and St. Louis. He died of small-pox in Cincinnati. They had three children, two now sur- viving-Catharine (wife of David M. Bradley), and Christian, the subject of this sketch, who was principally raised in Madison County, brought up to farin labor and was married, January 8, 1863, to Lucetta Bell, a native of this county, where she was born May 12, 1844, and a daughter of Daniel Bell, a native of Virginia, and his wife Rebecca (Wagoner) Bell, a native of Ohio. Dr. Bell was a practicing physician for many years, commencing his profession in Coshocton County, Ohio; thence coming to Madison County and practicing in Somerford Township. He was an earnest worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and gave freely of his means for the erection of the church edifice, and also for the schoolhouse that was built near it, in honor of which the place was called Belleville He purchased a farm in that township, upon which he resided a short time; then he removed to Champaign County, and there bought a farm, where he resided about twenty years; then he removed to London, this county, and entered upon the mercantile trade. but after a few months heremoved to La Fayette, where he died December 8, 1869, aged sixty-nine years. His wife died November 29, 1858, aged thirty-nine years, dying on her thirty-ninth birthday. They had thirteen children, five now surviving-Lucy, Rachel, Lucetta, Laura Ellen and Charles. Mr. Volka and wife have had five children, two now survive-Nettie, born October 3, 1865, and John C., born August 144, 1878. Mr. Volka first located in La Fayette, and has spent most of his life in Lon- don and La Fayette, and the greater portion of it has been devoted to the mercantile trade. He was employed as a clerk in London for several years; then he entered as an assistant with Dr. Bell to the time of his death, when he took possession of the store and as since continued the business, conduct- ing a general grocery and drug trade, and has a good established business.

ALFRED WILLETT, farmer, P. O. La Fayette, was born in the State of New York May 31, 1842; he is a son of John and Jane Willett, natives of England, who, shortly after their marriage, emigrated to America and settled in Livingston County, N. Y., where they resided several years, but finally became residents of Ohio. He died at La Fayette in Angust, 1876. Mrs. Willett is still living and now resides at Rockford, Ill. They had three children-Alfred. Nellie (deceased), and Reuben. The subject of this sketch came to Madison County and located at La Fayette in the spring of 1858. Mr. Willett enlisted in the spring of 1862, in Company A, One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served

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tilt the close of the war -nearly three years. He was in the Fourteenth Army Corps under Davis, Stedman and others, and was engaged in the bat tles of Chickamauga, Kenesaw Mountain, Savannah, Atlanta, Jonesboro and others; but passed through all without a wound, and was discharged in July and mustered out of service in August, 1865. On November 5, 1865, Mr. Wil- lett was united in marriage with Sophia Snyder, who was born in La Fay- ette September 25, 1843, a daughter of Jacob and Christena Snyder, natives of Germany, who emigrated to America and became residents of La Fayette, Madison County, Ohio; and thence removed to Mercer County, Ohio, where they died. They had seven children-Elizabeth (married James Millens). La Fayette (the first child born in the town of La Fayette), Margaret (mar- ried James Simpson). Sophia, Mary (married Morris Agler), Martha Jane (married William Shaffer), and Anna (married Lewis Minter). Mr. Willett and wife have had four children, three now survive-Clarence, Morris and Clara. Mr. Willett settled in La Fayette and engaged in mercantile busi- ness, carrying on a trade in dry goods and general merchandise, in which he continued till January, 1882, when he closed out his stock, sold his resi- dence; and is now giving his attention to farming. During his sixteen years of mercantile trade, he did a large and prosperous business, and was Postmaster during several of the last years in which he was in busi - ness. He is one of the leading, active citizens of this community, and possesses the confidence and respect of the people, and is now serving his third year as Treasurer of Deer Creek Township.

PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.

STEVEN ANDERSON, farmer, P. O. Mt. Sterling, was born in Ken- tucky May 23, 1808. He was the son of Thomas and Rebecca Anderson, both natives of Virginia. When about three months old, with them he was brought to Ohio. They settled in what is now known as Pleasant Township, Madison County, where they remained until their decease Steven was reared on a farm, amid the stirring scenes of pioneer life, and received but an ordinary education. In April, 1831, he was united in marriage with Miss Margaret McCown (now deceased), by whom he had ten children, eight of whom are now living-Louisa. James, Jane R., William P., Sarah A., John W., Martha and David. About the year 1836, Mr. Anderson settled in Pleasant Township, this county, where he now resides. For twenty-one years he has served as Justice of the Peace

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The history of Madison County, Ohio, Part 114

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1180

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1180