Adams County, Ohio - Biographical sketches, 1900 (part 2 of 8)
From History of Adams County, Ohio, published 1900. 15,970 words, reproduced complete and unedited. Source changes inside the text are labelled in place.
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15,970 wordsMachine-read from scans of History of Adams County, Ohio, published 1900. Nothing has been corrected: fixing what looks like a misspelled name is how an invented one gets published. Source changes are marked where they occur.
In 1871, he was married to Miss Josephine Sturm, daughter of Julius Sturm, a prominent professor of music of Philadelphia, and later of Cincinnati. The stone company in which he was interested was quarrying stone in both Adams and Scioto Counties. When the present Buena Vista Freestone Company was organized, he became a stockholder in it and they leased the land of Wm. Flagg, which extended north of Buena Vista in Adams and Scioto Counties, but the principal part of which is in Adams. The quarrying of stone, selecting of sites for quarrying and operation of the same, were under the immediate superintendence of Adolph Caden, who possessed a thorough knowledge of such work.
He was much interested in geology and was a true lover of nature. During this time, he lived at Rockvilie in Adams County. Afterwards he removed to Buena Vista and later to Portsmouth, where he connected himself with the Otway and Carey's Run quarries. He died at Portsmouth, Ohio, on the seventh day of January, 1897, «^fter a severe attack of pneumonia. He had been able to obtain but few ed*ucational advantages, but was a general reader and kept in touch with the events of his times. He was a great believer in education and an educational qualification for the right of the ballot. He was a member of the Republican party, but always studied every view of political questions. As an employer, he had the personal interest of his men at heart and did what he could for their comfort and happiness.
Mr. Caden, if noted for any one trait of character more than another, was noted for his human sympathy. He felt for all those about him who had any claim to his sympathy and he expressed it in a practical way which won the hearts of those who received such expressions. His sotd was full of charity for all men, and he was always willing to take his acquaintances at their own estimate of themselves. In judging of his fellows, he always aimed to leave out all selfish views. When he saw a course, which, in his careful judgment, he deemed right, no adverse criticism prevented his following it. While a German by birth, he was an ardent and Icn'al American in his feelings. He was a valuable and
He was a Master Mason and a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Portsmouth, Ohio. His wife survives him and an only child and daughter, the wife of John H. Jenkins, of Portsmouth, Ohio.
was born in Highland County, Ohio, September 28, 1839. He attended school at West Union from his sixth year until the opening of the Civil War. He enlisted in Company D, 24th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, June 13, 1 861, and was made Second Sergeant at the organization of the company. He was made Second Lieutenant on October 7, 1862, and First Lieutenant on April 21. 1864, and was transferred to Company D, i8th Ohio Volunteer Infantr}-, April 27, 1864. He was made Captain, December 21,
1865, when he was mustered out. He participated in the following battles: Cheat Mountain, West Virginia: Greenbrier, West V^irginia: Shilo,h, Tennessee: Corinth, Miss.; Peryville, Kentucky; Stone River, Tennessee; Woodbury, Tennessee ; Tullahoma Campaign ; Chickamauga, Georgia ; Lookout Mountain, Tenn. ; Mission Ridge, Tennessee ; Ringgold, Georgia ; Buzzard Roost, Georgia ; Xashville, Tenn. ; and Decatur, Alabama. At the battle of Murfreesboro, he was sliot by a musket ball which plowed a groove across the top of his head from front to rear. He fell and was left on the field for dead. His own command was driven back and a burying party found him and was about to bury him. C^ne of the party claimed he was not dead and he was given the benefit of the doubt and sent to the hospital He did not become conscious for three weeks, and in the meantime, his companions reported him dead and buried. A. C. Smith wrote his obituary and it was published in the West Union Scion. Captain Collings had the pleasure of reading it after he recovered sufficiently, and he is the onlv man who ever lived in Adams County who has read his own obituary.
After the war, he returned to Adams County and studied law under the tuition of E. P. Evans. He was admitted to the practice in the Fall of 1866. In the same Fall, he was elected Probate Judge of Adams County to fill an unexpired term to February, 1867, and also the Fall Tetm from February, 1867, to February, 1870.
On February 25, 1867, he was married to Miss Harriet A. Bradford (as Probate Judge, issuing the license himself). He remained at West Union in thei practice of the law until October, 1871, when he removed to Marengo, Iowa. When he reached there, he found the county in the threes of a county seat contest, and as he had just passed through one in Adams County, he fled and located at Indianola, Iowa, where he spent the remainder of his life. At Indianola, he held the office of Justice of the Peace and County Attorney. The hardships of his military life brought on pulmonary consumption of which he died on July 24, 1882. He' died while holding the position of County Attorney. He was of ^ quiet and retiring disposition. While he showed himself fully competent for all the offices he ever held, yet he was not a man to push himslf forward. He had a grezt deal of dry humor and was a very pleasant and agreeable companion.
Politically, he was always a Republican. His death was due as much to his army service as if he had died in battle. He had one son who died an infant. Ralph, his second son, resides with his mother in Indianola, Iowa.
a native of Adams County, bom August i8, 1834, made a career of which every citizen of the county may be proud. He was bom at West Union while his father, James Mitchell Cole, was the Sheriff of the county. His father, who has a sketch elsewhere herein, was a man of strong and sterling character and of wonderful physique. His mother was Nancy Collings, sister of Judge George Collings, a woman of like great force of character. The first fifteen years of his life were spent on the Ohio River farm in Monroe Township, where he attended the District school. He then went to school at Manchester, Ohio, to William McCauley, a famous instructor of his time. After he left McCauley's school, he assisted his brother, Collings Cole, in the management of a furnace in Kentucky until the age of twenty, when he began the study of law in Portsmouth under the instruction of his kinsman, Col. James W. Davis, then a member of the Portsmouth bar. He was admitted to the bar in 1856 and located in Pikcton, then the county seat of Pike County. He remained there until after the removal of the county seat, when he removed to Waverly. The next year after locating in Pike County, he was elected to the office of Prosecuting Attorney, which office he held by successive elections for twelve consecutive years. In the administration of his public duties, he commanded the respect and confidence of all the people of the community'.
He soon rose to be the leader of the bar, and his reputation as an able lawyer was well known in the surrounding counties. He had a natural talent for management. His judgment was correct in all matters in which it was exercised. His neighbors, acquaintances and friends sought his advice in business matters, and never in a single instance, did it fail. He never made a losing venture, and never advised any which proved disastrous. The same remarkable judgment which he exercised in the affairs of others, he exercised in his own, and never made a mistake in the management of his own business. Going to the county with only his woniHerful natural abilities, he accumulated a fortune and never encountered a disaster.
In 1858, he was married to Miss Finetta Jane Jones, eldest daughter of James Jones, a prominent citizen of the county. Their only child, Adah D., is the wife of Wells S. Jones, Jr., conducting the Hayes, Jones & Company Bank in Waverly. While Mr. Cole loved the association of his fellow citizens, he had no taste for politics. Up to 1872, he was a Democrat. In 1873, he indentified himself with the Republican party and the same year was a candidate for the nomination of Common Pleas Judge. From this date, he acted independently in politics, but on financial questions, the Republican party represented his views. In 1873, he became a member of the banking firm of Hayes, Jones & Co., and here his peculiar talents found exercise. He had a natural adaptation for the banking business, and he was a tower of strength in the institution. Every one felt and knew that he would make no mistake in the management of the bank and permit none to be made. His bank enjoyed the confidence of the community, and was estimated as strong and safer than the National banks. Gradually the banking business absorbed all his time and attention, and he gave up the practice of the law little by little until in 1885 ho abandoned it altogether. He was a naural bom financier. He never made a promise but it was fulfilled with exactitude, and his integrity was of the very highest order.
While he was always prompt to decide on any situation presented to him, his judgment always stood the test of trial and proved the best course. At the time of his death, he had the confidence of the people of his county in financial matters to a greater degree than any other man who ever lived in it. Without exception, they would and dia trust him (without limitation).
He was a man of fine and commanding presence, six feet tall and well proportioned. He was positive, emphatic and earnest in all his views, but at the same time an* agreeable and pleasant companion. He became so absorbed in business and there were so many demands on his time, that, while naturally a robust man, he neglected those details of recreation and exercise necessary to good health and was stricken with paralysis and died February 9, 1899. ^^ ^s believed by his friends that had he taken relaxation, recreation and exercise, he might have prolonged his life twenty years, but the cares of business were so exacting and his constitution naturally so good, that he neglected those details which would have saved him many years. He died in the height of his powers, physicial and mental, and in the midst of a busy career, but he left his banking business one of the best and strongest in the country.
Of the many sons of Adams County who have located elsewhere and had successful careers, none was more marked than that of our subject, and to his ancestors and to his instruction in his early years, he owed it all.
Hannah A. Briggs was born December 26, 1839, in Adams County. She was the youngest daughter of George Briggs and Rachael Blake, his wife. Her father was a farmer residing two miles east of West Union. As a girl, she was bright and quick and readily acquired all the education her opportunities offered. Her aunt, Mrs. Harriet A. Grimes, wife of Noble Grimes, resided in West Union, and our subject spent much of her childhood and girlhood at the home of her aunt who bestowed on her that wealth of affection and guiding care which she would have bestowed on her own child had she been blessed with one. Aunt Harriet Grimes was a mother to Hannah Briggs, more to her than her own mother, because she spent most of her time with her aunt. She attended school in West Union and soon qualified herself for a teacher in the Public schools, an avocation which she began as early as the age of sixteen. Her elder sister Mary went to Minnesota in 1852 and became a missionary there.
George Briggs, his wife and daughter Harriet went to Minnesota in 1858 and afterward made that their home. From that time until her death on February 8, 1874, Aunt Harriet Grimes took the place of Miss Briggs' mother. Miss Briggs was bom with a faculty of pleasing those about her. As a young girl, she obtained and held the affection of all who knew her. Placed in any situation, no matter how trying or perjrfexing, she knew Avhat to do at once and did it without any ostentation or display of any kind. When young, she intinctively knew the best and most pleasing service she could render her women friends of mature age and she always rendered it voluntarily and without ever being requested. Hence, she was always popular with and loved by those of her own sex of mature age. As a young woman, she had all those charms of character, those virtues of ideal womanhood that most attract the other sex. She had admirers and suitors, but she gave her hand and heart to John Wiley McFerran, who had been her teacher in the Public school at West Union, and who was a practicing lawyer at the West Union bar They were married June 27, 1858, while she was on a visit to her parents in Minnesota. They took up their home in West Union where they spent nearly four years of ideal happy married life. In this period there ware bom to them three children - a boy who died in infancy ; Minnie, the wife of Dr. William K. Coleman, and John W., who died at the age of seven years. But the happiness of her early married life was rudely disturbed by the Civil War. In December, 1861, her husband went to the front as Major of the 70th (). V. I., and was destined to lay down his life for his country which he did on the third day of October, 1862. Thus Mrs. McFerran was left alone with two young children to fight the battle of life, and here the noble qualities of her mind and heart came out. Every one sympathized with her and every one respected and loved her She, of course, received her proper pension at (^nce and on the twenty-seventh day of September, 1866, she was appointed j)ostniistress at West Union, and held that office until October 26, i86c), when she resigfn^d.
On the twt^nty- fourth of November. 1869, she was married to Judge James L. Coryell. He was a widower with three grown children, and to his son, who always resided with them, she was a mother in every sense of the term. vShe and the Jud^c lived happily together until his death, January 7, 1892. Thereafter, until her last illness, she and her step-son, William Coryell, resided in the Coryell home. She departed this life, November 3, 1898. She made her home a place of delight for those who belonged in it and a j)leasurc for those who visited it. Her friends were all those who knew her. If she had an enemy, he or she would be ashamed to own it. No one ever did own to harl>oring unfriendly or unkindly feelings toward her. She carried sunlight with her wherever she went. But her strong point was the house of affliction and sorrow. There all her great qualities shone to the best advantage. She was a woman of very few words, hardly any words at all, but she did not need words to express her sympathy. Her acts were more expressive, more eloquent and more appreciated bv the reoii)ients of them. If she went into a sick room and there was anvthinj;^ slie saw could be done, she did not ask permission to do it, she simply (lid it and did it in such a way as to make tliose about her feel that the doin^ of it came from her heart. If she went to the house of mourn- ing and thought of anything she could do, she did it without words. She had this faculty from a girl. It may be said to have been born with her. All of her good works were done without self -consciousness. They came from the goodness of her own heart and they went to the hearts of those who observed them.
was one of the solid men of the Irish Bottoms in Greene Township. He was born August 6, 1811, in Sussex County, New Jersey At the age of four years, his parents brought him to Ohio and settled near Sandy Springs. Here xVlr. Cox resided nearly all his life. On April 18, 1834, he married Catherine Murphy, daughter of Recompense Murphy. Our subject raised to manhood and womanhood, eight children^ six daughters and two sons. Mary C, the eldest daughter, is the wife of the Rev. J. W. Dillon, Presiding Elder of the M. E. Church in the Portsmouth District. They have a family of sons and daughters, grown up and married. Anna M. married George M. Lafferty, of Rome, and they have three sons and a daughter. She died in August, 1874. Matilda J. married Race Wikoff, of Rome. Rebecca Emily married Jonathan Tracy, son of Noah Tracy, long a resident of Adams County. They reside in Columbus, Ohio Juliette is the wife of Nelson Fisher, a prominent business man of Vanceburg, Ky. Amy White married Capt. Bruce Redden. They now reside in Columbus. James Alonzo married a daughter of John Elliot. He died in 1889, leaving her with three small children, two daughters and a son. They reside in West Union. John M.. the youngest, is a prosperous business man of Vanceburg, Ky. His wife is a daughter of Captain John Bruce.
Martin Cox was an honest, industrious man. In early life, he followed the business of boat building and gave employment to a number of men. He owned the farm now occupied by Mr. Dryden in the Irish Bottoms. Here he reared his family and spent most of his life. In 1880. he sold his farm and moved to Rome, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1888. He was gentle and kind to his family, a good neighbor, honorable in all his dealings, loyal to his country, and was a Christian gentleman. He read much and kept himself well informed on public affairs. He was a good and acceptable member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years and died in its communion. His widow survives at the age of eighty-five and is quite active. She resides in Rome, Ohio. Mr. Cox raised a family of sons and daughters, all fine looking and all good men and women.
Among his grandsons and granddaughters are some of the finest specimens of manhood and womanhood. While his life was an uneventful one, yet his family and descendants speak well for their training. All are doing well in the activities of this life.
was born June 15, 1802. in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, of a long line of honorable and distinguished ancestors, as appears in the genealogy of the Culbertson family, published by a member thereof. His father. Colonel John Culbertson, was Brigade Inspector of Militia in Pennsylvania. His mother's maiden name was Mary Angeer. He had a good common school education, and when a youth of seventeen, he became a cleric in the mer* cantile establishment of A. W. Chambers, at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. When of age, he entered into the mercantile business for himself at Greenwood, Pennsylvania, where he remained until 18^
On September 16, 1834, he was married to Miss Mary Ann Kennedy, of iliilaclelphia, Pennsylvania. Directly after his marriage, he removed to West Union, Adams County, Ohio, and there engaged in the mercantile business. He remained there but two years, when he went to Knightstown, Indiana, where he engaged in the same business with C. S. Campbell and S. Chambers. While there the panic of 1837 struck them and they were financially ruined. They took four thousand dollars of the best of commercia] paper to Cincinnati and could raise but fifteen hundred dollars on it. However, Mr. Culhertson was not discouraged. In 1838, he removed to Washington, Washington County, Iowa, and engaged in the mercantile business there, selling goods to the Indians under the protection of the United States troops. He was made a County Judge of that county and served four years. In 1844, he returned with his family to Greenup County, Kentucky, and took charge of the Greenup Furnace. In 1850, feeling that his health was failing, he removed to West Union, Ohio, wliere he purchased Mount Pleasant, the former home of Rev. J(^n Graham, 1). I)., and here he spent the remainder of his life. After his removal to West Union, he purchased and held an interest in the Vinton Furnace.
Mr. Culbertson was always of an intensely religious temperament. He was brought up a Presbyterian, and was a member of that church from early manhood. He was an elder in the church at Washington, Iowa, and was ordained an elder in the church at West Union, Ohio, June 17, 1853. lie filled the office with great credit, both to himself and to the church.
In his political views, he was a Whig. He was always opposed to the institution of slavery, and was in favor of a protective tariff and of intcmal improvements. He was a man of judicial temperament, of strict integrity, and of the highest character. He was relspected by all who knew him, and in every relation of life he lived up to his ideals. He f)OSsessed a ^roat dij^nity of character which was never at any time lowered or relaxed. As it was, he lived a life which any man might envy, but had he possessed a robust constitution, he would have accomplished much more.
He had a family of four sons and one* daue^hter. His eldest son, William Wirt Culbertson. born in 1836, was a Captain of Company F, 27th O. V. I. He entered the service August i, 1861, and resigned March 28, 1864. He became a resident of Ashland, Kentucky, and married the daus:hter of Thomas W. Means, Esq., by whom he has a family. He was at one time a nioniber of Congress from the Ashland, Kentucky, district. }\c is not retired fnmi all business, and is a resident of the State of Fh^rida.
Mr. Culb^rtson died in April, 1865, and both he and his wife arc buried in the old South Cemetery at West Union, Ohio. 'He was a just man, whose memory is still fragrant among his old neighbors who still survive.
was bom in Washington County, Pennsylvania, March 24, 1822. He was the fifth child in a family of six. His ancestors had been in this country prior to the Revolution. His parents removed to Ohio, and at twenty-three years of age, he began the study of medicine. In 1849, he graduated at Western Reserve College at Cleveland, Ohio. The same year he located in West Union as a physician. Here he remained all of his life except two years* residence; in Ironton, prior to the war, and a short time during the war, he resided in Ironton, exercising the office of Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment. He was married November 5, 185 1, to Miss Elizabeth Campbell Kirker, daughter of William Kirker and his wife, Esther Williamson.
Dr. Coleman soon became the leading physician in his community and so remained during his life. He was the only physician who remained in West Union during the entire epidemic of cholera in 185 1. His practice was a hard one, requiring so much riding on horseback in all kinds of weather, but he never hesitateJd at any hardship in the line of his profession.
In his political views, Dr. Coleman was always anti-slavery and was a Whig and Republican. He never sought or held public office nor would his professional business permit it. He becanKl a member of the Presbyterian Church in West Union in 1853 and was faithfully devoted to it all his life. He was made a ruling elder and served in that capacity the remainder of his life. Physically and mentally, he was a large man. He made a fine appearance anywhere and had a most dignified presence and character. His heart was large and his sympathies active and easily touched. He was courageous, conscientious and self-denying. He was of a social nature, very fond of the society of his friends and greatly appreciated by them. He was hospitable and generous, benevolent to the poor and deserving. He was a pillar in his church, among his professional brethren, in his party, and in the community. Dr. Coleman was naturally a leader wherever he was placed. He has three sons. Dr. William K., his eldest son, who has succeeded him in West Union and is filling his place in the medical profession, church and state; Dr. Claude Coleman, a physician in Nebraska, his second son ; his third son, Clement, died in young manhood.
Dr. David Coleman believed in the high principles of religion and morality which he professed and lived. He earned and deserved the confidence of the community and held it. He was respected and esteemed in every relation of life. He aimed ^o conscientiously perform every simple duty which presented itself to him and he did so. This made a good man
J^^eph kandr>lph Campbell, son of Dr. John and Esther C. Campbell, was \xtTn in Delhi, Ohio. March 12. 1872. His education was commenced in the f fonve City and Delhi public schools and continued at Washington, D. C. until September 29. 1888, when he entered the U. S. Xaval Academy at Annap<^>lis. Md.. as a Xaval Cadet, under appointment by the Secretary of the Xavy to fill a vacancy from Wyoming Territor)-. He graduated from thr academy. June, 1892. with honor, and was assigned to the Xewark, then alx>ut to sail for European waters as the representative of the r. S. Xavy m the Spanish and Italian Columbian celebrations. About a vear later he was transferred to the San Francisco, and was in the harbor of Rif) Janicro during the exciting times of the Brazilian revolt of '93 and '94. In June. 1894. he returned to the Xaval Academy for final examination, preceding his commission as Ensign. He came through this ordeal with rlistinction, standing at the head of the line division of his class, and was duly commissioned as an Ensign to date from July i, 1894. He was assigned to duty on the Xew 'S'ork. then the finest cruiser in the new Xavy and alK>ut to sail as rnir Xation's representative in the grand marine |>ageant of the opening r)f the Kiel Canal. While at Kiel, he commanded the boat r)f the Xew York which gained one of the races given by the (rcrnian F.niperor's Yacht Club, and received as the prize two silver cups from Kaiser William. After serving on the Xew York the usual term, he was transferred to the Alliance, a training ship for X'aval apprentices, for two cruises across the Atlantic and through the West Indies. Then follnwcri duty at the War C'olUgc and T()rj)e(l() Station at Xewport. R. F.. itfitil he was transferred to the Katahdin at the commencement of the recent war with Spain. In April, i8<>8, while at Hampton Roads, he was attacked hy a sickness which later developed into an exceedingly severe typhoid fever. 1 lis reluctance to he off his post under the war excitement, tuitil absolutely prostrated, adderl gR\itly to the intensity of the disease, and |)ossil)ly the overtaxation of his constitution by the efforts of continued duty, JL^^'ive the disease its fatal direction. However, after his impaired health had lasted nearly a month under great strain, his ship having re,'iehed I'oston. he was taken to the Xaval Hos])ital on May 4. and die(l May ,^0. iX()X. at noon, while a c()nij)any of marines were decorating the graves of (lej)arted heroes in the cemetery in the hospital grounds adjacent.
Me came of a military and patriotic family. His great-grandfather, (icneral Daniel Cockerill. was a Lieutenant from \'irginia in the War of iXij and a Major (icneral in the Ohio Militia. His grandfather, Joseph Randolph C'oekrrill, was Colonel of the 70th (^hio Infantry in the Civil War. and hrevetted l>rigadier (KMieral fc^r bravery on the battlefield. His unel(\ Annstead Cocketill. Lieutenant Colonel of the 24th Ohio Infantrv in the Civil War. r(»so t(^ that rank from private hv sheer merit.
His v'lassinates in the Xaval Academy give unanimous testimonv that he was endow e<l with hi.^h and noble (|ualities of which he made the l>est use. As an officer, he was admired by his juniors and esteemed by his superiors for his sterling worth. At his final examinations he entered the Naval service as the Senior Ensign of his class. Under circumstances of great provocation, his self-control was admirable, and yet his modesty was his most distinguishing characteristic. By his death, his classmates lost a valued member and the Navy lost one of its brightest and most promising officers.
Ensign Campbell was elected a Companion of the first class by inheritance from his grandfather, Brevet Brigadier General J. R. Cockerill, in the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion, on October 7, 1896, the number of his insignia being 1 1 ,572. He was pure, high-minded and honorable. During his brief career in the Navy, he had manifested talent and ability of a very high order. The. nobility of his character, his amiable qualities, his efficiency and devotion to duty, had made for him friends of all the officers with whom he served. The many letters of condolence from them to his father and mother express their estimate of him and their sense of their [>ersonal loss. A few are as follows : Captain Wilde, of the Katahdin, says: *'I have seen many young men enter the Navy, but never a better one than vour son." Lieutenant Potter writes: "I learned to like him sincerely, and recognized his unusual ability and high standard of professional and personal conduct In his taking away, we are all bereaved, and my best wish for myself would be that when I shall go, my character and my record shall be as stainless as his."
A classmate at Annapolis says: **As time progressed, I learned to like him more and more. He was one of the best men I ever knew or ever care to know."
He was taken for burial to his father's and mother's old home at West Union, Ohio, where the people showed the greatest respect for his memory by their attendance on his obsequies. He rests near his grandfather and uncle (Cockerill), who so distinguished themselves for military valor in the War of 1861.
" Sleep on, brave Son, where grandsire sleeps, A nation still thy memory keeps. And all her sons on lond or sea. Shall sacred in her memory be."
His grandfather, Daniel Cockerill, was a Lieutenant of Artillery in the War of 1812, and was engaged at Craney Island. His brother, Annstead Thompson Mason Cockerill. was First Lieutenant, Captain, Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel of the 24th O. V. L His uncle, Daniel T. Cockerill, was Captain of Battalion F, First Ohio Light Artillery, and was promoted to Captain of Battalion D, March 16, 1864. He was mustered out March 16, 1864.
His father, Joseph Randolph Cockerill. was Colonel, 70th O. V. L, October 2. 1861. and resigned April 23, 1864. He was brevetted Brigadier General for gallantry on the field.
John received such education as the common schools afforded but his tastes ran to geography and history. He enlisted in the 24tn O. V. I. as a member of the band at the age of sixteen, on July i8, 1861, and was mustered out Sc^ptember 10, 1862, by order of the War Department, for discharge of Regimental bands. He fought in the battle of Shiloh with a musket. He was Colonel on the Staff of Governor William Allen in 1872. He learned to set type in the office of the Scion, at West Union. He was Journal Clerk in the Legislature from 1868 to 1871, and after that was an editor in Dayton and Hamilton. He accepted a reportorial position under J. B. McCullough on the Cincinnati Enquirer, and latet became its managing editor. He was special correspondent from the scenes of the Russo-Turkish War in 1877. He was editor of the Washington Post, Baltimore Gazette, and St. Louis Post Dispatch. Then he assumed the place of managing editor of the New York World and built that paper up. He next became editor of the New York Morning Advertiser and the Commercial Advertiser, and afterwards accepted the position of special war correspondent for the New York Herald to report the Chinese- Japanese War in 1895, and was engaged in the service of the Herald at the time of his defeith. He was stricken with apoplexy April 10, 1896, at Shepherd's Hotel in Cairo, Egypt, and died in two hours, without regaining consciousness. His body was brought home and buried in St. Louis, Missouri.
He was a man of unusually kind disposition. No appeal by a friend was ever made to him in vain. His goodness of heart and generosity of nature are attested by innumerable acts of kindness, which keep him in loving remembrance by all who knew him in friendly intimacy.
His sterling qualities as a man, as an editor, and as a friend, secured his election as President of the New York Press Club four times successively.
He was a writer of great force and vigor, keen, witty, and an adept in the use of argument or satire. No opening in the mail of an adversary escaped the polished shaft of his wit.
His letters from Japan are among the finest examples of English composition. The character of the people, their civilization, the genius of their institutions and gove*rnment, are so accurately set forth as to be almost a revelation to the people of the Western world. While there he undertook a hazardous mission to Corea, on behalf of the Japanese Government. On his return from which, in recognition of that service, and of the high esteem he had gained among that people, as a faithful historian and journalist, the Emperor conferred on him "The Order of the Sacred Treasure." Only tw^o other men, other than Japanese noblemen, had ever received this mark of distinction. The name of the first one is unknown to the writer. Sir Edw^in Arnold was the second, and John A. Cockerill the third.
He had been a Democrat until the administration of President Harrison, when lie l)ecanie a Republican and continued devoted to that party during his life.
son of Joseph Randolph and Ruth Eylar Cockerill, was bom in Locust Grove, Adams County, Ohio, in 1841. He was educated in the West Union schools. At the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion, he was twenty years old and had just commenced the study of law in his father's office. He, however, took up the cause of the Union with great enthusiasm and began at once to enlist men for Captain Moses J. Patterson's Company D, 24th O. V. I., for three months' service in which he was commissioned First Lieutenant, June 13, 1861. His company and regiment re-etilisted for three years, and on November 16, 1861, he was made Captain. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, December 31, 1862; to Colonel, October 23, 1863. He was mustered out June 24, 1864. The regiment was part of the Army of the Cumberland and took part in the battles of Cheat Mountain, Greenbrier, West Virginia; Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, Woodbury, Tennessee; Tullahoma Campaign, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, Tennessee ; Ringgold, Buzzard Roost, Georgia. He was a soldier of great gallantry, as his promotion would indicate, and as Lieutenant Colonel, he commanded the regiment.
After the war, he lived in Hamilton, Ohio, but his health was impaired by long and arduous service, and he returned to West Union, Ohio, where he died in 1870, and is buried beside his father. He left a son named for himself and who is now residing in Hamilton, Ohio.
is of English ancestry. His grandfather, John Collins, was born in Maryland in 1754. His wife was Sallie Henthom He had three sons and four daughters. In 1800, he brought his family to Washington County, Ohio. His son, Henry, was bom in 1779, and married Frances Ewart, who was bom in County Armagh, Ireland. Our subject was their eldest son, born in Grandview Township in Washington County, April 23, 1812. He married Elizabeth Rinard, March 19, 1835. They reared a family of one son and three daughters, Lycurgus Benton Allen, Cleopatra Minerva, Elizabeth Rebecca and Roxana Samantha. His wife died October 6, 1854, and on March 28, 1858, he married Nancy McKay. She was bom in West Virginia, January 15, 1824. Of Mrs. Collins' children, Cleopatra Minerva married William Wikoff, and resides in McLean County, Illinois ; Elizabeth Rebecca died August 24, 1868, at the age of twenty-seven years ; Roxana Samantha married Joseph Nagel, and resides in Morris County, Kansas. His son lives in Wellington, Kansas, and is a farmer.
Mr. Collins came to Adams County in 1850, and located first in Monroe Township and afterwards in the Irish Bottoms, where he now resides. He was a man of gjeat public spirit, and was always in the front of any movement for the public good. He has been a Justice of the Peace for forty-nine years, his first commission being signed by Governor Vance, March 31, 1838. In that time, he never committed a person to jail, never had an appeal taken from any decision of his, never had a case from his docket taken up on error, never had a bond he took forfeited. He has married over seven hundred couples and always presented the bride with the wedding fee the groom gave him, He has often gone twenty miles to perform a marriage ceremony and has had parties come twenty-five miles to him to I)e married. He has married more than fifty couples at nij^ht at his own home. He had an arrangement with the County Judge of I^wis Countv. Kv., to oJ>tain licenses and has married more than fiuv couples from Kentucky. He has often performed three marriages in one day, and it was a common thing for two couples to come together to get married. Oi the vears he was Justice of the Peace, twelve vears were in Washington County, six in Monroe Township, in Adams County, and the remaining eighteen in Cireen Township, Adams County. He has been a I>emcKrat all his life, never missed a political convention when he could get U> it, never missed an election and never scratched a ticket. He is a nienilier of the Christian Union Church on Beaslev's Fork. He is one of the best farmers in the Irish Uottoms, where he lives in ease and comfort. He is a good friend, a kind neighbor, and a citizen proud of his country. He and his wife are enjoying the days of their old age. For his years, he has the most powerful lungs and a remarkable constitution. He bears up under the infirmities of age, though they were but temporary, and when he is called, he will answer "ready," and go, ready to give an account of the deeds done in the Ixxly. Xo man enjoys the company of his friends iK'ttcr than he, and no one is ever happier to have them visit him. Since the preparation of this sketch his wife died in December, 1899.
William C. Coryell was bom in West Union, February t8. 1859, the son of Judge James I,. Coryell. He attended the West Union schools until he c(>nij>lete(l their course and attended the Ohio University at Athens for one year. 1875 and 1876. He also attended the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, 1876-1878, till he was compelled to leave on account of sickness. He studied surveying with his father from 1878 to 1883, read law willi V. \). Bayless of the West Union bar, and was admitted to practice ( k'tolK-r 5, i88f>. He served as I>?piitv Clerk and Deputy SheriiT and also as Clerk in llie Probate, Auditor's and treasurer's office of Adams Conntv at different times and has more familiarity with the administration of all the county otVices than any person now living in the county. From 187S to i8Sf). he was ])rincipally engaged in the county offices, and in that time (lid a great deal of surveying, and prepared himself for admission to the bar. Me has also served as a councilman for the village and followed his fatlier as a nieniher of the Sc1kk)1 Board.
Mr. Coryell is a modest man, as it 1>ehooves all bachelors to be, hut he is a well read man, both in law and in the current topics of the time. .\s a lawyer, his tastes lead him to prefer the duties of a counsellor, and his counsel is always safe. He enjoys the confidence, esteem and respect of all who know him. and in the management of large and important estates and trusts he has shown himself most efficient and trustworthy. Xo lawyer enjoys a greater measure of the confidence of the people of Adams CNuinty than he. and he has demonstrated that such confidence is well deserved. While he does not ])ossess his father's taste as to historical matters, much to the regret oi the writer, he is a much abler business man than his father was. and bids by the time he is sixty to stand with the peoplv oi Ailanis C\ninty as (n.M>rge D. Cole, of Waverly, did with the |XM>j>le oi Tike County at the time of his death, and for information on that subject, consult the sketch of Mr. Cole in this book.
of West Union, Ohio, was bom December 27, 1842, on the old Connor farm in Sprigg Township. He is of Irish lineage, his father, James Connor, being a son of Peter O'Connor, who emigrated from the South of Ireland to America in 1786, and shortly thereafter came West to the "dark and bloody ground,'' stopping in the vicinity of Kenton's Station near the old town of Washington. Peter O'Connor had been- reared in the Catholic Church, and upon his leaving for America the Parish Priest gave him a certificate of character, of which the following is a copy of the original now in the possession of our subject, J. H. Connor :
** I do hereby certify that Peter O'Connor, the bearer hereof, is a parishioner of mine in the parish of Clone these some years - is a young man descended of honest parents, and has behaved virtnoasly, soberly and regularly, and from everything I could learn his character has been irreproachable. Given under my hand this third day of April, 1786. "David Cullum, P.P."
*' Received from Peter Connor four guineas in full for steerage passage in the Tristam to America. Dublin, May 13, 1786. ** Gborge Crawford.'*
" This is to certify that Peter Connor comes as passenger on board of the Tristam, and this is his final discharge from the ship. Dated this first day of August, 1786. ** Gko. Crawford, Com*r.*"
" We hereby certify that Peter Connor came passenger in the ship Tristam, Capt. Crawford, from Dublin ; he paid his passage and is a free man and at liberty to go about his lawful business. '* Ci*arkb & Mann, Assng.
Peter O'Connor, or Connor as he was now called, arrived in Baltimore in August, 1786, and after getting from the proper authorities a permit to travel across the State, went to New York City and thence to Philadelphia. Afterwards he went on a prospecting trip over the mountains to the frontier of Kentucky, and in 1796 bought of Andrew Ellison, "two hundred acres of land lying between Big Three Mile Creek and the Ohio River, it being a part of a tract of five hundred acres entered in the name of said Andrew Ellison and adjoining a tract now belonging to William Brady on the North." This title bond gives the place of residence of Andrew Ellison as Hamilton County, Territory Northwest of the River Ohio (this was a year previous to the organization of Adams County), and the place of residence of Peter Connor, as Washington, Mason County, Kentucky.
The date of his marriage to Elizabeth Roebuck is not known, but it is presumed to be about the time of the purchase of this tract of land in 1796. It is also supposed that it was previous to his marriage that he paid a visit to his old home in Ireland, as disclosed by the following : the Catholic faith, although his mother was a Pix^testant. James Coonor married Margaret Boyle, a daughter of Thomas Boyle, for many years an elder in the Presb3^erian Church at Manchester. James Connor died May 4, 1896,
Cjur subject, James H. Connor, attended the common schook and the academy at North Liberty under Prof. Chase. He resided on the brm till 1874, when he moved to Manchester and entered the dry goods store of W. L. Vance as a clerk. The following year he was elected on the Democratic ticket Treasurer of Adams County, and re-elected in 1877. In j88i, he became a member of the dry goods establishment of Connor, Boyles and Pollard, in West Union, which firm was changed to Connor and Boyles in 1889. In 1895, on the retirement of Mr. Boyles, the firm name was changed to J. H. Connor. The first six years in business, the firm of Connor, Boyles & Pollard handled annually over $50,000 worth of goods. With close competition, the house now does a business of over $30,000 annually.
In 1891. Mr. Connor was nominated by the Democrats in the Adams- Pike District for Representative in the Ohio Legislature, and although the district is largely Republican, was defeated by only thirty-nine votes. July 21, 1893, Prwident Cleveland commissioned him postmaster of West Union, which position he held to the entire satisfaction of the community for four years and six months.
Mr. Connor is a member of West Union Lodge, F. & A. M., No, 43: of DcKalb Lodge, I. O. O. F., Manchester; Crystal Lodge, K. of P., West Union, and a charter member of Royal Arcanum, Adams Council, No. 830. He is also a member of the M. E. Church, West Union.
He married Jennie Frame, daughter of James and Nancy Frame, July 22, tH68. To this union has been born William Allen, May i, 1871 ; Katie K., Novt'mUT 5. 1875, now married to Harley Dunlap; and Charles E., born June 7, 1877, died August, 1878.
In 18^)4. Inly 27. Mr. Connor enlisted in the i82d O. V. I., and was honorably discharg^od July 7, 1865, under Col. Lewis Butler. And it is a fact worthy of notice that not until every other man of his company had aj)pho(l for and received a pension did our subject do so.
fn all matters ^x^rtaining to the public q^ood. Harvey Connor, as he is familiarly known, is always found in the foremost ranks. He has done well, acounnilated a competency, not from parsimony, but from liberal and honost (loalinj^ with his fellow men.
was horn April (). 1871, two miles south of Peebles. His father^s name is John K. Collins, and his mother's maiden name was Mary Wright. He has a brother, the Rev. H. O. Collins, a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, oi which he is also a member. His only sister is Mrs. Robert lacknian. His trainintr was such as the country school affords until he became a teacher at the ajje of eighteen. Teaching during the Winter and s]HMu lini;- his Summers in study at the National Xormal University, he was grailuatcil fn^u the Scientific Department of that institution in 1892 in a class oi seventy-seven. Thv next year he was elected to the superintendcncy oi the Peebles sclux-^ls, which pi^sition he resigned in 1896 to accept a similar position in the West Union schools. He was four times unanimously elected to this position. At the time of his last re-election, in 1899, he was also elected to the superintendency of the Batavia schools, which place he accepted. This school has nine departments and one of the best High schools in Southern Ohio. Both when at Peebles and at West Union, Mr. Collins conducted a Summer Training School for Teachers, "The Tri-County Normal." As Principal of the schools for seven years, 1893 to 1899, he did much to advance the educational interests in Adams County. The total enrollment of the Tri-County Normal school under his management was over eight hundred, and more than eighty per cent, of the teachers actively engaged in school work in this county at this time ( 1900) received their training in his school. Kentucky sent a nimiber of students to this school as did the several counties of Southern Ohio. Since graduating from the University, his one aim has been successful school work. For some time he has been doing post-graduate work at the Ohio Wesleyan University, and in 1896 and 1897, respectively, he received common and high school certificates from the Ohio State Board.
One of his most intimate friends and classmates in the Public schools speaks of him as follows : "'John Edgar Collins possesses some strong elements of character among which is his indcxnitable will and steadiness of purpose. Every undertaking in which he is interested is carefully planned beforehand. With him, there is no pensive 'It might have been.' Thought precedes action with him. He knows the end at the beginning. His school work is planned with such accuracy that he sees the result as he leads his pupils to it. By nature he is a teacher, and it is in the school that he is most at home. Another extraordinary feature which he possesses is his power to meet exigencies. At the most critical moment, he exercises the most deliberate judgment and meets ojyposition with the earnestness that brings the spoils into his hands. He is a man of resources. What he has become in the educational world is much the result of his own effort. A constant student, he has shown his power for mastery of thought best when studying for examinations or for special work. He acquires knowledge with but little effort and has proved himself a thoughtful, careful student, not only of books, but of men as well. In all his educational efforts, he has had the support of the best and most conscientious men. His powers as an educator and as an organizer have been proved not only by his public school work but by his successful training of hundreds of teachers in Normal school, as well. His aim is high and he will leave a record which will be characterized by earnestness and many brilliant acts."
He was married to Ina E. Treber, daughter of R. W. Treber, West Union, August 15, 1900. She is a graduate in music, elocution, and modem languages, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.
of Seaman, Ohio, is a native of Scott Township, in which he resides, and was bom November 11, 1863, son of William and Mary (McCormick) Cornelius. His grandfather, James Cornelius, was a native of Ireland. Also, his maternal grandfather, Enoch McCormick, was a native of Ireland, and both grandfathers were early settlers in Scott Township. James, our subject, spent his boyhood on his father's farm. He continued to follow thai occupation until 1896, when he located in Seaman, Ohio, in the undertaking business, where he has continued ever since.
On the sixteenth of February, 1890, he was married to Miss Belle Williams, daughter of W. S. and Keziah Williams, of Irvington, Ohio. They have one daughter, aged eight years, Mary Dryden. He is a Democrat in his political faith. In 1895, he was elected County Commissioner on the Democratic ticket, and in 1898, was re-elected, by a majority of nearly eight hundred in a county nominally Republican by one hundred and fifty, on the head of the ticket, and is holding the office at the date of the preparation of this sketch. Mr. Cornelius is one of the prompt and reliable business men of Adams County and is highly esteemed by all who know him.
was born at West Union. October 27, 1853. the son of David and Elizabeth Kirker Coleman. His father, David Coleman, M. D., has a sketch herein. His mother was a daughter of William Kirker, also sketched herein, and his wife, Esther Williamson, daughter of the Rev. Williamson. He is a great-grandson of Governor Thomas Kirker, and has had illustrious examples before him in the careers of his ancestors. He was the eldest of three sons. He received his common school education in West Union and studied medicine with his father. He graduated at the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati in 1881. He at once began the practice of medicine with his father and continued it until his death.
He was married June 25, 1879, to Miss Mary Minnesota McFerran, only daughter of Major John W. McFerran. who lost his Hfe in the Civil War in 1862. There are three children of this marriage, John McFerran. a student at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio: David C, and Mav L.,
Dr. Coleman is fond of Masonry and is a member of West Union Lodge. No. 43. of the Chapter of Manchester, and the Commandery at Portsmouth, Ohio. He has served six years as Master of the Blue Lodge. He has been President of the Adams County Medical Society and is a meml>er of the Ohio State Medical Society. He is a member ot the Presbyterian Church at West Union and a ruling elder therein, and he fills the office to tlie satisfaction of his church and presbytery. In politics, he is a Republican and has always taken an active part in political contests. He is iVesident of the Adams County Bank, located at West Union, and under his management and that of Mr. Dickinson, that institution has been admirably managed. In his profession, no one stands higher and no one has to any greater extent, the confidence of the public. Dr. Coleman is a man of ^wit personal pliysique and of pleasing address. He fulfills the duties of every position he holds with honor to himself and with great satisfaction to his constituents. His distinguished ancestors can look down upon him from their high places and smile approval on his career, and he has no ground to be ashamed to compare his career with theirs. He has well performed his duties in every relation of life and has earned the conimendation of all who know him, and who can do more?
farmer, of Manchester, was bom February 20, 1844. His father was John and his mother Mary (Mowrar) Clineer. His grandfather, Abraham dinger, was born in Pennsylvania. His father, John dinger, was bom in Pennsylvania, Febmary 19, 181 5, and located in Adams County in 1832, coming down the Ohio River on a keel-boat. He landed at Manchester, and settled on a farm in Monroe Township, where he now resides. He married Mary Mowrar, daughter of Christian Mowrar, one of the first settlers of Adams County. Christian Mowrar came from Pennsylvania in 1792 and joined the Massie colony in the Stockade, where he remained till the treaty of Greenville. He and his wife lived to an extreme age. John dinger. Senior, raised a family of three sons and three daughters, and after the death of his first wife in 1854, he married Susan Tucker. John dinger, Jr., the subject of this sketch, received his education in the common schools of the county. He enlisted September 18, 1862, at the age of eighteen, in Company F, of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry and served in that organization until the first of July, 1865 On the first of October. 1868, he married a daughter of Oliver Ashenhurst. Her father was born on the ocean on the passage from Ireland to America. Oliver Ashenhurst married Susan Parker, and located in Manchester, where he engaged in the milling business until his death, March 28, 1898. Mrs. dinger is the only child of his first wife. Oliver Ashenhurst married for his second wife, Amy Phibbs, by whom he reared a family of nine children.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. dinger are : May Etta, wife of Stephen Thompson, of Manchester, Ohio : Leora Belle, in the employ of the Langdon (Grocery Company at Maysville, Ky. William Oliver, who served in the war with Spain and is at present in the Philippines. Frank Arthur is a member of Company L, 22nd U. S. Infantry; Bertha Florence is the wife of Frank Fulton Foster, of Manchester, Ohio; Amy A., is at Middletown, Ohio, and Marguarite Lucretia is at home with her parents.
Mr. dinger is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church at Island Creek. He is a Republican in his political views and as a citizen highly respected by all who know him.
was born December 28, 1861, near West Union, the son of Harper and Jane Willson Crawford. His father. Harper Crawford, enlisted in Company K, 70th O. V. I., January 6, 1862. He died in 1885 at the age of forty-five. His eldest brother, William S. Crawford, enlisted June 13, 1864, ^^ Company D, 24th O. V. I., Adams County's first company in the war, and was transferred to Company D. i8th O. V. I., June 12, 1864. This company was in sixteen battles and Crawford was mortally wounded at the battle of Nashville, December 15, 1864, and died December 29, 1864. He is interred in the Nashville cemetery at Nashville, Tennessee. He had a brother Gabriel who served in the Second Independent Battery of Ohio Light Artillery, enlisting at the age of nineteen.
anon in 1878 and 1880 and taught school in parts of the same year and was engaged in teaching school thereafter until 1890. From 1881 to 1885, he taught school at Waggoner's Ripple, Sandy Springs, Bradyvilfe, and Quinn Chapel. From i^^ to 1888, be taught at Rome; from 1888 to 1809, he was engaged in the grocery business at West Union,and in the Summer of 1890, he taught a Normal school at Moscow, Ohio. In the Fall of 1890, he bought the People's Defender from Joseph W. Eylar, and has conducted that newspaper, a weekly, at West Union, ever since. In 1897, he bought out the Democratic Index, edited by D. W. P. Eylar, and consolidated it w^ith the Defender.
He was married August 13, 1883, ^^ ^ii^ Mattie J. Pennywit, daughter of Mark Penn3rwit and his wife, Sallie Cox. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Politically, he has always been a Democrat. In 1887, he was the candidate of that party for Clerk of the Court, but was defeated by W. R. Mehaffey, by seventy-three votes. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago from the Tenth Ohio District in 1896. His paper has been well and ably conducted since he has controlled it and is one of the best in Southern Ohio.
Mr. Crawford is a self-made man. He has made his business a success. He is known for his strict fidelity to his party. He is public spirited and takes an active part in church and social matters as well as political. He was elected Secretary of the Democratic State Executive Committee of Ohio in September, 1900.
was born in Wayne Township, Adams County, Ohio, June 12, 1842. His father was Adam Crissman and his mother, Nancy Riley. They came from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in 1841. with five children. Mr. Crissman enjoys the distinction of being the sixth of a family of seven brothers, no sisters having been born to his parents. He enjoys the further distinction of having" two of his six brothers ministers in the Presbyterian Church, both of them Doctors of Divinity. He enjoys the further distinction of being the great-grandson of General Thomas Mifflin, born in 1744, first Aide-de-camp to General Washington, member of the Continental Congress, Quartermaster General of the Revolutionary Army, Brigadier and Major General, member of the Convention which framed our Federal Constitution, Governor of Pennsylvania and one of the orators of the Revolution, and the l)est drill master in the Revolutionary Army.
Our subject attended school in the vicinity of his residence and at North Liberty Academy. He varied that, with labor on his father's farm until his majority. On the fourteenth of July, 1863, he enlisted in Company G, 129th O. V. I., and was in the Cumberland Gap and Longstreet campaign in Middle Tennessee that Fall and Winter. He was discharged with that regiment in March, 1864, and re-entered the service August 31, 1864, in Company H, 173d O. V. I. In that he served until the war was over in East Tennessee. He participated in the celebrated campaign against General Hood and was in the final culmination at Nashville.
ducted that for about five years, at which time his partner retired. He conducted the business alone for about two years and then sold out to William Finney in 1872.
On March i, 1867, he was married to Miss Isabella Caskey, who died in 1873. On January, 1875, ^^ located in Manchester in the grain and seed business and has continued it ever since. In 1881, he and Nathaniel Greene Foster bought the Bentonville flour mill and they operated it together until 1891, when he purchased the interest of his partner and ha^ since conducted it alone.
In 1883, ^he firm of Crissman & Foster built the first telephone line constructed in Adams County, connecting West Union and Bentonville at Manchester with the Western Union Telegraph Company's lines, and have continued the same in successful operation until 1891, when Mr. Foster retired from the firm and the line has been continued since by Mr. Crissman.
In politics, Mr. Crissman is a Republican, but has never sought any prominence in his party. In his religious faith, he is a Presbyterian, and is a ruling elder in that church at Manchester. On the sixteenth of July, 1874, he married Miss Anna C. Dunbar, daughter of David Dunbar, of Manchester, Ohio. They have two children, Carl, who has qualified himself for a business career, and Augusta Belle, a young girl in school. Mr. Crissman has the highest character for business integrity and ability and has the confidence of the entire community, of which he is a part, H^ is a member of the Village Council and of the School Board. He has prospered in his business and is regarded as one of th^ best business men in the county. He has the most attractive home in Manchester, and is surrounded with all those outward conditions which make this life agjeeabte was born at Franklin Furnace in Scioto County, Ohio, June 17, 1849. His father, of the same name, was a native of Ireland as was his mother, Rebecca Hamilton. His father and mother were married in Ireland and emigrated to America in 1848. They located in Adams County near Vaughn Chapel, but his father, being an iron founder, moved to Franklin Furnace shortly before his son Charles' birth. Our subject was reared at Franklin, Junior and Ohio Furnaces, as his father was employed at all three. The son went to school until he was ten years of age, when he went to work pounding lime at Empire Furnace. In i860, his father removed to Adams County and lived there two years on the Ellison place, near Stone Chapel. In 1862, the father removed to Junior Furnace and resided there until 1865, when he removed to Marion County, Illinois. From there he went to Brownsport Furnace, Tennessee. The family came back to Ohio and located at Ohio Furnace in 1867. Our subject remained at Ohio Furnace until 1878. In 1877. he was married to Medora A. Foster, daughter of James Foster, of Killenstown, Adams County. In 1878, he located in Portsmouth, Ohio, where he has since resided. When he first went to Portsmouth, he drove a horse-car for five months. He then went into the employment of the Portsmouth Transfer Company for three >Tars, at the end of which time he took an interest in the business. He and Mr. Frank B. Kehoe conducted the business under the name of The Portsmouth Transfer Company, for eleven years. In 1894, he bought
Mr. Kehoe's interest and since has conducted the txisiness alone. He keeps moving vans and transfers all kinds of goods and merchandise. He has twelve teams and his place of business is on Washington Street in die city of Portsmouth, Ohio. He has seven children, five daughters and two sons.
He has always been a Republican. From April, 1S97, to April, 1899, he was Street Gmmissioner of Portsmouth, Ohio, and never has hdd any other office. He is known to and respected by every one in Portsmouth as an honorable man and a good citizen. He has always prospered and it is because he conducts his business on right principles. He is a public spirited citizen, always ready to do his part in any matter for the public good.
was bom May i, 1846, at Manchester, Ohio. His father was Robert A. Cochran and his mother's maiden name was Elvira Bailey, daughter of John Bailey, of Winchester, Ohio. His father was a native of Adams G>unty, Pennsylvania. They were married at Winchester, Ohio. They had twelve children, of whom Robert M. was the sixth. Our subject went to school at Belfast, Highland County, Ohio, his parents having moved there in 1848. His father was a cabinet maker and be followed that trade in Manchester, with L. L. Conner. Our subject lived in Belfast until 1 86 1. In 1859, he began to learn the blacksmith trade with George Sailor, of Highland County. He continued that until June 24, 1861, when he enlisted in Company I, 24th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry-, for a period of three years as a private. He was appointed Corporal, May 9, 1862. He was afterwards appointed Sergeant, September 19, 1863. He was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga in the right ankle and was laid up for six months. This wound produced tendo achilles and anchylosis. He was wouiKled in the shoulder at Stone River by a spent buckshot. lie was in all the engagements and battles during the time of his service. He was discharged June 23, 1864, by reason of expiration of term of service. He enHsted as a Private of Company H, 175th Ohio Regiment, for one year's service, on September 2y, 1864. He was mustered out with the Company, Jime 2"^, 1865. He was with this regiment at tlie battle of Franklin, and after the war he traveled for the Franklin Nursery at Loveland, Ohio, and was engaged in that until 1872. He traveled in \^irginia and in Meigs, Lawrence, Gallia and Vinton Counties, in Ohio.
He was married March, i, 1870, to Miss Madeline Oliver, daughter of John Oliver, of Adams County, and located at Dunbarton, Ohio, where he resided until 1880. In 1872, he began to farm two miles east of Peebles and has carried on a farm there ever since. On the first of October, i8<;7. he was appointed Postmaster at Peebles. Ohio.
He then removed to Peebles and he has resided there ever since. He has one child, a son, Edwin, who married Miss Jessie Budd and resides on the farm near Peebles, where he resided prior to his removal to the village. lie was Census Enumerator in 1890, but has held no other public offices than above mentioned. He has always been a Republican and believes in that faith and is an active member of that party.
of Youngs ville, Ohio, was born November 7, 18 16, near Cannonsburg, Pa., and resided there until March 2rjy 183 1. His father, William Coleman, was bom June 17, 1791, and died July 15, 1864. His mother was Jane Boyce, born August 10, 1787. They were married October i, 181 1. She died September 6, 1858. In March, 183 1, William Coleman moved with his family to Carroll County, Ohio, where be remained until 1846, when he removed to near Yoimgsville, Adams County, where our subject now resides. When the war broke out, Robert Coleman, John's younger brother, who was married and had a family and with whom John resided, wanted to go into the army. John insisted that he should not and that he, John, should go, as he was unmarried, and if he were to fall, it would make but little difference. The result was Robert yielded to John's insistence and John enlisted in Company E, 91st O. V. I., on August 11, 1862, for three years. His age was given at forty-five, though he was nearer forty-six. He served until June 24, 1865, and was mustered out with the regiment. He was in good health and right with the regiment all the time. He required no favors of any kind. He was one of the very few of those who enlisted above the age of forty that was able to endure the hardships of the service for the period of his enlistment.
John Coleman is noted for his sterling integrity of character. With him a security debt is equal with that of any other, as he regards it as sacred as one the consideration of which came directly to him. He is not a member of any church, but is a liberal supporter of the Presbyterian Church at Mt Leigh. He was a Whig in the time of the Whig party and from the formation of the Republican party has been a Republican. From the time he came to Adams County, until the death of his brother, Robert, in 1 88 1, he made his home with him. Since his brother's death he made his home with his brother's children. He and his brother Robert had but one pocketbook. They always lived together and what was John's was Robert's and vice versa. This harmony between the brothers was never disturbed during Robert's life and has continued between John and his brother Robert's children. There never was a word of friction between the brothers, or between the uncle and his brother's children.
John Coleman, all his life, has been a lover of and a breeder of fine horses. Whether it was profitable to him or not, he must always have fine horses. He now has several in his stables and he would keep them if they were a positive loss to him, because he is a lover of animals ; and as to horses, the finer bred, the more he likes them.
was born April 7. 1827, in what is now Oliver Tow^nship, then a part of Wayne Township, on the farm now owned by the Rev. Thomas Mercer. His great-grandfather was born in Wales and emigrated to Ireland. His grandfather Clark was married in Ireland to Sarah Lama, and emigrated to Virginia about 1785 with his wife and two children, John and Mary. There were afterwards born to them in this country, Fanny, Sarah, James,
Samuel father of the subject of our sketch. Jane, Andrew, and Edward. They located in Adams County in 1806, on the Steck farm in Tiffin Township. All of these children lived to maturity. Andrew, the youngest, died at the age of fifty-one.
Samuel Clark, father of our subject, was bom in Rockbridge Caunt>% Virginian 1792. He learned the trade of tanning with his brother Jhoni who Ikad a tanyard at Cherry Fork, one mile south of Harshaville, He m;irried Nancy Brown, I>ecember 20. 182 1, and settled six miles north of West Union, on the West Union and Unity road, where he continued the busmeiiS of tanning and farming until his death, March 22, 18G9. He and his wife were devoted members of the Associate Reform Church at Cherry Fork, and he ami Archa Leach were instrumental in organizing the United Presbyterian Church at Unity, of which he was a ruling elder from the time of organization until his death. His oldest son, James, remained at the old homestead, and continued the business of tanning in connection with farming. He married Margaret Holmes, who has been dead about ten years. He is now in his seventy-eighth \resLT. Sarah, the second child, died in infancy. Samuel Paul, the third child, and our subject, is now in his seventy-fourth year.
He married Sarah Clark in 185 1. To them was bom one son, Marion M. His wife died in 1854, and he married Margaret Gibbony. To them were lx)m four children. His son Marion married Mar>' Crawford, and resides on Wheat Ridge; Ora A., his second schild, is now the wife of Ricliard Fristoe, a prosperous farmer and stock dealer of Meigs Township. Tliey reside in the old Fristoe homestead at the bridge crossing Ikusli Creek. Mary Nancy was born July 15, i860, and died December 16. 1895, unmarried. Carey V. was bom September 7, 1865, and married Nora E. Hilling, and resides in the old homestead in Oliver Township.
The following are hrotlicrs and sisters of our subject: Mary, the fourth child, horn April iC, 1830, was married to Cyrus Black, who died in 18(^)4. She was again married to Rankin Leach and resides at Cherry Fork. Margaret, the fifth child, was born May 3, 1833. ^"^ ^'^d in 1891, unmarried. John was horn Xovember 18, 1835, *^"d married Nancy Coleman. His (laughter, Martha L., was born September 4, 1838, and was married to (»eorge A. McSiircly in 1869. They reside at Oxford. Ohio. Nancy A., twin sister of the (laughter last mentioned, was married to J. W. McClung in iSsc;. He is an attorney at West Union, where they now reside. Andrew R. was l)orn Octol)er 21, 1841. He married Celia Arhuthnot. daughter of the Rev. James Arbuthnot. He removed to Nebraska, where his wife died, and he married a Miss Foster. They reside at Pawnee City, Nebraska. He was a soldier in the War of the Rebellion.
.Mr. Clark and his family are all members of the Presbyterian Church. He is a ruling elder in the Wheat Ridge Chapel. He has always been a Democrat in his political views. He was a Commissioner of Adams Comity from 1875 to 1878. He l>egan life in very narrow circumstances, but by industry cou]>led with a firm determination to succeed, he has obtained a positi(Mi in which he can S]>end the remainder of his davs comfortably. I le is loved, respected, and honored by all who know him.
of Vineyard Hill, is a prominent farmer and stock raiser of Monroe Township. He was bom September 3, 1844, near West Union, and is a son of Henry Charles, who married Susannah Cline. Joseph Charles, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of the Republic of Switzerland, and emigrated to America about the beginning of the Revolution, in which he was a soldier. He settled in Lancaster County, Pa., where his son Henry was bom August 16, 1803, and who after his marriage to Susannah Clinc came to Adams County in 1830, first settling on Eagle Creek. Of his children, Elizabeth married David Potts ; Jefferson lives in Scioto County ; Catherine married Wayne Mahaffey ; Fanniemarried John Symmonds ; Eliza married G. Edgington ; Joseph, a soldier of the 70th O. V. I., lives in Hillsboro; Mary married Leroy Smith; Susannah married Meredith Osman; Martha married Eli Pulliam; Benjamin, and Samuel, the subject of this sketch. He was a member of Company D, 191st O. V. L, and was mustered into service at Portsmouth, Ohio; served in the Shenandoah Valley, and was discharged August 27, 1865, at Winchester. Va. He has been a member of church since he was seventeen years of age. and at different times has been class leader. Superintendent of Sunday School and Trustee of the church. Holds his membership in the M. E. Church at Manchester. He married Margaret De Atley, daughter of James H. and Sarah Mousar De Atley, November 11. 1869. Mr. Charles has a family of twelve children. He owns 228 acres of land on Donalson Creek and is one of the prominent citizens of the community in which he resides. He is an old-fashioned Democrat of the
Isaac Cox. the paternal grandfather of our subject, was a native of the State of Maryland and came from that State to Adams County in 1801, settling on the farm now occupied by the subject of this sketch. He married a lady by the name of Austin, by whom he had two sons, William and Thomas, the latter father of our subject. Thomas married first a Miss McKnight who bore him two sons, one dying in youth, and the other, Mr. John Cox, who now resides at Washington C. H. He, after the death of his first wife, married Miss Deborah Odell, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Odell, a pioneer Methodist minister of Adams County. Thomas Cox was a soldier of the War of 181 2, and served at Sandusky. His second wife, Deborah Odell, bore him nine children, all boys: Isaac N., who died in Missouri ; Lewis E., once Clerk of the Court of Adams County; Frank and Greenleaf, now in Nebraska; George W., of Manchester; Jasper, deceased; Robert M., of Kansas; and our subject, Martin L., who was born in Liberty Township, Adams County, April 25, 1841. He now resides on the old farm and occupies the old stone house built by Henry Young in 1829. It is remarkable that there has never been a death in this house. At the time it was built. Judge Needham Perry resided on the creek just above the Cox residence and the Meharry family, mentioned elsewhere, just below Abraham Washburn joined on the south and William Mahaffey northeast on the Jacob Bissinger farm. At that time there were sixteen stillhouses within a radius of two miles, one at every good spring. Then the old log church was standing at Briar Ridge where the present M. E. and C. L^. Churches stand.
entered the 91st Ohio \'olunteer In£antr\'. July 28, 1862, at the age of thirty-eight, for a period of three years. . He was killed May 9, 1864, at the l>attle of Cloyds Mountain. His body was brought home and is in* terred in the village cemetery- at West Union. He engaged in the battle with good health, and with zeal and energy. He had worked hard to make himself an efficient officer. He was beloved by his men and respected by his fellow officers, and they regarded him as one of the ablest among them. He livcil long enough after struck to learn the result of the battle, and almost with his last breath, he thanked God that victory was soon to be ours.
ot Maysville, Ky., was born at West Union. Adams County, Ohio. March '5' J^39- His father, James M. Cole, has a separate sketch herein. His ^i^randfather Ephraim Cole, married Sophia Mitchell, the daughter of a largfe slave owner in Maryland. His father-in-law offered his son-in-law a gift of slaves which was declined. His grandfather, James Collings, r«arried Miss Christiana Davis, who was an aunt of Hon. Henry Winter Davis, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Both of his grandfathers, Cole and Collings. were soldiers in the Revohitionary War. Ephriam Cole located m Mason County, Kentucky', in 1794. and resided there till 1806, when he removed to Adams County, near West Union. James Collings moved to Adams County from Cecil County, Md., in 1794. Our subject is the youngest son and child of his parents. His twin brother. Allaniah B. Cole, resides in Chillicothe, Ohio. His parents had fifteen children, eight boys and seven girls. The sons made honorable careers in their professions and in business, and the daughters were all women of strong character, and married men who were successful in life. Our subject resided on his father's farm and attended the common schools until he was seventeen years of age. He then was sent lo the Hij^h sch(X)l at Manchester and afterwards attended the Normal school at Lebanon, Ohio. He followed the profession of teaching for several years, and then be^an reading law with the Hon. R. H. Stanton, of Maysville, Ky., and afterwards read with his brother, the late George I). Cole, of Waverly, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar at Waverly, Ohio, at the District Court in April, 1864. The court was then composed of Judge Wilde, of the Su])reme Court and Judges John Welch and Phila- (lelph \'an Trump, of the Common Pleas. After his admission, Mr. Cole located at \'ancehurg. Ky., to practice law, but remained there only till May. iS^\S. when he removed to Flemingsburg. Ky. He was elected County Attorney of Fleming County, August, i8<66, and re-elected to the same office in 1870.
In 1874. he was elected Commonwealth Attorney for the Sixteenth Ju<licial District. In 1880. he was elected Circuit Judge of the same district, (lefeatinc: the Hon. Cieorge M. Thomas, of Vanceburg. after one of the most rxcitini^ contests ever made in the district.
In Auiiust. t88(S. he was re-elected without opposition. .After his retirement from tlie bench in Xoveniher. 1886. he changed his residence fnMu Meniinj^slniri^ to Maysville. In i8t)2, after his retirement from the
Mr. Cole is a Democrat, as were his father and grandfather. It is a family trait that they should be attached to the Democratic party, and they have been firm in that political faith ever since the party was organized. Mr. Cole is a member of the Methodist Church as were his forefathers and foremothers ever since the existence of Methodism.
Mr. Cole was married May 26, 1864, to Miss Abbie T. Throop. She was a daughter of Dr. Throop and a niece of Hon. R. H. Stanton. His. wife died April 18, 1894, and on the twentieth of November, 1898, he was married to Miss L. B. Newman, of Hardin County, Ky., one of Kentucky's most beautiful and accomplished women. Mr. Cole had six children, three of whom died in infancy and three of whom are now living. His oldest son, Allaniah D. Cole, graduated at the Kentucky Wesleyan College in 1883, at the age of seventeen. He then entered the Harvard University, in the Academic Department, and graduated at the age of nineteen. He read law with the Hon. William H. Wadsworth at Maysville, Ky. His seconl son, William T. Cole, resides in Greenupsburg, and is a practicing lawyer. He graduated from the Kentucky Wesleyan College in 1888 and then entered the Vanderbilt University Law School and graduated in two years. Mr. Cole's youngest son, Henry W., is now a student of the J-Iigh school at Maysville, Ky. His two oldest sons, Allaniah and William, are making their mark and stand high in their profession. As a lawyer, Mr. Cole stands high in his profession. As a judge, he made an excellent record. As' a citizen, he is most highly esteemed.
was born in Whitehall, Washington County, New York, October 15, 1851, and was reared there. His father was Hiram Dickinson and his mother, Huldah Merrill. He attended school at the Vermont Episcopal Institute at Burlington, Vermont, from October, 1868, to August, 1870. He then went into the Merchants' National Bank of Whitehall, New York, and served as teller for nine years. In 1882 to 1883, he was a bookkeeper in Ithaca, New York.
From 1883 to 1885, he was traveling in the West. On October 16, 1889, he was married to Miss Anna M. Juliand. Her ancestors came from Guilford, Connecticut, and her seventh great- grandfather was one of the lounders of Yale College. They have two daughters, Margaret Huldah, aged tight years, and Dorothy, aged six years.
On June i, 1890, he located in West Union and opened a private bank, and has lived there ever since. He first located in the G. B. Grimes & Company building, but afterwards removed to the Leach building, where he now is. Coming directly, as he did, after the failure of G. B. Grimes & Company, it took a long time to establish confidence, but that has come. On September i, 1898, Dr. William K. Coleman took an interest in the business under the name of Coleman & Dickinson. It now has all the patronage it could expect and carries a line of $50,000 deposits, but pays no interest on them.
is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Chtirdu and is greatly devcted to fti interests. He is a careful business man. Coming U> Adams G>unt>% a total stranger, his life and course of business has secured the cf^nfi^lence of the entire community.
wa.H liTirn March 15, 1848, on Buck Run in Adams Count}-. His father was l>avici Franklin Doak, bom in Bracken County, Kentucky. His grandfather, F>avir] I>>ak, was bom in Loudon County, Virginia, and emigrater] to Ohio, fie was a soldier in the War of 1812, from Virginia, in a trrx/p <}i horse, in which he furnished his own horse. His grandfather and father locate^^l at Mt. Leigh in 183 1. They were all Presbyterians. His grandfather owned slaves in Kentucky and set them free because he was an anti-slavery man. He was a Whig during the existence of that party. He was a nephew of Dr. Samuel Doak, the founder of Marysville College, in Tennessee, and a cousin of the wife of Rev. John Kankin, the famous Abolitionist.
Our subject has lived in Adams County all his life. He has been County Surveyor for six years, has resided in Winchester for sixteen years, and has followed the occupation of surveyor for twent>--seven years. He attended North Liberty Academy in 1869 and 1870 and the Normal school at Lebanon in 1871 and 1872. He has always been a Republican as his father and grandfather were. He is a ruling elder in the r^resbytcrian Church of Winchester. He has carried on a drug business there for the past sixteen years. He followed the occupation of school teacher from 1869 to 1883. He was in charge of the Russellville schools in 1876, Principal of the North Liberty Academy in 1880 and Superintendent of the Winchester schools in 1881.
C)n May 25, 1S75, he was married to Eunice Fox, of Vincennes. Indiana. Tiiey have a (laughter Ruby. She took a two years' course at the Collefjfe of Music in Cincinnati and afterward attended Glendale school for two years and j^raduated there in 1899.
Mr. Doak was elected County Surveyor of Adams County in 1893. when he had forty-two majority, and in 1896, when he had forty-seven majority.
Mr. Doak is a man of high character, and has the respect and confidence of all wiio know Iiim. He is just and upright in every relation of life and is admired for his qualities as a Christian gentleman.
The writer of this sketch having been personally acquainted with this subject for forty years, takes great pleasure in this labor. The histor\' of Adams County and of Manchester could not be written without mention (>f David Dnnl>ar. From 1820, until the present time, he has been identified with the county and has been an important factor in all of its affairs since his majority, and in all that time he has been the same honest, honorable citiziMi and consistent Christian that we find him to-day. His name discloses the country of his ancestors, and he has the good qualities of his Scotcli forhearer with all their faults and weaknesses left out.
Diogenes could have thrown away his latem in looking about for an honest man, if David Dunbar had been around. Over six feet tall, with a patriarchial beard and a commanding appearance, his person would have attracted attention evervwhere.
He was bom in West Union in the house just west of the old stone church where Vene Edgington now lives, on the fourth of February, 1829. when the village was but sixteen years old. The howling of the wolves in the vicinity of the new town of log houses was among his lullabies.
His father was Hamilton Dunbar, a sketch of whom is given elsewhere, and his mother, Delilah Sparks, daughter of Salathiel Sparks, one of the pioneers of Adams County. His father was born in Winchester, Virginia, in 1782, and his mother in Pennsylvania in 1792. They were married in West Union in 1808. He was one of the nine children bom between 1809 and 1827. His mother died August 14, 1828, and he was left to the care of his older sisters. He had such schooling as the period afforded and on January 28, 1825, at the age of fifteen, was left a double orphan by the death of his father of the dread pestilence, the Asiatic cholera.
In A. D. 1832, the sentiment in Adams County as to the necessity of a boy learning a trade was about the same as it was in A. D. 32, at Tarsus, when St. Paul as a boy, set out to learn tent making. Accordingly, David Dunbar, the boy of twelve, was sent to Pine Grove Furnace to learn to mould tea-kettles and hollow ware. He commenced work with Solomon Isaminger at a stipulated sum. He only remained with Isaminger but .^ix months, but he followed the business of moulding at Pine Grove, Aetna, Union, Vesuvius, Bloom and Franklin Furnaces for four years, but he did not like the business nor the associations and he determined to leave and learn another business. As everyone rode horseback in those days, and as horses were then equivalent to a legal tender, he concluded to learn the saddlery business and begun at Aberdeen, Ohio, in February, 1837. He worked at this business at various places and under different places until he became of age in 1841 when he located at Clayton, Ohio, and set up in the saddlery business for himself. Here he held his first office, that of Constable, but achieved no particular distinction in it. At this place, he connencted himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church in February, 1842. When he removed to Manchester in 1844, he connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church until 1869. In that year he transferred his membership to the Methodist Protestant Church on account of its form of church government, dispensing with Bishops and giving representations in the annual conferences. He has retained his membership in the Methodist Protestant Church ever since, that body having been organized in Manchester, January 23, 1869.
In September, 1844, Mr. Dunbar entered into partnership with his brother, John, in the saddlery business at West Union, Ohio, but not liking it, on December 5, 1844, he dissolved partnership with his brother, and went to Manchester and formed a partnership with John W. Coppell, under the name of Coppell & Dunbar, in the saddlery business, which was continued until February. 1846, when the firm dissolved and our subject retired. At the same time, he formed a partnership with
Major V'inson Cropper, under the name of Cropper & Dunbar, and the two built and conducted the first wharfboat ever located in Manchester. This formed a new departure in business at Manchester and made it quite a shipping point. The firm received goods for West Union, Jacksonville, Locust Grove, and as far north as Sinking Springs in Higfa^d County. During the time this firm conducted the wharfboat, John Buchannan had the contract to furnish oats for the U. S. Armv in Mexico and thev did not have room to store away on the wharfboat, the many thousands of sacks of oats which he delivered to them from West Union. Smith and Davis owned and ran a packet line at that time between Portsmouth and Cincinnati. Their lx)ats were the Ashland and Belle Aire, one up. one down each day. In low water, the same company ran the Mingo Chief and the Planet. The same firm built the Scioto and the Scioto Xo. 2. There was a daily packet line from Cincinnati to Portsmouth at that time, and their boats were the Alleghany, New England, Buckeye State, Cincinnati, Brilliant, Messenger, and De Witt Clinton. All of these landed regularly at Cropper & Dunbar's wharf and transacted a great deal of business. In 1849, ^^r. Dunbar disposed of his interest in the wharfboat and returned to the saddlery business, which he continued until 1852, when he went into the grocery trade, which he has remained in until the present time.
It will be observed that Mr. Dunbar had a penchant for forming partnerships, but on September 12, 1848, he formed the most important partnership of his life and one that has continued to the present time. On that day he was married to Miss Nancy J. Dougherty. For over fifty years, he and his wife have trod the pathway of life side by side, hand in hand. They have shared many blessings together and have had their portion of sorrows, among which was the loss of a bright son, at the age of seven years, in 1877.
Mr. Dunbar was an ardent and enthusiastic Whig during the existence of that party. When that party dissolved after the Presidential election of 1852. he cast his political fortunes with the Democratic part and from it lie received the appointment of Postmaster at Manchester in 1855, which he continued to hold until 1866.
In i860, Mr. Dunbar became a Republican, and in 1861 there was an election held by the patrons of the Manchester postoffice to determine who should be recommended for the appointment. Mr. Dunbar received the endorsement of a larg^e majority of both Democrats and Republicans and he was reappointed by the Republican administration. In 1866, he refused to Johnsonize and was removed, and Wm. L. Vance appointed in his place.
vSince 18^)0. Mr. Dunbar has remained firm in his attachment to the Kepiihlicaii party and has enjoyed the fullest confidence of its leaders in this v^tati'.
He has a son. John K. Dunbar, one of the foremost men of Mancluster, and three daughters. Anna, the wife of Marion Crissman, who carries on one of the most extensive businesses in the county, and Misses Minnie and Emma, residinpf at home.
Just in all his dealings, he has acquired a competence to cpmfort him and sustain him in independence in his old age. A successful business man, an honest and just citizen, a consistent Christian, he has made out of this life all there is in it. Surrounded by his children and gradchildren, respected and venerated by all, h« is a living epistle, read and known of all men, showing that the practice of the cardinal virtues is the reward of the righteous, a good old age, and when "Finis" is written at the- close of his record by the Recording Angel, it will be one he will not be ashamed to meet on the Judgment Day and it will be one of which his children and grandchildren may be proud.
Provenance
Text from History of Adams County, Ohio, published 1900, in the public domain in the United States and digitised by the Internet Archive.