Knox County, Ohio - Biographical sketches, 1881 (part 5 of 20)

In 1812 he made his first visit to Knox county, Ohio. Finding the country new and very heavily timbered, and feeling that it would not amount to much in his day, he returned home without having entered land, which was the principal object of his visit. After being at home a while, and not feeling satisfied with the result of his first trip to Knox county, he again made it a visit in 1816, after the close of the war, and found the country looking more home-like, with an occasional person with whom he was acquainted. He liked the appearance of things much better than on his first visit, but returned home without accomplishing anything in the way of land purchase.

At Wheeling, Virginia, he had a stock of goods, having shipped them to that point with the intention of taking them to Knox county and trading them for land. On returning to Wheeling, he reshipped his goods for home. On his way back he traded them for land in Pennsylvania, which in a few years became quite valuable, in consequence of having large quantities of coal and iron ore in it. The discovery, however, was not made until after he had sold the land at a very small advance.

His attachment to Knox county was very strong, and notwithstanding the fact that he had twice turned his back upon it, he again, with his family, in 1823, wended ,his way over the mountains to its attracting borders, and settled down in a log cabin on a farm in Berlin township, now owned by Burr Roberts, and generally known as ''Maple Grove." His attachments were now so firmly fixed to Knox county, that he would gladly have become the owner of some of it; but fortune had so turned with him that he had not the wherewith to do it, and after a sojourn of five years in the land of his choice, he again left it and moved back to his old home in Maryland.

During his stay of about five years in that country he fell heir to several thousand dollars, through the death of a relative, and in 1833 he and his family again headed for Knox county. This was the fourth and last move over the Alleghanies. He now bought two hundred acres of the Ellicott land, lying near Fredericktown, which had just come into market, giving an average of about eighteen dollars per acre, for land no better than he could have had at Government price on his first and second visits. He was now settled for life, and after living many years in the enjoyment of good health, he departed this life at the mature age of eighty-six years.

During his last sojourn in Maryland his oldest son, Charles, learned the house-joiner trade, and worked many years at that business in Knox county. He was never married, but lived a quiet, Christian life, and died in the city of Delaware, Ohio, at the age of sixty-three years.

His second son, William B., while living in Maryland learned the shoemaking trade, and for about six years after coming to Fredericktown worked as a journeyman, after which for several years he carried on the boot and shoe manufacturing business. On the tenth day of October, 1844, he married Sarah Ann, oldest daughter of James and Elizabeth Rigby, of Fredericktown, Ohio, having a family of three children, viz: Sarah Elizabeth, Otho Rigby, and William Lee. About the year 1856, he quit the manufacturing business, and commenced the sale of ready-made work, and has for many years been successfully keeping a shoe store in Fredericktown, Ohio.

While a youth he displayed quite a taste for mechanism, and was noted for skill in manufacturing miniature mills, etc. His first pair of scales was made by himself. The first musical instrument that he owned was a violin manufactured by himself. His first speculation was in an old watch, which he purchased at a cost of three shillings and sold for six dollars, after having repaired it by putting in four new wheels, and making it act something like a time-keeper.

In addition to close attention to business he was fond of books, and during the time that he worked on the shoe-bench he bought and read quite a number of useful books; and has at this time a well selected family library. He had more than ordinary liking for debate and lyceum exercises, and will be remembered by many of his lyceum friends whom he so often met in debate.

While he was not an enthusiastic politician, he was not destitute of an interest in home political matters, and was several times elected to township and municipal offices. Has been a member of the board of education between thirty and forty years consecutively; was elected to the Ohio legislature in 1857, and served two terms; was reelected in 1859, and served two terms, his tourth term ending in 1861, at the commencement of the War of the Rebellion.

His military career during the progress of the Rebellion was very brief and soon told. On March 4, 1863, when Kirby Smith attempted to raid Cincinnati, he, with many others from Knox county, responded to the call issued by Governor Tod for aid to defend our southern border against rebel incursion; and after aiding to guard the Ohio river at Anderson's ferry, below Cincinnati, for several days, received a lieutenant's discharge from service, by C. W. Hill, adjutant general of Ohio.

Sarah Elizabeth, oldest child of W. B. and Sarah Ann Cox, died while an infant. Otho Rigby, their oldest son, is thirty years of age, lives in Galion, Ohio, having a wholesale and retail hardware store; married Hallie J. Boland, of Martinsburgh, Ohio, November 19, 1874; has one child, William Ralph, who is now in his sixth year. William Lee is not married, lives in Mansfield, Ohio, and is a partner in a shoe store with W. R. Rigby, his uncle.

James Rigby, deceased, was born in the State of Virginia on the third of May, 1788, and came with his parents at an early day to this country and settled near Lancaster, in Fairfield county.

At the age of twenty-eight he came to Newark, Licking county, and engaged in mercantile business in company with P. M. Weddell, with whom he continued as partner Sixteen years.:

In October, 1820, he married Elizabeth Smith, near Newark, and reared a family of six children, four boys and two girls. In 1821 he left Newark and came to Fredericktown. Aftera short stay in Fredericktown he moved to Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, and after remaining there about two years went back to Newark, having continued in the dry goods business at each stopping place. In the fall of 1832 he again came to Fredericktown, where he remained in the mercantile business between thirty and forty years.

In the early part of his business history in Knox county he had a large trade with the Indians, and was the leading merchant of the town for many years. Mr. Rigby was a great reader, and having an unusually retentive memory, he rendered himself very interesting in conversation. His political creed was Republican, and the antecedents of that party were his political antecedents; while he was an earnest partizan politician, he never sought, and seldom held office, which may be accounted for more on the ground of his business engagements than to a repugnance to office.

Mr. Rigby, after living a great many years in Knox county, died in the year 1867, at the age of seventy-nine years. William Henry, oldest son of James Rigby, lives in Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, and is the senior partner of the boot and shoe firm of Rigby & Cox.

Otho Weddell, second son of Mr. Rigby, clerked for many years for P. M. Weddell, of Cleveland, Ohio, (his father's former partner), in the dry goods business in the city of Cleveland. In 1865 he went to Iowa and bought land, intending to follow stock raising, but died in a few years. Sarah Ann, oldest daughter of Mr. Rigby, married W. B. Cox, of Fredericktown, Ohio; his second daughter, Laura Jane, married William Wensell, who now lives in Galion, Ohio. Lucian, third son of Mr. Rigby, is now living in Fredericktown, and is carrying on the saddle and harness business. Philanthropist, his fourth son, lives in Galion, Ohio, and is a machinist by trade.

COX, HARVEY, is a son of William Cox, and is a native of Green county, Pennsylvania, where he resided until coming to Knox county in 1836. He commenced life for himself working on a farm for his uncle, where he stayed two years, when he worked for Stephen Ulery, another farmer, for fifty dollars for the first year, one hundred dollars for the next, two hundred dollars for the next, and the fourth year he got two dollars per day, and was then taken into partnership in the stock business, and continued in the bnsiness six years, when the partnership was dissolved and he went into partnership with John Bellin the same business, with whom he did business about three years, since which he has been farming and dealing in stock.

Mr. Cox, by his diligence and economy, has been successful, notwithstanding his small beginning. He now owns a farm of about two hundred acres, within one mile of Mt. Vernon, on the Fredericktown road. He came to Mt. Vernon to live in 1862, where he has since remained.

He was married to Emeline, daughter of David Bricker, by whom he had four children. Losing his wife, he was married, the second time, to Catharine, the daughter of Eliphglet Towbridge, by whom he has had eight children, three of whom are living.

in 1874 to Mary A. Alters, who was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1851. They have two children: Harvey Earl, born in 1875; and William Adam, born in 1877. Mr. Cox is engaged in farming in this township.

COX, DAVID JAMES, farmer, Pike township, post office 'Democracy; was born in Richland county, in 1854, and was married August 2, r875, to Elizabeth Shultz, who was born in this county.

When Mr. Cox was one year old his parents moved to Fayette county, Illinois, where they remained six years, then returned to Knox county, Brown township. In 1879 David Cox located in Amity. He owns a pleasant home, and is a good citizen.

CRAFT, ALBERT L., millwright, Middlebury township, post office Fredericktown; born in Morris township, February 1, 1844, and was married December 30, 1875, to Susannah Zolman, who was born in Morris township, December 14, 1845. They have two children - Levi, born October 12, 1876; and Carrie. born June 14, 1878.

CRAFT, HEADLY, miller, Middlebury township, post office Fredericktown; was born in Morris township in 1841, and was married in 1868 to Ellen Baxter, who was born in Middlebury township, in 1846. They have two sons - Gaylord, born July 22, 1872; and William, April 11, 1877.

CRAIG, JONATHAN, Monroe township, deceased, a native of New Hamphsire. was born in 1780, and learned the shoemaker's trade when a young man, which business he followed as his principal vocation for many years. For a number of years prior to his death he turned his attention to farming to some extent, and still worked some at his trade.

In r805 he migrated to Knox county and located in Clinton township, near the Stilly farm. While living in Clinton township he supplied the settlers with boots aud shoes for several miles around.

He was the first coroner in Knox county, elected in 1808. In 1812 he married Miss Polly Kyser, daughter of John and Mary Kyser, born in Virginia in 1793. Miss Kyser came to this county in 1810 with her mother and brother, John Kyser, her father having previously deceased. °

Mr. and Mrs. Craig settled in Clinton township, remained some years; then, in 1816, they purchased and moved on the farm in Monroe'township, now known,as the Craig homestead.

"There had been a small cabin built upon the land on which they moved and lived several years, when he erected a frame dwelling, which served them as an abode until he deceased May 5, 1850, at the age of seventy years.

His companion survives him at the age of eighty-seven years, and is living on the home farm, where she has resided since 1816. She is a pensioner of the War of 1812, her husband having been a soldier in that war. They reared a family of eight children, viz.: Priscilla, Ann, Sarah, John, Nancy, Clark N., James S., and Stephen. Three of the number have

Stephen served about nine months in the Sixty-fifth, Ohiovolunteer infantry, and was discharged on account of disability. He then reenlisted and served about four months in the One Hundred and Forty-second, Ohio volunteer infantry.

CRAIG & BLACK, proprietors carriage shops, Gambier. These shops are located on South Acland street, Gambier. They were established by F. Penhorwood about 1850, who conducted them successfully fora number of years. William T. Hart became a partner in the firm, and remained as such until 1873.

In 1874 Mr. Craig became a partner with Mr. Penhorwood and remained as such until the death of Mr. Penhorwood July 2, 1880. After the death of the original proprietor, Mr. Craig associated with him Mr. G. A. Black, and the firm name is now Craig & Black. They manufacture all kinds of carriages, spring wagons, road and farm wagons, and everything in that line of business. All work is finished under roof, wood work, ironing, trimming, and painting. They also give special to horseshoeing. They are good workmen, and worthy of patronage. All work leaving their shops is warranted to be such as represented.

Mr. Black also carries on the harness business in their trimming rooms. He manufactures all kinds of harness, both light and heavy, and saddlery in all its branches.

CRANE, JOSEPH, farmer, post office, Shaler's Mills, was born in New Jersey in 1823; came to Ohio in 1840, and 'located with his parents in Mt. Vernon. In 1850 he married Ruth E. Gibson, who was born in Berlin township, Knox county, in 1823. They had three children, Samuel, born in 1854; Henry, 1861, and Mary, 1856. Mrs. Ruth Crane died in-1867. Mr. Crane has resided in this county since 1840. He owns the old homestead where his wife was born. He is engaged in farming.

His father, William P. Crane, was born in New Jersey in 1795, and emigrated to Ohio in 1840. He was first married in New Jersey to Mary Haines who was born in 1792. They had five children, Susan, (deceased), Joseph, Henry, Lizzie, and Charles, who is a resident of Iowa.

Lizzie was married to Edward Prouty, and had one daughter, Emma. Mr. Prouty died in Iowa. The mother, Mrs. Mary Crane, died in Knox county, in 1850. Mr. Crane then married Lucinda Walker, and now lives in Richland county.

CRAVEN, HIGHLEN, farmer, Middlebury township, post office, Fredericktown, born in Virginia June 5, 1805, and was married -in 1828 to Eliza Wynn, who was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1809. They emigrated to Knox county in 1837, and have the following family: Susan Margaret, born November 12, 1829; Harriet Ann, July 5, 1831; John Henry, December 2, 1833; Mary Ellen, May 26, 1836; Mahlon Taylor, May 22, 1840; James W., September ro, 1842; Francina Caroline, March 22, 1845; Thomas Quigley, February 28, 1848; Ulysses Edgar, October 10, 1850; Cynthia E., March 18, 1853, and Walter H., September 15, 1855. The following have deceased: Mary Ellen, February 1, 1847; Harriet Ann, February 1875; Ulysses E., May 11, 1877, in Colorado, with small-pox. Mahlon K., was in the late war, having been a member of company B, Fourth Ohio yolunteer infantry, and was killed at Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, May 18, 1864.

James was also in the war in the same company with his brother. John Henry was in the Ninety-sixth Ohio volunteer infantry, and a member of company B. John H. was married to Francis Lynd, and now resides in McPherson county, Kansas. Thomas Q. was married to May Shaler, and resides in the same place. James W. resides in Clear Creek county, Colorado. Francina was married to Evander Stevens and now lives in De Kalb county, Missouri. Harriet Ann married Isaac Lyon, but has deceased.

Mr. Craven settled in Middlebury township, bought land, mostly in the woods; he cleared and improved it, and now has one of the most beautiful farms in the county.

'CRAVEN, LEANDER, Wayne township; farmer; post office, Fredericktown; born in Virginia in 1818, came to Ohio at the age of fifteen years, and married in 1842, Leonora Ewers, who was born in Virginia in 1824. They have three daughters: Marcilla, now Mrs. Elias Cooper, who resides in this county; Lililias, now Mrs. Milton Grove, who resides in Morrow county, and Linna Craven resides with her parents. Mr. Craven has lived in this township about twenty-four years, and is a good and respected citizen.

CRITCHFIELD, BENJAMIN, deceased, Howard town, ship, was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, May 18, 1797 He came to Knox county in about 1807, settling in this township, near where the village of Howard is now located. He was married September 11, 1820, to Miss Mary Welker. Their children were: Sabry, born May 3, 1822; Horace, January 9, 1824; Calvin, August 2, 1827; Marvin, January 20, 1829; Christie Ann, April 28, 1833; Nathaniel, February 25, 1835; Mary, April 27, 1838, and Roland, March 24, 1840. Mary died March 9, 1847. Benjamin Critchfield died February 16, 1878.

CREVELING, MARTIN, Pleasant township; farmer; son of Samuel and Elizabeth Creveling, was born in Iowa October 9, 1851. In 1853 his parents returned to Knox county, where they they had been living. He was brought up on a farm, and has followed farming as his vocation. In August, 1877, he married Miss Etta Moninger, born in Pennsylvania in 1856; daughter of Henry Moninger. They settled on the farm in Pleasant township, which they purchased shortly after their marriage, and where they are now living.

CRIDER, WILLIAM, SR., farmer, Miller township, was born in Virginia January 19, 1810. He came of patriotic and heroic stock, his grandfather having been a soldier in the War of Independence, and his father, Martin Crider, a soldier in the War of 1812. Mr. Crider has yet in his possession the old powder horn his grandfather carried in the war. Martin Crider married Mary Nieswanger, a native of Virginia. In 1820 they came to Ohio and settled in Harrison county, where they remained three years, when they moved to Knox county, Ohio, and lived for some time in Pleasant township, and thence to Miller township, and from thence to Union county, where they died. They had ten chikiren. The subject of this notice was reared on a farm, or rather was reared to clearing up the land for farming. He attended school but little but acquired sufficient knowledge of the rudiments to be able to transact business. He isa man who reads considerable, and has always been industrious. He married Miss Sarah Crottinger, a native of Pennsylvania, and in 1838 moved on the farm on which he now resides. They had a family of fifteen children, five of whom are yet living, viz.: Madison, Christina (married to Henry Rine), Phidelia (married to Fletcher Frost), Abigail (married to Charles Hooker), and William. Mr. Crider is a good farmer as is seen in his improvements, and the taste generally displayed on his farm.

New York city April 11, 1784. He was taken to Northampton, Massachusttts, by his parents when yet very young, and from thence to Vermont in 1794. About 1808 he went to Lower Canada and engaged in teaching, where he met and married Miss Sally, daughter of Zarah and Phalley Curtis, and sister of Henry B. Curtis, in 1809. Miss Curtis was born in Vermont April 30, 1791, and moved to Canada with her parents about 1798. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis emigrated to Ohio shortly after their marriage and located in Licking county, where they remained until 1827, when they moved to this county and located in Morris township, near Mt. Vernon. In 1835 they moved to Mt. Vernon where he passed the remainder of his days. He died August 15, 1858. Mrs. Curtis is still living at the good old age of eighty-nine years. They reared a family of ten children, viz.: Christopher C., Leonora, Julius C., Aldulia, Helen M., M. Hicks, Lydia P., Angeline E., William W., and Clarinda A. Three of the above named are now deceased: Christopher C., Leonora, and Aldulia. Helen M., followed teaching school as a profession about twenty-five years, eighteen of which were passed in the public schools of Mt. Vernon. In 1877 she retired from teaching and is now residing in Mt. Vernon taking care of her mother in her declining days.

CRITCHFIELD, ALEXANDER, Howard township, farmer, post office, Howard, was born September 11, 1845. His father came from Pennsylvania in 1806, and commenced life on the old farm. He died September 16, 1854. His mother still remains on the old farm. She is seventy-four years of age. Alexander Critchfield was married to Matilda Humbert January 12, 1867. They have one child - Emma, born August 22, 1868. Alexander Critchfield enlisted in the On2 Hundred and Twentyfirst regiment Ohio volunteer infantry in 1863. He went from Mt. Vernon to Chattanooga and remained at this point until the army started on the Atlanta campaign. After this he went to Florence, Alabama, as a scout, then to Gailesville.and to Rome, Georgia, then to Kingston, and remained there until the army went with Sherman to the sea. From there they went through North and South Carolina, then to Richmond, Virginia, then to Alexandria, and from there to Louisville, Kentucky, and were there mustered out of the United States service. They then went to Camp Denison and were mustered out of the State service, and then went home.

CRITCHFIELD, CHARLES EDWARDS, lawyer and probate judge, Mt. Vernon, was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, November 25, 1836. He spent his youthful days on a farm and teaching school. When seventeen years of age he went to California via Nicaraugua, and remained there seven years. He was engaged in mining about two years, and two years teaching, and three years on a ranche near San Jose. He returned to Ohio ana settled in Mt. Vernon in March, 1862, and commenced reading law with Major W. R. Sapp, and read law two years. He was admitted to the bar in 1864. He was in practice about four years. In 1869 he was elected probate judge on the Democratic ticket by a majority of one hundred and seventy-four, although the county was Republican. He was reelected in 1872. His majority was fonr hundred and twenty-five. He served to February, 1876. He then went to the practice of the law, and was thus engaged until the fall of 1878, when he was again elected probate judge by a majority of nine hundred, and which office he now holds. He was married to Miss Amanda Vincent, October 2, 1862, by whom he had two children - a son and a daughter.

CRITCHFIELD, MARTIN, Howard township, farmer, post office, Howard, was born in Howard township, March 10, 1840. He remained at home until 1868, when he went to Union township and worked on a farm. He was married to Mary Bradish July 4, 1870, and came to Howard township, where he has remained. His business has been farming, the greater part of the time.

CRITCHFIELD, LEWIS, Howard township, farmer, post office Howard. He was born August 17, 1812, in Howard township. In 1827 he moved to Brown township, remained there five years and then removed to Howard township. In 1838 he was married to Mary Jane Dawson and immediately settled omhis present home, where he has lived forty-two years. They had the following children: Joseph, John, Eleanor, and Mary Jane.

Joseph enlisted in the Sixty-fifth regiment, O. V. I., in 1861, for three years; served his time, then reenlisted and was known as one of the old veterans. At the close of the late war he went to Texas with a number of other members of the Sixty-fifth regiment, remained there until the followirg January when he received an honorable discharge.

John married Mary E. Hammond in March, 1864, and settled in Union township on a farm only a short distance from the old home. They have two children, Lulu and Keturah.

CRITCHFIELD, CHARLES, Howard township, farmer, post offiec, Howard, was born in Pennsylvania in 1804, moved to Knox county in 1806, and settled on what is now known as the Upper Prairie Indian lands, in Union township, near''Owl creek. He remained with his father at this place until he was twenty-three years of age. He was married in 1829 and moved to. Coshocton county, Ohio, where he remained seventeen years, and then removed to Knox county and settled on the old homestead, where he lived until 1878, and then moved to the farm known as the Indian Fields, on which he now lives. His father moved from the Upper Prairie, Union township, to Howard in 1809, and remained on the old homestead until his death, March 23, 1865. The day of his burial was his eighty-fifth birth-day.

Charles Critchfield buried his first wife in Union township in 1848 and married again in 1850. He had three children by his first wife. Amanda, who died in 1848 in her seventeenth year; George, who moved to California, and Charles Edward, for some time a probate judge. He had three children by his second marriage - Albert Judson (who died September 15, 1854, in his sixth year) and Ellen, who still remains at home.

CRITCHFIELD, HARRIS, Howard township, farmer, post office, Howard, was born in Howard township, Knox county, January 9, 1820. He married in 1851, and commenced business on his farm in Harrison township, where he lived fourteen years. On the fourth of April, 1868, he moved to the farm which he now owns. They have four children - Dora, Emma, Ellen, and Rosa. Dora was married to Clark Stow, December 19, 1872;

CROUCH, JOHNSON, Pleasant township, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, January' 10, 1819. He moved to Coshocton county, Ohio, in 1836, with his parents, Robert and Mary Crouch. In 1842 he married Miss Hafnah Gault, born in Coshocton county, in 1826, daughter of Adam and Margaret Gault. They settled on a farm in Coshocton county, remained there until 1867, when they moved to Knox county, purchased and moved on the farm in Pleasant township, on which they are now living. He has followed farming and stock raising as his vocation. Their union resulted in six children, only one of the number is now living, viz: Margaret, who married John Warman, and is living in Pleasant township.

CROWELL, FRED S., photographer, Ward's block, corner Main and Vine streets, Mt. Vernon. Mr. Crowell was born April 26, 1844, in Huron county, Ohio, where he resided until 1856, when his parents came with their family to Mt. Vernon. His first business engagement was with Moses White, bookseller and stationer, as salesman, with whom he continued two years. He then engaged with Hyde & Young, jewelers, where he remained two years, when he engaged in the photograph business in Payne's gallery, where he worked one year. He then went to Norwalk and engaged with Mr. Benham, with whom he remained only a short time. He went into Week's gallery at Sandusky city and operated there some eighteen months. In the galleries at Cleveland, and at Erie, Pennsylvania, where he operated a short time in each city. In 1866 Mr. Crowell went to Fredericktown and bought a gallery there, and run it for three years. In 1869 he sold out and came to Mt, Vernon and opened out an establishment, which he still continues. He carries a stock of about five thousand dollars, consisting of a general supply of photo material, picture frames, art goods and cards. His establishment -is the largest in the city, and the past productions of this gallery establishes the abilities of Mr. Crowell as an artist, and assures all patrons of obtaining first-class work.

CRUNKELTON, M.1.., Pike township, retired, post office, North Liberty, born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1816, and came to Ohio when seven years. of age. He was married in 1845 to Caroline Roch, who was born in Pennsylvania, in 1819. They had three children: Daniel (deceased), born in 1846, Sophia, in 1849, and James in 1851.

CRUNKELTON JAMES, Pike township; farmer; post office, North Liberty; born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1851, was married in 1870, to Catharine L. Allen, who was born in Richland county in 1851. They have four children: Curtis O., born in 1873; Harry L., in 1876; Lucinda E., in 1878, and Daniel, in 1880. They came to this county in 1854, and have lived here since that time.

CULBERTSON, WILLIAM CRAIG, Mt. Vernon, attorney, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1847. Hespenthis youth on the farm, and attending the schools of the district during the winter. He is the second son of Franklin and Narcissa Culbertson zee Craig. In

1865 he attended the academy at Elder's ridge for two years, and then in 1867 he entered the junior class in Washington and Jefferson college at Cannonsburgh, Washington county, Pennsylvania, from which college he graduated in the fall of 1869. He came to Wooster, Ohio, and entered the law office of General Aquilla Wiley. He read law until 1871, when he was admitted to the bar in the fall of that year. In January, 1872, Mr, Culbertson came to Mt. Vernon, and formed a partnership with Mr. McClellan under the firm name of McClellan & Culbertson, which firm still exists.

CULP, ROWLAND D., farmer, is a native of Clay, was born September 9, 1848, and has lived on the farm of his birth ever since. He was married to Miss Mollie F. Harrington, of Martinsburgh, February 8, 1872. Mr. Culp engaged in ferming for several years, but owing to ill health he procured a printing press and material, and is engaged in the job and card printing business at present.

CUMINGS, ANSON D. Brown township (deceased), only son of Gilbert and Betsey Cumings, was born in Oneida county, New York, August 25, 1828. His father was a farmer, and emigrated to Summit county, Ohio, near Akron, in 1838. His parents being unable to send their son to college, he received his education in the country schools of his day; attended the union schools of the city of Akron for a short time, and finished his education at the Haskell academy in Loudonville. Heearly developed a disposition to take care of himself, and engaged in teaching and other enterprises, among which the insurance agency seemed to afford a field for which he was peculiarly adapted.

November 10, 1852, while a clerk in the American house - then the principal hotel of Cleveland - he married Clara R. daughter of Erastus and Julia Eldridge. After his marriage he engaged for some time in furnishing large contracts of timber tor ship-building on the lake shore, and also in taking and filling contracts for timber for railroad purposes. In 1853 he moved upon a farm three miles south of Loudonville, in Ashland county, where he remained with his family six years, engaged in teaching, farming, and lumbering, filling the office justice of the peace and other township offices,-and acting as an insurance agent.

In 1859 he removed to Jelloway, in Knox county, where he remained until his death. After removing to Jelloway he engaged more earnestly in the insurance work, and in 1864 organized the Farmers' Insurance company, of Jelloway, a mutual campany, of which he was for several years the secretary and general manager. In 1868 he reorganized the company, changing it from a mutual to a joint stock company, with a paid up capital of one hundred thousand dollars.

In 1863 - during the Rebellion - he organized a company of the Ohio National guards, of which he was elected captain. In the spring of 1864 his company was called into the hundred days' service, and on the Knox county companies reporting at Columbus it was discovered that there were not positions for all the commissioned officers, and it being known that Captain Cumings was interested in the new insurance company just organized, and from which he could illy be spared, he was oftered three hundred dollars to resign in favor of some other officer. To this proposition he answered: '' Not a cent of your money, but if my company is willing I will resign." The matter was laid before the company and a vote taken, resulting in an unanimous vote to retain Captain Cumings., That he went to the front and won the respect and confidence of the entire regiment

In 1869 a cancer devoloped itself in his lower jaw and necessitated an appeal to the surgeon, and at Good Samaritan hospital, Cincinnati, he had the entire bone of the lower jaw removed. The operation, however, was not successful, the disease causing his death June 26, 1870, after months of the greatest misery, but of which he was never heard to complain.

During his residence in Jelloway he was for a time deputy revenue assessor, and held a recruiting officer's commission under Governor Brough. He also held the office of postmaster for a number of years, and at his death his wife succeeded-him to the office, which she still retains.

The fruit of his marriage was seven children, viz: Three sons - Frank A., Edgar L., and Anson B.; and four daughters - Julia D., M. Ella, Emma J., and Ansonette A.

''Died at his residence at Jelloway, Knox county, Ohio, on Sunday, the twenty-sixth inst., of cancer. A. B. Cummings, aged forty-two years. Anson B. Cummings was born in Oneida county, New York, and. has resided at Jelloway for twelve years. He leaves a wife, seven children, and many friends to mourn his loss. No one in this community enjoyed a Possessed of an honest, moral, genial, and pleasant character, with him to form acquaintance was to enlist a friend.

''The Farmers' Insurance company, of Jelloway, owes its existence to the vigorous and fertile mind of Mr. Cummings, as he conceived the idea of its organization, and held an important office in the company from its beginning, until disease compelled him to resign.

"In 1864, when Governor Brough called on the National Guard of Ohio, Mr. Cummings took command of company F, of the One Hundred and Forty-second regiment, and spent the summer in the service. That he was an acceptable officer, kind, pleasant, and agreeable to his command, every member of the regiment will attest. During his early life a cancer developed itself on his lower lip; this was treated with the knife by a surgeon in Cleveland, with apparent success, as no signs appeared of its return until some four years since it began to develop itself on his chin. In November, 1868, he went to Cincinnati, where Professor Blackman removed his entire lower jaw, back to the angle, or behind the teeth, but without success, as the dread disease remained, and gradually grew and increased in effect. To undertake to describe his sufferings would be vain. A faint idea of his sufferings could only be conveyed by having been with him. But through all he was not known to murmur or complain. That he died the death of a Christian, we think we have abundant evidence. Thus passed away one dear to his family, beloved by his friends, and respected by all.

"At a meeting of the directors of the Farmers' Insurance company, at Jelloway, Ohio, on the second inst., E. L. Waltz, E, A. Pealer, and James Barron, were appointed a committee on resolutions expressive of the feelings of the company, on the decease of one of its members. The following was read and adopted :

Benjamin Critchfield Mrs. Mary Critchfield

'WHEREAS, In the events of His providence, it has seemed well for the Great Dispenser of all good to remove from our midst our friend and brother, A. B. Cummings, and

''* WHEREAS, The deceased was one to whom we were wont to look for counsel, as a corporate body, whose instructions were wise, and one whose society was always pleasant, therefore

'** Rezolved, That in his death we feel deeply humiliated, and' recognize in his decease the divine workings of the Ruler of nations and of men, and that in his death we greatly sympathize with his bereaved family.

''* Resolved, That in his death the community has lost a valued citizen, the poor a friend, and his family a husband and father, marked for his kindness and affection.

'«* Resolved, That these resolutions be recorded on the company's journal, and that a copy thereof be presented to the family of the deceased as a token of our appreciation: of his loss to the community, this company, and his family, and that a copy be furnished each of the county papers for publication.

CUMMINS, WILLIAM, farmer, Milford township, was born in Reckingham county, Virginia, December 1, 1823, and is the son of Thomas and Christian Cummins zee Fogle, both born, reared, married, and died in Virginia. They had a family of ten children, seven of whom are living: Catharine, Nancy M., Amanda, Elizabeth, Edmund, Joseph, and the subject of this notice, who spent his youth on the farm until 1852, when he went to Texas, but remained only ashorttime. While in Galveston he had an attack of cholera. He shortly after went to Licking county, Ohio, and in 1855 married Miss L. Butcher. He remained in Licking county until 1858, when he came to Knox county, where he has since lived.

Mr. Cummins is a self-made man. While a resident of Licking county he borrowed five dollars out, of which he has madea' competency. He is one of the leading men of the township and county, and is a zealous advocate of the doctrines of the Democratic party, which honored him in 1871, by electing him infirmary director, which office he filled with credit. At the expiration of his term he refused a second nomination. He has held many of the different township offices. He is social and affable in his manners.

CUMMINS, JOSEPH, Milford township, farmer, was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, March 19, 1833, son of Thomas and Christina Cummins, zee Fogle, of whom mention is made in the biography of William Cummins. The subject of this notice spent his youth on a farm. In 1854 he went to Licking county, Ohio, and remained there until about 1862, when he came to Knox county and located in Mt. Liberty, where he remained for some time. He was married to Miss Ann Eliza Vankirk in September, 1864. They have three children: Carrie Virginia, born July 12, 1865; Thomas, June 17, 1867; William, May 11, 1871. Mr. Cummins is a good citizen, quiet in his manners and hospitable to those who call on him.

Mrs. Cummins' father, Asher Vankirk, was a native of Pennsylvania. He married Elizabeth Stephenson. They came to Ohio in 1862, and have had six children, four of whom are living. The parents are both dead. The living are Thomas, a physician in Delaware county, Ohio; Rachel, Adie, and Mrs. Cummins.

county, April 19, 1817; married in 1845 to Nancy J. McGibbin, who was born in Pennsylvania. They had four children: Isabella, born January 26, 1847; Margaret, October 26, 1854; Alonzo, February 2, 1861; and James, July 1g, 1857. Mrs. Nancy Cunningham died October 29, 1861.

Mr. Cunningham's second marriage was on Marchi, 1866, to Sarah Jane Taylor, who was born August 9, 1839, in Richland county. They have the following children: Eliza May, born January 9, 1867; David, September 10, 1868; Lou Verta, July 29, 1870; William, September 3, 1872; Mary Ellen, April x1, 1875; and Catharine, April 14, 1877.

Mr. Cunningham came to Knox county August 28, 1866, and was engaged in the mercantile business in Fredericktown for over eight years. He afterwards moved to his farm in Wayne township, and resides there still.

CUNNINGHAM, JOHN, ESQ., College township, son of Alexander and Mary Cunningham zee Thompson, was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, near Steubenville, February 2, 1820. His parents were natives of Ireland. His father born August 1, 1784, his mother January 4, 1797. His paternal grandfather and grandmother came with their families to America and located in Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1804. His mother came with her parents to America in 1807. The parents of the subject of this sketch were married in March, 1819, and moved into their little log cabin in the woods, in Jefferson county, Ohio, where they lived thirteen years. The old log cabin disappeared long years ago. Mr. Cunningham was reared a farmer, and has followed farming as his vocation to the present time. In 1841 he married Miss Isabella Foster, of Coshocton county, Ohio, who was born July 22, A. D. 1817, in Jefterson county, Ohio, daughter of James and Nancy Foster. They settled in Harrison, county, Ohio, where she died July 22, 1844. He was on the twenty-seventh of June, 1847, united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. Bone, of Harrison county, Ohio, who was born in England December rr, 1824, daughter of James and Mary Ann Bone, zee Hillyer, and came to America it: 1836 with her mother, her father having died. They remained in Harrison county until September 1, 1852, when they started for Knox county, reached College township on September 4th and located on the farm on which they have since resided. They reared two children, viz: Robert Pittis and Isabella. Three of their children died in infancy. He filled the office of justice of the peace for twelve years in College township.

CUNNINGHAM, MILTON M., Pike township, farmer, post office Democracy; born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1835, and was married in 1862 to Jane Armstrong, who was born in Canada in 1837. They have one daughter, Arminta, born July 18, 1863. Mrs. Cunningham came to Knox county in 1838. They own a well improved farm with good buildings.

CUNNINGHAM, ELI S., Pike township, farmer, post office North Liberty; born in Wayne county, Ohio, September 18, 1833, and was married May 17, 1855, to Sarah A. Oberholtzer, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, June 12, 1837. They have six children: Marrietta, born July 9, 1857; Milton J., February 22, 1860; Alvin H., March 16, 1862; Dillman F., January 25, 1866; Matthew E., August 2, 1868, and William, March 27, 1872. Mr. Cunningham came to this county about 1862, and owns a well improved farm with all the modern improvements. He is engaged in farming, also owns a threshing machine, threshing all kinds of grain, and is an active and enterprising citizen.

CURTIS, HENRY B., Mt. Vernon, retired. His father, Zarah Curtis, was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, in 1762. Atanearly age he entered the Continental army, in which he served five years, to the end of the war of the Revolution; first under his father, Jotham Curtis, of Watertown, Connecticut; subsequently joining Captain Webb's company, in which command he remained till the close of the war, when he received an honorable discharge with the rank of a sergeant.

In 1785 Zarah Curtis married Phally Yale, eldest daughter of Aaron and Anna (Hosmer) Yale. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1762. Her family was quite prominent in its day in New England, and descended from a distinguished family in the Old World.

The first remove of the parents of the subject of this sketch was from Connecticut to Charlotte, Vermont, where some of his oldest sisters were born. His oldest brother, the. late Hon. Hosmer Curtis, whose death occurred at Keokuk, Iowa, in 1874, was born at Litchfield, Connecticut. The family subsequently removed to and settled upon a farm on the west side of Lake Champlain, near the village of that name, where they resided until 1809, when they removed to Newark, Licking county, Ohio.

His father, a few years later, purchased a small farm on the South fork of Licking river, where the family resided at the time Henry B. left home. This farm was subsequently sold and another purchased on the North fork, in Washington township, in the same county, where the father died, beloved and respected as a Christian minister, in 1849, in the eighty-eighth year of his age.

Henry B. was born near the village of Champlain, New York, November 28, 1799, and was nine years old when his father removed to Ohio. Many of the events of that long journey are still vivid in his memory.

At that time (1809), Newark was but a small hamlet of about fifty ov sixty rude homes, mostly log houses. He can recall but two frame houses in the place, both very small tenements.

The opportunities of a thorough education were somewhat limited at this time. Henry was sent to the private school of Roswell Mills, and at a later period to that of Amos H. Caffee. To their faithful teaching, and that of some private instructors in a partial classical course, and his own hard study, he is indebted for an education, liberal under the circumstances, though falling far short of the plane to which his ambition inclined. During the whole course of his school studies he also assisted his father in his farm work, and after he left his boyhood's home, though contrary to his indulgent parents' wishes, he continued to pay to them all his wages and earnings, except his necessary expenses, until he was twenty years of age, when his father remarked to him that he had nothing to give him as an outset in life but his education, and he therefore peremptorily insisted that he should retain all his earnings.of the ensuing year. This constituted all the advancement young Curtis ever received from his parents, except a small patrimony at the sale of the homestead after his father's death.

At the age of seventeen young Curtis left his father's farm to make a home for himself. On the invitation of his brother, Hosmer, then a practicing lawyer in Mt. Vernon, he came to this place.

On the twenty-eighth day of April, 1817, young Curtis crossed the Kokosing, and paying the boy who ferried him across the river a silver sixpence, he found himself in Mt. Vernon, walking up Main street with the sum of twenty-five cents.

With the recommendation and k&ssistance of his brother Hosmer, he obtained a situation in the clerk's office, where his assiduity to business and ready skill soon secured him the appointment of deputy clerk. As he progressed in knowledge, nearly all the duties of that responsible position fell upon him. Elder James Smith was then clerk of the court, but being somewhat advanced in years, he removed to a farm, leaving the office and its duties almost wholly to Mr. Curtis.

This official connection with the business and records of the court brought him into immediate contact and personal acquaintance with the principal lawyers of that period, who were then regular and constant practitioners at the court. Among them were Charles P. Sherman, Thomas Ewing, William Stanberry, Wyllys Silliman, William W. Irwin, Charles B. Goddard, Samuel W. Culbertson, Alexander Harper, and several others, all of whom resided in other counties, but, as was the custom then, travelled on the circuit. These distinguished men of the bar, nearly all of whom then or subsequently held high political stations in the State, and who are identified with its history, constituted the bar of Knox county, for the foreign lawyers were aS much a part of the court as the resident judges and lawyers.

As an evidence of the kindly estimation in which the judges of the court-held young Curtis, after he had retired from the clerk's office and while studying for the bar, the court, then composed of four judges, unanimously appointed him to the responsible office of recorder for the county, a situation which he held seven years. This appointment, in the outset of life was a material aid, and its fruits enabled him to supply himself with a good law library, which soon became one of the best in the country.

He entered the office of his brother, Hosmer, early in the fall of 1820, and December 9g, 1822, he presented himself with his credentials before Judges Hitchcock and Pease of the supreme court, for examination and admission to the bar. The examination took place at the Franklin house, in Newark, in presence of several resident lawyers. The oath was administered to him by Judge Peter Hitchcock.

When Mr. Curtis entered upon the practice of the law there were but two other resident lawyers in the county, his senior brother, Hosmer, and an older man, Samuel Mott, esq., who soon after withdrew from the profession, to engage in other pursuits. But the field was soon further occupied by the advent of others who were fellow students, but who came in a little later. Among these were John W. Warden, Benjamin S. Brown, Columbus Delano, Rollin C. Hurd, and John K. Miller. All of them were able and successful lawyers. Mr. Warden and Mr. Brown died early, and Mr. Miller and Mr. Hurd some time later. To the foreign members of the bar still practising at the court, were added Henry Stanberry and the late H. H. Hunter, who entered practice about the same date as Mr. Curtis.

In the earlier years of his practice Mr. Curtis' professional "circuit" embraced the counties of Licking, Richland, Delaware and Coshocton; with freqent extensions, in special cases, to the courts in Lancaster, Zanesville, Wooster, Canton, Norwalk, andSandusky. In addition to these regular terms of the supreme court, and the United States circuit and district courts at Columbus, were embraced in his practice.

Mr. Curtis was admitted to the bar of the United States supreme court, Washington city, January 9, 1863. After a successful practice before the courts of his country for half a century, in December, 1872, Mr. Curtis concluded to withdraw from the legal field, and devote his remaining life to the care and protection of his large and increasing possessions, which had been somewhat neglected. This anniversary was held at his beautiful homestead, '' Round Hill'' (a cut of which appears elsewhere), and was in the form of a supper given to the resident members of the bar, with invitations to, and attended by many, old time friends, from adjacent counties and more distant parts of the State. It was a cheerful and happy occasion, bringing up pleasant reminiscences of the past, and the mutual interchange of kind greetings. On that occasion Mr. Curtis announced to his brethren that he declined all new retainers hereafter, and left the field for his younger brethren.

'In politics Iam a Republican, and was present and took part in the convention in which that party was organized. I was of the Whig school, and united in the recommendation for the reorganization of the party under the new name of Republican. Although I have ever .preserved my identity with my party and acted with them in all their political movements, yet I never, except in one instance, allowed myself to become a candidate for a political office. I do not, of course, include city offices, of mayor and councilman, whose duties I have been called to fulfil, nor the candidacy for the Constitutional convention in the spring of 1873, to which I was pressingly urged by many of both parties, and which election I lost by reason of the Prohibition party having a third candidate in the field. The exception to which I refer was in 1840, when the Whig party selected me as their candidate for Congress from this district, then composed of Knox, Coshocton, Holmes, and Tuscarawas counties. My district was one hundred miles long and terribly Democratic. I stumped the district considerably during the campaign, asI did also other counties in the State the same season. I made a good run, cutting down my opponent's majority about one thousand votes but not quite enough to defeat him. It was pleasant enough to go out and make political speeches for the principles of the party with which I acted, but I had no taste to run for office, or to make public speeches in my own interest. Twice after this I was designated by our county conventions as Knox county's choice as candidate for governor, but in both instances I prevented my name going before the general convention. My name has also, on several occasions, been presented by my friends and members of the bar for the judgeship."

In the winter of 1840-41 Mr. Curtis represented Knox county in the State board of equalization. For twelve years he held the office of trustee of the Central Ohio Lunatic asylum, and was the acting president of the board. Mr. Curtis was influential in leading Bishop Chase to establish Kenyon college in its present location, as will be seen by reference to the chapter devoted to that institution. Mr. Curtis was for many years one of the trustees of the college, and while on the board, inaugurated the policy of the survey and sale of the college lands, thus substituting for an irresponsible tenantry a class of proprietary farmers in the immediate neighborhood of the college.

When Mr. Curtis came to the bar the court docket was full of cases against the ''Owl Creek bank, of Mt. Vernon," or rather against its members, for it had no corporate existence. The subject was finally referred to a special commissioner and receiver, to which honorable position Mr. Curtis was appointed by the supreme court. After years of investigation and arduous labor, the intricate affairs of the bank were brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

was paid, 'and the losses adjusted and equalized among the several members of the unfortunate association on acknowledged principles of equity and justice. Mr. Curtis' proceedings, and their results, were fully "approved and confirmed by the court, with flattering commendation.

When aid and action were called for to obtain railroads, Mr. Curtis' services were required and freely given. He was the director of the first railroad that entered Mt. Vernon, and also of several embryo schemes that failed after large expenditures. He is now a director of the Lake Erie division of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. He was also a large contributor and advocate of the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon & Columbus railroad.

In the spring of 1873 Mr. Curtis received from President Grant the appointment and commission of a member of the board of visitors at West Point, to attend and report upon the examination of the graduating class, and to examine into the condition and administration of the affairs of the institution generally.

While in this service he learned that some eighty youths, children of professors, officers and employes of West Point, were destitute of the usual means' of common school education, except as toa few that had the advantages of private instruction. Being on a military reserve, the jurisdiction of which was in the Government, it was held that the residents were not included within the provisions for the benefits of the common school system of the State of New York. He therefore introduced a resolution recommending that Congress make provision by a suitable appropriation for maintaining, at West Point, a common school for the benefit of the children of that station. The resolution was also supported by Senator Sherman and Judge Thayer, of Philadelphia, and finally unanimously adopted, and its recommendations incorporated in the report of the board.

_ July 2, 1823, Mr, Curtis was married to Miss Elizabeth Hogg, daughter of Percival and Elizabeth Hogg, of Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio. She was a niece of William Hogg, esq., of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, an old and successful merchant. His family had but recently arrived in this country. They were from Chester-le-street, Durham county, England, where Miss Hogg was born June 22, 1803. By this marriage Mr. and Mrs. Curtis became the parents of eight children - six daughters and son. Their eldest daughter and child, Elizabeth, was married to Mr. John Gershom Plimpton, a merchant of New York city, February 19, 1845. Mr. Plimpton died in Mt. Vernon April 18, 1869, leaving three children - the eldest is now married to George C. Clark, esq., of New York, and a second daughter recently married to Mr. John B. Beardsley, a prominent druggist of Mt. Vernon. Mr. Curtis' daughter, Ella, is married to the Hon. Joseph C. Devin, late senator from Knox county in the State legislature, and a practicing lawyer, residing in Mt.

Lambton Curtis, is a graduate of Kenyon college, of the class of 1862. He was married to Miss Lucia Chittenden, of Keokuk, Iowa, October 28, 1868. He is a lawyer, and a partner with Mr. Devin. Mr. Curtis has also a grandchild, Emma Bridge, only child of a deceased daughter (Ada), who was married to Mr. Louis K. Bridge, of New York, also since deceased. Miss Bridge made her home since the death of her parents with her grandparent until the time of her marriage with Mr. Charles

D. Seebarger, of Chicago, October 15, 1879. Mrs. Curtis died on the seventeenth day of July, 1878, aged seventy-five years, honored and respected by all.

Mr. Curtis' pecuniary means have constantly kept growing from his memorable quarter, until to-day he is classed among the county's wealthiest citizens, Notwithstanding all this rapid accumulation, he has responded in a liberal manner to every benevolent and public enterprise that has been brought to his attention.

Holding, at the period of the war, as now, the appointment of United States commissioner for the northern district of Ohio, his judicial services were often required in disposing of cases connected with the military movements of that time.

CURTIS, HOSMER, lawyer, born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, on the twenty-ninth of July, 1788, was the eldest son of Zara Curtis, a Revolutionary soldier and officer in Colonel Sheldon's regiment of dragoons of the Connecticut line. On his mother's side he was allied to the Hosmers and Yales of Connecticut. In 1809 his father's family removed to Ohio, and settled in Newark; while he himself, then about twenty years old, removed withthe family, and after a few years spent in school teaching, during which time he read law under the preceptorship of Edward Herrick and Jeremiah Munson, then eminent lawyers of Newark, was admitted to the bar in 1813, and prepared his first briefs in a little office that stood where the Newark market house now stands, The next year he served in the campaign for the relief of Fort Meigs, under General Harrison, and in the fall of 1814 married Miss Eleanor Melick, of Turkey Foot, Pennsylvania, a lady of distinguished excellence of character, and the mother of all his children except the youngest, Samuel P. Curtis, late of Washington city, now deceased, who was a son by a second marriage. In 1815 he removed to Mt. Vernon, Knox county, where he regularly attended the courts from the commencement of his practice. The first prosecuting attorney for the county, an office that he filled for many years, he became the leading resident lawyer; and as nearly all the younger members of the profession in the county, who were admitted to the bar for the first fifteen or twenty years, were pupils from his office, he became generally known as 'the father of the bar." He continued in full practice in that time, as was then the custom, he also regularly attended the courts of the adjoining counties, and the United States court at Columbus, Ohio. His great industry and indefatigable labor in the preparation of his cases, more than the power of reputation for a clear knowledge of the principles of the common law; while his probity of character always insured him earnest attention and the highest confidence and respect of both court and jury. In 1822-3 he represented his county in the Ohio legislature, and held several other important offices and public trusts, in all of which, as also in the large interests of his clients, which, in solong a period of practice, came under his care, his character for honesty and fidelity was ever preeminent. In 1857 Mr. Curtis removed to Keokuk, where several of his children had previously settled, and there resumed the practice of law in connection with Mr. Gilmore, and which he continued to pursue several years, when finding a nervous infirmity growing upon him, about 1867 he retired from all professional en- gagements, while continuing to give personal attention to all his own private business. Naturally of strong mental powers, cultivated by philosophic research and study, he was distinguished in the days of his best vigor for his capacity in obtruse speculation and close analytical investigation of every subject presented to him for consideration. He accepted no conclusion without duly weighing all the facts for or against the proposition or theory. These traits marked his character throughout all his professional career, and the aspiration inscribed on the fly-leaf of his first law book: ''God preserve my mental vigor," seemed to be mercifully and certainly granted him to the close of his life. He died at Keokuk, Iowa, on the fourteenth of May, 1874, ripe in years, and the honors of a wellspent life. Of his surviving children, Henry H. Curtis resides in St. Louis; J. L. Curtis, banker, at Chicago; Charles Curtis, physician, at Quincy, Illinois, and his daughter, Eleanor, widow of Uzziel Stevens, at Mt. Vernon, Ohio.

CURTIS, GENERAL SAMUEL R., was born February 3, 1807, spent his childhood years in Newark, Ohio; applied himself diligently to his studies, made a good scholar; sometimes was a clerk in the clerk's office of the courts of Licking county, Amos H. Caffee, esq., being the clerk; and in 1827 entered the West Point academy as a cadet, and graduated in 1831, with the appointment of brevet second lieutenant in the Seventh United States infantry, in which he served until June 30, 1832, when he resigned. He then studied law in Ohio, and was admitted to the bar, but left that profession to devote himself to engineering, and from April, 1837, to May, 1839, was the chief engineer of the Muskingum river improvement. At the beginning of the Mexican war he was chosen colonel of the Third Ohio volunteers, serving under Zachary Taylor on the Rio Grande line, and was successively Governor of Matamora, Camargo, Monterey, and Saltillo. At the expiration, in 1847, of the term of service of his regiment, he remained as acting assistant adjutant general to General Wool.

Sometime after the close of the Mexican war General Curtis moved to Keokuk, Iowa, and was elected 4n 1856 a representative in Congress, and was reelected in 1858, and again in 1860. He was also a member of the peace congress in 1861. In Congress he strongly urged the building of a railroad to the Pacific ocean, and all other Republican measures.

In June, 1861, General Curtis was commissioned colonel of the Second Iowa regiment, and ordered to duty in Northern Missouri, but soon went to Washington to attend the extra session of Congress. Resigning his seat in Congress in 1861, he entered zealously into the military service to preserve the Union. He served under General Fremont, and subsequently was appointed to command the army destined to operate against the confederates in southwestern Missouri and Arkansas. General Curtis fought and won the important battle of Pea Ridge, March 6, 7, and 8, 1862, upon which he received a major general's commission, establishing his headquarters at St. Louis, December, 1862.

General Curtis was in command at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, during the Price raid in October, 1864, and cooperated in the pursuit and defeat of General Price's army. From August to November, 1865, he served as United States Commissioner to treat with the Sioux, Cheyennes, and other Indian tribes. He was examiner of the Union Pacific railroad from November, 1865, to April, 1866. His death occurred at Council Bluffs, Iowa, December 25, 1866. General Samuel R. Curtis rendered valuable civil and military services to his country, and was an elegant, high-toned, honorable gentleman, of intelligence and probity. He was a brother of Hon. Henry B. Curtis, of Mt.

DALLY, LANE, Hilliar township, farmer, was born in Hilliar township, February, 1842. He is the youngest son of John and Mary A. Dally, zee Walters, who were married in Richland county, Ohio, and in 1834 came to Hilliar and settled in the woods. They had a family of ten children. Mr. Dally died in 1869. His wife still survives him. The subject of this Notice was reared on his father's farm. He was married to Miss Cypha Cumpston, of Licking county, Ohio, December 6, 1866. They have a family of five children.

DALRYMPLE, JACOB, Wayne township, farmer, post office, Fredericktown, born in New Jersey in 1797, came to Ohio in 1809, and was married in 1821 to Phebe Lewis, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1802. They had the following children : Roda, born December 4, 1822; Aaron, August 18, 1824; William, April 7, 1827; Mitchell Y., January 17, 1830; Robert M., june 28, 1833; Sarah S., April 1, 1837; Lafayette, June 16, 1841; Mary E., October 16, 1844.

DALRYMPLE, WILLIAM BRICE, Liberty township, farmer, was born January 22, 1852, in Liberty township. He is the son of Andrew Dalrymple, deceased, who was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, in March, 1810, where he remained until he was about twenty-three years of age. He then came to Ohio and resided near Fredericktown for some years. On April 12, 1838, he was joined in marriage to Mary A. Wolfe, who was born in February, 1821. She is a daughter of Christopher and Phebe Wolfe, zee Rhinehart, pioneers of Knox county, and whose history appears in this work. They had six children, four daughters and two sons, viz: Phebe, wife of Alexander Jackson; Susan, deceased, who married William H. Scarborough; Eliza J., wife of Thomas J. Scarborough; Ella, wife of Winfield Coe; and Squire and William Brice. Mr. Dalrymple died in October, 1871, in Liberty township, where he had resided about forty-three years. He was much esteemed for his many good traits of character. He was a leading citizen, and by his death the community lost a useful man. Mrs. Dalrymple resides on the homestead.

William B. Dalrymple was reared on the farm on which he yet resides. He is a rising young man of the township. He married Miss H. Coleville, of Liberty township, February 18, 1875. They have two children.

DALRYMPLE, SQUIRE D., Liberty township, farmer, was born in Liberty township, April 9, 1854, and is the son of Andrew and Mary A. Dalrymple, of whom mention is made in the biography of William B. Dalrymple. He was reared on the farm, and like the rest of the family, had the advantages of the schools and the instruction of kind and and excellent parents. He is a good farmer, and a young man who is much esteemed. He married Miss Sarah L. Allen December 17, 1874, daughter

DARLING, WILLIAM, farmer, was born April 9, 1814, in Hampshire county, Virginia. He moved to Butler township, Knox county, Ohio, in 1820, and to Jackson township in 1835. He was married to Eliza Melick April 6, 1841. They have had ten children, viz.: Lucy A., James K., Morgan, Louisa, Cyrus, Nan, Sarah E., Avilda, Otto, and Louis. Mr. Darling is an old and respected citizen of Jackson; has served several terms as justice of the peace.

DARLING, JOHN, Berlin township (deceased), was born in New York in 1817; came to Ohio when a young man, and was married in 1842 to Mary Ann Rundle. They had three children - Richard L., Charles T., and James E, Mrs. Mary Ann Darling died in 1852. Mr. John Darling married Lydia Ann Kinney in 1854, who was born in Knox county in 1820. They had three children - James E., born in 1855, Henry M. in 1857, and Alva B. in 1861. The father, John Darling, died July 26, 1876. James E. died in 1843, and James Edson in 1856. Henry Daring was married in 1877 to Mary Vore, who was born in Mt. Vernon in 1857. They have one son, George W., who was born July 26, 1878.

I5, 1857, to Saprona Willis, who was born June 11, 1835, in New York. She came with her parents to Knox county in 1839. They have one son, Herbert Stanton, born January 17, 1862. He is now engaged in the study of medicine in Fredericktown with Dr. S. B. Potter. Mr. William Darling is one of the leading men of this township, and owns a beautiful farm with excellent buildings.

DARLING, NICHOLAS R., Morris township, farmer, post office, Fredericktown; was born in Wayne township in 1830: and married in 1864 to Margaret Ellen Bricker, who was born in Clinton township in 1830. An infant child was left on the porch of their house in a basket (warmly dressed), on the morning of October 7, 1880 (a mystery). They cared for and became: attached to it, named it Eddie V., and were making arrangements to have it adopted, but it died in January, 188r.

Mr. Darling purchased the first threshing machine manufactured by Altman Taylor & Co., Mansfield. They attribute much credit to Mr. Darling for his ingenuity, skill and patience in making many improvements so that the machine became a success. He used this machine for fifteen years. In 1864 they made him a very liberal donation on a new machine.

DARLING, GEORGE W., Hilliar township, clothier, Centreburgh, Ohio, was born near Newville, Richland county, Ohio, January 18, 1845. He -was reared ona farm. He enlisted in the Sixty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, company C, in 1861; he participated in the battle of Shiloh and all the battles in which his regiment and company were engaged until after the battle of Stone River, Tennessee, when he was taken with typhoid fever and rendered unable to do service, and was discharged. He returned home and after regaining his health he went to Bloomington, Illinois, where he enlisted in company D, Third Illinois cavalry, and served with them six months; he was then detached on General Saul Meredith's staff as private orderly, and remained as orderly until the war was over, at Paducha, Kentucky, after which he joined his regiment, and was with the expedition to Devil's lake, and thence to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and there mustered out of service October 10, 1865, having served in the two regiments about four years. His busines life commenced in 1868, in Independence, Richland county, Ohio, in a country store. He bought a half interest in the business of William Severns, his father-in-law. The firm bought produce of all kinds. He was for a time agent of the railroad at that point. In 1873 the firm lost about all their property by fire. After the fire he travelled for some time for a woolen-mill and powder factory. In 1875 he commenced clerking for Mr. Severns, his former partner, and he remained with him until August, 1879, when he purchased a stock of clothing and came to Centreburgh, where he carries a full line of all kinds of ready-made clothing, hats, caps and gentlemen's furnishing goods. He has a growing trade and carries about three thousand five hundred dollars worth of stock. He is a good business man and his customers never find a reason to complain from any misrepresentation, as he confines himself to business principles, truth and veracity. He was married to Miss Delnorta S. Severns, of Richland county, Ohio, January, 1868, and by this union they had four children, three of whom are living.

DARLING, ROBERT D., Wayne township, post office, Fredericktown; born in Wayne township, this county, in 1845, and was married in 1870 to Clotilda Lyon, who was born in Wayne township, this county, in 1846. They have four children, Nellie, born in 1871; Frank, in 1875; Nina, in 1877; and Willie, in 1879. Mr. Darling is a farmer by occupation, and has always lived in this county.

DAVIS, JACOB, Monroe township, was born near Hagerstown, Maryland, April 4, 1800, and came to Mt. Vernon, Knox county, with his father, Henry Davis, in 1815. He married Elizabeth Downs, daughter of George Downs, of Knox county, April 3, 1827, and moved to Monroe township, where he purchased land and erected a saw-mill on Schenck's creek in 1828. Shortly afterward he erected a grist-mill and added a fullingmill and carding machine. Being an enterprising business man he not only ran his own mill but owned an interest in the Monroe mills, Gilcrest's mills, and Shamon's mills. Mr. Davis died September 12, 1837, and was buried in St. John's Evangelical Lutheran cemetery, the ground for which was donated by him. He was the father of nine children, of whom James Woodbridge Davis was the youngest. He was born June 9g, 1849, at the old homestead on Schenck's creek, and reared on the farm. He married Jennie Daymude, daughter of William Daymude, of Monroe township, December 14, 1876, and has two children, Eimer S. and Herman.

DAVIS, THOMAS, Berlin township, farmer, post office, Fredericktown, born in Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1809; was married to Jane Jenkins, who was born in 1815 in Loudoun county, Virginia. They had six children: Sarah, born 1838; John, in 1840; Martha, in 1841; Eliza, in 1844; Margaret, in 1847; Stephen Taylor, in 1859. :

Mrs. Jane Davis died in 1850. Mr. Thomas Davis married again, his second marriage being to Elizabeth Baker, who was born in Wayne township, Knox county, in 1820, They had two children, W. Scott, bornin 1852, and Charlotte Ellen, in 1855.

John Davis was a soldier in the late war. He enlisted in the One Hundred and Twentieth regiment, and continued inthe service until his health failed. After his health was restored he again enlisted, but was again discharged on account of ill

Mr. Davis came to Ohio in 1838, and located ona farm in Berlin township, Knox county. He owns a well improved farm and has been identified with this county for forty-eight years. He has been a Methodist for fifteen years, and has been a Republican since the organization of the party.

DAVIS, W. SCOTT, farmer, Berlin township ; post office, Fredericktown; born in Berlin township in 1852, and was married in 1874 to Mary Morriston, who was born in Wayne township, in 1854. 'They have three children: Robertie Bell, born in 1875; Steward, in 1877; Daisy Dell, in 1878. Mr. Davis isa farmer, and resides on the old home farm.

DAVIS, JESSE, farmer, Liberty township, was born in Cecil county, Maryland, October 16, 1812. His father, a native of Ireland, emigrated to the United States when quite young. He served in the War of 1812 under Commodore McDonough, and received a wound. He was a man of considerable attainments, taught a select school for some years, and married a Miss Mary Nebb, a native of York county, Pennsylvania. They had nine sons and one daughter, all of whom are believed to be dead except Jesse Davis, who learned the blacksmith trade, which he followed for some years.

When about twenty years of age he went to Ohio county, Virginia, where, in April, 1835, he married Rosanna Frazier, who was born in Ohio county, West Virginia, January 9, 1808. They remained in Virginia until 1850, when they came to their present home. 'There were born to these parents four children in Virginia, viz: Samuel H., Robert F., Mary, and James W. Samuel H. and Robert F. enlisted in company G, Twentieth Ohio volunteer infantry. Samuel H. was taken sick and died May 30, 1862. While sick he was commissioned second lieutenant, but was never mustered. Robert F. was discharged in the fall of 1863, on account of physical disability. He is now bookkeeper in the First National bank, of Canton, Illinois. Mary and James W. are on the farm.

Mr. Davis was captain of company D, One Hundred and Forty-second Ohio National guard. When the regiment was called out some of the companies were consolidated. Mr. Davis was tiansferred to company A, which company he commanded during his enlistment.

DAVIS, MRS. JOANNA, Liberty township, was born in Milford township, November 30, 1829. She is the daughter of Smith Bishop and Mary Ann Jeffries, of whom mention is made in the history of Milford township. They had a family of eight children, six sons and two daughters, viz: John J., Joanna, the subject of this notice; Henry A., Benjamin F., Gilford D., Allen S., Clark N., and Adaline L., wife of James Ray, who resides near Columbus; Ohio.

Mr. Bishop died in 1866. His wife survives him. Joanna was married to Joseph P. Davis, November 18, 1861. He was: a native of the State of New York, and died in 1877. They had three children, viz: Anna Mary, born July 10, 1862; Cora Estelle, born January 10, 1866, and Ellen Adaline, born September 26, 1868. Mrs. Davis is an estimable lady.

DAVIS, JOHN M., farmer, Miller township, was born in Clinton township, September 28, 1853, is the son of George W. and Margaret Davis, zee Morton. Mr. Davis spent his youth on his father's farm, and, like farmers' sons generally, he

DAVIS, JOSEPH SLOCUM, Attorney at law and secretary of the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon & Delaware railroad company, Mt. Vernon, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, November 21, 1812. He is the third child of Henry and Avice Davis, zee Towne. His father was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, his mother in Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, where they were married, and came to Ohio in the year 1808, settling in Ross county. After a residence there of three years they moved into Pickaway county, remained there about four years, and then removed to Hillsborough, Highland county, Ohio, where they lived until they died. The father was engaged in mercantile pursuits.

The subject of this notice, when not at school, assisted his father in the store. In 1829 he entered the preparatory school at Gambier and continued two years in that department. He then entered the freshman class in Kenyon college, passed regularly through the several college classes and graduated in 1835. He read law with the late Benjamin S. Brown, of Mt. Vernon, and in the winter of 1836-37 attended the Cincinnati law school, and was admitted to the par in 1837. He commenced the practice of law in company with the Hon. C. Delano, and continued for several years, but after a severe attack of pleurisy his health failed to such an extent that he was compelled to retire.

He was the first editor of the Zrue Whig, a newspaper estsblished at Mt. Vernon in 1848, to advocate the election of General Zachariah Taylot to the Presidency of the United States.

In the winter of 1864-5 he was appointed by President Lincoln paymaster in the United States army - was ordered to Washington city, mustered into the service, and remained there until July after the close of the. Rebellion.

He has always taken a lively interest in the public schools: and has been connected with the city board of education twentyfive years, or since its organization in 1856, is now and has been for the last nine years president of said board.

In 1869 the directors of the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon & Delaware Railroad company elected him secretary of said company, which position he still holds.

Mr. Davis is esteemed as a frank, candid man, of scrupulous integrity, modest and retiring in disposition, affable in his manners, reserved in speech, honorable in his dealings, and a reliable friend, but firm and decided in his opinions, prompt and conscientious in the proper discharge of every public or private trust committed to his care.

Mr. Davis was married to Miss Sarah B. Moore, who was born in Connellsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, March, 1813, the only daughter of Doctor Robert D. Moore. They have had four children, two sons and two daughters, all of whom are living. Captain Henry M. Davis resides at Santa Fe, New Mexico. Anna C., married to John W. Hall, lives in Washington city. Mary A. and Rorlin H. are at home.

DAWSON, JAMES, Howard township, farmer, post office, Howard. He was born in Howard township, November 1, 1849. His father, John Dawson, died in July, 1858. His grandfather died at the same place just one week previous. James Dawson was married to Etta Critchfield in January, 1875, and commenced business on the old farm. He has two children: Philip, born February 10, 1870; Catura, May 21, 1878. His mother lives with them.

DAY, STEPHEN, Union township, merchant, post office, Gann. He was born in New Jersey in 1815, and came to Ohio in 1830, and was engaged in farming on what is called the George Freshwater farm, where he remained until his twentyfirst year; then removed to Rochester, Ohio; engaged in the grocery business for one year. He was then engaged in a flouring-mill at Roscoe, in Coshocton county, for one year. He then moved back to the farm and remained there for five years; then to Rochester; then to Oxford, Ohio; then back to the old home, where he purchased the Miller farm, and remained there for about five years. From there he went to Oxford and engaged in the mercantile business for two years, and then to the old home again, where he: remained until he sold it. He then went to Mt. Holly, and bought the Hast farm. He then sold the farm and went to Spring mountain, then returned to Mt. Holly and lived there for a year. Then he purchased the Draper farm, and lived there for five years, and then returned for the last time to Mt. Holly, remained for one year, and then went to Cambridge. April 25, 1870, he started for California in company with his father, mother and wife; remained there for three months. Then he removed to Bloomfield, Davis county, Towa, his wife remaining in California where his sons had settled. After going to a number of places he finally settled in Gann, where he is at present doing business with his younger son, selling dry goods, groceries, clothing, and doing a general mercantile business.

DEAN, BENJAMIN, Wayne township, farmer, post office, Fredericktown, born in Washington township, Richland county, in 1851, and was married in 1873 to Amanda Rowe, who was born in this township in 1848. Their children are James L., born April 2, 1875, and Charlie, October 23, 1878. Mr. Dean came to this county in 1868. He is one of the leading farmers of this township.

DEBOLT, REUBEN, Morgan township, farmer, born in Morgan township, January 19, 1812. His father, Abraham Debolt, was born and reared in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. The family came from Germany, near the river Rhine, but at what time they came to Americais not known. They settled in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, whence a large connection has sprung up. As a class they are industrious and well-to-do, being mostly farmers. The father of the subject of this sketch married Christiana Craiger, of Fayette county, Pennsylvania. About 1805 they came to what is the southeast part of Morgan township, where they lived and died.

The farm on which they first settled is owned by their son, Washington Debolt. They had a family of eleven children, one of whom died in infancy. The names were Isaac, Jacob, Daniel, Mary, Samuel - the above have deceased. The living are Michael, Reuben, Elizabeth, wife of George Clark, Washington, John, Rachel, wife of A. J. Hoten.

The subject of this notice was reared in Morgan township, and has always resided in the community, except nine years, when a resident of Licking county. December 7, 1837, he married Sarah French, who was born in Green county, Pennsylvania, in 1817, and came to Ohio with her parents. They had a family of nine children, viz: Mary, wife of James Vanvoris; William, Margaret E., Rachel, wife of Joseph Herrington; Christiana, Emma H., wife of Samuel Hall, and Della. Sarah J. and David have died.

DELANO, HON. COLUMBUS, Mt. Vernon. Very few, if any persons in Knox county have been so long and so intimately connected with the various business enterprises, the diversified secular interests, the educational, moral, benevolent and religious institutions, or who were more effective in movements that tended to give shape and direction to the affairs of social life, and form the customs, manners, and habits of the people, than Hon. Columbus Delano. For fifty years he has been prominent in the politics of Knox county. Fifty years ago he was admitted tothe bar, and soon attained to the position of an able lawyer and a popular politician.

Columbus Delano was a native of Shoreham, Vermont; born there in 1809. Jn 1817, when a lad of only eight years, he was brought to Mt. Vernon, where his home has since been, a period of sixty-four years. He became a law student before reaching full manhood, having previously been indefatigable at his studies, and diligentin the acquisition of knowledge, and in storing his mind with useful information. In 1831, just half a century ago, he was admitted to the bar, and as his friends predicted, soon became an eminently successful lawyer. His ambition, talents, excellent habits and exemplary deportment gave assurance of success and distinction in his chosen profession, and his early promise as a lawyer was fully realized in after years. He became eminent as an advocate and criminal lawyer, and no less so asacriminal prosecutor, for he became by popular election, soon after he was admitted to the bar, the prosecuting attorney of Knox county. The prosecuting attorney became an elective officer by act of the legislature in 1832, and Mr. Delano, although a Whig, or rather a National Republican, was elected to that office, in a county then decidedly and strongly Democratic, which shows that he was then very popular with both parties.

Success continued to crown Mr. Delano's career as a lawyer until 1844, when he became a candidate for Congress in the district composed of the counties of Knox, Licking, and Franklin. The Whig party had nominated Hon. Samuel White, of Licking, as their candidaee, who had accepted the candidacy and canvassed a portion of the district, before his death occurred. After due deliberation and consultation among the leaders of the Whig party, it was decided to place Columbus Delano on their ticket in place of their deceased candidate, Samuel White, who had been regarded as the most popular Whig, as well as the ablest, in the district, which was generally conceded to be Democratic by a few hundred majority. Colonel Caleb J. McNulty was the candidate of the Democratic party, and was considered the ablest political campaigner of his party in the district. He and his competitor, White, were well matched as orators before promiscuous'assemblies. They were, indeed, both men of remarkable force and ability as stump orators, and the Whigs regarded it of paramount importance to select the ablest man they had »in the district to conduct the campaign against McNulty. The canvas was fierce and of doubtful issue, as was natural enough in so close a district, and the result was not known until after the last township in the district was heard from. Colonel McNulty, it turned out, did not carry the entire vote of his party, and Mr. Delano received, by some hundreds, more than the full Whig vote of the district. and was elected a member of the Twenty-ninth Congress by the central or capital district of Ohio, by a majority of twelve votes. The popularity of Mr. Delano will appear more fully in the light of the fact that the district, at the same election gave to Governor Tod, the Democratic candidate, nine thousand six hundred and six votes; to Governor Bartley, the Whig candidate, eight thousand, nine hundred and ninety votes, and to L. King, the Abolition candidate, five hundred and twentyseven votes; giving Tod six hundred and sixteen majority over Bartley, and eighty-seven majority over both the Whig and Abolition candidates.

Hon. Columbus Delano served on the committee on invalid pensions, and made a vigorous speech against the Mexican war, which was widely circulated.

In 1846 Mr. Delano came within two votes of receiving the nomination of the Whigs for Governor or Ohio, William Bebb being his succsseful competitor in the convention, and whu was also successful by a small majority.

Hon. Columbus Delano was a delegate to the National Convention at Chicago in 1860, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, and in that memorable campaign rendered yeoman's service in bebalf of the martyr President and the Republican party generally.

In 1861 Mr. Delano was appointed commissary general of Ohio, and filled the office with great success until the General Government assumed the subsistance of all State troops. In 1862 he was a candidate for United States Senator, and on one of the ballots in caucus lacked only two votes of the nomination. In 1863 he was elected to the house of representatives of Ohio, and was a prominent member of that body, taking a leading part in shaping the important legislation of the State during the last two years of the war.

Hon. Columbus Delano was a member of the National Republican convention held in Baltimore in the year 1864, serving as chairman of the Ohio delegation, and zealously supporting President Lincoln's renomination, and the nomination of Andrew Johnson for Vice-President. In the same year he was elected a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress, and served as chairman of the committee on claims. In 1866 Mr. Delano was a delegate to the Loyalists' convention, held in Philadelphia. He was also a member of the Fortieth Congress, taking his seat after a successful contest before the House of Representatives.

After his election to Congress in 1864 Mr. Delano relinquished the practice of his profession, and became extensively engaged in sheep husbandry, agricultural pursuits, and in the business of banking.

Mr. Delano, after the close of his service as a member of the Fortieth Congress, was appointed by President Grant commissioner of internal revenue, and in 1870 he received the appointment of Secretary of the Interior, succeeding Governor J. D. Cox, thereby becoming one of President Grant's cabinet. He tendered his resignation of this office in 1875, after a service of five years, which was accepted by the President with expressions of satisfaction with the manner in which he performed the duties

Since Mr. Delano's resignation of the honorable position of Secretary of the Interior, he has lived in comparative retirement among his early friends in Mt. Vernon, which for sixty-four years he has called his home. There, amidst the elegance, the quiet, the contentment of a well ordered home, among cherished friends of earlier and later times, he enjoys the philosophic composure, the otium cum dignitate, the sage-like dignity, the leisure, the retirement becoming one whose years of activity, of success, of honor, have so largely outnumbered those of mankind gener. ally; whose ''ways of life'' have been such as that his retrospections would be pleasurable, be recalled with delight, and cherished with complacency.

Mr. Delano has led an active, useful, busy, laborious life, and has merited and enjoyed success and prosperity in a large measure. In peace and in war he has been patriotic; especially was he the friend of his country in the perilous years of the great Rebellion. Always the friend of Freedom and the enemy of slavery, none more zealously supported emancipation. Temperate, and the friend of temperance; the supporter of education and good morals; the schools, colleges and churehes always found in him an advocate. His recent large gift to Kenyon college was the liberal act of a noble man.

DENNIS, ABRAHAM, deceased, Berlin township, was born in New York; came to Knox county in 1865; he died in 1874. He had four children: William H., Martha, Laura E., and Philip H. Dennis. William died in Guernsey county, and lef a family of eight children. Martha died in Knox county in 1875. Laura E. Dennis and her nephew, Willard, are living on 'the home place.

DENNY, JAMES A., was born in Jackson township April 4, 1840; he was married February 3, 1865, to Mary Ann Dugan. They have had eight children, viz.: Leona, Leota, Maude, Guy, Edith E., Downey E., Leroy, one infant not named. Leona, born November 22, 1865; Leota, November 22, 1866, Maude, January 15, 1867; Guy, July 2, 1870; Leroy, July 23, 1876; Edith E., June 26, 1878; Downey E., April 2, 1880; infant not named, April 21, 1874. Mr. Denny was a member of company I, Eighty-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, and company F., One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry.

DEVER, BENJAMIN F., retired, Fredericktown, was born in Knox county April 17, 1833, and was married November 20, 1859 to Sarah Pollock, who was born in Washington county, Virginia, July 4, 1837. They have the following children, viz. . Franklin H., born February 2, 1858; Alfred D., July 17, 1860; Eddie, August 19, 1862; and Robert R., April 9, 1865. Mr. Dever has resided in Fredericktown for twenty-four years, and has been engaged in buying and selling horses, he has also been adrayman. Franklin H., has been engaged in the drug business for about six years, and isa good practical druggist. He has been elected marshal of the town two terms and is now constable of Morris township.

DEVOE, SAMUEL J., Pleasant township, son of Samuel and Mariam Devoe, was born in Richland county, Ohio, November 20, 1817. He came to Mt. Vernon in 1837, and commenced working at the carpenter and joiner trade, with Blake & Armstrong, and continued at his trade until 1856 or 1857; he then engaged in the manufacture of doors, sash and blinds, at Shannon's old buggy factory, which he operated successfully 'by horse power, until about 1866, when he attached an engine to his machinery and continued in the business until 1870 when his factory was destroyed by fire, and since that date he has been engaged in farming. On the twenty-sixth of February, 1842, he married Miss Hannah Files, of Richland county, Ohio, who was born in 1821. In the spring of 1843, they settled in Mt. Vernon where they remained until 1866, when he purchased and moved on the farm, where they are now living, situated on the Gambier road, about one and one-half miles from Mt. Vernon. They have a family of seven children, three sons and four daughters.