Liberty Township (part 3 of 6)

James Josiah Kngy was born Jul\- 9, 1863. He was ediicalcd at tlie i ']t'asanl\ilU' Academy and at Dayton, ( )hi(), Ma>' 17, 1893, he was married to Ida M. iM'slirr. The)- reside on a farm near Pleasantville.

At the time of his death he was a member of the Fairfield County Ai;ricultural Board. He was a good citizen and highly esteemed by all who knew him.

Franklin Kagy, son of Christian K., was born July 24, 1831, and January 20, 1853, married Ellen Jane Alexander. They were the parents of eleven children. They were active and prominent members of Ijethel Presbyterian church in Rushcreek township.

Their son, Harrison B., lives west of Bremen, Oliio. Their daughter Maggie Ann, married Thomas A. Pugh, one of the clear-headed educated farmers of Greenfield township.

John Williams, their son. was born November 28, 1859. He was educated at the Ohio Normal School, Ada, Ohio. xA.fter teaching acceptably for many years, he engaged in farming. In the year 1885, he married Jennie Stuart, of near Bremen.

of ilicni at tlie Pleasantville Academy and the Normal School, of Ada, Ohio. This is an educated cultured Christian family, an honor to Rushcreek and the name they hear.

Christian C. Kagy, son of Christian R., was born March lo, 1837; he was a veteran Union soldier. He married Maria J. Stuart, sister of his brother's wife. He was a soldier of the Sixty-second Ohio, and, broken in health, he died July, 1.897.

\"iri;inia, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kansas were enriched by the blood of the Kagy family. There were and are many able and distinguished men in the connection. The best known and ablest man with Kagy l)loo(l in his veins, was the late Thomas F. Rayard, of Delaware, whose mother was a desccndent of a Kagv. Of this large and extraordinary family, full}- three-fourths were members of the Primitive Raptist church. There are however, Methoflists, I'resbx terians, Cougrcgalionalists, Reforms, Dunkers and Mennonites among them.

The w riter of this sketch knew man\- of them and bad access to an exhaustive liistory of tlie Kagy family bv braukliu ixagw of C'liambersburg, renns}lvania. Auua ilite, druigbter of S(|uire lohn llite, who resided just west of the old school Raptist church in l'!ea^ant township, married Christian Kagy.

S(|u.ire bihn llite, was a first cousin of Reverend John llite, the father of .Sauuiel and Jacob Hite, of Lancaster, ( )hio. John Henry Kagy, of one branch of this familv. died with ''old John Brown."

The Ruffner Family

One of the famous old pioneers of Fairfield County was Emanuel Ruffner. He was born and brought up in Shenandoah County, Va., and there he married Elizabeth Grove.

He belono-ed to a very large and highly respected A^irginia family - a family more or less distinguished in that state. One of the Ruffners was a man of fine education and culture, and an author of some repute and was well known at Richmond.

One of the family was in early times a proprietor of the great salt works at Charleston, the same where Senator Ewing earned the money to put himself through college. The descendants of this man still live in Charleston, and two of them are large wholesale grocers of that city. The principal hotel is called the Ruffner.

Emanuel Ruffner came with his family to Ohio in 1805 and settled on the land now owned by his grandson and daughter, William Friend and wife, one and one-half miles from West Rushville, Fairfield County. He came there when the Murpheys, Ijams. Wilsons, Rowles, Teals and Stevensons were his only neighbors - all distinguished as early pioneers of that vicinity. He was a teamster in the Revolutionary War and his son John drove a team for him in the war of 181 2.

Emanuel Ruffner was a man of force and integrity, a good citizen and a very useful member of society. He reared a large and interesting family ; his tlaughters were exceptionally fine women and married good men and reared large families.

County, Ohio, where he Hved and died. His sons were farmers. David has been dead some years ; John still resides upon a farm near Hebron, O. He had but one daughter and she resides in the same vicinity. John Ruffner's farm contained five hundred acres.

Jacob Rufitner, son of Emanuel, married Magdalene Bibler. He lived upon a farm near the Stevenson camp ground. His son Jonas married Susan Rhodes and they lived upon a portion of the home farm. His sons were Jacob, Joseph, Levi and Noah. Jacob was the famous soldier of the 17th Ohio, known to all the old boys as "Kate" Ruffner, a name not soon to be forgotten - not while a i/tli veteran lives. Joseph resides upon the old home farm.

Isaac Ruffner, son of Jacob, Sr.. married Miss Stuart of Rushcreek township. His son David married a Miss Harman and they moved to A'lercer County, O. Stewart Ruffner, the teacher, married a daughter of Hiram McNaghton and lives in Richland township, a respected and useful man. Thomas Ruft'- ncr, son of Isaac, is a hopeless invalid. Edward married Minnie Shaw, daugliter of J. W. Shaw, and lives on the old home farm. daughter of Isaac, married Caleb Copcland"s son.

Jacob Ruffner, son of Jacob, Sr., married a daughter of Caleb Copeland. Their son Caleb married a daughter of Reuben Phillips. Maria married in Delaware County, Ohio, George Ruffner married in Perry County, Ohio. William married a Miss Zink and they live in Sugar Grove. Ohio ; Clara married Jacob Biggs,

Cynthia Ruffner married John Hanover and they live in Morrow County, Ohio. Margaret married Thomas Beery and they live in Pleasant township, Ohio. Ola married Ira Spitler and they live on the Freed farm in Pleasant.

Barbara, daughter of Jacob Ruffner, Sr., married David Tussing and they moved to Findlay, Ohio; Magdalene married John Holliday of Rushcreek ; Anna married William Cruit of Perry County, Ohio; Rebecca married Samuel Swartz ; Mary married John Henthorn ; Emily married Jesse Rowles and recently died in Bremen, Ohio.

Emanuel Ruffner, son of Emanuel, married Barbara Harshbarger. He was a fine blacksmith and lived many years near New Salem. His weight was far in excess of 300 pounds. Late in life he moved with his family to Cumberland County, 111., near the town of Greenup.

Colonel Joseph Ruffner, son of Emanuel, Jr., married Rhoda Davis of Licking County, Ohio. He lived a long life on the old Ruffner farm in Richland. He was one of a half dozen old Virginia gentlemen who often met in Lancaster and spent a social afternoon. No one who ever knew him can forget his courtly manners and gentlemanly bearing. He was every inch a gentleman and a good and useful man. He reared two daughters. They married brothers, John and William Friend, who were the sons of another grand old man of Richland, Jonas Friend. They inherited the old Ruffner homestead and have lived upon it and are prosperous farmers. An old elm tree is one of the landmarks of this old place ; its spreading

Barbara Rufifner, daughter of Emanuel, Sr., married David Pence in Virginia and came to Ohio in 1807, carrying their infant daughter, the future Mrs. T. P. Ashbrook, resting upon a pillow, they being on horseback. They spent the winter in a cabin on the Ruflfner place, and in the spring moved to their new home, in the woods, where the Peters family now live, on Indian creek. David Pence was a fine farmer, and he reared a large family. He v^^as a stanch member of the Baptist church. On one occasion Rev. George DeBolt, a long-winded preacher, spoke two and one-half hours. Pence got tired of it and rose to leave the church.

Aaron Pence, the oldest son, married a Miss Hand, near He1)ron. O. ; Joseph married a sister of Aaron's wife. Annie married Tunis P. Ashbrook. Elenor married for her first husband Benjamin Miller; the second was George Shoemaker. She is the mother of Mrs. J. C Hite of Lancaster and lives with her, now 93 years of age. Mary married Jacob Staker and they moved to Plancock, where they are now wealthy people. Rebecca married David Fall and they moved many years since to Jones County, Iowa. Eli.^abeth m.arried Abraham Spitler and they have always lived in Pleasant. Seville married S. P. Weaver and moved to Putnam Countv, where Weaver has

David Pence, Jr., married Henrietta Pugh of Walnut township. David was a teacher when a young man, but since his marriage he has been a farmer. As a citizen no man stands higher in this county and he has but few equals as a good farmer. ?Ie once took the Fair prize for the best ten acres of corn, running above loo bushels to the acre. Mrs. J. S. Sites of this city is his only daughter. Mr. Pence is a reader and a very intelligent man. In early life he was a Democrat, but the effort to enslave Kansas made him a Republican. A physical infirmity prevented his being a soldier, but he has unbounded admiration for the veterans.

:Mary, daughter of Emanuel Ruffner, married William Hill, a prominent citizen of Walnut township. She died in a year or two after marriage in the year 1829. Her only child. John R. Hill, now living in Pleasantvillc, owns tbiC farm she inherited from her father, on Indian Creek. John married an Ashbrook. Ann Ruffner married Thomas Kraner and they lived on the farm given them by Emanuel Ruffner. Their son Joseph married Elizabeth Geiger ; Emanuel married Elenor Ashbrook; Susan Kranor married Benjamin Warner, but did not live many years, when Warner married a Miss Miller. Eli Rowles, a prominent citizen of Pleasantville, married a daughter of P^manuel Kraner.

Magdalene Ruffner, daughter of Emanuel, married Christian Baker, a remarkable couple in many respects. Christian Raker represented this county in the Ohio Legislature two terms. He was not distinguished for abilitv beyond good common sense, but a purer or

Their daughter Mahala married David Smith, and they moved to Greenup, 111. Louisa married William Risler and they moved to the same neighborhood. Mary Ann married H. B. Eyman, once a very prominent citizen of Richland township. His sons have become well known business and professional men. Christian Baker Eyman is a farmer of Walnut and made a good run for commissioner recently- Lou Eyman is a druggist of Lancaster, Ohio ; Dr. Eyman is superintendent of the Cleveland, Ohio, Lunatic Asylum, and enjoys some distinction.

Emanuel Ruffner Pence Baker married Louisa Ston.eburner. He studied law in Lancaster and lived here a few years. But he did not make a success of the law and abandoned it for the drug business in Th.ornville. C). While living there he was elected a member of the Ohio Legislature and served two terms. Baker was a very clever man. He reared a family. One son is manager of the Peruna Drug Co. owned by the wealthy patent medicine man of Columbus, Dr. Hartman. Baker's long name gave him annoyance at times. It was often the subject of jest. The bad boys called him many nicknames.

Susan Ruffner, daughter of Emanuel, married Daniel Keller. Keller became a very remarkable man, distinguished for his good common sense, rare judgment and fine business qualities. His integrity was never questioned nor his honor smirched. He represented this county in the Ohio Legislature in 1849 and voted with his party for Chase for Senator and for the repeal of the black laws. He served as a trustee of the Ohio State University and his vote determined the location on the Neil farm, north of Columbus. His chief reason for favoring that particular farm was owing to a fine spring on the premises. This spring was strong enough for farm purposes, but soon became inadequate for a college.

Daniel Keller owned several faims and all had good springs of good water. He was the bosom friend of Gov. Medill, by whom he was highly esteemed. He was a great partisan, a Democrat of the old school. By the time he became an old man there had l^een great changes in parties and party principles and his living sons and grandsons were active working Republicans.

Simon married Ellen Sites of Pleasant township. He died in the prime of life. His son married a daughter of John Beery and lives near Bremen, Ohio. Joseph married iVIary Lamb, daughter of Peter Lamb. He died in the prime of life. Mrs. Sb.owalter of Lancaster is a daughter. Emanuel married a daughter of Reuben Emick, who lived at one time on the farm now owned by David Pence. Emanuel Keller has been for many years a farmer in Missouri. David Pence Keller married a McFarland, and moved to Illinois, where he prospered. He is now a banker and a man of means. He is a prominent cit-

Augustus Ruffner Keller married a McFarland. He was a man of many accomplishments and a gentleman highly esteemed for his ability and many good qualities.

Catharine, daughter of Daniel Keller, married J. R. Shaver ; they moved many years ago to LaSalle County, 111., where Shaver has been a prosperous farmer.

Laura married Jonas Kite ; they lived on a farm near the Baptist church in Pleasant township. Tliey were the parents of Levi Hite. the attorney.

Martha A. married William L. Rigby, a farmer, but late probate judge of Fairfield County. Susan married William Aledill, a nephew of Governor W'il- Ham Medill, of Lancaster, O. Mr. Medill is the owner of good farms and he understands their management. He now resides in Lancaster, but his farms are not neglected.

Benjamin Ruffner. Sr., lived on what has since been known as the Augustus R. Keller farm. He was the father of David. Benjamin and Noah Rufifner. Noah lived and died on the old farm. He married a daughter of Jonas Friend. David lived near Millersport and was for many }-ears a prominent man. He married his cousin, a daughter of Daniel Rufifner. Benjamin married a daugiiter of William Lamb. He was a great business man and very prominent sixty years ago. He ran a large whiskey distillery for several years at Hebron, Ohio. He finally failed in business, moved west' and settled on a farm near Fort Wayne, Ind.

The Rowles Family

This family was of English and Scotch origin, but the exact date of their coming to America is not known. William Rowles is the earliest name found upon English records. He was born July 9, 1682, and died Nov. 17, 1750. Flis son Christopher Rowles, was born May 9. 1708. This record was found in a bible printea in London in 17 16. John Rowles the immediate ancesrer c.{ the Fairfield family, lived near Baltimore. Md. He was born .\])ril 1 1, 1734 and died aged 67 years, in 1804. The name of his wife was Sarah. They had four sons and several daughters. Jesse. Jacob, Nicholas and William were the sons. Jesse and William came to Ohio in 1803. William lived a few years with Jesse; then returned to Maryland and married Sarah Chamberlain. He returned to Ohio and lived until 1838 in Franklin County, when he moved to Missouri, where he died in October, 1854. His son, Reuben, lives in Missouri and John in California. His daughters, Mary, Ann, and Eliza, married brothers, named Barbee of

Jesse Rowles was born in BaUimore county, Md., Nov. 9, 1772. He married Ehzabeth Murphey, daughter of Rev. John Murphey, and Esther, his wife, March 2y, 1798. She was born June 2, 1777, and died in Bremen, Nov. II, 1843. Jesse Rowles died ]May 7, 1835. Jesse Rowles came to Fairfield County with his family in 1803 and settled on a quarter section of John Murphey's land, since known as the Spence farm. Here he gave his attention to farming, making an occasional trip to Baltimore with a freight team. George Clum, an old wagoner, was often in his company. In early life he was a millwright and worked on the big mills at Ellicott's mills, Maryland.

Jesse Rowles was an Episcopalian, and he never united with any church in this county. He lived a good life and reared a good family. Their descendants are very numerous and all Christian people. Rev. J. F. Kemper, of Seward, Neb., is a Methodist and a grandson, one we hope, worthy to wear the mantle of John Murphey. There are numerous teachers in the family, good business men, good farmers.

Ara1)clla Ivowles, was l)orn Julv 14, 1817. She married her cousin. Theodore Murphey, April 9, ic<42. Slie was the mother of a family of children mentioned in the Murphey sketch.

Charlotte, daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth Rowles, married Morris Smith, of Thorn township, Perry County, Ohio, March 24, 1844. Smith came at an early day from Stamford, Conn. He was a typical Yankee, plain, frugal and intelligent. He was a good farmer, fond of horticulture and a great reader. He was thoroughly well informed and while working his farm and rearing a family of eight children, studied medicine for the pure love of learning. His children inherited his tastes and formed an interesting family. Their mother was an excellent woman, fond of her children and her home. Everet, lives in Nebraska, James M., at New Salem, and Mary and sister in Delaware, Ohio. Mr. Smith was born July ly, 1814. and died July 14, 1893.

Althea was born August 31. She married Asa Kemper, April 20, 1843. a most excellent man of near Thornville. Perry County. (Jhio. Mrs. Kemper died October i. 1861. They educated their family of three children. Mrs. Abbie Tillotson lives at Table Rock, Neb., and Rev. James F. Kemper at Seward, Nebraska.

Elizabeth was born December 6, 1806. She married Thomas King of Rushville. Mr. King and she were married in 1828. He died in 1832. In 1853, the widow married H. Barbee, of Grove City, and moved with him to Prospect, Marion County, where she died May 3, 1887. Barbee is living in Columbus, 84 years of age. ^Fary ]\I. King, of Westerville. is the only living descendant of Elizabeth A. Rowles..

Mary Ellen Rowles was born December. 1819. and died in 1834. She was unmarried. Sarah Louisa, a teacher , never married. She was born May 7, 1809, and died Nov. 9, 1842.

John Murphey Rowles was born September 2^,, 1804, on the Spence farm. - He married Mary Ann Morrow in 1829. She was born in Mifflin County, Pa., February 15, 1809. He was a farmer and moved upon his farm, north of Bremen in 1830. They reared and educated ten children. For many years he was a wagoner and drove a six horse team with produce to Baltimore, returning with goods. The merry music of the bells cheered him on his way. He died July 10, 1878. His was a Christian home and his family a happy one. His children were wont to gather a'bout him before the old fashioned fireplace and hear the story of his trips to old Baltimore. Death has since made sad inroads upon his once happy circle and those joyous occasions are only a memory to those that are left.

His daughter, Mrs. Johnson, died Sept. 27, 1882. Florence died May 30, 1890; Adelia died January, 1898. Mrs. Ellen Kelsey lives near Bremen ; Caroline, who married R. D. Grant, lives in Grove City', Mrs. Jennie Shelhamer in Bremen.

John Rowles was a member of Company C, Captain John Wiseman's Co., 46th Ohio. He was 24 years of age when he enlisted. He was killed early in the morning of the first day, April 6, 1862, in the battle of Shiloh. Fifteen of his comrades fell upon that fatal field (^f battle. "Tb.e Southland holds their dreamless dust" and the mocking birds sing their requiem. Captain and comrades are all together now.

John Rowles was first sergeant and favorite of his company. He was a fine, manly, generous fellow, and as brave and gallant a soldier as ever carried a musket.

William, son of Jesse and Elizabeth Rowles, was born January 5, 1802, in the State of Maryland. He was brought to Ohio in 1803. He was brought up to farming, and when old enough he was entrusted with his father's team of six horses and carried produce to Baltimore and returned loaded with goods for Rushville merchants. Just when he ceased to be a wagoner we cannot state. January 13, 1826, he was married to Maria Stuart of Rushcreek township.

They settled upon a tract of land, since known as the Kelsey farm, once owned by Daniel Kelsey. In a short time they moved further down Rushcreek to what is known as the beaver dam, below the present town of Bremen. There he devoted his time, principally to raising tobacco, then the great staple of Rushcreek farms.

The farmers of Rushcreek sold their product to Joseph Ijams & Bros., West Rushville, or to William Coulson of Rushville, then great merchants. This tobacco was taken east by great wagons, or by the Ohio Canal from Baltimore, Ohio. Both firms had branches and warehouses at the latter place.

This tobacco trade was a great boon to the farmers, and enabled hundreds to pay their debts and secure titles to their farms. In the end many good farmers were heavy losers by the disastrous failure of both firms.

George Beery and Hedges, in 1835, opened a store in the new village of Bremen, then but recently laid out by Beery. John Ashbaugh was a merchant later, as were the sons of George Beery, Isaac, Brooks and

Simon. The tobacco they purchased was shipped bycanal from Lancaster. John HolHday was kept busy for weeks at a time hauHng their hogsheads to Lancaster.

Conestoga teams came from Baltimore with goods and returned loaded with produce. The last one seen in Bremen was driven by a negro slave from Baltimore.

His master had agreed to free him at a certain time if he proved faithful and true and give him the team and wagon. He had but two years to serve when he came to Bremen. He drove a splendid team of heavy bay horses, six in number. He rested them for a week in Bremen. He then put on an extra load - 10,000 pounds of bacon cured by John Ashbaugh. The entire population turned out to see the team pull up Rushcreek hill. He rested them for a moment at the foot. Took each horse by the bridle and touched him with his whip, and mounted the saddle horse, pulled the line and they moved like clock work, without a break or stop to the top of the hill.

William Rowles and wife while living at Beaver Dam, about the year 1832, joined the Presbyterian Society at Bethel, four miles southeast of Bremen, under the pastorate of Rev. Francis Bartlett. In 1836 he purchased the farm of Ralph Cherry, who married the youngest daughter of Joseph Leib, Sr., the same farm where Thompson Rowles recently lived. Upon this farm he continued to live up to the date of his death, which event occurred, September 9, 1863. His wife him thirteen years - dying at the age of 63 years.

He reared and educated a family of children, an honor to their name and their township. After the organization of the Bremen Presbyterian church, Octo- ber 21, 1844, Wm. Rowles and wife changed their membership from Bethel to Bremen. Of this new church, Wm. Rowles, John Ashbaugh and Daniel Rodehafer were the first elders.

William and Elizabeth Rowles were the parents of eleven children, eight sons and three daughters. Jesse, the eldest, married Emily Ruffner, a sister of Jonas Rufifner and a daughter of Jacob Ruffner. They lived upon a farm until recently and reared a family of children. Mrs. Rowles died Eebruary 2, 1899, aged 66 years. A daughter married the late J. J. Elder. Their son, Jesse A., married a daughter of Dr. Rankin. Jesse Rowles now lives in Bremen. A daughter married Dr. Driver.

John S. Rowles married Elizabeth Larimer, daughter of Wright Larimer, once a leading man in Rushcreek. They lived upon a farm south of Bremen. John S. died in 1897. He had a family of nine children. Wm. Rowles married Rebeccah Larimer, a daughter of Isaac Larimer, once a prominent man of the county. His first wife was Margaret Orndorf. They live upon a fine farm in Pleasant. They are the parents of nine children. David Rowles married Mary Holliday. They are both dead. The wife was a daughter of Zebulon Holliday. Charles Rowles married Elizabeth Ashbaugh, a daughter of Wm. Ashbaugh. They live upon a farm near Bremen. They reared a family of eight children. Thompson Rowles married Rebecca Holliday, a daughter of John Holliday. The\- spent many }ears on the old home place. One of their (laughters married a son of John Q. A. Blue.

Eli Rowles. in 1872, married Ann M. Kraner, grand-daughter of Tunis P. Ashbrook. She died about one year since. They Hved in Pleasantville. Eli has been for some years a grain merchant. He received a good big vote for County Clerk.

Thompson and Jesse Rowles married Baptist wives and they are now of that faith. Every third Sunday, though living eight miles from the church, finds them with their families in their pews. The other members of the family are of the faith of their parents, Presbyterians.

Rush Creek Presbyterians

Rev. Charles Work and his brother, distinguished Presbyterian clergymen, were brought up at old Bethel. A plow boy at the head of the first church of Cincinnati is something for Bethel to be proud of. Distinguished lawyers, distinguished clergymen and merchants honor the names of both Bethel and Rushcreek - Leib, Work, Davis and Beery.

We must refer more fully to the Presbyterians of Rushcreek. In 1803 missionary workers of the associate Reform Presbyterians came from Kentucky and held services in a tent. A church was soon built just over the line of Pleasant, two and one-half miles west of Rushville and south of Maysville pike one-half mile.

In later years this society was known as the United Presbyterians, most of its members were Rushcreek people. They still sing Psalms, but have introduced modern music on account of their children.

Rev. John Wright, organized the Rushcreek society in 1806 and in 1807 a two story hewed log house was built in what is now Jockey Hollow on Joseph S. Shaw's farm, two miles south of West Rushville. This society worshiped here until 1830. William Larimer and William Trimble were elders, when a brick church was built in West Rushville. The church (the old log) was abandoned and a part of the society went to West Rushville. Of this society David Y. Davis was an elder, a part to Bethel and a few to the United Presbyterians. The logs of the old church were used to build a shop in the village. Tiie Bethel church building was erected in 1828. Amos Davis, a public spirited man, furnished the lumber and was a liberal contributor. The subscriptions were mostly in produce. One man subscribed so much wheat to be delivered at Leib's mill. Jacob Moyer, father of John and Thomas of Pleasant, and David Miller were the contractors. Moyer died here ; Miller in Iowa. Jacob Moyer, John Larimer and Amos Davis were the first elders. Rev. John Wright preached for them once each month. Rev. Francis Bartlett became the regular pastor in 1832. Many of the members were Scotch-Irish, they were strict with their children and almost invariably raised good families.

As previously stated Wm. Rowles married Maria Stuart. She was the daughter of pioneer parents, William Stuart and Maria Henderson, known as Scotcli- Irish. Stuart's mother was a Thompson. They were both born in Ireland. The father came to the

Here they became acquainted and were married February 18, 1801. A few years after their marriage they came to this county and settled near what is now Bremen. In a few years they were owners of a halt section of land, a part of which is now within the corporation of Bremen. They built a comfortable home on the bluff just north of the present village where they spent a peaceful, honorable and useful life, rearing a family of children. One of their best known sons, Thompson Stuart, highly esteemed and useful man, was born March 20, 1816. He married Rebecca C. Holliday, daughter of Zebulon Holliday, another sturdy and vigorous man of Rushcreek township. The wedding occurred April 20, 1845. He purchased a part of the old Stuart homestead and lived the life of a farmer to the end of his days in sight of Bremen. They reared a family of seven children.

Mrs. Charles P'errin of Columbus, Mrs. W. B. Henry of Lancaster, Mrs. N. W. Good of Logan, W. J. Stuart of Springfield, Mrs. W. C. McCandish, Zebulon and Wesley of Bremen.

His father-in-law Zebulon Holliday was a staunch Methodist and was devoted to his church. The writer has known him to attend a quarterly meeting twelve miles from his home. Viity years have come and gone since that occasion.

Alexander T. Stuart the great merchant of New York is claimed as a cousin of William Stuart the pioneer. Both were born in the same neighborhood m North Ireland.

We cannot close without referring to the early schools of Rushcreek. The first was taught by Christopher Welty in George Beery's kitchen. The second by Joseph Osborn in the kitchen of Joseph Leib, Sr. The late David Y. Davis attended the last named.

The Wilson Family Of Richland

In the spring of i8oo, William Wilson, of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in company with his three sons, James, William and Michael, started for the Ohio country - with a pack horse to carry their car.)p equipage. They arrived at Rushcreek on the i6th day of May, and camped near the great spring now owned by Mrs. William Friend. They spent the summer here, and made some progress in clearing land, but were too late to raise a crop of corn. In the fall William Wilson left his boys in camp and returned to Pennsylvania for the remainder of his famih . PTe soM his property and started for Ohio, arriving at his camp on Rushcreek on the 27th of November.

At Zanesville they crossed the river on a ferry boat with difficulty, as it was covered with ice. They spent the night on the west bank with a brother of Col. Ebenezer Zane. After leaving Zanesville they fell in company with George Sanderson, whose horse, on the way, came near dying with the colic. He was relieved by a liberal use of bear's oil. Whether applied externally or given internally we cannot state. Sanderson

They found two cabins at the crossing- of Rushcreek near Whitmore's orBinckley's in Perry County. A Mr. Atkinson and Peter Zarley were living there.

They reached the camp of the boys at sunset - when the family was united, thirteen in all, without house or home. But strong hands soon put up a cabin.

Their nearest neighbor was S. Chaney, who lived near where West Rushville now stands on what is now the Barr farm. He kept a log cabin tavern, undoubtedly the first in the county. Other neighbors lived on the section north of their location, viz. : Fredrick Heck, Ben. Johnson and a man named Smith.

William Brown, a fine scholar, the Loofberrys, S. Hammel and J. Wilson lived in the neighborhood. Moses Plumme in 1800, built a small tub mill, as it was called, on Rushcreek where the high bridge now stands. In two or three years this mill was carried off by a flood and Plummer moved to Muskingum county, Ohio. There is some question as to who built the first water mill in Fairfield County. Plummer, Loveland and. Smith, or the Carpenters - all three were built in 1800. So tradition and history says.

Tn 1801 William Turner came to the settlement and purchased the section where Rushville now stands. S. Hammel and James Wilson purchased 30 acres of William Turner and l)uilt a small mill and a whiskey distillery, just below the site of the Plummer mill.

About 1803 John Murphy settled on what has since been known as the Lamb section. His son William, soon after their coming, was killed by the falling of a log while raising the timbers of a school house. This is the first school house in Fairfield County of which we have any account.

About this same time Edward Teal, Christly Smith, Robert Chafiin and John Shepler came into the neighborhood, to the north. Teal purchased 1200 acres of good land, now the Ashbrook neighborhood. He was the father-in-law of Rev. James Quinn, the first Methodist to preach in Fairfield County. John Manly and Judge David Swayze came about the year 1803, and settled in the Elm flat. Emanuel Rufifner, father of the late Col. Jos. Ruffner, settled on a part of the Wilson section in this same year, or near that time. David Pence came about the same time. Daniel Stevenson, with a large family, settled in or about 1803 on the section north of Wilson. Edward Murphy came to the neighborhood about this time and courted and married Sarah Murphy, daughter of John Murphy. Edward settled on the section south of Wilson and Rufifner. He kept tavern - was a farmer, and he also purchased the mill and distillery of Hammel and Wilson and operated them for a while. He was a good citizen, and he and his wife were hospitable and amiable peopl<!. They reared eighteen orphan children, some of them black. William Wiseman was a settler of this period. He lived near West Rushville. He was the son-in-law of William Ijams ; was an old soldier of Gen. St. Clair's army. Peter Rufifner, another early settler of this period, lived near Edward Murphy on the old State road. He was a farmer and distiller, but died young. He left three or four sons, Benjamin

S., Abraham, Martin and Michael. Martin was killed by the Indians in what is now Ashland County, Ohio. A full account of this tragedy may be found in Howe's History of Ohio. Michael was a merchant in Rushville, Pleasantville and Baltimore, and lately a doctor in Greenup, Illinois. Henry Huddle came about 1803 or 1805. He married a daughter of John Murphy. He was the first man to improve the Foresman mill site on Rushcreek. He built at an early day a grist mill and a distillery. In a few years he sold out to Solomon Linville, and in time Linville sold to George Foresman ; the section now belongs to his grandson of Circleville. There is not a vestige of the old mill left, and the exact spot cannot, with certainty, be pointed out. William Wilson was a prominent man in his township, and very much esteemed. He was the first justice of the peace elected in Richland township. Thomas and Isaac I jams were early justices of the peace, and Thomas Ijams represented Fairfield county in the legislature.

Wilson reared a large family of children. Thomas Wilson lived an old bachelor on the old home to a good old age. He was a gentleman of the old school, kind and generous, and lived a quiet, happy life.

David lived many years on a part of the old home section, but before the civil war moved to Tipton, Missouri. David was a prominent man and would have attracted attention anywhere. He was a man of fine presence and a good conversationalist. He was entertaining and agreeable. Isaac Wilson was all his life a farmer of Fairfield County. At the time of his death he owned the best farm in Greenfield. Isaac was an active, powerful man, a leader in early times, and the man around whom evervbodv rallied when thev wanted a brave and invincible leader. He was the father of the late J. W. Wilson, of Greenfield. Michael Wilson lived for some time in Vinton county, and was living as late as 1852. Benjamin died in New Orleans.

James Wilson and William Wilson spent most of their lives on a farm near Uniontown, Ohio. Joseph, one of the eight sons, lived on a farm near Rushville.

Mary, daughter of William Wilson, married a hatter of Zanesville named Herron. Their daughter, Mary, was for years a teacher in our Lancaster schools. Another daughter made her home with Thos. Wilson, and became the wife of Alfred Melick.

Catherine Wilson married Gen. John Williamson, and after his death she became the wife of Col. Wm. Sumner. She was for many years a leading lady of Lancaster. The father of Gen. Tom Ritchie married a daughter of William Wilson. The General was a farmer and a popular man. He represented the Perry district in Congress and sent Phil. Sheridan to West Point. Mrs. Mary Work, of this city, is a daughter of David Wilson, and Mrs. W. M. Leiby is a greatgranddaughter of the old pioneer, William Wilson. Mrs. Ada Wiseman is a great-granddaughter.

Isaac Ijams was the father of Isaac, John and William. William Ijams was the father of Richard and Howard. Thomas Ijams was the father of John, Joseph and Frederick. Eight men who were for many years prominent in business, in and about West Rushville. Joseph was especially distinguished as a merchant and dealer in tobacco. His splendid six-horse teams used in his business are still the talk of the old people. He failed in business in 1841, and moved to Iowa. One of his sons became a prominent man in the West.

The first Methodist church built in Fairfield County was Richland chapel. It was a hewed log structure as plain as plain could be. It stood near the old graveyard, and in sight of the home of Daniel Stevenson, not far from Wilson's. Those in the neighborhood who were Methodists or patronized that church prior to 1805, were Daniel Stevenson and wife, Isaac and Thomas Ijams, John J. Jackson, John Sunderland, Edward Teal, Samuel Hammil, David Swayze, William Wilson, Jacob and Philip Sain, William Turner, John Murphey, William Harper, John Manly, Thomas and John Bond and Isaac Wiles and their families.

Thomas and David Wilson were staunch Methodists. Jesse Stoneman, James Quinn and Asa Shinn were the first men to preach to these people. Bishop Asbury preached to them in 1803, and again at a great camp-meeting in 1807, when over 1000 people were in attendance. Bishop McKendry preached there, James Axly and Peter Cartright, James B. Findlay and Bishop Roberts.

The writer gleaned most of the facts in this sketch from a manuscript left by the late Thomas Wilson, an authority that will not for a moment be questioned by those who knew him.

The Murphey Family

The Murphey family was quite a large and prominent one in pioneer times in this county. Edward Murphey examined the country in 1798 and '99 and returned to the East. In the year 1800 his father,

William Murphey, and three sons, William, Benjamin and Edward, settled near where Millersport now stands. Rev. John Murphey, a local Methodist preacher, and a brother of William, came in the same year and purchased a section of land about one and one-half miles west of Rushcreek. He built a cabin near the spot where a large brick home was afterwards built by his son-in-law, Edward Murphey, which brick house is still standing. It was in this cabin where Bishop Asbury spent his first night in Fairfield County and where he preached in 1803. Benjamin Murphey died early and we have no record of him, except that he paid tax in 1806 and moved to Licking County.

William Murphey, son of the pioneer, became a very prominent and well known man in Walnut township. In his early years he was a hunter and Indian trader and carried his fur on pack horses to Winchester, Va., and with the proceeds purchased a section of land, on which he in a few years built a brick house. He was born in Virginia in 1774 and died in the year 1854. He was a famous fox hunter and up to within a few years of his death kept a large pack of hounds. He could ride a horse to perfection and clear the best fences.

His first wife was Hester Whittaker, either a sister or a daughter of Eli Whittaker, one of the early pioneers of Walnut. Whittaker's wife was a sister of Thomas Cherry. The mother of the late Gen. Jas. M. Comly, editor of the Ohio State Journal, was a Whittaker. They lived near New Lexington. Thomas, John and Dakin Whittaker were sons of Eli. Mrs. Elijah Kemper, Mrs. John S. Manley, Mrs. Geo. B. Wiseman, Mrs. Geo. Haver and Mrs. Asa

Murphey were his daughters., all well known people of the past. Murphey's second wife was a daughter of Joseph Holmes, a grand old pioneer of Walnut township.

The family of William Murphey consisted of one son and five daughters. James Wilson Pearse, who when a boy, was a clerk along with John D. Martin in N. R. Usher's store at Monticello, in 1833 married Eliza Murphey. They lived upon a farm near Millersport. Their children were William, living in Newark, and Mrs. Matlack, of Lancaster. James Ball, for many years a popular justice of the peace, married Belinda. Ball was a fine looking gentleman and much esteemed. Their son, James Ball, lives in Fostoria, Ohio, Mrs. R. Morrison in Bowling Green, Ohio, and two daughters, nice maiden ladies, in Newark, Ohio. Hester married a Mr. White, of Pennsylvania. She is a well preserved and handsome elderly lady, and lives with her children in Westerville, Ohio. Dr. Van Metre, of Circlevile, married Nancy, the youngest daughter. Rachel Murphey married John Pugh. They were the parents of the late Byron M. Pugh.

William, the son, was born in 1818 and received a good education, besides inheriting 350 acres of land. December 25, 1849. ^'^^ ^^as married to Mary Jane Cherry, daughter of Thomas Cherry, of Walnut. She was born August 22, 1830. They were the parents of eight children, one of whom died young.

Edward Murphey, brother of William (the old hunter ) married his cousin, Sarah, daughter of John Murphey, and a sister of Elizabeth Rowles. They were married in 1801 by William Trimble, a justice of the peace. Edward built a cabin on his father-in- law's farm and in late years a large brick house, which is still standing. In his log house he kept a frontier tavern for a number of years. Mrs. Murphey was a famous woman in her time. She is credited with rearing 32 orphan children, in addition to her own family of five. Color made no difference to her. She raised Joseph Blanchard, well known in Lancaster, and Isabelle, the wife of old Perry Cooper. Edward Murphey died in the fifties. His wife outlived him several years and became the second wife of Asa Murphey, who at the time lived near Carroll.

Theodore, the son of Edward and Sarah Murphey, married Arabella Rowles in 1840, daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth Rowles. They spent their lives upon the old Murphey farm in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture and the rearing of a family. Arabella Murphey died in 1848 and Theodore married a second wife.

The sons of Theodore Murphey were Edward N. Murphey, now a guard in the Ohio Penitentiary, Henry, the present postmaster of West Rushville, Pierson E. Murphey', a grain and produce dealer of West Rushville, F. A. Murphey, also a resident of West Rushville. The Murphey family has always been a highly respectable one and allied by marriage to many of the best families of the county.

Children Of John Murphey

Elizabeth Murphey, wife of Jesse Rowles and mother of Mrs. Theodore Murphey was born June 2, 1777. She was married March 27, 1798. She died in Bremen, Ohio, November 11, 1843.

ford, Butler County, Ohio. He was a son of a grand old pioneer and the father of a large family. Althea Murphey married a Mr. Roland and moved to Ashland County, Ohio. Achsa Murphey married a Mr. Bailey and moved to eastern Ohio.

Nelly Murphey married Henry Huddle and they moved to Augusta County, Virginia. John and his wife, Edward and his wife, Theodore and his wife are buried in or near West Rushville. When on their way to their new home in the wilderness, Mrs. Murphey learned of the death of her mother, Mrs. Peddicord, in Pennsylvania. This news almost broke her heart, already full of sorrow. She could not leave her family and return, and like other brave pioneers, under circumstances of distress and sorrow, she turned her face to the west and bid home and mother adieu forever.

They followed Zane's trace through an unbroken forest to Rushcreek. Here in a lonely cabin with her husband and children she spent what was left of life. The frequent visits of Bishop Asbury and other pioneer Methodist preachers, who preached in their cabin and enjoyed their hospitality, was about all there was to cheer them in their isolated home - no roads then, no churches, no schools, no newspapers, and but few books. All they learned of what was going on in the world was from an occasional letter from the East, on which the postage was twenty-five cents, or from passing travelers or itinerant preachers.

We omitted in its proper place the name of Basil Murphey, son of William. His family moved to Delaware, Ohio. One of his daughters, Miss Linda, an elderly maiden ladv, resides there.

Murphey Family Supplement

The second wife of Theodore Murphey was Margaret Alford. Their daughter married Alexander Huston and they live on a farm near the old homestead. As long as sixty years ago three sisters lived here with their mother, named Murphey. They lived for a while in the old Peck dwelling, opposite Hotel Martin. We can not learn the name of the father but he was a relative of John and Edward Murphey.

In 1842 Lydia married Joel Radebaugh, then in the clerk's office, but later Probate Judge of Fairfield County. The judge died a year or two since in Tacoma, Washington, leaving a widow and one son, Randolph Foster Radebaugh. named for Bishop Foster.

Rachel married William Winthrop Sifford, whom John Sherman, in his autobiography, named as one of his school-mates. They moved to Indianapolis and Sifford died there.

Elizabeth was a milliner and at one time had a fine store in the Collins' block. She married a Mr. Key, a gentleman from Wheeling, Va., about 1859. They in a year or two moved to Wheeling. Key was one of the famous family of that name, immortalized by the " Star Spangled Banner." He is said to have inherited a fortune after going to Wheeling. Their son went to Texas and became a cowboy. He married the handsome daughter of an Indian chief. His wife died young and left three children. These he took to Wheeling and placed them under the care of his mother. The writer met him on his way returning to Texas, and had this story from his own lips.

The Holmes Family

THE HOLMES FAMILY William M. Holmes, the ancestor of the Holmes family, came from England to Baltimore, Maryland, in or about the year 1700. His wife, Honore Wells, was born December 10, 1724. They were married when she was in her i6th year. Their children were, Lenorah, born 1742; William, born 1746; James, the subject of this sketch, was born February 13, 1748; Sarah, 1750. She married Colonel Alex. McLain, of Uniontown, Penn. ; Elizabeth was born February 12, 1753. She married George Wells, and they settled in Union township, Licking County, Ohio. Thomas, born 1755, settled in Licking County; Alexander, born 1757, was killed in the revolutionary war.

William M. Holmes died March 10, 1758. His widow married Richard Brown, November 17, 1759. Brown was colonel under General Washington. He lived in Pennsylvania at that time. They moved as early as 1796 to Holliday's Cove, on the Ohio river, near the present town of Wellsburg, Va. Colonel Brown died February 8, 181 1, aged 71 years. His wife died March 28, 1816, aged 90 years. Their daughter Rachel married General James Wells who settled on the Hooker farm in 1801, and whom we will sketch in another paper. General Wells was a brother of the George Wells mentioned - the husband of Elizabeth Holmes.

The Holmes family was prominent in the history of this county. The family of the founder. James Holmes, Sr., consisted of thirteen sons and one daughter. They were all married and all reared families with one exeception.

very well educated and filled important positions in life. James Holmes, Sr., was a soldier of the Revolution, and after the war ended he settled in Washington County, Pa., where he married Ann Whittaker, a sister of Eli Whittaker. He had quite a family of boys before emigrating to the west and they received a good education for the time in which they lived. He belonged to the hardy people known as the Scotch Irish. He came with his family to Fairfield County in 1802. He purchased the land which lay between the William Murphey farm and what is now Millersport. On this farm he built the first brick house in that part of the county. But on this farm in an ordinary log house he reared his large family. They began to leave soon and settled upon tracts of their own. The Murpheys, Whittakers, Crawfords, Havers and Cherrys formed a fine pioneer neighborhood. They intermarried and raised large families, and for one hundred years their influence has been one for good. James Holmes lived to be 79 years of Sge and his wife 69 years. They were buried near the home of Alexander and James, Jr., at the Wells graveyard or George's Chapel, one-half mile north of Luray, in Licking County. James Holmes was slightly lame, caused by a wound received in the Revolutionary war. He was a man of sterling qualities, and very prominent in his neighborhood. He built the first brick house in Walnut township. Thomas Holmes, a brother of James, settled in Union township, Licking County, Ohio. He died, aged 78 years, and was buried at George's Chapel, near Luray, Ohio.

Alexander Holmes was the eldest son of James. He was well educated in Pennsylvania. He married a daughter of the first William Murphey and a sister of Mrs. John Van Buskirk, of Licking County. He settled upon the farm where he lived and died, in Union township, in 1802. He was a fine surveyor and was for some time employed as a land surveyor for the government. Subsequently he was elected county surveyor of Licking County. He surprised and disgusted his father by early predicting that the Ohio Canal would .some day be built and would pass through his farm. A prediction that came true. He reared a family and lived to an advanced age. His body is said to have been buried on his farm.

Alexander Holmes was much more than an ordinary man. .About the year 1808 he was appointed an Associate Judge of Licking County and served one term.

Licking and Fairfield Counties united in celebrating this event. Governor Clinton was received by a committee from each county. Judge Holmes and Judge Wilson for Licking and Judge Scofield and CoUmel John Xoble for Fairfield. Thomas Ewing delivered the oration and Gottlieb Steinman furnished the dinner. Judge Holmes at this time was one of the most distinguished men of Licking County. In his early life, in the woods, his father and mother and son Eli paid him a visit. On the way, in the forest, they noticed a smoke and soon saw the fire. Mrs. Holmes filled her pipe and gave it to Eli to light for her. Going to the fire he found a family living and keeping house in a hollow sycamore tree - where they had lived for one vear.

Thomas Holmes, son of James, was born in Pennsylvania, and came with his father to Ohio. He married Rachel Wells, his cousin. She was a daughter of George Wells, who married Elizabeth Holmes, a sister of James Holmes. George Wells lived in Union township, Licking County, and both he and his wife were buried at George's Chapel. Thomas Holmes purchased a section of land north of what is now Carroll. He was there as early as 1806, and a tax payer. He lived an honorable and useful life and left a good name as the heritage of his children. He died October 14, 1847, aged 68 years. Rachel, his wife, died January 8, 1845, aged 59. They were both buried at the Carroll cemetery. They were the parents of five sons. Thomas, James. George. Alexander and Richard. All dead but the last one named.

Wesley Holmes, a Carroll merchant, is the only son of George Holmes. He married Catharine Aldred, a sister of Dr. A. T. Aldred, late of Carroll.

Elizabeth, daughter of George, is the wife of Captain O. B. Brandt, a farmer near Carroll. They live on the old home place. Mary, daughter of George, married Dr. Hummel, of Baltimore. James Brandt, an energetic young man, is a grandson.

James, son of James, and grandson of Thomas, is a farmer on the old Whittaker place, and also runs the creamery. He was brought up by James Pickering and wife. Henry Holmes, brother of James, is the present mayor of Carroll. The daughters of James, son of Thomas, arc Mrs. G. W. Luckey, Mrs. George Groves, of Dayton, Miss Florence of Indiana, Ella, wife of Postmaster Kraner, of Pickcrington : Maria, wife of Samuel Ludwig Reeves, superintendent of workhouse, at Columbus, Ohio. Richard, son of

Thomas, married Miss Miller. They were not blessed with children. Richard is the only grandson of the pioneer, James Holmes, living" so far as we can learn. The daughters of Thomas Holmes, son of James, the pioneer, were Mrs. Nancy Bayless, of Fort Wayne, Ind. ; Elizabeth, wife of Henry Taylor. She died a short time ago. They had lived a married life of sixty-five years. Henry Taylor is a grand old man. Rachel married for her first husband Dakin Whittaker. Her second husband was James Pickering, grandfather of the Lancaster postmaster. Harriet married George Tong, a grandson of W. H. Tong, the man who entertained Bishop x^sbury the first time that he preached in Lancaster, in 1807.

If correctly informed, this brother of George went to California. Alexander, a brother, became blind and spent his last years with Mrs. Taylor.

Tong

(icorge Tong, born August 14, 1819, married Harriet Holmes, September 7, 1843. Margaret Tong, born September 17. 1821, married Amos Drimell, 1838; Llisha Smith, 1844. Nancy Tong, born August 30, 1823, died in infancy.

The Tongs were prominent in Carroll for many years. They were good citizens and fine looking men. Thomas Holmes, Sr., owned a fine section of land just north of Carroll, running to Walnut creek.

is their son, and Thomas, another son, lives in Indiana. Marietta, the daughter, is the wife of Dr. Stewart of Pickerington. One of the chief characteristics of the Holmes family is good looks, and Mrs. Stewart is not deficient in this respect.

William Holmes, son of James, was born in Pennsylvania and received some schooling there. He lived as early as i8o.^ on a fine farm in Licking County and late in life moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he died. He was an associate judge of Licking County from 1820 to 1830.

James Holmes, Jr., was born in May, 1785, in Washington county, Pa. He came with his father to Fairfield County in 1802. His wife was Elizabeth Wells, and they were married in 1806, and settled upon a farm in Union township. Licking County, Ohio. His wife was a sister of Mrs. Thomas Holmes, and had several other relatives in this township. George, Richard. Joseph, William and Bezeleel W^ells.

A Methodist church was built in that neighborhood in 1812 and called "Wells' Meeting House." In late years a brick church was built and called "George's Chapel.

He was a circuit rider in western Pennsylvania and in the year 1787 crossed the Ohio and preached at Carpenter's fort, while a company of soldiers stood guard to protect the white people from the Indians. Philip Ford, the grandfather of James and Charles Pickering-, married a daughter of this Rev. George Callahan. He was the first M. E. preacher in Ohio. James Holmes, Jr., owned and improved four or five different farms in his life time, selling the last one in 1833, and moving to Fairfield County. In 1835 he moved to Hebron and became a merchant, in which he failed. He was wealthy and did not lose all.

When he died his body was embalmed and placed in a vault at George's Chapel. His wife gave direction to bury her body in the grave, which was done.

Samuel Holmes moved at an early day to Marion, Ohio, where he reared and educated a small family. He was for several years the county surveyor, an important office in a newly settled county. He has been dead at least sixty years. Several of his children died young in years. His son Samuel was deputy postmaster of Marion from 1849 to 1853 under Samuel A. Griswold, now a resident of this city. He moved from Marion to Sycamore, in Wyandot County, where he died.

A (laughter of Samuel Holmes married James S. Reed, an old merchant of Marion and at the time of his death the leading banker and one of the wealthy men of Marion. He was an accomplished business man, well informed, and had few, if any, equals in the city of Marion. His wife outlived him but is now dead. Samuel's sons, Richard and Charles, are both dead. George, a son of James Holmes, Jr., married Sarah Gill, a sister of John Gill.

A daughter married James Harvey, who began his business career selling tobacco and whiskey to the laborers on the national road. When Holmes failed as a merchant, Harvey bought the stock. His wife died early, and he married Miss Hand, a wealthy woman. He then moved to Newark and was rated the richest man in Licking County.

Reason Holmes, son of James, moved to the state of Michigan and spent his life upon a farm. Roland Holmes, son of James, went to Missouri at an early day, married -there, and died childless Basil Holmes was a physician and married a Miss Cochran. He died near Kirkersville, Ohio, at Eli's house. Lemuel Holmes, son of James, moved to Wisconsin, was a farmer and reared a family. Eli Holmes settled upon a farm first in Walnut lown>liiii and in the early days ran a distillery on section four. In late years he purchased a farm near Kirkersville and spent his old age there. He was a fine looking and much respected gentleman, and an enthusiastic member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Eli Holmes married a daughter (Sallie) of Richard ?>rown. She was a granddaughter of Edward Brown, brother of Colonel Richard Brown, father of Rachel Wells or Mrs. General James Wells. Mrs. Brown was a Whittaker, a sister of old Dakin and Eli Whittaker. When quite old Holmes moved to Putnam, Ohio (Zanesville), where he died.

Washington, D. C. His daughter, Catharine, married Josiah Whittaker. His son, Eli, lives in Milford, Illinois. Basil, in Terra Haute, Indiana. His daughter, Nancy, married Enos Wilkins, of Granville, Ohio.

Joshua Holmes, son of James, moved to Indiana and died there. He was the father of the late Mrs. James Ewing, of Pleasant township. Mrs. Ewing's daughters were handsome, like their mother, and were well educated. The eldest married a schoolmate named Zollars, of Licking County, Ohio. He was a lawyer and they moved to Fort Wayne, Ind. He was for one term a Judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana. Mrs. Bennett, the other daughter, lives in Chicago, 111. Mrs. and Judge Zollars are prominent people of Fort Wayne, and delightful people to meet.

Joseph Flolmes, son of James, lived and died in Walnut township, near Buckeye Lake; the farm is now owned by John Zollinger. He married a sister of Peter, Ceorge and Jerriah Haver and of Mrs. D. Pope, Mrs. Thomas Cherry, Mrs. John Meason and Mrs. John Brandon. A bevy of sisters noted for good taste and fine manners. They were prominent in a fine circle of nice people. Of the Methodist Church he was an honored and consistent member. He lived to a good old age. respected and honored by all who knew him. He was a fine talker and it was a great pleasure to hear him at his best. He was a good looking man and his daughters, Mrs. Aldred and Mrs. Whittaker, were handsome women.

Peter Holmes was the oldest son of Joseph. When about thirty years of age he started from Cincinnati to New Orleans and was never heard of afterwards.

William Holmes, son of Joseph, moved to near Fort Wayne, Ind. He became a stock dealer and soon moved to Pittsburg and engaged in the stock commission business at East Liberty. He died a few years since. Joshua, George and Reason were (farmers. George lived a short time in Lancaster. George married a Reese, and Reason married a Thompson, and they spent their lives upon the old home farm. Upon the deatli of Reason, in due time, his widow married Peter Cool. Rebecca was the second wife of William Murphey, Sr. Hester died young. Elizabeth married David Cherry. He died in a few years and his widow married John Aldred, who recently died at Pataskala, Ohio. Xancy married John Whittaker and they moved to New Lexington, Ohio, where they were prominent and highly esteemed.

Nancy Holmes, daughter of James Holmes, and the onlv daughter, married Charles Brown and they moved to Uniontown, Penn., where tliey spent their lives.

Charles Brown and Nancy Holmes were married September c), 1819. and moved immediately to Fayette Countv, Pa. Mr. P.rown died on their farm in Fayette Septemlx-r 14, 1835.

Colonel Alexander McLean, who married Sarah Holmes, was a verv able and distinguished citizen of Pennsylvania. He was a member of the legislature and filled many important public offices. He was a civil engineer of distinction and represented Pennsylvania in the survey of Mason and Dixon's line, which was completed in 1783. He died in Uniontown, Fayette county. Pa., December 7, 1834.

Mason and Dixon survey prior to 1766. On account of opposition on the part of the Indians of the "Six Nations" and of the Delawares and Shoshones. Mason and Dixon's Hne was not completed until the year 1783. The finishing work was done by Colonel McLean and his brother John. Colonel McLean was born in York Co., Pa., in 1746, and located in what is now Somerset County, Pa., as a surveyor in 1765. He married Sarah Holmes at or near Storrstown, Pa., in 1775.

This sketch is not so complete as we could wish, but for want of information it is the best we can do. What is known of so large and so remarkable \. family is worth preserving.

The Wells Family

St. Paul's Parish Register of that city gives his wife's name as Ann, and children as James, born 27th January, 1716; Prudence, born March 16, 1720; Richard, second son, born 13th March, 1722; Ann, born 17th February, 1729; Alexander, born 12th March, 1727 (father of Bezaleel Wells, of Steubenville) ; Honor, born in October, 1724 (Brown Bible gives this date December 10, 1724-5).

This last named child. Honor, married, first Wm M. Holmes, founder of the family of that name in Ohio. As his widow, she married Col. Richard Brown, November 17, 1759.

Richard, only son, was a surveyor, member of the Virginia State Legislature, etc. Married, settled and died in the Panhandle, where his descendants live at present.

The Brown ancestor, also English, married Nancy Stevenson, in Baltimore County, Md., and settled there. Their family numbered sixteen. Edward, one of these children, was grandfather of Mrs. Eli H. Holmes. Another was Col. Richard Brown. A third Nancy, was mother of Gen. James Wells.

Honor was both aunt and mother-in-law to Gen. James Wells and his brother, George, who married Elizabeth Holmes, sister of James Holmes. Sr. - children by her first husband.

5. Thomas, born in 1758; farmer, settled near Maysville, Ky. ; paid remembered visits to his relatives in Ohio ; owned slaves and held those belonj^ing to his brother, Gen. James Wells.

6. John, born in 1764, youngest son, was a man of great prominence in Somerset, Pa., where he died. He laid out the towns of Bedford and Somerset, that State, as surveyor; was justice of the peace, associate judge, etc. His descendants are worthy successors.

Next to nothing is known of the six sisters of these men. Mary, born in 1748, married John Doddridge. Patience, born in 1758, married a Baptist minister, named Kerr, and settled in Kentucky.

The father of this family, Richard (or James?) Wells, married a second wife and had another six sons and six daughters - 24 children in all.

Gen. Wells settled in Somerset county, Penn., a year or two before the Revolution. He served in that war, as did his father-in-law, Col. Richard Brown, and his cousins, James and Alexander Holmes.

He was once surprised by the Indians and pursued for a long distance, finally securing a horse he made his escape, not, however, until wounded four times by the bullets of the Indians.

From Somerset County he moved to Holiday's Cove, on the Ohio, where his father-in-law then lived. This must have been in 1798 or 1799. Here his daughter, Sarah, married Samuel Tallman, and they took up their residence in Wellsburg, Va., a town near the old home, and named for the Wells family. The exact' date of Gen. Wells's coming to Ohio can not be given, but it must have been in the fall of 1801. He built a cabin on what is now known as the Trimble or Hooker place, in the woods ; and when the land sales took place he purchased 1,280 acres in one body. He was a justice of the peace for Greenfield at one time, and gave his attention to farming.

General Wells was a member of a very distinguished family, and his own reputation was that of an able, upright man. His sister, Mary, married John Doddridge. Their son, Joseph, was a clergyman of the Episcopal church. Philip was a distinguished lawyer and had few equals in the West. He was also a very distinguished Congressman, and died in Washington in 1832. The late Joseph G. Doddridge, of Lancaster, was a grandson of Mary Wells.

Elizabeth Wells, a daughter of Richard Wells, married George Hammond. They were the parents of Charles Hammond, the most distinguished lawyer and editor in the West of the early days. Upon the death of Judge Sherman he took his son, Lampson, and reared him in his family.

The Hammonds had a family of 16 children. One of the daughters was the wife of the late Judge Hood, of Somerset, Ohio, and the mother of W. C. Hood, once State Librarian of Ohio.

Bezaleel Wells, the founder of Steubenville, and a distinguished banker and manufacturer, was a cousin of James Wells and George, of Licking County.

Alexander Campbell, a very distinguished preacher and founder of the Campbellite Church, married a Wells. The descendants of Rev. Callahan (Pickerings, of this town) claim that Rev. George Callahan married a daughter of Bezaleel Wells. He had but two daughters, who married - one, Katharine, married John McDowell, and Rebecca married Rev. Philander Chase. We have not been able to find the name Callahan in the Wells history.

Mary Brown Wells, daughter of General Wells, was born August 31, 1776, at 12 o'clock M. She married Thomas McCall, a Scotchman. They lived upon a farm in Greenfield. Mrs. McCall died in 1828, aged 52 years. McCall died at Jones Gibbony's, in 1853, aged 84 years. They were buried at Hookers. Priscilla, a daughter of this couple, married William McCleery, in 1829. She died May, 1844, aged 38 years. Their daughter, Maria, married Reason A. DeBolt, who became judge and a member of Congress from Missouri. DeBolt was a son of a pioneer Baptist preacher of that name.

Emaletta married W. W. McCrea. Philemon Mc- Call Gibbony married Minerva L. Smith in 1875. John T. Gibbony married Agnes Wineburner. Richard Reeves McCall married Juliet Wells in Jefferson City. Mo., in 1849, a relative of his mother. Sarah, daughter of James Wells, married Samuel Tallman at Wellsbiirg, Va., March 28, 1801, and came to Fairfield county in 1804, and died November 13, 1837, aged 53 years.

Like the McCalls, both were buried at the Hooker graveyard. Benjamin F. Tallman married Nancy C. Tallman, of Virginia, in 1839, and died in Shelby County, 111., in 1877, aged 73 years. He was a son of Samuel Tallman.

Richard Brown Tallman married Mary Boone Taylor in 1834. James Wells Tallman married Margaretta Minter, 1833 ; died in Knox County, Missouri, 1859, aged 57 years.

Cynthia Ann Tallman married Levi White, of Hughsville, Va., in 1859. This lady was a granddaughter of Samuel Tallman. When a young woman she was pronounced the most handsome visitor to Fairfield County. .She was the mother of 12 children.

Cynthia Ann Tallman married Thomas Roe, of Zanesville, Ohio, in i8-'i7. She died in 1891, aged yy years. They were the parents of Mary Josephine Roe, a woman of education and culture, and the author of a very good genealogy of the Wells family, to which the author is indebted for names and dates.

[Annie Sophia, her other daughter, married Dr. E. W. Mitchell, of Cincinnati, Ohio. He is an only son of Rev. James Mitchell, a M. E. minister, well known in this county.]

Margaret Elizabeth Tallman married Thomas Coulson, of Rushville, in 1841. She died in 1844, aged 20 years. Coulson subsequently married one of the daughters of Joshua Clarke, and now lives in Trinidad, Colorado.

She died in 1842, aged 55 years. Wilson came with his father to this county in 1798, from Cumberland County, Penn. He died September 26, 1851.

Their daughter, Minerva Wells Wilson, married Joseph Lynn. She died at the age of 36 years. Nathaniel Wilson died in 1846, aged 38 years. Honora Calista Wilson married James McCleery in 1826. She died in 1890, aged 80 years. Amanda, their daughter, married Aaron Kistler in 1852, and died in one year. Lucretia McCleery married Peter Hay ; they live near Sedalia, Mo.

Samuel McCleery married Mary Levering in 1869. William. Wells McCleery married Mary Norton, of Marion, Indiana, in 1877. William is a successful merchant in his new home. He was, in his young days, teacher of the North Grammar School, Lancaster, Ohio.

Rachel Wilson married Owen Smith in 1839, and moved to Montezuma, Indiana. She died in 1873, aged 57 years. Their daughter, Minerva Louise, married Philemon McCall Gibbony in 1875.

James Wells Wilson married Rose Ann Wolf, of Pickaway County, Ohio. Mr. Wilson owns the old Wolf farm and other good land beside, in that county. It is cultivated by his thrifty sons. Mr. Wilson owns a splendid farm in Greenfield, and one in Berne, this county. He is one of the sturdy, industrious old farmers, who have come down to us from a former generation, bringing with him the good old habits of the early days - a plain, honest, straightforward man, who attends to his own business and knows very well how to go about it. He has prospered and is independent, but he is the same James W. Wilson that we knew long ago - a plain, unassuming old man. He is an intelligent man, and can tell what he knows in very good English.

His sons are good farmers and good citizens. William Harvey Wilson married Mary Skeeters in 1844; they Hved at Montezuma, Indiana. He died in 1862, aged 41 years.

Maria Louise Wilson married Henry Pence in 1846, and moved to Brady ville, Iowa. Ambrose Whitlock Wilson married Elizabeth A. Leach in 1871, and died in Kentucky in 188 1, aged 52 years.

James Wells, son of General Wells, was born October II, 1789, "betwixt the break of day and sunrise " (Family Bible). He inherited a good farm. He mar- ried Cynthia Ann Reeves in Ross County, Ohio, in 1815. He died May 9, 1834; his widow died in Jefferson City, Missouri, July 26, 1874, aged yy years. It was her daughter who married Richard Reeves Mc- Call.

Nathan Wells, her brother, was the only grandchild of Gen. James Wells, bearing his sir name ; there are but three great-grand sons who represent it at present.

Honora B. Wells married Samuel Reeves, June 12, i8t2; her second husband was David Rank, of New Salem, Fairfield County, married June 25, 1845. She died November 18, 1874, aged 82 years.

David Rank was one of the best of men, true and lovely in life and character. His first wife was a sister of James McCleery, by whom he had a large family of children.

Ann Brown Wells married Aaron Foster, of Ross County, Ohio. May 28, 1834. She died June 4, 1858, aged 59 years. She was buried at Lattaville, Ross County, Ohio.

Margaretta Madden Wells married Benjamin Mackerly, March 7, 1828, and lived near Bainbridge. Ross County, Ohio; she died September 22, 1873, aged 72 years.

large family is now widely scattered. Three of his grandsons, Reeves, McCleery and Gibbony, were soldiers. Samuel Tallman was the son of Benjamin Tallman, who moved from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to Rockingham County, Virginia.

Samuel Tallman and wife came to Fairfield on horseback, bringing two small children. A brother - William - relieved them of the burden and carried one of them. She rode a gray horse, which refused to move a step when it scented a rattlesnake, until it was killed. Samuel was a cabinet maker by trade.

Reuben Evans came from Pennsylvania. He was introduced to his future wife, Nancy Tallman, by his uncle, Brumfield. After their marriage the young couple were escorted to their Zanesville home, a distance of forty miles, by a large party on horseback.

Thomas Roe was born in Ireland, and was brought to America when a child. He was a merchant and a farmer. He v/as introduced to his wife while both were on a visit to Somerset, Ohio. George W. Wilson belonged to the Somerset branch of that family.

Wellsville, Ohio

The honor of founding- this town is claimed for Alexander Wells and William Wells, by their friends. It is doubtless true that William laid out the town; but both men were largely interested in it from its beginning.

William Wells was a son of George Wells, who lived and died in Licking county, Ohio. William was reared by grand parents, and did not follow his father to the West. He was always a prominent man of Wellsville, and acted as magistrate under Governor St. Clair, a position of more importance than that of justice of the peace now. The magistrates met at stated intervals and constituted the Court of Quarter Sessions - now superceded by our County Common Pleas. His son, Alexander, was a prominent man of Wellsville, and the local historian. The man who, in an address, applied Dr. H. Scott's school house anecdote to Lancaster, instead of Clark County, where it belonged.

The office of Associate Judge was one of importance and honor, in the first fifty years of Ohio. The judges settled estates, appointed administrators and granted licenses, performing the duties now pertaining to the ofiice of Probate Judge, and were also members of the Common Fleas Court.

The Wells Burying Ground

In the year 1810, Gen. Wells deeded a part of section 29 to Samuel Hooker, Sr., and in that deed distinctly reserved one half acre for a burying ground, and there he and his wife were buried. It was then known as the Wells' graveyard, where a majority of his descendants, who since died in this county, were buried. It became, however, the burial place of all of the old pioneers of the neighborhood, and many of their descendants. It is fairly well cared for, and held as a sacred spot by the people of Greenfield.

" In 1828 there was a debating society in Lancaster, Ohio ; the meetings were held in a school house The subject of railroads was discussed. In a day or two one of the members (Dr. Harvey Scott) received a note signed by a dozen of the solid men of the neighborhood, to this effect : ' You are welcome to the use of the school house to debate all proper questions, but such things as railroads are impossibilities, and are impious, and will not be allowed.' "

Mr. Wells is greatly in error and unwittingly slanders Lancaster. The occurrence he refers to took place in Clark County, Ohio, and was related by Dr. H. Scott in his history of Fairfield County.

General Wells received his patent from the LInited States Government, for section 29, August 24, 1809, and for section 28, February 10, 1809. When he came to Greenfield in 1801, the lands were not for sale, and he was a squatter. The lands were sold in 1802 or 1803. at public auction, to the highest bidder, and the best land between the home of the General and Lancaster sold as high as four dollars per acre. Patents are not always evidence of the date of purchase, as families have been known to occupy land 60 years without the patent.

After the death of General Wells, a portion of his lands, probably one section, became the property of Richard Hooker. Richard and Samuel Hooker lived

General James Wells had eleven children, three of whom died early, and it is known that his descendants to this time number 500 souls - six generations.

Nathaniel Wells settled in Union township, Licking County, at an early day, near the point known as Hebron. He was nearly related to Gen. Wells. He was a farmer, and lived and died in that neighborhood.

His sons were : John Wells, who was a " 49er," but remained only five years in California, when he returned to Baltimore, Ohio, where he died. He was the father of Mrs. Dr. J. H. Goss. Basil died in California. Jesse moved to Illinois and died there. Daniel lived in Newark, Ohio. Samuel lived in Licking County ; George in Kansas City ; Franklin moved to Iowa ; Narcissa lived in Newark, Ohio.

A Dr. Ferguson, of Hebron, married a Wells. One of his daughters married Mr. Tomlinson, of Indianapolis, Indiana, who became very prominent there. One daughter is a preacher, another is a doctor.

L. Calvin Sutphen, brother of Captain Sutphen, married Mary, a daughter of Dr. Ferguson. He died early and his widow married Mr. Brush, treasurer of Perry County, and they moved to Zanesville, Ohio.

James McCleery and two brothers came from Ireland to America in 1740; they were, however, born in Scotland. They settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

James McCleery died, leaving two sons, James and Joseph. James came to Fairfield County in 1814, and died in 1826. His sons were James and William, who married in the Wells family, John and Joseph. The latter married a daughter of an early pioneer of this county, Johi. Shepler. Joseph reared a family of beautiful daughters; with but one exception, Mrs. Perry Teal, they are all dead. The daughters of James Mc- Cleery were : Anna, wife of John Morgan, of Greenfield : Mrs. David Rank, of Walnut township; and IMaria, wife of Abraham Hedges, of Hocking.

Joseph McCleery, son of James, came to Fairfield County in 1820, and died here. He left a son, Joseph, who lived many years southwest of Lancaster, three miles.

Tallman Sketch

They set up housekeeping in that town, and moved thence to Fairfield County, Ohio, 1804. She was given to extend great hospitality, and possessed of wonderful energy and fine business foresight.

Here too, it is said, the Governor of the State came to Hft the first shovelful of earth for the Lateral Canal, and dined under the Tallman roof.

He was a carpenter and cabinetmaker, and built many of the log houses put up in Greenfield township in his day. He died at the early age of 50 years.

He and his father were born in Berks County, Pennsylvania. His father and grandfather, William Tallman (Born in Rhode Island) moved to Virginia (Rockingham County) during the time of our national struggle for independence. The son was a member of Armand's Corps as part of his military service. It was in Virginia that Samuel Tallman grew to manhood.

His grandmother was Ann Lincoln, sister of John Lincoln, great-grandfather of the late president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. His mother, Dinah Boone, was cousin to the famous Daniel Boone.

These Boone fathers lived on adjoining farms in Pennsylvania. Their father, George Boone, was a Friend in faith, a friend of William Penn, and one of the earliest, permanent settlers in Berks County.

Their eldest sort, William, and daughters Susannah Harrison, and Amrah Scothern, lived in Pickaway County. Phebe, daughter of William Tallman, was the beloved wife of Richard Plooker, of Turkey Run.

Samuel Tallman preceded his family to Ohio to prepare a home for them. His wife, Sarah, came out with her brother-in-law, William Tallman, horseback, each of them carrying a child. The gray horse she rode belonged to her companion, and each time it scented a rattlesnake, refused to proceed until it had been killed.

One of these sisters, Marie, did not come to Ohio, also two brothers. One other of these sisters, Susannah, has already been named. The third lived in Fairfield County. Her husband, John Harrison, was killed in the War of 1812, and is buried at Fort Meigs, this state. Her second husband was George Tong, a widower, whom she married in 1818. He was a man of nobility of character, and much loved by the young.

The Wilsons

THE WILSONS. Nathaniel Wilson, Sr., was a native of Scotland. He with his parents were staunch Cameronian Presbyterians and followed their leader, Robert Cameron,

The Presbyterians under Cameron met the English commander, the Duke of Monmouth, June 22, 1679, ^^ Bothwell Bridge and were defeated. Cameron and many of his followers were captured, among them Nathaniel Wilson, then but 19 years of age.

Cameron's hands were cut off with his own sword and it was then returned to him. As a mark of favor he presented it to Nathaniel Wilson, his youthful follower. Wilson managed to make his escape, bearuig with him the sword of his leader.

The persecution of the Presbyterians continued and he was obliged to flee the country, which he did, and landed in America. He settled in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vvhere he married, reared a family, and died in 1753, bequeathing to his eldest son, Nathaniel, the old Scotch Bible, the sword of Cameron and his Presbyterian faith. This son, Nathaniel, continued to reside in Pennsylvania until the year 1798, when he emigrated to Ohio and settled in Fairfield County. The old home is about three miles west of Lancaster. Pie built himself a cabin and placed over the door the famous sword of Cameron, and over n in large letters, " The Sword of the Lord, and of Gideon."

Nathaniel Wilson died in 181 5 and bequeathed the old homestead to his son Nathaniel, the man most generally referred to, when people speak of Nathaniel Wilson.

conveyed it to the President of the United States, October 24, 1817. 'ihe ground he subsequently enclosed by a high and strong stone wall and a young cedar of Lebanon was planted in the center, said to have come from Palestine. It is said that he took a personal interest in the work and was always there, and occasionally read a chapter from the old Scotch Bible.

This stone enclosure was to be enclosed by a good fence, and to provide for keeping it up he planted a grove of locust trees near his home, and in his will of April 12, 1838, he gave the grove to President Martin Van Buren, to be used as provided in his will. These interesting land marks, of long ago, are still attractive spots and are visited by many people. We regret to see the grove despoiled by the present owners of the old home. " Woodmen, spare that tree."

Mr. Wilson died May 12, 1839, before he had completed the wall of his burial ground. His son Gustin Wilson, completed the work and complied with his father's will so long as he lived.

Nathaniel Wilson, Sr., was one of the first county commissioners. Nathaniel Wilson, Jr., had four brothers, William, Robert, James and Samuel, and two sisters.

They were parents of five children, tw<-> sons and three daughters. One son while yet a young man was killed by a falling tree, that he was cutting down.

Gustin Wilson was born in 1806 and died in 1882. He married Margaret McClelland, niece of Col. John Noble. He was a most estimable man, a good citizen^ a good farmer and a staunch Presbyterian. Like all good men he revered and honored the memory of his father.

Zella Wilson, daughter of Nathaniel, married Stephenson Peters, son of Samuel Peters of Amanda township. They settled in Walnut township Pickaway County, where members of the family still reside. Norman Peters occupies the homestead.

Alice Wilson, married Nathan Peters, son of Samuel. Nathan moved to Marion, Ohio, where he spent a long and useful life and reared a good family. Mrs. Peters was buried in the stone graveyard beside her parents.

Mendana Wilson married Joel Gallagher, a brotherin-law of Robinson J. Peters. They became owners of the old Nathaniel Wilson homestead and spent their lives there, in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. A grand-daughter of this couple married Dr. Reese of Lancaster, Ohio.

James Wilson married a Miss Edwards in 1802, but did not hve long, dying in 1807. His son John Wilson lived to an old age on a jjart of what is now the Carlisle farm. He sold out to Major Carhle and moved to Shelby County, Illinois. The widow of James Wilson, for her second husband, married Thomas Carlisle in 18 1 3, and they reared quite a large family. Their son, B. W. Carlisle, was a prominent man and a State Senator.

Thomas CarHsle came from Virginia in 1811, and died on his farm in 1844. He was a justice of the peace and a county commissioner. One of his sons, Dr. Carhsle, died in Arkansas. One of his daughters married Christian Graybill of IlHnois ; another George Allen of Illinois ; another John C. McFarland, and another a banker at Hillsboro, Ohio, Mr. Barrere. iMrs. Carlisle died January 14, 1866.

Robert Wilson, son of Nathaniel, Sr., was born in Pennsylvania in 1774 and died on his farm in 1844. His wife was Jane Donovan, who was born in 1777. She died in 1865, aged 88 years. Newton D., born in 181 1, died young; Josephine M., born in 1810, died young. James Madison was born in 1812, and lived and died a bachelor in California. He was a soldier of the Mexican War. Elizabeth Wilson, daughter of Robert Wilson, Sr., was born in 1813. She married F. A. Foster, a Lancaster, O., merchant. She died in the year 1898. She has a son living in St. Louis, and one living in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Robert Wilson, son of Robert Wilson, Sr., was born in 1817. His wife was Mary Sweitzer, whose parents cai le from Switzcrlanrl. They were the parents of five children, two of whom are dead. Robert Wilson was a farmer all of his life and a good one. He was one of our best citizens, esteemed by his neighbors. We had no better citizens than Rol)ert Wilson. He was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church.

Smith Kerns Wilson, son of Robert Wilson, Sr., was born in 1821, and married a Miss Coney. He was for many years a prominent farmer of Hocking township, and hoping to better his condition, he sold out and moved to Tennessee, where in a short time he was killed by the bullet of an assassin. His family left the inhospitable country and moved to Colorado.

We have not been able to learn what became of the Cameron sword. It seems to have been lost. Such a rare relic ought to have been preserved.

Samuel Wilson, son of Nathaniel Wilson, Sr., was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. He was married to Miss Jane Martin. He came with his father to Ohio in 1798. He lived upon the farm where Frank Peters now lives. They were the parents of five or six children. Samuel was in the war of 1812 and died soon after his discharge. His widow died at the home of her son in Peoria.. 111.

Elizabeth a daughter of this couple was born in 1809 'i^f^ married John M. Woodward, a carpenter, in 1833. Woodward worked upon the old Presbyterian church. He lived for a time in Logan and died in lUuffton. Indiana, in 1881. His \\\ic died in Lancaster, in 1895. Their son Sanniel lives in Columbus, and Asa !>. Woodward lives in Madison, Iowa. He is a steamboat ca]:)tain. Sarah J., married Jacob Bumgardncr, a Lancaster blacksmith.

Margaret married James Ruff of Logan. Lorain married William Stuckey, son of Joseph Stuckey, of Carthage. Missouri. Ruth married Augustus Magoon in Logan. Ohio. Josiah Wilson, son of Samuel, lived and died in Peoria, Illinois ; never married. John Wilson, son of Samuel, lived in Franklin County.

Margaret Wilson married William Thompson. They lived in Ross and Brown Counties, and finally in Illinois. Samuel Dudley Wilson, son of Samuel, was a farmer and a merchant in Washburn, 111., and moved from there to Peoria, III, where he died.

William Wilson, son of Nathaniel, Sr., married Rachel, daughter of General James Wells and lived upon the farm now owned by his son James Wells Wilson. We refer the reader to the sketch of the Wells family for information in regard to his family.

The Crumley Family

The ancestor of the Crumley family was Valentine Gramlich, who immigrated to this country from the Duchy of Wibertemberg, Germany. He arrived at Philadelphia September 19, 1749. Valentine and his sons founded the Lutheran Church at Weisenberg township, in Lehigh County, Penn., soon after their settlement in that county, in 1749. Valentine Crumley was a man of influence and high standing in his county, and a leading public spirited citizen. He was the father of five children, viz., George, who died near Danville, Penn. ; Paul, who died at the old homestead ; Daniel, Ann M., and Christian moved to Ohio as early as 1805. Gramlich soon became Crumley.

Three sons of Paul moved to Ohio in 181 5 - Jonathan, Jacob and Paul. They settled in Pickaway County, Ohio. Paul died March, 1826. He left four sons, James, Stephen, Thomas and William. William was born in Pennsylvania March 19, 1813, and he died May, 1888, aged 75 years. He was the father of the Hon. T. E. Crumley, late a trustee of the Boys' Industrial School, and State Senator from Pickaway County, Ohio.

Daniel Crumley, late of Bloom township, was a son of Christian Crumley. He was born in Bloom township, December ii, 1807. He married Miss Jane Beeten, daughter of Peter Beeten. She was born July 5, 181 1. Their children numbered fourteen, and nine of them preceded him to the grave. Those living at the time of his death, November 30, 1891, were Mrs. A. W. Killits, of Chicago, 111. ; Mrs. T. J. Arnold, Lancaster, Ohio; Mrs. W. H. Stallsmith, Girard, Ohio; E. M. Crumley, Springfield, Ohio, and A. I. Crumley, Lithopolis, Ohio.

Daniel Crumley was a very prominent and useful man in his township. He was a Justice of the Peace for twelve years, and was for several terms a township trustee. He was a very competent administrator on estates, and settled up twenty-five in his life time. His second wife was a Mrs. Buxton of the County of Licking.

Mr. Crumley was an upright, honorable man, widely known and highly esteemed. He was a brother of Conrad Crumley of Hocking township, and grandfather of Frank Crumley of the Lancaster Gazette.

Conrad Crumley, son of Christian and Salome Crumley, was born in Penn township, Northampton County, Penn., on the 24th of January, 1802 ; his parents were Lutherans and the infant Conrad was baptized and brought up in that faith.

In the year 1803 Christian Crumley with his family, left Pennsylvania to seek a new home in Ohio. They made a temporary stop in Lancaster, and during that time one of his children died. He purchased a section of woodland in Bloom township, built a cabin and moved his family to the new home, about one mile west of Rock Mill. Here young Conrad remained until he became a man. He assisted his father in clearing up his farm, and tasted the joys and endured the privations of pioneer life. When i8 years of age he was confirmed a member of the Lutheran Church, and to the end of his life was a faithful member and a consistent Christian. His membership at this time was at the Click church, Rev. M. J. Steck, pastor.

On two occasions Christian Crumley loaded flat boats at Gallipolis for New Orleans. Conrad drove the team that carried, or drew, the produce to load these boats. He made nine trips in one winter, through an almost unbroken forest to Gallipolis, a distance of one hundred miles.

February 23, 1824, Conrad Crumley was married to Miss Mary M. Feller. He then settled upon a quarter section of land donated by his father, entirely in the woods. He lived in a rude cabin and devoted his energies to clearing up his farm, where his son Daniel now resides, in Hocking township.

Here he lived a quiet, peaceful life for forty-one years, and reared a large family of children, eleven in number. Two of his sons were in the Union army. After the war two of them, George and Daniel, were in Columbus and took passage on the same coach with Colonel McVeigh and family. The coach was upset and McVeigh and his son were killed. The Crumley boys remained with the family and brought the dead to Lancaster. When a friend spoke to the old man and praised his boys for their good conduct, tears came to his eyes and he replied : "T am proud of my boys."

Conrad Crumley was one of the grand old men of the past, one whose example for good was felt in a very large circle of acquaintances. He was for a number of years a trustee of St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Lancaster, and later of Trinity, near his home. He died March 8, 1879, aged 77 years. He had been married 55 years. His son David married Sarah, a daughter of the late Daniel Ward.