Winchester Township (part 20 of 30)

was born at Lexington, Kentucky, July 14, 1806. His father came from the north of Ireland, and was a soldier under General Harrison in the War of 1812. He came to Adams County when a child and his whole life ^as spent there. In 1828, he was married to Mary Clark by the Rev. William Baldridge of Cherry Fork congregation. Of this church, he and his wife were members until the Unity Church was organized in 1846, when they transferred their membership there. He was an elder in the United Presbyterian Church at thirty years and held the office for fifty years. He was a man of decided convictions on all subjects. He was a Jacksonian Democrat from 1827 to 1836. He became a Whig in 1836, two years after the organization of that party. When the Whig party dissolved, he formed no other political ties until the formation of the Republican party, when he joined that party and continued in it all his life. He took a g^eat interest in the church, in all public questions and in the welfare of his country. When the war broke out, he was fifty-five years of age, ten years over the limit of age for military duty. But he determined to enter the military service and did so. Here is his record : "Hugh McSurely. Private, Company E, 70th O. V. I. Captain, Jrfin T. Wilson. Enlisted November i, 1861, for three years; aged 55. Discharged December 8, 1862, on Surgeon's Certificate of disability." Of course, he ought not to have gone and the Government should not have accepted him, but he did so and the inevitable followed. His age was against him and he broke down and was sent home. When he returned he sent his son, George A., now a resident of Oxford, Ohio, who took his place in the same company and regiment and served until July 28, 1865. His son, Samuel A., served in the First Ohio Heavy Artillery.

Hugh McSurely 's wife died August 19. 1865. He contracted a second marriage with Ann McCIanahan. who surv^ives him. He had five children, the sons above named. Rev. William J. McSurely, D. D., of Hillsboro, Ohio, and Sarah A. McSurely, who resides on the home farm with his widow. Hugh McSurely always took an active interest in politics. though he was never a candidate for office. In the campaign of 1896, he took as much interest in the election of President McKinley as though he had forty years of life before him. He was honest and industrious ; he was a public-spirited, honored and useful citizen and a cheerful Christian. He died December 5, 1896, in his ninety-first year.

was the son of Isaac and Mary Meek, born in Short Creek, Carroll County, Virginia, January 7, 1781. His father was a descendant of a Scotch faniilv who came to Ohio earlv in the ccnturv' and located in Jefferson County. Our subject very early in life was impressed with the notion that hv was divinely called to the ministry, and yielding to these convictions, he was licensed to preach when only nineteen years of age. In September. 1803, he was appointed by the Baltimore Conference to the Scioto Circuit,

His first circuit had its extremel southwest point on Eagle Creek, a few miles from what is now known as Fitch's Chapel. Then by Bryan's, on Three Mile Creek, to George Rodgers, near the mouth of Cabin Creek, up to Manchester, thence to Peterson's on Ohio Brush Creek, Joseph Moore's, then at the mouth of Turkey Creek ; then up the Scioto River to Pee Pee Prairie to Snowden Sargeants ; then to Thomas Foster's at Big Bottom; theai from Foster's to Chillicothe; from Chillicothe to Bowdles, at Hay Run ; then to White Brown's on Deer Creek ; from there to West Fall on the Scioto River ; to Walnut Creek through the wilderness to old Brother Stevenson's ; then to John Robbins' on Buckskin Creek ; then to Hare's at the Falls of Paint Creek ; then to Braughter's Tavern ; up over a blind Indian trail to Benjamin Graces* near New Market in Highland County ; then to Odell's, near Briar Ridgei, thirty miles distant, and from Odell's to the place of beginning, near mouth of Eagle Creek, or Elk River.

In 1805, he was appointed to Hocking Circuit with the Rev. James Quinn as senior preacher. He was here for a time and then returned to the East. Before Mr. Meek returned again to Ohio, he was married to Miss Ann Jones, daughter of John and Ann Jones, and sister of the Reverend Greenbury R. Jones, who was very well known in Adams County in the early days. His wife was a clear-headed woman who appreciated fully her posititon as the wife of an itinerant preacher, and she was during her lifetime a true helpmeet. She died in the triumph of the great field in February, 1855.

John Meek was ordained deacon in October, 1805. His certificate is dated October 3, 1805, and signed by Richard Whatcoat. In March, he was ordained as elder. His certificate of ordination is dated March 16, 1810, and signed by William McKendree. Rev. Meek's son, William McKendree Meek, wars named for and baptized by Bishop McKendree.

Our subject was a man of fine presence and possessed a noble bearing, unflinching courage, and polished manners. He was intellectually a strong man and ever ready to defend the doctrines and policies of the church of his choice. He was a camp meeting preacher of wonderful powet. He had a very fine voice, clear as a bell, and it rang out quite a distance. Reverend Maxwell P. Gaddis says: "I shall never forget a sermon which I heard him preach more than forty-five years ago at the old camp ground in Adams County, Ohio, from these words: 'He that rejecteth me and receivefth not my words hath one that judgeth him. The words that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day.' (John 12 : 48.) It would be impossible to describe the scene at the close of that eloquent effort. I felt that I was fully competisated for the long and dusty ride even to hear him read the opening hymn, 'That awful day will surely come.' "

John Meek was always in sentiment and feeling an anti-slavery man. He was earnest in the support and advocacy of colonization, the then best remedy for the evils of slavery. He closed his sixty years in the ministry in August, i860, and on the thirtieth day of December, i860, at his home in Felicity, in Clermont County, Ohio, he passed quietly away. His death was peaceful and quiet, signalizing a patient confidence in Christ, a fitting close to the long life in the ministry. His remains rest in the cemetery at West Union.

Hi: is so flesignaied to distin^ish him from his son. John Patton. who emigrated to Ohio. We find he was from the north of Ireland. He was one of ei^ht brothers. We do not know what time he located in Virg^ia. hut It was not later than 1774. He was bom about 1754- He was married in about 1775. His elctest child, Nathaniel Patton, bom February 22. 1776; was married m Rockbridge County, \'irginia, 1797. Nathaniel Patton located in Adams Count v in 181 4, on the farm where Ramsev DuflFev now lives. He went to Rush County. Indiana. 1824. His wife's name was Pollv Robinson. He was the father of fourteen children, all of whom but the eldest, John S. Patton. followed him to Decatur Countjv Indiana. He died there in 1844. The second child of John Patton, of Virginia, was Martha Campbell. She married James Campbell, in Rockbridge County. X'irginia. They came to Adams County and settled near Decatur. Brown County. She left a large number of descendants, among whom are the Wassons of Cherrv Fork. Thomas Patton, a son, lived and died on West Fork. The wife oi Gen. William Mclntire was his daughter. His other children removed to Peoria, Illinois, in the forties. Nathan Patton owned the Sam McNown place in Brown County. He was a money maker and Adams Countv was too slow for him. He left after a few vears' residence with his entire familv and located in Iowa. All trace of him and his familv have been lost to the other Pattons. John Patton, the youngest son. was born in \'^irginia in 1787, a notice of whom is elsewhere herein. A daughter, Jane Patton, died in middle age, unmarried. Mary Patton was bom in Virginia in 1789, and was married to Charles Kirkpatrick in 1806. They came to Ohio anrl located on Eagle Creek. Three children were bom to them, and Kirkpatrick died in the War of 1812. In 1813, she married William Evans, and ten children were born of this union, the eldest of which was Edward Patton Evans, of West Union, father of one of the editors of this work. She died March 22, 1830, at. the age of forty-one. Nancy Milli^an, the fourth daughter of John Patton. of \"irginia, was born in RrK'khriclge County. X'irginia, about 179 1. She married William Milligan. and they located near Unity in Adams County. She was the mother of a large family. ]. C. Milligan. her son. was a County Commissioner of Adams C\)nnty from i860 to 1863. Her son, John Milligan, is living near Decatur, I>rown County.

John Patton, of Virginia, died in i8oc) in Rockbridge County. He made his will in July. 1809, and it was probated in October. 1809. From the tc>ne of his will, it is judged he was a \'ery pious. God-fearing man. The mventory of his estate on file indicates he was an ordinary Virginia farmer. 1 le owned 278 acres of land in one body, about five and tlireefourths milvs from Lexington, on the upper Natural Bridge road. Two hundred acres of his land lay in P>urden's Grant, and the remainder, seventy-eight acres, just outside of it.

The original grant of the P>urden tract was from George, the Second, by the (trace of God of Great Britain. France and Ireland, King and De-' fender of the I^^iith, etc.. and on condition that one family for evety thousand acres be settled on it within two years. There were 92,100 acres in the grant. The land was to be held in free and common socage and not in capitc or by knight service, and to pay a rent of one shilling for every fiftv acres, to he ])aid yearly in the Feast of St. Michael, the Archangel (Sep- tember 29). Three acres out of" every fifty were to be improved within three years. All these conditions were abolished by the Virginia Legislature during the Revolution.

John Patton bought his two hundred acres in Burden's Grant, December 3, 1782. That is the date of his deed, but he probably had it contracted for long before that. He purchased of James Grigsby, who died April 7, 1794, and was the first person buried in the Falling Spring cemetery.

John Patton hated the institution of slavery, and had intended to remove from Virginia had he lived, but he charged his children to remove from a slave state, which they did. His descendants are very much the same type of man that he was himself ; strong, prudent, economical, honest, careful, despising all sham and pretense, and hating oppression and injustice in every form.

so designated to distinguish him from his father, having the same name, but who never resided in Ohio, was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, June 9, 1787. His mother was Martha Sharp, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister of Glasgow, Scotland. He was married to Phoebe Taylor in Rockbridge County, Virginia, in 1813. While he was courting her. he used to visit her about every ninety days, riding over the Natural Bridge, his home being on the opposite side of the bridge from her. He resided in Rockbridge County until 1816, when he moved to Wayne Township, Adams County, where he purchased a farm, His wife was aunt of Bishop Taylor, of the M. E. Church, so long a missionary in Africa. She was born February 2, 1794. They joined the Associate Reformed Church in North Liberty as soon as they came from Virginia and attended it all theSr lives. They had ten children born to them, four sons and six daughters. Martha, the eldest, was born in Virginia. She married the Rev. Robert Stewart, who was pastor of the church at Cherry Fork for nineteen years. She died in 1852. His second son, James T., born October 25, 1815, died in 1835. He had been attending Miami University, and was exp>ecting to become a minister of the Gospel. Another son, John Elder, lived many years near North Liberty on the Winchester load. Nathaniel C. Patton, one of the principal farmers of the county, lives near Harshaville. Henry Patton died unmarried. Of the daughters, Larissa married Alexander Caskey and had a large family. One of her sons is John P. Caskey, of the firm of Harsha & Caskey, at Portsmouth, Ohio. A daughter, Elizabeth, married Robert Morrison, of Eckmansville ; Phoebe Caroline married S. D. Mclntire, and Nancy and Margaret each married a Kirkpatrick. They also had an adopted child, Phoebe C. Finley.

John Patton and his wife were the verv strictest Presbvterians. There was family worship morning and evening, grace before meals, and a returning of thanks after, and Sunday was devoted entirely to public and private worship, including the catechism. When anyone visited their house, he was not asked if he were a member of any church, but he was called on to say grace or tak-^ part in worship, and if he was not in a condition to do so he was put in the position to be asked to be excused. In those days 39a religion was a severe and awful matter, and they made it a part of their every day life. Sunday was a day when only public or private worship, reading of the scriptures or catechising, and nothing else, was to be thought of. They believed that the promises were for them and their children, and acted on their belietf. Their lives were models for all the world, but alas, how the world has changed since that time. The severity of the religion of the Pilgrim Fathers was no greater than that of Rockbridge County, \'irginia. Presbyterians, but with all their religious severity, they did not forget to make and save money and kad all that thrift which belonged alike to the New England Puritan and the north of Ireland Protestant Irishman.

In 1740 there landed at the port of New York a young immigrant from Alsace-Lorraine. His name was John Pennywitt, or Pennwitt. (The name was afterwards variously spelled Penniwitt, Penny wit, Bennywitt, etc.) He was a Huguenot; his family had been well-nigh exterminated and he had been persecuted and driven from his native land because of his religious faith. He was by occupation a miller, and found employment at his trade at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He married his employer's daughter, and with his bride started to join tlie Huguenot colony in South Carolina. On the way thither they passed up the Shenandoah Valley and were so impressed by the beauty of the scenery and the fertility of the soil that thev decided to locate there. He built the first mill in the valley, the foundation of which is still standing near Mount Jackson. He had two sons and several daughters. One son, John, emigrated to the West and came to Adams County. He was a giant in stature and his strength was remarkable. He could carry two barrels of flour at once, one under each arm. His remains now lie in the cemetery at Quinn Chapel. He had four sons, one of whom, Mark, succeeded to the home farm on Gift Rid^e. Mark had six sons, one of whom, Samuel, was accidentally killed when a youth. The ^\q surviving brothers, John, James, Reuben, David and Mark, lived to ripe old aj^c. They were all large and muscular. Their aggregate weight was more than a thousand pounds, and their combined strength (lou])tless exceeded that of any other family of equal numbers in southern Ohio. As to their physical develDpment they constituted perhaps the most remarkable family that Adams County has ever produced. And they were equally noted for their sterling- integrity and irreproachable character.

The eldest of these brothers, John (the subject of this sketch), was married in early manhcxxl t(> Ann Wade, a schoolmate of his boyhood days, the daughter of a near neighbor. They reared a family of four sons and four daughters, all of whom arc living at the date of this writing (September. 1899). -'^t the age of nineteen he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Xaylor's Meeting House. To that denomination he continued faithful to the end. He organized a class made up of his immediate neighbors, donated the ground and was the chief contributor to the fund for erecting Quinn Cha|>el, and the main support for many years of the society that worshipped there. During a considerable portion of his life lie was one of the stewards of WeM LTnion circuit in which was embraced Quinn Chapel.

In his younger days he served as Justice of the Peace and as Captain of Militia. He was an old-line Whig. When the Republican party came into existence he identified himself with that political organization. To the principles of that party he was firmly attached. To the institution of slavery he was always a relentless enemy. His party honored him with a nomination to the State Legislature and elected him County Commissioner. While serving in the latter capacity he was largely instrumental in securing the construction of improved roads throughout the county. He was Chairman of the Republican Executive Committee for several years, during which period his party was generally successful at the polls ; but for his right arm he would not have used a single dollar to corrupt an American voter.

The panic of 1875 brought financial ruin to him. He gave up his home and his last dollar, and in 1874, with his wife and one unmarried daughter, removed to Washington, D. C, to accept a home proffered them by one of his sons. In May, 1876, he received an appointment to a clerkship in the United States Treasury Department, which position he held during the remaining six years of his life.

The distinguishing features of John Penny witt's character were unswerving honesty, absolute integrity bf purpose and unflinching adherence to the truth. He never told a lie. He was an absolute stranger to deceit. A near neighbor, Peter Thompson, saw him grow from infancy to manhood and clearly recognized this trait in his character. Once upon a time this old gentleman had occasion to repeat a statement made by him, and a bystander expressed some doubts of its truth. This aroused his Scotch ire and he burst out in tones of indignation, '*I know it's true, for John Penny witt himself told me." From this incident he became generally known as ''John Pennywitt himself." Higher tribute than this can not be paid to human character. Those who knew him well never doubted a word that he uttered.

He was self-educated and his education was thorough and practical. Notwithstanding his limited opportunities for attending school he became familiar with all the common branches of learning, and in mathematics he was superior to many college-bred men. He taught many terms in the public schools. Algebra, geometry and surveying he mastered without a teacher. He became widely known as a land surveyor, and in contested cases his surveys were accepted by the courts as thoroughly reliable.

His remains rest in Odd Fellow's Cemetery in Manchester. His funeral was one of the largest ever witnessed in the county. By his side sleeps the partner of his life's joys and sorrows. Adams County may justly be proud of such a son.

was born May 31, 1817, the fourth child of Mark Pennywit. who reared his family on Gift Ridge in Adams County. He had six brothers and each of them was more than six feet tall. In youth, he delighted in feats of strength. He united with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Quinn Chapel at its dedication, December 20, 1842, a church built on the old Pennywit home, and largely by the contributions of the family.

living; at the time of the death of their father. They were Captains Wylie anH Alfred ; fieorj^e and Mary of Manchester; Captain Samuel Penn\-Mit, of Xatrh**/, Mississippi; Mrs. Edward McMillan and Mrs. J. P. Duffey, ni Cinnnnati. and Joseph W. Pennywit.

KoImti l*oa>^e landed in Philadelphia in 1738 with his wife. Elizabeth, ;uni nine chihlren, Marj^aret, John. Martha. Sarah. George, Mar\', Elizabeth, William and K<»lwrt. A tenth child, Thomas, was bom to them the nrxt year. The second M>n, John, above named, married Mary Blair, who was a sister oi the Kev. John IMair and Rev. Samuel Blair, of Pennsylvania, and \\ illiam Lawrence IMair, a lawyer of Kentucky. Robert Poage located his family within three miles of Staunton, Virginia. John Poage, Robert's snii, had six sons and two daughters. The subject of our sketch, the fifth son, was lK>rn .March 17, 17^*). near Staunton, \'irginia. All the sons were enn'nent men, surveyors, and counte<l wealthy for their time.

Martha, tlie third cliild of Robert l\)age. the emigrant, married Muhael Woods, who hnrated in the Valley of \'irginia. in 1734. She was lx>rn in Irelaml in 1728, and died in Ripley, Ohio, in 1818. She was the nu)ihor <>f eight children, all of whom grew to maturity, married and had famih'es. Mary, her daugliter, lx)m February 18, 1760, was married to Col. James Poage, March 10, 1787, and died at Ripley, Ohio, in April, 1830

Ami, daughter of Jolm Poage and Mary Blair, married Andrew Kincaid. She and her husKind died about the same time, leaving six young t liiMren, thrcx* of them daughters, whom Col. Poage took and reared as his <»\Mi. They grow to womanho^xl in Ripley .-^nd all three of them married.

Pioneer Character Sketches 613

Colonies. In accordance with the request, William Poage, uncle of Col. James Poage, moved to Kentucky in 1778, and there lost his lif-e in an Indian campaign, leaving seven children.

Col. James Poage went to Kentucky in 1778, but there is no authentic account of his movements from that tim-e until his marriage in 1789, except that he was engaged with surveying parties, and in protecting the families of his relatives from the incursion of the Indians. Sometime in this period, he was at the head of a surveying party and sometimes he commanded several. His work was fraught with great dangers. No men were permitted to accompany his parties except those expert in the use of a rifle. A number of hunters accompanied the parties to provide food. The furs of the animals were carefully preserved and packed. The most efficient scouts were obtained to guard against Indian attacks which could be expected at any time. Danger often compelled several surveying parties to keep together. The head of a single party would be called a Captain. When several parties worked together, their chief was called a Colonel, and James Poage often commanded consolidated parties, and it was in this way in which he obtained his title of Colonel. Few Western surveyors did more work in dangerous localities than Colonel James Poage and yet he was never involved in any serious encounter with the Indians. He was always on the lookout for tlicm and Indians will rarely attack an enemy except by surprise. Col. Poage could not be surprised by any of them. Whenever he encamped his party or parties, he took such precautions that he could not be surprised, and his men had implicit confidence in him as a commander. When he met the Indians openly and peaceably he always treated them fairly and with justice and kindness, and he had their resp)ect. He did work with surveying parties in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. Considerable of this work was done after his marriage. When at home he devoted himself J.o farming and stock raising. He could get more work and more willing work out of his farm hands and slaves than any man of his times, except his brothers, George, William and Robert, who had the same traits. Another feature of those who worked for him, whether free or slaves, was that they would be as faithful in his long absence from his home as during his presence. He took an interest in everyone who worked for him, and whenever occasion required he would turn to and perform manual labor in that perfect manner he expected it to be done for him. He had a tact with his servants that could be imitated bv no one and which cannot be described.

He first resided in Clarke County, Kentucky, and represented that county in the Legislature of 1796. but most of his time in Kentucky he was a resident of Mason County. He disliked and vvas opposed to human slavery. In 1804, he took up one thousand acres of Survey No. 418 in Ohio, along the Ohio River, the center of which contains the town of Riplev, and here he made his home and laid cut a town, which he named Staunton, for Staunton in Virginia. He located this tract because he wanted to free his slaves, and to do it, had to remove to a free state. During his residence in Ripley, he was distinguished for his liberality and hospitality, but he always lacked ready money. However, that was the case with everyone in that time, but was the hardest on those disposed to be liberal. He always entertained all the visiting ministers. All distinguished visitors were his guests. It was iarely his family sat down to a meal witliout g^uests. Even* Virginian passing that way felt in dut>- txHind to visit him, and he felt in duty bound to entertain everyone from his native State. Frequently he had so many visitors at one time, that his daughters all occupied one room and his sons all occupied the hay loft. So lavish was his hospitality that often tea, coffee and sugar were lacking at his table, but neither he nor his wife ever apologized for these deficiencies or were kss cordial to their guests for the want of ihem. His daughters and his wife, from flax, wool and cotton, made nearly all of the clothing for the entire family and fitted it as neatlv as a modem tailor.

For his services in surveying Mrginia and General Government, he was granted 40,000 acres of land, half near Point Pleasant. West \^irginia, and half that quantity near Cairo, Illinois. On this he paid out a large amount of taxes, and his executors abandoned this land after his death for want of funds to pay taxes and bring it into the market.

As a husl^iid and father, he was kind an<l affectionate. He was a magnetic kind of man and his family obeyed him implicitly. He exercised a wonderful influence among those around him, securing their concurrence in his judgment and direction about matters. But above all things, he was distinguished by his robust, cheerful piety. His life and ox.imple tended to make other men l^eliex^e and embrace his faith. A number of his letters breathing that earnest spint of piety, his chief characteristic, are still in existence.

Pioneer Character Sketches 616

In what proved to be Col. Poage's last sickness, he was prevailed upon to go security for a large sum for a woolen mill in which he had invested money. After his death, the mill failed and his estate was called on to pay the debt. Want of capacity to make the note might have been successfully pleaded, and his executor and legatees were so advised, but his children declined and the debt was paid by his estate. However, it was this that made the executor abandon the lands owned by him in West Virginia and in Illinois. Finally enough was saved out of his estate to give each one of his children a fine farm.

This is the story of the founder of Ripley, and the materials were accessible to have made it more elaborate in details which would have been as interesting as any given. His ashes repose in the old abandoned cemetery- of Ripley.

was born at Milroy, Pa., in 1829. In 1838, his father removed to Mt. Leigh in Adams County, where he took up wild woodland. Our subject attended schools three months each winter and the remainder of the year he spent in aiding his father subdue the wilderness. Thus he spent ten years, but in that time was schooled in humanity. His father was a Binny Abolitionist and his home was a station on the Underground Railroad. The next station north was Flat Run in Highland County, and in the ten years, from his ninth to his nineteenth year, our subject piloted not less than three hundred slaves between the stations on their road to freedom. That work was a good lesson for the boy and helped make the man. From 1848 to 1850, he attended an academy at Felicity and taught school. From 1850 to 1852, he attended Franklin College at New Athens, Ohio. In 1852, he went to West Union and began the study of the law under the late Edward P. Evans, father of the writer of this sketch. During the time he was studying law, he taught school to earn his living. In the spring of 1852, he and Alexander Woodrow were the only two persons in West Union who cast their votes for John P. Hale for President. In the spring of 1854, he and his preceptor went to Columbus, where he was admitted to the bar. He at once located in Greenfield, in Highland County, where he began the practice of law. Here, on the fifteenth of October, 1855, he was married to Miss Austie Foote. That same fall he was elected to the office of Prosecuting Attorney of Highland County and served one term. He was a candidate for re-election in 1857, but was defeated. He removed to Hillsboro in 1858 and remained ti«ere until i860, when he removed to and located in Tipton, the county seat of Cedar County, Iowa. In t86i, he was elected to the Iowa Legislature and served part of the time as Speaker, pro tern. In July, 1862, he was appointed Lieutenant- Colonel of the 35th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and in that organization distinguished himself by signal bravery in battle. General William L. Davis, in speaking of the attack on the rebel works at Vicksburg, in which the 35th low^a participated, said : "Lieutenant-Colonel Rothrock sprang to the front, ordered the regiment to charge, and, taking the lead, with hat in one hand and sword in the other, the Thirty-fifth went into that awful shower of lead and iron. The line was repulsed everywhere with fearful slaughter. No braver man than he ever drew a sword or held the affection of his soldiers more strongly." However, his constitution was broken down by the hardships of the service, and he was compelled to resign in

'ill'- \\\\i' of lii- yr/ijtl) died April (), iX^/.V lie has three sons. Edward \\ , horn ill iH^r^: James If., in i86r^ and Tieorpfe L., in 1873. The writer, ;is a hoy, vv«'nt to sduK^l to him in West Union while he was a law student. I h- WW. \hn\ a hoarrhr at the hom<- of his preceptor, and there the writer \it'i:\\\\i' a< r|n;iinted with him. When this history was projected, he opened a ( f»rns|)oiideiice with the Jndji^e anrl several pleasant letters were ex- ( li;MifM-r|. The (nrlj^r lookcrl ffirward with jleastire to the time wheti he foiihl K-acl of his Ohio friends, those of his childhood and youth in this hi'.tr,iv. hnt alrisj that was never to he! TIkksc years of leisure to which h'- ;iimI his faniilv lf»okcr] forward with pleasure were never to be lived hv him Voveniher 17. iH<^S. h(^ wrote: "My race is nearlv run. After three ;inr| ten. there is little left hnt to wait the end.'* When he wrote ill'.'- woidv. \\r liiilc re.'ilized how near he was to the end. He died oil ihe hfi«-rnth of January. iS(>(). His funeral was honored by the atlriul;inr( of ihr ('.ovenior and Supreme Judges of the State and by numeroil'. <listiii:Miisln'<| eiti/ens a*^ well as hy his townsmen. He has left a p;"rand and noble memory, and those who knew him in Ohio in his boyhood and young manhood, cherish it equally with the citizens of Iowa, who knew him so well. Adams County is proud of the history of his life.

was born October 12, 1801, in Pennsylvania. His father moved to Mt. Leigh when he was eleven years of age. He went to school in the district ' school of the neighborhood and afterward at the North Liberty Academy. When the war broke out he raised a company for the 60th O. V. I. for one year and was appointed Captain, November 26, 1861. He served in the organization until November 10, 1862, and while in it was in several battles and skirmishes, and was taken prisoner of war at Harper's Ferry in the surrender there. He Remained at home until June, 1863, when he raised Company B, Second Ohio Heavy Artillery. While he was recruiting that, he and his brother, Joseph, and John Van Deman attended the North Liberty United Presbyterian Church and took communion. Philip said it would be the last time he would be with them and so it proved to be. His regiment was sent for service in East Tennessee. On August 18, 1863, he was wounded by an explosion of one of our old cannon at Cleveland, Tennessee, then used to repel an attack by the Rebel General Wheeler. The* next day he was appointed Major but was never mustered. He was sent to the hospital where he remained until October 12, 1864, when he died. In November, his remains were brought to Mt. Leigh and reinterred.

He was married August 18. 1857, to Rebecca E. Shaw. There were two sons of this marriage, Joseph Lewis, born June 11, 1858, who is married and now resides at Washington C. H. He has two children. Another son, Philip E., resides at Washington C. H.. and is married. He is the father of four children, and is engaged in the hardware business there.

Philip Rothrock was. a Presbyterian, and much devoted to his faith. He was a man of generous impulses, intensely patriotic, and had he survived, he would have been a most valuable citizen in any community. His untimely death was much deplored bv all who knew him.

a son of A\'illiani Stivers and Elizabeth King, was born near the city of New York in the year 1765. He had six brothers. Edward, William, Reuben, Peter, Tames and Richard, and three sisters, one of whom, Sarah, married Richard Bergin of Bourbon County, Ky., who afterwards settled near Columbus, Ohio. In 1775, in order to escape the Tory allies of George III, in and about New York, William Stivers moved to Spottsylvania County, Virginia. There he was comparatively safe from Tory persecutions, and during the Revolution he sent six sons to battle for the cause of Liberty, his seventh son, Richard, being too young to bear arms. John Stivers, the sixth son, volunteered in May, 1780, in Captain Robert Daniel's Com])any of Colonel Spencer's Regimenr, Virginia A^olunteers, when but little past fifteen years of age, for a period of service of five months. At the expiration of the term of his first enlistment, he again volunteered for

Regiment. At the expiration of his second term of enlistment the war was practically over. Virginia was cleared of marauding bands of Tories.

and Comwallis and his British and Hessian forces were shut up in Yorktown to stay until they marched out to the tune of **The Worid's Upside Down," and he surrendered his sword to Washington.

In the year 1786, John Stivers married Miss Martha Xeel, a daughter of John Xeel, a Scotch emigrant, and settled in the forks of the Youghiogheny and the Monongahela Rivers, in Westmoreland Count}-, Pennsylvania. There his family of eight children were bom : Samuel IC, Robert, James, John, Matilda, who married Isaac Teachenor ; Lydia, who married William Shaw; Washington, and Xancy, who married Enoch Moore. In 1799, he moved to Bourbon County, Kentucky, and soon thereafter came to Sprigg Township, Adams County, Ohio, and settled on Brier Ridge within sight of the old Methodist Church in what is now Liberty Township, where he continued to reside until his death in 1839. Before coming to Ohio he and his oldest brother, Reuben, who settled in Bourbon County, Kentucky, laid militarv warrants Xos. 6640, 6642 and 6643 covering 630 acres of land lying on Treber's Run, and on the East Fork of Eagle Creek in Adams County. The youngest brother, Richard, afterwards came to Kentuckv and settled near Louisville, where he became one of the most prominent planters of that region. John Stivers was an active, vigorous man, both in l)ody and mind, and took a deep interest in his day in affairs ^^{ count v and state. He was a radical Teffersonian Democrat in his political opinions, and he was a faithful member of the Baptist Church for nearly fifty years. In personal appearance he was a little below the medium in height, but very compactly built, and weighed in full and vigorous manhood about 165 pounds. He had dark hair, steel-blue eyes and regular features, and was of a buoyant disposition and pleasing turn of mind : yet he was not slow to resent wrong or a personal affront. It is related of him that soon after his first enlistment in the Revolution. that while resting with his company at a spring, a bumptious militia officer rode up and addressing him as '*Bud," requested a drink of water. This so enraged the youthful soldier that he seized the officer and dragged him from his saddle and gave him a deserved pummelling for his imp>ertinence. He and his faithful wife are buried in the old cemetery at Decatur, in Brown County, Ohio.

The name is Anglo-Saxon, and in the early history of the family the Sintons were found settled near the border of Scotland. The ancestors of this subject went to the north of Ireland with one of Cromwell's colonies. 1 lis father and mother were Quakers. His mother's name was McDonald. John v^inton. father of David Sinton, was married in Ireland. He resided in C'ounty Armagh, and was a linen manufarturer at the city of Armagh.

David Sinton was horn January 26. t8o8. and in 181 1, his father and mother came to the l/nited v^tates in a sailiuj^ vessel, which occupied nine week^ in the voya<:^c.

joiin v'^inton kx'ated at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and went to merchau'lisuii,^ with his hrother-in-law, McDonald. In one year the partnershij) wa^ fhssolvcH, and Sinton removed to West Union, Ohio, where he smM otmkK from t8i J until 1825, at which time he closed out his business at auction.

l")avi<l Sinton had two sisters and one brother: the brother, William. dierl at West I'nion. and is buried in the village ceineterv' there. He had studied medicine with Dr. William B. Willson, and had qualified himself for a physician, when death cut him off in his early manhood. He had just begun the practice of medicine at the time of his death. One of David Sinton's sisters never left Ireland, but married there. His other sister, who came with the remainder of the family to this country, married John Sparks, the banker, and died at Union Landing of the cholera, in 1833. Mr. and Mrs. Sparks had three children: Mary Jane, who married a McCauslen and resides near Steubenville, Ohio, and George Sparks, who resides at Clinton, Indiana. The third child died an infant at West Union, Ohio.

John Sparks v/as bom near West Union, Ohio, in 1800, and reared there. He lived awhile in Hillsboro, when a young man, and then began merchandising in West Union, Ohio, on the corner now occupied by Miller & Bunn's drug store, and was in business there from 1820 until 1830. He went to Union Landing in 1830, and remained until 1833. He then returned to West Union, Ohio, and went into the banking business, where he remained until his death in April, 1847. Bates & Surtees founded the bank at West Union, Ohio. They were both from Cincinnati. The bank was an unsound concern, and when it collapsed Thomas Huston lost $13,000 by its failure.

He left West Union in his fourteenth -ear, and went to Sinking Springs, in Highland County, Ohio, where he went into tlie employment of James McCague, who kept a tavern and a country store there, and remained:! at that place two years. McCague had a branch store at Dunbarton, Ohio, three miles south of Peebles. David Sinton was in his sixteenth year when he kept store at Dunbarton, for three or four months. McCague was a dnnking man, and his wife and Sinton attended to all the business. Sinton says tliat the sales in the branch store at Dunbarton were principally whiskey. On Saturday, the furnace hands from the Brush Creek Forge, Steam Furnace and Marble Furnace, gathered at Dunbarton, and got gloriously drunk. Whiskey was then about six and one-fourth cents a quart, and drunks were consequently gotten up very cheap.

David Sinton went to Cincinnati in 1824 and waited there four months before he could get any employment. In that time he improved his mind by reading Hume's History of England, and other works. Mr. Sinton thought he could have gotten employment, had he made himself "a hail fellow well met/' with the young men of his own age with whom he became acquainted, and had he participated in their dissipations, but this he refused to do. He says those young men have been dead and forgotten for years. While trying to get work, he answered all advertisements, but with no success. He applied for the position of bookkeeper at Adams' Commission House on Main Street, but found, on looking at their books, he could not keep them. He then went to work as a porter or laborer. He put up twenty tons of bar iron from Pittsburg, and placed barrels of sugar in the loft. He had a difficulty with a fellow-laborer in the same house, and says : "I went to Mr. Adams, and asked him to discharge the other man. He refused to do so, and I discharged myself. '^

L'nion. There he received letters, asking him to return to Sinking Springs. He went there and remained with his former emploj-er, Mc- Cague. at eight dollars per month, for two years. Then he concluded he wanted to Ix* a capitaHst. He ^^-ent into partnership with a Methodist preacher, and lx>ught a still-house for one hundred and fifty dollars. He ran the still until he paid his debts, and then being ashamed of the business, he sold out. He guarded a prisoner for nine days in 1826 and got twenty dollars for it, and then concluded to go to Cincinnati.

There he opened out a commission house for John Sparks, his brotherin-law, and Daniel Boyle, of West Union, but the venture was not successful, and the house was closed in six months. He then went to Washing- Um C. H., in the employ of Dr. Boyd, to take charge of a store. He remamed there six months at twenty-five dollars per month. Then he receive'1 an oficr to go to Hanging Rock at four hundred dollars per year. I le left Washington C. H.. and went to West L'nion to consult his brotherin-law, John Sparks. He offered Sparks to go to Union Furnace for two hundred dollars per year, and his board. The offer was accepted, and he went to I iiioii I^'urnace Landing, where he kept store, and sold pig iron. He was there three years. The firm was James Rogers & Co. Rogers scKm sold out, and the firm became John Sparks & Co., and Sinton became manager of the furnace at four hundred dollars per year, when other furnaces were paying one thousand dollars per year for the same service. Unif>n I**nrnace hacl cost seven thousand dollars, but was much in debt. Sinton made the furnace put out five hundred tons of iron per year, and made it pay divirUiuls. The output was mostly hollow-ware. Sinton wanted to push the business. He leased the furnace at a rental of five thousand dollars per year for five years. The stack fell down, and the bars gave out. While rebuilding the stack, he bought great quantities of wood, and had it stored about the furnace. Before the stack was rebuilded, the wood caught fire, and was all consumcil. Sinton was then twentyeight years of age, and financially broken up. He had been up three days and nights fighting fire, and was utterly discouraged. He thought he would g(> to Mexico, but lay down and slept eighteen consecutive hours. Twice before he had lost all he bad, and he concluded lie would try it again. The men who had brought in the wood, and worked at the furnace, wanted their money. Sinton i)rofessed his ability to pay. and the men were paid as they came up. in as small bills and change as could be used so as to consume as much time as j)ossible in settlinq and making payment. He had one thousand dollars in small bills and change, and managed it so that he only paid out one hundred dollars on the first day of the run. The run coiititmed until the third day, when one of the men put a stop to it by telling the cithers they were all fools, and then tliey brought their money back.

After the furnace started up. Sinton sold in^n at thirty-five dollars per ton, which he made at a cost of teti dollars per ton. At that time the furnace made six tons per day. David vSinton built Ohio Furnace during his U'asc on Pnion l'nrnaa\ It made ten tons per day, and Sinton ran it a year l)ef«)ri' his lease terminated on Union n'urnace. L'nion Furnace was then \)U[ uj) and sold in partition, and David Sinton and Thomas W. Means bonjL^ht it. Tiiev then owned and ran both Ohio and Union Furnace.

Pioneer Character Sketches 621

John Ellison, of Adams County, Ohio, and sister to the wife of his partner, Thomas W. Means. There were two children of this marriage, Edward, who died, unmarried, at the age of twenty-one, and the wife of the Hon, Charles P. Taft, of the Times-Star, of Cincinnati. Mrs. Jane Sinton died in 1853, at Manchester, Ohio, and is buried there. David Sinton never remarried.

Mr. Sinton's father died at West Union, Ohio, Sunday, June 28, 1835. at the age of seventy-one, of that dread scourge, the Asiatic cholera. There were seven other deaths that day at the same place, and of the same disease, and it was the first day of the outbreak of the pestilence at West Union. David Sinton was then at Union Landing, and was notified by messenger, but, as was the custom at that time in cholera cases, John Sinton was buried the same day he died, and when Mr. Sinton reached West Union, his father had been buried two days. Mr. Sinton's mother survived until 1866, when she died at the ripe age of eighty-five.

When the War of 1861 broke out, pig-iron was eighteen dollars per ton, and David Sinton had seven thousand tons on hand. Many thought he was ruined, but he held on to that iron until it went up to seventy-five dollars per ton, when he sold it. When iron rose in price, he continued making it, and selling it for cash. In 1863, he began putting his money in Cincinnati real estate. That real estate, bought with the proceeds of iron sold at seventy-five dollars per ton. advanced until it made its owner one hundred and twenty-five dollars per ton for all the iron he sold at seventy-five dollars per ton.

Mr. Sinton attributes his great fortune to judicious investments of the money he made in the manufacture and --ale of pig-iron, at the beginning of, and during the late Civil War.

In Cincinnati, he has taken an active interest in many of the leading enterprises, and he has erected many substantial and elegant buildings there. He has made a number of munificent public gifts. He presented $100,000 to the Union l]ethel and $33,000 to the Young Men's Christian Association. He is entirely a self-made man. He is noted for his strong common sense and self-reliance. In business matters, his litigations, his conclusions and his manner of execution are his own. He may be said to be self-educated. ' His readings on all topics have been extensive. In literature, science and history he is well Informed, retaining all of any value he ever read, and being able to converse on all subjects with great interest to his listeners.

Mr. Sinton was a Whig and has been a Republican in his political views, but never took any active interest in political matters. During the war, he was a strong Union man and did all he could with his influence and means to sustain the Government. His practical religion is justice, charity and good will to all men. In private relations, he is characterized bv his kindness and benevolence.

Since the above was written Mr. Sinton made the princely g^ft of $100,000 unconditionally to the University of Cincinnati. He died August 31, 1900.

ckkst h^m of John Stivers, the pioneer, and Martha Neel. was bom near the junctif^ of the Voughiogheny and the M^jnongahela Rivers, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Fcbrnar)- i8, 1787. In 1799. he came with his fjarents first to B^^urlx/n County. Kentucky, and afterwards to Adams County, Ohio, setthng on Brier Ridge. Here he helped his father to *'clear out" a farm, earning some monej- himself by teaching school. At the beginning of the War of 181 2, he volunteered as a Private in Captain Josiah I^^xrkhart's Company of Colonel James Trimble's Regiment under f >eneral iJuncan Mc Arthur, and was surrendered to the British bv General Hull, at Detroit, August 16, 1812. After his parole, he came home; but learning that his brother, James, had volunteered in a Kentucky regiment, he at r>nce hastened to Maysville and re-enlisted in Captain Simmons' Company of Colonel William E. Boswell's Regiment. He served under General Cireene Clay in Harrison's Campaign, and commanded a **Spy Company" in Colonel BoswelKs Regiment of Kentucky Militia at the battle of the "Rapids of the Maumee." May 5, 181 3. He took part in the action under Colonel Dudley, and was made a prisoner of war after tlie lattiT's defeat and death. Knowing his certain fate should he be recognized by his former captors, he assumed the name of "Samuel Bradford" and was under that name discharged. He was one of the number that escajKifl the tomahawks of the Indians through the timely arrival of Tecimiseh, while confined in the blockhouse at Maiden. After his release bv the British, he returned to Adams County, and soon afterwards married Miss Mary Creed, a daughter of Mathew Creed, who had come from Monroe County, Virginia, to Rocky Fork, Highland County. Ohio, in 1804. About the time of his marriage he was elected a Justice of the Peace in Sprigg Township, which position he held until his removal from the county in 1818. ITe lived for a time on a farm near the residence of his father-inlaw, aiul then ri'inoved to Russell ville. Brown County, where he followed surveying and school teaching until 1829, when he settled on a farm of three InuKlred and fifty acres one mile north of the present village of Fincastle. Mere he resided until his death, Au^ist 7. 1864. His widow^ survived until N'oveniher, 1867, having been horn in 1790. Samuel K. Stivers was widely known as a surveyor and civil engineer. He held the rank of Colonel, in the old State Militia, and had a large circle of warm political friends, among whom was Hon. Thomas L. Hamer, the peer of Tom Corwin in the field of political oratory. He w^as a Democrat of the old scho<:^l. a P>reckenridge Democrat in 1860, and lived and died a member of the "New Light" or Christian Church.

Among his warm personal friends were Gen. Nathaniel Beasley. Judge (icorge Rarrere, Colonel James Trimble and Dr. Lilly, and he named the four sons of his family, Beaslev, Barrere. Trimble and Lillv. And his wife named the three daughters for her best friends, Amanda Carlisle, her cousin ; l\lizabeth Rrockwav. and Mary Creed, herself. He and his wife are binied in the old Karl Cemetery near Fincastle, Ohio.

was b«^ni on tlie thirty-first day oi September. 1772. at Old Town or Skipton, at the junction of the north and soutli branches of the Potomac River. He came of that sturdy v^cotcli-Irish stock which has furnished very manv remarkable and valuable men to the bar, army, navy and legislature of America. His grandparents emigrated to the United States very soon after the battle of the Boyne and settled in Berks County, Pennsylvania, from whence the father of Judge Scott removed to and settled in Virginia.

In May, 1796, Mr. Scott married Catherine, daughter of Robert and Catherine Dorsey Wood. He very early connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church throughout his long life. He was licensed a preacher when only seventeen years of age by Bishop Asbury, and was ordained at eighteen. At this period of lif^, Mr. Scott fully intended to devote himself to the ministry, and he prudendy learned the tailoring trade so as to be sure of the necessaries of life while in charge of the then very poor and scattered flocks of the Methodist Church.

In 1793, he was placed in charge of the Ohio Circuit, and in 1794, was sent as delegate to a conference held in Lexington, Kentucky. By this time he had resolved to study law, and he began reading under the auspics of James Brown, of Lexington. But he was so poor that he was compelled to labor at tailoring much the preater portion of the time. In this strait, his wife (who, beside possessing in an eminent degree, all the noble attributes of womanhood, was an unusually well educated and intellectual lady) sat beside his work and read to him "Blackstone/' "Coke upon Littleton," and the other law books usually put into the hands of law students in those days. Whether licensed to practice or not, and it does not appear that he was, he certainly appeared as a lawyer in the courts of Flemingsburg, Kentucky, and even prosecuted for the State in 1799 and 1800. Early in 1 801, he came to Chillicothe, Ohio, and there was licensed to practice law in June, 1801. In the following winter, he was Clerk of the Territorial Legislature. In November (from the first to the twenty^ninth ) , he was the Secretary of the Constitutional Convention. In January, 1803, he was commissioned Prothonotary of Common Pleas, which he held until the reorganization of the Courts, and in April of that year, he was Clerk of the Common Pleas, pro tempore^ and candidate for the permanent clerkship, but was defeated for the position by John McDougal. He was then commissioned the first Justice of the Peace of the county and continued in that position for three or four years, although, meanwhile, he practiced in Common Pleas, and was also Prosecuting Attorney in 1803 and 1804.

In the Fall of 1805, he was chosen Clerk of the Ohio Senate, and continued such, by successive annual elections until 1809. when he was elected to the Supreme Bench of the State, upon which he remained with good credit, until 1815. He was then Register of Public Lands from 1829 to 1845. When, after the "era of good feeling'* which existed during Monroe's administration, men began to divide up again on political questions. Judge Scott took his place with the Republican party. But President Adams, having made him the promise to appoint him District Judge of the United States for Ohio and this having been prevented by the interference of Clay, who obtained the place for another. Judge Scott immediately became a zealous and active Jackson Democrat. He continued his affiliation with the Democracy until 1840, when he went over again to his old partisan friends, then called Whigs, and supported General Harrison's candidacy. He remained a Whig during the remainder of his life, but strongly sympathized with the anti-slavery mo\iement which gave birth to the present Republican party. We must not forget to mention that in all the vicis- situdes of his long and busy life, he continued to fill the pulpit of the Methodist Church whenever called to supply it as a "local preacher."

He died February 13, 1856, at the age of eighty-three, and at that time had been longer in the active practice of l?.\v than any other person in Ohio, and probably, longer a preacher of t!ie Gospel than any mmister in the United States. His excellent wife 5ur\ivcd him about two years. As a lawyer, Judge Scott was painstaking, laborious and precise to a rentarkable degree. Some of his briefs are mar\-els of patient research and also of prolixity. He had a wide reputation for learning, in the laws of realty especially, and was employed abroad in some very important cases, and for his services, received a few larj^e fees.

It will be noticed that in the foregoing sketch of his life, that, true to the instincts of the X'irginian, Judge Scott loved official distinction. \o position was umj high for his solicitation, and none too humble for his acceptance. As a husband and a father, never was mortal man more gentle, affectionate and provident.

was one of the first citizens of West Union. He was first in a double sense. He was on the ground when the town was organized, and he was first in enterprise and public spirit while he remained a citizen of the town. FTe w-as torn in New Jersey in 1779. In 1800, he removed with his parents to Pennsylvania. In 1804, he was married to Elizabeth Jones, in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and immediately emigrated to Adams County. He attended the sale of lots in West Union. May 17. 1804, ^"^ bought lots 4, 5. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and paid $244.00 for them. On lots 21 and 22, in 1805. he built a tannery and operated it imtil about 1826. He was one of the foremost business men of West Union. He was not only crmtent to buy hides, tan them and sell leather, but he started up a saddle and harness factory. He made his leather into saddles, harness and shfKs. and kept a number of men employed in manufacturing these articles.

Rev. James I J. Finley preached the first sermon ever delivered in \\'est Union by a Methodist minister, at the home of Peter Schiiltz John W. Campbell was present and trx>k notes in shorthand.

In 1807, he joined the Methodist Kpiscopal Church under the ministry of the Kev. John Collins, and from that time until the day of his death was a most zealous, earnest Christian. He organized the first Methodist vSoeiety in West Union, and for the want of a church, it met at his house. He t(M>k a very active part in promoting the interest of the village, the county and of the Methodist Church. He accumulated considerable property while in West Union, and reared a large family. His children were Charlotte. John, Lucy. Joseph. David, William. Abbott, Kllen. Robert. Asbury and John Wilson Campbell. Four of them were married in Adams County. Charlotte marri<^d William Compton ; John ninrried Rlioda flnrdapfe and Lucy married Charles Mick. Joseph married I'Jizahetli Mick. Kllen died in childhood. Having so large a family, he (k'terniined to move to Indiana, w^here Ire could purchase more land and better than lie ccnild obtain in Adams County. He gained quite a g(M)(l-sized fortime, but lost a ^ood part of it by security debts. But with his wonderful enerirv and bv industrv and economv, he accumulated another fortune. In Indiana, as in Ohio, he made a church of his home, and was as zealous a worker in the church in Indiana as he had been in Ohio. He died October 24, 1848. After his death, his widow refused $25,000 for the farm in which she resided, and there was much other property beside.

Peter Schultz was a man of energy and industry. He was the soul of integrity and honor. He was generous to every good cause and was loved by all who knew him. He never took any part in politics, but devoted his whole time to business and to goW works in the church and community.

Among the early settlers of Adams County, Ohio, Rev. David Steele, D. D., occupies a prominent place. He was born near Londonderry, Ireland, on the second day of November, 1803, and was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He was the youngest of six brothers, whose father, David Steele, was the fourth generation from Captain John Steele of Lismahago, near Glasgow, Scotland, and who fought on the side of the Covenanters in the battle of Drumclog, June 22, 1679. Descended from such stock, as might be expected, he was trained up according to the strict order* observant in Covenanting families. He received his academical education on the old wall of Londonderry, famous in history because of its siege in 1688 and 1689. When about twenty years of age, he emigrated to the United States, arriving in Philadelphia, June 7, 1824. After spending a short time with an uncle in Pennsylvania, he taught school in the first academy erected in Edinsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the meantime pursuing his classical and other studies. Entering the Western University of Pennsylvania as a Senior, he graduated from that institution in 1826. After studying theolog}' with the late Dr. John Black, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, he was licensed to preach the Gospel, April, 1830. The following year, on May 4th, he was married to Miss Eliza Johnston, of Chillicothe, Ohio, and on^ month afterward, he was ordained and installed Pastor of the Reformed Congregation of Brush Creek by the Ohio Presbytery at a salary of four hundred dollars a year. When he settled on Brush Creek, the place was a wilderness, and he and his young wife found everything primitive and uncongenial to educated and refined living.

Thousands of miles he traveled on horseback yearly, having often to ford rivers when he had to get on his knees on the saddle to keep from being saturated with water as there were few bridges in those days. For twenty-nine years, he labored in this congregation upon a salary that was hardly sufficient to procure the necessaries of life. Although a little below medium in stature, he was possessed of an excellent constitution and this enabled him to bear up under difficulties which would have been loo great for others. As a scholar, he was far above most of his compeers, particularly in the ancient classics, as he could read the most difficult Latin and Greek authors at sight. He was thoroughly versed in theology and his "Notes on the Apocalypse'' show that he was a master in the exposition of the Bible truth. He was instrumental in training quite a number of young men for the Gospel Ministry. His home was the resort of all educated people, who came to the neighborhood, and hospitality was a marked feature of his house. It is but proper to state that his wife co-opcrated heartily with him in all his plans for the elevation and culture of all who dwelt in the vicinity* of Brush Creek. His influence for sound morality, godly living and consistent Christianity was felt far and wide and left its impress upon the whole community. Brush Creek owes much in culture and refinement to the early settlement of him and his wife. As an orator, Rev. Steele was concise, clear and frequently eloquent and impassioned, and his discrimination in the use of words showed his mastery of the English language. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from his Alma Mater a few vears before his death.

After leaving Ohio, he spent several years in Illinois near Sparta. The remainder of his life was spent in Philadelphia, and he died in the fifty-fourth year of his ministry at the age of eight>'-four. His remains lie in the cemeter}' of Petersburg. Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.

was born in 1790 in Pennsylvania. He came to Adams County with his parents when a child and they located just east of where West Union was afterwards located. When a young man, he lived in Hillsboro. He began the business of merchandising in West Union on the comer now occupied by the present post office building, northeast comer of Main and Market Streets, in about 1820. and continued in that business until 1830, when he went to Union Lranding. where he remained until the death of his wife in 1833. He returned to West Union in that year and went into the banking business and continued his residence in West Union until the thirty-first of July, 1847, when he died, and was buried in Lovejoy Cemeter}'. He was twice married. His first wife w^as Johanna Kelvey. She diad September 26, 1823. aged twenty-three. She left a daughter who survived to the ago rrf thirteen years. He was married to Sarah Sinton. sister of Davi(l Sinton. of Cincinnati. October 2, 1828, by the Rev. Dyer Burgess, who sij^ned his name to the marriage record. **V. D. M."

\\'hile in the dry-goods business at West l^nion, he was in partnership at one time with Thomas W. Means, under the name of Sparks & Means. They were also the owners of Union Furnace. Geiorge Collings. the father of Jud.q:c Henry Collin<^s. and John Sparks once owned and conducted a quecnsware store at Maysville. Kentucky. Mr Sparks afterward sold his interest to a Mr. Pcmberton.

Mr. Sparks had been a banker in \A'est I'nion but a short time when lie became a merchant. He was a man of c:reat personal popularity in the county, and ahliougli often solicited, he would never consent to run for public office at a time when almost cvervbody did run for office. ITc loaned money and helpc<1 a orreat many men. John Fisher remarked of him that he was the best friend he ever had. John TvOUghr}'. of R(-Kkvillr, said the same tliinq-. Most of his life was spent in merchandising ]nirsuits in Adams County. There were thn^e children of this second marriacro - <^ne died in infancy, another is Mrs. Marv 1. McCauslen, widow of linn. Th()mas McCauslen, (A Stoubenville. who has a separate sketch herein, and tlie third is (^eori^^e P*. Sparks, a fanntr. of Clinton, Indiana.

The esteem in whicli lie was held by the citizens of Adams Countv \\a> e\])resse(] at ine time of his funeral. TTe is said to ha\'e had the lari^vst fnner.il ever held in the countv. Evervbodv turned out to show res])ect t(-) his memory.

was bom January 6, 1797, in Ohio County, West Virginia, but when he was six years old the family removed to Belmont County, Ohio. He was educated in the Grammar School of Steele & McMillan in Xenia, Ohio, then in the Classical School at New Athens, which afterward became Franklin College. He also studied in the academy at New Washington, which grew into Madison College. He studied theology in the Western Theological Seminary two years under Dr. Herr and one year with Rev. Mingo Dick, Professor pro tern. He was licensed to preach May 26. 1830, by the Second Ohio Presbytery (United Presbyterian Church), and was ordained in December, 1832. At the time of his ordination ( by the first (^hio Presbytery) he was installed pastor of the Cherry Fork and West Fork Churches in Adams County, Ohio. In 1838, he resigned the West Fork Branch of his charge and gave all his time to Cherry Fork. He died November 24. 1851.

Rev. Marion Morrison, of Mission Creek, Nebraska, says of him: "It was my privilege to have been a member of his congregation for several years, in my youth. While he was a very instructive preacher, he excelled in his work as a pastor among his people. As a companion, he could not be excelled. He was always cheerful and lively, but was never in the company of old or young for any length of time without imparting some word of instruction that would help in the journey heavenward. He was always ready for a joke, but carefully avoided offending in such pleasantries. He looked upon the pastoral relation with the same sacredness as the marriage relation." Cherry Fork was his first and his only pastoral charge. There he married Martha, the eldest daughter and child of John Patton. There his children were born and there he took his departure to the church triumphant. It is said of him that it never occurred to him to change his pastoral relations from Cherry Fork.

Aaron Faris Steen was a grandson of Robert Steen, who was born near Coleraine, Ireland, about 1735. removed to the British Colony of Pennsylvania, in America, about 1758; was married to Elizabeth Boyd about 1760, secured a farm and established his home near Chestnut Level, in Lancaster County, Pa., not far from the Susquehanna River, where he brought up in comfortable circumstances a family of five children, three sons and two daughters, whose names were Samuel, Robert, Mary, Elizabeth, and Alexander vSteen. The grandfather, Robert Steen, was a patriotic citizen opposed to British oppression or Toryism, and espoused the cause of American Independence, at the time of the Revolutionary War. He was a thorough vScotch-Irish Presbyterian, an earnest Christian, a successful farmer, especially fond of music and good society, and lived to an old age.

Alexander Steen, the father of Aaron F. Steen, was the youngest child of Robert and Elizabeth Boyd Steen, and was born near Chestnut Level. Pa., February 14, 1773, and brought up on his father's farm. He early removed to Berkley County. \''a., and was married at Martinsburg. Va.. February 2. 1*^3. to Agnes Xancy Faris, she having been born at that place March 2, 1777, and died at the home of her son, Aaron F. Steen, in Aflams County, Ohio, November 17, 1852, when she was seventy-six years of age. In 1805, Alexander Steen removed with his family and located near Flemingsburg, Ky., where he resided nearly fifteen years, and where all his children except the eldest were boni. In. 1820, he removed to Adams County, Ohio, and located upon a farm two miles northeast of Winchester, now on the turnpike road to Buck Run. He afterwards purchased a large farm one mile norih of the Mt. Leigh Presbyterian Church where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a man of strong character, a zealous Presbyterian, and an enterprising farmer, a successful music teacher, and maintained a wide influence. He died at his home near Mt. Leigh, April 30, 1837, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. He was the father of nine children, all of whom except the eldest were married and brought up families in Adams County, Ohio.

Aaron Paris Steen, the subject of this sketch, was the third child and eldest son of Alexander and Agnes Nancy Paris Steen. He was born on his father's farm two miles north of Plemingsburg, Ky., August 23, 1807. and died at his home near Xenia, Ohio, Tuesday morning, Pebniary 15. 188 1, in the seventy- fourth year of his age. He spent a happy childhood in the **01d Kentucky home," and was brought to Adams County, Ohio, by his parents when a mere lad of thirteen years. Here he grew up to manhood upon his father's farm, attending school in winter. When a young man, he taught school. He devoted most of his time and attention to music and became an efficient and very popular teacher, having classes in various parts of the county. Por many years he was the leader of music in the Mt. Leigh Presbyterian Church. His social nature and genial disposition made him a general favorite in the sobriety of both old and young.

Aaron P. Steen was married at the residence of Michael Preeman on Scioto Brush Creek, ten miles east of West Union, March 25, 1830, to Miss Mar>^ Freeman, the youngest daughter of Michael and Elizabeth Freeman, she having been born in the same house in which she was married, Oct()l)eT 7, 1810. and died at the home of her son in Knoxville, Tenn., July 27, 1895, ^" ^^^^' eighty-fifth year of her age. Soon after his marriage, Aaron F. and Mary Steen located on a farm on Brush Creek two miles east of Wincliester. and united witli the Alt. Leigh Phesbyterian Church of which they were for many years active and useful members. In tlie Fall of 1834, Michael Freeman, now growing old. requested Mr. and Mrs. Steen to come and lake charge of his farm and property on Scioto l^>rush Creek, which they accordingly did, residing there about fourteen vears. But on the thirty-first of August, 1848. they removed again with their family to a farm near Mt. Leigh, three miles east of Wincliester, near where he had been brought up. Here the whole family were regular attendants of the Mt. Leigh Church. Aaron P. Steen was ordained an elder, December i, 1849, which office he continued to hold so k^ng as he remained in that locality, and frequently represented that church in the meetings of the Presbyter}' of Chillicothe. In the autumn of 1865. he sold his farm near Mt. Leigh and purchased a tract of land adjoining Xenia. Ohio, to which he removed and spent the remaining sixteen years of his life, fiere, himself and wife nnited with the First Presbyterian CImrch of which Rev. Wm. T. Findley. D. D.. was at that time pastor. lie cultivaled his little farm, and with his eldest son kept a provision .store in Xenia. Tn T874, a delightful family reimion was held at his home near Xenia. at which all his living descendants were present.

James Baldwin Thomas Pioneer Character Sketches 629

Old associates were revived and many incidents connected with every life recalled. Before they separated religious services were held in which all joined heartily, every member and descendant of the family over ten years of age being consistent members of the Presbyterian Church. The fiftieth anniversary, or golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Steen, also duly celebrated at their home March 25, 1880, was largely attended, and all present, concurred in the opinion that it was one of the most delightful occasions of the kind ever witnessed. Only a few months later Mr. Steen died.

Aaron F. Steen was a man of sterling character and energy, highly respected and beloved by those who knew him. He was the father of nine children as follows: Wilson Freeman. Eli Watson, Samuel Martin. John Freeman, Moses Duncan Alexander, Josiah James, Sarah Catharine, Isaac Brit and William Wirt Steen, only three of whom are now living, Prof. E. Watson Steen, Knoxville, Tenn., Rev. Moses D. A. Steen, D. D., Woodridge, Colo., and Mrs. Kate Steen Coil, Marietta, Ohio.

was born on a farm two miles east of Winchet:ter, May 16, 181 1. He was the seventh child of Abraham and Margaret (Barker) Thomas. His great-grandfather, Reese Thomas, was bom in Wales, June 5, 1690. This ancestor was the father of a large family which he brought to America and settled in Virginia during the first part of the eighteenth century. Subsequently, some of the stock moved to Maryland and some to Kentucky, where numerous individuals of the same lineage now reside.

The subject of this sketch obtained such education as he could at the schools of Winchester. They were subscription schools, and were not in session more than three or four months in a year. He had to walk over two miles through woods to attend school, frequently running the gauntlet of wolves.

In 1832, he went to the State of Arkansas with the intention of making that his future home. He spent but one year there. During thattime he became so thoroughly disgusted with southern institutions as to create within him an intense antagonism to the system of human slavery and the practice of duelling, which remained dominant principles with him through life. In 1833, he bought a farm near where he was bom, and he and his brother, Silas, erected a cabin in the woods - a bachelor's hall - and commenced clearing away the timber preparatory to cultivation. Here he worked and lived until December 29, 1836, when he married Miss Esther A., daughter of John and Esther Archer Moore, pioneer settlers of Wheat Ridge, in Oliver Township. This marriage was solemnized by Rev. Dyer Burgess. There were eight children : Francis Marion, married to Annette Holmes, and practicing medicine at Samantha, O. ; Margaret, residing at Winchester: Sarah Jane, died in 1861 ; Wilson Chester, died in i8(x); Silas Xevvton. died in the U. S. Military service in 1864: Albert Luther, resides with his two sisters at the old homestead; John Wesley married to Roberta Butler, and is a physician at Lyle, Kansas, and Lily Belle, residing at Winchester, Ohio.

Mr. Thomas was a man of decided convictions. He voted foF Jackson in 1832, but after that he voted uniformly the Whig ticket until the election of 1852. when he supported John P. Hale. He united with the

In May, 1835, Alex. Mitchell, aged thirty, the father of Mrs. Samuel Burwell, was living on Ohio Brush Creek between the Forge and the mouth of the creek. He was operating a saw mill and a grist mill. He and Dr. Voris, then aged thirty-four, arranged it between them to load a flat-boat, half with iron and hollow ware, and half with lumber, and float it down to Cincinnati, and sell the cargo. They did so and floated the boat from the Forge to Mitchell's mill, where the lumber was put in, and thence they floated it to the Ohio River. Dr. Voris and Alex. Mitchell went in the boat as far as Maysville, Kentucky, where they landed for repairs to the boat. There Alexander Mitchell was taken down with the dread Asiatic cholera, and died and was buried.

Dr. Voris left the boat and went on to Cincinnati by a steamboat, and had scarcely arrived there, when he, too, was stricken with the Asiatic cholera, and died within a few hours.

In those days, such was the fear of the dread scourge, that when a person died of it, there was none of the usual funeral ceremonies, but the body was buried within a few hours after death, and at the most convenient spot to where death had overtaken the victim. Such was the case with Alexander Mitchell, but not with Dr. Voris. When the news of the latter's death was brought to his wife, she was so overwhelmed with grief, that she sat as one dumb for six weeks.

The attachment between her and her husband was of the most devoted character. Aside from the estimate of Dr. Voris by his family and friends, he was most hip^hly esteemed by the community in which he resided. Like St. Luke, he was, in his social circle, the '* Beloved physician," and his death produced a shock which is remembered to this day by those who were living at that time.

The pleasant home at the Forge was broken up, and, with her two little girls, his wife returned to the home of her father, Col. John Means, where A. V. Hutson now lives, on the Maysville Turnpike, just west of Bentonville, where she resided during her widowhood. Mrs. Voris was a woman of lovely Christian character, and was one of the saints upon earth. She belonged to families, both on her father's and mother's side, which could boast of a long line of honorable ancestry, distinguished for their adherence to high principles. Her father left South Carolina with twenty-four slaves in order to give them their freedom in Ohio, and her uncle, the Rev. William Williamson, her mother's brother, brought twentyseven slaves from South Carolina to Ohio, in 1803, in order to give them their freedom. She was of the material of which the martyrs are made, and had she been condemned to have gone to the stake for conscience' sake, she would have gone with a smile on her face, and perfect peace in her heart.

In 1842, she married the Rev. Dyer Burgess, and he and she removed to Washington County, and for twenty, years they lived together at Warren, six miles from Marietta. Rev. Burgess died September 2, 1872, at the age of eighty-eight. After his death she ?pent the remaining seventeen years of her life in Marietta, Ohio, with her daughter, Mrs. Wm. P. Cutler.

She fell asleep February- 2S, 1889, in the ninetieth year of her age, having surviverl the husband of her vouth fiftv-four vears. In a memorial of her, it was said she united with the Presbvterian Church in vouth, and as the years [)assed, her character and life developed into the rarest beauty and symmetry. She gave liberally to all good subjects, from the promptings of a heart overflowing with s^-mpathy and love. She was always active in doing good. She was charitable in her judgments, and her amiability and cheerfulness and childish faith scattered sunbeams wherever she was. Her life was a blessing to all who knew her. I>octor \'oris left three children. The eldest was Anne Eliza, bom Februarv 26. 1828, married to the Rev. James S. Poage and deceased in 1848, leaving a daughter of tender years, who was reared by her grandmother. Mrs. Burgess. The second daughter, Eliza^>eth Williamson, was bom July 25, 1832. She married the Hon. W'm. P. Cutler, of Marietta, one of the most prominent citizens of the State. He was a member of three Legislatures in this State and Speaker of the House in one. He w as a member of the Thirty-seventh C'ongress and was mainly instrumental in the construction of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad. To his daughter. Miss. Sarah J. Cutler, we are mainlv indebted for the facts of this sketch.

The third daughter of Dr. \'oris, Margaret Jane Williamson, was jK)sthumous, born August i. 1835. She married Mr. Henr>' Himiiston, and lives in Chicago. She has two sons. One of the Sf)arks boys of West L'nion was with Dr. \'oris when he died. His body was brought to Manchester. Ohio and there interred.

This young man came to West Union, June 17, 1823. and began the publication of the Villa^^e Register. He continued to publish it until his sudrlcn and unexpected death on March 6, 1828. at the age of twenty-eight.

I le was sick but nine days of a congestive bilious fever. He is buried in the Kii'krr Cemetery. He had married Mary Kirker (the daughter of Governr)r Kirker j in 1825, and had two children. One of these, Thomas \VH)rhees. was a steamboat captain on the upper Mississippi River for almost twenty years. His \vi(k)w married Hayden Thompson, of Ripley, atid was living in 1880.

.\Ir. X'orliees conchicted liis paper according to his best lights but it had no local news. In that day, local news was not thought worthy of publication. There were plenty of legal ads. sheriff's sales, auditor's notices, tax collector's notices, many estray notices - nearly all horses, a Tiiiniber of runaway apprentices, occasionally the notice of a rew^ard for a runaway slave w-ith fifty to a hundred dollars reward. The merchants used the paper to advertise their gtxxls and dun their customers. The.se tiles, which have come to us, were preserved by the late John P. Hood, who wf>rke(l in the office, when a boy. The proceedings of Congress and <»f the State Tx'gislatiire were given very fully; also the Governor's and President's messages. Foreign news in plenty was given, but local news was absolutely tabooed. The very facts we would like to know now are sn]>pressed. The people then knew all the Icxral news. Tt passed from niontli to mouth, and it was thought idle folly to repeat it in a newspaper. The pa])er aimed to be neutral in politics, bi.it the editor w^as a Democrat- Ke[)nl)Hran. It was largely fillerl with literar}' extracts from magazines and books which we would not at all look at now, but to tell us what people of the time thought, their political and religious views, what interested them most, or at all, there is not a word. The local news of that day is lost except from tradition.

It is difficult to write of a subject after the mists of seventy-one years have obscured him. There is some light on the life and character of Ralph M. Vorhees to be gathered from the old and yellow files of the Village Register. What it is, is clear and distinct, and the picture it reveals is as clear as yesterday. The parts that are left out are, however, forever lost. His widow is long dead. His son is either dead or cannot be traced, and we must rest content with those few fragments which have been handed down to us.

Ralph Voorhees was a man much loved by those who knew him. He was a young man who had but few enemies and they found much in him to admire. He was true and loyal to his friends and treated those who did not like his course with great consideration. He undertook to conduct an independent local paper, an impossibility, and the only enemies he ever made was in this attempt. He offended some because he favored his father-in-law. Governor Kirker, for office, but had he not favored the Governor, he would not have been human. Had he lived, he would, no doubt, have succeeded with his paper and made a respectable citizen, but alas, that fate which none can control, took him from his young wife and infants, from the society and companionship of his friends and cut short a career of great promise.

was a grandson of John Wasson, a native of Ireland, and with his wife emigrated to Rockbridge County. Virginia, rearing a large family there. Among his children was a son, Thomas, who married Rebecca Cowen and moved to Ohio in 1804. He located within four miles of Winchester in what was then Wayne Township. He lived there a year or more and then moved onto the farm near Cherry Fork occupied by our subject during his lifetime. Thomas Wasson and wife connected with the U. P. Churcli at Cherry Fork soon after its organization in 1805 and remained members thereof during their lives.

Mr. Thomas Wasson contracted a second marriage with Elkiah Spencer. l)y whom he had one son, William F., born August 29, 1845, and who died in the militarv service of the United States in the War of 1861.

The subject of our sketch was born May 20. 1812, and was reared on his father's farm in Wayne Township. He married Martha Patton Campbell, February 9, 1832. Of this marriage there were eight children, five of whom, three sons and two daughters, grew to maturity and married. His eldest son. Thomas Stewart Wasson, is a retired farmer living at Seaman, Ohio. His second son, James P., now deceased, has a sketch in this book. His third son, Samuel Y.. also has a sketch in this book. His daughter, Matilda J., widow of B. F. Pittinger, now resides at Min- neapolis, Kansas. His youngest daughter, Martha, married to Steele Glasgow, resides at North Liberty. Thomas Campbell Wasson was a man of the strictest integrity and of remarkable energy and industry. He was of strong prejudices every way. If he loved one, there was nothing too much he could do for him. If he hated one, he did it with all the powers of his soul. Once his friend, he was attracted to you by hooks of steel ; once your enemy, he was likely to remain so. He believed in the religion taught in the doctrines and practice of the United Presbyterian Church, and all the powers of Herll could not have moved him from his faith. When the right and wrongfulness of human slavery began to be discussed, he became convinced that that institution was a monstrous sin against both God and man, and from that hour until the war destroyed it, he was its most inveterate enemy. He would tolerate no political party which would excuse or apologize for it, and by word and deed, he did all he could to destroy it. No poor hunted fugitive ever applied to him in vain, and his home was a well-known station on the Underground Railroad.

He was an excellent farmer and by great industry and economy, with the best of management, he acquired a competence and spent his latter years in ease and comfort. He did eeverything in life most ernestly. He was not one of the meek and lowly Christians but one of the fighting kind who believed in taking the Kingdom of Heaven by storm. He believed in struggling and fighting for the right, both in Church and State. His life is best illustrated in the character of his three sons, two of whom are men of influence and importance in their respective communities, and a third son, now deceased, held a like position in the State of Kansas where he died recently. These three sons, like their father, have been able to manage their own affairs successfully and to accumulate competencies.

Campbell Wasson, the name by which he was best known, never sought or held public office, but he always believed in taking an active part in the counsels of his own party and did so. He was a Whig first and a Republican afterwards, but all the time he was anti-slavery and believed in the abolition of that institution. He believed in making his views on all subjects felt, and as a consequence he was a man of positive influence both in Church and State. He was never the one to drift with the current, or follow the lead of others, but sought to make all men within his influence feel and think as he did. His influence was always on the side of gcx>d order, religion, right and justice. That part of the world which he knew and which knew him was better that he had lived.

The wife of this subject died May 13, 1871, and in 1872, he contracted a seconrl marriage with Mrs. Eliza J. McNeil, who survived him. He died the eii^^ith day of January, t888.

Sometimes a man's career can be judged by his ancestors and sometimes by his posterity, and sometimes we can look to both, to give a fair estimate of him after his life work has been done. The subject of this sketch will bear favorable investigation in both ways.

The Rev. William Williamson was born September 23. 1762, near Greenville, X. C. He was the eldest of six children. His father, Thomas, was born in 1736 and his mother, Anne Newton, related to the family of

Pioneer Character Sketches 636

Sir Isaac Newton and Rev. John Newton, was bom in March, 1738. Her father emigrated from England with his wife and family. He and they were thirteen weeks crossing the ocean, contending with storms and sickness, and buried two children at sea. Anne and Elizabeth survived and married brothers. Thomas and Anne settled at Greenville, N. C, where all of their children were born.

During the Revolutionary War, William entered the Revolutionary army and served under General Gates in the" hard campaign in the summer of 1780. His command saw very severe service and he has often related of forced marches in the great heat, when the soldiers were not allowed even to stop and drink at the roadside, and that often the soldiers were half starved.

Young Williamson was small for his age and not strong, and he and two hundred of his command were captured at the battle of Camden, S. C, August 10, 1780. During young Williamson's service, his mother would would often stay up all night, and, assisted by her servants, cook food for the soldiers, which his father would carry to them in his wagon the day following. When the war was over, Thomas Williamson, with his family, moved to v\e Spartansburg District, S. C. H« purchased a cotton plantation there, on which the county seat was afterwards located. After this event, he sought a place a few miles distant from the courthouse, on which he lived until his death in 181 3.

Young William Williamson, after the Revolutionary War, was sent to Hampden Sidney College in Virginia, where he received a liberal education and was graduated. He studied theology and was installed as pastor of the Fair Forest Presbyterian Church in April, 1793.

The Rev. William Williamson believed in the married state. His first wife was a Miss Catherine Buford, of Abbeville, S. C. By her, he had four daughters, Anne Newton, who married Dr. William B. Willson in 1818; Mary married James Ellison; Elizabeth married Robinson Baird, and Esther married William Kirker.

His second wife was Jane Simth, of North Carolina, by whom he had two children, the Rev. Thomas Smith Williamson, missionary to the Dakotahs, and Jane Smith Williamson, who never married, but has always been known as Aunt Jane. He also had a third wife in his old age, Hannah Johnson, a widow.

The Rev. William Williamson had a brother, Thomas, sixteen years younger than himself. They were devotedly attached to each other and both espoused strong anti-slavery notions. Thomas became an accomplished physician.