Winchester Township (part 21 of 30)

William Williamson and his second wife regarded slavery as a great evil. While they owned slaves, they believed it wrong to sell them. Mrs. Williamson felt the condition of the slaves so strongly that she undertook to teach them to read. This, of course, came to the ears of her slaveholding neighbors and she was remonstrated with time and again to no purpose. Finally the patrol visited her and told her if she did not stop, she would be prosecuted under the stringent laws of South Carolina, forbidding slaves to be taught to read. Mrs. Williamson had high notions of right and wrong and was a Southern woman of great spirit. Her husband warmly sympathized with her and both thought they might do as they chose with their own property. The authorities, however, were as firm ajs Mr*. W'iJJiainM/Tj. and bhe and Ikt husband resolved to take their slaves i<>» a .vtatf uht^n:* thev evjuld teach them to read without let or hinderance. 'VW\ ic>t>k th<-ir blaves and emigrated to <^Jhio in 1805. His father dying if J J>^i3. In his will ^ave his slaves to his ^m William, but u-ith directions t«/ Mi th<-fii U^^'. To acajniplish this, his mother left South Carolina soon aft<-r till' d<-ath of Ins father and brought her slaves to Ohio and set them fr<<-. She continued to live with her sons in Adams Count v till her death

Our subject's mother was a su[>erior woman, a sincere Christian and a |>lnlanthroi>ist. She f^^ave a litKfral education to two of her slaves - Rev. Ji<'njaniin 'J\'njpleton, who Ixxame a Presb\terian minister in Philadelphia, and John N. Tenipleton, who graduated at the Ohio University and became a Mi((<'Hsfnl teacher in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

William Williamson tfK>k up lands not far from Manchester and made a lioHK' tluTt' during his life. His lands were near those of his brotheriii law, C!ol. Jc>hn Means, who married his sister Anne, bom August 17, 17U). This sister had f)een married to Col. Means in South Carolina. April 10, 177H. C(»l. .Means, however, did not move to Ohio till 1819.

'J*lie home of Rev. William Williamson in Adams Countv was called "The Meeches.'* it is now the property of John Meek Leedom. Our subject accept e«l a church at Cabin Creek, Kentucky, on the Ohio River, and ahiMil four Miiles from his home, on the sixteenth of May, 1805, and con- I limed to inifiisier to that church until 1820. His record there was that the chinch grew and prospered and he was esteemed one of the most devoted, pioiis and |)opnlar ministers of his day. He was also minister to the Preshyleriaii Church in West irnion. Ohio, from May, 1805, till 1819, w hen he was succeeded by the Rev. Dyer Hurgess. His religion must have seen sincere and deep, for in i8ck;. when the stone church was to be built at West I 'nion, he sul)scri!)ed one-half of his salarv towards it. He was re- Cfived into the Chillicothe IVesbvterv from the Second Presbvterv* of v^nnth Cainlina, on Atigust 2H, 1S05, along with the Rev. Robert G. Wilson and the Rev. (lilliland. Thev became the fathers of Presbvterianism in sniiihein ( )hio. and to him and his ass(~HMates is due the strength and power of the Presbyterian C^hurch in southern C^hio to-dav. Thev laid the fotindatjon.s upon which others built. Rev. Williamson was many times Moderator and often Clerk of the Chillicotlie Presbytery. He was inlhienti.il. active and useful in the church and as a citizen. When the Rev. Iher Ivuri^ess tin^k charge of the West L'niiMi Church in 1829, Rev. \\ illianison thereafter deviated his lalx^rs to the Manchester Church, so liMiji; as he was able ti> perform ministeral duties.

bless the world. No hero ever did nobler or better work than the Rev. Thomas Smith Williamson, the missionary to the Dakotas. No woman showed a greater spirit of devotion to the church and to humanity, than his sister, Jane Williamson, coadjutor in the work of evangelizing the Red Men. If they were Thomas Williamson's children, what must have been the father, to whom they owed the missionary spirit? His four daughters, by his first wife, were godly, pious mothers, who reared large families of sons and daughters and taught them the love of God and the devotion to right and justice, which characterized their father and mother before them.

The descendants of Rev. William Williamson were wonderfully numerous. They, in their several generations obeyed the eleventh commandment to multiply and replenish the earth, and they to-day, wherever found, are the same God-fearing, God-loving people - pious and devoted to the right as they undelrstand the right, as their progenitor was before them.

The memory of these pioneers in the Church of God should be carefully preserved and treasured. This generation should know every detail of their labors and sacrifices.

Where a man could break up a pleasant home, bid adieu to all he had ever known and travel eight hundred miles through a wilderness that he might live in a free State and might give the blacks he owned, the blessings of freedom - such a man was a hero and he deserves to be remembered by posterity.

This generation should be proud of such a man and revere his memory, and regret that it has no such opportunity to demonstrate its devotion to right and principle.

This lady, eminent for her piety, her good works and her missionary labors among the Dakota Indians, was born at Fair Forest, South Carolina, March 8, 1803. Her father, the Rev. Williamson, a Presbyterian minister and a Rcvolutionar}- patriot, and her mother, Jane Smith Williamson, brought her to Ohio, an infant, in 1804. Her father and mother believed slaves had souls, and brought their twenty-seven slaves to Ohio, and set them free. Her mother had been fined in South Carolina for teaching her own slaves to read the Bible, and she and her husband removed to Ohio to free their slaves, and to be able to teach them to read and write. She was brought up in an atmosphere of sincere and deep piety and of devotion to Christian teachings. For early educational advantages in a new country were necessarily limited, but she made the most of them. She studied grammar and syntax practically, and mastered all the branches open to her study while she was a girl.

She was accurate in the use of language, both spoken and written. She wrote a hand like copper-plate, and was thorough in everything she studied. She read all the goocl and useful books which were accessible to her. She had an excellent memory and a lively imagination, and with a wide reading, she early acquired the art of writing most interesting letters.

From her parents and grandparents, she inherite<d that marked sympathy for the colored race which was an eminent characteristic of her entire life. At all times and on all occasions, she stood up for the colored people. In her young and mature womanhood, when there were no public schools in her county - or none worth the name - she taught subscription schook both in West Union and Manchester. In West Union, the venerable David Dunbar, now of Manchester, was one of her pupils, and in Manchester, Mrs. David Dunbar and Mrs. D. B. Hempstead, of Hanging Rock, were among her pupils. She never excluded a pupil because his or her parents or friends were unable to pay tuition. She sought out the poor and invited them to attend her school. She accepted colored pupils as well as whites.

Her teaching the colored people aroused bitter feeling in the ccMnmunity, but she was such an excellent teacher that it did not decrease the number of her white pupils, and her control of her pupils was so perfect that the bringing of the colored pupils into the school did not affect the government of her school. The progress made by her pupils was rapid, and her teaching so thorough that the presence of the colored pupils did not drive the white ones away. There were many threats of violence to her school, but she was not alarmed. On more than one occasion, friends of hers, dreading the attempt to forcibly break up her school, took their rifles and went to her schoolhouse to defend her. Some of these men were rrmgh characters, and hard drinkers, and some of them were pro-slavery, but the>' were determined her school should not be disturbed. They regarderl her as a fanatic in her viefws, but, as they regarded her as an efficient teacher, they did not propose that hex work should be interfered with.

She was always a volunteer in houses where there was sickness. At the age of twenty-six, she went to General Darlinton's and nursed the mother of Mrs. Rev. E. P. Pratt through a spell of sickness. Mrs. Urmston was then a young married woman, just come to Ohio from Connecticut.

r)n June 8, 1835, she was teaching near "The Beeches,'* in Adams Cotnit y. The next day she learned of the death of Dr. William M. Vorhis, of chtjlera, at Cincinnati, and it became her painful duty to inform her cousin (his wife) of the fact. At first, she told her that Dr. Vorhis had been very sick in Cincinniati. As cholera was prevalent there, the wife at once divined the truth, and swooned awav. She went from one swoon into another, and Miss Williamson, in order to terminate her swoons, went out and brought in her two little girls, one seven and the other three yejars of ap^e, and, leading one by each hand, asked her if there were not two j^ood reasons for her to live and to work for.

1 Icr love for children was a distinguishing trait of her character. She won their affections entirely, and thus ruled them without any apparent effort.

The missionary spirit was a part of her life, born with her, and a heritaj^^e from several generations. When her brother, Thomas S. Williamson, went as a missionary to the Dakota Indians in 1835, she wanted to go with him. but felt that she must remain at home and care for her aj^vd father, who survived until 1839, and died at the age of seventy-seven ; but she did not j^et to go to her brother until 1843. ^vhen she had reached tlu- aj^^e of forty. Her life, prior to this, had been a preparation for missionary work. For years she had l>een an active worker in Simday Schools. ])rayer meetings and missionary societies. In her day school, she hjid made public religious worship a prominent feature.

Pioneer Character Sketches 089

When she reached Minnesota, she went to work directly and worked with great energy, and with an untiring industry greatly beyond her strength. She had an unusual familiarity with the Bible. She taught several hundred Indians to read the Word of God, and, the greater part of them, to write well enough to write letters. She ministered to all the sick within her reach, and devoted a great deal of time to instructing Indian women in domestic duties. She led the women in prayer meetings, and spetnt much, time conversing with the women as to their souls. The privations of the missionaries, at that time, were great. White bread was then as much of a luxury as cake would now be considered.

Lac-que-Parle, her first missionary home, was two hundred miles \vest of St. Paul. It was more than a year from the time she left Adams County before a single letter could reach her. She was out in the Indian village when the first mail reached there. She heard of its arrival, and was so eager for news from her old home that she ran to her brother's house as swiftly as a young girl. She saw no signs of the mail, and asked where it was. They told her it was in the stove-oven. The mail carrier had brought it through the ice, and it had to be thawed out. The mail contained over fifty letters for her, and the postage on them was over five dollars. This in 1844.

She moved to Kaposia, now South St. Paul, in 1846, and to Pajutazee, thirty-two miles below Lac-que-Parle, in 1852. The Dakotas called her "Dowan Dootanin," which means "Red Song Woman.'*

In the Fall of 1894, when nearly two thousand converted Dakota Indians were gathered together, to plan for religious work among their people, she was the only survivor of the first missionaries.

In the Fall of 1881, she saw a poor Indian woman suffering with the cold. She took off her own warm skirt and gave it to the woman, and from this she took a cold and a spell of sickness followed, resulting in her total blindness.

After the Indian outbreak of 1862, the way never opened for her to resume her residence among the Dakotas, but she was given health and strength for nineteen years' more labor for the Master. Her home continued to be with her brother, at or near St. Peter, until her death in 1879, and in his old home two years longer. In that time she did much for the Indians who lived with her brother, toward their education. She kept up an extensive and helpful correspondence with native Christian workers.

As a Sunday School teacher, she labored with untiring patiehice for the conversion of her pupils, and to train them as Christian workers. She was active m female prayer meetings and missionary societies. She lost most of her patrimony in lending to those most needing money, instead of to those most certain to pay. Her friends, kowever, were liberal in their donations to her work, and she was able to relieve most of those under her observation in serious want.

Here is the story of a modest, unassuming heroine. Without husband or children, alone in the world, she did not repine but made herself useful wherever she was, in teaching secular learning and religious truth, and

Ht* waj> I he only sou of Kev. William Williamson and Mar}' Webb Snn'th, his m-coikI wife ; was lx>m in Union Wstrict. South Carolina, March 0, i8(X), and rttnovcd willi liis jiarents to Mason County, Kentucky, in the I'all of iHi}2, and tc> ''Tlie Ik'cches/' two miles from Manchester, Adams C!oiinty, ( )liio, |>rohal>ly in the Spring of 1805.

He prepart'cl f<>r college at home, went on horseback to JeflFerson Coll«^gc-, ('aiujonsbiirg, Pennsylvania, where he received the degree of A. B. in iHn). I |c- rcatj medicine with his brother-in-law, Dr. William B. Willson, of Wcsii I'nion, Ohio, and was for two years principal of an academy at KipU-y, ( )liio, where he prq)ared a large nimiber of young men for college, lie studied ineclicine in Philadelphia and Xew Haven, and received the decree of M. 1). from Yale College in 1824.

I le settled in Ripley. ( )hi(>. and built up a large practice. He married Margaret Po;igc\ daughter of the town proprietor, a lady of high Christian character, and most admirably adapted in all respects to be his helpmeet. .Srttle<l in* a pleasant town, surrounded by warm friends, in the house he icj^.udt m1 iIki Mjost ple.'isant in the j)lace. he had everything he could desire In make lil'e happy. lUit he felt a voice within him. which, to his death, he never I'nr «»ne tnonient douhted, was the vcnce of God calling him to Icavr all ihe.st* comforts, and endure hardships in bringing to Christ the wan«lri(is ol' (»ur Western wilderness, llis wife was in full accord with Inm. In the spring «>!' li^.^J. he placed himself under the care of the Chillilothe l'rrsh\tei\. Auj.;usl Ji. he left his ])leasant home, removed with his t.unilN to Walnut llills. and entered Lane Theological Seminary. In Apiil. he was licensed to preach, and May J, he left Cincinnati to make a tour ot the We^t. and to select a suitable tieUl oi lalx)r under the care of the \ \\ C V M lie ilecided to begin work at Fort Snelling. Returnin^;. lu" was oid.nncd h\ the same Preshvlcrv that licenseid him, September iS

Pioneer Character Sketches 641

Practicing medicine to relieve their bodies, earnestly sympathizing with those in distress, undauntedly courageous in danger, he soon won the respect of the Indians, of the traders and of the Government officers. He often made long journeys to visit the sick, and was unceasing in his labors to win the savages to Christ. He entertained a great number of travelers and Government officials. He kept up his studies, and in his later years, he could translate from Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, with the same facility with which he read English. He kept up with the progress of improvement in medicine. He made himself familiar with the botany of the region, thoroughly studied the history of the Northwest, contributing many valuable papers to the Historical Society and the magazines. He was untiring in his efforts to secure the Indians their rights, involving a large correspondence with Indian Commissioners, with leading Senators and Representatives, and made several trips to Washington. His thorough good sense, and his reputation for absolute accuracy in the statement of facts, almost always secured him at least a respectful hearing.

His whole heart was in the work of winnmg souls to Christ. All his studies were subordinated to this end. In 1836, he organized a small native church at La-qui-Parle, the second Protestant church in the present State. He prepared a Dakota reader with the aid of the Ponds, and a part of the Bible with the aid of Mr. Henville.

By 1846, he and his helpers had built up a church of nearly fifty native members. It was his decided personal preference to remain, but he felt the call of duty in a request from the Kaposia band, and removed there, to where South St. Paul now is. This move probably hindered his work for the Indians, but it made him an influential factor in building up work among the whites. He preached the first Protestant sermon in the English language, and also in the French language, within the present limits of St. Paul, and secured for that place its first teacher, Miss Harriet Bishop, and its first minister of the Gospel, Rev. E. D. LJsill, D. D.

The Indians having sold their land, he removed to Pajutazec, on the Minnesota, nearly thirty miles below Lac qui- Parle, in 1852. Here he labored until 1862. On August t8. the terrible outbreak occurred at daybreak, thirty-eight miles nearer the white settlements. On Tuesday, the Doctor sent away his family, except his wife and sister, who were unwilling to leave him, hoping that by remaining, he might check the spread of the outbreak. The Christian Indians rallied around him, but it became evident by night, that if they remained, they would be attacked by the hostiles, causing much bloodshed. Aided by Christian Indians, he escaped in the night, overtook his family, came near Fort Ridgely just aftet the second attack on it. and escaped safely to St. Peter.

Many were ready to cry that the mission work was a failure. All the other missionaries began to talk of leaving, but the Doctor and his son did not, for one moment yield to hesitation, but pushed their work with redoubled zeal. However much the Christian Indians might be abused by excited whites, he knew that they had done all in their power to diminish the massacres, had aided hundreds in escaping, and had held the hostiles in check, diminishing, by more than one-half, the size of the war. Had every Christian Indian now gone back to heathenism, the effect of the work in diminishing this blow, would have saved to our country at least fifty times the cost of the mission. 41a

The Doctor lived to see more than one thousand oommunicants, members in the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches, the direct result of the mission of himself and his coadjutcM^. The Episo^Alians, building (jfi the foundation they had laid, gathered about as many more. In Septemfxrr, 1894, at a meeting of the Presbyterian and Congregational Dakotas, nearly two thousand were gathered together, earnestly planning for the spread of the Redeemer's Kingdom in their tribe.

The Doctor never removed his family from St. Peter. He spent his summers in missionar>' tours, his winters partly in correspondence with native pastors and other Dakota workers, and the various labors already alluded to, but chiefly in translating the Word of God. He was extremely anxi^Mis that the exact meaning of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures should be rendered into idiomatic Dakota. To this end, he spent almost as much time in revising the translation of Dr. Riggs, as in making his own. Dr. Riggs also revised his, and Prof. J. P. Williamson, son of Dr. Williamson, also revisccl nearly all. As a result, very few languages have as good a translatir>n of the Bible.

The Dakota Dictionar>', regarded as the best of any Indian language and originally prepared by the Messrs. Pond, owed very much to the painstaking scholarship of Dr. Williamson, though it bears the name of its editr>r, Dr. Riggs.

Mrs. Williamson died July 21, 1872. Xo couple were ever happier in each other, or mutually more helpful. Still cheerful, he did not, after this time, show the overflowing spirit of calm rejoicing, which, to his family, had always seemed to characterize him, even in the most troublous times, lie completed his translation of the Bible in 1878. There was other work he would have liked to do, but the strain of work without his loved com- I)anion to solace him had worn him out. His great work was done, and the earnestness in this no longer sustaining him, he graduallv failed, and Jinu' 24, 1879, fell asleep in Jesus, in his cip^htieth year. Four children survive him: Rev. John P. Williamson, of Greenwood, South Dak«na, sinrr iSfx). a missionary to the Dakotas ; Andrew W. Williamson. Professor of Matlu-niaiics. Auj:^istans College, Rock Island, Illinois; Mrs. Martha vSttnit. Portland. ( )regon, and Henry M. Williamson, editor of the Rural Nortlmrst, Portland, Orcf^on. His daughter, Nancy Jane, was a missionary from \^(V) to her death in 1878, performing a grand work. His grand- (laii^HitcT, Nancy Hunter, having lost her mother in infancy, was adopted .and S(K>n aftiT his death hegan the same work, in which she is still engaged, the last three years as the wife of Rev. E. J. Lindsay, Poplar, Montana.

Dr. Willson was horn in Rockhridge County, Virginia, in 1789. He Ntndied medicine there and received his diploma from Jefferson Medical C'ollej^e. Philadelphia. He located at West L'nion in the summer of 1816, and the same year he was married to Ann Newton, daughter of Rev. William Williamson. It must have heen a case of love at first sight, as he was married s<h>ii after locating at West I'nion. He continued to practice medicine at West Tnion until his death, July Ji. 1840. Dr. Willson was an old fasliioned Xirijinia gentleman in everv stnse of the term. He stood hii;h in his profession and as a citizen, and was a devout and faithful member n{ llie Preslnterian Church. His home in West Union was on the lot now occupied by the miller, Plummer, As p. man, Dr. Willson was inclined to take the world easy. He did not trouble people with his opinions and did not desire to be inflicted with theirs. He was conscientious and worked hard. There were no drug stores in his day, and he compounded all of his medicines and consequently had to keep a stock of those on hand. He was the only practicing physician in West Union between 1816 and 1840, except Dr. William Voris, who was in West Union a short time. He would go at the call of a patient the coldest night in the year and would often ride eighteen or twenty miles in the most inclement weather, and it was to this exposure! that he owed his early death. He usually had several young men students at his home, and among them were Dr. William F. Willson, his nephew, who has a separate sketch herein ; Dr. Thomas Smith Williamson, also sketched herein ; Dr. Hamilton ; Dr. David McConaghy, and Dr. Henry Loughridge. His son was also a student with him. When he was out on professional business, his wife could compound a prescription as well as he. He often boarded a number of students in order to have them under his direct care. In that day, people did not send for a physician for every little ache and pain. They made it a rule not to send for one unless desperately sick, and then the physician was expected to ride furiously to reach the patient and to give him heroic treatment when he did reach him.

During the cholera epidemic in 1835, Dr. Willson was called away to attend a cholera case at some distance. A brother of the patient had come tor him and was waiting to accompany the doctor. While waiting, the brother was attacked by the dread disease. It became a question what to do. In the dilemma, the Doctor consulted his wife. She at once proposed that she should take care of the case of the messenger, and would carry out the Doctor's directions, while he should visit the brother. This was done and her patient recovered.

Mrs. Ann Newton Willson, wife of Dr. William B. Willson, was born in South Carolina in 1793. Her father, already mentioned, is sketched elsewhere. After her husband's death, in 1840, she resided in West Union until 1 85 1, when she took up her residence in Catlettsburg, and later, with her daughter, Mrs. Hugh ^Vleans, at Ashland, Kentucky, with whom she resided until her death. She had three full sisters and one half sister. Her full sisters were Mrs. Esther Kirker, Mrs. Robinson Baird and Mrs. James Ellison. Her half sister was Jane Williamson, who has a sketch herein. Mrs. Willson had much more will power than any of her full sisters. Her step-sister, Jane, was more like her than her full sisters in respect to will power. She might be said to have been an imperious woman, yet she had her own way without creating great antagonisms. Her great force of character she derived from her mother, who v/as a woman of the strongest convictions and great will power. Her mother's convictions on the subject of teaching the Bible to her slaves caused her to defy the laws of South Carolina against teaching slaves to read, and when she could do it no longer, to take those slaves through the wilderness eight hundred miles and locate in another wilderness where she would be free to carry out what she believed to be right. The same spirit animated her daughter, Mrs. Willson, and she would stop at nothing to carry out what she deemed to be right. No sacrifice would be considered for a moment in detetring her from any course she deemed to be right and duty. She had unflinching nfrrv#-. i^r*rni wrtf-nrlianc: and nv/si cxcellen; judgment. These qualities %t/yyi \i':r iu 't^*^/\ uve in aidm^ her hus^jand in the practice of medicine. In fh': *,\Uf\f'Th ^ffuri^c of 1835. she went from house to house, caring for tYt*' SI' k vt'ith untiring ^-nergy. She had no fear of the disease, and her gf'-af will thnrr; armf-d her against it. \mt unlike the Rev. Burgess, she did ttfA 'My the di^iary of cholera times. In assisting her husband, she ac- ^|ijjr''d an unusual knowledge of remedies, and never hesitated to apply or uv' th^rm in f'mer;(<'nrie«» when her husband was absent.

Sli<: v.a«» an ardent Alx^litionist. outspf>ken on all occasions. Her earli^'st impressions of the instituti^/n of slavery- set her against it. She was a iK/rn reformer and had she lived in the davs of the martvrs. she undoubff'dly would have Ixren one of the principal ones among them. While shr was rhirfly self-educated, she was always an earnest, eager learner and d'-sired u> impart to others those truths so dear to her and the conf<-niplation (ft which filU-d her s^^ul. It was her delight to share with others what«'vrr she jx assessed of material or spiritual good. She had no pride or vanitv. She was free frr^m self -consciousness and was never troubled for an instant as to what the worUl thought of her opinions. She was guided by her own conscience and reason, enlightened by her strong religious faith. She was aggressive at all times for what she believed was right. Ijcr stern faith tr>r>k the practical form. She was always desirous of doing gfKxI fr>r others. As old age came on. the strong-willed woman became the indulgent grandmother. The old earnestness and zeal never abated but they were ti*mpered by a large tolerance, a wider sj-mpathy and *a gc'ntlcr spirit. She was always ambitious to be doing good herself, and wanted to se<r her friends about her. and particularly her young friends, deling something in the service of religion. That spirit >vithin her never abated with her vears, but continued until her demise. The writer, as a eliild. knew her as an aged woman, but he always felt that she carried sunshine with her and had that feehng whenever in her presence, and she made this same strong impression on others which she made on children. ( )f all women who have lived in Adams County, there are none who have <loiie more good or have been more useful in their day and generation.

William h*. \\'ills(vn. M. I)., was a citizen of Adams County from i83(> to 1S51. lie was born near h'airfield. Rockbridge County. Virginia. September (>. fSfv of statuu'h Presbyterian. Scotch-Irish stock. His father was lames A. Willson and his mother. Tirzah Humphrey's. He was edueaie<l in the schools of his native countv. When he was twelve vears of a.i;e. an event took place which determined the whole course of his life. AbotM twentN tive or thirty years prior to this, a farmer named Steele in Koekbridi^e County had died leaving a few negroes and a large sum of debts, r.v an a]L;rex'ment between the Widow Steele and her husband's ereditiu-^, they agreed to wait luuil the increase of the negroes would pay their debts. Amoni?- the Steele nei^roes at the time of his death was a likelv Mumi: woman, v'^lu- contracted a slave marriage witli a negro, Harry Mo«>te. tile prnpertN o\ a neighbor, and had given birtli to sixteen children bet'iMi^ tlu^ time came l"or the sale required by the creditors of Steele. The witV ol' I l.iit \ Mn.Me an<l hi< >ixteen children from a bal>e in arms to grown \onths were ]n\\ on the block, with twenty-three other negroes, and sold.

Pioneer Character Sketches 646

Harry Mcx>re was compelled by his master to be present and to hold his small children in his arms while they were roughly handled by the brutal traders and to see the persons of his daughters, women grown, indecently exposed on the block. Young Willson knew all of Harry Moore's children and had played with them many a time. He was a great friend of Harry's as a boy is often friendly to his inferiors. Young Willson came to the scene first as Harry was holding in his arms a four-year-old child, which was being auctioned off. The great tears were streaming down Harry's cheeks, and the child seeming to understand the situation, was weeping also. Willson looked on the scene and the flood gate of his tears was opened. He being free to go where he chose returned and hid himself to conceal his sympathy and grief. As soon as he could dry his tears, he came back to the scene, but could not contain himself and wept afresh. He had been brought up to believe slavery was a divine institution ordained of God and sanctioned by Holy Writ, but he then and there resolved it was a wicked and cruel institution and that he would never live in a state which tolerated it, after he was free from his father's dominion. He so informed the latter, and though the father tried to dissuade him and persuade him to remain in Virginia as the support of his old age, he would not give up his resolution. It was strengthened by a subsequent private interview with his friend, Harry, who told him God would bottle up his tears against his old mistress who sold his wife and children away. W^illiam Williamson at that time became an Abolitionist and anti-slaverv and remained such till his views were carried out m the midst of the Civil War. He had an uncle who had located in West Union, Ohio, in i8r6, and to him he determined to go as soon as he was of age.

Tn December, 1836, he started for Ohio, traveling to Charleston, West X'irginia, by stage; thence down the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers by boat to Manchester, where he landed Jainiary 3, 1837. He walked from Manchester to West I'nion by the old road up Isaac's Creek and over Gift Ridge. At the Nixon place, he sought refuge from a heavy rain, but ran into the small-pox and retreated in an undignified manner, the only time in all his life he did anything unbecoming the dignity of a Virginia gentleman. At West Union, he was welcomed at the house of his uncle. Dr. William B. W^illson, who had married Ann Newton, a daughter of the Rev. William Williamson. Here he found sympathy with his views on the institution of slavery, for both his uncle and aunt were pronounced in their anli-slavery sentiments. He taught sch(X)l in West Union in the old stone sclioolhousc, which stood where Tohn Knox now resides, for twentvtwo dollars per month. He read medicine with his uncle who was then the only physician in the place and who resided in a dwelling formerly standing on the site of the present residence of Jacob Plummer. In May, 1839. he located in Russellville. Brown County, to practice medicine, but in July. 1839, he witnessed a brutal fight on the streets, which the bystanders seemed to enjoy, and he concluded that that was no place for him and left. In August. 1839, he located at Rockville. Ohio, and remained there until August, 1840, and some of the most pleasant hours of his life were spent there. He enjoyed the society of James and John Loughry, James McMasters. Judge Moses Baird. Rev. Chester and their families. At that time, Rockville was more prosperous than it ever was before or has been since, because at that time there was a great deal of boat building going ivti \Urrv aiirl the stone htiftincss was flourishing. In May, 1840, his uncle, |)f. VVilliftin H. Willson, of West Union, was suffering from quick con- «»tinitition and was coiniH:lled to give up his practice. At his request. Dr. Williafn h\ Willson came to West Union and located to take up his practi( T. I lis nnclc died Jtily 21 , 1840, in the fifty-first year of his age. When he rafnr to West Union, Dr. Willson brought with him his letter from the I'trsbytrrian Clnirch at New Providence, in Rockbridge G>unty, Va., and Indijrd it with the church in West Union, where he attended regularly. Atnonjif the worshincrs was a niece of Gen. Joseph Darlinton, Adaline Willsnn. with black liair and black eyes and very comely to look upon. The DiM'tor fril in love with the young lady and on the twenty-eighth day of < Vtnbrr. 1840. he was married Jit the residence of General Darlinton by the Krv. b>bn \\ Vandyke, then the minister of the Presbyterian Church at West \ 'ninn. There were presnil at this marriage Gen. Joseph Darlinton, his si«itef. Mrs Marj^aret Ivlwards, Mrs. Ann Willson, the Doctor's aunt, and her dan|L,diters. VMrn McCnllogh and husband, Addison McCullogh. Mtss \nianda Willson (since Mrs. Hugh Means), Miss Sophronia Willson. Davis Darlinton and wife, Newton Darlinton. Doddridge Darlinton ;\\\\\ wife and Mrs. Salathiel S|>arks. then a widow, and directly after the wife of lien. James PilsiMi. Of that comixmy but one survives. Mrs. Hugh Meanv, of Ashland, Kv.

In »S|5, Dr Willson and his wife. Mrs. Ann Willson. his aunt, Addison Mev'\tllojih and wife aiul Mrs. Noble Oimes withdrew from the PresbMorian V'lnttvh at West Union and ioined the New School. A church ing him his freedom. Sam was as full of fun and glee as a young healthy animal and had a natural genius for cookery. Notwithstanding the Doctor's abhorrence of slavery, he consented to be a slaveholder for a week in order to get Sam out of Virginia. He kept Sam for seven years and taught him to read and write and cipher and gave him such further instruction as he could. In i860, he sent him to Cincinnati to learn the carpenter's trade. Sam could sew and do any housework as well as any woman. He always kept himself neat, clean and well dressed. Whenever the Doctor visited Cincinnati, Sam would buy a number of things for "Miss Adaline," as he called Mrs. Willson. Those articles were usually ladies' clothing or apparel and he could always select them with consummate taste and anticipate Mrs. Willson's wants. Sam always took good care of himself. He never married and is now living in New Orleans.

The Doctor, on the occasion of the last visit to his father in Virginia prior to the Civil War, had a great argument with his father, who was strongly pro slavery in his views and in favor of the Rebellion of the South. In this discussion, the Doctor predicted the Civil War and all its dire consequences to the South, including the abolition of slavery, but his father could not be convinced. They separated never to meet on earth, as James Willson died in 1864, but the Doctor \\\^d to see all his predictions verified. During the war he was very kind to his Southern male relatives who, with the exception of his father, were all in the Confederate army and several of them prisoners at Camp Chase. To those who were prisoners, he sent money, clothing and necessaries, but at the same time no one was more loyal or devoted to the Union cause than he.

The Doctor and his wife were loved by the entire community, but especially was their church devoted to them. On the twenty-eighth of October, 1890, the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage was celebrated by the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church in Ironton, and it was a most notable occasion which would require an article as long as this. Of those present at their marriage, all had passed away except Mrs. Hugh Means, Miss Sophronia Willson and Rev. Newton Darlinton. The two former were present on the fiftieth anniversary.

From 1890 until 1898, the health of the Doctor gradually failed. He was subject to vertigo and was liable to fall at any time and he had to give up his profession, but all the time he was the same cheerful, agreeable person he ever had been. He always welcomd his friends and made them feel refreshed and rejoiced that they had called. He loved to speak of those dear friends who had gone before, but never repined. On the eleventh of February, 1898, his wife passed away and he survived until the twenty-ninth of ^Fay, when he, too, received the final summons and answered it. After the death of his wife, an invalid in bed most of his time, unable to walk or stand alone, requiring an attendant all the time, he never complained. He often spoke of the great change which he felt was coming, but to him it was but passing from one room to another. He was ready at the Master's call and it came silently and gently. He passed from sleep to its twin. Death, and the chapter of his life was closed. He was a fine example of the old-fashioned Virginia gentleman, kind and courteous to everyone and quick to appreciate what would please those about him and gratify them. In Ironton, when the good men of the city were named. Dr. W'illson's name was always first. Everyone felt that he was a sincere and fine Christian gentleman. The world is better that he lived. His life was a most excellent sermon, preaclied every day, and felt by those with whom he associated.

His old friends in Adams County have all passed over to the majority, but his memory among the younger is like a blessed halo, pictured about the Saints, of which he is undoubtedly one.

It is seldom we have biographies of women in works of this character. It is certainly not because they are not deservmg of them, as what is said of them is usually said in sketches of their husbands, but the subject of this sketch is deserving of an entire volume, and had her recollections of Adams County lK*en written down, they would make a more interesting volume than this.

She was born December 20, 1820. Her father died when she was but seven years of age and she was taken by Gen. Joseph Darlinton. of West Union, (3hio, her great-uncle, and was reared by him. Her home was with the General and his family from her seventh vear until her marriage. The General, whose sketch and portrait appear elsewhere in this book, was a most devout Presbyterian, and as our subject has expressed it herself, she was reared on the Bible and the Missionary Herald. If her life is to be deemed a success, she attributed it to the careful training she received in her uncle's home. From her seventh to her ninth }^ar, she listened to the Gospel expounded by the Rev. Dyer Burgess in the stone church at West Union. From her ninth vear until she left West Union, in 1851, she was taught in the same church by the Rev. J. P. Vandyke. As his j^reat efforts were always in preaching doctrines, she was well grounded in iIk* Pr<-sl)ytcrian faith.

The GeiKTal's hou^c in West L'nion was the visiting place of all prominent ])ers()ns wlio visited tlie village. In this way she met and associated with tile best ])eople of her time. When she was a girl, educational advantages were liniitetl. hut slie had wonderful natural ability, and she look advantage of all for int\>nnation and intellectual improvement. ( )n ( )ciol)er 28. 1840, she was married in her uncle's home to William 1>. Willson. a young physician, who, in the May before, had located in West Union, and tliere she went to housekeeping, and resided till the fall oi 1851, when she removed to Ironton, Ohio. In West Union, she was the center of a delightful circle oi friends of her own sex, who, in their old-fashioneil way. took turn in spending the day at each other's houses. She read niucli. traveled much, and she was delighted in visiting the most noted historical ])laces in our own country :<nd never tired of telling of them. She had fine conversational {K^wers. and that, with her wonderful nienioiy. made her a most desirable companion or guest.

In tile clnirch was her great and chosen work, and she took great interest in the Women's Missionary Societies. In 1897, she wrote a fine paper for the Presbyterian Society, giving an account of the organization (»f tile Wonien'v Intard of I'^oreign MissicMis, which she attended in i8*"o at Philadelphia, and i^i five ^nhseijueiU meetings at which she was present. She often dwelt - -n tiie a<lvantai:rcs the yonng people had in the present dav.

Pioneer Character Sketches 649

In her day, she said it was just a privilege for the young to live ; that then the young people had nothing to do but to look on and listen to their elders ; that in her youth, nothing but obedience and industry was expected of the young.

This tribute is from the pen of Editor Willson of the Ironton Register: **Mrs. Willson was a woman of strong character. Her mind was bright and aggressive. She studied the thoughts of today and kept informed on those subjects which are of real progress. She was a great reader and appreciated the best literature. Her interests lay deeply in religious themes, and on them she was entertaining and instructive. Her great delight was in the deep and solid orthodoxy of the Presbyterian Church, whose great doctrines were a part of her life and thought. This gave her a setenity that was always beautiful and a seriousness that was always helpful, but through it all, her joys shone like an evening star through the twilight."

In the last five years of her life, she was afflicted, but not a great sufferer. July 29, 1897, she had a stroke of paralysis which thereafter confined her to her bed. She survived till February 11, 1898, when the end came. In all her sickness, she exemplified her religious belief and died with all its comforts sustaming her soul.

was born September 6, 1788. He died September 23, 1867. Ruth Shoemaker, whom he married as the widow of Samuel Bradford, was born August 18, 1793. She died August 25, 1879. The following children were born to them: James Hervey, born April 7, 18 16; died March 18, 1844; Angeline, now the wife of George Sample, was born January 2, 1818 : Caroline, now Mrs. S. P. Kirkpatrick, was born December 26, 1819; John Xclson was born May 11, 1822; David, born December 2y, 1824; Matilda, born April 20, 1829, afterward married a Mr. Locke, and is now deceased; Ann Elizabeth, born March 25, 1830, married a Henderson: George \V., bom Fel)ruary 24, 1833, deceased: Joseph William, born December 12, 1834. now deceased; and Francis Marion, born June 2yy 1840.

Ruth Shoemaker is said to have been stolen by the Indians in 1796 while residing on Ohio l>rush Creek at Shoemaker's Crossing, in the vicinity of the mouth of Lick Fork. See history of Meigs Township and also biograpliy of Sanniel Grimes Bradford in this volume.

was born Scptenihtr 16, 1816. in Logan County, Ohio. His father, John Wilson, was horn Decemlyer 17, 1776, in Kentucky, and died October 5, 1824, in Logan County. His wife, Margaret Darlinton, was born in Winchester, A'irginia. She was married to Joh*^ Wilson, in Adams County, August 6, 1810. by Rev. William W^illiamson. She survived until March 8, i8rK;. llcr father was born March 24. 1754, and died May 20, 1814, at Xewark, ( )hio. Her mother was born April 10. 1700. and died December 14, 1832. John Wilson, grandfather of our subject, moved to Maysville, Ky., about 1781, and bought land on the Kentucky side of the river for twelve or fifteen miles along its course. This land is all divided up, and a part of it. opposite Manchester, is known as Wilson's Bottoms.

The father of our subject had fifteen children, all of whom lived to maturity, married and had families. Our subject went to reside with his uncle. General Joseph E>arlinton, in Adams County, in 1823. He was brought up in the Presbj-terian Church and had such education as the local schools afforded. At the age of sixteen, in 1832. he became an assistant to his uncle in the Clerk's office of the Court of Common Pleas and Supreme Court. In 1837, when he had attained his majorit>-. he started out for himself, with a certificate from J. Winston Price, Presiding Judge of the Common Pleas, that he was of correct and most unexceptionable moral character and habits. Gen. Darlinton also gave him a certificate that he was perfectly honest and of strict int^jity; that he was familiar with the duties of the Clerk's office, and that he had Iiad some experience in retailing goods from behind the counter and in keepihg merchant's books. Between 1837 and 1840. he was a clerk in the Ohio Legislature at its annual sessions. In September. 1838. he was employed in the Count\- Clerk's office in Greenup County, Kentucky. In November, 1838. he obtained a certificate from Peter Hitchcock, Frederick Grinke and Ebenezer Lane, Supreme Judges, that he was well qualified to discharge the duties of Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Adams Countv, or anv other Court of equal dignity in the State. In November, 1840. he obtained emplox-ment in the office of Daniel Gano, Clerk of the Courts of Hamilton County, as an assistant for four years, at $380.00 per year. He was married to Harriet Lafferty. sister of Joseph West Laffeily, of West Union. April 14, 1839, by Rev. Dyer Burgess. He formed a great friendship with Nelson Barrere. a young lawyer who had located in West UnicMi in 1834. and several of Barrere's letters to him are in existence. To Barrere, he disclosed his inmost soul, as to a father confessor, and Barrere held the trust most sacredly. He seemed also to have had the friendship of Samuel Brush, an eminent lawyer of that time, who practiced in Adams County. In 1846, he was an applicant for the Clerkship of Adams Court of Common Pleas, when General Darlinton's term expired. He was recommended by George Ceilings, Nelson P>arrere, William M. Meek. Chambers Baird, John A. Smith, James H. Thompson and Hanson L. Penn. but Joseph Randolph Cockerill was appointed. However, on September 18. 1846. he entered into a written contract with Joseph R. Cockerill, the Clerk, to work in the office at $30.00 j>er month until the next spring and in that p>eriod to he Deputy Clerk. In April. 1848, he was admitted to the bar at a term of thir Supreme Court held in Adams County, but it is not now known that he ever practiced. He always had a delicate constitution and died of pulmonary consumption. December i(\ 1848. His wife died August 12. 18^0. Thev had two children, a dauijhter, who died in infancv, and a son, J"hn O.. who ha> a separate sketch herein.

Alexander and John. Alexander learned the trade of a cabinet maker and John learned that of a printer first and afterward the trade of a cabinet maker. John Woodrow was bom October 5, 1805, and married Jane Crawford in 1831, and removed to Lynchburg, Ohio, in 1832. He died in 1873. Andrew Woodrow's daughter, Milly Ann, married and is the mother of Mrs. Caroline Worstell, of West Union. James Woodrow, a son, died at the age of nineteen -and is buried in the Harper cemetery, on Salathiel Sparks' place.

Andrew Woodrow's wife related to Mrs. Caroline Wortsell that when they went to West Union, it was almost all forest and the wolves often went howling through the town at night.

Andrew Woodrow was very fond of music. He had a violin and could draw a crowd at any time and sing and play his hearers into tears or laughter. One of his favorite pieces was the "Battle of Boyne Water."

was born in Virginia, November 20, 1788. He removed to Adams County in 181 1. He was a farmer. He first resided near North Liberty, afterward near West Union. He had a good common school education. He was married in the fall of 1810 to Hester Keyes Wasson, an aunt of Thomas Campbell Wasson.

Robert Wilson died in West Union July 4, 1849, in the Naylor House, opposite the brick schoolhouse, of the Asiatic cholera. His wife died in 1867 of paralysis, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Crawford, near West L^nion. Their children were Nathaniel, born July 12, 1812; John H., born November 22, 181 3 ; Robert A., born August 17, 1816: Aquilla Jane, born November 22, 1821; Thomas W., born July 12, 1818; Hetty Ann, born September 22, 1822; Patton, born July 23, 1828; David Finley, born June 5, 1827. He learned to be a shoemaker under Abraham Laflferty and afterwards taught school. He married Eva Campbell, October 19, 1854; William McVey, born October id, 1823; Nathaniel Steele, who was married three times, first to Margaret Chipps, second to Miss Mary Smith and third, to Miss Bromfield. No children by either marriage. John H. Wilson married Rebecca Bayless ; Robert A. married Margaret Markland ; Thomas Wasson married Margaret Schultz ; Aquilla Jane married Harper Crawford; Hettie Ann married Edward Lawler; William McVey married Rebecca I^ovejoy ; Patton married Susannah Newman ; David Finley married Eva Campbell.

Robert Wilson belonged to the United Brethren Church and his wife to the Methodist. Both are buried in the old cemetery at West Union. He was taken violently ill about nine o'clock in the morning and died at eight in the evening. He suffered intensely and was conscious throughout. He had attended the funeral of Adam McCormick and it was thought he got the disease from that. In politics he was an old time Whig.

was bom in Adams County, Pennsylvania, October 18, 1803, ^"d graduated at Miami University in the class of 1826, which was the first class to graduate from that institution. For a time after his graduation he was master of the grammar school in that institution. We are not advised when or where lie studied theology. October i, 1829, he was taken in the

Presbvterv of Chillicothe in a session at West Union, moderated at that time by the Rev. Dyer Burgess. Tlie Presbytery gave him a text to preach from at liis ordination on call from the church at West Union. St. John, 6 : 37-40.

At a meeting of Presbytery at West Union on April 6 and 8, 1830, Rev. \'andyke was installed. Rev. John Rankin preached on this occasion. At this meeting, Israel i>i:)nalson, .\braham . Shepherd, Thomas Kirker and Moses Baird were present. In 1836, he had a call to Georgetown, but declmed it. On September 8. 1856. Presb^ierj- dissolved the relation of pastor and people between him and the West Union Church and he became stated supply at Red Oak.

At a Presbyter}' held at Greenfiehl, April 5 and 6, 1853, ^^^ accepted a call from Red Oak Church, and on the thirii Sabbath of May following, he was installed. His pastoral relation to tliat church was dissolved April 5, 1854, at Hillslx^ro, Ohio. On September 5 and 6, 1854, he was dismissed to the Presbvterv- at Crawfordsville, Ind.

After leaving Chillicothe P*hesb\ier}', he labored as stated supply at Frankfort. Ind.. until 1856. when he accepted a call from the Pleasant Ridge Church, in the Prebyier}- of Cincinnati. There he preached as often as his health would permit him. until the summer of 1862, when he removed \o Reading. He labored faithfully until his last sickness. Here he died August 13, i8^>2. of pulmonary consumption.

Soi»n after his location at West Union, he married Xancy. the daughter of Cit^w. Thomas Kirker and had a familv of children, one son. L\TTian B., and several daughters. He was an active, useful minister, distinguished for preaching dtxrtrinal sermons, and dwellinc; much on the decrees of God. He was very tall and slender. He was always delighted to have an argument and would stop on the street with friends and acquaintances and talk any length of time. He was very fond of conversing on scientific qiu'STions. ^Irs. Sarah P»raclford said oi him he was a stronger Calvini>t than John Calvin himself. He was always pleased to present the d«xrtrinc of cleciion in his sennons. He was noted i«~»r his profound sch.:»larship and his willingness to impart his knowle<igc.

Ht- preached 3.80^3 semioms in his lifttime of which 2.0lx> were preached in West I'nion. I tremble when 1 think of the accounts the numbers of hi> West I'nion Chiircli and congregation will have to give at the Judctiit-nt Day of the manner in which they listened to those sermons.

Pioneer Character Sketches 653

He is well remembered by a few of the oldest surviving citizens of Adams County as a strong minister. He served some nine years in the Conference of Indiana, and while stationed at Logansport fell a victim to an epidemic of erysipelas. He was taken in the morning with a swelling of the throat. His breathing was protracted a few hours by an incision in his throat and the use of a tube. He died at six o'clock in the evening. He was speechless for some time before his death ; but arose, and knelt by his bedside and prayed. He was a rigid disciplinarian and a strong theologian. He was deeply pious. His wife, Ruth Westlake, survived him but seven days, and died of the same disease.

son of Andrew Woodrow, was born in Maysville, Kentucky, October 22, 1798. When about seven years of age, he came to West Union with his father and lived there until his death, March 2, 1872, aged seventy-three vears. He learned the trade of a cabinet maker. He was married three times, first to Mary Wallace, on June 12, 1823. She died on June 19, 1825, in the twenty-ninth year of her age, leaving a son, James, who grew to manhood. His second marriage was to Prudence ^tevenson, in Mason County, Kentucky, on January 25, 1827. She was a daughter of Nathan Stevenson, an early settler in Mason County, Kentucky, having emigrated from the State of Maryland, and was her husband's full cousin. She was bom May i, 1800, and died of cholera in West Union, June 28, 1835, aged thirty-five years. His third marriage was to Mrs. Sarah Wood, of West Union, widow of Robert Wood. Mrs. Wood was a daughter of Col. John Lodwick, one of the pioneers of Adams County.

The children of Alexander Woodrow's second marriage were Henry B., Edgar, Xathan, Andrew and Mary Prudence, all of whom are deceased but Henry B., the second son, who resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Alexander Woodrow was originally a Mt?thodist Episcopal He afterward joined the Methodist Prostestant Church with his second wife. After his marriage to Mrs. Sarah Wood, he became a Presbyterian and remained such during the remainder of his life. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church at West Union for many years. He was elected Auditor of the County in 1843. on the Whig ticket, and served one term.

Isaac Wamsley, the great-grandfather of the present race of Wamsleys. was born in North Germany sometime in the seventeenth century. He was a seafaring man. the captain of a vessel whose appearance in American waters, about the year 1770, is the beginning of the Wamsley history in this country.

His vessel seemed to be of a warlike character and took part in the early struggle of America upon the high seas. It is not definitely known under which flag he sailed, whether English or American, and the tradition is that he was a kind of free lance, sailing upon his own hook and doubtless exacting tribute from any and all the parties engaged in those early days, when privateers and bucaneers sailed the seas, some with, but more without, letters of marque from organized forms of government.

Revolution he removed with his family to what was then known as the Northwest Territory, and located on Ohio Brush Creek, at Forge Dam in Jefferson Township. His family consisted of wife and four stalwart boys, Isaac, Jr., Jonathan, Christopher and William. The three last named settled within the present boundaries of Adams County. Isaac, however, went farther west and became a "wild man," as he was called by the rest of the family, because of his roving disposition, and his fondness for hunting and the wild sports of the trackless forest. His descendants have been traced to California and the isles of the sea.

William Wamsley was the youngest son of Isaac Wamsley and the grandfather of the extensive family of that name scattered over the State of Ohio. He settled upon the fertile banks of Scioto Brush Creek, right at the Mouth of Scioto Turkey Creek, and purchased all the bottom land upon both -^es of this creek from its mouth five miles up the stream, being careful to folte^, in his line of survey, the base of the mighty hills which enclose this vaRtiv upon both sides of this stream.

This land w'a^J^ntered for him by William Bayless. William Wamsley was married to Sw>rah Wikoff about the year 1798. Of this union nine children were boni; eight boys and one girl. Leah, the daughter, died at an early age. In the naming of their children the strong religious sentiment seemed to prevail, for all were given Bible names save two, as follows: Peter, Isaac, William, "John, Samuel and Christopher (twins). Leah, Amos and Jesse. All th6;3e men were devoutly religious and members of the M. E. Church, ancT^very one of them uncompromising Democrats of the "Old Hickory'* sti

William Wamsley and his sons bulilt the M, E. Church which was called **Wamsley Chapel." This churcW was the third meeting house erected within the boundaries of Adams\County. It was erected as a matter of convenience for these God-loving nien and women who were thus saved a weary journey of seven miles tcX Moore's Chapel, which was the first meeting house in the county.

How little do the present generation nnojerstand how precious tlie Word of Life was to these toil-worn sons and (daughters of men, who, in the almost unbroken forest, with ax, plow, arW gi-^n. were laying the foundation to a mighty superstructure whose towc^ring proportions would afford shelter and safety to the weary and oppressed of every land.

William Wamsley died September 26. 1845, ^f ^^^ seventieth year of his age, and was followed by his wife, April 2y, {850, in her seventyninth year. They are sleeping side by side in the W^imsley graveyard.

Isaac and Jesse Wamsley were ordained ministers of the Methodist Church. John and Samuel were exhorters in the sai^e church, and all the rest were class leaders and earnest, devout workerN^ in the interest of that church.

It would be interesting to follow the history of eacfh member of this family of eight boys ; we must, however, content "ourselvc*^ ^vith but two of the fathers of the present living race of Wamsleys re!*>i^li"^ in Adams County. ' «

Rev. Jesse Wamsley was the youngest son in this rfamily. He was born July 11, 1813, and was married to Mary McCormac^^^ December 13, 1 83 1. Of this union two children were born, James Pilc^^^* ^^'^^^ is still living upon the old homestead where he was bom, and William Finley.

William M. Wamslky

- who crossed the silent river but a few years ago. Pilcher Wamsley was bom March 30, 1833, and was married October 23, 1856, to Miss Elizabeth A. Graham. Jesse Wamsley, Jr., the only child living of this family, is a young man of fine personal appearance, cultured and refined, a pleasant gentleman, and an honest man.

Jesse, the father of Pilcher and Finley Wamsley, spent his life in the Christian ministry, being converted and licensed to preach in his fourteenth year. He was admitted to the Conference and ordained as a preacher at Chillicothe, Ohio, when about twenty-eight years of age. His first circuit was on the home work which extended hundreds of miles, taking him two weeks of constant travel to get around. After years of travel upon horseback. Rev. Wamsley concluded that it would rest him in his work to ride in a buggy, so he bought one costing him $1 10.00. This purchase came very near destroying his career as a Methodist preacher, the people seeing in this buggy the symbol of pride, and a worldly spirit refused to hear him preach ; and when he was compelled to buy a set of false teeth, in order to talk plainly, the climax was reached and his best friends withdrew their support. But as the years went' by, and buggies and false teeth became common, his friends returned and enjoyed many a hearty laugh at their own expense over the foolish prejudice of those early \'ears. Rev. Wamsley was compelled to travel to Cincinnati for his teeth, which cost, at that time, one hundred and thirty-five dollars. In 1864, Rev. Jesse Wamsley's name was diopped from the Conference roll of the M. E. Church, the charges brought against him being that he had subscribed for and was reading the Christian Witness, a paper published in the city of Columbus by one Rev. J. F. Givens, the founder and leader of the Christian Union of Ohio.

In 1865, Rev. Wamsley attended the Annual Council of Christian Union at Edenton, Ohio, where his venerable appearance and his high preaching ability at once advanced him to the front ranks of those early workers in the cause of liberty and fraternity.

Returning home he organized a local church with nine charter members, and became their pastor, serving them faithfully for many years. Many local churches were organized by him in the years that followed his identification with the Christian Union cause. He died February 18, 1887.

William Wamsley, the father of Rev. Wm. Wamsley, now residing in Wamsley ville, was born in 1804, and died October 12, 1868. He was married to Elizabeth Bolton in 1825. Of ihis union eight children were born, five sons and three daughters.

Rev. William Wamsley, the subject proper of this sketch, was born August 3, 1843, ^" the old Wamsley homestead at the mouth of Scioto Turkey Creek. When he was six years of age, his own dear mother departed this life. Deprived thus early of a mother's love and care, the resolution was formed in his young mind to accomplish something for himself, to build a town that should bear his name, and surround himself with friends and neighbors in whom his heart delighted. As the years went by Young Wamsley attended school some little, but the most of the time was engaged in financial ventures which in every instance proved successful, drawing the attention of the people to bis giant struggles. At the age of twenty, he had achieved his fortune, and in 1864 began to put in execution the dream of his young life, to build a town. Before this.

however, he had purchased the home farm containing 210 acres. He laid ofi' the streets of his village through this beautiful farm and began the building of a large mill, blacksmith shop, storerooms and dwelling houses. Tl^is town grew in size and importance and was called by the people "Bill's town." About this time young Wamsley concluded that he needed a helpmate to share his joys and sorrows, and on the twenty-third day of May, 1867, he was joined in wedlock to Sarah W. Wamsley. One child was bom to bless this union, a son, Milton Bina, now grown to manhood, married, and with wife and children resides in Wamsleyville, aiding his father in his busy life of toil and ventures.

So prodigous were the efforts of Rev. Wamsley that the attention of the leading men of the county was directed to this rising town, the only one in Jefferson Township. So great was the excitement over his achievements, that Hon. John T. Wilson and Col. Cockerill came to visit Wm. Wamsley and to talk over the situation. After an excellent dinner they visited the steam mill, the shops and stores, had a review of the two hundred men then in the employ of William Wamsley, and expressed their pleasure and interest with all they saw. When about to depart, Mr. Wilson asked Wamslev if thev could aid him in any wav, and w^as told that a postoffice was the pressing need of the town. Mr. Wilson then and there promised that an office should be established, and Col. Cockerill declared its name should be Wamslev. The mail route established was from West Union through Wamsley and on to Mineral Springs with mail twice each w^ek. Now, however, it is twice each dav. Other visitors came to see and find out all about this wonderful little town. Among the number were bankers R. H. Kllison, Crocket McGovney, and John A. Murry. who at once opened a bank account with young Wamsley which was a benefit and profit to all parties.

Finding that it would be impossible to transport the manufactured articles of this busy town without better roads, Hon T. 1. Mullen, of West Union, was called upon and drew up a petition for a free turnpike from Rome, on the Ohio River, to Mineral Springs. Young Wamsley was the promoter of this enterprise, aided by Mr. Salisbury, of ^Iineral Springs: A. J. Jones, of Wamsley; Dr. D. H. Woods, George A. Lafferty, of Rome, and others. The struggle was made, and the road granted under the Two Mile Law. Eventually, other roads were opened to the town.

On the evening of November 28, 1879, the fire demon visited this enterprising town and the large mill, the lumber yard, stores, and all the pr<)j)erty in touch with it, were entirely destroyed, entailing a loss of some twenty thousand dollars from the hard earnings of William Wamslev. ]>ut this disaster did not daunt the courage of Young Wamsley. In a few hours the ashes were cleared away and work began in the building of a largiT and better mill. Five years afterward, fire again destroyed nearly the entire town, burning e\^ry house, store and barn upon the east side of Main Street, entailing a loss of sixty thousand dollars, ten thousand of which fell to the lot of William Wamsley. But again the courage of this tireless worker rose above the ruin of all liis hopes, and he determined that the town should he rebuilt, and at once began work upon his owm home, which had perished in the flames, and the town arose, phoenix-like, from the ashes of its own destruction.

Pioneer Character Sketches 667

The third time fire broke out, and on the sixth of February, 1892, the great and famous mill was consumed, bringing a loss of twelve thousand dollars upon the aching head of its owner. But still over these losses this man moves onward ; his mill is in process of erection, and backed up by the fertile acres of his valley farm, he still stands erect, his hair streaked with gray, but his mind and heart young as ever full of vigor and courage to battle on. It is proper to mention that the town of Wamsleyville was laid out, surveyed and plotted, January 15, 1874, and put on record January 30, same year. There has been added to the town a beautiful Fair Park owned and controlled by Rev. Wamsley, whose management of the Wamsleyville Fair is a noted event in the history of the county. This ground furnishes a pleasant and convenient place for celebrations, Sunday School gatherings, as well as other purposes for which it can be used.

Big-hearted, big-bodied and generous, his home door stands open night and day to all comers and his table filled with the food that delights the eye and pleases the palate.

Himself and wife are earnestly religious and devout members of the Christian Union in whose ranks he has been an efficient minister for many years.

His only son, with his interesting family, live near the happy father and mother and the words "grandpa" and "grandma" from childish lips gladden the heart and home of this happy pair.

In the year 1555, John Burbage was the Bailiff and, ex officio. Chief Magistrate of Stratford-upon-Avon, the birth-place of William Shakespeare. Subsequently, this office was held by Francis Burbage, and later on by John Shakespeare, the father of the great poet. .

term of office, he presided over a trial in which John Shakespeare was sued for a sum of money. These facts appear in William Shakespeare's biography as published in George L. Duyckinck's edition of his works, by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, Pa.

The next point of interest is the intimate association of Shakespeare with James Burbage and his son, Richard, in the dramatic profession, in London. Under the title "Shakespeare," in the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, it is stated that James Burbage had been a fellow townsman of Shakespeare; and a transcript of a letter written by Lord Southampton, introducing and commending William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage, was found among Lord Elsmere's papers filed while he was Lord Chancellor, in which it is. said that Shakespeare and Richard Burbage were from the same county " and almost the same town."

That the advent of the two Burbages in London preceded that of Shakespeare by some years, is the concurrent testimony of all writers on the subject. James Burbage had been an actor in a company of players organized by the Earl of Leicester, sometimes called Burbage's players, which gave performances in London and elsewhere, long before the erection of any building in England, specially designed for such a purpose.

To James Burbage belongs the distinction of having erected in London, in 1575, the original Black Friars Theater, the first theater built in England.

In an article in Scribner's Magazine for May, 1891, Alexander Cargill says: "This place (the Curtain Theater) and 'The Theater' as Burbage's place was distinctively known, were the only two theaters in the city proper, when young Shakespeare first arrived in London." From the facts already stated, Shakespeare's connection with the Burbages, in London, is quite natural, on the assumption that he went there to enter the dramatic profession. Accordingly, the writer of the article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Dr. Baynes, referring to Shakespeare's early career in London, says: "But irom his first coming up (to London), it seems clear that he was more identified with the Earl of Leicester's players of whom he was more identified with the Earl of Leicester's players of of whom his energetic fellow townsman, James Burbage, was the head, than any other group of actors."

It is further stated by the same writer, on documentary evidence, that the Burbages originally introduced Shakespeare to the Blackfriars Company and gave him an interest as part proprietor in the Blackfriar's property. Knight, in his biography of Sliakespeare, says there is no reason to doubt that Shakespeare first went to London accompanied by Richard Burbage, who, at the time of his death, owned the Blackfriar's Theater, and an interest in several others. He had become the greatest tragedian of his time, was the first actor to perform the part of Hamlet in the great play of that name, as well as the part of the Moor in Othello. He is often spoken of as the "Garrick of the Elizabethan Stage," and Lord Southampton calls him "Our English Roscius," one who fitteth the action to the word and the word to the action most admirably. Some writers contend that Shakespeare wrote the part of Hamlet expressly for Richard lUirhap^e, and the write, in Scribner's Maj^^aziiie, says: "There can be no question that it was by the histrionic excellence of Burbage that Shakesj>eare was inlUienced and encouraged in the writing of more than one of his great plays/' Thus it appears that the Bnrbages were efficient in preparing and cultivating the field from which Shak-espeare was to reap an immortal fame which, in its turn, has served to perpetuate their names in history.

It now remains to indicate, briefly, the linos along which the genealogy of tlie lUirbagv family in Adams County may be traced back to the London lUirhages should any one have opportunity and an inclination to do so. It is well known that the English colony established at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, was the result of a commercial enterprise undertaken bv a company organized in London.

In a large work recently published by Alexander Brown entitled *'Tlio ( KMiesis of the United States," he shows from records in England that Richard Burbage was a member of this company. He died in London in xi^x"^, leaving a son. William. The land records of Virginia show that. in U)V>. a William Rurhage and also Captain Thomas Burbage resided in tlu^ coliMiy at lanicstown. From t6^^6 to i(>38. the authorities at Jamestow n i^rantcd patcius v\ Thomas Burbage for several tracts of land in Virginia, among which was a tract of 1,250 acres located in Accomac Countv. \'irginia. adjoining Worcester County, Maryland. The Record of Wills in Worcester County shows that Burbage died there as far back as 1726. In this record the names of both Thomas and William Burbage recur in successive generations. This fact, together with the close proximity of the locality to the land owned by Thcwiias Burbage in the adjoining county of Acccwnac, creates a strong presumption of relationship between the Maryland and Virginia Burbages, especially when considered in connection -with the well known historical fact that many of the Jamestown people emigrated to the eastern shore of Maryland soon after Jamestown was settled.

Thomas Burbage*s death is accounted for in Hennings Virginia Statutes, Volume i, page 405, wherein the order of the Court is shown directing a division of his lands so that his widow could choose her dower. In this order, William Burbage is to have the remainder as heir at law, but in some of the records he is mentioned as **head right*' in connection with these lands. But in none pf the records at Jamestown, thus far discovered, is any evidence found indicating that William Burbage died in that vicinity. This strengthens the presumption that he crossed the bay, settled on the land in Accomac County, and thus became the head of the various branches of the Burbage family in Maryland. Their presence there can be accounted for in no other way from the present state of facts. It is to be regretted that opportunity to confirm this view of the matter by examination of the records of Accomac County has not been had.

Thomas Burbage, who died in Worcester County, Maryland, in 1722, aged ninety-six years, was the ancestor of the Adams County Burbages. One of his sons, the Rev. Edward Burbage, who also died in Worcester County, Maryland, in 18 12, was the father of Levin Duncan Burbage who settled near the present site of Bradysville ; of Thomas Burbage, near l^entonville ; of Dolly Burbage (Mrs. Smashea), of West Union; of Elizabeth Burbage, full brothers and sisters, and of Joel Burbage, a half brother, who lived near Decatur, together with his three sisters, Ann, Sarah, Rhoda, (Mrs. Schultz) and Mary. They emigrated together, via Pittsburg and the Ohio River, and landed at Manchester in the Spring of 1816. Two years later, Levin D. Burbage went to Maryland and back, traveling alone on horseback, through what was then almost a continuous wilderness.

All of these people were devout Christians and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as was their father before them, and his sincerity was evinced in his refusal to accept from his father a proflFered gift of some slaves, on the ground that slavery was contrary to the spirit of Christianity. This brings the history cf the Burbage family down to a time within the memory of its oldest surviving members, and of these we have space for only a brief sketch of the career of one, who having represented the county in a public capacity, should be mentioned along with others sustaining similiar relations to the public. We refer to Captain William D. Burbage, who was the youngest of the nine children born to Levin Duncan Burbage and his wife, Sarah H. Cropper," daughter of John Cropper.

Katnrally. 'edncaticinaJ faciHtief in the rcimu'i were 'goite IrmTied - th^ tisttaJ anntiaJ term in the pubbc scbools consisting- of tbrre months. Ytn the bor who could be spared to attend tbe entire tcsm -was excepticwDzlh' favored- During one of these T«ars the subject of this sketch was in *ichoo1 T/ut s^-wueen da^'S. and up to the 3-ear 1855. he had scarodT cam emplated the possibility* of ever acquiring nxjre than the mere mdinients of learning:-

But about this time. Wm. M- Scott came into the neighborh«>d and enjraged to teach for a tenn of three months in the Ellison school boose. SLh it was called, and to this fact, more than any other. Captain Borbage attributes a change in his career whicii ha? resulted in hi? becoming: a student for life.

Scott was an excellent teacher and possessed the rare faculty of inspiring in his pupils a feeling of self-reliance whereby almost any one may largely educate himself.

The plan wa«^ for each teacher to conduct recitatii>n> in those studies in v\hK:h he was farther advanced than the others, while they ser\-ed in like n)ann<^r in ref-jx-ct to such studies as thev were severally best fine*! to c'/nduct, as determined by e-xperience and mutual agreement, until the curriculum f*i an ordinar}- college course should be mastered.

What the ultimate development of this enterprise might have been. had not the war of 1861 brok-en it up. can never be known : but it was the unanimous judgment of all - teachers and pupils alike, that they had never made more rapid progress - even in studies none of them had previously pursued, than they made in that schr>ol during its life of two stmimers.

Captain FJurbage was the principal teacher of the public schools in Winchester in 1861. and finished his career ls an educator by completing a t'-rm as Superintendent of the Public Schools of Manchester in 1869, *" tin: Tf>f'm. in which ten years before, he had ceased to attend the public sr}\rn,]^ n^ a «^tudent. In 1862. he entered the Army as Second Lieutenant r»f rr^inpany H. 91 ^t O. V. I., in which he sei-A'ed till the close of the war. Ti'r('v,']r:'^ j;rom^^tion«i, meanwhile, to the rank of First Lieutenant and Cap^aiTi. in sucrcs^-ion. according to the rule of seniority. During- the sunnijcr ^.f 1H66, a vacancy was created in the lower House of the Ohio IvegislatuTx- by the death of the lamented Col. H. L. Phillips, and Capt.

Burbage was elected to fill the vacancy, having as a competitor for the place, his old friend and comrade in the army, Mr. F. D. Bay less, who was the Democratic candidate. Captain Burbage regards his efforts to secure the enactment of the law under which the public turnpikes of Adams County were established, as the most important of his services in the Legislature.

He was elected Mayor of Manchester soon after returning from Columbus, and while serving in this capacity, was very much puzzled on one occasion as to how he ought to decide a question of law argued before him by the distinguished attorney E. P. Evans, father of one of the two editors of this history.

Experience in the Legislature and the Mayor's office intensified a long felt desire on the part of the Captain, to know more about the laws and institutions of our country.

Accordingly, after moving his family to Kansas, where his fatherin-law, the late George Pettit then resided, and after looking over the West for a while to discover ways and means to support his family and pursue his studies, he finally received, in September, 1869, ^^ appointment in the Treasury Department in Washington where he has remained for thirty years, graduating, meanwhile, in the Law Department of Columbian University, and employing his leisure time thereafter in the study of scientific and philosophical literature touching the great problems of individual and social life, with a view to contributing, in some small degree at least, to the well-being of mankind.

The Caden family, so far as is known, originated in Penig, Saxony, Germany. In the latter part of the seventeenth century, there lived there three brothers by the name of Caden of noble lineage. Two of them w^ere military men, one of whom served in the Russian army and the other in the Austrian army. The grandfather of William Caden, who resides at Buena Vista, died when his father was but three years old. His grandfather was a forge owner. In those days there were no rolling mills, consequently all iron was necessarily forged under the hammer for all mercantile purposes. Carl W. Caden continued in that business until his wife died in 1848. In 1850, he emigrated to America with a family of six children, one daughter and five sons. He had suffered from a throat disease and emigrated, hoping to be benefited by making the trip across the ocean. The family staid a while in New York City, and from there went to Philadelphia, where he remained a month under a physician's treatment. From there he went to Pittsburg and was thoroughly cured of his throat trouble. He then took his family to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he was unsuccessful in obtaining employment. From Wheeling, he went to Parkersburg, where he bought a farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Wood County, forty miles from Parkersburg. L^n fortunately for him, he was not acquainte(^l with the title, and it proved worthless and he lost his fann and all lie had invested in it. In 1853, he moved to Greenup County, Kentucky, at one of the iron furnaces, where he remained until 1857, when he rented George Bruce's stone saw mill on the waters of Kmnikinick. He continued that until i860, when he removed to Buena Vista, where he continued in the sawed stone business, obtaining stone in both Adams and Scioto Countieis, but principally in Adams County. In

M2 History Op Adams County

1885, the firm of W. L. Caden & Bros, was the successor to Carl W. Caden. In 1875, the Buena Vista Freestone Company v;as organized by William L. Caden, Adolph Caden, Gustav Caden and Gustav A. Klein. A daughter of Carl Caden died in Tell City. Indiana, in 1881. He died in 1885, as did his son, Gustav. Adolph died in 1897 ^"^ Lewis in 1899. William resides at Buena Vista and another brother lives at Evansville, Indiana, engaged in the quarrying and mill business.

Nathan, Jeremiah, Samuel, Hezekiah, James and Jesse, all sons of James Ellis and Mary Veatch. his wife, came to this section from the neighborhood of Brownsville on the Monongahela River, some sixty miles above Pittsburg, in 1795. Mr. and Mrs. James Ellis came from Wales early in the eighteenth century and settled first in Maryland, where after spending a few years, they emigrated to Western Pennsylvania, where Mr. Ellis died some time after the Revolutionary War. There is nothing to show that there were any daughters in the family.

Religiously, the Ellises were Quakers of the strictest sect and were identified with the Colonists in the French and Indian Wars, and later on in the Revolutionary struggle, several of the name holding commissions in the Continental army. In the Spring of 1795, Captain Nathan Ellis and his five brothers embarked on boats at Brownsville and floated on down past Pittsburg into the Ohio, looking for homes in the mighty forests and fertile lands of the then almost unknown Northwest Territory. The Ohio was the great highway over which came much of the tide of emigration which have peopled this section of the Union, a mighty stream hemmed in by a continent of gloomy shade and wierd solitude, rolling its unbroken length for a thousand miles, a beautiful stretch of restless, heaving water which realized to the voyager the "ocean river of Homeric song."

Landing at Limestone, the Ellis brothers were so charmed with the romantic beauty of the region and the productiveness of the soil, that they determined at once to go no further. At thac time, with the exception of a few isolated settlements at Marietta. Manchester. Gallipolis, and Cincinnati, there were but few settlers on the north l)ank of the river, while upon the south side of the countr\% it was swarming with emigrants seeking out and appropriating the richest lands and most eligible town sites. Like the Jordan of old, the Ohio was the great boundary line. It stayed the incursions of the Indians, and north of its immediate banks the wave of immigration had not rolled. The very day, April 2^, T795, that Nathan Ellis landed at Limestone, ^so: hundred red men were encamped right across the river. Finding that the most valuable lands were taken up, the Ellis brothers determined to push on into the Northwest Territory. Nathan Ellis built the first home in what is known as Aberdeen, and twenty-one }x^ars after, laid out the town, naming it for the old University town of Aberdeen, v^cotland, in honor of one of his fellow townsmen who was a native of the place.

Samuel Ellis settled at Higginsport, "icrhteen miles below. James c)jK'nc<l \\\) a farm near the present site of Georgetown. Jeremiah Ellis Ixmc^lit lands near lU'ntonville. TIezekiah Ellis founded a home on the waters of Kai^lc Creek, and Jesse Ellis entered a tract on what is now known as Hrooks i>ar: three miles east of Aberdeen. More than a centurv has passed, yet such have been the staying qualities of the name that many of the original entries remain in the possession of the family. As a connection, they have ever been blessed with the good things of life and inherit many of the sterling qualities which distinguished their Quaker ancestors.

Nathan Ellis was bom November lo, 1749, and Mary Walker, his wife, August 31, 1752. They were married in 1770. Nathan Ellis assisted Jonathan Zane and John Mclntire in marking out the Zane Trace in 1797 and 1798. He became quite a large landowner, holding at one time eight thousand acres. Aberdeen was first known as "Ellis Ferry.*' Nathan Ellis became the first Justice of the Peace, an office he held until his death in 1819. In a very readable and interesting volume, "A Tour in the Western Country," published in 1808 by Fortescue Gumming, we find the following: "On Saturday, I returned to Ellis Ferry, opposite Maysville, on the banks of the Ohio. I found 'Squire Ellis seated on a bench under the shade of two locust trees, with a bottle, pen, ink, and several papers, holding a Justice Court which he does every Saturday. Seven or eight men were sitting on the bench with him, awaiting his award in their several cases. After he had finished, which v/as soon, after I had taken a seat under the same shade, one of the men invited the 'Squire to drink with him, which he consented to do. Some whiskey was procured from Landlord Powers in which all parties made a libation to peace and justice. There was something in the scene so primitive and so simple that I could not help enjoying it with much satisfaction. I took up my quarters for the night with Landlord Powers, who is an Irshman from the Ballinbay in the County of Monaghan. He pays 'Squire Ellis eight hundred dollars per annum for his tavern, fine farm and ferry.'*

Nathan Ellis and his wife were a couple of untiring energy and great force of character, fit representatives of the heroic men and women who settled in the Ohio Valley and laid the corner stone of the empire in the wilderness. Ten children were born to them: Margaret (Mrs. Scicily) ; Mary (Mrs. Campbell), 1773; John, 1777; Jeremiah, 1779; Jesse, 1782; Samuel, 1784; Nancy (Mrs. Grimes), 1786; Nathan, 1789; Hetty, 1792; she became the wife of Capt. John Campbell, a distinguished officer under General Mc Arthur, in the War of 18 12. Jesse was in his company and took part in many engagements. Elender, born 1795, married James Higgins and emigrated many years ago to Johnson County, Missouri, where she died November 10, 1882.

Jeremiah Ellis married Anna Underwood, daughter of a well-known and prominent Virginia gentleman in 1803. His son, Washington, was born in 1804, and in 1832 married Miss Aris Parker, of Mason County, Kentucky. Jesse Ellis married Sabina, a daughter of Captain Thomas Brooks, of Mason County, Ky., a warm friend and contemporary of Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton, and one of the founders of Maysville ( 1787) ; Major John Ellis married Keziah, a daughter of William Brooks, who. with his brother, Thomas, was captured at the battle of Blue Licks and held a prisoner by the Indians for five years. Major Ellis served in an Ohio regiment in the War of 181 2, and had quite a noted career as a soldier. Jesse Ellis died in 1877 i" ^^^ ninety-fifth year. His wife passed away five years later in her ninetieth year. Nathan Ellis died in 1819 and is buried on the hill overlooking Aberdeen. His mother, Mary Veatch, who died in 1799, rests in the Aberdeen cemeter\\ John died in 1829. Jeremiah died in 1857 ; Washington, in 1873 - h** ^'^^^ ^" ^^2}' "^^ ^^ ^^^ "* ^^ KUis family cemetery at Ellis Landing in Sprigg Township, four miles east of Af>enleen. Jeremiah Ellis and Anna Underwood became the parents of ten children, five sons and five daughters, the best known of whom are the I Um. Jesse Kilis, of Afjerdeen, Ohio, who has represented Adams County- in the Legislature a number of times, and Samuel Ellis, deceased, formerly a sheriff of Ijewis County, Kentucky.

Jesse Ellis, although now a resident of Brown County, was bom in Adams Ojunty, December 19, 1833. He has always been a farmer, teacher and surveyor, and was at one time surveyor of Adams County for twelve c^nisecutive years. He is a man of charming personality and has many devoted friends. In connection, it is but rig^t that we should mention the record of the sons of the family in the war for the preservaticMi of the L'nion. Many of them lx>re commissions but a far greater niunber were ill the ranks. So far as the present writer is informed, the following bore -commissions: Licnitenant Colonel Edward Ellis, 15th Illinois, killed at Shiloh; Major Ephriam J. Ellis, 33d Ohio; Lieutenant Jesse Ellis, 59th Ohir), and Captain Isaac Dryden, 24th Ohio, grandson of Samuel Ellis, fell at Chickamauga; Private William J. Ellis, Company G, 70th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was the first man of that regiment killed at Shiloh. His head was carried away by a cannon ball. Drs. Samuel and Lewis Ellis wrre medical officers ; Dryden Ellis, Captain 6th Ohio Cavalry ; Amos Ellis, Lieutenant 70tli Ohio; Anderson V. Ellis, Lieutenant 49th Ohio; William Kllis, C^aptain i6th Kentucky ; Joseph Ellis, Lieutenant 175th Ohio. Major IClIis was the Captain of the Manchester Company in the 33d Ohio at the time he enlisted in 1861. He commanded his regiment at the battle of Stone River and had a horse killed under him. He was a most gallant and beloved officer, and had he lived, would have been put in command of one of the new ( )hi(> regiments then organizing for the field. Of the private soldiers of the l*Jlis family, it is impossible to speak in detail. Quite a nnmlur of thcin lost their lives on the field of battle: some of them died in rehcl prisons; others jKTished from wounds and diseases, and many of them lived to ^*\ back hfome to the green liills of the old Buckeye State and to r<.*joiee that peace had come to our land, and that we were a reunited nation sovereij^ni, ^reat and free.