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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio
from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time
by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers
West Union, Ohio
Published by E. B. Stivers
1900
Please note: STRIKETHROUGHS are
errors with corrections next to them.
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DAVID TARBELL,
was born at Ripley, Ohio, Dec. 3, 1836. His father
was a seafaring man, a native of Massachusetts.
After following the sea many years, he became an Indian
trader and later located at Ripley. He was a Whig.
He accumulated considerable property. He died in
1852. He married Martha Stevenson, of Adams
County. David Tarbell was reared at Ripley
and attended the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware,
Ohio. He read law with Chambers Baird, of Ripley,
and was admitted an additional judge and re-elected in
1876. His ruling on points of law were seldom
reversed.
He was married June 1, 1861, to Nancy Sallee and
has five children. He is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and a Democrat in politics.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E.
B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 183 - Chapter XV |
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DAVID W. THOMAS,
lawyer and soldier, was born in Loudon County, Virginia,
Aug. 11, 1833, the fourth child in a family of six.
His father was Joseph Thomas and his mother,
Sallie Worthington. They were natives of Loudon
County, Virginia, whose male ancestors were soldiers in the
Revolution. His father was a wagon and carriage maker.
He removed to Ohio in 1836, locating at Mt. Vernon, Knox
County, and remained there three years. He then
removed to Adams County, near Mt. Leigh, where he resided
until his death in1870. He was noted for his ability
as a master mechanic, and esteemed for his sterling
integrity of character.
Our subject's earlier years were passed in various
employments, in the carriage shop and on the farm. His
early training was limited to the common schools. In
his twentieth year, he was so far advanced by self-culture,
that he became a teacher of the district schools and engaged
in that profession at Locust Grove, Adams County, where he
taught two winters, and labored on a farm in the summers.
In this period he began the study of law. In the
winter of 1860 he removed to West Union and resumed his law
studies under Col. Joseph R. Cockerill. In May,
1861, he enlisted in the immortal Co. D, of the 24th
Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with that
regiment the full period of three years. On the second
day of the battle Shiloh, he was wounded in the thigh and
was incapacitated from service for about two months.
After the battle of Stone River, he was promoted to first
lieutenant and subsequently made captain of the company.
At the expiration of his term of service, he returned
to West Union and again resumed the study of law under the
late E. P. Evans. He was admitted to the bar on
the first of October, 1864. Most of the time during
the remainder of his life, he resided at West Union, and
acquired a very extensive practice. In 1867, he was
elected prosecuting attorney of Adams County, and served
until May, 1869, when desiring to remove to Georgetown,
Ohio, to practice his profession, he resigned that office
and was succeeded by Franklin D. Bayless. Our
subject, however, resided at Georgetown but two years, and
then returned to West Union. He was elected mayor of
West Union in 1873, and re-elected in 1874, holding the
office three years consecutively. In his political
faith, he was always a Democrat.
He was married on Nov. 9, 1854, to Miss Elizabeth
Fritts, a native of Loudon County, Virginia. Their
children were: Nellie, married to Charles Q.
Lafferty, and died in 1889; William T., David Ammen,
Joseph J., Alfred Tennyson, Hattie M., and Charles V.
Our subject died Apr. 13, 1893, at Cincinnati,
Ohio. He is buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery at West
Union, Ohio. His widow, daughter Hattie, and
sons who are at home, reside at West Union.
David Thomas was a man of the most generous
impulses. He was always ready to do a kind act for an
enemy or a friend. His patriotism was of the
unselfish, exalted kind, and it was his pride that he had
been able to serve his country as a soldier in the Civil
War. As a lawyer, when in the possession of good
health, he was active, industrious and devoted to the
interests of his clients. He possessed more than
common ability in his profession and was successful, but his
last years were burdened by infirmities, resulting from his
service in the army, and he was compelled to relinquish the
practice of his profession for several years prior to his
death. He was of that noble band of patriots who
offered their services to their country at the very outset
of the war, to whom the people of Adams County and of all
the country will be lastingly grateful. In politics he
was always identified with the Democratic party. He
was identified with the Presbyterian Church of West Union.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page
221 |
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GEORGE ANDREW
THOMAS was born Nov. 25, 1832, at
Jacksonville, Ohio. He is a son of William and
Margaret Mitchell Thomas. His grandfather,
William Thomas, was a native of Pennsylvania. His
wife was a Miss Randolph. He settled in Adams
County in 1797. He located land where Jacksonville now
stands and laid out the town. He was a great admirer
of General Jackson and named the town for him.
He afterward entertained General Jackson over one
Sunday on his way to Washington. When the public
highway was laid out on Todd's Trace, he assisted in opening
and clearing that part of it between Brush Creek and Locust
Grove. The stage route established on this road, about
1820, was continued until 1842. William Thomas,
Senior, removed to Marion County, Ohio, where he died.
His children were
Isaac, Phillip, Samuel, who died of the cholera in 1849.
William, George W., and John. The children
of William Thomas, father of our subject, were
John, George A., Susan, who married William
Green; Mary, married to N. McKinney; Nancy, died
in womanhood; Margaret, married John McMillen;
Samuel married Sarah McCoy, and Josephine.
William, father of our subject was born February,
1803, at Jacksonville, Ohio, and died there in 1894.
George A., our subject, married Sarah Jane
Wittenmeyer, Mar. 27, 1863, the daughter of Isaac and
Eliza (Thoroman) Wittenmeyer. Their children are
Isaac W., married to Levica C. Thoroman; George
F., a physician at Peebles, married to Agnes Reynolds;
John R., married to Ellen, Mathias; Daniel B.,
a farmer residing on the home farm, and married to Ida
Jackson; Perry Odle, residing in California, who was a
soldier in the Philippines in the late Spanish War, and who
married Lucy Hildebrand; Stephen S., a teacher at
Bloomfield, Mo., married to Christine Chloe; Tilla B.,
residing at home, and James S., a lawyer in
Portsmouth, Ohio.
George A. Thomas enlisted in Company I, 182d
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on Sept. 28, 1864, and served until
July 7, 1865. He took part in the battles of Franklin
and Nashville, Tennessee.
Mr. Thomas is a successful farmer. He owns
four hundred acres of land at Old Steam Furnace. He is
noted for his sterling honesty and integrity. He has
reared seven sons, all of whom are active factors in the
world and doing well for themselves. They are all men
of the highest integrity.
Mr. Thomas has always adhered to the Democratic
part and has taken quite an interest in political affairs,
though he has never held office. He has acquired a comptence,
and is the burden of years are falling on him, he is taking
things easy. He is a thorough patriot, and during the
war did all he could for his country, both at home and at
the front. He is a member of Frazer Post, G. A. R.,
near his home, and a charter member of the Lodge of Odd
Fellows at Jacksonville. He is a useful and valuable
citizen. He has been able to hold his own all his
life, and has beside accumulated considerable property.
He has always aimed to do the best he could for himself and
those dependent on him, at all times, and has succeded
far better than most men in the race of life. He has
been ambitious for his sons. He educated them to the
best of his ability and is proud of their careers. The
writer, who has known him all his life, believes that
George A. Thomas has accomplished much more than the
average citizen and that he is a credit and honor to his
community. If all our people were as patriotic and as
faithful to their duties as he has been and is, we would
have a republic, the model for the whole earth.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page 885 |
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FRANCIS MARION THOMAS, M.
D., is a native of Adams County, born
near Winchester July 9, 1838, a son of James Baldwin
Thomas and
Esther Thomas, his wife, and grandson of Abraham and
Margaret Barker Thomas, who emigrated from Buckingham
County, Virginia, about the close of the eighteenth century.
He traces his ancestry to Reese Thomas, born
in Pembroke, in the principality of Wales, June 16, 1690,
and whose family Bible, printed in the Welsh language in
1717, is now in his possession.
He was educated in the common schools of Adams County
at the Ohio Valley academy, Decatur and the North Liberty
Academy, Cherry Fork. In 1859, he began the career of
a teacher in the Public schools and continued this until
1862, when he enlisted in Company B, of the 60th O. V. I.
That regiment was captured at Harper's Ferry, Sept. 15,
1862, and he was paroled and sent to Camp Douglas.
Chicago, Illinois, where he remained until the term of his
enlistment expired. He re-enlisted on July 4, 1863, in
Company B, Fourth O. V. I. Heavy Artillery, serving as
Private, Guard, Regimental Commissary Sergeant, Second
Lieutenant, Quartermaster and Commissary of Subsistence at
the post of Strawberry plains, Tennessee, until several
months after the close of the war. When discharged
from the army, he resumed the profession of school teaching,
taking up with it the study of medicine, the latter of which
soon after took his entire attention. He attended
lectures at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery
and was graduated from that institution in the class of
1869. He immediately commenced the practice of
medicine at Samantha, Ohio, where he still resides. He
was married Mar. 15, 1871, to Miss Annette Holmes,
daughter of Gilbert and Ann (Hussey) Holmes.
He is a member of several medical associations.
He has served quite a number of years as Secretary of the
Ohio Medical Association and was its President in the years
1881 and 1882. He has contributed numerous articles
upon medical subjects to the periodicals published for the
profession. He is a Republican and takes an active
part in the affairs of his county, but has never been a
candidate for office. He is a member of the U. P.
Presbyterian Church and has been a ruling elder for about
twenty years.
Dr. Thomas is firm in all his opinions,
methodical in all his professional and social duties, and
inflexible in his integrity. He is a learned physician
and a great lover of books, of which he is a diligent
collector. He is very fond of the society of children,
and delights in entertaining them. He is very much
devoted to his church. He is a good financier and is a
liberal contributor to charitable objects. He is
highly esteemed by all who know him.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page 887 |
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GEORGE FRANKLIN THOMAS,
M. D., was born Jan. 23, 1857, at
Steam Furnace, Meigs Township, Adams County, Ohio, and was
reared on the farm where he was born. He attended the
District school in the Winter and work on the farm in
Summer. During the Civil War, he, with his older
brothers, had the entire management of the farm while their
father was in the army. At the age of seventeen, he
had acquired sufficient education to become a teacher of
common schools. His career as teacher began in 1875
and ended 1885, with marked success. While a teacher
he took an active part in educational affairs, serving one
term as School Examiner in his county. Shortly after
he began teaching, he invested in a farm adjoining his
father's, which required several years of hard work to pay
for.
In 1883, he was married to Miss Sallie Graham, a
most popular and loveable woman, the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. W. C. Graham, of near Dunkinsville. This
happy marriage was not to continue log for she died on May
12, 1884. In the following year Mr. Thomas
began the study of medicine under the tutelage of Dr. J.
M. Wittenmyer, of Peebles, and on Mar. 9, 1888, he
received the degree of M. D. from the Ohio Medical College
of Cincinnati. After his graduation he located at
Otway, where he remained for four years in the practice of
his profession. He then removed to Peebles, where he
has since resided, practicing medicine in partnership with
Dr. J. S. Berry. In the Winter of 1898 and
1899, he took a post-graduate course at New York. In
the year 1894, he was married to Miss Agnes Reynolds,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen J. Reynolds, who
resided one mile north of Peebles.
The Doctor and his wife have an elegant home in
Peebles. Mrs. Thomas is a charming and
accomplished woman. She has had a most complete
education and has a fine literary taste. The Doctor
has been remarkably successful in his profession. He
might be called a natural born physician. His power to
diagnose seems to be intuitive, rather than acquired, and
his judgment is unerring.
His prominent characteristics are sterling honesty,
fearlessness and frankness. The deception so often
found in men in public positions is a trait that never
entered his moral composition. In his dealings he
knows no equivocation or compromise. He is loyal to
his friends and quick to resent an injury or redress a
wrong. In politics, he is a dyed-in-wool Jacksonian
Democrat. He has taken much interest in his party's
welfare, believing that in the Democratic party are to be
found the principles that are present to the interests of
the great mass of the people. In religion he is
liberal. He believes that the Ten Commandments and the
Golden Rule are comprehensive enough to enable everybody to
live a correct life. He is a member of several secret
societies.
By economical habits and good management he has
accumulated considerable property and is in easy
circumstances financially. He conserves all his forces
moral and physical. As a man and a physician he is
surely obtaining the very highest standing in the community
where he resides.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page 888 |
James Baldwin Thomas |
JAMES BALDWIN
THOMAS was born on a farm two miles
east of Winchester, May 16, 1811. He was the seventh
child of
Abraham and Margaret (Barker) Thomas. His
great-grandfather of Abraham and Margaret (Barker)
Thomas. His great-grandfather, Reese Thomas,
was born 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, 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 that time he became so
thoroughly disgusted with southern institutions as to create
within him an intense antagonism to the system of human
slavery and to the practice of dueling, which remained
dominant principles with him through life. In 1833, he
bought a farm near where he was born, 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 Dec. 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 1860; Silas
Newton, 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 for 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
Republican party at its organization, supporting Chase
for Governor in 1855 and Fremont for President in
1856, and continued a member of that party until his death.
For some fifteen years preceding the Civil War, he was a
conductor on the Underground Railroad, and scores of
fugitive slaves have shared his hospitality and received his
assistance on their way to freedom. While he was under
surveillance from the slave hunters, not a single fugitive
whom he took in charge was ever reclaimed and sent back to
slavery. During the Civil War he was a strong Union
man. He offered two sons to the service of his country
and no one rejoiced more than he when peace, liberty and
union were established. He was honest in all his
dealings. He was a good conversationalist and could
tell a story in good form. He always had a host of
warm friends. He never united with any church but
believed in the doctrines of the Baptist Church. He
was a strong temperance man, practicing total abstinence,
and in his early years as a farmer it was sometimes hard for
him to get help in the harvest fields, because he would not
treat to some kind of liquor, as was customary during the
time referred to. He died Mar. 17, 1892, in his
eighty-first year. He was interred with his wife in
the cemetery at Mt. Leigh.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page 629 |
James S. Thomas |
JAMES SHERIDAN
THOMAS was born in Meigs Township,
Adams County, one of the youngest sons of George A.
Thomas and Sarah J. Wittenmeyer, his wife. He has
a twin brother. Prof. Stephen S. Thomas, of
Bloomfield, Mo. He attended school in the district of
his home and labored on his father's farm until he was
seventeen years of age, when he attended North Liberty
Academy for one year. In 1889 and 1890, he attended
the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, where he
graduated in the Scientific course in 1890. From the
Fall of 1890 until Spring of 1892, he taught school at Otway,
Ohio. From the Fall of 1892 until the Spring of 1894,
he had charge of the schools at Sciotoville. In 1893
he taught a Summer school at Wheelersburg. He began
the study of the law with the
Hon. Ulric Sloane at Winchester in the Summer of
1892, and kept it up until the Fall of 1894, when he entered
the Cincinnati Law School, and attended that during the
fall, Winter and Spring of 1894 and 1895. He stood
fifth in a class of one hundred and fifteen in his studies.
He was admitted to the bar, May 31, 1895, on his
twenty-fifth birthday. On July 1, 1895, he began the
practice of law in the city of Portsmouth, where he has
since resided. In politics, he is and always has been
a Democrat, and has taken an active interest in his party.
In 1895, he was the candidate of his party for State Senator
in the Seventh Senatorial District, but was defeated by
Elias Crandall, the Republican candidate. He
canvassed the district in the interest of his party.
In the Spring of 1899, there was a special election to
vote on the adoption of a new charter for the city of
Portsmouth. This occurred about three weeks before the
regular municipal election. He took strong
grounds against the charter, and spoke against it in public
meetings. The charter was defeated and its defeat
resulted in his election to the office of City Solicitor in
the strong Republican city of Portsmouth, where a Democratic
City Solicitor had not been elected since 1875. He
defeated one of the very best young Republican of the city -
Harry W. Miller, who was a candidate for re-election.
As a lawyer, Mr. Thomas is very active and
industrious. He is careful and painstaking, and bids
fair to make his mark high up in his profession.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page 884 |
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JOHN WESLEY THOMAS,
M. D., fifth son of James B.,
and Esther A. Thomas, was born near Winchester, Ohio,
Sept. 16, 1850. He was educated in the common schools
of Adams County, and in 1871 he entered upon the profession
of teaching in the Public schools.
After having been engaged in that business for several
years, he began the study of medicine, with his brother,
Dr. F. M. Thomas. In 1878, he attended his first
course of lectures in the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, at Keokuk, Iowa. His second course of
lectures was taken in the Ketucky School of Medicine,
at Louisville, Ky., graduating from the latter institution
in the class of 1879.
In March, 1880, he emigrated to the State of Kansas,
locating at Clayton, Norton County, where he at once began
the practice of medicine. He was a member of the Board
of Pension Examining Surgeons of this county from 1888 to
1892. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, is a
member of the I. O. O. F., and of the Modern Woodman of
America. In politics, he is a Republican, but has
never been a candidate for any political office.
In May, 1895, the Doctor was married to Miss Roberta
Butler daughter of Amon and Phoebe E. Butler.
Their children are Irene Eleanor, Francis Marion and
James Baldwin. In 1897, he removed to Lyle,
Kansas, his present location, where he has a large and
lucrative patience.
Dr. Thomas is a man who is widely and well known
in his profession and one who lends lustre to it. He
is a thorough physician, a skillful surgeon, and a superior
business man. He is modest and unassuming in his
demeanor, has a large and lucrative practice and occupies an
enviable position, both professionally and socially, being a
gentleman of rare personal qualities and of thorough general
culture. He is inflexible, though not dogmatic in his
opinions, generous and warmhearted, liberal, the very
personification of integrity, and he enjoys, to a marked
degree, the respect and confidence of a large circle of
acquaintances.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page 886 |
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HON. ALBERT C. THOMPSON.
On Feb. 14, 1894, the legislature passed an act to apportion
the state of Ohio into congressional districts, and amended
the act of Apr. 17, 1882. Under this statute, Ross,
Highland, Brown and Adams counties composed the eleventh
district, and Vinton, Pike, Jackson, Lawrence and Scioto
counties composed the twelfth district. Under this
law, in the fall of 1884, Albert C. Thompson was
elected congressman for the twelfth district, and W. W.
Ellsberry, of Brown, was elected for the eleventh
district. On May 18, 1886, by act of that date,
congress was reapportioned into congressional districts, and
the eleventh district was composed of Adams, Scioto,
Lawrence, Gallia, Jackson and Vinton. In this district
A. C. Thompson was elected to the fiftieth congress,
and re-elected to the fifty-first congress and represented
Adams County as its Congressman.
Judge Thompson was born in Brookville, Jefferson
County, state of Pennsylvania, Jan. 23, 1842. He was
two years at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania,
his course ending with the freshman year. He was a
student at law when the Civil War broke out. On Apr.
23, 1861, he enlisted in the Union Army, and served as
second sergeant of Company I of the Eighth Pennsylvania,
three months troops. The regiment served in Maryland
and Virginia under General Patterson. On the
twenty-seventh of August, 1861, he enlisted for three years
in Company B, 105th Pennsylvania Infantry. He was made
orderly sergeant of the company, and in October, 1861, was
promoted to second lieutenant and on the twenty-eighth of
November, 1861, he was transferred to and promoted to the
captaincy of Company K of that regiment. On the
thirty-first of May, 1862, he was severely wounded at the
battle of Fair Oaks, and was again wounded on the
twenty-ninth of August, 1861, at the second battle of Bull
run. The last wound was a serious one. A musket
ball entered his right breast, fracturing his second and
third ribs, and lodging in the lungs where it remained.
He was confined to his bed by this wound for ten months.
In June, 1863, he entered the invalid corps, but resigned in
December, 1863, and resumed the study of law. He was
admitted to practice in Pennsylvania on the thirteenth of
December, 1864. In 1865 he removed to Portsmouth,
Ohio. In 1869 he was elected probate judge of Scioto
County and served from Feb. 9, 1870, to Feb. 9, 1873, and
was not a candidate for re-election. In the fall of
1881 he was elected one of the common pleas judges of the
second subdivision of the seventh judicial district of Ohio,
and served until September, 1884, when he resigned to accept
the nomination of his party as a candidate for congress to
which he was elected and served as above stated. After
he retired from congress he was appointed by Gov.
McKinley, chairman of the Ohio Tax Commission which made
its report in December, 1893. He was chosen a delegate
to the Republican national convention of St. Louis in 1896.
In January, 1897, he was appointed chairman of a commission
created by congress to revise and codify the criminal and
penal laws of the United States, and served as such until he
was appointed by President McKinley, United States
district judge for the southern district of Ohio. He
entered upon the discharge of his duties as district judge
on the twenty-second day of September, 1898. After his
appointment as United Sates district judge he removed
to Cincinnati, where he has resided since the first of
November, 1898.
During Judge Thompson's first term in congress
he was a member of the committee on private land claims, of
which committee he was a valuable member. In the
fiftieth congress he served upon the invalid pension
committee, and in the fifty-first congress upon two of the
most prominent and important committees, namely, judiciary
and foreign affairs. As a member of the first
committee the judge was made chairman of the sub-committee
to investigate the United States courts in various parts of
the country. The report which he submitted to congress
as chairman of that sub-committee was among the most
valuable of the session. It was during the fifty-first
congress that the famous McKinley Tariff Bill was
formed, and in the construction of that important measure
Judge Thompson took no inconsiderable part, being
frequently called into the councils of his party.
Judge Thompson's career in congress was of material
benefit to his adopted city, as it was through his efforts
that a public building was erected in Portsmouth costing
$75,000. The bill providing for this building was
vetoed by President Cleveland in the fiftieth
congress, but became a law by the President's sufferance in
the fifty-first congress. A dike, known as the Bonanza
dike, built in the Oho just about that time, was also
provided for through the same instrumentality, at a cost of
$75,000, and three ice piers built just below, were added at
a cost of $7,500, apiece. The city of Portsmouth also
received the boon of free mail delivery through the same
source
As a member of the Ohio Tax Commission he took a
conspicuous part in its labors, and its work is now bearing
fruit in the legislation of the state on this subject.
The report of this committee received the highest praise
from contemporaneous journals of political science.
As a lawyer Judge Thompson was well read in his
profession, and was a diligent and constant student.
He was painstaking, industrious, and energetic. He
brought out of a case all there was in it, both of fact and
law. His opponent in any case could expect to meet all
the points which could be made against him, and would not be
disappointed in this respect.
As a common pleas judge he gave general satisfaction to
the bar and public. He was one of the ablest who ever
occupied the common pleas bench in Ohio, and there was
universal regret when he left the bench for Congress.
As a federal judge, he has received many compliments, and it
is believed by those who know him best, that he will make a
reputation as such equal to any who have occupied that
position in our state.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page 324 |
| |
HARVEY JAMES THOMPSON,
pharmacist, of West Union, was born on Island Creek, Adams
County, Jan. 10, 1871. His father was John Thompson,
and his mother, Dorcas Jane Vance. He was
educated in the common schools, Manchester High school and
the Normal University, Lebanon, Ohio. He taught in
the Public schools of Adams County from 1891 to 1893, and
then took a course in pharmacy at Ada, Ohio, where he
graduated in that science. Feb. 19, 1895, he married
Eva Prather, and they have one interesting little
daughter, Anna Thelma, as fruit of that union.
Mr. Thompson is a successful business man and is respected
in the community where he resides. He is a member of
the Knights of Pythias and Improved Order of Red Men, and
belongs to the uniformed rank of each of these orders.
He as left an orphan at the age of nine years and by energy
and economy, under the watchful care of his mother, acquired
a good education and has now a good business and a pleasant
home.9
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page 874 |
| |
JOHN THOMPSON
was presiding common pleas judge of Adams County, from Apr.
9, 1810, to Mar. 29, 1824. He was a resident of
Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio. He located there in
1806 from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He was elected
presiding judge in 1810, re-elected in 1817, and served
until 1824. His circuit was composed of Fraklin,
Madison, Fayette, Highland, Adams, Scioto, Gallia and Ross.
He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and an elder in
it. He was also a total abstainer from alcoholic
drinks. He was an acute lawyer, but narrow-minded,
firm to stubbornness, of considerable reading and of much
readiness in the application of learning, much influenced by
his likes and dislikes.
In 1812, he was impeached by the House and tried by the
Senate. The following were the charges exhibited
against him:
First. Because he allowed the attorneys but ten
minutes to a side in a larceny case in Highland County and
when they objected, said that if they did not take it, he
would allow them but five minutes to a side.
Second. Because he refused to allow an attorney
to testify for his client in a case of usurpation in office,
the attorney having offered to testify.
Third. Because he ordered certain court
constables to knock down certain by-standers with their
staves and gave no reason therefor.
Fourth. Because he allowed a bill of exceptions
contrary to the facts.
Fifth. Because he declared in an assault
and battery case that the attorneys had no right to argue
the facts to a jury except with the permission of the Court,
and then when overruled by his associates, impatiently told
the jury to go on.
Sixth. Because in a larceny case when the jury
came back into court and wanted to re-examine the witnesses
he refused them and sent them back telling them the case was
too trifling to take up the time of the Court.
Seventh. Because he ordered a jury to be sworn in
a robbery case, after they had all stood up and said they
had made up their minds, and they found the defendant guilty
without leaving the box.
Eighth. Because he said publicly the people were
their own worst enemies; that they were cursed brutes and
worse than brutes.
Ninth. Because at Hillsboro, he had refused to
sign a bill of exceptions and had refused to let an appeal
be docketed.
Tenth. Because at a trial at Gallipolis, he had
unjustly and arbitrarily allowed an attorney but twenty-five
minutes for an argument to the jury, and then when the limit
of time was reached, ordered him to sit down saying the jury
would do justice in the case.
Eleventh. Because at Gallipolis, he ordered the
prosecuting attorney not to let any testimony go before the
grand jury until he knew what it was.
Twelfth. Because he said to the grand jury at
Circleville that our government was the most corrupt and
perfidious in the world and the people were their own
enemies. That they were devils in men's clothing.
The trial on these charges took nine days and witnesses
were brought from each county where the transaction
occurred. Henry Baldwin and Wylliss
Silliman were attorneys for the State and Lewis
Cass, John McLean and Samuel
Herrick, for the defense. He was acquitted on all
of the charges by a large majority and was re-elected by the
Legislature in 1817. In 1821 and 1823, billious
fevers prevailed at Chillicothe and many cases were fatal.
Many thought the disease was yellow fever. Judge
Thompson had a large family and became quite fearful
of the disease attacking them. Thompson took up
the theory that ammonia destroyed the germs of this fever.
Therefore, he seriously proposed moving his whole family to
and living in a tavern stable, among the horses, during the
sickly season. Vigorous protests from Mrs.
Thompson resulted in a compromise, by which the family
remained in the mansion, but were required to spend an hour
each morning on the manure pile, to inhale the fumes which
arose from it.
Soon after removing from the bench, Judge
Thompson removed to Louisiana, where he purchased a
plantation and some negroes. There he died in 1833,
near Fort Adams, just over the line in Mississippi.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page 172 |
| |
LE GRAND BYINGTON
THOMPSON was born in Blue Creek, in
Adams County, Sept. 24, 1846. His father was Thomas
W. Thompson and his mother, Elizabeth Wilson
Broomfield, both born in 1818. His maternal
great-grandfather was John Williams, an Englishman
and a carpenter. He located at the mouth of Brush
Creek in 1794. He was known as Captain Jack
Williams. He built the first house at the mouth of
Blue Creek. It was a frame with two stories, ceiled,
weatherboarded, and filled inside with timber and clay.
It was known as the shop. John Williams died in
1853, and is buried at Union Chapel. His wife was
Mary Duncan, who died in 1832. Our subject's
grandfather, Isaac Thompson, and his wife, Mary
Williams, were married in 1816. His father,
Thomas W., was born in April 1818, near the mouth of
Blue Creek. His grandfather and grandmother
Thompson moved to Indiana in 1821, near the present site
of Muncie, and died there within a few days of each other of
the fever and ague, leaving two sons, Thomas W. and
Duncan. Their nearest white neighbors were
forty miles distant. There were Indians near them who
were kind to them. Their uncles, Thomas and Jesse
Williams, learned of their condition and traveled
overland from Adams County to take them home. They
brought the two boys back to Adams County to their
grandfather at the mouth of Blue Creek, where they both
remained till they were married. Thomas W. Thompson
was a prominent Methodist, and a soldier of the Civil War.
He enlisted Oct. 21, 1861, in Company B, 70th O. V. I., at
the age of forty-four, for three years, and was discharged
for disability on Sept. 22, 1862. He died in 1875.
Our subject was educated in the common schools.
On Sept. 23, 1864, he enlisted in Company I, 182d O. V. I.,
and served until July 7, 1865. He was Trustee of
Jefferson Township in 1878 and 1879, and Clerk of the
Township in 1880. He is a member of the Methodist
Church and a Republican. He is one of the Trustees of
Morris Chapel. He was Elisha and Rebecca A. Thacher.
Mr. Thompson is noted for his truthfulness, honesty
and energy. He gives his word and promise carefully
and considerately and then is never satisfied till he lives
up to it. He never tires in any work he undertakes,
and whatever he tries to do he does it with all the strong
force of his nature. He is noted for his intelligence
and for his strictly moral life. His qualities of
character have endeared him to all of his acquaintance.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page 892 |
| |
LUTHER THOMPSON,
who in his time was one of the prominent lawyers of the
county, was born Dec. 10, 1848, In Oliver Township, the only
son and child of Archibald and Sarah Ann (McKenzie)
Thompson. He was reared in the county. His
education was in the public schools of the county and at the
Lebanon Normal School. As a boy, he was serious,
conscientious and exemplary. He was strictly truthful
and was never known to use a profane or vulgar word.
His moral character as boy and man was perfect. He was
ambitious and studious and always honest and conscientious.
He began the study of law with the Hon. F. D. Bayless,
in 1869, and continued it while engaged in teaching until
Apr. 24, 1873, when he was admitted to the bar and began
practice at West Union. It has been a custom in West
Union to have a lawyer, young or old, as justice of the
peace, and in 1874, Mr. Thompson was elected as such
and served two terms.
On Jan. 5, 1876, he was married to Miss Jennie Smith,
daughter of the Hon. John M. Smith. They had
six children, but only two survive - Charles L., born
Oct. 22, 1877, and Matilda, born Apr. 1, 1883.
He was, at one time, a school examiner for the county.
He had no ambitions for political honors, but an intense
ambition to succeed as a lawyer. In his profession, he
was thorough in all he did. He never tired in his
legal work. He had a love for his profession and
delighted in the performance of its duties. He had in
his work that most essential element of success, enthusiasm.
The elements of his character held for him the confidence of
all who knew him. His attainments and his
conscientious discharge of his professional duties gave him
the respect of the court and his fellow lawyers, and secured
him the devotion of his clients.
From 1879 to 1881, he was in partnership with the late
George C. Evans, under the firm name of Thompson
and Evans. From 1882, until his death, he
was in partnership with his father-in-law, Hon. John M.
Smith under the firm name of Thompson & Smith.
He was only thirteen years at the bar, but in
that time he demonstrated that had he been permitted to
live, he would have made a noble success in his profession,
but consumption had marked him as its own, and at
thirty-eight years, when the world is brightest and fairest,
he was called away. For nine years he had been a
member of the Presbyterian Church and lived up to his
religious profession. Politically, he was reared a
Democrat and adhered to that party, but never was a partisan
and had as many friends in the other party as in his own.
In the testimonial the lawyers gave him, they said he was a
good citizen, an able lawyer and an honest man.
What a greater tribute cold he have earned or could
have been given him than this? All that is grand or
good, all that is valuable is character, and Luther
Thompson left the memory of one, which his widow, his
children and his friends will be proud, and which will be a
beacon light to those who come after.
One of the editors of this work, Mr. Evans, knew
Luther Thompson well. He respected him for his
high personal standard of life, for his attainments and his
work as a lawyer. He knew from his own lips how
bitter it was to him to turn his back on the world and face
death at the early age of thirty-eight, and he knows how
bravely and well, how like a philosopher and a Christian, he
met the inevitable and submitted to it. No truer man,
no more honorable and noble in his life ever lived, and the
passing of one so endowed, but illustrates that irony of
fate which takes those best qualified to live.
Source:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900 - Page
220 |
| |
JAMES M. THORMAN (THOROMAN)
was born May 26, 1844, in Tiffin Township,
Adams County, Ohio. His father was
Samuel Thoroman and his mother's maiden name was Jane
McNeilan. She was born near Omagh, in Ireland.
His paternal great-grandmother was a sister of Col.
William Crawford, who was burned by the Indians at
Tymochtee on June 11, 1782. His maternal grand-father
was an adventurous Orangeman in Ireland. Our subject
received a common school education. Afterwards he took
a complete mercantile course at Bacon's Mercantile College
in Cincinnati. In the Fall of 1864, he began as school
teacher and taught one term. He entered Company D,
191st O. V. I., February 12, 1865, and was made a Corporal.
He served until August 27, 1865, when he was discharged.
After his return from the army he taught school, at
intervals, for eighteen years.
In 1885, he was a Township Trustee of Tiffin Township.
In 1866, he was elected Treasurer of the Township and served
in that capacity continuously for eleven years. He was
a clerk and bookkeeper in the banking house of G. B.
Grimes & Co., at West Union, from February 28, 1882 to
September 20, 1889. He was retained by the assignees
of the bank and held the funds until the bank paid sixty per
cent in settlement.
On September 19, 1889, he was nominated by his party
for Clerk of the Courts, but the banking house of Grimes
& Co., failed the following day and he declined to stand
for the office. Since 1868, he has been a member of
the Christian Union Church and served as Recording elder and
Superintendent of the Sunday School for many years.
He was married to Miss Mary M. McCormick,
November 3, 1869. There are two sons of this marriage,
William Mc. Thoroman, of West Union, and Floyd E.
Thoroman, of Portsmouth, Ohio. The mother of these
sons died March 21, 1880. His son, Floyd E.
Thoroman, was a member of Company H, Fourth O. V. I., in
the Spanish War.
Our subject was married a second time to Miss Mary
Eliza Cunningham, November 14, 1883. She died
November 14, 1886. On July 17, 1889, he was married to
Miss Emma F. Baird. Of this marriage there were
three children. Arthur, a son, deceased, and
two daughters, May and Olga.
Mr. Thoroman is a man of high character, and of
correct life. He possesses the confidence of all who
have ever known him and is respected by the entire
community.
(Source 1:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900) |
| |
J. WESLEY THOROMAN,
son of Oliver Thoroman, was born March 21, 1828, on
the old homestead farm one mile north of Dunkinsville, Ohio.
He was reared on the farm, and followed that occupation
through life. He attained a good common school
education, and was well qualified to fill any position in
the ordinary affairs of life. March 3, 1853, he
married Almira Mason, a daughter of Squire Samuel
S. Mason, of Tiffin Township, Adams County. To
this union there were born Lyman O., Theodore M., Sallie
J., Wesley H., Anna, and I. J., the fourth son,
now residing on the old home farm. The subject of this
sketch was a man very highly esteemed in the community in
which he lived. He was a member of the Odd Fellows
fraternity in good standing at the time of his decease,
November 28, 1890. In politics, he was a Democrat of
the Jeffersonian type.
(Source 1:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900) |
| |
WILLIAM T. THOROMAN
of Wheat, was born on Wheat Ridge, February 15, 1844.
He is a son of John Thoroman and his wife, Rosanna
Hamilton. He was brought up on his father's
farm working in Summer and attending the District school in
Winter, in which he received a good common school education.
He enlisted as a Private in Company G, 182d O. V. I., and
was mustered into service at Cincinnati, September 28, 1864,
and honorably discharged at Nashville, July 7, 1865.
This regiment belonged to the Engineering Corps of the Army
of the Cumberland, and took part in the battle of Nashville,
December 15-16, 1864. Returning to Adams County
after the war, he married Miss Harriet C. Elliott,
February 29, 1872, daughter of John Elliott, who
married Mary Collier, a daughter of
Colonel Daniel
Collier, whose sketch appears elsewhere. The
children of
William T. Thoroman and wife are: Ola C., Lloyd
A., and Laura B., deceased. Mr. Thoroman
is a Republican and was Census Enumerator for Oliver Township
in 1890. He is a member of the M. E. Church at
Dunkinsville.
(Source 1:
History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and
Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900) |
| |
THOROMAN
-
See More Notes below |
NOTES:
(SHARON
WICK'S NOTE: There are more Thoroman family
members mentioned in the biography of
Samuel Jones)
On Page 148 of this History book it mentions James T. Thoroman as a
Recorder from January, 1862 to January, 1865 in Adams County, Ohio.
On Page 865-866 is Oliver Thoroman Sproull biography.
|
