BIOGRAPHIES

Source:
HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS of
COSHOCTON COUNTY, OHIO 1764-1876
by William E. Hunt. - Publ. Cincinnati - Robert Clarke & Co., Printers
1876

Unless otherwise noted

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CHARLES S. BARNES was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1798.  The family removed to Jefferson county, when Charles came to Coshocton county, settling as a farmer in Bedford township, and becoming one of its most highly esteemed citizens.  He was probate judge from 1855-1858.  He was for many years a class leader and steward in the Methodist Episcopal church.  His death occurred on the 17th of May, 1866, at his home in West Bedford.  Several of his children abide in the township. Source: HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS of COSHOCTON COUNTY, OHIO 1764-1876 by William E. Hunt. - Publ. Cincinnati - Robert Clarke & Co., Printers 1876 - Page 261

NICHOLAS BASSETT came from Mohawk valley, New York and settled in Linton township, more than forty years ago.  He died on the 11th of March, 1875, in the eighty-ninth year of his age.  A friend says: "He was a very active and energetic man in the days of his strength; firm in purpose and vigorous in action; a man of noticeable sort in speech and movement.  His politics and his religion (the one Democratic and the other Presbyterian) were two things never lost sight of." Source: HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS of COSHOCTON COUNTY, OHIO 1764-1876 by William E. Hunt. - Publ. Cincinnati - Robert Clarke & Co., Printers 1876 - Page 262

JUSTIN & EARNEST BERTON This photo is a picture of Justin and Ernest Berton has been contributed by Paul Kramer whose father's father was John Kramer of Stuebenville, OH who married Bertha Berton from Coshocton.  She was the daughter of Justin Berton whose brother was Earnest Berton. CLICK ON THE THUMBNAIL PICTURES TO SEE ENLARGEMENTS.      Contributed by Paul Kramer

SAMUEL BRILHART died at his home, in Monroe township, Sept. 23, 1870, in his seventy-sixth year.  He emigrated from the State of Virginia in 1836; was one of the pioneers of Monroe township.  He was a member of the Nazarine Baptist church, and left quite a large family. Source: HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS of COSHOCTON COUNTY, OHIO 1764-1876 by William E. Hunt. - Publ. Cincinnati - Robert Clarke & Co., Printers 1876 - Page 255

WM. BROWN was for eighteen years, from 1822 to 1840, a merchant and general business man in West Carlisle, of which town he was one of the original proprietors.  He was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania; spent a few years, before coming to Coshocton county, at St. Clairsville, Belmont county.  His parents were from Germany, spelling their name Braun.  His wife was Scotch-Irish.  By the combination of the virtues of the two races, the Browns won for themselves great consideration in their neighborhood, and, though starting in their wedded life with very little, amassed quite a respectable fortune.  Mr. Brown was for many years a justice of the peace and post master under Monroe, J. Q. Adams, Jackson, and Van Buren, although he was a very decided Adams and Clay man.  He was an excellent horseman, and skilled in the use of the rifle, and these things helped him greatly in the state of society found in his day in the region of West Carlisle.  In public movements and proper sports, he was never lacking, and was often recognized as a leader, and made the object of a good deal of " backwoods homage."      And yet, with all his activity in business and interest in the social life of the people, Mr. Brown is represented as having been a very earnest and faithful man in his religious duties. Family worship was on no excuse intermitted ; the Sabbath was sacredly regarded; and when, as before and after a communion in the church, there was preaching, the store was shut, although he loved business, and avowed his intention to give himself steadily to it, and to make money for his family.  His house was the "minister's hold," and he was one of the most active members of the Presbyterian church from its organization, contributing largely of his means to it, and especially in the erection of the building still in use by the congregation.      In 1840, he removed to Logansport, Indiana, and there died Mar. 4, 1859.  His wife, inheriting a considerable estate from her father, gave it all to foreign missions.  One of the sons, Wm, L. Brown, Acting Brigadier-General of the Indiana Infantry, was killed at the second battle of Bull Run.  Three sons became Presbyterian ministers. J. C., who died while pastor at Valparaiso, Indiana; Hugh A. was a missionary to China, and has been for many years pastor of a church in Virginia; and Frederick T. (the only child born in Coshocton county, and who even yet glories in being a Buckeye), who had charge of a church in Cleveland, then of one in Alexandria, D. C, then was in St. Paul, Minn., and is now at Ann Arbor, Mich. Source: HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS of COSHOCTON COUNTY, OHIO 1764-1876 by William E. Hunt. - Publ. Cincinnati - Robert Clarke & Co., Printers 1876 - Page 246

JOHN BURNS was born in Waynesburg, Augusta county, Virginia, in the year 1807.  He moved with his father's family to New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county, in 1815, and in April, 1816, they moved to Coshocton county, as has been detailed in connection with the sketch of his brother, Joseph Burns.  He remained with his father until 1828, when he went to Chillicothe as a clerk with his brother-in-law, John Smeltzer, and remained there one year.  He then came to Roscoe, and clerked in the dry-goods store of John Smeltzer and his successors (Medbery & Ransom) until 1838, when he became a member of the firm, under the name of Medbery, Burns & Co.  In 1840 he dissolved his connection with Medbery, and formed a connection with Samuel Moffitt for the sale of dry goods, under the firm name of Burns & Moffitt.  He continued in said firm until 1845, when Moffitt retired, and the firm was changed to Burns & Retilley, and remained so until 1860, when he bought Retilley out, and continued in business in his own name until his death.  He died July 31, 1871, aged sixty-four years.      His good sense and integrity were marked qualities.  Thoroughly interested in public affairs, and always a zealous partisan, and ready to help his friends to office, he never had any desires in that direction for himself, and it is believed never held any official position.  He was a pains taking and successful business and family man. Source: HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS of COSHOCTON COUNTY, OHIO 1764-1876 by William E. Hunt. - Publ. Cincinnati - Robert Clarke & Co., Printers 1876 - Page 241

JOSEPH BURNS - His father, Samuel Burns, removed from Waynesburg, Augusta county, Virginia (where Joseph was born), to Ohio, in 1815.  The family were about a year in New Philadelphia, and then came down the river in a pirogue, or large canoe, to Coshocton, making their location in this county in 1816.   Joseph was at that time about sixteen years old, having been born Mar. 11, 1800.  Favored by nature with a good appearance and great affability of manner, and being skilled in the art of penmanship, he was soon a young man of note in the neighborhood.  His first appearance in public capacity was probably in 1818, when he served as clerk at an election in Tuscarawas township, at which his father was one of the judges.   In 1821 he was run by his friends for the office of auditor, and perhaps that time and once afterward, when he ran for a second term in Congress, were the only occasions in which he did not secure the coveted position. This work, under the heads of "County Officers" and "Relations to State and National Governments," will show the offices of public sort filled by him.  Except a brief period in his youth spent in farming, and another in his maturer life spent in keeping a drug-store, his whole active life of more than fifty years was spent in public work.  Never very exacting as to fees, and always free with his purse among his friends and fellow citizens, he left at the end of his days only a moderate portion.  Many men with more of greed, or less honest or fru gal in general habits, would have amassed great wealth with his opportunities.  The affection of the large Virginia and Maryland elements in the population of the county for him was something worthy of study.  The stock of which he came was the old Scotch-Irish, so largely prominent in the whole history of the country.  His parents were Presbyterians, and his philosophy and faith partook of the old Covenanter cast.  He always had some taste for military affairs, and was a major-general of the militia.      He was twice married—his first wife was Rebecca Price, and his second was Mrs. Alex. Hay.  One of his sons was educated at West Point, and was during the war a brigadier-general, and another was clerk of the United States District Court of Iowa for some years.  He had in all six sons and two daughters, and these with his widow survive him.      His latter days were rendered distressful by the nature of his disease—dropsy of the chest; but he continued, until within a few hours of his death, to transact at his home such of the business of his office (that of probate judge) as must receive his personal attention.  Rising from his bed, and essaying to take a few steps, he sank to the floor, and in a moment was done with the burdens and honors of life, which he had received so largely and borne so bravely.  He was a little more than a month beyond his seventy-fifth year. Source: HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS of COSHOCTON COUNTY, OHIO 1764-1876 by William E. Hunt. - Publ. Cincinnati - Robert Clarke & Co., Printers 1876 - Page 240