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BIOGRAPHIES
The following biographies are extracted from:
Source:
The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
By Henry Holcomb Bennett
Published by S. A. Brant, Madison, Wis.,
1902
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JACOB L.
CADWWALLADER,
superintendent of the Greenfield (Ohio) public schools,
has long been prominently connected with educational
affairs. In fact he may be said to have been bred
in an atmosphere of pedagogics, as his father, Alfred
Cadwallader, was for many years a teacher in
Highland county, of which he was a native and honored
citizen. The founder of the family in that part of
Ohio near the close of the eighteenth century.
Mr. Cadwallader
obtained his elementary education in the public schools
of his native county of Highland. He then became a
teacher and spent four years in what Thomson describes
as the "delightful task to rear the tender thought, to
teach the young idea how to shoot." After this
educational novitiate, Mr. Cadwallader
accepted the position of principal of the public schools
of Vienna, O., which he held for three years. At
the expiration of his last term, he became a student at
the National Normal University of Lebanon, O., with a
view to qualifying himself thoroughly as an instructor.
That famous school for the training of teachers honored
him with a degree of B. S. at his graduation in 1891 and
a year later he received the still higher degree of M.
S. After completing his studies at Lebanon, Mr.
Cadwallader resumed his old charge at Vienna and
remained there two years and a half. His next
responsibility was as principal of the Blanchester
(Ohio) schools for three years, when he was appointed
professor of history and Latin in the Normal university
at Lebanon. He was holding this responsible
position when called to fill the superintendency at
Greenfield, the duties of which have since absorbed his
attention. In this thriving Ohio city, Mr.
Cadwallader has fully demonstrated his ability both
as an educator and administrative officer. He has
charged of twenty-one teachers in schools showing a
total enrollment of 850 pupils, and the excellence of
the superintendent's management is shown by the superior
drill and efficiency exhibited in all the grades.
In 1892
Mr. Cadwallader was married to Bertha
Miller, an accomplished lady of Clarksville, O.
He is a communicant of the Christian church and member
of the Royal Arch masons.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
|
JAMES A.
CAHILL,
the popular city solicitor of Chillicothe, traces his
ancestry to the green sod of old Ireland, from which he
has inherited some of the island's warmest and richest
blood. His grandfather, Patrick Cahill,
was a man of consequence in his native land, being an
extensive dealer in leather, iron and lumber. He
came over to America in 1818 and remained a few years,
but later returned to the old country after acquiring
much valuable knowledge concerning business methods in
the United States. During the terrible famine of
1845-46 he was a prominent factor in distributing the
supplies sent from America, as many consignments were
made to him by merchants with whom he had become
acquainted during his residence here. Having met
with business reverses and severe losses,
Patrick Cahill again crossed the ocean in
1849, and settling in Cincinnati endeavored to recover
his fortune by embarking in the queensware trade.
There he passed away at the age of fifty-four years.
In early manhood he had married an Irish lady by the
name of Jane
Hacket, by whom he had ten children, but only seven
of these reached maturity. Matthew
Cahill, the fourth of this family of children, was
born in Tipperary, Ireland, April 18, 1829, and was
twenty years old when he came to the United States with
his parents. He had obtained an unusually thorough
education in his native country and soon after his
arrival in Ohio developed remarkable talent for
commercial and financial affairs. He remained in
Cincinnati with his father until the latter's death and
after a short experience in the commission business
located at Covington, Kentucky, as a shoe merchant.
During the civil war he purchased a shoe store in
Chillicothe and since then has devoted his attention to
that department of commerce. During this long
residence in the Ross county capital, Mr.
Cahill
not only became very prominent and prosperous in his
chosen line, but he was consp8icuously and influentially
identified with the general growth and development of
the city. Having acquired a large amount of
residence and business property, he platted and sold
several additions to the first incorporation, and never
wearied in advertising the advantages of the city as a
commercial center. He was at one time president of
the Electric Street Railway company, and his services as
a member of the appraising committee of the Fidelity
Building and Loan association obtained him high rank as
a financier. In 1854, Matthew Cahill
married Mary
Fleshnor, of Maryland, and this union resulted in
the birth of nine children, of whom six are living:
Thomas, Frank,
Mary,
Gertrude, Will and James A.; the
three dead are
Ignatius,
Joseph and Emily. James A. Cahill
was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, July 31, 1873, and was
educated at St. Mary's college, Kansas, where he spent
five and one-half years. After leaving this school
he entered the office of Hon. Lawrence T. Neal
for the purpose of laying the groundwork for a study of
the law. Having devoted a year to reading and
clerical work, M. Cahill
entered the Cincinnati Law school, where he took the
regular course and in due time was graduated.
Shortly thereafter he entered upon the practice of his
profession at Chillicothe in the office of Henry
Woodrow, with whom he remained about two years, and
then formed a partnership with W. Allen Scott
which still continues. Aside from his regular
duties he has been called on to serve two terms as
secretary of the county board of elections. In
April, 1901, Mr. Cahill was elected
solicitor for the city of Chillicothe for a term of two
years, receiving a majority of 260 votes, and is at
present discharging the duties of that office.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
JACOB S. CALDWELL,
of Jefferson township, belongs to a family which has
long ranked among the largest landowners in Ross county.
This accumulation of real estate began with Smiley
Caldwell, the pioneer founder of the family. Born
near Wheeling, W. Va., he came to Ohio in youth, first
locating in Jackson county, but afterward settling
permanently in Ross. He was full of energy and
enterprise, showed great shrewdness in land deals and
carried on all branches of farming with unusual success.
Beginning without other capital than his head and hands,
he was estimated at his death as the wealthiest man in
Jefferson township and among the richest in the county,
his estate invoicing fully a quarter of a million
dollars. He married Eva Rittenour, of Virginia
birth, but then resident in Ross county, by whom he had
four children. Jacob, the eldest of these, was a
man of great strength and nobility of character. Though
wealthy and living in the greatest comfort with a young
and growing family, he raised a company of infantry on
short notice in 1862, was commissioned as its captain
and hurried with it-to the front. As part of the
Ninety-first Ohio regiment this company served gallantly
through the campaigns in Virginia and Maryland until
1864, when Captain Caldwell
succumbed, was taken to the hospital at Frederick City,
Md., and died there August 9, 1864.
Edwin, second son of Smiley Caldwell,
was born May 26, 1834, and proved a worthy custodian of
the valuable patrimony inherited from his father, which
greatly increased under his skillful management. It is
questionable if another man in the Scioto valley owns so
much land as he, his holdings in Jefferson township
amounting to 2,000 acres and as much more in the state
of Missouri. He has devoted his whole life to
agricultural pursuits and is a progressive farmer in
every respect, using modern methods and improvements in
his extensive business. He married Martha J.,
daughter of John H. and Elizabeth (Strong)
Davis, both deceased. Her father was an extensive
farmer, once represented the county in the legislature
and died in Kansas in 1887.
Edwin Caldwell had five children. Charles
D.
and John are residents of Nodaway county, Mo.,
where their father owns large tracts of land, and they
themselves are farming there on an extensive scale.
Eva
is the wife of S. H, Beery, of Richmond
Dale; Jacob S. is the subject of this sketch;
Letitia
died in 1893 while visiting in North Carolina.
Jacob S. Caldwell was born on his father's farm in
Jefferson township, December 23, 1865. He attended the
Richmond Dale high school and the Wesley an university
at Delaware, O., but the most valuable education he
obtained was that received from his experienced father
concerning farm matters and those agricultural pursuits
which were to constitute the labor of his life. He fell
easily into these duties, which were his by inheritance
as well as natural tastes, and soon proved himself the
worthy son of a worthy sire. His inclinations leaning
towards fine cattle, he invested in that line and has
been a successful breeder of the Shorthorns and Polled
Durhams. He has accumulated a valuable herd of these
"bovine aristocracy," consisting of fifty head equally
divided between the two strains and all highly pedigreed
and kept in the finest of fettle. He owns a fine farm of
440 acres south of the railroad and 340 acres of pasture
land, and not many of the Jefferson township farmers do
business on a larger scale. Mr. Caldwell,
like his father, is Republican in politics though not an
office seeker, the only official position held by him
being membership of the board of township trustees.
December 23, 1891, he was married to Bertha
Lee, daughter of
Presley Orr of Springfield township, and they
have two children: Herbert Orr and
Presley Edwin Caldwell.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page 413 |
REV. GEORGE CARPENTER,
D. D.,
was born in Delaware county, Ohio, May 9, 1826. His
father was is Nathan Carpenter, junior.
His grandfather, Capt. Nathan Carpenter,
senior, was a descendant of William Carpenter,
who came from England in the ship Bevis in 1638, and
settled in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. The family
is easil traced back to the thirteenth century, and
included some notable men of the city of London.
Captain
Carpenter's mother was Charity Allen,
sister of Gen. Ethan Allen, the
hero of Ticonderoga. He himself was a soldier in the
Revolutionary war and participated in the battle of
Bunker Hill, in the pursuit and capture of General
Burgoyne at Saratoga, and in many other sanguinary
engagements until a peace was conquered at Yorktown.
After the war Captain Carpenter settled in
Chenango county, N. Y. In the spring of 1801 he removed
his family to the territory northwest of the River Ohio,
and became the pioneer and "Original settler of Delaware
county, Ohio. His home was situated on the east side of
the Olentangy river, a tributary of the Scioto, five
miles south of the present town of Delaware. His son,
Nathan, was then eleven years of age. When grown,
Nathan
married and cleared a farm for himself, five miles south
of the first settlement. There, in a log cabin, the
subject of this sketch was born, and when he was four
years old, his father purchased a mill property and
tavern and moved to the west side of the river into a
large three story house. Nathan Carpenter
was then farmer, miller, tavern-keeper, postmaster and
magistrate. He soon tired of the bar and liquors, cast
them out and kept the first temperance tavern in all
that region, for drinking was then universal. In 1837 he
moved to a farm near Worthington, Franklin county. Here
he finished a useful and honorable life, not the least
of which was the rearing of a family of eleven children,
and passed to his rest in 1867. His son, George,
received his preparatory education with an Episcopal
minister, Rev. E. K. Nash, in Worthington.
He was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan university in
1851 and from a Theological seminary in Cincinnati in
1853. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of
Columbus the same year. He was ordained and settled over
the Presbyterian church of Kingston, Ross county, in
1855. Here he continued as pastor twelve years, and
brought about the building of a nice, new church, and
the purchase of a parsonage with ample grounds. He was
then called to the pastorate of the church of Washington
C. H., Fayette county. In this pastorate he spent
seventeen and one-half years, during which he had the
church enlarged and a convenient parsonage built. Then
with headquarters at Chillicothe he acted as home
missionary in some county churches. He resuscitated and
reorganized the Mona church and secured the completion
of a beautiful church building. He organized the
Presbyterian church of Wellston and secured a good
church building free from debt. He is now laid aside
from active work. In 1852 he was married to
Matilda Gilruth, daughter of Rev.
James Gilruth, a pioneer Methodist minister,
and patriot soldier of the war of 1812. Seven children
were born to them. The youngest, a girl, died in
infancy. Three other daughters, who promised great
usefulness, were taken away in early womanhood. Three
sons remain: Dr. W. B. Carpenter, of
Columbus, O.; George H., in business in New York
city; and Charles K., a lawyer in the same city.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
JOHN IRWIN CARSON,
assistant city engineer of Chillicothe, O., was born in
that city on August 20, 1854. He is a representative of
one of the earliest of the families who settled in Ross
county. His father, Rev. Irwin Carson,
was born in Virginia and was for many years pastor of
the Presbyterian church in Chillicothe during its early
period. He married Elizabeth Carlisle, who
was born in Ross county in 1829. She was a daughter of
John Carlisle, who located in the county in
1791; was thus a resident before the organization of the
county, which occurred in 1798, and eleven years before
the state was admitted into the Union; he spent his life
here and at one time owned most of the land upon which
Chillicothe is now located, besides being the possessor
of large tracts in other localities of the county.
Rev.
Irwin Carson had but two sons, of whom the
subject of this sketch is the eldest. His brother, A.
C Carson, is managing editor of the Columbus (Ohio)
Dispatch. John Irwin Carson was
educated in the city schools of Chillicothe and under
the private tutorship of his father, who was liberally
educated and taught aspiring young men as a means of
helping them. He was a clerk in the dry goods business
with his uncles, A. and H. N. Carlisle,
until he was about twenty-two years old. He then took up
civil engineering as a profession, which occupation he
has ever since followed. He has worked in different
states and was for seven years in the employ of the
Cincinnati Southern railway company. For about eight
years he has held the position of assistant city
engineer of Chillicothe. He has the reputation of being
a very competent and accurate surveyor and mechanical
draughtsman. Mr. Carson has never married.
His political affiliations, as well as those of the
whole family, are Republican, and he was reared in the
faith of the Presbyterian church.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
JOSEPH F. CHAPMAN is
a native of Clermont county, O., born April 28, 1843.
Jacob Chapman, his father, was born in
Maryland in 1796 and came to Ohio with his parents, who
settled in Clermont county. He grew up and was educated
there, following the occupation of farming after he
reached manhood. He married Nancy Boring,
the union resulting in the birth of ten children, of
whom
Abram, Patience, Elizabeth, Nancy,
and Mary Ann are dead. Those living are
John, William, Isaac, Rebecca
and
Joseph F. The father of these children died in 1877
and the mother passed away in 1879. Their son Joseph
F., subject of this sketch, received the ordinary
common school education of those days and remained at
home until he was twenty-four years old. On January 1,
1867, he was married to Mary A. Smith and they
settled on a farm in Clermont county where they lived
about four years. After that they removed to the state
of Illinois, but their residence there only lasted two
years, when a return was made to Ohio. The succeeding
seven years were spent in Clermont, but later a removal
was made to the county of Clinton, which was their place
of residence for six years. After brief sojourns of a
year or two in the counties of Brown and Hamilton, Mr.
Chapman finally leased 165 acres of land in Concord
township, Ross county, and has made his home there ever
since. Besides his general farming, he raises fruit on
an extensive scale.
Mr. and Mrs. Chapman have had ten children,
all living except Walter, who died in infancy.
The others, in order of birth, are Nettie,
Willmer,
Everett, Ira., Bertha, Ruby,
Gertie, Stella and Lester. The
parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church
and all the children belong to some one or other of the
various religious denominations. Mrs. Chapman
is of German and Irish descent. Her grandfather,
Peter Smith, was a soldier in the war of the
Revolution and was brought home wounded. Mr.
Chapman can also boast descent from Revolutionary
ancestry. His grandfather, Reuben Chapman,
served through the war for American independence as a
private soldier, but escaped without serious injury of
any kind.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
AUSTIN CHESNUT,
pharmacist and druggist, of Chillicothe, is a native of
Huntington township, Ross county, born April 25, 1860.
His parents were William and Elizabeth (Cockerell)
Chesnut. The former, a native of Ross county and a
successful farmer, died May 2, 1873; his widow still
survives and resides in Chillicothe. The Chesnut
family figured conspicuously in the pioneer history of
Ross county, being resident there several years before
Ohio was admitted into the Union as a state. The founder
of the family was
Daniel Chesnut, the paternal
great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He was
a native of Rockingham county, Va., and was one of the
first justices of the peace in Ross county. Austin
Chesnut
has some of his old papers, showing the crude methods in
vogue at that early day. All legal papers were then
written out in full, there being no such things known as
printed blank forms. Daniel Chesnut's son
William was born in Virginia, but came to Ross
county, Ohio, with his parents in 1797, when only 1xve
years old. There were three other sons, whose names were
Benjamin,
Lemuel and James B. All these brothers
became more or less identified with the early history of
the county, living to pass the meridian of life and some
to reach old age. The William above mentioned was
the father of William Chesnut who married
Elizabeth Cockerell. The latter had a family
of nine children, eight of whom are still living:
Josiah, a farmer in' Harden county, O.; Sarah C,
wife of
Charles Hough, a resident of Washington
state;
Hannah, married Allen Wade, a farmer
of Ross county; Effie, wife of Seth
Aldridge, of Jackson county, Ohio; Austin,
the subject of this sketch; Hester, now Mrs.
Conrad Gerish, of Chillicothe; Charles,
a farmer in Clinton county; Rhoda, wife of
John
Lightle, a farmer of Ross county. Austin
Chesnut was educated in the common schools of Ross
countv and at a private academy in Chillicothe. When
still quite young he became a clerk and student in the
druggist business, continuing as an employee in this
capacity for about twelve years. At the expiration of
that period he formed a partnership with his cousin,
P. S. Chesnut, in the purchase of the property which
he himself now owns. This firm, existed for four years.
Austin
Chesnut bought his partner's interest in the
business, which he has since conducted alone. He is a
registered pharmacist and has been educated in the
school of practical experience, besides the theoretical
training obtained by a course of study in the Chicago
Institute of Pharmacy. Mr. Chesnut has a
finely appointed drug store at No. 390 East Main St., in
Chillicothe, it being well stock and up-to-date in every
respect. He carries a complete line of drugs,
proprietary medicines, toilet articles, and all the
sundries found in first-class drug stores. July 25,
1888, Mr. Chesnut was married to Martha,
daughter of L. F. and Rebecca Pigg of Huntington,
W. Va. Mrs. Chesnut's
parents are both living, the father being employed at
Maysville, Ky. Mr. Chesnut is a member of
the orders of Odd Fellows, United Workmen and Modern
Woodmen, and, with his wife, of the Trinity Methodist
Episcopal church, in Chillicothe. Mrs. Chesnut
is active and zealous in church and Sunday school work.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
JOHN T. CLINE
was born in Concord township, Ross county, on February
5, 1846. His parents were Samuel and Minerva (Hoggard)
Cline, the former born in Concord township in 1813,
the latter a native of Louisa Court House, Va., who came
with her family to Ross county in 1836. John
Cline, the father of Samuel, was born in
Pennsylvania in 1768 and settled in Concord township,
Ross county, at an early day. Samuel and
Minerva
Cline became the parents of the following named
children, all of whom are living: John T.;
Arabel Jane, married to Joseph
Carter of Nebraska; Salathiel Marian,
of Nebraska; Samuel, resident of Frankfort;
Meriweather H., of Nebraska. The mother of these
children died in 1874, and the father took a second wife
in the person of Mrs. Ellen Nichols,
of Ross county. Edward, the only child of this
union, is now a resident of DeGraff, Ohio. Samuel
Cline died in 1893 on the same farm where he had
always lived, one and one-half miles northeast of
Frankfort. His eldest child, John T., was
educated in the common schools of his native township
and as soon as he reached suitable age entered into
agricultural pursuits. He followed this business until
1872 and in that year removed to Frankfort, where he
engaged in merchandising. After ten years in this line,
he entered the coal and grain business in 1883 and has
followed that ever since. In March, 1881, Mr.
Cline was married to Maria J., daughter of
Thomas
Junk, an old resident of Ross county. To this union
has been born one daughter, Daisy M., now a
student in the Western college at Oxford, O. Mr.
Cline
is at present and has been for the past twelve years
trustee of Concord township and has filled various
village offices. He is a member of the Masonic
fraternity, having been secretary of the Frankfort
lodge, No. 309, for the past eighteen years. He belongs
to the Chillicothe commandery Knights Templar, the Odd
Fellows and Knights of Pythias. His religious
affiliations are with the Presbyterian church, in which
he holds the position of deacon. In fine, John T.
Cline enjoys and deserves the reputation of being an
industrious man and exemplary citizen in all the walks
of life.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
THOMAS COCKERELL
was born in Scioto township, Ross county, Ohio, on March
4, 1832. His parents were Peter and Catherine (Riley)
Cockerell, born, bred and married in Old Virginia.
They were among the first settlers of Ross county, and
rented some of the Massie land, where they lived for
several years. The husband served as a soldier during
the war of 1812 and drew a pension from the government
up to the time of his death. He removed from the Massie
land into Huntington township, where he bought 100 acres
on which he lived during the remainder of his life.
Peter and Catherine Cockerell had fourteen
children, of whom Nancy, Joseph and
John
(twins), Peter, George, Philip, Debbie, James
and Catherine are numbered with the dead. The
others are Sarah, Elizabeth, Susan
(wife of Ray Leach), Thomas and
Dennis. Thomas Cockerell followed the
usual custom of those days by working on the farm during
the summer and attending school in the winter. This he
kept up until the age of twenty-one, giving what money
was earned to his father, and after reaching his
majority he worked out by the month for five years. In
March, 1857, he married Sarah, daughter of
Jacob Shotts, after which he lived and worked
on rented farms for a number of years. In 1892, he
bought a place of 95 acres, to which he afterward added
98 acres in Twin township and here he has since made his
permanent abode. Mr.
Cockerell has always taken a special interest in the
cause of education and was a member of the school board
for twenty-seven consecutive years. His wife, who died
in 1881, bore him five children, of whom Rhoda,
Hannah, Ollie and Jacob are dead, and
Clinton is living-with his father in Twin township.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
JOHN F. COOK, the
well known architect and representative business man of
Chillicothe, has an interesting pioneer ancestry. The
founding of the family in America originated from a
romantic incident. One day during the latter part of the
eighteenth century a boy whom his companions called "Sammy"
was idling around the wharves of Liverpool, England,
instead of going to school where his mother had started
him that morning. But, boylike, he loved to watch the
great ships coming and going, with their white sails
flapping in the breeze as they rode the waves of the
mighty Atlantic. "Sammy" Cook's curiosity
finally got the better of him to such an extent that he
ventured on board of one of the vessels without knowing
that it was then ready to leave the harbor. While he was
staring around with wondering eyes, the ship weighed
anchor and put to sea, carrying among its other
passengers the truant schoolboy. He was, of course,
greatly frightened when he found out the real situation,
as he was without money, friends or acquaintances on
board a ship bound for a port thousands of miles away.
When the captain found he had a stowaway aboard, he
compelled him to do such work as he could in payment of
his passage to America. To this incident, embracing as
it does some of the elements of the ludicrous as well as
the pathetic, was due the presence of the Cook
family in Ross county. The captured boy was landed at
Philadelphia, where he managed in some fashion to make
his way. Obtaining employment as a "cub" in a
carpenter's shop he in time acquired a knowledge of the
trade and eventually became a contractor. About the year
1806 he caught the "Western fever," as it was called,
and in company with a party of neighbors migrated to
Ohio and settled in Highland county. Some years
previously, a family named Troth had come from New
Jersey and settled in Massie's bottom near Chillicothe,
but on account of the prevalent malaria moved to a more
salubrious section in Highland county. This brought
about an acquaintance with Samuel Cook
and later a marriage between him and Hannah
Troth, a daughter of the new arrivals. After
reaching Ohio, Samuel Cook had resumed
work at his trade, and in 1808 he located at Chillicothe
where for many years he did business as a carpenter and
contractor. He died in 1854 and his wife about the same
time, leaving a family of three sons and three
daughters. One of the latter died in youth but all the
others grew up in Ross county, married and reared
families. The eldest of these children, named Samuel
Cook after his father, was born at Rocky Fork,
Highland county, May 20, 1808, and in the same year was
taken by his parents to Chillicothe, where he was
reared. He did not remain long at school but in boyhood
began to learn carpenter work in his father's shop and
in time became skillful as a workman as well as shrewd
in contracting. In the course of years, he was one of
the most prominent and prosperous builders in
Chillicothe, many of whose public buildings and private
residences owed their erection to him and his brother
Joseph, with whom he was in partnership. In 1835, he was
married to Ellen Creamer, a native of Ross
county, whose parents were early settlers from Ireland
and her father a participant in the early Indian wars.
She died in 1848, leaving three children: John E.,
Samuel A. and Sarah E. The tatter died at the age of
fifteen;
Samuel A. moved to Kansas and from there to Tacoma,
Washington, where his death occurred in 1893. In 1850
Samuel Cook took a second wife in the person of
Catherine Dowdell, who died nine years later leaving
a son named Charles B., who went to Aberdeen, in
the state of Washington, and there died in 1893. In
1862,
Mr. Cook contracted a third matrimonial alliance
with
Mary A. Dowdell, a sister of his second wife. The
children of this union, three in number, are Grant
L.,
who resides at Kansas City; Mary H., wife of
Edward Evans of Columbus, O.; and Alice B.,
of Chillicothe. John F. Cook, the eldest child of
his father's first marriage, was born in Chillicothe,
May 24, 1839, in the house purchased by his grandfather
in 1810, which has since remained in the family and is
his own present residence. When fourteen years old he
left high school to begin work in the carpenter's shop,
and never quit the bench until he had completely
mastered the trade. But his ambition was higher than
that of merely managing an ordinary carpenter shop. In
1858 he began the study of architecture in a Cincinnati
office and devoted two years of close application to
mastering the intricacies of the builder's art After an
intermission of a few years he renewed his studies at
the same place and from 1805 until 1870 followed the
business of contracting and building at Chillicothe.
During the years since then,
Mr. Cook has confined himself to the work which
belongs in the noble profession of architecture and in
that line he holds high rank among his fellow craftsmen.
Mr. Cook's military experience
during the civil war was confined to his service, in
1864, in Company A, One Hundred and Forty-ninth
regiment, Ohio National Guard, which though brief was
decidedly spirited and creditable to the soldiers
composing the command. They took part in the hard-fought
battle at Monocacy Junction, July 9, 1864, where the
regiment lost about one hundred and thirty men in killed
and wounded. August 19, 1864, the regiment had a
skirmish at Berryville, Va., with
Mosby's men, during which Mr. Cook was
captured but was fortunate enough to make his escape the
same day. Mr. Cook has been a member of the
Masonic order for forty years, having joined the Blue
lodge in 1862, the chapter shortly afterward, the
council in 1864 and the commandery in 1866. For twelve
years - past he has also held membership in the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. December 30,
1869, he was married to
Mary F., daughter of John D. Carr, who came
in boyhood from Maryland. Mrs. Cook died April
23, 1898, leaving three children: Virgie B., a
teacher in the Chillicothe schools; Ethel E., now
Mrs. H. P. Yeaton, of Chillicothe; and Helen F.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
REV. RANDOLPH COOK, the
popular pastor of the Christian church at Chillicothe
and noted for his fervid zeal and eloquence in the
pulpit, though one of the youngest is one of the most
progressive of the Ross county ministry. He inherited
both his talent and his taste for evangelistic work, as
his father,
John S. Cook, was a well known minister of the
United Brethren church and spent his whole life in the
cause of Christ. He married Caroline, daughter of
John
Rasey, an early settler among the Wyandotte
Indians, who has numerous. descendants and collateral
relatives in the northwestern part of Ohio. Randolph
Cook was born in Crawford county, Ohio, January 8,
1874, and when only five days old suffered the
irreparable loss of his mother by death. He attended the
common schools» of his native county until his eleventh
year, when his father moved to Carroll county, Tenn.,
where he resumed his studies in the preparatory course.
When eighteen years old he entered the high school at
Cato, N. Y., where he was graduated with the class of
1892, and in the same year he became a student at Hiram
(Ohio) college, made famous by connection with the name
of President
Garfield. By assiduous attention to duties and
unremitting study, Mr. Cook managed to
condense the work of a three-years' course at that
institution into two years and while there made his
first appearance as a preacher of the gospel. After
leaving Hiram he spent eighteen months in Missouri as
pastor of the Christian churches at Rolla and Richland,
followed by a trip of fourteen months through the West
and ending in a location at McLeansboro, Ill., for a
year. Mr.
Cook's next move was to Metropolis City, Ill., where
he had pastoral charge of the Christian church for two
and a half years. While resident there in 1900, he was
nominated by the Prohibition party as its candidate to
represent Massac county in the legislature and it is an
evidence of his popularity that while his party's
presidential candidate received 29 votes and its
candidate for governor 26, Mr. Cook's poll
showed that 623 people cast their ballots for him. In
February, 1901, he accepted the pastorate of the
Christian church at Chillicothe, under the auspices of
the Ohio Christian missionary society. During the seven
years of his ministry he has received four hundred
people into the church, and since locating at
Chillicothe he has been instrumental in building a
commodious house of worship and increasing the church
membership seventy-five per cent. Mr.
Cook has been selected as secretary of the Ohio
College of Osteopathy, recently established at
Chillicothe. December 12, 1899, he was married to
Anna L. Mason, of McLeansboro, Ill.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
DENNIS CORCORAN
was born in Scioto township, Ross county, September 14,
1855. His parents were John and Bridget (Cavanaugh)
Corcoran, who were born, bred and married in
Ireland, and came to the United States in a sailing
vessel, which took eight weeks to cross the water,
landed in New York and proceeded directly to Ross
county, Ohio. A soon as he arrived Mr. Corcoran
went to work on a farm by the month, but in a short time
rented land of his own which he operated until 1895,
when he retired and is living with his children, in his
ninety-sixth year. His wife died in 1899 at the age of
seventy-seven years. They had a family of ten children,
as follows: Hugh, Dennis, John, Mary
(now Mrs. Jacob Baum), Andrew, Henry, Margaret (now
Mrs. Samuel Shotts), William, and James (the
latter deceased). Dennis Corcoran, the
second of the children, received his education in the
district schools and remained at home until he became of
age. On January 6, 1876, he was married to Sarah
Downey, a native of Jackson county, Ohio, and
immediately the young couple went to housekeeping in
Twin township. Mr. Corcoran worked on a
farm by the month for about four, years, when he rented
and conducted a place on his own account for five years.
Then, for some sixteen years, he worked on different
farms, until finally he settled down on the place where
he now resides, consisting of over 300 acres. He carried
on general farming and stockraising, having all his life
been an industrious and hardworking man. He was road
supervisor for one term and has been a member of the
school board. In 1901 he was elected township trustee,
which office he now holds and is filling to the entire
.-satisfaction of his constituents. Mr. and
Mrs.
Corcoran have five children, of whom Emma is
the wife of Mick Jones, now living in
Portsmouth, Va.; Ella is married to Thomas
Carr, and lives in Twin township; Clara,
Freddie and Charlie are still at home.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
CAPTAIN CALEB CORE was
born in Twin township, Ross county, December 14, 1836.
His father, Isaac Core, was of Maryland
origin, being born in that state in 1798, and when still
an infant came to Ohio with his parents in 1800. They
settled on Twin creek in Twin township, Ross county, and
there
Isaac was reared and educated as well as the rude
conditions of those days would allow. He remained at
home until he reached manhood, when he married Sarah
Hymes. They established themselves themselves on a
place near the old home farm and lived there for some
twenty-five or twenty-six years. Of their family of nine
children, Isaac and Sarah J. are dead;
Aaron is in California; Nancy is married to
E. R. Wright of Iowa; Caleb is the subject of this
sketch; Elizabeth is the wife of John B. Yowell
of Iowa; John, Reuben and Mary H.
also, live in Iowa, the latter being married to R.
Stevenson. In 1854, the father moved with his family
to Iowa, where he bought a large tract of land, which he
farmed until his death in February, 1875, his wife
having passed away in 1851 in Ross county. Caleb
Core
went with his father to Iowa, but when twenty-one years
old returned to Ross county, where he remained about
eighteen months. The civil war opening about that time,
he went back to Iowa and enlisted in Company B, Third
regiment of that state, May 20, 1861. The command was
first sent to Keokuk for drill and instruction and from
there to Missouri where they were assigned to guard duty
on the railroads. Later, they were ordered to Pittsburg
Landing and took part in. the great battle of that name,
many of the regiment being wounded, killed or captured.
In the subsequent campaigns, Mr. Core
participated with his regiment in the siege of
Vicksburg, battle of Jackson and many minor engagements
and skirmishes, some of which were as severe as the
largest battles of other wars. In fact, few regiments
made a more brilliant record or rendered more valiant
service to the Union cause than the gallant Third Iowa
infantry. Mr.
Core enlisted as a private and after three years of
arduous service was mustered out at Davenport, Iowa, as
a captain. Some of the regiment re-enlisted, but
Captain
Core's health was such that it would not permit him
to re-enter the service. He returned to his home in Iowa
and shortly afterward came back to Ross county, where,
in 1865, he was married to Eliza M.,
daughter of Peter and Rachel Porter, and member
of one of the old time families. By this union there
were nine children: Lilian, wife of W. S.
Stevenson of Palmyra, Iowa; Rose, now Mrs.
Charles P.
Jamison of Roxabell, Ohio; Rachel C, teacher of
Latin at Menominee, Mich.; Isaac, John,
George
and Bessie, and two who died in infancy unnamed.
Captain Core owns a large tract of land
which he farms by up-to-date methods. In 1883, his first
wife died, and in 1889 he was married, to Carrie,
daughter of John M. and Aletha (Henry) Houser,
among the earliest settlers of Ross county. Captain
Core is a Republican in politics, member of the
Presbyterian church and of McNeal post, G. A. R.,
at Frankfort. He has always been as observant of his
duties as a citizen as he was loyal and devoted to the
cause of his country in the days of darkness and
distress.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
DANIEL CORK,
superintendent of the Ross county infirmary, is a native
of the county, and a son of Daniel Cork,
one of the early settlers. The senior Daniel
Cork
was born in Harrison county, Va., April 11, 1811, and
after the death of his father, accompanied his mother,
five brothers and a sister to Ross county, about the
year 1830. Of these brothers (John, Jacob,
Andrew, Harrison and Joseph), Jacob
returned to Virginia and became very wealthy; Joseph
did likewise, but later removed to Illinois; John
also returned to Virginia; Andrew settled near
Bourneville and afterward moved to Illinois; Harrison
made his home at Bainbridge and was associated with his
brother
Daniel, and later built the hotel at Bainbridge
that was the largest building of the town. In after
years this four-story brick building was taken down and
the material used in the construction of business rooms.
Daniel Cork, senior, after completing this
journey to Ohio, riding horseback all the way, settled
at Bainbridge, where there were then but six houses, and
became quite prominent as a manufacturer of windmills
and as a general carpenter and builder. He also owned a
farm on Potts' hill, near Bainbridge, and farmed
that, while making his home at Bainbridge, where he died
in 1883. His marriage, in 1842, was to Jane, daughter of
James Potts, a teamster with the army in the wax of
1812, and the first man to settle in the hills east of
Bainbridge, the place now being known as Potts' hill, at
a time when the hills were full of wild animals from
which stock had to be guarded at night. Mrs.
Cork
died in 1878. Eight children were born to her: James,
Archibald, Nelson, Harvey, Daniel,
Mary, Sadie, Amanda (died in
infancy), and Joseph. Daniel Cork,
whose name heads this sketch, fifth of these children,
was born at Bainbridge, May 12, 1848. He received his
education in the Bainbridge school, and in early manhood
engaged in shipping cattle for Thomas McCord,
of Bourneville. Later he went to Harrison county, Va.,
the home of his father, and was in the same business
there with Cyrus Lynch. On March 20, 1874,
he married Elizabeth Holby, and they made
their home at Bainbridge, but he soon afterward rented a
farm, where they lived for seven or eight years. He next
engaged in hotel keeping for a year, and subsequently
sold out and removed to Iowa, where he farmed for one
year. Returning to Bainbridge, he had the contract for
carrying mail between, that place and Chillicothe six
years, and after that for four years between Bainbridge
and Hillsboro. Gaining a wide acquaintance and influence
in the county, there was general satisfaction when he
received the appointment, in 1899, as superintendent of
the county infirmary, a position he retains. He and his
wife have had eight children, of whom four— Jennie,
May,
Benny and Tiffin—died in infancy. Josie
May is the wife of Silas Orem, of
Springfield, O.; Dennis resides in Union
township, and William S. with his brother;
Clark is in business at Springfield, O., and
Mahlon is at home.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
JOSEPH B. CORY is
a native of Concord township, Ross county, born in 1849.
He is the son of Israel and grandson of Nathan Cory,
the latter a native of New Jersey who came west with'
his brother Stephen late in the eighteenth
century. After a roundabout trip through Virginia and
Kentucky, with short sojourns in each of those states,
the brothers reached Ross county, Ohio, in 1797, and
there became permanent settlers. Israel Cory, son
of Nathan, was born May 25, 1806, and followed
farming until the time of his death, which occurred in
1859. He married
Elizabeth Baughn, a native of North Carolina,
who came with her parents to Fayette county, Ohio; when
she was seven years old. She was born in 1809 and lived
to the age of seventy-nine, her death occurring in 1888.
Israel and Elizabeth Cory became the
parents of twelve children, only four of whom are now
living. Of these, Martha is the wife of Louis
Barr, of Greenfield, Ohio; Mary married
Jerome B. Jenkins, of Oklahoma Territory; William
W. resides in Frankfort and Joseph B. is the
subject of our sketch. The latter received the ordinary
common school education of his day in Concord township
and after he grew up entered on the business of farming.
In 1873, he was married to Emily A., daughter of
Joseph Beard, an old settler of Ross county. She
died in 1882, leaving three children: Witter B.,
of Greenfield; Grace G., the wife of Dr. D. C.
Hanawalt, of Salt Lake City; and Daisy D.,
stenographer and bookkeeper at Greenfield, O. In 1885,
Mr. Cory took a second wife in the person of
Grace E,, daughter of Wallace W. Ross, of
Fayette county, O. They have two children, whose names
are
Harry H. and Virginia Ruth. Mr.
Cory is a member of the Missionary Baptist church.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
MERRITT
A. CORY was born in
Concord township, Ross county, December 10, 1847. He is
the son of Levi Cory, born December 31,
1801, and fourth child of Stephen Cory.
The latter was a native of New Jersey, born October 10,
1773, and he was married in that state on August 17,
1795.
Stephen became imbued with the desire, then
prevalent in the coast states, to join the procession in
its advance upon the great western wilderness.
Accompanied by his brother Nathan, he removed
first to Virginia, from there to Kentucky, and
eventually to the Scioto valley, to which the tide of
migration was then running strongly. It was in 1797 that
they reached Ross county, which they determined to make
their future abiding place. Stephen
Cory did his share towards clearing the wilderness
and lived to see that part of Ohio enjoying the highest
order of civilization, his death not occurring until
December 18, 1853. His son Levi received but a
limited education and upon reaching manhood went to
Cincinnati in search of work. He became an employee of
the famous hotel on the corner of Front and Broadway
streets and remained there during the winter of 1828.
From there he went to Circleville, thence to
Springfield, and finally located at Frankfort, where he
engaged in business until the financial panic of 1837.
While the industrial depression was prevailing, he
converted his property into Chillicothe bank paper, and
when that institution resumed specie payment for two
days, he exchanged his notes for coin, with which he
bought large tracts of land in Concord township. On this
estate he lived until the time of his death, which
occurred November 24, 1879. His wife was
Nancy B. Rose, a native of Virginia, who came with
her parents to Ross county when about twelve years old.
She died March 24, 1877, leaving three children, a son
and two daughters. The eldest of the latter is dead; the
other, now Mrs. E. R. McCafferty, is a
resident of Concord township. Merritt A. Cory,
the only son, received a common school education and on
reaching his majority settled down to farming, which
business he has followed all his life. January 22, 1879,
he was married to
Jennie L., daughter of John J. Augustus, an
old resident of Ross county. Mr. and Mrs. Cory
have two sons, Carl and Reed. The
political affiliations of Mr. Cory have always
been with the Republican party. He is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church and for several years has
been connected with the Masonic order, being one of the
active spirits of Lodge No. 309, at Frankfort.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
AUSTIN MATLACK COURTENAY, D. D.,
pastor of the Walnut street Methodist Episcopal church
at Chillicothe, is a man of more than ordinary
attributes, both personal and professional. Born in St.
Louis, Mo., April 22, 1850, he received a thorough and
liberal education, having the benefit of the public
schools of his native city, supplemented by attendance
at an excellent private academy in Maryland which was
followed by a course in the higher branches in England.
After leaving college,
Dr. Courtenay lost no time in entering the
ministry, which he had long had in view as his lifetime
profession. Under the itinerant system peculiar to his
denomination, he served as pastor, of congregations in
Maryland, including the cities of Lonaconing,
Cumberland, Hagerstown and Baltimore. In the last
mentioned place he filled four pastoral terms to the
eminent satisfaction of his charges in that great
commercial center. Dr. Courtenay was next
assigned to successive charges at Alleghany City and
Meadville, Pa., and while at the latter place filled the
chair of lecturer on Christian Evidences in the
Alleghany college. In 1898 he was appointed to the
pastorate of the Walnut street Methodist Episcopal
church at Chillicothe, where he has since remained in
most pleasant relations with his congregation and in the
enjoyment of general esteem. Aside from his pulpit
ability, Dr. Courtenay is a gentleman of
varied reading, and has received from Dickinson college
the degree of D. D. He is a writer of force and
versatility, and for years has been contributor to
church papers and the magazines. Dr. Courtenay's
papers are always read with avidity by people interested
in such matters. In 1871, he was married to Florence
Valliant, of Maryland, who died in 1897, leaving
three children: Austin V., in the employment, of
the Baltimore & Ohio railroad company at Baltimore, and
Misses Florence and Amy. Dr.
Courtenay is a member of the Masonic fraternity and
has reached the Knights Templar degree.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
AARON COX, who
resides near South Salem, Ohio, belongs to a family
which has been prominently connected with the interests
of Ross county for more than a hundred years. His
father,
Thomas Cox, born in the early part of 1801,
lacked only five years of rounding out a century of
existence and was the oldest native resident of Ross
county at the time of his death in 1896. During all of
his active manhood, a period extending over seventy
years, he was an influential citizen and active
participant in the affairs of his county. He was a son
of Jefferey
Cox, who came from Maryland to Ohio as far back as
1780 and settled on Paint creek when but few white men
could be found in all that region. He served as a
soldier in the war of 1812 and late in life removed to
Indiana where he ended his days. Thomas Cox
cleared the land in which he spent his long and useful
life, passed through all the struggles and hardships of
pioneer life and devoted himself exclusively to
agricultural pursuits. He married Sophia
DeVoss, born in Kentucky in 1804 and brought to Ohio
by her parents when three years old. She lived to the
age of seventy-five, her death occurring March 19, 1879.
Thomas and Sophia
Cox reared a family of six children, of whom only
two are now living. The eldest of these is Dr.
John M. Cox, who was born in 1824, and has been a
practicing physician at South Salem for forty-eight
years.
Aaron Cox, the other living son, was born in
1831, reared and educated in Buckskin township, his
present residence being within one mile of the place of
his nativity. He has known no other occupation than that
pertaining to the soil and he has been engaged in farm
work from his earliest boyhood. At the age of twelve he
was driver of an old horse power threshing machine and
he ever afterward retained connection with this feature
of the agricultural industry. Mr. Cox lived to
see the various transformations or "evolution of the
thresher," as it may be called, which culminated in the
finely improved modern machine run by steam power and
one of which he now owns and uses in his business. In
September, 1853, Mr. Cox was married to Mary
E., eldest daughter of
Martin and Nancy (Fagan) Bailey. The
paternal grandfather of Mrs. Cox was Richard
Bailey, who came from England during the
Revolutionary war, located in Ross county about 1800 and
served as a soldier in 1812. Martin Bailey
was born January 5, 1808, and by his marriage with
Nancy Fagan had nine children. Besides Mrs.
Cox, the other eight children are Catherine,
wife of Jackson Nichols; Harriet, wife of
Milerd Walter, of Illinois; Daniel
Bailey, of Missouri; David Bailey, of
Twin township; William Bailey, of South Salem;
Josephine, wife of Jerome Hollaway,
and
John Bailey, of Portland, Oregon. Mr.
and Mrs. Aaron Cox have four
children living. Their eldest son, John C. Cox,
is superintendent of the reform school of Indiana;
Thomas J. is in the mill business at South Salem;
Edgar
is a stationary engineer in Cincinnati; and Ida
is the wife of Josiah Bell, of South
Salem.
Mr. and Mrs. Cox are adherents of the
Presbyterian doctrine and have long been members of the
church of that denomination at South Salem.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
ANDREW M. COX,
one of - Scioto township's esteemed farmers, finds
relief from, agricultural duties by fulfilling calls as
a minister - of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which
capacity he is favorably known throughout Ross and
neighboring counties. The branch of this numerous family
to which he belongs is of Scottish origin. In the early
part of the nineteenth century his grandfather, John
Cox, was brought from the land of Bruce and
Burns by his parents, who bought land in Highland
county near Leesburg and lived there until the end of
their days. When John reached manhood he was
married to Jynsie Garrett, settled upon
the family homestead and followed farming until his
death. Of his eight children, Louis, Rebecca,
Minerva, and Eliza, are dead; the living are
Wesley, Edward, Charles, and
Harriet, wife of Samuel Sellers of
Highland county.
Charles Cox remained with his parents until
early manhood, when he married Edna Johnson,
born and bred in Highland county and daughter of
Jesse
Johnson. With his bride he settled on a leased
.farm near Leesburg, where he remained about three years
and then removed to Peru, Ind. Here he obtained license
to preach as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal
church,- and was engaged in evangelistic work for five
years. At the end of that time, he returned to his old
place in Highland county, where he was living at the
opening of the civil war. Having entered into a contract
to supply the federal government with horses, he left
home with a carload for some distant point and was never
again heard from by his family or friends. After the
disappearance of her husband, the widow moved to
Leesburg, where she reared her family and is still
residing. She had eight children, of whom the first
three in order of birth, Charles,
Wesley and John, are dead. The others are
Andrew M.; Mary, wife of John Myers,
of Leesburg; Martha, wife of T. J. Brakefield,
of Greenfield, Ohio; Harriet, wife of William
Leverton, of Leesburg; Emma, wife of
Austin Hill, New Lexington, Ohio. Andrew
M. Cox, fourth of the family, was born in Peru,
Ind., August 3, 1852, and when thirteen years old was
compelled to work on a farm for monthly wages to assist
in support of the household. This life of labor
continued until he reached his twenty-first year, when
he was married to
Mary Smith, of Fayette county, with whom he
settled on a farm near Goodhope and remained there about
four years. Afterward he removed to Belle Center, in
Logan county, and during his residence there his wife
died after becoming the mother of three children:
Clara, wife of William Collins, of
Pickaway county;
Cora, wife of James Harkless, of Ross
county, and Edna, deceased. From Belle, Center, Mr. Cox
returned to Fayette county, where he cultivated a rented
farm for two years and married Isabelle
Edgington, a native of Ross county. Shortly
afterward he located at Washington Court House, where he
had accepted a position with White & Ballard,
dealers in agricultural implements. At the expiration of
a year he moved to Ross county, spent two years as a
renter and then purchased the place known as Bishop
Hill. About this time he was licensed to preach and
accepted the charge known as Byer's circuit, in Jackson
county, which he filled for two years. After a residence
in the parsonage at Byer for a year or two he bought the
farm of 150 acres in Ross county which has since been
his home. While his time is principally devoted to
farming, Mr.
Cox occasionally preaches when called on to supply
neighboring pulpits. By his last marriage he has three
children: William, Floyd and Fannie.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
MERRETT COX,
of Gillespieville, Ohio, was born in Ross county, on
February 2, 1855, his parents being John and
Ruth (Dixon) Cox. His father was born
in Pennsylvania in 1799 and came to Ross county at the
age of nine years, his parents settling in Chillicothe
when there were but few stores in the place, and these
were constructed of logs. They only remained there one
year, and then moved to Middlefork and spent the rest of
their days there. John Cox died in 1884,
after a successful life as a farmer. Merrett
Cox was reared on a farm and educated in the common
schools. He has devoted his whole life to farming and
stock-dealing; handles large quantities of stock of all
kinds, and owns about seven hundred acres of land, which
lie farms in a general way by up-to-date methods. He is
recognized as one of the leading agriculturists of his
township, and one of its most thrifty citizens. Mr.
Cox is not an office-seeker, but has held the
positions of supervisor and road and school director for
several terms. In 1878 he was married to Maggie
Clipner, of Vinton county,. daughter of Daniel
and Catharine
(Edwards) Clipner, who were former residents of
Guernsey county, O. Mr. and Mrs. Cox have six
children, whose names are Clifford C, Alpha M., Hose
Ethel, Annie May, Ruth, and Ray M.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
The
COYNER
Family: The old German name of Keinadt became
softened into Coyner after a due process of
mellowing in the climate of America. One
Michael
Keinadt and Margaret Diller, his
wife, located in Lancaster county, Pa., where a son was
born to them August 8, 1768, who was christened John
and was the first who spelled his name Coyner.
He accompanied his parents to Carlisle in 1789 and from
there crossed over into Virginia, where he found a wife
in the person of Hannah Lavel, who was born in
1778. In 1814, John Coyner turned his face
westward and after a tedious journey across mountains
and down rivers reached the garden spot of the Scioto
valley known as Ross county. He picked out Concord
township as a desirable locality and settled on a farm
near the village of Frankfort, which was the scene of
his subsequent operations. The memorials in
Greenlawn cemetery, near by, inform us that John
Coyner departed this life September 8, 1852, at the
age of eighty-four years, and that his faithful wife,
who survived him four years, sank to rest in 1856.
John and Hannah Coyner gathered about them a
numerous family of children, of whom the following is a
complete list:
Margaret, Elizabeth, Sarah, Susan, Hannah, Jane,
Harriet, Julia Ann, Jemima, Rebecca, Christian and
David. From these children, most of whom
married and reared families, have sprung the large
number of
Coyners and their relatives under other names, who
are scattered throughout Ross county and other Ohio
counties as well as distant states. Margaret
married
Martin Grove and had eight children, four of whom
are living; Elizabeth became the wife of
Martin Peterson; Sarah first married Edward Shobe,
her second husband being John Beard; Susan
married
Jonas Peterson; Hannah, George Clouser; Julia A.,
Erasmus Tullys; Jemima, William Fisher; Rebecca, Richard
Waugh; Christian married Elizabeth Teter, had
a large family, and moved to Iowa where he died.
David, youngest child of John Coyner, was
born in Augusta county, Va., April 4, 1812, and was only
two years old when his parents rested from their long
journey near Frankfort. As soon as he was old
enough he embarked in farming on his own account and
became one of the successful men of his community.
June 5, 1834, he was married to Sarah, daughter
of Adam Mallow, founder of one of the most
extensive and influential of Ross county families.
The records in the family cemetery near Frankfort state
that David Coyner
passed away September 29, 1892, but his wife survives at
the age of eighty-four years. The following
summary disposes of their large family of sons and
daughters:
Jane married Samuel Bryant and now lives in
Indiana and Noah at Frankfort, Ohio; John A.
is at the old homestead; Hannah M. married G.
M. Eichelberger and lives in Fayette county;
Martha
married George Hanawalt, of Concord township;
Emma D. married J. B. Seelig, now living in
the same township.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
ALBIN
CRABB, member of the
school board and one of the trustees of Deerfield
township, has long been prominent in the affairs of that
part of Ross county. He is a son of
James H. Crabb, a native of Ross county, who lost
his father in infancy and when sixteen years old became
an apprentice to the tailoring trade. In due time he
opened a shop at Frankfort and shortly afterward was
married to
Ruth Brown, of Ross county, and continued
business at the same place until 1862.. In that year he
abandoned the occupation of a tailor, purchased a small
farm in Deerfield township and removed there for
permanent residence. He engaged in stock-raising and
miscellaneous agriculture and so continued until 1891
when, feeling the approach of age and need of rest, he
disposed of his place to his son Albin and
returned to Frankfort. There he lived in retirement
until his death, which occurred in 1897 when he was
eighty years old. Three of his nine children,
George D., Ada M. and Charles L., are dead.
The others are: Jennie, wife of John
Rhodes of Marion county, Ohio;
Eleanora, wife of George Pierce of
Ross county;
Hamer, also of Ross county; Emma R., wife of
R. H. Morrow, of Illinois; Albin, subject of
this sketch; and Laura A., wife of D. E. Clark
of Illinois. The mother, at present residing in
Illinois, makes her home with the different children of
the family. Albin Crabb was born at Frankfort,
O., November 25, 1856, and married Miss Rose Corkwell,
of Pickaway county, October 29, 1885. For seven years
after his marriage, Mr. Crabb lived in
Fayette county, near Washington Court House. About that
time he purchased his father's home place of 95 acres,
to which he subsequently added 54 acres, removed to and
has since cultivated the same. He has been successful in
his operations as a farmer and stockraiser and is one of
the well-to-do citizens of his community. Mr. and
Mrs. Crabb have seven children, all of whom are
living except Nellie, the fifth born, who died in
infancy. The others in order of age are as follows:
Ruth A., Mattie L., Ralph W., Lois, Rose G.
and James C. Mr. Crabb is one of the trustees
of Deerfield township and a member of the school board.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
THOMAS
B. CRAIG was born in
Twin township, Ross county, November 20, 1868. He is a
son of A. P. Craig, born in 1825, and grandson of
John Craig, the latter probably of
Pennsylvania birth. He married Priscilla
Morgan, a native of the last mentioned state, and
they came to Ohio early in the century, settling in Twin
township, Ross county. He was a soldier in the war of
1812 and received from the government the land on which
he located. His family of children number nine, of whom
all are dead but Aleck, who lives in Illinois,
and Allie, who married David
Mathews, of Pike county, Ohio. Both parents are
long since dead and rest side by side in Concord
cemetery. Their son, A. P. Craig, remained at
home until a young man, attending subscription school in
winter and working out by the month in summer. So
matters went along until his marriage to
Elizabeth J. Latta, which occurred on March 30,
1848. Their first venture was on a farm now owned by
S. Rosebaum, where they lived a year and then went
to the old Craig
homestead in Twin township. Here they remained until
1872, when Mr. Craig bought the farm of
133 acres, where his widow still lives in Concord
township. Besides farming, he carried on a timber
business and later merchandised at Roxabell. Aside from
his inheritance, he had accumulated considerable
property at the time of his death, which occurred on
August 11, 1900. He was the father of six children, of
whom Phoebe, Margaret, Sarah A. and William C.
are dead. John C. lives in Fayette county, O.,
and
Thomas B. is the subject of this sketch. The latter
has remained at home during his entire life and still
resides with his widowed mother on the old homestead. He
was in charge as manager for several years and since his
father's death has had absolute control of all the
business. January 30, 1901, he was married to Flora S.,
daughter of William Lane, an old settler
of the locality.
Mr. Craig
farms in a general way and raises stock, being regarded
as a good business man. He is a member of the Improved
Order of Red Men at Frankfort and of the Presbyterian
church.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
ALBERT J. CREAMER,
teacher of writing and drawing in the public
schools of Chillicothe, is one of the most accomplished
artists in his line to be found in Ohio. He has
devoted his whole life to study and practice of his
profession and has taught with success at various
places.
Mr. Creamer was born in Fayette County, Ohio, March
26, 1854, and received a thorough education in the place
of his nativity, supplemented by subsequent attendance
in the school of Lebanon and Xenia. All the time
he had in view the preparation of himself for the
calling he subsequently entered upon, and being studious
as well as ambitious he eventually became a finished
penman and draftsman. His first work after
completing his education was at Toledo, Ohio, where he
spent seven years in teaching the arts of writing and
drawing, his pupils being largely made up of teachers
anxious to qualify themselves as instructors in these
special branches.
Mr. Creamer also taught in a commercial school in
the city mentioned and here acquired the practical
training for future work in the same line. Leaving
Toledo he was for three years engaged in conducting a
commercial school at Washington Court House, and he also
taught in the public schools of that place for some
time. In the fall of 1895, he came to Chillicothe
to accept charge of the writing and drawing classes and
has sine continued to hold that position with entire
acceptability to school officials and patrons.
Mr. Creamer
is not only a teacher of eminence but a successful
author. He has published a series of books of
instruction for use in public schools which have proved
popular and met with a good demand. Mr. Creamer
is a gentleman of high moral character and has been a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church from his
earliest boyhood. His sympathies are with every
movement that "makes for righteousness" and is intended
for the uplifting of humanity. His fraternal
connections are confined to membership in the order of
the Modern Woodmen of America. In 1882, Mr.
Creamer was married to Flora Mitchell, of
Highland county, and the union has been blessed by the
birth of five sons: Mitchell, Harry, Scott,
Paul and Clifford.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
REASON CROSS is a
native of Hocking county, Ohio, born April 27, 1840. His
parents were John and Drusilla (Climer) Cross,
both Virginians, the first born about 1803 and the
latter in lie year 1800. In 1823, when about 20 years
old, John Cross came to Ross county and worked at
the saddlery trade for several years. Prom this he went
to work on a farm by the month and about the same time
was married to Drusilla Climer. She came
to the county with her parents, who settled on Walnut
creek in Liberty township. Shortly after their marriage,
they removed to Lancaster and from there to Hocking
county, where John Cross rented a farm,
but later returned to Ross county where he spent the
rest of his life. They had eleven children, whose names
are Elizabeth, John, Hester Ann, Sarah, Harriet,
Miranda, Joseph, Reason, Charlotte, Emily J., and
Mary, the latter dying in infancy. The mother died
on March 22, 1873; the father afterward married Eliza
Payne and died in 1890. When he was ten years old,
Reason Cross ran away from home and worked
out by the month until he was sixteen, when he returned
home and remained there until 1860. He then rented a
farm of his own, which he operated until some time after
the breaking out of the civil war. On August 13, 1862,
he enlisted in Company K, Eighty-ninth Ohio regiment,
which was mustered in at Camp Dennison. He served with
his command in Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, going
with the army of the Cumberland to Chattanooga, where he
was wounded in the leg and captured. Eleven days later
he was paroled and went into the field hospital at
Chattanooga for a few weeks. After considerable
wandering and short stops at various places, Mr.
Cross finally rejoined his regiment, with which he
remained until mustered out. He was in many engagements,
including Kenesaw Mountain, Peachtree creek, Jonesboro
and others. At the close of the war the regiment was
sent to Camp Dennison, where it was mustered out of the
service on June 7, 1865. As soon as released, Mr.
Cross returned home and soon afterward settled on a
farm where he. lived until 1880. He married
Mary Sampson, who was born in Union township
on May 6, 1850, and they have had four children, of whom
William
lives in Pickaway county, Florence is dead,
Ethel and
Carleton are at home. Mr. Cross is a member
of the
W. H. Lutz post, No. 338, G. A. R., at Yellow Bud.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
JOHN CROUSE, Sr.,
one of the most notable of the pioneers of Ross county,
was son of a man of German or Dutch extraction, and the
Lutheran or Reformed faith, who, about the year 1754,
came to America with-his wife Nancy Smith,
and eldest child,
Mary, who was born in England in 1751, married
John Wagner
between 1765 and 1767 in Frederick county, Md., and died
there in 1828. The second child, a daughter, probably
born in Frederick county, married and came to Ross
county, and from there went to Whitewater in western
Ohio. The third child, John, was born January 13,
1759, in what is now Carroll county, Md. In his youth
John Crouse,
Sr., was a man of convivial habits, learned the
trade of a tailor and was no mean performer on the
violin. About the middle of June, 1776, he enlisted for
six months, at Fredericktown, Md., in the cause of the
Revolution, as a private soldier in a company of the
Flying Camp from the state of Maryland, enrolled by
Capt. Jacob Good, of
Col. Chas. G. Griffith regiment,
which. was attached to
Gen. Rezin Beall's brigade. He is
said to have also served with credit about fourteen
months in the latter part of the war. After his return
from the war he lived near Sams creek, in Frederick
county. On March 20, 1780, he obtained a license in
Frederick county to marry Catharine Umsted,
a daughter of Nicholas and Ann Davis
Umsted. She was of Welsh extraction and then about
sixteen years of age. On May 14, 1782, as a "distiller,"
he had conveyed to him live acres of land on the east
side of Dolly-hide creek on the road from Fredericktown
to Baltimore, a few miles east of Libertytown, where he
ran a mill and turned much 'of the grain into whiskey.
In 1788 he moved to Orange county, N. C.; next to
Huntington county, Pa., and then with his wife and six
children came to the Northwest territory in April, 1798.
In that year he bought from William McCoy
and
John De Rush an unprofitable venture
of theirs in the form of a very small and unfinished log
corn-cracking mill, run by an undershot-wheel in
Kinnikinnick creek, Ross county, and started the year
before, on section 19. He bought this corn cracker in
order to get their right by possession to section 19,
which they perfected by a credit system entry on the
sale sheets of the land office on May 16, 1801. He
constructed a dam farther up the creek on section 20,
which John De Rush entered on May 16, 1801, made a race
on the north side of the creek and "built the first mill
on Kinnikinnick creek and the first flouring mill in the
valley" (Pioneer Hist, of Rosa Co.). It is said that
"the United States government gave him a section of land
for. building this mill." Here he built up and for about
nineteen years conducted a large milling business. This
period of his life was marked by a steady and rapid
accumulation of land in Ross, Pickaway and Delaware
counties. On his arrival at Kinnikinnick creek he built
a rude shelter or cabin on the south side of the creek.
Here he remained a short time and there constructed his
residence, where it still stands. The mill from disuse
and neglect fell down in March, 1886.
On June 21, 1803, the qualified
electors of Green township met at his house to elect
three justices of the peace for the township. No record
of those chosen has been found, but in view of the
circumstances, his popularity, the place where the
election was held and the fact that three years from
this time, April 15, 1806, he was appointed a justice of
the peace for three years, it is very safe to presume
that he was one of the three elected and hence one of
the first justices of Green township.
His popularity was evidenced at
an election held on the second Tuesday of October, 1803,
to choose a senator and four representatives from the
counties of Ross and Franklin in the state legislature.
At that election he carried his own township by a
comfortable majority and was voted for in seven of the
thirteen townships. By the year 1809 he had accumulated
considerable property and was a wealthy man for his day.
He is said to have added to his flouring mill a
distillery, which proved a profitable venture and during
the war of 1812 made a large profit on whiskey. About
the year 1816 he built a brick house on the northeast
quarter of section 29, now owned by his grand-daughter,
Mrs. George W. Gregg, and he, his wife
and two children—Jeremiah and Eliza— moved
into it during the next year. He then retired from
business, his son John
succeeding him at the mill, receiving it and the old
homestead as a gift from his father, the title passing
by deed in 1823, and now vested by purchase in a
grandson of John Crouse, Sr., Matthew Ferguson, who
resides on it during part of each year. The dwelling has
always been in the possession of the family and is now
occupied by the children of his grand-daughter, the late
Mrs. Mary Bennett. In the year of 1816 he gave land
to Grouse's
(then Lakin) Chapel, and to the Methodist
Episcopal church at Salem, Pickaway county. On September
27, 1823, in his sixty-fifth year he divided by deeds
over 5,000 acres of land among his six children. He had
given them possession of it some years before. Two
thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine acres of it were
in Green township, 1,280 in Pickaway township and 823
acres in Delaware county. Afterward he gave his daughter
Eliza 320 acres in Salt Creek township and Ruth 77˝
acres in Green township, making in all 5,440 acres given
to his children.
About the year 1825 lie, his wife
and son Jeremiah, moved to Kingston, where he had
bought from his daughter Eliza's
husband, William Ferguson, lot No. 4, and
had built a house thereon, very much like the one he had
just left. Somewhat altered it stands today. While a
resident here he bought lots in and land adjoining
Kingston and gave a church lot and parsonage to the
Methodist Episcopal church and practically built the
church. In 1829 he was a school director, and on April
9, 1834, was chosen first treasurer of the corporation
of Kingston.
Methodism in Kingston seems to
have made little progress toward a church building after
he gave his attention to the organization and
construction of Lakin chapel in 1806; but in 1829, after
he moved to Kingston, the first church building, a brick
chapel to be used by the Methodist and Presbyterian
churches, was erected there, and on March 2, 1832, he
deeded to Matthew Ferguson, Henry
May, William Ferguson
(Presbyterians),
Michael Savior, Ezekiel Bunn
and
Philip Piper (Methodists), a half acre of
the northwest quarter of section 3, and the brick house
thereon in trust for a place of worship for the
Presbyterian and Methodist churches, the northwest
corner of said lot to be used temporarily for District
School, No. 2. On March 16, 1835, for a nominal
consideration, he conveyed to himself,
David Lewis, Evan Stevens, John Crouse, Jr., and
Wm.
Justice, of Ross county, and Michael
Sayler and
John Cox
of Pickaway county as trustees, lots Nos. 1 and 2, at
southeast corner of Main road to New Lancaster and
Sassafras alley, in Kingston, in trust for the use of
the Methodist Episcopal church in Kingston, the house to
be used as a parsonage for the traveling preachers who
from time to time labor in the circuit. In the year
1837; through his influence and liberality, the
Methodists, although the weaker denomination, bought out
the Presbyterians and to confirm this change he, on
March 6, 1843, deeded to John Crouse, Jr., Alexander
Campbell, Thomas Parker, Robert
Wright and
William Patrick, the half acre in section 3,
east of Kingston, in trust for the use of the Methodist
church. Again, on January 17, 1846, he deeds to O. P.
C. Evans, Thomas Parker,
Robert Beat,
Joshua H. Gay, Herman D. Bunn, Isaac
Franks, Bethenal Blair and Henry
Piper, this half acre in trust for that church. His
wife died in Kingston, September 12, 1845, aged 81
years, 4 months and 11 days, and was buried at Crouse
chapel. On October 1, 1846, he married
Mary McCartney at the residence of his
grandson,
William W. Entrekin, in Pickaway county. He died
September 5, 1847, at his home in Kingston, leaving his
second wife, who died August 5, 1850, and his children
Ruth, John and
Eliza
surviving him. He was buried at Crouse chapel. By
giving most of his property to his children he escaped
the modern disgrace of dying rich. His grandson,
Daniel C. Entrekin,
administered on his estate.
John Crouse, Sr., had
eight children: David, born April 20, 1781, died
April 14, 1837, married January 13, 1807, Elizabeth
Boggs; Nancy, born January. 16, 1783, died
June 16, 1845, married December 29, 1801, John
Entrekin; Ruth, born January 28, 1787, died
February 3, 1864, married January 18, 1807, Samuel
Whitsel; Pheraby, born February 12, 1790, died
November 17, 1811, married 1811, Samuel
Swearingen; John, born September 12, 1792,
died July 25, 1856, married June 13, 1817, Lydia
Barr; Daniel, born 1798, died 1812;
Jeremiah, born 1804, died 1832; Eliza, born
June 27, 1806, died June 9, 1889, married William
Ferguson, who reaped wheat for her father the day
she was born.
John Crouse was not only one of
the first settlers of Ross county but one of its
wealthiest men and largest land owners. Being known as a
man of the highest integrity, he was often selected as
administrator of estates and legal guardian of orphans.
He was a man of marked characteristics, was
enterprising, energetic, persevering and frugal,
"thorough going" and successful in anything he
undertook. He was a public spirited and useful
citizen, interested in all branches of the government.
His house was open to the politician for elections and
to the militia for trials. His fortune was not
accumulated, nor the foundation for it laid in his early
years, but in the prime of his life amid adverse and
dangerous surroundings. His later years, in striking
contrast to his youth, were strictly religious. He was
an observer of the Sabbath according to Puritanical
rules. He was one of the first Methodists in Ross county
and he and his wife, whose family in Maryland were
prominent Methodists, were the first members of the
Methodist society in Kingston about the year 1800,
before Lakin chapel was organized and when preaching
services were held in private houses. For a man of as
limited educational advantages in English branches he
could deliver an extraordinary sermon, and was, from the
plain clothes such as used to distinguish the Methodists
of his day, often taken for a Methodist preacher. He was
a patron of education, a school director, a founder and
supporter of the little log school house which has done
so much for our civilization. His house was the
recognized home of the school teacher and the musical
instructor, as well as the preacher. He had been an
extensive traveler for those early days and probably
traveled with his eyes open and wits about him, and
hence received that best of all educations, that of
experience. Before his fortieth year he had traversed
the states of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York,
Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Ohio and had
resided in four of these states.
Allen Cryder, of Hopetown, Ohio, is a native
of Springfield town ship, Ross county, where he was born
on January 10, 1847. His parents were Jacob H. and
Elizabeth
(Overly) Cryder, both residents of Ross
county from birth to death. The grandfather of Allen
Cryder was
Jacob Cryder, who come from his native
Pennsylvania to Ross county the year in which
Chillicothe was founded and there, spent the remainder
of his days. He married Rebecca
Downs, of Pennsylvania, who died in the house that
is now the residence of her grandson. The ancestors of
Allen
Cryder formerly owned many acres of land in
Springfield township and the family now owns over 118
acres of the original property. Jacob A. Cryder,
father of Allen, was born in Ross county in 1825
and followed farming as his life's business. He owned
250 acres of land and was one of the leading farmers of
his township. He died in 1877 and his wife, who was a
daughter of John and Sarah
Overly, Pennsylvanians and early settlers of Ross
county, died in 1879. They had a family of eleven
children, of whom five are still living. Their son
Allen was reared on the farm and has followed that
occupation all his life. He still owns his portion of
the old homestead place and in addition rents and
cultivates a large farm, and conducts a dairy business
at his home place, which is the old Haynes' homestead.
Though a lifelong Democrat in politics, he has cared
nothing for office and never sought nominations. In
1875, Mr. Cryder was married to
Hortense
Moore, a native of Ross county, by whom he has had
seven sons and two daughters, all living. His only
fraternal connection is with the Odd Fellows, he being a
member of the lodge of that order at Chillicothe.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
ALLEN CRYDER, of
Hopetown, Ohio, is a native of Springfield township,
Ross county, where he was born on January 10, 1847.
His parents were Jacob H. and Elizabeth (Overly)
Cryder, both residents of Ross county from birth to
death. The grandfather of Allen Cryder
was Jacob
Cryder, who come from his native Pennsylvania to
Ross county the year in which Chillicothe was founded
and there spent the remainder of his days. He
married Rebecca Downs, of Pennsylvania,
who died in the house that is now the residence of her
grandson. The ancestors of Allen
Cryder formerly owned many acres of land in
Springfield township and the family now owns over 118
acres of the original property. Jacob A. Cryder,
father of
Allen, was born in Ross county in 1825 and followed
farming as his life's business. He owned 250 acres
of land and was one of the leading farmers of his
township. He died in 1877 and his wife, who was a
daughter of John
and Sarah Overly, Pennsylvanians and
early settlers of Ross county, died in 1879. They
had a family of eleven children, of whom five are still
living. Their son
Allen was reared on the farm and has followed that
occupation all his life. He still owns his portion
of the old homestead place and in addition rents and
cultivates a large farm, and conducts a dairy business
at his home place, which is the old Haynes' homestead.
Though a life-long Democrat in politics, he has cared
nothing for office and never sought nominations.
In 1875, Mr. Cryder was married to
Hortense
Moore, a native of Ross county, by whom he has had
seven sons and two daughters, all living. His only
fraternal connection is with the Odd Fellows, he being a
member of the lodge of that order at Chillicothe.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
ANDREW CRYDER, of
Gillespieville, Ohio, was born in Springfield township,
Ross county, on January 11, 1843. He is the son of
David H. and grandson of Manuel Cryder.
The latter was a native of Pennsylvania, who came to
Ross county about the year 1798 and died there at the
age of sixty-six. He married Eva Hess,
who became the mother of six children, all of whom are
dead. The father of Andrew Cryder
was born in 1815 and followed farming as a business.
At one time he was a director of the county infirmary.
He married Caroline, daughter of Andrew and
Mary (Ott) Poe, who came to Ross county about the
year 1800 and spent the rest of their lives there.
The father was from Virginia and the mother from
Pennsylvania. The family was related to
Edgar Allen Poe, the famous poet. Andrew
Cryder's
father died in 1880 and his mother four years later.
They had seven children, of whom five are living.
Andrew grew up on a farm, was educated in the common
schools and has always followed farming as an
occupation. He came to Liberty township in 1873
and that has been his place of residence ever since.
In 1882, Mr.
Cryder
was married to Emza Ross, daughter of
William
and Jane Ross, of Ross county.
William was the son of Adam and Margaret (Homer)
Ross, while his wife was a daughter of Isaac
and Sarah Ross, pioneers of Ross
county. The father of Mrs. Cryder
now lives in Chillicothe, his wife dying in 1875.
They had a family of eleven children, of whom nine are
still living. Mr.
Andrew Cryder and wife have had a family of
ten children, of whom
Clifford, Jackson, Grace, Roy,
Clarence, Wade, Bessie, and
Marguerite are living, and
Ada and Howard are deceased.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
DAVID CRYDER, of
Gillespieville, was born in Springfield township, Ross
county, on March 20, 1844, son of David H. Cryder,
elsewhere mentioned in this work. He was reared on a
farm, educated in the common schools and has devoted his
whole life to the farming business. In 1873, Mr.
Cryder
came to Liberty township and he bought the farm he now
owns in 1886. It consists of 135 acres and is devoted to
general farming with no specialties. On January 2, 1883,
he was married to Almira, daughter of Jacob T.
and Nancy (Dixon) Calvert, both of Ross county.
Jacob T. was the son of Henry D. and Amy
(Taylor) Calvert, born June 1, 1822, and his wife,
born in 1821, was the daughter of Daniel Dixon,
a pioneer of Ross county. David Cryder and
wife have had five children, of whom four are still
living: Madge M., Blanche G., Lawrence E., and
David C. There is one child dead, whose name was
Charles.
James Poe Cryder, of
Gillespieville, was born in Springfield township, Ross
county, on October 26, 1851. His parents were David
H. Cryder and Caroline Poe, the latter being a
daughter of Andrew and Mary (Ott) Poe, who were
early settlers of Ross county. Through his mother,
Mr. Cryder
has relationship with Edgar Allen Poe, the famous
author and poet James Poe Cryder was reared on a
farm and attended school at Circleville and Chillicothe.
His first intention was to take holy orders and for a
while he studied for the ministry, but this was
eventually abandoned. Mr. Cryder's tastes were
naturally literary and he evidently inherited the turn
as well as talent for poetry, which so distinguished the
name of
Poe. Much of Mr. Cryder's time has been
expended in writing poetry and stories. He also owns a
farm which has had some share of his attention and he
has also been a book agent at times. In 1873 he removed
to Liberty township and that has ever since been his
home. In 1882 he was married to Marie, only
daughter of
Marion and Jane (Graves) Hagely, both of Ross
county.
Marion was a son of Henry and
Rebecca (Stevenson) Hagely and
grandson of Isaac Hagely, who came to Virginia
from Germany, but later removed to Ross county, where he
died.
Rebecca Stevenson was a daughter of
William
Stevenson and a Miss Davis, the
former being a second cousin of Robert Louis
Stevenson. Marion Hagely is still
living in Jefferson township1, his first wife having
died in 1864, leaving only the one child, Marie.
His second wife was Nancy Stratton, by
whom he; has two children, Annie P., and
Charles E. James Poe Cryder and his wife have a
family of three children. Of these Maud Ethel
was educated in the Londonderry high school and is now a
teacher. The other children are Genevene E., born
in 1885, and
Claud L., born in 1887. Mrs. Cryder is a
refined, educated lady, and taught school for several
years.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
JAMES
POE CRYDER,
of Gillespieville, was born in Springfield township,
Ross county, on October 26, 1851. His parents were
David H. Cryder and Caroline Poe, the latter
being a daughter of Andrew and Mary (Ott) Poe,
who were early settlers of Ross county. Through his
mother,
Mr. Cryder has relationship with Edgar Allen
Poe, the famous author and poet James Poe
Cryder was reared on a farm and attended school at
Circleville and Chillicothe. His first intention was to
take holy orders and for a while he studied for the
ministry, but this was eventually abandoned. Mr.
Cryder's tastes were naturally literary and he
evidently inherited the turn as well as talent for
poetry, which so distinguished the name of Poe.
Much of
Mr. Cryder's time has been expended in
writing poetry and stories. He also owns a farm which
has had some share of his attention and he has also been
a book agent at times. In 1873 he removed to Liberty
township and that has ever since been his home. In 1882
he was married to
Marie, only daughter of Marion and
Jane (Graves) Hagely, both of Ross
county. Marion was a son of Henry and
Rebecca (Stevenson) Hagely and
grandson of Isaac Hagely, who came to
Virginia from Germany, but later removed to Ross county,
where he died.
Rebecca Stevenson was a daughter of William
Stevenson and a Miss Davis, the
former being a second cousin of Robert Louis
Stevenson. Marion Hagely is still
living in Jefferson township, his first wife having died
in 1864, leaving only the one child, Marie. His
second wife was Nancy Stratton, by whom he
has two children, Annie P., and Charles E.
James Poe Cryder and his wife have a family of
three children. Of these Maud Ethel was educated
in the Londonderry high school and is now a teacher. The
other children are Genevene E., born in 1885, and
Claud L., born in 1887. Mrs. Cryder
is a refined, educated lady, and taught school for
several years.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
JOHN
CULL, well known in the
city politics of Chillicothe, is a member of an
extensive connection of that name which originated in
the famous "Emerald Isle." In the early part of the
nineteenth century one of those brave and bustling Irish
mothers of County Down found herself a widow with
several children and but limited means for their
support. The only hope was that held out by the land of
freedom across the water, and in this direction
accordingly Mrs. Cull
resolutely turned her face, accompanied by three
children, with whom she landed at New York City in 1837.
Previous to that time a son by the name of Daniel B.
Cull had begun study for the priesthood in Ireland,
subsequently left there for the United States and
continued his theological studies at Bardstown, Ky. In
due time he was ordained as a priest, sent to the
diocese of New York under Archbishop Hughes
and stationed at Saratoga, where he remained until his
death. When the other brothers, Roger, Charles
and John, reached American shores, they hastened
to Ohio, eventually located in Ross county and there all
of them ended their days. John lived a life of
bachelorhood; Roger
married and reared two children, a son and daughter,
both of whom are residents of Loveland, O. Charles
Cull, who was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1809,
engaged in the cooperage trade at Chillicothe, which he
followed steadily about eighteen years. In 1855, he
embarked in the hotel business at the corner of Water
and Hickory streets, which he conducted until the time
of his retirement in 1861. There lived in Mr. Cull's
native county in Ireland a family by the name of
McShane, who emigrated to this country some time
after the Culls
came over, and located in Perry county, O. Among the
children - was one named Mary, who grew up to be
a very attractive young lady, and to this neighbor from
old County Down Charles Cull was eventually married at
her Ohio home. Mrs. Cull died in 1894,
Mr.
Cull in October, 1896, and they were the parents of
a family of unusually bright and interesting children,
of whom the following are brief biographies: Daniel
B. Cull, Jr., the eldest son, was educated
for the priesthood and after being ordained was
stationed in the Columbus (Ohio) diocese where he served
until his death, which occurred in 1888. Charles W.,
second in order of birth, was reared in Chillicothe and
adopted railroad work for an occupation, which he has
always followed, for the last twenty-five years being a
resident of Montgomery county, O. John Cull
was born in Chillicothe, O., in 1854, here grew to
manhood and was engaged for a number of years in
railroad work on different lines and at different
places. In 1891, he abandoned this calling and returned
to his native city where he has since resided. He served
one term as councilman from the sixth ward and in the
spring of 1901 was elected city street commissioner for
a term of two years. Edward J., fourth of the
Cull
brothers, was also born and bred in Chillicothe, and in
early life became a member of the newspaper profession,
to which he has since devoted his energies. For many
years he has been connected with the
Scrips-McRae
League publications, with headquarters at Cincinnati and
Cleveland. Mary Cull was reared and has
always lived in Chillicothe; Margaret
and Anna L. are members of the order of Sisters
of Charity; Elizabeth was graduated as a trained
nurse at the Good Samaritan hospital in Cincinnati and
is employed there in the line of her calling.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
CHARLES
CUNNINGHAM,
deputy sheriff and turnkey of Ross county, was born in
Green county, O., March 13, 1868. His parents were
Isaac and Martha (Bradford) Cunningham, both native
Ohioans, the former of Ross and the latter of Athens
county. For many years the father was a business man in
Chillicothe, but is now retired. Besides Charles
there are two children, William being a liveryman in
Chillicothe and Jennie the wife of H. C.
Powell, of the same place. Charles
Cunningham
received his education in the schools of Chillicothe and
was graduated from the high school in 1883. Shortly
thereafter he went to Washington, D. C, and served one
year as messenger in the house of representatives.
Returning home in the spring of 1885, he was employed in
his father's business until January 7, 1901, when he was
appointed by Sheriff Devine as deputy and
turnkey of the county jail, the duties of which position
he is at present performing. In 1890, Mr. Cunningham
was married to Nellie, daughter of John
Doll, of Chillicothe, and graduate of the city high
school. She is a practical hairdresser by occupation,
and owner of a hair store on High street. Both husband
and wife are members of the Episcopal church, and he is
a Democrat in his political views. Ralph, who was
born in May, 1891, is the only child of Mr. and Mrs.
Cunningham.
Source #1 - The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett -
Published by S. A. Brant, Madison, Wis., 1902 |
ARTHUR
G. CURRY is a native of
Bourneville, Ross county, O., where he was born on
November 26, 1871. He is the son of George B. Curry,
whose father died when he was seven years old and on
whose young shoulders the family responsibility devolved
as soon as he was old enough to work. He was engaged at
labor by the month until his marriage to Nancy
Summers, when he went to housekeeping on a rented
farm. He farmed exclusively for about twenty years, when
he embarked in the threshing and saw mill business.
George and
Nancy Curry had nine children, whose names
are
Emma, William R., Arthur G., Ida M.,
Anna, John, Harry, Sherman and Abraham.
Arthur G. remained at home until his marriage to
Miss Artie Daugherty, which took place
on June 6, 1895. Mrs. Curry was a native
of Highland county, Ohio, and there the newly married
couple lived for two years, when Mr. Curry
purchased the 165 acres in Twin township where he now
lives and has since made that his home. He is, however,
more interested in the timber business than farming,
though the latter is not neglected.
He learned the blacksmith's trade and followed it for
four years, but was compelled to give it up on account
of ill health. Mr. and Mrs. Curry have three
children, whose names are Orien, Darrell
and Ethel.
Source: The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio
by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison,
Wis., 1902 - Page |
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