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BIOGRAPHIES
(Transcribed by Sharon Wick)
 Source:
History of Ashland County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical
Sketches,
by George William Hill, M.D. -
Published by Williams Bros.
-1880 -
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ROBERT
NEWELL, a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania,
is believed to have located in the east part of Montgomery
township in 1811. He had resided for two or three years on
White Eyes plains, near the present site of Newcomerstown, in
Tuscarawas county, Ohio. He is believed to have erected the
first cabin in Montgomery township. It was situated on what
has since been known as the Hugh McGuire farm, some five
miles southeast of Ashland. In the fall of 1812, after the
Ruffner - Zimmer - Copus tragedies on the Black fork, the
cabins of Mr. Newell, Mr. Cuppy, and Mr. Fry,
further up a branch of the same stream, were burned by the
Indians, while the families of the above - mentioned pioneers
sought safety at the fort or Jerome's place, now the village of
Jeromeville. After peace had been declared, Mr. Newell
re-erected and continued to improve his farm, which he finally
sold to the late Hugh McGuire, and located one mile north
of Olivesburgh, in Richland county, where he deceased in 1848, at
an advanced age. When Montgomery township was associated
with Vermillion township for civil purposes, from 1814 to 1816,
Mr. Newell, from Montgomery, and James Wallace, from
Vermillion, were elected justices of the peace. Upon the
organization of Montgomery in 1816, Mr. Newell lost his
office. He is represented as having been a clever, whole-souled
pioneer, but in point of education quite illiterate. He
could not write and consequently kept no docket. There was
but little litigation in those days, and it was the habit of
Squire Newell to appoint a day and cite the plaintiff and
defendant to appear before him. When the parties had
assembled, he required them to state, under oath, the nature of
their claims, and having partially heard both sides, required an
equitable and peaceable adjustment of the dispute. It is
related, that on some occasions, money being exceedingly scarce,
and whiskey being a "legal-tender," it was decided that a gallon
of that article should be provided by the winning party for the
crowd, and the case be dismissed, with the injunction that in the
future the litigants should be neighbors and friends. Mr.
Newell was a very liberal officer. He rarely charged for
his services. Constable Kline, who served under him,
being a poor man, had to exact his fees.
The sons of Mr. Newell were: Absalom,
Franklin, Samuel, Zachariah and Jesse. The
daughters were two - Mrs. Jonathan Edy and Mrs. Lloyd
Edy, of Richland county. The sons all moved west, most
of them to Iowa, where some of them yet reside. Like
Robert Newell, their father, they were all large rugged men,
and preferred the rough and tumble of a new country. Like
the Lattas, the Mackleys, the Uries, and
hundreds of others of the early settlers, they were formidable men
at a military muster, and cabin raising, a political meeting or
any other gathering where physical force was brought into
question. The days of the giants are no more! The race
of backwoodsmen has departed. Feebler men occupy their
places.
Source:
History of Ashland County, Ohio with Illustrations and
Biographical Sketches, by George William Hill, M.D. - Published
by Williams Bros. 1880 - Page 173 |
ANDREW
NEWMAN was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1778.
He was of German descent, the original name being Neumann.
He emigrated to Richland, then Fairfield county, in 1806, and
settled on the Rocky fork of Mohican, in Mifflin township, about
three and a half miles below the present site of Mansfield.
Here he was joined by Jacob Beam and other pioneers.
When the war of 1812 was declared, and the border settlers
menaced by the Indians on the Black fork and Jerome fork, Mr.
Newman assisted in the erection of a block-house, known as
"Beam's," to which the settlers fled for safety. At the
time of hte removal of the Green and Jerometown Indians, Mr.
Newman was engaged in building a saw-mill on the Rocky fork.
In this work he was aided by William and Richard Roberts,
of Knox county. The night the Zimmers and
Ruffner were slain by the Indians, Mr. Newman
fancied that the savages were in the vicinity of his cabin, for
the reason that his big dog kept up such a disturbance.
The hands got their guns in readiness, expecting to be attacked
momentarily. Newman labored under unusual
excitement, and in attempting to load his gun spilled the
powder. Mr. Newman called to his aid Mr.
Shearer; exclaiming, "py sure I will spill all my powter.
Shearer, you loads mine gun." The guns were loaded,
and the score-axes placed in reach, to repel the savages
if they attempted to enter the cabin. There was no more
sleep that night. The next morning James Copus, John
Lambright, Frederick Zimmer, and Isaac Hill and
families, arrived at Beam's block house, and reported
that Ruffner and the Zimmer family had been
killed. Upon examination about the forebay of the
mill-race, which had just been raised, several moccasin tracks
were discovered, and the evidence was clear that the Indians had
meditated an attack there, but feared the Newman party were too
strong. There were but four men at Newman's -
himself, Mr. Shearer, and the two Roberts brothers.
Within an hour after hearing of the massacre, Newman got
up his team and fled to the block-house at Mansfield. The
Roberts brothers, with a few soldiers from Captain
Martin's company, which was stationed at Beam's
block-house, rode over and examined the scene at Zimmers,
and helped bury the victims of Indian vengeance. Mr.
Newman remained in Mifflin township until the fall of 1825,
when he purchased of Samuel McBride the farm upon which
he afterwards erected a grist-mill, being the property more
recently known as the Joseph Boyd mill, in the northeast
part of Vermillion township. After disposing of the mill
property he purchased a farm near the south line of the
township, where he deceased Jan. 20, 1861, aged eighty-three
years. The surviving members of his family were William
and James H. Newman, neither of whom reside in this
county. James removed in the spring of 1876 to the
vicinity of Hillsboro, Ohio.
Source:
History of Ashland County, Ohio with Illustrations and
Biographical Sketches, by George William Hill, M.D. - Published
by Williams Bros. 1880. - Page 166 |
JOHN
NORRIS was born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, January
25, 1807, came to Ohio in 1823, and first settled on the farm now
owned by Henry Cooper, in Mohican township. He held the office of
supervisor several terms. He was a member of the Presbyterian
church twenty-two years, but is at present connected with the
United Brethren church. In 1829 he married Mary Smith, of Lake
township. He was the father of six children, only two of whom are
living, viz.: Mary A., wife of Darby Taylor, of Ashland county,
and Joseph B., who married Phebe Lee, and lives in Perrysville.
Source:
History of Ashland County, Ohio with Illustrations and
Biographical Sketches, by George William Hill, M.D. - Published
by Williams Bros. 1880 - Page 278 |
JOSEPH
B. NORRIS, son of John Norris, was born in Ashland county
in 1848, and, in 1870, married Phebe I. Lee. He has been engaged
in farming all his life, and is a member of the United Brethren
church. In politics he is a Republican. He is the father of three
children, viz.: Mary J., John L., and Joseph W.
Source:
History of Ashland County, Ohio with Illustrations and
Biographical Sketches, by George William Hill, M.D. - Published
by Williams Bros. 1880 - Page 278 |
WILLIAM
NORRIS was born in Maryland in 1781, came to Ohio from
Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, in 1823, and first settled on the
farm now owned by John L. Metcalf. In 1805 he married Mary
Hornoc
He was a captain in the war of 1812. He was a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church. In politics he was an old-line Whig.
He was the father of twelve children, of whom five are living,
viz.: John; Nancy, wife of George Miller, of Holmes county;
Joseph, who married Susan Young, and lives in Ashland county;
Matilda, who married Lemuel Burgh, and afterwards
Thomas Urie, and
lives in Michigan; and Margaret, wife of Hiram Watson, of Knox
county, Ohio.
Source:
History of Ashland County, Ohio with Illustrations and
Biographical Sketches, by George William Hill, M.D. - Published
by Williams Bros. 1880 - Page 278 |
NOTES:
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