BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History
of
Athens County, Ohio
And Incidentally
of the Ohio Land Company
and the First Settlement of the State at Marietta
with personal and biographical sketches of the early
settlers, narratives of pioneer adventures, etc.
By
Charles M. Walker
"Forsam et hæc olim
meminisse juvabit." - Virgil.
Publ. Cincinnati:
Robert Clarke & Co.
1869.
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1869 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >
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DYAR SELBY, born in New York
in 1784, came to Ohio at an early day, and about 1833 settled in Bern
township - has been township trustee and justice of the peace. His
descendants live in Bern.
Source: History of Athens County, Ohio - By Charles M. Walker,
Publ. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1869 - Page 440 |
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CHARLES SHIPMAN, for more than twenty years an
active and leading citizen of Athens, was born in Saybrook, Connecticut,
August 28, 1787. He came to Marietta, with his father's family, in 1790,
and they remained in the "stockade" during the Indian war. Colonel
Shipman
came to the town of Athens in 1813, and engaged in merchandising, in which
line his business talent and popular manners soon gave him decided
prominence, and ultimately large success. In early times he visited
Philadelphia for the purchase of goods, once every year, and sometimes
twice a year, always on horseback. Some of the old citizens of Athens
still remember the fine sorrel horse, long owned by Colonel Shipman, on
which he thus made nineteen trips from Athens to Philadelphia and back.
Colonel Shipman was a man of fine social qualities, genial manners, and
benevolent heart. He was the first, or one of the first, merchants in this
part of the state to discard the sale of intoxicating drinks, to stop the
practice of " treating" customers, and to engage actively in the
temperance cause. He was, during the most of his life, a professor of
religion, and for many years a ruling elder of the Presbyterian church of
Athens.
Colonel Shipman (he was elected colonel of a militia regiment during his
residence at Athens) married Frances White Dana, of Belpre, in 1811. She
died in 1813. The only issue of this marriage was a son, William C. Shipman, for many years past a citizen of New Albany, Indiana. In 1815 he
married Joanna, the eldest daughter of Esquire Henry Bartlett, who is
still living in Marietta. Colonel Shipman left Athens in 1836 to reside at
Marietta, where he died July 7, 1860.
Source: History of Athens County, Ohio - By Charles M. Walker,
Publ. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1869 - Page 294
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WILLIAM SICKLES,
born in Pennsylvania, May 1st, 1802, came to Athens county in 1805, with his
father's family, and settled on the Thomas Grim farm in Waterloo.
After two years they removed to Alexander and settled on the Peter Long
farm, where they lived about twenty-three years, and afterwards several
years again in Waterloo. When a young man Mr. Sickles has
killed as many as five deer in one day. In one autumn he killed in the
aggregate forty-nine deer. Joseph Bobo, of Lodi, and Abram
Gabriel each killed in that season the same number - forty-nine.
He remembers when there was but one house on the road between Alexander and
the present town of Jackson, then called Scioto Salt Works. He has
ground a great many bushels of corn in a hand mill made of two stones; the
upper one revolved on the lower by means of a short handle let into the
edge.
Source: History of Athens County, Ohio - By Charles M.
Walker, Publ. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1869 - Page 60 |
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JOSEPH
SIMMONS was born in Pennsylvania in 1772, and settled in
Canaan township in 1797. He says:
"The forests were full of game, and we could kill all the wild meat
we wanted, but salt was the great need. However, we had to
have it, and used to pack it on horses from the salt licks (over
forty miles), at the rate of $4.00 a bushel, bitter water included.
We raised corn, and we had a little hand mill to grind our hominy
and meal for mush. There was a little tub mill on
Margaret's creek and one on Duck creek (Washington county), but none
on Hockhocking. The number of males within the present limits
of the township was six or seven, during the year after I came
here."
Source: History of Athens County, Ohio - By Charles M.
Walker, Publ. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1869 - Page 445 |
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CAPT.
PHILIP M. STARR, a native of Middletown, Connecticut, came to
the town of Athens in 1801, where for several years he followed the
mercantile business. Later he located on a rich and valuable
farm on the river three miles below Athens where he died in 1857.
Capt. Starr was a very active business man, and of more than
average mental culture. He had considerable means when he came
to the county, and though never in public life he was a man of
influence among the early settlers. He devoted the latter part
of his life to horticulture and fruit growing, in which he was notably
successful.
Source: History of Athens County, Ohio - By Charles M.
Walker, Publ. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1869 - Page 266 |
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ABEL STEDMAN, son of Judge
Alexander Stedman, was born at Newbridge, Vermont, February 26, 1785, and came to the town of Athens in
1802. In 1811 he married Miss Sally Foster. In 1812 he enlisted in the
United States service, and on the march from Sandusky to Chillicothe he
marched next in the ranks to Thomas Corwin. Returning to Athens he engaged
in his trade of house carpenter, and passed the rest of his days here. He
was a man of active temperament and untiring industry, a professing
Christian and full of good works. He died December 20, 1859.
Source: History of Athens County, Ohio - By Charles M. Walker, Publ.
Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1869 - Page 84 |
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LEWIS
STEENROD was born in a block house at Wheeling, Virginia, in
June, 1791, came to Ohio in 1805, and resided in Muskingum county
about eight miles east of Zanesville for over forty years. In
1850 he removed with his family to Nelsonville where he died Dec.
10, 1860. "Father" Steenrod, as he was called, was a man of
benevolent heart and gentle life. He was a member of the
Baptist church, having united with that organization in 1812.
Some of his descendants remain in the county.
Source: History of Athens County, Ohio - By Charles M.
Walker, Publ. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1869 - Page 547 |
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DANIEL
STEWART was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, Nov. 18, 1762.
When fifteen years old he enlisted as a soldier in the revolutionary
army, and served till the close of the war. He then removed to
Sussex county, New Jersey, where he engaged successfully in business
for several yeas and accumulated some means. In 1801 he
exchanged his property in New Jersey for two shares in the Ohio
Company's purchase and closed out his business with a view to moving
west. Colonel William Stewart, a son who accompanied
his father to Ohio, says:
"In October, 1802, father returned to
the old farm to rig out a team for emigration to the northwestern
territory. The preparations having been completed, a day and
hour were set for starting. At the appointed time, 8 o'clock
a.m., about a hundred friends and neighbors from all quarters came
flocking in to bid us farewell, and I shall never forget the scene
that followed. They all thought we were going so far beyond the
world's boundary that we should never be heard of again. The
hubbub lasted till 5 o'clock in the afternoon before father could
say good by with a strong voice, and then we started. Went
three miles and camped for the night. The next morning we
moved on. The teams were heavily loaded and the roads
tolerable till we approached the Alleghany mountains when they
became terribly rough and dangerous. Crossing the mountains
the family were afraid to ride in the wagons and, therefore, walked
this part of the way. At the very steep descents father would
cut saplings, fasten them top foremost to the tail of the wagon and
then go down, depending on the saplings as a break. The
journey was a long, wearisome and dangerous one, but we finally
reached the Hockhocking in safety."
This was in the winter. Mr. Stewart settled
on a fine tract of land on the river about a mile above the mouth of
Federal creek. Possessing considerable means, great energy, and
uncommon business talent, he soon had the best farm in the
county. As early as 1810 he had an orchard of three thousand
bearing fruit trees - two thousand peach, and one thousand apple
trees at that time probably the largest orchard in the state.
As his means increased so did his benevolence and public spirit.
In business he left no points unguarded, and no man could defraud or
overreach him with impunity; but if he husbanded closely he gave
liberally, and was always accessible to the claims of the really
needy, and of educational and religious movements. He was one
of the first two justices of the peace in the township (Elijah
Hatch being the other), and acted as such, altogether, more than
twenty years. He was county commissioner for many years, and
was appointed by the legislature one of the early appraisers of the
college lands, Captain Joshua Wyatt and John Brown
being the other two. Few men have left more decided marks
on the history of the county, in its social and business affairs,
than Mr. Stewart. An active member of the Methodist
church for sixty years of his life he always contributed liberally
to the support of its ministers and teh erection of churches.
He died Feb. 20, 1858.
Mr. Stewart had fourteen children, viz:
Andrew, William, Charles, John, Ezra, George, Louis, Sarah, Mary
Lucinda, Harriet, Alexander, Daniel B., and Hiram. One of
these, the Rev. John Stewart, has been a traveling preacher
in the Methodist church for fifty years. Another, Ezra
Stewart, married Harriet, daughter of Esquire Henry
Bartlett, in 1826, and spent his life in the mercantile business
in Athens. He was a man of wonderful energy and endurance, and
his unusual capacity for business is well remembered. He died
in Athens, Nov. 28, 1858. William Stewart came to this
county with his father's family in 1802, and lived here nearly forty
years. When seventeen years old he was elected a lieutenant in
the militia, and was captain of a company raised here in 1812, which
expected to be but was not called into the service. Some years
later he was appointed a colonel. The contract for erecting
the Ohio university buildings was awarded to him in 1817, and
several years later the contract for building the county jail. In
1840 he removed to Lee county, Iowa. In 1847 he was elected
superintendent of the common schools in that state, and during that
and the next year organized one hundred and five school districts.
He has held other public offices in Iowa.
Source: History of Athens County, Ohio - By Charles M.
Walker, Publ. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1869 - Page 510 |
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DANIEL B.
STEWART, son of Daniel, was born on the old Stewart
farm in Rome township, Sept. 26, 1812. The first school he
remembers and which he attended was kept by Jabez Bowman, on
the hill about a quarter of a mile below the old homestead.
This school was supported by contributions of its patrons. As
he grew up Mr. Stewart developed a great fondness for
machinery, and was never happier than when managing or handling it.
He finally obtained his father's consent that he should go into the
mill at Savannah as manager. Here he succeeded admirably, and
without any instruction. After he had run this mill about two
years he bought it of his father, run it two years more and then
sold it to James E. and William T. Hatch. The
next two years he lived in Meigs county, engaging in the mercantile
business at Rutland with his brother Alexander.
Returning to this county he started a store at Coolville, and also
bought the saw mill on the river two miles below Savannah.
This was in 1836. In 1837 the mill was burned. Mr.
Stewart rebuilt it in 1838, putting in at that time the first
patent Parker wheel used on the Hockhocking. In 1842 he
added a grist mill, and in 1844 a woolen factory to the property.
In 1864 he sold these mills, and in 1867 removed to the town of
Athens, where he owns the old Miles or Gregory mill,
and has added to it a woolen factory. Though not among
the largest this factory is one of the best arranged and most
complete in the country, and may challenge comparison with any of
its size to be found east and west. It is capable of carding
and spinning three hundred pounds of wool daily, and when the looms
are all in, can make six hundred yards of cloth a day.
Mr. Stewart has been one of the most energetic
and useful business men in the county. At one time he was the
owner of four mills on the Hockhocking, and part of the time also
cultivated five farms hundred bushels of wheat in one year. He
served as justice of the peace, twenty-one years, and in 1860 was
chosen presidential elector for this district.
Source: History of Athens County, Ohio - By Charles M.
Walker, Publ. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1869 - Page 513 |
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THORNTON
SWART, born in Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1793, settled in
this township in 1838 on Possum run, adjoining Owen Gifford's
place. Mr. S. served in the war of 1812. He
now resides with his son.
Source: History of Athens County, Ohio - By Charles M.
Walker, Publ. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1869 - Page 440 |
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