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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
COMMEMORATIVE
BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
of the Counties of
HARRISON AND CARROLL, OHIO
Containing
Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative
Citizens, and of Many of the Early
Settled Families.
ILLUSTRATED
Publ.
CHICAGO:
J. H. Beers & Co.
1891
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WILLIAM DAVIS (deceased).
The family, of whom the subject of this sketch was a member, trace their
origin to Pennsylvania, of which State they were for many years resident
prior to coming to Ohio. For the most part they were agriculturists,
though some followed other vocations. William Davis,
father of the gentleman of whom this sketch is written, was a native of the
Keystone State, where he received his education, and was married to Mary
Maguire. Soon afterward they came to Ohio, and here purchased a
farm, where they carried on general agriculture and stock-raising. Six
children came to bless their home, viz.: James, Sarah (Mrs.
Samuel Black), Ruth, Luke, Thomas and William,
all now dead except Luke and Thomas. The father lived to
a ripe old age, and died much regretted by all who knew him; he was in
politics first a Whig, and then, on the formation of the party, a
Republican.
William Davis, whose name opens this
sketch, was born in 1817, in Pennsylvania, where he spent his early life,
and when his parents came to Ohio he accompanied them. He received a
good common school education in his native State, and soon after coming to
Ohio he commenced farming for his own account. In 1846 he was married
to Calista, daughter of Mankin R. and Ceny Roby, former
of whom was an early settler of Harrison Township, Carroll County, and died
Jan. 4, 1877, aged eighty-seven years and four days (he was a soldier in the
Revolution); his wife died Oct. 21, 1872, aged eighty-eight years, nine
months and twenty days. Our subject and wife, immediately after
marriage, settled on their present place, which, by faithful hard work, they
improved, the farm being now one of the best in the neighborhood. The
record of the children born to them is as follows: Margaret, died
Nov. 23, 1856; George, died June 29, 1865; Mary (Mrs. J. B.
Foutz), died Apr. 13, 1873; Cenie (Mrs. William Clemens),
died Feb. 20, 1890; those living are Mankin R.; Sallie (Mrs.
J. A. Orin); Kate (Mrs. S. H. Herron), and Ida B. (Mrs.
D. E. Bracken).
In politics, first a Whig and afterward a Republican,
Mr. Davis always took an active and leading part in the
success of his party, and was recognized as a leader among their counselors.
Often solicited to accept office, he yet invariably refused, though well
fitted by education and training to fill any public position of trust.
Mr. Davis was essentially a self-made man
and a representative citizen. He was ever actively interested in the
advancement of his township, especially in matters of religion, education
and politics. He was an honest man, respected by all for his
integrity, and honored for his uprightness. He died Aug. 18, 1881,
aged sixty-four years, eight months and eight days.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Records of the counties of Harrison and
Carroll, Ohio - Illustrated - Published: Chicago - J. H. Beers & Co.
- 1891 - Page 1080 |
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WILLIAM
DeFORD, for fifty six years an industrious farmer of Washington
Township, Carroll Co., Ohio, was born near Uniontown, Fayette Co., Penn.,
Apr. 28, 1807. Jean De Ford and his wife, Marie, nee
Marchand, were Huguenots, or French Protestants, and the only members of
their family that were. On the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by
the French tyrant, Louis XIV., in 1686, they fled from the city of
Toulouse, France, to save their lives, to Kent County, Md., where freedom of
conscience was enjoyed. They were then very young, in the twenties
only. They had just been married, and had no children when they landed
in Maryland in 1686, or 1687 After coming to America they had born to
them thirteen sons and one daughter. The daughter married a merchant
in Philadelphia, named Merchant. From the thirteen sons all the
DeFords in America are descended. The first settler, Jean
(or John) De Ford, was the great-grandfather of the
subject of this sketch. John De Ford, grandfather of William,
was an officer in the Revolutionary War, and was ruined by it, the bulk of
his fortune consisting of a large bundle of Continental money, which was
worthless at the close of the struggle. He then migrated from Kent
County, Md., to Fayette County, Penn., then called Westmoreland
County, Va. He had two sons, John and Merchant. He lived
near Redstone Creek, Penn., and was killed by an accident. He had
taken a grist on a horse to a ill on that creek, and was taking it home,
leading the horse. Having to cross the creek, he threw himself across
the horse in front of the grist to be carried over. Being a large
heavy man, his weight thus resting on his chest burst a blood vessel in his
body, and he bled to death.
The Huguenot Bible brought from France by the De
Fords was bound in canvas-covered boards, with bronze hinges and
clasps, with our subject's first ancestor's family set down in it by
himself. It is now in Baltimore. The second cousin of
William, John De Ford, still owns the land on which the first settler
lived, near Circleville, Kent Co., Md. A large number of the
descendants of the original De Ford family still reside
near Toulouse, France.
John De Ford, father of William, was
eighteen years old, when his parents came to Pennsylvania, and after a time
he worked for a Mr. Stevens several years. In 1799 he became
united in marriage with Miss Nancy Hopwood, who was
born in Maryland in 1785, a daughter of John Hopwood, a
Baptist minister, then a resident of Fayette County, Penn. To them
were born six children, as follows: Hannah, deceased; John, in
Washington Township, Carroll County; William; Mrs. Harriet
Bromfield, residing in Kansas; Elizabeth and Daniel, deceased. The
mother died in 1815, a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
a few years later Mr. De Ford married Miss Lydia
Bromfield, a native of Pennsylvania. This union was blessed
with one son, who resides near Kansas City, and whose mother died in 1838.
In 1811 Mr. De Ford came to Ohio, and entered 160 acres
of land in what is now Augusta Township, Carroll County, and then returned
to his home in Pennsylvania. He was a hard-working, economical man,
and as soon as he could save money enough to buy, he would come to Ohio and
enter a piece of land; the last transaction of this nature being in 1826,
having by that time accumulated 900 acres in all. For forty years he
kept a hotel at the foot of Laurel Hill, in Fayette County, Penn., near
Hopwood, named after the grandfather of our subject, but now called Monroe.
In 1842 he came to Ohio, finally settling on the farm where his son John
now lives, in Washington Township, Carroll County, and here he died on
Christmas day, 1873, at the age of one hundred and two years. For many
years he was a member of the Protestant Methodist Church, and in politics he
was Democratic.
William De Ford, whose name appears at the head
of this sketch, was reared to manhood in Fayette County, Penn., and attended
the common schools and Madison College, at Uniontown, Penn., of which
Rev. Henry B. Bascon was then
Source: Commemorative Biographical
Records of the counties of Harrison and Carroll, Ohio - Illustrated -
Published: Chicago - J. H. Beers & Co. - 1891 - Page 841 |
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JOHN W. DENNIS Source: Commemorative Biographical
Records of the counties of Harrison and Carroll, Ohio - Illustrated -
Published: Chicago - J. H. Beers & Co. - 1891 - Page 1053 |
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THOMAS G.
DONALDSON, a prominent agriculturist and leading
citizen of Fox Township, Carroll County, was born Sept. 18, 1841, at
Scroggsfield, Ohio. His father, Rev. John Donaldson, a native
of Scotland, born in 1787, was reared on his father's farm, and received his
primary education at the principal schools of the neighborhood, which was
supplemented by a course of study at the world-famed seat of learning, the
University of Edinburgh, where he took his degree in the classical course.
The bent of his study was theology, and after leaving college he was
licensed to preach the gospel in the Secession Church of Scotland. In
1816 he came to the United States, having as a fellow passenger on the
vessel an old college classmate, Rev. Peter Bullions, D. D., the
author of the far-famed Bullions' Latin and Greek Grammars and Readers.
After his arrival in this country he (Rev. John Donaldson) was
married to Miss Hildred Goodwillie, a daughter of Rev. David
Goodwillie, of Barnet, Vt. , to which union were born seven children, of
whom Beatrice Spear R. B. Donaldson, David Donaldson
and John A. Donaldson are yet living. One of the sons,
William, went to California about the year 1850, and has not been heard
from for upward of thirty years. The other children died in infancy.
Rev. John Donaldson first preached in the land of his
adoption, in Vermont, and other Eastern points, but finally came to Ohio,
here to labor in the vineyard. After coming to Ohio, his first
pastorate was over the congregation of Truro (now Reynoldsburg), near
Columbus, Ohio. After laboring here for several years he removed, and
about the year 1824, became pastor of the united charge of Scroggsfield,
Yellow Creek and Glade Run. His first wife had died at their home on
the farm on which his son, Thomas G., now resides, and afterward he
became united in marriage with Miss Jane Hamill, whose parents were
natives of Pennsylvania, and the result of this union was two children,
Francis M. and Thomas G. The father died Dec. 31, 1871, in
his eighty-fifth year, and the mother June 28, 1884, in her eighty-fourth
year. Mr. Donaldson's life had been one of untiring,
unselfish devotion to the cause of Christ, and of honorable example to his
fellow-men, ever conspicuous for his uprightness and integrity, and he was
an avowed champion of education, in fact everything tending to the
improvement of the condition of the community at large.
The subject proper of this biographical memoir was
reared among the scenes of a quiet, rural home, blessed in having before him
in childhood, boyhood and youth, the example of a parent, who instructed his
young mind how to appreciate noble deeds and a life of rectitude.
After attending select school he commenced teaching, a profession he
followed several years. On Sept. 25, 1865, he, Thomas G. Donaldson,
was married to Sarah R. George (daughter of Andrews George,
of Scroggsfield, Ohio, by his first wife, Annie Robbins), who
was born Nov. 17, 1845, and who is the mother of eleven children, two of
whom: Annie and Francis, are deceased. The names and
dates of birth of those yet living, and who are still under the paternal
roof, are as follows: John G., Apr. 16, 1867; Jennie E.,
Jan. 22, 1871; A. G., Mar. 16, 1875; Sarah Bell, Apr. 14,
1877; Minnie D., Fe. 23, 1879; Walter M., June 20, 1881;
Ida E., Sept. 21, 1883; Thomas R., may 17, 1886, and Bertha N.,
Aug. 25, 1889.
Mr. Donaldson is the owner of 167 acres of prime
land in Fox Township, and carries on general farming, his attention being
largely devoted to the breeding of fine-wool sheep. He and his family
are members of the United Presbyterian Church. Mr. Donaldson
is a stanch Republican, and has filled many offices of trust in his
township, having been a justice of the peace twenty years, and a director of
the Carroll County Agricultural Association six years.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Records of the counties of Harrison and
Carroll, Ohio - Illustrated - Published: Chicago - J. H. Beers & Co.
- 1891 - Page 828 |
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JOSIAH
E. DOWNS, the leading representative of the family of that name which
has so long been prominent in the history and development of Rose Township,
Carroll Co., Ohio, was born in Rose Township Mar. 8, 1830. His father,
Josiah Downs, was a native of Virginia. John Downs,
father of Josiah, and grandfather of Josiah E., was born in
Maryland, married Sarah Underbill, of the same State, and
later settled in Virginia; to this union were born George, William,
Josiah, Theophilus, Mary, Charity and
Elizabeth. The family came to Ohio, and were among the earliest
settlers of Stark County, where the father entered a farm, on which he and
wife passed the remaining days of their life. He was a member of
the Episcopalian Church, and in politics was a Democrat.
Josiah Downs, father of our subject, came
to Ohio with his parents, and some time afterward entered eighty acres where
Josiah E. now resides, and on which he erected a log cabin in 1824.
He married Elizabeth Elson, daughter of Henry Elson,
and this union was blessed with two children: Sarah A. (deceased) and
Josiah E. (our subject). The father died in 1829, and the widow
continued to conduct the farm until her second marriage, in 1842, with
Levi Williams.
Josiah E. Downs received the usual amount of
schooling inculcated in his early days, and at the age of eighteen assumed
the management of the home farm, which he has since greatly improved and
brought to its present condition of fertility. Nov. 5, 1850, he
married Hannah, daughter of James Miller, who was born
in Brooke County, W. Va., Jan. 11, 1801, and who married Rachel
Knots, and soon after came to Ohio. To the marriage of Mr.
Miller were born six children, viz.: William, Druscilla
and Hannah (twins), Isaac, James and Jonathan.
In politics Mr. Miller was a Whig, originally, but later
became a Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Downs, immediately on
marrying, settled down to housekeeping on the home farm, on which they still
reside. The children born to them are named as follows: Sarah (Mrs.
Daniel Davis), James, Amanda (Mrs. William Sweany), Jonathan, Rachel J.
(Mrs. John Moreland), Druscilla (Mrs. Charles Leydia). Ruth (Mrs. Philip
Ward), Edson C. and Dallas D. Like his father Mr.
Downs has always taken an active part in politics, acting with the
Democratic party. While connected with no church, he is yet a liberal
supporter of all measures tending to the advancement of the cause of
religion in his township and county, and his deeds of charity are unstinted,
although not made public.
Source: Commemorative Biographical
Records of the counties of Harrison and Carroll, Ohio - Illustrated -
Published: Chicago - J. H. Beers & Co. - 1891 - Page 840 |
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H. D. DUNLAP Source: Commemorative Biographical
Records of the counties of Harrison and Carroll, Ohio - Illustrated -
Published: Chicago - J. H. Beers & Co. - 1891 - Page 1139 |
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JOHN DUNLAP Source: Commemorative Biographical Records
of the counties of Harrison and Carroll, Ohio - Illustrated - Published:
Chicago - J. H. Beers & Co. - 1891 - Page 948 |
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SAMUEL DUNLAP Source: Commemorative Biographical
Records of the counties of Harrison and Carroll, Ohio - Illustrated -
Published: Chicago - J. H. Beers & Co. - 1891 - Page 966 |
NOTES:
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