|
BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio
-
Vol. II -
Under the Editorial Supervision of Judge H. J. Eckley
- Illustrated
-
Published by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago and New York
1921
< CLICK HERE
to RETURN to 1921 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >
< CLICK HERE to GO to LIST of
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES >
|
|
THOMAS
RAINSBERGER is a sterling citizen who is specially entitled to
consideration in this publication, for he is not only one of the venerable
native sons of Carroll County, a representative of an honored pioneer family
and known for his worthy achievement in connection with farm industry, but
he is also a man whose character and ability have gained to him inviolable
esteem in the county which has ever represented his home. He resides
on and continues in the general supervision of his excellent farm of sixty
acres in Monroe Township, some distance from Sherodsville, from which
village the farm receives service on rural mail route No. 1.
On the old homestead farm of his father, in Monroe
Township, this county, Thomas Rainsberger was born July 27, 1849, a
son of John and Patience (Davis) Rainsberger, the former of German
and the latter of Welsh ancestry. John Rainsberger,
great-grandfather of Thomas Rainsberger, was born and reared in
Germany and was a young man when he immigrated to America and established
his home in Pennsylvania. From that commonwealth he went forth as a
loyal soldier of the Continental Line in the War of the Revolution, and
after the war he continued his residence in Pennsylvania, as a farmer, until
the close of his life. His son John, grandfather of him whose
name initiates this article, became the founder of the family in Carroll
County, Ohio, where he established his residence in 1812, more than a
quarter of a century before this county was created. He obtained a
quarter-section of government land near the present village of Sherodsville,
in Orange Township, and he reclaimed from the forest wilds a productive
farm,, this place having continued to be his home until his death, in1842,
at the patriarchal age of ninety-seven years. This sterling pioneer
endured his full share of the hardships and heavy labors that fell to the
early settlers of this section of the state, and contributed his quota to
the initial development of Carroll County. In the earlier period of
his residence here he found it necessary to make his way on horseback to
Syracuse, New York, to obtain the salt required in the proper maintenance of
his live stock. He was born in Pennsylvania, on the 25th of June,
1790. Mr. Rainsberger married Miss Susan Albaugh, a
member of the representative pioneer family of that name in Jefferson
County, Ohio. In July, 1819, the father of Mrs. Rainsberger
took up 146 acres of Government land in what is now Monroe Township, Carroll
County, which section was then included in Jefferson County, and here the
family home was established in a pioneer log cabin. Mr. Albaugh
continued to reside on this farm until his death, in an epidemic of fever,
in 1835, his children having been eight in number. It was in the
pioneer home of Mr. Albaugh that was organized the little religious
society which was the nucleus of the Methodist Episcopal Church at
Leavittsville, Carroll County.
John Rainsberger (III), father of the subject of
this sketch, was born on the pioneer homestead farm in the present Orange
Township, and the year of his nativity was 1821. Here he passed his
entire life, and as a farmer and as a loyal and substantial citizen he well
upheld the prestige of the family name. He became one of the
representative farmers of Monroe Township, was a staunch republican in
politics, served at one time as road supervisor, and he and his wife were
earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He and his wife
became the parents of three children - Isabelle, George D., and
Thomas.
Thomas Rainsberger was reared on the home farm
which is still his place of residence, and his youthful education was
obtained in the common schools of the locality and period. He attended
school during the winter months and during the summer seasons applied
himself vigorously to work on his father's farm, he having been a mere boy
when he began to do a man's work, including plowing and other arduous farm
service. He continued to attend school until he was eighteen years of
age, and upon attaining to his legal majority he further signalized his
independence by taking unto himself a wife, his marriage to Miss
Margaret A. Pearch, daughter of Conrad and Elizabeth Jane (McDevitt)
Pearch, of Monroe Township, having been solemnized in the year 1870.
After their marriage they remained nine years on the old farm of Mr.
Rainsberger's father, and then, in 1879, purchased and removed to their
present farm, which at first comprised only thirty-three acres and which a
subsequent purchase increased to its present area of sixty acres. Here
Mr. Rainsberger has continued his successful activities as an
agriculturist and stock-grower during the intervening years, and he has
secure status as one of the representative citizens of his native township,
of which he served one term as trustee, besides which he held for six years
the office of constable, and was a director of the county infirmary six yeas
- 1900-1906. He is a staunch supporter of the cause of the republican
party and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Rainsberger
brief record is given in this concluding paragraph: Electa Laura
is the wife of Henry A. Long, of Long, of Jewett, Carroll County,
and they have one child, Katherine Nellie, sixteen years of age at
the time of this writing, in 1920. Homer B. married Miss
Alice McCourt, of Loudon Township, this county, and they have three
children - Lois Patience, Wilma Edith, and Arthur Bruce.
Hattie Violet is the wife of T. I. Tope, of Monroe Township, and
their only child is a son, John Clayton. Leroy Ross, the
youngest of the children, resides in the city of Cleveland. He married
Miss Una B. Orin, of Monroe Township, Carroll County.
Source: History of Carroll and Harrison Counties,
Ohio -
Chicago: Lewis Pub.
Co., 1921 - Vol. II - Page 815 |
| |
WILLIAM
RAINSBERGER has been a resident of Carroll County from the time of
his birth, and his entire active career has been marked by association with
farm industry. He now confines his operations to his well improved
little farm of eighteen acres in Monroe Township, seven miles from
Carrollton, from which city he receives service on rural mail route No. 4.
Mr. Rainsberger was born in Union Township, this
county, on the 12th of September, 1853, and is a son of Josiah and Nancy
(Fowler) Rainsberger, the former of German and the latter of Irish
lineage. Josiah Rainsberger was born in Monroe Township, where
his parents settled in the early days, and he continued his active alliance
with farm enterprise in his native county until his death, Apr. 11, 1911, at
the age of sixty-nine years, his wife having passed away on the 16th of
February, 1888. Of their family of three sons and six daughters the
subject of this review is the youngest. One of the sons, David,
was a gallant young soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which he
served as a member of the Eightieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, he having been
mustered out and having received his honorable discharge in 1864, a few
months prior to the close of the war. As a young man he was a
successful teacher in the rural schools of Carroll County.
William Rainsberger early began to assist in the
work of the home farm, and he continued to attend the district schools
during the winter terms until he had attained to his legal majority.
He was twenty-four years of age at the time of his marriage and thereafter
he continued to be associated in the work and management of the old home
farm until 1905, when he purchased a farm of ninety-one acres in Center
Township, one mile distant from Carrollton. Six years later he sold
this property, and after residing for a short time on another farm in the
same township he purchased in 1911 his present fine little farm, the
operations of which demand all of the time and effort he is justified in
giving, now that he is approaching the prophet's span of three score years
and ten. He has never wavered in loyal allegiance to the republican
party, has taken deep interest in public affairs of local order, but has had
no ambition for official preferment. He and his wife4 are active
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Carrollton.
In the year 1878 was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Rainsberger to Miss Dorinda J. Long, who likewise was born and
reared in Carroll County and who is a daughter of Alexander Scott and
Nancy (Brooks) Long, of Monroe Township. The father of Mrs.
Rainsberger was a son of Alexander Scott Long, Sr., and Nancy
(Scott) Long, the original American representatives of the Long
family having come from the north of Ireland. The maternal
grandparents of Mrs. Rainsberger were Henry and Dorinda (Fawcett)
Brooks, and they became the parents of one son and six daughters.
The lineage of the Brooks family likewise traces back to
staunch Irish origin.
In this concluding paragraph is entered brief record
concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Rainsberger: Nancy A.
is at home. David Reese died at the age of thirteen years.
Josiah Clarke, who now resides in the state of South Dakota, married
Johanna Capper, of Perry Township, Carroll County, and they have one
son, Thomas William. Alexander L., who resides in the city of
Carrollton, married Miss Edna Nihart, of Center Township, and they
have two children - Roxey May and Horace Delbert. William Ira,
now a resident of the city of Canton, Stark County, married Miss Susan
Slusser, of that place, and they have two children - Richard Charles
and Ada Marie. Emmett Earl, the youngest of the children, died
at the age of twenty months, on the 10th of July, 1896.
Source: History of Carroll and Harrison Counties,
Ohio -
Chicago: Lewis Pub.
Co., 1921 - Vol. II - Page705 |
| |
HOMER J.
RICHARDS. For over twenty years Mr. Richards' activities
have made him a factor in the business affairs of Carrollton, where he is
looked upon as one of the men of enterprise and distinctive leadership.
For the past ten years he has been one of the partners and manager of the L.
& M. Rubber, now the Tuscan Rubber & Tire Company (see history of the
company).
Mr. Richards was born at Harlem Springs in
Carroll County Dec. 28, 1876. Three generations of the family have
lived in the county from pioneer times to date. His paternal
grandfather, Otho Richards, came to Carroll County at a very early
time and married Miss Elizabeth Little. He spent his life as a
farmer and died in this county. John Richards, father of
Homer J., was born in Carroll County in 1842 and soon after completing
his education in the common schools he enlisted in 1861 in the Eightieth
Ohio Infantry. He was in service until wounded at Corinth, after which
he was granted an honorable discharge, but subsequently reenlisted in the
One Hundred and Ninetieth Ohio Infantry and served to the end of the war.
He was also captain of a company of Home Guards. He was an active
republican, a member of the Masonic Order and he and his wife were
Methodists. John Richards married Mary Hayes, who was
born in Carroll County in 1843. Her father, Richard Hayes, and
wife were natives of Ireland, but spent their active lives in Carroll
County. Mrs. Mary Hayes Richards is still living in Carrollton.
In the old community where he was born at Harlem
Springs, Homer J. Richards spent his youth, and in addition to the
advantages of the local schools attended Scio College one year. As a
young man he received a good commercial training in his father's store, and
when the family moved to Carrollton in 1897 he engaged in the hardware
business and was an active merchant here for about ten years.
Following that he assisted in the organization of the Carrollton Savings
Company and remained with that institution as its cashier for a year and a
half. He and his brother Howard Richards and Doctor Williams
then bought out the L. & M. Rubber Company in 1910 and since that
date Mr. Richards has been the moving spirit in that well known
business.
Politically a republican, he has never sought the cares
and responsibilities of office. He is a Knight Templar Mason and a
member of the Methodist Church. In 1904 he married Miss Martha
Lawler, a daughter of J. V. Lawler. The Lawler family
is one of prominence in Carroll County and more is said of them on other
pages. To Mr. and Mrs. Richards were born six children:
John; Emma, who died at the age of seven years; Joseph; Mary; Thomas,
and Martha.
Source: History of Carroll and
Harrison Counties, Ohio -
Chicago: Lewis Pub.
Co., 1921 - Vol. II - Page 493 |
| |
MRS.
CHRISTINA RINEHART is one of the land-owners of Rose Township, and
her valuable farm of 146 acres of land is in fine condition. She is
the widow of Valentine Rinehart, who was born at Waynesburg, Stark
County, Ohio, Apr. 1, 1841, a son of David and Elizabeth (Snyder)
Rinehart, the former of whom was born in Germany, but came to the United
States in young manhood, and settled in Stark County, where he was married.
Later on they came to Carroll County, and located in Rose Township.
They had three sons and one daughter, namely: George, David, James,
Sarah Ann Finebrock, and they are all now deceased. Valentine
Rinehart attended district school Number 9, Rose Township during the
winter months until he was a young man. He first married Mary
Elsass of Rose Township, and she died without issue. As his second
wife he married Christina Grosse a daughter of James and Elizabeth
(Engle) Grosse of Waynesburg, Stark County. Mr. and Mrs.
Rinehart became the parents of eleven children, all of whom are living,
namely: Lurena Belle, who married Frank Long of Waynesburg,
and they have seven children: Arthur Ellsworth, who is
unmarried; John Francis, who married Lillian Barber of Fox
Township, has four children: Emma Loretta, who married
Clarence Daum of East Canton, Ohio, has one child: Alice, who
married Charles F. Houze of Canton, Ohio, has two children: George,
who married Cora Garner, lives at North Industry, Ohio; James
Valentine, who married Irene Carl of Robertsville; Sarah Eva,
who married John J. Van Voorhes of Sandyville, Ohio, has two
children: William McKinley who married Lula Wetzel, has
one child and lives at Dellroy, Ohio; and Homer and H. Wesley,
both of whom are at home.
Valentine Rinehart spent his life on the farm
now owned by his widow, and carried on general farming, and was also a stock
dealer, buying and selling cattle and hogs, and shipping to the Pittsburgh
market. He was also a buyer of wool, and was a man of many interests.
In politics he was a republican, and he was a member of the school board and
supervisor of his township.
Four of the Rinehart boys registered under the
selective draft during the World war. James Valentine was
called into the service Apr. 2, 1918, and was sent to Camp Sherman for five
months, where he was made a member of Company E, Three Hundred and
Thirty-Second Regiment, as a private. As a member of the Eighty-Second
Division he was sent to New York, from whence he sailed for Brest, France,
and landed there in October, 1918. He was in action at St. Mihiel, and
other offensives until the signing of the Armistice. In the spring of
1919 he sailed from Bordeaux, France, for New York city where he
participated in the great peace parade, and was then sent back to Camp
Sherman, and mustered out May 30, 1919.
William M, Rinehart was called into the service
at Carrollton, in July, 1918, spent three weeks at Camp Sherman as a member
of Company F, Three Hundred and Thirty-Fifth Regiment, and sailed from New
York city for Liverpool, England, which port was reached in five days.
From England he was sent to France and was in action until he was taken sick
and sent to a base hospital, where he was still confined at the time the
armistice was signed. He was mustered out at Camp Sherman, Mar. 23,
1919.
Source: History of Carroll and
Harrison Counties, Ohio -
Chicago: Lewis Pub.
Co., 1921 - Vol. II - Page 937 |
| |
GUY
R. RINEHART. Public official, able business man and excellent
farmer, Guy R. Rinehart holds a position that many envy, and stands
among the dignified representatives of Carroll County, and especially those
centering in Rose Township where he owns 150 acres of land and farms 210
acres. He was born in this township, Aug/ 13, 1885, a son of James
Henry and Caroline (Wanner) Rinehart, and
grandson of David Rinehart, who came to Rose Township at an
early day, and bought the homestead now owned by his grandson.
He married Elizabeth Snyder, and they had four sons and one
daughter. James Henry Rinehart lived on his father's
farm and was a successful selling agent for the Walter A, Wood
Machine Company of Glenns Falls, New York, manufacturers of agricultural
implements, and acted as general agent for the company out of the Cleveland,
Ohio office. He was a county commissioner of Carroll County two
terms. His death occurred in 1895, but his widow still survives him.
Of seven children, Guy R. Rinehart is the fifth in order of birth.
Until he was fourteen years old Guy R. Rinehart
attended district school Number 9, Rose Township, and then for two years was
a student of the Magnolia High School. At the age of sixteen years he
began operating the home farm, and has remained on it ever since, later
acquiring ownership of it. He carries on a general line of farming,
and is recognized as one of the prosperous agriculturists in this part of
the county.
In 1914 Mr. Rinehart was united in
marriage with Grace Elizabeth De Ford, a daughter of A. F. and
Olive (Houze) De Ford of Dell Roy,
Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Rinehart have two children, namely: James
De Ford and Kenneth Stanley. Mrs. Rinehart
was graduated from
the Dellroy High School in 1906, and taught district schools Number 8 for
three months, the Scroggs Field school for two years, in Fox Township, the
Queensboro school for eight months, in Monroe Township, and the Middle Run
school in Brown Township, for two years when she married. Active
as a republican Mr. Rinehart has served as township clerk, and
member of the school board. He is vice president of the Tri-County
Mutual Life Insurance Company, and is also serving on its board of
directors. The Lutheran Church of Waynesburg holds his membership, and
he is a generous supporter of it. The position of the Rinehart
family, and especially that of Guy R. Rinehart and his wife,
can not be over-estimated,
nor can the importance of the strong influence every member of it has
exerted on the history of Carroll County.
Source: History of Carroll and
Harrison Counties, Ohio -
Chicago: Lewis Pub.
Co., 1921 - Vol. II - Page 935 |
| |
HUGH MILTON RINEHART, one of the substantial
farmers of Rose Township, has earned the right to be considered one of the
prosperous agriculturists of Carroll County, and his fine farm of 115 acres
shows the result of his practical knowledge and hard work. He was born
in Rose Township, May 7, 1864, a son of George and Harriet (Wall)
Rinehart of Pennsylvania German stock, and grandson of David Rinehart,
who was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and was a farmer.
He married Elizabeth Snyder and they came to Ohio, locating on a farm
near Waynesburg, Stark County, his father, Valentine Rinehart,
accompanying them. Subsequently David Rinehart moved to Rose
Township and settled in the woods two miles south of Magnolia, where he
built a log hut. In which the family lived for a time. There
were four sons and two daughters in the grandparents' family, of whom
George Rinehart was the eldest. Mrs. Rinehart died Apr. 5,
1896, her husband having died in 1891. He was born June 12,
1816, and they were married June 3, 1837.
George Rinehart resided in Rose Township
until 1882, when he moved to Sumner County,
Kansas. By his first marriage he had three
sons and one daughter, namely: David Oliver,
who lives at Ford, Kansas, is married and engaged in farming; John Elmer, who lives at
Canton, Ohio, married Eva Minckley, and they
have two sons and two daughters; Hugh Milton, who was the next in order of birth: and
Sarah Elizabeth, who is Mrs. John Parks of
Kansas, has two sons and two daughters.
There were two sons and one daughter born
of the second marriage of George Rinehart.
During the winter terms until he was nineteen years old,
Hugh Milton Rinehart attended
District School No. 9, in Rose Township, and
took one summer course at the Magnolia Normal School. During the remainder of the year
until he left school, he worked on either his
grandfather's farm, or that of his Uncle James
Rinehart, and then began working for neighboring
farmers as a farm hand, and was so
engaged until 1881. Going back to his grandfather's farm, he remained on it for a year.
On Feb. 4, 1886, Mr. Rinehart was married to
Rosa Belle Finefrock, a daughter of George and Belinda (Worley) Finetrock, of
Sandy Township, Stark County, Ohio, of Pennsylvania-German stock. The grandfather
John
Finefrock married Elizabeth Harple, and they
had four daughters and five sons. The members
of the family for many generations have been
farmers and stockbuyers. Mr. Finet'rock, father of Mrs.
Rinehart, died at Waynesbnrg.
Ohio, at the age of seventy-four, and her mother
died in April, 1886, aged fifty-four years. Mrs. Rinehart attended school at Waynesburg until
she was sixteen years of age, and then remained at home until she was married.
After his marriage Mr. Rinehart bought
eighty-two acres of land in Rose Township, and
lived on that farm for thirty-three years, when
he moved on the R. P. Beatty farm of 115 acres in October, 1919, and
is now carrying on
general farming and specializing in raising Shorthorn blooded stock cattle.
This farm is one of the best improved in the county, the buildings being
splendidly adapted for their several purposes, and furnished with electric
lights and other modern improvements. A republican, Mr.
Rinehart is active in his party, and was elected trustee of Rose
Township for six years, in a strongly democratic township, and has also
served on the School Board. The Lutheran Church of Waynesburg holds
his membership.
Mr. and Mrs. Rinehart have three children,
namely: Erna Elizabeth, who married Benjamin Domer, of
Waynesburg, has four children, —L. Gidbert, L. Milton, Eileen
and Ivan Francis, and one who died in April, 1918, at the age
of eighteen months. little George Arthur; Sarah Olive,
who married Harvey E. Sherer of Magnolia, has two children,—Hugh
George and John Glenwood; and George William,
who married Jessie Olive DeFord, Aug. 15, 1920, and lives with his
parents.
George William Rinehart attended
the district schools of Rose Township and the Magnolia High School. On
July 24, 1918, he was called to the service under the selective draft, at
Carrollton. and sent to Camp Sherman. where he was placed in Company B, One
Hundred and Fifty-eighth Depot Brigade, and trained as such for a month,
when he was transferred to Company B. Three Hundred and Twenty-seventh
Machine Gun, Eighty-fourth Division, in which he was a buck private.
He was then sent to Camp Mills, Long Island, for a week, and then sailed for
Quebec, Canada, on Labor Day, on an English ship, and landed at Liverpool,
England, with a convoy of twenty-two vessels. From Southampton,
England. the unit sailed for Havre, France, where three days were spent,
following which five days were taken up with a trip to Bordeaux, where they
arrived Oct. 29, 1918. He, with the rest of his command, was sent to
the training area and transferred to Company A. Thirteenth Machine Gun
Corps, and he was under fire all through the Argonne campaign until the
signing of the armistice. He was also under shell fire in the Meuse
engagement and becoming sick was sent to the hospital. After he
recovered he was sent to London, and from there to different points in
France. Transferred to the Fifth Military Police, he was sent to
Arlen, Belgium, and then to Esche, Luxemburg, on police force there, and he
was placed on detached duty, and remained in that principality until in
March, 1919, when he was transferred to Trier, Germany. Two days later
he left for Savoy, France, and finally sailed on the “Ryndam'," hospital
ship, June 19, 1919, and landed in New York City. June W. For four
days he was at Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and was then returned to Camp
Sherman, and mastered out July 9, 1919, as a first-class private and
returned home. He is a member of Waynesburg Post No. 432, American
Legion. and is chaplain of his post.
Hugh Milton Rinehart has become
one of the best-known men in agricultural circles in this part of the state.
Because he has known how to carry on his work and taken an interest in it he
has achieved a more than ordinary success. He and his wife display an
open-handed hospitality not very generally found today and welcome to their
beautiful home their many friends whom they entertain delightfully. As
a public official he justified the confidence displayed in him and has every
reason to be satisfied with what he has accomplished in life.
Source: History of Carroll and
Harrison Counties, Ohio -
Chicago: Lewis Pub.
Co., 1921 - Vol. II - Page 948 |
NOTES:
|
