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John Enoch

JOHN ENOCH, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Redstone Fort, near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Aug. 2, 1773, when the Indians had it under siege.  At the age of twenty he was married to Miss Mary Tucker, of Elizabethtown, New Jersey.  In the fall of 1797 he descended the Ohio river in a flat-bottomed boat, landing at Fort Washington, now the city of Cincinnati.  He settled on a farm near Middletown. Butler county, Ohio.  It was at this place that the subject of this biography was born, in the territory of Ohio, on the 12th of June, 1802, in a Buckeye cabin.  In 1808 Mr. Enoch moved to a farm near Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, and built mills there.  In the fall of 1810 he moved to a farm five miles west of Springfield, Ohio, near a small town called New Boston, the birthplace of the famous Shawnee Indian chief, Tecumseh.  In the fall of 1812 he moved to his estate, comprising three thousand acres, in the Mad river and Macachuk vallies, to the place where General A. S. Pratt's mill stands.  In that day very few advantages of civilization were enjoyed by the settlers in this locality.  Mr. Enoch sent his wheat to a mill on the site where the village of Kingston is situated, following an Indian trail, they being the only outlined paths in the country.  The mill was operated by a Mr. Taylor.  The prairie fires swept the country annually, destroying all vegetation.  There was but one habitation from Macachuk to Kingston, and that was a cabin occupied by a Mr. Smith.  War was declared shortly after Mr. Enoch's arrival at Macachuk, which created great alarm among the settlers.  Much of their property was pressed into the service and Mr. Enoch shared this misfortune largely with the other settlers.  In the fall of 1813 he moved his family to Urbana, and resided in a two-story log house on the present site of Grace Methodist Episcopal church.  In March, 1814, he returned to Macachuk.  In 1815 he moved to the place where West Liberty is located and built a mill and residence there, both of which are standing intact to-day.  In 1817 he gave the land and laid out the town, the plat being drawn by Thomas Thompson.  Previous to Mr. Enoch's arrival at Macachuk a great many Indians resided in this part of the state, representing the Shawnee, Seneca and Wyandotte tribes. One of their towns was located on Mr. Enoch's estate, called Macachuk, situated a short distance from his home, on the site where Mr. Nash's residence stands.  Wappatomica was situated near the village of Zanesfield.  These towns were deserted when Mr. Enoch came to Macachuk.  A mound is still distinguishable on Mr. Enoch's farm where the young warriors performed their athletic sports or tested the speed of their horses, while the older members of the tribes sat on the mound to witness and pass judgment on their skill and dexterity. At the declaration of war the friendly Indians moved to the northern part of Ohio, making Upper Sandusky their nucleus.  Mononcue was the head chief of the Wyandotte tribe.  Between-the-Logs and Jocco were other chiefs of the same tribe." The subject of this sketch told me he was personally acquainted with them and frequently met them when he visited Upper Sandusky.  In 1833 he was a guest of Chief Jocco, who entertained him in the most hospitable manner.   His residence was neat and comfortable in all of its appointments.  In the evening before retiring he called all of his household together and offered up a most earnest and devout invocation to the “Great Spirit.”  Mr. Enoch was a lover of fine horses and owned several fine representatives of the race course.  His son remarked to me that the first service he ever performed was to take stems out of corn blades to feed his father's race horses.  Mr. Enoch learned the trade of milling in his father’s mill at West Liberty, and served a large patronage, many of them being Indians. In 1820 Mr. Enoch cut the first road from Bellefontaine to Fort Finley. In this undertaking his son aided him by carrying supplies and superintending the preparation of them for use.  At this period Mr. Enoch's business career began under the espionage of his father, who sent him to the markets on the northern frontier with herds of beef cattle to be disposed of by him at Monroe, Browns Town and Detroit, Michigan, to French and British traders.   These journeys involved much danger and many hardships, but Mr. Enoch’s undaunted courage and strong determination carried him through successfully.  At one time he was obliged to cross his cattle at the head of Lake Erie over the ice at distance of seven miles. This was a hazardous venture, but he succeeded without harm.      On July 25, 1822, Mr. Enoch married Miss Elizabeth Kelly, a native of Augusta county, Virginia. She was born Apr. 9, 1803, and was of German extraction, endowed with rare qualities of mind and heart, a woman of remarkable powers of administration, and one in whose character the Christian graces were beautifully illustrated all through her long, active and useful life.  A short period after their marriage they established a permanent home on a tract of four hundred acres in the Macachuk valley, in Salem township, Champaign county.  Here Mr. Enoch followed his chosen vocations of farming and stock raising.  By reason of his industry, keen foresight, strong purpose and unfaltering energy he became the possessor of one of the finest stock and grain farms in the state of Ohio, besides a desirable farm in Illinois.  In the early period of his career he traveled extensively over the states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, buying herds of cattle and driving them to his home farms, where they were fed and grazed for the eastern markets.  Before the day of railroads Mr. Enoch drove several of his herds to the markets at Philadelphia and New York City.  These journeys required a duration of over two months, leaving his home usually about the first of April and reaching their destination the middle of June.  Mr. Enoch followed his business of preparing some of the best herds of beef cattle that went from this part of the west to the eastern markets for over a half century.  He was a fine judge of a bullock, and his judgment and opinions were sought after and had high standing during the whole of his long life given to this business.  In conjunction with Governor Vance and other noted stockmen he was conspicuous in breeding Shorthorn cattle, and in encouraging the farmers to improve their stock.  He was a lover of well-bred horses and owned many specimens of that class, and few men could handle a team with the skill or sit a saddle horse with the grace and elegance that Mr. Enoch could.  At the age of eighty years a lady friend decorated his horse in the streets of West Liberty with a wreath of beautiful flowers as an expression of her admiration of his high order of horsemanship.  The subject of this sketch had natural fitness for other pursuits. His intelligence, high character, prominent and wide acquaintance, coupled with his great energy and fine social qualities, would have made him a favorite candidate for political honors in his party, but he shrank from such notoriety.  He took, however, an active part in political matters and did all that a liberal minded, honorable man could to promote the welfare of his party. As a Whig he voted his first presidential ticket for John Quincy Adams in 1824, and continued to vote for Whig candidates until the dissolution of that party.  He then became an enthusiastic member of the Republican party, probably never allowing an election to pass without recording his vote during his long and active life.  The same golden principle that distinguished him as a business man characterized him as a Christian and made him a sincere and reliable citizen in all the walks of life.  Mr. Enoch's educational facilities were limited, but his strong common sense and keen powers of observation overcame this defect in a large degree and made him a most agreeable conversalionalist and fair scholar.  He was of Welsh extraction and was said to bear a strong resemblance to that type.  In personal appearance John Enoch was tall and commanding, having a strong body, well organized in every way to endure the active outdoor life which he led and which was not interrupted by any illness worthy of mention for a period of over three-quarters of a century.  He was a man of courtly manners and warm friendships. and had a pleasant greeting for all he met.  In his home a generous hospitality and warm welcome was extended to all by himself and his amiable wife.  The last twelve months of his life he was confined to his room by severe illness, with much suffering, which he bore patiently until the end, which came one peaceful Sabbath day, the 7th of July, 1889, when he passed over to where “the wicked cease to trouble, and the weary are at rest,” closing a good and useful life at the age of four score and seven years. Source:  A Centennial Biographical History of Champaign Co., Ohio - Illustrated - New York and Chicago - The Lewis Publishing Company - 1902 - Page 466