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Biographies
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Source:
History of Darke County, Ohio
- Illustrated -
Publ. Chicago: W. H. Beers & Co.
1880.
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1880 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >
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BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES >
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Twin Twp. -
WILLIAM NEALEIGH, farmer and minister of the
Gospel; P. O. Arcauum; was born in Preble Co., Ohio, Sept.
28, 1811; his parents were Henry and Elizabeth Neileigh
He married Rachael Shields, of Preble Co., Nov. 17, 1831, and
settled in Darke Co. in January 1837, on Sec. 3, Twin Township.
Of his experience, Mr. Nealeigh wrights as follows: "We
were married in 1831, and commenced life with $30; in January, 1837,
we emigrated to Darke County and settled on the land where we have
since lived; in five years, we had earned and paid for our 163 acres
of land, $555. The forest looked wild; there were wolves
and deer in abundance, and the mosquitoes were so numerous that,
when I went out of an evening to shoot squirrels, they would slight
so thick on my gun barrel that I could not see the sights, unless I
fired very quickly, but now, the wilderness has become a fruitful
field, thank God! The first spring, we made a flour barrel
full of sugar, and twenty gallons of molasses; in 1840, we were both
converted to God, and in 1843, a Christian Church, called the
Panther Creek Christian Church, and a meeting-house was built one
mile south of Arcanum; we were two of the charter members, and the
only two now living; I there commenced preaching. The church
was two miles from our home, and we often traveled that distance six
times in one day and night, carrying a child in our arms; I traveled
and preached whereever I could, and worked on my farm and balance of
my time; I have preached forty years, and during my ministry have
delivered 3,029 sermons, 1,586 exhortations, attended 304 funerals,
solemnized 213 marriages, prayed with the sick 470 times, received
into the church 422 members, baptized 212, made 153 speeches of
various kinds, and traveled 40,324 miles, for which I have received
about $50 per year. In was once young, and now I am old, and I
never saw righteous forsaken or their seed begging bread, thank God!
Mr. Nealeigh, has, in addition to the labors he has
enumerated, raised a family of ten children.
Source: History of Darke County, Ohio - Illustrated - Publ. Chicago:
W. H. Beers & Co., 1880
- Page 654 |
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Twin Twp. -
GEORGE NISONGER, farmer and stock-raiser, Sec.
23; P. O. Gordon, Ohio. The subject of this sketch is one of
the old residents of Darke Co.; he was born in Montgomery Co., Ohio,
Oct. 16, 1823, and is a son of George and Fanny Nisonger,
natives of Pennsylvania. Mr. Nisonger resided in the
county of his nativity until he removed to Twin Township, Darke Co.,
in 1849. He was united in marriage, in 1853, to Miss Louisa,
daughter of John and Lydia St. Clair natives of Pennsylvania,
who removed to Ohio at an early day; four children have been given
to this union, viz.: Catherine born Dec. 25, 1854; John W.
born June 20, 1859; Henry, born Mar. 12, 1862; Silas,
born Jan. 5, 1867. Catherine was married in the fall of
1872, to George Mathews, and resides on a n adjoining farm;
John W. died Jan. 7, 1863. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Nisonger are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are
zealous, energetic Christians. Mr. and Mrs. Mathews are
also members of the same church. Mr. Nisonger has 40
acres in his home farm, which is in a good state of cultivation.
Source: History of Darke County, Ohio - Illustrated - Publ. Chicago:
W. H. Beers & Co., 1880
- Page 655 |
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DAVID
NISWONGER, farmer and stock-raiser, Sec. 17; P. O Pottsdam,
Miami Co., Ohio. The subject of this memoir was born in
Montgomery Co., Ohio. May 29, 1834, and is a son of George
and Elizabeth Niswonger; Mr. Niswonger was born in
Montgomery co. March, 1809, and lived and died on the place where he
was born, aged 70 years 4 months and 4 days; Mrs. Niswonger
was born in Pennsylvania Jan., 1811, and died in Montgomery Co.,
Ohio, aged 57 years; they were the parents of six children, of whom
all are living but one, who died in infancy - David (the
subject of this sketch), Eli (whose sketch also appears in
this work). Catharine (now Mrs. Peffly, and
resides in Franklin Township), May (now Mrs. Wanger,
lives in Montgomery County) and Moses who resides in
Michigan. Our subject assisted his father on the farm till his
21st year, when he began life for himself, and worked his father's
farm on shares for two years, and burned lime for a season; then
removed to Darke County and settled on the farm where he now
resides, when it was mostly in the woods; he immediately set to work
to clear off the heavy timber, and, going at it with a will, he soon
accomplished a large part of the work, and, at the expiration of six
years, he purchased a steam saw-mill, which he operated for four
years, but was very unfortunate in this undertaking as the mill was
twice destroyed by fire, and he was a loser of all the labor and
money he had furnished; he then turned his attention to the farm
again, and has followed this occupation ever since; he has 90 acres
of good land, all in a good state of cultivation, and the
improvements are all first-class; Mr. Niswonger has been very
unfortunate in life; in 1868, the first year after he resumed work
on the farm, he lost upward of $100 worth of hogs from cholera; the
second year, he lost the best horse he had, which cost him $140 to
replace; the third year, he was terribly afflicted with sickness in
his family, and doctor bills, etc., cost him a large amount of
money; in 1871, he lost his entire crop, except some barley and
wheat, by a terrible hail-storm that swept over his locality, and
was a heavy loss to him; since then, the sunshine of peace and
prosperity has dissolved the lowering clouds of adversity, and all
has gone well; free from pecuniary loss, he has escaped the ravages
of disease, and the elements no longer play sad havoc with his
growing grain. He celebrated his marriage with Miss Anna,
daughter of Jacob and May Pebbly was born in 1803; they were
the parents of ten children, viz., Lydia (now Mrs. Flory,
resides in Montgomery County). Sarah (now deceased,
formerly Mrs. Prizen resided in Indiana), Fanny (now
Mrs. Flory, resides in Montgomery County), John (who
lives in Darke County), Mary (now Mrs. Landis formerly
Mrs. Cloppert, who lives in Montgomery County), Anna (wife
of the subject of this sketch), Jacob (resides in Darke
County), Simon (lives in Montgomery County), Samuel
(resides in Miami County), Benjamin (started for Kansas the
16th of December, where he intends to make a home); Mr. and Mrs.
Niswonger are the parents of seven children, viz.: Moses,
born June 14, 1858; Mary E., Mar. 12, 1861; Clement L.,
Sept. 1, 1863; Charles E., Mar. 26, 1868; Cora, Sept.
27,1 870; Sarah, Nov. 30, 1873; Edwin A., Aug. 21,
1877; Clement departed this life Oct. 15, 1863; both Mr.
and Mrs. Niswonger are members of the German Baptist Church, and
are worthy Christian people; he was once an inveterate user of
tobacco, but, finding it was undermining his health, he resolved to
quit, and did; his receipt for a cure is, "never put it in your
mouth, and don't use it in any way, shape or form."
Source:
History of Darke County, Ohio -
Illustrated - Publ. Chicago: W. H.
Beers & Co. - 1880 - Page 638 |
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Monroe Twp. -
DAVID W. NISWONGER, carpenter and builder;
resides on Sec. 7; P. O. Arcanum. The subject of this sketch
was born in Darke County Jan. 6, 1843, and is a son of John
Niswonger, whose sketch appears in this work. Our
subject assisted his father in agricultural pursuits till his 18th
year, when at his countrys' call, he was one of the first to
respond, and volunteered in Co. K, of the 19th I. V. I., and
afterward belonged to the 2d Corps, in the Army of the Potomac; he
passed through several severe engagements, the first at Slaughter
Mountain, the second battle of Bull Run, South Mountain, and the
battle of Antietam, where he received a severe wound in the left
breast that rendered him unfit for military duty, and he was obliged
to repair to the hospital, where he remained for six months, when he
was honorably discharged from the service and returned to his home,
and remained for nine months, but, still thirsting for the smoke and
excitement of battle, he again enlisted in Co., B, of the 110th O.
V. I., and returned to the front, and passed through the desperate
and sanguinary battle of the Wilderness of 1864, where so many brave
boys laid down their lives, merely to appease the clamorous cry
raised by the North, of "On to Richmond;" nothing of advantage was
accomplished by this battle, but the heaps of dead and dying were
ghastly witnesses of the great sacrifice of life to our brave boys
in blue, and their noble and heroic commander, McClellan, was
stigmatized as an inefficient leader, because he led where popular
sentiment demanded, but absolutely contrary to the letter judgment
of men posted in military tactics; after this came the battle of
Spottsylvania. the "Slaughter-pen," where, our subject informs us,
the dead lay in literal heaps, and large trees were shattered by the
terrible rain of iron hail; he was at Cold Harbor, and in fact all
the fighting that was gone through by the Army Potomac, in the great
campaign of 1864. At Monocacy Junction, in Maryland, he was
taken prisoner, and sent to Danville, and was in the hands of the
rebels seven months and thirteen days, when he was exchanged, and
came home on furlough and reported at Camp Chase, but on account of
ill health, and shattered constitution, caused by the fearful
exposure in rebel prison pens, and the brutal treatment he received
at their hands, he was honorably discharged from the service of his
country in 1865. He returned home and labored on the farm for
two years, and then engaged in harness-making in Pittsburgh for four
years, when he sold out, and has followed carpentering from then
till the present time. He was united in marriage with
Elizabeth, daughter of David and Nancy
Oldmine, May 19, 1867; her father was born in Pennsylvania, and
her mother in Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Niswonger are the
parents of six children, viz:: William H., born Oct. 7, 1869;
Hetta, V., born Apr. 16, 1872; Sarah E., born July 25,
1874; Clifford, born Dec. 21, 1876; Harry, born Sept.
7, 1879; one dying in infancy. Our subject has had his full
share of township offices, having served as Township Clerk for six
years, Township Assessor five years. His wife is a member of
the German Baptist Church, and an exemplary Christian woman.
Source:
History of Darke County, Ohio - Illustrated - Publ. Chicago: W. H.
Beers & Co., 1880. - Page 637 |
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Monroe Twp. -
ELI
NISWONGER, farmer and stock-raiser, Sec. 17; P. O. Arcanum;
was born in Montgomery Co., Ohio, Aug. 31, 1836, and is a son of
George and Elizabeth (Warner) Niswonger. His father was
born in the same county in March, 1809, and died in the place of his
birth, aged 70 years 4 months and 4 days. His mother was born in
Pennsylvania in January, 1811, and died in Montgomery Co., aged 57
years. They were the parents of six children, of whom all are
living but one, who died in infancy. Our subject assisted his
father in home duties until his 21st year, when he began life for
himself and engaged in farming, which he followed in his native
county until his 21st year, when he began life for himself and
engaged in farming, which he followed in his native county until
1864, when he removed to Darke Co., on the place where he now
resides. It contained 90 acres, all in its wild state when he
began operations on it, but by persistent labor he has deprived it
of its native grandeur, and now it is in a good state of cultivation
and well improved. He was united in marriage with Miss Mary
H., daughter of Jesse and Eliza Cauffman, Feb. 3, 1869.
Her parents of Montgomery Co. Her father died at the age of 48
years and 9 months. Her mother is still living, at the
advanced age of 67 years. They were the parents of ten
children, of whom all are living but four. All reside in
Dayton but one, who resides in Tippecanoe, Ohio. Mr. and
Mrs. Niswonger are the parents of eight children, viz.:
Laura Belle and Cora Ellen (twins), born Apr. 17, 1862;
Orrie, born Apr. 7, 1864; George, born Mar. 18, 1866;
Jesse and Ira (twins), born Jan. 27, 1873; Willie,
born Apr. 5, 1875; Webby, born July 14, 1877; Ira
departed this life June 27, 1873. Mr. Niswonger has had
the honors of petty offices conferred upon him by his constituents,
and has performed his duties to the satisfaction of the public.
Our subject was instrumental in causing the erection of School
District No. 7. He circulated a petition and obtained the
signatures of all householders in the new district some
eighteen months before it was presented to the Board, and was
rewarded for his time and trouble, and has a good school with an
enumeration of eighty-one, in close proximity to his own house.
Source: History of Darke County, Ohio -
Illustrated - Publ. Chicago: W. H.
Beers & Co. - 1880 - Page 638 |
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Monroe Twp. -
JOHN NISWONGER, farmer and stock-raiser, Sec.
18; P. O. Arcanum; to the subject of this memoir we are pleased to
accord a place in the front ranks of the early pioneers of Darke
Co.; he was born in Montgomery Co., Ohio, May 28, 1815, and is a son
of John and Elizabeth Niswonger, who were born in Virginia
about 1786, and removed to Ohio in 1807, and settled northwest of
Dayton about 1850; some years after the death of her husband,
Mrs. Niswonger removed to Darke Co., and resided with her
daughter, Mrs. Samuel Baker, till her death, which occurred
when upward of 70 years of age; they were the parents of nine
children, of whom five are living, viz.: John the subject of
this sketch; Eli, a resident of Montgomery Co.; Frances,
now Mrs. Benjamin Baker, and resides in Montgomery;
Elizabeth, now Mrs. Samuel Baker, and lives in the same
county; May, now Mrs. Samuel Baker, and resides in
Darke Co. The deceased are George, died aged 71 years;
Rachel (Mrs. Michael), aged 68 years; Nellie (Mrs. Swank),
aged 38 years; Nicholas departed this life at the age of 47
years. Our subject assisted his father on the farm till his
21st year, when he began life for himself, and rented a farm in
Montgomery Co. for two years, and then removed to Darke Co. in 1837;
he purchased 189 acres of land, built a cabin immediately and went
to work to clear up his land, which was covered with a dense growth
of heavy timber, and underbrush, and, by dint of hard labor that
required energy and perseverance, he and his good wife, after years
of toil and privations, such as the early pioneers of Darke Co.
known, have, with their combined efforts, made a home in which to
end their declining years, full of every comfort and happiness and
refinement, and are dwellers therein. Our subject has been
very successful all through life, and added to his original purchase
160 acres in Sec. 18, and removed to this place in 1878, where he
still resides. He was united in marriage with Miss Susanna,
daughter of David and Esther Warner, Sept. 3, 1835.
Mr. Warner was born in Bedford Co., Penn., Apr. 3, 1787, and
died Nov. 13, 1862. Mrs. Warner was born in the same
county in 1788, and died Sept. 13, 1872; they removed to Montgomery
Co. in 1811, and settled on a farm; they were the parents of seven
children, of whom five are living, Susanna, now Mrs.
Niswonger; Catherine now Mrs. Leechy, and resides in this
county; John, resident of Miami Co.; Jacob, resides in
this county; David, a resident of Madison Co., Ind. The
deceased are Henry, died Sept. 22, 1841; Elizabeth,
died in 1867, aged 56 years. Mrs. and Mrs. Niswonger
are the parents of twelve children, viz. Mary, born Jan. 9,
1837; Catharine, born July 11, 1838; George, born Nov.
3, 1839; Elizabeth, born Apr. 13, 1841; David, born
Jan. 6, 1843; Esther, born Mar. 4. 1845; Lydia. born
Apr. 20, 1847; Lucinda, born Sept. 2, 1851; John C.,
born July 22, 1853; Harvey, born Sept. 16. 1855; Nicholas
J., born June 1, 1857, and Harriet. Elizabeth
departed this life Aug. 14, 1870. Mr. Niswonger
has spared neither pains nor expense to educate his children,
John, Harvey, Nicholas and Harriet being
successful educators, and are leaders in the profession; our subject
and his wife have been members of the German Baptist Church for
twenty-six years, and are zealous Christian people.
Source:
History of Darke County, Ohio - Illustrated - Publ. Chicago: W. H.
Beers & Co., 1880. - Page 639 |
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Neave Twp. -
JOHN NISWONGER, farmer; P. O. Weaver's
Station; is a son of Jonathan Nyswonger, who was born
in Pennsylvania July 9, 1790; resided in Pennsylvania, and came to
Darke Co. at an early day; both Jonathan and his father were
soldiers in the war of 1812; John's mother, Elizabeth
(Clarke) Nyswonger, was a sister to the mother of J.
N. Lowry, whose biography appears in this work, and was born in
Pennsylvania in 1797. The subject of this sketch was born in
Greene Co., Penn., Oct. 3, 1817; his father emigrated to Darke Co.
in 1829, and John grew to manhood here during the early days
of Neave Township; he remembers well when he went to "Noffsinger's
Mill," and waited his turn at the crank to bolt the family grist.
He was married in 1843, to Susannah Ault, a daughter
of John Ault, who was a native of Pennsylvania, and an early
settler of Darke Co.; Mr. Nyswonger had purchased 40
acres of the farm where he now resides, made an "opening," and built
a log house previous to his marriage; here they began domestic life,
and by perseverance, amid discouraging circumstances, they now have
a pleasant home, around which cluster the memories of half a
century; he now has 101 acres in the home farm, 26 adjoining Ft.
Jefferson, 90 in Iowa, and 160 in Missouri, and, although he is
quite advanced in years, is still vigorous, and actively engaged in
farming. Mr. and Mrs. Nyswonger are the parents of
eleven children; three are deceased three sons, Hiram H., William
H. and Elijah, are in California; Jacobis a resident of
Iowa; Rebecca is now Mrs. William Eubank, of
Harrison Township; three—Alfred, Addie and Susan E.
are members of the family household.
Source: History of Darke County, Ohio - Illustrated - Publ. Chicago:
W. H. Beers & Co., 1880. - Page 713 |
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Harrison
Twp. -
A. L. NORTHROP, farmer, Sec. 13; P. O. New
Madison.
Source: History of Darke County, Ohio -
Illustrated - Publ. Chicago: W. H.
Beers & Co. - 1880 - Page 699 |
NOTES:
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