HON. JOHN CHANEY, SR.     Few men have occupied more public stations, or have filled them with more satisfaction to the public, than has the subject of this sketch.  In remarkable health and vigor, for one of  his advanced age, Judge John Chaney bids fair to fill a century - an age so uncommon that the psalmist allotted but seventy years as the limit of man on earth.
     Judge Chaney was born in Washington county, Maryland, Jan. 12, 1790.  When he was but four years old, his father removd, with his family, to Bedford county, Pennsylvania.  When the father died, John was fourteen years of age.  His only brother died soon after, leaving the mother and two sisters to be supported.  His father, like all the family, was of a truthful and kind nature.  Becoming security for friends, the fine farm of the family, together with the stock, etc., was sold to pay debts not his own.  For six years the support of the family devolved upon John, who was scarcely yet in his teens, and he sustained the burden ungrudgingly and manfully.  the marriage of his sisters took it from his shoulders, and, in 1810 - nearly seventy years ago young Chaney came West, and for a time, worked on the land situated on the Ohio canal, in Fairfield county, now the village of Waterloo.  Thence he went to Pickaway county, where he labored for nearly two years, when his health failed, and he returned to the old home in Pennsylvania.  In 1815, with recruited health, he returned to Fairfield county, and settled in Bloom township, where he has made his home ever since, near what is now Canal Winchester.  Afterwards, in order to straighten the lines between Fairfield and Franklin counties, a strip of land, including a tier of sections, was taken from Fairfield and attached to Franklin, which brought Judge Chaney within the latter, his farm being upon one of the sections transferred.
     In 1816 Judge Chaney was united in marriage to Miss Mary Ann Lafere, and built, for a residence, a log cabin, fifteen feet square, with puncheon floor, clapboard roof, mud chimney, and other characteristics of the primitive dwellings of that period.  Here the honeymoon of the newly-married couple was passed.  When not at work upon his clearing, the young settler toiled for others, splitting rails or chopping cordwood.  For the former he got fifty cents a hundred; and for the latter, twenty-five cents a cord, or one bushel of wheat, or two bushels of corn, then reckoned at twenty-five cents - the value of a full day's work by a good hand.  Soon after his marriage, he brought his mother west, to live with him.  Subsequently, while on a visit to her daughters in Pennsylvania, she died.  His life was similar to that of all early settlers in Ohio, until the State began her works of internal improvement.  Not long after hsi marriage, he became the purchaser of a small grist-mill.  In 1821 he was dubbed "Squire Chaney," on account of his election as justice of the peace for Bloom township, in which office, by successive re-elections, he served nine years.  He also served, continuously, as township trustee, for twenty-three years.  In the fall of 1828 he was chosen to the house of representatives in the Ohio legislature, and was re-elected in each of the next two years.  For a time he held the position of paymaster in the State militia, and became, successively, major and colonel of the regiment.     MORE TO COME soon............................

Page 459 - Source: History of Franklin & Pickaway Counties, Ohio - Published by Williams Bros. - 1880

JOSEPH CHENOWETH     Elijah and Rachel (Foster) Chenoweth, natives of Maryland, were early settlers in Kentucky, and about 1795 emigrated to Pike county, and settled near what is now the southern boundary of Ross.  They removed, in the fall of 1799, to Pleasant township, Franklin county, being its first pioneers.  Elijah Chenoweth was born June 12, 1762, and died Dec. 5, 1828.  His wife died Apr. 17, 1825.  Their children were: Thomas, John F., Joseph, Rachel, Casandra, Elizabeth, and Elijah.
     Joseph Chenoweth, the subject of this sketch, was born Sept. 6, 1798.  He grew to manhood in the home of his parents, where elijah Chenoweth now lives, and became one of the widely and well known citizens of the county.  He began in a humble way, and eventually accumulated great wealth and attained high honors.  Early in life and before he had any means other than a liberal capital of energy and industry, he made a living by driving between his home and Baltimore, carrying provisions east, and then loading his wagon with those articles of merchandise for which there was a demand in the new settlements of Franklin, Pickaway, and Ross counties.  He also did considerable teaming between Chillicothe and Franklinton.  In later years, his business was farming and stock dealing.  He bought and sold great numbers of horses, cattle, hogs, and sheep, and was one of the first to drive stock across the country to the eastern market..  He was as extensive a dealer as there was in the country.  He added to his original farm, and became the possessor of about one thousand six hundred acres of land, the greater part of which, a considerable time before his death, he divided among his children.
     Mr. Chenoweth was noted as a man of spotless character, and of many admirable traits.  His generosity was one of the leading ones, and he had the life-long kind regard of many to whom, in one way or another, he had given assistance.  He was a member of no church, but was most liberal in his support of the cause of religion, and when the Methodist people of the little village of Harrisburg decided to build a church and set about the undertaking, they would have succeeded but poorly had not Mr. Chenoweth come to their assistance.  He made the society a present of the lot upon which the church stands, burned the brick of which it is built, and furnished money very liberally beside.  No man in the vicinity ever entertained more ministers than Mr. Chenoweth.  His house was always open to them, and was their favorite stopping place.   But, for that matter, his "latch string was always out" for everybody.  He had an immense circle of friends, and few ever came into the neighborhood in which he dwelt without paying him a visit.  He was a very cordial, affable man, and none more enjoyed companionship.
     The personal popularity of Mr. Chenoweth, and uprightness of his character, made him a strong candidate, in 1841, for the legislature of the fortieth general assembly.  He was elected on the Whig ticket, as a colleague of Nathaniel Medbury, and served two terms as the representative of Franklin county.  In his later years he was a Republican.
     Mr. Chenoweth's first wife was Margaret daughter of Amos Heath, of Pickaway county.  Their children were: Rachel C. West, Jane Helmick, Elijah, Joseph, Sarah Hays, William, Elizabeth McKinley, Isabella Sheeters, and Jerry.  It is a remarkable fact that there has never been a death in this generation of the family.  All of the sons and daughters are living, and all are in Pleasant township except Jerry, who is a resident of Columbus.  Mrs. Chenoweth died Dec. 22, 186_, at the age of sixty-five years, four months, and fifteen days.  The widowed husband took, as his second wife, Margaret Williams.  Mr. Chenoweth died Jan. 9, 1869.
Page 438 - Source: History of Franklin & Pickaway Counties, Ohio - Published by Williams Bros. - 1880

Page 382- Source: History of Franklin & Pickaway Counties, Ohio - Published by Williams Bros. - 1880