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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Portrait
Biographical Album
of
Greene and Clark Counties, Ohio
containing Full Page
Portraits
and Prominent and
Representative Citizens
of the County
Together with Portraits and Biographies of all the
Presidents of the United States.
Chicago:
Chapman Bros.
1890.
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RETURN to 1890 TABLE OF CONTENTS >
< CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO LIST OF BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES >
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JOHN WALLACE.
This gentleman is numbered among the leading citizens of
that section of Greene County in which he resides, as he was
formerly in Enon, Clark County, where he held the office of
Postmaster and other positions of public trust. He is
now occupying one of the most pleasant estates in Bath
Township, which comprises one hundred and thirty acres on
section 28, which property belongs to his wife. The
farm has been finely improved and bears every necessary and
convenient arrangement in the way of farm buildings,
together with orchards and shrubbery and such adornments as
befit the property of persons of taste and comfortable
fortune.
The father of our subject was Thomas Wallace,
a native of England and an officer in the British
army. His father had come to America and located at
Newville, Pa., where he died, leaving property.
Thomas Wallace obtained a leave of absence and
came to America to secure his fortune, bringing with him his
wife and infant son. Upon reaching this country, he
found that city lots did not mean as much as in his native
land at that time, but, nevertheless, he forgot to return to
England, preferring to become a citizen of the United
States. After working at various occupations, he
became overseer of a section of the Cumberland Valley
between Newville and Philadelphia. He made his home in
the former place, becoming a prominent man in the town,
where he died in June, 1843. He was a believer in the
tenets of the Episcopal Church. His first wife,
Mary Donaldson, a native of Scotland, died in the
Keystone State, leaving live children. The first-born,
Eliza, lives in Philadelphia, Pa.; Sarah,
Mrs. Huston, resides in New Carlisle, Clark
County, Ohio; the third child and oldest son is he of whom
we write; Thomas is deceased; Grizella, Mrs.
Johnson, lives in Washington County, Kan. The
second marriage of Thomas Wallace resulted in the
birth of a son, Samuel, who now lives in
Philadelphia; he belonged to a Pennsylvania regiment at the
time of the Civil War, until discharged on account of a shot
received through the neck.
The subject of this sketch opened his eyes to the light
Apr. 14, 1820, in the mother country, whence the family
voyaged to America in a sailing-vessel spending three months
on the way. He was reared and educated in Newville,
Pa., and after the death of his mother, which occurred when
he was eight years old, he went to live with a Mr.
Coil, with whom he remained some seven years. He
then worked on a farm until nearly seventeen years old, when
he was apprenticed to a tailor until twenty-one. After
serving his apprenticeship, he did journey-work up and down
the Juniata River until 1846, when he came to Ohio.
Locating at Enon, Clark County, Mr. Wallace
opened a tailor shop, which he carried on until
appointed Postmaster, in 1852. He served during the
Pierce and Buchanan administrations, after which
he began grafting in the Enon Nursery and became
Superintendent of it. In 1866 he made another change,
beginning a mercantile business, and continuing the same
four years, after which he sold out and removed to Holt
County, Mo. There he found employment at different
occupations, principally in grafting and other departments
of the nursery business, until some time time after his
removal, when he purchased a small farm, operating the same
until 1882. He then returned to Enon, and the next
year removed to Osborn, where he has since made his home.
The farm on which he lives is rented, and he and his wife
are enjoying merited rest from the more arduous labors of
life, finding abundant occupation in social and religious
duties.
Mr. Wallace contracted his first
matrimonial alliance Nov. 24, 1842, in Pine Grove, Pa., the
bride being Miss Martha Bush, a native
of that place, who died in Missouri, Oct. 8 , 1878. On
Mar. 14, 1883, he led to the hymeneal altar Mrs.
Elizabeth (Cox) Staats, a lady of more
than ordinary intelligence and nobility of character, whose
family history is one of interest. She was born in
Osborn, Apr. 17, 1831, had common school advantages and
exceptionally good home training. She remained with
her parents until her marriage, Dec. 3, 1850, to Mr.
Edward Staats, who was assistant
transportation agent at Springfield. He was born in
Albany, N. Y., Jan. 21, 1810, was reared and educated in his
native city, where he began clerking while but a boy.
He subsequently went South, where he was in business for
some years. He was a fine penman. Becoming
bookkeeper and assistant agent at Springfield, in the employ
of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, he made that city
his home until his removal to Osborn. He died in
Detroit, Mich., in 1862. His widow remained with her
father until her second marriage, spending the best years of
her life in caring for her parents, a duty which she
performed cheerfully and with pleasure, and which affords
her gratification in the retrospect. She bore her
first husband two children - John C. and Harriet
Bleeker, the latter of whom died when five years old.
The son was graduated from Wilts Commercial College, at
Dayton, became a successful miner in Colorado, and is now a
merchant in Aspen, of the Centennial State.
The original ancestors of Mrs. Wallace
were Hollanders, Peter Nue, the first male
ancestor, being one of the original settlers of New
Amsterdam. He owned property where Wall Street and the
adjacent territory is now located. The family later
settled throughout New Jersey, and still later in Virginia.
The grandfather, Judge John Cox, was born in
Bridgewater, Somerset County, N. J., June 6 , 1774. He
was married in 1794 and a couple of years later removed to
Harrison County, Va., where his son John opened his eyes to
the light Sept. 16, 1800. A year after that event, Judge
Cox, with his family, came to Greene County, Ohio,
locating in Bath Township, and for a time engaged in farming
and mercantile business in Fairfield. Two years after
his arrival he made arrangements for the purchase of a large
tract of land from Jonathan Mercer, who was
living near the village, and who had a pre-emption right to
some valuable lands in the valley. The tract purchased
was north of Fairfield, bordering on the waters of the Mad
River, including the present site of Osborn and the
adjoining territory. The house first built upon it was
of logs, its location being opposite the present site of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, of Osborn. Judge
Cox took a boat load of flour down the river to New
Orleans, the conveyance being a flat-boat, which was the
usual means of river traffic, and taking the fever, he died
soon after his return home, in 1821.
John Cox, having been brought to this
county when but an infant, grew to manhood here, acquiring
all the education that was possible under the limited school
privileges of the time. By observation and individual
study he added largely to the knowledge he obtained in the
schoolroom, until his dying day keeping up his interest in
the progress of the world. After his father’s death he
located on the old homestead, bought out the rest of the
heirs, and by diligence, economy and hard labor soon made
his way out of debt. He took care of his mother and
improved the original Cox farm, adding to it
tract after tract, until he had several hundred acres of
fine land beside the original purchase. He also owned
property in Dayton, town lots in Osborn and a farm near
Rushville, Ill.
In 1850 a survey was made for an extension of the old
Sandusky Railroad, and it was soon afterward built to
Dayton. Mr. Cox, whose public spirit and
interest in all improvements and matters of progress are
well known, donated the land wanted by this railroad for
right of way, and a station was made near the old homestead.
Town lots were laid out, and he built the original buildings
of the town, both private and public and to his
determination, sagacity, energy and generosity Osborn
owes much of what it is to-day. It was laid out in
1851. and first called Elizabethtown, but soon afterward the
name was changed, and it was given by Mr. Cox
that which it now bears, in honor of the gentleman who was
then Superintendent of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad.
Mr. Cox afterward made five additions to
the town, and through his generosity and business foresight
the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad was also induced to
pass through his farms. He and James and Samuel
Kable built and were the original owners of the mills at
Osborn, which were put up many years before the town was
built; they were rebuilt by Samuel Stafford,
and later by Joseph Harshman.
In 1868 Mr. Cox built the house where our
subject now lives, and there spent his last years. For
two or three years prior to his death be was confined to his
bed most of the time from paralysis, but his mental
faculties were well preserved, and he was anxious to learn
the daily happenings and important events, keeping himself
well informed, and but little escaping his memory. He
was always serene and happy as in his youthful days.
He breathed his last at 6 o’clock on the morning of Easter
Sunday, Apr. 9, 1882. He had always favored the
building of schoolhouses and churches, and left the
Methodist Episcopal Society, of which he was a member, a
small legacy to pay the balance of their church debt.
For about eighty-one years he had lived in the county, and
had seen the vast Northwestern Territory change from the
almost interminable grounds of the Indian tribes into
cultivated farms, towns and cities, through which ran the
great highways of the Anglo-Saxon race; and the Government
changed from that of territorial dependence, into that of
large States teaming with an industrial and self-governing
population. It must have been a great source of
pleasure to witness the improvements around him, to which
his own hand had so largely contributed, and in his
declining years enjoy the esteem of his fellow citizens and
many friends.
The wife of John Cox and the mother of
Mrs. Wallace was Harriet H. Cook, who was
born in Morristown, N. J., May 4, 1804. She was
educated there, was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and
cheered by her faith entered into rest Oct. 5, 1874.
Her father, Squire Abraham Cook, a native of New
Jersey, was a shoemaker there. He finally came to
Ohio, locating near Fairfield, this county, and afterward
taking up his abode on a farm in Bethel Township, Clark
County, two and a half miles north of Osborn, where he
engaged in farming until his death. He was a prominent
citizen, was one of the first Presbyterians in the
settlement and was well known as a rigid Calvinist. To
Mr. and Mrs. John Cox seven children were born,
Mrs. Elizabeth Wallace being the third. Of the
others, Mrs. Mary Johnston is now deceased;
Jonathan C. lives near Yellow Springs; Mrs. Julia A.
Worley lives in Osborn; William H. died in Bath,
Township in 1887; John C. is in the grocery business
in Dayton; Theodore F. lives in Bath Township.
Mr. Wallace during his residence in Enon
served on the School Board and in the Common Council; he was
also Mayor of that city one year. He belongs to the
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Osborn, and has been
demitted from the Royal Arch Masons and Council. In
politics he is a Democrat, while his wife is an equally
strong believer in the principles of the Republican party.
He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he
has been Class-Leader and Trustee. Mrs.
Wallace is a consistent member of the Presbyterian
Church.
Source:
Portrait
Biographical Album
of Greene and Clark Counties, Ohio,
Published
Chicago: Chapman Bros. - 1890 - Page 204 |
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JAMES WILLIAMS.
He with whose name we introduce this biographical notice is
probably the oldest living resident of New Jasper Township,
Greene County. He was born Apr. 25, 1807, about two
miles west of Yellow Springs, to John and Charlotte
(Chalmers) Williams, the former of whom died when his
son James was but three years old. John
Williams was a native of West Virginia, and the son of
Thomas Williams, who probably spent his last
years in Virginia. The mother after becoming separated
from her family could hold very little communication with
them on account of the lack of mail facilities, and finally
to a great extent lost track of her family. The little
that she gathered afterward was conveyed to her by a
brother, Noah, who visited her shortly after the
death of her husband.
The subject of this sketch pursued his early studies
under a very imperfect system of instruction, and in a log
schoolhouse with slab benches and puncheon floor and greased
paper for window panes. The writing-desks were
fastened to the wall in the rudest manner, and the room was
warmed from a fireplace which extended nearly across one
end. A large back-log was drawn into the room by the
scholars, and before its glowing fire the pioneer children
conned their lessons, frequently assisted by a healthy
application of birch bark. Mr. Williams
can remember seeing, in 1812, Indians, who came to get
liquor, and upon one occasion as a band of them were coming
up the road he ran home to his mother as fast as his legs
could carry him.
The mills and markets in those days were only
approachable by imperfect wagon roads, and for some years
Cincinnati was the nearest point where the Williams
family could obtain supplies and haul their grain.
A wagon load of this comprised forty to fifty bushels, for
which the pioneer farmer would receive perhaps forty to
fifty cents per bushel. There were no reapers or
mowers in those days, not even cradles, the grain being cut
with a sickle and threshed out by being trampled upon on the
floor with horses or oxen. The journey to mill and
back usually consumed one week.
Young Williams was at an early age taught
to make himself useful, and when ten years old went into the
carding-mill at Yellow Springs, where he staid as long as it
was operated - a period of about two years. His mother
then purchased a farm, and he returned home. The money
then in use were large coppers, “fippenny-bit,” “eleven
penny bits,” and a quarter dollar, and when change was
required this money was frequently cut in pieces to suit.
Mr. Williams afterward worked in the
carding-mill of Jacob and Isaac McFarland,
in the winter season, and with John and Robert C.
Reid at the carpenter trade.
At the age of twenty-six years our subject was married,
in January, 1833, to Miss Agnes Brown,
and the mother lived with her son and daughter-in-law until
the fall of 1862, when she died at the advanced age of
eighty-five years. Of this union there were born four
children, one of whom is living. Mrs. Agnes
(Brown) Williams departed this life at her
home in Jasper Township, in 1853. The daughter Jane
died in 1856, when eighteen years old. The son,
David Brown, is now senior member of the firm of
Williams & McPherson, in Xenia.
In 1836 Mr. Williams removed to the farm
which he now owns and occupies. With the exception of
about seven acres it was a dense forest, and the only
improvement upon it was a small log cabin. By the
exercise of great industry he has succeeded in bringing the
whole to a good state of cultivation. In the meantime
he has been employed considerably in the manufacture of
pumps. He contracted a second marriage, June 27, 1854,
with Miss Margaret J., daughter of George and
Martha (Erwin) Junkins.
The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Williams
was Lancelot Junkins, who married Martha
Galloway. The latter was the daughter of
James Galloway, who moved from Kentucky about the
year 1800, settling on what is now known as the Xenia Pike.
Mr. Junkins cleared a farm and carried on
blacksmithing in Cedarville Township, where Mrs.
Williams was born Jan. 11,1822. He was a lively
Abolitionist, and nothing gave him greater satisfaction than
to assist fugitive slaves to Canada on the underground
railroad. He and his estimable wife spent their last
years in Jasper Township. They were most excellent and
worthy people, and enjoyed in a marked degree the confidence
and esteem of their neighbors.
To our subject and his present wife there was born a
family of five children, the eldest of whom, a daughter,
Sarah R., died unmarried in 1886. Martha Eliza,
an interesting young lady, remains at home with her parents;
James A. died in 1863, when three years old;
Maggie Althea remains under the parental roof;
Mary Agnes died in Missouri in 1884, at the
interesting age of eighteen years.
Source:
Portrait
Biographical Album
of Greene and Clark Counties, Ohio,
Published
Chicago: Chapman Bros. - 1890 - Page 166 |
NOTES:
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