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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History of Guernsey County, Ohio
by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet
- Illustrated -
Vols. I & 2.
B. F. Bowden & Company,
Indianapolis, Indiana -
1911
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CAPT. ALEXANDER A.
TAYLOR. Guernsey county has produced no more
deserving and more honored citizen than the late Capt.
Alexander Addison Taylor, who was called to his resting
place on May 10, 1908. He was born on Sept. 18, 1832, in
Holmes county, near Killbuck, the fourth son of Mr. and Mrs.
Alexander D. Taylor. His parents had removed to
Killbuck from Goshen township, Belmont county, and soon after
the birth of this son moved back to Belmont county, soon to
remove to Oxford township, Guernsey county, on the National
pike, three miles west of Fairview and one and a half miles east
of Middleton, while A. A. Taylor was still in infancy.
The common schools of Oxford township afforded the
educational advantages enjoyed by Captain Taylor.
He afterwards attended Madison College, at Antrim, along with
his brother, Joseph D. Taylor. His education
secured, A. A. Taylor for a number of years was a school
teacher and taught at a number of places in Guernsey, Noble and
Belmont counties. He lived the life of the average farmer
boy, but managed to gain a fair education and in his youth was
regarded as unusually ambitious to win a place of usefulness
among his fellows. The family removed to Cambridge when
the place was but a hamlet, and were prominent in its
industrial, political, social and religious life.
At the breaking out of the Civil war, Mr. Taylor
was teaching in Noble county, Ohio, near the Baltimore & Ohio
railroad, and, as he expressed it, "where I could hear the
passing trains loaded with Union soldiers for the front on the
Potomac and the Cumberland." He continued, "The measles
broke out in my school, and that, with the Union yell, was too
much for me and I soon made up my mind to become a soldier."
He enlisted on May 27, 1862, in the three months service, in
Company A, Eighty-fifth Ohio Infantry, and was mustered out on
Sept. 23, 1862, at Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, with the rank of
first lieutenant. He entered the three years' service on
Aug. 23, 1862, thirty days before he was mustered out of the
three months' service, the mustering out being delayed on
account of the new recruits in Camp Chase needing assistance of
the older recruits. His three years' enlistment was in
Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-second Ohio Infantry, and he
served until July 11, 1865.
While his regiment was at Winchester, Virginia, with
General Milroy's command, on June 13, 1863, Lieutenant
Taylor was in charge of a pocket post far to the front.
Elwell's Confederate corps of fifteen thousand men
attacked Milroy, who had about six thousand men, at nine
A. M. Saturday, June 13th, and the story of that gallant
struggle has often been told. General Milroy on
Sunday night decided to withdraw his forces, but his pickets
could not be notified, and so Taylor and his men were
captured. He was taken to Libby prison with the late
Bishop C. C. McCabe, then chaplain of the One Hundred and
Twenty-second Ohio, and remained a prisoner until October, 1864,
when he escaped and rejoined his regiment. He was
appointed adjutant on Nov. 14, 1864, but did not assume the
duties and took command of Company A. He was commissioned
a captain on Mar. 16, 1865. Captain Taylor's
military service was highly creditable. He was mustered
into the Grand Army of the Republic in 1885, and became the
first commander of Cambridge Post No. 343. He became
prominent in the order, served in the national council of
administration from Ohio for several terms, was at one time a
member of the national committee on pensions, and at the
time of his death was a member of the executive committee.
He was several times prominently mentioned as a candidate for
grand commander of the national organization. Captain
Taylor was a member of the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal
Legion.
During the early part of the war, and while he was
teaching school, Mr. Taylor served as surveyor of
Guernsey county. In April, 1862, the family moved from the
old home farm near Middleton, in Oxford township, to Cambridge,
and ever afterwards that city was his home. After the
close of the war Captain Taylor read law, but was never
admitted to the bar. He was a Republican in politics, and
a loyal supporter of the party and able advocate of its
principles. In Oct., 1866, he was elected auditor of
Guernsey county, and in 1868 re-elected, and by an extension of
his second term served in all four years and eight months.
Until his death Captain Taylor was prominent in
public and commercial life in Cambridge. For thirty-six
years he was connected with the Guernsey National Bank, one of
the leading financial institutions of Guernsey county, and for
the most of these years acted as cashier. is bank grew in
prestige and financial gain, and its strength was known within a
wide radius. Captain Taylor was active and useful
in public affairs, and his voice and vote were always in favor
of needed improvements and progress. His word was his bond
and his identification with a movement or institution meant its
success. He was treasurer of the committee that instituted
the Guernsey County Monumental Association and to his efforts in
credited much of the work of securing the beautiful monument
that stands at the entrance of the court house square.
Captain Taylor was prominent in establishing and in
conducting the Cambridge Chautauqua Assembly. Nearly all
of his life he was a member of the First Methodist church, and
was for many years one of its board of trustees.
The Captain was one of a large family, several of whom
gained prominence and distinction. William P., Dr. J.
Clarkson, Hon. Joseph D., J. Byron, Wilson Shannon and
Col. David D. were brothers of Captain Taylor, who preceded
him to death. Dr. G. Kennon, of Cincinnati, and
Hon. T. Corwin, of Washington, are surviving brothers, who,
together with a deceased sister, Mrs. Sarah Taylor Petty,
the wife of the Rev. A. L. Petty, of Duncan Falls,
comprised the family of so many distinguished people. The
Hon. Joseph D. Taylor had represented the district in
Congress; David D. were brothers of Captain Taylor,
who preceded him to death. Dr. G. Kennon, of
Cincinnati, and Hon. T. Corwin, of Washington, are
surviving brothers, who, together with a deceased sister,
Mrs. Sarah Taylor Petty, the wife of the Rev. A. L. Petty,
of Duncan Falls, comprised the family of so many distinguished
people. The Hon. Joseph D. Taylor had represented
the district in Congress; David D. was the widely known
editor of the Guernsey Times, and all of
the brothers were progressive and enterprising, and each left
his impress upon the community.
On Jan. 18, 1870, Captain Taylor was married to
Ella McCracken, of Cambridge, who survives him. No
children were born to this union, but Captain and Mrs. Taylor
were foster parents to Charles, William and Lida
Taylor the children of William P. Taylor, a brother.
Their home life was ideal and showed the realization of the best
and divines teachings concerning marriage. The Taylor
residence was always open to a wide circle of relatives and
friends and was the scene of many a social gathering.
Alexander A. Taylor lived a good life and the
world is a richer because of his more than sixty years of
usefulness in the broad field in which he labored. A warm
friend, a man among men, unselfish and genial, he left a place
not to be filled. During a long life he had been a robust
man, and by temperament sanguine, in habits strictly temperate
in all things, optimistic always, he had escaped serious
illness, until the attack which carried him off. The best
of attention and highest medical skill then failed to win back
his wonted energy, and he fell asleep like a little child and
was at rest.
SOURCE 1: History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B.
Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - B. F. Bowden &
Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 904 |
David D. Taylor |
DAVID
D. TAYLOR. Few men of Guernsey county were as
widely and favorably known as the late David D. Taylor,
of Cambridge, who for more than three decades wielded a powerful
and potent influence through the medium of the Guernsey Times,
long recognized as one of the best edited newspapers in this
part of the state. He was one of the strong and
influential citizens whose lives have become an essential part
the history of this section of the state and for years his name
was synonymous for all that constituted honorable and upright
manhood. Tireless energy, keen perception and honesty of
purpose, combined with everyday common sense, were among his
chief characteristics and while advancing individual success he
also largely promoted the moral and material welfare of his
community.
David D. Taylor was born July 24, 1842, in
Oxford township, Guernsey county, Ohio, and came to Cambridge
with his parents in 1860. He led the life of a country
land in his youth and until he was eighteen years of age he
attended school in that old district which has become a sort of
mecca of patriots and statesmen and is celebrated in story and
song as "Pennyroyaldom." Practically a farmer, something
of a coal miner and a fairly expert typographer, he had taught a
term of school and served four months as a soldier in the Union
army, before casting his first vote for Brough as against
Vallandigham in 1863. With a previous training at the
Fairview select school of his brother, the late Congressman
J. D. Taylor, he took a term at the Cambridge high school
with Dr. S. J. Kirkwood, later professor of mathematics
in Wooster University, and for time attended a special select
school taught in Cambridge by Rev. John S. Speer, D.
D. He was a successful teacher, active in institute
and other educational work, one of the four charter members of
the Eastern Ohio Teachers' Association, served as school
examiner of Guernsey county with Dr. John McBurney and
Hon. R. S. Frame; served as coroner of Guernsey county once,
and was postmaster of Cambridge for twelve years, first by
appointment of General Grant, serving under four
Presidents. In many public matters, in educational
affairs, institutes and literary societies he was an organizer
and leader. He was for a long time an officer in the
Methodist Episcopal church, and as president of the Guernsey
County Sunday School Union for seven years, he conducted large
and interesting annual conventions. The presiding genius
and program maker of the Pennyroyal Reunion, he gave that
society a state-wide reputation as the greatest of all
harvest-home picnics. And all the while, he was, with
brief intervals, connected with the Guernsey Times, the
oldest paper in Guernsey county and one of the stanchest of
Republican organs; first as an apprentice, local editor, partner
sixteen years, and then sole proprietor and editor-in-chief
until his death. As early as 1870 he had a financial
interest in the Times and he made an outright
purchase of a half interest on Jan. 1, 1874, becoming sole
proprietor in 1890.
To fight Democracy was a second nature to David
Taylor, and in this business he was an old campaigner; but
he made no compromises with what he considered to be wrong or
unfair in his own party. As a result of his peculiar
radicalism along this line, he was defeated by a narrow margin
for the Legislature in 1887, although he had been fairly
nominated on the first ballot over half a dozen other good
candidates in the convention. At the next recurring
convention he was again nominated by a unanimous vote, every one
of the one hundred and forty-two delegates rising to his feet,
and he was elected over the strongest candidate that the
Democrats could set against him, and in that off-off-year (1889)
Guernsey county gave the Republican nominee for governor, J.
B. Foraker, a gain of one hundred over his vote of 1887, for
re-election to a third term. In the next campaign, when
Mr. Taylor was again the unanimous choice of his party, the
Democratic, Prohibitionist and People's parties combined to
defeat him and incidentally a United States senator, and traded
off everything and anything from governor down to accomplish
their purpose; but in this contest he gained his most signal
triumph, coming out with a majority over all, which was almost
equivalent to the high-tide Republican plurality of about one
thousand for McKinley for governor.
As a member of the sixty-ninth and
seventieth General Assemblies he was prominent and was author of
the standard time law, the "masher" law, and hazing law, the
first of which stopped every court house clock in the state
about thirty minutes and made the time the same in every city.
He was a member of the Commercial Congress held in Kansas City,
being appointed by Governor Campbell. At the
inauguration of William McKinley as governor, Mr.
Taylor was a member of the escort committee and rode with
McKinley and retiring Governor Campbell in the
inaugural procession, being the representative of the lower
house of the Legislature. While a member of the latter
body he became popularly known as "Guernsey Taylor."
In 1899 he was a candidate in the Guernsey district for state
senator and greatly reduced the large Democratic majority.
His last political ambition was for the nomination of his party
as their candidate for lieutenant-governor, and he had received
testimonials from newspapers and friends in every part of Ohio
promising support, but this campaign was hardly on until he was
taken sick, when he laid the whole matter aside in an effort for
return to health.
Mr. Taylor's career was one of
real accomplishment. Born among the unproductive hills of
Guernsey county, he had a boyhood of hard work, went to the
front when a boy of only eighteen years as a private in the
Eighty-fifty Ohio Regiment, and after the war learned the
printing trade, when he graduated into the editorial chair.
The immediate clientele of his paper, the Guernsey Times,
was not large, but it is doubtful if any rural weekly had a
wider political influence. The paper was Taylor and
Taylor was the paper. If he was for anybody or
anything, there never was any doubt about it. He said what
he felt, and he said it vigorously, and kept on saying it until
his views made an indelible impression on his readers. He
was an honest and true man, genial and generous. He was a
friend upon whose friendship one could rely whenever the
opportunity offered for its service, and he was never in the
"doubtful" column. He was of high character and his
purposes were always true. He was a clear thinker and a
vigorous writer. He had ambition and rightfully so, but he
never fought save in the open, commanding the respect of both
friends and opponents. As a legislature he was as breezy,
aggressive and industrious as he was as an editor. It was
his bill which made standard time legal in Ohio.
One morning the papers contained an account of an
unusually pitiable case of deception of woman.
"Guernsey's" wrath rose. He quickly drafted a bill and
made a speech which sent the bill racing through both houses.
Hence the so-called "masher" law, applicable to married men who
represent themselves as single.
David D. Taylor new no environment. All
lines that were for the betterment of men and things were his
and he used all of his powers for this purpose in all of the
sixty-two years of his life. He signed the Washingtonian
pledge at two years old with his baby hand in that of his mother
and most faithfully did he keep the pledge and the Guernsey
Times has been the exponent of temperance that has kept the
county in the front rank in that reform. His truth and
integrity none ever doubted and none ever dared to openly
gainsay. In all of his many battles in his political
career he was always glad and ready to shake the hand of the foe
when the battle was over. He used all of his weapons and
fought an open fight, but always with no characteristics of the
assassin and with no personal feeling against the foe. The
poor never sought him in vain and the weak he regarded as worthy
of his best help. He was not a man of great means, but no
public enterprise of Cambridge lacked his help and advocacy.
Mr. Taylor died at the family
home in Cambridge May 14, 1905, and is buried in the cemetery of
his home city. He was a good citizen of Cambridge and of
Ohio. His friends, loyal and loving, are numbered by the
thousands. Richer in good will than in material wealth, he
departed this life leaving a heritage of memory that should be
enough to console the last moments of the most fortunate.
He was a picturesque character. In politics, in the
editorial sanctum and society his personality was magnetic and
his responsibilities were borne with courage and fortitude.
As an editor he wielded a trenchant pen, as a politician he was
not confined to the narrow lines of partisanship. He ably
and completely filled his place in life; his duties were well
performed.
In 1871 Mr. Taylor was married to Martha
Craig, of Cambridge, and to them were born seven children,
three of whom, Margaret McFadden, Samuel Craig
and David Danner, died in childhood.
Rowland Corwin Taylor is special agent of the interior
department with headquarters at Boise, Idaho. Maxwood
Petty Taylor is managing editor of The Teller,
Lewiston, Idaho. John Sherman Taylor is a law
student at the Ohio State University, and Martha Craig Taylor
who, with her mother, resides in Cambridge. Mr. Taylor
was the son of Alexander Dallas and Sarah (Danner) Taylor
and was a member of a family of nine sons and three daughters.
Of this large family the only survivors are Dr. G. K. Taylor,
of Cincinnati, and T. C. Taylor, of Washington, D. C.
SOURCE 1: History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B.
Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - B. F. Bowden &
Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 592 |
| |
COL. JOSEPH DANNER TAYLOR.
No man who has lived in Guernsey county will be longer or more
reverently remembered than the late Col. Joseph Danner Taylor,
third son of Alexander Dallas and Sarah (Danner) Taylor,
who was born in Goshen township, near Belmont, Belmont county,
Ohio, on the 7th of November, 1830. When he was two years
of age, his parents moved to Oxford township, Guernsey county.
For nineteen years he lived upon his father's farm, alternating
with hard study during the winter months and summer evenings.
He belonged to a family where mental cultivation and educational
acquirements were justly held in pre-eminent esteem, and with
the goal of literary and professional success steadily before
his boyish ambition, it is not strange that he early developed a
fondness for literary pursuits and persevering devotion in
attainment of knowledge. After mastering such rudimentary
branches of instruction as could be obtained in the district
schools of that period, he attended various private schools in
his own and adjoining counties, adapted to advanced scholars,
where he prepared for college under the instruction of some of
the leading educators of the day. During his
vacations je often taught district school to obtain funds to
pursue his studies and, having to depend entirely upon himself,
he studied, taught school and read law by turns during a period
of several years. For a year and half, beginning with the
summer of 1854, he attended Madison College, covering the entire
collegiate course, except the Greek. Following his term at
college he taught schools in Laughin's and Center districts, and
completed his experience as an instructor by teaching the
Fairview high school, which was largely attended by teachers and
those who were fitting themselves for that profession.
Mr. Taylor was eminently successful as teacher, was
painstaking and thorough spent nearly as much time in teaching
out of school hours as in and was always ready to assist a pupil
whose means were limited, in books or tuition, often furnishing
both free of charge, or taking his chances of remuneration in
the future. His school at Fairview, in which he was
assisted by Prof. L. J. Crawford, embraced a complete
academic course, including the higher mathematics, and his
classes in surveying and engineering were given abundance of
field practice. He was proffered the superintendency of
several prominent union schools, but preferred to teach a select
school, which was more remunerative. Having chosen the law
as his profession, all his time, in the intervals of study and
teaching, was devoted to a course of reading with that end in
view. He was twice elected county surveyor, but resigned
before the close of his second term, owing to a pressure of
other duties. During the eight or nine years in which his
attention was principally given to teaching, he contributed
largely to the advance of public opinion in the matter of more
liberal education, addressing many public assemblies upon the
subject, organizing and presiding over teachers' associations
and institutes, and impressing perceptibly upon the people his
own advanced ideas on the subject. He left his post as
teacher with something of reluctance, and entered the Cincinnati
Law School in the winter of 1857-58, graduating there in spring
of 1860. He was admitted to the bar before the supreme
court in Columbus, a year in advance of his graduation, and
commenced the practice of law in Cambridge in the fall of 1860.
He was school examiner of Guernsey county, but resigned at the
breaking out of the war to enter the army.
In the fall of 1861 Mr. Taylor purchased the
Guernsey Times, then the only Republican journal in Guernsey
county; associated with him in that enterprise was W. H. F.
Lenfestey of Cambridge, who assumed charge of the business
department of the paper, while Mr. Taylor directed,
inspired and shaped its editorial utterances. No one need
to be told immense importance of the Republican paper of the
strictest type in those days of doubt and vacillation.
Such was the Times. It upheld the administration of
Lincoln with all the weight of its influence, and, through all
the doubt and fear of the time, steadfastly supported the
measures of the Republican party, advocating the vigorous
prosecution of the war, approving and upholding the Emancipation
Proclamation, and sternly rebuking the "copperheads" and
"doughfaces" who remained at home to object and criticise while
the nation was struggling for its life. Party feeling ran
high in those days, and it required strength of conviction and
steadiness of purpose to conduct a newspaper safely and
successfully through the perils that beset journalism on every
hand, but neither then, nor since, did Mr. Taylor ever
falter in his allegiance to the principles of the Republican
party. During his connection with the Times he
edited it in person when at home, and at all times dictated its
policy.
It cannot be said that the paper was conducted with an
eye solely or largely to financial results. On the
contrary, it was placed, so far as possible, in the hands of
every voter, responsible or otherwise, in Guernsey county.
Large numbers of copies were weekly sent to every regiment at
the front which contained an Ohio man, and so thousand of
dollars' worth of papers were freely and gladly contributed by
the owners to the cause of republicanism and union among the
very people who most needed such missionary work - those too
poor or too indifferent to pay for a paper.
The result of his policy was like that of casting bread
upon the waters for, when the paper was sold in 1871, it was
doubled in size, tripled in circulation, and had contributed to
greatly increase the Republican vote and influence in Guernsey
county. Previous to 1862, when Mr. Taylor assumed
editorial control of the paper, not more than half the county
offices had been held by Republicans. At ensuing elections
the party had gained such strength as to make a clean sweep,
electing its entire ticket, and this result is a fair example of
that of each election up to 1871.
When the war broke out Mr. Taylor was appointed
by the governor of Ohio a member of the county and district
military committees, and gave efficient service in organizing
troops, and in procuring and forwarding needed supplies to the
soldiers in the field. In the spring of 1863 he was made
the candidate of his party for prosecuting attorney of Guernsey
county. Pending the canvass came Morgan's famous
raid into Ohio, and Governor Tod's call for troops to
defend the state. Mr. Taylor raised a company for
the Eighty-eighty Ohio Regiment, and had it in camp in ten days,
where he was, by unanimous vote of the company, chosen captain.
The regiment was placed on duty at Camp Chase, then
filled with rebel prisoners. When sufficiently drilled for
active service, Captain Taylor was among the officers of
this regiment who petitioned the secretary of war to send them
to the front, and the order came to this effect. The
regiment was equipped for duty and ordered to Washington, when,
to the infinite disappointment of officers and men, the order
was countermanded upon the representation of General
Richardson that the regiment could not safely be spared from
Cap Chase, and they were accordingly remanded to the monotonous
through important duty, of guarding the thousands of Confederate
soldiers then held in that prison depot. While in
camp Captain Taylor was sent on several important details
with picked men, where clearness of judgment and coolness of
nerve were specially required and was eminently successful in
all that he undertook. Soon after he entered the service
he was detailed on special duty, and remained on detached
service until the close of the war, serving as judge advocate of
courts marital and military commissions, at Cincinnati,
Indianapolis and at other places. In the latter part of
1864, after serving for some months as judge advocate at
Cincinnati, he was appointed judge advocate of the district of
Indiana, with headquarters at Indianapolis. The state of
Indiana was then in a condition to warrant the gravest
apprehension of serious difficulty. Its military prisons
were overcrowded with criminals and rebels, and in many places
its citizens were on the brink of insurrection. The
treasonable organizations of the Sons of Liberty and Knights of
the Golden Circle were in their palmiest days, and drilling of
armed men by moonlight, and the schemes to release and arm the
rebel prisoners at the North, had just been discovered.
Under these circumstances it required ability of no ordinary
type to manage the business of the military courts, and again
the firmness of purpose and clearness of perception which
had on previous occasions marked Captain Taylor's
performance of duty became signally apparent. The district
to which he was called was in everything but the name a
department, the judge advocate discharging his duties
independent of any immediate supervision, and reporting only to
the judge advocate general. The whole management of this
department or district was given into the hands of Captain
Taylor by General Hovey, who was then in command, and
so well and faithfully did he perform the arduous and
responsible duties of his position that during the entire year
and a half that he was engaged in this branch of service,
involving the preparation and forwarding of thousands of pages
of reports, the carrying on of important investigations and the
keeping of voluminous records, no report of his was ever
returned from Washington, but all were found correct and
approved by the war department. The vigor and promptness
with which he despatched business were remarkable, and his
untiring energy and industry enabled him to do what perhaps no
other officer in the army did, or attempted to do. As soon
as the necessary records, clerks, and reporters could be
provided, he organized two military courts, and served as judge
advocate of both, although his position as district judge
advocate did not require him to serve in that capacity on
either.
Exacting as were these duties, being, in fact, the
duties of three ordinary officers, the situation was complicated
by another circumstance. The people of Guernsey county had
elected Captain Taylor prosecuting attorney, in pursuance
of the nomination already referred to, and though he had a
deputy who could very well attend to the duties of the office
outside of the court room, his presence at the three sessions of
the court in each year seemed indispensable. His
indefatigable labors at Indianapolis rendered it easy for him to
obtain leave of absence to attend to these occasional duties at
Cambridge, where, with unremitting energy, he disposed of his
cases in the shortest possible time, and hurried back to face
his accumulated labors in Indiana. Thus his life became a
constant round of ceaseless labor, and in the examination of
hundreds of prisoners, the trying of many important cases, and
the management and control of a vast amount of business, he
gained lasting credit for the discretion, wisdom, and success of
his administration.
In 1865 Provost Marshal John B. Cook was foully
and deliberately murdered at Cambridge by two men Oliver and
Hartup. General Hooker, upon application of Captain
Taylor, detailed him with a court consisting of eleven
officers, to go to Cambridge and try the murderers.
Intense feeling prevailed in regard to the matter, and the
public excitement was not diminished by the arrival of the
court, its reporters, clerks and attendants. A company of
infantry acted as guards, and the servants of the officers being
added, the retinue was no small one, and its coming put all
Cambridge in a flutter. The court held its sessions in the
town hall, and, as the trial was one of the most important of
the many that were held during the war, and one which attracted
great attention throughout the country, it was one of absorbing
theme of conversation in the community. A most stubborn
defense was made all along the line, and the trial, as it
progressed, assumed, to some extent, a political character.
Four of the ablest lawyers obtainable were retained for the
accused, and hundreds of witnesses were examined and for three
months the trial lasted, during which time Captain Taylor
in the faithful discharge of his duties received many threats of
personal violence from the prisoners and their sympathizers, as
well as many encomiums for his management of the case from those
who desired justice to be done. It finally resulted in the
conviction of both prisoners and their subsequent execution at
Camp Chase, in September, 1865, after they made a full
confession of their crime. Captain Taylor received
many warm expressions of gratitude from the citizens of his own
and other counties for having been instrumental in ridding the
community of these men who had been a constant terror to
law-abiding people for many many years, and, by his skillful and
acute analysis and management of the case, added materially to a
reputation for legal ability already well established.
During his terms of service he was twice brevetted for
valuable services to the government, on the recommendation of
officers of the regular army as well as those of the volunteer
forces, whose attention had been attracted by his judicious and
conscientious administration of his office. These brevets
commission and ever afterward passed among his acquaintances by
the military title of colonel.
At the close of the war and after he was mustered out
of the service he was retained as special citizen judge advocate
in the district of Indiana for the trial of two important cases
in which the government was pecuniarily interested to the extent
of many thousands of dollars. The first of these occupied
six and the second four months in its trial, and he was thus
unable to return to private life until the summer of 1866.
Having been, in 1865, re-elected prosecuting attorney, he held
the office until 1867, and so vigorously did he enforce the law
that when his term of office closed there was not an open saloon
in Guernsey county. From 1867 he devoted himself, first to
the Times until 1871, when he sold his interests, then to
his law practice and to sundry private business enterprises, the
latter almost without an exception connected with advancing the
material growth and prosperity of his town. Indeed, it may
be justly said that no man in Guernsey county did more to
benefit Cambridge than did Colonel Taylor He
erected several valuable blocks of buildings, thus giving
employment to many persons, and adding to the advantages of the
town. He was retained in many notable cases, and while for
years his law practice was second to none in Cambridge, he had
an extensive practice in other counties and cities, especially
in Cincinnati. Not the least of these important cases was
that of the State against Kennon for the murder of Benjamin
F. Sipe, tried in Belmont county, under a change of venue.
In this case Colonel Taylor was appointed by the court
and paid by the county commissioners, and was opposed by Hon.
Allen G. Thurman and other leading members of the Ohio bar.
His practice extended through all the state courts, and
district, circuit and supreme courts of the United States, to
which last he was admitted to practice upon motion of President,
then Congressman, James A. Garfield. In all his
business, including the extensive practice of his profession, it
is worthy of note that he never had a law suit on his own
account, and that he had a reputation for compromising and
adjusting without a trial more cases than any other lawyer of
his locality. In 1871 he associated with him in the
practice of law, under the firm name of Taylor & Anderson,
Col. T. H. Anderson, now justice of the supreme court of the
District of Columbia, who had read law in his office.
From the personal and professional to the political
world of Colonel Taylor is but a step. He was
prominently identified with the Republican politics in the
eastern part of the state for many years. In 1872 he
received eleven or twelve votes for Congress in the convention
which nominated Hon. John A. Bingham for his last term.
He was later urged by his friends to again enter the lists, and
in 1878 he would probably have received the nomination but for
the fact that just before the nominating convention was held,
the Democratic majority in the Legislature had completed their
famous gerrymander by which Guernsey county was thrown into a
new and hopelessly Democratic district, in consequence of which
his friends withdrew his name from the canvass.
He was by appointment of the governor of Ohio, a
delegate to the Philadelphia Loyalists' convention in 1866.
He served as delegate in the Cincinnati convention of 1876,
which nominated Hayes for the Presidency, and the Chicago
convention of 1880.
From 1861, when he purchased the Guernsey Times,
until his death, Mr. Taylor's influence and means were
unselfishly devoted to his party.
With every enterprise that tended to the improvement of
Cambridge, after his residence there he was closely identified.
From 1870 to 1877 he was president of the Cambridge school
board, during which time the union school building was erected,
then one of the finest in eastern Ohio. He was trustee of
Scio, Mt. Union and Ohio and Allegheny Colleges. He was
prominent in securing the organization and location of the
Marietta & Pittsburg, now the Cleveland & Marietta railroad
contributing liberally of his means and time to the enterprise.
He was active in the organization and management of several
corporations for the develop0ment of local industries.
It was one of Colonel Taylor's cherished
purposes to be able to assist worthy young men who were
struggling, as he did in his youth, to gain a foothold in
honorable business, or in the profession, or in obtaining a
liberal education. None appealed to his benevolence in
vain, and his heart and hand were ever ready to respond to the
cry of the needy. He was a thoroughly religious man during
his entire lifetime, an active member of the Methodist Episcopal
church, a member and for many years president of its board of
trustees, and was a liberal supporter of all its enterprises.
He was superintendent of the Sabbath school in Fairview, when he
was engaged in teaching in that place, and later for seven years
superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sabbath school in
Cambridge. In 1880 he was one of the two lay delegates
from the East Ohio conference to the general conference of the
Methodist Episcopal church held in Cincinnati, where he took a
prominent part in the deliberations of every session. He
was a delegate to the ecumenical conference held in Washington,
D. C., in 1892.
In December, 1866, Colonel Taylor married
Elizabeth A. Hill, daughter of William Hill, of North
Berwick, Maine. Mrs. Taylor died in April, 1887.
Of this marriage there were born, William Hill and
Gertrude Elizabeth, who survive him and Joseph Clifford,
who died in infancy. In November, 1889, Colonel TAylor
married Caro M. Palmer, who, with the one child born
them, Joseph Danner Taylor, Jr., still survives
him.
Colonel Taylor was president of the Guernsey
National Bank from its organization in 1872 until the time of
his death. He was also a director and an officer of
several corporations located in Guernsey county and elsewhere in
addition to many other positions of trust and responsibility.
"Being elected to fill the unexpired term of the Hon.
Jonathan T. Updegraff of the sixteenth district in the
forty-seventh Congress, he so ably represented his constituents
that he was re-elected to the forty-eighth, fiftieth,
fifty-first and fifty-second Congresses. He received
important committee assignments, including a chairmanship.
His term of office expired in 1893. His congressional
record was marked by teh same fidelity and untiring efforts on
behalf of the public which had always been one of his marked
characteristics. In addition to general legislation he was
then particularly interested in matters concerning the old
soldiers, and pensioners of the late war and also the wool
industry, which closely concerned his constituents, and his
services were so highly appreciated that his majority was
largely increased at each election." For many yeas he was
active in the councils of the Republican party in eastern Ohio,
was once temporary chairman of the Ohio state convention.
Though the mention of his name in connection with the
gubernatorial nomination had attracted favorable attention and a
large circle of friends and acquaintances urged him to enter the
field, he declined to allow the use of his name. He
enjoyed cordial relations with Presidents Hayes, Garfield
and McKinley, serving several years in Congress with the
latter.
Colonel Taylor was always a very busy man.
He held many positions of trust and responsibility. In his
three years as judge-advocate, four years as prosecuting
attorney, seven years as president of the school board and nine
years in Congress, a leading practitioner in his profession for
many years, his record is without a stain. He possessed an
engaging personality and those traits of character which win and
retain a wide circle of friends.
This distinguished citizen passed to his reward at his
home in Cambridge, on September 19, 1899.
SOURCE 1: History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B.
Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - B. F. Bowden &
Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 953 |
| |
ORLANDO R. TAYLOR.
A name that is well known in Valley township, Guernsey county,
standing for upright manhood and clean citizenship, is that of
Orlando R. Taylor, who was born in Hartland, this
township, June 16, 1858, the descendant of an excellent and
highly respected family, being the son of William and Sarah
(Hall) Taylor. The father was born in the same
community, as was also the mother. William Taylor
devoted most of his life to farming pursuits, but during his
last years he was not very actively engaged in agriculture.
He was a man whom everyone respects, his life having been above
reproach. In his family are six children, named as
follows: Orlando R., of this review; Ida,
wife of David E. H. Elwee, lives at Westerville,
Ohio; Naomi is the wife of James Laughlin and
lives at Pleasant City, this county; Lizzie is the wife
of James H. Warren and lives in Cambridge; Jemima
married G. S. Larrick and lives about five miles south of
Pleasant City, in Noble county; Charles lives at Linden
Heights, north of Columbus, Ohio.
The death of the father of these children occurred on
Sept. 11, 1909, having survived his wife nine years, she having
answered the summons on Sept. 24, 1900. From about 1879
they had lived in Pleasant City, although Mr. Taylor
continued farming until within a few yeas of his death.
Orlando R. Taylor grew to maturity on the home
farm, near Pleasant City, which he worked when old enough, and
he attended the common schools there. Since 1879 he has
lived at Pleasant City, but he attended the normal school at
Cambridge, and later took a course at Scio College, preparing
himself for a teacher, which profession he followed with marked
success for fifteen or sixteen years, his services being in
great demand owing to the fact that he was exceptionally well
equipped for his work and also because of the fact that he was
an entertainer as well as an instructor in the school room being
popular with both pupils and patrons, and keeping abreast of the
times in all matters pertaining to his work. He taught in
Pleasant City and other schools in Guernsey county and four
years in Muskingum county.
But tiring of the school room, Mr. Taylor took
up fire insurance and later established an agency and did a very
gratifying business in this line. He became notary public
and was also township clerk, and is still serving as clerk of
the school board of Valley township, and also as clerk of the
board of education of Pleasant City. As a public servant
he has ever given the utmost satisfaction, discharging his
duties in a very conscientious and able manner. He has
recently engaged in life insurance, which he now makes his chief
business.
Mr. Taylor was married on Aug. 4, 1888, to
Alice Moore, a lady of many estimable traits, the daughter
of Thomas I. and Margaret (Gander) Moore. She was
born, reared and educated in the southeastern part of Guernsey
county. One child was born to this union, who died in
infancy.
Mr. Taylor's popularity and his eminent fitness
for positions of public trust led his friends to elect him mayor
of Pleasant City, but he did not want the office and resigned
after six months' service. Fraternally, he is a member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias,
and he and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church.
He is easily one of the leading citizens of Pleasant City and
this part of the county, although being a man of conservative
tastes, he does not court such distinction.
SOURCE 1: History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B.
Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - B. F. Bowden &
Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 842 |
| |
EDWARD TEMPLE Source: History
of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ:
B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 704 |
| |
LAFAYETTE TEMPLE Source:
History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ:
B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 704 |
| |
WILLIAM TEMPLE Source: History
of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ:
B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 704 |
| |
PROF. BERT M. THOMPSON.
The men most influential in promoting the advancement of society
and in giving character to the times in which they live are of
two classes, the men who study and the men of action.
Whether we are most indebted for the improvement of the age to
the one class or the other, is a question of honest aged to
occupy their several spheres of labor and influence, zealously
and without mutual distrust. In the following paragraphs
are briefly outlined the leading facts and characteristics of a
gentleman who combines in his makeup the elements of the scholar
and the energy of the public spirited man of affairs.
Devoted to the noble and humane work of teaching, he has made
his influence felt in the school life of Guernsey county, and is
not unknown to the wider educational circles of the state,
occupying as he does a prominent place in his profession and
standing high in the esteem of educators in other than his own
field of endeavor.
Prof. Bert M. Thompson, the able and popular
superintendent of public schools of Byesville, Ohio, was born in
1881 at Senecaville, Guernsey county. He is the son of
Luke D. and Ida S. (Nicholson) Thompson. Luke D.
Thompson was also a native here, born one-fourth mile from
where the subject was born about two miles southwest of
Senecaville. He was prominent and influential in this
locality in the early days of development.
The Thompson family first came from central
Pennsylvania, in the early days. Some of them were
blacksmiths in the days when blacksmiths made nails with hammer
and anvil. The first one here was William Thompson
great-grandfather of the subject. He was a wagoner of the
Alleghenies and hauled with six and eight-horse teams from
Baltimore, Maryland, over the mountains. He had a fine set
of horses and often got in a week ahead of the others, thereby
earning the cream of the business. On one of his trips, in
crossing the Potomac on the ice, he found himself floating away
with his team on a large two or three -acre piece. He
floated for two or three miles, when the ice swung around a sand
bar, and he promptly whipped the team off onto the land.
He came to this country at a very early day and located a mile
west of Senecaville, and the Thompson family have lived
in that part of the township ever since. William
Thompson kept tavern on the public square at Senecaville
soon after 1800. He died of cholera. William
Thompson's son was also named William.
Luke Thompson was the son of William Thompson,
Jr., and Margaret (Dilley) Thompson. Margaret Dilley
was the daughter of Abram Dilley, who was the son of
Ephraim Dilley. The origin of the Dilley family
is given as follows: Ephraim Dilley, grandfather of
Margaret (Dilley) Thompson, was born in 1755 and diedin
1844. His wife, Lucy (Ayers) dilley, was born in
1762 and died in 1840. Ephraim Dilley's wife's
maiden name was Lucy Ayers, daughter of William and
Esther (Hardin) Ayers. Ephraim Dilley was the son of
Aaron and Hannah (Perry) Dilley. Hannah Perry
was related to Commodore Perry, who fought the battle on Lake
Erie in 1813, being a sister of the Commodore's mother or
grandmother, and had the same noble hero who was born in 1270
and who was an Anglo-Norman. His ancestors were not
English, but were French Huguenots, who were in the massacre of
St. Bartholomew and had to flee for their lives.
They migrated from the isle of Jersey to England, thence to the
United States. Ethnology places them as ancient Celts or
Gauls. Ephraim Dilley was in the Revolutionary war
and fought in the battle of Stony Point and other battles.
Abram Dilley's wife was Jane Wilson McCleary Dilley.
Jane Wilson McCleary was born in county Down, Ireland, and
came to the United States when eight years old. She came
in her Aunt Mary Roland's ship, her husband being the
captain of the vessel. He died and she (Mary Roland)
married a Mr. Wright, the mate. James Wilson
McCleary's mother, or grandmother, was a daughter of Lord
Wilson. She married a mechanic and her father
disinherited her. The family crest of Lord Wilson
was the wolf's head.
Professor Thompson's mother was the daughter of
Jacob and Jane (Cramblett) Nicholson, whose sketch
appears elsewhere in this volume. She was born and reared
about two and a half miles from the town of Derwent. The
Professor's father was born not far from Senecaville, and lived
in that vicinity all of his life. Professor Thompson
was the only child of the family and he grew up on the home
farm. The father followed farming all of his life.
He and his wife were members of the Lutheran church, as all of
the Nicholsons are. Grandfather Thompson was
a Presbyterian. The father, who died Sept. 26, 1908 was a
good man and highly esteemed by all who knew him.
Bert M. Thompson attended the common schools in
the country districts, graduating in 1899 from the Senecaville
high school. He spent one summer at the National Normal
University. He also took twelve terms at Athens, Ohio,
completing the course in the normal college. He has also
secured both common school and high school state life
certificates, that being quite an unusual thing for one of more
advanced years and experience. Thus well equipped for his
lifework, in 1900 he began teaching in Richland township, and
taught there for three years and afterward one year in Valley
township. He then came to Byesville, spent four years as
principal of the high school, and became superintendent of the
schools in May, 1908, which position he filled for the two
years' term. In 1910 he was again elected for a three
years' term. He has done much to rose the standard of the
schools of Byesville, is an able educator, a man of high
character, genial and kind, a clear thinker, cogent, reasoner, a
platform speaker of ability, delivers commencement addresses,
etc. He is geographical editor of the Ohio Teacher,
is field worker for the Ohio School Improvement Federation, and
has local license in the Methodist Episcopal church. He
does considerable public speaking, both in school and church
work. For the past ten years he has been very active in
the Epworth League, has been for three years past president of
the Cambridge district of the Epworth league. He finally
gave this up for lack of time.
When Professor Thompson came to Byesville there
was only one school building and nine teachers; now there are
three schools, with a teaching force of twenty-three teachers.
A new high school building, costing thirty thousand dollars, and
many improvements in the conduct of the schools, are largely due
to the progress of the public school system under his
supervision. He is known nearly all over Ohio as a leader
in educational matters. His field work, carried on
earnestly, brings him in close touch with the work in every
locality. He and his mother now live in Byesville, where
they have a beautiful home.
Unlike many of his calling who became narrow and
pedantic, Professor Thompson is essentially a man
of the times, broad and liberal in his views and has the courage
of his convictions on all the leading public questions and
issues upon which men and parties divide. He also keeps in
touch with the trend of modern thought along its various lines
and being a man of scholarly attainments and refined tastes, his
acquaintance with the best literature of the world is both
general and profound, while his familiarity with the more
practical affairs of the day makes him feel free with all
classes and conditions of people whom he meets, and he is
deserving of the large success he has achieved and of the
universal esteem which he now enjoys.
Source: History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B.
Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ: B. F. Bowden &
Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 473 |
|
|
EBENEZER F. THOMPSON.
It would indeed he quite impossible to give even an approximate
review of the great good done in the locality of which this
history treats by the Rev. Ebenezer Finley Thompson, long
since a pilgrim to the “city not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens,” for, during a long and laborious career, he sought to
spread the gospel of peace and service among his fellow men, and
aid them in any way possible, deeming it his mission in this
sinful, benighted, evil-cursed world to expend his energy and
devote much effort in making those better and happier with whom
his lot was cast, consequently his light will continue to shine
among them, growing brighter “unto the perfect day.” As a
preacher he was earnest, forceful, logical and often truly
eloquent.
Reverend Thompson was born Dec. 25, 1807,
in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, near New Salem, the son of
Judge William and Elizabeth (Finley) Thompson. The
Thompsons and Finleys are of Scotch-Irish descent.
Jacob Thompson, the great-grandfather of the
subject, was the first Thompson coming to America a few
years later than 1700. and landed at Battumon. His wife
was Ann Downard. He was a farmer. His
son, James, the grandfather of the subject of this
sketch, was born in 1758, in Maryland, and married Mary
Jackson, in Chester county, Pennsylvania. Some
years later the family went to Fayette county.
Pennsylvania, and was engaged in farming. his son,
William, was born in Fayette county,
Pennsylvania, in October, 1783, and was married to Elizabeth
Finley, who are the parents of the subject.
There were in the family of William Thompson the
following children: Ebenezer Finley, of this
review; James, who became a lawyer; Jane, who
became Mrs. Rev. George Richey;
William; Harriet J. and Elizabeth J. Evans.
WILLIAM THOMPSON came with his
family to what is now Guernsey county, Ohio, in August, 1810,
and settled in Possum valley. A few years later he bought
land two miles east of Senecaville and built a grist mill, one
of the very earliest of its time. He was a large land
owner and was active in the affairs of the new country. A
few years following this he bought lands upon which a large part
of Senecaville is now built, owning about three hundred acres in
this one piece of land. He was a very prominent man,
served as a member of the Ohio Legislature, and also as county
judge. He died from cholera in June, 1833, buried beside
his father and mother, in the cemetery at Senecaville. He
died in the prime of life and in the most active years of his
life, aged forty-nine years. His widow died in 1860 and is
also buried at Senecaville.
His son, Ebenezer F., was at the time of his
father's death engaged in the mercantile business and continued
in this for some years in connection with his brothers.
Soon after his father’s death he became converted and decided to
enter the ministry. He closed out his business and
prepared for a college course, he had accumulated considerable
property prior to this time, he had attended the public schools
of Senecaville and prepared for the ministry at Uniontown,
Pennsylvania, and at Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, and,
finishing his education, was ordained by the Cumberland
Presbyterian church and immediately began his ministerial work
in Guernsey county.
Reverend Thompson was married May 20, 1845, to
Louisa Halley, daughter of Edward and Mary
(Wartenbee ) Halley, of near Byesville, Guernsey county.
Mr. Halley was of English descent and both the
Halleys and Wartenbees were large land owners and
mill operators from Wheeling to Zanesville.
To Reverend and Mrs. Thompson
were born three daughters and two sons: Mary E., who is
Mrs. James Kabo, of Senecaville: Nellie T., now
Mrs. Robert P. Burns, of Senecaville; Hattie L., now
Mrs. Jacob S. Mowery, of the state of Oregon; William
H., of Senecaville; and Ebenezer D., of St. Louis,
Missouri.
Mr. Thompson spent the entire years of
his ministry in Guernsey county and vicinity. His health
was such that he was not capable of constant work and he retired
to his farm near Senecaville. He was a Republican in
politics and a man very active in public affairs, a
public-spirited citizen and every effort calculated to improve
conditions and uplift the people had his hearty support.
He was a splendid man, highly respected and a man of wide
influence. His death occurred on Jan. 21, 1884, his widow
surviving until Dec. 27, 1903, and both are buried in the
Senecaville cemetery.
The daughter, Nellie T., was married July 25,
1876, to Robert P. Burns, of Jacksonville, Greene county,
Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Burns lived in
Senecaville, Mr. Burns being a traveling salesman.
To Mr. and Mrs. Burns the following children were born;
Halley A. is married and resides in Senecaville;
Arthur married and lives in Senecaville; Mary A., now
Mrs. Raymond Lowry, of Senecaville; Robert, at
home.
Mr. and Mrs. Burns were both music teachers and
each of the children have very marked musical ability and have
musical educations. Mr. Burns passed to his
rest July 28, 1895, and is buried in the Senecaville cemetery.
Source:
History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ:
B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 829 |
John A. Thompson |
JOHN A. THOMPSON.
A fine type of the sturdy, conscientious American of today is
John A. Thompson, prosperous farmer and honored citizen of
Guernsey county and long a leader in the affairs of Cambridge
township. He has lived a long and useful life and has
noted great changes and taken part in vast improvements.
He is deserving of the high esteem in which he is universally
held because he has led a life of uprightness and of strict
adherence to the Golden Rule.
Mr. Thompson was born Apr. 26, 1838, in Monroe
township, Guernsey county, Ohio, and he is the son of William
and Sarah (Ansley ) Thompson. The father was born in
county Tyrone, Ireland, and he was about two years of age when
his parents brought him to America. They settled in
Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where they remained for a number
of years engaged in farming. The family came to Guernsey
county, Ohio, in 1826 and settled in Monroe township, the father
having died in Pennsylvania. They purchased a farm of one
hundred and seven acres for four hundred and one dollars, the
one dollar representing the present to the wife of the seller as
compensation for signing the deed to the land.
William Thompson, father of John A.,
prospered at his chosen vocation and became a large land owner.
He was a Whig in politics, later a Republican and was active in
public matters. His family consisted of four daughters and
three sons, namely: James, Mary Jane,
Nancy, Margaret, Elizabeth, John A. and
William H. The two last only are living.
William H. served as a member of Company H, Sixty-fifth Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil war, and the father was a
soldier in the war of 1812. The latter died on Feb. 9,
1880, and his wife died on July 14, 1878. Both are buried
in the United Presbyterian cemetery. They were a highly
respected couple and prominent in the affairs of the community.
John A. Thompson, of this review, grew to
maturity on his father's farm and obtained his education in the
district schools of Monroe township. He was married on
Sept. 19, 1861, to Mary A. Neel, daughter of Archibald
and Eliza Ruth (Hughes) Neel, of Monroe township, and a
prominent pioneer family. To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson
were born seven children, namely: Leona A., deceased;
Ansley N., a farmer in Kansas: Ulysses D. and
Eliza Ruth (twins); the former is in business in
Cambridge, and the daughter is now Mrs. Harry McCracken
and lives on a farm in Guernsey county: Sallie Kate is
deceased, as is also Martha M. John M. is now with
an exploring party in Alaska. The mother of these children
died in March, 1886. and Mr. Thompson was married
a second time, June 12, 1890, his second wife being Martha A.
Boyd, daughter of Thomas and Martha (Allen) Boyd, of
Harrison county, Ohio.
After his first marriage Mr. Thompson
continued to live on the old home place in Monroe township until
1902 when he bought a farm adjoining the city of Cambridge and
has since resided here, having been practically retired from
active business for years. He has been a very successful
business man and a good manager and has laid by a very
comfortable competency. Besides his fine farm near
Cambridge, he also owns a very valuable place of over three
hundred acres in Monroe township, this county, which is all well
improved.
Politically, Mr. Thompson is a Republican
and he has always been interested and active in political
affairs, having filled several of the most important township
offices in Monroe township, and in 1880 was land appraiser in
that township. He was elected a member of the board of
county commissioners in 1888 and very ably served nearly seven
years, being recognized as a man of high official integrity.
He and his family are members of the United Presbyterian church
and are active church workers.
Source:
History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet -
Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ: B. F. Bowden & Company,
Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 864 |
|
|
BENJAMIN TRENNER Source:
History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ:
B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 693 |
|
|
GEORGE S. TRENNER Source:
History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ:
B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 644 |
|
|
OBEDIAH E. TRENNER Source:
History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ:
B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 847 |
Elza D. Trott |
ELZA D. TROTT.
The gentleman whose name forms the caption of this biographical
review does not need to be formally introduced to the readers of
this history owing to the fact that he has long been known to
all classes of Guernsey county citizens as a man of progressive
ideas and a leader in local affairs who merits the high esteem
in which he is held.
Elza D. Trott was born July 16, 1868, in Center
township, this county, and is the son of Benjamin Griffith
and Eliza (Martell) Trott. Grandfather Martell
was a man of prominence here in the pioneer days and was one of
the founders of the Methodist Episcopal church at Cambridge.
There is a tradition that the Martells, or Martels,
were of the nobility of France, one member of the royal family
who married one of the lower station, being disinherited and
deprived of his rank. This family is probably descended from the
great military genius of Europe, Charles Martel,
prominent in the middle ages. The father was born in
Maryland and the mother in Guernsey county, Ohio. The
paternal grandparents of Elza D. Trott were Richard
and Mary (Simmons) Trott.
'I'he parents of Eliza Martell came from the
isle of Guernsey, in the English Channel, among the early
pioneers here. Benjamin G. Trott was born in
Maryland, about twenty-two miles from Baltimore on the
Chesapeake bay. He came to Guernsey county with his
parents when he was twelve years of age. in 1844. They
located in Valley township, near Hartford, and there he grew to
maturity. Upon reaching manhood he married Mrs. Eliza
Jane Davis, widow of John Davis. Her parents
were Nicholas and Judith (Blamfield)
Martell. When these parents came from the isle of
Guernsey to this country they had two children, Eliza Jane
being one of the last children born to them, her birth occurring
on Apr. 16, 1830. Nicholas Martell and wife were,
as stated, among the early settlers here, and they owned salt
works three miles north of Cambridge. Later they lived
near where the present tracks of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad
are located, about four miles east of Cambridge, and there
Mr. Martell died. Benjamin Trott was
originally a farmer and for almost fifty years was engaged in
mining, from the time the mining interests began to develop in
this county until his advanced age made it necessary for him to
abandon such work. His death occurred in September, 1904,
his widow surviving until Jan. 31, 1909. Both are buried
in the cemetery at Byesville, where the family had resided for a
number of years. Eight children were born to Mr. and
Mrs. Benjamin G. Trott, all of whom are living, with one
exception; they are, Flora, deceased; Virginia
Frances married David Cox, of Jackson
township; Anna May married William
Hutton, of Byesville; John W. married Rose
Smith and lives at Byesville; Elza D., of this
review; Nancy married John L. Nicholson, of
Byesville; T. Elmer is professor of mathematics of Scio
College. He took the degree of Master of Science at
Muskingum in 1908. When only twelve years of age he passed
the examination and secured license to teach school. He
was one of the youngest in Ohio to receive a state school
certificate, and he is now a member of the staff of nautical
computers of the United States Nautical Observatory, calculating
the paths of the stars for the same. He also has the
degree of Master of Arts. Ida Belle married
Albrow Smith, of Byesville.
Elza D. Trott was educated in the public schools
of his home township. When twelve years of age he went to
work in the mines and was emplored in every phase of work about
the mines, from mule driving to engineer and practical mining.
He was thus employed until he was twenty-one years of age.
He then attended school at Byesville and the following winter he
taught in the Black Top district, Richland township. The
following summer found him in the mines again, in fact, for
several years he worked in the mines during the summer and
taught school in the winter. He entered the Northwestern
University at Ada, Ohio, later studied at Muskingum College at
New Concord, Ohio, for four spring and summer terms, pursuing
the scientific course. Before going to Ada and Muskingum
College he had attended the summer normal at Byesville for
several terms. Following his college course he taught
school for seventeen years in Guernsey county. During this
time he was superintendent of schools at Pleasant City for a
year. He also taught in the Byesville schools.
During all the years he lived in Byesville he walked to and from
home to his different schools, eight in number, during the
seventeen years, and he was regarded as among Guernsey county’s
most progressive and able instructors.
Mr. 'I'rott was married, Oct. 14, 1903, to
Alice Moseley, daughter of Lemuel O. and Mary
(Courtney) Moseley. The father was a native of Ohio
and the mother was born in Ireland. She came to America
when about twenty-one years of age. Lemuel O. Moseley was
a son of Captain Moseley, a man of considerable
prominence. The Moseley family were residents of
Noble county, Ohio, at the time of the daughter’s marriage, she
being engaged in the millinery business in Byesville. Both
her parents are still living at Orrville, Ohio.
To Mr. and Mrs. Trott no children have been
born, but they have two children as their wards, the children of
Mrs. Trott's brother, Emerson Moseley.
Their mother was burned to death by her clothing catching fire
in her home at Mount Vernon. Ohio.
Politically, Mr. Trott is a Republican and he
has always been active in party affairs and is a man well
informed on general issues. He served as justice of the
peace in Byesville for five years prior to 1908, during which
time he heard about fifteen hundred cases in addition to his
teaching duties. He was regarded as a very able judicial
officer, his decisions being fair and unbiased and not one was
ever reversed at the hands of a higher tribunal. In the
summer of 1908 he was nominated by the Republicans of Guernsey
county for clerk of courts and was elected the following
November and he is now serving his first term, and was nominated
for a second term in 1910, having made a very creditable and
praiseworthy record. Owing to his universal popularity,
his nomination for this office a second time was met with
approval by members of all parties. He is a member of Red
Prince Lodge No. 250, Knights of Pythias, at Byesville, Ohio,
and is also a member of the Masonic lodge at Cambridge. He
has passed through all the chairs in the Knights of Pythias
lodge and has been county deputy for two terms at different
times. While an active miner he was a member of the
Miners' Union and other labor organizations, including the
American Federation of Labor, also the musicians’ organization
or union, and he has been very active in their affairs. He
and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church: he
has been a trustee of the same for about fifteen years, and he
has also been both teacher and Sunday school superintendent and
a class leader in the church. His wife was also active in
all Sunday school work. Mr. Trott was also leader
of the church choir for a number of years at Byesville, where he
and his wife held membership. On assuming the office of
county clerk he moved to Cambridge, the family home being at No.
135 North Eleventh street. Mr. and Mrs. Trott are
noted for their work in the temperance cause, and the latter in
the work of the young people’s organization of the church of
which she is a member.
Source: History
of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet -
Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ: B. F. Bowden & Company,
Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 752 |
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ALFRED J. TRUE Source: History
of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ:
B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 565 |
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GEORGE TURNER Source: History
of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ:
B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 488 |
|
|
WILLIAM H .TURNER Source:
History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - Publ:
B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 488 |
|
