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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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REV. J. H. WAGNER 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 480 |
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ANDREW WALL 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 720 |
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CLINTON D. WARNE 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 691 |
Andrew Wall, M.D. |
DR. ANDREW WALL Source: History of Guernsey County, Ohio by
Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - B.
F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 720 |
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REV. ISAAC N. WHITE, D. D.
The good that a high-minded, whole-souled man like Rev. Isaac
N. White does in this practical, worldly-minded age, cannot
be measured in metes and bounds, and such an one should receive
our heartiest commendations; but man of such pure ideals does
not court the admiring plaudits of men, merely striving to do
his Master's will.
Rev. I. N. White, of Fairview, Oxford township,
Guernsey county, was born Aug. 17, 1835, at Hickory, Washington
county, Pennsylvania, the son of Nicholas and Ann (Edgar)
White, the father born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and the
mother of Westmoreland county, the same state. The parents
spent their entire married life at Hickory, Washington county,
Pennsylvania, where they died many years ago, and where they are
buried. The father was a farmer and a devout member of the
Associate church, and died a member of that church in 1851.
Isaac N. White spent his youth on the farm,
assisting in the general work, and his early education was
obtained in the village schools of Hickory. He later
attended Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania,
graduating in 1855. He then taught school in Natchez,
Mississippi, for one year and in the fall of 1856 entered the
theological seminary at Xenia, Ohio, preparatory to entering the
ministry. He graduated from the seminary in 1850 and the
same year was licensed to preach the gospel and was first called
to the congregation at Hebron, in Washington county, New York,
where he remained about three years. He then came to the
Steubenville presbytery, Ohio, and was placed in charge of the
United Presbyterian congregations of Lebanon and Glade Run, in
Columbiana and Carroll counties, and was with this charge for
ten years. He then came to Guernsey county, in the
Muskingum presbytery, and was placed in charge of Fairview.
Washington and Sandhill congregations. In serving these
congregations he was to give Fairview one Sabbath and Washington
the next Sabbath, and at the Sandhill church on the evening of
his Fairview service, riding seven miles through all kinds of
weather and bad roads to fill this appointment. He
remained serving these three congregations for thirty years,
resigning the charge on Dec. 1, 1904, and since that time he has
not been engaged in active ministry. During all those
years he was active not only in his own church affairs, but in
all movements for the betterment of the local conditions, and
was foremost in all work for the uplift of the people of all
classes.
Reverend White has been twice married, first on
Oct. 28, 1865, to Mary Miller, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas Miller, of Hickory, Washington county,
Pennsylvania. Two children were born to this union,
Alice M., at home, and John C., in business at
Cleveland, Ohio. The wife and mother died in April, 1870,
and his second marriage was in December, 1871, to Margaret
McGowan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David McGowan, of
Steubenville; no children were born to this marriage. In
1902 Muskingum College, at New Concord, Ohio, conferred on
Reverend White the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity.
He ahs been a Republican in politics since the birth of the
party in 1856, voting for John C. Fremont for President;
has always been interested in educational matters and has served
as a member of the board of education. After his well
spent years he is now living a retired life in Fairview where he
has since spent so many active and useful years. His
ministerial labors and influence covered a greater portion of
the eastern half of Guernsey county and his services were a
constant demand in performing marriage ceremonies and conducting
funerals of persons both in and outside of the church
membership.
The daughter, Alice M. White, is a highly
educated and cultured woman, being a graduate of Washington
Seminary at Washington, Pennsylvania, and has been a teacher in
the Western Pennsylvania Institute for the Deaf about ten years.
During the summer of 1910 she made a tour of European countries,
visiting most of the cities and points of interest.
Source: History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P.
B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vols. I & 2. - B. F. Bowden &
Company, Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 676 |
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HENRY L. WILLIAMS.
The present sketch is concerned with a well known and successful
jeweler and optician of Cambridge, Henry L. Williams, who
has so well qualified himself for his business by experience and
education that success in it is the natural result of his
training. He was born on July 29, 1850, in Adamsville,
Muskingum county, Ohio, a son of Asher and Jeanette (Hubbell)
Williams. His father was a native of Meadville,
Pennsylvania, his mother of New York state, and they were
married at Meadville. Both the Williams and the
Hubbell families came to Ohio at the same time,
making the trip down the Ohio and up the Muskingum to Zanesville
in a flatboat. The Hubbells remained in Zanesville,
and Jedediah Hubbell, the father of Mrs.
Williams, engaged in the manufacture of paper and from his
factory in Zanesville came the first straw paper made in the
United States. The Williams family moved to
Adamsville, where Asher Williams was employed as a
foreman in a cabinetmaking establishment. He remained in
Adamsville only for a few years, then moved to Cambridge in the
spring of 1857, where he engaged at the corner of Eighth street
and Turner avenue in the business of cabinetmaking. He was
a skilled workman, and continued in cabinetmaking during his
business life. Asher Williams was a
Republican, and a man well informed in politics but not active.
He was a member of the Methodist church and a devout Christian,
a class leader and active church worker.
The family of Asher Williams consisted of
five sons and two daughters: Mary A. is single and
resides in Cambridge; Charles H. is in Holton, Kansas;
Margaret married William Wenner, of Holton,
Kansas: Jedediah is in Cambridge; Asher in Kansas
City, Missouri; Fred is deceased; Henry L. is the
subject of this sketch.
Asher Williams, Sr., was born in 1810, and died
in 1883. His wife was born on July 4, 1810, and died in
1893. Both are buried in the cemetery at Cambridge.
Their son, Henry L. Williams, was educated in
the public schools of Cambridge, and as a lad learned the trade
of a signwriter, and later learned the jewelry business with
J. F. Salmon of Cambridge. After a few years he has a
desire to become an expert optician and took a course in optics
with Julius King of Cleveland, later a course with the
Globe Optical Company of Boston, and then studied under A. J.
Cross, a recognized optical authority, of New York, with
whom he took a special course in retinascopy. Still later
he studied with the South Bend College of Optics, at South Bend.
Indiana, from which he obtained the degree of Doctor of Optics.
Mr. Williams first established himself in
the optical and jewelry business in Cambridge in 1891, and has
continued here ever since, constantly enjoying a larger business
and meeting with wonderful success in the optical line.
His location is at No. 743 Wheeling avenue, and he is a
recognized optical expert.
On July 29, 1897, Mr. Williams was
married to Martha Pickering, of Cambridge, who was
educated in the public schools of Guernsey county and Cambridge,
and is an intelligent, refined and cultivated woman. She
is a member of the Sorosis Woman’s Club. She and her
husband are members of the Methodist church, and Mrs.
Williams is a great church and Sunday school worker and a
member of the different church organizations and societies.
Mr. Williams is also a teacher in the Sunday
school. He is a Republican in politics, not active, but
always interested and is an intelligent voter and upright
citizen in every respect, of spotless integrity in all business
and private affairs.
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 523 |
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ROBERT N. WILLIAMS.
One of the old residents of Jackson township, Guernsey county,
one of the few men 'who have come down to us from the pioneer
days, is Robert N. Williams, a man whom everyone delights
to honor, for he is a true representative type of the brave men,
who, courageous and determined, fought the real and industrial
battles of the Republic and left to us the grandest nation on
the face of the globe. He has played nobly his part in the
drama of civilization in the great Buckeye state, and now that
the shadows of evening have begun to lengthen along the last
incline of life's royal road, he can look backward with no
regrets and to the future with no misgivings, for he “has fought
a good fight.”
Mr. Williams was born in the north edge of
Jackson township May 15. 1830. His parents were David R. and
Catherine (Brown) Williams. David R. Williams
was born at Glasgow, Scotland, July 15, 1797, and at the age of
twenty years came to America, bringing with him his sister.
Nancy Williams, Who afterward married Robert
Nicholson. The brother and sister went first to
Maryland, where for some time he worked on the National pike
west of the mountains. About 1820 he came to Guernsey county and
lived for several years about three miles north of Cambridge, in
the Oldham neighborhood, where he followed the
weaver's trade.
On Jan. 13, 1825, David R. Williams married
Catherine Brown. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland,
in 1801, and was of German parentage. Her parents brought
her into Guernsey county during her childhood. Her parents
became the owners of three hundred acres of land not far from
Cambridge on the Steubenville road. When she was twelve
years old both her parents died, and she was taken by George
Tingle, who then kept a tavern on Wheeling avenue in
Cambridge, between Sixth and Seventh streets. She lived
with Mr. Tingle's family till her marriage.
Before his marriage David R. Williams had entered one
hundred and twenty acres of land from the government, in the
north part of Jackson township, the farm where Robert N.
Williams now lives. There he built a good log house in
January, 1824, the year before his marriage, a house that still
stands on the farm as a reminder of early days. When it
was built none of the land was cleared. There were no
wagon roads through that part of the country; only bridle paths
over which supplies were packed on pack horses. There in
the woods, David Williams and wife established their home
and made a farm in the wilderness, living on that farm over
forty years. They took a prominent part in the pioneer
life when everybody was on an equality and friendliness,
kindness and hospitality were more common than now. Four
children were born to David R. Williams and 'wife,
namely: James P., who was a carpenter, married and reared
a big family, moved to the West later in life and died there on
July 4, 1890; Mary Ann, the next child, married
William Rainey, and died Aug. 8, 1860, leaving three
children, of whom the eldest son died in the army; Robert N.,
the third child, is the subject of tins review; Sophia
Catherine married A. W. Holliday, now deceased, and
she lives at Newcomerstown. About 1844, when Robert N.
was about fourteen years old, David Williams became
disabled and the children had to do the farm work.
Although Robert was a boy of only fourteen years he often
did a man’s work. At that age he used to haul wheat as far
as Newcomerstown and sell it, fording the Tuscarawas river on
his way there. He also hauled wheat to Zanesville.
On Mar.13, 1851, Mr. Williams married Mary
Kline, daughter of Matthew and Eliza (Greer) Kline.
She was born in Maryland and was brought to Cambridge by her
parents when she was three months old. Her father was a
cooper, but he took up land in the northwest part of Jackson
township, where Mrs. Williams lived until her marriage.
After their marriage they lived on his father’s farm.
In 1856 David Williams built the house where
Robert N. Williams and wife now live, and lived in it until
1867. In that year the old folks moved into Cambridge and
lived there the balance of their days. David R.
Williams died on Dec. 27, 1873, wife died Mar. 24, 1883.
Both of them were among the founders of the old Cambridge
Baptist church, near the north line of Jackson township, and
were two as active and serviceable members as the church ever
had.
At President Lincoln’s first call for
troops in 1861. Robert N. Williams offered to go to
the front and was refused by the examining surgeons. Again
he offered himself when the call was made for three hundred
thousand troops, and again he was refused because of physical
disability. When the call came for one-hundred-day men he
was finally accepted and joined Company E, One Hundred and
Seventy-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. When he came out
he had chronic rheumatism from which both hands were permanently
crippled and his heart weakened. Returning to the farm, he
has remained there practically ever since.
In 1863 Mr. Williams had built a good
house on the farm, but it burned down on Oct. 23, 1879.
For about eighteen months he lived in Cambridge, but liked farm
life better, and returned to the old home farm that his father
entered from the government, and there he and his wife still
reside, having been spared to each other for about sixty years
of congenial married life.
Mr. Williams owns a good farm of one
hundred and eighty acres. In politics he has been a
Republican ever since the party started and voted the Republican
ticket every since, beginning with Fremont in 1856.
Mr. and Mrs. Williams both belong to the old
Cambridge Baptist church. His father was a deacon in this
church from the time it was organized. In the early days before
the church was built they often held religious services in his
home.
Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert
N. Williams, as follows: James Monroe lives at
home with his father; Eliza Catherine married William
Trenner, lives in Byesville, and has three children
living and one dead; Annania Harvenia, who died
when two years old; May Eva married William
Haynes and lives on South Eighth street, in Cambridge,
where Mr. Haynes has a grocery store. They have
four children: John D. Williams is at home with his
father; Orrin married Dessie McConnell and lives
in the state of Washington, at Centralia; he is superintendent
for a company that builds electric railways. He has two
children, a son and a daughter.
Although well along in years Mr. Williams is
still hearty and cheerful, and an entertaining talker of the old
days, when the land was new, when people were more neighborly,
more hospitable, and, it would seem, more honest. He and
his wife are very kindly treated by the young people, and in
fact, all classes in their community.
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 743 |
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THEODORE M. WILLS 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 856 |
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HENRY H. WILSON. The
name of Henry H. Wilson is too well known about
Byesville and generally throughout Guernsey county to need any
special laudation on the part of the biography, for his career,
which has been a busy and upright one, is familiar to our
readers, none of whom, we are sure, could or would say aught
disparagingly against him.
Mr. Wilson was born two miles from Byesville, in May,
1847, and he is the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Witten)
Wilson, the former born in Pennsylvania, near Peyton's
Monument about 1804. His father,
SAMUEL WILSON Sr., and his mother, Eliza
(Dickinson) Wilson, came here from Pennsylvania very
early in the nineteenth century, prior to 1804, and located near
Middleton. The Indians acted somewhat hostile at their
intrusion and the mother went back to Pennsylvania for safety
and while there Thomas Wilson was born.
She made the entire return trip to Ohio on horseback, carrying
her six-weeks-old baby. Here the grandparents spent the
rest of their days. Their family consisted of five
children: Henry; Samuel; Jane
is the wife of Philip Shoff; Zachariah
died when twenty years old, and Thomas.
When the last named child was two yeas old, he was stolen away
by squaws, when his father was absent from home and endeavored
to induce the mother to come into the woods after him, but she
pretended as though she thought they were playing and remained
within doors, and the Indians finally returned the baby to the
house before the arrival of the father. Following is an
incident illustrative of the rough pioneer life as given by
Grandfather Wilson: A bully visited his
cabin early one morning, determined to fight for no reason other
than to prove who the best man was. Mr. Wilson
wanted to talk the matter over, but the intruder wanted to have
it out at once. Grandmother Wilson
encouraged her husband to "wade into him," and seized a
butcher's knife and cut of his hair, which was worn long as was
the custom of those days, so that the visitor could ot pull it
out and thus have the advantage. Needless to add, the
bully was bested in the melee. Samuel Wilson
was in the war of 1812 and, in company with a friendly Indian,
acted as a spy three months during that war and rendered
valuable service, making many perilous trips, during which, at
times, they were nearly starved, following trails with no food.
After the close of that war the old man and his good wife spent
the balance of their days in Guernsey county.
The Wilson, father of the subject, grew up in
this county and entered several pieces of land from the
government. Taking a fancy to one particular tract, which
was wanted by others, and, having no money, he rode sixty-five
miles to the home of a relative down on the Ohio river and got
the money rode home, changed horses here and then rode to
Zanesville, securing the land. He followed farming near
Byesville all his life. He was also a foreman on the
famous National pike east of Cambridge. He was a man of a
great deal of natural ability and tact, although having scarcely
any schooling. He dealt extensively in livestock, trading
a great deal and could mentally figure what amount of money was
due, before others could make the calculation on paper. He
lived to be about eighty years old, dying June 14, 1884, his
wife having preceded him to the "narrow house" two years before.
They were a grand old couple and highly respected by all.
Henry H. Wilson, of this review, was one of a
family of thirteen children, of whom five lived to maturity,
namely: Mrs. Rachael Riddle, now living about a
mile from Byesville; Mrs. Sarah Selby,
deceased; Mrs. Lizzie Crowe, deceased, who
formerly lived at Glenwood, Noble county, Ohio; Mrs.
Malinda J. Forbes, of Byesville, and Henry H.,
of this review.
The subject grew to
manhood on the farm near Byesville. Toward the close of
the Civil war he enlisted in the one-hundred-day service; being
then, however, only a boy, his father took him out of the
service. He has devoted his life to agricultural pursuits
and has been very successful. In December, 1865, he
married Amanda Orr, the daughter of
Josiah Parker Orr and Sarah (Burt) Orr. Her
father was born in New York City, Feb. 19, 1823, and there grew
to manhood. He was the son of Watson and Lavina
(Wheeler) Orr. Watson Orr was born on Feb. 27,
1780, and his wife on Jan. 7, 1788. Josiah P. Orr
came to Jackson township, this county, in an early day and on
October 12, 1847, married Sarah Ann Burt,
daughter of Daniel Burt. Joseph
P. Orr located at the northwest corner of what is now
Byesville when it was all a wilderness. There he made his
home and reared his family of five children, of whom
Mrs. Wilson was the first in order of birth.
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry H.
Wilson: Lizzie married Silas
Conner, of Byesville; Lennie married
Edwin Finley, cashier of the First National
Bank of Byesville; she passed to her rest on July 5, 1907.
Most of Mr. Wilson's life was spent on the old
homestead south of Byesville. About 1885 he moved into
Byesville, where he now resides in a comfortable and neatly kept
home; however, he has retained his farm, which is highly
improved and is a very desirable property. He is a
stockholder in the First National Bank of Byesville and has been
financially successful in his life work, having been a very good
manager and industrious. Politically, he is a Republican,
as was his father, and he has held various township offices.
He and his wife are members of the Methodist Protestant church.
He is one of the best known and most substantial and highly
respected of Byesville' citizens. He, his parents and
grandparents, consecutively, have made this vicinity their home
for more than a century, during which time they have done much
for the general upbuilding of the locality and have borne
untarnished reputations. The same land has been owned by
this family for nearly one hundred years.
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 638 |
| |
JAMES MADISON WILSON.
The family of which the gentleman whose name heads this sketch
is a member has been long and favorably known in Guernsey
county, and for several generations the name of Wilson
has been borne by many of the most prominent and active citizens
of certain communities of that county. They have been men
of industry of certain communities of that county. They
have been men of industry and intelligence, who have, by the
exercise of these talents, attained their success in life, and
James Madison Wilson is one who have been aided
to reach his own success by the memory of the family traditions
and examples.
James Madison
Wilson was born in the southwestern part of Valley
township, Guernsey county, on Nov. 18, 1856, the son of
William Craig and Mary (Seaton) Wilson.
William Craig Wilson was born
in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 10, 1809.
His father was James Moore Wilson, who came
with his wife from Vermont to Pennsylvania, and made that state
his home until death. William Craig Wilson
came to Guernsey county in early days, first locating at
Cumberland, where he was for several years a blacksmith.
About 1831 he bought a farm of eighty acres in Valley township,
and there spent the rest of his life. He prospered in
farming, and added to his land until he owned four hundred and
twenty-one acres.
William
Craig Wilson was first married to Pulina
Heinlein, by whom he had five children. His wife
and three children perished when the cholera scourge swept over
the county; the survivors were Harriett, who married Dr.
William Helm, and Sarah, who married
Andrew E. Scott. William Craig
Wilson afterward married Mary Seaton,
who was born near New Concord in Muskingum county, Ohio, a
daughter of Robert and Nancy Richardson Seaton.
Three sons were born to this marriage, one of whom died in early
infancy. The others are John William and
James Madison. William C. Wilson
was a Republican, and held various township offices. He
and his wife were both stanch members of the Bethel Methodist
Episcopal church, and were among its founders, while Mr.
Wilson was identified with the church as an official
all his life. He died on Aug. 30, 1891; his wife survived
until July 1, 1907.
James
Madison Wilson grew up on the home farm. He
attended Muskingum College, also Northwestern University at Ada,
Ohio. From 1881 to 1893 he was engaged in school teaching
in Guernsey county, and since that time has followed farming on
the old home place. As a teacher he was very efficient and
commanded the love and respect of his pupils. He was
married in 1882 to Lottie Johnson, the daughter
of William Thomas and N. Cathren (Clark)
Johnson, his neighbor from girlhood. Two
children were born to them, both dying in early infancy, the
mother and one child dying at the same time, on May 28, 1883,
and the other child four days later.
In 1885 Mr. Wilson married Ida M. Crow,
the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Wilson) Crow,
who was born in the same neighborhood as Mr.
Wilson. John Crow was the son of
William J. and Margaret Jane (Johnson) Crow. William J.
Crow came from Pennsylvania in the early thirties, when
he was about twenty-one, and entered a whole section of land
from the government. This was located in the southwest
portion of Valley township, and part of it extended a whole
section of land from the government. This was located in
the southwest portion of Valley township, and part of it
extended over into Noble county. He later bought more
land, increasing his holdings to eight hundred acres. Here
he married Margaret Jane Johnson, who was the
daughter of John Johnson, one of the early
settlers of Buffalo township, Noble county, whose farm adjoined
Mr. Crow's. To this marriage seven
children were born: Michael, John, Emma (who
married Samuel Dollman), George, Nan
(who married James Dollman), one daughter who
died when two years old, and Alexander.
John Crow married Elizabeth Wilson,
the daughter of Thomas J. and ____(Witten) Wilson.
she was the sister of Henry H. Wilson,
whose sketch gives her ancestry. John Crow
continued on the old Crow homestead the
remainder of his life. Five children were born to this
marriage, William Thomas, Charles Franklin, Ida May,
Theodosia and Mary Amanda. Mrs. Crow
died on April 23, 1897. She had been a faithful Christian
and a devoted mother. John Crow died on
Apr. 11, 1910. He was a lifelong Presbyterian, faithful to
the teachings of his church, and well known and highly esteemed
by those who knew him.
Mr.
and Mrs. James M. Wilson are the parents of four
children: Earl, who married Elizabeth
Wilson, of near Cambridge, is a fireman on the
Panhandle railroad, and lives at Dennison, Ohio; Reed,
the youngest, is at home attending school; Byrl Meredith,
the oldest, died when two years old; Paul C.
the third son, died from accidental scalding when fourteen
months old.
Mr. Wilson
is a Republican and has held various township offices,
to the satisfaction of the people. He and his wife are
members of the Bethel Methodist church. Mr. Wilson
ahs been active in his community in many ways, is an
enterprising and progressive farmer, and a man of considerable
influence, whose judgment is much esteemed.
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 963 |
| |
SAMUEL WILSON, SR. 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 638 |
| |
REV.
WILLIAM HENRY WILSON.
The writer of biography, dealing with the personal history of
men engaged in the various affairs of every-day life,
occasionally finds a subject whose record commands exceptional
interest and admiration, and especially in this true when he has
achieved more than ordinary success or made his influence felt
as a leader of thought and a benefactor of his kind.
Rev. William Henry Wilson, of Byesville, Guernsey
county, is eminently one of that class who earn the indisputable
right to rank in the van of the army of progressive men and by
reason of a long and strenuous career, devoted to the good of
his fellows and to the dissemination of the Gospel, he occupies
a position of wide influence and has made a name which will long
live in the hearts and affections of the people, although
he cares little for the plaudits of men, merely seeking to do
his duty in following in the footsteps of the Nazarene.
William H. Wilson was born near Milnersville,
Monroe township, Guernsey county, Ohio Nov. 27, 1867, and he is
the son of John Neal Wilson and
Christian (Morrow) Wilson. Both parents were born
and reared in this county and are still living near Milnersville,
a highly respected couple, now advanced in years.
William H. grew to maturity on the farm and after
receiving a common school education and attending various normal
schools his early life was devoted to the profession of
teaching. After four years of successful work as a
teacher, he entered Dennison University and took select work in
view of the ministry. He was licensed to preach on May 27,
1893, by the Baptist church at Milnersville, and he was ordained
to the ministry on Mar. 22, 1894, by the Pleasant View Baptist
church at Newcomerstown. During the years of his pastoral
labor he has very ably and acceptably served the following
churches, building them up and strengthening them in a manner
that has proven him to be a conscientious and untiring worker;
Union Valley, Piedmont, Pleasant View, Bridgeville, White Eyes
Plains, Adamsville, Dresden and Byesville. On Dec. 7,
1903, he came to Byesville in response to a call from the
Baptist church, which was then only a mission of the old
Cambridge Baptist church. Shortly after he came it was
organized as an independent church, and he has been pastor of
this church to the present time, his work in this place having
been wonderfully blessed. This church now has a membership
of two hundred and thirty and is constantly growing, and it has
a remarkable Sunday school, consisting of about two hundred and
fifty members. The church is full of life and vigor and
their meetings are like one continuous revival. Their
pastor has implicit confidence in the promises of God and
inspires his flock with the same faith in the Supreme Leader,
with the result that the congregation is ever faithful and
earnest. His leadership has received honorable mention
throughout the state. He was for two years vice-president
of the southeastern district of the Baptist Young People's Union
of Ohio. For about four years he has been moderator of the
Cambridge Baptist Association. For three years he was
president of the Guernsey County Sunday School Convention.
He was active in Organizing the Byesville Law and Order League
about 1904 and has been chairman of the same ever since.
The population ahs grown a great deal since that time, with a
large influx of foreigners, but so well has the town been
governed that Byesville is an unusually law-abiding place, with
officials chosen not for political reasons but for well known
merit. The moral element was active from the first under
the leadership of the Reverend Wilson, and had
this not been the case of local government might easily have got
in the control of the baser element.
Reverend Wilson is an able organizer and
in his own church has adopted what he is pleased to call "The
company plan," of keeping each member actively at work as part
of a small organization or company. This plan has produced
great results and has been highly commended not only locally,
but has been approved and praised by men of national prominence
and leadership in the denomination. In the pulpit
Reverend Wilson is an earnest, logical and forceful
speaker, often truly eloquent. Besides his busy life as
pastor and citizen, he is also director of the First National
Bank of Byesville, and he has found time to write several books
that have received wide recognition. One of them is on
"homiletics," especially for the pastor, and is highly commended
by ministers of all denominations. Another is "Our
Responsibilities in the World's Conquest." He has a large
and carefully selected library of the world's choicest
literature.
At Cleveland, Ohio, in
1907, at the international convention of the Baptist Young
People's Union of America, his church at Byesville took both
banners, one for the highest grades in Christian culture work,
the other for all-around Christian work. For four years
the church was awarded two state banners for the same merits and
held the Christian stewardship banner until it became the
property of the church. Such records are criterions enough
to show the courage, the sound judgment and the great
earnestness of Reverend Wilson.
On May 23, 1900, occurred the marriage of the Reverend
Wilson to Estella Henry Ferrell, of
Dresden, Ohio, the daughter of Henry and Emma
(McFarland) Ferrell. She was born near Dresden,
and when twelve years of age moved to that place, where she
attended high school, completing the course there, and made that
city her home until her marriage. She is a lady worker,
and, as president of both the senior and junior branches of the
Baptist Young People's Union, had much to do with bringing them
to their present state of efficiency. In her the
Reverend Wilson has a most earnest and faithful
assistant, a competent aid in many branches of church and Sunday
school work. She is president of the Women's Baptist Home
and Foreign Missionary Society of the Cambridge Baptist
Association.
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 569 |
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