JOHN SANDERS was born in Guilford County, N. C., Aug. 15, 1815, a son of George B. and Rebecca (Lampkins) Sanders, his father a native of North Carolina and his mother of Virginia.  His maternal great-grandfather, Major Laningham was killed at the battle of Guilford Court-House, near where our subject was born.  His paternal great-grandfather was an Englishman and married a Scotch lady.  His father was a farmer by occupation.  He died near Lynchburg, Va., aged about fifty years.  His mother died in Jackson County, Ohio.  In 1823, with his mother and step- father, he came to Ohio, where, in 1829, his mother died, and he was then thrown on his own resources.  In 1830 he went to the Kanawha Valley, Va., and worked for a salt works company nine years.  In the meantime he acquired a thorough knowledge of the Ohio and Kanawha rivers and had a few equals and none who were superior ot piloting.  In 1840 he abandoned river life and permanently settled in Jackson County.  His home had been here, however, the entire time of his employment on the river.  In 1840 he began clearing a farm of 200 acres in Franklin Township, adding to it till he had 300 acres.  In 1864 he sold the farm and moved into Lick, on the Piketon road, but since 1872 has resided in Jackson.  Politically he is a Democrat.  He has no aspirations for office, but isin favor of all industrious institutions and is always ready to do his part to assist any enterprise that tends to elevate the county, State, or Nation.  He was married in 1838 and has one daughter - Rebecca, wife of Captain Lewis Davis.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 - Page 579

W. A. STEELE was born near Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1845, a son of William B. and Julia Ann (Oard) Steele, natives of Virginia.  In 1846 his parents removed to Jackson where his father worked at the tanner's and subsequently at the saddler's trade several years.  The latter was a man of delicate constitution, and for several years prior to his death was unable to do more than superintend his business.  He died in 1873; his wife died in 1872.  Of their six children our subject is the third.  He attended the schools of Jackson and afterward Northwestern Ohio Normal, at Lebanon, graduating from the commercial department in 1868.  In 1861 he enlisted in Company F, but afterward transferred to Company C, Fifty-third Ohio Infantry.  He participated in the battles of Corinth, Pittsburg Landing, and Paducah, but in the fall of 1862, on account of his small stature and poor health, he was discharged.  He afterward enlisted in the First Ohio Heavy Artillery and served till the close of the war, mostly on scouting duty.  He was wounded at Pittsburg Landing and again at Loudon, Tenn.  In 1865 he returned to Jackson and became associated with his brothers in the mercantile business.  In 1870 he established his present business.  He carries a full line of glass and queen's ware, drain tile, crockery, etc.  He is also agent for Adams Express Company.  He married Belle Vinson, of Lebanon, Ohio.  They have six chidren.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 - Page 579

MARK STERNBERGER was born in Bavaria, Germany, May 18, 1841, a son of Samuel Sternberger, a farmer of that country, who died when Mark was seven weeks old.  In the fall of 1860 he came to America and located in Jackson, Ohio, where his brother Moses was living.  He clerked for his brother till June, 1863, when he enlisted in Company F,  One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Ohio Infantry, and served till March, 1864.  After his return home he formed a partnership with his brother which existed till august, 1867.  In the fall of that year he established a separate store where he has a liberal patronage.  He has a complete stock of general merchandise, dry-goods, clothing, carpets, etc.  Politically Mr. Sternberger is a Republican.  He has been a member of the School board of Jackson six years, and Treasurer of the town of Jackson four years.  He has been a Director of the Home Building and Loan Association from its origin and was its President  several years.  In the spring of 1883 he was nominated by the Republican party as Treasurer of Jackson County.  Mr. Sternberger was married Mar. 1, 1865, to Sarah Stinson, a native of Jackson County.  They have five children, all at home.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 - Page 580

MOSES STERNBERGER, Jackson, Ohio, stockdealer and grazer, retired merchant and capitalist.  In all ages, from the Romans to the present, there has been a universal feeling in favor of preserving with the history of a county something of the life work of its citizens, and as the history of LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY would be incomplete without a sketch of this distinguished and well-known merchant of Jackson, together with brief ancestral relations, we here give it.  He is a son of Samuel and Caroline Sternberger, who were both natives of Bavaria, Germany, where they matured and married.  Samuel died in 1842 leaving his wife a widow, who subsequently came to the United States, settling in Dayton, Ohio, where three of her sons lived, and there in1879 she died.  Moses Sternberger is the second of a family of eight children, and was born Bavaria, Germany, Aug. 29, 1826.  He was apt, his perceptive faculties keen, and from the favorable opportunities offered for school he acquired a good German education.  In 1839, when only a youth of thirteen, he emigrated to America, clerking for two years in a store in Philadelphia.  While there, by practicing the strictest economy and industry, he accumulated a few dollars and came to Ohio, making his headquarters at Jackson in the year 1845.  He purchased a small package of notions and started to peddling, and at the end of nine months opened a small retail store in Jackson, which gradually increased in quality and quantity for over thirty years.  During the time he became prominently known as a merchant of energy and ability, together with the reputation of an extensive and profitable real-estate dealer.  He now owns about 600 acres of excellent grazing land underlaid with a fine vein of Jackson coal from three and one-half to four feet thick, and also good iron or abounds.  In 1862 he commenced handling cattle, and has since studied the science, so to speak, until he has few equals and no superiors in judging the quality, weight and value of stock.  Since 1877 he has turned his attention exclusively to stock grazing and farming, which he conducts scientifically.  He is one of the enterprising citizens of Jackson, and as a monument to his enterprise on the coren of Main and Portsmouth street is a large brick business building which was erected in 1855, the first one of any note in the town.  He is a stockholder in the First National Bank, also in the Dayton Iron Company, as well as in the Jackson Coal and Iron Company.  He is favorable to all improvements that indicate the financial interests of the general public.  He is a financier stands eminent in Southern Ohio, as is easily comprehended when only considered that he started in life by peddling and with no capital but energy, determination and shrewd dealing.  He was married in 1850 to Elizabeth Stephenson, who died in 1873, leaving seven children.  Mr. Sternberger's second wife was Fanny Sternberger, of Philadelphia, Pa., by whom he has one daughter.  Mrs. Sternberger is an accomplished lady.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 - Page 580

Source: History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 - Page 200

Source: History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 - Page 200

J. K. STEWART was born in Franklin Township, Jackson Co., Ohio, in 1856, the sixth of eight children of Daniel and Nancy (Martin) Stewart.  His father was born in Allegheny County, Penn., in1818, but in 1840 removed to Ohio.  He subsequently returned home and induced  his parents to move to his adopted State.  They located in Franklin Township, where his parents died and where he still resides.  He has through life been a farmer, at the same time working at the carpenter's trade and manufacturing grain cradles J. K. was thus reared a farmer, but being possessed of a ready mind he was desirous of obtaining an education, and therefore made the best use of his advantages and when twenty years of  age was qualified to teach.  He taught his first school at the Whaley School-house, in Liberty Township, but since then has taught each winter in his own district.  In the summers of 1881 and 1882 he clerked in the store of Rodrick & Co., Jackson, Ohio.  He ranks as one of the leading disciplinarians of Jackson County.  May 6, 1882, he married Ida M. Gray, daguhter of B. Gray.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 - Page 581

L. A. E. SUMMERS, Superintendent of the Forest Coal Mine, is a native of Kanawha Valley, West Va., born in 1832, but since 1834 has resided in Ohio, the greater part of the time in Hocking Valley and Greene County.  He was married in 1855 to Eleanor J. Mills of Greene County.  In January, 1882, he removed to Jackson County and since early in 1883 has been associated with the Forest Mine.  Mr. Summers's  early training was under the supervision of a widowed mother.  He had fair school privileges and made the most of his advantages.  When eighteen yeas of age he began to teach and taught the most of the time for thirty-two years.  He took a course in the Miami Commercial College at Dayton, Ohio, and for several years was engaged in bookkeeping in Dayton, Xenia and Jackson.  Mr. and Mrs. Summers have a family of five children.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 - Page 581

JOHN E. SYLVESTER, M. D., was born in Lawrence County, Ohio, Feb. 6, 1855, the second of six children of Dr. William and Rachel (Salmons) Sylvester, his father a native of Meigs County, Ohio, born in 1826, and his mother of Guernsey County, Ohio.  He was educated in the common schools and graduated from the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio,  in August, 1872.  When fourteen years of age he commenced teaching, following that vocation when not attending school till he began the practice of his profession.  In 1873 he commenced reading medicine under his father's supervision, and three years later graduated from the Ohio Medical College, at Cincinnati.  He commenced his practice with his father but in 1878 located in McArthur, Ohio, where he has built up a successful practice.  He was married in 1874 to Alice Welker, of Vinton, Gallia Co., Ohio.  They have had two children, only one now living - John.  Dr. William Sylvester received a common-school education and afterward attended the Albany Academy in Athens County.  He then devoted several years to teaching; took up the study of medicine under Dr. Mears, of Lawrence County, Ohio.  In 1856 he relinquished teaching and began the practice of his profession.  He is now located at Wellston, Jackson County.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 - Page 581