OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS - Marion Co., Ohio

Biographies

† Source:
Portrait & Biographical Records
of Marion & Hardin Counties, Ohio
Containing Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent
and Representative Citizens of the Counties
Together with Biographies and Portraits of all the Presidents
of the United States
Chicago:
Chapman Publishing Co.
1895

Hon. Everett Messenger	HON. EVERETT MESSENGER Source: Portrait & Biographical Records of Marion & Hardin Counties, Ohio - 1895 - Page 171
	MATTHEW G. MILLER. For many years Mr. Miller has made his home in Bowling Green Township, Marion County, where he is the owner of a valuable farm, including one hundred and eight acres. In youth he became thoroughly familiar with the occupation of his ancestors, that of agriculture, and this he has followed for his life work. As a farmer he is careful, persevering and industrious, and his success is largely due to the exercise of these qualities, combined with sound judgment. He is a veteran of the Civil War, in which he took an active part, rendering valiant service in defense of the Old Flag. A native of Pennsylvania, Mr. Miller was born in Cumberland County, May 16, 1839, and he and his twin sister, Margaret, were the eldest of the six children born to John and Hannah (Gelbin) Miller. Margaret is the wife of David Judy, of Peru, W. Va.; Hannah, the next younger, died at the age of forty-five years; George passed away in infancy; Kerrenhappuch is the wife of Frank M. Bain, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and John, the youngest of the family, died when about forty years old. Born, reared and married in Cumberland County, Pa., our subject’s father removed thence to Ohio in 1847, and purchased a farm in Montgomery Township, Marion County, where he remained until his death, in 1883, at sixty-eight years of age. He was a man of influence in his locality and served for a time as Trustee of his township. His parents were born in Pennsylvania, and were of German extraction. The lady whom he married was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1807, and of German descent. She died on the old homestead when seventy-one years old. No event of special importance marked the life of Mr. Miller until the outbreak of the Rebellion, when, fired with a spirit of patriotism, he enlisted, Nov. 14, 1861, as a member of Company G, Eighty-second Ohio Infantry, and served with that regiment until the close of the war. The period of his enlistment was three years, but he re-enlisted at the expiration of that time, and continued in active service until he was taken prisoner. Among the battles in which he participated were those of Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Bull Run, Cross Keys and Peach Tree Creek. In the first-named engagement, July 1, 1863, he was shot through the right hip and was taken to a hospital, where he remained until the 15th of the month. He was then removed to the hospital at Harrisburg, where he was confined a couple of months. From there he was taken to Columbus, Ohio, where he remained until the 1st of December, and then rejoined his regiment at the front. In the battle of Bentonville, N. C., Mar. 19, 1865, he was captured by the enemy and thrown into Libby Prison, but was released soon afterward. He was then ordered to Maryland and from there to Columbus, Ohio, where he received an honorable discharge June 12, 1865. On returning to Marion County, Mr. Miller purchased the farm which he now owns, and which has been his home ever since. Dec. 28, 1S65, he married Miss Clara Porter, of this county, an estimable lady, who was his companion and helpmate until her death, June 12, 1889, at fifty-one years of age. Two sons were born of their union, of whom the elder, John Sherman, is a farmer of Marion County, and the younger, Matthew N., is similarly engaged in Paulding County, this state. On the 4th of June, 1890, Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Mrs. Ella E. (Jones) Clark, of Marion County, and they became the parents of two daughters: Lillie D., who died in infancy; and Mabel Fern, a bright and interesting child. Interested in public matters, Mr. Miller is a stanch Republican in his political views. He has served as Assessor of his township for two terms, and has filled other local offices of trust. Socially he is a member of Agosta Lodge No. 451, I. O. O. F., and the Grand Army Post at Agosta. In religious belief he is a Methodist. The valuable property which he has accumulated represents the hard toil of many years, and he is justly worthy of the high degree of success he has gained. Source: Portrait & Biographical Records of Marion & Hardin Counties, Ohio - 1895 - Page 272
	OBADIAH MILLER was one of the influential and notable farmers of Claridon Township, Marion County. At the time of his death, which occurred July 24, 1890, he was the owner of about nine hundred acres, four hundred of which constitute the home farm. There he carried on general farming and stock-raising for a number of decades, and year by year advanced in prosperity. He was a Republican politically, and held numerous offices of trust and honor. Mr. Miller was born in Lincolnshire, England, Jan. 13, 1819, to John and Alice (Priddon) Miller. He was one of four sons and four daughters, and was born on a farm that had been owned by his ancestors for five hundred years. When he was a lad of thirteen years he crossed the Atlantic with his parents in a sailing-vessel, passing eleven long and tiresome weeks on the ocean, and landing at Quebec. While disembarking, the vessel suddenly capsized, and eleven persons, including his mother and youngest brother and sister, were drowned. They lost almost all of their clothes and money, and experienced the greatest difficulty and hardship in reaching their destination, Richland County, Ohio. Our subject arrived in this state in 1832, and walked from Cleveland to Mansfield, in which place he was bound out as apprentice to the carpenter’s trade. For a period of seven years he served industriously and faithfully, receiving in return nothing but his board and clothes. In 1840 Mr. Miller came from Mansfield to Marion County. About five years later he went to England on a visit, but eventually came back to this locality, and worked at his trade for some years. His first purchase of land comprised twenty acres, for which he paid $50. In 1847 he bought one hundred and sixty acres of partly improved land in this township, but only lived thereon a couple of years. He then sold out and purchased another eighty-acre tract, and in 1859 took up his permanent abode on the place where he continued to dwell until his death. Jan. 5, 1846, Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Martha T., daughter of Richard and Ann (Bothamley) Thew. Mrs. Miller was born in Lincolnshire, England, Dec. 28, 1822, and the following year was brought by her parents to the United States, where the family duly arrived after a journey which consumed ten weeks. Their first location was in Richland County, but in 1827 they became residents of Marion County. Mrs. Miller well remembers seeing the Indians when she first came here, and remembers the county seat when there were only a few log houses in the place. Her education was obtained in an old-fashioned log schoolhouse and her girlhood was spent in a log cabin. Seven children came to bless the home of Obadiah Miller and his wife, namely: Elizabeth, who died in 1862; William, who is a farmer of this township; Emeline, who was called to the silent land when in her ninth year; Mary, who is the wife of George Williams; Alice, widow of Charles Gilson; David, who died in infancy; and Frank, an enterprising young farmer of this township. Mr. Miller was for a long time a member of the Methodist Church, and Mrs. Miller is still an active worker in the denomination. Source: Portrait & Biographical Records of Marion & Hardin Counties, Ohio - 1895 - Page 270
	GRANT E. MOUSER, one of the youngest and most brilliant members of the Marion County Bar, is now serving as Prosecuting Attorney of the county, having been elected to that trustworthy position in the fall of 1892, on the Republican ticket. He had barely reached his majority when he was graduated with honors from the law department of the Cincinnati Law School, and was soon admitted to the Bar, at once beginning practice in Marion, where he has a large and increasing clientage. In the spring of 1893 he was made a candidate for the office of City Solicitor, and although the opposition party had a large majority in the city, he came within sixty votes of being elected. The following fall he received a majority of five hundred and eighty-five votes when running for his present office, overcoming a Democratic majority of nearly eight hundred, and making a total gain of almost fourteen hundred votes. The father of the above-named gentleman, Dr. J. A. Mouser, who was born in this county, was a surgeon during the Civil War, and has been a prominent physician for a great many years. He is now a resident of Larue, where he is still engaged in practice. His father, Isaac Mouser, was a native of Virginia, and one of the very early pioneers of this county. He was killed on the railroad during the Civil War. Three of his sons were lawyers. Ambrose entered the service and was killed while fighting for the Stars and Stripes; Homer is an attorney-at-law in Huron, S. Dak.; Abram C., also a lawyer, is now living in San Diego, Cal.; and Isaac is practicing law in Harvey, Ill. The wife of Dr. J. A. Mouser, who before her marriage bore the name of Sarah DeLong, was a native of Hardin County, Ohio, coming from one of the old pioneer families. To the Doctor and his wife were born nine children, of whom Ambrose is a physician at Latty, Ohio; George is practicing law at Marion, Ind.; Lloyd is a medical student; Howard is pursuing law studies; Maude is a teacher in the Larue Union Schools; and May is the wife of Frank Holland, of Delphos, Ohio, a well known railroad man of that place. Grant E. Mouser was born in the village of Larue, this county, Sept. 11, 1868, and passed his youth there, receiving excellent instruction in the public schools. Subsequently he attended the Ohio Normal University at Ada, and upon obtaining a certificate engaged in teaching school for four years. He had long cherished the desire to enter the legal profession, and when the chance offered, he entered the office of Charles Fisher, of this city, and afterward pursued his studies in the law department of the Cincinnati Law School. He is a very popular official, and is one of those energetic and promising young men of whom it is safe to predict a very successful future. He is a leading member of the Knights of Pythias, and is also identified with the Elks and Tribe of Ben Hur. Nov. 28, 1892, the marriage of G. E. Mouser and Della E. Ridgway was celebrated at the home of the bride's father, a prominent farmer residing near Larue. To our subject and his wife have been born two children, Helena M. and a son. Source: Portrait & Biographical Records of Marion & Hardin Counties, Ohio - 1895 - Page 462
	JUSTUS A. MOUSER, M. D., is one of the I honored old physicians of Marion County, who since the war has been located at Larue, though his practice is widespread. He has been very successful, both in a financial and professional sense, and is the owner of valuable property here and in Texas. At one time he made extensive purchases in Abilene and vicinity, with the intention of becoming a resident of that place. The Doctor's parents were Isaac and Ann E. (Strawbridge) Mouser, he being the eldest child. Mary J., the second, died at the age of fifty-six years; George A. died of typhoid fever during his army service, at Cumberland, Md., in October, 1865, when only twenty-two years of age; Emily H. is the widow of Rev. George Burns, of Bloomington, Ill.; Abram C. is an attorney and real estate dealer in San Diego, Cal.; Homer S. is a lawyer of Hitchcock, S. Dak.; and Isaac J. is an attorney-at-law in South Harvey, Ill. The father was a native of Virginia, and lived on a farm there until 1833, when he emigrated to this county and bought a farm near Scott Town. Subsequently he became the owner of a large farm in Marion Township, and while living there was killed, at the age of fifty-four years, by a railroad train. His father, Jacob Mouser, was also a Virginian, and enlisted in the War of 1812 when only sixteen years of age. He died in this county about 1834, in middle life. His father, who bore the same Christian name, was a native of Germany. The Doctor's mother was born in Pennsylvania, and her death occurred in Illinois, when she was in her sixty-ninth year. Her father was of Irish lineage, but was born in England, from which country he emigrated to the United States in early manhood. Her mother, who before her marriage was Ann Maus, was born in Germany. Dr. J. A. Mouser was born on the 13th of December, 1835, near Cochranton, this county, and until he was twenty years of age spent his time in farming and in attending the district schools. Later he went to the high school in Marion, and at the age of twenty began teaching in a district school near Claridon, receiving $19 per month and his board for a three-months term. He then entered college at Delaware, Ohio, where he remained during the next six years, his studies being interrupted one year, as he was obliged to farm in order to get money for the completion of his education. He graduated July 26, 1862, and soon took up medical studies under Dr. Sweeney, of Marion. He also taught the Larue school for one winter. In the fall of 1863 and the following winter he attended a course of lectures in the Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati, and during the intervening summer engaged in farming, at the same time keeping up his medical work. After attending lectures during the winter of 1864 and 1865 at the Ohio Medical College, he was graduated, Mar. 2, and the next day was examined for United States Surgeon. He was later employed by the Government and sent to Camp Butler, Ill., where he remained until the close of the war. Returning to Marion County, Dr. Mouser located for practice in Hardin County, but before long settled in Larue, where he has been in continuous practice ever since. Many years ago he discovered a new treatment for diphtheria and typhoid fever, and though in twenty-nine years he has had over fifty cases of the former and more than one hundred of the latter disease, he has only lost one patient. For eighteen years he has been a member of the School Board of Larue, and has also been a member of the City Council. In 1873 he left the ranks of the Republican party and joined the Prohibitionists, with whom he is in warm sympathy, and as a temperance worker he is well known. He belongs to many of the leading temperance organizations, and was the first one initiated in the Masonic order here, this being about twenty years ago. For twenty-eight years he has been a member of the Odd Fellows' society. Mar. 1, 1864, Dr. Mouser married Sarah E. De Long, of Larue. They have had nine children, namely: May D., who is the wife of Francis M. Holland, of Delaware, Ohio; Ambrose H., a practicing physician of Paulding, Ohio, and a graduate of the Columbus Medical College; Grant E., whose sketch will be found elsewhere in this work; George B., who graduated from the Cincinnati Law School and is now a leading attorney at Marion, Ind.; Maude A., who is teaching school in Larue; Lloyd H., a graduate of the local school, and now a teacher in Paulding County, Ohio; Justus Howard, now attending the Larue schools; and Roy H and Carl H., who are at home. For thirty-five years Dr. Mouser was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was the founder of and main contributor in building the Larue Church. Of late years he has been an active member of the Baptist denomination, having left the first-named organization because he refused to support a church whose minister voted to allow the liquor traffic to go on. Source: Portrait & Biographical Records of Marion & Hardin Counties, Ohio - 1895 - Page 120

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