Franklin Twp. –
IRA M. INK, farmer; P. O., Chesterville; is the ninth child and youngest son in a family of ten children. He is the son of George and Mary (Rose) Ink; he was born Sept. 11, 1835, Tompkins Co., N. Y. His parents reared the following children -- Permelia, Walter P., Jane, George C., Charles, Theron H., Cornelia A., Philo, Ira M. and Marilla. The father, who was a farmer, departed this life Oct. 23, 1866, in the State of New York; and in 1870 the widowed mother came to Ohio, and resides at present in Richland Co., O. The subject of these lines was raised on a farm and educated in the common schools. In the spring of 1856, he being 20 years old, emigrated to California, by water route. He worked on the farm at from $40 to $75 per month, until 1860, when he embarked once more for his native State, arriving at New York City on Christmas day. He farmed his father’s farm about two years, then by the month, in the gloomy pineries of Michigan and New York, until the fall of 1868. He came in that year to Delaware Co., where he remained about 2 months, then came to this township and worked for S. L. Newcomb, a relative, until March 16, 1870, when he formed a matrimonial alliance with Allie Burt, a daughter of Isaac and Sarah (Harris) Burt; she was born Aug. 21, 1852, in Cardington, O.  Her parents were both natives of this State; her mother was born in Licking Co., and her father in this county.  Mrs. Ink was a successful teacher in the schools of this county. Mr. Ink purchased 100 acres here in 1869, and after marriage settled upon it in 1870. He made a second trip to California in 1871, and tarried about nine months, and returning has lived here ever since, a successful and energetic farmer and a reliable man.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 785-786
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Perry Twp. –
WILLIAM IRELAND, farmer; P. O., Shaucks. Among the “new settlers” of this township, the above named gentleman is worthy of more than a passing notice as a representative ex-soldier and a worthy citizen. He is a son of Andrew and Nancy (Goben) Ireland; born in Danville, Knox Co., Ohio, May 14, 1844.  He passed his boyhood in the village, and assisted his father in the hotel until he was 15.  He then engaged to work for his grandfather two years for two colts -- one of which died before the time was up, and William, being a lad of 17, enlisted in the 30th Regiment, Company A, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Capt. Hayes and Col. Hugh Ewing.  This regiment formed a part of the illustrious 15th Army Corps.  Our subject enlisted July 1, 1861, for three years, and fought in the battles of the siege of Vicksburg, Jackson, Black River, Manassas Junction, Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, siege of Atlanta, and with Sherman in his “march to the sea.”  He re-enlisted in 1863, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war, being mustered out at Little Rock, Arkansas.  He was never off duty from wounds or sickness.  He was taken prisoner at Atlanta, but escaped the same day.  In the last battle in which he fought at Goldsboro, a musket ball passed through his cartridge box, which he keeps as a trophy of his narrow escape.  Out of twenty-two who enlisted in his regiment from Knox Co., he was the only one who returned at the close of the war.  On his return he lived with his grandfather Ireland one year, when he united his fortunes with Sarah Cutler.  Their marriage ceremony was celebrated July 4, 1866.  She is the only daughter of Robert and Esther (Evarts) Cutler, born in Schuyler Co., Ill., Oct. 15, 1842.  Her father, Robert Cutler, was born August, 1808, in Wheatacre Parish, County of Norfolk, England.  His father was a farmer, and he was well educated.  In 1826 he left “Merry England” for the island of Jamaica, where he became a bookkeeper on the Chiswick estate, situated in St. Thomas, in the East, for about two years.  He next became bookkeeper on the Surge Island estate, and was promoted to the position of overseer at the end of a year, but he soon became disgusted with the negroes and the business, and going to Kingston, took shipping for New York, arriving in the spring of 1832.  He at once journeyed to Mansfield, O., and bought eighty acres of land in Richland Co.  He then made a trip to England in 1833, and returned, settling on his land for eight years, when he sold out and emigrated to Iowa, and for three years became a squatter on land situated on the Des Moines river.  He then returned to Belleville, O., where he united in marriage with Esther Evarts, and they removed to Schuyler Co., Ill., where he remained until 1854, when his wife died, leaving him with one child -- Sarah.  We will now follow the fortunes of our subject.  At the time of his marriage he had only one hundred dollars capital.  He farmed near Palmyria [sic] two years, making a trip to Kansas the following winter.  After his return he engaged in farming in Knox Co., O., some two years, then emigrated with his family to Mason Co., Ill., where he remained two years, visiting various points of interest in Iowa in the meantime.  Then leaving his family in Illinois, he started with team and wagon, March 5, 1872, and traveled through Kansas and Nebraska to the Colorado line.  He selected Jewell Co., Kan., as a home, where he lived the life of a pioneer in its truest sense.  He owned 255 acres of land here, in which he plowed the first furrow ever plowed in the county.  He sent for his family, and they lived four miles from any white settler.  The nearest town, of a few huts, then was Edgar, forty-five miles distant.  For two years he went one hundred and ten miles to mill and for groceries, leaving his family alone.  As the country began to settle up, he kept a ranch, selling the products of his farm to the emigrants, and giving to those who were not able to buy.  He was Justice of the Peace there, and married nine couple, yet he had never seen any one married but himself.  At the expiration of four years he returned to Knox Co., O., and settled on the present place of fifty-three acres, March 1, 1879; also owns eighty-one acres in this township, all made by his own labor.  He is a member of Johnsville Lodge, No. 469, I. O. O. F.  Has five children living -- Robert, born April 18, 1867; Lewis, March 18, 1869; M. Esther, June 27, 1873; Ida B., Aug. 15, 1875, died when six months old; Charley, born Dec. 27, 1877. Infant daughter, April 7, 1880.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 813-814
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Gilead Twp. –
W. SMITH IRWIN (of Irwin & Booher), real estate and abstract office, also insurance agents; Mt. Gilead; was born on the farm in Richland Co., Ohio, Aug. 16, 1827, and lived there ten years. They then moved to Mansfield, where he became of age; in 1849 he joined the first company from Ohio, to go to California. They went via New York and the Isthmus. His object was mining, which he followed on the north fork of the American; he worked four months, and was rewarded by obtaining gold to the value of $2,600, half of which, according to contract, belonged to Mr. Herrick, of New York, who paid the expenses of the trip. On his return, at the end of the four months, the partnership was settled, and the following spring he went back to California, by his former route, and settled in Sacramento, where he worked at painting, and the following fall returned home to Mansfield, and engaged as assistant clerk with his father until 1852, when they came to Morrow Co., and settled on a farm, where the Infirmary now stands. Ile assisted his father until 1858, when he was elected on the Republican ticket to the office of Auditor, and in 1860 was re-elected. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the 121st O. V. I., and was appointed Lieut. Colonel, and served about eight months, when, owing to ill health, he resigned; in 1864 he engaged as clerk in the Adjt.-General’s office, at Columbus, Ohio, and upon the call for one-hundred days’ men, he served as Colonel of the 136th Regt., for the call; he then returned home, and engaged in farming. In March, 1854, he married Miss Arminda House, who was born in this vicinity, and died in February, 1865. Of their two children, one is living -- William C.  In 1866 he married Miss Isabella L. Knox. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and was raised in Ohio. They have no children. His parents, William W. and Hannah (Finley) Irwin, were natives of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and were raised in Ohio, the Finleys being among the first settlers of Richland Co.  Mr. Irwin served as Recorder of Richland Co., from 1839 to 1845; he was then appointed Clerk of Court, and held the office until 1852; he served as Clerk of the Court in Morrow Co., from 1854 to 1860, and from that time lived on the farm until his death, in August, 1865.  Mrs. Irwin died in December, 1861. Of their six children but two are living -- W. Smith and B. Finley, of Emporia, Kansas.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 539-540
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.