BIOGRAPHIES

Source:
History of Noble County, Ohio
with portraits and biographical sketches of some of its pioneers and prominent men. 
Chicago:  L. H. Watkins & Co., 
1887

For Reference: Noble County was formed in 1851

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Geo. E. Geddes

Noble Twp. - -- GEORGE E. GEDDES - This gentleman, one of the prominent citizens of Noble Township, was born in Manchester Township, Morgan County, Ohio, Mar. 6, 1833.  His father, James Geddes, was one of the early settlers of this township, was born in Philadelphia County, Pa., in 1788, moved to Columbiana County, Ohio, about the year 1800, and from thence to Morgan County, Ohio, in 1817.  He was of Scotch parentage, and was a soldier of the War of 1812 with Great Britain.  He served under Gen. William H. Harrison, and died in 1853.      George E., the Subject of this narrative, started in life a poor boy, with poor health, having inherited by nature a very frail constitution.  By industry, economy and good business habits, he has placed himself among the most successful farmers of the county.  He received a good English education, having studied surveying and the higher mathematics; followed teaching from 1865 till 1862; was elected justice of the peace in Noble Township in 1859, and re-elected in 1862.  On July 4, 1863, he was commissioned, by Gov. Todd, captain of Company H, First Regiment Ohio Militia, and on Sept. 4, 1863, was Commissioned as lieutenant-colonel, by Gov. Todd, of the First Regiment Ohio Militia.  In 1878 he was the Greenback candidate for Congress in the Fifteenth Congressional District, composed of the counties Monroe, Morgan, Washington, Athens and Noble.  His name has frequently been mentioned in connection with offices of trust and responsibility in the county.  In 1855 Mr. Geddes was married to Miss Mary A. Brown, a lady of rare good common sense, and of excellent family, but handicapped, like her husband, with a frail and weak constitution.  Her father, Edward G. Brown, came from Rhode Island.  Two sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Geddes: James Kennon and Edmond Burns.  James K. married Miss Irene Young, of Chandlersville, Ohio; Edmond B. married Miss Effie M. Rummer, of Lowell, Ohio.  Both of these young men are surveyors and civil engineer, who have become conspicuous in their profession.  George E. was raised and education a State-rights Democrat, but the late civil war, with its threatened disintegration of the Union, revealed to him the fact, that the right of a State to withdraw form the Union at pleasure, was fatal to a general government.  He is now a strong Protectionist, believing it to be the duty of the general Government to foster, encourage, develop and protect our home industries.  He is an extensive reader, well versed in the politics of our country.  Progressive in thought, he stands well abreast in all the political, social and religious reforms of the country.  Though raised a Methodist, he believes strongly in the decrees and ordinations of God.  Socially, Mr. Geddes is gentlemanly and agreeable. Source:  History of Noble County, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: L. H. Watkins & Co., 1887 - Page 505

John Gray

Brookfield Twp. - -- JOHN GRAY.     One of the most remarkable characters that ever lived in Noble County was John Gray, of Brookfield Township.  Although he was an early settler in the county, it is not to his name as that of a pioneer that most interest attaches.  Far more important are the facts that made him celebrated, causing his name to be the theme of talented writers both of poetry and prose, and giving undying lustre to his simple, commonplace life.  He was the last surviving soldier of the American army in the Revolutionary War.      John Gray* was born near Mount Vernon, Va., Jan. 6, 1764, and spent his boyhood in that vicinity.  His parents were poor and he was brought up to a life of toil and hardship.  The same poverty was his condition throughout his long life.  The first day that he ever worked out he was employed by George Washington at Mount Vernon.  He seems to have been a favorite with the Father of his Country, who frequently shook hands with him and addressed to him encouraging words.  He was the oldest of a family of eight children, and on his father joining the patriot army in 1777 he became the chief support of the family.  Frequently the Grays were obliged to depend upon rabbits caught by John and his brother as their only meat.  At one time John worked a week at ploughing for two bushels and a half of corn.  His father fell at the battle of White Plains, and in 1781, John, at the age of eighteen years, volunteered and served until the close of the war, being present at the surrender of Cornwallis.  He was in a skirmish at Williamsburg, and was one of 150 men sent on the dangerous but successful expedition of Major Ramsay.  After the war he returned to the vicinity of Mount Vernon and resumed work as a day laborer.  At the age of twenty he married Nancy Dowell and moved to Morgantown, Va.  He was a western pioneer and lived at Dilley's Bottom and Fish Creek during the days of border warfare with the Indians.  He came to Ohio while it was yet a territory.  The year 1829 he settled in Noble County, where he passed the remainder of his days.  He married his second wife, Nancy Ragan, at the Flats of Grave Creek.  He again married in Ohio, but survived his wife and all his children except one.  He spent the last years of his life at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Nancy McElroy, and died on the 29th of March 1868, being in the one hundred and fifth year of his age.  The records of the pension office at Washington prove that he was the last surviving pensioner of the Revolution.  No pension was obtained for him until 1867, when, through the efforts of Hon. John A. Bingham, a bill was passed by Congress giving him $500 per year to date from July 1, 1866, as long as he lived.      John Gray was a man of spare and bony frame, five feet eight inches high, broad-chested, with a head that was well-shaped and massive.  He had but one bad habit - he chewed tobacco for nearly one hundred years.  He was a man of exemplary character and sound religious faith.  He was a member of the Methodist church for nearly eighty years.  In the later years of his life his hearing and sight became impaired and he was obliged to resort to crutches.  He warmly sympathized with the Union cause during the late war, and lamented the course of his native State.  Quietly, peacefully, as he had lived, the last of the Revolutionary veterans sank to rest amid the rural scenes which he loved so well.  No proud monument adorns his resting place, but it is to be hoped that the public-spirited citizens of Noble County will some day see that an appropriate memorial stone is placed there. ---------------      *For the facts contained in this sketch we are indebted to a pamphlet written and published by Hon. James M. Dalzell. Source:  History of Noble County, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: L. H. Watkins & Co., 1887 - Page 436 --