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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Portrait and Biographical
History of
Fayette, Pickaway and Madison Counties, Ohio.
Publ. Chicago: Chapman Bros.
1892
JUDGE
ISAAC N. ABERNETHY, A. B., A. M., Judge of the
Court of Common Pleas of the Third Subdivision of the
Fifth Judicial District, embracing Franklin, Pickaway
and Madison Counties, resides in Circleville. He
is a native of Ohio, born near Chillicothe, Ross County,
Aug. 9, 1844. His grandfather, William
Abernethy, was born in Virginia. He belonged
to the F. F. V.'s and was of English descent. He
came with his family to Ohio and died in Ross County.
James Abernethy, father of our subject, came with
his parents to this State. He married Rhoda
Connor, also a native of Virginia. In 1848, he
came to Pickaway County and rented a farm near
Darbyville. At the time of his death, which
occurred in1890, at the age of eighty years, he owned
two hundred and fifty-eight acres of valuable land.
He was a prominent member of the Methodist Church and
served as Class-leader. In politics, he was a
Democrat. His wife died in 1856.
Our subject was the third in a family of four children,
all of whom reside in Pickaway County. His first
recollections are and Darbyville. His early
education was acquired in a log schoolhouse, but he made
the most of his opportunities and at the age of sixteen
secured a teacher's certificate. He afterward
engaged in teaching, then started to college. In
order to pay his tuition, he engaged in teaching and in
raising water melons. In the year 1860, he entered
the Ohio Wesleyan University from which he was graduated
in June, 1866, with the degree of A. B., and
subsequently the degree of A. M. was conferred upon him.
Wishing to make the practice of law his life work, he
began studying with Alfred Yaple, now ex-Judge of
Cincinnati. He afterward studied with Hon. R.
A. Harrison, one of the leading attorneys of the
State, now of Columbus, and was admitted to the Ohio Bar
at Chillicothe, Sept. 1, 1868. For three years he
was Principal of the schools in Mt. Sterling.
On the 8th of September, 1868, Judge Abernethy
was married in Mt. Sterling to Miss Lizzie Busick,
a native of that place, and a daughter of Ira Busick,
who was then a merchant of Mt. Sterling. Unto them
have been born six children: Ira, Charles, Harry,
Rhoda, Bernard and Minnie.
The year succeeding his marriage, Mr. Abernethy
located in Circleville and four a year engaged in
practice as a partner of Mr. Hayes. In
1872, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney, and served
from January, 1873, until January, 1877. The firm
of Abernethy & Grigsby was then formed and
continued business for two years. In 1878, our
subject formed a partnership with H. F. Page for
six years, and when the firm of Page, Abernethy &
Folsom was formed, Mr. Folsom being a nephew
of Mr. Page. In 1887, Mr. Page
retired. In February, 1890, having been elected
Judge of the Common Pleas Court on the Democratic ticket
for a five-years' term, Mr. Abernethy entered
upon the duties of that office. His rulings are
wise and he has well demonstrated the fact that he is
ably fitted for the office.
The Judge served as a member of the County Board of
School Examiners for four years and was its Secretary
for two years, when he resigned. He was twice a
member of the City Council for the First Ward and was
for some years a member of the City Board of Education.
Socially, he is a Knight Templar Mason, and his wife
belongs to the Methodist Church. Judge Abernethy
owns a fine farm of one hundred and forty-three acres in
Monroe Township, in addition to the residence on North
Court Street and other real estate, and laid out
Abernethy's First and Second Additions to Circleville,
comprising over thirty lots. He is a stockholder
and Director in the Masonic Temple Association and is a
stockholder in the Circleville Opera House Company.
His wife work in many respects is well worthy of
emulation. He started in life a poor boy and by
his own efforts has worked his way upwards to the proud
position he now occupies. The Judge has been a
lecturer in the law department of the Ohio State
University for the last year on the subjects of
mortgages and liens.
Source: Portrait and Biographical
History of Fayette, Pickaway and Madison Counties,
Ohio. Publ. Chicago: Chapman Bros. - 1892 - Page 146 |
WILLIAM
ASHBROOK, an esteemed and venerable citizen of
Ashville, where he is living in retirement from active
business, bears the name that is prominent in the
pioneer history of Central Ohio since the opening years
of the present century, and various members of the
family have been associated with the development of both
Pickaway and Fairfield Counties. In the latter
county, our subject has passed the most of his life
until within recent years, he having been born there
Oct. 17, 1821, being reared in one of its pioneer homes.
His parents, William and Parmelia (Peters) Ashbrook,
were early settlers thereof. They were natives of
Virginia, his father being the son of an Englishmen who
had settled there during the last century. Early
in the present century, the Ashbrooks migrated to
Ohio, and took up their abode in a log cabin in the
woods, in what is now Amanda Township, Fairfield County.
They had but fifty cents in money when they arrived
weary and travel-worn by their horseback journey across
a rough, wild country, and they had many hardships and
privations to endure before they became comfortably
established in their new home. The father was an
energetic wide-awake man, and he accumulated a
comfortable property by the aid of his no less capable
wife. He was quite prominent in local public life,
and served as Trustee of Amanda Township, always doing
all in his power to advance its interests. He was
the father of eleven children, six of whom are living,
namely: Mahlon, a resident of St. Joseph,
Mo.; Edward, a resident of Fairfield County;
William; Iva, wife of Daniel Kellerman, of
Kansas; Melissa wife of Benjamin Bowman of
Champaign County, and Minerva, wife of
Benjamin Dunnuck, of Pickaway County. Over
half a century ago, two of our subject's brothers,
Absalom and Mahlon, came to Harrison Township
and settled on the site of the present village of
Ashville, which was named in their honor, and they
became its leading business men.
Our subject was reared to man's estate in his native
county, becoming strong, stalwart and self-reliant under
the invigorating influences of pioneer life, having to
bear the hardships usual in a newly-settled country.
He went to school in a log cabin, but his educational
advantages were somewhat limited. However,
observation and experience have made up in a great
measure for these early deficiencies in intellectual
training, and have helped him to a competency. He
owns a fine farm of one hundred and fifty acres of land
in Fairfield County, and it brings him in a good income.
For many years, he was successfully engaged as a farmer
on his homestead, but in the spring of 1886 he abandoned
his farm to take up his residence in the village whose
early history is so closely linked with the memory of
his brothers, and he has since lived here retired in a
pleasant home, enjoying in a full degree the honor due
to him as a man of sterling merit and a right loyal
citizen. He is a Republican in his political
views, and stands firmly by his party.
Mr. Ashbrook and Miss Nancy Hedges were
married in 1844, and for over forty years they walked
life's path together, and then death deprived our
subject of the companionship of one who had been to him
a devoted helpmate and a true wife in every particular,
her demise occurring Oct. 28, 1886. She was a
woman of marked excellence of character, steadfast in
her friendships, and always neighborly and hospitable in
her treatment of the people with whom she came in daily
contract. Of the nine children born to her and our
subject, these six are living: Elsie, wife
of William Presler; Samuel, John, Ira, William,
and Emma.
Those deceased are Mahlon, Mary, and one that
died in infancy.
Source: Portrait and Biographical
History of Fayette, Pickaway and Madison Counties,
Ohio. Publ. Chicago: Chapman Bros. - 1892 - Page 756 |
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