|
BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Portrait and Biographical
History of
Fayette, Pickaway and Madison Counties, Ohio.
Publ. Chicago: Chapman Bros.
1892
| |
ABRAHAM TEEGARDIN.
Age has set its seal of reverence upon the man whose
name adorns this page. Nearly four-score years
have passed since it could be said that one of the first
white children born in Madison Township, Pickaway
County, had made his appearance in this Teegardin
family. To-day he is a typical representative
of the pioneer who has worked and sacrificed that the
locality might be benefited by his labors. The
aged patriarch now resides on section 28, of Madison
Township. He was born Oct. 14, 1815, his parents
being William and Elizabeth (Shook)
Teegardin, the first named a native of the Quaker
State, as was also the mother. The paternal
grandsire was a German, and his wife a native of
Ireland.
In 1811, William Teegardin, our subject's
father, set out from Pennsylvania to penetrate the wilds
of the then Great West. He got as far as Pickaway
County, and decided that the locality was propitious for
a homestead for himself and family. He was one of
the earliest settlers in the township, having come while
the forests were unthreaded by roads, and when the
wolves, in the winter time, attracted by the providence
of civilization, collected around the cabin and made
night hideous with their howls. In fact, they were
deterred for a time from building their cabin through
fear of the wolves. After a life full of
usefulness, but characterized with hardships, the father
died in 1871. In his death the locality lost one of her
best pioneers.
Our subject was reared to manhood's estate amid scenes
of a life little comprehended by the youth of to-day.
He has done his share of pioneer work, and many are the
acres from which he has felled the trees and cut up the
timber. His education was acquired in the
primitive log schoolhouse of the time, where in early
attendance his little legs dangled helplessly from the
slab benches which were held up on wooden pegs. On
reaching manhood's estate, he early selected a wife from
among the maidens in the settlement, as is customary
with pioneers. She was Elizabeth Crum,
and ably seconded his efforts in making a livelihood.
Of the seven children that she bore him, four still
live. They are Catherine A., wife of
Ezra Westernhaver, of Shelby Country, Ill.;
Mary F., wife of John Blakely, of
Indiana; Sarah M., wife of George Fridley,
of Harrison Township, this county; and John W.,
who lives at home with his parents.
Our subject married for his second wife Miss
Esther Isaman, their marriage having taken
place in October of 1868. The lady is a native of
Westmoreland County, Pa., and was born Oct. 5, 1825,
being a daughter of Andrew and Catherine (Shook)
Isaman. She has been a resident of Pickaway
County since early in the 50's. She, as well as
her husband, has been a close observer of the
development of this portion of the State, and has
rejoiced in the new conditions of nature and society as
seen now. Both Mr. and Mrs. Teegardin have
lived lives of usefulness, and have made an effect for
good upon the community in which they live. Our
subject is naturally a public-spirited man, who delights
in giving a push to the wheels of progress. Now,
as the shades of evening gently enclose them, they find
great pleasure in past experiences. Mr.
Teegardin owns one hundred and twenty acres of land,
which yield them a pleasant home and good income. To
each of his children he has given a fair start in life.
He himself is one of twelve children who were born to
his parents, but only half of this number are now
living. They are Margaret, Aaron W., Daniel,
Catherine, Peter and he of whom we write.
Source: Portrait and Biographical History of
Fayette, Pickaway and Madison Counties, Ohio. Publ.
Chicago: Chapman Bros. - 1892 - Page 868 |
| |
JACKSON THOMAS, one
of the citizens of prominence, wealth and influence,
whose home is in Monroe Township, where he has a large
and finely-equipped farm, bears the reputation of being
one of the most sagacious, practical, and progressive of
the farmers and stockmen of Pickaway County. He
represents an old and honored family of this section,
and he was born Dec. 8, 1831. His father, whose
given name was William, was a native of Virginia,
as was his father, also.
In 1807, the grandfather of our subject, Jeremiah
with Netty, his wife, accompanied by his family,
set out from his old home in a wagon, to perform a
momentous and somewhat perilous journey that was to lead
over the mountains into the wilds of Ohio. He thus
became a pioneer of Pickaway County, settling on Deer
Creek, this township, when there was scarcely an
inhabitant in the region, and the surrounding country
was a wilderness. He developed a small tract of
land, and died here when in middle life. He was on
friendly terms with the Indians, who trusted him, and
often several tribes could be seen from the hill on
which he lived. He used to hunt some, and
occasionally killed a deer.
The father of our subject was a boy when he came with
his father to Ohio. He was brought up under
pioneer influences, and did not have any educational
advantages during his boyhood. When he married, he
could not write his name, but he learned to write under
the instruction of his wife and hired men, became quite
a proficient penman, and could keep his own books.
He was very poor at the time of his marriage, and he and
his wife began housekeeping in an old log house, with
home-made furniture, the bedstead being made by boring
holes in the wall, into which poles were inserted that
rested on wooden legs. Mr. Thomas
was a man of great natural ability, and when once he
obtained a good start he progressed rapidly in the
acquirement of wealth, so that at the time of his death
he had fifteen hundred acres of land, and was making
enough to buy a farm each year. He made the most
of his money in stock, never selling any corn, but
feeding it all to his cattle and other stock. He
died the 10th of January, 1849, when scarcely past the
prime of life, and his removal was regarded as a serious
loss to the material interests of the county and to its
higher interests as well. He was a man of serious
religious views, a strong Methodist, and he was very
helpful in organizing the society- and in building the
first house of worship of that denomination in the
neighborhood, which was known as the Hebron Church.
In early life, he was a Democrat in politics, but he
later identified himself with the Whigs.
The mother of our subject, who was a native of
Virginia, bore the maiden name of Elizabeth
Norris. She came to Ohio when quite young,
with her parents. She was a hard-working woman,
and her husband owed much of his success to her help and
influence. She used in the early days of their
marriage to drop corn in the field after two teams, and
then go home and prepare dinner for the men, and in many
other ways she bravely put her shoulder to the wheel and
performed her share of the labors that resulted in the
upbuilding of a comfortable home and the accumulation of
wealth. She was an active member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church nearly all her life, and she was noted
for her kind heart and hospitable, charitable nature.
She was the mother of these ten children who grew to
maturity: Eleanor (Mrs. Truax), now
deceased; George W., deceased; Milton M.,
deceased; Mary A. (Mrs. King), Jackson,
Margaret (Mrs. Henderson), Sarah W.
(Mrs. Madox), Elizabeth J. (Mrs.
Henderson), William H., and
Perry C. Three others died in infancy.
The birthplace of our subject was on a hill one hundred
and thirty feet high, near the waters of Deer Creek.
He was educated in the primitive log schoolhouses of
those early days, with then large open fireplaces, slab
benches, writing-desks consisting of a slab, or slabs,
placed against the wall, and window made by taking out a
log the whole length of the building; the door opened
out instead of in, as now, and hung on wooden hinges.
Mr. Thomas began life for himself at the
age of seventeen, his father having died the previous
year. His mother gave him and his brother Milton
all they could raise on part of the farm after paying
the living expenses of herself and the younger children.
Our subject left home when he married, in 1855, he and
his bride beginning their married life on the Foster
Farm,. on which they lived a year, and then he
settled on this farm, which adjoins the old homestead,
moving into a log house. That humble abode was
replaced by his present fine, large frame residence in
1875, he having built a good frame barn in 1867, and he
has his farm well supplied with buildings for every
needed purpose. He has made the most of the
improvements himself, clearing nearly all the land,
which comprises seven hundred and twenty-one acres, he
having started with one hundred and sixty-six acres.
Five hundred and forty acres of his landed property lie
in one body in Monroe Township, and he has one hundred
and eighty-one acres at Clarksburgh, in Ross County,
which is well improved, and a fine, commodious brick
residence of ten rooms adorns the place.
Mr. Thomas carries on mixed farming, and
employs a number of men, allowing twenty acres to a man
in carrying on his varied operations. When he
began farming, he raised one hundred hogs every year,
wisely feeding his corn to his stock, never selling but
one lot of corn. For the past twenty years, he has
aimed to keep three car-loads of cattle all the time,
one of yearlings, one of two-year olds, and one of
three-year-olds, which he ships annually. He is
one of the solid moneyed men of the county, and rightly
attributes his prosperity to close attention to his
business, to thrifty and economical management, and to
the judicious methods that have characterized his manner
of carrying on farming and stock-raising, and the
handling of his funds, in loaning money, etc. He
has been very fortunate in all his enterprises, as he
has never had any reverses. A man of his calibre
and aptitude for affairs is eminently fitted for civic
life, and he has been drawn into it as County
Commissioner, which position he held for six years, and
as Township Trustee. In politics, he is an
uncompromising Democrat. Religiously, both he and
his amiable wife are connected with the Hebron Methodist
Church as two of its most effective working members.
Mr. Thomas was married Apr. 26, 1855, to
Miss Christina, eldest daughter of Josiah
Reeves, who was an early settler of and an
extensive farmer in Deer Creek Township, where Mrs.
Thomas was born, October 14, 1835. Her
wedded life with our subject has been fraught with much
real happiness and many blessings, but they have had to
bow beneath the chastening hand of sorrow so common to
the lot of mortals, in the death of three of their five
children, their religion, however, sustaining them in
the firm belief that somewhere, somehow, they will again
meet their loved ones in God's own good time. The
following is a record of those deceased: Rufina J.,
born June 20, 1856, died Mar. 9, 1875; George W.,
born Sept. 30, 1857, died June 10, 1882; Lily
Lorette, born Feb. 17, 1861, married Smith
Beal, and died in 1891, leaving one child, Harry
G. The two surviving children of Mr.
and Mrs. Thomas are Loton F.,
who married Miss Jennie Hosler, and
lives on his father's farm at Clarksburgh; and Albert
Seymour, born May 22, 1867, who is a good scholar
and an expert book-keeper, and acts in the latter
capacity for a coal syndicate at Kansas City, Mo.
He married Ida Swain, of that city,
February 23, 1892, and now makes his home with his
father.
Source: Portrait and Biographical History of
Fayette, Pickaway and Madison Counties, Ohio. Publ.
Chicago: Chapman Bros. - 1892 - Page 558 |
| photo |
PERRY C. THOMAS is one
of the native-born sons of Pickaway County, born in
Monroe Township, Mar. 12, 1838, coming of one of the
early families of this region, and he is numbered among
its farmers and stockmen who form such an important part
of the population and are so essential to the continued
progress and prosperity of the county. He is a
resident of Muhlenberg Township, where he has a large
and finely improved farm.
William Thomas, the father of our subject, was
born at Harper's Ferry, Va., Jan. 22, 1801. His
father brought him and other members of his family to
Ohio in 1810, making the journey with a team, and at
first settled near Chillicothe. A year later he
removed to this county and took up his abode near
Clarkston. The following year he located in Monroe
Township, and there is earthly pilgrimage was brought to
a close by his death.
Our subject's father was bred to the life of a farmer
amid pioneer surroundings. He was married Mar. 12,
1822, to Miss Elizabeth Norris who born near
Harper's Ferry, May 22, 1802. She came here with
her parents in 1810. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas
began their wedded life in the most primitive manner, as
was the custom in those days for young couples.
All the furniture that he bought cost him but $3 in
money. Poles were placed with one end in the wall
of the log house and the other supported by posts so as
to form a bedstead, and Mrs. Thomas cooked before
an open fire in a rude fireplace. Notwithstanding
this humble beginning, prosperity smiled upon them, as
they were diligent, persevering and prudent, and at the
time of his death, Mr. Thomas owned thirteen
hundred acres of land, of which he developed a large
tract into a good farm. He was widely known and
universally respected and liked, and when he died, at
scarcely fifty years of age, his death was greatly
lamented and considered a public loss. He was a
leader among the Methodists, being a man of earnest
Christian spirit, and he was one of the organizers of
the old Hebron Church in Monroe Township. His good
wife was also a zealous working member of that church,
and at her death, Apr. 21, 1873, a true Christian passed
to her reward. Uncle Billy and Aunt
Betsy, as they were affectionately called, held a
warm place in the hearts of their many friends and their
memory is still cherished by all who knew and loved
them.
The following is the record of their children:
Elizabeth, born Jan. 23, 1823, died in infancy;
George W. born May 20, 1824, died at the age of
twenty-two years; Milton M., born Oct. 25, 1825,
died in 1879; Benjamin, born May 26, 1827, died
young; Thornton, born Feb. 22, 1829, died young;
Jane, born Aug. 12, 1830, died young; Jackson,
born Dec. 8, 1831, lives on a farm in Monroe Township;
Mary A., born Dec. 19, 1833, married Mr. King,
a farmer of Monroe Township; William H., born May
15, 1835, is a farmer in Monroe Township; Perry C.,
our subject, is the next in order of birth; Margaret,
born Sept. 18, 1839, married Mr. Henderson,
and lives in Missouri; Sarah W., now Mrs.
Maddox, of Waterloo, Fayette County, was born
July 10, 1841; Elizabeth J. H. (second) now
Mrs. Henderson, was born Feb. 7, 1845.
Our subject was reared on a farm in Monroe Township.
He laid the foundation of a solid education in the
district schools which was supplemented by a course of
study at Dublin Hill, and by a year's study in school at
Mt. Sterling. The first school that he attended
was a typical pioneer institution of learning, the house
being made of logs, heated by an open fireplace with a
mud and stick chimney, and the seats were slab benches
with pin legs. The school was conducted under the
rate-bill system.
At the age of twenty-one, Mr. Thomas
began life on his own account. His father had died
when he was nine years old, and he continued to live
with his mother, managing the home farm until her death
in 1873. He at one time owned three hundred acres
of land in Monroe Township, but he sold it, and coming
to this township, farmed his brother's farm until 1879.
In that year he bought his present farm of three hundred
and thirty-eight acres, all highly cultivated, and
carries on a good business as a general farmer, raising
wheat, corn, clover and timothy grass, besides fattening
cattle, and having his farm well stocked with a good
grade of Durhams, and some draft horses of his own
breeding.
Our subject was united in marriage with Miss
Lizzie Donesife, Feb. 13, 1879. She was
born in 1844, and came to this township with her
parents, who settled in Darbyville in 1845. She
understands well how to make a cheerful and comfortable
home, and cordially unites with her husband in making
theirs one of the most hospitable abodes known to their
hosts of friends. She is a member of the
Presbyterian Church and a great helper in whatsoever of
good it accomplishes. Mr. Thomas is
a man of fine parts, has a clear, active, well-trained
intellect, a firm character, and his reputation as a
practical farmer is of the highest.
He is a loyal Democrat in politics, and his popularity
is attested by the fact that he was elected Justice of
the Peace for a term of three years, carrying the
township, which is largely Republican, by fourteen
votes. He has also served as a member of the
School Board.
Source: Portrait and Biographical History of
Fayette, Pickaway and Madison Counties, Ohio. Publ.
Chicago: Chapman Bros. - 1892 - Page 246 |
| |
WILLIAM THOMAS, one
of the self-made men of Madison County, who is engaged
in farming and stock-raising in Stokes Township, was
born in Grayson County, W. Va., Dec. 18, 1813, and is a
son of Moses and Catherine (Williams) Thomas.
His father was a native of North Carolina, and when a
boy went to Virginia, where he met and married Miss
Williams, a native of Grayson County. Our
subject was the eighth of nine children who were born
unto them in that county. With one exception, all
grew to mature years, but he has only one sister now
living, Mrs. Nancy Huffman, of Stokes Township.
The family emigrated to Ohio in 1823, locating in
Fayette County, where the father leased two hundred
acres of land and built a blacksmith shop. He
worked at his trade while his sons operated the farm and
there resided until his death.
Our subject was early inured to the hard labor of the
farm and in his youth he also learned blacksmithing.
At the age of twenty, he started out in life for
himself, and soon afterward married Miss Lavina,
daughter of William and Anna (Willis)
Beauchamp. She was born in Clarke County, Ohio,
June 20, 1815, and they were married Oct. 10, 1833.
They began their domestic life upon a rented farm and
five years later Mr. Thomas purchased one
hundred and fifty-seven acres of wild land, upon which
not a furrow had been turned or a tree cut. He
built a log house of two rooms, and began the
improvement of his farm, which is now under a high state
of cultivation. A pleasant residence has long
since replaced the cabin home.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Thomas
were born thirteen children, and, with, the exception of
one who died at the age of live, all grew to manhood and
womanhood: Noah, now of London, who was
born in Fayette County, Aug. 1, 1884, served as County
Auditor for a number of years, was Warden of the Ohio
Penitentiary four years, and was appointed by Gov.
Foster and by Gov. Foraker
Superintendent of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home in Xenia,
where he remained four years. He served three
years in the late war and lost an arm at the battle of
Cold Harbor. In politics, he is a Republican.
He has been twice married and has five children.
Moses, the second son, was born Dec. 30, 1835,
and owns a farm of one hundred acres in Stokes Township.
He is married and has nine children. William
Thomas, born Dec. 11, 1837, is a graduate of
Yellow Springs College. He served three years in
the late war, was shot in the left leg at the battle of
Petersburg and is now crippled. He gets a pension
of $15. With his wife and three children he makes
his home in Yellow .Springs. Jephtha, born
Nov. 27, 1839, was also one of the boys in blue.
He died Dec. 25, 1887, leaving live children.
John Wesley, born Jan. 22, 1843, died in
August, 1885, leaving six children. Robert L.,
born Apr. 29, 1845, is a farmer of Pocahontas County,
Iowa, and by his marriage has four children. Huston,
born Oct. 19, 1849, resides on a farm of one hundred and
twenty-six acres in Stokes Township with his wife and
two children. Jasper, born Mar. 16, 1852,
resides on the home farm. By his marriage he has
four children. Elijah, born Jan. 9, 1855, is an
agriculturist of Stokes Township, and has one child.
Oscar B., born Jan. 28, 1861, graduated from
Yellow Springs College, engaged in teaching in that
place for three years, and was graduated from the law
school of Cincinnati. He is now attorney at
London, Ohio. Sarah Catherine, born
Sept. 9, 1841, became the wife of Henry
Huffman, and died in 1874, leaving three children.
Mary Ann, born Aug. 29, 1847, died
at the age of five years.
Florestine, born Dec. 21, 1862, is the wife of
William Blessing, and unto them was born a
daughter Mar. 3, 1889, Dott.
From time to time, Mr. Thomas extended
the boundaries of his farm until he now owns three
hundred and twenty-seven acres of valuable land,
which yields to him a golden tribute. He cast his
first vote for Gen. Harrison in 1840,
supported John C. Fremont in 1856, and has since
been a Republican. He served as Township Treasurer
for six years but has never been an office-seeker.
For forty years he has been a member of the Christian
Church and his upright and well-spent life has been in
harmony with his profession.
Source: Portrait and Biographical History of
Fayette, Pickaway and Madison Counties, Ohio. Publ.
Chicago: Chapman Bros. - 1892 - Page 546 |
Res. of
W. H. THOMAS,
Monroe Twp.,
Pickaway Co., OH
|
WILLIAM H. THOMAS.
It may well be the pride of our subject that he has
reclaimed a fruitful tract of land from its natural
condition, transforming it into a finely improved and
highly cultivated farm, one of the best in Monroe
Township, and in so doing has materially aided in
perfecting the development of the rich agricultural
resources of Pickaway, his native county. He was
born in Monroe Township, May 15, 1835, in the pioneer
home of Jackson and Elizabeth (Norris) Thomas, of
whom an account is given in the sketch of their son
Jackson.
Our subject was elected in the local district school,
which in his early days was taught on the subscription
plan. It was held in an old log house, that was
rudely furnished with slab benches, and was a mile and a
half from his home, the way to it lying through the
forest, wherein his father blazed the trees to mark the
path. His school privileges were limited to three
months' attendance in the winter, as his services were
required on the farm at other seasons of the year. He
was twelve years old when his father died, and at the
age of nineteen, he began farming the home place, and
carried it on until his marriage, when he located on the
farm that he has since occupied in Monroe Township.
The log house that stood on the place, and in which he
and his bride commenced their wedded life, was burned
the same year, and he built a commodious hewn-log house
that is still standing.
In 1876, Mr. Thomas erected a commodious
frame residence, a view of which is elsewhere shown.
He has also built a good barn and other substantial
buildings, and in the thirty and more years that he has
had possession of his farm, which comprises two hundred
and seventy-eight acres of soil of surpassing fertility,
he has wrought a wondrous change by the power of
persistent and skillful labor, and that which was once a
wilderness is now one of the best-tilled farms in the
township, every acre being under cultivation. It was
originally swampy, but is now tiled in every direction,
and is well drained. He devotes it to mixed
farming, and the corn that he raises he feeds to his
stock. He fattens a good many cattle, selling a
car-load every year, and also raises about a hundred
hogs a year, making much of his money from the sale of
his swine. A liberal minded, level-headed man,
endowed with those traits of character that win
confidence, he has not only done well in the management
of his own private affairs, but has made a good public
official as Trustee of the township, which position he
has held two years. His politics are of the
Democratic order.
The marriage of our subject with Miss Sarah J. Dick
was solemnized Oct. 28, 1858, and they have reared four
children to honorable and useful lives. Their son,
Edgar A., is at home; Nathan E. is Deputy
Treasurer of Pickaway County; Agnes is the wife
of Job Carpenter, a farmer residing in
Darbyville; Ida M. is the wife of Charles
Schram, of New York. Mrs. Thomas
was born in Perry Township, Oct. 28, 1834, a daughter of
Nathan Dick, an early settler of the county, and
an extensive farmer of Perry Township in his day.
She was a fine woman, and in her the Methodist Church
had one of its most faithful working members until her
decease, which occurred on the 29th of January, 1880.
Source: Portrait and Biographical History of
Fayette, Pickaway and Madison Counties, Ohio. Publ.
Chicago: Chapman Bros. - 1892 - Page 447 |
|
