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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio
Chicago:
Inter-State Publishing Co.
1884
Mifflin
Twp. -
EZEKIEL EAST was born July 31,
1844, in Pittsylvania County, Va., a son of Henry and
Susan (Ley) East, the former of English and the
latter of Welsh descent. When twelve yeas of age
he accompanied his parents to Pike County, Ohio, where
he was reared on a farm, and has always followed the
avocation of a farmer. He was married June 11,
1865, to Arie, daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Scowden)
Porter, early settlers of Pike County. They
have had born to them six children, of whom five are
living - Rachel E., Jacob P., Arie S., Sarah L.
and Lucretia A. Mary A. died at the age of
two years. In 1872 Mr. East was elected
Justice of Peace, and has held that office continuously
ever since by re-election. He was elected Township
Assessor in 1877, and served one term. He is a
member of the Missionary Baptist church, and in politics
is a Democrat. He is a member of Sinking Spring
Lodge No. 365, F. & A. M., and also belongs to Sinking
Spring Lodge, No. 632, I. O. O. F., both of Highland
County, Ohio.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page 853 |
Waverly - Pee Pee Twps. -
GEORGE D. EMMITT was born in Pike County,
Ohio, Sept. 11, 1825, a son of George and Nancy
(Combesss) Emmitt. He attended the early
subscription schools in the winter, and in the summer
was employed in assisting to clear and cultivate a
pioneer farm. In 1837 his parents removed to
Tippecanoe County, Ind., where his father died in 1840.
He being the eldest of the family remained with his
mother four years, when she married again.. He
then left home and returned to Pike County, Ohio, and
was employed as foreman of the cooperage department of
the distillery of Emmitt & Shultz which was then
running a large force. He remained in that
department till 1849, when he went into the distillery
and worked in the yeast department a year. He was
then employed as foreman of the distillery, at a salary
of $500 a year. His salary was gradually increased,
until at the end of four years he was receiving $1,900 a
year. In the meantime Mr. Shultz withdrew
from the firm, and the firm of James Emmitt & Co.
was formed, the members being James, Davis and
George D. Emmitt, George D. owning a fourth
interest. At the end of a year Mr. Emmitt's
interest amounted to $40,000, and at the end of three
years on account of the decline in the price of
highwines, they found themselves in debt, Mr.
Emmitt's share of the indebtedness being $900.
At this time Davis Emmitt withdrew from the firm
and the business was continued by James and George D.,
the latter owning a third interest. At the banking
out of the Rebellion the price of highwines advanced,
and Mr. Emmitt's share of the profits at the end
of a year was $28,000. He then withdrew from the
firm, as he did not like the influence of the business
on his sons. He, however, had the entire charge of
the business for two or three years. In 1863 he
built the Pee Pee Mills, now owned by W. B. Lee & Co.,
and ran them successfully till 1875. In 1865 his
brother James went to Europe for his health, and
he took charge of the distillery for a year. In
1871 he bought a third interest in the woolen mill of
Bonshine & Co., the firm name being Geo. D. Emmitt,
W. C. Safford and Mr. Bonshine. At the
end of two years Mr. Bonshine retired, and the
firm name was changed to Emmitt & Safford, and at
the end of a year Mr. Safford retired, and Mr.
Emmitt has since carried on the business alone.
About this time Mr. Emmitt opened a store and
gave the management to his sons. They had no
trouble in building up a large and lucrative trade,
their daily sales amounting to $400. Owing to the
inexperience of his sons the business became involved,
having $13,000 credited on the books. Mr.
Emmitt telegraphed his creditors to meet him, and
received an extension of time and gave his note, secured
by three good men. He then disposed of
considerable property, and has paid all the
indebtedness, and is to-day doing a profitable business,
with no incumbrance on his property. Mr. Emmitt
is a man of fine business qualifications and of sterling
integrity and worth.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page
874 |
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James Emmitt
Louisa Emmitt
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Waverly - Pee Pee Twps. -
HON.
JAMES EMMITT - One of the most remarkable men
whose residence or property interests in Pike County
entitle them to notice in this volume, is the Hon.
James Emmitt, the famous Waverly banker,
manufacturer, real estate owner and capitalist. He
is a distinguished example of the successful use of
opportunities which the free life of our Republic offers
to business energy, integrity and common sense; a
prominent illustration of that class of our fellow
citizens known eminently as self-made men. From a
very humble beginning he has made his way to fame and
fortune, and still, at the advanced age of
seventy-seven, remains in personal charge of the details
of an immense business, the cares of which would break
down almost any other man in the prime of his days.
His career is one of the most interesting in its lights
and shades, its reverses and its successes, that the
business annals of the Buckeye State have to offer.
James Emmitt had his nativity on the Licking
Creek, in Armstrong County, Penn., Nov. 6, 1806.
He is of Irish descent on the father's side, his people
having emigrated to this country about a quarter of a
century before his birth, and settled in the
Kishacoquillas Valley in the State named, from which
they removed sometime after the Revolutionary war.
He was the first child of George and Mary Addie
(Stanford) Emmitt. His mother was of the well
known Pennsylvania German stock. In the spring of
1816 his parents with their four children, including
James, set their faces westward. At
Steubenville their party found themselves unable to
proceed further for want of means, and remained there
all summer while the men accepted such jobs as offered
to secure means with which to complete their journey.
During this stay young Emmitt, then in his tenth
year, marked himself for life by a severe cut in his
little finger, received while trying to use a sickle
after the manner of the grown men whom he saw handling
it skillfully. At last the party of five families,
all relatives, was enabled to proceed, and by the slow
floatage of flat-boats down the Ohio, and the slower
transit of heavy wagons up the Scioto, they finally
reached in the early fall the spot where their first
home in the West was to be made. His father
settled here on an eighty-acres tract, crowding his
family at first into a hut at a sugar camp until a log
habitation could be built. In May of the next year
the faithful mother died, principally from fatigue
induced by incessant care of her younger brother who had
been stricken down. In the summer of 1819, though
not yet thirteen, he hired out with another farmer in
Scioto Valley at $6 per month and board, all his cash
wages going to aid his father in his struggle with the
hardships of pioneer life. At this time he had but
a total of three months' schooling, but after a time
partially made up the deficiency by attending school
winters. The first winter of his life away from
home, however, found him a laborer for his board and
clothes at a country tavern north of Waverly. The
following spring he began to learn the blacksmith's
trade with one Jacob Neighborgahl who had a shop
on the Portsmouth road, six miles south of Chillicothe.
He remained here but five months, yet learned enough to
aid him much in the repair of wagons, etc., during the
rest of his life. Thereafter he engaged with one
farmer and another until 1824, when he was employed as a
wood chopper at $4 a month by Alexander Armstrong,
then residing on Paint Creek, near Chillicothe.
The next summer he made an engagement as wagoner with
Hugh Cook, who was running a six horse conveyance
for heavy transportation from Portsmouth to Chillicothe,
and remained in his service until August, 1828. A
hard service it was, too, involving many toils and
dangers, and at one time he met with a severe accident.
But the time had now come for the enterprising young
Emmitt, although not twenty-two years of age, to
embark in independent business. He left Mr.
Cook's employ with a net saving of $10 which
sufficed, in the small business of that day, to enable
him to take a partnership with Henry Jefferds in
the establishment of a humble dry-goods store at
Waverly. They opened in August and were burned out
the January following, but rebuilt and stocked at once
with the aid of sympathizing neighbors. They had
had a prosperous trade, and the thoughts of one of the
partners presently turned to marriage. Mr.
Emmitt married June 13, 1829, at Piketon, Louisa
Martin, only daughter of Joseph J. and Mary
(Rogers) Martin, a native of that place, who has
been a partner of his joys and sorrows for nearly
fifty-five years. They have had children as
follows - Mary Adda, born May 26, 1830, died on
Christmas of the same year; Joseph John, born
Dec. 1, 1831; Elizabeth Ann, born May 10, 1833,
died May 26, 1837; George Angus, born Aug. 31,
1834; William Wyly, born Nov. 23, 1836, died Mar.
25, 1837; James Madison, born Apr. 5, 1838, died
Aug. 5, 1875; Floyd Robert, born Aug. 6, 1841;
David Martin, Nov. 10, 1843, and Henry Clay,
July 27, 1846, died Jan. 2, 1872. All of the
children were born at the home of their parents in
Waverly. The young couple began housekeeping at
once in a small unfinished dwelling, which when
presently completed by Mr. Emmitt, had the first
brick chimney in Waverly. Mr. Emmitt's long
business career had now fairly begun. In 1831 he
was appointed first Postmaster at Waverly. During
the autumn of the next year he bought a mill and a
300-acre tract on Pee Pee Creek four miles from that
place. The building of the Ohio & Erie Canal along
the Scioto Valley in 1831-'2 virtually compelled him to
convert his house into a hotel, which he enlarged in the
latter year. Upon the completion of the canal to
Waverly, he gave a grand dinner and festival at which
were present, Governor McArthur, Genera Lucas,
afterward Governor of the State, and other distinguished
men. He was the first to take a canal-boat to
Portsmouth, which he did before the formal opening of
the canal. He afterward invested in a line of ten
canal-boars, running to Cleveland, which did not prove
profitable, and was closed out at a sacrifice. The
year 1837, one of disaster to the commercial interests
of the country generally proved extremely fortunate to
him, as he cleared $10,000, a large sum at that time, in
the purchase of corn, which was sold in Cleveland at a
large profit. He was an active and influential
agent in securing the construction of the Columbus &
Portsmouth Turnpike, to which he contributed $1,000, and
in which he became a large owner. The disasters of
1842-'43 fell upon him heavily, and he weathered them
with difficulty, but at last triumphantly. It is
needless to follow in detail the expansion of the vast
business of Mr. Emmitt during the last forty-five
years. At present he is by far the largest
operator in the Scioto Valley, having in Waverly alone a
bank, saw and grist mill, a huge distillery, a furniture
factory, a lumber yard, numerous canal boats and an
extensive store, the last being conducted by the firm of
Emmitt & Jones. The fine Emmitt house
in Waverly and the hotel of the same name in Chillicothe
are both his property. He has also large landed
and other properties in or near Chillicothe, in Pickaway
and other counties, and in Iowa and Missouri.
About one-half the population of Waverly is employed in
his various works. He pays one-third of the taxes
of that place, and one-tenth of the entire taxes of Pike
County. He has also been a benefactor to the
county in the erection of a fine court-house at Waverly,
and its presentation to the public upon the removal of
the county-seat from Piketon to that place in 1861.
He was the first President of the Springfield, Jackson &
Pomeroy Railroad (now the Springfield & Southern), which
he was largely instrumental in securing. Some of
his other contributions to public improvements are named
in the following extract from the Waverly Watchman
of Oct. 1, 1878: "It is mainly due to Mr.
Emmitt's enterprise and genius that our county is as
far advanced as it is. It was his enterprise that
built the first bridge across the Scioto River in this
county. It was mainly due to his enterprise that
we have forty miles of turnpike road in our county.
It is mainly due to his intelligence and diberality that
inaugurated the enterprise which gave us two railroads,
in one of which he invested $125,000. In fact it
is mainly due to Mr. Emmitt's untiring energy,
perseverance, activity and liberality that we have any
public improvements in the country." During the
heated political campaign of 1878, when Mr. Emmitt
was a Democratic candidate for Congress, the Ross
County Register, a political opponent, paid him the
following high but deserved compliment: "If he
lacks the finish of a course in college, he possesses
what colleges cannot give, a mind of great natural grasp
and force, and plenty of that wholesome quality known as
'hard common sense.' In the course of his long and
industrious life he has picked up a large amount of
useful and practical information upon both public and
private matters, which often stands one in greater stead
than mere knowledge without the ability to use it.
It is not risking much to say that if one-half the
members of Congress were called upon to manage the vast
and complicated business interests of Mr. Emmitt
they would prove miserable failures." In 1867-'70
Mr. Emmitt, through the pressing solicitation of
his fellow citizens, served two terms in the State
Senate, where he was influential in saving large sums to
the State by defeating jobs, and was successful in
getting through the Legislature the bill for the payment
of the Morgan raid claims, which was afterward
pronounced unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the
State on the ground that suitable foundation was laid
for it in pre-existing law. In 1865'6 he, with his
wife and two sons, took an extended tour in Great
Britain and on the continent, returning with many works
of art to adorn his fine mansion and grounds in Waverly.
He still at his advanced age (just seventy-seven when
these lines are written, Nov. 6, 1883) gives promise of
many years of vigorous-health, and ability to manage,
personally, the large fortune, estimated at $1,000,000,
which has been accumulated by a long life of industry
and energy.
Source: History of Lower Scioto
Valley, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co.
- 1884 - Page 871 |
Marion
Twp. - Page 813
OLIVER E. EMORY, merchant, was
born in Vernon Township, Scioto Co., Ohio, Dec. 11,
1845, the second son of Dearborn and Juliette
(Chamberlain) Emory. When seventeen years of
age he began working in the mill with his father, and
when twenty years of age went into the business for
himself. Being successful he used his earnings in
improving his education and then taught one term of
school, after which he was in the mercantile business a
year and a half. He then rented the mill where he
had worked when a boy, and in one winter cleared $500.
In 1869 he removed to California, Pike County, and has
since been in the general mercantile business, having a
large and lucrative trade. Mr. Emory was
married Feb. 16, 1868, to Amanda A. Adams, of
Scioto County. Of their five children, but two are
living. They are members of the Baptist Church.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 |
Seal Twp. -
R. C. EMORY, son of I. J. and
Elizabeth Emory, was born Aug. 16, 1843, in Scioto
County, Ohio. His father was born in New
Hampshire, Apr. 24, 1796, and was a Captain in the late
war. He died June 13, 1872, aged seventy-seven
years. His wife was born in Kentucky, Mar. 16,
1806, and is yet living. Our subject worked on the
farm with his father and attended school at intervals
till he was eighteen years old. Sept. 15, 1862, he
enlisted in the Seventh Ohio Cavalry, as a private.
He was engaged in the battles of Nashville, Resaca,
Knoxville and a number of others of less importance, and
was mustered out June 15, 1865, at Raleigh, N. C.
He then engaged in the mercantile trade for two years at
Powellsville, Ohio, after which he followed farming till
three years ago, since which time he has been buying and
shipping lumber. He was married, Mar. 11, 1866 to
Lucinda, daughter of Levina Charbot, who
is of French descent. Of their seven children five
are living - Chloe M., Levina E., Jennie F., Annie L.
and Mary E. Cora A. and R. C.
are deceased.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page 786 |
Seal Twp. -
J. R. ENGLISH was born June 6,
1841, and is a son of James and Elizabeth (Gory)
English, natives of Pennsylvania, the former born
Apr. 4, 1810, of Irish descent, and the latter born in
1813, of Scotch-Irish descent, and died in 1847.
He was educated at the public schools till his sixteenth
year, after which he went to a High School for one term,
and in 1858 received a certificate to teach in the old
Piketon court-house. He began teaching when
seventeen years old, which he followed for ten years.
He then engaged in merchandising in Cooperville for
about ten years, after which he, in 1877, opened a
wholesale grocery store in Chillicothe, under the firm
name of English & Vaughters, which continued over
a year. He then moved to Columbus, but nine months
later came to Piketon, and in 1880 engaged in his
present business, where he carries a stock of about
$2,000. He established the Piketon Courier,
which he ran for several years. He was married May
16, 1852, to Mrs. Sattie C. (Landrum) Westfall,
born June 13, 1843, in Jackson County, of Scotch
descent. They have had eleven children - Dilly
A. (wife of W. I. Hays), Flora B., Louella
B., Mary E., Alonzo T., Charles C. and Francis E.
In politics Mr. English is a Republican. In 1877
he was nominated for Representative, but was defeated.
Since a young man he had belonged to the U. P.
Presbyterian, but in 1876 he united with the
Presbyterian church at Piketon, and is now
Superintendent of the Sabbath-school.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page 786 |
Perry Twp. -
MISSES REBECCA
and RHODA EUBANKS - The grandfather and
grandmother of the subjects of this sketch were John
and Sarah (Vandiford) Eubanks, both natives of
Maryland. They had eight children - Rebecca,
George, Mary, John, Thomas, Richard, William and
Sophia. The parents lived to be quite aged.
Their son George, the father of Misses Rebecca
and Rhoda, was born in Talbot County, Md.,
May 20, 1859, and his wife, Rebecca Harrington,
was born Oct. 4, 1763, in Queen Ann County, Md.
They were married in the latter county, Oct. 26, 1780.
From this union eleven children were born - John,
David, Henry, Sarah, Matthew, Mary, William, George,
Eleanor, Rebecca and Rhoda, their ages
being in the order named, John, Sarah, Henry and
William all died in Maryland to Kentucky in 1797,
remaining there some seven years, Eleanor being
born in that State. In the year 1804 the family
removed to Ohio, settling in Ross County, Mifflin
Township (now Perry Township, Pike County). The
children brought with them to Kentucky were David,
Mary, George, Matthew, and to Ohio, George.
After they settled as above, Rebecca was born
Sept. 29, 1805, and Rhoda was born April 7, 1808,
the two being the only children born in Ohio.
Eleanor married George Perrill, Apr. 8, 1850,
and died May 31, 1878. Mary married
William H. Sylvester, June, 1817, and died in the
spring of 1866. The ladies are both now living,
the former just passed her seventy-eighth year, and
Miss Rhoda her seventy-fifth. They are in
excellent health, active, with excellent memories, and
bidding fair to live many succeeding years of life and
happiness. They are, as far as they are aware, the
only survivors of their family, except the children of
their brothers and sisters. They are living on the
old homestead settled in 1804, and upon which they were
born. Their lives have been like all farm life, a
quiet one, with the exception of a startling episode in
the burglary and robbery of their premises, on Thursday
night, Oct. 31, 1878. There were three masked
burglars who broke into their house and, using them
roughly, searched and succeeded in finding their money,
$900 in all. Two of the three were caught, one a
Highland County desperado notorious for his rascality,
named Robert McKimie, and the other a son of a
neighbor a few miles distant named Frank Mesmer.
The latter was tried by Judge DuHadway, and
was sent to the penitentiary for ten years, and the
former, tried by Judge Tripp on several counts,
got a fifteen years' sentence, and they are at this
writing, October, 1883 still in durance vile. The
ladies have now two large dogs on guard. Their
grandfather bought 500 acres of land in Kentucky, but
the title being what is called a work title in Kentucky
was illegal, and he lost his land. Their father
died Sept. 30, 1838, and their mother Mar. 9, 1844.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page 859 |
Waverly - Pee Pee Twps. -
JOHN A. EYLAR, prosecuting
attorney, was born Feb. 16, 1855, n Adams County, Ohio,
son of John and Ann A. Eylar, both natives of
Adams County. Mr. Eylar's death occurred in
1866, from cholera, and his widow is residing at West
Union, Adams County, where she was born and reared.
They were the parents of six sons and one daughter.
John A., the fourth child, was reared in Adams
County and lived with his mother till within the past
four years. His early education was received at
Youngsville, a small village in Adams County, after
which he attended the High School at West Union.
He then taught school a year, and in 1872 entered the
Normal School at West Union, where he remained two years
and graduated in May, 1874. In September, of the
same year he took charge of the grammar department of
the High School at West Union and taught one year.
During this time he began to read law and on June 2,
1874, entered the law office of John K. Billings,
with whom he remained till he was admitted to the bar in
1876. Shortly after this he was nominated on the
Democratic ticket for Prosecuting Attorney for Adams
County, but was defeated by seventy-eight votes.
He began to practice law by himself, but in 1878 formed
a co-partnership with J. M. Wells, but shortly
after moved to Waverly, where he opened an office. In
April, 1880, he formed a partnership with George D.
Cole, remaining with him one year. In the fall
of 1881 Mr. Eylar was elected Prosecuting
Attorney for Pike County, and went into office Jan. 1,
1882.
Source: History of Lower Scioto
Valley, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co.
- 1884 - Page 757 |
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NOTES:
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