HENRY HALL was born Oct. 11, 1829, in the Aaron Kinney homestead.  His father was William Hall and his mother, Margaret Kinney.  They were married Nov. 30, 1828, at the Kinney homestead.  He has lived all his life in Portsmouth.  He graduated from the Portsmouth High School in 1846.  A. L. Childs was superintendent of schools and his teacher.  R. S. Silcox was also one of his teachers.  He attended school first at the Fourth street school.  A Mr. Sample was superintendent at that time.  There were then nine schools.  After leaving school at 16, he went into his father's store, on Front street, where Webb's saw mill formerly stood.  In the spring of 1846, he went east to buy goods and afterwards bought all the goods and managed the store until 1855.  In 1853, he became a partner with his father and the firm was W. Hall & Son  In 1855, the firm sold out to the Scioto Rolling Mill Co.
     In the fall of 1855, he went into the banking house of Dugan, Means, Hall & Co. composed of Thomas Dugan, Thomas W. Means, Hugh Means, William Hall, J. L. Watkins, Wm. and George Wertz, J. M. Shackelford, W. V. Peck, Wm. and John Ellison and William Means.  He was teller.  It was located where the Farmer's National Bank stood, for a while and then moved where the First National is now.  In 1858, the firm became Means, Hall & Co., and Watkins was manager, and Henry Hall, Cashier.  The Bank continued until 1862, and Hall was Cashier until that time.
     In 1862, he was appointed First Lieutenant and Quartermaster of the 91st O. V. I., but did not serve over six weeks.  When D. McFarland was made U. S. Assessor, our subject became editor of the Portsmouth Tribune, and remained two years.  In 1864, he was made special agent of the Treasury Department, and continued so to the closed of the war.  After the war, he made wheelbarrows for four years.  He ran a canal packet from Portsmouth to Chillicothe for ten months.  From 1874 to 1876 he was clerk of the Water Works Board, and superintendent.  From 1876 to 1881, he was a flask maker at Neill's foundry.
     In 1881, he was elected Justice of the Peace for Wayne township and served ten years.  He was elected Mayor of Portsmouth in 1891, and served two terms.  In 1896, he was elected Justice of the Peace for Wayne township, and re-elected in 1898.  He was a whig and is a republican.
     On February 19, 1852, he was married to Miss Caroline Clark Thompson, a native of Portsmouth.  Her father was John C. Thompson, a soldier of the Mexican war.  Her grandfather was Moses Thompson an early citizen of Portsmouth.  He has two children.  George W. Hall, of Cincinnati and P. Kinney Hall of Portsmouth.  He was made a Mason in Aurora lodge in 1851 and has been such ever since, and was secretary of the Portsmouth lodge, No. 395 until it united with the Aurora Lodge in 1902.
Source:  History of Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. 1903 - Page 1000

JOHN WIKOFF HALL was born about two and a half miles above Rome on the Ohio river, on the old Wikoff homestead, June 30, 1861. He is the son of Charles N. and Calista (Wikoff) Hall.  She is a sister of General A. T. Wikoff, formerly Secretary of State.  The grandfather of our subject was James H. Hall, son of Benjamin Hall.  His maternal grandfather was John Wikoff, son of Peter Wikoff born in Shelby county, Kentucky, of Welsh descent.
     His father enlisted in Company I, 91st O. V. I., Aug. 9, 1862, for three years, was appointed First Sargeant Oct. 28, 1862; promoted to Second Lieutenant Feb. 17, 1864; and to First Lieutenant Nov. 3, 1864, discharged Mar. 21, 1865.  He was wounded at the battle of Opequan.  After his discharge from the army, he was elected Clerk of Adams county in 1866 and served for one term.  After this he was Deputy Sheriff for a time.
     Or subject attended the public schools at West Union until the family removed to Columbus, Ohio in 1872, when he entered the High School there and was graduated in 1876.  He immediately entered the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College there and attended for the two years following.  During this time, his father was Chief Clerk in the office of the Secretary of State.  The family returned to the farm in Adams County in March, 1878, where our subject labored for two years and then became a clerk in the United States Pension Office at Columbus, Ohio.  He only remained here about six months and then took a position with the Columbus, Hocking Valley and Toledo railroad.  He did clerical work there for eighteen months.  After this he spent one year at home in Adams county and three years in Missouri and Kansas and then settled in Scioto county and has been a farmer ever since.  He has always been a republican and is a member of Dirigo Lodge, No. 702, I. O. O. F. at Rome, Ohio.  He was married June 30, 1885, to Elizabeth F. Kirk, daughter of T. J. and Eliza (Glass) Kirk.  Their children are Horace L., Gracie E., Bessie P., Mary Susan, William A. and Lulu I. was born at Fredericktown, Madison county, Missouri, June 4, 1857.  His father was Doctor John Harold, a native of Ireland.  His mother was born Aimee Vallee.  She was descended from distinguished French and Spanish ancestry.  Her great-grandfather was the last Commandant of the Province of Louisiana and her grandfather the last Commandant of the post of Ste. Genevieve, under the French government.  Both of Mr. Harold's parents died before he was eight years old and he was given by his mother to her sister Eleanore, the wife of Col. Joseph Bogy.  Although she had reared twelve children of her own, this gentle and lovable woman gave the orphan the same affection and care as if he were of her own flesh and blood, and never, in  word or deed, was he regarded as other than the child of this generous and noble couple.  By them he was reared and taught, by tutor and in private school, and finally sent to finish his education in the college of the Christian Brothers, at St. Louis.  From this institution he graduated, the head of his class, at seventeen years of age.
     At the age of twenty, he was license to practice law.  In 1880, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Ste. Genevieve county, Missouri and re-elected in 1882.  In the year 1884, he resigned the office and moved to Greenville Illinois, where he devoted himself to the newspaper business, which he had entered upon the Ste. Genevieve in 1880.  At Greenville, he held the office of Master-in-Chancery from 1886 to 1891, and resigned that office, in the latter year, to become editor of the Portsmouth Times, having bought a half interest from the late Hon. James W. Newman.
     On Nov. 25, 1891, Mr. Harold was married at Greenville, to Miss Anna Belle Tiffin, who was a relative of Governor Tiffin of Ohio.  She died Oct. 13, 1895.
     In religion, Mr. Harold has always been a Catholic and in politics he is a democrat.  He is opposed to character comments in a work like this, but the editor wishes to say that Mr. Harold is one of the energetic and enterprising citizens in Portsmouth.  Socially he stands the best and as a newspaper man, he has made the Times one of the best journals in the state.
Source:  History of Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. 1903 - Page 1001

OCTAVO V. HALL was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Aug. 18, 1813.  His occupation was that of a brick layer and plasterer.  He was one of a family of three sons and two daughters.  He built the John Neill house on Third and Market streets.  His father was Abraham Hall, who built a house on the site of that occupied by John Dice on Second street, the timber for which was cut in the rear of the premises on Fourth street.  The house was moved away many years ago to give place to the present residence of John Dice.  Abraham Hall was a stone and brick mason, and made headstones and monuments for the cemetery.
     Octavo Hall married Rebecca Sappington, Sept. 22, 1832.  She was born June 24, 1807, and died Feb. 18, 1887.  Her father was James Sappington of Maryland, who came to the Northwest Territory in 1795.  He was a ship carpenter, and had a wife, three daughters, and two sons, - Thomas and Elias.  Thomas enlisted in the war of 1812, and died on his way to Sandusky.  He was a civil engineer.  Elias died while living in Sandusky.
     James S. and several others who afterwards became prominent as early settlers of this vicinity, came down the Ohio river in keel boars.  They floated to the mouth of the Scioto River and then cordelled their boats of the Scioto to one-half mile above the site of Piketon, where they located.  There James Sappington entered 168 acres of land, and in 1797 sold it to Sargent and located three miles below Piketon.  The children of Octavo V. Hall and Rebecca, his wife, were: Mary Francis, deceased; James Hall, deceased; Marietta Kendall; Josiah, deceased; Maria, deceased, wife of Judge Martin Crain; Cornelia deceased; and J. Clark Hall.  He and all his family are buried on the home place hear Piketon, with the exception of Mrs. Crain.
     He was a member of the Whig party, and a member of the original Methodist Congregation of Portsmouth.  On June 19, 1838, he was appointed Deputy Town Marshal.  In 1840, he was an Overseer of the Poor in Wayne Township.  In 1841, he was a Health Officer for three years from the Third ward.  He went to California in February, 1850, and returned in 1851.  He died Feb. 6, 1851.
Source:  History of Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. 1903 - Page 730

WILLIAM HALL, first of Colchester, Connecticut, and afterwards of Groton, in the same state, was married to Eunice Foote, Aug. 12, 1787, at Colchester, Conn.  William Hall died in Groton, Connecticut, Aug. 16, 1810.  His widow Mrs. Eunice Hall died in Marietta, Ohio, July 15, 1826.  To them were born six children.  William Hall, late of Portsmouth, Ohio, and the subject of this sketch, was their fifth child.  He was born at Colchester, Connecticut, July 7, 1800.
     Of his early childhood, little is known.  He attended the common schools of the "Nutmeg State" until about his twelfth year, and as the necessities of the family required it, he went to work with his elder brothers in a bakery that they were then carrying on.  He worked at that business for seven years.
     The war of 1812 coming on, the British sent a fleet of war vessels to blockade the port of New London, at the mouth of the Thames river, the principal port for sea going vessels on Long Island Sound.  The militia of the state and neighboring states were called out for the defense of the city.  Wyllys Hall, his elder brother, was in command of a company of militia, and marched his company from Colchester to New London and went into camp.  The British Commander sent word to remove all non-combatants from the city within a certified time.  The mother and the girls immediately left for Colchester , twelve miles back, and for their sustenance while away, William loaded up a barrel of flour on a wheel barrow and wheeled it the entire distance.
     He then returned to camp, and his brother Wyllys said to him, "Bill, you might as well stay in my tent and keep things in order, black my shoes, etc., and I can draw pay for you as my servant."  This was agreeable to Bill and he entered upon his duties.  Some brick masons were at work near the camp building brick ovens, and William, like all boys, could not get along without fun, so he world call out, "Mortar!" or "brick!' and run off and hide behind the tents.  This was an annoyance to the workmen; and he was finally caught and put in the Guard House, for three days.
     About 1860, Wyllys Hall, while visiting his brother, said to him, "Bill, did you ever get a land warrant for your services in the war of 1812?"  He answered him, "No."  He told him he was entitled to one and to look it up.  He did so and much to his surprise found his name on the muster roll at Washington and got a warrant for 160 acres of land.  He told his children that he thought that was good pay for being three days in the Guard House.
     After the war in 1812, the family concluded to remove to Ohio, and there being a Yankee town at Marietta, that place was their objective point.  They sold out their little property and started overland with one horse, "old Charley," and a wagon to carry their mother and sisters, the boys all walking.  They camped out at night, until they arrived at Pittsburg, where the boys built a flat boat and floated down the Ohio to Marietta, arriving there in the fall of 1816.  The mother, brothers and sisters lived, died, and are buried in Marietta.
     William, the subject of this sketch, worked with his brother in the baking business, they established there, serving his full seven years' apprenticeship.
     After the completion of his term, he went to Cincinnati and worked as a journeyman baker for one year.  Going back to Marietta he worked for a year with Weston Thomas and had saved up $500, when Thomas told him to start out and hunt a location and he would start him in business.  He left home in search of a location, visiting Gallipolis, Greenupsburg, Portsmouth and Maysville.  He seemed to think more of Greenupsburg than of the other towns; and went home concluding to locate there, but the old anti-slavery doctrine was strong in the old mother and she opposed it very strongly, and told him, not to locate in a slave state; that a blight was over slave states; that Kentucky was far behind Ohio, a much younger state; and that he had been raised to believe that slavery was wrong.  So he changed his mind and came to Portsmouth in 1826.
     He opened out his stock of dry goods and groceries on Front street on part of the lot on which the Biggs House stands.  Being a violin player of o mean merit, he soon "caught on," in a social way, and was popular.  His business was a success from the start.
     Nov. 30, 1828 he was joined in marriage to Miss Margaret Kinney, daughter of Aaron and Mary Kinney, who were among the first settlers of Portsmouth.
     In 1820, he bought the lot where Webb's mill was lately burned down, and built a stone house and residence in the rear, and then the firm of Hall & Thomas was dissolved.  In 1834, he took in as a partner, Thomas S. Currie, which partnership was dissolved in 1842.  In 1838, he in conjunction with Eli Kinney and Peter Kinney, established the baking house of E. Kinney & Company, which proved very profitable.  They continued in business until 1846, when E. Kinney withdrew, and the firm name changed to P. Kinney & Company .  In 1850, he sold his interest to Peter Kinney.  In 1854, the firm of Bankers under the name of Dugan, Means, Hall & Company was established and continued in business until 1862, when it was wound up.  In 1855, he sold out his stock of dry goods and became one of the original builders of the Scioto Rolling Mill Company (now the Burgess Steel and Iron Works.)
     The affairs of the mill company were closed and since that time he was not engaged in any business up to the time of his death, which took place, June 17, 1869.  His wife preceded him a few years, her death taking place Sept. 21, 1864.  Both died at the homestead on Rose Ridge and were buried from All Saint's church of which they were members.  Their children are:  Henry, born Oct. 11, 1829; William Oscar, born Sept. 10, 1831, and died Sept. 11, 1832; Margaret K., born June 8, 1833; Thomas F. C., born Oct. 26, 1835; Wyllys, born Mar. 18,1838; Mary Clingman, born June 4, 1840; William Foote, born Feb. 24, 1843; Aaron Kinney, born May 10, 1845; Eunice Foote, born Sept. 19, 1847; Faneuil, deceased, and Loren.  Nine of the eleven children are now living (1900).
     Mr. Hall was a man of affairs, while in Portsmouth.  In 1829 and 1830, he was elected a fence viewer in Wayne Township.  Only the most prominent men in town were elected to that office.  He was a Mason and a member of Aurora Lodge.  In 1839, he was elected town treasurer.  In 1844, he was a director of the Portsmouth Insurance Company.  In 1850, he was a school trustee of the town.  In 1860, he participated in the great Union meeting held at the Biggs House on January 16.  He was a Whig and a Republican, a first class business man of excellent judgment and great force of character.
Source:  History of Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. 1903 - Page 728

ALONZO WESLEY HAZELBAKER was born near Otway, Ohio, Sept. 5,  1876.  His father's name was William Hazelbaker, and his mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Thompson.  Our subject was one of five children.  He was brought up at Otway, and was a farmer's boy.  He attended the common schools near his home, and at Lebanon one term, in 1893.  He taught school from 1893 to 1900.  In 1899 and 1900, he studied telegraphy, and was appointed agent at Newtown, Ohio, in August, 1900, and remained there until November, 1900.  He has been agent at Otway since November, 1900.  He is unmarried, and is a democrat in his political views.
Source:  History of Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. 1903 - Page 1004