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BIOGRAPHIES

Source:
A Standard History of
THE HANGING ROCK IRON REGION OF OHIO
An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with the Extended
Survey of the Industrial and Commercial Development
Vol. II
ILLUSTRATED
Publishers - The Lewis Publishing Company
1916
 

 

MAURICE J. CALDWELL.     In November, 1912, the people of Scioto County chose for the office of treasurer a citizen whose fitness for such responsibility and honor is unquestioned and exceptional.  Maurice J. Caldwell has been a resident of Scioto County most of his life, has been a practical and successful farmer, has some of the finest bred cattle and hogs in the state, and has always been noted for his honesty and efficiency in every undertaking with which his name has been connected.
     Mr. Caldwell, who was born on a farm in Valley Township of Scioto County, Mar. 29, 1876, represents two prominent old families in this county and in Ohio, both the Caldwells and the Claypools, being people of more than ordinary prominence.  His great-grandfather, Smiley Caldwell, was left an orphan at an early age, was reared among strangers, and in early manhood came to Ohio and became identified with the early settlement of the state, living for a time in Jackson County, and moving thence to Ross County, where he purchased land near Richmond Dale, and devoted many years to clearing the farm and cultivating it.   Successful to a more than ordinary degree, he acquired other lands, and continued to live on the old homestead until his death, he married a widow, Mrs. Eve (Ridenour) McNeil, who had four children by her first husband.  By her marriage to Mr. Caldwell there were four children, Jacob. Edwin, Sarah J. and George Captain Jacob Caldwell, grandfather of the Scioto County treasurer, was born near Richmond Dale, in Ross County, Ohio, acquired his early education in that vicinity, and for a time was a student in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware.  Following his marriage he located in Valley Township of Scioto County, and he and his brother Edwin bought land there and were partners in general farming and stock-raising enterprise. Captain Jacob Caldwell in 1862 enlisted in the Ninety-first Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was commissioned a captain of Company I.  He went to the front with his regiment, and gave up his life during his service, his death occurring at Frederick, Maryland, Aug. 9, 1864.  His remains were brought home and buried on his father's farm.  Captain Caldwell married Huldah Hurd, who was born in Ohio, her parents being natives of Connecticut and early settlers in the Ohio Western Reserve.  After the death of her soldier husband she married Lewis Reese, lived a few years in Oregon, and then returned to Ohio and spent her last days with her children.  She reared three children: Smiley Anson, Huldah J. and Robert Brooks.
     Smiley Anson Caldwell, father of Maurice J., was born on the old farm in Valley Township, where his son was also born.  The birth of the father occurred Mar. 15, 1853.  His education was acquired by attendance at the district schools of Valley Township, and following the death of his father he made his home with his grandparents in Pike County and was also a student in the Ohio College at Athens.  At the age of twenty he returned to the homestead and later succeeded to its ownership, and for many years was actively and successfully identified with farming and stock raising.  In 1905 he removed to Chillicothe, and now lives in that city retired.
     In 1874 Smiley A. Caldwell married Nancy Jane Claypool, who was born in Fairfield County.  The Claypools are a family now well known in different states of America, where they have lived for many generations, and originally their home was in Waldrum Park, Northamptonshire, England.  James Claypool, one of the ancestors, was granted a coat of arms on June 17, 1583.  One John Claypool married Elizabeth, a daughter of Oliver Cromwell.  A brother of John, James, witnessed the signature of William Penn to the charter of Pennsylvania.  The family was founded in America by James Claypool, who was born Feb. 16, 1701, and died Oct. 9, 1789.  On coming to America he settled near Moorefield in Hardy County, on the south branch of the Potomac River, in Virginia.  Hardy County was a part of Western Virginia, which many years later was established as the State of West Virginia.  James Claypool, a son of the emigrant, was born Dec. 1, 1730, in Hardy County, and died Aug. 11, 1811.  The maiden name of his wife was Margaret Dunbar.  They had nine daughters and three sons.  Of these, Jacob Claypool, who was the great-great-grandfather of Maurice J. Caldwell, was born in Hardy County, Virginia, Mar. 17, 1775, acquired a good education, and became a long surveyor.  He came to the new State of Ohio in 1805, bought land in the locality known as Yankeetown in Fairfield County, and in 1808 moved his family to that locality.  They were among the earliest of the permanent settlers in the county.  In the midst of the wilderness was erected a substantial hewed-log house, and the family at once took a prominent part in the development of the country and as influential factors in social life.  During the first twenty years Jacob Claypool spent much of his time in surveying.  His superior education and fine mind soon gave him a leading position in the county, and he was identified with some of the larger business activities of that locality. On the organization of the Lancaster Bank in 1816 he was elected a director.  In the same year he was elected a representative to the State Legislature and re-elected in 1818 and held office until 1822, and in 1824 was chosen a member of the Ohio State Senate.  He was one of Fairfield County's first citizens to drive cattle to eastern markets, and continued in that business until a short time before his death.  He was a man of unusual business capacity, honest and correct in all his dealings, and left a name which will always be esteemed by his descendants.  He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Judge Claypool married Margaret Baker, and they had three daughters and six sons.  The father of Nancy J. Claypool was Isaac Claypool, a son of the Jacob Claypool just mentioned.  Isaac was born Jan. 29, 1821, succeeded to the ownership of the old home farm in Fairfield County, and possessing the same business integrity and enterprise of his father, continued to increase his possessions until his land holdings comprised upwards of six hundred acres, thoroughly equipped, with improvements that made the farm one of the best in the entire county.  That was his home until his death at a good old age.  Isaac Claypool married Nancy Mason, who was the mother of Nancy Jane Claypool.  She was born Jan. 22, 1821, a daughter of John Mason, and died Oct. 16, 1855.  For his second wife Isaac Claypool married Sarah A. Pierce, of Dover, New Hampshire, and also had a third wife, Annie E. Cosgrove.
     Maurice J. Caldwell was one of four children, the other three being Earl Claypool, Beatrice and Annie M.  When he was twelve years of age his mother died, and after that he lived in Denver with an aunt and attended the city schools.  Graduating from the high school, he took a course in the Central Business College of Denver, and with that preparation returned home and became associated with his father in farming and stock raising.  After the removal of his father to Chillicothe, about ten years ago, he became sole manager of the estate and has continued it until the present time, branching out into new activities and becoming known all over Southern Ohio for his advanced enterprise as a stockman.  The profitable features of his business are the raising of thoroughbred cattle, hogs and horses.  His favorite breed of cattle is the Aberdeen Angus, of which he has the largest herd of thoroughbreds in Scioto County.  He also has a number of Duroc Jersey hogs.
     Mr. Caldwell was married in 1904 to Beatrice Cenci Tatje.  She was born in Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio, a daughter of Oliver and Mollie (Downey) Tatje, both natives of Ohio, while her father was of early French stock.  Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell have two sons: Herbert T. and J. Maurice.
     Mr. Caldwell cast his first presidential vote for William McKinley, and has been one of the steady supporters of the party up to the present time.  As a capable business man he has naturally been prominent in his home locality, served as trustee of Valley Township, and in 1912 was accorded the important honor of election to the office of county treasurer.  Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell are members of the Methodist Church, and he is affiliated with Lucasville Lodge of the Masons and with River City Camp No. 129, Woodmen of the World.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 815

  CHARLES H. CLEMMONS

Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 898

  OSCAR M. COBURN.  Threescore and ten years measures the length of Mr. Coburn's life to the present time, but measured by what he has experienced and accomplished, his career has many distinctions not dependent on the passing of time.  Now living retired at Portsmouth, with abundance of material comforts, he spent his youth in the country district of Scioto County, won honors and rank as lieutenant during the war, and later devoted himself to varied business activities in this and other counties of Ohio.
     Oscar M. Coburn was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, Dec. 25, 1844, and in the same house was born his father, Arthur A. Coburn, in 1810.  The grandfather, a native of Ireland, at the age of twelve came to America with an older brother, who settled in New England.  Subsequently Grandfather Coburn made his way into Northwest Territory, settling in what is now Columbiana County, where he secured a tract of timbered land about five miles from Salem and seven miles from Wellsville.  Having improved a farm he and his wife lived there until death.  Their eight children were James, Thomas, William, Arthur, Samuel, John, Margaret and Sarah.
     Arthur A. Coburn
was reared and married in his native county and made it his home until 1846.  The previous year he had visited Scioto County, and entered a tract of government land in Madison township.  He proceeded to clear up five acres, and in the same fall sowed it to wheat and also built a cabin of round logs, with Spilt-puncheon floors, a mud and stick chimney, and the roof and covered with clapboards, rived by hand and held in place by weight poles.  The door was also made of a heavy puncheon, with a wooden latch, lifted by a deer throng, and the neighbors afterwards measured the hospitality of the Coburn home by saying "the latch string always is out."  When this part of his pioneer home-making was finished, he returned to Columbiana County for the winter, and in the spring embarked his household goods, stock, farm implements, and family on an Ohio River steamboat, and came down the river to the new settlement.  At that time there were no railroads in this section of Ohio, all transportation being by river, canal or highways.  Mrs. Arthur Coburn was a type of the old-fashioned housewife.  She carded, spun and wove both flax and wool, was the family tailor and dressmaker, and clothed them all in homespun.  Mr. Coburn with the assistance of his growing sons, cleared a farm and later built a commodious hewed log house, which he weatherboarded and painted, and in which he lived until his death, in January, 1876.
     Arthur A. Coburn married Martha Caldwell.  She was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.  The father, Joseph Caldwell was born in Scotland, and on coming ot this country located in Pittsburg, where for several years he was engaged in the manufacture of axes.  Later he moved north of Pittsburg into Mercer County, and bought land that included Sandy Lake, remaining there until his death at a good old age.  His wife survived to the remarkable age of ninety-eight.  Mrs. Coburn was well educated, and was a teacher before her marriage.  She died in July, 1880.  Her children were Thomas, Phebe A., James, Harvey, Caldwell, Martha J., Arthur, Oscar M., Robert and Theodore.  Four of these sons, including Oscar, were soldiers in the Civil war.  Thomas was killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, another died at Lexington, Kentucky, while Harvey, who enlisted at the first call and fought in the first Bull Run, was honorably discharged and while coming home was crippled in a railway accident.
     Oscar M. Coburn grew up in the community where he parents had settled when he was a child, and got his education from the rural schools.  He was not yet seventeen when the war broke out, but he became one of the many boy volunteers who bore the brunt of the task of putting down the rebellion.  IN August, 1861, he enlisted in Company E of the Thirty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was with his command in its various skirmishes, battles and marches until the battle of Perryville, Kentucky.  There he received a severe wound, was taken to the hospital at Louisville, and was given an honorable discharge Feb. 27, 1863.  Not yet satisfied with soldering, he again enlisted May 9, 1863, this time in Battery F of the First Ohio Heavy Artillery.  He went by rail to Lexington, Kentucky, and thence marched to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he arrived the same month, being made corporal in his company.  He had been in Knoxville only a short time when he was one of six detailed by General Schofield for secret service.  This squad, commanded by George W. Kirk, crossed the mountains to North Carolina, their purpose being to discover a feasible rout for an army.  A Cherokee Indian was secured for a guide, but lost his way, and for three days they wandered in the mountains without food.  Many of the loyal mountaineers joined in the expedition and piloted the way to Camp Vance, where 354 Confederates were guarding 398 Union prisoners.  On reaching that place, Captain Kirk, who then had about ninety men around him, concluded to capture the prison camp.  Young Coburn was detailed to take a flag of truce into the camp and demand its surrender.  He got into the camp at daybreak while its commander was still in bed.  He gave the commander five minutes to answer his demand for surrender, and after a hurried consultation the demand was complied with.
     While these things were going on, young Coburn was too busy to write home, and his mother had addressed a letter of inquiry which fell into the hands of Capt. A. B. Cole, of Company F, First Ohio Heavy Artillery, and his reply to her in a letter which she carefully preserved, is an interesting document in Mr. Coburn 's career, and the substance of it is copied as follows: The latter was addressed from Knoxville, Aug. 2, 1864, and reads as follows: "Your note to the Christian Commission was put in my hands this moment by one of the agents.  You seek information of your son Oscar M. Coburn of my Company F. 1st O. V. H. A.  I am surprised at this, for I had supposed that Oscar was very prompt in writing to his friends, and if he was not I know no good reason why you or any of his friends should hesitate for a moment to ask information of his captain, or rather of his former captain, for I am no longer so.  Oscar is a first lieutenant in the Third North Carolina Cavalry.  Oscar is in excellent good health and in fine spirits, and is a number one soldier.  He was in my tent until 11 o'clock last night, and went to town but a few moments since on business for his regiment.  We the officers of his former regiment bought and presented him a sword.  He is very well liked by his new friends.  He went to North Carolina with Colonel Kirk of the Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry on his great raid when they captured Camp Vance and 300 prisoners.  They had no white flag to send in when they made the demand for the surrender.  Col. Kirk tore the tail or skirt from his shirt, and Oscar carried it in and made the demand for the surrender, which was complied with.  In conclusion I would say that Oscar is very capable of taking care of himself, and you should give yourself no unnecessary anxiety on his account," etc.
     As the letter explains, after the capture of Camp Vance, Mr. Coburn and his comrades returned to the battery at Knoxville, and soon afterward he was commissioned lieutenant of Company D of the Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry.  On Dec. 29, 1864, he was wounded at the battle of Indian Creek, North Carolina, and for thirty-six years carried the bullet in his body.  At the close of hostilities he resigned his command and returned to the homestead farm in Ohio.
     After his marriage he began his career as an independent farmer on rented land at Lucasville, but two years later bought a sawmill and was a lumber manufacturer two years.   His chief business, however, continuing for twenty-five years was as contractor in the building of roads, railroads, bridges and similar construction work.  He then entered the merchandise business in Harrisonville and in Harpster, Wyandotte County, for a year, following which for two years he operated a roller flour mill at Stockdale, in Pike County.  He next began investing in farm lands, buying a farm in Madison Township, and in time had about 600 acres.  His home was in the country until 1895, when he moved to Portsmouth, bought a house on Summit Street and some unimproved land, and after making some improvements sold and bought two acres of the Young homestead, where he lived until October, 1914, when he moved to New Boston, Ohio.  Mr. Coburn has laid out in lots and sold a portion of this city property.  At present his only business is in looking after his private interests.
     On July 24, 1867, Mr. Coburn married Elizabeth Deemer, who was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Jacob and Susan, (Bonzoe) Deemer, natives of the same county.  Grandfather Deemer was a native of Germany, while Grandfather Bonzoe was born in France.  Mrs. Coburn 's parents settled in Madison Township, Scioto County, on a farm, in 1857, and her father died the same year.  Her mother died at the Coburn home in 1884 in her eighty-seventh year.
     Mr. Coburn and wife have reared five children—Launa M., Lizadore, Ida Florence, Oscar M. and Ernest H.   Launa is the wife of John R. Monroe, and their five children are Ida F., who married John Spry and has two daughters, Goldie and Charlotte; Enid, who married Sylvane Portee, and has a son Cullen; John; Edith and Harlan.  The daughter Lizadore married John S. Violet, and their four sons are Raymond D., Charles J., Forest C. and Arlin.  The daughter Ida is the wife of William M. Brown, and has a daughter Wilma.  Oscar M., Jr., married May Wheeler.  Ernest married Ethel Dugan.
     For many years Mr. Coburn took a prominent part in the affairs of the Grand Army.  He was a charter member of Bailey Post No. 164, and later organized Scioto Post at Harrisonville.  He is affiliated with the Harrisonville Lodge of Knights of Pythias.  He was reared in the Presbyterian Church, while Mrs. Coburn is of the Lutheran Church.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 655
  JOHN P. COLEMAN

Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1087

  WILLIAM E. COOK

Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 869

  DAVID L. CORIELL

Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1007

  JAMES J. CRANSTON

Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 884

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