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Scioto County, Ohio
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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
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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 |
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