BIOGRAPHIES.
Source:
A Portrait and
Biographical Record of Allen and Van Wert Counties, Ohio
containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative
citizens :
together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents
of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Ohio.
Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co.,
1896
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Joseph Underwood |
JOSEPH UNDERWOOD,
a retired farmer and patriotic soldier of the late war, living
in Van Wert, was born Apr. 10, 1843. He is a son of
LORENZO UNDERWOOD, who was born in
Crawford county, Ohio, and at an early age learned the trade of
brickmason, at which he worked most of his life, or until old
age compelled him to retire from active life. After his
marriage to Miss Martha Warner, of Crawford county, he
removed to Knox county, Ill., and lived there three years.
Afterward he went to Iowa and settled in Appanoose county, where
he remained ten years, still working at his trade and at the
same time following farming to some extent. In 1858 he and
nine others started for Pike's Peak, Colo., in search of gold,
but Mr. Underwood fell ill of a fever and died the same
year. In the early years of his life he was a whig, but
when the republican party was organized he became a republican,
and so remained until his death. In religion he was a
Quaker, and was a liberal-minded and kind-hearted man. At
his death he left his family in comfortable circumstances.
By his marriage to Miss Warner he became the father of
the following children: Joseph, Valentine, John
and William, all of whom are living but William,
who died in 1880. William had married Miss Sarah
Mohler, who is still living. Valentine is
married and living in Crawford county, and John is
married and living in Dickinson county, Kans.
Joseph Underwood was born in Crawford
county, Ohio. He was reared a farmer, and when about
twenty years of age left his home, and remained away until his
father's death. He then returned to Crawford county
and remained there two years, when he came to Van Wert county,
and here followed farming until he was drafted into the army
from Harrison township. He went to the front and
participated in the battle of Franklin, Tenn., and in the battle
of Nashville, in which latter battle he was wounded, Dec. 15,
1864, being hit by a musket-ball in the right leg. He was
taken to the hospital, but amputation of the leg became
necessary, and, in consequence of the loss, he is now in receipt
of $36 from the government. He was a member of company F,
Forty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, and fought under Gen.
George H. Thomas. Mr. Underwood is a
strong republican, is a member of the Lutheran church, and is
willing to lend his aid to any public enterprise that promises
well for all concerned.
Mr. Underwood was married, in 1862, to
Miss Mary Zimmerman, of Salem, Ohio, and by
her is the father of the following children: Catherine
Jane, born Jan. 9, 1864; John H., born Feb. 15, 1869,
and William L., born Sept. 5, 1880. Catherine and
John are married and William is at home attending
school. Mary Zimmerman was born Sept. 15,
1839, and is a daughter of Henry Zimmerman, who was born
in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1819. He was reared on a
farm and followed that occupation until his death, which
occurred on Aug. 11, 1887. He was married to Miss Myra
Cook, of Columbiana county, Ohio, who died in 1844. By
her he had three children, viz; Mary, John and
Catherine, all of whom are living. Mr.
Zimmerman's second marriage was to Miss Mary
Fagley, of Salem, Ohio, in 1851. She died in 1879.
Mr. Zimmerman was a democrat in politics, a
Methodist in religion, and was a hard-working, economical man,
accumulated considerable property, and at his death he left his
family comfortably situated. Mary Zimmerman, the
wife of Mr. Joseph Underwood, was born in Salem,
Ohio, and at the age of two years was brought to Van Wert county
by her parents. Here she met and married Mr.
Underwood, and here she still lives, surrounded by her
family and by a large circle of kind and true friends.
Source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen and
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co. -
1896 - Page 816 |
| |
GUY CARLTON VANHORN, one of
the thriving farmers of Tully township, Van Wert county, Ohio,
descends from an old Holland-Dutch family of New York state.
His father, JOHN VANHORN, was a native
of the Empire state, and there married Mary Burton, who bore
five children - William, James, Sarah, Ellen and Guy C..
From New York Mr. and Mrs. Vanhorn moved to Bradford county,
Pa., and thence came to Ohio, in 1852, and settled in Franklin
county, where he lived to be eighty-seven years of age. He was
a republican in politics, and two of his sons, James and William,
faithfully served in the Union army during the late Civil war.
Guy Carlton Vanhorn, our subject was born in
Bradford county, Pa., Sept. 20, 1847, and was consequently but five
years of age when brought ot Ohio. He was reared to farming
and carpentering in Franklin county, and in 1867 married Mrs.
Susan J. Leap, a daughter of Isaac Wooley; this lady bore
Mr. Van horn four children - Alice, Isaac, Francis and
Zeneth G. - and then passed away in 1871. Mr.
Vanhorn came to Van Wert county after the death of his first
wife, having married, Mar. 6, 1878, Mrs. Eliza Roberts, a
widow, and daughter of Thomas Johnson. To this marriage
three children have been born, viz: One that died in infancy, Ida
M. and Cora E. When Mr. Van horn bought his
present homestead of eighty acres it was deep in the woods, but by
hard labor he has cleared it up, and it is now as neat and well
cultivated a place as can be found in the township. He is
entirely a self-made man, but has been ably aided by his faithful
wife to secure his present competency. His daughter Alice
is married to S. Sponseller, a farmer of Tully township, and
has one child; Isaac Vanhorn married Ida Zinn, and is
a farmer of Harrison township; Fannie is married to Frank
Zinn, a farmer of Tully township, and has one son, born July 4,
1895. The mother of these children sickened shortly after her
arrival in Tully township, and an expenditure of $500 for doctors'
bills, through a period of eighteen months, failed to save her, and
when she died her eldest daughter was but six years of age; and so
Mr. Vanhorn struggled on for nearly three years before he
again married and again became happy in the aid and comfort afforded
by woman's presence, through his marriage with Elsie Johnson.
Thomas J. Johnson, the father of the present
Mrs. Vanhorn, was born in Loudoun county, Va., but when a young
man came to Clinton county, Ohio, and married Hannah Frey,
who became the mother of Mrs. Vanhorn. Mr. Johnson,
after marriage, returned to Loudoun county, Va., resided there seven
years, came back to Ohio, and in 1880 settled in Convoy, where he
worked at his trade of wagon making until his death, in 1886, at the
age of sixty-nine years. He and his wife were members of the
Friends' church, and were the parents of eleven children, viz.:
John H., Sarah C., Jane, Michael, Cyrus, Elsie, Nicholas, Mahala,
Harriet, Elizabeth and America. In politics Mr.
Johnson was a republican, but yet had a son who was forced into
the Confederate army, and who died six months later. Mr.
Johnson, being a Union man, was obliged to leave Virginia in
1862 and seek refuge in Maryland, and thence flee to Ohio.
Mr. Vanhorn is also a stanch republican.
Source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen and
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co. -
1896 - Page 828 |
NOTES: |
