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Source:
History of
Hocking Valley, Ohio -
Published Chicago: by Inter-State Publishing
Co.
1883 BIOGRAPHIES
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JAMES W. DARBY.
A member of the Vinton bar for thirty years,
James W. Darby is not alone prominent
because of his strong and forceful talents as an
attorney and his stirring activities as a
citizen, but as a representative of one of the
oldest and most honored families of the county.
It is a tradition of this family that it is
descended from the old house of Derby of
England, but the first of whom we have record is
William Darby, who was born near
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1760.
William Darby was a drummer and soldier in the
Revolutionary war, his service lasting from 1777
until 1783, as a member of Captain Carberry's
Company, and Col. Patton Hubley's
Regiment. He participated in the battles
of Germantown, Princeton, Monmouth and
Brandywine. About the year 1809 he
hearkened to the alluring call of the new
country to the West, and came to what is now the
vicinity of Allenville, in Vinton County, Ohio,
where he took up his residence among the few
adventurous souls whose courage and fortitude
made possible the settlement of this region.
Here his death occurred Apr. 30, 1836, interment
being made on the bank of the middle fork of
Salt Creek, but later his remains were removed
to the Bell Cemetery, at Allensville, where a
beautiful granite monument, properly inscribed,
and unveiled Oct. 2, 1915, marks the last
resting place of his doughty old revolutionary
hero and pioneer farmer. He was twice
married and had by his first wife two sons,
John and Samuel and two daughters,
Barbara and one who died without issue, but
many of Barbara's descendants still
survive. John Darby married and had
a family, and his
great-great-great-granddaughter. Miss
Ida Darby of Northboro, Iowa, unveiled the
monument above described.
Samuel Darby, son of the pioneer, and
grandfather of James W. Darby, was born
July 7, 1782, in Pennsylvania and as a young man
went to the State of North Carolina, where he
was married to Charity Redyard, the
daughter of one who leaned to the tory cause and
whose sentiments were changed by Marion's
Regiment. Soon after his marriage
Samuel Darby came to Vinton County, Ohio,
about the time of the arrival of his father, and
settled in a cabin on the middle fork of Salt
Creek. There he passed his life as a
farmer and died Jan. 23, 1856, his wife
surviving until Aug. 5, 1875, and being over
eighty-eight years of age at the time of her
demise. In his youth Samuel
Darby had been a soldier, fighting in 1812
and 1813, in the War of 1812 in Daniel
McCreery's Company, Key's Regiment. He
was in Vinton County in 1811, when the
earthquake shook up the entire Mississippi
Valley, but did not learn until six weeks later
what it was that had disturbed nature's forces.
He was widely known as a hunter, a real
Daniel Boone of this section, killing
much wild game both large and small, and
enjoying a wide reputation as an unerring
Nimrod. He was likewise one of the early
pioneers of Campbell's restoration church
movement, known today as the Church of Christ
(Disciples). For many years his home was
used as the meeting place of the local
congregation, to which Samuel Darby
preached for years. Of the children of
Samuel Darby, six sons and five
daughters grew to maturity, were married and had
children, as follows: Isaiah, William,
John, Britain, Stephen,
Samuel R., Tacy, Cytha,
Lydia, Asenath and Lovina.
Stephen Darby, son of Samuel, and
father of James W. Darby, was born, like
his brothers and sisters, on the old farm near
Allensville, Vinton County, Ohio, Nov. 1, 1818.
He grew up as a farmer in the western part of
Vinton County, passed his entire life in the
pursuits of the soil, and died Dec. 20, 1893. Mr.
Darby was well and favorably known in
Jackson Township and County, and through his
industry and good management became the owner of
a large and valuable property. A lifelong
democrat, he was at times elected to public
office, serving one term as county commissioner
and many years as trustee of Jackson Township.
He was an active worker and devout member of the
Christian Church, in which he was for years an
elder, and a great student of the Bible, as well
as a well informed man generally and a teacher
for some years. Mr. Darby
was married in Jackson (now Vinton) County,
Ohio, to Margaret Graves, who was
born in what is now Richland Township, Vinton
County, and died on the old homestead of 240
acres, Dec. 12, 1878. Mrs. Darby
was a devout Christian woman and a faithful
member of the Christian Church. She and
her husband were the parents of five sons and
three daughters: Dr. Franklin H.,
who was for a time a practicing physician and at
present superintendent of the Ohio Children's
Home Society, 34 West First Avenue, Columbus,
Ohio; Louisa, who is the wife of John
Clay, a farmer of Vinton County;
Samuel G., a retired farmer and overseer of
property at Columbus, Ohio, is married;
Bathsheba D., who first married a Mr.
Hutt and after his death Marion P.
Robinette, also deceased, and now makes her
home in Michigan, being the mother of several
sons and daughters; Charity J., who is
the wife of John W. Turner of Columbus,
Ohio, a real estate dealer, and has children;
James W., of this notice; Mathew H.,
postmaster at Deshler, Henry County, Ohio, is
married and has a family; and Sanford S.,
a farmer in the western part of Vinton County,
is married and has children.
James W. Darby was born on the old homestead
place, Aug. 26, 1858. In early boyhood he
showed himself a hard student, became a
voluminous reader, and acquired an extensive
knowledge both of school books and literature.
When he was but sixteen years of age he was
certified to teach, and from seventeen until
twenty-seven, he taught in the public schools,
in the meantime pursuing a course in the
National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio,
from which he was graduated in a scientific
course with the class of 1882. He was
county examiner of teachers one term.
Previous to this time he had decided upon a
career in the law. his early information on that
subject being secured from a copy of Walker's
American Law. Having thoroughly digested
this volume, in 1882 he entered the office of
James M. McGillivray, but not long afterward
found it necessary to resume teaching in order
to replenish his depleted finance.
However, he returned to Mr. McGillivray's
office as soon as possible, and in 1885 was
admitted to the bar, beginning his professional
labors at McArthur. On January 1, 1886, he
became a partner with Hon. William J.
Rannells, with whom he remained for four
years, and at the end of that time Mr.
Rannells was made an appointee in the office
of the United States attorney general at
Washington, District of Columbia, as an
assistant, and this partnership was dissolved.
Mr. Darby has since carried on a general
practice of a very important character, and his
marked ability has been recognized by the public
and the profession. He has served four
terms as prosecuting attorney of Vinton County,
the first term in the early '80s and the last
three in succession, ending Jan. 1, 1913.
Politically Mr. Darby is a democrat.
He is a member of the board of trustees of the
County Children's Home, and has taken a helpful
part in every movement that has made for
progress and advance. Fraternally he is a
member of the subordinate lodge of Odd
Fellowship, with which he became connected in
1880, at Byer; the Knights of Pythias, the blue
lodge of Masons, and the Modern Woodmen of
America, and formerly of the Order of Good
Templars of Vinton County.
Mr. Darby was married Sept. 19, 1889, at
McArthur to Miss Minnie Pearce,
who was born and reared here, a daughter of
Capt. Alexander Pearce, captain of Company
D, Eighteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry,
during the Civil war. In that struggle he
saw much active service, proved himself a
gallant officer, and returned in safety to his
family, living to the age of seventy-two years.
His widow, who was formerly Miss Amanda Ward,
still lives at an advanced age at McArthur, and
has been a member of the Christian Church here
for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Darby
have two children: Anna E., a graduate of
McArthur High School, and a classical graduate
of Hiram College, taking an A. B. degree, taught
school for three years at Marion, Ohio, and is
now a student at Ohio State University, at
Athens, where she is a senior in a four years'
course, and will soon take the B. S. E. degree;
and Stephen P., who is attending McArthur
High School. Mr. and Mrs. Darby are
foster parents to a niece. Miss Lois
G. Pearce, a graduate of McArthur High
School, who held a scholarship in a Lexington
(Kentucky) college for a time. She
attended and graduated from Ohio State
University, and is now a teacher in the schools
of Marion. Mr. and Mrs. Darby and
their children are members of the Christian
Church, in which he has been an elder for many
years.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock
Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated -
Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916
- Page 1286 |
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HOMER P. DUNKLE.
After a man has spent thirty years in one
occupation he deserves success in accordance
with his ability. Homer P.
Dunkle has been a general farmer in Vinton
County for about that length of time, and the
evidence of his ability is strongly featured in
his fine and productive farm in Swan Township in
the Siverly Creek District. He owns 120
acres in sections 18 and 19 on the road between
Stella and Creola. He has owned that place
for the last six years and it makes a delightful
home for himself and family and also represents
a good business proposition. Perhaps the
chief feature of the farm is a gas well which
has produced as high as 2,000,000 feet of gas a
day.
Representing an old family of Vinton County, Homer
P. Dunkle was born in Swan Township Jan. 18,
1865. He was reared and educated here and ever
since leaving school in early youth has
identified himself with the vocation and
occupation of a general farmer.
His parents were Benson and Mary (Foreman) Dunkle,
both of whom were born in Vinton County and
after their marriage started o\it house-keeping
in Swan Township. The father died on his
farm in the spring of 1912 at the age of
eighty-one, and his widow is still living, aged
seventy-five. She is an active member of
the Christian Church, and Benson Dunkle
was a republican.
The paternal grandfather was John Dunkle, a
native of Pennsylvania who came into Vinton
County in the early days. His second wife
was a Miss Hill and he had
children by both marriages. He lived to be
quite an old man, and in the early days he voted
the whig ticket. The maternal grandparents
of Homer P. Dunkle were David and
Elizabeth (Torrence) Foreman, both of whom
were born in Guernsey County, Ohio, where they
married but subsequently moved to Vinton County
and Swan Township. David Foreman
died when about sixty years of age. He was
a man of considerable prominence in Vinton
County and twice served as county treasurer, and
was a very active democrat. His widow
married after his death John Fee, and
they spent their declining years in Elk Township
where they died when quite old. Mrs.
Foreman, or Mrs. Fee, as she was
after her second marriage, was a great Bible
student. In later years she went blind,
but could quote from memory almost any chapter
in the Scriptures.
Both Benson Dunkle and his wife were of
large families of children, and they themselves
became the parents of eleven, as follows:
Pearl, who is superintendent of the County
Infirmary of Vinton County and has a son named
Harry O., now married; Homer P.;
John, who lives in Creola and is married
and has one son and four daughters; Nancy
is the wife of B. O. Newton of Jackson
Township in Vinton County and has five
daughters; David lives in Athens County
and has one son and two daughters; Joseph
lives in Lancaster, Ohio, and has two sons and
one daughter; Estella is the wife of
James George of Swan Township and has
four sons and one daughter living; Cynthia
is the wife of Elza King of
McArthur, a contractor, and has three sons;
Lena is the wife of Charles Crow
of Carrol, Fairfield County; Harley is
married and is a machine foreman living in
Cleveland, Ohio, and has a son and daughter;
George resides at Locust Grove in Vinton
County and has one son and two daughters.
Homer P. Dunkle was married on the farm where he
now resides to Miss Nancy E. Albin.
She was horn on the farm where Mr. and Mrs.
Dunkle now reside June 23, 1863, grew up in
that locality and for her education attended
school in the Siverly District.
Practically all her years have been spent in
this one community and she has been a sustaining
influence both in home, church and social
affairs. Her parents were Samuel and
Rebecca (Reed) Albin. Her father was
born in Guernsey County, Ohio, Aug. 8, 1830, and
her mother in Perry County, Ohio. Oct. 11,
1833. Samuel Albin came to Swan
Township in Vinton County with his parents and
his wife came in 1852 with her widowed mother.
After the marriage of Samuel Albin
and wife they located on the farm now owned by
Mr. Dunkle, and Samuel
Albin is still living there, tenderly cared
for by his daughter Mrs. Dunkle.
Though eighty-five years of age he is still
smart and active, and enjoys life's pleasures
and duties as much as many men years his junior.
In the fall of 1915 he husked one hundred shocks
of corn. He still reads without the aid of
glasses. In politics he is a democrat, and
he and his wife have both been active in the
Methodist Church. Mrs. Albin
died Sept. 4, 1910, the mother of four children:
Thomas, who lives near Stella in Vinton
County; Ezra B. whose home is in Columbus
and he has been twice married, having a son
Carl by the first marriage; the third in age
is Mrs. Dunkle; Cora A. is the
wife of Columbus Dunkle of Logan, Ohio,
and they have a daughter named Gladys.
Mr. and Mrs. Dunkle have three children. Otis A.,
born Apr. 4. 1893, was graduated from the
McArthur High School in 1913, completed a course
in a business college at Lancaster, Ohio, and is
now a successful teacher. Thomas L.,
born Apr. 18, 1896, completed his education in
the grade schools and in the McArthur High
School with the class of 1915, and has already
taken up teaching. Arthur A., born
May 20, 1898, is still a student and lives at
home with his parents. Mrs. Dunkle
and her two sons are members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church at Locust Grove. Mr.
Dunkle is a republican, and his sons have
taken up the same political affiliations.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock
Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated -
Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916
- Page 1211 |
| |
PURLEY
B. DUNKLE.
From the lime of his birth to the present Mr.
Dunkle has maintained his home in Vinton
County, Ohio, which he represented as a gallant
soldier and officer of the Union in the Civil
war, and here he has stood for many years as one
of the prosperous agriculturists and influential
citizens of Swan Township, with inviolable place
in popular confidence and good will. He is
a scion of a sterling pioneer family of Ohio,
with whose history the name of Dunkle has
been worthily linked for more than a century, so
that there are many points which make specially
consistent his recognition in this history of
the Hanging Rock iron region, his father having
been one of the pioneers who aided materially in
the initial development and upbuilding of Vinton
County.
Mr.
Dunkle was born in Swan Township, Vinton
County, on the 14th of May, 1844, and such were
the exigencies of time and place that in his
youth he received only the limited advantages
afforded in 1lie primitive pioneer schools, his
broader fund of knowledge having been that
gained through self-discipline and through
association with the active duties and
responsibilities of life. His father,
John Dunkle, Jr., was a son of John, Sr.,
who was born in Pennsylvania, a representative
of the staunch old German stock that has been
most prominent in the history of that
commonwealth. He married in Pennsylvania
and in the early part of the nineteenth century
he came to Ohio and numbered himself among the
pioneers of Pickaway County, which at that time
was little more than a wilderness, with sparse
settlement. There he gave himself
earnestly to the reclaiming of a farm and there
he continued his residence for many years, a
substantial and honored citizen.
Finally he sold his property in that county and
removed to Vinton County, where both he and his
wife passed the residue of their lives.
Each attained to advanced age and the remains of
both rest in the old Elk Township Cemetery at
McArthur. All of their children who
attained to maturity were born in Ohio and all
married and reared children, the sons having
been John, Jr., Eli,
Samuel, Jacob, Benjamin and
Isaac, and the daughters, Phoebe and
Polly. All of these children are now
deceased.
John Dunkle, Jr., was born in
Pickaway County, Ohio, about the year 1812, and
he was still young at the time of the family
removal to what is now Vinton County. Here
he was reared to manhood under the conditions of
the pioneer days and here he eventually became
one of the representative farmers of this
section of the state. He improved a good
farm of 360 acres in Swan Township and there he
maintained his home until his death, which
occurred Sept. 6, 1868. He was a man of
energy, industry and mature judgment, loyal and
steadfast in all of the relations of life, and
an honored and influential citizen who took much
interest in community affairs. He united
with the republican party at the time of its
organization and he served for many years in
local offices of trust, including those of
township trustee and assessor. His
land he obtained in large part directly from the
government, and thus it was his to figure as one
of the founders and builders of the County of
Vinton as it stands today.
In Elk Township was solemnized the marriage of John
Dunkle, Jr., to Miss
Nancy Pilcher, who was born in Elk
Township, Vinton County, about the year 1815,
and who passed her entire life in this county,
where her parents were numbered among the very
early settlers. Adequate data concerning
the family appear on other pages of this
publication, in the sketch dedicated to Otto
Pilcher. Mrs. Dunkle
preceded her husband to eternal rest, her death
having occurred in the late '50s. Of their
children the eldest was James, who was a
prosperous farmer of Vinton County at the time
of his death and who is survived by two
daughters. Lafayette likewise died
in this county and was survived by children.
John P. was a resident of the State of
Oregon at the time of his death and he left a
family. Benjamin was the owner of
his father's old homestead at the time of his
demise and he likewise left children.
Isaac served during the Civil war as a
member of the 114th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and
he now resides in the State of Colorado, his
wife being deceased. George was a
valiant soldier during the Civil war, in which
he served as first lieutenant of Company B,
Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and he was
survived by his wife, who later became the wife
of Wm. Croy. Linnie
became the wife of Isaiah Sane and
both died at Mount Pleasant, Vinton County,
leaving one son and one daughter. The
subject of this sketch was the next in order of
birth. Columbus was a member of the 144th
Ohio Volunteer Infantry and after the close of
the war he married and established himself as a
farmer of Vinton County. His first wife
died and was survived by two daughters and three
sons: Cynthia, who is now the wife of
Levert Pearce of McArthur, judicial
center of Vinton County, and Nancy, who is the
wife of Harvey Karns, their home
being in the State of Iowa and their only child
being a daughter. For his second wife
John Dunkle, Sr., wedded Miss Margaret
Hill, and concerning their children it may
be recorded that Mrs. Alice Mains now
resides with her daughter in the City of
Chicago; Henry is a resident of Madison
County, Ohio, and has a family; Eli
resides near the City of Seattle, Washington,
after having passed ten years in Alaska, and he
is still a bachelor; and Fannie and her
husband reside in the State of Texas.
Purley B. Dunkle, the eleventh in order of birth
in the family of fourteen children, was reared
to adult age on the old homestead farm which was
the place of his birth and he continued to be
associated with its operation until there came
the call of higher duty, when the Civil war was
precipitated on the nation. In April,
1861, a short time prior to his seventeenth
birthday anniversary, he enlisted in Company D,
Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in response
to President Lincoln's first call
for volunteers. He served with his command
in guard duty until the expiration of his three
months' term of enlistment, and he then
re-enlisted, as a member of the Second Virginia
Cavalry, which was made up largely of Ohio men
but which completed its organization in
Virginia, where its officers received their
commissions. With this gallant cavalry
regiment Mr. Dunkle continued in
service until the close of the war, having
re-enlisted, as a veteran, in Virginia, in
December, 1863. His original service was
in the command of General Custer,
in the Army of the Potomac, and thereafter he
was for the greater part of the time in service
under General Sheridan. He
was promoted to the office of sergeant in the
early part of the war, and he participated in
main engagements marking the progress of the
great conflict between the North and the South.
Among the engagements in which he took part were
those of Cedar Creek, Fisher's Hill, Saylor's
Creek, Gravelly Run and Five Forks, all in
Virginia, as well as other conflicts in the rear
of the City of Richmond, that state.
Sergeant Dunkle was fortunate in that
he was never captured and in that he escaped
wounds during the course of his long and gallant
service. His continued interest in his old
comrades is indicated by his active affiliation
with the Grand Army of the Republic. It
may further be stated that he is a republican in
politics and that he and his wife hold
membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
After the close of the war Mr. Dunkle
returned to Vinton County and resumed his active
association with the basic industry of
agriculture, of which he has since continued a
successful representative in Swan Township.
For the past thirty years he has resided on his
well improved homestead farm, and in addition to
the returns from the same, he receives from the
government a pension of $30 a month, as a
veteran of the Civil war.
In October, 1867, Mr. Dunkle wedded
Miss Nancy Bray, who was born
in Swan Township on the 6th of February, 1847,
and who continued her residence until her death,
which occurred on the 27th of February, 1912.
She was a daughter of John and Catherine (Birley)
Bray, who were pioneer settlers of Swan
Township, where they resided until their death,
both having been members of the Methodist Church
and Mr. Bray having been a republican in
his political adherency. Mrs. Dunkle
is survived by one son, Carney C., who is
now engaged in business as a teamster in the
City of Chicago: he married Miss
Catherine Smallwood and they have two
daughters, Nancy M. and Daisy
M., both of whom are capable bookkeepers and
employed in Chicago business establishments.
On the 21st of August, 1912, Mr. Dunkle
contracted a second marriage, when Mrs. Mary
E. (Smallwood) Hoffman, widow
of John S. Hoffman, became his wife, no
children having been born of her first marriage.
Mrs. Dunkle was born in Harrison
Township, Ross County, Ohio, on the 19th of
March, 1852, and is a daughter of Gabriel
and Rosanna (Trainer) Smallwood,
the former of whom was born in that county and
the latter of whom was born in Ireland, whence
her parents emigrated to the United States when
she was a child of five years, her father having
died in Maryland and she having later come to
Ohio in company with one of her uncles.
Mr. and Mrs. Smallwood continued their
residence in Ross County until their death, he
having attained to the venerable age of
eighty-three years and she having passed away at
the age of seventy-six years. Mr.
Smallwood was a republican in politics and
his religious faith was that of the Universalist
Church, his wife having been a communicant of
the Catholic Church.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock
Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated -
Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916
- Page 1173 |
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