ALSINES GASKILL.   Few families have been longer identified with the various sections of the State of Ohio than that of which Alssines Gaskill is a representative.  Mr. Gaskill is one of the venerable residents of Elk Township in Vinton County and has already passed the age of fourscore years.  The record of the family is well worthy of incorporation in this publication.
     The Gaskills were of Dutch ancestry.  Soon after the close of the War of 1812 they came as pioneers to Ohio and then wilderness of Medina County.  The head of the family at that time was Charles Gaskill, and his wife Matilda.  One of the children was Samuel Gaskill, father of Alsines.  Samuel had been born in New Jersey in 1804.  In Medina County the family located on a large tract of Government land.  All around them was a comparative wilderness.  By his labors Charles Gaskill cleared up a full half section of land in that locality, and for many years he supplied the greater part of the meat consumed on the table from the deer and turkey which roamed at will through the woods.  Charles Gaskill and his wife Matilda spent the rest of their days in Medina County and died when old people.  They were God fearing and highly respectable according to all the standards of usefulness and character.  In politics Charles was a whig.  There were nine sons and daughters in the family, all of whom grew up and married and had families of their own.
     After reaching his majority in Medina County Samuel Gaskill married Maria A. Sears.  She was born in Pennsylvania in 1802, and was still a girl, when her parents, who were of the old Pennsylvania Dutch stock, moved into Medina County, Ohio, and likewise underwent the hardships and privations of pioneer life.  Her parents finally moved out to Missouri, where they died.  Samuel Gaskill and wife lived in Medina County for several years after their marriage.  While there two sons were born.  One of these was Alsines, who was born May 18, 1834.  His brother George was born two years later.  Then in 1837 the family started for a new home in Muskingum County, locating at Frazeysburg.  Samuel Gaskill was a blacksmith by trade, having learned that art in Medina County, and at Frazeysburg he set up a shop and was one of the early mechanics in that community, doing horse shoeing and general repair work for a large community.  He lived at Frazeysburg until 1840 and in the meantime the household circle had been expanded by the addition of another son, Jacob.  The family then moved to another part of the same county, in the Honell neighborhood, where Samuel Gaskill set up a country blacksmith shop and continued to work at his trade.  While living there other children were born: Harriet, Ellen and twins, William and Ann Eliza; who were born in 1844 and were eighteen months of age when in 1846, while the war with Mexico was still in progress, the family undertook another removal, this time locating in Athens Township of Athens County. There Samuel Gaskill bought 130 acres of land and again set up a blacksmith shop.  He cleared the farm largely with the help of his own boys.  The youngest child was born in Athens County, named Olive.  In 1863, Samuel Gaskill and wife moved to Southern Kansas, where they were very early settlers.  Three months later in the same year Samuel was stricken with a fever and died, and still in the prime of his years, having never been sick up 1o that time.  His widow survived him for a great many years and was ninety-one when she died.  She spent her declining years in the home of her son William, who became well known in that section of Kansas as a horse dealer.
     In the various localities mentioned in Ohio, Alsines Gaskill spent his early youth.  He received a common school education, and while in Athens County learned the trade of stone cutter.  He subsequently became a stone contractor, and did a great deal of foundation construction on both private and public buildings.  One building for which he laid the foundation was the state asylum.  He also constructed the jail in Vinton County and a number of private buildings in McArthur.
     He first came to Vinton County in 1854.  He was one of the earliest members of the republican party in this county, and as there were very few of his fellow partisans he was refused the privilege of casting his ballot as a republican during the first presidential election in which, that party figured.  In order not to lose his right as a voter he walked the entire distance of twelve miles to Albany, Ohio, where his vote was accepted.
     Mr. Gaskill has lived on his present farm in Elk Township in section 34, since 1882.  At that time he bought fifty-six acres, the chief improvement being a one-room hewed log house.  He afterwards added five rooms to this and has made it a very comfortable home.  Other improvements have followed from time to time, and he now has excellent farm buildings and makes his land produce good crops and he raises considerable stock and poultry.  In politics he has been a republican since casting his first ballot in the manner already indicated and has been a very active member of the Methodist Church.  His wife was a member of the Presbyterian denomination.
     At Wilkesville in Vinton County Mr. Gaskill married Mary E. DeVault.  She was born in that community Jan. 29, 1844, and was reared and educated in the Village of Wilkesville.  They had a long and happy married companionship, and it was interrupted when she died at a hospital in Columbus while undergoing an operation Oct. 22, 1903.  Her parents were Louis and Margaret (Strausbaugh) DeVault, both of whom were born in Harrison County, Ohio, and were of German parentage.  They came in early life to Vinton County, and spent the rest of their days in this county.  For many years they lived on a farm near Zaleski, where her father died in his eighty-ninth year.  His first wife Margaret died in the prime of life and by a second marriage he had a son and two daughters.
     While his career in its material manifestations has been one of very satisfactory results, Mr. Gaskill has found his chief solace in his later years in his own children.  A brief record of these is given as follows: Flora is the wife of William Power, a coal operator in Coshocton County, Ohio, and they have a family of four sons and three daughters.  Dora is the wife of Gale Brown, a farmer in Elk Township, and they have five daughters and six sons.  William became a resident of Minot, North Dakota, and was killed near there in a railroad wreck, leaving a widow and five children, his widow having subsequently married again.  Catherine is the wife of Ellsworth Brown, a farmer and coal dealer at McArthur, and they have four sons and two daughters.  Margaret is the wife of Charles Downhour, who is employed in the state hospital at Gallipolis, Ohio, and they have one daughter.  Minnie is the wife of William Morrison, of McArthur, and of their five children three are still living.  Pearley has gained distinction as an educator, having been active in that work for the past twenty-two years, and in 1913 he completed a course in the Ohio University at Athens; he has served as superintendent of the Washington County district schools and is now principal of the largest grade school in Huntington, West Virginia, with 750 students under his charge; he holds a life certificate in Ohio as a teacher both in grade and high schools; he was married in Wellston to Mertie M. Brohard of Colton, Jackson County, who for fourteen years was a teacher before her marriage and is a graduate of the normal department of the Ohio University, and since her marriage has become the mother of two children, Dwight D. and Abel R.  The son Peter is doing well as a furniture dealer and undertaker at McArthur, and by his marriage to Essie Chatfield has three children, Rhea, Lucille and Charles.  Mettie is unmarried and since the death of her mother has devoted herself to the care and welfare of her father and the management of the home.  Harry, who is a fireman with the K. & M. Railroad and resides at Middleport, Ohio, is married and has a daughter Oneita E., and a son Elmer E., and they are both in school and live with his grandfather Mr. Gaskill, while another daughter, Mary O. died at the age of eight months.  Lillian is the wife of Frederick Lemley of Athens, and they have a daughter Laura B.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1033

NICHOLAS GORSUCH.   With the earnest co-operation of his gracious wife, who is matron of the institution, Mr. Gorsuch has made the Vinton County Children's Home fully justify its name, and as its superintendent he is giving a most effective administration, both he and his wife having the deepest sympathy for the little wards of the institution and giving to them true parental affection and kindly devotion, the attractive home, maintained for the care of orphaned and other indigent children of the county, being situated 1½ miles north of McArthur, the county seat, and on the highway that is a practical continuation of North Market Street of McArthur.  The most effective voucher for the admirable service which has been given by Mr. and Mrs. Gorsuch is that afforded in the fact that they have been actively identified with the management of the home for the past five years.  The average number of children cared for in the institution is twenty, and all such otherwise homeless wards are received and cared for until each has attained to the age of eighteen years, and the kindly generosity of the county makes provision for the proper clothing, feeding and educating of the children, all being permitted to attend school in the nearby district from the age of six years until they have reached the age of eighteen and are equipped for self support.  At the age last noted they are sent forth from the institution well fortified for the battle of life, and within the regime of Mr. and Mrs. Gorsuch have gone forth many who accord to them enduring and true filial affection and appreciation, which to the superintendent and his noble wife is held to be the maximum reward for their earnest and faithful labors.  They have had charge of the home since 1910 and have solved for the county the problem of making proper provision for the care of the unfortunate children who have been left in indigent circumstances.  Mr. Gorsuch ascribes to his wife much of the success which has attended his administration, and it is uniformly conceded that under their direction the institution has gained a status that is not excelled by that of any similar county home in the entire state.  Both have shown deep appreciation of their stewardship and of the responsibilities devolving upon them in connection with the character building of those who are placed in their solicitous charge.  They maintain a regular Sunday school at the home and each evening of the week special instruction is given along religious lines.  Each child is given understanding sympathy and encouragement and in all things no effort is spared to maintain a true home atmosphere, so that the institution is not lacking in the conditions and influences that mark the ideal private home.  The children call Mrs. Gorsuch mother or mamma and go to her for never failing sympathy in their troubles and for appreciation of their childish joys. Few are more admirably equipped for such service than Mr. and Mrs. Gorsuch and both would prove valuable in the managing of the affairs of a similar institution of much greater capacity and importance.
     Mr. Gorsuch was born in Meigs County, Ohio, on the 26th of January, 1855, and is a son of John and Rachel (Singer) Gorsuch, both natives of Pennsylvania and representatives of the fine old German stock that has played so large and benignant part in the history of the Keystone State.  The marriage of the parents was solemnized in Pennsylvania and upon coming to Ohio they established their residence in Salisbury Township, Meigs County.  There John Gorsuch and his brother David each obtained eighty acres of wild land, and there both developed well improved and productive farms, upon which both passed the remainder of their lives, as did also their respective wives.  John Gorsuch and his wife each died prior to attaining to the psalmist's allotted span of three score years and ten, and he eventually became the owner of a valuable landed estate of 320 acres in Meigs County.  John and Rachel Gorsuch became the parents of seven sons and five daughters, and some of the number died in childhood.  The subject of this review is now the only surviving son, and of his sisters three are living, all being married and having reared children.
     Nicholas Gorsuch is indebted to the schools of his native county for his early educational training and his childhood and youth were compassed by the invigorating influences and discipline of the home farm, where he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until 1885, when he removed with his family to Vinton County and rented a farm in Elk Township, where, in December, 1891, occurred the death of his first wife.  Her maiden name was Sophia Graves and she was born and reared in Meigs County.  She was forty-two years of age when she was summoned to the life eternal, and of her children the firstborn was William T., who died Apr. 15, 1898, at the age of twenty-six years; John W., who is now engaged in the commission-milling business in the City of Joplin, Missouri, is married and has one son and one daughter: Perry V. is engaged in the dairy business at McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio, is married and has one son and one daughter  Ella M. is the wife of John D. Gill, who is engaged in the automobile business at McArthur, and they have two sons and one daughter; David H., who is married and has two daughters, is engaged in the grocery business at Nelsonville, Athens County; Arthur C. is associated with the dairy business of his brother Perry, at McArthur, and is still a bachelor; Carrie E. is the wife of Thomas J. Shipley, of McArthur, and they have no children; and Miss Emma likewise resides at McArthur; all of the children have received good educational advantages.
     At McArthur, in the year 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gorsuch to Miss Cora Perkins, who was born in Lawrence County, this State, on the 20th of July, 1864 and who is a daughter of Rev. George Perkins, who is now living retired in his pleasant home at Oak Hill, Jackson County, where he celebrated his eighty-sixth birthday anniversary on the 17th of July, 1915.  He served for many years as an itinerant clergyman of the United Brethren Church, and was one of its pioneer missionaries among the white settlers and the Indians in the State of Kansas, where he remained several years, his entire life having been one marked by consecrated zeal and devotion.  In Adams County, Ohio, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Eliza B. Beasley who was there born and reared, and she passed to eternal rest on the 4th of March, 1897, at the age of sixty-one years and after having proved a devoted coajutor to her husband in his zealous Christian services, her gentle and kindly nature and unfailing sympathy having endeared her to all who came within the sphere of her gracious influence.  Mrs. Gorsuch was the third in order of birth in a family of five children, and the firstborn was Hattie Z., who is the wife of A. D. Evans, of Oak Hill, Jackson County, their children being five in number; Henry E., who is identified with business interests at McArthur, Vinton County, is married and has a family of children; George, who maintains his residence at Clear Lake, Iowa, has three sons and one daughter; and Blanche S., who is the wife of Edward M. Derry, of Dickens, Iowa, has two sons and three daughters.  Mr. and Mrs. Gorsuch have had no children but in their present offices they have the fullest opportunity for the extending of parental love to the children placed in their charge.  They resided for some time in the city of McArthur, where they still own their pleasant residence property, on Mulberry Street.  Since 1903 Mr. Gorsuch has been associated with Rufus H. Wyman in the granite and marble monument business at McArthur, under the firm name of Wyman & Gorsuch, and concerning the enterprise more complete data are given on other pages, in the sketch of the career of Mr. Wyman.  Mr. Gorsuch pays staunch allegiance to the democratic party and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Presbyterian Church.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1188