BIOGRAPHIES Source:  History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers West Union, Ohio Published by E. B. Stivers 1900 Please note:  STRIKETHROUGHS are errors with corrections next to them. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z < CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO 1900 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX > < CLICK HERE to GO to LIST of BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES >   DANIEL EBRITE was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on the twentieth of July, 1816.  His father was John Ebrite, a German, and his mother was Catherine McElroy, of Irish descent.  He emigrated to Adams County when a young man.  He received a common school education.  He was born and reared a Democrat but Identified himself with the old Abolition party, and after the abolition of slavery, he became a Republican.  He has been a Trustee of his Township for a number of years.  He has been a member of the Methodist Church since 1840 and has been a steward nearly all of that time.      He married Rachel Cooper on December 23, 1841.  He has three sons and four daughters.  His sons are John W., Albert O., William T., and one daughter, Effie Sydney, who resides at home. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 745 C. W. Edgington, M. D. DR. CHARLES W. EDGINGTON, of Blue Creek, is one of the prominent physicians and surgeons of Adams County.  He is a son of Dr. T. C. Edgington and Levina Stewart, daughter of Joseph Stewart, of Sprigg Township, a soldier of the War of 1812, who died at the ripe old age of ninety-two years.      The subject of this sketch attended the public schools of Winchester, where he was born Nov. 16, 1867, and the public schools of Bentonville.  He attended the North Liberty Academy when in charge of Prof. E. B. Stivers, and afterwards the Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio.  He was a successful teacher in Adams County for several years.  He took a course in Starling Medical College at Columbus, Ohio, graduating in 1895.  He opened an office in Rome, Adams County, that year, where he remained until 1898.  After graduating in the New York Polyclinic, he located at Blue Creek, where he has a large and lucrative practice.      He is a Democrat, and served from 1889 to 1891 as Clerk of Jefferson Township, and as Coroner of Adams County from 1896 to 1898 of Martin Case and Christian Heizer.  To this union have been born Claude B., August 28, 1894, who died in infancy; Harry W., Dec. 2, 1895, died Dec. 4, 1896; Paul J., Apr. 29, 1898. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 740   GEORGE WASHINGTON EDGINGTON was born Dec. 23, 1849, on Donalson Creek, in Monroe Township, Adams County, Ohio.  His father, Morris Edgington, was born in Adams County, near Manchester, in 1825.  His mother's maiden name was Nancy Bradford, a daughter of Jacob Bradford, of Kentucky.  His father and mother were born in 1845, and his grandfather, Absalom Edgington, born in Pennsylvania in 1776, located in Adams County early in 1800, and died in 1853.       Our subject was reared in Manchester, and went to school there until 1863, when his parents removed to Portsmouth and he attended school there a short time.  His father returned to Manchester in 1864, and in 1866, George W. Edgington left school to begin work.  He learned the stoneware business with Pettit & Burbage and afterwards with John Parks.  Pettit & Burbage were succeeded in business by Arch Means, and in 1870, our subject bought out Arch Means, and conducted the business until 1876, when he sold out to Mark Pennywit, and from that time to the present, has been a steamboatman.  His first venture was with the Handy No. I in the Maysville trade.  He ran her a year and then she was destroyed in the ice.  This discouraged him somewhat and he sold the wreck of the Handy No. I and went to farming for two years in Kentucky, at the end of which he sold his farm for thirty acres of land in the west end of Manchester and lived on it.  However, the career of farming was too slow for him, and in 1878, he went on the Fleetwood as watchman and second mate.  He remained on her for two years, when he bought a third interest of the steamboat John Kyle and put her in the Vanceburg and Portsmouth trade for one season.  He sold his interest in her in the Fall and went on the New Handy No. I as pilot.  He was on her and along the side of the Phaeton when it blew up in June, 1881, in which explosion eight persons were killed and he was one of the injured.  Afterwards, he went on the steamboat Return, in the Manchester and Portsmouth trade, as pilot, in 1881.  He also piloted the Maysville ferry-boat for a few months, and then went as pilot of the Clipper, and ran her from Ripley to New Richmond for a short time.  He then bought the Katy Prather from James Foster, and made her a packet, and ran her from Maysville, to Manchester from 1883 to 1888.  In 1888, he built the Silver Wave.  That was a prosperous year for him.  He sold the Silver Wave to Captain Webb for seven thousand dollars, having made four thousand dollars in fourteen months.  In 1890, he ought the M. P. Wells for $8,300, and rebuilt her in 1897, and now runs her from Portsmouth to Cincinnati, leaving Portsmouth every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 10:30 a.m., and leaving Cincinnati every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5 p.m.  In 1894, he bought the Reliance of Captain A. W. Williamson, and ran her in the Portsmouth and Rome trade.  She was sunk at Higginsport on the twenty-fifty of July, 1895.  In 1802, he bought the Bellevue, and made her a tow-boat between Buena Vista and Cincinnati until 1895.  He sold her for the Silver Wave, rebuilt her and kep0t her in the Vanceburg and Maysville trade until July, 1897, when she was burned up, lying at the bank for repairs.  The M. P. Wells ran from Augusta to Maysville and connected with the Silver Wave.  From the wreck of the Silver Wave he built the William Duffie, and sold her to Michael Duffie, at Marietta, for the Rob Roy.  He bought the Charles B. Pearce in 1899 and rebuilt her.  She is now engaged in the Portsmouth and Cincinnati trade, leaving Portsmouth at 10:30 a.m. on each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Cincinnati each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 5 p.m.      Our subject in master of the Charles B. Pearce.  He was married Dec. 20, 1869, to Nannie E. Scott, daughter of Andrew Scott.  His eldest son, John Emery, is the master of the steamboat M. P. Wells; his son, Arch D., is pilot of the M. P. Wells and his son, Robert W., is clerk.  His son, Andrew Morris, is pilot on the Charles B. Pearce; his daughter, Edna Mary, is the wife of Edwin Smith, of Augusta, Kentucky, who is clerk on the steamer Pearce; his daughter, Estella, is the wife of Robert Hedges, clerk on the M. P. Wells.  His two youngest sons, Earnest, age nine years, and Roy, aged six, are at the family home in Augusta, Kentucky.      In politics, Captain Edgington  is a Republican.  He is one of the most energetic, industrious men, anywhere in the river trade.  He has operated independent lines of boats between Portsmouth and Cincinnati since 1876.  He has been able to obtain the good will of all the people along the river and make money, in face of the great opposition of the White Collar Line.  As a steamboatman, he has been very successful and his career will compare favorably with that of Captain William McClain, who, in his day, was designated as the price of all steamboatmen of his time, or any other time, since the first steamboat went down the Ohio in 1811.  Captain Edgington will not, however, be content with the title given Captain McClain, or with a reputation equal to his.  If he lives steamboatman of his time, or any other time, and he will have his whole family and his posterity in the same business. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 742   LEMUEL LINDSEY EDGINGTON was born in Sprigg Township, Adams County, Ohio, Oct. 10, 1836, son of Richard M. and Margaret (Lytle) Edgington.  His father and his grandfather were both born in Sprigg Township.  His grandmother's father, George Edgington, located in Adams County among the first settlers.  He was from Virginia.  He settled at Bentonville and one of Zane's Trace as early as 1807.  The Edgingtons were Baptists from the first settlers.  They at first kept their membership in the church at West Union.  Afterwards they removed it to the church at Bentonville.      Richard Edgington, father of Captain Edgington, built the first tavern in Bentonville in 1848.  It is now occupied by a Mr. Easter.      Lindsey Edgington spent his childhood and boyhood at Bentonville and attended school there.  He also attended a select school there from 1848 to 1851, taught by Prof. Miller.  In 1855, he took up the profession of school teacher and taught for five years, two years in Coles County, Illinois.  In 1857 and 1858, he taught in Ohio, and in 1859, in Missouri.  He returned to Ohio in 1860 and Oct. 19, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, 70th O. V. I.  He was made Second Sergeant when the company was organized.  On Mar. 1, 1862, he was made Sergeant Major of the Regiment, and on Oct. 6, 1864, was made First Lieutenant and Adjutant.      On Dec. 1, 1864, he was made a Captain and assigned to Company B.  On Apr. 9, 1865, he was detailed as Aid-decamp on the staff of Major General William B. Hazen and served as such until Aug. 14, 1865.  Any soldier reading this record will understand from it that Captain Edgington made an excellent soldier and was a most efficient officer.  A history of his service would be a history of the 70th O. V. I., which is found elsewhere.  He was in no less than fifteen battles, was in the March to the Sea, and in the assault on Fort McCallister, and was in the Great Review at Washington, D. C., May 24, 1865.      From 1865 to 1867, he was in the mercantile business at Bentonville, Ohio.  From 1867 to 1883, he was employed as a traveling salesman for mercantile houses in Portsmouth and in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He located in West Union in 1883 in grocery and hardware business and has been engaged in it ever since.      He was married Apr. 17, 1867, to Miss Eliza Jane Hook and has two sons and a daughter.  His sons, Sherman R. and Eustace B., are engaged in business with him.  His daughter Elizabeth is the wife of James O. McMannis, late Probate Judge of Adams County.  He is a Republican in politics but never has taken any active part in political work.      Mr. Edgington is a man who has made no mistakes in life.  He is capable and enterprising in business, a valuable and valued citizen.  He is always ready to contribute of his means and influence toward any object calculated for the good of the community.  His record as a teacher, a soldier, an officer and a citizen is without reproach. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 734   SHERMAN RICHARD EDGINGTON of West Union, son of L. L. Edgington and Eliza J. Hook, was born at Bentonville, Adams County, June 24, 1869.  In his boyhood he clerked during school vacation in the general grocery store of Edgington & McGovney, in West Union.  After the dissolution of that firm he became a partner with his father, succeeding to the business of the old firm, where he is yet successfully engaged.  June 15, 1898, he married Miss Hattie, the estimable daughter of J. W. Hedrick, of Russellville, Ohio.  Our subject is one of the substantial young business men of Adams County and stands high in the community in which he resides.  He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and Treasurer and Secretary of the Presbyterian Sabbath School.  He is a member of West Union Lodge, No. 43, F. & A. M., and holds the responsible position of Treasurer of the Lodge. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 739   SYLVANUS V. EDGINGTON, of West Union, Ohio, was born at Aberdeen, Ohio, Oct. 16, 1853.  He was a son of William and Mary A. (Gaffin) Edgington.  His grandfather, Absalom Edgington, was a native of Sprigg Township, Adams County,  He spent his boyhood at Bentonville attending the public schools at that place, receiving a limited education.  He learned the shoemaker's trade with his father and worked at that until 1876.  In 1878, he removed to West Union and engaged in the barber business, in which he is still engaged.      He married Retta Clark, daughter of William Clark, of Fayette County, Ohio, in 1874.  The children of this marriage are Bertha, deceased; Francis, wife of Sherman Daulton; Kilby Blaine, seventeen years Myrtle, three years of age.      He is a Republican and takes an active part in local politics.  He is a member of West Union Council and School Board, a member of Crystal Lodge, No. 114, Knights of Pythias, and of No. 43, Free and Accepted Masons, of West Union.      Mr. Edgington is an honest and upright citizen.  He takes a very active interest in the fraternal orders of which he is a member.  He is a zealous and earnest worker in his party. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page735   THE ELLIS FAMILY.  Nathan, Jeremiah, Samuel, Hezekiah, James and Jesse, all sons of James Ellis and Mary Veatch, his wife, came to this section from the neighborhood of Brownsville on the Monongahela River, some sixty miles above Pittsburg, in 1795.  Mr. and Mrs. James Ellis came from Wales early in the eighteenth century and settled first in Maryland, where after spending a few years, they emigrated to Western Pennsylvania, where Mr. Ellis died some time after the Revolutionary War.  There is nothing to show that there were any daughters in the family.      Religiously, the Ellises were Quakers of the strictest sect and were identified with the Colonists in the French and Indian Wars, and later on in the Revolutionary struggle, several of the name holding commissions in the Continental army.  In the Spring of 1795, Captain Nathan Ellis and his five brothers embarked on boats at Brownsville, and floated on down past Pittsburg into the Ohio, looking for homes in the mighty forests and fertile lands of the then almost unknown Northwest Territory.  The Ohio was the great highway over which came much of the tide of emigration which have peopled this section of the Union, a mighty stream hemmed in by a continent of gloomy shade and weird solitude, rolling its unbroken length for a thousand miles, a beautiful stretch of restless, heaving water which realized to the voyager the "ocean river of Homeric song."      Landing at Limestone, the Ellis brothers were so charmed with the romantic beauty of the region and the productiveness of the soil, that they determined at once to go no further.  At that time, with the exception of a few isolated settlements at Marietta, Manchester, Gallipolis, and Cincinnati, there were but few settlers on the north bank of the river, while upon the south side of the country, it was swarming with emigrants seeking out and appropriating the richest lands and most eligible town sites.  Like the Jordon of old, the Ohio was the great boundary line.  It stayed the incursions of the Indians, and north of its immediate banks the wave of immigration had not rolled.  The very day, Apr. 27, 1795, that Nathan Ellis landed at Limestone, five hundred red men were encamped right across the river.  Finding that the most valuable lands were taken up, the Ellis brothers determined to push on into the Northwest Territory.  Nathan Ellis built the first home in what is known as Aberdeen, and twenty-one years after, laid out the town, naming it for the old University town of Aberdeen, Scotland, in honor of one of his fellow townsmen who was a native of the place.      Samuel Ellis settled at Higginsport, eighteen miles below.  James opened up a farm near the present site of Georgetown.  Jeremiah Ellis bought lands near Bentonville.  Hezekiah Ellis founded a home on the waters of Eagle Creek and Jesse Ellis entered a tract on what is now known as Brooks Bar: three miles east of Aberdeen.  More than a century has passed, yet such have been the staying qualities of the name that many of the original entries remain in the possession of the family.  As a connection, they have ever been blessed with the good things of life and inherit many of the sterling qualities which distinguished their Quaker ancestors.      Nathan Ellis was born Nov. 10, 1749, and Mary Walker, his wife, Aug. 31, 1752.  They were married in 1770.  Nathan Ellis assisted Jonathan Zane and John McIntire in marking out the Zane Trace in 1797 and 1798.  He became quite a large landowner, holding at one time eight thousand acres.  Aberdeen was first known as "Ellis Ferry."  Nathan Ellis became the first Justice of the Peace, an office he held until his death in 1819.  In a very readable and interesting volume, "A Tour in the Western Country," published in 1808 by Fortescue Cumming, we find the following:  "On Saturday, I returned to Ellis Ferry, opposite Maysville on the banks of the Ohio.  I found 'Squire Ellis seated on a bench under the shade of two locust trees, with a bottle, pen, ink, and several papers, holding a Justice Court which he does every Saturday.  Seven or eight men were sitting on the bench with him, awaiting his award in their several cases.  After he had finished, which was soon, after I had taken a seat under the same shade, one of the men invited the "Squire to drink with him, which he consented to do.  Some whiskey was procured from Landlord Powers in which all parties made a libation to peace and justice.  There was something in the scene so primitive and so simple that I could not help enjoying it with much satisfaction.  I took up my quarters for the night with Landlord Powers, who is an Irshman from the Ballinbay in the County of Monaghan.  He pays "Squire Ellis eight hundred dollars per annum for his tavern, fine farm and ferry."      Nathan Ellis and his wife were a couple of untiring energy and great force of character, fit representatives of the heroic men and women who settled in the Ohio Valley and laid the corner stone of the empire in the wilderness.  Ten children were born to them: Margaret (Mrs. Scicily); Mary (Mrs. Campbell), 1773; John, 1777; Jeremiah, 1779; Jesse, 1782; Samuel, 1784; Nancy (Mrs. Grimes), 1786; Nathan, 1789; Hetty, 1792;  she became the wife of Capt. John Campbell, a distinguished officer under General McArthur, in the War of 1812.  Jesse was in his company and took part in many engagements.  Elender, born 1795, married James Higgins and emigrated many years ago to Johnson County, Missouri, where she died Nov. 10, 1882.      Jeremiah Ellis married Anna Underwood, daughter of a well-known and prominent Virginia gentleman in 1803.  His son, Washington, was born in 1804 and in 1832 married Miss Aris Parker of Mason County, Kentucky.  Jesse Ellis married Sabina, a daughter of Captain Thomas Brooks, of Mason County, Ky., a warm friend and contemporary of Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton, and one of the founders of Maysville (1787); with his brother, Thomas, was captured at the battle of Blue Licks and held a prisoner by the Indians for five years.  Major Ellis served in  an Ohio regiment in the War of 1812, and had quite a noted career as a soldier.  Jesse Ellis died in 1877 in his ninety-fifth year.  His wife passed away five years later in her ninetieth year.  Nathan Ellis died in 1819 and is buried on the hill overlooking Aberdeen.  His mother, Mary Veatch, who died in 1799, rests in the Aberdeen Cemetery.  John died in 1829. Jeremiah died in 1857; Washington, in 1873; his wife in 1891.  They all rest in the Ellis family cemetery at Ellis Landing in Sprigg Township, four miles east of Aberdeen.  Jeremiah Ellis and Anna Underwood became the parents of ten children, five sons and five daughters, the best known of whom are the Hon. Jesse Ellis, of Aberdeen, Ohio, who has represented Adams County in the Legislature a number of times, and Samuel Ellis, deceased, formerly a sheriff of Lewis County, Kentucky.      Jesse Ellis, although now a resident of Brown County, was born in Adams County, Dec. 19, 1833.  He has always been a farmer, teacher and surveyor, and was at one time surveyor of Adams County for twelve consecutive years.  He is a man of charming personality and has many devoted friends.  In connection it is but right that we should mention the record of the sons of the family in the war for the preservation of the Union.  Many of them bore commissions but a far greater number were in the ranks.  So far as the present writer is informed, the following bore commissions:  Lieutenant Colonel Edward Ellis, 15th Illinois, killed at Shiloh; Major Ephriam J. Ellis, 33d Ohio; Lieutenant Jesse Ellis, 59th Ohio, and Captain Isaac Dryden, 24th Ohio, grandson of Samuel Ellis, fell at Chickamauga; Private William J. Ellis, Company G, 70th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was the first man of that regiment killed at Shiloh.  His head was carried away by a cannon ball.  Drs. Samuel and Lewis Ellis were medical officers; Dryden Ellis, Captain 6th Ohio Cavalry; Amos Ellis, Lieutenant 70th Ohio; Anderson V. Ellis, Lieutenant 49th Ohio; William Ellis, Captain 16th Kentucky; Joseph Ellis, Lieutenant 175th Ohio.  Major Ellis was the Captain of the Manchester Company in the 33d Ohio at the time he enlisted in 1861.  He commanded his regiment at the battle of Stone River and had a horse killed under him.  He was a most gallant an d beloved officer, and had he lived, would have been put in command of one of the new Ohio regiments then organizing for the field.  Of the private soldiers of the Ellis family, it is impossible to speak in detail.  Quite a number of them lost their lives on the field of battle; some of them died in rebel prisons; others perished from wounds and diseases, an many of them lived to get back home to the green hills of the old Buckeye State and to rejoice that peace had come to our land, and that we were a reunited nation sovereign, great and free.      Anderson Nelson Ellis, A. M., M. D., a son of Washington and Aris Ellis, was born at Ellis Landing, Sprigg Township, Adams County, Ohio, Dec. 19, 1840.  In his twelfth year, he entered the public schools of Ripley where he remained six years, and during which times, those schools maintained a very high standard of excellence under such well known efficient instructors as Captain F. W. Hurth, Rev. W. H. Andrews, Prof. Ulysses Thompson and Gen. Jacob Ammen.  He then entered the Freshman class at the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, where he remained until the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, when he went to the front as a volunteer aide-de-camp on the staff of the late Major General William Nelson, and remained with him until his death.  Subsequently, he was attached to the staff of his old teacher, Gen. Ammen, then commanding the fourth division of the Army of the Ohio under Gen. Don Carlos Buell.  On the eighteenth of March, 1862, he was appointed Second Lieutenant of the 49th Ohio Regiment, Colonel William H. Gibson, which commission he resigned Sept. 28, 1863, on account of failing health.  Returning home, he at once entered Miami University and graduated the following year.  In 1885, his Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.      In the Spring of 1865, he began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. A. G. Goodrich, of Oxford, Ohio, and afterward attended medical lectures at Ann Arbor, Michigan; Pittsfield, Mass.; New York City and Cincinnati.  At the Berkshire Medical College, he was assistant to the chair of Chemistry and graduated with the valedictory.  Subsequently the board of trustees of that institution elected him Demonstrator of Anatomy.  In March, 1868, the Ohio Medical College gave him an addendum degree.  After some little private practice in Ohio and Kansas, Dr. Ellis entered the Ohio Regular Army as a medical officer, and spent five years on the plains and mountains of the Southwest.  To one who had as yet known nothing beyond the haunts of civilization, the nomadic life of an army officer presented many attractions.  While in New Mexico and Arizona, the Doctor became much interested in the history of the Pueblo Indians - that last remnant of the Aztec population of the days of the Spanish conquest, who present the pathetic spectacle of a civilization perishing without a historian to recount its rise, ruin and fall, its art, poetry, sorrow and suffering - a repetition of the silent death of the Mound Builders.  He spent much of his time while off duty in exploring those ancient ruins that lie all over that interesting land.  After leaving the service, he delivered many lectures and published a number of magazine articles on "The Land of the Aztec."  From the very day of his graduation in medicine, Dr. Ellis had cast longing eyes at the admirable teaching and superior clinical advantages of the great European hospitals.  In 1878, he resolved to realize this day dream of his life.  He then went abroad and spent eighteen months in Heidelberg, Vienna and London, and afterward made a journey through Italy and France.  While absent from the United States, he published many letters in the press, of his observations, and travels in those countries, the most notable of which was "Pen and Ink Pictures of Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Leghorn and Genoa."  Shortly after his return home to Cincinnati, he received the appointment of Assistant Physician at Longview Asylum, a position which he soon found irksome, but which led to an intimate acquaintance with nervous diseases and his appearance in many of the Courts of the State as a medical expert of Laryngology in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, which position he took and held until the close of the session 1890, and found himself to be an efficient and popular teacher.  On Dec. 10, 1893, Gov. Charles Foster appointed him Captain and Assistant Surgeon of the First Regiment, Ohio National Guards, Col. .J. B. Foraker promoted him to the surgeoncy with the rank of Major, the vacancy being made by the promotion of the lamented Dr. E. A. Jones, to the position of Surgeon General of the State of Ohio.      In the Spring of 1894, Dr. Ellis determined, on account of failing health, to leave Cincinnati and go to his ancestral acres at Ellis Landing and devote his entire time and energy to the calling of the farmer.   He had scarcely settled himself in the old homestead before patients came to his door in great numbers.  Not wishing to return to Cincinnati, he has removed to Maysville, Kentucky, where he is actively engaged in the practice of his profession.      On the thirtieth of December, 1891, Dr. Ellis was married to Miss Laura Murphy, daughter of James Murphy, a prominent farmer and stock-raiser of Butler County, Ohio.  She is a graduate of the Oxford Female College of the class of 1873, and was for many years the Lady President of the Alumnae Association of that institution.  One child, a boy now in his fifth year, has blessed their union, who bears the name of William Nelson, in honor of one of the heroes of the war. (Source 1: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 662)   ANDREW ELLISON.     Andrew Ellison was born in 1755.  His father, John Ellison, a native of Ireland, was born in 1730, and died in 1806.  He is interred in the Nixon graveyard, three miles south of West Union, Ohio.  Andrew Ellison came to Manchester, Ohio, from Kentucky, with Gen. Nathaniel Massie, in the winter of 1790.  He took up his residence in the town of Manchester with his family.  He located a farm on the Ohio River bottoms about two miles east of Manchester, and proceeded to clear and cultivate it.      The events in the history of the pioneers of Ohio, one hundred years ago, are becoming more obscured every day.  May facts that should have been preserved have been lost, and many more are now liable to be lost, if not obtained from those now living, and preserved.      The story of Andrew Ellison's capture by the Indians, given in both editions of Howe's Historical Collection of Ohio, is incorrect, and the correct and true story is given here.  The story by Howe given in his edition of 1846 was copied bodily from McDonald's Sketches published in 1838.  Where McDonald got his information we do not know, but he was contemporary with General Nathaniel Massie and Andrew Ellison, though much younger.      Our sketch comes from a granddaughter of Andrew Ellison.  She obtained it from her mother, who was born in 1789, the daughter of Samuel Barr, and the wife of John Ellison, Jr.  Mrs. Anne Ellison obtained it of her husband, and he of his father, who survived until 1830.      For some time prior to his capture, Andrew Ellison had been going to his farm, two miles east of Manchester, in the morning, and remaining at work until evening.  He took his noon-day meal along in a basket.  On the morning of the day of his capture, he had eaten his breakfast with his family, and taken his noon-day lunch and started to his farm.  While on his way, afoot, he was surprised by a band of Indians.  The first intimation he had of their presence was the rattling of their shot pouches and in an instant they had him surrounded and seized.  They forced him to run about half a mile to the top of a steep hill away from the traveled paths.  They then tied him with buffalo thongs to a tree, till they scouted about to their own satisfaction.  When ready to march, they cut the buffalo thongs with a knife, took his hat and basket of provisions, and compelled him to take off his shoes and march in moccasins.  They also compelled him to carry a heavy load.  At night they fastened him to a tree.      His failure to return home in the evening was the first intimation his family had of his capture.  Major Beasley was the commander of the station at Manchester at that time, and not General Massie.  When Mr. Ellison failed to return at the usual time, his wife went to Major Beasley and asked that a rescue party be sent out at once.  The Major fearing an ambuscade, did not deem it wise to move out in the evening, but early next morning he took out a party in pursuit.  They discovered Mr. Ellison's hat and shoes, and the pieces of buffalo thongs, with which he had been tied directly after his capture.      The party determined to pursue no farther, having come to the conclusion that the Indians desired to retain Mr. Ellison as a prisoner, and that if they pursued and attacked them while on the retreat, the Indians would probably kill him at once.  They concluded that his chances for his return alive would be better by allowing him to escape, if he could and so gave up the pursuit.      The Indians took him first to their Chillicothe towns, where they compelled him to run the gauntlet, and in which ordeal he was severely beaten, but he was not compelled to go through this punishment a second time, or at any other place.  The Indians took him to Detroit, where a Mr. Brent, an Englishman, who heard his story and sympathized with him, bought him from the Indian who claimed to own him, for a blanket, and not for $100 as stated by Howe.  Mr. Brent furnished him with suitable clothing, and with money for his trip home.  He came from Detroit to Cleveland by water, and thence by land, afoot, to Manchester, in September, 1793, and surprised his family by his appearance among them.  From his capture until his return, they had heard nothing of him nor he of them.      Andrew Ellison and his wife, Mary, were both born in County Tyrone, Ireland.  About 1797, he took up a large tract of land on Lick Fork of Brush Creek, four miles north of West Union, and there he built a stone house, which was the pride of his time.  It is said that upon its completion, he and his wife went upon the hill opposite to have a view of it, and upon the view they concluded that they had the grandest house in the country.  It was modeled after houses he had seen in Ireland.      It is said that Mr. Ellison selected this location on account of the abundance of game in that vicinity.  Within site of the old stone house is a celebrated deer lick, where, in December, 1793, Ashael Edgington was waylaid and killed by a band of Indians under Captain Johnny.      Mr. Ellison's wife died in 1830 at the age of seventy-five.  They are buried on the farm on which the stone house is located.  Mr. Ellison was an extensive locator of lands, left great quantities of it to his children, and gave each a list of surveys.      His daughter Margaret married Adam McCormack; his daughter Isabel married Rev. Dyer Burgess, and his daughter Mary married Thomas Houston.  His son Andrew was one of the iron masters in the Hanging Rock region, and died there.  For some time his remains were exposed in an iron coffin on the river bank, in pursuance of his own request.  His son John married Anna Barr, daughter of Samuel Barr, who was killed by the Indians, near what is now Williamsburg, in the spring of 1792.  Mrs. David Sinton, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Mrs. Thomas W. Means, of Hanging Rock, Ohio, and the first Mrs. Hugh Means, of Ashland, Kentucky, were daughters of John Ellison and Anna Barr.      Andrew Ellison was thirty-eight years of age when captured, and was one of the few pioneers who walked across the state twice, while it was a virgin forest.      Andrew Ellison was a shrewd Irishman.  Had all the land he owned been preserved intact, without improvement and owned by a single person to this day, that person would be fabulously wealthy.      But while Andrew Ellison could see as far into the future as anyone, we can give one instance in which his judgment turned out wrong.  In May, 1796, congress authorized the location of a great highway between Maysville, Kentucky, and Wheeling, Virginia, by Ebenezer Zane.  In the spring of 1797 it was laid out, and as it was then a mere blazed path through the woods, it was called Zane's Trace.      Everyone expected that trace to become a great highway between the South and East, and all the settlers were anxious to be near it.  Andrew Ellison located his lands on Lick Fork of Brush Creek, and built his great stone house to be along the national highway.  He expected many advantages to accrue in the future from his location near the national road.  It was a great thoroughfare for travel from the South to the East until the railroads began to be built and then its glory departed forever.  The great coaches, the horsemen, the freight wagons, the droves of hogs, cattle and mules deserted it, and now it is only a neighborhood road for its entire length.  The last to desert it were the mules.  Till the opening of the Civil War it was used for driving mules from Kentucky to Zanesville or Pittsburg to be shipped east, but since the Civil War this useful product of Kentucky is shipped by railroad.  Andrew Ellison, however, never dreamed and could not anticipate that Zane's Trace would be superseded by railroads. Source:  History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 ~ Page 277 - Chapter XVI   ANDREW BARR ELLISON was born in Manchester, Dec. 19, 1808, the son of John Ellison, Jr., then Sheriff of Adams County, and Anna Barr, his wife.  He was the eldest of a numerous family, and grew up and was trained as boys usually were at that time.  From accounts we have, we believe that he, as a boy, and his boy companions had more enjoyment than boys now do.  At any rate, he had more sport in hunting.  When he was about sixteen or seventeen years of age, he clerked in two different stores in West Union for Thomas McCague & Company, and for Wesley Lee.  At that time, it was customary to set out a bottle of good old corn whisky and treat each customer.  Young Ellison set out the bottles and glasses many a time, but did not drink himself.  His father died a few months before he became of age, and in 1830 he went to Cincinnati and into the employment of Barr & Lodwick, who had a store there and one in Portsmouth.  In 1832, he was engaged for a short time in their employment in Portsmouth, and while there witnessed the great flood of 1832.  Those of 1847, 1833 and 1884 he witnessed in Manchester.  Oct. 20, 1833, he was married to Miss Rachael A. M. Ennes, daughter of Judge Ennes, of Cincinnati.      In 1834, he took up his residence at Lawrence Furnace in Lawrence County and was store-keeper and manager until 1840, when he removed to Manchester, where he resided thereafter during his life.  In Manchester he bought out the merchandising business of Henry Coppel and continued it until h went out of business in 1880, forty years.  His store in Manchester, during its continuance, was one of the institutions of the county.  it was known far and wide.  Mr. Ellison kept all kinds of merchandise.  If one could think of any article he wanted and could not find it in any other store in Adams County, he was almost certain to find it at A. B. Ellison's.  He was the principal merchant in the county and while in his time department stores were unthought of and unheard of yet he practically kept a department store.  During the early period of his merchandising in Manchester, he and Thomas W. Means went East together to buy their goods every year.  During his business career no one ever visited Manchester without having his attention called to A. B. Ellison's store and without visiting it.  People went from all parts of the county to deal with him.  His store stood on Front Street facing the river, and to all passing boats he and his store were familiar figures.      One of his most notable characteristics was his rugged integrity.  He was plain and frank in manner even to brusqueness, yet he had an underlying vein of great kindness.  His generosity was large, but without display.      His dress was always of the same style, black in color, low crowned soft hat, low cut vest and small pleated bosom shirt.  His marked individuality caused him to be regarded as eccentric.  He had but one price for his goods.  If he cold not sell any article at the price he marked on it, it remained unsold.      No one acquainted with his character ever attempted to jew him down, but if a strager tried it, he was at once told, "This is my price, if you do not want the article, let it alone."  After this lesson, the same person never tried it a second time.  He had a great flow of spirits and a keen sense of humor.  The anecdotes floating about Manchester, illustrative of his peculiarities, are legion, but one which will illustrate him well, is given:  A customer owed him a note for merchandise long past due and which he had failed to pay after repeated duns.  One day when this person was in the store, Mr. Ellison took him to one side and said to him in his peculiar brusque way.  "If you don't settle with me, I swear I will tear that note of yours up.  I won't have it."  The manner in which this was done so impressed the customer with its awfulness that he actually paid the note at once.      Mr. Ellison was a prominent Mason and took a great interest in the order.  In sentiment, he was a Presbyterian, but was not connected with the church.  He was always one of its most liberal supporters.      No sketch of Mr. Ellison would be complete without mention of his loyalty to the Union during the Civil War.  He never missed an opportunity to show a kindness to a Union soldier going to or returning from the war to their families at home.  He watched the struggle with the most intense sympathy for the Union cause and with an unfaltering faith in the result.  He had three daughters, Ann Eliza Herron, wife of Rev. R. B. Herron, a Presbyterian minister, but both now deceased; Mrs. Susan Barr Drennan, wife of Samuel Drennan, Esq., residing in Manchester, and Mrs. Rachael Shiras, wife of Peter Shiras, banker, of Ottawa, Kansas.  Mrs. Herron left a son and daughter grown and the latter married.  Mrs. Shiras has six children grown up, and some of them married.  Mr. Ellison's wife died Mar. 10, 1875, and thereafter he made from business in 1880, and from that until his death on the fifteenth of April, 1888, he enjoyed the society of his daughter's family and his old friends, without any cares, till the end came, with peace.      He was a unique character, noted and talked of everywhere in Adams, County, but highly respected by everyone for the most excellent qualities in his rugged character.  He had the business qualities of his grandfather, Andrew, with the sterling virtues of his mother.  All of Anna Barr's children were noted men and women, as a careful perusal of this book will show. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 553   ANDREW HENRY ELLISON of West Union, is one of the best known men in Adams County.  He has been in public life since his majority and enjoys a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.  He is the son of Colonel Daniel Collier, a pioneer of Adams County.  Our subject was born May 3, 1843, on the old Collier farm settled by Col. Daniel Collier in 1795, and selected by him as one of the prettiest situations on Ohio Brush Creek.  He obtained a good education in the common schools, and worked on his father's farm until the breaking out of the Civil War.  When Company D of the 24th Regiment was forming he attempted to enlist but was rejected on account of age and size.  He then drove team in the service until he attained his majority, when he enlisted in Company D, 121st Ohio, and served till the close of the war.  After the close of the war, he became a merchant, first at Dunkinsville and afterwards at Russellville, Brown County.  He sold his store, and became Deputy Sheriff under Henry McGovney, which position he held for four years.  He then clerked for Connor, Boyles and Pollard at West Union until appointed postmaster there in1887, which position he creditably filled for four years.  He then took charge of the new Palace Hotel, where he yet presides, and no landlord has more warm "Once his guest, always his friend," they say.      In January, 1872, he married Lydia Truitt, by whom he has had two daughters, Kate, a beautiful and lovely child who died in 1887, and Roena, wife of Michael J. Thomas, son of Hon. H. J. Thomas of Manchester.  In politics, Mr. Ellison is a Democrat of the old school, and one of the very staunchest supporters of Williams Jennnings Bryan.  He takes a humanitarian view of life and no man will go further to relieve the distressed than he.  He is a member of the U. R. K. of P. at West Union. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 740   CYRUS ELLISON was born in Adams County, Aug. 16, 1816, the son of Robert Ellison, the third son of John Ellison, who emigrated from Ireland in 1785.  Robert Ellison was married to Rebecca Lockhart.  He was a soldier in the War of 1812.  He had a family of ten children, his son Cyrus being the fourth son and the youngest child but one.  The children were reared as all children of pioneer families were, and our subject had only such advantages as the schools of that day offered.  He was, however, a great reader and student, so far as he cold obtain books.  His ideas of wisdom were those of the illustrious King Solomon.  He believed "that out of wisdom came the issues of life."  He began the world for himself at the age of seventeen years as a clerk in West Union, where he remained until the age of twenty-four at a salary of five dollars a month and his board.  He saved his money which he invested in Indiana Scrip, which was then known as "wild-cat money."  The failure of the banks which issued the scrip depreciated his capital and gave him a severe blow, but his brother, John Ellison, loaned him $1,100 and he invested it in the mercantile business at Manchester, and he managed to make and save a considerable amount of money.      On Sept. 11, 1845, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Stevenson, daughter of Charles Stevenson, one of the prominent pioneers of Adams County, who had emigrated from County Donegal, Ireland.  He maintained his home in Adams County until 1853 when he removed to Ironton, in Lawrence County, and became associated with the firm of Dempsey, Rogers & Ellison, the latter being John Ellison, his brother.  This partnership owned Aetna and Vesuvius Furnaces and he became their general agent until 1857, when he became a partner, the name of the firm being Ellison, Dempsey & Ellison.  when the Lawrence Iron Works Company began business in 1852, Mr. Ellison was its manager, and when that company was incorporated in 1862, he became its president and remained such until he retired from active business.      In 1857, he was one of the stockholders in the Ohio Iron & Coal Company, by which the town of Ironton was laid out.  In 1872 he was one of the organizers of the famous Aetna Iron Works, at that time, the largest iron furnaces in the United States.  Mr. Ellison was a director in this company, and, at one time, its president.  It purchased from the Ellison, Dempsey & Ellison Company, the old Aetna and Vesuvius furnaces and seventeen thousand acres of valuable timber and mineral land in Lawrence County.  Mr. Ellison was one of the original stockholders of the Ironton Gas Company, and its president from Jan. 25, 1876, to Jan. 25, 1881.  He was also at one time a stockholder in the First National Bank at Ironton, Ohio.  With his brother, John Ellison, he was one of the builders of the Iron Railroad which connected the rich mineral fields of Lawrence County with the Ohio River, at Ironton.  He was president of this road from 1859 to 1879.      In 1872, ten gentlemen, including Mr. Ellison and his brother John Ellison, met in the former's home and organized the First congregational Church of Ironton, and built the present handsome structure.  This church was dedicated without debt, owing to the liberality of the men who organized it.      Mr. Ellison, from the habit of extensive reading, kept up during his entire life, was a well-read man.  He was a most entertaining conversationalist, and always, even in his last days, interested in current events.  He was fond of traveling, and until the infirmities of age disabled him, he traveled a great deal.      From the time he came of age until the organization of the Republican party, he was a Whig.  While he was never ambitious for, or sought office, he took a great interest in political matters.  He was a leader in all enterprises which were for the benefit or development of his city and county, and was prominently indentified with all the iron interests of Lawrence county.  His superior executive ability, excellent judgment and natural discernment were the conditions of his success.  In all the positions of trust which he occupied, and they were many, he discharged his duties with great ability and to the satisfaction of all those who had business connections with him.      He was a man of fine personal presence about six feet, two inches tall, and well proportioned.  He had fine regular features, light hair and flowing beard, ruddy complexion and deep blue eyes.  In his associations with his fellow men, he evinced great natural dignity, and his presence impressed strangers on sight that he was a man of importance, which was strictly true.  Socially, he was much liked by all who knew him, of genial manners and a gentleman of the old school.      From his first marriage, there were three daughters, Frances, who died in infancy; Mary Adelaide, who married John Thornton Scott, son of Robert Scott.  she was two sons, young men, who distinguished themselves in the late Spanish War.  His third daughter, Rosa, is the wife of Charles Brunell McQuigg, son of the late Colonel McQuigg, of Ironton.  He was an officer in the Ironton Regiment, 8th O. V. I., during the Spanish War.      Cyrus Ellison's first wife died in 1864, and 1870, he was married to Miss Josephine Glidden, who survived him.      Mr. Ellison was, at one time, the possessor of great wealth, but owing to the shrinkage of iron, his investments were lost, and at the time of his death, only his life insurance was left of all he had accumulated.  He died on the sixteenth of February, 1897, at the ripe old age of eighty years.  He left behind him the memory of a life full of wonderful energy, a long vista of useful, happy years, and his bright and cheerful old age was crowned with his good work fully completed.  His last years were cheered by the presence and companionship of his greatful and devoted daughters.  He was interred at Woodlawn, near Ironton, but his memory will remain green, sweet and precious in the hearts of all those who knew him and who resepcted and loved him for his virtues. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 555   JOHN ELLISON, son of John Ellison, Jr., Sheriff of Adams County, 1806-10, and grandson of Andrew Ellison, of "stone house" celebrity, whose father was John Ellison, the emigrant, was born at old Buckeye Station, Mar. 24, 1821, and died in Manchester, Apr. 5, 1872.  His mother was Ann Barr, a native of Adams County, and his grandmother was Mary McFarland, a native of the Emerald Isle, who was married to Andrew Ellison previous to his coming to America.  John Ellison, the subject of this sketch, received the rudiments of an English education in the schools such as were afforded in Adams County in his early educational institutions of Ohio.  He early engaged in mercantile pursuits in which he was actively and successfully engaged until the time of his demise.  While never robust, yet he undertook and carried forward enterprises of business which required the greatest mental and physical exertion.  He was an alert, public spirited citizen, ever ready to lend assistance to promote and advance the interests of the community in which he made his home and the county of his birth.  He was one of the first advocates of the free turnpike road system of the State.  He established the first bank of Manchester in the building which Thomas O'Neill now occupies on Water Street.      In 1866, he, in connection with Peter Shiras and Robert H. Ellison, organized the banking house of John Ellison & Company.  And just previous to his decease, established the First National Bank of Manchester in the building now occupied by the Manchester Bank.  At the time of Morgan's Raid in 1863, he, assisted by his wife, sealed up the bonds and species of the bank amounting to $100,000, in fruit jars, and buried them in Keith's hollow back of Manchester, where they remained undisturbed until after all danger from Morgan's marauders had passed.      Mr. Ellison was a consistent and honored member of the Presbyterian Church during his lifetime, serving for many years as one of its elders and Sunday School Superintendent.  In politics he adhered to the principles of the Republican party after its organization, although his grandfather and father were supporters of the doctrines of Jefferson and Jackson.  In early manhood he wedded Miss Helena Baldwin, a daughter of Elijah Baldwin, a wealthy werchant and trader of Manchester, of whom is is said that he sent more keel-boats loaded with bacon and flour from Manchester to New Orleans than any other merchant of his day.  On one occasion, when delayed at New Orleans for means of transportation home by water, he set out on foot and walked the entire distance across the country home, at a time when it was worth a man's life to undertake such a journey through a sparsely settled region infested with bandits of the most daring class.  After the death of his first wife, he married Miss Caroline, her sister, with whom he resided until his decease.  The fruits of the first marriage were Andrew, Anna, and John Prescott, the latter of whom yet survive.  Of the second marriage, the children are Helena, who died in infancy; Esther, who married Stewart Alexander, a prominent business man of Adams County, and Louvica, a bright and interesting woman, recognized as a leader in social, church, and charitable affairs in her native community, now married to J. G. Nicholson, of Manchester. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 735   JOHN ELLISON, JR., was born at Almah, County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1779, son of Andrew Ellison who has a sketch herein.  He came to this county with his father and mother when he was eleven years f age and located at Manchester, in the Stockade.  He was elected sheriff of Adams County in 1806, and served until 1810, two terms.  It was in Dec. 8, 1808, while he was sheriff that David Becket was hung, the only legal execution which ever took place in the county.      On Feb. 6, 1808, he was married to Anna Barr, who was a superior and most excellent woman.  From Dec. 10, 1811, until Jan. 11, 1812, he served in the Ohio Legislature with William Russell as his colleague.  Again from Dec. 12, 1812, until Feb. 9, 1813, he represented Adams County in the legislature with William Russell.  From Dec. 6, 1813, until Feb. 11, 1814, he was in the legislature with John W. Campbell as his colleague.  From Dec. 5, 1814, to Feb. 16, 1815, he represented Adams in the legislature with Nathaniel Beasley as his colleague.  In the fourteenth legislature session, he was not a member, but from Dec. 2, 1816, until Jan. 28, 1817, he was a member of the house of representatives from Adams with Thomas Kirker as his colleague.      He bought the Buckeye Station farm in 1818 of Judge Charles Willing Byrd and paid $5,500 for it.  At that time, there were 700 acres of it.  This was his home until his death on Apr. 10, 1829, in the fiftieth year of his age.  His eldest son, Andrew Barr Ellison, was born in Manchester, Dec. 19, 1808. Source:  History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 ~ Page 280 - Chapter XVI   ROBERT HAMILTON ELLISON was born in Manchester, Apr. 21, 1845, the son of William and Mary Ellison.  He received his education in the public schools at Manchester and has resided there all his life.  He was married Oct. 7, 1868, to Isabella Harris, of Greene County, Ohio, and has two children, a son and a daughter.  He has given most of his attention to farming and stock raising.  In May 1872, he became cashier of the Manchester National Bank and continued such for four years.      In 1879, he was elected Auditor of Adams County and held the office one term, three years.  Then he went into the banking business on his own account, and to dealing in leaf tobacco, In 1889, he closed out his banking business and since then he has been exclusively engaged in farming.  He is a member of the Odd Fellows and Knights of Phythias.  He has been a Republican all his life. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 735   THOMAS WILLIAM ELLISON was born at West Union, Ohio, Aug. 11, 1859, the son of Thomas and Mary McNeilan Ellison.  His grandfather, James Ellison, was born near Dublin, Ireland, Dec. 25, 1776, and died Sept. 5, 1865.  He was a member of the royal bodyguard of the king of England for sixteen years.  He was married to Mary Stuart in 1806.      Thomas Ellison, father of our subject, was born in Adams County in 1822.  He followed farming in his early life, eventually engaged in merchandising.  He was a man of fine appearance, pleasing address, and very much liked by his acquaintances and friends.  He was very popular, was a Democrat, and as such was elected Treasurer of Adams County, and served from ____ to ____.  When the war broke out, he went with the 70th O. V. I. as sutler.  Later he located in Tunica County, Mississippi, where he engaged in cotton raising.  He was also interested in the steamer Natonia, which plied on the Mississippi River.  He died July 16, 1868, at West Union, Ohio. Mary McNeilan Ellison was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, Mar. 6, 1820.  She was married to Thomas Ellison, May 29, 1843, at West Union, Ohio.  They had five children, Arthur Stewart, who died Aug. 22, 1867; Jennie, deceased wife of Isaac Boatman, of Gallia County, Ohio; Annie, widow of H. R. Bradbury, of Gallipollis, Ohio; Thomas W., the subject of this sketch, and Sarah Matilda, who died Sept. 24, 1882.  Mrs. Mary Ellison died Sept. 16, 1898.      Our subject was reared in West Union, and received his education in the village schools.  He began business life as a clerk, having charge of the dry goods store of Mauck & Bradbury, at Cheshire, Ohio, for two years.  After that firm closed out, he returned to West Union and clerked for R. W. Treber for three years.  In April, 1882, in company with J. W. Hook, he engaged in the rail estate and insurance business at West Union under the firm name of Ellison & Hook.  Some time after, he disposed of his interest in that firm to John W. McClung, and accepted the superintendency of the Wilson Children's Home, Mar. 8, 1889, and still holds that position.      He was married at Bloomington, Aug. 30, 1882, to Elizabeth Kirker, a native of Hamilton, Hancock County, Illinois, and a member of the well known Kirker family, of Adams County.  She is a daughter of George and Mary Elizabeth Baird Kirker, and a grandniece of the Hon. Thomas Kirker, once Governor of Ohio.  Mrs. Ellison's parents were born reared, and married in Adams County, but moved to Hamilton County, Illinois, and then to Kendall County, in the same State.  Mrs. Ellison has served as Matron of the Wilson Children's Home since her husband's employment as Superintendent, and it is greatly due to her labors that the institution has reached the high standard it has among the children's homes in the country.  She is a member of the West Union Presbyterian Church.      Mr. Ellison has served as a member of the West Union Council and School board, and always has taken an active interest in public affairs.  In his political views, he is a Democrat.  In 1888, he took a prominent part in the organization of the Adams County Agricultural Society.  He was elected its Secretary, and has held that position since its organization.  It is due to his labors that the society has been so well managed and successful.  He is a member of the Masonic Lodge at West Union, and the Masonic Chapter at Manchester.  He is a member of the Calvary Commandery, Knights Templar, at Portsmouth, Ohio.  He is a member of Knights of Pythias at West Union.  He is not a member of any church, but is a believer in the Presbyterian doctrines.  Mr. Ellison is a public spirited citizen, and is highly esteemed in his entire circle of acquaintances. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 737   WILLIAM ELLISON was born in Manchester, Ohio, June 19, 1796.  His father, John Ellison, was born in Ireland in 1752, the son of John Ellison, born in Ireland in 1730.  John Ellison, father of our subject, located at Manchester and purchased land extensively.  His wife was Mary Bratton, born in Ireland, Sept. 28, 1767 and died in Manchester in her one hundredth year.      John Ellison and Mary Bratton were married in Ireland.  They had eight children who grew to maturity and eight who died in infancy.  He died Feb. 21, 1826, at the age of seventy-four years.  He made a will drawn by a clergyman, and after he was dead thiry thirty years there was extensive and expensive litigation to construe it and determine its meaning.  Moral: Never have a will drawn by any other than a lawyer.  From the time he came of age until 1831, our subject was engaged in the commission, shipping and forwarding business at Manchester, Ohio, in connection with his brother, David Ellison.  At that time he went to Lawrence County as the manager of Mt. Vernon Furnace and became a member of the firm of Campbell, Ellison & Company, known all over southern Ohio.  He retained his interest in that firm until his death.  He returned to Manchester in 1835 and from that time was practically retired from business.  He was married to Mary Patton, of Ross County, in 1827.  She died in 1828, leaving no surviving child.      Mr. Ellison was married to Mary Keys Ellison, whose father, John Ellison, Junior, was a full cousin to William Ellison, on June 19, 1833.  She was born Jan. 25, 1812.  They had the following children:  Mary Ann, who married Rev. D. M. Moore; Sarah Jane, married Archibald Means; Robert Hamilton, who has a separate sketch herein, and Julia, who married John A. Murray.  William Ellison died Nov. 1, 1865, and his wife, May 14, 1888.      William Ellison was six feet, three inches in height, thin and spare.  He possessed great natural dignity and equipose of character.  He thought much and said little.  He was a man of the strongest convictions.  Nothing could swerve him from a course he believed to be right.  In politics, he was first a Whig, and then an Abolitionist.  He was a Republican from the organization of that party from that time, until 1864, took an active interest in politics.  In 1855, he and E. P. Evans were the delegates from Adams County to the State Republican Convention.  He attended the National Republican Convention at Philadelphia in 1856.  He also attended the Republican State Convention in 1857 and was a member of the Committee on Republican State Convention in 1857 and was a member of the Committee on Resolutions.  He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Baltimore in 1864.  He kept up all the activities of life as long as his health permitted.  He joined the Presbyterian Church at the age of twenty and lived up to its teachings faithfully and conscientiously all his life.  He was a superintendent of the Sabbath school for over thirty years and a ruling elder in the church for over forty years.  He was never absent from Sabbath school, the church or the weekly prayer meeting unless he was sick or absent from home.  It was a fixed principle of his life never to allow any secular business to interfere with his social or private Christian duties.  He often contributed one-third of the minister's salary in cash and donated food, etc., equal to one-half more.  The incidental expenses of the church, when not paid in full, were made up by him.  For many years prior to his death, he was regarded as the wealthiest man in Adams County, and he devoted much time to public and private charity.  He was constantly looking after the poor and contributing to benevolent objects, but it was all done quietly and unostentatiously.  He daily visited the poor, the sick and the afflicted and administered to their wants, temporal and spiritual.  He was much given to hospitality and was a most kind and generous friend.  He had some grave financial troubles and some of the most harassing social troubles, but he bore them all with the greatest equanimity and fortitude.  In them all, he was like job - he sinned not nor charged God foolishly.      On his death-bed, his religion stood him well.  He knew he was to die.  He disposed of all his worldly business days before his death and would not refer to it afterward.  When he felt the near approach of the last enemy, he sent for all his family and bade them a calm farewell.  Among them was his mother in her nnety-eighth year.  He was as calm and self-possessed as though death were nothing but the passing from one room to another.  After giving a suitable message to each, he took his right hand and felt the pulse of his left wrist.  After watching it for a moment, he said "Almost gone," replaced his right hand by his side and soon after died, most calmly.  His faith in the religion he had lived was most complete.  His dying hours were the most sublime of any Christian's death in Manchester before or since.  At his funeral all the people turned out ad all the poor were there and wept at his grave.  Then and not until then were his benefactions to the poor known and they were told by recipients themselves.  The writer was at his funeral and the grief of those whom he had befriended seemed as great as those of the members of his family.  Till the people stood by his open grave, the extent of  his good works in Manchester was not known.  thirty-four years have passed since that memorable funeral and the place of William Ellison in the church and community of Manchester have not been refilled.  No one who has come after him has been able to do the good he did.  To say that William Ellison was the best citizen in Adams County in his time would offend none who were cotemporary with him, for all would concede it.  It has to be hoped that the memory of his pure and upright life and his kind and good deeds may long remain fresh and green with the people of Adams County. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 557   WILLIAM W. ELLSBERRY Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 324   GEN. WILLIAM H. ENOCHS Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 326   EDWARD FREDERICK WILLIAM ERDBRINK, liveryman and transfer agent at Manchester, Ohio, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, September 23, 1864.  His father, Herman Erdbrink, was born in Hanover, Germany, as well as his mother, Caroline Schnitker.  They were married in Germany in 1865 1855, and came directly to the United States on their wedding trip.  They located in Baltimore, Maryland.  Mr. Endbrain's father was an exporter of tobacco for the German government.  Just before leaving Germany, he obtained a contract from the imperial government for furnishing the government with tobacco for five years; and came to this country to purchase and send it to Germany.  His contract was by the pound, and he shipped over five thousand hogsheads of tobacco each year.  He retained the contract by renewals, until his death in 1871, in New York City, where he dropped dead on the street, suddenly.  His family were residing in Baltimore at that time, and the mother of our subject is still living in that city.      Our subject was the fifth child of six children.  He was educated in the German Lutheran schools of Baltimore, Maryland, until the age of thirteen.  He attended the Public schools for one year and then left school.  At the age of fifteen he went to clerking in Baltimore, and remained in that work until 1884.  He then undertook to travel over the western part of the United States as a salesman of rubber goods, and remained in that business for fourteen years.  He came to Manchester on business in 1891, and made that his home thereafter.  He was married in Manchester, on the January, 1892 June 29, 18921, to Miss Icie Stivers, daughter of Lyman P. Stivers, a former sheriff of the county.      He bought out the Trent Brothers' livery business, and from that time gave his attention exclusively to the livery business.  He bought out the Perry and Swearingen stables in December, 1899, and consolidated their business with his own.  He now has what is known as the Lang Stable, with the most complete livery in town.  He has the transfer agency for the C. & O. Railroad, and takes passengers and baggage to and from the station in Kentucky.  He has two children, Lorena Matilda, aged seven; and Carl Wayne, aged four.  In his political views, he is a Republican.  He is a member of the German Lutheran Church.  He is a Knight of Pythias in the subordinate lodge and in the uniform rank. ------- 1. Corrected date. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 743   EDWARD EVANS.  His great-grandfather, Hugh Evans, was a Quaker, came over with William Penn in 1682, and located near Philadelphia.  He had a son, Edward, who located in Chester County.  His son, Hugh, became a school teacher in Chester County, and Mad Anthony Wayne, when a boy of twelve years, was one of his pupils, and a very mischievous and unruly one.  Hugh Evans also had a trade, as that was thought necessary in those days.  He was a weaver as well as a school teacher.      Hugh Evans, the father of our subject, removed to what was then Cumberland, but is now Bedford County, Pennsylvania, about ten miles above Bedford borough on the Juniata River.      Edward Evans was born Apr. 27, 1760, an only son.  He had two sisters older than himself who died in young womanhood, but not before they had made themselves some reputation for attainments in vocal music.  The family attended the commencements of Princeton College, and they sang in the commencement exercises.      Edward Evans spent his boyhood as the boys of his time did.  He was fond of fishing in the Juniata River, and from the time he was twelve years of age, often made trips alone to Hagerstown, Maryland, to obtain salt.  In these trips, he usually took a train of twelve pack  horses.  He would carry the horese' feed in the packs in going over and leave it at stopping places where it would be used on his return.  The salt, when brought to Bedford, was sold for as high as twelve dollars per bushel.  In his sixteenth year, the Revolution began.    Till that time, the family had been Quakers, but King George did away with that, and father and son abandoned that faith.  Hugh Evans went into the war in 1776, and served two months, but he was lame and had to give it up.  Then Edward determined to go and did go, and became a member of Captain Samuel Dawson's Company of Col. Richard Humpton's Regiment, 11th Pennsylvania.  He spent that dreadful winter in the cantonments of Valley Forge.  There he saw Mrs. Washington, where she visited the camp, knitting and sewing for the soldiers.  He was at the Battle of the Brandywine, September 11, 1777.  At Brandywine, the British had retired over a bridge across the creek.  They did not have time to destroy the bridge, but filled it full of wagons, carts and debris to prevents immediate pursuit.  Edward Evans was one of twelve detailed to clear the bridge under muskety fire of the enemy.  The bridge was cleared, and not one of the twelve were struck, though the splinters flew all about them.  The Continentals immediately charged across the bridge.  He was at the affair of Paoli, September 11th and at Germantown, Oct. 4, 1777.  Here his colonel had his horse shot from under him, but he took off the saddle, put it on another horse, and went on with the fight.  In this battle, he was in the left wing, and claimed that the troops he was with were compelled to fall back, when it was not necessary because the officer in command was intoxicated.  He was near the battle of Monmouth on that hot Sunday, June 28, 1778, but having been on the sick list, his Captain ordered him to remain with the baggage, which he did, but he was in sight and hearing of the battle.  He left the service for a time soon after the battle of Monmouth, and settled in Rostaver Township, Westmoreland County, Virginia, called the Neck, lying between the two rivers, the Youghiougheny and the Monongahela.  He lived near Devore's Ferry on the latter river.  There he married Jemima Applegate, daughter of William Applegate,  recently located there from the State of New Jersey.  The wedding was a grand affair for the time and one hundred persons sat down to the dinner.      Directly after his marriage, he and his wife went to housekeeping in the house of John Right, a Scotchman and a bachelor.  Wright liked the young couple and made them many household utensils on his anvil.  Among them was a fire shovel, now in the possession of the writer hereof.      Edward Evans, in 1785, emigrated to Kentucky, descending the Ohio River on a flat-boat with his wife, two children and household goods.  He landed at Limestone, now Maysville, but went back to Washington, where he rented land of a Presbyterian minister.  While residing there, he acted as an Indian scout and spy, from time to time, until the treaty of Greenville.  In 1799, he removed to Adams County, near its western line.  He lived near Red Oak and rented land until he could be suited in a purchase.  In 1803, he bought 109 acres of land all in the unbroken wilderness, in what is now Jefferson Township in Brown County.  He paid for this land in horses.  When he went over the land, after purchasing he was unable to find any springs on it.  He then went to his wife and wanted her consent to rescind the trade.  She said, "No, it would make them a home and they must hold on to it," which they did.  Afterward, seven good springs were discovered on the tract.  Edward Evans built him a pole cabin and went to housekeeping, and as soon as he could, he built him a two-story hewed double log house and moved into it.  He made all the chimneys he thought necessary and hauled a hundred loads of stone to do it.  He resided on this farm until his death.  November 3, 1843.  He at one time weighed three hundred pounds, but his ordinary weight was one hundred and eighty-five pounds.  He was five feet, ten and a half inches tall, and in youth, had black curly hair.  He had high cheek bones, broad forehead and regular features.  He always carried himself very erect.  In his youth, he had learned the art of distilling liquors, and at times, operated a stillhouse.  He was the father of twelve children, six sons and six daughters.  His wife had four sisters, all of whom married.  Two of their husbands were Revolutionary soldiers, John Dye and Robert Wright, and they two and Edward Evans used often to set together and recount their expeiences in the Revolutionary War.  Each had served in different places during the war, one at sea and two at land.      When Edward Evans was about to die, he requested to be buried in the old fashioned shroud, to be laid on a flat-topped cherry coffin and buried on his farm.  All his wishes were complied with.  In his family from 1862 1682 to the present time, there were in alternate generations, a Hugh and an Edward.  Hugh came over with William Penn.  He had a son Edward.  His son Hugh was in the Revolution.  His son Edward was the subject hereof.  He had a son, Hugh, who was a Mississippi River pilot.  There was an Edward among his grandsons and a Hugh among his great-grandsons.  His wife, Jemima Applegate, died Jan. 7, 1844.  Her father, William Applegate, emigrated from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, and from there to Corydon, Indiana, where he died at the ripe old age of one hundred and five years.  When one hundred years old, he walked into the woods with his rifle, and, without glasses, shot a squirrel in a tree.  The descendants of Edward Evans were once numerous in Brown County, but are now scattered in many States of the Union.  A great-grandson is one of the editors of this work. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 559   EDWARD PATTON EVANS.     Edward Patton Evans was born May 31, 1814, on Eagle Creek, Jefferson Township, in Brown County, Ohio.  He was the eldest son of William Evans and his wife. Mary Patton, daughter of John Patton, of Rockbridge County, Virginia.  His mother was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, in 1789, and was married to Charles Kirkpatrick in Virginia in 1806.  She and her husband came to Ohio in that year, and he bought the farm on Eagle Creek on which our subject was born.  In 1818 Kirkpatrick obtained his deed to the farm of one hundred and thirty-eight acres in Phillip Slaughter's Survey No. — . of 1.000 acres, and paid $600.  The deed was executed in 1812 before John W. Campbell, justice of the peace, at West Union, Ohio, and afterwards U. S. Judge for Ohio, and was witnessed by him and his wife, Eleanor Campbell.      The same year Charles Kirkpatrick went out in Captain Abraham Shepherd's company, and on his way returning, was shot and wounded by Indians, and died of his wounds at Chillicothe, Ohio, and was buried there.  William Evans was his friend, and had to break the news to his widow.  Next year, Aug. 13, 1813, he married her, and our subject was their first child.  He had nine brothers and sisters, and on Mar. 22, 1830, his mother died at he early age of 41.      When our subject was born, it was customary to name the first boy for his two grandfathers, so he got Edward on account of his grandfather Evans, and Patton, for his grandfather, John Patton.  As his father and mother had four other sons, they might have saved the name of one grandfather for one of them.  His grandfather, Edward Evans, was born in Cumberland County, Pa., in 1760, and was a member of Col. Samuel Dawson's company, 11th Pennsylvania Regiment, Col. Richard Humpton, in the Revolutionary War, and was in the battles of Germantown, Brandvwine, and Monmouth, and spent the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge.  His great-grandfather, Hugh Evans, was also in the Revolutionary War, and before that had been a school teacher in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and had had Mad Anthony Wayne for a pupil, when the latter was only twelve years old.  He was a very unruly pupil and always at pranks.  His four times great-grandfather, Hugh Evans, came over with William Penn in 1682, and the family were Quakers until the Revolution.      Edward Patton Evans worked on his father's farm and went to school of winters until his eighteenth year.  He went to school at Ripley for awhile, and afterwards at Decatur.  He became a school teacher and law student, and May 20, 1839, he was married to Amanda J. King, at Georgetown. Ohio.  Subsequent to his marriage, he carried on a general store at Hamersville, Ohio, and afterwards removed to Sardina, and carried on a cooperage business there.  In 1842 his eldest son was born, and in 1844 he was admitted to the bar.  He removed to West Union, Adams County, Ohio, in April, 1847, and continued to reside there until his death.  He was engaged in the active practice of the law from his location in West Union in April, 1847, until 1877, when he retired on account of failing health.  He was a Whig until that party dissolved.  When the Republican party was organized he identified himself with that, and was an enthusiastic Republican all his life.  But at all times he was an anti-slavery advocate.  He was a very successful lawyer, and made more money at the practice of his profession than any lawyer who has ever been at the bar in Adams County.  When he was at his best, physically and mentally, he was on one side or the other of every case of importance.  When he brought a suit, he never failed to gain it, unless he had been deceived by his client.  The fact was, he would not bring a suit unless he believed his client had the chance to win largely in his favor.  Once a farmer called on him to bring a suit in ejectment.  Mr. Evans heard his statement and informed him that if he brought the suit he would lose it, and declined to bring it for him.  This made the farmer very angry, and he went away in a great passion.  He found a lawyer to bring his suit, and Mr. Evans was employed by the defendant, and won the case.  He was very positive in his judgment about matters of law, but his judgment in such matters was almost invariably correct.  He was an excellent trial lawyer, and commanded the confidence of the entire community.  He never sought office, but in 1856 was presidential elector on the Fremont ticket, and, as such, canvassed his entire congressional district with Caleb R. Smith, R. W. Clarke, and R. M. Corwine.  From 1856 until after the war, he usually attended all the State conventions of his party.  In 1860 he took part in the canvass for the election of President Lincoln, and during the war was chairman of the military committee of Adams County, which was charged with raising all the troops required in the county.  As such, he did a great work in aiding the prosecution of the war.   He also did a great work in looking after the families of the soldiers. In the fall of 1864 he went out with the 6th Independent Infantry to guard rebel prisoners at Johnson's Island.  In 1862 he became a member of the banking house of G. B. Grimes & Company, and continued in that business until 1878.  During and directly after the war for a time, he owned and was concerned in operating the flour mill at Steam Furnace.  In the seventies he and three others for a time conducted a woolen mill at West Union, but, it proving unprofitable, the business was closed down.  Up till 1877 he had apparently had an iron constitution, had never been sick, but in that year his health began to fail, and continued to grow worse until he gave up all business.  He survived until Apr. 17, 1883, when death ended his sufferings.  He was an honest man, punctual about all his obligations.  He was positive in his convictions on every subject.  He was devoted to the interests of the community in which he lived, and in the county seat contest spent his money, time, and labor freely for West Union.  He was energetic and enthusiastic in everything he undertook.  He was always in favor of public improvements, and the West Union school house and new court house in West Union were largely due to his efforts. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 206   JOSEPH EVANS was born in Mason County, Ky., Apr. 2, 1796, the son of Edward Evans and Jemima Applegate, his wife, both of whom are fully noticed in the sketch of Edward Evans herein.  At the age of four years his parents removed to Adams County, Ohio, and located in what is now the central part of Jefferson Township, Brown County.  They located in the primeval forest, and Joseph, one of a large family of brothers and sisters, was brought up as boys of his time.      When Joseph Evans became a youth, there were three courses open to the young man in his situation.  He could become a hunter, he could become a keel-boatman, or he could learn to still whiskey.  Joseph Evans chose the first of the three, and became a skilled hunter.  This was in accordance with his natural tastes.  He loved the solitude of the forest and the companionship of the inaminate objects of nature.  Farming there was none.  There was a contest with the wilderness, and all had to engage in it whether he would or not.  He early developed his taste for hunting and kept up the habit all his life.  He was very successful in the pursuit of game and an excellent marksman with the rifle.  Like most of the early hunters he had a favorite rifle which he kept his entire life.  He named it "Old Betsey," and it did him good service so long as he was able to use it.  Once returning alone through the forest, at night, from a hunt, he was followed by a panther.  He had just crossed a large log, and when he heard the panther mount the log, he turned and gave the wild beast the contents of "Old Betsey," and its final quietus.  His wife Matilda Driskell, was born Nov. 16, 1802, in Mason County, and died August, 1863.  Her people removed to Ohio, near his, when she was a child.  They were married Jan. 21, 1823, in Brown County, Ohio, and continued to reside there until 1829.  In Brown County, four of their seven children were born, and the other three in Indiana.  Three of these are still living, Mrs. India Ann Jolliffe, of Nineveah, Ind.; Dr. John T. Evans and James Edward Evans, at Clay City, Clay County, Ill.      At fifty years of age Joseph Evans was six feet tall, weighed two hundred pounds, was of full habit, with dark hair, ruddy complexion and gray eyes.  He always had perfect health.  He never followed any occupation but that of farming.  He was of a retiring and quiet disposition; never sought publicity of any kind.  In 1828, he visited Indiana and took up land from the Government in Johnson County.  In 1829, he and his family moved on to this and, where he resided until his death fifty-eight years later.  He obtained a patent for his land Nov. 6, 1830, signed by President Andrew Jackson and no transfer of it of any kind was made until after his death, among his heirs.  He lived a quiet and most unostentatious life, owing no one anything.  He was never a member of any church, and politically he was a Whig and a Republican, though he took but slight interest in politics.  He died Oct. 9, 1887, aged ninety-one years.  It cannot be said that he died of any particular complaint.  The machinery of his body was simply worn out and stopped.      His son, John T. Evans, studied medicine but has not practiced it for many years.  He is a successful merchant and business man at Clay City, Ill.  He stands high in the church of the Christian Disciples and takes a great interest in church work.  He is also very prominent in the Masonic Order.  In his political views he is a Republican.  Surrounded by an interesting family of children and grandchildren, he is aiming to fulfill the duties and obligations of a good citizen and a good Christian, and those who know him say he has succeeded well. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 563   REV. L. G. EVANS, of Blue Creek.  The ancestors of Rev. Evans, Thomas Evans, and Elizabeth Greene, came from North Carolina to Virginia, and thence to Fleming County, Kentucky, where he was born June 18, 1838.  His ancestors all lived to a ripe old age, his great-grandmother Hunt dying at the extreme age of 112 years.  In 1846, he came to Adams County, and remained until 1858, when he returned to Kentucky, and at the breaking out of the Rebellion he enlisted from Rowan County, November 20, 1861, and was mustered into the service at Lexington in the following December for three years as a private in Company F, Capt. Blue, 24th K. V. I., Col. Hurt.  He was at Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, Knoxville, Buzzard Roost, Resaca, Peachtree Creek, Atlanta and Jonesboro, and was made Third Sergeant at Shiloh.  Was honorably discharged at Covington, Ky., Jan. 31, 1865.  April 1, 1860, he married Miss Nancy E. Markwell, daughter of Joel and Esther Rice Markwell, of Rowan County, Kentucky.  Two daughters were the fruit of that union, Rozella and Salllie.      Rev. Evans is a regularly ordained minister of the regular Baptist Church, but from throat trouble has not had a regular charge for some years.  He is Chaplain of Baily Post, G. A. R., NO. 610, at Blue Creek. (Source 1: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 740 Nelson W. Evans NELSON WILEY EVANS, one of the editors of this work, came into the present world June 4, 1842, at Sardinia, Brown County, Ohio.  His father was Edward Patton Evans, who was then a lawyer practicing in Brown and Highland Counties.  His mother was Amanda Jane King, born June 20, 1824.   His father resided in Sardinia until April, 1847, when he removed to West Union, Adams County, to practice his profession.  Our subject resided in West Union from that time until the Fall of 1860.  He went through the usual experiences of boyhood, enjoyed all its pleasures and endured its sorrows.  As a schoolboy, he showed a disposition to take life seriously, which has followed him all his life.      In the Fall of 1860, he attended North Liberty Academy, and in Jan. 1861, he entered the Freshman class of Miami University, half advanced.  He remained in that school until June, 1863, when he enlisted in the 129th O. V. I.  He was made First Lieutenant of Company G in that regiment, and with it marched to Cumberland Gap, which was taken by capitulation from the Rebel General Frazier on Sept. 9, 1863.  His regiment was attached to the Second Brigade, Second Division, Ninth Army Corps, under General Ambrose E. Burnside.  He participated in the campaign in East Tennessee against Longstreet.  On Mar. 8, 1864, the regiment was mustered out, and he returned to Miami University, where he graduated in June, 1864.  On the eighteenth of September, 1864, he was appointed Adjutant of the 173rd O. V. I., and joined his regiment at Nashville, Tenn.  The regiment performed duty about Nashville until the time of the battle, when it was placed in the second line for the attack on Montgomery Hill.  Owing to the first line moving the rebels, his command was only exposed to a dropping fire.  Prior to the battle of Nashville, Mr. Evans was promoted to a captaincy of his regiment, and during the siege of Nashville by Gen. Hood, and during the battle, was adjutant of a brigade.  After the battle of Nashville, his regiment was sent to Columbia, Tennessee, and from there to Johnsonville, Tennessee, where it performed the duty of gathering stragglers from the Rebel army, and took them to Nashville as prisoners of war.  During the time the regiment was at Johnsonville, Captain Evans was detailed as Acting Assistant Adjutant General.  At the close of the war, he resumed the studies of the law and on October, 1865, he entered the Cincinnati Law School.  He remained there until April, 1866, when he was admitted to the bar by the District Court of Hamilton County.  He located in Portsmouth, Ohio, on Aug. 1, 1866, and has remained there ever since.      On Sept. 9, 1868, he was married to Miss Lizzie Henderson, of Middleton, Ohio.  He was a School Examiner of the county for two and a half years.  He was City Solicitor of Portsmouth, Ohio, from 1871 to 1875, Register in Bankruptcy of the Eleventh District of Ohio from 1870 to 1878, and a member of the Board of Education of the city of Portsmouth for ten years.  He is one of the Trustees of Miami University, and a vestryman of All Saints Episcopal Church.  For nine years he has been a Trustee of the Children's Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church, at Cincinnati.  He has two daughters, Gladys and Muriel.  In politics, he is and always has been a Republican.      A friend who had known Mr. Evans since 1871 speaks of him as follows:  "Captain Evans is one of the foremost attorneys at the Portsmouth bar, and has a large and lucrative practice.  He is an indefatigable worker and in the preparation of his cases for trial, makes himself thoroughly familiar with every detail and fights to the last n the interest of those he represents.  He is a good counsellor, a safe and a careful business and commercial lawyer.  In his intercourse with his fellow men he is frank, open, courteous, accommodating and always true to his friends.  His intimate associates are those who like him best.  Socially he stands high, and his honesty and integrity make him respected by all." Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 745   WILLIAM EVANS was born in Mason County, Kentucky, Jan. 23, 1787, the second son of Edward Evans and Jemima Applegate, his wife.  His father had emigrated from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, 1781, and had located near Washington, Mason County, Kentucky.  There until the close of the Indian War, he had been a farmer and acted as an Indian scout.  In 1800, he moved into what was then the western part of Adams County, and resided until his death in 1843.  William Evans was reared on his father's farm.  When the War of 1812 began he went into the service, and while there, formed a great friendship for Charles Kirkpatrick, who had been born in Virginia in 1777, and moved to Ohio in 1806.  On the way returning in the summer of 1812, the company was waylaid by the Indians and Kirkpatrick was wounded.  He died of his wound at Chillicothe, Sept. 26, 1812, and his young friend, William Evans, remained with him and buried him.  It was his sad duty to carry the news to Kirkpatrick, and they had ten more of their own, of whom the elder was Edward Patton Evans, herein noticed.  He lived on the farm near Pilson's Mill, along Eagle Creek, which Kirkpatrick had owned at his death, and purchased it of his heirs.  His wife died Mar. 22, 1830, and he contracted a second marriage, there were four children.  He survived the second wife and died Feb. 13, 1873, at the age of eighty-six years.      William Evans never owned anyone anything.  He kept out of debt, out of jail, and out of the penitentiary.  He never sought or held any public office.  He took the Liverty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette from its first issue until his death.  He never had a lawsuit, either as plaintiff or defendant.  He was a member of the Presbyterian Church at Russellville, fifty years or more, and a ruling elder for forty years.  He scarcely ever went away from home, and when he did, would always walk in preference to riding.  He was a law-abiding citizen, who discharged his duties to his God and to his fellowmen, and as content to live the life of a farmer all his days.      His children are as follows:  Edward Patton, May 31, 1814, died Apr. 17, 1883; Samuel Jackson, born Mar. 15, 1816, died Feb. 27, 1842; Martha Ann, born Mar. 15, 1818, died; William Harvey, born Jan. 6, 1820, now living at Thorntown, Indiana; Mary Juline, born Dec. 12, 1821, married Scott Miller, of near Ripley, and was the mother of a large family.  She died in 187; her husband survives.  James Kirkpatrick, born Feb. 10, 1824, died unmarried Mar. 21, 1875; Nathan Evans, born Jan. 27, 1826; Elijah Applegate, born May 7, 1828, died unmarried in 1851 near Spring Hill, Indiana; Lucinda and Louisa, twins, born Dec. 29, 1829; Lucinda married James Martin.  He and she are both deceased.  They left a large family residing near Lawrence, Kansas.  Louisa married twice and is living near Stanwood, Iowa.      Of his second marriage, there were three daughters and one son:  John Taylor, deceased, who was a soldier in the Civil War of 1861; Martha, who married John Pittinger, both of whom are deceased; Mrs. Jemima McGregor, who resides near Russellville, Ohio, and Mrs. Thomas Logan, who lives in Russellville, Ohio. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 562   D. C. EYLAR was born at Locust Grove, Adams County, Sept. 26, 1846.  His father's name was Alfred A. Eylar, a son of Judge Eylar, one of the Associate Judges of Adams County.  His mother's maiden name was Rebecca A. Cockerill, daughter of Gen. Daniel Cockerill, who formerly resided at what is now Seaman Station, on the C. P. & V. Railroad.  She was a sister of Col. Joseph Randolph Cockerill, whose portrait and sketch appears in this work.  His parents removed to Illinois in the Fall of 1856, and settled on a farm near Pontiac.  Our subject had the advantages of a common school education until he was about twenty years of age, when he attended a commercial college at Peoria, Illinois, and graduated from there.  On his return to Pontiac, he was employed by Duff & Cowen, bankers, and remained in their employ about a year.  He was then tendered the position of Deputy County Clerk of Livingstone County, which position he accepted and served for about two years, when he again returned to the employment of Duff & Cowen, bankers, and remained with them until the Fall of 1870.  In 1871, the Livingstone County National Bank was organized, and he remained with that institution for over seventeen years.  His health becoming poor, he resigned as cashier of the Bank in October, 1878, and went to the Pacific coast, locating at Fair Haven, about one hundred miles north of Seattle on Puget Sound.  While there he was engaged in the mortgage loan business.  He remained there three years and returned to Pontiac, his old position as cashier of the bank having been previously tendered him, and he at once assumed it on his return.  The former president of the bank, J. M. Greenbaum, having died in February, 1887, he was soon afterwards elected president, which position he has continued to hold.  This bank has been very successful.  It has weathered all financial storms in times of depression.  It has at all times enjoyed the confidence of the people of the community in which it is located.      Our subject was one of four children, three boys and one girl.  The eldest, a son, died in infancy, before his parents left Ohio; a brother A. W. Eylar, a resident of Arizona, died about thirteen years ago; a sister, Alverda, was married to Mr. Filmore, formerly of Pontiac.  They removed to California and for several years have resided at Los Angeles.      He was married to Miss Alice Hombeys, of Pontiac, Illinois, in 1870.  They  had one child, a daughter, who died at the age of six months in June, 1873, and in May, 1874, his wife died of Consumption.  He has never remarried.  A friend thus writes of him:      "Mr. Eylar is a man of the strictest integrity, a warm and sympathetic friend, a good citizen, having decided political opinions, but seldom expressing them and with no desire for office, a capital business man as attested by his long connection with and now at the head of one of our strongest financial institutions, the Livingstone County National Bank.  He is highly respected by our people and loved by his intimates." Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 742 NOTE:  CORRECTIONS - He resigned his position as cashier of the bank in "1888" not in "1878". J. M. Greenbaum died in February, "1898" not in "1887." A. W. Eylar in second line of second paragraph should read, "A. R. Eylar." Miss Alice Hombeys" in first line of third paragraph should read "Miss Alice Hornberger."  Second line of same paragraph "six months" should read "sixteen months." ADDITIONAL NOTE by Sharon Wick:   There are some volumes that may interest whomever is interested in this family. They are entitled:  Morgan Iler Genealogical Research Collection by Morgan Iler, Omaha, Nebraska.  Eylar is spelled many many different ways.  Contact me if you are interested ~ Sharon Wick   DANIEL P. W. EYLAR, of West Union, son of John Eylar and Ann Wilkins, was born at Youngstown, Adams County, July 2, 1858.  His father was a son of Joseph Eylar, Associate Judge of Adams County, and his mother was a daughter of Daniel P. Wilkins, once a prominent lawyer at the West Union Bar.  The parents of our subject moved to West Union when he was a mere lad and there has been his home ever since.  He was educated in the West Union public schools, and in his seventeenth year took up the profession of teacher in the common schools.  Like many boys in a town where there is a newspaper office, he early learned the printer's art, and after teaching several years, he with E. B. Stivers and W. F. Trotter began the publication of The Index, afterwards The Democrat Index, at West Union, in 1889.  He became the editor and proprietor of the last named newspaper in 1891, and continued its publication until 1896, when it was disposed of to the publishers of The Defender.      In politics, Mr. Eylar is as he puts it "independently Democratic without any aspirations for official preferment."  He does his own thinking on matters of religion as well as in politics.  He was reared strictly orthodox, but after reading and careful investigation along historical and scientific lines, he became inclined to infidelity in his religious opinions, and finally agnostic with very materialistic inclinations.  He was one of the "pioneers" in the world of free thought in Adams County.  He is an active worker and one of the best informed members of Crystal Lodge, No. 114, K. of P., West Union. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 741 NOTE by Sharon Wick:   There are some volumes that may interest whomever is interested in this family. They are entitled:  Morgan Iler Genealogical Research Collection by Morgan Iler, Omaha, Nebraska.  Eylar is spelled many many different ways.  Contact me if you are interested ~ Sharon Wick   JOHN A. EYLAR.     One of the prominent members of the bar of Waverly, Ohio, is a native of Adams County, having been born at Youngsville, Feb. 16, 1855.  He was the fourth son of John Eylar and Ann A. Wilkins, his wife.  His paternal grandfather, Joseph Eylar, of Winchester, was an Associate Judge of Adams County from 1835 to 1842.  His maternal grandfather, Daniel Putnam Wilkins, was a lawyer of West Union, Ohio, but was born and reared in New Hampshire, the bluest of New England blue blood Yankees.  Our subject graduated from the West Union schools, and afterwards took a course in the Adams County Normal schools.  He taught for a time in the West Union schools and read law under the late John K. Billings.  He was admitted to practice law at Portsmouth, Apr. 20, 1876.  He located in Waverly for the practice of the law and ever since has resided there.      In politics, he has always been a Democrat.  In 1880, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Pike County, and was re-elected in 1883, serving six years in that office, in which he acquired a reputation for industry, zeal and ability in his profession.  In the time he held the office, he drew no less than four hundred indictments, only one of which was ever held defective.  In the same time, he collected and paid into the county treasury more forfeited recognizances than any of his predecessors.  Since he retired from the Prosecutor's office, he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession and is retained in all the important litigation of his county.  He was one of the attorneys for the defense in the famous case of the State against Isaac Smith, indicted for murder in the first degree, of Stephen Skidmore, and distinguished himself in the conduct of that case.  He was married Feb. 16, 1887 to Lucy, daughter of John R. Douglas, and has three children.      In his practice, he first obtains a full knowledge of the facts of the case, both from his client's and his opponents' standpoints.  He then investigates the law applicable to each and all theories the court might assume.  He goes into court with all his cases thoroughly prepared as to law and facts, and will not file a case for a client unless he believes the chances for success are largely in his favor.  Like the famous Luther Martin, of Maryland, he is "always sure of his evidence."  He is naturally eloquent and one of his cotemporaries says he is the most eloquent member of the Waverly bar.  In his arguments to the jury, he is magnetic.  In his arguments to the court, no point escapes him.  He brings them all all out.  He always understands his case fully before bringing it to trial.  He is a zealous for a poor client as a rich one.  He is of a benevolent disposition and very charitable.  He is a  brilliant cross-examiner.  He conducts a cross-examination rapidly and pleasantly, but always with a denouement in view.  Following these principles, he has already established a reputation as a lawyer and bids fair in the course of a ripe experience to be as able as any in the State. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 738 NOTE by Sharon Wick:   There are some volumes that may interest whomever is interested in this family. They are entitled:  Morgan Iler Genealogical Research Collection by Morgan Iler, Omaha, Nebraska.  Eylar is spelled many many different ways.  Contact me if you are interested ~ Sharon Wick   JOSEPH WILKINS EYLAR was born in Carlisle, Brown County, Ohio, Mar. 11, 1847.  Before he was a year old, his parents removed to Winchester, Ohio, where they resided until 1856, when they removed to Youngsville, where they resided until 1860, when they removed to West Union.  Our subject attended public schools at Winchester, a Grace's Run near Youngsville, and at West Union.  While in West Union, between terms of school, he went into the employment of Billings and Patterson, who were publishing the Democratic Union.  In 1862, he went to Georgetown where he worked at the printer's trade under John G. Doran, publisher of the Southern Ohio Argus.  In 1862, he went with his father in the army, acting as teamster and forage master.  He was with Burnside's Army in East Tennessee in 1863.  Just before the siege of Knoxville, Eylar was one of a party sent with dispatches from General Burnside to the commandant at Cumberland Gap, directing the forwarding of commissary supplies.  The party carrying the dispatches went from Knoxville to the gap by a circuitous route and narrowly escaped capture by the rebels.  They, however, delivered the dispatches safely, and from there young Eylar went home.  That winter he spent in school and from there went into the office of the Democratic Union, at West Union.  He remained there until the summer of 1865 when he went to Fayette County and worked in a hub and spoke factory until September when he returned to West Union and undertook to establish a Democratic newspaper in Adams County.  He walked over the county canvassing for subscribers and on the nineteenth of January, 1866, he launched the Peoples' Defender on the troubled sea of journalism.  As a newspaper, it was a success from the start.  Mr. Eylar seemed to have a talent for newspaper work and was able to make the paper as good as it could be with the support he had in Adams County.  The paper and its editor, Mr. Eylar, prospered right along.      In March, 1889, he was married to Mary Ellen Oldson, daughter of James R. Oldson, of West Union.  He has had four children, Margaret Ann, William Allen, James Norton and Lotta Sinclare.      In 1876, Mr. Eylar was elected to the Legislature from Adams County as the representative of his party and re-elected in 1878.  During his two terms, he secured the passage of more bills than any one who had ever preceded him in the representation of Adams County.  He made a record as a most efficient legislator.      In 1890, after having published the Peoples' Defender successfully for twenty-four years, he sold it to Edward A. Crawford and removed to Georgetown, Ohio, where he purchased an interest in the Georgetown News Democrat and has been its editor and publisher ever since.      Mr. Eylar is a Democrat in the intensest sense of the word.  While there may be, and doubtless are, Democrats whose faith in the tenets of their party is only sentimental, that is not the case with Mr. Eylar.  His democracy is eighteen carats fine.  He not only believes it but he thinks, acts and lives it.  The Defender under his management was an able newspaper.  Many thought at times he was too pungent and sarcastic and sometimes too abusive, but his friends stood by him and he succeeded.      Mr. Eylar is a good friend, a good neighbor, a bad enemy, and a good citizen.  He believes in the broad religion of humanity and practices it every day of his life.  With the foundations he was able to lay in his boyhood and youth, he has made a superstructure with which he and his personal political friends can be well satisfied and of which they can be proud. Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 289 - Chapter XVI - Politics   DAVID SHAFER EYLER.  He was born July 10, 1831,  in Manchester Winchester, Adams County, the ninth of ten children of the first marriage of Judge Joseph Eylar.  He was taught what the District school could give him.  His father was a tanner and he learned the trade under him.  In 1832 1852 to 1857, he conducted a tannery in Locust Grove.  In the Fall of 1857, he was elected Sheriff on the Democratic ticket and re-elected in 1859.      On May 30, 1858, he was married to Miss Martha Cannon, and began housekeeping in West Union.  He moved to Locust Grove from West Union in 1860 and has resided there ever since.  From 1860 and 1865, he kept hotel in the property formerly occupied by Mrs. Jeremiah Cannon.  In 1865, he took the present Eyler Hotel and conducted it until his death.  For some time after returning to Locust Grove he carried on farming.      He was Justice of the Peace of Franklin Township from 1875 to 1878 and from 1881 to 1896.  He was the father of Nine children as follows:  Jennie,  married James C. Copeland and resides in Locust Grove; Oliver Rodney, physician, located at Cynthiana, Pike County, Ohio.  He graduated as M. D., Apr. 12, 1900 from Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio.  He was married to Miss Lilly B. Newland in 1885.  The second daughter, Hettie, married R. D. McClure and died in 1890, leaving one child.  Elizabeth married Jacob Randolph Zile, Ex-Commissioner of Adams County, and a prosperous farmer.  Oscar  Coleman married Laura Rearick and is a farmer near Locust Grove.  Ella and Ruth reside with their mother.  Alverda  died at the age of four years.  John Randolph, the youngest, resides with his mother in the old home.      In politics, Mr. Eylar was always a Democrat.  He took and active part in all the contests in which his party was engaged.  He usually attended all the conventions and was active in the caucuses and at the polls.  He had a fascination and love for political contests.  He was not religious in the sense of church membership, but aimed to deal fairly with all men.  He was a heavy set man, over the medium height, of a dark complexion, dark hair and broad, with a saturnine expression.  While he could laugh and enjoy humor, his usual mood was serious and earnest to an unusual degree.  He was kind to his family and loyal to his friends.  For his enemies he cared but little.  He aimed to do the best he could for those dependent on him and that is the best any one can do.  He died March 11, 1897. Source 1: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 ~ Page 736 NOTE by Sharon Wick:   There are some volumes that may interest whomever is interested in this family. They are entitled:  Morgan Iler Genealogical Research Collection by Morgan Iler, Omaha, Nebraska.  Eylar is spelled many many different ways.  Contact me if you are interested ~ Sharon Wick   JOSEPH EYLER, the pioneer, was born in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany, Sept. 22, 1759.  He was a son of George and Catherine Eyler who lived and died in that country.  In 1777 he ran away from home to escape service in the army, and after walking 800 miles to the coast, shipped for the United States, arriving at Baltimore in the autumn of that year.  From that time until the period of his marriage little is known of him except that he was engaged as a wagoner, and accumulated enough to own a four-horse team and a "Canestoga" of his own.  In 1787 he married Mary Ann Rosemiller, a daughter of John George Rosemiller, living in the vicinity of Philadelphia.  The Rosemillers were wealthy Tories, and objected to their daughter's marrying the unknown and poor wagoner; an elopement followed, and Mary Ann Rosemiller became Mary Ann Eyler.  However, John George Rosemiller had other daughters "Ann" to cheer his declining years.  They were Ann, Rose Ann, Catherine Ann, Barbara Ann, Elizabeth Ann, Julia Ann, Mary Ann, who eloped with Eyler, and a son named John George Lewis.      The breach in the domestic live of the Rosemillers made by the clandestine marriage of Mary Ann remained until her death.  Her sisters had married well, and they never lost the opportunity to remind her of the fact, so that she and her husband shortly after the birth of their first child, the late Judge Joseph Eyler, of Adams County, removed to Bedford, Pennsylvania, then a frontier town from which goods were distributed to the settlements in western Virginia and Kentucky.  It was a point where the young wagoner found ready employment.      In 1795, Joseph Eyler and his little family, in company with others, came down the Ohio River by keel-boat and landed at the "Three Islands" where Nathaniel Massie had founded the town of Manchester.  Eyler tended a patch of corn on the lower island that summer and the following winter built a cabin on a tract of three hundred acres purchased near Killinstown.  The next year, James B. Finley passed over Tod's old trace to the new settlement at Chillicothe and noted the fact that there was a "cabin near the present site of West Union, built by Mr. Oiler, but no one was living in it."  Eyler's original tract is now owned by Sandy Craigmile, John Crawford, and Samuel McFeeters.      Joseph Eyler moved into his cabin in the year 1796.  He then had four small children.  Joseph, Mary, Sarah and Catherine, and there were born here John, Samuel, Martin, Henry, David, Lewis, George, and Elizabeth. Of these, Samuel, Martin, David, Lewis, and George died in childhood and are buried at Killinstown.  He cleared away the forest and soon possessed one of the best farms in that portion of the country.  He was industrious and economical and accumulated considerable wealth for those times.  He was frequently called on to serve in local official positions such as "lister" of property, being a man of good judgment and a great deal of common sense.  From Killinstown he moved to a farm near Winchester, on what is now known as the "Massie Farm."  He resided there a few years and then bought a farm near Berryville, in Highland County, where he conducted a distillery.  He remained there until 1834, when he disposed of his property and removed to Brown County, on a farm now owned by his grandson, Carey C. Eyler, north of the Village of Fincastle.  Here he died July 29, 1839, and was buried in the Wilson cemetery about one mile east of the village of Fincastle.  His wife survived until Mar. 13, 1841.      In personal appearance Joseph Eyler was strikingly peculiar.  He was five feet, five inches in height and weighed over three hundred pounds.  His complexion was very fair, hair dark, and eyes steel blue.  He spoke English tolerably well, but preferred to use his native language when possible to do so.  His household language, until his family was grown, was the German, and he always read and prayed in that tongue.  It was the rule in his household to read a portion of God's Holy Word every evening, followed with a simple family worship in the way of prayer.      A strong trait of Joseph Eyler was his love of good horses, of which he always kept a number of the "largest and fattest."  In pleasant weather he would turn them out to pasture and as they galloped over the fields they fairly shook the earth.  It was a common remark among his neighbors when it thundered, that "Joe Eyler's horses were having a romp." Source: History of Adams County, Ohio - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900 - Page 561 NOTE by Sharon Wick:   There are some volumes that may interest whomever is interested in this family. They are entitled:  Morgan Iler Genealogical Research Collection by Morgan Iler, Omaha, Nebraska.  Eylar is spelled many many different ways.  Contact me if you are interested ~ Sharon Wick NOTES: