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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS
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ADAMS COUNTY, OHIO
HISTORY & GENEALOGY
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BIOGRAPHIES
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GEORGE
CAMPBELL was born in New Jersey, Jan. 3, 1778.
His father was in the Revolutionary War and was wounded at
the battle of Trenton, Dec. 26, 1776, and died of the same
in 1778. After his father's death, his mother moved to
Kentucky and married a man named Peterson. In
1792, George, who could to get along with his
step-father, ran away and went to the Stockade in
Manchester. The settlers had him drive out their cows
in the morning and drive them in at evening. In the
Fall of 1793, on one occasion, when George was out in
the forest to bring the cows in, he saw a party of Indians
who discovered him at the same time. They were lurking
about to take a prisoner or a scalp. George at
once set up a series of Indian yells and started for the
Stockade. The Indian yell was as well understood by
the cattle as by the settlers. The cattle took fright
and went for the Stockade on the run. The boy also did
the best running he ever did in his life, yelling in Indian
style all the time, and he could imitate the Indian yell
most perfectly. The result was as George
expected. The settlers rushed out of the Stockade
fully armed, and met young Campbell. The
Indians, unable to overtake George, and seeing
the settlers, fled. Evidently they wanted to capture
the boy as they made no attempts to shoot or tomahawk him.
George grew to manhood in Adams County and spent his
life there. He married Katherine Noland on
Sept. 15, 1803, and in 1804 settled in Scott Township, where
he died Oct. 30, 1854.
(Source 1: History of Adams Co., Ohio - 1900 - Page
546) |
JOHN
CAMPBELL. The earliest ancestor of which we
have any account was Duncan Campbell, of Argyleshire,
Scotland. He married Mary McCoy in 1612, and
removed to Londonderry in Ireland the same year. He
had a son, John Campbell, who married in 1655,
Grace Hay, daughter of Patrick Hay, Esq., of
Londonderry. They had three sons, one of whom was
Robert, born in 1665, and who, with his sons, John,
Hugh and Charles Campbell, emigrated to Virginia
in 1696, and settled in that part of Orange County afterward
incorporated in Augusta. The son, Charles Campbell,
was born in 1704, and died in 1778. In 1739, he was
married to Mary Trotter. He had seven sons and
three daughters. He was the historian of Virginia.
His son, William, born in 1754, and died in 1822, was
a soldier of the Revolution, and as such had a distinguished
record as a General at King's Mountain and elsewhere.
He married Elizabeth Willson, of Rockbridge County,
Virginia, a member of the distinguished Willson family.
They had eleven children. Their son, Charles,
was born Dec. 28, 1779, and died Sept. 26, 1871. He
was married Sept. 20, 1803, to Elizabeth Tweed, in
Adams County. He had five sons. The third was
John Campbell, of Ironton, born Jan. 14, 1808, in Adams
County, Ohio.
The Willson family intermarried with the
Campbell family, who also have a distinguished record.
Col. John Willson, born in 1702, and died in 1773,
settled near Fairfield, then Augusta County, Virginia, and
was a Burgess of that county for twenty-seven years.
He once held his court where Pittsburgh now stands.
His wife, Martha, died in 1755, and are buried in the
Glebe burying ground in Augusta County, Virginia.
His brother, Thomas, had a daughter, Rebekah,
born in 1728, and died in 1820, who married James Willson,
born in 1715 and died in 1809. This James Willson,
with his brother, Moses, was found when a very
young boy in an open boat in the Atlantic Ocean. They
were accompanied by their mother and a maid. The
mother died at the moment of rescue and the maid a few
moments after. The captain of the rescuing ship
brought the boys to this country where they grew up, married
and spent their lives.
James Willson had a large family of sons and
daughters. His daughter, Elizabeth, born in
1758 and died Feb. 27, 1832, married William Campbell,
the Revolutionary General. Her brother, Moses,
was the father of Dr. William B. Willson, of Adams
County, who has a sketch in this work, and also of James
S. Willson, the father of Dr. William Finley Willson,
who also has a sketch herein. Judge John W.
Campbell, United States District Judge, who has a sketch
herein was a son of the Revolutionary General, William
Campbell, who removed from Virginia to Kentucky in 1790
and from Kentucky to Adams County, Ohio, in 1798. Our
subject was a resident of Adams County from his birth until
1857, when that portion of Adams County where he resided was
placed in Brown County. He was reared on his father's
farm and received what education he could obtain at home.
HE clerked for his uncle, William Humphreys, who had
married his father's sister, Elizabeth, at Ripley, in
1828. After learning enough of the business, as he
thought, and he induced his uncle to go in partnership with
him and they started a store at Russellville, Ohio.
Here John was popular with every one and would have
succeeded, but the place and business was too slow for him.
He had $600 saved up and he sold out the business and put
his capital in the steamboat, "Banner," of which he became
clerk. The boat was in the Cincinnati and Pittsburg
trade. After his second trip on the steamboat, he made
up his mind that was not his vocation. While coming
down the river on this trip he met Robert Hamilton,
the pioneer master of the Hanging Rock iron region and made
inquiries for any opening in the iron business. Mr.
Hamilton invited him to get off at Hanging Rock.
He left the boat and accepted a clerkship at Pine Grove
Furnace. This was in 1832. Mr. Campbell
was anxious to stand well in the estimation of Mr.
Hamilton. Shortly before his steamboat venture, he
had met in Ripley, a young lady named Elizabeth Clarke,
niece of Mr. Hamilton's wife. He fell in love
with her. She made her home with her aunt, Mrs.
Hamilton, who was a daughter of John Ellison and
a sister of William Ellison, of Manchester.
Naturally, Mr. Campbell would accept an invitation to
go to Pine Grove Furnace. He was ambitious to succeed
as a business man and he believed he could do so under
Mr. Hamilton's teaching. He wanted to marry his
niece who stood to Mr. Hamilton as a daughter.
He succeeded in both purposes. The next year, 1833, he
took an interest with Mr. Hamilton in building the
Hanging Rock Forge at Hanging Rock. The same year he
and Andrew Ellison built Lawrence Furnace for the
firm of J. Riggs & Co. This year was formed the
celebrated partnership of Campbell, Ellison &
Company, of which he was a partner and which continued in
existence until 1865. In 1834, he and Robert
Hamilton built Mt. Vernon Furnace and he moved there and
became its manager. The furnace was the property of
Campbell, Ellison & Company for thirty years, and
largely the source of the fortunes made by the members of
that firm. It was at this furnace Mr. Campbell
made the change of placing the boilers and hot blast over
the tunnel head, thus utilizing the waste gases, a method
after generally adopted by all the charcoal furnaces of that
region and in the United States.
On March 16, 1837, he was married at Pine Grove Furnace
to Miss Elizabeth Caldwell Clarke, already mentioned,
and tehy began housekeeping at Mt. Vernon Furnace.
In 1837, he had an interest at Vesuvius Furnace, and he
induced the other owners to test the hot blast principle.
This was the first hot blast put up in this country and
though it met with strong opposition through expectation of
bad results, the experiment proved satisfactory in producing
an increased quantity of iron for foundry use. Mr.
Campbell was always among the first to project any
useful enterprise. He was largely concerned in the
first geological survey of the State, and by reason of his
study of local geology he purchased lands extensively in the
Hanging Rock region with a view to future development of
their mineral resources.
In 1845, he left Mt. Vernon Furnace and took up his
residence at Hanging Rock.
In 1846, he and Mr. John Peters built Greenup
Furnace in Kentucky, and in 1846, Olive Furnace, Ohio to
which was added Buckhorn. In 1847, he built Gallia
Furnace, and in 1848, he and others built Keystone Furnace.
In 1849, while residing at Hanging Rock, he evolved the
project of establishing the town of Ironton. The Ohio
Iron and Coal Company, composed of twenty-four persons, was
formed. Twenty of the organizers were iron masters.
He became the president of the company and was its soul , so
far as a corporation is capable of having a soul. The
company purchased forty acres of land, three miles above
Hanging Rock, and undertook to form a model town and
succeeded as near as anyone has ever succeeded. Mr.
Campbell gave the town its name, "Ironton." He was
one of the projectors of the Iron Railroad which was
designed to make the furnace, north and east of Ironton,
tributary to the town. In 1850, Mr. Campbell moved to
the city of Ironton which thereafter was his home during his
lifetime. The same year he purchased La Grange
Furnace. The same year was built in Ironton the
foundry of the firm of Campbell, Ellison & Co.
In 1851, Mr. Campbell became one of the founders of
the Iron Bank of Ironton, afterwards changed to the First
National Bank. In 1852, he was one of the organizers
of the Ironton Rolling Mill, afterward the New York and Ohio
Iron and Steel Works. The same year he took half the
stock in the Olive Furnace and Machine Shops. The same
year he purchased the celebrated Hecla Cold Blast Furnace.
In 1853, he became one of the largest stockholders in the
Kentucky Iron, Coal and Manufacturing Company, which founded
the town of Ashland, Kentucky.
In 1854, he, D. T. Woodrow and others, built
Howard Furnace. The same year he built a large
establishment to manufacture an iron beam plow, and also
built Madison Furnace. This year he took stock in the
Star Nail Mill, one of the largest in the country and now
known as the Belfont Iron Works. In 1855, he, with
V. B. Horton, of Pomeroy, organized a company and built
a telegraph line from Pomeroy to Cincinnati. In 1866
he organized the Union Iron Company, owners of Washington
and Monroe Furnaces, and was its president for many years.
From his majority he had been opposed to the institution of
slavery, and was an Abolitionist. His opinions on the
subject of slavery were no doubt largely formed by his
associations with Rev. John Rankin and men of his
views, but as he grew older, his views against the
institution intensified. His home was one of the
stations on the Underground Railroad, and there the poor,
black fugitive was sure of a friendly meeting and all needed
assistance.
Mr. Campbell acted with the Whig party, and
after its death, with the Republican party. He was a
delegate to the State Republican Convention in 1855.
He never sought or held any public office until 1862, when,
in recognition of his great and valuable services to the
Republican party and to his country, President Lincoln
appointed him the first Internal Revenue Collector for the
Eleventh Collection District of Ohio, and he served in the
office with great fidelity and honor until Oct. 1, 1866,
when he was succeeded by Gen. B. F. Coates.
In 1872, Mr. Campbell reached the height of
his fortune. He was then worth over a million of
dollars. Up to that time he had invested in and
promoted almost every enterprise projected inside the circle
of his acquaintance. He had not done this recklessly
or extravagantly, but from natural disposition to promote
prosperity.
In 1873, the Cooke panic overtook the country
and from that time until 1883, there was a steady
contraction in every enterprise with which Mr. Campbell
was connected. In 1880, it was largely through the
influence and work of John Campbell that the Scioto
Valley Railroad was completed to Ironton and eastward.
In 1883, the Union Iron Company failed. For years
Mr. Campbell had sustained it, and for some time had
been endorsing for it personally, hoping to sustain its
waning fortunes, but its failure was too much for him and he
was compelled to make an assignment in his old age, but he
went down with that grand and noble courage, which in his
youth and middle life had caused him to go into every
business venture. No one who knew Mr. Campbell
ever thought any less of him on account of his failure, but
he had the sympathy and good will of every man who had known
him in a business way. His changed financial condition
never affected the esteem in which he had been held or
lessened, in any way, the great influence he held in the
community. He survived until Aug. 30, 1891, but owing
to the condition of business affairs and his advanced age,
was never able to retrieve his lost fortunes.
In the case of Mr. Campbell it is most difficult
to make a just and true character estimate which will truly
display the man. He had so many excellent qualities
that there is danger that all may not be mentioned. He
had a wonderful faculty of looking forward and determining
in advance what business enterprises would succeed.
The writer does not know a proper term by which to designate
this feature of his character. He could and would
predict the success of a proposed business venture when all
others were incredulous. He lived to see his business
judgment verified. He never hesitated to act on his
judgment of the future, and personally, he was never
mistaken or wrong. He had a wonderful influence over
his fellow men. He could bring them to his views and
induce them to carry them out. He was never haughty or
proud. He was approachable to all. He took a
personal interest in all men of his acquaintance who tried
to do anything for themselves. He was always the
friend of the unfortunate. The colored people all
loved him. In the slavery days no fugitive ever called
on him in vain. He was sure of aid, relief and comfort
in Mr. Campbell. His judgment was incisive.
He examined a matter carefully and made up his mind, and
when once made up, he was immovable. He possessed a
most equable temper. He was calm and gentle. He
was, in his time, by far, the most conspicuous figure in the
Hanging Rock iron region. He was identified with every
public enterprise in Ironton from the foundation of the
town. Many of the important industries in Ironton owe
their success to his excellent judgment. No one went
to him to enlist him in a worthy public enterprise who did
not succeed. No meritorious appeal for aid was ever
made to him and refused by him. He was always ready to
aid any deserving man or association of men, either in
business or charity. The universal sorrow expressed on
the occasion of his death and funeral show how he stood
among his fellow citizens. There was a public meeting
called to prepare resolutions expressive of the sentiments
of the community. The bar of the county met and passed
resolutions, though he was never a member of that body.
The city council also met and made public record of its
sentiments. He had the confidence, the respect, and
esteem and love of the entire community. The
attendance at his funeral of itself demonstrated the regard
in which he was held. No greater funeral was ever held
in Ironton. The city police were mounted, the city and
county officials and the bar attended as bodies. All
the church bells were tolled and all business suspended.
It was well that the whole city mourned, because to
John Campbell, more than to anyone else, was it indebted
for its existence and its prosperity. In the space
allotted in this book, justice cannot be done to the career
of Mr. Campbell. We have given and can give but
a partial view of his career and character. His wife
survived him. They had five children, three daughters
and two sons, who grew to maturity. His eldest
daughter was Mrs. Henry S. Neal, who died before her
father. His second daughter is Mrs. William Means,
of Yellow Springs, Ohio. His daughters Emma and
Clara are both now deceased. His son, Albert,
resides at Washington, D. C., and his son, Charles,
at Hecla Furnace. His wife died Nov. 19, 1893.
(Source 1: History of Adams Co., Ohio - 1900 - Page
534) |
DR.
JOHN CAMPBELL is, on his father's side, of
Scotch-Irish descent. His grandfather, William
Campbell, came to this country shortly after the
Revolutionary 'War, and settled in Washington County,
Pennsylvania, a section of the country largely populated by
Presbyterians from the North of Ireland and Scotland.
They have been commonly known as "Scotch-Irish," presumably
from the fact that their ancestry, and it may also be added,
their Presbyterianism, both were derived from Scotland.
William Campbell was a member of Chartier's
Presbyterian Church, the pastor of which was Dr. John
McMillan, a very celebrated divine of those days was
Dr. John McMillan, a very celebrated divine of those
days and the founder of Jefferson College. The father
of Dr. John Campbell, named John Campbell,
lived on the old farm until 1846, when he moved with his
family to Adams County, Ohio, near Youngsville, where one
son, Richard Campbell, and two daughters now reside.
Dr. John Campbell was born in Washington County,
Pennsylvania, Feb. 9, 1828, entered Jefferson College in
1843 and graduated in 1847, receiving the degree of A. B.,
and later the degree of M. A. He then came to Adams
County, taught school and studied medicine with Dr.
Coleman in West Union in 1851 and 1852. He
practiced medicine at Tranquility until the commencement of
the Civil War. In 1861, he united with Captain John
T. Wilson in recruiting Company E, of the 70th Regiment
and was commissioned as First Lieutenant of the company,
becoming, in process of time, Captain of Company I, of the
same regiment, serving from October 1, 1861, to November 4,
1864. He afterwards practiced medicine at West Union
until 1870, when he removed to Delhi, Ohio, where he
continued in the practice of his profession until 1885.
He was then appointed Medical Referee in the Bureau of
Pensions, and removed to Washington, D. C. On the
change of administration in 1889, he resigned and obtained
an appointment as Inspector of the Equitable Life Insurance
Company of New York. This he continues to hold and has
charge of the district composed of the States of
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia
and the District of Columbia, with headquarters at
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he now lives. The
maternal grandfather of Dr. Campbell was James
Perry, of Shenandoah County, Virginia, who was born in
that state and whose family had been settled there in
Colonial times. The history of the family on this side
of the house is very incomplete, but we known that some
members of his maternal grandmother's family (Feeley)
served in the Revolutionary War, and one of them, Captain
Timothy Feeley, received from the Government a large
grant of land in what afterwards became Highland County,
Ohio, for his services.
Dr. Campbell was first married to Hattie
Whitacre, daughter of Amos Campbell, now a
respected citizen living near Youngsville. On October
13, 1869, he was married to Esther A. Cockerill,
daughter of General J. R. daughters, Mabel, died in
infancy. The other, Helen M. Campbell, is their
only child. The son, Joseph Randolph Campbell,
an Ensign in the United States Navy, died of typhoid fever
during the recent War with Spain. A separate sketch of
him will be found herein.
Dr. John Campbell might have gone into the Civil
War as a surgeon but this he declined to do, and went in as
a line officer in the famous company raised by the Hon.
John T. Wilson. The record of the 70th O. V. I.
will show what valiant service he performed for his country.
Dr. Campbell has always been noted for his modest and
unassuming manners and his diffident disposition, but he
never failed in any duty before him and has always filled
the important public positions held by him with the highest
credit to himself and with great satisfaction to all
concerned. He is a man of the highest integrity and
commands the confidence and enjoys the highest respect of
all who know him.
(Source 1: History of Adams County, Ohio - by
Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900) |
JOSEPH
RANDALL CAMPBELL, son of Dr. John and Esther C.
Campbell, was born in Delhi, Ohio, Mar. 12, 1872.
His education was commenced in the Home City and Delhi
public schools and continued at Washington, D. C.., until
Sept. 29, 1888, when he entered the U. S. Naval Academy at
Annapolis, Md., as a Naval Cadet, under appointment by the
Secretary of the Navy to fill a vacancy from Wyoming
Territory. He graduated from the academy, June, 1892,
with honor, and was assigned to the Newark, then about to
sail for European waters as the representative of the U. S.
Navy in the Spanish and Italian Columbian celebrations.
About a year later he was transferred to the San Francisco,
and was in the harbor of Rio Janiero during the exciting
times of the Brazilian revolt of '93 and '94. In June,
1894, he returned to the Naval Academy for final
examination, preceding his commission as Ensign. He
came through this ordeal with distinction, standing at the
head of the line division of his class, and was duly
commissioned as an Ensign to date from July 1, 1894.
He was assigned to duty on the New York, then the finest
cruiser in the new Navy and about to sail as our Nation's
representative in the grand marine pageant of the opening of
the Kiel Canal. While at Kiel, he commanded the boat
of the New York which gained one of the races given by the
German Emporer's Yacht Club, and received as the prize two
silver cups from Kaiser William. After serving
on the New York the usual term, he was transferred to the
Alliance, a training ship for Naval apprentices, for two
cruises across the Atlantic and through the West Indies.
Then followed duty at the War College and Torpedo Station at
Newport, R. I., until he was transferred to the Katahdin at
the commencement of the recent war with Spain. In
April, 1898, while at Hampton Roads, he was attacked by a
sickness which later developed into an exceedingly severe
typhoid fever. His reluctance to be off his post under
the war excitement, until absolutely prostrated, added
greatly to the intensity of the disease, and possibly the
overtaxation of his constitution by the efforts of continued
duty, gave the disease its fatal direction. However,
after his impaired health had lasted nearly a month under
great strain, his ship having reached Boston, he was taken
to the Naval Hospital on May 4, and died May 30, 1898, at
noon, while a company of marines were decorating the graves
of departed heroes in the cemetery in the hospital grounds
adjacent.
He came of a military and patriotic family. His
great-grandfather, General Daniel Cockerill, was a
Lieutenant from Virginia in the War of 1812 and a Major
General in the Ohio Militia. His grandfather,
Joseph Randall Cockerill, was Colonel of the 70th Ohio
Infantry in the Civil War, rose to that rank from private by
sheer merit.
His classmates in the Naval Academy give unanimous
testimony that he was endowed with high and noble qualities
of which he made the best use. As an officer, he was
admired by his juniors and esteemed by his superiors for his
sterling worth. At his final examinations he entered
the Naval service as the Senior Ensign of his class.
Under circumstances of great provocation, his self-control
was admirable, and yet his modesty was his most
distinguishing characteristic. By his death, his
classmates lost a valued member and the Navy lost one of its
brightest and most promising officers.
Ensign Campbell was elected a Companion of the
first class by imheritance from his grandfather, Brevet
Brigadier General J. R. Cockerill, in the Ohio
Commandery of the Loyal Legion, on Oct. 7, 1896, the number
of his insignia being 11,572. He was pure, high-minded
and honorable. During his brief career in the Navy, he
had manifested talent and ability of a very high order.
The nobility of his character, his amiable qualities, his
efficiency and devotion to duty, had made for him friends of
all the officers with whom he served. The many letters
of condolence from them to his father and mother express
their estimate of him and their sense of their personal
loss. A few are as follows: Captain Wilde,
of the Katahdin, says: "I have seen many young men enter the
Navy, but never a better one than your son."
Lieutenant Potter writes: "I learned to like him
sincerely, and recognized his unusual ability and high
standard of professional and personal conduct. In his
taking away, we are all bereaved, and my best wish for
myself would be that when I shall go, my character and my
record shall be as stainless as his."
A classmate at Annapolis says: "As time progressed, I
learned to like him ore and more. He was one of the
best men I ever knew or ever care to know."
He was taken for burial to his father's and mother's
old home at West Union, Ohio, where the people showed the
greatest respect for his father and uncle (Cockerhill),
who so distinguished themselves for military valor in the
War of 1861."Sleep on, brave Son, where
grandsire sleeps,
A nation still they memory keeps,
And all her sons on land or sea,
Shall sacred in her memory be.
"(Source 1: History of Adams Co., Ohio - 1900
- Page 712) |
WILLIAM
O. CAMPBELL of Peebles, was born in Locust Grove, in
Adams County, Aug. 10, 1873. His father was James
Q. Campbell and his mother's maiden name was
Catherine J. Manahan. She was married May 28,
1849, to Charles Wilford Young. He died May 7,
1856, and she married James Q. Campbell, Nov. 17,
1860. As the name implies, Mr. Campbell is
descended from Scottish Highlanders. His father's
parents were born in Maryland and removed, when young, to
Butler County, Pennsylvania, where they resided until his
father's death. His grandparents located in Maryland
about 1765. James Q. Campbell was a member of
the State Militia of Pennsylvania for five years. He
was a member of the Militia of Ohio for five years, and
served as a Private in Company K, 141st O. V. I., in 1864.
Our subject's mother was born in Adams County in 1830 and
reared there. She is of the Tener and Porter
families who settled in Maryland in 1700, emigrating
from Holland and Wales. These two families located in
Ohio in 1802, part settling in Adams County and a part of
Ross County.
Our subject was educated in the Public schools of his
home and began teaching in 1890 at Jaybird. He taught
thereafter in the Winters and attended Normal Schools in the
Summers of 1890, 1891 and 1892. From 1892 to 1894, he
attended school and completed his studies in Cleveland, in
1894. From that time till 1898, he followed the
profession of school teacher.
In 1898, he quit the profession of teaching and took up
that of traveling salesman for art works and has made his
business a great success. In politics, he is, and has
always been, a Republican. He is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. At present he is pushing a
patent, No. 633,503, known as the C. & M. self-adjusting gig
saddle for all kinds of harness. In this enterprise,
he is associated with William Mickey, of Peebles, and
they are making arrangements for a manufacture of their
patented device. Their invention seems to have great
merit and it is to he hoped they will make their fortunes by
it.
Our subject is an ambitious young man. He early
qualified himself as a teacher and showed himself very
efficient and competent in that profession. Everywhere
he taught, he won the good-will and friendship of his pupils
and their parents. His success prompted further
efforts and he attended a number of Normal schools and took
up the study of higher branches. He also took a
business course. He has successfully carried on an
extensive work for a publishing house. He is of a
genial and social nature and is fond of music. He has
good conversational qualities. He is free from the use
of spirits, liquors and narcotics. He is very
energetic and industrious, and is disposed to lead in
everything he undertakes.
Mr. Campbell has all those qualities which
promise for him great success in life.
(Source 1: History of Adams Co., Ohio - 1900 - Page
699) |
| JOHN PATTON CASKEY
(Source 1: History of Adams Co., Ohio - 1900 - Page ) |
| ROBERT McGOVNEY COCHRAN
(Source 1: History of Adams Co., Ohio - 1900 - Page
724 ) |
COL.
DANIEL COLLIER was one of the pioneers of Adams County
who came to the Northwest Territory in 1794. He was born
in January, 1764, and died on his magnificent farm on Ohio
Brush Creek, where he is buried, April 17, 1835. His
wife was Elizabeth Prather, born December 9, 1768, and
who died August 4, 1835. She bore him twelve children:
James, John, Thomas, Daniel, Joseph, Richard, Isaac, Sarah,
Elizabeth, Katharine, Luther and Harriet. The
latter was born September 17, 1815, and married Andrew
Ellison, a son of James Ellison, a native of
Ireland.
Col. Collier selected the site of his future
home on Ohio Brush Creek while with Nathaniel Massie
and others surveying in that region. The lands, five
hundred acres, were purchased from Gen. William Lytle,
who held military warrants of Jonathan Tinsley.
John Shaver and George Shaver, Virginia Line,
Continental Establishment. The site of the homestead is
on an elevated terrace some forty acres in extent formed in
the geological past by a drift of conglomerate in Ohio Brush
Creek. The general level of this terrace is about
twenty-five feet above the bottom lands along the creek, and
from it a fine view of the valley presents itself for miles up
and down the stream. At the base of this drift several
fine springs of most excellent water wells forth. The
one across the public road opposite the Collier
residence afforded the water supply for the old still-house
owned by Col. Collier. There was a fine young
poplar sapling near it which young Tom Collier climbed
and bent over while the Colonel and his wife were temporarily
absent from home. On his return Thomas received a
"grubbing" for the supposed destruction of the young
poplar. That sapling is now a most beautiful and stately
tree.
Col. Collier was prominently identified with
public affairs of Adams County in this time. He was
commissioned Colonel of the Third Regiment, First
Brigade, Second Division, of Militia by Governor Samuel
Huntington, December 29, 1809. He served in the War
of 1812 and was in the engagement at Sandusky. On May 2,
1814, Acting Governor Thomas Looker, endorsed
Colonel Collier's resignation as follows: "The
resignation of this commission accepted on account of long
service, advanced age and bodily infirmities."
Among Col. Collier's old tax receipts in
possession of one of his grandchildren, is one dated September
8, 1801, for one hundred and seventy-five cents, his
land tax for that year. Subscribed by John Lodwick,
Collector for Adams County. In 1811, the tax on the
same land was nine dollars as shown by the receipt of
Thomas Massie, Collector.
(Source 1: History of Adams County, Ohio - Publ.
1900 - Page 538) |
ELLIOT
H. COLLINS is of English ancestry. His
grandfather, John Collins, was born in Maryland in
1754. His wife was Sallie Henthorn. He
had three sons and four daughters. In 1800 he brought
his family to Washington County, Ohio. His son,
Henry, was born in 1779, and married Frances Ewart,
who was born in County Armagh, Ireland. Our subject
was their eldest son, born in Grandview Township in
Washington County, Apr. 23, 1812. He married
Elizabeth Rinard, Mar. 19, 1835. They reared a
family of one son and three daughters, Lycurgus Benton
Allen, Cleopatra Minerva, Elizabeth Rebecca and
Roxana Samantha. His wife died Oct. 6, 1865,
and on Mar. 28, 1858 he married Nancy McKay.
She was born in West Virginia, Jan. 15, 1824. Of
Mrs. Collins' children, Cleopatra Minerva
married William Wikoff, and resides in McLean County,
Illinois; Elizabeth Rebecca died Aug. 24, 1868, at
the age of twenty-seven years; Roxana Samantha
married Joseph Nagel, and resides in Morris County,
Kansas. His son lives in Wellington, Kansas, and is a
farmer.
Mr. Collins came to Adams
County in 1850, and located first in Monroe Township and
afterwards in the Irish Bottoms, where he now resides. He
was a man of great public spirit, and was always in the
front of any movement for the public good. He has been
a Justice of the Peace for forty-nine years, his first
commission being signed by Governor Vance, Mar. 31,
1838. In that time, he never committed a person to
jail, never had an appeal taken from any decision of his,
never had a case from his docket taken up on error, never
had a bond he took forfeited. He has married over
seven hundred couples and always presented the bride with
the wedding fee and groom gave him. He has often gone
twenty miles to perform a marriage ceremony and has had
parties come twenty-five miles to him to be married.
Of the years he was Justice of the Peace, twelve years were
in Washington County, six in Monroe Township, Adams County.
He has been a Democrat all his life, never missed a
political convention when he could get to it, never missed
an elation and never scratched a ticket. He is a
member of the Christian Union Church on Beasley's Fork.
He is one of the best farmers in the Irish Bottoms, where he
lives in ease and comfort. He is a good friend, a kind
neighbor, and a citizen proud of his county. He is a
good friend, a kind neighbor, and a citizen proud of his
country. He and his wife are enjoying the days of
their old age. For his years, he has the most powerful
lungs and a remarkable constitution. He bears up under
the infirmities of age, though they were but temporary, and
when he is called, he will answer "ready," and go, ready to
gie an account of the deed done in the body. No man
enjoys the company of his friends better than he, and no one
is ever happier to have them visit him. Since
the preparation of this sketch his wife died in December,
1899.
(Source 1: History of Adams Co., Ohio - 1900 - Page
715) |
| REV. JOHN COLLINS
(Source 1: History of Adams Co., Ohio - 1900 - Page
543) |
JOHN
EDGAR COLLINS was born Apr. 9, 1871, two miles south
of Peebles. His father's name is John R. Collins,
and his mother's maiden name was Mary Wright.
He has a brother, the Rev. H. O. Collins, a minister
in the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is also a
member. His only sister is Mrs. Robert Jackman.
His training was such as the country school affords until he
became a teacher at the age of eighteen. Teaching
during the Winter and spending his Summers in study at the
National Normal University, he was graduated from the
Scientific Department of that institution in 1892 in a class
of seventy-seven. The next year he was elected to the
superintendency of the Peebles schools, which position he
resigned in 1896 to accept a similar position in the West
Union schools. He was four times unanimously elected
to this position. At the time of his last re-election,
in 1899, he was also elected to the superintendency of the
Batavia schools, which place he accepted. This school
has nine departments and one of the best High schools in
Southern Ohio. Both when at Peebles and at West Union,
Mr. Collins conducted a Summer Training School for
Teachers, "The Tri-County Normal." As Principal of the
schools for seven years, 1893 to 1899, he did much to
advance the educational interests in Adams County. The
total enrollment of the Tri-County Normal School under his
management was over eight hundred, and more than eighty per
cent, of the teachers actively engaged in school work in
this county at this time (1900) received their training in
his school. Kentucky sent a number of students to this
school as did the several counties of Southern Ohio.
Since graduating from the University, his one aim has been
successful school work. For some time he has been
doing post-graduate work at the Ohio Wesleyan University,
and in 1896 and 12897, respectively, he received common and
high school certificates from the Ohio State Board.
One of his most intimate friends and classmates in the
Public schools speaks of him as follows: "John
Edgar Collins possesses some strong elements of
character among which is his indomitable will and steadiness
of purpose. Every undertaking in which he is
interested in carefully planned beforehand. With him,
there is no pensive 'It might have been.' Thought
precedes action with him. He knows at end at the
beginning. His school work is planned with such
accuracy that he sees the result as he leads his pupils to
it. By nature he is a teacher, and it is in the school
that he is most at home. Another extraordinary feature
which he possesses is his power to meet exigencies. At
the most critical moment, he exercises the most deliberate
judgment and meets opposition with the earnestness that
brings the spoils into his hands. He is a man of
resources. What he has become in the educational
worked is much the result of his own effort. A
constant student, he has shown his power for mastery of
thought best when studying for examinations or for special
work. He acquires knowledge with but little effort and
has proved himself a thoughtful, careful student, not only
of books, but of men as well. In all his educational
efforts, he has had the support of the best and most
conscientious men. His powers as an educator ad as an
organizer have been proved not only by his public school
work but by his successful training of hundreds of teachers
in Normal school, as well. His aim is high and he will
leave a record which will be characterized by earnestness
and many brilliant acts.
(Source 1: History of Adams Co., Ohio - 1900 - Page
718) |
| |
JAMES
HARVEY CONNOR, of West Union, Ohio, was born Dec. 27,
1842, on the old Connor farm, in Sprigg Township.
He is of Irish lineage, his father, James Connor,
being a son of Peter O'Connor, who emigrated from the
South of Ireland to America in 1786, and shortly thereafter
came West to the "dark and bloody ground," stopping in
the vicinity of Kenton's Station near the old town of
Washington. Peter O'Connor had been reared in
the Catholic Church, and upon his leaving for America the
Parish Priest gave him a certificate of character, of which
the following is a copy of the original now in the
possession of our subject, J. H. Connor:
"I do hereby certify that Peter O'Connor,
the bearer hereof, is a parishioner of mine in the parish of
Clone these some years - is a young man descended of honest
parents, and has behaved virtuously, soberly and regularly,
and from everything I could learn his character has been
irreproachable. Given under my hand this third day of
April, 1786.
"DAVID CULLUM, P.P." In
May, Peter O'Connor sailed from Dublin for America, as the
following receipt for his passable aboard the Tristam shows:
"Received from Peter Connor four guineas in full for
steerage passage in the Tristam to America. Dublin,
May 13, 1786.
"GEORGE CRAWFORD."
"This is to certify that Peter Connor comes as
passenger on board of the Tristam, and this is his final
discharge from the ship. Dated this first day of
August,, 1786.
"CLARKE & MANN, Assng.
"Aug. 2, 1786."
Peter O'Connor, or Connor as he was now
called, arrived in Baltimore in August, 1786, and after
getting from the proper authorities a permit to travel
across the Stae, went to New York City and thence to
Philadelphia. Afterwards he went on a prospecting trip
over the mountains to the frontier of Kentucky, and in 1796
bought of Andrew Ellison, "two hundred acres of land
lying between Big Three Mile Creek and the Ohio River, it
being a part of a tract of five hundred acres entered in the
name of said Andrew Ellison and adjoining a tract now
belonging to William Brady on the North." This
title bond gives the place of residence of Andrew Ellison
as Hamilton County, Territory Northwest of the River Ohio
(this was a year previous to the organization of Adams
County), and the place of residence of Peter Connor,
as Washington, Mason County, Kentucky.
The date of his marriage to Elizabeth Roebuck is
not known, but it is presumed to be about the time of the
purchase of this tract of land in 1796. It is also
supposed that it was previous to his marriage that he paid a
visit to his old home in Ireland, as disclosed by the
following:
"March 11, received from Peter Connor the sum of
four guineas, passage money on board the Hamburg from
Philadelphia to Cork.
"STEPHEN MOORE."
The father of the subject of
this sketch was James Connor, son of Peter Connor,
and was born Nov. 2, 1802. He was christened in the
Catholic faith, although his mother was a Protestant.
James Connor married Margaret Boyle, a
daughter of Thomas Boyle, for many years an elder in
the Presbyterian Church at Manchester. James Connor
died May 4, 1896.
Our subject, James H. Connor, attended the
common schools and the academy at North Liberty under
Prof. Chase. He resided on the farm till 1874,
when he moved to Manchester and entered the dry goods store
of W. L. Vance as a clerk. The following year
he was elected on the Democratic ticket Treasurer of Adams
County, and re-elected in 1877. In 1881, he became a
member of the dry goods establishment of Connor, Boyles
and Pollard, in West Union, which firm was changed to
Connor and Boyles in 1889. In 1895, on
the retirement of Mr. Boyles, the firm name was
changed to J. H. Connor. The first six years in
business, the firm of Connor, Boyles & Pollard
handled annually over $50,000 worth of goods. With
close competition, the house now does a business of over
$30,000 annually.
In 1891, Mr. Connor was nominated by the
Democrats in the Adams-Pike District for Representative in
the Ohio Legislature, and although the district is largely
Republican, was defeated by only thirty-nine votes.
July 21, 1893, President Cleveland commissioned him
postmaster of West Union, which position he held to the
entire satisfaction of the community for four years and six
months.
Mr. Connor is a member of West Union Lodge, F. &
A. M. No. 43; of DeKalb Lodge, I. O. O. F., Manchester;
Crystal Lodge, K. of P., West Union, and a charter member of
Royal Arcanum, Adams Council, No. 830. He is also a
member of the M. E. Church, West Union.
In 1864, July 27, Mr. Connor enlisted in the
182d O. V. I., and was honorably discharged July 7, 1865,
under Col. Lewis Butler. And it is a fact
worthy of notice that not until every other man of his
company had applied for and received a pension did our
subject do so.
In all matters pertaining to the public good, Harvey
Connor, as he is familiarly known , is always found in
the foremost ranks. He has done well, accumulated a
competency, not from parsimony, but from liberal and honest
dealing with his fellow men.
(Source 1: History of Adams County, Ohio - Publ.
1900 - Page 717) |
LARKIN N. COVERT,
(Source 1: History of Adams County, Ohio - by
Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900) |
EDWARD
A. CRAWFORD was born December 28, 1861, near West
Union, the son of Harper and Jane Willson Crawford.
His father, Harper Crawford, enlisted in Company K,
70th O. V. I., January 6, 1862. He died in 1885 at the
age of forty-five. His eldest brother, William S.
Crawford, enlisted June 13, 1864, in Company D, 24th O.
V. I., Adams County's first company in the war and was
transferred to Company D, 18th O. V. I., June 12, 1864.
This company was in sixteen battles and Crawford was
mortally wounded at the battle of Nashville, December 15,
1864, and died December 29, 1864. He is interred in
the Nashville cemetery at Nashville, Tennessee. He had
a brother Gabriel who served in the Second
Independent Battery of Ohio Light Artillery, enlisting at
the age of nineteen.
Our subject attended school at West Union until he
completed all which could be taught him there. He
attended the Normal school at Lebanon in 1878 and 1880 and
taught school in parts of the same year and was engaged in
teaching school thereafter until 1890. From 1881 to
1885, he taught school at Waggoner's Ripple, Sandy Springs,
Bradyville and Quinn Chapel. From 1886 to 1888 he
taught at Rome; from 1888 to 1889, he was engaged in the
grocery business at West Union, and in the Summer of 1890,
he taught a Normal school at Moscow, Ohio. In the Fall
of 1890, he bought the People's Defender from
Joseph W. Eylar, and has conducted that newspaper, a
weekly, at West Union, ever since. In 1897, he bought
out the Democratic Index, edited by D. W. P. Eylar,
and consolidated it with the Defender.
He was married August 13, 1883,
to Miss Mattie J. Pennywit, daughter of Mark
Pennywit and his wife, Sallie Cox. He is a
member of the Presbyterian Church. Politically, he has
always been Democrat. In 1887, he was the
candidate of that party for Clerk of the Court, but was
defeated by W. R. Mehaffey, by seventy-three votes.
He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at
Chicago from the Tenth Ohio District in 1896. His
paper has been well and ably conducted since he has
controlled it and is one of the best in Southern Ohio.
Mr. Crawford is a self made man. He has
made his business a success. He is known for his
strict fidelity to his party. He is public spirited
and takes an active part in church and social matters as
well as political. He was elected Secretary of the
Democratic State Executive Committee of Ohio in September,
1900.
(Source 1: History of Adams Co., Ohio - 1900) |
| |
CRAWFORDS Stables (p. 436, Liberty Twp. -
(Source 1: History of Adams County, Ohio - by
Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers – West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B.
Stivers - 1900)
There were many Indians in this region when the first
settlers came, after the treaty of Greenville, and they
annoyed the pioneers greatly by begging and pilfering, and
occasionally stealing horses. William Crawford,
in order to protect a valuable horse from being stolen,
built a stable in one end of his cabin in which he secured
the animal at night.
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