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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS
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Welcome to Clark County, Ohio |
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BIOGRAPHIES
Each Book has it's own separate biographical index.
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BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX FOR SOURCE #1:
The History of Clark County, Ohio :
containing a
history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., general and local
statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history
of the Northwest Territory, history of Ohio, map of Clark County,
Constitution of the United States, miscellaneous matters, etc., etc.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881,
†
BIOGRAPHICAL
INDEX FOR SOURCE #2:
A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County,
Ohio: an
Volume 2 - Publ. 1922
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JAMES BACON, farmer and
stock-breeder; P. O. Springfield. He lives in a beautiful
brick house near Taylor’s mill, about three miles east of
Springfield; he takes great pleasure in raising fine horses
and cattle, and has at present some very fine ones; he is a
son of John and Mary (Cavileer) Bacon, and was born
in Springfield Feb. 1, 1823; his father came to Ohio in
1812, locating in Urbana, Champaign Co., where he lived six
years; thence to Springfield, living there until his death,
which occurred March 5, 1878. His mother was born in
Chestertown, Md.; her parents were among the earliest
settlers of this county; she departed this life Dec. 22,
1868. James attended school until 15, when he entered his
father’s shop—he being a saddler—as an apprentice, and, at
the end of six years, entered into partnership with his
father, continuing the same some five years; he then went to
New York City, clerking some five years in a wholesale
hardware store; then, returning to Springfield, engaged in
the dry goods business, under the firm name of Baldwin &
Bacon, for ten years, when they sold out; he was then
appointed, in 1861, Revenue Collector for this district,
conducting the same satisfactorily two years, when he
resigned, not engaging in any particular business until
1869, when he moved to where he now lives, and engaged in
milling for a short time; since leaving the mill, he has
devoted his time to his present occupation. He was united in
marriage, Oct. 12, 1854, to Mary L. Topping, daughter
of William and Mary Topping; four children—two boys
and two girls—have gladdened their hearts. Mr. and Mrs.
Bacon have enjoyed their married life very much, and would
be willing to live it over again. An incident in his
father’s life is worthy of note. The family, which consisted
of father, mother and two children, moved from Connecticut
to Ohio in a wagon drawn by two oxen; John, then 12 years
old, drove the team the entire distance.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 781 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
WILLIAM D. BAIRD, retired
farmer; P. O. Springfield. Few men have had the good fortune
to win the affectionate regard and kindly sympathy of the
community in which they live that William D. Baird has
gained among the people of Clark Co. His supple frame
bending under the weight of years, his frank, open, generous
face, his courteous bearing, his kindly and even-tempered
disposition, unruffled by the cares and anxieties of a
lifetime of business activity, and all conspire to excite
respect. Nearly fourscore years have left him a hale, hearty
and well-preserved old man; a quick, elastic step; busy,
active and energetic in business; still in possession of his
old-time habit of industry, which have been his
stepping-stone to prosperity. His grandfather, William
Baird, a native of Maryland, of English origin—the
family having come to the American Colonies before the
Revolutionary war—was a man of prominence in his county; was
Justice of the Peace, and afterward represented his county
in the State Legislature for three terms. He had a family of
three children, one son and two daughters, and died at
Hagerstown, in his native State. His son William, the
youngest of his children, was born in Hagerstown, Md., March
16, 1762, and when 18 years of age, went into the patriot
army to help free his native land from English tyranny. Some
time after the close of that struggle for liberty, William
was married to Dorothy Camerer, who was born in his
native town in March, 1760. The Camerers were from Holland,
and settled in Maryland at an early day, five of her
brothers having been soldiers in the Revolution, fighting
the battles for freedom under Washington. William Baird and
wife remained in Maryland until 1790, then removed to
Westmoreland Co., Penn., where they resided about four
years; thence came down the Ohio on a flat-boat, to
Maysville, Ky., and from there to Fleming Co., of the same
State, where he intended settling on 500 acres of land
previously entered by his father, and given to him on
condition that he would settle upon it. He remained in
Fleming Co. about fourteen years, but never settled on the
land, for the reason that others claimed it, and he, putting
his case in the hands of a lawyer, finally lost it all. In
1808, he and family came to Clark Co., Ohio, and he entered
160 acres of land in Sec. 30, Township 6, Range 9, Harmony
Township, paying one-half entrance money down, and the
balance in the next four years, receiving his patent in
1812. To William and Dorothy Baird were born the following
children: Esther, Susannah, Sarah,
Peter C., John, Elizabeth, Mary Ann
and William D., only two of whom are living—Susannah,
the widow of Joshua Tatman, and the subject of this
sketch. William D. was born in Fleming Co., Ky., Feb.
4, 1803, and was in his 5th year when the family moved to
this county. He grew to maturity on his father’s farm,
attending school about two years at the primitive log
schoolhouse of his neighborhood, most of the time having to
walk three miles to get there. His mother died Sept. 4,
1824, a sincere member of the Methodist Church, and March 9,
1836, his father died, leaving to his family a farm of 394
acres of land, William D. receiving the old homestead
of 160, on which were such improvements as were common fifty
years ago. Two of the sons, Peter C. and John,
were soldiers in the war of 1812. William D. Baird
was married in Pleasant Township, Dec. 1, 1826, to Sarah
M. C. Hodge, daughter of Andrew and Isabel (McTire)
Hodge, natives of Virginia, who first settled in
Kentucky, coming to Clark Co. in the fall of 1808, and
settling in Pleasant Township. Mrs. Baird was born in
Bourbon Co., Ky., April 12, 1804, and had born to her the
following children: Isabel (wife of Henry Stickney),
Andrew (deceased), Samuel E. (deceased),
William W. (deceased), Mary Ann (deceased wife of
John A. Yeazell) and James (deceased). Mrs.
Baird died Feb. 19, 1876, after a wedded life of over half a
century, leaving behind her partner in life’s battles to
mourn the loss of his faithful helpmate. Politically, he is
a Republican, and, although connected with no religious
denomination, he believes firmly in the fundamental
principles of Christianity. Beginning in life at “the foot
of the ladder,” he has, by hard, determined work and
constant attention to his business affairs, made a wonderful
success. He is now the owner of about 1,000 acres of land
surrounding the old homestead, and about 300 in other parts
of the county, and his wealth is to-day estimated at from
$75,000 to $100,000. In his younger days he was an active
stock-raiser, and in this manner, by untiring energy, has
made a success. Seldom equaled in farm life, Mr. Baird is a
living example of what pluck and perseverance can accomplish
when backed by industry and true economy. He is now in his
79th year, and as hale and hearty as are most men at half
his age; and although his life has been one of constant toil
and business cares, his character stands unblemished, and
his reputation for honesty and integrity is above reproach.
His troubles have been many, having lost every member of his
family, with the exception of one; but, with patient
resignation, he bows to the will of the Great Creator, and
awaits the day when he shall again meet those gone on
before.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 954 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
A. A. BAKER, physician and
surgeon, Springfield. Dr. Baker is a life-time resident of
Clark County, and for many years has been a noted physician
and surgeon in the locality in which he has done business.
As one of our prominent men, then, he is deserving of a
place in the history of the county. He was born in 1831,
near Enon, and, during his boyhood, received an excellent
education; his parents, Ezra D. and Anne (Morgan) Baker,
reared four children—Cassandra, Leander,
Gustavius and our subject. In 1845, Dr. Baker commenced
the study of medicine under Dr. J. J. McElhinney, of
Dayton; in 1846 and 1847, he attended medical lectures at
Starling College, Ohio, since which time he has practiced
his profession in this and Champaign Counties. His marriage
to Miss Maggie Miller was celebrated in 1845; she is
of the old Shellabarger stock that have ever been noted in
the history of this and Champaign Counties; their children
are four in number—Annetta M., Elizabeth A.,
Scipio E. and Nellie B.; the eldest daughter,
Annetta, is the wife of Dr. E. Myers, who is now a
partner of his father-in-law. In 1870, Dr. Baker graduated
at the Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati, although a highly
reputable and educated physician, but wishing a diploma from
one of the oldest schools in the West, and that the
efficient instruction imparted at that institution would be
of benefit to him, besides the release from business cares,
determined him in this matter. Wishing to engage in a city
practice, he came to Springfield in 1880 and associated in
business with Dr. Myers, still being near enough his old
patrons, who are loath to give him up. During the war, he
was appointed Surgeon of the 53d O. N. G., but was forced to
resign on account of disability. The Doctor is one of those
genial men who will surely merit the confidence of the
citizens of Springfield, and he already possesses this of
numerous patrons in his former place of residence. His
father is now the oldest living settler of Madison Township,
and was County Commissioner four terms, besides being
actively engaged in the county’s business enterprises for
many years. His mother died in 1867 at the age of 63 years.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 785 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
CORNELIUS BAKER,
ex-Sheriff, Springfield. He was born in York Co., Penn.,
Sept. 28, 1823; came to Clark Co., Ohio, in 1836, and
settled in Springfield, where he sold goods until 1852; he
then moved to the country and carried on farming for several
years; during the war of the rebellion, he was appointed
Enrolling Officer for German Township, and was Revenue
Assessor six years. In 1872, he was elected Sheriff of Clark
County, and served in said office four years, being
re-elected in 1874. Mr. Baker is noted for his generosity
and acts of kindness; he performed the duties of his
official positions to the satisfaction of all, coming out of
office without a stain upon his character.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 782 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
JOHN R. BAKER, farmer; P. O.
Springfield. John R. Baker, son of Rudolph and Eve (Kiblinger)
Baker, was born Aug. 27, 1807, in Shenandoah Co., Va.;
in 1818, came with his parents from Virginia to Ohio, and to
Clark County, and settled in German Township, where they
lived the remainder of their lives; the father died in 1825,
and the mother in 1845. John R. Baker was married, Nov. 1,
1832, to Sarah Miller, daughter of William C. and
Mary M. Miller; Sarah was born in Lebanon Co., Penn.,
March 31,1814, and came to Clark Co., Ohio, with her
parents, in 1818, and settled near the Bakers, in German
Township; her father departed this life in 1840, and her
mother in 1860. Mr. and Mrs. John R. Baker are two worthy
pioneers of this county; of their six children, but three
are now living—Ezra K., James T. and Mary
M. William C., in 1862 (at the end of his third year in
Wittenberg College), enlisted in the 94th O. V. I., and was
taken prisoner at the battle of Chickamauga; after suffering
the horrors and privations of Libby, Danville and
Andersonville Prisons, he died in Andersonville Prison Sept.
22, 1864, one year from the time he was taken prisoner. Ezra
graduated at Wittenberg College in 1870, and is now a
Lutheran minister; Mary was married, Nov. 22, 1855, to
David Cutshaw; in 1866, she was left a widow by the
death of her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Baker remember well when
they first settled in this county; they had to “blaze” the
trees when they went to a neighbor’s house, in order to find
their way home again.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 782 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
CHARLES ELIHU BALLARD.
The profession of law at Springfield is ably represented by
Charles Elihu Ballard, who has had a successful and busy
professional career, in which he has attained a high place
in his calling. During the twenty-three years that he has
practiced at Springfield he has not only established a high
personal reputation for ability and character, but has also
served acceptably in positions of trust and responsibility.
Mr. Ballard was born in August, 1865, on a farm in
Clinton County, Ohio, and is a son of Abram and Mary J.
(Oren) Ballard. David Ballard, the
great-great-grandfather of Charles E. Ballard, was born in
Virginia, and in 1800 came to the present site of
Wilmington, Ohio. A Quaker in religious faith, he served as
preacher at Quaker meeting, and was probably the first of
that denomination in that part of the country. His son,
John Ballard, the great-grand father of Charles E.
Ballard, accompanied his father to Wilmington, in which
locality he entered Government land and engaged in
agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his life.
Joseph Ballard, the grandfather of Charles, was born at
Wilmington, in 1812, and married Susanna Stillings,
who had been brought from Virginia to Clinton County by her
parents about 1825, the family traveling overland in true
pioneer fashion.
Abram Ballard was born in Clinton County, Ohio,
where he was given a country school education, and on
attaining his majority followed in the footsteps of his
forefathers and adopted the vocation of farming, which he
followed throughout his life. He was a man of industry and
probity, and in his death, which occurred in 1913, his
community lost a reliable and public-spirited citizen. Mr.
Ballard married Miss Mary J. Oren, who died in 1892,
a daughter of Elihu and Jane (Newcomb) Oren, the
former born in Tennessee, whence he came with his father,
John Oren, to Clinton County, Ohio, in 1810. Elihu
Oren
was a farmer and schoolteacher, and during the Civil war and
prior thereto was an ardent Union man and abolitionist. His
home served as a station on the Underground Railway, and he
assisted many slaves to the securing of their freedom by
helping to send them to a safe refuge in Canada. He married
in Clark County in 1830, and immediately thereafter moved to
Clinton County, where he spent the rest of his life. He and
the members of his family belonged to the Society of
Friends. The children born to Abram and Mary J. (Oren)
Ballard were: Clara, who died at Adrian, Michigan, in
September, 1921, as the wife of Hiram Arnold; Charles
Elihu, of this review; and Joseph F., who is the
owner of a model farm in Clinton County.
Charles Elihu Ballard attended the public schools of
his home locality, following which he pursued a course at
Wilmington College. He then took up his professional studies
at the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated in
1894 with the degree of Bachelor of Law, and immediately
thereafter commenced his professional labors at South
Charleston. After five years he decided that Springfield
offered a wider field for the demonstration of his
abilities, and he accordingly opened an office at this city,
which has since been the scene of his success. He has always
practiced independently and has carried on a general law
business. For four years, 1913, 1914, 1915 and 1916. he
served ably as prosecuting attorney, establishing an
excellent record for industry and close attention to the
duties of his office. In 1890 he served as census
enumerator. Mr. Ballard is a republican in politics. As a fratemalist he holds membership in Springfield Lodge No.
146, I. O. O. F., and Springfield Lodge No. 51, B. P. O. E.
In March, 1915, Mr. Ballard was united in marriage with
Miss Jessie Parker, of Springfield, Ohio, daughter of
William J. and Libby (Stewart) Parker, and to this
union there has come one son, Charles Jesse, born
March 1, 1916.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 408 -
Transcribed for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
CHARLES P. BALLARD,
deceased. Mr. C. P. Ballard was born at Framington, Mass.,
on Nov. 7, 1820; he came to Athens, Ohio, in 1840, where he
was engaged in mercantile pursuits, and to Springfield just
after the war; he commenced manufacturing in Springfield
about 1866, buying out McClellan’s interest in the firm of
Rinehart & McClellan, the firm thus formed of Rinehart,
Ballard & Co., continuing up to the present time. Mr.
Ballard was twice married, first to Electa Stewart Hawkes,
whom he lost by death, and then, on May 15, 1862, he married
in New York City Miss Eunice E. Hibbard, of
Massachusetts. Of Mr. Ballard’s children three are living,
to wit: William Whiting, who is in Colorado for
business and health; and Misses Susie and Helen,
who live with their mother in their elegant home on High
street. Mr. Ballard was an exemplary Christian, estimable
citizen, and essentially a substantial man in every way; he
was Deacon in the Presbyterian Church at Athens, and Elder
in the Second Presbyterian Church here; he died July 19,
1878. Mrs. Ballard retains her interest in the firm, of
which appropriate mention is made in the historical part of
this work. Two of his children are dead—Mary and
John. Mr. Ballard’s father died the 23d of August, 1880,
nearly 90 years old.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 885 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
LOUIS BANCROFT, retired
merchant, Springfield. Mr. Bancroft is perhaps the oldest
man who has lived continuously in the city; he came to
Springfield in 1816, and established himself as one of the
leading dry goods merchants during his business life; he
also engaged in other ventures, all of which proved
successful; at one time, he was a wholesale dealer in
liquors, but, through the remonstrances of friends,
relinquished the very profitable business; for ten years he
was County Gauger and Government Inspector, and he handled
annually 10,000 barrels of liquor. He was born in
Massachusetts in 1792, came West in 1816, and was married to
Miss Mary Christie in 1819; she was born in 1800, in
New Boston, N. H.; they are the parents of six children—Leonidas,
Phraotes E., La Fayette, Oscar Fitz,
Amanda M., and Flavilla G. Another son, Louis
Waters, died in infancy. Leonidas married Miss Mary
Hartwell; Pharotes wedded Miss Lou Mayhew; Oscar
is the husband of Miss Jennie Myers; Amanda is the
wife of Benjamin P. Churchill; and Flavilla, married
Mr. William Kleiman. All were wedded before except
one, and, with the exception of Mrs. Churchill, live in the
city. Mr. Bancroft was a resident of this county two years
before the organization of Clark County, and has until the
past few years been actively connected with its business
interests. In October he will be 89 years of age. There is
only one house now standing in the city that stood when he
came here. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and while
Deputy Sheriff during the early settlement of the county,
achieved quite a reputation as an efficient officer, the men
in some parts of the county being a very lawless set. He and
his wife now live at their ease in a tasty cottage on West
Washington street, and enjoy the respect of every one in the
city.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 785 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
PHRAOTES
E. BANCROFT, hatter, Springfield. Mr. P. E. Bancroft
was born in Springfield on Jan. 28, 1822, and is one of six
children—four brothers and two sisters; he has been twice
married—first, to Miss Catherine Moody, in 1844, by
whom he had no children to live: and he married again in
1859, Lou M. Mayhew, of Warren County, by whom he has
had one son, Robert Christie, born Nov. 7, 1866—an
exceptionally good and dutiful boy, and a great source of
comfort and pride to his parents. Mr. Bancroft learned his
trade with the firm of Cotes, Lathrop & Arden, entering his
apprenticeship in 1839: commenced business for himself in
his present stand in 1851, where he has grown with
Springfield, been quite successful, and is doing now the
principal hat and cap trade. His family attend the First
Presbyterian Church. Mr. Bancroft, although not drafted,
sent voluntarily to the army a substitute, at an expense to
himself of about $700. Of his brothers and sisters,
Leonidas has a billiard room; La Fayette is a
tinner; Oscar F. is a photographer; and his two
sisters are Mrs. Amanda Churchill and Mrs.
Flavilla G. Kleiman. Mr. Bancroft’s father, Louis
Bancroft, is entitled to the distinction of being the
oldest citizen, and no man knows more of early Springfield
than he.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 786 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
SAMUEL BARNETT, deceased.
This well-known gentleman was born in Hanover, Dauphin Co.,
Penn., Sept. 30, 1790, and, at the age of 16, was left an
orphan; had to struggle with adversity for many years, but
finally, by dint of energy and honesty of purpose, he
surmounted every obstacle to substantial success. He came to
Ohio in 1817, settling in Warren County, residing in that
and Butler Counties until 1841, when he came to Springfield,
where he and his brother James, who had preceded him
several years, erected a large flouring-mill, which was at
that time the largest industrial enterprise of which
Springfield could boast. He continued his milling business
until 1859, then selling out to his son William A.
Barnett and William Warder, retired from
business. He was married, at West Hanover, Penn., Aug. 27,
1815, to Mary Mitchell, by the Rev. James Sharon,
Pastor of Derry Church. She was born in West Hanover Jan.
16, 1790, and had born to her ten children, viz., James,
Susannah W. (deceased), David M. (deceased),
Mary, William A., Levi, Nancy A.,
Sarah, George W. and Samuel. Mrs.
Barnett died May 17, 1851, and her husband May 10, 1869,
full of honorable years. Samuel Barnett was a humble
and devoted Christian, and warmly attached to the United
Presbyterian Church, of which he was an active and useful
member; he lived to see all his children married, and all
with sons-in-law and daughters-in-law members of his own
church, with the exception of two, who are connected with
another denomination. James, his eldest son, a
graduate of Miami University, is a minister, and was sent in
1844 as a missionary to Damascus, Syria, and Cairo, Egypt,
where he resided many years in establishing the now
flourishing United Presbyterian Mission of the latter place,
being in the foreign mission service thirty years, and now
residing in Emporia, Kan. Mary married Dr. Joseph
G. Paulding, and they accompanied James as missionaries
to Damascus, where they resided eleven years. Mr. Barnett
was a man of great personality, a vigorous character, of
undeviating integrity; in personal appearance, tall,
raw-boned, commanding, yet amiable, a man universally
trusted and respected, whose counsels were sought, and whose
friendship was esteemed a privilege to enjoy.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 786 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
WILLIAM A. BARNETT,
miller, Springfield. Mr. William A. Barnett was born Oct. 8,
1822, in Butler Co., Ohio, and passed the early part of his
life in Butler and Warren Counties until 1841, when he came
with his father, Samuel Barnett, to Springfield. The
family are now much scattered, some living in Illinois, some
in Kansas and elsewhere. William A. went to Miami University
in early life; was in his father’s mill from August, 1845,
to July 1, 1859, when he and William Warder (of the
Warder family so prominent here), bought the property and
business from Mr. Samuel Barnett, and have been carrying on
the business under the name and style of Warder &
Barnett,
with gratifying success for twenty-one years, making
thirty-five years in all of one business in one spot—a rare
example of continuity of purpose and effort. On Dec. 18,
1855, he was married to Miss S. Belle Grove, of
Chambersburg, Penn; of their children, Annie S.,
Ella M. and a son are living, and they lost a son at 3
months of age. Their daughter Ella has recently married the
Rev. Joseph Kyle, Pastor of the United Presbyterian
Church of this city, of which Mr. Barnett’s family are
members. For full history of the Warder & Barnett milling
interest reference is made to the industrial branch of this
history. Mr. Barnett mentions a curious fact that in his
daily walks to and from his residence during his business
life here, he has traversed on Limestone street alone over
twenty-five thousand miles, or more than the whole
circumference of the globe. He is one of those
straightforward true men, the same to-day, to-morrow and
always, and one whom all respect and honor; a man upon whom
one can depend to the full extent of all he promises.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 787 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
DR. W. H. BARNWELL; P. O.
South Charleston; was born Sept. 10, 1832, in Ashtabula
Village, Ashtabula Co., Ohio; has been a resident of this
county twenty-three years. His father and mother were
natives of Northamptonshire, England, and came to this
country in the early part of 1832. The latter is still
living in Harmony Village, this county, in the 74th year of
her age. April 23, 1861, he enlisted as a private
soldier with Capt. Phil. Kershner, 16th O. V. I., and
served four months; assisted in organizing the 44th O. V. I.
in the fall of 1861; sworn into the service as a private
soldier; elected Second Lieutenant Co. F; served in that
capacity until promoted to First Lieutenant and assigned to
Co. B, where he served until the expiration of term of
enlistment of the 44th, participating in every battle or
skirmish the regiment was ever engaged in, among which was
the battle of Lewisburg, Va., May 23, 1862, that Gen.
George Crook's said was "the neatest little stand-up
fight of the war." April, 1865, he was appointed
United States Detective, with headquarters at Nashville,
Tenn., under orders of Gen Thomas, and held that
position until after the close of the war, and the office
was abandoned March, 1866; read medicine with Dr. James
S. R. Hazzard, of Springfield, and graduated at the
Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery June 1871; since
which time has been constantly in the active practice of his
profession; is a member of Clark County Medical Society, and
served one year as its President; married to Lucina E.
Sprague, daughter of Davis Sprague, of Harmony
Township, this county, Nov. 14, 1867, by whom he has three
children - Jessie H., born Aug. 27, 1868; Ollie L.,
born Mar. 9, 1872, and William Hayes, born Nov. 6,
1876; present residence, South Charleston, Clark Co., O.; is
and always has been a firm adherent to the regular practice
of medicine.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 1059 -
Transcribed by Sharon Wick |
EDWIN L. BARRETT,
publisher of specialties, Springfield. Mr. Edwin L. Barrett
is a New Englander, having been born on Aug. 20, 1827, in
Worcester Co., Mass; his family on both sides was long
lived; his mother, who now lives alternately with her
children, being 78; her family name was Lawrence. His father
was among the early cotton manufacturers of Massachusetts;
owned a cotton-factory in Mr. Barrett’s native county. On
Jan. 4, 1849, he married, at Ashburnham, Mass., Miss
Sarah B. Petts, a native of New York, daughter of Dr.
John Petts and sister of Quincy A. Petts, Clark
County Auditor, both residents of Springfield, the former
being in his 84th year; by this union he had eight
children—six sons and two daughters—of whom only three sons
are living now, viz., Edward L., aged 30, and Fred
W., aged 22, partners in business with their father; and
George Lawrence, aged 19, now in Wittenberg College.
Having lost his wife in 1865, Mr. Barrett married, on March
18, 1867, Miss Clara D. Hulsey, a native of
Milledgeville, Ga., by whom he has had a son and a daughter
now respectively 8 and 11 years old. At the age of 21, on
account of failing health, Mr. Barrett went to North
Carolina, living alternately in Franklin, Halifax and Warren
Counties, where he remained until 1856, spending his time in
teaching, having, in the meantime, charge of a female
seminary at White Sulphur Springs, and one also at
Warrenton; he went from North Carolina to Oxford, Butler
Co., Ohio, where, in connection with Rev. J. H. Buchanan,
he conducted the Oxford Female Institute, continuing until
1861, from where, at that time, he came to Springfield,
Ohio; here he went into the book business with Charles L.
Petts, under the firm name of Barrett & Petts, later
becoming associated with G. W. Hastings (now of the
Springfield Republic), under the firm name of
Hastings, Barrett & Petts, together carrying on, with their
former business, book-binding and printing; this was in
1862, and continued several years; his brother-in-law and
partner, Charles L. Petts, is now no more. On the
dissolution of this firm, Mr. Barrett was for several years
out of active business, his health again failing him; in
1865, he bought him a little farm a few miles out on the
Charleston road, more, as he says, to die upon than anything
else, and spent the intervening years between 1865 and 1867
in maturing legal and other forms, subsequently utilized in
business, and, his health in the meantime becoming
re-established, he commenced, in 1867, the business of his
present firm of E. L. Barrett & Sons, for the manufacture of
specialties in the line of legal, election and other blanks
and forms and conveniences, which, under his thorough and
careful management, has grown to be quite extensive and
profitable. In 1872, he took his eldest son into
partnership, and on Jan. 1, 1880, his second son was
admitted to the firm; on the 27th of April, 1875, his eldest
son, Edward L., was united in marriage with Miss
Flora C. Lyon, of Cincinnati, and has now two sons and
one daughter. Mr. Barrett, Sr., and his married son and
their families, live in adjoining houses in the same farm he
purchased in 1865. Most of Mr. Barrett’s family are members
and all attend the First Presbyterian Church. Mr. Barrett is
one of those excellent, even-tempered men who go so largely
to make up the most worthy part of all communities—kind,
exact, careful, moderate, temperate, earnest and honorable;
the influence of such men, while not sensibly pervading and
aggressive, is only felt for good.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 787 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
AMOS BARR, general insurance
agent, Springfield. While Mr. Amos Barr has not been a
resident of Springfield as long as some others, he is most
thoroughly identified with its interests. Born in Lancaster
Co., Penn., in 1810, he came to Lebanon, Ohio, upon
attaining his majority; removed to Cincinnati in 1858, and
to Springfield in 1865. In 1834, he married Miss Martha
H. Smith, of Strasburg, Penn., and of seven children
born him, four daughters and one son are living, to wit,
Mrs. Mary Winger, Mrs. Ann E. Smith, both of
Springfield; Mrs. Martha B. Sperry, of Nashville,
Tenn.; Mrs. Emma B. Scholl, of Baltimore; and
Benjamin H. Barr, a resident of Chattanooga, Tenn.,
making a family group of seventeen when all together. The
venerable subject of this sketch has been for many years
identified with insurance interests, having been, since
1863, agent of that mammoth and honorable institution, the
Cincinnati Mutual Life Insurance Company, with its
$50,000,000 assets, and Mr. Barr has paid out to
beneficiaries in Springfield alone over $100,000, and
numbers among his policy-holders several hundred of
Springfield’s best men; he is also privileged agent of the
Northwestern Mutual Life of Milwaukee, and regular agent of
the Firemen’s Fund of California, Farmer’s Fire of York,
Penn., and Amazon Fire of Cincinnati. Mr. Barr is one of
those benign, courteous men, whom to know is to respect and
admire; quiet, unostentatious, fatherly, and the embodiment
of true innate gentility.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 788 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
MRS. EMILY BARTHOLOMEW,
Springfield. Mrs. Emily Bartholomew, nee
Ebersole, is a
native of Clark County; her father, John Ebersole, of
Virginia. In his school days, Mr. Ebersole walked three
miles to the nearest school, his path leading over the
celebrated natural bridge. In early youth, he removed with
his parents to Ohio; in 1819, married Miss Sally Keifer,
of Sharpsburg, Md., who, with her parents, came to Ohio in
childhood; after marriage, they went on horseback to his
home in Cincinnati. In 1822, they removed to his forest home
in German Township, this county, where he built one of the
finest hewed-log houses of that day and generation, every
log, plank, beam and panel passing through his skilled
hands. Of their family of one son and four daughters, Dr.
E. P. Ebersole has been for years the leading physician
in Preble County, and the daughters reside in this and
adjoining counties, and have all had experience as teachers
in this county. From 12 to 15 years of age, Emily was with
relatives in Troy, Miami Co., receiving careful training in
the family, church and school; when 16, she received from
Isaac H. Lancey, her first certificate as teacher, and
her first efforts were in old log houses, teaching nine
hours a day, thirteen weeks to a quarter, and receiving the
princely remuneration of $8 per month. In some districts,
almost any books were thought suitable for “readers,”
Robinson Crusoe being quite a favorite in some localities.
She spent eight years teaching in the county and attending
the Ohio Conference High School, during which time great
progress was made in the methods of and facilities for
education; feminine ability was recognized, new and better
houses and books were freely provided, fewer hours required
and better wages paid. In 1852, she accepted a position in
the Springfield Female Seminary, remaining five years. In
1859, she married Dr. J. Bartholomew, of Butte Co.,
Cal., a native of Ohio, a graduate of Dennison University,
in which he remained a number of years after graduation as
instructor, preparing, meanwhile, for the practice of
medicine; in 1850, he drove an ox team across the plains to
California, acting as Captain and physician of his company.
Soon after marriage, they sailed from New York for the
Pacific Coast; the Doctor’s death occurred four years
thereafter, and Mrs. Bartholomew remained four years longer,
and, in 1867, she, with her two little sons, Frank
and Ralph, took the steamship Constitution, bound for
New York, arriving in safety after a voyage of twenty-six
days. Since 1868, she has resided permanently in this city,
and her sons are each pursuing a college course. It is
appropriate to make in this connection passing mention of
Miss May Ebersole, a most estimable aunt of Mrs.
Bartholomew, who commenced her life-work as a teacher in
1825; in 1833, she built the house still standing on the
northwest corner of Columbia and Factory streets, and opened
a day and boarding school for girls. The greater part of her
life was devoted to instructing the young, and her zeal and
earnestness in this direction were remarkable. She often
remarked that the material she handled was imperishable, and
that her work would be completed in eternity, and that
therefore her vocation was especially dear to her. She died
at an advanced age, at Murfreesboro, Tenn.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 788 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
OSCAR N. BARTHOLOMEW,
now deceased, was for many years one of the leading
contractors and builders of Springfield, but for some time
prior to his demise was living in retirement. He was born in
Tompkins County, New York, September 18, 1835, and died at
Springfield, Ohio, February 5, 1918. His parents, Josiah
and Chairy Ann (Eaton) Bartholomew, were natives of New
York.
Growing up in his native state, Oscar N. Bartholomew
was educated in an academy at Elmira, New York. For two
years he served in the Union Army, as a member of the
Seventy-sixth New York Volunteer Infantry, and among other
important engagements, participated in that of the
Wilderness. In 1872 he came to Springfield and went into a
contracting business, and became an acknowledged authority
on the design and construction of heavy buildings, a number
of which were erected by him at Springfield, among which was
the church building of the First Congregationalists, which
was later destroyed by fire. He was noted for his fidelity
to the spirit as well as the letter of his contracts, and no
one ever stood any higher in public esteem than he.
On June 24, 1859, Mr. Bartholomew married Harriet M.
Malory, born near the Mohawk River in New York State, a
daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Turner) Malory.
Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew had the pleasure of celebrating
their Golden Wedding in 1909. Two children were born to
them, namely: Ella R. and Charles J. but the
latter died November 22, 1917.
After coming to Springfield Mr. Bartholomew
affiliated with the First Congregational Church and later
with the First Lutheran Church of this city, to which his
widow also belonged, and she continued one of its active
supporters until her death January 18, 1922. He was a
zealous Mason, and very active in the work of Mitchell
Post, Grand Army of the Republic. On each Memorial
Day he rode at the head of the procession of the veterans,
wearing his uniform, and mounted on a white charger, and his
imposing figure is sadly missed on these days since his
demise. He was an upright man of unflinching honesty, and
never asked more of anyone than he was willing to give, but
expected others to live up to the principles he believed so
necessary for the maintenance of good government and proper
business relations. His long life of useful endeavor and
helpful effort along practical lines teaches a lesson, and
his example may well be emulated by the rising generation.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 402 -
Transcribed for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
HENRY E. BATEMAN, Shrewd
business ability, special adaptiveness to his vocation,
appreciation of its many advantages and belief in his own
power to succeed have placed Henry E. Bateman among the
leading promoters of agriculture in Clark County. From the
prairies his unaided hands brought forth ample means,
permitting his retirement to South Charleston and his
consigning to younger hands the tasks that made up the sum
of his existence for many years. He has a modern home and is
regarded as one of the financially strong and morally high
retired farmers.
Mr. Bateman was born on a farm in Greene County, Ohio,
August 21, 1837, and is a son of Daniel H. and Elizabeth
(Sirlotte) Bateman, and a grandson of William and
Margaret (Duckel) Bateman. Daniel H. Bateman was born
near Baltimore, Maryland, on a farm, in 1783, and at the age
of twenty-one years left his native state and moved to Ohio.
He had an excellent education, having received instruction
under his father, who conducted a private school near
Baltimore, known as the Oxford of America. On coming to Ohio
Mr. Bateman located at Chillicothe, having letters of
introduction to the Rennicks, large cattle raisers of their
day and locality, with whom he remained for four or five
years, thus getting his start in life. Later he came to
Greene County, Ohio, and was employed in the stock business
with William Harpole until 1851. In that year he came
to South Charleston, Clark County, where his death occurred
February 2, 1863. In Greene County, in 1824, Mr. Bateman
married Elizabeth Sirlotte, who was born in Bracken
County, Kentucky, in 1799, and had a good education for her
day and state. She died November 25, 1854, in the faith of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which she was a very
devout member. They were the parents of five children:
William, who met his death on the Pacific Ocean when the
ship on which he was traveling was wrecked and burned on the
coast near the Magdalena Islands; Abner L., who died
at Columbus, Ohio, March 15, 1916; Henry E., of this
review; Ruth, deceased, who was the wife of Edward
Garrett, who met his death at the same time that William
Bateman died; and Margaret, who died in July, 1899,
as the wife of Amos Briggs.
Henry E. Bateman went to the public schools and
remained on the home place until his father’s death,
remembers distinctly the Underground Railway, a station of
which was conducted at his father’s home. Fugitive slaves,
fleeing from their former masters in the South, were
sheltered and passed on to the next station, finally
arriving in Canada, where they were safe from pursuit and a
return to bondage. When he entered upon his independent
career Mr. Bateman adopted farming and dealing in stock as
his life work, and this he followed during the active years
of his life. Ever since his retirement he has lived in South
Charleston, and is still interested in farms, although
merely as a matter of investment.
On February 19, 1866, Mr.
Bateman was united in
marriage with Miss Annamelia Paullin, who was born in
Clark County, Ohio, May 22, 1844, a daughter of Newcomb
T. and Mary A. (Harpole) Paullin. She died in the faith
of the Presbyterian Church, of which she had been a lifelong
member, January 22, 1916. Mr. and Mrs.
Batemen were the
parents of two children: Howard D., a graduate of
Phillips Academy, of Andover, Massachusetts, is now a
capitalist of New York City, Mary B., a high school
graduate and a graduate of the Phelps School of Columbus and
the McDonald-Ellis School of Washington, D. C., married
H. W. Paxton, a graduate of Wesleyan College, Delaware,
Ohio, a prominent democrat and ex-member of the Ohio
Legislature and now an attorney of Clark County. They have
two children, Annamelia B. and Howard Bateman
Paxton.
Mr. Bateman is a republican, while his religious faith
is that of the Presbyterian Church. He is known throughout
his locality as a dependable and upright man, one who
regards his word as he would his bond, and who has ever
maintained the highest method of farming and the noblest
ideals of home and community life.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 218 -
Transcribed for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
CHARLES A. BAUER,
Superintendent of Champion Bar & Knife Company, Springfield.
Mr. Bauer is a native of Wurtemberg, Germany; in 1852, his
father’s family then consisting of the father, mother and
four children, of which number the subject of this sketch
was the third, sailed for New York; during a long and stormy
voyage, the ship was drifted from her course, and the family
were unexpectedly landed at New Orleans, where, after the
lapse of but ten months, the father fell a victim to the
yellow fever. Mrs. Bauer’s situation was now a truly trying
one—a stranger in a foreign country, surrounded by the
depressing influences of a wide-spread epidemic; the little
means originally possessed by the family wasted by travel
and sickness; but, with that true fortitude which has ever
been a characteristic of the German people, she resolved to
seek a healthier home in the North, and arrived in
Cincinnati in 1853, where she yet resides. At the age of 11
years, Mr. Bauer was employed in the pyrotechnic manufactory
of H. P. Diehl; in 1861, he became an apprentice to
the gunsmithing business; in 1864, he entered the shops of
Miles Greenwood & Co. as practical machinist, devoting his
leisure hours to the study of mathematics and applied
mechanics; so successful was he in this that, in 1867, he
was called to the Ohio Mechanics’ Institute as a teacher of
drawing; in 1871, he resigned this situation to become
Superintendent of the Niles Tool Works at Hamilton, Ohio,
which he vacated in 1873 to assume the duties of Consulting
Engineer for Lane & Bodley, at Cincinnati. In 1875,
Mr.
Bauer was tendered the position of Assistant Superintendent
of the Champion Bar & Knife Company Works in Springfield; in
1878, he was promoted to be the Superintendent in charge of
the establishment, where he now remains. In 1868, he was
married to Miss Louise Haeseler, who came with her
parents from St. Goar, Prussia, in 1851. Mrs. Bauer is a
lady possessed of much refinement and culture with admirable
social qualities; the children of this union are three in
number—Charles L., William A. and Louis E.
Mr. Bauer is a self-made man, and his career demonstrates
what can be accomplished by application and economy of time;
few mechanical men of this country can excel him in that
peculiar faculty which enables one to analyze a difficult
problem in mechanics, or trace causes to results, while his
natural and acquired resources furnish a constant fund of
cultivated ideas, ready for application in any emergency. He
has a fine collection of technical works, which, with a
choice selection of general and standard books, compose one
of the best private libraries in the city.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 790 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
CLIFFORD HOLLIDAY
BAUMGARDNER, M. D., a physician and surgeon with
offices in the Fairbanks Building at Springfield, saw active
service with the Hospital Corps during the Spanish-American
war, subsequently graduated in medicine, and has had a
successful professional career for twenty years.
Doctor Baumgardner is a native of Clark
County, born at Catawba, November 7, 1876, son of David
S. and Susan L. (Ward) Baumgardner. His father was born
in Ohio, son of Peter Lynch and Mary (Skillman)
Baumgardner, who were also natives of Clark County. His
great-grandfather Baumgardner was one of the first
settlers in Pleasant Township, locating there when the
Indians still made their home in this section of Ohio.
David S. Baumgardner had a brother, Isaac, who
died at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, while a Union soldier and
was buried in Clark County. He had a sister, Lou B.,
now Mrs. Samuel Neer, living at Mechanicsburg, Ohio.
David S. Baumgardner enlisted in the
Forty-fourth Ohio Infantry and subsequently veteranized with
the Eighth Ohio Cavalry and was in service until the close
of the war. After the war he engaged in the undertaking
business at Catawba, being associated with his father in
that work. As undertakers after the pioneer custom of the
time the firm made caskets to order. They were also
contractors and built a number of schoolhouses and other
buildings in that vicinity. He finally removed to
Springfield and was in the maintenance of way department of
the Big Four Railroad. He died in 1910. His wife, Susan
L. Ward, was born in Virginia, daughter of Paragon
Ward, a native of Maryland. Her mother was a native of
Virginia and a cousin of Gen. Robert E. Lee. She came
to Catawba with two sisters shortly after the close of the
Civil war, and died in this county in 1887. The two sons of
David S. Baumgardner and wife are Doctor
Ward L., a dentist at Columbus, and Clifford Holliday.
Clifford Holliday Baumgardner
attended grammar and high schools at Catawba and
Springfield, was a student in the Maple Park University of
Cincinnati, and graduated in 1903 in the Ohio Medical
University of Columbus. His service with the Hospital Corps
during the Spanish American war started soon after the
outbreak of hostilities and continued until November, 1898.
After graduating he had a year’s experience in hospital work
at Columbus, and engaged in private practice there for two
years. For seven years his home was at Selma, Ohio, and
since then he has been identified with the medical
profession at Springfield, and since 1915 has had his
offices in the Fairbanks Building.
On February 22, 1899, Mr. Baumgardner married Miss
Marie L. Wilson, who was born at Fredonia, New York,
June 2, 1880, daughter of Charles Walter and Affa L.
(Lowell) Wilson, both natives of Chautauqua County, New
York. Her maternal grandparents were James and Jane (Schlick)
Lowell. James Lowell started one of the first vineyards
in Chautauqua County. Sherman Lowell, a brother of
Affa L. Lowell, is now national grand master of the
Farmers Grange. Doctor and Mrs.
Baumgardner have one child, Lowell Ward, born
June 30, 1902. Mrs. Baumgardner was educated
in the State Normal School of New York. She is a member of
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Doctor Baumgardner
is a republican, is affiliated with the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks of Springfield and the Junior Order
United American Mechanics.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 218 -
Transcribed for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
ELIJAH BEARDSLEY,
deceased, was born in New Fairfield, Conn., May 27, 1760; at
the age of 16, he entered and served in the war for American
independence; was married at New Fairfield, the place of his
nativity, to Sally Hubbel, June 27, 1780, to whom
were born fourteen children—six sons and eight daughters;
about A. D. 1796, removed to Delaware Co., N. Y.; early in
the war of 1812, he removed with his family to the State of
Ohio; lived a short time in Urbana, Champaign Co., thence to
Springfield, then Champaign (now Clark) County, where his
good wife died, July 23, 1823; he survived until Oct. 2,
1826, and died at the age of 66 years; he lived and died a
true and honored patriot. At this time, the only member of
his family now living at Springfield, Clark Co., Ohio, is
Laura, the wife of J. S. Christie, aged 78 years.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 790 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
JOHN BEAVER, brick-mason and
contractor, Springfield. John Beaver was born May 23, 1829,
in England; came to Springfield in 1859, at the age of 30
years. He was married in England, in 1849, to Helen
Corcoran, and of six children, only three daughters are
living. Mr. Beaver has been successful in Springfield—the
result, however, of unflagging energy, close attention to
business, and living strictly up to all his contracts. A
great number of the buildings of this thriving city are of
his erection, and all of the many and immense Champion
shops. Mr. Beaver is a member of good standing of the
Palestine Commandery, No. 33, Knights Templar; Springfield
Council, No. 17, Royal and Select Masters; Springfield Royal
Arch Chapter, No. 48; Clark Lodge, No. 101, of Free and
Accepted Masons; and Springfield Lodge, No. 33, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows; also the Encampment. He lives in his
own snug little home, with his daughters, at No. 18 Clifton
street.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 790 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
READ LETTS BELL, M. D.,
allopathic physician, Springfield. Dr. R. L. Bell was born
in Morgan Township, Knox Co., Ohio; was the recipient of a
liberal education, graduating from the Dennison University,
Licking Co., Ohio, in June, 1872; then took a full medical
course in Harvard University, of Massachusetts, graduating
in 1876; practiced one year in Toledo, after which he
settled permanently in Springfield, where he has had
gratifying success, even beyond his expectations. On Jan.
18, 1877, he consummated a matrimonial alliance with Miss
Sarah J. Robinson, of Coshocton, Ohio. Dr. Bell,
although intended by his parents for a healer of souls,
finds himself to-day in the almost as important work of
healing bodies; as a boy he was, and even now is, a close
student and a great reader, and possesses a fine memory,
clearly calling to mind his schoolmates at the early age of
3 years. Dr. Bell stood well in his class in college; was
its poet, and in his junior year was associate editor of the
college paper. Dr. Bell is a man of prepossessing
appearance, clear-cut features, pleasing address, and
possesses all the qualities for success in his profession.
The Doctor is also Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical
Society of Boston.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 790 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
VIRGIL AUSTIN BELL.
One of the younger members of the Clark County bar is
Virgil Austin Bell, who since 1920 has been identified
with the well-known Springfield law firm of Zimmerman,
Zimmerman & Zimmerman, and who has made a favorable
impression on his associates during his comparatively short
professional career.
Mr. Bell was born July 4, 1888, at Springfield, and is
a son of Darius W. and Sarah (Fansler) Bell. His
grandparents on the maternal side were Noah and Melvina (Neese)
Fansler, the former a native of Virginia and the latter
of Champaign County, Ohio.
Virgil Austin Bell attended the public schools of
Springfield and of Clark County, and the high school at
Marion, Ohio. His professional studies were prosecuted at
Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, from which he was
graduated in 1920, in June of which year he was admitted to
the Ohio bar. Soon thereafter Mr. Bell identified himself
with the law firm of Zimmerman, Zimmerman & Zimmerman, and
this connection has continued to the present.
Mr. Bell is unmarried and resides at the home of his
parents, 715 West High Street. He is independent in
politics, not having formally allied himself with any
political party. Fraternally he is affiliated with Marion
Camp, Modern Woodmen of America.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 375 -
Transcribed for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
WILLIAM H. BERGER,
farmer; P. O. Lagonda. He is the son of Daniel and Ester
(Body) Berger, and was born in Berks Co., Penn., Jan.
21, 1830; his parents were natives of Pennsylvania, and were
married April 12, 1818; their family consisted of seven
children—two boys and five girls; they came to this county
in April, 1838, and settled in Lagonda, where they lived
about one month; they then purchased (for $16 per acre) and
removed to the farm which is now owned and occupied by
William; his (William’s) father was born Nov. 5,
1794, and lived to the advanced age of 84 years; his mother
was born Dec. 11, 1797; she is still in good health, living
with William at the old homestead. William
assisted his father, working for him until 22 years of age;
he then rented the farm of his father, conducting it
successfully seventeen years; during that time, he saved
sufficient amount to enable him to purchase a part of the
farm, and, by good management, in a few years more purchased
the remainder, consisting in all of about 130 acres. At the
age of 20, he taught the winter term of a school in
Moorefield Township, this county; this was his first school;
he continued teaching during the winter terms of the schools
near home twenty-five years, being a successful teacher. He
was married, March 18, 1852, to Mary J., daughter of
John and Mary Jackson; she was born in Virginia Jan.
11, 1830; being left an orphan while yet a little child, she
came to Ohio with her uncle, William Moore, and lived
with him until her marriage with Mr. Berger.
Five children have blessed their home; they mourn the loss
of two of them—Daniel F., who died Nov. 1, 1855, and
William H., Jr., who died Nov. 9, 1866; the other
three—John M., Elizabeth A. and Mary E.—still
remain, a comfort to their parents. Strict integrity and
honorable dealing have been leading virtues of his life; he
has frequently been selected and appointed guardian of
children and administrator of estates. He has filled the
office of Sunday-school Superintendent for twenty-five
years, in which position he is still serving.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 791 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
SPALDING WESLEY BISHOP,
a retired citizen of Springfield, living at 622 Linden
Avenue, was in service nearly a third of a century in the
city police department, and is honored and respected as one
of the oldest minions of law and order in the city.
Mr. Bishop was born in Springfield
Township, in November, 1849, and represents one of the
earliest families established in Clark County. He is a son
of John and Elizabeth (Elwell) Bishop, and he and his
father were born in the same house. Elizabeth
Elwell was born in Greene County, Ohio, daughter of
Israel Elwell, a native of that county. John
Bishop was a son of Edward and Tabitha (Winchester)
Bishop, the latter a native of Clark County. Edward
Bishop was born in New Jersey, son of Moses Bishop,
who died in that state. The widow of Moses Bishop
married a Mr. Tremble. This Mr. Tremble
was a western pioneer, coming by raft on the Ohio River in
1808, along with Benham and Hunter. They were
three months on the way, largely due to the fact that they
stopped off at different points to survey the country for a
prospective location. In that year Tremble entered a tract
of land in Clark County. In 1813, after accompanying
Captain Benham with troops to Fort Recovery
during the War of 1812, he returned and took possession of
this land. In 1814 it became the property of Edward Bishop,
and remained in the Bishop family until 1912, for
practically a century. John Bishop and
Elizabeth Elwell were married in 1848, and then
settled on the old homestead, remaining there until 1875,
when they moved to Hardin County, Ohio, where John
Bishop died. His widow passed away in Springfield in
1914. Of their children Spalding Wesley is the
oldest; James is deceased; Melissa lives at
Yellow Springs, widow of George Pearson; Anna
is the widow of Elwood Cusic, and lives in Chicago;
Edward is at Seattle, Washington; Katie is the
widow of Jefferson Mahoney, of Chicago.
Spalding Wesley Bishop remained at
the old home, acquiring a district school education, and in
September, 1873, married Mary Burns. She was born at
Boston, Massachusetts, daughter of Thomas and Catherine (Tifney)
Burns, natives of the same state. After his marriage
Mr. Bishop rented a farm in Springfield Township
two years and then moved to Harmony, Ohio, and farmed and
operated a ditching machine for seven years. On leaving the
county he came to Springfield, and for three years was
employed in a wholesale fruit house. At the conclusion of
that employment he went on the police force, under Mayor
O. S. Kelly, and his thirty-two years’ service with the
police department ended in 1919, in which year he was
retired. Mr. Bishop was reared a Methodist, is a democrat in
politics, and is affiliated with Lodge No. 146, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows.
He and his wife had six children: John, Harry
and Florence, all of whom died in early childhood;
Hanford, of Detroit, Michigan, who married Gertrude
Smith and has two children; Vivian and
Constance; Fannie, who died when twenty-three
years of age; and Clarence, who lives with his father
and married Beula Dennis.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 406 -
Transcribed for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
WILLIAM HENRY BITNER.
In business activities that in the highest degree constitute
a public service, and in a personal career that represents a
singular combination of adversity and persistent will to
overcome misfortune, the life story of William
Henry Bitner is one of the most interesting that
can be told of any citizen of Clark County. Mr.
Bitner is general manager of the Springfield Dairy
Products Company. He helped organize this corporation, and
its growth and success has been due to his efforts more than
to those of any other individual.
Mr. Bitner was born August 18, 1855, in
Adams County, Pennsylvania, representing the third
generation of the Bitner family in this
country. His grandfather, Henry Bitner, came
from Germany and settled in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.
The old Bitner family Bible brought from
Germany was printed 150 years ago and is still carefully
preserved in the home of William H. Bitner. The
father of the Springfield business man was Henry Bitner,
who was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and for a
number of years operated a grist mill, later a hotel at
Mummasburg, Pennsylvania, and from that town he moved to
Biglerville, Adams County, where he was in the butcher
business until 1862. In that year he enlisted in the Union
Army and served about twelve months, until severely wounded.
After his army service he was in the nursery business at
Biglerville, then rented his land and became a merchant. He
lived in Adams County until his death. Henry
Bitner married Nancy Glass, a native of Franklin
County. The old Glass homestead owned by her grandparents is
still in the family. She also died in Adams County. The
children of Henry Bitner and Nancy Glass were
Jennie, Elizabeth, William H., George, Enna and
Alice.
William H. Bitner was about eight years old when
the great battle of Gettysburg was fought. He shared in the
excitement and turmoil incident to the invasion of Southern
Pennsylvania by Lee’s army. The family at that time lived in
a small town named Heidelberg. This was ten miles from
Gettysburg, scene of the three days’ battle in July, 1863.
However, some of the events of that campaign came under the
eyes of the boy and made impressions that can never be
effaced from his memory. He relates that on the day before
the battle the Confederate troops came to the quiet little
town of Heidelberg and camped there, tearing down the
residents’ fences to feed their fires, and a large
detachment settled on a vacant lot immediately next to the
Bitner home. At first they demanded all the
food in the house, and then gave the family three minutes to
vacate the premises. His father had fortunately driven his
horses to Lancaster, and thus saved them. He was preparing
to leave the home to the invaders when the order to vacate
was suddenly countermanded and they were not further
disturbed. The great battle of Gettysburg came to an end on
Friday, although smoke of gun powder still hung over the
field on Sunday, when William H. Bitner, accompanied
by two others, went to view the scene. It was a terrible
sight, horses and men lying so close together that the
horrified visitors could scarcely put foot on the ground.
The great Lutheran College had been thrown open as a
hospital, and every poor mangled body in which there still
remained a spark of life had been gathered up and crowded in
this building in the hope of easing their sufferings. This
was no sight proper for a child of eight years, and probably
William Bitner was one of the few ever an
eye-witness of such an appalling scene on American soil. He
walked ten miles to the scene of the battle and then tramped
over the grounds, returning to his home after covering a
distance of twenty-five miles, and all that time had not a
morsel to eat.
Mr. Bitner since he was nine years of age
has been self-supporting, starting out at that time to work
on farms in the neighborhood at monthly wages. It is
literally true that from that age he has been a producer and
doer of things. At the age of fourteen his arm was badly
torn by a circular saw, and until he was seventeen he worked
on a farm and then for two years was employed in an iron ore
mine at Pinegrove, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Not long
afterward a cave-in occurred in the mine, and he was taken
out for dead. After this experience he resumed farm work,
and in August, 1875, a young man of twenty years, he came to
Clark County, Ohio. During the next several years he
continued as a farm laborer, and then came the third
accident, when he was run over by a heavily laden wagon.
Still later, while operating his threshing machine and saw
mill, he fell from a log and broke his leg. These injuries
interfered with but did not balk his steadfast ambition to
succeed, and he went back with renewed energies after each
misfortune.
Mr. Bitner began farming on his own
account in 1883, when he rented the Creighton farm south of
Springfield. It was on that farm that he made his start in
the dairy business in 1884. In April, 1885, he moved to the
Snyder farm north of Springfield, and he lived
there for fourteen years. In October, 1898, he bought the
farm of Cornelius Miller, his father-in-law, and that
has been his home for the past twenty-two years, though in
the meantime by purchase the area of the farm has been
increased to two hundred and twenty acres. The improvements
on this farm constitute one of the notable country places of
Clark County. Besides all the building equipments devoted to
the use of stock and the dairying industry there are six
dwelling houses.
Mr. Bitner has been actively identified
with the dairy industry in Clark County for nearly forty
years. He was one of the promoters of and bought and paid
for the first stock, in 1902, in the Springfield Pure Milk
Company. From its organization and incorporation in 1903 he
was general manager and a director. In 1919 this company was
consolidated with the Home Dairy and Ice Cream Company, and
the business was then incorporated as the Springfield Dairy
Products Company, with Mr. Bitner retained as
general manager. He was one of the first practical dairymen
in the county to become an enthusiastic advocate of the
highest standards of purity, and he has done much to extend
the use of this wholesome food product. He was the pioneer
in pasturizing the milk supply of Clark County. The
corporation of which he is the active head now owns and
operates seven plants in Clark County, and it is a business
as closely identified with the vital welfare of the people
as any other industry.
Mr. Bitner is also a director in the
Lagonda National Bank, the Morris Plan Bank and the
Springfield Coal and Ice Company. He is a member of the
Rockway Lutheran Church, and for the past twenty-five years
has been superintendent of its Sunday school. In many other
ways he has co-operated with and has contributed to the
success of movements for the promotion of general welfare.
December 28, 1880, Mr. Bitner married
Elmira A. Miller, daughter of Cornelius and Henrietta
(Kieffer) Miller, old residents of Clark County. Mr.
and Mrs. Bitner have two daughters, Etta B. and
Grace M., both graduates of Wittenberg College. Etta
is the wife of Dr. J. F. Browne, a well-known
Springfield dentist, and they have a daughter and son,
Jean and William Bitner. Grace is the wife of
Harry Clink, of Clark County, and they also have two
children, Robert and Myra.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 410 -
Transcribed for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
ANDREW C. BLACK, merchant
and capitalist, Springfield; was born in North Ireland in
1828; came to Springfield in 1847 and engaged as clerk with
his brother, Robert T., who was then operating a
general merchandise store. In 1853, he bought out his
brother, and has continued in business ever since; the
general store has become a dry goods and carpet store, and
the firm was Black Bros. & Co., composed of
A. C., W. M. and J. K. Black, W. M. being a
younger brother, and J. K. being a cousin; they are
located in Black’s Opera House Block, northwest
corner of Main and Market streets. Mr. Black
came to Springfield without means, and, by industry, economy
and judicious management, he soon succeeded in becoming the
head of one of the best mercantile establishments in
Springfield, and has kept pace with the growth of the city,
and is now one of its most substantial citizens. Black’s
Opera House Block, built by him in 1868, and now being
somewhat remodeled, will long remain a fitting testimonial
of his liberal enterprise. He was one of the company who
established Fern Cliff Cemetery; has been a Director of the
Springfield Savings Bank since its organization, and is now
Vice President. Mr. Black is a member of the
First Presbyterian Church, and a supporter of all charitable
and benevolent enterprises. He married, in 1860, Miss
Octavia C., daughter of Dr. John Briggs, of Greenville,
Darke Co.; from this union have been born four children, the
younger two of whom are living—Annie and Warder S.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 792 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
JOHN A. BLOUNT, manufacturer,
Springfield; is a native of Clark County. Dr. Blount,
who was an early resident, and for many years a prominent
practicing physician, of Springfield, was his grandfather
and the first of the family to settle in Clark County.
John R. Blount, deceased, formerly a dry goods merchant
of Springfield, was his father; he was also a native of this
county. The subject of this sketch was born in Springfield
in 1849; he became connected with the firm of Babbitt,
Steel
& Co., woolen manufacturers, in 1871; in 1874, they sold the
machinery, etc., connected with the manufacture of woolens,
and the firm dissolved partnership. In the fall of the same
year, Mr. Blount formed a partnership with Kissell & Co.,
manufacturers of agricultural implements, who had been
located on West Main street, and the new firm, Kissell,
Blount & Co., removed into what had been the woolen-mill. In
1877, Mr. Alexander McWilson became a member of the
firm, and in 1878 the firm became Blount &
McWilson. They
manufacture a line of agricultural implements, Excelsior
cultivator, horse hay-rake and shovel-plows being the
principal ones; they also manufacture a line of hardware
specialties. Messrs. Blount and McWilson are young men, and
comparatively a new firm, but the success thus far attained
proves the ability of the management, and assures their
greater success as the facilities and capital of their firm
shall become augmented by the increasing trade. Mr.
Blount
married, in 1873, Miss Sarah L., second daughter of
John W. Baldwin; they have two sons.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 792 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
RAYMOND G. BOEHME, M.D. In the
present era of expanding horizons in the science of medicine
and surgery, of wonderful discoveries and unthought-of
surgical achievements, the profession seems to have almost
reached a point when its accomplishments are little short of
being miracles. The modern physician and surgeon, taking
advantage of every opportunity for advancement and
knowledge, must often realize with professional elation his
great power over disease and disability and he encouraged in
his struggle to conquer the strongholds that have not yet
been overcome. Possessing the steady nerve, the patience
that never tires, the trained understanding gained through
his long period of special study, he must yet possess, in
order to be a successful surgeon, a courage that never
quails, together with a superb technical manual skill. Of
the physicians and surgeons of Springfield who are thus
equipped, and who through this equipment are gaining
advancement in their calling, one who is making steady
progress is Dr. Raymond G. Boehme.
Doctor Boehme was born at Newport, Kentucky, September
30, 1888, and is a son of Herman and Mary (Wittman)
Boehme, natives of Newport, Kentucky, who are now
residents of Clermont County, Ohio, where Dr. Herman
Boehme is engaged in the practice of veterinary medicine
and surgery. Raymond G. Boehme attended the graded and high
schools in his youth, following which he expressed a
predilection for the medical profession and accordingly
entered the Ohio Miami College at Cincinnati, Ohio, from
which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine
in 1911. At that time he returned to Newport, Kentucky,
where he was engaged in practice for two and one-half years,
after which he went to Somerville, Ohio, which was his field
of practice and place of residence for one and one-half
years. Doctor Boehme then moved to Enon, Clark County, where
he followed his profession for two and one-half years, and
in 1918 came to Springfield, which has since been his home.
Here he has been successful in building up a large and
lucrative practice of the most desirable kind, and in
forming a number of pleasant connections of a social nature
as well as of a professional character. He is recognized as
being thoroughly conversant with his profession, to which he
devotes himself unreservedly. He is a member of the Clark
County Medical Society and the Ohio State Medical Society
and is a close and careful student. On September 30, 1921,
he moved into a handsome modern brick residence located at
No. 709 West Main Street. Doctor Boehme has served as
assistant health officer of Springfield one year. In
politics he is a republican, and his religious connection is
with Central Methodist Episcopal Church, while fraternally
he is affiliated with Kissell Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of
Springfield, and the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias
and the Knights of the Maccabees, in all of which he has
formed numerous friendships.
On November 10, 1914, Mr.
Boehme was united in marriage
with Miss Edna Droste, who was born at Newport,
Kentucky, a daughter of Gustav and Elizabeth (Smith)
Droste, the former born at Cincinnati, Ohio, and the
latter at Newport. Three children have come to this union:
Donald Wilfred, born October 10, 1915; Gordon Ray,
born March 2, 1917; and Robert Clement, born October
13, 1918.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 357 -
Transcribed for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
PATRICK BOLAN, produce dealer,
Springfield; he was born near Ferbane, Kings County,
Ireland, March 1,1834; is a son of Michael and Bridget
(Eagan) Bolan; he came to America with his father and
five other children in the spring of 1851, the mother having
died in Ireland in 1847, May 2. After stopping a short time
in New York, they came on to Springfield, this county; the
father is still living here, being now 83 years old, and
enjoys very fair health. Patrick worked the remainder of
that year at manual labor (after his arrival at
Springfield), saving $5, and, in the spring of 1852, with
the $5 he bought a small stock of goods and started through
the country on foot, going from house to house, offering his
goods for sale. During the summer of that year, he saved
$120, and, during the winter of 1852, attended school; in
the spring of 1853, purchased a horse and wagon, and a
larger stock of merchandise, and continued retailing through
the country, but, in 1854, abandoned the retail trade and
confined his sales to wholesaling in the small towns
throughout the surrounding counties; but, on account of the
Know-Nothing movement—he being an Irishman and a member of
the Catholic Church—was compelled to sell his team, give up
his trade and start anew, as it seemed to be one of the
rules of that institution not to patronize a Catholic. Hence
he started again on foot, this time through Indiana; but in
1855, the persecution of the Know-Nothings having died out,
he again started with horse and wagon, and from that time
on, fortune smiled him, and all his labor met with
satisfactory results, and he now ranks among the wealthy men
of Springfield. He continued traveling with the wagon until
1866, when he went to Wisconsin and engaged in farming,
where be remained three years, when he returned to
Springfield, and since then has been engaged in the produce
trade, also handling scrap-iron, etc. He was married, July
3, 1858, to Ellen Hackett, daughter of Edward and
Catherine (Connor) Hackett, natives of Kings County,
Ireland; Ellen was also born in that county in 1835; she
came to America in 1852 with her sister and two brothers,
their parents having died some time previous. Of Patrick
and Ellen’s eleven children, there are ten living, viz., John
C., Katie A., Michael P., Mary Ann,
Edward S., Elizabeth L., James,
Charles, William H. and Ellen. Mr.
Bolan,
politically, is independent; religiously, a member of the
Catholic Church; and his success in life is a striking
illustration of what determined industry can accomplish when
coupled with rigid economical habits.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 795 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
JESSE BOYD, farmer; P. O. Springfield; was born
in Center Co., Penn., May 26, 1808; in the year 1814, his
parents moved to Chillicothe, Ross Co., Ohio, arrived at the
town on the evening of Oct. 30; his parents remained in the
county until 1821, when they moved to Seneca Co., Ohio,
where his father, Thomas Boyd, purchased a large body
of land (1,100 acres); in the year 1835, Jesse left his
father’s home for the purpose of starting in life for
himself, and came to Clark Co., and settled in Harmony
Township. In the same year, he was united in marriage to
Miss Susan Donnel, on the 5th day of March, 1835, the
marriage ceremony being performed by the Rev. Saul Hinkel;
this union having been blessed by the birth of ten children,
three boys and seven girls, seven of whom are now living,
viz., Elizabeth, born June 9, 1838; Thomas,
Aug. 7, 1840; James D., Nov. 25, 1842; Margaret,
Feb. 27, 1845; Wilhelmina, May 11, 1847; Emma,
Feb. 3, 1850, and Frank H., Dec. 8, 1859. When
treason dared to insult the flag of our country, and
threatened to destroy this Union of States, two of his sons
went in defense of their country, viz., Thomas Boyd
enlisted in August, 1861 in Co. I, 44th O.V.I.; was
discharged in July, 1865, at the close of the war, as a
Sergeant; James D. Boyd enlisted in Co. I, 110th
O.V.I., Aug. 10, 1862, and was discharged June 20, 1865,
when there was no more “Southern Confederacy;” he served in
the 3d Division, 6th Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Mr.
Boyd resides on a beautiful farm of 311 acres of land, in
the north corner of the township, surrounded with a very
interesting family and the comforts of life; he, like many
other successful farmers, has never sought after political
honors, and has never served “the people” in any other
office than a member of the School Board of Harmony
Township, in that position, he has served for thirty-two
years. Mr. Boyd has been a member of the First Presbyterian
Church of Springfield for the past forty-seven years; he is
a much respected and an honored citizen.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 955 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
ALMON
BRADFORD, dealer in groceries and provisions; P. O.
South Charleston; was born in Chili, Monroe Co., N. Y., Dec.
13, 1830. His great grandfather was a direct
descendant of William Bradford, who came to America
in the Mayflower and who was the first Governor of the
Plymouth colony in 1620. His father was born in
Massachusetts in 1796, but when quite small removed to
Vermont, where they remained till he was about 16 years of
age. They then moved to near Rochester, N. Y., where
till he was about 16 years of age. They then moved to
near Rochester, N. Y., where in 1821 he married Mary
Sybil Brace. She was born in Connecticut in 1802.
In 1838, they came to Ohio and settled near Springfield,
Clark co. their son, Almon, the subject of this
sketch, when 17 years of age, went to learn the blacksmith
trade, which he followed till July, 1862, residing mostly at
Lisbon, in the last-named county. On quitting his
trade at the time just mentioned, he enlisted in Co. K, 45th
O. V. I., and went forth to aid in suppressing the
rebellion. He was First Sergeant at the organization;
afterward Second and First Lieutenant of the same regiment,
predicated in fifty-eight battles, including the great
John Morgan Raid. He returned home in the fall of
1864, but having engaged at various kinds of business.
On the 15th of July, 1853, he joined the Odd Fellows in
Springfield, Ohio; and in 1863, while at home on recruiting
service, was made a Master Mason of Fielding Lodge, No. 192,
South Charleston. He was elected Justice of the Peace
in Harmony Township, Clark County in 1868, and served till
1879, when he resigned, having moved to Madison Twp., where,
in South Charleston, he engaged in the grocery and provision
trade. His marriage was celebrated Feb. 23, 1854, with
Margaret Ann McBeth. Three sons were the issue
of this union, viz: Albert, Rufus Orren and
Orlando Rolla.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 1060 -
Transcribed by Sharon Wick |
ASHLEY BRADFORD, Recorder,
Springfield; is a native of New York State; was born in
1824; his parents, Clifford and Sibyl Bradford,
removed to Clark County in 1838, coming by lake and canal to
Columbus, and then by wagon to their new home in Springfield
Township, where they resided the remainder of their lives.
The subject of this sketch was brought up on the farm, and,
when a young man, taught school during the winter for a
number of years; he continued farming until Jan. 1, 1864,
when he removed to Springfield to take charge of the
Recorder’s office, to which he had been elected the previous
October, and to which he has been re-elected each succeeding
contest, which is sufficient proof of the able and
satisfactory discharge of his duties. Mr. Bradford married,
in 1848, Julia A., daughter of George and Mary
Knaub, of Pennsylvania. His death occurred here in 1868.
Mrs. Knaub still resides in Springfield, being now in the
81st year of her age. From this union are ten children—seven
sons and three daughters all of whom are living; the oldest
son, Oliver P., is agent of the American Express
Company at Columbus; the second, Irving is Deputy in
his father’s office; the oldest daughter is the wife of
Rev. H. K. Fenner, of Louisville; the second daughter is
the wife of Rev. J. C. Kauffman, of Orrville, Ohio,
both of whom are prominent ministers in the Lutheran Church.
Mr. Bradford is a quiet, unostentatious citizen, which is
illustrated by the fact that, in the fall of 1863, when his
friends went to apprise him of his nomination, they found
him busy sowing wheat, and the nomination was a clear
surprise, affording one of those rare instances in the days
in which the office seeks the man.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 795 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
GEORGE BRAIN, SR., deceased,
came from England to America in the year 1829; he left
Liverpool in August in a sail vessel, and was six weeks on
the voyage to Philadelphia; there were no ocean steamers
then. He came to Philadelphia expecting to settle in
Pennsylvania, but, becoming acquainted with Mr. Jeremiah
Warder, who was about settling in Springfield, he took
Mr. Warder’s advice and came to Springfield. Mr. Brain’s
route was by way of New York and Albany, thence by Erie
Canal to Buffalo, and by steamboat from Buffalo to Sandusky,
and as it happened, the last steamer before the close of
navigation for the season; from Sandusky to Springfield by
wagon, over a corduroy road, in some places not very
comfortable; the contrast between then and now as to travel
is observable. Mr. Brain and his wife, Mary (Whitehead)
Brain, brought with them seven children—Mary, now
Mrs. Willard; Joseph J. W., deceased; Anna,
the late Mrs. Green; Lydia and Martha,
now living on High street; Lucy, now the widow of
Dr. John Stoddard, who was a surgeon in the Union army,
and killed while in that service; George, of whom
more hereafter; William G. Brain, the youngest, is
the only American born of the family, now lumber-dealer in
Springfield. Maria Hipkins came to America with Mr.
Brain, and is yet an inmate of the family and is now in her
77th year. Mr. Brain purchased a farm near what was then the
village, but now the city, of Springfield, on which be lived
till the time of his death, which occurred March 11, 1851,
by his being thrown from his horse against a tree, killing
him almost instantly. He was, as to his religious connection
when in England, an Independent, but, finding none of the
order in Springfield, he united with the First Presbyterian
Church, and afterward with the First Congregational Church.
His wife survived him more than twenty years, and died in
1872, in the 8lst year of her age. The younger George
Brain was born in Staffordshire, England, March 2, 1827;
he came with his parents to America, as before stated, in
1829, and has always lived on the farm, except a year or two
when employed in Dr. John Ludlow’s drug store. He was
married, May 22, 1860, to Sarah M. Willard, daughter
of Levi and Sarah (Allen) Willard, in Decatur, DeKalb
Co., Ga., at which place Sarah M. was born July 6,
1839, and where her father had been in successful business
many years as a merchant. His residence is now on North
Limestone Street, Springfield; too old and infirm to attend
to any active business. Mr. Brain has six children living—Willard,
Jessie A., George H., Mary, Bessie
and Grace. Alice died in infancy. Mr. Brain was too
young when he left England (only 2½ years old) to have any
political opinions, and, in his growth to manhood, he became
thoroughly Americanized; he is a quiet, unassuming
gentleman, doing his duty throughout life in that upright,
straightforward manner that has won for him the respect,
good will and confidence of a large circle of the best
citizens of Clark County.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 795 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
W. G. BRAIN, Springfield; a
native of Springfield; is a son of George Brain, Sr.
The subject of this sketch was born in 1830; when a youth,
he engaged as clerk in a drug-store here, and subsequently
engaged in the drug trade on his own account, and continued
the business here ten or twelve years; he has been in the
lumber trade here for the past eleven years, and has resided
here, with the exception of one or two short intervals, all
his life. He has been twice married, his first marriage
being with Mary Dyer, of Cincinnati, in 1858; she
having died, he married Elizabeth Dyer, a sister of
his first wife, in 1876. By his first wife he had four
children, two of whom are living; he has one child by his
second marriage. His residence is No. 272 West Pleasant
street. His oldest daughter living, Miss Belle M., is
Superintendent of Drawing in the city schools; Robert D.
is a graduate of the high school, and Stanley, the
youngest, is a child of 3 years. Mr. Brain’s lumber-yard and
office are between the C., S. & C., and L. M. depots; he is
handling large quantities of lumber, mostly in car lots.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 796 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
ANDREW N. BROOKS, farmer,
stock buyer and grain-dealer; P. O. Springfield, Box 1199.
There are few more active business men in the county than
the subject of this sketch. Mr. Brooks is a native of Clark
Co., Ohio, having been born in Harmony Township June 7,
1835; he is a son of L. Brooks, deceased. Andrew’s
father died when he was in his 6th year; at the age of 13,
he left home and began life for himself; he worked on a farm
by the month some time, then he commenced to drive cattle
for cattle-dealers; when but 17 years old, he was put in
charge of a large drove of cattle and drove them to
Lancaster, Penn., over the mountains. He was united in
marriage, Feb. 8, 1855, to Miss Mary Ann Foreman, a
daughter of Harvey Foreman, of Harmony Township; this
union has been blessed by the birth of seven children, five
boys and two girls, all of whom are now living, viz.,
Dora, now the wife of John Stevens; H. L.,
who is a grain merchant at Catawba Station, in Pleasant
Township; Frank A., Twing, Milton,
Charles and Fannie. In 1855, Mr. Brooks commenced
farming and has continued to farm since in connection with
his other business. In 1857, he became a cattle-buyer and
has been engaged in it quite extensively since. In 1868, he
began the grain trade, and is one of the most extensive
grain-dealers in Clark Co.; his shipments amount to 225 cars
annually; he buys grain at five stations—Springfield,
Oxtobey’s Station, Brooks’ Station, Plattsburg and Sharp’s
Station; he is the owner of a very fine farm of 140 acres of
land, where he resides—at Brooks’ Station. Mr. Brooks and
wife are members of the Baptist Church, at Lisbon; he is a
member of the A., F. & A. M., at South Charleston, and is
also a Past Grand of Vienna Lodge No. 345, I. O. O. F. (he is
the only living charter member of Vienna Lodge). Mr.
Brooks
is a gentleman of fine social qualities, very pleasant in
his manners, social and affable, and very hospitable.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 956 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
NATHAN T. BROOKS, deceased.
Mr. Brooks, whose name heads this sketch, was born in
Harmony Township, Clark Co., Ohio, and in which he resided
to the date of his death; he was born June 15, 1831, and
departed this life April 20, 1875. Elizabeth, widow
of N. T. Brooks, was born in Harmony Township, Clark Co.,
Ohio, March 25, 1836. Mr. N. T. Brooks was married to
Miss Elizabeth Rathburn July 19, 1855; the result of
this union was five children, two sons and three daughters,
all of whom are living; the names and ages of the children
are respectively thus—the eldest, Margaret A., 24
years; William T., 22; Alice L., 20, Lemuel
C., 16; Carrie L., 13. Margaret A. is
married to Joseph Mason; Alice L. is the wife
of William Sweet, the rest of the children are as yet
unmarried. Mrs. Brooks, widow of N. T. Brooks, resides upon
the homestead; the farmhouse, which is quite modern in its
construction, is situated upon a picturesque and well-chosen
eminence, which commands a magnificent view of the
surrounding country.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 956 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
BENJAMIN F. BRUBAKER,
farmer; P.O. Springfield. He lives one mile north of the
city of Springfield, between the Springfield & Urbana and
Clark Union Pikes; he erected his beautiful, convenient and
cozy residence in 1876; he is the only brother of Ephraim
Brubaker, who lives on the adjoining farm north.
Benjamin was born July 24, 1853; he is an active young
farmer, who believes in making farming a pleasure instead of
a drudge; he owns an excellent farm of 100 acres, which he
has very appropriately named “Sunny Side Farm.” He was
married, Nov. 29, 1876, to Medora E. (familiarly
known as Dora) Bosart; she is an intelligent,
generous lady, well suited to make the life of a farmer
radiant and cheerful; she delights in making her home
pleasing to her husband and welcome to her friends and
visitors; she is the daughter of T. L. and Matilda (Moss)
Bosart, whose sketch will be found elsewhere in this
work, and who were pioneers of the county. Mr. Brubaker is
yet a young man, and his prospects are indeed bright and
promising.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 796 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
WILSON G. BRYANT, M. D.,
physician, Springfield; is a native of Ohio, a son of
Rev. Daniel Bryant, who was a native of New Jersey, born
in 1799. He came West in 1818 with his father’s family who
located in Indiana. Daniel acquired an education principally
by his own unaided efforts and study, his only school
advantages being an attendance at Miami University one term;
he early became a teacher, and continued to teach many
years. He married, in 1824, Elvira, daughter of
Ichabod Corwin, and in the same year was ordained a
minister of the Baptist denomination. In his earlier
ministerial years, Elder Bryant was in charge of several
important churches, the Freeman Street, Cincinnati, being
one, but later in life, devoted himself to the work of
strengthening the feeble churches in Southern Ohio, thus
giving direction to the Baptist cause throughout all this
region. His decease occurred at Honey Creek Church,
Champaign County, in 1875, he being suddenly stricken with
apoplexy while preaching in the pulpit, and expired in a few
hours. His widow now resides at Urbana. The subject of this
sketch was born in Burlington, Hamilton Co., Ohio, in 1825,
and. during his youth, had more than ordinary educational
facilities, having attended “Granville” one term before he
was 18 years of age, but at this time was thrown upon his
own resources and abandoned school and went to farming, and
assisted his father in supporting the family until 1848; but
his ambition for knowledge, and especially his desire for
the study of medicine, would not be satisfied on a farm
longer than necessity compelled him to remain. His spare
time was spent in study and reading medicine, and, although
he married in 1848, yet he pursued his studies and completed
his medical education, supporting his family and defraying
his educational expenses by his own labor. He began practice
in Champaign County in 1852, but soon after removed to Grand
Prairie, Ill., where he practiced about two years, then
removed to Covington, Miami Co., Ohio, where he practiced
until the spring of 1862, when he entered the United States
service as Assistant Surgeon of the 122d O. V. I.; having
been captured at Winchester, Va.; in 1863, he was placed in
charge of the hospital by the Confederate States Medical
Director; about two months later, was captured by the Union
forces, in connection with the other occupants of the
hospital; subsequently, the 6th Corps, to which his regiment
was attached, took part in many of the important battles of
the Armies of Virginia and of the Potomac, and he was almost
constantly on detailed duty, being almost invariably placed
in charge of the field hospital for the wounded. In 1865, as
an acknowledgment of his meritorious services, he was
promoted to the rank of Surgeon and assigned to the 197th O.
V. I., and continued in the service until August, 1865.
While in charge of the post hospital at Winchester, Va.,
after the battle in 1864, after caring for all other cases,
he became interested in nine men whose wounds were
considered fatal, being compound and cominuted fractures of
the thigh so near the body as to suggest the necessity of
the amputation at the hip joint, which operation, on account
of its extreme risk, was forbidden by general order from the
department at Washington; the Doctor’s sympathy for these,
thus virtually abandoned to die, led him to attempt to save
them; being a natural mechanical genius, he provided the
necessary appliances and instituted conservative surgical
treatment, and by improvising some “Smith’s Anterior
Splints,” secured requisite extension and counter-extension,
and, by otherwise adapting his treatment to each particular
case, succeeded in saving with useful limbs seven of the
nine thus treated; he also performed the exceptional
surgical operation of ligating successfully the femoral
artery, and frequently performed operations for the
extraction of balls from the cervical angle of the neck.
Feb. 3, 1865, the Surgeons of the corps and division united
in a letter to the Surgeon General of the State,
complimenting and explaining the services rendered by Dr.
Bryant while in charge of the different hospitals. A copy of
this letter, with other trophies, are now in the Doctor’s
possession, prized mementos of achievements of which he has
just reason to be proud, especially as his meritorious
operations and surgical treatment were without precedent.
After his return from army life to Covington, he removed, in
November, 1865, to Springfield, where he has since practiced
his profession, and now enjoys a large practice, and is held
in high esteem both as a physician and citizen. He has no
living children, except an adopted daughter, Frances A.,
who, with himself and wife, is a member of the First Baptist
Church, Mrs. Bryant and Frances being identified with the
different departments of church activities.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W. H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 796 - Transcribed
for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
EBENEZER M. BUCKINGHAM, M.
D., physician, Springfield. Dr. Buckingham is a son
of Milton and Belinda (Cooley) Buckingham; she was a
native of Springfield, Mass., and he of New York State, from
which they removed in the year 1800, to the Northwest
Territory, and settled in what is now Athens Co., Ohio; he
was a farmer, but removed to Zanesville in 1832 and engaged
merchandising, and came to Springfield in 1843, where he
continued in mercantile trade several years, having retired
two or three years before his decease, which occurred in
1852; his widow and three children survived him; her decease
occurred in Springfield in 1872; the two sons and a daughter
still reside here. The subject of this sketch was born in
Athens County in 1824; he received a rudimentary and
preparatory education in select schools, and graduated from
Kenyon College in 1846, after which he read medicine with
the late Dr. Robert Rodgers, and began the practice
of his profession here in Springfield, his first experience
being in 1849, still remembered as the cholera year; in the
winter of 1849-50, he attended lectures at and graduated
from Jefferson College, Philadelphia, and has since
practiced his profession here, having the deserved
confidence and liberal patronage of the community. He has
been a member of the Clark County Medical Society since its
organization; is a member of the Episcopal Church, and has
contributed toward the improvement of the city and county,
having lately completed a fine three-story block on the
southeast corner of Limestone and High streets. He married,
in 1850, Miss Mary Berdan, daughter of the late
Judge Berdan, of Toledo; her decease occurred in 1865;
one son and a daughter survive—John M., now a medical
student, and Miss Alice. In 1867, he married Miss
Caroline Starring, of LaFayette, Ind.; from this union,
four children survive—Benjamin S., Belinda,
William L. and Avery.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 798 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
WASHINGTON BUFFENBARGER
(deceased); was born in Madison Twp., Clark Co., Ohio, Jan.
17, 1809; a son of George and Hannah Buffenbarger,
both natives of Virginia, who emigrated from their native
State in 1807, and located on the Little Miami River, at the
place above mentioned, where they purchased a very large
tract of land, and where the residue of their lives was
spent. They were the parents of ten children.
The first born in Virginia, died in infancy. the
others were born in Ohio and lived to adult age. Their
names were as follows: Jesse, Washington, Samuel and
Sampson (twins), Simington, Salmon, Eve, Mary
and Angus. Sampson, the only survivor, resides
in Auglaize Co., Ohio. Washington was raised to
manual labor on his father's farm, and was always engaged in
agricultural pursuits. On the 24th of Feb., 1831, he
was united in marriage with Mary Goudy, by whom he
had five children - Peter, Mary H., Mahala A., Priscilla
and Francis M. Washington Buffenbarger departed
this life in July, 1877. His wife survives and resides
on the farm. She was born in Vance Township, Greene
County (which is Green Township, Clark County since 818);
Oct. 22, 1808 is the date of her birth. John Goudy,
her father, was of Irish descent, born in Redding Co., Penn.
His first marriage was celebrated in Kentucky, and, in 1803,
they, had their two children, emigrated to Ohio and settled
in Hamilton County. Five years later they moved to the
place previously mentioned. Ten children were born to
them - Alexander, Nancy, Ann, John, Rebecca, Mary, Robert
S., Elizabeth, Isabel and Hannah. His
second marriage was consummated with Nancy Murphy.
The children of this union were seven in number.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 1060 -
Transcribed by Sharon Wick |
MRS. JULIA A BURNETT,
Springfield. She is the widow of Thomas P. Burnett,
deceased; her residence, on Woodside Farm, is just east of
the city, on the road leading south from the Clifton Pike.
Mrs. Burnett was born in Pennsylvania June 22, 1820; came
with her parents to Ohio in 1828, and was united in marriage
with Mr. Burnett May 10, 1847; four children were born unto
them, of whom but two are still living—William D. and
Thomas P., Jr.; the former was married, in 1872, to
Florence, daughter of Thomas P. and Clara Norton;
lives at home with his mother and carries on the farm; and
Thomas is engaged in the lumber trade in Springfield,
corner Main street and Western avenue, under the firm name
of Woliston, Chambers & Burnett. William and
Thomas attended
the private school of the Hon. C. Robbins some three years,
when Thomas ceased going to school, to go into business; but
William continued his studies for awhile longer at
Wittenberg College. Mr. Burnett was an early settler in this
county, and was always highly esteemed by his acquaintances
and friends; and Mrs. Burnett is a lady of culture and
refinement.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 798 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
Harmony
Twp. -
THOMAS C. BUSBEY,
retired teacher; P. O. Vienna Cross Roads.
Matthew Busbey, the grandfather of the subject of
this sketch, was born in the county of Antrim, Ireland.
He came to America about the year 1771. He settled on
the south bank of the Potomac, in Hampshire Co., Va.
He was a soldier in the Revolutionary army. At the
time of his death he left a widow, five sons and one
daughter. Hamilton Busbey, the father
of the subject of this sketch, being the youngest. Hamilton
Busbey was born in Hampshire Co., VA., on the old
homestead, July 5, 1792. He was married to
Miss Sophia Lewis, of Winchester,
Va., in the year 1813. This union was blessed by the
birth of seven sons and five daughters ten of whom are now
living, the subject of this sketch being the oldest. Hamilton
Busbey and family came to Ohio in October, 1815,
and settled in what is now Harmony Township, near the town
of Lisbon. Hamilton was a man of
considerable influence. He took an active part in the
organization of Clark County and Harmony Township. He
did much in the organization of the schools of Harmony
Township. Hamilton Busbey, in 1815,
was looking about for a suitable place to locate in the
county. At this time he was offered the lot upon which
Jones & Miller's dry goods store is now
situated in Springfield for a very small sum of money, but
in his judgment at that time Lisbon was the most promising
place of the two, where he purchased a corner lot.
What a change since then! Hamilton Busbey
was a Quartermaster in the war of 1812. Mr.
Busbey was for some years the owner of a farm near
where the town of Plattsburg now is. He and his family
(excepting the subject of this sketch) moved to Illinois in
1839, and settled in Coles Co., where he died Dec. 16, 1847.
His wife, Sophia, died at the same place
April 2, 1855. The subject of this sketch,
Thomas C. Busbey, was born in the town of Romney,
in Hampshire Co., Va., Mar. 13, 1815. He came to
Harmony Township with his parents in 1815, where he has
continued to reside since. He commenced teaching
school at the age of 19 years, and continued to teach for
thirty-five years in Clark Co. Mr. Busbey
was united in marriage, May 24, 1838, to Miss Anna
Bodkin, a daughter of Richard Bodkin,
who was a pioneer of Ohio. He was born in Harrison
Co., Va., in 1878. He settled in Hamilton Co., Ohio,
in 1803, and moved to Clark Co. in 1808.
Richard Bodkin's wife, Elizabeth Bodkin (nee)
Hester, was born July 28, 1782; she lived where
Cincinnati, Ohio, now is, when there were but three
houses in that neighborhood. As a result of the
marriage of Thomas C. and Anna Busbey,
there has been born to them ten children, nine of whom are
now living - William (the political editor
of the Inter-Ocean, of Chicago, Ill.),
Hamilton (a contributing editor, and one of the
proprietors of the Turf, Field and Farm, of New
York City), L. W. (city editor of the
Inter-Ocean, of Chicago, Ill.), Charles S.
(a school teacher), T. A. (who lives with
his parents), Louise (the wife of
W. H. Neer), Angelina (the wife of
James Rice), Hattie (who
lives at home), Mary (the wife of
Theodore Postle), Daniel W.
(a son who died May 9, 1865). A very
remarkable circumstance is connected with this family; nine
out of the ten children have been school-teachers.
Where is there another family like them?
William and Hamilton were members
of Co. C, 1st Ky. V. I. Hamilton
served three years. William served
two, and was discharged by special order, in order that he
might edit the Louisville Journal. Daniel W.
was a clerk in the Provost Marshall's office at
Clarksville, Tenn., and Post Librarian at Louisville, Ky.
Mr. Busbey enlisted as a "squirrel hunter"
to to defend Cincinnati against the Kirby Smith raid.
Mr. Busbey has been elected Township Clerk;
has served for ten years as a member of the Republican
Central Committee; was appointed Deputy United States
Marshal in 1870, and took the census of Pleasant, Madison
and Harmony Townships. Mr. B B. is
now in his 66th year, a man of clear mind and possessed a
wonderful amount of knowledge.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 957 -
Transcribed by Sharon Wick
NOTE:
For more on the Busbey Family go to:
www.usgenealogyexpress.com/~il/coles and click on
Biographies. ~SWick
ALSO NOTE: FYI - In the
1820 Census, Romey, Hampshire Twp., Va., there is a Mary
Busbey with children. No husband there. |
ASA
S. BUSHNELL, manufacturer, Springfield; is a member
of the oldest and largest manufacturing establishment of
Springfield; he is a native of New York State, born in
Oneida County Sept.16, 1834; came to Springfield in 1851,
and was engaged as a dry goods clerk three years, then
became book-keeper for Leffel, Cook &
Blakeney, afterward Mason, Cook &
Blakeney; in 1857, he entered the office of Warder,
Brookaw & Child, and, in the fall of the same year, became a
partner with Ludlow in the drug trade, in which he continued
until 1867, when he became the junior partner of the firm of
Warder, Mitchell & Co., now Warder, Bushnell &
Glessner. He married, Sept. 17, 1857, Miss Ellen,
daughter of John Ludlow. Mr. Bushnell’s career in
Springfield is worthy of note; beginning when a youth as
clerk, he gradually worked his way through office work to
the confidence and esteem of his employers, and, after ten
years’ experience as a druggist, was invited to a
partnership with one of his former employers, and thus
became identified with the leading manufacturing interest of
the city; he is an active business man, social and courteous
in all relations of life; he is highly esteemed as a
citizen, and regarded as a man of rare business
qualifications and prospects; his residence is No. — East
High street, and compares favorably with the many elegant
houses for which this street is noted. He was Captain of Co.
E, 156th O. N. G., which company he recruited and
accompanied in the 100-days service.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 798 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
ASA
SMITH BUSHNELL, fortieth governor of Ohio, reflected
the distinction of his spotless private life and long
leadership in business and politics upon the City of
Springfield, his home for over half a century. The name
Bushnell will always remain significant in Springfield, and
as a result of the career of the late Governor
Bushnell it has a permanent national distinction as one
of the great industrial captains of the last century and one
of the most trusted leaders Ohio gave to the republican
party.
Governor Bushnell was born at Rome, Oneida County, New
York, September 16, 1834, and was of old New England
ancestry. His grandfather, Jason Bushnell, fought as
an American soldier in the Continental Army during the
Revolution. He was first a member of the company of Capt.
Charles Miel, in General Waterbury’s Brigade, and
subsequently was with Washington’s Army at Tarrytown. The
Connecticut family of Bushnells has been
distinguished in the field of science and education.
Daniel Bushnell, father of Governor Bushnell,
was born at Lisbon, Connecticut, February 17, 1800. In 1845
he brought his family to Ohio, locating in Cincinnati.
Daniel Bushnell married Miss Harriet Smith
on March 9, 1825.
Asa S. Bushnell was eleven years of age when the
family moved to Cincinnati, and he completed his education
in the common schools of that city. Like nearly all the
prominent men that Ohio produced in the last century, he had
only the advantages of common schools, and his achievements
were more directly the product of his integrity and
resourceful energy rather than the result of unusual
training or education. Asa Bushnell came to
Springfield in 1851. A youth of seventeen, his first
employment here was as clerk in a dry goods store. Three
years later he became bookkeeper for the firm of Leffel,
Cook & Blakeney. In the spring of 1857 he
accepted employment as bookkeeper and traveling salesman for
Warder, Brokaw and Child. Though he
remained with this firm only a few months, the employment is
significant since their business was the manufacture of
mowers and reapers, and it is with the great industry of
manufacturing harvesting machinery that the name Bushnell
is most closely identified. After leaving that firm Mr.
Bushnell was for ten years associated with his
father-in-law, Dr. John Ludlow, in the drug business.
In the meantime the Civil war came on and the young
business man readily put the call of patriotic duty above
private interests and raised Company E of the One Hundred
and Fifty-second Ohio Infantry. As captain of this company
he was under the command of Gen. David Hunter
in the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1864. After the war he
resumed his connection with the drug business, but a few
years later rejoined his former employers, which firm in the
meantime had become Warder, Mitchell &
Company. Still later this became the Warder, Bushnell
& Glessner Company, and as a Springfield
industry it was one of the foundation stones upon which the
city’s industrial progress rested. Mr. Bushnell became
president of the company in 1886, and the machinery
manufactured by his company and bearing his name was
distributed and used in every agricultural state of the
Union, and was exported to practically every agricultural
country in the world.
Among other important business interests that felt the
guiding hand of Governor Bushnell were the First National
Bank and the Springfield Gas Company, which he served as
president, and he was a stockholder and director in a number
of the city’s prominent corporations. Governor Bushnell
always generously shared his great success in material
affairs with his home community and its institutions. He was
one of the largest benefactors of the Ohio Masonic Home at
Springfield, and donated generously of his wealth to many
other organizations and causes in his home city. He was a
member of Mitchell Post, No. 45, G. A. R.
Apart from the intimate association of his name with
manufacturing, his reputation over the state at large is due
to his long and distinguished service in the republican
party and the efficient administration he gave as governor
of the state. In 1885 Mr. Bushnell became
chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee, and in
this connection he aided materially in securing that most
important party victory implied in the election of
Governor Foraker by a handsome plurality and in
the unprecedented result of securing a republican majority
in the General Assembly without the vote of Hamilton County,
thus insuring the return of John Sherman to
the United States Senate.
In 1886 he was appointed quartermaster-general of the
state by Governor Foraker, and served in the
capacity for a term of four years. In the State Republican
Convention of 1887 Mr. Bushnell was nominated by acclamation
as a candidate for lieutenant-governor on the ticket with
Governor Foraker, but he declined the honor.
In 1889 the leaders of Ohio republicanism insistently urged
that he should head the party ticket, but he positively
refused to have his name considered in the connection.
Again, in 1891, he was most urgently importuned to accept
the gubernatorial nomination, his party associates
maintaining that he was the most logical and available man
for the place, and the one who would most successfully
uphold the standard of the organization; but owing to the
intimate association of national politics in that campaign
the nomination naturally went to Major McKinley,
of whom Mr. Bushnell was a most ardent
supporter. Mr. Bushnell was one of the four
delegates at large from Ohio to the National Republican
Convention at Minneapolis in 1892, and in every republican
convention for many years he served as a delegate. He
refused on several occasions to become a candidate for
Congress from the Springfield District, and manifested at
other times his preference for working in the cause aside
from the position as a public official or candidate.
This high honor which was accorded
Mr. Bushnell in his
nomination for governor of the state came entirely without
his solicitation. His services to the party and his
particular eligibility for the office were so thoroughly
recognized that at the Republican State Convention held at
Zanesville in May, 1895, the demand for his nomination for
governor was so unqualified that he could not but accept the
candidacy. Throughout the ensuing campaign he made a canvass
that was dignified and particularly gratifying to his
constituents, gaining the good will of all classes, and in
his utterance showing that practical judgment and effective
policy which made his administration so thoroughly
acceptable to the people of the state and so creditable to
him as a man and as an official. The campaign was a vigorous
one, and at the November election he was elected by the
flattering majority of 92,622, a victory greater than any
ever achieved by any other Ohio governors save John
Brough, who was a candidate at the time of the late
war and who received practically the entire vote of the
state. Governor Bushnell was inaugurated on the 13th of
January, 1896. As chief executive he conducted affairs with
that mature wisdom and according to those practical business
principles which his character naturally indicates. He was
one of the delegates-at-large to the National Republican
Convention held at St. Louis in June, 1896.
Governor Bushnell was a member of the
Episcopal Church and was a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite
Mason. In September, 1857, he married Miss Ellen Ludlow,
daughter of Dr. John Ludlow, of Springfield. The
death of Governor Bushnell occurred in 1904,
and three children survived him: Mrs. J. F. McGrew, Mrs.
H. C. Diamond and John L. Bushnell. The son is
president of the First National Bank of Springfield.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 12 -
Transcribed for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
JOHN L. BUSHNELL had the
disadvantage of being a son of an illustrious father, but in
spite of that handicap has achieved for himself a prominence
and a very useful place in the commercial life of his native
city.
The career of his distinguished father, Governor
Bushnell, is the subject of the full and carefully
written article preceding and what follows is only a brief
outline of the life and service of the son.
John L. Bushnell was born at Springfield,
February 15, 1872. He was reared and received his early
educational advantages in his home city and in 1894
graduated from Princeton University. He has given nearly
thirty years of his life to the commercial affairs of
Springfield. Mr. Bushnell is president of the
First National Bank and president of the Morris Plan Bank.
For many years he has been an ardent horseman and has owned
some prize-winning animals. He married Miss Jessie M.
Harwood, daughter of the late T. E. Harwood.
SOURCE: A Standard History of Springfield and Clark
County, Ohio; Vol. 2; Benjamin F. Prince, 1922 - Page 14 -
Transcribed for Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
A. W. BUTT, of P. P. Mast & Co.,
manufacturers, Springfield; is a native of Pennsylvania,
born in Erie County in 1835; soon after his birth, his
father removed with his family to La Porte, Ind., where he
was engaged in milling and mercantile pursuits, which
afforded excellent business advantages to the son, who
became a partner with his father on arriving at his
majority, but a year later they sold out, and Mr. Butt,
Jr., went out West prospecting; after a stay of about
four years, mostly spent in Kansas and Nebraska, he returned
to La Porte and engaged in the sale of agricultural
implements, in connection with the John H. Manny Reaper
Works at Rockport, Ill., in which he continued about
seven years; in 1862, he became connected as agent with the
Buckeye Agricultural Works, then operated by Thomas &
Mast; subsequently became general agent, and, at the
re-organization of the firm, October, 1871, he became a
member of the company, and, in the following January, was
elected a Director, and has since been connected with the
works; he now has charge of the trade throughout the North
and Northwest, where is well and favorably known as a
successful salesman. The extent of their business may be
judged from the fact that the company do about $1,000,000 of
business per annum, the sales department being under the
supervision of Mr. Butt, W. C. Downey and C. C.
Crane, the territory being divided between them. Mr.
Butt married, in 1872, Frances G. Bagley; she was a
native of Mercer Co., Penn., and, at the time of her
marriage, resided with her parents at La Porte; her parents
now reside there, both being nearly fourscore years of age.
Mr. Butts’ residence is at 86 West High
street; he is a successful business man, and a social,
agreeable gentleman; he was a charter member of Anthony
Lodge, F. & A. M., and also of Palestine Commandery, of
which he is still an honored member.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 799 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
JOHN C. BUXTON, deceased;
was prominently identified with the interests of
Springfield. He was born in New Boston, N. H., where he
attended school and afterward became a clerk in a dry goods
store in Nashua. In 1848, he came to Springfield, and was
employed as clerk in the office of the general local
management of the C., S. & C. R. R.; subsequently succeeded
to the local management, and in 1869 was appointed Assistant
Superintendent, and for a number of years filled that
position creditably; he was elected Cashier of the Savings
Bank, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John
Newlove, which position he held at the time of his
decease, which occurred July 21, 1880. Mr. Buxton left
behind him the record of an active, honorable life; keen,
active, far-seeing and wise in business, and affectionate
with friends, he was held in high esteem in the business and
social circles in which he moved, and he was not only one of
the most active of business men in private affairs, but also
connected with public enterprises. He was twice married; his
first wife was a sister of Mr. John Norris whom Mr.
Buxton succeeded in the local railroad management, and also
a sister of Charles P. Norris, who was for a long
time express agent here; she having deceased in 1860, Mr.
Buxton subsequently married Miss Jennie Wiseman, who,
with three children, survives him, and now resides on the
property No. 394 East High street, which was purchased and
improved by Mr. Buxton, and which is a handsome property,
which, by its surroundings and furnishings, indicates
culture and refined taste. Mrs. Buxton is the
daughter of the Rev. John Wiseman, a well-known and
prominent minister of the Presbyterian Church, and is an
accomplished lady.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 799 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
ANDREW T. BYERS, attorney
and manufacturer, Springfield; was born in Madison Co.,
Ohio, in 1847; he was the son of a farmer, and remained on
the farm until 18 years of age, receiving, in the meantime,
a rudimentary education at the common schools; subsequently
took a preparatory course at Oberlin, and graduated at the
Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, after which he read
law in the office of Hon. Samuel
Shellabarger, and was admitted to practice in 1875, and
immediately began practice here, occupying the office a
short time previously vacated by Shellabarger &
Pringle, and has continued practice here since, having
been twice elected City Solicitor—first in 1876, to fill a
vacancy, and again in 1877 for a full term of two years. In
1878, he was admitted to the bar of the United States
Courts. He is now, in addition to his professional business,
a member of the Common Sense Engine Company, of which
further mention is made in the chapter relating to
Springfield. Mr. Byers is a young but active
man, a lawyer of recognized ability, and a careful business
man, and we predict a successful future to the new
manufacturing firm. He married, in 1877, Miss Ida Bidwell;
she is also a native of Madison County, and a graduate of
the Wesleyan Female Seminary. Mrs. Byers’
mother, Jane Bidwell, is known in literary circle as
contributor to some of the standard literary journals.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 791 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
ANTHONY BYRD, farmer; P. O.
Springfield. Among the pioneers of Clark Co., Ohio, some
there are who are recognized as true representatives of that
class of men to whom the county owes its present wealth and
prosperity, and whose characters, in over half a century of
business activity, have never been stained by one act of
wrong or injustice in their transactions with their
fellow-man; and in this class stands “Squire” Byrd. He was
born in Bedford Co., Va., April 13, 1805, and is the son of
Luke and Elizabeth (Huffman) Byrd, who came to Clark
Co., Ohio, in December, 1816, locating near Springfield, his
father dying Aug. 31, 1823, and his mother in September,
1835. At the age of 24, Anthony was married to Jane
Snodgrass, daughter of John and Jane (Steel)
Snodgrass, to whom were born three children—two boys and
one girl—all of whom are living. In the spring of 1829, Mr.
Byrd purchased a portion of the farm he now lives upon, and
from time to time has added to it, until he is now the owner
of 240 acres of finely improved land. On the 8th of
December, 1836, his wife died, and in 1839 he was married to
Maria Wallace, daughter of Jonathan and Isabella
Wallace, of which union four children were born, two yet
living. Mrs. Byrd died June 25, 1851, and, in
October, 1854, he was married to Mary Cowan, daughter
of Jane and David Cowan, who died in April, 1868,
leaving him again without a helpmate to cheer and comfort
him in his declining years. On the 27th October, 1863, his
son Wallace died from disease contracted in the army,
whither he had gone to help preserve the Union. In 1834,
Mr. Byrd was elected Justice of the Peace, and
was re-elected seventeen years consecutively. Politically,
an ardent Republican; he has always kept well informed upon
the issues of the political parties, and, when Ft. Sumter
was fired upon, he remarked. “That is the beginning of the
end of slavery,” demonstrating that he was a man of
far-seeing mind and keen political sagacity. Since 1837, he
has been a consistent member of the United Presbyterian
Church, and has ever been kind and charitable to the poor or
afflicted, and no one was more prompt in times of sickness
in giving aid to those in distress. Upon one occasion, a
neighbor of his being sick with typhoid fever, every one
refused to go near the house through fear of catching the
dread disease, but Mr. Byrd went and sat up
with the patient several nights in succession, saying, “A
neighbor of mine shall never suffer alone so long as I am
able to go to his aid”—words that stamp him as a true
follower of Christ, who never fled from the poor or
distressed. Mr. Byrd is a plain, practical
man, who believes in fulfilling his promises to the letter,
and his life has been strongly marked by undeviating,
unswerving integrity in all its relations, being one of
those rare men whose aim is to be right and do right at all
times.
SOURCE: The History of Clark County, Ohio : Publ.
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 800 - Transcribed for
Ohio Genealogy Express by Cathy Portz |
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