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(Source: History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B.
Sarchet - Illustrated - Vol. I. B. F. Bowden & Company,
Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911
NOTE: As
always, if there is a particular biography that you want
transcribed,
Please CONTACT ME.
~ Sharon W.
ARCHIBALD BLACK.
From the far-famed and beautiful land of Bruce and
Burns, the bluebell and the heather, from which so many of
our sterling emigrants have come, Archibald L. Black,
well known in mining circles in the vicinity of Trial Run,
Jackson Township, Guernsey county, has migrated and become a
loyal and popular citizen, for in his makeup are many of the
strong and admirable traits of the typical Scotchman. His
birth occurred on July 17, 1865, in Ayreshire, Scotland, and he
was brought to our shores when eight years old. He is the
some of James and Agnes Black. The family had
previously resided in America, before 1860. Five uncles of
the subject on the paternal side, fought in the Union army
during the Civil War. The oldest, Capt. George Black,
was killed in battle. James Black took care of the
families of the five brothers. Four of them died during
the war, only one returning home. Three of them had
previously been in the British Army, one having served in the
West Indies. In 1861, the father, James Black, took
the family back to Scotland. The family were all
goldsmiths and glass-cutters and some of them lost their money
in the banks during the war. The family returned to the
United States about 1873 and located at Mansfield, now Carnegie,
near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where James Black had lived
before the Civil War. He owned a large portion of the land
on which the town of Carnegie stands. He lost heavily
during the panic of 1873, also in 1883, when the banks in
Pittsburg failed, - in fact he was financially ruined, losing
all his property. He was a man of excellent business
ability and and accumulated a large competency. He and his
wife died in Illinois.
Archibald L. Black is one of a family of nine
children, seven boys and two girls. As the boys became of
proper age they began supporting themselves by working out, the
subject going into the mines first when only eleven years old.
This training was somewhat hard for the youngsters, but made men
out of them and taught them many valuable lessons that have been
of much subsequent value to them. Archibald L. has
followed mining all his life. He worked in various
localities, part of the time in the West. He was married
in 1885 to Mary Hanson, of Pittsburg, daughter of
William and Elizabeth Hanson, and to this union three
children were born, Alfred William, Agnes Irene and
Eva Mary.
Mr. Black moved to Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1908.
He had been superintendent of mines in various places for nearly
twenty years before coming here, especially in the vicinity of
Pittsburg, which is still the family home, many of the Blacks
still living there. He was brought here for the purpose of
assuming the duties of superintendent of Trail Run mine No. 2,
in the southeastern part of Jackson township. He now has
under his control two hundred and sixty men, whom he handles in
such a manner as to get the greatest results and at the same
time retain their good will. He is well abreast of the
times in all matters pertaining to his line of work, and is a
man of much ability and commendable traits.
Politically, Mr. Black is a Republican and takes
an active interest in party affairs, though he is no office
seeker. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, at Madrid, New Mexico, the subordinate lodge and the
encampment at Santa Fe, having been superintendent of a mine
there four years. He is also a member of the Knights of
Pythias at Byesville, and he belonged to a lodge at Pittsburg
for about twenty years. He is also a member of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at Connellsville,
Pennsylvania, and he and Mrs. Black belong to the
Presbyterian church.
Mr. Black's record as a mine superintendent is
second to none and proves that he is a man of much native
ability. He was the youngest mine superintendent the Santa
Fe had, having become superintendent there before he was
twenty-five years of age.
Source: History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B. Sarchet - Illustrated - Vol. I. B. F. Bowden & Company,
Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911 - Page 787 |
WILLIAM HAMMOND BLAIR.
The history of the loyal sons and representative citizens of
Guernsey county would not be complete should the name that heads
this review be omitted. When the fierce fire of the
rebellion was raging throughout the Southland, threatening to
destroy the Union, he responded with patriotic fervor to the
call of volunteers, and in some of the bloodiest battles for
which that great war was noted, proved his loyalty to the
government he loved so well. During the subsequent years,
up to the time of his death, he was remembered among the honored
and respected citizens of his community. In official
positions and private life alike he proved himself every inch a
man, standing "four square to every wind that blows," and he is
eminently entitled to representation in a work of his character.
William Hammond Blair, a veteran of the Civil
war, and for many years city marshal, and later chief of police
of Cambridge, died at his home on South Sixth street, Saturday
evening, Oct. 22, 1910, about seven-fifteen o'clock, the cause
of death being heart trouble, with which he had been afflicted
for some years. The funeral services were held at the
residence of the family Monday afternoon, Oct. 24, 1910, at two
o'clock, conducted by Rev. R. M. Elliott, pastor of the
Second United Presbyterian church, and the interment was made in
Northwood cemetery. the services were under the auspices
of Cambridge Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was a
charter member, and six members of the post, his comrades during
life time, acted as his pallbearers.
Mr. Blair was the son of William and Mary
(Hammond) Blair and was born in Adams township, Guernsey
county, July 22, 1837. His paternal grandfather,
Alexander Blair, and his wife, Susan Long came from
county Donegal, Ireland to America about the year 1801 and
settled in Brooks county, Virginia (now West Virginia).
After living there a few years, and came to Guernsey county and
settled in what is now Cambridge township, on the farm now owned
by John Barnes. Alexander Blair was a native
of Ireland and his wife of Scotland. Their oldest child,
Alexander, was born in Ireland in 1798. He married
Isabel Nicholson and after their marriage they settled in
Meigs county, Ohio. William Blair (father of the
subject) married Mary Hammond and they lived in Adams
township, this county. Mary married David
Hammond and their children were as follows: James,
who married Helen Caither and resided near Elkton,
Kentucky; David married Mary Blair and they
resided in this county; John married Elizabeth Scott
and they resided in Adams township, this county; William
married Matilda Parke and they resided in Adams township;
Mary married William Blair, of Adams township;
Jane became the wife of Samuel Atchison and they
located in Muskingum county, where she still resides, at the age
of ninety-four years; Ann married David Dew and
lived in Muskingum county; Sarah married
Thomas Ford and lived in this county.
The Hammonds settled in Guernsey
county in 1818. William Hammond, in company with his
brothers, John, Robert, and David, came to this
country from county Tyrone, Ireland, sometime prior to the
Revolutionary war. They settled in the valley near the
Susquehanna River, marked off their claims and opened up some
ground for cultivation, but the Indians scared them away and
they settled near Hickory, Pennsylvania.
James Hammond enlisted in the war and was
wounded in the battle of Bunker Hill. William was
too young to enlist, but boated provisions for General Wayne
and his army. William married Mary Wier,
who had come with her parents from Scotland and settled near
Hickory, their marriage occurring about the year 1796. He
was a reed-maker by trade, and he and his wife eventually
resided in Guernsey county. Mattie married James
Gilkinson and they settled in Illinois. Susan
was married twice, her first husband being William McKee,
after whose death she married John Herbert, and they
lived in Knox township, this county. Alexander Blair
was by trade a stonemason. His son, William, was a
school teacher and also worked at the stone-mason's trade.
William H. Blair, the immediate subject of this
review, secured an education in the country schools, and at an
early age took up the work of a carpenter. He was married
to Elizabeth Mason, daughter of William and Sarah
(Forsythe) Mason, Oct. 4, 1860, and to them were born the
following eight children, four sons and four daughters, one of
the latter, May, dying when but seven years old, as the
result of being kicked by a horse; Mrs. Joseph Barr, of
Cambridge; Frank C., of Cambridge; Allie, at home;
William M., of Martins Ferry; Mrs. F. E. Geyer, of
Cambridge; Alex, of Newport, Kentucky; May,
deceased; and Charles, of Cambridge. These
children, with the mother, survive.
The Seventy-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry perhaps saw
as much hard fighting as any other regiment, and Company H had
the reputation of being in a greater number of hard-fought
battles, in addition to many skirmishes too numerous to mention
or keep track of.
After his final discharge from the army, at the close
of the war, Mr. Blair returned to his wife and again took
up business as a carpenter. With his family he moved from
Adams township to Cambridge, about 1891. A stanch
Republican, Mr. Blair immediately took an active interest
in municipal politics, and shortly after coming to the city was
elected city marshal. He served as marshal under
Mayors John Longsworth, A. M. Baxter and J. W. Smallwood.
During the latter's term of office the office of city marshal
was done away with and the position was made appointive, under
the title of chief of police. After serving as city
marshal and chief of police for eight years and eight months
Mr. Blair resigned Jan. 1, 1906, and after that time lived a
retired life. He still, however, took a keen interest in
politics.
During the last few years, Mr. Blair suffered
with heart trouble, which was the cause of his giving up active
work. Two weeks prior to his death he suffered an attack,
and it was feared then that it would end in death.
However, he recovered and made the remark that he did not think
he could live through another attack. On Saturday
afternoon of the day he died. Mr. Blair complained
of being ill, but after eating supper went out in front of the
house. Later he was joined by Mrs. Blair, who
advised him to return to the house, which he did, but his
condition was so much worse that the family physician was sent
for. However, it was too late and death was then but a
question of a short time.
On Oct. 4, 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Blair celebrated
their golden wedding anniversary, when all of their children
were present, and the occasion was one of unusual enjoyment for
the father, who was so soon to be summoned from earthly labors.
Mr. Blair was a man of sterling
worth and qualities of character and was held in the highest
esteem throughout the county, where he enjoyed an extensive
acquaintance. He was always on teh right side of every
question affecting the bets interests of his fellows, and his
death was a distinct loss to the community.
~ Page 839 |
JOHN BLAIR BRATTON.
A well known and representative citizen of Cambridge is John
Blair Bratton, city councilman and a man highly respected by
all, having maintained a reputation for square dealing with his
fellowmen and being public spirited and upright in all his
relations with the world as well as in private life. He
was born in Cambridge township, Guernsey county, in 1861, and he
is the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Blair) Bratton.
A complete sketch of these parents will be found on another page
of this work.
John B. Bratton spent his early boyhood on the
home farm and when very young assisted with the work during crop
seasons. At the age of fifteen years he took up coal
mining, which he followed three or four years, then went to the
city of Newark, Ohio, and learned the machinist's trade.
In the month of December, 1889, he came to Cambridge and started
in as assistant chief engineer at the American Sheet and Tin
Plate Company. About two years later he was promoted to be
chief engineer, which important position he held with entire
satisfaction for a period of seven years, then became a shearman
in the same plant, which position he has held ever since to the
utmost satisfaction of his employers being an expert in this
particular line of work. He has always believed in doing
well whatever was worth doing at all, and this has, no doubt,
been very largely responsible for his success in life.
Mr. Bratton is a loyal Republican in political
matters, and he has long taken an active interest in local
affairs. In the fall of 1908 he was elected to the city
council of Cambridge, and he is now serving his second term in
that body, being a very faithful exponent of the people's rights
and very careful to look after the general interests of this
city in every way. He keeps well posted on current affairs
and is a man of ability and is eminently trustworthy.
Fraternally, Mr. Bratton belongs to the Improved
Order of Red Men, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the
Fraternal Order of Owls.
Mr. Bratton was married in 1883 to Martha
Warren, daughter of John and Eliza Warren; she was
born and reared in Cambridge township. This union has
resulted in the birth of five children, namely: James
Francis; Walter died in April, 1907, when twenty years of
age; Hazel; Warren and Olive are twins.
James Francis Bratton was educated in the home
schools and when he reached maturity he married Julia Weyler,
and they have three children, John Wesley, Walter and
Gladys Elizabeth. James Francis Bratton is a machinist
by trade, and a very skilled one, and is at present filling the
position of shearman in the same plant in which his father is
employed.
The other children are all at home with their parents.
Hazel Bratton is stenographer and bookkeeper in the
office of the director of safety in Cambridge, and she is very
apt and rapid in her work. Mr. Bratton is
attached to his home and family and provides well for their
comfort. |
J. MARSHALL BROWN. The
reputation of J. Marshal Brown, well known implement and real
estate dealer of Cambridge, has been that of a man who is imbued
with modern twentieth century methods in both business and
public life, and whose relations with his fellow men in a social
way have ever been wholesome, so that he is in every respect
deserving of the high esteem which is accorded him by all
classes. He is the representative of one of the old and
highly honored families of Guernsey county.
Mr. Brown was born May 1, 1855, on a farm in
Liberty township, Guernsey county, Ohio, the son of
Joseph and Margaret (Frame) Brown. His father was
the son of William Brown, who came from Ireland
in ten early pioneer days and settled in Adams township, but
died a few years after coming to this locality. His son,
Joseph, the father of the subject, grew up
under conditions requiring self-denial and industry. When
grown to manhood he learned the tanner's trade with his brother,
William, who operated a tannery at Claysville.
This brother was a man of large business operations and active
in public matters, serving as county commissioner for nine
years. Joseph, after learning the
tanner's trade, built the Liberty mill, on Wills creek in
Liberty township, one of the early mills of the locality, and
operated the grist mill and sawmill for some years.
Associated with him in this business was Joseph McClarey,
and William Frame, his brother-in-law.
After leaving the mill he owned a farm and farmed in Liberty
township for a few years, when he bought a tannery in Cambridge,
which he operated for a few years prior to and during the Civil
war. About 1870 he sold his tannery and bought a farm one
mile west of Cambridge to which he moved and where he spent the
remainder of his life. He died in October, 1890, and his
wife still survives at the age of eighty-eight years.
Mr. Brown was a Republican of the old school,
while his wife was a Democrat of the same old school. He
was not an office seeker and, though always interested in public
affairs, never held public office. He and his family were
members of the United Presbyterian church, and he was a devout
churchman and always in his place on the Sabbath day, and active
in all church work. In the father's family were five sons,
one of whom died in infancy. Those living are:
William C., of Columbus; Samuel M., a
farmer, living on the home farm; J. Marshall,
the subject of this sketch; Joseph E., of
Columbus.
J. Marshall Brown
spent his childhood and youth on his father's farm and
was educated in the public schools of Cambridge. He was
married on Sept. 30, 1885, to May Ferguson,
daughter of Hiram C. and Amanda (Baldridge) Ferguson,
a prominent family of Cambridge Township. Both Mr. and
Mrs. Ferguson are deceased.
To this
union have been born three children: Margaret T.,
at home; Homer, deceased, and Amanda, deceased.
Until the spring of 1901 Mr. Brown
was engaged in farming one and one-half miles west of Cambridge
and was engaged in general farming, stock raising, etc., in
which he was very successful. He handled all kinds of
stock, and was an extensive operator, as were his father and
brother.
In 1901 he sold his farm
and became a resident of Cambridge, and has been engaged in the
buggy, wagon and farm machinery business. He also deals in
real estate, both farm and city property, and is a business man
of wide experience and successful operation. In 1904, he,
with M. W. Hutchison, added the Brown &
Hutchison addition to the city of Cambridge on the
north side, now the best residence section of the city.
He has been a large and successful operator in the real estate
business and has been in the forefront of Cambridge's
advancement and growth.
Mr.
Brown is a Republican in politics and has always been
an active party worker. He has served as a member of both
the county and central executive committees, also served as city
councilman at large for six years, and in 1910 was nominated by
the Republicans of Guernsey county for member of the county
infirmary board, and elected to this office. He is always
active in every movement calculated to benefit and build up the
county and city. He is a member of the Cambridge lodge of
Elks. He and his family are members of the Second United
Presbyterian church of Cambridge, and he was a member of the
building committee when the new church was built a few years
ago. The Brown home, at No. 1021 Beatty avenue, is in a
desirable residence section of the city. Mrs.
Brown is a woman devoted to her home and family, and
she and her daughter, Margaret, are prominent
in the social life of the city.
~ Page 550 |
TURNER G. BROWN.
Although Turner G. Brown has long since taken up his abode "i
the windowless palaces of rest," his influence still pervades
the lives of those with whom he came into contact, for he was a
man whom to know was to admire and respect, and he will not be
forgotten by those who had occasion to journey with him on
life's royal road. He grew up in this county from the
pioneer days to its subsequent development and he played well
his part in the same. He was born in October, 1838, in
Londonderry township, Guernsey county, Ohio, and his death
occurred on June 291, 1905, in Cambridge, in the sixty-seventh
year of his age. He was the son of Judge Turner G.
and Prudence (Colvin) Brown. His paternal
grandfather was the founder of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, from
which place the family came to Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1817,
and, as intimated above, became prominent and influential in the
affairs of the early pioneers. The father, Judge
Turner G. Brown, was an extensive and owner and a judge
of the circuit court for many years. He was a man of
superior intellectual attainments, naturally broad-minded, and
his judgment and advice were often sought in various perplexing
problems that confronted the pioneers and he very frequently
assisted in adjusting all kinds of matters and solving their
questions of difference. In addition to his large land
interests and his judicial duties, he was actively interested in
numerous business enterprises of his time, and a natural
promoter and organizer, and he was very successful in whatever
he turned his attention to.
Turner
G. Brown, Jr., grew to maturity amid such activities
and he participated in the work on the farm and in other varied
interests of his father as he grew to young manhood. He
was educated in the public schools of his native vicinity, and
for a time attended Athens College. He continued to reside
on the farm until his marriage, on January 5, 1871, to
Rhoda M. Brown, daughter of Barnard D. and
Maria (Denning) Brown; although of the same name, they
were in no way related. Bernard D. Brown
came to Guernsey county in 1828 from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
and he became one of the most active and widely known men here,
for many yeas prominent in business circles. He was
extensively engaged in farming, milling and merchandising and
was decidedly a man of affairs, high standing and popular with
all classes.
After his marriage,
Mr. Brown became a resident of Cambridge. He was
engaged in various business enterprises, and at the same time
maintained a fine farm about one mile north of Cambridge.
For several years he was superintendent of the Norris Coal
Company's mines. He was a Republican in politics and
wielded a potent influence in local party affairs. He was
progressive in all that the term implies, in all phases of
citizenship, and was highly respected and honored for his clean,
upright life and genuine worth. He believed in clean
politics and that public officials should be selected with a
view of purifying public office as well as ably representing the
people.
The Browns
were of the Quaker faith and the subject adhered to the tenets
of his fathers. His wife, who still survives, is an
earnest worker in the Methodist Episcopal church, a great
charity worker and a woman who has a host of warm friends and
has done a great dal of good in this vicinity. For several
years prior to his death, Mr. Brown was
president of the Law and Order League, which stood for law
enforcement, and probably more to his efforts than to those of
anyone else has been established that high regard for law and
order that now so prevails in Cambridge and Guernsey county as
to make this locality a leader in the march of civilizatoin.
~ Page 889 |
WILLIAM H. BROWN. When
an individual applies himself to his chosen vocation with the
fidelity that has characterized the labors of William
H. Brown, well known citizen of Fairview and
Oxford township, Guernsey county, he is eminently deserving of
the large success that he can today claim his own, for it seems
to be a law of nature that success comes to the deserving.
Mr. Brown was born Aug. 6, 1867, on a farm in
Wills township, Guernsey county, Ohio, the son of James
H. and Josephine (Wilkin) Brown. Both parents
were born in Guernsey county, and the mother is still living on
their farm in Belmont county, Ohio, near Fairview and the
Guernsey county line. The Brown ancestry
are of Scotch-Irish descent, the great grandfather,
George Brown, coming to America in 1810 and entered
land in Oxford township, Guernsey county. His son,
Joseph, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch,
was then only eight years of age. The Browns
were farmers in those early pioneer days, when neighbors were
few and the forests filled with all kinds of wild animals and
game and the Indians were even yet disputing the title to the
lands, and when heroic characters were necessary. These
pioneers possessed all the necessary characteristics of the
early frontiersman. James H. Brown,
the father of the subject of this sketch, after growing to young
manhood on the farm, engaged in the mercantile business in
Middleton six miles west of Fairview on the National pike and
business in Middleton, six miles west of Fairview on the
National pike, and at that time a busy commercial point.
During this time he was married and soon after the Civil war
opened he enlisted in the army as a member of Company A,
Ninety-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving through the war
in the Army of the Cumberland, his regiment participating in
most of the battles of that army. Twice he was wounded and
his wife obtained permission from the government to go to the
army hospital and nurse her husband, and where she remained for
some time doing general hospital work.
After returning from the army Mr. Brown
returned to Oxford township and engaged in farming, where he
remained until 1882, when he sold his farm in Oxford township
and purchased his present farm in Belmont county, adjoining
Fairview, and where he died Oct. 30, 1910, an honored and
respected citizen. He and his wife have two sons and three
daughters as follows: Hattie; William H.,
the subject of this sketch; Kearney B., who has
served in the regular army and seen service in the Philippines,
and who is now located in St. Louis, Missouri; Mary M.,
now Mrs. F. A. Kupfer, of Scio, Ohio; and Myrta
I., an elocution teacher in the Statesville Female
College at Statesville, North Carolina.
William H. Brown spent his childhood and youth
on the home farm, assisting in the general farm work and
attended the country schools. He later attended Ohio
University at Athens. Leaving college, he read law in the
office of Hon. Charles Townsend, an eminent
attorney of Athens, and was admitted to the bar Mar. 4, 1894.
He began the practice, remaining for a time offices both in
Fairview and Cambridge, but in 1900 he was appointed deputy
probate judge of Guernsey county, and after two years in the
probate office, returned to the practice, maintaining his office
in Fairview. He is a Republican in politics, as were all
his ancestry, and an active participant in party affairs.
He has served and is now a member of the Republican county
central committee and has served as a delegate to county,
district and state conventions, and also as a member of the
county election board. Has been mayor of Fairview and
justice of the peace of Oxford township, which office he is now
filling.
Mr. Brown
was married Oct. 4, 1898, to Augusta Rodocker,
daughter of Capt. M. D. and Mary (Plattenburg)
Rodocker, of Fairview. The Brown home is one of
the most pretentious in the town of Fairview and is prominent in
the social life of the community.
Mr.
and Mrs. Brown are members of the Methodist church and
active in church and Sunday school work. Mr. Brown
is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and
venerable consul of the Fairview camp.
Mr. Brown may also be very properly termed a
farmer, as in recent years he has conducted his father's home
farm, and is engaged in general farming and stock raising, and
in addition to his profession and official duties is a
thoroughly competent and up-to-date farmer.
~ Page 648 |
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