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HARDIN COUNTY, OHIO

BIOGRAPHIES

** Source:
A Twentieth Century History of Hardin County, Ohio
 - Vol. I  & II -
Publ. The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago
1910
898 pgs.

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  HON. MOSES B. WALKER, LL. D. - The late General Moses B. Walker was one of the strong men produced by the state of Ohio, the proud mother of stalwart sons who have given such a splendid account of themselves in the councils of commonwealth and nation, in the activities of the field, as well as of statesmanship.  General Walker was a typical representative of the highest citizenship and patriotism of the Buckeye state.  He was eminent as a brave soldier and a military leader; honored for his ability as a lawyer and a judge and widely recognized by the Republican party as a man to be implicitly trusted one of their most gifted and moral representatives.  Wherever there was work to be done, either on the battlefields of the militia or of polities—work which required manly stamina and a high grade of courage there could always be found General Walker in the thick of the fray.
     Moses B. Walker was a native of Fairfield county, Ohio, born on the 16th of July, 1819, and was a son of John and Mary (Davis) Walker.  His mother was a native of Frederick county, Maryland, daughter of Ignatius and Mary (DeLamar) Davis, and was of French ancestry.  John Walker, the father, was also a native of Maryland (St. Mary's county).  He was a planter in that section of the state—a Catholic and a Whig; and his politics may have had something to do with his coming to Ohio in 1798.  In that year he settled in the Scioto valley near Chillicothe, where he prospered as a farmer and a good citizen.  With true southern spirit, he joined the other settlers in that part of the territory in their determined efforts to repel Indian attacks and invasion, and was one of the pioneers who erected the famous Martin blockhouse in the Scioto valley.  Likewise, he gladly left his plow to participate in the war of 1812 and the final settlement of the score against Great Britain, serving during several campaigns as lieutenant of the home militia.  In his earlier years Mr. Walker was a Catholic, thereby adhering to the faith of his forefathers in Maryland; but later he became a member and a leading worker in the Methodist church.  In 1842 Mr. Walker moved with his wife to Van Buren county, Iowa, locating large tracts of land along the Des Moines river, some of which he improved and handled others as investments.  He died in this locality about 1850.  His wife was a woman of strong character and remarkable accomplishments. Through careful study, she gained a thorough knowledge of medicine and surgery, which she practiced to some extent — very unusual gifts and an almost unheard-of career for a woman of her day.  Mrs. Mary Davis Walker died in Iowa in 1857, her son, Moses B., being then at the height of his standing as a citizen of Dayton, Ohio.
     Until he was seventeen years of age the latter attended the country schools near his father's farm in the Scioto valley, working at the same time to assist in the maintenance of the household.  When seventeen, he entered the freshman class of Augusta College, Kentucky, and after remaining in that institution for two years went to Cincinnati, where he spent a like period at the Woodward Preparatory School. At the end of his three years at Yale University he was obliged to return home on account of ill health.  As soon as he was able to resume work, he commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Joseph H. Crane, of Dayton, and afterward attended lectures at the Cincinnati Law School, from which he graduated in 1845.  He then formed a partnership with H. V. R. Lord, opening offices at Dayton and Germantown, Ohio, with himself in charge of the former and Mr. Lord, of the latter.  Quite early during the period of his residence in Dayton Mr. Walker became identified with both the civic and military affairs of the community, at the breaking out of the Mexican war holding the commission of major of cavalry in the state troops.  This he resigned to raise a company of infantry, but before an organization was effected an order came to accept no more troops; which prevented him from seeing service on Mexican soil.  Continuing his law practice with Mr. Lord until the death of his partner, he then associated himself with Judge G. B. Holt, an eminent lawyer of Dayton, under the firm name of Walker, Holt & Walker, the junior member of which was a nephew of Moses B.  The senior of the firm served as a member of the Ohio senate in 1850-1, and was an unsuccessful congressional nominee in 1864 and 1866, although he made a remarkable run against an overwhelming normal majority for the Democracy.
     At the opening of the Civil war, General Walker was commissioned captain of the Twelfth United States Infantry, but through his friend, Salmon P. Chase, he was appointed colonel of the Thirty-first Ohio Infantry and assigned to the army of the Cumberland under General Thomas.  He first distinguished himself at the battle of Perryville.  Fully recognizing his high standing at home General Rosecrans sent him to Ohio to recruit and organize troops.  Owing to the unsettled political situation then prevailing and the bitter feeling existing between the two parties, these duties were as trying, and fully as important, as any which could have been assigned to him at the front.  In the forming and practical organization of public sentiment toward the primary end of raising troops for the Union cause.  General Walker accomplished a wonderful work, his stirring addresses, oral and printed, arousing wide-spread sympathy, enthusiasm and action.  He returned to the front in time to participate in the battle of Stone River, as commander of the first brigade, third division, fourteenth army corps.  He also bore a heroic part in the battle of Chickamauga, in which he was severely wounded.  As a result he was not only publicly commended for his brave and skillful handling of troops, but on Mar. 27, 1865, was commissioned brigadier general of volunteers, by brevet, and major and brevet lieutenant colonel in the regular army.  Subsequently he participated in various military operations at Resaca, Dalton, Lookout Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Nashville, and at the close of the war was honorably mustered out of the service as a retired colonel of the Regular army.
     Upon his return to Ohio, General Walker engaged in the practice of the law at Findlay. but in 1868 was ordered to Texas on military duty.  His professional abilities soon earned him high preferment at the hands of the administration, and by successive appointments he served both as district judge and as a member of the state supreme bench.  In then latter capacity he served until the state was admitted to representation in Congress, his colleagues of the supreme court being Judges A. J. Hamilton, Morrell, Lindsay and Dennison.  General Walker then returned north, settled at Kenton, Ohio, and resumed the practice of his profession in partnership with his sons, Willis and John.  In 1879 he retired to his farm in the outskirts of thai place, where he remained until his death.  Dec. 17, 1895.  In his religious faith, the deceased was a Methodist, and his fraternal connections were with the Masons, Odd Fellows and his comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic.
     On May 1, 1855, General Walker married, as his second wife.  Miss Mary M. Hitt, the ceremony occurring at Vincennes, Indiana.  She was a daughter of Dr. Willis M. and Mary (Reynolds) Hitt, both of Maryland, the latter being a descendant of Thomas Smith, a soldier of the Revolution.  The second Mrs. Walker, who died Oct/ 16, 1907, at Kenton, Ohio, was also a cousin of the late Congressman Robert Hitt, of Illinois.  The children of the second union were as follows: Willis S., who was born at Germantown, Ohio, graduated from the Law School of the Michigan University, and died at Spokane, Washington, Jan. 10, 1890, being then engaged in practice there; Harriet R., born at Germantown, educated as a vocalist, married L. B. Tyson (now a retired druggist of Kenton) and died in that city, Nov. 25, 1907; Mozelle H., who was born at Dayton, was educated as an artist, and married Eugene Rogers, a Kenton druggist; George W., born in Dayton, educated at Ohio Northern University, West Point and Ohio State University, and now professor of mathematics at the Pittsburg high school; Bessie F. was born in Findlay, educated at Delaware College, Ohio, and now resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is married to a dry goods merchant of that city; Frank W., also a student of the Ohio State University (a native of Findlay), and a traveling salesman residing at Kenton; Mary L., who was born in Austin, Texas, was educated as a musician and is now engaged in professional work at Kenton; and De La Mar E. Walker, born at Findlay, also educated as a musician, and the wife of Paul K. Strong, an architect of Kenton.
     The American ancestor of the Ohio branch of the Walker family to which General Walker belonged was John Walker, who settled in Maryland with Lord Baltimore, and was killed in the Revolutionary war at the battle of Entaw Springs.

Source:  A Twentieth Century History of Hardin County, Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago - 1910. - Page 585

W. I. Witcraft
WILLIAM I. WITCRAFT

 

 Source:  A Twentieth Century History of Hardin County, Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago - 1910. - Page 494

 

DR. JAMES M. WOOD, a physician and surgeon living in Dudley township, Hardin county, Ohio, was born in Marion county, Ohio, Mar. 1, 1853, and is a son of Hampton and Susanna (Marsh) Wood.  Hampton Wood was born at Egg Harbor, New Jersey, in 1813, and was a son of Isaac and Sarah Wood, of Scotch and Irish descent.  Isaac Wood and his wife moved from Darke county to Marion county, Ohio, in 1882, when the country was sparsely settled, and took up one hundred and sixty acres of land.  They made the trip with a team of oxen and brought the farm implements with them.  They spent the remainder of their lives in Marion County, where they became prosperous and began making improvements on their farm.  They were the parents of twelve children.  They had to bear the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life, and soon after settling in Marion county Mr. Wood would split one hundred rails and trade them for one bushel of corn, which he carried thirty miles to have ground at the mill.  In his day the children had no chores, and he was a hardy, hardworking man, who strove constantly to make the most of his land and keep his family supplied with necessities.   He was a Whig in his younger days and later became a Republican.
     Both Hampton Wood and his father were known and admired for their hardiness and their endurance of all kinds of hard work.  The former was the oldest of the children and then attended school winters until he was eighteen years of age, when he began teaching and was the first teacher in Dudley township, beginning in the old Boynton school.  He continued in his profession and carrying on a farm until his death.  Politically he was a Republican and held the township offices of treasurer, clerk and justice of the peace.  He was an active worker and member of the Free Will Baptist church and often served as a deacon.  He became prosperous as a farmer, and was a progressive, enterprising citizen.  His death occurred on May 8, 1889.  He was married in 1846 to Susanna Marsh, who died in 1878, at the age of fifty-five years; she was a daughter of Nalen and Mary A. (Yazell) Marsh, of Marion county.  Mr. Wood and his wife became the parents of the following children:  Isaac, a farmer in Oregon; John, of Kenton, Ohio; Dr. J. M.; George, a farmer of Marion county; Scott, a farmer of Marion county; Pearl, on the old homestead; Lawrence, a farmer; Eliza Catherine, a wife of A. P. Rhodes, a farmer; Ollie, wife of Jacob Yauger, and Merty, Nathan and Henry, who died when young.
     Dr. J. M. Wood attended the district school until sixteen years after which he taught five years, between his teaching attending the Free Will Baptist College in Ridgeville two years.  In company with his brother John Mr. Wood bought two hundred acres of land in Dudley township, where they spent one year, and then James M. studied medicine a year, after which he purchased an interest in a mercantile business in Larue, where he remained one year and then sold out.  He spent two years at the Columbus (Ohio) Medical College, from which he graduated in 1879.  He practiced one year in Yelverton, Hardin county, then worked one year in Kenton as clerk for Dr. Rodgers, after which he spent five years as a druggist and practicing physician at Larue, and while living there was appointed postmaster.  He then removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, and shortly after returned to Ohio and purchased his present farm in Dudley township.  He carries on general farming and pays special attention to dairying, which in the present day is attracting so much attention and returning such large profits.  Dr. Wood also keeps up the practice of his profession, in which he has been very successful.
     Politically Dr. Wood is a stanch supporter of the interests of the Republican party, and has been an active worker for the same.  He is a public-spirited and useful citizen, the friend of progress and every cause tending toward the advancement and betterment of humanity.  He stands high in his profession and is a member of Hardin County Medical Society.  His farm is one mile long, and it faces the Kenton pike road just east of Hepburn.  He has twenty-five registered Jersey cows in his herd for dairy purposes.  His barn, which is the largest in Dudley township, is ninety feet long with a silo that will hold a one hundred and fifty-ton crop and his barn holds one hundred and fifty tons of hay.  He is using modern methods and has made a special study of scientific farming, so that his judgment is considered very good on all agricultural matters.  He carries on his farm as a business proposition and recaps from it the maximum of profit.  He is highly respected in the community and well known.  Dr. Wood is a member of Lodge No. 463, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Larue, also of the Maccabeus of Hepburn.
     Dr. Wood married Lucy Potter, who was born July 13, 1859, on her father's farm, daughter of Josiah Potter, who died at the age of eighty-three years, Dec. 9, 1891.  Mr. Potter was a native of Johnstown, New York, born in 1807.  He was a pioneer of Dudley township, settling there in 1849; in 1844 he located in Wyandot county, Ohio, where he lived about five years.  He made a trip west with a horse and wagon, bringing his wife and two children.  He was a tanner by trade and his wife made mittens and gloves during their trip, in which way they made some money along the way.  The mittens and gloves were made of tanned hide, which he tanned by hand.  Mr. Potter sent his products to market by way of the lakes for many years, and the trip required weeks, so that he was some time realizing on his sales at times.  In 1832 he married Mary Ann Mills, who died in 1868, at the age of fifty-two years.  Besides Mrs. Wood their children who still survive are: William, a farmer of Minnesota; Sophronia, wife of W. Kastor, of Washington township; Mary Jane, wife of Isaac Hoyt, of Kenton; Charles F., a farmer of Minnesota.  Mrs. Wood is the youngest.  She is a member of the United Brethren church and is president of the Ladies' Aid Society.  She is a member of the Maccabees of Hepburn and the order of Eastern Star at Larue.  Dr. Wood and his wife became the parents of children as follows:  Mamie E., a gifted artist, wife of G. Vanatta, of Kenton, who has three children, Keith, Rex and Alice; Aubrey Hampton, a farmer and justice of the peace of Dudley township, married Bertha Drew and they have two children, Madison F. and Esther A.; and Anna B., who is well educated in music and has been a music teacher, is now attending school in Ada.  Mr. Wood is the only physician living in Dudley township, and he has a large practice.
 Source:  A Twentieth Century History of Hardin County, Ohio - Vol. II - Publ. The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago - 1910. - Page 643

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