OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS - Henry Co., Ohio

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DOCTOR J. V. LESNET, medical practitioner, Montpelier, Williams county, Ohio.

LARKIN J. LINTHICUM. It is possible to pay tribute to onoly a few of the surviving veterans of the great Civil war in this publication. One of them now living in NOrthwest Ohio and a prosperous citizen of Henry County is Larkin J. Linthicum. Mr. Linthicum made a creditable record during the great struggle over slavery, and further interest attaches to his career because he has spent almost eighty years in Ohio and his first conscious recollection is of the woods and primitive surroundings' of this state.
     He was born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Sep. 29, 1832. His parents were Aquilla and MAry (O'Rourke) Linthicum, who were natives of the same county and state. The paternal grandparents had also spent their lives in Maryland, and the family were farming people, and most of them lived to a good old age. The prevailing religious faith of the Linthicums was Methodist. Acquilla and wife lived for some years near their birthplace and later with their two sons, Larkin and Franklin, came to Ohio in 1836. That was years before railroads were built, and consequently they made the journey with wagons and teams. Their first location was in Knox County, where they started in a primitive section of Morgan Township. They built and lived in a log cabin, and all around them was new and they endured many of the vicissitudes and hardships of the times. After some years of hard work and the making of extensive improvements on their lands the family left Knox County and came to Liberty Township of Henry County in 1852. Here they located on land which had originally been taken up direct from the Government by William Day. It was on forty acres of that land that Larkin J. Linthicum began his practical career as an agriculturist. Of the children of his parents and brother Franklin died at the age of seven years, and the daughter Sophia died in 1866. The only other one still living is Rachel, who has never married and is now living at the age of seventy-two at Toledo. It was the old homestead in Liberty Township that both the parents spent their remaining years. His father, who was born in 1784 died in 1874 at the age of ninety. He had served as a soldier, having volunteered from Maryland, for the War of 1812, and went through that struggle unhurt. His wife died prior to 1860, having been born in 1801. She was born in Maryland of Irish parents, her father, James O'Rourke, having come from Ireland in time to serve in the Revolutionary war. James O'Rourke, married in Maryland, and while he was a Catholic his wife was a Methodist.
     Larkin J. Linthicum is the only member of the family who has grown up and kept the family name alive, since none of his brothers or sisters married. Many years ago he secured eighty acres of good farming land, improved it and with good buildings and still has his home on section 29 of Liberty township, where he enjoys the comforts won by his earlier years of thrift, and is surrounded by children and grandchildren.
     Mr. Linthicum married Miss Sarah Leist. She was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, October 4, 1849. She died at Napoleon, July 4, 1897,. Her parents, William and Sarah (Nye) Leist, were nataives of Pennsylvania who first moved to Pickaway County, Ohio, and later to Henry County, and spent their lives as substantial farming people. The members of the Leist family were reared Lutherans, but later became members of the United Brethren Church. Mr. Leist was a republican and it has been the political faith of the Linthicums to first be allied with the whigs and later with the republican organizations.
    Larkin J. Linthicum entered the Union army with the Sixty-eighth Regiment, Company A, commanded by Capt. Lewis Richards. He was in the war at the start and he continued until the close of the struggle. Twice he was scratched by a bullet, but never lost an hour from the ranks on account of wounds or sickness, and while he enlisted as a private he subsequently became principal musician of the regiment and was discharged in that capacity. For many years he has been an active and honored member of Anderson Clarke Post No. 191, Grand Army of the Republic.
     Mr. Linthicum and wife were reared in the Methodist Church but subsequently became members of the United Brethren denomination. Some record of their children should be found in the concluding paragraphs of this article. Ida, the oldest daughter, is the wife of Warren Whitmer, a farmer of Liberty Township, and their children are Littie, Harold and Virgie. The son, Lewis A., who occupies the old homestead and is one of the progressive and enterprising farmers of Henry County, married March 18, 1893, Miss Eva Redfield, who was born and reared in Liberty Township and is a daughter of Albert Redfield, reference to whose life and career will be found on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Linthicum have two children, Albert, born Sept. 9, 1898, who has completed the course in the common schools and is still at home; and Mary E., born Feb. 2, 1901, and also at home. Giles J., the second son of Larkin Linthicum, is a farmer in Liberty Township and by his marriage to Fannie Murphy has six children named Byron, Charles, Imo, Josephine, Mildred and Vivian. Judson R., is the professional man of the family, being a graduate in law from the University of Michigan, and now in active practice in Napoleon; he married Byrl Musser and they have a son Harold. Carrie A. is the wife of Terry Woodward, who is employed in the rubber factory at Akron, Ohio

JOHN W. LONG. If it be true - we have good authority for it being fact - that one's environment has an influence upon character, then the men who have had the fortune to pass their lives in the midst of the movements which have brought about the rapid development of this section may well be expected to show independence, enterprise, and practical sagacity. In the life of this well-known merchant of Florida, Henry county, we find these qualities manifested in an unusual degree, his success being based upon a prompt and judicious use of opportunity.
     Mr. Long was born Aug. 12, 1859, in Flat Rock township, Henry county, Ohio, a son of John and Caroline (Greybast) Long, who came to this section from Stark county, Ohio, at an early day. The father, who was born in Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, in 1818, was a shoemaker by occupation, and for some time after his removal to this section followed this trade in Florida, Henry county, where he also conducted a grocery. Later he purchased a farm about three miles south of the village, but after five years of agricultural work he returned to Florida, and from 1865 to 1872 was engaged in shoemaking. He then became interested in a grocery business which he carried on until his death, March 2, 1877. His wife, whose birth occurred in Germany in 1827, still lives, and resides with her daughter, Elisabeth Tuttle; John W. is the fifth in the family of nine children - four sons and five daughters: Augustus (deceased), Louisa, Elizabeth, Caroline (deceased), John W., Frank P., Mary, Wilhelmina, and William.
     Our subject's education was begun in the common schools of his native township, and in 1879-80 he attended a commercial college at Hillsdale, Michigan. Although he was only seventeen years old when his father died, he took charge of his mother's interests, especially in connection with the grocery business, while pursuing his studies at Hillsdale. On completing his course of study he purchased his mother's share in that business, and formed a partnership with W. S. Brubaker; but two years later he purchased the latter's interest, becoming the sole proprietor. In 1883 he took another partner, Mr. A. Tuttle, with whom he continued until Apr. 1889, when he again became the owner of the entire business by purchase. In 1883 they engaged in the grain business, which Mr. Long also purchased, and he now carries on both lines of trade with marked success. In 1892 he bought an additional elevator at Okolona; in 1896 he built on at Stanley, Ohio, and at present he operates the three, doing a prosperous business, the volume of which may be inferred from the fact that from Jan. 1, to Jul. 1, 1897, he handled three hundred and ten cars of grain.
     Notwithstanding his business cares, he has taken an active part in local politics, as a member of the Democratic party. In 1882 he was elected clerk of Flat Rock township, and this office he held until Mar. 1888, when he resigned. Later he was chosen township treasurer, and served two terms, being re-elected in the fall of 1896. He is prominent in local affairs of a non-political nature, and socially is identified with the National Union, the B. P. O. E., Defiance Lodge, and with the Masonic fraternity, having reached the Thirty-second degree.
     On Oct. 12, 1882, Mr. Long was married in Texas, Ohio, to Miss Hattie S. Durbin, who was born Aug. 8, 1858, a daughter of William and Mary Durbin, well-known residents of Texas. The following children have blessed this union: Richard H., Lewis O., William D., Carl F. (who died Jul. 17, 1893, at the age of five and a half years), Mabel M., Vernia F., John W., Jr., Earl E., and Hattie S.

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