ISAAC
WATSON VANCE. Few in Holmes County can trace their
ancestry to such noted families as can Mr. Vance. His
father, SAMUEL VANCE, was born in Washington
County, Penn., in 1793, and remains in his native county, where he
was engaged in farming and teaching school, until twenty-four years
of age. He was married there to Esther Watson, and in
1817, with his wife and two children, came to Holmes County, Ohio,
where he bought 200 acres of land on Section 16, Knox Township,
which at that time was heavily timbered. There he remained
until his death, and there his children were reared. He was a
man of great physical strength, having a good constitution, and was
successful in his career, which closed in 1877, when he was
eighty-four years of age. His family consisted of twelve
children: Sarah (afterward Mrs. Young), John, Mary
(Mrs. Riggs), Hannah, Eliza (Mrs.
Boling), Rebecca (Mrs. Jeffries),
David, Isaac W., Maria (Mrs. Parsons),
Esther (Mrs. Harris), Ann and William,
of whom Sarah, John, Hannah, David and
William are deceased. Esther, wife of Samuel
Vance, was born in Fayette County, Penn., in 1803, and died
in Holmes County, Ohio, in August, 1854, aged fifty-one years.
Isaac Watson Vance, whose name heads this
sketch, was born in Knox Township, Holmes County, Mar. 30, 1833, and
is now the only member of his father's family, bearing the name,
living in the county. He was reared a farmer, and when
twenty-three years of age learned the carpenter's and millwirght's
trades, which he followed until the beginning of the Civil War.
In 1862 Mr. Vance enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and
Second Ohio Infantry, and served two years and five months,
participating in many hard-fought battles, among others,
Harrodsburg, Ky., Perryville and Athens, Ala. He then clerked
in a mercantile house four years, and in 1868 bought 100 acres of
land, to which he has added, until he now owns 124 acres of finely
improved land, and is one of the prosperous farmers of the township.
Mr. Vance was married, Apr. 30, 1867, to Catherine
Haley, and to them were born two children: Howard Watson
and Ola Logan. Mrs. Vance died Aug. 30, 1886, aged
thirty-nine years. In December, 1888, Mr. Vance married
Mary, daughter of James T. Elder. In politics he
is a Democrat, and has held various offices of trust in the
township, as school director, treasurer and trustee. He and
his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.
~ Page 668 – Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of
Wayne and
Holmes,
Ohio, Illustrated –
Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 |
|
