J. W. BAKER,
a prosperous merchant of Farmerstown, is a son of George Baker,
a native of Somerset County, Penn., who came to Holmes County when a
young man and engaged in farming in German Township. He
married Miss Sarah, a daughter of William Shaffer, a
native of Pennsylvania, and a settler of German Township. Five
of their children, are still living: Daniel, residing in
Columbus, Ohio; J. W.; Elizabeth, in Beach City, Ohio;
Eva, in Tuscarawas County, Ohio; Mary, wife of
Reuben Gonter, in New Comerstown, Tuscarawas Co., Ohio.
J. W. Baker was born in German township, Dec.
17, 1852, and was educated at Mount Union and Smithville Academies.
In 1873 he went to Canton, Ohio, where he was first employed in a
malleable iron works. In 1875 he came to Farmerstown, where he
engaged in general mercantile business as clerk. In 1882 he
purchased the store and stock from his former employer, and has
since carried on an extensive business in dry goods, groceries,
hardware, all kinds of farming implements, etc. He is an
active supporter of the Democratic party, and served as township
clerk from 1877 to 1882, when he was elected treasurer of the
township, an office he still holds; was was also appointed
postmaster in 1882, and has since filled that office. In 1881
he was united in marriage with Miss Melinda, daughter of
George Luke, of German Township, and they have a family of three
children: Maggie, William Lloyd and Roy.
Source: Biographical Record of Wayne & Holmes Co. - Publ. Chicago:
J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 - Page 636 |
ANDREW
BALDNER was born in Holmes County, Ohio, in 1837, a son of
Andrew and Barbara (Snively) Baldner, former of whom was a
native of Germany, and a soldier under Napoleon seven years.
He came to America in 1830, locating in New York State, where he
remained four years. In 1834 he came to Holmes County, Ohio,
and preempted forty acres of land, to which he afterward added
eighty acres, and still later took up fifty-one acres in Ashland
County. He was a blacksmith by trade, at which he worked in
connection with agricultural pursuits, and became one of the
well-to-do citizens of the county. He died in1853 aged seventy
years; his wife died at the age of seventy-one years. They had
a family of twelve children, eight of whom are living: Sallie,
George, Andrew, Frederick Barbara, Henry, Kate and Christian.
Andrew Baldner, the subject of our notice, has made
farming his life-work, and now owns 171 acres of valuable land, all
well improved. He takes an active interest in public affairs,
and has served as school director nine years. In politics he
is a Democrat, and, adhering to the faith of his father, is a member
of the Evangelical Church. He was married in May, 1866, to
Sarah, daughter of George and Margaret Breitenbucher,,
and they have had ten children, eight of whom are living: Matilda
Caroline (Mrs. Frank), Ella, Emma, Maria, Frank, Clara, Laura, Eva.
Source: Biographical Record of Wayne & Holmes Co. - Publ.
Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 |
A. J. BELL,
attorney at law, Millersburgh, is a native of Holmes County, Ohio
born April 20, 1826.
His father, Alexander D. Bell, was born in
Belmont County, Ohio, May 8, 1803, and was the eldest of thirteen
children of Nathaniel and Catharine (Dallis) Bell. In 1815
this family settled in Holmes County, on a quarter-section of land
near the town of Holmesville, now owned by Thomas Everly.
Alexander D. Bell married Irena Fairchild, a native of
New Jersey, born Nov. 27, 1803, and only daughter of John
Fairchild, a volunteer soldier, who died wile in service in the
War of 1812. Alexander D. and Irena Bell had a
family of eight children, whom they reared till they became of age,
their names being as follows: Andrew J., Nathaniel D.,
Catharine A., Alexander C., Louisa E., Lucinda K., Dennis D., Mary
E.; six of them are yet living. The father led the quiet
life of a farmer, and was respected by all who knew him. He
died June 30, 1878; the mother died May 30, 1878.
A. J. Bell was reared on his
father's farm, near Holmesville, remaining at home until twenty
years of age. He obtained a good education, and for fourteen
winters and eight summers taught pubic schools in Holmes County.
In 1860 he began the study of law with Hon. D. S. Uhl, and in
1872 was admitted to the bar of Ohio. He has since that time
been in the active practice of his profession, and has risen to a
prominent position among the attorneys of his county. He has
held several official positions, and has proved an efficient,
trustworthy officer, enjoying the respect, esteem and
confidence of his fellow citizens, townsmen and the members of the
Millersburgh bar. He has served as county recorder four and a
half years, and for two years was deputy probate judge under the
first probate judge of the present Constitution of Ohio. He
also served the public nine yeas in succession in Millersburgh as
justice of the peace. He has been a notary public continuously
since he was twenty-one years of age, is now holding that office,
and has done more conveyancing than any other man in the county in
the last forty yeas. He is a Democrat, and has been prominent
in the councils of the party in Holmes County.
Mr. Bell was married in 1858 to Miss Lucinda
McKee, who was born Oct. 11, 1833, and reared on her father's
farm five miles south of Millersburgh, and to them have been
born three children, who all attained to ages of majority, and two
of whom are living; William A., married to Miss Edith
Frederick, of Canton, Ohio, and Homer A.; both sons are
now residing in Canton. Mr. and Mrs. Bell and their two
sons are Disciples of Christ, and members of the Christian Church.
Source: Biographical Record of Wayne & Holmes Co. - Publ.
Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 |
JOHN GLASGOW BIGHAM, M. D., was
born in Millersburgh, Holmes Co., Ohio, Apr. 22, 1835. He
attended the public schools until sixteen years of age, when, in
1851, he entered the Vermillion Institute, at Hayesville, Ohio,
where he remained three terms. His health not being very
rugged, he studied civil engineering, and was employed by the
Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Company, on the Akron Branch, from
the beginning of its construction through Wayne and Holmes Counties,
till its completion to Millersburgh, and as transit-man and leveler
he gave line and grade for track-laying at the finish.
During the winter of 1854-55, in the absence of other
employment, he taught a district school With the first $80
received for his engineering services he purchased the first
eighty-acre land-warrant he ever saw, and all the money saved while
in the employ of the railroad company was similarly invested.
Immediately after the completion of the road he went to Iowa, and
entered 480 acres of Government land in Polk County, and in April,
1855, at the close of his school term, returned to Iowa with the
intention of planting an extensive grove of black locust on his
land. He camped alone in a small tent on one of his
quarter-sections, and, with a braking team of five yoke of oxen,
broke ninety acres. His tent was located a mile and a half
from the nearest house. It was but a small affair, with no
fly, and gave no protection from rainstorms. Once saturated,
the pelting of the rain sent through so dense a mist as to
thoroughly wet everything within. After six weeks of such
experience, his team was used in breaking prairie for others at $3
per acre, and as the furrow was two feet wide, three acres a day
were easily broken. The oxen required no other food than the
luxuriant prairie grass. In the fall of 1855, having disposed
of his team and outfit, he was employed as surveyor by the
land-agency and banking firm of Leas & Harsh, of Des Moines, Iowa.
While in the service of this company he selected and entered many
thousands of acres of Government land, making accurate sketches and
diagrams of the entries. This business was done chiefly at the
land offices at Council Bluffs and Chariton, Iowa, and later at
Stillwater, Minn. On account of a promise made to his mother
he returned to Millersburgh in December, 1856, and soon after bought
the lots on South Washington Street, where he has since lived, and
which, by the way, is the only home in his recollection. His
father died in 1836, and his mother, being in feeble health, was
soon after compelled to abandon housekeeping, consequently in his
childhood and youth he was deprived of the luxury of a home.
From the time of his return to Millersburgh, he devoted
himself to the study of medicine, and during the winter of 1858-59
attended lectures at the Medical Department of the University of
Michigan, at Ann Arbor, the full term of six months. The
winter of 1859-60, he spent as a student in the medical department
of the University of the City of New York, from which he graduated
in March, 1860. The next seven months he practiced in the
medical and surgical wards of the Bellevue and New York City
Hospitals, and also acted as a district physician to the New York
Lying in Hospital. In October, 1860, by previous contract, he
took charge of the office of Dr. James Martin, of
Fredericksburgh, Ohio, while Dr. Martin attended lectures at
Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Penn. Having learned
the careful sustaining and tonic treatment of diphtheria in the New
York Hospital, it proved of great value, as the disease for the
first time prevailed as an epidemic in Holmes and Wayne Counties in
1861-62. In March, 1861, he returned to Millersburgh, where he
continued the practice of medicine until July, 1863, when he entered
the army as acting assistant surgeon, U. S. A., on duty with the
Fifteenth Regiment, United States Infantry, in the Army of the
Cumberland. He remained continuously on duty with the
different regiments of the Regular Brigade in the field until
December, 1864, when he was promoted to surgeon, with the rank of
major. Throughout all the battles around Chattanooga and those
of the Atlanta campaign, terminating at Jonesboro, Sept. 1, 1864, he
accompanied the troops in the field, having his "mess" chiefly with
the commanding officer of the Fifteenth Regiment, and sharing
shelter-tent and blanks with Adjutant Orson C. Knapp; save
when operating at the field hospital immediately after the
engagements in which the Regular Brigade participated. Thus it
not infrequently occurred that he was called upon to treat the
wounded on the spot where they fell, and often within a few seconds
after their injuries were received. In one instance, a
stretcher-bearer was shot down in his presence, while waiting to
carry a wounded man to the rear. After the battle of
Nashville, he was ordered to join Sherman's army at Savannah, Ga.,
making the trip by steamer from New York to Savannah, and from that
time until the close of the war was with the First Brigade, Third
Division, Seventeenth Army Corps, being on the march through the
Carolinas to Richmond, and thence to Washington.
At the close of the war Dr. Bigham returned to
Millersburgh, where he has since been engaged in the practice of
medicine and surgery. He has attained a prominence second to
none in Holmes County, not only as a physician, but as an
intelligent, cultured man. While he has left nothing undone
that would in any way increase his knowledge of his chosen
profession, he has not neglected other subjects, and is one of the
best informed men of the State. Courteous and genial, it is a
pleasure to meet him, and his ready use of language makes him a
delightful companion. His friends are legion. Not only
among those who employ him as a physician, abut by all who knew him,
is he universally respected and admired. As chairman of the
building committee of the Soldiers' Monument, erected on the Public
Square in Millersburgh (under the auspices of Pomerene Post, No.
250, G. A. R.), he was a faithful worker. No one was a more
liberal contributor in either time or money. The occasion of
the unveiling of the monument, on July 4, 1887, attracted the
largest and most enthusiastic assemblage ever preset in the county
up to that date. The Governor of the State, the Department
Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, Hon. Martin Welker, of
the Republic, Hon. Martin Welker of the United States
District Court, Hon. Beriah Wilkins, M. C., Gen. G. W.,
Morgan, and other distinguished statesmen, soldiers and orators
participated. Time will verify a remark in the address of the
chairman of the building committee, viz.: "The structure, which the
little daughter of a veteran soldier will presently reveal to you,
is of such quality of material and character of workmanship as
ensures the utmost durability. As we see it today, doubtless
it will stand, to greet the view of passing generations for
centuries to come."
Source: Biographical Record of Wayne & Holmes Co. - Publ.
Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 ~ Page 678 |
DANIEL
BIXLER is one of the most extensive stock-raisers in Saline
County, owning a fine farm in section 15, Salt Pond Twp. He is
an enterprising and successful man, a good financier, with a
superior head, which is full of progressive ideas. He is
Republican nominee for County Treasurer, a position wholly
unsolicited by him, and the nomination to which came to him as a
complete surprise.
Mr. Bixler is a native of Holmes County, Ohio,
where he was born April 27, 1845. His father, George Bixler,
who is now a resident of Homes County, is a native of Maryland,
having been born at Baltimore in 1806, but removed to Ohio with his
parents at the age of seventeen. The grandparents of the
subject of this sketch, John and Elizabeth Bixler, were from
Maryland and Pennsylvania, respectively; the great-grandfather was a
native of Germany, from which country he emigrated to Maryland;
while the grandfather, John, was a farmer and an early
settler in Holmes County. He died at about the age of ninety,
and his wife at about eighty years of age.
The father of Daniel has always been a farmer.
He has been a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church for many
years. The mother, Elizabeth (Close) Bixler, was born
in Pennsylvania and is of German descent. She is still living
and is eleven years younger than her husband.
Daniel is the only son left of the three that
were born to his parents, although he has three sisters. He
was reared a farmer, attending the common schools until sixteen
years of age, with the exception of a period at the Vermillion
Institute, of Hayesville, Ohio. When he was sixteen he went to
Springfield, Ohio, and entered the Wittenburg College there.
At the age of eighteen Mr. Bixler commenced
teaching school, which occupation he followed during the winter
seasons for thirteen years, in the fall of 1865 coming to Illinois
and teaching one term in Champaign County. In September, 1866,
he came to Missouri and located near Sweet Springs, purchasing land
in the fall of that year in section 15, Salt Pond Township.
His purchase consisted of two hundred acres of partly improved land,
upon which he settled, teaching school winters and farming summers.
He has done nearly the whole of the improving of his property,
showing much ability in the work. His postoffice is Elmwood.
May 22, 1878, Mr. Bixler married Miss Lybbie
J. Houston, who was born in California. Her parents,
John and Ellen Houston, are of Irish descent. The father
was born in Columbus, Ohio, moved to Illinois when quite young, and
subsequently to California, where he remained for a time, coming to
Saline County, Mo., in 1870. He is now a farmer of Elmwood
Township and does quite an extensive business.
Mrs. Bixler is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Mr. Bixler is a Mason, and in
politics a Republican, as suggested before. That he is a
popular man, is shown by the fact that his fellow-Republicans of the
County have chosen him to act for them in a public capacity, and
that they have done so independently of any effort on his part to
win the appointment. He is no office-seeker, but being
elected, there is no doubt that he will do well and faithfully the
duties the devolve upon him.
Mr. Bixler is very successful in stock-raising, which he
makes his specialty. It is interesting to visit his farm, and
note the flourishing condition of everything that meets the eye.
A fine stock farm presents a scene of animal life that is
instructive to him who wishes to learn, and that is beautiful to one
who views it simply from an artistic standpoint; both of these
conditions are fully met on the farm of Mr. Bixler, and in
that his work and judgment are clearly and characteristically shown.
(Source: Portrait & Biographical Record of Lafayette & Saline
Counties, Missouri - Chicago: Chapman Bros.: 1893) |
SAMUEL BONER,
one of the highly respected pioneers of Holmes County, was born
in West Virginia, Nov. 30, 1820, a son of William and Sarah (Jorrell)
Boner, native of Maryland, of Irish descent. The
family moved to Holmes County in 1821, and the father entered
160 acres of land in Prairie Township, where a good home was
made, and the children were reared. The father died at the
age of sixty-seven years, and the mother when seventy years old.
They had a family of nine children, seven of whom lived to
maturity: William, Oliver, Samuel, John, Sarah, Basil and
Elizabeth, and of these but two are now living.
Samuel Boner was reared and educated in Prairie
Township, learning the carpenter's trade in his youth, at which
he worked twenty-five years. He has also given his
attention to farming, and now owns 100 acres of land, eighty
acres being in the homestead. He has been successful in
his business affairs, and has gained the confidence of his
fellow citizens, who have honored him with various official
positions, among the others, those of trustee and school
director. In politics he casts his suffrage with the
Democratic party. He was married in 1847 to Celenah,
daughter of Jasper Poulson, of Holmes County, and they
had five children: Elizabeth ( Mrs. Keslar), Amanda (Mrs.
Brubaker), John, Maggie (Mrs. Shoup) and Hiram.
Mrs. Boner died March 3, 1889. Mr. Boner is a
member of the Disciples Church, as was also his wife.
Source: Biographical Record of Wayne & Holmes Co. - Publ.
Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 ~ Page 780 |
|
JOSEPH BORDEN
is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Workman)
Boren, of
Coshocton County. His
father was born in Rhode Island, and settled in
Coshocton
County in 1809.
He was married there, and in 1839 moved to Holmes County, Ohio, where he entered about
200 acres of land in Richland Township,
and here lived until his death, which occurred Sept. 24, 1873. He was one of the representative
farmers of the township, a supporter of the Republican party, and a member of
the Baptist Church. He was
married four times, his first wife being
Sarah Church of Coshocton County, who bore him one child,
Bradford, now of Coshocton County. His second wife was
Sarah Workman, and of their children two are living:
Joseph (our subject) and
Mary Maria, wife of
Daniel Stuber, of
Richland Township. His third wife was
Miss Ruey Workman, by whom he had six children, all of whom are deceased. His fourth wife was
Mrs. Almira Parcell, who now resides
in
Richland County, Ohio; their
children are James F., in
Richland County; Sandford O., in
Pike County, Ohio;
Benjamin and
Samuel C., in Richland
County.
Our subject was
born in Coshocton County, Jan. 26, 1838,
and was brought to Holmes
County when about two years of age. After receiving his education, he
learned the trasde of a saddler and harness maker, which he followed for many
years in Napoleon, being also engaged in farming for eight years, and in 1882 he
purchased his present drug store.
Oct. 11, 1863, he was united in marriage with
Miss Elizabeth A., daughter of
John Mackey, a native of
Pennsylvania, but at that time a resident of Richland Township. They
have not been blessed with any children, but have one by adoption, named
Lovie Mackey. Mr. Borden is a stanch supporter
of the Democratic party, and has served his township as justice of the peace for
three years; has also filled the office of township assessor, constable,
supervisor, school director, etc. He
is a member of Spartan Lodge, No. 126, F. and A. M., of Millersburgh.
Mrs. Borden is a consistent member of the
Disciples Church.
~ Page 804 – Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of
Wayne and
Holmes, Ohio,
Illustrated – Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889
|
SAMUEL BOYD (deceased), son of
Thomas and Sarah (Sherlock) Boyd, was
born in County Antrim, Ireland, Sept. 10, 1814, and came to America
with his parents. He received an ordinary
education and took up farming as an occupation.
In 1858 he was united in marriage with
Miss Rachel, daughter of
John Shidler, a native of
Washington County, Penn., and an early
settler of Berlin
Township, and two children were born to
this union.
Mr. Boyd was formerly married to
Miss Lydia Rudy, a native of
Pennsylvania, who bore him six children,
four of whom are still living. He was an
active member of the Democratic party, and filled various township offices. He died in 1883, having become one of the
wealthy and influential men of the township.
The children by the first marriage are
Sarah, wife of
John Hoover, in Kansas;
Sophia, wife of
Urias Beechly, in Kansas; Mary, wife of
Joseph Lemon, in Benton, Salt Creek
Township; Henry W., a farmer in
Berlin Township, married to Miss Nevada,
daughter of Alfred Snyder. The children by the second marriage are
James Mayland, a farmer on the
homestead, married to Miss Ollie,
daughter of Alfred Lewis, in Berlin Township,
and John H. Mrs. Boyd carries on the farm in
connection with her children. She is a
devout and consistent member of the Presbyterian Church.
~ Page 800 – Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of
Wayne and
Holmes,
Ohio, Illustrated – Publ. Chicago: J.
H. Beers & Co. 1889 |
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