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Biographies
 Source:
History of Morgan County, Ohio
with
Portraits and Biographical Sketches
of some of its
Pioneers and Prominent Men.
By Charles Robertson, M. D.
- Published Chicago: L. H. Watkins & Co.
1886
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MARION E.
DANFORD was born in Homer Township, Morgan
County, Ohio, Feb. 10, 1859. He received an
academic education and for five years was engaged in
teaching. Having decided to make the law his
profession eh began its study with the Hon. Emmet
Tompkins, and later under the supervision of
James C. Headley, Esq., of the Athens bar. In
1882 he entered the senior class of the Cincinnati Law
School from which institution he graduated with honor in
January, 1883. Soon after his graduation he
commenced the practice, and in 1883 formed a
co-partnership with his former preceptor, James C.
Headley. Locating in McConnelsville he found
it impracticable to continue this relation, and the
copartnership was dissolved by mutual consent. In
1885 he received the nomination for prosecuting attorney
from the republican convention, and was elected by a
handsome majority. He seems destined to make his
mark in his profession.
Source: Chapter XV - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 269 |
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HENRY MOORE
DAVIS, for many years a member of the bar of
Ohio, died at his home in Malta Township, Sept. 20,
1882, aged 91 years. He was born near Hagerstown,
Md., Dec. 7, 1791. In the year 1802 he moved with
his parents to the vicinity of East Rushville, Fairfield
County, O. In February, 1821, he married
Elizabeth Ruth, of Knox County, O., who died Mar,
24, 1877. They reared eight children - one
daughter and seven sons; all still living save two sons.
In the war of 1812 Mr. Davis joined Captain
Adam Binckley's company in a Kentucky
regiment and served under General Harrison
n his memorable campaigns. From 1836 to 1842 he
edited and published a paper called the Democrat and
Advertiser at Somerset, Perry County, O. He
began the study of law under John B. Orton at
Somerset in 1842, and was admitted to the bar in 1844.
Mr. Davis resides in Perry County until 1851,
when he removed to Morgan County, where he resided until
his death. He was a man of moral habits and strict
integrity. He joined the Methodist Church when
young, and remained a consistent Christian as long as he
lived. He joined the Masonic order at Lancaster in
1826, and was among the oldest Masons in Ohio.
Source: Chapter XV - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 262 |
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DR. JAMES DAVIS
- The subject of this notice was born near
Ringgold, Mar. 26, 1827, and passed his early life on a
farm, attending the common schools until he was
competent to teach and afterward engaging in that
occupation winters. He also learned carpentry and
worked at that business till about 1854, meantime
devoting his leisure hours to the study of medicine.
His medical preceptor was Dr. Daniel Rusk of
Malta. Dr. Davis began active practice
about 1859 and has since pursued his profession in
Ringgold and vicinity, where he is much honored and
respected as a citizen and a useful member of his
profession. He became a member of the Morgan
County Medical Society in 1875. He married, first,
Nancy Chappelear; and after her death, Frances
Reese, and is the father of four sons and two
daughters living—five of the children being those of the
second marriage. His oldest son, John D. Davis,
is the present county surveyor.
Source: Chapter XVI - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 288 |
Joshua Davis |
JOSHUA DAVIS.
Daniel Davis, the father of Joshua, was of
Welsh descent. He was born in Maryland, and
resided in that State and Pennsylvania until his removal
to Ohio. He was chiefly engaged in farming, though
he learned the tailor’s trade and worked at it for a few
years. He was married in Washington County, Pa.,
to Sally Carrol, by whom he was the father of
live sons and one daughter, all born in Washington
County. Mrs. Davis died in Pennsylvania,
but all the children settled in Ohio. Mr. Davis
died in Union Township in this county in 1859.
Joshua Davis, who has been prominently
identified with the business interests of Morgan County
for many years, was born in Washington County, Pa., June
17, 1808. His early life was passed upon a farm
and he attended the common schools, having fair
opportunities for obtaining an education until he was
ten years of age. Coming to Ohio with his father’s
family in 1819 he found schools very few and very poor,
and for six years he did not see the inside of a
schoolhouse. At the age of sixteen he engaged, in
Barnesville, Belmont County, in learning the tanner’s
trade, at which he served until he attained his
majority. In July, 1829, he came to Morgan County
and for a short time attended school in McConnelsville.
Thus ended his school education; but by reading and
reflection, aided by keen observation and sound
judgment, his mind has become stored with a great
variety of facts and valuable information.
In the spring succeeding his arrival in Morgan County,
Mr. Davis entered the store of Francis A.
Barker in Malta, where he acted as clerk for a year
and a half. In the fall of 1831 he rented a
tannery in Union Township, which he purchased in the
following year and conducted until 1837. Soon
after going to Union Township he taught a winter school
of sixty scholars. This was his only experience in
teaching.
In 1837 Mr. Davis moved to Malta, where he has
since resided. He engaged in the mercantile
business, in Which he had a successful and honorable
career until his retirement therefrom in 1879.
Aside from the mercantile business Mr. Davis has
had a prominent part in other industrial and commercial
enterprises. He was one of the organizers of the
Brown-Manly Plow Company, and served as
president of the company until 1883, When he sold
his interest, he helped to organize the First National
Bank of McConnelsville and was a member of the first
board of directors of that institution. He also
assisted in organizing the Malta National Bank, of which
he has been a director from the beginning. He has
ever been found among the encouragers of public
improvements, always ready to promote the best interests
of his town and county. In 1855 he was elected to the
office of County Commissioner, in which he served for
sixteen years. In his extensive business career he
has formed a wide circle of friends and acquaintances
among whom he has maintained the highest reputation for
uprightness and integrity of character. He was
formerly a whig, but has been a member of the republican
party since its formation. He is a prominent
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church to which he has
belonged for over fifty years.
Mr. Davis was married July 18, 1832, to Nancy
Williams, daughter of John Williams, an early
settler of McConnelsville. She died in 1863,
having borne nine children—Catherine, who died
young; Perley R., a minister of the Ohio
Conference of the M. E. Church; Edwin P., who
died at the age of twenty; Oscar, died, aged
three years; Sarah E., died when five months old;
Henry A., now a prominent merchant of Malta;
Mary E., wife of Rev. Frank G. Mitchell, of
the Cincinnati Conference of the M. E. church; John
Francis, of Corner, Walker & Davis, Malta;
and Charles W., engaged in the manufacture of
spices at Wichita, Kan. Mar. 10, 1864, Mr.
Davis was married to his present wife, Mrs. Lucy
Woodmansee (nee Corner).
Source: Chapter XIX - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 354 |
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MILES B. DAVIS,
M. D., was born in Union Township, Morgan County,
Ohio, Oct. 7, 1849. His parents died when he was a
child, and at the age of eleven years he was thrown upon
his own resources. Through the kindness of an
uncle he was sent to school, and so well did he improve
his opportunities that at the age of seventeen he
commenced teaching, an occupation he followed for
fourteen years. His vacations were spent in a
select schools and at the National Normal at Lebanon,
and in this way obtained an academical education.
In 1869 he began the study of medicine with Drs.
Storer and Priest, of Millerstown, Ohio. He
completed his preparatory course, however, with James
Davis, M.D., of Ringgold, Ohio, and graduated with
honors from the Starling Medical College in February of
1882. In May following he established himself in
the practice of his profession at Rosseau, where he has
built up an extensive and lucrative business. He
is a member of the Morgan County Medical Society, and
has already obtained a prominent place among the younger
members of the profession. The Doctor is emphatically a
“self-made man.” From early youth he has been
dependent upon his own exertions, not only for his
education, but for everything else. His career is
one which young men should emulate.
Source: Chapter XVI - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 288 |
William Davis |
CAPTAIN
WILLIAM DAVIS. Captain William
Davis was born in Bedford County, Pa., Dec. 14,
1817, and came to Zanesville, Ohio, with his father in
the summer of 1835. He began his career as a
steamboatman in his twentieth year as a deck hand on a
Zanesville and Dresden packet, and from that humble
position he worked his way to a competency, tilling
every position from a deck hand to a commander. In
1838 he shipped as second cook on the steamer “
Tuscarawas,” plying between Zanesville and Dresden.
On this boat he tilled the positions of cook, pilot,
fireman and engineer. The “ Tuscarawas ” becoming
incapacitated by age, he became first engineer on the “
John McIntyre.” By close application to his duties
and rigid economy he saved a little money, and by the
aid of a friend he built and ran the steamer “Ohio” in
the Dresden trade, and was quite successful. After
the “ Ohio ” had become aged he took an interest in the
steamer “ Zanesville No. 1,” acting as captain, clerk,
pilot or engineer as occasion required. Afterward he
built the steamer “ Freighter,” which he ran as a
Zanesville, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati packet. He
afterward took the vessel into the Upper Mississippi
trade, when he sold her. Returning to Zanesville
he became part owner in the “Zanesville No. 2,” which he
commanded, and which was run as a tri-weekly packet
between Dresden and McConnelsville. He next, in
connection with Captain Edward Martin and the
late Captain C. C. Morgan, built and ran the “
Mink No. 1,” between McConnelsville and Zanesville. He
commanded this boat for six years, when his partner,
Captain Morgan, took his place. In 1865
Captain Davis, Morgan and Martin
formed a copartnership under the name of “ The Muskingum
Packet Company.” Under Captain Davis’
superintendency they built the “Mink No. 2,” which is
still running. They bought and ran the “ J. H.
Best.” Afterward they built the “ Lizzie Cassel”
and the “Olivette.”
The “ Mink No. 1,” “Mink No. 2,” the “ Lizzie Cassel ”
and the' “ Olivette ” were built under Captain
Davis’ superintendency, and attest his skill and
competency in the building of steamers. In
December of 1884 he retired from the command of the
“Cassel” and in the following March sold his interest in
the packets to Captains Morgan and
Martin. This was the ending of a business
career extending through a period of nearly half a
century, during which time he had been a conspicuous
personage on the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, and had
enjoyed a degree of popularity among his associates and
the traveling public seldom attained. He was
remarkable for his kindness and good nature, and a
thorough gentleman in every sense of the word. His
success was due largely to industry, sterling honesty
and Ids intimate knowledge of the business in which he
was engaged. In 1849 Captain Davis was
married to Mrs. Emily Buckingham in Washington,
Pa., who still survives him. His is decease
occurred at his home in McConnelsville, Jan. 22, 1885.
Source: Chapter XVII - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 331 |
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HENRY M. DAWES,
a man of excellent ability, though never an attorney in
Morgan County, was, nevertheless, one of the many
promising men the county has produced. He was born
in Malta in 1832, and was the son of the late Henry
Dawes, an influential citizen. He was educated
in Marietta College and after his admission to the bar
practiced in Washington County until his decease in
1860. He was possessed of a strong mind, was a
good reasoner, and, had he lived, no doubt his talents
would have won for him distinction and honor.
Source: Chapter XV - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 265 |
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G. C. DEVOL.
Grosvenor C. Devol, son of Cook Devol one
of the early settlers of Marietta, Ohio, was born in
Waterford Township, Washington County, Ohio, Jan. 28,
1814. In 1835 he came to Morgan County, as manager
of the Fulton Salt Works, and the following1
year to McConnelsville, where he engaged in
merchandising. He did a successful business for
about ten years, when he became the agent of all the
salt works on the river, excepting two or three.
Upon the formation of the First National Bank of
McConnelsville he became its cashier, which position he
resigned on account of ill health.
Dalphon Devol, brother of G. C. Devol,
came to McConnelsville in 1836, and for a time was
engaged with his brother in the mercantile business.
For many years he has been doing business at Eagleport,
Bloom Township, where he now resides.
Source: Chapter XVII - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 333 |
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DR. DILTZ, a
native of Muskingum County, and a graduate of the
Starling-Medical College, came to Deavertown about 1883.
He had previously been located at other points in the
county. He is a young man of more than average
ability and is rapidly obtaining a prominent place in
the profession. He is a member of the Morgan
County Medical Society.
Source: Chapter XVI - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 281 |
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JOHN DOLAND
became the first resident attorney, and put out a sign
notifying the public that he was an "attorney and
counselor at law and solicitor in chancery in Morgan and
adjacent counties." He had but little legal
business, and for a livelihood he betook himself to
teaching the village school. He had talent, but
was intemperate and dissipated, and of little account as
a lawyer.
Source: Chapter XV - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 254 |
A. J. Donovan |
ANDREW
J. DONOVAN. Henry Williams,
one of the pioneers of Morgan County, was born in Wales
in 1744, and came to this country in 1760, and settled
in Ohio county, West Virginia. He married Miss
Rebecca Mills, and in 1819 came to Morgan County and
located in Center Township, where he died in 1827 at the
age of eighty-three. His wife attained the
remarkable age of one hundred and four. Rebecca
Williams, a daughter, married Daniel Donavan
in 1797. He was born in Ohio County in 1776, was
educated in Baltimore, where he became prominent.
He filled several positions of trust and responsibility,
among them that of high sheriff. He was a relative
of the Zanes, the founders of Zanesville. At the
age of fourteen he assisted them in their removal to
that place, their goods being packed upon horses.
He remained with them but a short time, and in company
with another young man he started for Wheeling in a
canoe which they had made for the purpose. On
reaching the present site of McConnelsville, they
stopped for the night; but discovering the presence of
Indians they betook themselves to their canoe and did
not again stop until they considered themselves out of
danger. He eventually became a resident of the
county. While living in Virginia he followed
teaching for a livelihood, and for a time was the
overseer of Alex Campbell’s sheep farm.
He was above the average men in ability and attainments
and lived an eventful life. He reared a family of
five sons, none of whom ever used tobacco or
intoxicants. He died in 1869, his wife in 1846. He
was of Irish descent. His father was born in
Ireland in 1728, and came to America with his parents in
1882, and settled in Maryland. He was a moulder of
iron.
A. J. Donovan, one of the largest and most
prominent farmers of Windsor, was born in Ohio County,
West Virginia, shortly after the battle of New Orleans,
Feb. 19, 1815, and was named in honor of the hero of
that battle. The Donovans have an enviable
record in military affairs. Daniel, Sr.,
was a soldier of the Revolution. Daniel,
Jr., was in the war of 1812-15. He served
under General Jackson, and was at the
battle of New Orleans. He settled in Centre
Township, Morgan County, in October of 1816.
Mark Donovan, eldest son of Daniel, Jr., was
one of the command of General Taylor, and
served through the Mexican war. Two sons of A.
J. Donovan, William and Walter, served
in the War of the Rebellion, one of whom, William,
gave up his life in the battle of the Wilderness.
Besides the two sons he had seven nephews and one
brother in different commands. Mr. Donovan
married in 1841 Miss Mary, daughter of Walter
Langley, who settled in Bristol in 1827.
Source: Chapter XXI - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 428 |
H. Dundsmoor |
HIEL DUNSMOOR.
Hiel Dunsmoor—the immediate subject of this
sketch— was, like all the Dunsmoors, Dinsmoors,
Dinsmores and Densmores, in Europe and
America, so far as is known, decended from the “Laird
of Achenwead,” through his youngest son. This
“Laird,” whose name it is understood was — Dunsmoor,
lived at Achenwead, on the river Tweed, in Scotland,
about the time the Pilgrims landed in America. The
laws in Scotland at that remote period, decended from
feudal times, made the eldest son of a family of quality
the sole heir to titles and estates, on which account
and the "feeling of degradation engendered by the
deference enforced from him by his father toward his
eldest brother, in recognition of said laws, and the
accompanying prevailing customs relating thereto, this
youngest son, when seventeen years of age, left home
without his father’s permission, went to Ireland,
married, and settled in the County of Antrim. The
Dunsmoor coat-of-arms is described as “a farm on
a plate of green, with three sheaves of wheat standing
in the center.” This son who settled in Ireland
had four sons, the eldest of whom, named John,
with his wife, children and grandchildren, were of the
original party of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who
emigrated to New England from the north of Ireland, in
1719, and formed the settlement of Londonderry, New
Hampshire, so named after their native place. To
this same party we are indebted for the introduction
into North America of the culture and manufacture of
flax, and the culture of the potato, which vegetable “
their neighbors for a long time regarded as a pernicious
root, altogether unfit for a Christian stomach.”
This opinion of those remote times, contrasted with the
present, reminds us that in the affairs of the stomach,
as well as in the realms of mind, morals and theology, “
the world moves.” Of these last named children,
one—a physician— named John, was the
great-grandfather, his son John, who it is
understood was his eldest, was the grandfather, and
Phineas—a son of the latter—was the father of
Hiel Dunsmoor. The grandfather— John
Dunsmoor— married Mary Kimball and
resided for an extended period in Townsend, Mass., where
eight children were born to them—five boys and three
girls. John, the eldest son, married, but
his wife's maiden name is not known; he resided in
Charlestown, N. H. Joseph married a Miss
McNeal of New York state, resided for some years
in Charlestown, then removed to New York, it is
understood, some place on the Susquehanna, where he
remained the balance of his life, so far as is known.
Of William it is not known whether he married or
not; he resided in Charlestown. Samuel, the
youngest son, married Miss Anna Powers and
settled in Vermont. Of the girls, the names of two,
Miriam and Hannah only are known.
Miriam married Rufus Leland; they resided in
Charlestown. Hannah married Benjamin
Pierce, a cousin of President Pierce.
They also resided in Charlestown many years, afterwards
removing to Amherst, N. H., where they were when last
heard from. The remaining sister married a
Mr. Saunders. They settled in
Boston, where, as a merchant, he became quite wealthy.
The grandmother, for a second husband, married a Mr.
Lovell; no children however were born to them.
Tier son Phineas, the father of Hiel,
was born at Townsend, Mass., as has been previously
indicated, Dec. 29, 1771. He was married Apr. 10, 1798,
to Polly Gage, who was born in Pelham, N. H., July 16,
1782. She was a daughter of Abner Gage—a
patriot soldier of the revolution—who, in the battle of
Bunker Hill, had a portion of one foot taken off by a
cannon ball; her mother’s maiden name was Susan Ober,
and the latter had a sister whose first husband—a Mr.
Hull—died in the Revolutionary army; her second
husband was a Mr. McLaughlin.
Besides Polly, they had four children—three boys
and one girl; of the boys, Abner married a
Miss Hesalton, of Salem, N. H., Daniel
married Miss Polly, a daughter of Dr.
Shaw, of Unity, N. H., Joseph married a
Miss Sprague, of Claremont, N. H., the
remaining daughter, Susan, the eldest child,
married Phineas Hull, her cousin.
The mother died at Ackworth, N. H., in 1789, and after a
time Abner, the father, married a Miss
Rodgers, for his second wife. They had four
sons and one daughter born to them. Of the sons,
John married Ruth Woodbury.
Of the other sons, Joshua, Eliphalet and
Stephen, nothing besides their names is known
save that they married and Eliphalet had two
sons; the daughter, Ruth, married Samuel
Strong.
Phineas Dunsmoor, after having married Miss
Gage as before stated resided, it is understood,
as a farmer, at Charlestown, Sullivan County, N. H.,
about eighteen years, where, Oct. 20, 1807, their son
Hiel was born. The even tenor of the father’s
life, like that of many others, was rudely broken in
upon by the war of 1812. He was then a captain of
cavalry but did not perform any active service. He
was, however, ordered to “hold his company in readiness
to march to Portsmouth at an hour’s notice,” where
several British ships, laden with soldiers, were in the
offing several days with seeming intentions to land
them, which action it was desired to prevent if
attempted, but it was not. From Charlestown he
removed to Goshen, same county, in 1816, trading for a
hotel stand and a large farm adjoining. Here he
kept hotel until the spring of 1822, doing an excellent
business, that then being an important or favorite
stopping point for a large wagon-road travel on the
principal route between Vermont and Boston, this being
before the days of railroads. There is now,
however, but an occasional traveler, and the place, as a
village, is sinking in decay. In the spring of
1822, when Hiel was fifteen years of age the
family, consisting of the father and mother and their
children, four boys and two girls (of which more anon)
left New Hampshire in wagons for Ohio—in that day deemed
in “ the far west.” They came through the State of
New York, along the Shore of Lake Erie, and down to
Ashtabula County, Ohio. Thence, after, tarrying a
short time at Mrs. Dunsmoor’s father’s, who with
his family had removed and settled there in about 1810,
they proceeded to what is now Fairfield (was then
Wesley) Township, Washington County, Ohio, arriving in
July, 1822, and settled on a tract of 905 acres of land
for which Mr. Dunsmoor had traded his
Goshen, N. H., hotel stand and adjacent farm with J.
Brick, one of the original “Ohio company.”
They lived temporarily in a log school house of the
settlement, soon erecting and moving into a log house of
the prevailing primitive type, the roof being secured by
weight poles, nails not then being purchasable in that
part of the country. This house, as has been
chronicled of those of many other pioneers, was at
first, however, shadowed by the “forest primeval,” and
the howling of wolves formed the common refrain of the
night time with which the ears of the family were
regaled. Here the father quite suddenly died in
the foling May. In his illness he was
attended, but perhaps ineffectually, on account of the
distance he had to be summoned and come from, by Dr.
S. P. Hildreth, the talented pioneer physician and
historian of Marietta. His death was a paralyzing
blow to the family, as the children were all
comparatively young and the heavy work of clearing the
forest was yet mainly before them; but the mother was an
energetic intelligent woman, and her sons were scions of
a father, self-contained, intelligent, of great energy
and firmness of purpose to which was added a high sense
of and honor for right and duty, who, had he lived,
would have been a power for the advancement of the
community with which he had newly cast his lot.
They therefore set bravely to work, and in due time much
of the forest was laid low and smiling fields of
rustling corn and waving grain greeted the eye in its
stead. Though, as it may interest some to know,
wheat then sold for 37½
cents per bushel at Marietta, their market, twenty miles
away. The original homestead was about one mile
northwest of the present Layman, Ohio, postoffice; its
site and the main portion of the original tract is yet
in the hands of Lucius and his and Horace’s
children. Besides Hiel, Mr. and Mrs.
Dunsmoor had been blessed with seven children, as
follows: Horace, born Oct. 11, 1799; Hiram,
born Dec. 21, 1802; Abner, born Mar. 17, 1804;
Mary K., born Aug. 13, 1805; Lucius P., born
Jan. 25, 1810; Ataline G., born Sept. 18, 1812;
Daniel N., born Nov. 26. 1817. Of these
children, all save Daniel N., were born at
Charleston, N. H., Daniel being born at Goshen,
same state. Hiram died at Charlestown, Jan. 22,
1804, the others save Abner, Horace and Hiel,
are yet (1886) living. Horace married
Jane Bishop, a neighbor’s daughter, of Wesley
township, and lived a farmer. They had children as
follows: Marian, Sylvester L., Gilbert, Susan,
Caroline, Emily, Alson, Euphama, Carmi, George and
Harriet. The father died in 1878, his wife having
preceded him a short time. Abner married
Miss Emily E. Topliff, of Quincy, Ill. She,
however, died soon after without issue, a few years
after which he married a Miss Miller, of same
place, by whom he had a son—Augustus M.—and,
about two years after, a daughter, which latter,
however, died in infancy, accompanying her mother.
The father died in 1853, having been a merchant most of
his life. Mary K. married Ephriam
Palmer, of what is now Palmer township, Washington
County, Ohio. He was a farmer and at one time a
colonel in the State militia. They had children as
follows: Phineas, Lydia, Polly, Ruth, Abner and
Ermina. The father died many yearsago. Lucius
P. married Mahala Williams, of Wesley
township, and has always lived a farmer; they had
children as follows : Albina, Polly,
Jane, Josephine, Laura, Jasper
and Lodema. The mother died in 1870. Ataline
G. married Hiram Gard, of what is now
Palmer township, Washington County, Ohio, whose long
life has been occupied in the main by farming and
merchandising —about equally. lie has also followed
old-time milling and droving, and was a
lieutenant-colonel in the old State militia when that of
his county disbanded. They had children as
follows: Edward, Charles, Mary,
Martha, Helen, Hosmer and Hiel;
Daniel N. married Julia Goddard,
of what is now Fairfield Township, Washington County,
Ohio. They had one son, name not known. The
father afterward married Mrs. Isabel
Harvey, of Barlow Township, Washington County, Ohio.
They had three children, Pearly, Harvey
and Alonzo. The son Hiel, who and his
immediate family will exclusively be the subject of the
remainder of this sketch, always having been of a very
social nature—both his parents also being of a social
temperament—early sought a companion to share his joys
and sorrows at a fireside of their own, and his choice
fell on Miss Susannah Mellor, whom he
married in 1827, when he was about nineteen and a
half years of age. She was a daughter of Samuel
Mellor, who came from England when about nineteen
years of age and lived — a farmer — near Waterford,
Washington County, Ohio. “His domestic comforts in this
marriage was all that could be desired.” They had five
children, all of whom lived to marry. The eldest—
Susannah H. — married Smith Daniels,
of Milan, Erie County, Ohio, to which place they
removed, and where she died, May 3, 1853, of
consumption, leaving no issue. The second
daughter—Polly G. — married George S. Brownell,
of Situate, P. I.; she, also, died, May 3, 1853, leaving
three children— Mary, Susan and George
Hiel. The father volunteered into the
63d regiment, O. V. I., in the war of the rebellion,
and—as a first lieutenant—was one who led the night
attack on Port Wagner, near Charlestown, S. C., on July
18, 1863, in which attack he was killed by a shot in the
breast. The third daughter—Jane Miranda—married
Jesse D. Thomas, of Putnam, Washington County,
Ohio, who then removed to Windsor, Morgan County, same
state, and engaged in mercantile business; the mother
died of consumption, Jan. 28, 1848, leaving two
children, both girls, the eldest Marcella I.; the
youngest, Florence M. who have since resided
principally with their grandfather Thomas, in
Putnam, Ohio. The next child—Ephraim P.—was
born May 5, 1833; he married Miss Sarah F. Fonts,
daughter of Lemon Pouts, 3d, of Malta,
Morgan County, Ohio. They had seven children
respectively as follows: Alice Mabel,
Ella Maria, May Cordilla, two sons who
lived but one month and thirteen days each, Florence,
and a son who, in the fall of 1878 or 9, when of not
more than a few fleeting moments or hours in this bright
world, departed with his mother for the brighter.
The father was engaged for an extended period with his
father in the manufacture of furniture at Malta,
afterward was in the livery business at Zanesville, and
at present is house-building in Belton, Mo. The
youngest child—Marian Josephine Elmira—was
born Mar. 27, 1836. She married Gardner D.
Newcomb, a machinist, of Bernham, Me., when they
removed to Portsmouth, Ohio, where, after a residence of
eleven months, Charles T.—their only child—was
born. They very soon afterward removed
successively to Malta and Zanesville, Ohio, remaining a
comparatively brief period at each, when the mother went
into a decline and— like innumerable others who had gone
before and still others who will follow her—came to the
parental roof to die, which she soon after did, of
consumption. Their son remained with his
grandfather (Dunsmoor) until his majority, at
whose home his children and grandchildren ever found
without stint a haven of rest and that open-handed and
unremitting hospitality for which he was widely noted;
the “father followed the example of thousands of others
and, at his country's call for volunteers, enrolled his
name in the 62d O. V. I., in 1861, and was one of those
brave boys who made the night attack on Fort Wagner, was
wounded in the shoulder by a Minnie ball but recovered.”
The remorseless hand of consumption was also lain on
Susannah — Mr. Dunsmoor’s wife — and she
died, Nov. 1st, 1853. In the contemplation of the
aggregate of his bereavement caused by consumption,
Mr. Dunsmoor was led to exclaim (I give his
own words, as I have twice before in this sketch since
the record of his marriage, and will once or twice again
after the present quotation), “thus in a few years’
time, with that fell disease consumption, have I been
deprived of a dear wife and four children, leaving me
none except my son Ephraim of all my family.
Could the fact have been made known to me that in so
short a time death was to deprive me so nearly of all my
family, it seems to me that it would have dethroned my
reason; still ‘the back is prepared for the burden’ and
man submits to the Divine will; these oft dispensations
of Providence convince us that this is not our abiding
place. I feel that I have treasures in heaven and
will shortly be there with them.” On June 26,
1854, Mr. Dunsmoor was again married to
Miss Lucy Atwood, of Union Village,
Broome County, N. Y., “daughter of a farmer named
Stephen Atwood, who was a descendent, in a
direct line, of the Pilgrims who came to Plymouth,
Mass., in the Mayflower.” When about twenty-one
years of age he walked from Massachusetts to his
previously mentioned home, carrying with him all of this
world’s goods he then possessed, being preceded,
however, by what he doubtless valued more than pulseless
mammon—a comely young woman with whom he had previously
formed an acquaintance which had evidently been mutually
pleasing, for they were married soon after his arrival
at what was ever afterward his home. The house he
built—or had built—for himself about sixty years ago to
take the place of his first rude log one, is yet
standing and in good preservation, being occupied by one
of his several children yet living—and prosperously — in
the same neighborhood. The house is somewhat
peculiar in appearance, being shingled on the sides (the
original shingles) as well as on the roof. “ This
like Mr. Dunsmoor’s first marriage was one
of domestic happiness.” Nobly has the second
Mrs. Dunsmoor filled the office of wife,
mother and grandmother, for her husband, his children
(what were left) and grandchildren; in fact the latter
have almost—perhaps entirely—known no other in her
place. Side by side with her noble husband she has
uniformly with grace, good sense, sincerity and
generosity, welcomed and entertained relatives and
friends as becomes a wife of a leading and honorable
citizen. She has by the same side performed that
nobler office—wept with the sorrowing and had an
unvarying smile and helping hand to welcome and
encourage the broken in health and spirit and for their
orphans. Mr. Dunsmoor commenced his
business career as a farmer immediately after his
marriage; moving on his farm, he worked on it in the
summer and taught school —and very successfully—in the
winter. This— until he got his farm cleared —
perhaps three or four years, when he sold his farm,
moved to Brown’s Mills, Washington County, Ohio, and
engaged in the mercantile business, having bought his
brother-in-law— H. Gard’s goods, the latter
having previously been engaged there in the same
business. While thus engaged he took in his
brother Abner as a partner, when they enlarged
their business by engaging to some extent in old-time
flatboating, i. e., buy or get made a boat of the style
then in vogue, buy country produce (pork, bacon, flour,
potatoes, etc.) sufficient to load it, and when this
done, and at a proper rise of the river, one of the
partners, assisted by about three men, would embark,
generally for the Crescent City, though they would
generally “ coast as they went,” i. e., sell to the
natives at towns and large plantations at different
points on their way down, tarrying at each as they found
it to pay, winding up each trip generally at New Orleans
by selling the boat and its remaining contents,
when—after seeing the sights of the city—they would
return home on a steamboat. Of the latter,
however, there were few yet running compared with the
present. Mr. Dunsmoor at this time
and after he removed to Malta, Ohio (of latter more
particulars farther along), made quite a number of these
trips personally for himself and partners, meeting with
various adventures as he naturally would, some of which
were exciting and dangerous. In after years it was
a favorite and much asked for treat for his children and
grand-children to hear him “tell stories of when he was
down the river.” Lack of space forbids the
narration of any of them here except one briefly
outlined. Mr. Dunsmoor at the
termination of one of these trips was sauntering along a
street in New Orleans when he was attracted by one of
the oft-read-of slave auctions. He approached and
became a spectator. He saw among other sales a
mother and her little child of perhaps three years put
on the block and sold to different masters, and when the
child was ordered taken away, the mother clung to it
until the planter who had bought the child raised his
cane seemingly to strike her. She then fell in a
swoon and the child was removed from her arms, likely
never again to nestle there in this world. Mr.
Dunsmoor (to use his own words) quit the scene,
and as he walked away exclaimed in the fullness of his
heart, “ My God! is this the boasted land of liberty?
is this the asylum for the oppressed of every land? ”
This blot on our country’s otherwise fair escutcheon,
Mr. Dunsmoor happily lived to see removed.
After continuing in business in Brown’s Mills some two
or three years, (in 1837) he removed to Malta; also his
militia experience ended about this time or a little
before. On arriving at mustering age (18 years),
lie had joined a company, raised, it is understood, in
Barlow, Wesley and Roxbury townships, of which he was
soon elected or appointed a subaltern officer, in which
capacity he served a short time, when he was appointed
by his colonel, Ephraim Palmer, an officer
of his staff—adjutant 1st Regiment, 1st Brigade, 3rd
Division Ohio Militia, in which, capacity he served
until the regiment was disbanded, which was caused by
important changes in militia laws. Upon removing
to Malta, Mr. Dunsmoor entered into
partnership with William and Edward Mellor, and
again carried on mercantile business for perhaps about
three years, when he sold his interest to one or both of
the Mellors. He next (in 1840) formed a
partnership with John Timms, and yet again
carried on merchandising and flatboating in
connection—more of the latter here than when he was in
the same business at Brown’s Mills. (For further detail
regarding this latter business see former mention of
business done at latter point). This firm
continued in business about three years, when it closed
out, the immediate cause of which well illustrates Mr.
Dunsmoor’s incorruptible honesty under trying
circumstances. Therefore it will be briefly
narrated here: In 1843 he and Mr. Timms
took their last boat down south; it was loaded with
pork, bacon, etc., but finding a poor market at New
Orleans this time, they, by the advice of authority they
deemed entirely trustworthy (and likely it was)
forwarded the cargo to a commission firm in New York to
dispose of. They in due time received advice from
the firm that their goods were sold and to draw on them
“at sight,” which they did, but the paper was protested
and they lost the entire amount, which, being a valuable
cargo, left Mr. Dunsmoor worth $1,500,
less than nothing; but he (in 1845) commenced business
again, this time that of selling clocks on commission,
Allen Daniels furnishing the capital.
He continued in this business until 1848 or a little
after, operating in the states of Ohio, Indiana and
Illinois, when, though he had been quite successful, he
was forced to quit the business, the chills and fever
having fastened themselves upon him, which was a more
serious matter in those days than now. He had,
however, by this means been enabled to pay all his debts
dollar for dollar, which he did without his creditors
having recourse on him in any way. He was very
jealous of his reputation for honesty, and ever after
this occasionally with great comfort of mind reverted to
this incident in and part of his business career and to
the fact that he had been enabled to pay in full, “no
man ever having lost a cent by him.” The same year
he quit the clock business, he engaged with David
Dickerson in the foundry business. He
continued with Mr. Dickerson until 1850,
the firm name being Dunsmoor & Dickerson.
In 1851 the firm name changed to Dunsmoor,
Guthrie & Co., but it is not known who, besides
Mr. Dunsmoor and Mr. Guthrie
composed this last firm, which continued the business
until 1856 or 1857, when Mr. Dunsmoor sold
his interest to Messrs. Guthrie and
Seaman, and was the same year appointed secretary
of a projected railroad known as the Pittsburgh,
Maysville and Cincinnati Railroad, of which he was also
a director. He continued secretary of this
corporation for several years after work was stopped on
the road. He since, at different times, has, been
prominently connected with other railroad projects, by
which it was hoped to develop his county and furnish a
reliable communications for its citizens with the
outside world. Lack of sufficient financial support has,
however, heretofore prevented all these hoped-for
improvements from being completed. In 1858 Mr.
Duusmoor bought the furniture establishment of
Jackson Palmer, which business he
energetically (as be did whatever he engaged in) carried
on until his death, enlarging and improving the
establishment from time to time, and eventually taking
in as a partner a worthy nephew, Augustus, son of
his brother Abner, which nephew he had raised as
he would a son (he not being a son, nor an adopted one,
as supposed by many), his mother, as will be remembered,
having died when he was but about two years of age.
Three of his little orphan grandchildren met with the
same benignant treatment, and as has been said before,
his hospitable doors and great heart were always open to
all of them to come and go as they listed. But the
children designated, being orphaned at a tender age, had
his more particular attention. Mr.
Duusmoor, during his life time, was by his
fellow-citizens elected, and he served many terms as
justice of the peace (than which there are few more
honorable positions among men, if elected, as he was,
and the office filled as it was by him). He was
frequently called upon to fill various other honorable
and responsible positions being one of those men always
looked to by his neighbors for the management of their
public affairs of moment, when wisdom, recognized
character, and business tact were needed. Mr.
Dunsmoor became a Master Mason in the
McConnelsville Ohio Lodge, Feb. 2, 1846. He was
instrumental in organizing Malta Lodge, of which he was
a member at the time of his death, and the last of its
charter members. He had filled the several higher
stations in the lodge most acceptably. A
good many years before be died he became a Royal Arch
Mason, which he was in good standing ever after. lie was
a member of the Universalist church for fifty years,
also one of the original members of the McConnelsville
church. He died Oct. 28, 1883, having attained the
age of seventy-six years. His wife, Lucy A.,
survives him. They had no children. Hiel
Dunsmore, besides having the characteristics
heretofore indicated, was a shrewd judge of men and
their motives, of noble presence and dignified bearing,
and “to a character of sterling worth united (as can be
well said of his surviving wife) a genial, hearty
temperament which rejoiced in the society of friends and
found a chief pleasure of life in their companionship.
A good talker, he possessed a fund of anecdote and
reminiscence which together made him excellent company.”
Mrs. Dunsmoor was born in Union Village,
N. Y., Apr. 8, 1825, and came to Morgan County in June
of 1853, and was married to Mrs. Dunsmoor
the following year. Her father, Stephen Atwood,
was born in 1785. His father, Samuel
Atwood, was a native of Massachusetts, and was born
in 1754. Stephen married Miss Lucy Briggs
in 1811. He was a farmer by occupation. In
1820 the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Dunsmoor
(Briggs) came to Chesterfield, where he died
in 1821.
Source: Chapter XIX - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 359 |
Wm. Durbin |
HON. WILLIAM DURBIN.
William Durbin was born in Frederick County, Md.,
on the 11th day of October, 1802. His father’s
name was Dan Durbin. At the age of
twelve years he moved with his father’s family to
Lancaster County, Pa. In about three years from
the time they settled in Pennsylvania his mother died,
and his father having a large family of children,
William left home at the age of sixteen years,
without money and with but little education, to try
unaided his fortune among strangers; but by his
diligence and industry he learned the carpenter trade,
and also attended school and acquired sufficient
education to enable him to perform the duties which
devolved upon him in after life. At the age of
nineteen he, with the family of Caleb Wells
and others, emigrated to Morgan County, Ohio, and worked
at different places, either as a farmhand or at his
trade, he sometimes got employment in and about
Marietta, at which place he became acquainted with
Martha Nixon, daughter of William
Nixon, one of the earliest settlers in the State,
and was married to her on the 10th day of August, 1826.
They resided in Marietta till the following spring, when
they removed to the village of McConnelsville,
purchasing lots number 1 and 12 of the original town, on
which a log house had already been erected. He
soon afterward built a carpenter-shop on the southeast
corner of lot 12 which has been converted into a
dwelling house and is still standing. Here he
worked at his trade till the year 1834, when he became a
candidate for the office of county auditor. He was
then in the thirty-second year of his age, but he had a
remarkably youthful appearance, and being of a retiring,
bashful disposition, strangers on meeting him would take
him to be scarcely above twenty-one years of age, and
his boyish look was often the subject of comment during
the campaign. He was elected to the office by a
small majority. He was reelected to a second and
third term, each time by a larger majority, leading the
whole ticket, thus attesting his popularity and ability
as an officer. At the expiration of his third term
of office he removed with his family to a farm, or
rather, to a quarter section of unimproved land which he
purchased in Bloom Township, and engaged in rural
pursuits.
Soon after his removal to the country he was appointed
associate judge of Morgan County, which office he held
till the fall of 1848, when he was nominated as a
candidate for representative. He resigned his
judgeship and was duly elected representative. He
spent the winter of 1848-9 at the State capital in the
discharge of his official duties, and returned home in
the spring in very poor health and died of typhoid fever
on the 19th of April, 1849, being in the forty-seventh
year of his age. He left three sons: Samuel,
William Nixon and Benton Nichols,
who are still living; a daughter named Martha
died in 1841, at the age of two years.
His widow continued to reside on the farm till her
death, which occurred on the 21st day of July, 1885, at
the age of 84 years.
In religious belief Mr. Durbin was a
Universalist, but as there was no organized church at or
near McConnelsville during his residence in the country
he never joined any church.
Source: Chapter XVII - History of Morgan
County, Ohio with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of
some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. By Charles
Robertson, M. D. - Published Chicago: L. H.
Watkins & Co. 1886 - Page 327 |
|
NOTES:
|
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