.


OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS

A Part of Genealogy Express

 

Welcome to
Morgan County, Ohio
History & Genealogy

.

HISTORY OF MORGAN CO., OHIO
with
PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
of some of its
PIONEERS AND PROMINENT MEN
By Charles Robertson, M. D.
Revised and Extended by the Publishers
Chicago:
L. H. Watkins & Co.
1886

CHAPTER XXI.
WINDSOR
pg. 391

The Largest Township of the County - The Earliest Settlement - The Big Bottom Massacre - Site of the Block House - New England Influences - Fruit Culture - Early Inhabitants Along the River - The Hill Farms and "Rabbit Lands" - The Old Mill at Luke Clute - Pioneer Families - Melancholy Event at a Wolfe Hunt - Joel Sherman Killed - The Noted Fisherman of the Valley - Canoeing - A Pioneer's Experiences - Remarkable Religious Excitement - The "Six Weeks' Meeting" in 1819 - Early Schools and Teachers - Mercantile and Industrial Items - The Village of Stockport - A good Trading Point - The Settlement, Origin and Growth of the Town - Lodges - Churches - BIOGRAPHICAL

     WINDSOR TOWNSHIP, the largest in Morgan County, is wholly included within the limits of the Ohio company's purchase and of the donation tract.  It was the earliest settled part of Morgan County, and at the time the county was formed had made greater progress in population and improvements than any other portion of the county.
     Here was the settlement of Big Bottom, made in 1790, and ruthlessly destroyed by the savages early in the year 1791.  For a description of the blockhouse and a history of the massacre, the reader is referred to chapter VI, “The Indian War.”
     For a time the exact location of the historic blockhouse on Big Bottom was, to a considerable degree, a matter of conjecture.  Recently, however, through the earnest efforts of Mr. Obadiah Brokaw, the precise spot where it stood has been definitely ascertained.  Any one passing down the river road from Windsor to Marietta can see the spot marked by a stone slab, in a field immediately north of the residence of Mr. Brokaw.  In the immediate vicinity of the slab were found indisputable evidences of the material of the blockhouse and the remains of its unfortunate occupants.
     The pioneers of this part of the county were largely from the New England States.  They were intelligent, moral and progressive.  The county is especially indebted to these New Englanders for the introduction of fruit—apples, peaches, pears, cherries, etc.  Orcharding has been a prominent industry in the township from the earliest settlement to the present time.
     The soil is rich and productive.  The township contains a greater area of bottom-land than any other in the county.  The farmers are thrifty and progressive, and many of them very prosperous.
     Windsor Township was organized as one of the integral parts of Morgan County in the summer of 1819.  Its territory has since been enlarged by the incorporation into the township of a

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large part of Roxbury Township, formerly in Washington County.
     Doubtless some of the bottoms of this township were occupied by hunters’ cabins, here and there, even before the Indian War.  But this is merely conjectural; the date of actual, permanent occupation by white settlers may safely be set down as 1795-6, after Wayne’s victory and the treaty of peace with the Indians.
     The earliest settlers were nearly all located on the river.  Hot until all the river farms were occupied did immigrants begin to think of improving the uplands.  The hill-farms were called “rabbit lands,” and considered well-nigh worthless.  Few of them were taken up before 1820, and from that time forward for thirty years or more the work of improvement was slow but constant.
     Beginning at the Morgan Township line and following the river we find that the early settlers were as follows:
     On the first farm George Miller was located for a time.  About 1817 he sold out to Asa Olney, whose son Oman settled upon the place.  Joshua Davis lived on the farm a short time, but died in 1821.
     Where Samuel H. Scott now lives, Thomas Devin settled about 1818.  Hear the site of the schoolhouse Thomas Dorragh was located a few years.  He left in 1820.
     In 1811 Nathan Dearborn came from New Hampshire on foot and located on the farm now occupied by Capt. I. H. Hook.  His brother-in-law, Isaac Melvin had occupied the place a short time before, but had left.  After making some improvement, Mr. Dearborn remained on the place till his first wife died.  In the fall of 1813 he returned to New Hampshire and married again.  The following March he was drafted, and served a year in the army.  Mr. Dearborn was the first coroner of Morgan County, and acted as sheriff at the first term of court in McConnelsville.  His son, H. P. Dearborn, now of Meigsville Township, born in 1814, has a vivid recollection of pioneer events, and has assisted the editors of this history by furnishing many interesting reminiscences.  Mr. Dearborn was one of the pioneer temperance workers of the county.

     Asa Emerson, Jr., was on the farm below, prior to Dearborn’s settlement.  Near where J. J. and J. C. Henery now live, from about 1822 to 1826, Samuel M. Dyke held a squatter’s possession.  He was one of the early teachers of the township.  Just below lived William Davis, 2d, and John B. Peary, succeeded about 1817 by Levi Davis and Prince Godfrey.  The latter died in 1821.  Near the site of the brick church, Samuel Henery located in 1815.  His posterity is still numerous in the township.  Next down the river was Elder William Davis, pastor of the Baptist Church; and where Robert Henery now lives, James Nott, early in the present century.
     Opposite the site of the village of Stockport was Nathaniel Eveland, and next below, Samuel WhiteAsa White was on the farm of the late Arthur Taggart; and a little below lived John Craft and Elisha Hand, who removed to Indiana about 1830.  Jotham Keyes, about 1821, having previously lived a short time at Marietta, moved to the next farm.  His wife was a cousin of Hon. Edward EverettMrs. Barker, matron of the Children’s Home, is the only representative of the


Eugene Pierrot

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Keyes family known to the writer.  On the Obadiah Brokaw farm, Joseph Cheadle was an early settler; the lower part of the farm was early occupied by Elijah Smith (1815); about the same time came also Dr. Ephraim Wright.

     The Cheadles were from Vermont and all early settlers.  Asa, John, Richard and Paddock were brothers.  Asa was an early justice of the peace.  Richard Cheadle settled where Mrs. Mellor now lives and remained on the place until his death.  Where the late Annie Lawrence lived, Ephraim Ellis resided a short time, then moved to Marion Township.  Paddock Cheadle lived on the Henry Blackmer farm.  He moved west.  Timothy Blackmer came to the next place in 1823, having previously lived for twenty years a few miles below on the other side of the river.  John Cheadle lived on the Buck farm from the time of his settlement until his death.

     Asa Emerson and his sons located in the vicinity of Luke Chute about the beginning of the present century.  There Luke Emerson engaged in milling.  Just below, John Carter, an early
settler had a distillery.  Further down were Elnathan Ellis, Jonathan Baldwin, George Hanvard on the present T. Blake farm; Archibald McCollum, on the place afterwards occupied for many years by Adelphi Webster; Joseph Morris, on part of the R. L. Coburn farm; Nicholas Coburn (1796) on the Coburn farm; and Sylvanus Olney where E. N. Olney now lives.

     Returning to our starting-point, crossing the river and again following it downward, we find Samuel Evans on part of the farm now owned by M. Keyser, John Widger, John and Humphrey K. White, who established a mill in 1822.  John White was a prominent man, a justice of the peace and a representative to the legislature.  The J. B. White farm was settled by Barnabas Sutliff, familiarly known as Barney, in 1814; and at a later date Abijah C. Seely occupied the Bishop and Kent farm.  The Newberry farm was settled as early as 1814 by Sylvanus Newton * and general musters were sometimes held there.  Gideon and Walter were his sons.  Alexander McMillan, from Maine, known as Dr. McMillan, settled on the Geddes farm.  The doctor made pills from roots, herbs and other material; but he claimed that in order that they should be absolutely effective that in the process of manufacture, the fire in his furnace should be kept up for seven years.  He had unbounded faith in the efficacy of his own medicines, and once told a patient who complained that his doses were doing no good, that the medicine would work, though it might take seven years to reach the desired result.

     Frederick Eveland and his sons, David, Moses and John, occupied the site of Stockport, and several brothers by the name of Lucas were also in this neighborhood prior to 1815.  Further down at an early period were Andrew Dennis, a revolutionary soldier, and his sons, Daniel, Samuel, Thomas, Andrew and Uriah; David Sells, Daniel Coleman and Jacob Nulton; Asa Cheadle, Simeon Nott and Simeon Evans, all very early.

     Henry Harvard, and his son George, settled on the Thomas Blake farm at a very early date - probably before 1800.  The Harwards were from Pennsylvania

---------------
     * The wife of Newton was a Stacy.  She was a sister to the Stacys who were inmates of the Block-house on Big Bottom in 1791.

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and were of Irish descent. George, Charles, Katie and Mary were members of George Harward’s family.  None of the name now remain in the county.

     Jonathan Baldwin came from Connecticut, about 1800, cleared land and planted an orchard on the upper end of the Blake farm, which has since been known as the Baldwin orchard.  This orchard and another planted by.  Nicholas Coburn, Sr., were doubtless the first orchards in Morgan County, though other Yankee settlers were not long in following the examples set by Baldwin and Coburn.  Several apple trees and one pear tree of those planted by Baldwin are still standing.  Apples were a source of considerable revenue to the early settlers who had orchards.  They were transported to Zanesville in canoes and usually brought high prices.  Canoeing of fruit and other products was a business, regularly followed by some at certain seasons.  It required skill and an intimate acquaintance with the river to manage a large, heavily laden canoe and take it through the ripples in safety.  The pioneers always offered apples and cider to visitors or neighbors who called.  It was customary to warm the cider by plunging a red-hot poker into it; then red pepper and ginger were added to give it flavor.  This drink, with a plate of russets or greenings, was fine enough for the epicures of those days.

     Wolves were numerous and very troublesome to the early settlers.  Although no instances are remembered of their attacks upon people, many an aged pioneer can recall the time when stock (especially sheep) was often attacked and killed by them.  The last wolves in this region, according to the recollection of H. P. Dearborn, were killed in 1832, by Levi Allen of Waterford.

     The first justice of the peace in the township, chosen at the first election in 1819, was Adelphi Webster.  He was also an early school teacher.

     In 1817 Prince Godfrey, a native of England, who came from Maine to Ohio, moved from Duck Creek, where he had lived a year previously, and settled on the river on land now owned by the Henerys, above the brick church.  He was the father of five children, three of whom are living:  Phebe M. (Patterson), Samuel B. (deceased), Malinda H. (McKibben), Abigail (deceased), and Ellen (Menier).  after the decease of Mr. Godfrey his widow married Israel Davis.  The children of this marriage were Abigail, Israel and Jesse - one now living, Jesse, near Hooksburg.  Mrs. Davis died in 1879 at the age of ninety-four.

     Samuel Godfrey, brother of Prince, came West earlier and induced the latter to come.  He lived on Duck Creek until after the death of his wife,

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and moved thence to this township.  Here he married Mrs. Eunice White (nee Emerson).  They had two children who died in the West.  Louisa, one of the children of the first wife, was drowned in the river at Devol’s.  There was a skating party, and she was being pushed on the ice in a rocking chair, when she went down in an air hole. This was on Thursday.  The following Saturday her body was seen through the ice by a man who was crossing over the river below.  Benjamin, Samuel, and Joseph, were also children by by the first wife.  The two last named are still living in the West.

     Samuel White settled in Windsor township opposite Luke Chute, near the beginning of the present century.  He was from New England.  His father, Thomas White, and his (Samuel’s) brothers, Thomas, Olcott and David, all lived in the same neighborhood, some of them on the opposite side of the river.  Samuel came to this vicinity a young man, married Eunice, a sister of Luke Emerson, and followed milling.  He had but one son, Asa, the youngest of the family, and five daughters—Mary (Andrews), Centre township; Susana and Roxana, dead; Lydia and Abigail.

     Asa White son of David White, located on Big Bottom, sold out and went to Iowa.
    
The mill at Luke Chute was the principal mill in the settlement in the early years.  The date of its erection is not to be ascertained, but it was probably in operation as early at 1815.  Luke Emerson and Samuel White built it in partnership.  They constructed a dam from the island to the shore, which threw the water around the island, making a rapid on the other side, called the “chute ”—hence Luke’s Chute.  After being in operation many years the mill was burned.  Samuel and Wells White, by the assistance of their neighbors, erected another.  The Luke Chute mill was the best and the most largely patronized of the early mills in the Southeastern part of the county.  It was owned by Jeremiah Spurgeon after Emerson & White.

     The Corners of Morgan County are of English descent.  Their progenitor, George Corner, Sr., was an early settler at Marietta.  He had determined on locating in Kentucky, but on arriving at Marietta and finding some of his friends there, he determined to cast his fortunes with them.  In 1796 he settled in what is now Windsor township on Wolf Creek, five miles west of Beverly, where his son George L. was born in 1797.  A few years afterwards he died while on his way westward from New York, whither he had gone for medical treatment.  Of his family, William, George, and Ellen (Smith) lived and died in Morgan County.  William and George were among the early settlers of Union township.  Both afterwards moved to Malta, where George L. died Aug. 11, 1857, and William a few years ago.

     The Coburn family was one of the earliest in Morgan County.  Major Asa Coburn was one of the first six families that arrived at Marietta, Aug. 19, 1788.  His family consisted of his wife and six children: Phineas, the eldest son, who arrived, with the first party of immigrants, at the mouth of the Muskingum, in April, 1788; Nicholas, Asa, Sibyl, Mary and SusannahMajor Coburn was one of three brothers who entered the Colonial Army at the opening of the revolution: Andrew, the

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eldest, was killed at the battle of Bunker
Hill; Abraham also lost his life in battle; Asa passed through the war, coming out with the rank of major.  Both he and his wife died at Waterford daring the Indian war, and their burial place is unknown.

     Nicholas Coburn, Sr., son of Major Asa Coburn, was born in Worcester, Mass., in 1772, and came to Marietta with his parents in 1788.  In the spring of 1789 with his father’s family he moved to Waterford and remained there through the Indian War.  He was one of the party who went from Fort Frye (at Waterford) in 1791 to bury the victims of the massacre at Big Bottom.  In 1794 Nicholas Coburn married Rosamond Olney, who came from Nova Scotia.  During that year he settled opposite the site of Lowell, where he remained until the spring of 1796.  He then moved to the northeastern part of Windsor Township, and settled on the farm now owned by his grandson, Richmond L. Coburn.  At that time his nearest neighbor lived at the mouth of Olive Green Creek.  He planted on his farm one of the first orchards in Morgan County. Mrs. Coburn died in 1828, and Mr. Coburn in 1848. They reared a large family — eight daughters and two sons.  Of the sons, Barzilla, the elder, moved to Missouri in 1839; the other, Nicholas, lived and died on the homestead.  (See Portrait)

     Nicholas Coburn, Jr., was born Mar. 24, 1804.  In 1831 he married Elizabeth Cheadle, daughter of Richard Cheadle of Big Bottom.  Mr. Coburn was a prominent man and served as a justice of the peace in Windsor Township for eighteen years.  He was also a county commissioner for three years. He was an ardent whig, and attested his loyalty to his party by urging all whigs to attend the elections and vote.  During the election of 1844, he discovered late in the afternoon of election day that one of his whig neighbors had not voted.  He therefore went in search of him, and on asking the reason for his neglect of duty, learned that the man had stayed at home because he had no shoes to wear!  Mr. Coburn thereupon took off his own shoes, had his neighbor put them on and hurry away to the polling-place, thus adding one to the number of ballots for Clay, while he himself walked home bare-footed, to the great amusement of his family.

     Nicholas Coburn, Jr., died Aug. 18, 1867, and his wife Oct. 31, 1877.  They had three children—Leonidas J., Louisa and Richmond LLouisa became the wife of Edward Ellison,
(now deceased), who was a minister of the M. E. Church.

     Leonidas J. Coburn, a representative farmer and a most worthy citizen, was born Sept. 4, 1832.  In January, 1855, he married Susan Swift, and has six children: Don C., who married Emma Nulton; Nicholas, who married Jessie Nulton; Charles, who married Flora Bolinger; Juniatta, Edward and Allen.  Don C. and Nicholas are ministers of the Methodist Protestant Church.  Leonidas J. Coburn has served six years as a justice of the peace and now (1886) is serving his second term as one of the county commissioners.

     Richmond L. Coburn, a prominent farmer, was born June 28, 1839, on the old homestead and in the old house which was built in 1813.  He has always resided on the farm.  Mr. Coburn was in the U. S. service in the Second West Virginia cavalry from 1861 to 1865 and participated in all the campaigns of

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that regiment.  He was married Jan. 1, 1867, to Miss P. A. Hill, of Washington County, whose parents were members of one of the early families.  Mr. and Mrs. Coburn have four children, Nicholas Roscoe, Alexander Royal, Raymond Clinton and Richmond Walter. Mr. Coburn is a republican and a member of the Methodist Protestant church.

     Simeon Evans, or Grandfather Evans as he was familiarly known, was born in Orange County, New York, in 1776, and came with his father, Nathaniel Evans, to Washington County in 1794.  The family settled near Marietta and the elder Evans is buried in the Marietta cemetery.  Simeon Evans was one of the early pioneers of Windsor Township, where he settled about 1796.  He married Miss Elizabeth Mellor in 1799.  She was of English birth, and came to America in 1795.  They reared a family of eleven children,—six boys and five girls.  All attained mature years.  Of this large family only three, Sarah, Prudence and John, are now living.  John and Joel were twins and inherited the old homestead, one of the finest farms upon the river.  Both married, the former for his first wife Miss Elizabeth Mathews.  She lived but a short time and he was again married to Nancy Hoon and reared a family of eleven children.  Joel married Miss Rebecca Martin and the result of .this union was seven children,— Laura, Murray (died in infancy), Edith, Arza, Simeon, Orville and Ada.  The lives of these two brothers were almost inseparably connected.  They did not seem to have a dual existence.  For over sixty years they lived and did business together without a single disagreement to mar the placidity of their lives.  In 1881 John was compelled to leave the old home on account of the illness of his wife and went to Oregon.  The attachment between the brothers was so strong that Joel did not long survive the separation, and in February of the following year he died.  The name of Evans is one familiar to every one in the southern part of the county, where they are known as honest, intelligent and upright people.  Simeon, the progenitor of the family in Morgan County, was a fine type of the pioneer; he was a religious man, and in the early days his house was known far and near as the “preaching place” for the Methodists.  He died Jan. 5, 1861; his wife in 1838.

     Sylvanus Olney, who was born in Nova Scotia in 1773, came to Marietta at the age of nineteen and spent some time in the block-house there.  He was a soldier under General Wayne for two years, and afterwards a second lieutenant under General Harrison in the latter’s Sandusky expedition.  He settled on the opposite side of the river from E. N. Olney’s present residence, and his brother Asa on the place above him.  About 1803 he moved to the north side of the river, having traded his land on the other side for the farm on which his son now lives.  He was married in 1799 to Annie Slack, and probably settled on his first place about that time.  His children by this marriage were John, Sarah, Daniel, Asa, Henry, Louisa, Louisiana, R. J. Meigs and Dexter.  For his second wife he married Betsy Nixon, in 1819, by whom he had one child, Elias Nixon Olney, born May 15, 1825.  Sylvanus Olney died July 11, 1866, in the 94th year of his age. lie was a justice of the peace and a prominent man.

     E. N. Olney has always resided on the homestead.  He was married in

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1852 to Lucy Ann Vaughn, who died in 1863.  Their children were Sarah E. (deceased), Warren, Henry and Ellsworth (deceased).  In 1864 Mr. Olney married Rebecca E. Muse, who died in 1874.  Children: Luella T. and Edward G.  In 1880 Mr. Olney married Margaret C. Murray. He is a democrat and a member of the Methodist Protestant church.

     Henry Olney, an older son of Sylvanus, married Joanna White and lived on part of the homestead, where he died in 1879.

     Elder William Davis the first pastor of the Baptist church, was an early settler on the place now the Porter farm, above the farm of Robert Henery, 2d.  He came from Montville, Maine, and preached through all the neighboring settlements.  He was a fair speaker, hut very tenacious of doctrinal points and might fitly be classed as a “hard shell.”  He was much respected.  He reared a large family, none of whom are now left here.  His children were Nancy, Peggy, Abigail, James Cyrus, Hannah, Mary, William and Sally.

     Joshua Davis, a brother of Elder William, settled on the river above the I. N. Hook farm.  He had one son, Elias, who died in Maine.  The others all came to Ohio and lived in Morgan County.  They were James, William, Cyrus, Israel, Joshua, Isaac, Levi, Asa, Abigail and Rhoda.  All died in the county.  Israel once went on a trip to New Orleans on a boat and walked home.  He was a hard-working, industrious man.  He built the chimneys in the house now owned by Samuel P. Patterson, boating the brick from McConnelsville, and carrying them in a basket on his back from the river to the house.

     Levi Davis, a relative of Elder Davis, and William Davis, 2d, were also among the early settlers.  Levi had nineteen children, all of whom are now dead or moved away.  Thomas and Betsy (Sheets) only are known to be living.  Their father, Levi Davis, came from Maine, and after a short stay in Washington County, moved to this township about 1816.  He first located on the place afterward occupied by John Henry, and afterward moved to the Blockhouse farm on Big Bottom.

     James Nott, one of the pioneers of Windsor Township, was the son of Thomas Nott, and emigrated to Windsor Township from Pennsylvania in the year 1800.  He married Miss Phebe
Richmond, an aunt of Dean Richmond, one of the most prominent politicians and financiers of the State of New York.  They reared a family of six children, three boys and three girls.  Benjamin Nott, the eldest of the sons, was born in Windsor in 1806.  Reuben H., the second son, was born in 1812, and Crayton B., the youngest, in 1814.  Benjamin came to McConnelsville in 1821, and for six years was with Alexander McConnel in the tannery.  In 1828 he married Miss Jemima Taylor and soon after engaged in the grocery business on the site now occupied by C. Burkholter.  He was successful in trade and in addition to his store he
“ kept tavern.”  In 1837 he removed to Malta, when he engaged in the dry
goods trade.  He remained in Malta, however, but about eighteen months,
when he removed his stock to the building where he had kept tavern.  He extended his business largely and in connection with his hotel and store ran
a livery stable, carrying on a successful business until 1840, when he met with serious financial reverses.  He died in

 


Obadiah Brokaw

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1843.  In 1840 he united with the Baptist church and became one of the exemplary members of that denomination.  James E. Nott, a son, learned the printing business and in company with Messrs. Layman and Latton published the Marietta Republican.  He was afterward a foreman on the Pittsburgh Gazette.  He died May 7, 1856.

     Reuben H. Nott, born in 1812, learned carpentery, came to McConnelsville and worked at his trade.  About 1850 he removed to Marion, Iowa, where he still lives.  His oldest son, B. H. Nott, is a prominent business man of Marion, Iowa, and his second son, Julius, a dentist of the same place.

     Crayton B. Nott learned tailoring and carried on that business in McConnelsville.  He was a sergeant in the 17th O. V. I.  His leg was broken by a fall while in the service, and he died in the hospital at Crab Orchard, Ky.

     The Taylor family were early pioneers of Windsor Township.  Thomas Taylor and his wife, nee Elizabeth Parks, and four children settled in this township in 1802.  They remained, however, but a short time when they went to Jefferson County, where Mrs. Taylor died in 1813.  Six years later, 1819, Mr. Taylor returned to Morgan County with his family of ten children and entered the farm in Bloom Township, where he died in 1832, highly esteemed by all who knew him.  Like many of the pioneers he was a great hunter and a man of unquestioned courage.  On one occasion he was called to the house of a neighbor, and being in a hurry, neglected to take either his hunting knife or rifle.  On his way through the woods his path was crossed by a half grown bear, which he attempted to capture with no weapon but a club.  The bear having the most endurance, he was not successful.  On another occasion he heard in a thicket of bushes what he supposed was a fox or a coon.  Thinking to frighten the animal, he sprung into the thicket from off a fallen log, when to his great surprise a huge panther sprung out before him with an unearthly yell.  Afterward, in relating the incident, he said: “It would have been difficult to have told which was scared the worse, I or the panther.” 
     Mr. Taylor was twice married.  The children of the first marriage were John, Jane, David, Mary, Keziah, Ann, Elizabeth, Sarah, Jemima and RuthDavid was born in 1797 in Pennsylvania.  He married Miss Phebe Creightraf and reared a family of children, — Thomas, Mary A., John, George, Jemima, Brice, Lizzie and William.  The latter was born in Bloom Township, May 24, 1843, and was elected sheriff of the county in 1884.  He administered the duties of the office with eminent success and to the entire satisfaction of the people generally.

     At a wolf hunt in 1822 a young man named Joel Sherman was accidentally shot near the head waters of Mill Run.  The hunters became demoralized through the free use of whisky, and neglected to act upon any concerted plan.  Several of them, seeing a deer in a hollow, began firing at it.  Levi Davis and P. J. Patterson, who were of the party, thinking themselves in the way of the bullets, hid under a log.  The firing ceased, when Sherman was discovered to hare been shot through the body, he was taken to the house of John Henery, where he died after suffering for several days.

     James Patton, who was one of the inmates of t lie Big Bottom block-house

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and was captured at the time of the massacre, afterward returned to the scene of the old settlers’ destruction, and spent a winter at the home of William Patterson.  During his four years of Indian life he had become so accustomed to a hunter’s bed and a hunter’s accommodations, that he could not be induced to sleep on a bed, but stretched himself on a blanket in front of the fire.  He described the blockhouse as having been built of green beech and sugar maple logs.  He died at Belpre.

     David Emerson lived early on the Samuel Buck place.  He afterward sold out and moved further up the river.  Asa Emerson lived above Hooksburg in a double log house built of buckeye.  There was a large orchard on the place.  He sold this place and moved to the Chute, where he built a brick house.  He went to Illinois.

     Among the prominent early families was that of Phineas C. Keyes, who lived where Mr. Outcalt now lives, where he owned a tannery.  His children were Harriet, Martha, Juliet, Emily, Mary, George, Edward and HiramEdwin was captain of Company B, 116th O. V. I., and was killed at the battle of Winchester. The children were well educated, and the family was most highly esteemed.  Juliet (Mrs. Barker) is the only one of the family now remaining in the county.

     Rev. N. B. Henery recalls the time when salt was $2 per bushel, and a day’s wages was but 25 cents.  He paid his first tax, on sixty acres of land, with 33 cents.  In those days a deer-skin was worth 37½ cents, and would purchase a quarter of a pound of powder.  Whisky was 37½ cents per gallon, and enough of it was manufactured to supply the local demand, several prominent farmers operating distilleries.  A bushel of wheat would purchase a gallon of whisky.

     A few of the early settlers raised cotton, which they used with linen to manufacture homemade garments.  Calico was then considered as fine and as stylish as silk is to-day.  The girls went barefooted on their trips to town, putting on their shoes as they neared their destination.  Economy had to be practiced in the matter of wearing apparel.  Frequently one bonnet was made to do duty for several girls, each taking her turn in wearing it.

     William Davis once cut the trees off three acres of ground for a pair of coarse shoes.  Shoemaker Morgueridge, who lived where the infirmary now is, made them.

     John and Ridgeway Craft and Elisha Hand lived on the river as early as 1817.  They were noted fishermen and every nook of the river from their home to Zanesville was familiar to them.  They carried on quite a business, marketing their fish in Zanesville, where they exchanged them for salt, which they sold to the settlers.

     Judge Gaylord thus wrote concerning there noted fishermen:

     "In early days the most of the fish were taken on the trot line.  Our early and most successful fishermen upon the Muskingum and in this neighborhood, were Hand and Craft.  They fished together and seemed always to be in good luck, catching fish in great numbers and where others would fail.  They would catch in a night a half barrel or more upon their lines.  They fished altogether with the hook and spear.  They resided upon the river in Windsor Township, and emigrated hence to the


A. J. Donovan

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West some years ago, as their occupation was gone when the waters of the clear and beautiful Muskingum became muddy and obstructed by dams, and violently disturbed by the paddles of the steamers.  To the early settler, on the borders of our river, and even upon creeks, the fish taken furnished no small part of their animal food, especially in the spring and fall seasons.  In the spring the fish were taken on hooks; but in the fall, after frost, when the water was low and clear, they were taken by torchlight with the spear or three-pronged gig.  The mode of taking fish with the gig was thus: A large torch made from light wood splinters, was held up in the bow of the canoe, our only small craft in use in the early days, to attract the attention of the fish and give light to the spearsman.  The canoe was guided by a man in the stern, giving it motion and direction with a paddle.  A skillful spearsman, all things in working order, would often load a canoe during an evening’s excursion.  The light of the torch attracts the fish, and they seem to be amazed and will seldom try to escape, while by day-light scarcely a fish can be taken by this mode.”

     Frederick Eveland settled where Stockport now is in 1811.  He occupied a double log cabin, in one room of which he kept saloon, while his wife, a religious woman, lived and frequently had religious meetings in another room.  Neither meddled with the affairs of the other, and they lived harmoniously together.  Frederick’s sons, Nathaniel, David, Moses and John and several daughters, were also residents of the township.  Nathaniel Lucas, a blacksmith by trade, settled in the same neighborhood in 1811.

     Barnabas Sutliff was among the earliest settlers.  His wife was a sister of Simeon EvansBarney was a stonemason, a maker of wooden plows and of fanning mills of a primitive sort.  The latter were constructed of hoop-stuff and deer skin.  Sutliff and his wife died at Robert Henery’s.  Their sons were Abel and Carney, and their daughters, Temperance (Van Clief), Julia (Dearborn), Tacy (Henery), Sarah (Newton), Sabra (Newton), Hannah (Sidwell) and Matilda (Henery).

     Gilbert Olds, who served in the war of 1812, settled in the southern part of the township prior to that war.  Dr. Ephraim Wright, one of the first members of the Baptist Church, was an early settler on the river.  He was called Doctor, but never practiced medicine.

     Evan McVeigh settled about 1817 on the farm where Orsemus McVeigh now resides.  David Sells lived opposite the Big Bottom school house early.  He was a soldier of 1812.  Peter Eddleblute settled early in the vicinity of Roxbury.

     The most common name in the township is that of Henry, or Henery, as it is written by some members of the family.  The Henerys are the descendants of Samuel Henery, who came to Ohio
from Montville, Lincoln county, Maine, in 1814.  With his family he arrived in Jackson Township, now in Noble County, on the 20th of September in that year.  They came by wagon to Brownsville, Pa., and there the family embarked upon a barge for Pittsburgh, Mr. Henery proceeding to that place by land.  At Pittsburgh he sold his horses, and the whole family then proceeded by boat to the mouth of Duck creek.  In December of the same year Mr. Henery moved the family to the farm (still in the Henery name) on

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which the brick church now is.  Here he had purchased 160 acres of land from a man named Leavitt who had made some improvement upon the place.  They brought a family of seven children, and three were afterward born to them.  Robert, the eldest, is still living in McConnelsville.  John married Lillis McGonigle, whose parents came from Vermont and settled near Lowell in 1812.  She was born in 1800, and is still living on the farm, where she has resided since her marriage.  The other members of this family were Jane, Nathan B. (still living), Samuel, Rhoda, Nancy (McKibben) (still living), David (still living), and Charles.  The latter died in New Orleans of cholera.  All the other deceased members of the family ended their days in Morgan County.
     At the time the Henerys settled on the river (1811), their nearest neighbor down the river was two miles distant.  Nathaniel Eveland and William Hughes lived together on the farm now belonging to Robert Henery 2dHughes was a great bear hunter, and he and his large black dogs were familiar figures in the woods for miles around.  Going toward McConnelsville after leaving Nathan Dearborn’s, there was no place improved until the farm of Timothy Gates, near McConnelsville, was reached.  The east side of the river was the earliest route of travel.  The Harmar and Lancaster road, on the West. side of the river, was the first surveyed road.

     William Patterson settled in this township in the fall of 1819.  He came from New Hampshire to Marietta when ten years of age, and his father died of small-pox at that place.  He was married near Lowell to Mary Harward, a native of Pennsylvania.  He first moved into an empty cabin on the farm opposite Windsor, and thence moved to his cabin on the hill, which he finished and provided with a chimney after settling his family inside.  His children were Jane H., Polly C., Philetus J., Peggy, Louisiana and George H., of whom Philetus J. is the only survivor.  Wm. Patterson died May 11, 1846, aged sixty-six, and his widow June 9, 1862, in her seventy-ninth year.

     P. J. Patterson was born in Adams Township, Washington County, Ohio, June 2, 1809, and has resided in Windsor Township, Morgan County, since 1819.  He was married in 1832 to Phebe M. Godfrey, a native of Maine, who is still living.  Their children are Jesse W., Abigail M., Benjamin G. (deceased), Mary J., Henry G.. Samuel P., Nancy J., and Lucy A.  All four of the sons were in the service in the late war, and Benjamin G. starved in a rebel prison, dying at Danville, Va., Feb. 18, 1865, after about three years’ service.  He was in Company B, 116th regiment, a volunteer and a private.  Mr. and Mrs. Patterson are members of the Baptist church.

     George H. Patterson was born in Adams Township, Washington County, in 1818, and came with his parents to Morgan County in 1819.  In 1812 he married Nancy J. Berkley, daughter of Rev. Reuben Berkley, pastor of the Baptist church.  By this marriage he had three children, William B., Thomas C., and Elizabeth A. (deceased).  Mrs. Patterson died in 1854, and in 1855 Mr. Patterson married Ann M. Murray, who died Feb. 29, 1876, having borne two children—Martha M. and Mary A. —both now deceased.  George H. Patterson died Feb. 28, 1879. He served

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in several township offices, was an Odd Fellow, and a good citizen.

     William B. Patterson, son of George H. Patterson, was horn Jan. 6, 1843, and now resides on the homestead.  In 1868 Mr. Patterson married Ellen M. Andrews.  They have two children — Dora A. and Clarence D.   Oct. 4, 1861, Mr. Patterson enlisted in Company B, 62d O. V. I.; went into the service under General Lander, in West Virginia; served in the department of the Shenandoah, Major General Banks commanding; department of the Rappahannock, Major General McDowell; Fourth Army Corps, Major General Keyes; Seventh Army Corps, Major General Dix; Army of the Potomac, General McClellan; Eighteenth Army Corps, Major General Foster; department of North Carolina; Tenth Army Corps, General David Hunter; Twenty-fourth Army Corps, Major General John Gibbon.  He was in the battles of Winchester, Fort Wagner (where he was wounded), Deep Bottom, Petersburg, Appomattox, and others.  Reenlisted as a veteran; mustered out at Columbus, O., in December, 1865.  From the close of the war to 1881, Mr. Patterson was engaged as a traveling agent of eastern publishing houses.  He is now farming.

     Thomas C. Patterson was born in Windsor Township on the farm now owned by W. B. Patterson, June 30, 1851.  Married to Mary A. Hindman Dec. 21, 1876.  Children by this marriage:  Oma Bell, Virgie Lee, Alfa Isora, and Don Carlos.

     Timothy Blackmer father of Jesse, located early where his grandson Timothy now lives.  His son Henry was drowned in early years while crossing the river in a canoe at Luke Chute.  This occurred in the fall; his remains were not recovered until the next spring.

     Ephraim Ellis was an early settler who came from Vermont.  He lived on Big Bottom.  His sons were Levi, Comer, Alfred, Isaac, Moses, Thomas J., John and Joel.  There were three girls in the family.  Levi, Comer, Isaac, Moses and Alfred settled and died in this county.

     Adelphi Webster was an early settler, a school teacher, and a justice of the peace.  He was the first justice in the township, and entered upon the duties of that office May 18, 1819.

     John S. Abbott was born Aug. 12, 1783, in the state of Delaware, and married Elizabeth Morey in 1807.  She was born at Kinderhook, state of New York, June 20, 1784.  They had ten children—  Eliza, Sarah, Henry, Henrietta, Rachel, Silas M., Mary Ann, John S., Richard and Jesse.  All lived to man and womanhood.  He emigrated to Ohio from New York in 1817, and settled in Wesley Township, Washington County, and followed farming until 1846, when he moved to Stockport, Morgan County, where he died July 26, 1867, aged nearly 84 years.  His wife died at Stockport Mar. 3, 1858, aged 73 years.

     About 1816 Andrew Hosom settled on Meigs Creek in Bristol Township.  He came from Kennebec County, Maine.  About 1830 he removed to Windsor Township, where he died Dec. 6, 1868 in the 90th year of his age.  Those of his children who lived to mature years were Lydia (dead), Martha, Grundy County, Missouri; Sarah, wife of N. B. Henry, born Jan. 4, 1809; Oliver Perry (dead); Andrew J., in Missouri; Elbridge, Noble County

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Lydia (Harper), Manchester Township; Benjamin A., Athens County.

     About the year 1820 Jesse Scott and family came from

 

     Thomas Mummey

 

    

     Lewis D. Sheets, a native of Indiana, married Ann Mummey in 1855.  Their children—John T., Eva J., Elmer E., Azelia E., Elfrida P., and Clara A.—are all living.  Mr. Sheets died in April, 1872, in the 36th year of his age.

     Jesse Blackmer was born in Washington County in 1809 and lived in that county until 1823.  Then with his parents he came to the farm on the Muskingum now occupied by his son Timothy.  In 1832 Mr. Blackmer married Louisiana Olney and remained on the farm with his parents until their deaths.  Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. BlackmerMary (Whitney), died in 1878, Henry and Timothy.  His wife died in 1875, and in 1880 Mr. Blackmer went to Missouri and engaged in agricultural pursuits.  He is a stockholder in the National Bank of Grant City,

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Mo., and is interested in the business of loaning money.  Mr. Blackmer held some local offices in Morgan County and was a member of the Masonic Lodge at Stockport.

     Henry Blackmer, son of Jesse, married Sarah Wilson, of Bristol Township, in 1864, and is the father of five children—William, Jesse, Mary, Fannie and Lillie.  He is one of the most prominent farmers of the county.  Timothy Blackmer, who lives on the old homestead, is also a most successful farmer.  He married Thirsia Pugh in 1879, and is the father of Annie, Lucy and Frank.

     John McCoy

 

     Thomas Dougherty was born in Homer Township in 1834, and remained with his parents until 1855.  He was then married to Mary J. Ralston, of this county.  They have six children living, George C., James A., Monima N., Perley B., William B. and Alice M. Monima N. is the wife of J. R. Keadle, of this township.  George C. married Lydia Lillis.  James A. married Nancy A. MoodyPerley B. married Amanda E. Geddes.  All live in this county.

     Alexander Wallace

 

     Barrack Yarnell

 

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Newburn.  The Yarnells are prominent and progressive farmers.

     Stephen Milner

 

    

 

 

 

     Elder William Davis, Samuel M. Dyke, William Patterson, H. P. Dearborn, Timothy Eastman and others were early teachers.  An early teacher who was well known, not only in the county, but in other localities, was Rial Cheadle.  He was a noted character in the days of the underground railroad, and was instrumental in assisting many a poor negro to Canada and freedom.  He was a peripatetic rhymster and

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Page 408 -

 

 

 

     John P. Sells

 

     James McGlashan

 

     In contrasting the present with the past, Mr. A. J. Donovan says that in 1833 he sold wheat in Zanesville which netted him, after paying for handling, thirty cents per bushel.  In 1850 he sold wheat in McConnelsville for two dollars per bushel.  In 1841 he bought a cow for six dollars, and in 1879 sold two at one hundred dollars each.  He sold one crop of wool at twenty-five cents per pound, and one at one dollar and ten cents per pound.  His first tax in Morgan County was twenty-five cents, from that infinitesimal sum the amount steadily increased until he paid three hundred dollars.

     Joseph W. Hambleton and family came from Lancaster County, Pa., in 1 831, and settled on Goshen Run, near Elliott’s Cross Roads.  At this time there were but one or two settlers between these localities and the river.  Mr. Hambleton, like most of the early settlers, was in quite limited circumstances, and was obliged to undergo many privations and hardships.  B. F. Hambleton, a son, was born in Lancaster, Pa., in 1821.  He learned the trade of a blacksmith, which vocation he followed for some years.  He died in 1867; his wife in 1882.  Charles E. Hambleton was a member of Co. E, 193d, O. V. I.

     Seth Andrews was one of the pioneers of Centre Township.  The date of his immigration is not known, but it was probably as early as 1809.  In 1811 his son Philander, with his wife, Anna (Anders), settled in the township.  The former was born in 1772, and died in


J. J. Montgomery

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1847.  The latter was two years the senior of her husband, and died in 1824.  Philander was a tanner by trade and for some time after his immigration to Morgan County canned on the business, but, owing to the fact that much of his stock was stolen before lie could dispose of it, he engaged in farming.  Both he and his wife were typical pioneers.  Mrs. Andrews spun and wove all the cloth used by the family, and instructed
her daughters in the same art.  One of them, Mrs. Pedee Evans, resides in
Windsor Township.  She was born in the state of New York in 1811, and married William T. Evans, in 1838.  A twin sister of Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Amy Swift, resides in Washington County.  Of the family of Mrs. Pedee Evans, five of the seven are living.

     Brooke County, West Va., furnished a number of prominent early settlers of the township.  Among them were Thomas and Esther (Connel) Gatewood, who settled upon an unimproved farm in the autumn of 1835, which they improved and on which they resided till the time of their deaths.  He died Sept. 15, 1875.  She died Oct. 30, 1882. They reared a family of eleven children, four of whom now reside in the township.  The elder Gatewood was for many years a magistrate, and at a time when the office was invested with an importance that does not now attach to it.  For years he arbitrated the difficulties of his neighbors very successfully.  His wife was a lady of rare native intelligence and keen perception, and a fine type of the pioneer housewife.  Her tomb bears the simple inscription, “Proud as an eagle, pure as snow.”  James, the eldest son, went on Sherman’s march to the sea, and sleeps at Beaufort, South Carolina.

     James McHugh came from County Tyrone, Ireland, 1848.  With native shrewdness, tact and industry he has succeeded well in his chosen vocation, farming, and now owns one of the best farms in the township.

     James and Mary Black emigrated from Pennsylvania in 1817 and settled in Muskingum County, where they resided until 1835, when they removed to Bloom Township, Morgan County.  He died
in 1846, his wife in 1866.  In company with his son, John Black, he was engaged in salt-making from 1835 to 1839, at which time John was apprenticed to a blacksmith.  Apr. 9, 1845, he married Sarah A. Hutchins and moved to Windsor Township in 1862.  John Thomas Black, son of John, and grandson of James, was born in Jefferson Township, Noble County, Feb. 14, 1860.  He resides in Windsor and is by profession a school teacher.

     Jacob Smith and wife were among the early settlers of the county.  They came from Belmont County, Ohio, in 1839, and first located in Union Township; thence they afterward removed to
Bloom, where they died, the father in 1855, his wife in 1880.  They reared a large family of children, only three of whom are living—Elwood, Mary E. (Linscott), and James.  The latter was born in 1841, was a member of Co. I, 1st Heavy Artillery and served twenty-seven months.  After his return he followed the river for four years.  In 1871 he came to Stockport and engaged in the grocery business; was married in 1869 to Miss Maggie Shellhamer, of Malta. His family consists of four children, Laura, Carrie, Flora and William G; is a member of the Masonic fraternity and one of the substantial citizens of the place.

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     Jackson Geddes was born in Harrison County, Ohio, in 1829, and came to Windsor with his father’s family in 1837.  They located about a mile north of the village of Stockport.  In 1841 the elder Geddes removed to the farm where he now resides.  In the early days he followed shoemaking, and when not engaged in making or repairing shoes devoted his time to the improvement of his farm.  Jackson Geddes has served the township in several capacities.  In 1869 he was township trustee, and for two terms was member of the council of Stockport.  He was a member
of Co. E, 184th Regiment, O. V. I. Sept. 23, 1853, he was married to Miss Minerva Wilson, who was born in Washington County, Ohio.  There have been born to them seven children, five girls and two boys.

     James H. Boomhall came from Belmont County, Ohio, to this township in 1841, and for some time was employed as a clerk by John P. Wood, merchant, at Stockport.  He was twice married—first to Charlotte Geddes, of Windsor Township (born Apr. 14, 1824, died May 15, 1852), by whom he had two children— George C., now of Parkersburg, W. Va., and Elizabeth (Eisenbise), of Columbus, O.  His second wife was Miss Lucy Baker, of Roxbury, and their children were Charles W. and Willard HMr. Boomhall died Nov. 28, 1879, after a career of more than forty years in the mercantile and shipping business.  His son, Charles W., now the popular landlord of the village hotel, was married in 1883 to Miss Hattie A. Gibson, and they have
one child.

     A. Walker was born in Belmont County, and came to Morgan County in 1852.  He was a member of Co. F, 77th O. V. I.; taken prisoner at Marks’ Mills, Ark., and was confined in a rebel prison for ten months; was then exchanged and received a furlough for two months.  He then rejoined his regiment, was promoted to corporal and was mustered out of the service Apr. 26, 1866.

STOCKPORT.

     The village of Stockport, or Windsor as it is commonly called, is one of the most important shipping and trading points on the Muskingum River between Zanesville and Marietta.  Its origin was coeval with the beginning of the river improvement, and from the first it has been the marketing place and base of supplies for an extensive territory of excellent farming country.  Although the village has but a small population (about 350 at present), there is business enterprise, activity and public spirit among its citizens worthy of commendation.

     Nathan Sidwell laid out the town on his own land in 1834.  The original plat was very small, extending only from the river back to Washington street, and embracing only one row of blocks on each side of Main street.  Four additions have since been made to the town.

     The first business enterprise at Stockport was the store of the BeswicksSamuel, William and George Beswick in partnership opened the first mercantile establishment in the place in 1838, in the building now occupied for the same purpose by T. B. Lane.  A postoffice (Stockport) was soon after established with Samuel Beswick postmaster.

     John P. Wood, another early merchant, who also bought and packed tobacco, carried on a good business for several years.  His store was in the

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building now occupied by T. B. Lane as a dwelling.

     John E. Thomas had a store in connection with his mill.  Afterward Jesse and John Thomas succeeded to the same business.  Other merchants were George Rice, Arthur Taggart, Thomas and Jacob Rogers, James Gormley, Smith & Lane and many others.
     Among the earliest residents of the village were David Eveland and his sons; John Geddes, plowmaker; Wells White, Robert Todd, Moses Eveland, Daniel Norton, George W. Sanborn; Adorus Goering, tailor; James Lemon, blacksmith.
     The first mill at Stockport was built about 1842 by Samuel and William Beswick.  It was operated only a few years before it was burned.  The present mill was built by William McCaslin in 1849.  Before the mill was wholly completed, McCaslin sold out to Seaman & ThomasArthur Taggart bought it from John E. Thomas, in the spring of 1854, and owned it until his death.  From 1865 to 1870 the mill was owned by Pierrot & Glenn.  It next passed into the hands of Pierrot & Lane, which is the present style of the firm.  The chief business interests of Stockport were as follows in 1886:
     John McDermott, O. J. Gibson, general merchandise; T. B. Lane, clothing, gents’ furnishing, etc.; James Smith, groceries; Dr. W. E. Gatewood, drugs; John Hooper, hardware; John P. Wootton, books, etc.; J. C. Webster, bakery; Pierrot & Lane, flouring-mill; J. D. Thomas, James Smith, shipping warehouses; Charles W. Broomhall, hotel; James Gormley, postmaster; Drs. Abbott, Gatewood and McSwords, physicians.

LODGES.

     Masonic -

 

     Odd Fellows -

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RELIGIOUS

     Windsor Baptist Church. -

 

     Fairview Disciples Church -

 

 

 

 

 

     The Oakland M. E. Church. -

 

 


Justus Chadwick

Page 413

    

 

 

     Stockport Presbyterian Church -

 

     Tabor Christian Church -

 

     Mt. Olivet M. P. Church -

 

BIOGRAPHICAL

ROBERT HENERY, SR.

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REV. NATHAN B. HENERY

Page 416 -
DAVID A. HENERY.

Page 417 -
CAPT. ISAAC N. HOOK

Page 418 -
JOHN BUCK

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EUGENE PIEROT

Page 422 -
ARTHUR TAGGART
JOHN M'DERMOTT

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CAPTAIN CHARLES J. GIBSON

Page 424 -
JOAB J. MONTGOMERY

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OBADIAN BROKAW

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JESSE D. LANE

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THOMAS B. LANE

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JUSTUS CHADWICK
ANDREW J. DONOVAN

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