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BIOGRAPHIES

Source:
History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio
Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co.
1884

Mifflin Twp. -
EZEKIEL EAST was born July 31, 1844, in Pittsylvania County, Va., a son of Henry and Susan (Ley) East, the former of English and the latter of Welsh descent.  When twelve yeas of age he accompanied his parents to Pike County, Ohio, where he was reared on a farm, and has always followed the avocation of a farmer.  He was married June 11, 1865, to Arie, daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Scowden) Porter, early settlers of Pike County.  They have had born to them six children, of whom five are living - Rachel E., Jacob P., Arie S., Sarah L. and Lucretia A.  Mary A. died at the age of two years.  In 1872 Mr. East was elected Justice of Peace, and has held that office continuously ever since by re-election.  He was elected Township Assessor in 1877, and served one term.  He is a member of the Missionary Baptist church, and in politics is a Democrat.  He is a member of Sinking Spring Lodge No. 365, F. & A. M., and also belongs to Sinking Spring Lodge, No. 632, I. O. O. F., both of Highland County, Ohio.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page 853
Waverly - Pee Pee Twps. -
GEORGE D. EMMITT was born in Pike County, Ohio, Sept. 11, 1825, a son of George and Nancy (Combesss) Emmitt.  He attended the early subscription schools in the winter, and in the summer was employed in assisting to clear and cultivate a pioneer farm.   In 1837 his parents removed to Tippecanoe County, Ind., where his father died in 1840.  He being the eldest of the family remained with his mother four years, when she married again..  He then left home and returned to Pike County, Ohio, and was employed as foreman of the cooperage department of the distillery of Emmitt & Shultz which was then running a large force.  He remained in that department till 1849, when he went into the distillery and worked in the yeast department a year.  He was then employed as foreman of the distillery, at a salary of $500 a year. His salary was gradually increased, until at the end of four years he was receiving $1,900 a year.  In the meantime Mr. Shultz withdrew from the firm, and the firm of James Emmitt & Co. was formed, the members being James, Davis and George D. Emmitt, George D. owning a fourth interest.  At the end of a year Mr. Emmitt's interest amounted to $40,000, and at the end of three years on account of the decline in the price of highwines, they found themselves  in debt, Mr. Emmitt's share of the indebtedness being $900.  At this time Davis Emmitt withdrew from the firm and the business was continued by James and George D., the latter owning a third interest.  At the banking out of the Rebellion the price of highwines advanced, and Mr. Emmitt's share of the profits at the end of a year was $28,000.  He then withdrew from the firm, as he did not like the influence of the business on his sons.  He, however, had the entire charge of the business for two or three years.  In 1863 he built the Pee Pee Mills, now owned by W. B. Lee & Co., and ran them successfully till 1875.  In 1865 his brother James went to Europe for his health, and he took charge of the distillery for a year.  In 1871 he bought a third interest in the woolen mill of Bonshine & Co., the firm name being Geo. D. Emmitt, W. C. Safford and Mr. Bonshine.  At the end of two years Mr. Bonshine retired, and the firm name was changed to Emmitt & Safford, and at the end of a year Mr. Safford retired, and Mr. Emmitt has since carried on the business alone.  About this time Mr. Emmitt opened a store and gave the management to his sons.  They had no trouble in building up a large and lucrative trade, their daily sales amounting to $400.  Owing to the inexperience of his sons the business became involved, having $13,000 credited on the books.  Mr. Emmitt telegraphed his creditors to meet him, and received an extension of time and gave his note, secured by three good men.  He then disposed of considerable property, and has paid all the indebtedness, and is to-day doing a profitable business, with no incumbrance on his property.  Mr. Emmitt is a man of fine business qualifications and of sterling integrity and worth.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page 874


James Emmitt



Louisa Emmitt

 

Waverly - Pee Pee Twps. -
HON. JAMES EMMITT - One of the most remarkable men whose residence or property interests in Pike County entitle them to notice in this volume, is the Hon. James Emmitt, the famous Waverly banker, manufacturer, real estate owner and capitalist.  He is a distinguished example of the successful use of opportunities which the free life of our Republic offers to business energy, integrity and common sense; a prominent illustration of that class of our fellow citizens known eminently as self-made men.  From a very humble beginning he has made his way to fame and fortune, and still, at the advanced age of seventy-seven, remains in personal charge of the details of an immense business, the cares of which would break down almost any other man in the prime of his days.  His career is one of the most interesting in its lights and shades, its reverses and its successes, that the business annals of the Buckeye State have to offer.  James Emmitt had his nativity on the Licking Creek, in Armstrong County, Penn., Nov. 6, 1806.  He is of Irish descent on the father's side, his people having emigrated to this country about a quarter of a century before his birth, and settled in the Kishacoquillas Valley in the State named, from which they removed sometime after the Revolutionary war.  He was the first child of George and Mary Addie (Stanford) Emmitt.  His mother was of the well known Pennsylvania German stock.  In the spring of 1816 his parents with their four children, including James, set their faces westward.  At Steubenville their party found themselves unable to proceed further for want of means, and remained there all summer while the men accepted such jobs as offered to secure means with which to complete their journey.  During this stay young Emmitt, then in his tenth year, marked himself for life by a severe cut in his little finger, received while trying to use a sickle after the manner of the grown men whom he saw handling it skillfully.  At last the party of five families, all relatives, was enabled to proceed, and by the slow floatage of flat-boats down the Ohio, and the slower transit of heavy wagons up the Scioto, they finally reached in the early fall the spot where their first home in the West was to be made.  His father settled here on an eighty-acres tract, crowding his family at first into a hut at a sugar camp until a log habitation could be built.  In May of the next year the faithful mother died, principally from fatigue induced by incessant care of her younger brother who had been stricken down.  In the summer of 1819, though not yet thirteen, he hired out with another farmer in Scioto Valley at $6 per month and board, all his cash wages going to aid his father in his struggle with the hardships of pioneer life.  At this time he had but a total of three months' schooling, but after a time partially made up the deficiency by attending school winters.  The first winter of his life away from home, however, found him a laborer for his board and clothes at a country tavern north of Waverly.  The following spring he began to learn the blacksmith's trade with one Jacob Neighborgahl who had a shop on the Portsmouth road, six miles south of Chillicothe.  He remained here but five months, yet learned enough to aid him much in the repair of wagons, etc., during the rest of his life.  Thereafter he engaged with one farmer and another until 1824, when he was employed as a wood chopper at $4 a month by Alexander Armstrong, then residing on Paint Creek, near Chillicothe.  The next summer he made an engagement as wagoner with Hugh Cook, who was running a six horse conveyance for heavy transportation from Portsmouth to Chillicothe, and remained in his service until August, 1828.  A hard service it was, too, involving many toils and dangers, and at one time he met with a severe accident.  But the time had now come for the enterprising young Emmitt, although not twenty-two years of age, to embark in independent business.  He left Mr. Cook's employ with a net saving of $10 which sufficed, in the small business of that day, to enable him to take a partnership with Henry Jefferds in the establishment of a humble dry-goods store at Waverly.  They opened in August and were burned out the January following, but rebuilt and stocked at once with the aid of sympathizing neighbors.  They had had a prosperous trade, and the thoughts of one of the partners presently turned to marriage.  Mr. Emmitt married June 13, 1829, at Piketon, Louisa Martin, only daughter of Joseph J. and Mary (Rogers) Martin, a native of that place, who has been a partner of his joys and sorrows for nearly fifty-five years.  They have had children as follows - Mary Adda, born May 26, 1830, died on Christmas of the same year; Joseph John, born Dec. 1, 1831; Elizabeth Ann, born May 10, 1833, died May 26, 1837; George Angus, born Aug. 31, 1834; William Wyly, born Nov. 23, 1836, died Mar. 25, 1837; James Madison, born Apr. 5, 1838, died Aug. 5, 1875; Floyd Robert, born Aug. 6, 1841; David Martin, Nov. 10, 1843, and Henry Clay, July 27, 1846, died Jan. 2, 1872.  All of the children were born at the home of their parents in Waverly.  The young couple began housekeeping at once in a small unfinished dwelling, which when presently completed by Mr. Emmitt, had the first brick chimney in Waverly.  Mr. Emmitt's long business career had now fairly begun.  In 1831 he was appointed first Postmaster at Waverly.  During the autumn of the next year he bought a mill and a 300-acre tract on Pee Pee Creek four miles from that place.  The building of the Ohio & Erie Canal along the Scioto Valley in 1831-'2 virtually compelled him to convert his house into a hotel, which he enlarged in the latter year.  Upon the completion of the canal to Waverly, he gave a grand dinner and festival at which were present, Governor McArthur, Genera Lucas, afterward Governor of the State, and other distinguished men.  He was the first to take a canal-boat to Portsmouth, which he did before the formal opening of the canal.  He afterward invested in a line of ten canal-boars, running to Cleveland, which did not prove profitable, and was closed out at a sacrifice.  The year 1837, one of disaster to the commercial interests of the country generally proved extremely fortunate to him, as he cleared $10,000, a large sum at that time, in the purchase of corn, which was sold in Cleveland at a large profit.  He was an active and influential agent in securing the construction of the Columbus & Portsmouth Turnpike, to which he contributed $1,000, and in which he became a large owner.  The disasters of 1842-'43 fell upon him heavily, and he weathered them with difficulty, but at last triumphantly.  It is needless to follow in detail the expansion of the vast business of Mr. Emmitt during the last forty-five years.  At present he is by far the largest operator in the Scioto Valley, having in Waverly alone a bank, saw and grist mill, a huge distillery, a furniture factory, a lumber yard, numerous canal boats and an extensive store, the last being conducted by the firm of Emmitt & Jones.  The fine Emmitt house in Waverly and the hotel of the same name in Chillicothe are both his property.  He has also large landed and other properties in or near Chillicothe, in Pickaway and other counties, and in Iowa and Missouri.  About one-half the population of Waverly is employed in his various works.  He pays one-third of the taxes of that place, and one-tenth of the entire taxes of Pike County.  He has also been a benefactor to the county in the erection of a fine court-house at Waverly, and its presentation to the public upon the removal of the county-seat from Piketon to that place in 1861.  He was the first President of the Springfield, Jackson & Pomeroy Railroad (now the Springfield & Southern), which he was largely instrumental in securing.  Some of his other contributions to public improvements are named in the following extract from the Waverly Watchman of Oct. 1, 1878: "It is mainly due to Mr. Emmitt's enterprise and genius that our county is as far advanced as it is.  It was his enterprise that built the first bridge across the Scioto River in this county.  It was mainly due to his enterprise that we have forty miles of turnpike road in our county.  It is mainly due to his intelligence and diberality that inaugurated the enterprise which gave us two railroads, in one of which he invested $125,000.  In fact it is mainly due to Mr. Emmitt's untiring energy, perseverance, activity and liberality that we have any public improvements in the country."  During the heated political campaign of 1878, when Mr. Emmitt was a Democratic candidate for Congress, the Ross County Register, a political opponent, paid him the following high but deserved compliment:  "If he lacks the finish of a course in college, he possesses what colleges cannot give, a mind of great natural grasp and force, and plenty of that wholesome quality known as 'hard common sense.'  In the course of his long and industrious life he has picked up a large amount of useful and practical information upon both public and private matters, which often stands one in greater stead than mere knowledge without the ability to use it.  It is not risking much to say that if one-half the members of Congress were called upon to manage the vast and complicated business interests of Mr. Emmitt they would prove miserable failures."  In 1867-'70 Mr. Emmitt, through the pressing solicitation of his fellow citizens, served two terms in the State Senate, where he was influential in saving large sums to the State by defeating jobs, and was successful in getting through the Legislature the bill for the payment of the Morgan raid claims, which was afterward pronounced unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the State on the ground that suitable foundation was laid for it in pre-existing law.  In 1865'6 he, with his wife and two sons, took an extended tour in Great Britain and on the continent, returning with many works of art to adorn his fine mansion and grounds in Waverly.  He still at his advanced age (just seventy-seven when these lines are written, Nov. 6, 1883) gives promise of many years of vigorous-health, and ability to manage, personally, the large fortune, estimated at $1,000,000, which has been accumulated by a long life of industry and energy.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page 871
Marion Twp. - Page 813
OLIVER E. EMORY, merchant, was born in Vernon Township, Scioto Co., Ohio, Dec. 11, 1845, the second son of Dearborn and Juliette (Chamberlain) Emory.  When seventeen years of age he began working in the mill with his father, and when twenty years of age went into the business for himself.  Being successful he used his earnings in improving his education and then taught one term of school, after which he was in the mercantile business a year and a half.  He then rented the mill where he had worked when a boy, and in one winter cleared $500.  In 1869 he removed to California, Pike County, and has since been in the general mercantile business, having a large and lucrative trade.  Mr. Emory was married Feb. 16, 1868, to Amanda A. Adams, of Scioto County.  Of their five children, but two are living.  They are members of the Baptist Church.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884
Seal Twp. -
R. C. EMORY, son of I. J. and Elizabeth Emory, was born Aug. 16, 1843, in Scioto County, Ohio.  His father was born in New Hampshire, Apr. 24, 1796, and was a Captain in the late war.  He died June 13, 1872, aged seventy-seven years.  His wife was born in Kentucky, Mar. 16, 1806, and is yet living.  Our subject worked on the farm with his father and attended school at intervals till he was eighteen years old.  Sept. 15, 1862, he enlisted in the Seventh Ohio Cavalry, as a private.  He was engaged in the battles of Nashville, Resaca, Knoxville and a number of others of less importance, and was mustered out June 15, 1865, at Raleigh, N. C.  He then engaged in the mercantile trade for two years at Powellsville, Ohio, after which he followed farming till three years ago, since which time he has been buying and shipping lumber.  He was married, Mar. 11, 1866 to Lucinda, daughter of Levina Charbot, who is of French descent.  Of their seven children five are living - Chloe M., Levina E., Jennie F., Annie L. and Mary E.  Cora A. and R. C. are deceased.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page 786
Seal Twp. -
J. R. ENGLISH was born June 6, 1841, and is a son of James and Elizabeth (Gory) English, natives of Pennsylvania, the former born Apr. 4, 1810, of Irish descent, and the latter born in 1813, of Scotch-Irish descent, and died in 1847.  He was educated at the public schools till his sixteenth year, after which he went to a High School for one term, and in 1858 received a certificate to teach in the old Piketon court-house.  He began teaching when seventeen years old, which he followed for ten years.  He then engaged in merchandising in Cooperville for about ten years, after which he, in 1877, opened a wholesale grocery store in Chillicothe, under the firm name of English & Vaughters, which continued over a year.  He then moved to Columbus, but nine months later came to Piketon, and in 1880 engaged  in his present business, where he carries a stock of about $2,000.  He established the Piketon Courier, which he ran for several years.  He was married May 16, 1852, to Mrs. Sattie C. (Landrum) Westfall, born June 13, 1843, in Jackson County, of Scotch descent.  They have had eleven children - Dilly A. (wife of W. I. Hays), Flora B., Louella B., Mary E., Alonzo T., Charles C. and Francis E.  In politics Mr. English is a Republican. In 1877 he was nominated for Representative, but was defeated.  Since a young man he had belonged to the U. P. Presbyterian, but in 1876 he united with the Presbyterian church at Piketon, and is now Superintendent of the Sabbath-school.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page 786
Perry Twp. -
MISSES REBECCA and RHODA EUBANKS - The grandfather and grandmother of the subjects of this sketch were John and Sarah (Vandiford) Eubanks, both natives of Maryland.  They had eight children - Rebecca, George, Mary, John, Thomas, Richard, William and Sophia.  The parents lived to be quite aged.  Their son George, the father of Misses Rebecca and Rhoda, was born in Talbot County, Md., May 20, 1859, and his wife, Rebecca Harrington, was born Oct. 4, 1763, in Queen Ann County, Md.  They were married in the latter county, Oct. 26, 1780.  From this union eleven children were born - John, David, Henry, Sarah, Matthew, Mary, William, George, Eleanor, Rebecca and Rhoda,  their ages being in the order named, John, Sarah, Henry and William all died in Maryland to Kentucky in 1797, remaining there some seven years, Eleanor being born in that State.  In the year 1804 the family removed to Ohio, settling in Ross County, Mifflin Township (now Perry Township, Pike County).  The children brought with them to Kentucky were David, Mary, George, Matthew, and to Ohio, George.  After they settled as above, Rebecca was born Sept. 29, 1805, and Rhoda was born April 7, 1808, the two being the only children born in Ohio.  Eleanor married George Perrill, Apr. 8, 1850, and died May 31, 1878.  Mary married William H. Sylvester, June, 1817, and died in the spring of 1866.  The ladies are both now living, the former just passed her seventy-eighth year, and Miss Rhoda her seventy-fifth.  They are in excellent health, active, with excellent memories, and bidding fair to live many succeeding years of life and happiness.  They are, as far as they are aware, the only survivors of their family, except the children of their brothers and sisters.  They are living on the old homestead settled in 1804, and upon which they were born.  Their lives have been like all farm life, a quiet one, with the exception of a startling episode in the burglary and robbery of their premises, on Thursday night, Oct. 31, 1878.  There were three masked burglars who broke into their house and, using them roughly, searched and succeeded in finding their money, $900 in all.  Two of the three were caught, one a Highland County desperado notorious for his rascality, named Robert McKimie, and the other a son of a neighbor a few miles distant named Frank Mesmer.  The latter was tried by Judge DuHadway, and was sent to the penitentiary for ten years, and the former, tried by Judge Tripp on several counts, got a fifteen years' sentence, and they are at this writing, October, 1883 still in durance vile.  The ladies have now two large dogs on guard.  Their grandfather bought 500 acres of land in Kentucky, but the title being what is called a work title in Kentucky was illegal, and he lost his land.  Their father died Sept. 30, 1838, and their mother Mar. 9, 1844.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page 859
Waverly - Pee Pee Twps. -
JOHN A. EYLAR, prosecuting attorney, was born Feb. 16, 1855, n Adams County, Ohio, son of John and Ann A. Eylar, both natives of Adams County.  Mr. Eylar's death occurred in 1866, from cholera, and his widow is residing at West Union, Adams County, where she was born and reared.  They were the parents of six sons and one daughter.  John A., the fourth child, was reared in Adams County and lived with his mother till within the past four years.  His early education was received at Youngsville, a small village in Adams County, after which he attended the High School at West Union.  He then taught school a year, and in 1872 entered the Normal School at West Union, where he remained two years and graduated in May, 1874.  In September, of the same year he took charge of the grammar department of the High School at West Union and taught one year.  During this time he began to read law and on June 2, 1874, entered the law office of John K. Billings, with whom he remained till he was admitted to the bar in 1876.  Shortly after this he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for Prosecuting Attorney for Adams County, but was defeated by seventy-eight votes.  He began to practice law by himself, but in 1878 formed a co-partnership with J. M. Wells, but shortly after moved to Waverly, where he opened an office. In April, 1880, he formed a partnership with George D. Cole, remaining with him one year.  In the fall of 1881 Mr. Eylar was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Pike County, and went into office Jan. 1, 1882.
Source: History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. - 1884 - Page 757

NOTES:
 

 

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