HUGH FRANCIS EGAN.  A native son of Ross County, Mr. Egan has for a great many years been known as a editor and newspaper publisher and has made himself and his paper valuable factors in the growth and development of the little city of Adelphi.  In addition to publishing and editing the Adelphi Border News, which is recognized as the home paper for a large number of subscribers not only in Ross but adjacent counties, he is owner, publisher and editor of the Ohio Red Man, the official organ of the Improved Order of Red Men in Ohio.  He also conducts an extensive job printing plant, and has one of the most completely furnished offices in Southern Ohio.
     Born in the City of Chillicothe, Aug. 24, 1856, Hughes Francis Egan is a son of Joseph and Sarah A. (Savage) Egan.  His parents were of humble Irish birth, and like many people who came from that country in the middle years of the last century they had to work hard for all they ever got or enjoyed.  The maternal grandfather of Mr. Egan was quite active in the early days in Chillicothe and held a number of commissions of trust.  The Egan family came by sailing vessel to America and settled in Chillicothe in 1850.  Joseph Egan, who was a native of Limerick, married Miss Sarah Savage in Chillicothe in 1852.  He was for several years a laborer and then became a gas plumber.  He was a man of but moderate education, but was industrious, careful and a man properly honored in his community.  He did his share toward maintaining his church, the Catholic, the parochial schools and other local institutions.  His death occurred at the age of eighty-four.  His wife, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, died in 1869 at the age of thirty-five.
     Hugh Francis Egan, who was one of a family of ten children, had to assume certain serious responsibilities connected with making his way in the world at an early age.  He attended both the parochial and public schools of Chillicothe, and at the age of fifteen entered the office of the old Advertiser to learn the trade of printer.  He remained in that office until 1883, and then removed his family to Adelphi and bought out the Adelphi Border News, a weekly paper which had been founded in 1879.  Mr. Egan confesses to many hard struggles and ups and downs in his early career as a newspaper man.  He finally gave to Adelphi a paper of which that community is proud.  It is a wide circulation not only in Ross County but in Pickaway, Hocking and Fairfield counties.
     In September, 1874, Mr. Egan married Sarah T. Bennett.  They have reared and educated eight children, five sons and three daughters.  All are married now.  The sons all learned the trade of printing with their father, and four of them are now working at the trade.  A brief record of these children is a follows:  Hugh B. Egan who was born in Chillicothe, is a printer by trade, and is married and lives in Columbus; Sarah, born in Chillicothe married, at Adelphi, Elgernon Flannigan, a farmer; Joseph Henry, who is a barber by trade and is married and living in Adelphi; Carolyn Egan, born in Chillicothe,  was married in Adelphi to Hugh L. Reedy, a clerk in the United States mail service, and they live in Columbus; George W., born at Adelphi, is married and lives in Columbus, where he is a salesman; Mary M., born at Adelphia, married William H. Barton, principal of the Adelphi schools; Edward, born in Adelphi, is a printer and is married; Robert, born at Adelphi, is also a printer.  All the children received their education in the public schools.
     Mr. Egan was reared in the faith of the Catholic Church.  While a resident of Chillicothe he was identified with several religious, civil and military organizations, and has always enjoyed the confidence of his fellow men in every position of life.  He served as mayor of Adelphi for twelve years and was clerk of the township board of education and board of trustees for twelve years, and was also for several years a councilman and member of the local board of education.  He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ross County Memorial Commission by appointment from James M. Cox, governor of Ohio, Sept. 4, 1914.  Through these positions, as editor of the leading paper, and as a private citizen, he has done much to build up and promote the welfare of his home locality.
     He is particularly well known not only in Ohio but throughout the country for his work in the Improved Order of Red Men.  He joined that order of June, 1895.  In 1897 he represented Corn Planter Tribe in the Great Council of Ohio and continued as representative until 1901.  He was then elected Great Junior Sagamore of the Great Council of Ohio, and in 1902 was elected Great Senior and in 1903 became Great Sachem.  That high post he filled with credit until May, 1904, when he presided over the Great Council at Mansfield.  He has also represented Ohio in the Supreme Great Council of the United States and in the national body has served on several important committees.  Mr. Egan has been a member of Adelphi Lodge of the Knights of Pythias for fifteen years, and formerly held membership in the Modern Woodmen of America.  At Adelphi he superintended the construction of the Knights of Pythias Fair and Carnival, and helped make the local lodge of Knights of Pythias highly successful.  
     Mr. Egan deserved much credit for the establishment of the Adelphi Banking Company, in which he has held the position of secretary to the board of directors since it was founded.  He has a beautiful modern home, and has also employed his taste and experience in supervising various public buildings at Adelphi, including the Opera House.  Though now in his sixtieth year, Mr. Egan is found at work from morning until night and when questioned on that matter he is disposed to ascribe to hard and constant work what measure of success he has attained in the world.
Source #2 - A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio - Vol. II. - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago & New York 1917 - Page 532

MARTIN ENDERLIN, trustee of Scioto township, is a contribution from Germany to the citizenship of Chillicothe.  His father, John Martin Enderlin, became involved in the revolutionary troubles of 1848 which resulted in a loss to Germany of many of its bravest men, like Carl Schurz, and the consequent benefit to the United States, as most of them sought refuge here.  The elder Enderlin went so far as to raise a company of soldiers for the revolutionary cause, but, as his side was unsuccessful, he was forced to flee and in 1852 made the ocean voyage to this country.  He located at Chillicothe, where in 1854 he was joined by his wife and eight children.  He trade was that of a tailor, which he followed in Chillicothe for several years in connection with the grocery and saloon business.  His death occurred July 16, 1897, his wife surviving him only a few months and dying November 18 of the same year.  Five of their children are living and three of them are residents of Chillicothe.  Augustus, the eldest of the sons, came over with his father in 1852 to avoid enforced military service in the German army, and died in this country July 1, 1860.  Martin Enderlin was born in Germany, July 10, 1841, and was brought to this country by his mother when thirteen years old.  As soon as he reached competent age he became an apprentice in the confectionery business and followed that for several years.  In 1861 he joined Company A, Twenty-second regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, with which he served during his term of enlistment.  After his discharge, Mr. Enderlin spent six months at Indianapolis and then went south, where he followed his occupation in various cities and states, from Kentucky to South Carolina.  While at Nashville he was engaged in the three days’ fight between Hood and Thomas.  In the latter part of 1865 he returned to Chillicothe, where he worked in a bakery for a year, subsequently spending a year each in Waverly and Jacksin, Ohio, and finally settling at Chillicothe in the grocery business with his father.  In 1871, he lived a couple of months in the Canadian city of Montreal, but not liking the prospects returned to the United States and spent the subsequent eight years at Oil City, Pa.  Coming back to Chillicothe in 1879 he has since made his home in that city, engaged in various occupations.  In 1885, Mr. Enderlin was elected city marshal of Chillicothe.  He served one term in that office, and was also a member of the sanitary police force for three years.  Apr. 7, 1902, he was elected trustee of Scioto township on the Democratic ticket, receiving a majority of 283.  He was married at Nashville, Tenn., in 1865, to Jane Butler of that city, and of their six children five are living:  John, of Chillicothe; Mary, wife of James Tannehill, of Pittsburg; Lizzie, wife of James Shears, of Chillicothe; Ellen, married Edward Eddinger, of Chillicothe, and died Oct. 22, 1898; Richard and Barbara, residents of Pittsburg.  Mr. Enderlin is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Source #1 - The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison, Wis., 1902 ~ Page 456

HEZEKIAH ENGLAND, for many years a farmer of Huntington township, is one of the little army of civil war veterans who did so much of Ross county’s glory in the days of the country’s need.  He was born in Hocking county, Ohio, Nov. 15, 1835; in childhood lost both of his parents by death, and when about twelve years of age came to Ross county to live with uncles in Huntington township.  Sept. 8, 1859, he was married to Deborah Cockerell and shortly after “set up housekeeping” on a small farm, by the cultivation of which he was making a living and doing fairly well at the outbreak of the civil war.  Aug. 13, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company G, Eighty-ninth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, which served fro awhile in West Virginia and shortly after the battle of Stone river was sent to re-enforce General Rosecrans at Nashville, Tenn., where it arrived Feb. 7, 1863.  From there it moved to Carthage, and shortly after joined Rosecrans’ main army at Murfreesboro.  It next joined in the movement against Bragg, at Tullahoma, and entered its first battle at Hoover’s Gap, where it had a taste of war at its worst.  A Chickamauga the Eighty-ninth was in the hottest of the fight and suffered severely in killed, wounded and prisoners.  During that fearful engagement, Mr. England was struck in the left ankle by a minie ball and received a wound which completely disabled him, in addition to which he was struck four times by balls which fortunately were spent.  HE lay on this field of carnage, surrounded by all its ghastly horrors, for eight days before he received medical attention.  He was first spent to the hospital at Bridgeport, Tenn., and subsequently to Nashville, from which place he was furloughed home on sick leave.  After a rest from November until March, he went to Camp Dennison, where he was operated on, and May 4, 1864, was discharged from the service on account of disability, since which time he has lived continuously at his home in Ross county.  By his first marriage he had nine children, of whom the living are Elizabeth, wife of James Edgington, Jr.; Delilah¸wife of Charles Bruff, and Peter.  The mother died in 1889, and on Oct. 20, 1900, Mr. England married Elizabeth, widow of Paul Hammond, and daughter of William Wendell.
Source #1 - The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison, Wis., 1902 ~ Page 457

JOHN ENGLAND, stock dealer and general farmer in Scioto township, is also one of the successful fruitgrowers of Ross county, where he has been known in horticultural circles.  His grandfather and namesake came to the county early in the nineteenth century, and, as he used often to say, with all his worldly goods tied up in a pocket handkerchief.  Before his death, however, this poor immigrant had accumulated several hundred acres of land and considerable town property.  The names of his children are thus given in the family register: Milo, Jesse, George, Lorenzo, Elizabeth, Manda and Sydney.  Both himself and wife died when seventy-nine years old and were interred on the same farm where they settled on first arriving in the township.  Lorenzo, the fifth of their children, was born in 1818 on the place in Scioto township, where his widow still resides.  He estimated that his attendance at school altogether would not exceed a period of three months, but he was an earnest students all his life and so added to his store of knowledge as to be considered in after years one of the best informed men of the township.  Though his main business was that of farming he had other interests, being one of the owners of the old Schlegle & England toll pikes, and for a short time also he conducted a brickyard.  He married Sarah Darby, by whom he had the following named children:  A. Warner, Alice and Demetrius, deceased; John, subject of this sketch; Thomas J., of Madison county; Scioto, deceased; James L., of Missouri; Effie, Emma and Ella, deceased.  The father died in 1871 and his widow resides on the old home place in a commodious brick house which was erected by her sons for her comfort.  John England, fourth of the children, was born in Ross county, O., Mar. 2, 1849, on the Scioto township farm where he now resides.  July 4, 1872, he was married to Mary, daughter of Jacob and Barbara Esterly, of Chillicothe, and after two years’ residence in that city they removed to Columbus, O.  He was a practical brickmaker by trade and during his stay of about eighteen months at the Ohio capital he was employed in his regular line of work.  In due time he returned to his estate in Ross county and took up his abode in an old log cabin which, however, he replaced some years later with a modern dwelling, up-to-date in all its finishings and equipments.  Mr. England is both a practical and progressive farmer, believing in having the best that is going and in keeping abreast of the times in all respects.  He raises fruit on an extensive scale, having an orchard covering 10 acres containing the larger varieties and four acres devoted exclusively to small fruits.  HE is an authority in this line, being regarded as one of the best informed of the county’s horticulturists.  Mr. England has held the position of road supervisor for sixteen years and was formerly a member of the school board.  Of his four children, Dorothy and Emma have passed away, Katie C. is at home, and Thomas T. is living in Scioto Township.
Source #1 - The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison, Wis., 1902 ~ Page 458

GEN. JOHN CLAY ENTREKIN was born near Kingston, in Ross county, Feb. 11, 1844.  His father, John Entrekin, was born Apr. 8, 1809, at Kinnickinnick, in Green township, Ross county.  He was a member of the first board of infirmary directors of the county, was also captain of a militia company and served in a Home Guard company in Pettis county, Mo., in the civil war.  His parents were Col. John and Nancy (Crouse) Entrekin.  Col. John Entrekin, the grandfather of John C. Entrekin, was born on the “Hall farm” on Willoughby run on the Cashtown road, afterward famous as the place where the battle of Gettysburg began, in Adams county, Pa.  He commanded a company of cavalry in the war of 1812 and served for twenty years as an officer of the Ohio militia, becoming a colonel of the Second regiment.  He was at a time of his death an associate judge of the Pickaway county in the latter part of his life.  He served as a member of the house of representatives from Ross county in 1819 and 1820.  His father, William Entrekin, married Elizabeth Hall at Gettysburg, Pa., and with his family afterward removed to Huntington county, Pa., and afterward, in the spring of 1798, to Ross county, Ohio, to what is now Hopetown, where in 1800 Elizabeth, his wife, died and was buried on a hill a short distance east of the residence of John Umstead.  At that time all the county north from Chillicothe to the lakes was a vast wilderness inhabited by Indians alone.  William Entrekin’s parents were Scotch covenanters who emigrated from Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in consequence of religious persecutions, to North Ireland, and from there to Pennsylvania.  They had formerly lived on the “Entrekin water,” a branch of the Nith river near the pass in the mountains known as “Entrekin pass,” a description of which is contained in Crockett’s “Men of the Mosshaigs.”  John C. Entrekin’s grandmother on his father’s side was Nancy, the oldest daughter of John Crouse, who came from Maryland to North Carolina shortly after the Revolution and emigrated from there in 1798 to Kinnickinnick, Ross county, where he operated a mill for many years.  He served as a private in Capt. Jacob Reazin Beall’s division of troops known as “The Maryland Flying Camp in the American Revolution,” from June 1, to December 1, 1776, and was in the campaign in which the British captured New York City.  The mother of John C. Entrekin was Frances Moore Entrekin, who was born on Black Water, Green township, Ross county, May 20, 1812.  Her parents were Joseph and Hannah Davis Moore, who came to Ross county in 1809 from the western part of Huntington county, Pa.  Joseph Moore was of Scotch ancestry.  For many years he kept on the main road leading north from Chillicothe to Columbus the “Rising Sun Tavern,” and had the honor of entertaining Henry Clay, Gen. W. S. Scott, the Siamese Twins and many other public people.  He served as a quartermaster during the war of 1812, and his brother Samuel  was killed by the Indians in western Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary war.  His wife, Hannah Davis, was of Welsh descent and was claimed to be of the same family in Pennsylvania as the mother of Gen. U. S. Grant and Jefferson Davis, many of the connection residing near Philadelphia.
     John C. Entrekin on August 12^th, 1862, at the age of eighteen, enlisted for three years in Company A, of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infinity, and was with his regiment the entire time.  He was in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, siege of Vicksburg, Graham’s Plantation, Yellow Bayou and the siege at fort Blakely, Ala.  He very nearly escaped honorable wounds, but on the 9^th of April, 1865, the very last day of the war, he was wounded twice at Fort Blakely, and was, in consequence, honorably discharged at New Orleans, June 8^th, 1865.  After his return to his home, he entered the Ohio Wesleyan university, and graduated in the classical course in 1867.  For two years he was engaged in teaching, and from 1869 to 1870 he was professor of mathematics in the Central Wesleyan college of Warronton, Mo.  During that time he read law and was admitted to the bar in the circuit court of Warren county, Mo., in January, 1870.  Directly after, he returned to Chillicothe, and in September of that year was admitted to the bar of Ross county.  He began the practice of law in the office of Judge T. A. Minshall, afterward of the supreme bench, and remained there three years in which time he built up a good business.  He has since practiced successfully and has been connected with much of the important litigation which has been conducted in the courts in his parts of the State.  He has a keen, analytical mind, a comprehensive knowledge of the science of jurisprudence and never loses sight of any point of vantage ground which may advance the interests of his clients.  He has always taken a great interest in political affairs.  Even as a boy he was active in the Fremont-Dayton campaign, and when he attained his majority, he allied himself with the Republican party and voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, while stationed at Morgan’s Bend, Louisiana.  In January, 1872, he was appointed city solicitor of Chillicothe to fill a vacancy, and he was elected to the same office in 1872 and re-elected in 1874 and 1876.  He was a candidate for prosecuting attorney of Ross county in 1872 before the people, but was defeated by 60 votes, although he ran 200 ahead of his ticket.  In 1875 he was elected to represent Ross county in the house of representatives, to serve two years.  He was a candidate for re-election in 1879, but was defeated by a small majority by Hon. Wm. H. Reed, a very popular Democrat.  A month later, Senator Allison Brown died, and Mr. Entrekin was nominated as his successor in the sixth senatorial district and was elected by 1,500 majority over Hon. Milton McCoy.  He served two years.  In 1885 he was again a candidate for the house of representatives and elected by 500 majority over Dr. Nathaniel Potter.  During this term he was chosen speaker of the house.  While in the legislature he voted twice for John Sherman for United States senator and for James A. Garfield and Stanley Matthews for the same office.  He was twice a candidate for nomination for congressman in this district, but was defeated.  His service in the various official positions to which he has been called has been marked of the people whom he represented, and as one of the law makers of Ohio he has borne a conspicuous and honorable part.  He enlisted in the Ohio state militia on June 8, 1873, as a private in Company A, but was at once elected lieutenant of the company, after which he was elected and commissioned captain.  On June 21, 1876, he was elected colonel of the sixth regiment, Ohio National Guards, to which position he was three times re-elected, serving in all fourteen years.  During this time he performed the most arduous and important service for the state, as in 1878, the time of the great railroad strike at Newark, Ohio, when the military aid was invoked to quell the riotous men.  He was called on to defend the city building and the Music hall in Cincinnati at the time of the riot when the court-house was destroyed in April, 1884.  He had his regiment on the field within ten hours after notification of the trouble had been received.  He was also in command of his regiment at the time of the strikes in the Hocking valley coal regions and in Jackson county.  As commander of the sixth regiment, Ohio National Guards, Col. Entrekin was a prominent factor in suppressing the disturbance.  In commanding his troops, he displayed firmness, tempered by justice, power, limited by discretion, and military force was used only to protect life and property.  His course commanded the respect of his troops and the admiration of all, and increased the confidence of the public in the military forces of the country.  In 1892, he was appointed by Governor McKinley to the position of judge advocate general on his staff, and re-appointed in January, 1894.  He is now on the retired list of military officers of Ohio with rank of brigadier-general.  He was appointed by Governor Foraker in November, 1889, a member of the board of trustees for the Central state asylum for the insane, at Columbus, and served two months, but the senate refused to confirm any of Governor Foraker’s appointments, and his successor was appointed by Governor Campbell.  In the councils of his party, General Entrekin has been very prominent and his opinions have been received with much respect and consideration.  He served two years on the Republican state central committee, 1882-83, and has served annually as a delegate to the county, district and state conventions, while for twenty years he has been a member of the Ross county executive committee.  In 1892, he was elected a delegate from the Eleventh congressional district to the national convention at Minneapolis, and cast his vote for William McKinley, as did all the other delegates; and he was chairman of the congressional convention at Athens, which nominated the delegates to represent his district in the Republican national convention at St. Louis in 1896.  He was an active worker for the party during the last presidential campaign and delivered many addresses in support of the dominant measures of the tariff and sound money.  He is a logical, fluent and forceful speaker, and his addresses leave a lasting impression upon his auditors.  He served as chairman of the committee on resolutions in the Republican state convention at Toledo, in June, 1897.  He was appointed collector of internal revenue for the Eleventh district of Ohio, by President McKinley, in July, 1897, and is still the incumbent of that position.  He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow and has passed all the chairs of both lodges; is a member of the Elks, and an honored comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic.  General Entrekin was married July 15, 1875, at Chillicothe, to Mary F. Bethauser. They have two children, Helen G., and John C., Jr., both grown.  John C., jr., is now deputy collector under his father in this district.
Source #1 - The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison, Wis., 1902 ~ Page 459

FRANK P. ERVIN is a native of Buckskin township, Ross county, where he now resides and has spent all his life.  His father, Peachy Ervin, was born in Augusta county, Va., and came to Highland county, O., in 1831, when only ten years of age.  In 1846 he removed to Ross county and settled in Buckskin township, two yeas afterwards locating on the homestead where his son Frank, now makes his home.  Nov. 10, 1842, he married Nancy Lyle, whose father came from Virginia to Highland county in 1815, and by her had three children.  One of this is Rev. William A. Ervin, pastor of the Rockwood (Tenn.) Presbyterian church.  Another son, Rev. J. N. Ervin, is pastor of the Presbyterian church at Dayton (Ky), and professor in the Lane seminary.  Frank P. Ervin, the third son and subject of this sketch, was born and reared on the old homestead where he now lives,,, his education being obtained at the Salem academy.  After leaving school he took charge of the farm business, which he has managed with success.  In 1876, Mr. Ervin was married to Rusha A., daughter of J. C. Pricer, member of one of the oldest families in Paint township.  The union resulted in the birth of five children, Floyd D., Charles K., Clyde, Harly, and Ruth.  Floyd D. Ervin, the oldest son, is a veteran of the Spanish-American war.  In 1898, on the very day he was graduated from Salem academy, he enlisted in Company E of the Fourth Ohio regiment.  This command went to Camp Thomas, thence by way of Newport News to Porto Rico, being four days on the water; took part in the subsequent campaign on the island, participated in two skirmishes and remained there about three months.  They returned to the United States by way of Jersey City and Washington, being received by President McKinley and give a warm handshake by that great and good man.  From the capital the troops proceeded to Columbus, where they were mustered out of service on Jan. 20, 1899.  shortly after returning from the war, Floyd Ervin secured a position as traveling salesman for a wholesale grocery firm of Dayton, O., and has retained that ever since.  The entire family are members of the Presbyterian church.  Frank P. Ervin has been a member of the board of trustees of the church at Greenfield, and president of the board; his father was deacon of the church for twenty-five years and elder for the same length of time, making fifty years of service as a church official.  In 1896, Frank P. Ervin was elected one of the township trustees and since then he has been twice re-elected.  He has been a member of the school board for sixteen years and is president of the board of education of Buckskin township.  He is a member of the Royal Arcanum and his son Floyd belongs to the orders of Woodmen of the World and the Redmen.
Source #1 - The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison, Wis., 1902 ~ Page 464

GEORGE FARABEE, of Gillespieville, was born in Liberty township, Ross county, Ohio, on Apr. 27, 1856.  His parents were Dr. Thomas and Sophia (Dresbach) Farabee.  The father came from Pennsylvania and lived in Ross county until his death.  George Farabee was reared in Ross county and educated in the public schools.  Oct. 20, 1888, he was married to Rachael, daughter of Jeremiah W. Drummond.  The latter was born in Ross county in 1830, being a son of Benjamin and Mary (Cox) Drummond, and died in 1900.  He married Rachael W. Ratcliff, daughter of Simon and Rachael (Dixon) Ratcliff, and had eight children, of whom four are living.  These are Stella, wife of Samuel Du Bois, of Liberty township, Ross county; Smiley, of Circleville; Walton, of Liberty township; and Rachel, who is the wife of George Farabee.  Mrs. Farabee was reared by her aunt, Ruth Ratcliff, who was born in that portion of Ross which is now Vinton county, Ohio, in 1826, and died on July 16, 1892.  Mr. Farabee and wife have two children, Pauline E., born Dec. 21, 1898; and Ruth R., born Sept. 3, 1900.  Mr. Farabee has held the office of trustee of Liberty township.
Source #1 - The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison, Wis., 1902 ~ Page 466

JUDSON O. FERNEAU, a prosperous farmer of the South Salem neighborhood in Ross county, comes of an ancestry whose fountain source was Holland with an intermediate stage of development in old Virginia and later lodgment in Ohio.  He is a son of Joseph and grandson of John Ferneau, the latter being an emigrant from the Netherlands to the Old Dominion while the Revolutionary war was in progress.  In 1812, he joined the tide of emigration which was then setting strongly toward the Ohio valley and located with his family in Ross county.  His son, Joseph Ferneau, married Elizabeth McCoy, member of a family long and favorably known in Fayette county, Ohio.  He adopted farming as his vocation and pursued it steadily until his death in1891.  His only child was Judson O. Ferneau, who was born and reared in Buckskin township and educated in the district schools.  In 1893, he was married to Anna, daughter of George Wolfe, a native of Germany.  Like his ancestors before him, Mr. Ferneau is interested in tilling the soil, his line being general farming and stock-raising.  The farm owned by him near South Salem, in addition to its agricultural value, possesses an historic interest.  According to tradition it was there that the first sermon was preached north of Marietta, at the time when there were no churches in that region and but few preachers, even of the itinerant class.  The farm of Mr. Ferneau is also pointed out as the scene of a famous reencounter which took place in the long ago between one Duncan McCarty and certain hostile Indians with whom he came in contact.
Source #1 - The County of Ross: a history of Ross County, Ohio by Henry Holcomb Bennett - Published by S. A. Brant, Madison, Wis., 1902 ~ Page 467