JOHN H. WAIT was born
March 22, 1811, near Lake Champlain, in a village called Chazy, N.
Y., the son of Benjamin and Lavinia (Heaton) Wait, of
Waitsfield, Windsor Co., Vt. His parents were born, reared and
married in Vermont, but removed across Lake Champlain, where three
of their children were born, and moved to Ohio in the year 1814.
The Wait family of Vermont are of English descent, and
settled in Porter Township, Scioto County, at the date above
mentioned, where the father of this sketch died at the age of
eighty-four years, and his mother at the age of ninety-six years six
months and fourteen days. The grandfather of Mr. Wait
was also named Benjamin. He was a Major
in the Revolutionary war; High Sheriff of Windsor County, Vt., and a
Colonel in the State Militia. He was an active participant in
the French and Indian wars, and was so unfortunate as to be captured
once by the Indians. He was a good runner and an athletic man,
and the Indians compelled him to run the gauntlet; being as brae as
he was strong, when the time came he started, dodging first from one
side to the other, and striking out from the shoulder, he passed the
ordeal without scarcely receiving a scratch. He passed through
the whole eight years of the Revolutionary war, and came off nearly
unharmed. Of the English ancestors of the Wait family,
it is said, they all in this country sprang from the same stock.
The family legend is, that two or three brothers started from
England for the American Colonies, and that all but one of these
were lost, and he alone made the American shore. The family of
Waits are now very numerous in this country, and they have
represented nearly every office from Chief Justice down, in the gift
of their fellow countrymen, the Presidency, Vice-Presidency and
United States Senator excepted. At this time one of the
family, Mr. Henry T. Wait, is getting up a history of the
family from their first arrival in this country to the present day,
a family reunion upon paper. One paragraph from his work, only
partially completed, reads: "Among the planters of Watertown, Mass.,
in 1637, was Richard Wait, who received several grants of
land there, and his homestead of six acres can now be pointed out.
Of his three sons - John, Thomas and Joseph - the
descendants of the former removed to Framingham, Mass.; Joseph
removed to Marlboro, Mass., and Thomas remained in Watertown,
where he appeared to have acquired considerable property.
His sons were John, Richard, Thomas and Joseph.
The first two died young men in the early Indian wars.
Thomas removed to Lynn, Conn., and was the ancestor of Henry
M. Wait, late Chief Justice of Connecticut, whose son,
Morrison R. Wait, is the present Chief Justice of the United
States; also of Marion Wait, a distinguished lawyer of the
Revolution period, and his son, Jno. Turner Wait, now a
member of Congress from Connecticut." Space will not allow of
further extract, though the sketch sent covers two sides or twelve
columns of the Brookfield, Mass., News, all of
interesting and important family reminiscence. John H. Wait,
the subject of this sketch, passed his life on his father's farm in
Porter Township from the age of three years to seventeen. His
education was received in the schools of the day, they being kept
during three months of the winter season. Perhaps one-fourth
of this school time was lost. At the age last mentioned he
went to Cincinnati to learn the cabinet-maker's trade, and finished
his apprenticeship in 1831, when he returned to his father's house
in Porter Township, in poor health. He worked at home between
two and three years, and then took a trip to New Orleans on a
trading boat, and was absent some seven months. Soon after his
return, Mr. Wait, in the year 1836, commenced the furniture
business for himself, but doing the work all by hand, for some
fifteen years. His energy and perseverance soon overcame all
obstacles, and some thirty-five years ago he commenced the use of
machinery, and by his business ability, a thorough knowledge
of the details of his work, he has now one of the largest furniture
manufactories in Southern Ohio, working from forty to seventy-five
hands and shipping to all points West and South. Mr. Wait
is now seventy-two years of age, still strong, but leaves the
management and details of his business to his sons. What time
he gives to it, which is more or less every day, is spent at the
factory looking after the machinery, being something of a mechanical
genius. He has made improvements in machinery, and has taken
out four patents on his work. Mr. Wait was married
Sept. 12, 1839, in Harrison Township, to Malvina D. Sikes by
Rev. Jno. R. Turner. Mrs. Wait was born Dec. 8, 1819.
Her father Levi Sikes, was born in Massachusetts in 1794, and
moved to Ohio in 1813 or 1814. Her mother, Mary (Keyes)
Sikes, was born in 1799 in Rockbridge County, Va., and her
family came to Ohio about the same time as Mr. Sikes.
Mrs. Wait is a prominent member of the Baptist church.
Mr. and Mrs. Wait have seven children - Isabella, born
July 31, 1840; Gilbert D., Oct. 15, 1841; Frances,
March 19, 1844; Emeretta, July 31, 1846; John H., Jr.,
Sept. 23, 1848; Sarah S., Sept. 5, 1850, and John Wesley,
Nov. 29, 1853. Mr. Wait has spent rather a quiet and
uneventful life, but he has now in his old age a large property,
secured through his own unaided efforts, and is today one of the
solid men of Portsmouth, and one of her most honored and respected
citizens.
~ Page 302 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago:
Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
GEORGE ALLEN WALLER ~ Page 303 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
DR. THOMAS WALLER ~ Page 304 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
WARNER & HAWKS ~ Page 305 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
THOMAS W. WATKINS,
was born in Kenton, Ill., Oct. 18, 1857, a son of John C.
Watkins. He came to Portsmouth with his father in 1858.
In 1870 he began learning the plumber's trade; worked at it five
years and then went to Newport, Ky., and remained nearly five years,
when he returned to Portsmouth and became established in business
for himself on Second street, between Washington and Court streets.
He was married in 1879 to Sarah E. Stockham, daughter of
Aaron Stockham. They have two children - Charlotte
and Charles. Mr. Watkins is a member of the Knights of
Pythias, Royal Arcanum and Independent Order of Mechanics.
~ Page 305 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago:
Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
ADAM WEISS was born in
Bavaria, Germany, Jan. 11, 1840, a son of Frederick Weiss.
He came to the United States in 1864, locating in Pike County, Ohio,
and in 1868 came to Portsmouth. He worked in the rolling mills
nine years, and then opened a hotel on Third street which he still
runs in connection with his Market street saloon. He was
married in 1864 in the old country to Lizzie Adam. They
had five children - Anna, born in the old country; Lizzie,
John, Mary and Fred (deceased). Mrs. Weise
died in 1853. Mr. Weiss afterward married Clara Adam,
a cousin of his first wife. They have three children -
Louisa, Michael and Clara. Mr. Weiss
is a member of two German benevolent societies.
~ Page 305 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago:
Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
ADAM WEISS ~ Page 305 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
EDWIN T. WELCH ~ Page 305 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
MARK B. WELLS ~ Page 306 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
JOHN M. WENDELKEN ~ Page 306 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
CHARLES WERTZ ~ Page 306 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
CONRAD WESTPHAL ~ Page 306 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
JOSHUA WHEELER ~ Page 307 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
W. G. WHITNEY ~ Page 307 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
JOHN D. WILHELM ~ Page 308 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
JOHN WILHELM ~ Page 308 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
EVAN WILLIAMS ~ Page 308 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
JOHN WILLIAMS was
born March 15, 1833, in the parish of Lanegryn, in Merioneth, North
Wales, a son of Griffith Williams. He began to learn
the pattern-maker's trade at the age of sixteen, at which he worked
till 1869, when he came to the United States. He spent the
first two years in Cincinnati working at his trade, since when he
has made his home in Portsmouth, and has been in the constant employ
of Moore & Co's machine works as foreman of the
pattern-making shop. He was married in Wales, in 1857, to
Elizabeth Wilkes, who died Oct. 18, 1878, aged forty years.
Their children are - Thomas Wilkes, who is twenty-three years
old, and by trade a pattern maker; Ella, Katie and Freddie,
all born in Wales. Myfanwy died in March, 1874, aged
three months. The deceased were born in Portsmouth.
Mr. Williams belongs to the First Presbyterian Church and is a
member of the Masonic fraternity. In politics he affiliates
with the Republican party.
~ Page 309 - History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago:
Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
|
