The Town and Township of Athens, Athens County, Ohio
Personal and Biographical - G through Z
John Gillmore, was born in Washington county, New York, December 25, 1786. Soon afterward his father’s family removed to Rutland, Vermont, whence they emigrated in 1813 to Ohio. They were accompanied by Cephas Carpenter, a relative by marriage, and all settled in Athens. The father, James Gillmore, was the first elder in the Presbyterian church formed here about the time of his arrival, and was an excellent man; he died July 25, 1827. John Gillmore held several minor local offices, and served with credit two terms in the state legislature. In 1836 he removed with his family to Illinois, and finally settled at Rock Island, where he died, July 9th, 1859. The Gillmores are remembered as one of the most substantial families of the town during their long residence here. One of the daughters of Mr. James Gillmore, Ann Eliza, married the Rev. 5. 5. Miles (brother of Mr. Joseph B. Miles), who now lives in Geneseo, Illinois.
William Golden, born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, October 5th, 1799, came to Athens county in 1824, and settled at first in Athens, but later, in Alexander township, as a farmer. Here he was elected justice of the peace for many successive years. He was county sheriff from 1843 to 1847, and county treasurer from 1848 to 1854. In 1843 he removed to the town of Athens, where he has since resided, and is now postmaster. Three of his sons are living, viz: John C., a farmer and stock dealer in Meigs county, Elmer, a merchant in Jackson Ohio, and William R.
William Reed Golden, son of the last named, was born in Athens, April 11 th, 1827, and passed his early years on his father’s farm in Alexander. He was educated at the Ohio university, studied law at Athens with Lot L. Smith, and attended lectures at the National Law School at Ballston Spa, New York, where he graduated in 1851. Returning to Athens, he entered on the practice of his profession here in 1852. In 1865 he was elected, as a democrat, to the state senate, and re-elected in October, 1867, to represent the counties of Athens, Hocking, and Fairfield, composing the ninth senatorial district. He has recently removed to Columbus, Ohio, where he is now engaged in the practice of law.
Joseph Goodspeed, born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, in June, 1774, came to this county, with his family of five sons and three daughters, in 1818, and settled on a farm about two miles west of Athens, where he died February 12, 1857. His two sons, David and Ezra Goodspeed, well known in the county as successful farmers, were born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, and came to Athens, with their father, in 1818. Many of their descendants still live in the county, and are highly respected. Major Arza Goodspeed, son of David, was killed before Vicksburg, while bravely doing his duty as a soldier of the Union, and J. McKinly Goodspeed, son of Ezra, and a graduate of the Ohio university, is at present superintendent of the Athens union schools.
Charles H. Grosvenor, born in Pomfret, Connecticut, September 20, 1833, came to Athens county with his father’s family when five years old, and lived in Rome during his youth and early manhood. While clerking in the store of Daniel Stewart he obtained books from Lot L. Smith, of Athens, and read law assiduously. He practiced with success in Athens for a few years prior to the breaking out of the rebellion, and entered the service in July, 1861, as major of the 18th Ohio infantry. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel March 16, 1863. March 14, 1865, Maj. Gen. J. B. Steedman recommended Col. Grosvenor to the secretary of war for promotion “for faithful, distinguished and gallant services. The recommendation was thus indorsed by Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas: “Respectfully forwarded and earnestly recommended. Lieut. Col. Grosvenor has served under my command since November, 1862, and has, on all occasions, performed his duties with intelligence and zeal.” Gen. Grosvenor was promoted to colonel April 8, 1865, and served till the close of the war. He was brevetted brigadier general to date from March 13, 1865, and was mustered out October 28th in that year. He is now practicing law in Athens.
Conrad Hawk was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania. While a young man he removed to Harrison county, Virginia, where he married Miss Nancy Read in 1805, and whence he moved to Athens county in 1810. He settled as a farmer in Athens township, where he died, October 1, 1841. Mr. Hawk’s family, formerly well and favorably known in this community are now scattered. William, the oldest son, died in 1864, while commanding a steamer in General Banks’ expedition up the Red river. John lives in Texas; James and Columbus in Clarke county, Ohio, and Geo. W. in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. One of the daughters, now Mrs. Dr. Huxford, lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the other, Mrs. Durbin, in Mt. Vernon, Ohio.
Dr. Leonard Jewett, one of the pioneer physicians of the county, was born September 6, 1770, in Littleton county, Massachusetts. He studied medicine and surgery at the Boston Medical college, and received a diploma from that institution in 1792. In 1796 he married Miss Mary Porter, of Rutledge, Massachusetts. After this he served four years as assistant surgeon in the New York hospital. In 1802 he removed from New York to Washington county, Ohio, and in 1804 or ‘5 to the town of Athens, and occupied a house built by Captain Silas Bingham, on the lot now owned and occupied by Mr. George W. Norris. In 1806 he was elected to the state senate, which position he held till 1811. When hostilities began in 1812, he was commissioned as surgeon in the army of the northwest, under Harrison, and was assigned to duty on the staff of General Tupper. At the close of the war he returned to Athens and resumed the practice of medicine with success. In 1816, while performing a surgical operation, he received poisonous matter into a small wound on his hand, the absorption of which produced violent inflammation and sudden death; he died May 13, 1816. Dr. Jewett was a gentleman of fine intelligence and professional ability, and there are those living who still cherish his memory as one of the leaders among the early citizens of the county.
Four of his sons survive; three of them, Joseph, Leonard, and Leonidas Jewett, live in the vicinity of Athens, and one resides in Oregon. Leonidas was county auditor from 1839 to 1843, and was for many years a successful lawyer of Athens.
Leonidas Jewett, Jr., son of the last named, a lawyer of promise, is settled at Athens, where he was born. During the late war of the rebellion, he served three years with credit as adjutant of the Sixty-first Ohio regiment.
John Johnson, settled in Athens with his family as early as 1805. One of his daughters was married in 1807 to Robert Linzee, and another, about the same time, to Jacob Dombaugh, who was an active man, and at an early day kept public house where the Brown House is now situated. A son of John Johnson’s, Samuel, married a daughter of Abel Glazier, of Ames. In 1815 Mr. Johnson and Mr. Glazier carried the mail, as sub-contractors, between Marietta and Chillicothe, when there were but two post offices on the route, viz., at Athens and Adelphi, Ross county.
Samuel Knowles, a native of Connecticut, and, during early life, a sea-faring man, came to Athens county in 18o8 and settled at Hockingport. In 1812 he married Miss Clarissa Curtis, sister of Judge Walter Curtis of Washington county, and in 1820 removed to the town of Athens where he resided for many years. He was elected marshal of the town in 1825 and 1826. He removed to the west many years since and is now living in Knoxville, Iowa.
Samuel S. Knowles, son of the last named, was born at Athens, August 25, 1825, received his early education at the village schools, learned the carpenter trade when seventeen years old and followed it for a few years, entered the academy at Athens at the age of twenty-one, and pursued his studies there and in the university about four years, read law with Lot L. Smith, was admitted to the bar in 1851, elected prosecuting attorney of Athens county the same year, and held the office two terms. He practiced law at Athens till 1862, when he removed to Marietta. In October, 1865, he was elected state senator from the 14th district, comprising Washington, Morgan, and Noble counties, serving two years. In April, 1864, he was elected mayor of Marietta, and re-elected in 1866, serving four years. He is now engaged in the practice of law at Marietta.
The Rev. Jacob Lindley, seventh son of Demas Lindley, one of the early settlers of Washington County, Pennsylvania, was born in that county, June 13, 1774. At the age of eighteen he was sent to Jefferson college, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Princeton; New Jersey, where he graduated in 1798. After a course of theological study he was licensed to preach by the "Washington Presbytery,” and in 1803, he removed to Ohio, settling first at Beverly, on the Muskingum. Having been selected by the first board of trustees of the Ohio University, to organize and conduct that institution, he removed to Athens in 1808 and opened the academy there. For several years he had entire charge of the infant college, which he conducted with distinguished ability and success. He was the prime mover in securing the erection of the college buildings, and also in founding the Presbyterian Church at Athens. He labored assiduously here for about twenty years, during part of which time he was the only Presbyterian minister in this portion of the state. He returned in 1829 to Pennsylvania, where he spent the rest of his life, and died at the residence of his son, Dr. Lieutellus Lindley, in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, January 29th, 1857.
Dr. Lindley was no common man, but an earnest thinker and conscientious worker. The leading trait in his character was an inflexible and unswerving devotion to moral principle. His whole life was a continuous effort to promote the moral welfare of others. He was of an amiable disposition, possessed an eminent degree of sound common sense, and an unerring judgment of men. His kindness of heart and known purity of life and conduct gave him great influence with all classes during his long residence at Athens. One who knew him well says: “I have seen him go into a crowd of rough backwoodsmen and hunters, who used to meet at the village tavern every Saturday, and settle and control them in their quarrels and fights, as no other man in that community could.” His control of the students under his charge was equally extraordinary, and was always marked not less by gentleness of manner than by firmness of purpose. He led a laborious life at Athens, and his works live after him.
Robert Linzee, a native of western Pennsylvania, came to this county in 1801 and settled on a farm two miles below the town of Athens, on the “River road,” where he lived nearly thirty years. Mr. Linzee was, a leading man in the early history of the county. He was the first sheriff of the county and held the office several years; was a member of the state legislature several terms, a trustee of the Ohio University and associate judge of the court of common pleas. In 1830 he removed to Mercer county, Ohio, where he died in 1850.
Mr. Linzee occupied a prominent place in county affairs during his residence here, and in private life was an amiable and interesting man. His name is still kindly remembered by those who were acquainted with him, among whom he had many admirers and warm friends.
Joseph B. Miles, for many years a merchant and leading citizen of Athens, was born in Rutland, Massachusetts, June 21, 1781. In 1791 he removed to the northwestern territory with his parents, who settled at Belpre, in Washington county. Here he lived till he was’ twenty-seven years old. In 1808 Mr. Miles came to Athens and began business as a merchant. In January, 1809, he married Miss Elizabeth Buckingham, of Carthage township. He lived in Athens for thirty-five years, during which period he was prominent in all social, religious and business movements here. He engaged extensively in the mercantile and milling business, and was universally respected as an upright man and exemplary Christian. In 1843 he removed with his family ‘to Washington, Tazewell county, Illinois, where he died September 18th, i86o. His first wife’ died in Athens in 1821. By his first marriage Mr. Miles had six children— Catherine B., who married Mr. C. Dart and died in Houston, Texas, in February 1866; Lucy W., who married Mr. L. A. Alderson and died in Greenbrier county, Virginia, in 1832; Belinda C., who married Mr. Jared Sperry and now lives in Mt. Vernon, Ohio; Pamelia B., who died before marriage at Havana, Cuba; Elizabeth B., who was married in Natchez and died there of yellow fever in September, 1837; and Benjamin E., who now resides in Washington, Illinois. Mr. Miles married for his second wife Miss Elizabeth Fulton. Their children were Martha M., James H., Daniel L., Joseph B., Mary F., William R., and Sarah J. Mary, Martha and Joseph live in Washington, Illinois, James in Chicago, and Sarah J. (Mrs. Robert Wilson) in Farmington, Iowa. William R. died young; and Daniel L., who was lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, during the war of the rebellion, was killed in a skirmish near Farmington, Tennessee, in May, 1862. Mr. Miles’s second wife died in 1862.
E. Hastings Moore, born in Worcester county, Massachusetts, in 1812, came to Athens county with the family of his father, David Moore, in 1817. For about ten years the youth lived on a farm in Dover township, and then for several years on a farm in this township, about two miles from Athens, whence he finally removed to the town itself, where he has ever since resided. Mr. Moore had a good common school education (he taught some when a young man), and a taste for practical mathematics. In 1836 he became deputy county surveyor, and in 1838 was elected by the people to that office, then a difficult and laborious one. He held this position till 1846, discharging its duties with uncommon accuracy and entire acceptance to the public. In 1846 he was elected county auditor, which office he held, under re-elections, fourteen years. In 1862 he was appointed collector of internal revenue for the fifteenth Ohio district, and held the office till 1866. In 1868 he was elected to the forty-first congress from the fifteenth Ohio district as a republican. He is also president of the First National Bank at Athens.
Mr. Moore is a man of great practical sense and strict integrity, and is esteemed by all as a valuable citizen.
Calvary Morris, was born near Charleston, West Virginia, in 1798, and spent his youth in the Kanawha valley, laboring on a farm, and battling with the hardships of pioneer life. In 1818 he married the eldest daughter of Dr. Leonard Jewett, of Athens, and in the spring of 18 19, located permanently in that town. “Finding myself” says Mr. Morris, “a stranger in a strange land, and obliged to make provision for the support of my family, my first step was to rent five acres of ground, upon which to raise a crop of corn. While cultivating that ground, during the summer of 1819, the Rev. Jacob Lindley (then acting president of the Ohio university) came to me and said that a school teacher was much needed in our town, and proposed that I undertake it. I informed him that I was not at all qualified—that reading, writing, spelling, and a limited knowledge of arithmetic was the extent of my education. He said that the wants of the community required ‘that’ arithmetic, geography, and English grammar be taught in the school, and, ‘now,’ said he, will tell you what to do. I have the books and you have brains; take my books, go to studying, and recite to me every day for three weeks, and by that time I will have a school made up for you; you will then find no difficulty in keeping ahead of your scholars so as to give satisfaction in teaching, and no one will ever suspect your present lack of qualifications.’ I consented, went to work, and at the end of three weeks went into the school. I taught and studied during the day, and cultivated my corn-field part of the time by moonlight, and if there was ever any complaint of my lack of qualifications as a teacher, it never came to my knowledge.”
In 1823, Mr. Morris was elected sheriff of ‘Athens county, and re-elected by an almost unanimous vote in 1825. In 1827, at the close of his term as sheriff, he was elected to the lower branch of the state legislature, and re-elected in 1828. In 1829, he was elected to the state senate, and re-elected in 1833. In 1835, when the project of the Hocking canal was being warmly agitated, Mr. Morris was elected again to the popular branch of the assembly from Athens and Hocking counties as the avowed friend of that measure, and in the belief that he was the best man to engineer it through. To his adroit management and indefatigable efforts, the measure was mainly indebted for success, as he had to overcome the almost unanimous opposition of both branches of the legislature and the whole board of canal commissioners.
He had the pleasure of seeing the bill triumphantly passed a few days before the close of the session, and on his return home his constituents tendered him a public dinner.
In 1836 Mr. Morris was elected to congress, and re-elected in 1838 and ‘40.
In 1843 he retired from public life and engaged, to some extent, in wool growing and in the introduction of fine-wooled sheep into the county, in which business he rendered great service to the farming community.
In 1847 he removed to Cincinnati and engaged in mercantile pursuits, which finally proving unfortunate, he returned to Athens in 1854, and in 1855 was elected probate judge of the county, which office he still holds. ‘Few men, if any, now living in the county, have filled a larger part in its official history than Judge Morris, and, during his varied services, he has discharged every trust with honor and fidelity. His public life lay chiefly in the better days of the republic,’ and of our politics, and, from his present standpoint, secure in the confidence and respect of all his neighbors, he has the rare and happy fortune of being able to review his whole career without shame and without remorse.
Judge Morris is a brother of the Reverend Bishop Morris of the M. E. church. William D. Morris, of Illinois, and Levi Morris, of Louisiana, are the other surviving brothers.
Eliphaz Perkins, son of John Perkins, a leading citizen of Norwich, Connecticut, was born at that place, August 25, 1753. Deprived of his father at an early age, he was nevertheless enabled, through the exertions of, his mother, to obtain a liberal education. Soon after leaving college, Mr. Perkins married Lydia Fitch, daughter of Dr. Jabez Fitch, of Canterbury, Connecticut, and engaged for a time in the mercantile business in that town. Subsequently he engaged in the same business in New Haven; having, however, an inclination to professional pursuits, he finally entered on the study of medicine with his father-in-law, and this was his vocation during the rest of his life. The times being hard, and his family increasing, Dr. Perkins decided to remove to a new country, and, in the spring of 1789, leaving his family in Connecticut, he started for Marietta. On his arrival here he found a number of persons from Clarksburg, Virginia, engaged in laying out a road between that place and Marietta. At their urgent solicitation he returned with them to Clarksburg, where he practiced medicine for nearly two years. The Indian war began about this time, and Dr. Perkins witnessed some terrible scenes of border warfare. In one instance the savages killed and scalped a family near where the Doctor was passing the night. One member of the family, a girl about fourteen years old, was scalped and left for dead in the fence corner. Dr. Perkins found her the next morning, still alive, took her under his care, and with good treatment and an elastic constitution, she was finally restored to health.
In the autumn of 1790, Dr. Perkins returned to Connecticut and rejoined his family, whom he had not heard from, nor they from him, for nearly two years. During the next few years, he lived part of the time in Connecticut, and part of the time in Vermont, and practiced his profession. He finally decided to remove his family to the northwest, and they set out for Marietta the third of June. 1799. He had at this time seven children, the eldest of whom, then a young lady of fifteen (afterwards Mrs. David Pratt, of Athens), kept a journal of their trip to Marietta, which is now before us. She says:
“Mother had a pleasant, easy-going horse, so that she could, whenever she choose, relieve herself from the tiresome motion of the wagon by riding on horseback. The first Sabbath was spent at Brandon, Vermont. It being a rainy day, we did not attend church, but spent the day within doors. The second Sabbath was passed at Williamstown, Massachusetts, where we heard an excellent sermon from mother’s brother, the Rev. Ebenezer Fitch. The third Sabbath, we were at Salisbury, Connecticut, where we were hospitably and kindly entertained by friends of the name of Chittenden. Here we also spent Monday in order to recruit our provision chest, which we did abundantly with bread, pies, cakes, etc., through the kind assistance of our friends. The next week brought us into Pennsylvania.. At sunset on Saturday evening, we passed through Reading, intending to go a little into the country where we could find pasture for the team. About eleven o’clock we came to a large stone house with a sign for entertainment, where we were admitted. The next day was the Sabbath, and before evening, mother gave birth to twin daughters. We remained here three weeks, when, the babes being healthy, and mother’s health better than before, we resumed our journey. But now sickness began to prevail among the rest of the family, probably owing to the hot weather, bad water, and the abundance of fruit which was then ripe and very inviting to children, and doubtless, indulged in too freely by them. The people, at that time, along the mountains, were not very friendly to strangers, especially if they had sickness among them, fearing some contagious disease. Many of them were Dutch, and either did not, or pretended not to understand English, so that it was often with difficulty we found a place to lodge in. Several of the children were obliged to be placed on beds in the wagon, the motion of which, soon became so painful to them, as to make it necessary to suspend traveling for a time. A shelter was necessary. At last, with great difficulty, we found a hut that had been a blacksmith’s shop, with a blacksmith’s fireplace in it. There was no floor, but the shelter was better than nothing.
Here we remained ten days before the sick were so far recovered as to be able to bear the jolting of the wagon. We then traveled slowly, about six or seven miles a day, till we reached McKeesport on the Monongahela River. Here we were going to take a flatboat and pursue our journey immediately by water, but some of the children who had been sick took a relapse, and we were detained several weeks. By this time the river was so low as to make navigation dangerous, yet, as we were all so anxious to reach Marietta before cold weather, it was determined to try it. Father procured a flatboat of the largest and strongest sort, took in two men for rowers, and having placed the family and effects on board, with provisions for the voyage, we set out on the first of November, 1799. Owing to the extreme lowness of the water, we were three days in reaching Pittsburg—only about twelve miles. When we got into the Ohio River, it was very little better. At the end of the first day’s travel, about three miles below Pittsburg, our boat fastened on the rocks, swung round, and seemed in imminent danger of being broken in pieces. At length, by great exertions, it was freed from the rocks and got to shore. The children were, now so frightened they could not be persuaded to enter the boat again, nor were our parents much less alarmed. A consultation was, held, but what could they do? On both sides of the river stretched an unbroken wilderness. The team had previously been sent on by land in charge of the two oldest boys. There were two horses on the boat belonging to the rowers; these father agreed to take and endeavor, without road or compass, to cross the country by land with the family and meet the boat at Wheeling. Taking all of us and the two horses out would somewhat lighten the load, and the men thought they could get on with the boat. Mother was placed on one horse and I on the other, each of us with one child in her lap and one on the horse behind her Father took one of the babes in his arms, which he carried walking all the way to Wheeling, and the rest of the children walked beside him. In this, way we traveled about a week through the forest, sometimes finding little paths, and sometimes no trace at all. There were a few settlers through this region, and we were so fortunate as to find some sort of shelter every night. At last we reached Wheeling. The boat had not yet arrived, but reached there two days later. We all entered the boat once more, and having now more water, we floated along somewhat more easily. After another week of tedious travel, we landed at Marietta on the 18th of November, 1799. But our troubles were not ended. It was impossible to get a comfortable house, and for nearly two months we occupied one not at all fit for winter. One of the children was taken with bilious colic, and his life was despaired of for several weeks. About the last of December we got into a more comfortable house, and just then mother was seized with a nervous fever. Father doctored her and was assisted by other good physicians, but without avail. After a few days of painful sickness, her toils and trials were ended by death. Father was very much crushed by this affliction, and could hardly bear up. In the spring of 18oo father was invited by some gentlemen from the Athens settlement, on the Hockhocking, to settle there. He accepted the invitation and spent the summer practicing over a large extent of sparsely populated country. Having decided to locate at Athens, he procured a house, the best the place could afford, a log cabin with one room, one window, and one door. There was a spring of excellent water near the house, and a shed for horse and cow. Being unable to go for the family himself, he employed a trusty person to escort us through the wilderness from Marietta to Athens. Our goods were sent in a small boat down the Ohio, and up the Hockhocking. Only five of us went over at this time, the other four children being left temporarily with friends in Marietta. I rode on one horse with the babe in my lap, and one of the little girls behind me, and two of the boys rode another horse, the guide walked before and led the way.
At last we reached Athens in safety. We were well pleased with our new home, and rejoiced to be with father again, who was not less glad to see us once more. Here we enjoyed peace and happiness. The first settlers here were generally poor, and father found it easier to earn money than to collect it. If the people had not money to pay with, he never distressed them. We suffered many privations; most of our bread had to be prepared from grain ground on hand mills, or horse mills, or pounded in a mortar, dug out of a large stump, with a spring pole fastened to an iron wedge for a pestle. A hand mill was something like a large coffee mill fastened to the side of the house or to a tree close by.
In 1803, father married Miss Catherine Greene, a sister of Mr. Griffin Greene, a prominent citizen of Marietta. Her mother, an aged and pious lady, became an inmate of our family at this time. She died in 1807, in her ninetieth year, and was the first person buried in the old graveyard north of town.”
Dr. Perkins was a man of much culture and refined manners, and, being a skillful physician, his arrival in the community was hailed with general joy. His professional skill, gentle manners, and quiet Christian deportment gained him immediate popularity and influence, which he was prompt to exert in every good cause. He labored to establish and sustain common schools in the county, and was an ardent friend of and liberal contributor to the Ohio University, of which institution he was one of the first trustees, and for many years treasurer. He was postmaster at Athens for about seventeen years, and county treasurer for many years. His descendants are widely scattered. His sons, Chauncey and Jabez, studied medicine with their father at Athens. Jabez died January 12 th, 1843, having never married. Dr. Chauncey Perkins lives in Erie Pennsylvania. Eliphaz was a mechanic in early county, life, but studied for the ministry and preached for several years before his death; his descendants are in Kansas. John, another son of Dr. Perkins, is well known in Athens, where he has lived nearly seventy years. Henry, another son, graduated at the Ohio University, and in theology at Princeton, New Jersey. He has been pastor of a Presbyterian church at Allentown, New Jersey, over thirty years. One of Dr. Perkins’ daughters was married to Captain David Pratt, of Athens; another to Mr. Isaac Taylor, long known as a hotelkeeper in this town; another to Dr. Medbury, formerly a physician here; another to Dr. Win. Thompson, of Richmond, Ohio. Seven of Dr. Perkins’ descendants have been ministers of the gospel, and six the wives of ministers; he died at Athens, April 29th, 1828.
John Perkins, son of Dr. Eliphaz Perkins, was born in Leicester, Vermont, in 1791, and came to the town of Athens with his father’s family in the year 18oo. His father located at Athens on account of the prospective establishment of the Ohio University here, and since that time two of his sons, five grandsons and two great-grandsons have graduated at this institution. Mr. Perkins has lived in Athens nearly seventy years, and was postmaster here for about twenty-two years. He has been engaged in mercantile pursuits during a large part of his life, and is known in the county as a most upright man and a good citizen. Though nearly eighty years old, his firm step and clear mind bespeak a temperate life and approving conscience.
Capt. David Pratt, born at Colchester, Connecticut, in 1780, came with his father’s family to Marietta in 1798, and removed to Athens in 1812. Here he was for many years a successful teacher, ‘and there are old men living who well remember his thorough instruction and his stern discipline. In 1814 he married Miss Julia Perkins, eldest daughter of Dr. Eliphaz Perkins, whose Christian graces and excellence of character were long known and admired in Athens. To them were born three sons and three daughters, all of whom are now living. The sons are all graduates of the Ohio university; two of them, the Rev. Eliphaz Perkins Pratt and the Rev. John H. Pratt being well-known ministers of the Presbyterian church, and the third, Dr. Robert Pratt, a successful physician in Illinois.
David Pratt died in 1861 and his wife in 1867, aged eighty-three. They were both members of the Presbyterian church in Athens for more than half a century.
Silas Pruden, born in Norristown, New Jersey, in 1773, came to Athens county in 1815, and purchased the mills and farm east of Athens, then owned by Col. Jehiel Gregory, who soon after removed to Fayette county, Ohio. Mr. Pruden rebuilt and improved the mills, which were known as the “Pruden mills,” till about 1836, when Mr. Pruden sold them with the adjoining farm, etc., to J. B. & R. W. Miles. Mr. Pruden was a man of considerable means, and raised a highly respectable family of six sons and seven daughters. In November, 1832, one of his daughters, Achsah, was married to John Brough, late governor of Ohio. Mr. Pruden was a member of the Presbyterian church during his residence in the county, and a most worthy man. In 1837 he removed to Hocking county3 where he died, November30, 1856.
Samuel B. Pruden, son of Silas Pruden, was born at Norristown, New Jersey, January 17, 1798, and came to Athens county with his father’s family in 1815. On arriving at manhood he developed unusual capacity for business, and, during his long residence in the county, was one of her prominent and leading citizens. In 1826 he began the milling and wool-carding business at the “Bingham mills,” west of Athens, which he continued about ten years. In 1836 he established himself permanently about two miles below Athens, on the Hockhocking, where he erected an oil mill, a grist and saw mill, and in 1840 a salt boiling establishment. “The settlement that he here founded has long been known as Harmony. For many years Mr. Pruden carried on the manufacture of salt at this point, and also at Chauncey, in Dover township, where he owned another furnace. He was associate judge for one term, trustee of the Ohio university for several years, and represented the county in the state legislature in 1854-5. He also held the office of county surveyor for many years. As a member of the Masonic fraternity he advanced from one degree to another in that body, till he became commander of the Athens Encampment of Knights Templar. He died December 10, 1863.
Norman Root, born in Canaan, Litchfield county, Connecticut, January 22, 1798, removed to Ohio in 1816, and to the town of Athens about the year 1820. In 1824 he married Jane Brice, sister of Thomas Brice, long known as a leading citizen of Athens. In 1827 Mr. Root was elected county auditor, and served till 1839, being re-elected five times. He. was also, for many years, recorder of Athens, and held other positions of trust in the community, in all of which he discharged his duty with scrupulous fidelity. He was a man of great modesty and reticence, but of sound judgment and excellent business capacity. He was, for a long time, prominent as a Free Mason, and, for forty years, was a devoted and consistent member of the Methodist church. He died September 21, 1867.
Capt. Philip M. Starr, a native of Middletown, Connecticut, came to the town of Athens in 1801, where for several years he followed the mercantile business. Later he located on a rich and valuable farm on the river three miles below Athens where he died in 1857. Capt. Starr was a very active business man, and of more than average mental culture. He had considerable means when he came to the county, and though never in public life he was a man of influence among the early settlers. He devoted the latter part of his life to horticulture and fruit growing, in which he was notably successful.
Charles Shipman, for more than twenty years an active and leading citizen of Athens, was born in Saybrook, Connecticut, August 28, 1787. He came to Marietta, with his father’s family, in 1790, and they remained in the “stockade”’ during the Indian war. Colonel Shipman came to the town of Athens in 1813, and engaged in merchandising, in which line his business talent and popular manners soon gave him decided prominence,’ and ultimately large success. In early times he visited Philadelphia for the purchase of goods, once every year, and sometimes twice a year, always on horseback. Some of the old citizens of Athens still remember the fine sorrel horse, long owned by Colonel Shipman, on which he thus made nineteen trips from Athens to Philadelphia and back.
Colonel Shipman was a man of fine social qualities, genial manners, and benevolent heart. He was the first, or one of the first, merchants in this part of the state to discard the sale of intoxicating drinks, to stop the practice of “treating” customers, and to engage actively in the temperance cause. He was, during the most of his life, a professor of religion, and for many years a ruling elder of the Presbyterian church of Athens.
Colonel Shipman (he was elected colonel of a militia regiment during his residence at Athens) married Frances White Dana, of Belpre, in 1811. She died in 1813. The only issue of this marriage was a son, William C. Shipman, for many years past a citizen of New Albany, Indiana. In 1815 he married Joanna, the eldest daughter of Esquire Henry Bartlett, who is still living in Marietta. Colonel Shipman left Athens in 1836 to reside at Marietta, where he died July 7, 1860.
Abel Stedman, son of Judge Alexander Stedman, was born at Newbridge, Vermont, February 26, 1785, and came to the town of Athens in 1802. In 1811 he married Miss Sally Foster. In 1812 he enlisted in the United States service, and on the march from Sandusky to Chillicothe he marched next in the ranks to Thomas Corwin. Returning to Athens he engaged in his trade of house carpenter, and passed the rest of his days here. He was a man of active temperament and untiring industry, a professing christian and full of good works. He died December 20, 1859.
Nelson H. Van Vorhes, son of Abraham Van Vorhes, himself for many years a leading citizen of the county, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, January 23d, 1822. In 1832 his father removed with his family to Athens county; and settled in Alexander township. In 1836, his father having bought the Western Spectator and removed to Athens, Nelson entered the printing office as an apprentice. He worked diligently here for some years, part of the time having sole conduct of the paper, as his father was elected to the state legislature, and was absent for several winters. In 1844 he purchased the paper, which he continued to publish (a portion of the time in connection with his brother A. J. Van Vorhes), till 1861 as the Athens Messenger. During this time he took an active part in the political contests of the day and in furthering the home and local interests of the county. He served from 1850 to 1853 in the state legislature; in 1853 was Whig candidate for secretary of state; but, with the rest of the ticket, failed of election; in 1854 was elected probate judge of the county, but resigned to become a candidate again for the legislature. He was elected, and became speaker of the house, which position he held during two sessions. In 1857 he was re-elected, to the legislature. In 1858 he was republican candidate for congress in the 11th district, but was not able to overcome the democratic majority. He was a delegate to the Chicago convention in 186o, and took an active part in the presidential campaign which followed. At the breaking out of the war in 1861, Mr. Van Vorhes enlisted as a private in the first company of infantry raised at Athens, and on the election of officers was chosen first lieutenant. In 1862, he was appointed colonel of the 92d Ohio regiment of infantry, which command he retained, serving in Western Virginia, till the summer of 1863, when, his health completely failing, he was forced to resign. Col. Van Vorhes has never fully recovered his health.. He has held various local offices during the past few years, and possesses, in as high degree as ever, the confidence and respect of the community.
Archibald B. Walker, son of Dr. Ezra Walker, was born in East Poultney, Vermont, October 15th, 1800, and came to Ames township with his father’s family when ten years old. In 1825 he married Lucy W., daughter of Judge Silvanus Ames, and in 1826 they removed to the town of Athens, where they have since resided continuously, and reared a family of two sons and four daughters. Soon after coming to Athens, Mr. ‘Walker, having formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, James J. Fuller, engaged for a few years in the cattle-driving and pork-packing business. In 1839 they commenced the manufacture of salt at the old furnace, opposite Chauncey, afterward owned by Judge Pruden, and soon after they bored the wells and erected the furnaces now owned by M. M. Greene & Co., at Salina. For a period of twenty years the firm name of Fuller & Walker was well and favorably known in the valley. The partnership was dissolved in 1853. Since that time, Mr. Walker has not engaged in active business on his own account. During his long residence in the county, he has always been one of the most prompt to embrace, and ardent in the support of every useful local enterprise. At home and abroad, in personal intercourse and through the press, he has ever been ready and efficient in advocating the development of the county, and presenting her claims. He was one of the original friends, and for several years a director of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, and an early and strenuous advocate for the construction of the Hock-hocking Valley railroad, which is now building under the energetic control of younger men, and which he is likely to live to see finished.
Having been through his whole life scrupulously faithful and exact in the discharge of every duty, public and private, Mr. Walker is peacefully completing the last stage of a long and worthy career in the very spot where he began it. If his part has been acted on a comparatively narrow stage, it has nevertheless, been well acted—"there all the honor lies.” Happy in the respect of his neighbors and the affection of children and grand-children, he possesses, in the words of Shakespeare:
“That which should accompany old age,
As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends.”
John Welch, born in 1805, in Harrison county, Ohio, came to Athens county about 1828, and settled in Rome township. Here he and his brother Thomas Welch bought the “Beebe mill,” at that time owned by their father, and for some years he pursued the milling business. While performing his duties as miller, Mr. Welch studied law with Professor Joseph Dana of Athens, going some fourteen miles to recite once in a week or two. Having finished his studies and prepared to change his vocation, he removed to Athens, where he was admitted to the bar in 1833 by the supreme court of Ohio, sitting in Athens county. In this field his success was assured from the start. His eminent abilities, indefatigable industry and devotion to his profession soon placed him at the head of the Athens bar, and finally among the ablest lawyers of the state. He was prosecuting attorney of Athens county for several years; a member of the state senate in 1846—7; a representative in congress in 1851—2; and judge of the common pleas court from 1862 to 1865. February 23d, 1865, he was appointed by the governor, judge of the supreme court of Ohio, in place of Rufus. P. Ranney, resigned, and in October, 1865, was elected for Judge Ranney’s unexpired term. In October, 1867, he was elected for the fall term, and occupies the position at the present time.
Judge Welch’s career, which has been attended with honorable and solid success, is a sufficient eulogy upon his character as a man and citizen, and his ability as a lawyer.
Thomas F. Wildes was born at Racine, in the dominion of Canada, June I, 1834, came to Ohio with his father’s family in 1839, and to Athens in 1861 as the editor of the Athens Messenger Mr. Wildes was an ardent republican, and in August, 1862, exchanging the pen for the sword, he entered the military service as lieutenant colonel of the 116th Ohio infantry. He was in active service with this regiment during the next two and a half years, in the army of West Virginia, part of the time commanding a brigade. In February, 1865, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the i86th Ohio volunteer infantry, and assigned to duty in the Army of the Cumberland. March 11th, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier general and commanded a brigade in the army last named till he was mustered out in September, 1865. He graduated at the law school in Cincinnati in 1866, and has since practiced his profession at Athens.
Jonathan Wilkins, one of the earliest inhabitant’s of Athens, was a man of very considerable learning, and for some time taught a pioneer school. Of his son, Timothy Wilkins, the following reminiscence is furnished by Dr. C. F. Perkins; it is hardly less strange than the history immortalized by Tennyson in “Enoch Arden.”
Mr. Wilkins was skillful and enterprising in business, but, through no fault of his own, became embarrassed, was hard pressed by creditors, and pursued by writs. In those days, when a man could be imprisoned for a debt of ten dollars, to fail in business was an awful thing. Wilkins was not dishonest, but had a heart to pay’ if he could. He battled bravely with his misfortunes for a considerable period, but with poor success. One day in the year 1829, full of despair, he came from his home west of town, across the Hockhocking, and having transacted some business with the county clerk went out, and was supposed to have returned home. The next morning it became known that he was not at his house. Inquiry and search being made, the boat in which he usually crossed the river was seen floating bottom upward, and his hat was also found swimming down the stream. Mr. Wilkins was a popular man in the community; news of his loss soon spread, the people gathered from every quarter and measures were taken to recover the body. The river was dragged, a cannon was fired over the water, and other means resorted to, but to no purpose; the body was not found. The excellent Mrs. Wilkins put on mourning, and friends remembered the departed for a time with affectionate regret. As time sped, the sad incident was forgotten, and Timothy Wilkins passed out of mind. His wife, faithful for a time to his memory, had for years been the wedded partner of another, and a little family was growing up around the remarried woman and her second husband, Mr. Goodrich, himself a well known and worthy citizen.
In 1834 [sic - 1814] a vague rumor—an undefined whisper from the distant southwest—circulated through the settlement that Mr. Wilkins yet survived. Soon more positive assertions were made, and finally it was said that the missing man was alive and on his way home. At last a neighbor received a letter from Wilkins, announcing his approach; fearing to shock his wife by a sudden appearance, he had himself originated the rumors of safety, and now announced that he would soon be in Athens. He knew of his wife’s second marriage, and in friendly spirit proposed to meet her and Mr. Goodrich. Much excitement and distress ensued. Mr. Wilkins arrived; there was a cordial meeting and strange interview among the parties most concerned. The conference was friendly and satisfactory. Messrs. Wilkins and Goodrich honestly left to the wife of their rivalship the final choice of her companion, and she selected her first love, to the great grief, but with the full acquiescence of her second. The reunited pair bade adieu to their friends, and together set out for the distant south.
Mr. Wilkins’s disappearance was a ruse to escape his creditors. He went to New Orleans, engaged successfully in boating, accumulated money enough to pay off all his debts, which he honorably did, and returned to claim his beloved.
Natalie Cottrill, “An Annotated Biographical History of Athens County, Ohio”ProGenealogists (Online: ProGenealogists, Inc., 2004) [some original text by Charles M. Walker, published in Cincinnati, Ohio by Robert Clarke & Co., 1869, History of Athens County, Ohio and Incidentally of the Ohio Land Company and the First Settlement of the State at Marietta with personal and biographical sketches of the early Settlers, narratives of pioneer adventures, etc.], http://www.progenealogists.com/athens/athenstownship2.htm.
