History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

Rev. Randall Ross was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., in 1818, and came to Sharon in 1848 to take charge of the Sharon and Cumberland Associate Reformed churches (afterward United Presbyterian). About 1851 he founded Sharon College, which he taught until the outbreak of the war. For some time he edited the Consolidated Republican, a county newspaper. In 1861 he went into the army as a private in the Sixty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After serving about eighteen months he was appointed chaplain of the Fifteenth Regiment with which he served until the close of the war. He went to New Concord, Guernsey County, and thence to Missouri, where he died in 1877.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

Robert Rowland is from an early Morgan County family. His father was born in Pennsylvania in 1805, and his mother in West Virginia in 1813. They came to Morgan County about 1816. The family consisted of six sons and six daughters. Robert, the fifth child, was born in Sharon Township in 1843, and is a farmer. He married in 1873 Susannah Shuster, of Morgan County; children: Loisa C., Charles S. and Clara B. Mr. Rowland belongs to the Democratic party.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

Hugh Shields ws born in Berkeley County, Va., February 2, 1809. His parents were natives of the same State. His father, a soldier of 1812, came to Ohio soon after 1830. In 1836 Hugh Shields entered at government price ($1.25 per acre), eighty acres of land where he now lives. The country was then wild and primitive. Mr. Shields has followed farming all his life. He was married in Belmont County in 1833, to Mary Lowman, and is the father of seven sons and two daughters. Four sons and one daughter are still living.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

George Shields was born in Sharon Township in 1856. In 1879 he married Miss Addie Dyer. They have two children living - Mary L. and Oakey Owens. Both he and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

Matthew Steen, of Sharon, is of Irish descent. His grandfather lived, it is supposed, to the age of one hundred and four years. The father of Matthew was born in Pennsylvania in 1800 and died in Sharon in 1885. The family came to Noble County in 1847.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

James H. Stewart was born in Noble County in 1831. In 1858 he married Mary J. Coulter, and they have three children. The Stewart family were pioneers in Belmont County, living there in a fort while hostile Indians still roamed through the country, frequently having Louis Wetzel as their guest. The family came to what is now Noble County in 1824. The father of James H. was a soldier of 1812.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

The Stout family came from New Jersey to Belmont County and thence, in 1820, to the vicinity of Olive Green. One of the family married Christina Matilda Ann Harmon, and reared five sons and three daughters. Enoch, one of the sons, died at Vicksburg during the siege. George Edward Stout was born in 1860 and lives on the homestead farm. In 1880 he married Cordelia Baker, of Brookfield Township; children: Emil, Florence and Lydia Francis. Mr. Stout is an enterprising farmer, a Republican and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Levi Millard Stout was born near Olive Green in 1846. His grandfather was an early settler, a native of New Jersey, who came to this towhship in 1820 from Belmont County. He was married in 1869 to Clarissa D. Gooden, of Olive Township. They have had six children: Happy N., Charity R. (deceased), Thirsa L., Albert M., Alta L. and Florence E.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

Philip Swank was born in 1828 in the house which he now occupies. His father, who was a soldier of 1812, was born in Belmont County; his mother, nee Harriet Paul, in Pennsylvania. They had twelve children, of whom Philip was the fourth. He married Hannah Dye in 1847. They have had seven children, of whom five are living. Mr. Swank is a Democrat. He and wife belong to the Methodist Protestant church.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

J.W. Swank, a well-known merchant, is a representative of one of the early families. His grandfathers were from Pennsylvania and his maternal grandfather served in the War of 1812. The maiden name of his mother was Barbara Pickenpaugh. She was married in 1823. J.W. Swank, the third of ten children, was born in Sharon Township in 1829 and has followed farming and the mercantile business. He is a Democrat in politics. In 1850 he married Jane Brownrigg, of this township. They have had five children. Their daughter Lillian married James Arnold and died at the age of nineteen. Mrs. Swank is a Baptist.

The breeding of deer is a feature of Mr. Swank's business. He first obtained black-tailed deer from Nebraska; but on trial, found that the climate did not agree with them. Afterward, obtaining cotton-tail deer, he was very successful in raising them. They run with the cows and are easily domesticated. At present he has thirteen on hand.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

John W. Swank was born in Morgan County, in 1858. His father was a native of Belmont County. John W. was married in 1882, to Mary Archibald, of this township; children: Clara E., Laura Adelle and Flora Mabel. Mr. Swank is a Democrat.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

Solomon Walters was born in Belmont County, in 1825. His father and grandfather were Pennsylvanians, and the latter served in the Revolutionary War. His father was born in 1801, and came to Belmont County in 1805. In 1824 he married Mary Ann Montgomery, in Belmont County, and in 1829 settled on land which he had entered, in the present township of Sharon. Solomon Walters is by occupationa farmer and miller. He is a Democrat politically. Mr. Walters married Mary Kuntz of this township, in 1850. She died in 1879, having borne seven children, of whom two are deceased.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

Peter Walters was born June 8, 1847, on the farm where he now lives. His father, a native of Belmont County, came to this vicinity and married Zillah, daughter of Samuel Sailor, the pioneer of the township, by whom he had seven children, five of whom are living. Peter Walters married Harriet Kuntz, of this county, in 1869. They are members of the Baptist church. Mr. Walters is a Republican in politics.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

James B. Wigginton, hotel-keeper at Sharon, was born in Frederick County, Va., Mary 25, 1831. His parents were natives of Virginia, and his grandfather served in the Revolutionary War. Mr. Wigginton volunteered in the Union army, in 1861, in the Fourth Kentucky Infantry, and served through the war, participating in the battle of Chickamauga, the siege of Vicksburg, and other engagements of less prominence. July 30, 1864, he was captured while crossing the Chattahoochee River, on the Sherman raid, and taken to Andersonville prison, where he suffered indescribable misery and cruelty.

At Lafayette, Ga., he was wounded in the right hand, and also in the neck. He was exchanged in June, 1865, and honorably discharged on the 14th of that month. In 1866 he came to Noble County. In 1870 he married Elizabeth H. Bickett, of this county. They have four children living and one deceased. Those living are Willie Wilbert, Winfield Scott, Mary Briscoe and Charles Culver. Mr. Wigginton is a Republican.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

William WIley, one of the pioneers of Noble County, was a native of Pennsylvania, and served in the War of the Revolution. About the close of the war he was obliged to flee with his family to escape massacre by the Indians. In the year 1808 he came to what is now Noble County. He was a weaver by trade and settled on a tract of land now owned by Mr. Shafer, southwest of Caldwell. After a residence of four years he moved to Sharon Township, settling on a farm now owned by John E. Marquis, one-half acre of which he gave for burial purposes. His death occurred in 1816, and his was the first grave in the little cemetary. His son, Thomas Wiley, was born in 1795; after the death of his father he removed to a small farm three miles southwest of Sharon. He married Elizabeth Fogle. They had nine children, seven of whom grew to maturity. The mother died in 1858, aged sixty-one, the father in 1871 in the seventy-sixth year of his age; he was a farmer and a Democrat in politics. William Wiley, grandson of the pioneer, was born in Sharon. He acquired the trade of a carpenter, which he followed for many years. He married Nancy Bigley. He has had seven children, two of whom are dead. Politically he is a Democrat.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

Jacob W. Wiley, a descendant of one of the early settlers, was born in this county in 1825. His grandfather was among the first settlers of the Duck Creek Valley, coming to Ohio from Pennsylvania. He donated the land for the old graveyard at Sharon, and his remains were the first buried there. Jacob was the third of a family of ten children. He is one of the representative farmers of the township, owing 246 acres of excellent land. He was married in 1846 to Francena Gallatin, of Morgan County. They have had two son and four daughters, of whom the following are living: Jeremiah T., Jerusha Q., John C. and Nancy J. The family belong to the Methodist Protestant church. Mr. Wiley is a Democrat.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

Frederick Yerian is a grandson of Frederick Yerian, an early settler, and was born in Jackson Township, Noble County, in 1837. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and in early times used to make guns from the "raw material," drilling the barrels and making the lock and stock himself. Frederick learned this trade. In 1847 he came to Sharon, and for the last fourteen years has carried on the drug business here. He enlisted September 21, 1864, in the Twenty-second Ohio Light Artillery and served until July 13, 1865. In 1869 he married Nancy E., daughter of Samuel Wiley, of Sharon Township; children - Lizzie E.J., William E., Mary W., Kate, Samuel F., Charles E., Cora L. and Susannah J. Kate married Samuel Wallace and died in 1884. The others are living. Mr. Yerian is a Democrat.

Frederick Yerian, Sr., was an early German settler. He was for some years engaged in operating a grist-mill and saw-mill. He injured his foot by stepping on a nail, the leg was amputated and he died from the effects of the operation. His son John was a gunsmith and learned his trade in Zanesville.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

John Brownrigg, Sr. was one of the prominent early settlers of waht is now Sharon Township. He was born in England, where he married. Five children were there born to them: Elizabeth, William, Sarah, Mary and John. In 1818 he immigrated to this country with four of his children. Elizabeth, the eldest, remaining in her native place, the mother having died. The family landed in Baltimore, Md., thence they came to Pittsburgh, and from there to Steubenville, Ohio, in a flat boat. Here the family spent the winter, the boat being their home. The following spring they voyaged to Marietta and from thence to the place where the family now reside. Here the elder Brownrigg entered 640 acres of land. He was a thorough and energetic farmer, and soon after his arrival built a log house, 36 x 40, and two stories in height. In 1820, the year follwing his settlement, he built a barn which was the admiration of the pioneer farmers for miles around. This structure, the wall of which are still standing, was one hundred feet in length; the floors were puncheon and are still in good repair. He died in 1856, aged eighty-four years. He was an Episopalian in religious belief, and for many years one of the leading citizens of the township. Of his children, John Hr., is the only one living. He was born in England, May 15, 1807, and is one of the few who have witnessed the tranisition of a wilderness to a fertile and productive country. He remained with his father until his decease, at which time he received 240 acres of the paternal estate. He has been a thrifty and prosporous farmer, and at one time owned 1,100 acres of valuable land. He says that when his father settled in Sharon, that Silus Sailor was their nearest neighbor, and that they occupied his stable until they could erect a cabin. He married in 1829 Miss Matilda, daughter of Robert and Jane Caldwell. Four children were the result of this union: Jane (Swank), Elizabeth (Ellison), who died in 1887, William and Sarah (Kildrow). William, the only son, was born in Sharon Township and resides on the homestead farm. He married Miss Nancy G., daughter of Samuel and Jane Norris. They have six children: Emma (Jones), Lewis M., Mary (Bozman), John W., May and Lillie. The fertile fields and substantial improvements attest Mr. Brownrigg's skill and success as a farmer. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and a pronounced Democrat.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Sharon

Joshua Wolf was an early settler on the Taylor farm, near Lexington. He kept tavern. His place was a great resort in early times. Many shooting-matches were held there. Wolf also followed blacksmithing. His father, John Wolf, a veritable backwoodsman, was an early settler at Lexington and had a blacksmith shop there.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Marion

Eliza Large, a widow with a family of five sons and one daughter - Robert, Thomas (step-son), Samuel, henry, Richard and Ann (Craig), came form Canada in 1828. The family were originally from Queens County, Ireland. Mrs. Large bought 160 acres of land, which is now owned by her son Henry and John Lemmax. Henry is the only one of the family living in the county. She was a lady of oridinary ability and a kind Christian woman. She died in 1863.

Richard Large, a cabinet-maker, and Samuel Johns, a blacksmith, were among the early residents of Freedom.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Marion

Jesse Moseley, a brother of Charles Moseley, was an early settler. He was a native of Tennessee, and for a time lived in the family of the father of Andrew Johnson. He was born in 1866 and died in 1885. He was a mechanic, and was favorably known to many of the old settlers of the region.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Marion

James Lemmax came from Pittsburgh in 1818, and bought 160 acres from William and David Sutton. In 1820 he located upon his land and remained four years, then rented it and returned to Pittsburgh, where he remained until September, 1830. He then came back to his farm and there remained until his death. He worked hard and so managed as to secure a piece of land for each of his children. He was a man of more than ordinary ability and energy, accomplishing what he undertook; a man of rather peculiar mechanical genius, a worker in either wood or iron; would imitate in either stone, leather, wood or iron anything he saw or took a notion to do.

On one occasion a hunter name McBride, who lived five or six miles away, was chasing a deer past the house of James Lemmax. Mrs. Lemmax saw it, and sent a bulldog in pursuit. The dog caught it as it was attempting to leap a fence, and with the assistance of Mrs. Lemmax, kept the deer down until her son came with a butcher knife and dispatched it. Mrs. Lemmax was considerably bruised and her dress torn by the struggling animal. When the hunters came up she tendered them the deer, but they refused to accept it, saying she deserved the prize for her pluck.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Marion

The Danfords of Noble County are very numerous, and also very worthy citizens. They are descended from three brothers - Samuel, William and Ambrose Danford, who came from New Jersey to Belmont County, and thence to what is now Marion Township very early. William was soldier of 1812, and died in the service. Samuel was a prominent and influential man among the early settlers. He was a successful farmer and acquired a comfortable property. He was the father of fifteen children - Morris, Michael, Peter, William, Samuel, Benjamin, Rachel, Rebecca, Sarah, Elizabeth, Lucretia, Nancy, Mary, Hannah and Ruth. Samuel Danford, Jr., was born near Summerfield, in 1818, and is now one of the prominent farmers of Sharon Township. He married, first, Jane Adair, by whom he had three children - Catherine, James W. and John S. Rev. James W. Danford, of the Methodist Episcopal Conference, is now stationed at Dexter City. He was born in Belmont County, whither his father had removed soom after his marriage. He learned the carpenter's trade in early life, but became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married Mary Mitten, and is the father of four children.

Samuel Danford, his wife and four children came to the farm now owned by Peter R. Danford, in 1806. In 1812 they left and returned to Belmont County, not wishing to be so far from civilization during the war. The family returned to the old place about 1817. The father died in 1845, and the mother in 1871. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the Danford residence was the preaching place for the neighborhood. Lucretia Danford was born in Belmont County in 1817. She lived on the home farm until about fifteen years ago, when she bought the place on which she now lives. She has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since she was twenty years of age. Thaddeus Shepherd's wife is a niece of Lucretia Danford, and has lived with her from infancy.

Peter R. Danford, son of one of the early settlers, was born in Marion Township in 1840. He remained at home until 1862, whe he married Jane D. Cleary. By this union he has five children, all living - Lorenzo C., Alice M., John E., Hiram R. and Dempsey R. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Danford is a prominent and successful farmer.

Peter H. Danford was born in 1847. In 1872 he married Rosanna Cleary; children: Luella M., Ann E., Irene and Edgar R. He is a farmer and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Charity Martin (nee Danford) was born in Belmont County in 1823, and in 1825 came to Marion Township with her parents. In 1842 she married John H. Martin. Six children were born to them - Silas, Rheul, Morris D., Peter, John A. and Simeon F. Four are still living, three on the homestead. John H. Martin died in 1855. The family are members of the Chritian church.

Michael Danford was born in Belmont County, October 9, 1802. He was the son of Samuel and Nancy Danford. His father came to Belmont County in 1798, and there married Nancy Metheney, August 20, 1800, and came to what is now Noble County in 1807. In 1813 he was compelled to return to Belmont County on account of Indian troubles, returning to Noble County in the year 1817. Michael never married. He came in his childhood to what is now Noble County and lived and died there. He commenced first in teaching school, investing his very small wages in government lands, which he would lease for improvements. These lands became valuable in after life. Owning a large amount of lands, he was more or less interested in farming, but his principal busines was loaning money, discounting paper, etc. His entire life from early childhood was strictly moral. He had no well defined Christian faith. At one time in early life he joined the Methodist Episcopal church, but did not feel at home and soon withdrew, and never joined any other church or society of any kind. He was a man of strong and logical mind, and had many eccentricities. He died in his sixty-seventh year, possessed of a considerable amount of wealth, of which he made no disposition. His last sickness was short and his death unexpected. He never held any very important offices - never seemed to have any desire or anxiety for what he termed trifles.

Samuel Danford, son of Peter Danford, a resident of New Jersey, was born December 29, 1774, and on the 20th day of August, 1800, was united in marriage to Nancy Matheney, in Belmont County, Ohio. Their union was blessed by the birth of seven sons and nine daughters, all of whom, with one exception, lived to the estate of manhood and womanhood. About the year 1813 Mr. Danford removed to what is now Marion Township, this county, the country then having only here and there a cabin. After a short sojourn here he was compelled, on account of the Indians, to move back to Belmont County, where he staid until the Indian trouble was passed; then returned to this county, where he was an extensive farmer and landowner, and where he died in 1845.

Morris Danford, the oldest son of Samuel and Nancy Danford, was born in Belmont County, August 18, 1801, and, being the oldest of the family, had to brave the hardships and privations incident to frontier life. When but twelve years old he traveled from Captina Creek in Belmont County, to their home on Glady Cree, this county, alone and through the unbroken forest, the distance being twenty-five or thirty miles. When fourteen or fifteen years old he and a younger brother staid alone all winter in the cabin on Glady, to take care of the stock, while the family were in Belmont County. Under these sturdy influences he grew up to manhood, and married, on the 2d day of January, 1823, Amney S. Alford, of Monroe County, who bore him three sons and two daughters, two of whom are now living - Simeon, in Jackson Township, and Charity (Martin), in Marion. Mrs. Danford died on the 8th of January, 1835. He was afterward united in marriage to Eliza Hinton, on the 26th of January, 1837, which union was blessed by three sons and three daughters. Three of these children are living - Sarah, Samuel T. and Peter H. Seven of his children lived to the age of maturity, four sons and three daughters, six of the number being school-teachers, notably the eldest son, Silas, who made teaching a business for eight years. Three of the sons have been class-leaders in the Methodist Episcopal church.

Morris Danford was a plain man of honesty and integrity, unassuming in manner and quiet in disposition. Hi counsels were much sought after, and his precept and example always tended to do good and keep peace. He was much interested in public education, and for many years the burden of the school business fell on him. For many years he performed the duties of justice of the peace, for twenty years was a trustee of the township in which he lived (Marion), and was chosen infirmary director, and helped to institute the present County Infirmary.

In politics he was a Whig, until the formation of the Republican party, after which he was a stanch Republican and abolitionist. In religion he was of the Disciples' or Christian faith. A kind husband and father, he always tried to inculcate in the minds of his family that a good character was more to be desired and sought after than any other earthly attainment. His name was a synonym for honesty and purity; his word was regarded equal to his bond, and he acquired a reputation for correctness and painstaking in the details of the business which is equaled by few and excelled by none. He was cautious to a fault, and has been heard to say that he never paid one cent of law costs or one cent of interest in his life. He died on the 22d day of March, 1872, at the age of seventy-one, after a very energetic and useful life.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Marion

Captain John Brown, whose biography appears in Chapter XV, was born in Dumferline, Scotland, in 1818. At the age of sixteen he enlisted in the regiment of Scotch Highlanders, and then received the military education which he utilized to such good advantage in after time. In 1836 he came to this country and settled in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where he followed his trade, that of a linen weaver. He married in Philadelphia, Pa., a Miss Farlow. She died in Steubenville, Ohio. In St. Clairsville he made the acquaintance of Miss Matilda McConnell, a native of that village, whom he married for his second wife. About 1852 he came to Noble County and purchased a farm near Summerfield. In 1862 he joined the Ninety-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and upon its organization was commissioned first lieutenant. June following he was promoted to captaincy. At the battle of Chickamauga he was severely wounded in the foot and died in Nashville, Tenn., October 5, 1863. Had he lived he would have distinguished himself. He was brave to rashness, and one of the most thoroughly drilled officers in the service.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Marion