Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/940

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��BIOGKAPHICAL SKETCHES:

��three miles to school in order to obtain that ; when but 15 years of age, he made his hand as cradler in com- pany ; he had a doctor visit him but once in his life ; he came to the State of Ohio in 1835, and located in Holmes Co., where he remained eighteen months. His father, .Jonathan Norris, was born March 80, 1793 ; he was a farmer by occupation. He was married to Jane Feley ; she was of Irish descent, and was born in Sep- tember, 1788; she had five daughters and two sons by Jonathan Norris ; she also had a son and daughter by Jacob Long, her first husband ; William Norris and his sister Jennie (Lee) Norris are all that are alive of the second set of children Jonathan Norris came to Ohio in 1835, and settled in Holmes Co., where he re- mained over one year ; he owned 80 acres of land, which he sold and came to Worthington Township, where he bought 160 acres, which he improved. His wife died Feb. 19, 1861, and he died Nov. 26, 1861. William Feley, Mrs. Jane Norris' father, served in the Revolutionary war ; he had a finger shot off which came near mortifying ; he was subsequently discharged from service on account of it; on his way home he slept in the woods, rolled up in his blanket ; one morn- ing he awoke to find two feet of snow over him. Will- iam Norris was married to Margaret Measle Dec. 11, 1842) who was born Aug. 11, 1818, in the State of Maryland ; she bore him three sons and three daugh- ters-^Amos D., Susan H., Nancy, John and Mary (twins), John died in his 17th year. Margaret Norris died Oct. 18, 1866, after a wedded life of twenty-four years. Mr. Norris was married to Rebecca Daugherty March 3, 1868 ; she was a daughter of Charles Daugh- erty, whose history is elsewhere stated in this book ; she was born May 30, 1840 ; she is the mother of three sons and two daughters-— Charley D., Nicholas, Jennie, Minnie and Franklin, who died March 13, 1879 ; he was born March 20, 1878. Mr. Norris' first land was 80 acres of the old homestead, now occupied by John Bittinger ; he afterward bought 80 acres in Jefferson Township, which he sold and made .^300 ; afterward bought the Samuel Hoover farm of 56 acres, which he sold and made 82,400 ; then bought 80 acres of Mr. Hammet for |1,200 ; then the Teeter estate of 80 acres for §1,800 ; then his father's estate of 80 acres ; after- ward the Mike Croner farm of 80 acres for ij!3,300, and sold to a daughter and son-in-law for $3,300 ; then 80 acres in Paulding Co., Ohio, for $800 ; he also has a single lot and a lot of two acres in Mansfield, Ohio ; bought 50 acres of the William Darling estate for $2,500 ; he owns a lot in Independence. Mr. Norris owns 452 acres ; he has paid to his first five children $6,000 ; his last children are to receive the same in addition to their regular share. Mr. Norris was not worth $5 when 21 years of age ; he has always been temperate in his habits, worked hard and econ- omized. He never chewed tobacco, nor swore, never smoked a cigar in his life. He is worth from $35,000 to .$40,000. He never received any estate from his or wife's parents. He owns the finest house in Worth- ington Township, and is called one of the finest busi- ness men.

PEARCE, JAMES W., merchant, Independence. His father, Lewis Pearce, was born in Allegheny Co., Penn. ; he was a farmer by occupation his wife's

��maiden name was Lydia Bowser; she was born in the city of Philadelphia ; her father was super- intendent of a glass factory ; they were married in Williamsport, Penn., and emigrated to Richland Co. in 1811 ; they had ei^ht children — Sai'ah, An- drew, William Bowser, Elizabeth, James W., Lucinda, Hannah Jane, Ayers — all lived to marry and raise fami- lies. They had many hardships to endure ; they went to Lancaster for flour, to Zanesville for salt, and to Wooster for clothing and groceries ; the balance of the time was spent in farming and clearing the land. They lived in Knox Co., near Frederickstown, about twelve years — where they died in 1852, the mother three months before the father, she being 70 years of age, and Mr. Pearce 75. James W. Pearce was born in a little log cabin in Green Township (now Ashland Co.) June 19, 1814 ; he soon learned to endure the privations of a pioneer boy; when 20 years of age, he went to Lancaster, Fairfield Co., where he worked in a flouring-mill one year, and for the next five years he was Superintendent for the construction of the Hock- ing Valley Canal, under the employ of the State ; he went to Brownsville, Knox Co., where he became a merchant in 1841. He married Emily C. Dunkan, July 14, 1842; he removed to North Liberty in 1849, where he opened a store ; he removed it to Independ- ence in 1856, where he carries on a store and gen- eral banking business ; he has been freight and ex- press agent for fifteen years ; he has had a family of three sous and four daughters — Alwilda, who married Charles Weant ; William A., who married Louisa, daughter of the Rev. James Williams; lona, who married Dr. J. M. McLaughlin ; Quintilla, married to James .J. Aungst ; James B. Pearce, Heenan A. Pearce and Emma A. Pearce.

PEALER, JOHN F., farmer; P. Newville ; was born in the town of Bighenbauch, Darmstadt, Ger- many, Dec. 14, 1804. His father's name was Peter Pealer, and his mother's maiden name, Fredrica Hart- man. His father, was a farmer, by occupation : the subject of this sketch was trained by his parents ; he remained with his fat her, assisting him in hi s farming operations, till about the time he maintained his majority ; in the meantime, however, he was sent to school, and, by due diligence, succeeded in acquiring a pretty fair knowledge of the common German branches. While yet a young man, he was united in marriage to his cousin. Miss Margaret, second daughter of Fredrick and Eve E. Pealer, of Seheim, a town in his native State, Oct. 27, 1827. Margaret Pealer was born Sept. 22, 1807. Mr. Pealer and wife came to this country in the fall of 1838; after landing in New York, they wended their way to Richland Co., Ohio, and settled near Newville, in AVorthington Township; when they arrived at their destination, all they could reasonably call their own, was a family of three small children, a few articles of bed-clothing, a scanty wardrobe, and $1.20 in money ; they secured the use of a stable, into which they moved, and where they continued to reside till better quarters could be obtained ; ere long they found a vacant cabin, which they occupied during the winter in the spring next ensuing, they removed to a cabin at Hemlock Falls, in the same township, and in the same vicinity ;

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