Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/945

 WORTHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

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��Joseph Snavely, their fifth son, was trained by his par- ents to habits of industry, sobriety, frugality and strict integrity ; early in life, he commenced taking lessons of his father in the art of husbandry ; he was an apt student, and ere he attained his majority, had acquired a pretty thorough knowledge of his occupation. In April, 1847, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Good ; the first land owned by Joseph Snavely was 2 acres in this township, now owned and occupied by Sam- uel Snyder ; he bought this lot for |100, and subse- quently sold it for the same ; the next farm he owned contained 25 acres, and was situated in Sandusky Town- ship, near the Crawford Co. line ; this lot cost him |400, and he sold it for $525 ; he subsequently purchased 80 acres in Ionia Co., Mich., for $400, and sold it for $600 ; his next purchase was 40 acres in his native township, for which he paid |950, and afterward sold it for the same price ; he then purchased the old homestead for $4,300; his next purchase was the farm now owned by Amos Norris for $2,800, and he subsequently sold it for the same price to Norris, who is his son-in-law ; he next purchased the farm now owned by James Near, adjacent to the town of Newville, containing 92 acres, for which he paid $5,000 ; after occupying this farm a short time, he sold it to Dr. Morrison for the same he paid for it, taking a farm of 56 acres a short distance east of town at $1,800, in part payment ; he sold this farm for the same he paid for it ; his next purchase of real estate was the Herring farm, south of Newville ; he paid $2,900 for this farm and sold it for $3,650 ; his last purchase was a farm of 78 acres in this township, now occupied by his son Peter, for which he paid $3,600. Mr. Snavely and wife are the parents of nine children, four sons and five daughters, christened as follows : Eliza Ann, Peter, Ellucinda, George, Sarah, Catharine, Samuel (and a twin sister who died in infancy), Daniel H. and Lemmory ; five of this number are married. Mr. Snavely and wife united with the U. B. Church in December, 1856, and have been zealous and active mem- bers thereof from that time to the present.

SPOHN, J. J., farmer; P. 0. Butler; was born in Worthington Township, near Independence, March 19, 1838; he is a son of Martin and Mary Spohn, who still reside in that vicinity ; he was raised on a farm and received a common-school education ; on attaining his majority, he left the parental roof, to seek his fortune elsewhere ; he worked on public works two years ; he then went to Iowa, where he remained one year. Dec. 19, 1861, he was united in marriage to Miss Isabel, daughter of John Ramsey, Esq., of his native township ; by this marriage, he had six children, four sons and two daughters, all of whom are living ; they are named in the order of their births as follows : Eliza Jane, El- more, William, John, Andrew and Thomas. Mr. Spohn bought 80 acres of land in Sec. 29, of his native town- ship, known as the McClay farm, for which he paid $1,650; he subsequently purchased of Jackson Nichols 25 acres adjoining his first purchase, and in the same section; for this last tract he paid $1,000; _ he has erected an elegant house and large barn, on this farm, and very materially improved it in many other re- spects. ]Mr. Spohn was drafted during the late war, but the citizens of the township raised money and hired substitutes for the drafted men ; Mr. Spohn con-

��tributed freely toward this object. His first wife died April 18, 1872. Feb. 13, 1873, he was married to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Louis Fisher, by whom he has had three children, viz., Kate, Eunice and Franklin. Mr. Spohn is an active member of a new secret temperance organization called the "Orients", located at Independ-

SPOHN, MARTIN, farmer ; P. 0. Butler. His grand- father, Martin Spohn, Sr., was a Dunkard preacher, and was born inWashington Co. ,Penn., near old Philadelphia ; in 1744, he took what was called the "tomahawk- right improvement," which consisted in marking trees so as to inclose 160 acres of land, for which, after a specified time had elapsed, he was to pay the Govern- ment a certain sum of money, about $17 or $18. He married Mary Leatherman. He was both farmer and shoemaker ; twice per year he crossed the mountains, with two horses and pack-saddles, for leather and salt. His first wife had two sons and a daughter when she died ; he afterward married a Miss Donahue, and at 95 years of age he died. His youngest son, Daniel, was born in 1775; he was a farmer; he married Sarah Mack, and came to Richland Co. in 1837, where he owned the Wilson estate at Independence ; he laid out the town of Independence in 1850; his family consisted of two sons and five daughters ; his wife died in 1839, he lived till 1864, when he lost his life by falling into the fire-place. Martin the eldest son was born in Washington Co., Penn., in 1804; farmed till 1826, when he followed distilling for two and one-half years ; then resumed farming. He married Mary Moser, of Smith- field, Fayette Co., Penn.; they became the parents of five sons and two daughters ; his wife died in 1863 ; was married the same year, to Sarah Hersh, formerly Sarah Swigart, who, by her first marriage, had fifteen children ; they came to Ohio in 1832, and entered 80 acres in Tuscarawas Co.; lived there six years, and in 1838, came to Richland Co., where they bought 80 acres; Mr. Spohn, in 1854, bought 80 acres more, and, in 1860, 15^ acres. He owns 175J acres of land at present. Paid freely to clear the township of the draft. He belongs to the Ankneytown Dunkard Church.

TAYLOR, DAVID, farmer; P. 0. Butler. Hon. David Taylor, one of the most extensive land holders in Worthington Township, was born in Bedford Co., Penn., in 1813 ; he is of Irish on his fathers and En- glish descent on his mother's side; he came to Richland Co. (now Greene Township, Ashland Co.), when 8 years of age ; his father, William Taylor, bought three quarter- sections of land, part of which to-day is known as the Cary farm ; most of this land was military school land on which some of his neighbors found it impossible to meet the yearly payment of $19 and odd cents due to the Government ; and it being forced upon the market, Mr. Taylor bought it. Mr. William Taylor was married to Jane Wilson, in 1798, by whom he had ten sons and one daughter ; four sons and the daughter are living; James Taylor, a man of wealth, has retired from busi- ness and lives in the State of Oregon. William Taylor's wife died on the old farm in 1832 ; he afterward mar- ried Jane Hull, who had no children ; in his old age, he removed to Loudonville, where, in 1854, he died; his last wife lived several years after his death. The sub- ject of this sketch, David, married Elizabeth Calhound ;

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