HISTORY OF HOCKING VALLEY

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Philip Devoll was born July 2, 1811, and is the son of Joseph and Sarah Devoll, who came to Ohio from Rhode Island in 1811 or 1812, and located in Ward Township in 1839. Mr. Devoll was married in November , 1831, to Miss Sarah Allen, a daughter of Asher and Polly Allen. They are the parents of six children--- Cynthia, Polly, Eliza, Lorilla, Emma, and Eva. Mr. and Mrs. Devoll have been members of the Bible Christian church fifty years. 1017

was a great lover of flowers, and left a garden that has no equal in the county, and is surpassed by none in the State. Mr. and Mrs. Dixon had five children, three living---N T., Mary E and W. J. Elizabeth died in 1880, and Vileta July 25, 1882. Mrs. Dixon is a member of the Baptist church. I. Finley was born in Morgan County, Ohio, Sept. 23 1845 and is a son of Samuel and Margaret Finley, who are both living. Mr. Finley was educated in Morgan County in the public schools He moved to Straitsville in 1871, where he went into the drug business. In 1873 he moved to Carbon Hill, where he again be- came established in the drug business in 1882. He was married Aug. 30, 1871, to Miss Jennie Balding, a daughter of Lewis and Sarah Balding. Mr. Balding was Justice of the Peace for about twenty years, and also Infirmary Director. Mr. Finley has three children---Willard I., Delia and Grace. Mrs. Finley died Nov. 29, 1879. Mr. Finley was the founder of Carbon Hill, which he laid out in 1873. He is at present engaged in the drug business. His political views are Democratic. S. M. Gordecke was born at Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 28, 1854, and is a son of W. and Isabella Gordecke. His mother is now making her home with him. She is sixty-one years old. Mr.Gor- decke was educated in the common schools of Ohio, and at the age of fourteen went into business. He is a business young man and is at present chief clerk and general manager of the company store at Longstreth. He has one of the best stores in the State of Ohio, and does a cash business of about $60,000 a year. He was married Feb. 16, 1876, to Lutie J. Clark. They have three chil- dren---Nettie, Bersie and Susie. John Harper was born Jan. 4, 1833, and is a son of John Har- per, who lived in Cincinnati, and died with cholera in 1832. Mr. Harper was married March 20, 1850, to Miss Annie Harrison, who came from England about two years previous to that time. They have eleven children of whom ten are living---Catherine, Alice, Sarah, Benjamin, Lincoln, Lillie, Nira, Mary, Josephine and Blanche. Martha died when she was about four years old. Mr. Harper is a very successful farmer and has in his possession 100 acres of land, residing on section 14, Ward Township. He sold $16,000 worth of coal land in the last year. He is now, and has been for the last six years, Township Treasurer, and was Land Appraiser one year. 1018

J. H. Jackson, born Sept. 11, 1820, is a son of Robert Jackson, who was born in Pennsylvania, Aug. 8, 1795. He came to Athens County, Feb. 25, 1837, where he lived thirty years, and in 1867 came to Ward Township, Hocking County. Mr. Jackson was educated in the common schools of Ohio, in the old-fashioned log houses and by studying at home, there not being sufficient schools and teachers at that time. He was married March 21, 1844, to Mary Bean. They have three children---O. D., the founder of Jacksonville, Ohio; Mrs. E. V. Randolph, and Mary L. Mr. Jackson served 100 days in the late war, and was discharged in September,. 1864. He has served as Assessor four terms and was Enrolling Clerk in the war. He was Census Enumerator in 1881, and sub- mitted about the best report sent to the census office. He is a farmer and has a very pleasant home of 160 acres of land on sec- tion 14, Ward Township. A. A. Junipher, born March 31, 1827, in Athens County, is a son of George and Phoebe Junipher. His mother died about 1840, and his father in 1869. Mr. Junipher moved to Ward Township when he was about sixteen and settled on the Codner place. He after- ward moved to the Wilcox place where he now lives. He was married Feb. 9, 1869, to Julia Bartlet, a daughter of Silvanus and Amanda Bartlet, of New Plymouth, Vinton County. They have one child---May Addie. Mr. Junipher is Township Trustee. He owns 377 acres of good land. John Lyons was born Nov. 20, 1798, in a block house in Marietta, Ohio. He moved to Newport, and there lived until he was ten years of age, when he came to Athens County. About 1835 or '40 he moved to Ward Township, on Monday Creek, where he now resides. When a young man he was married to May Limon, by whom he had two children. He was afterward married to Eliza George. They had nine children of whom six are living---Mary, Joseph W., Elizabeth, Jane (deceased), G. C. (deceased), E. A., W. H., N. A. and D. D. He has a nice little farm on section 14, Ward Township, and is engaged in farming and stock-raising. He is one of the oldest settlers in Hocking Valley, and would have gone to the war of 1812, had it not been for the objections of his parents. Robert Masters was born Feb. 9, 1824, in Guernsey County, Ohio, and is a son of Robert and Elizabeth Masters, both of whom are dead. Mr. Masters moved from Muskingum to Hocking County in 1854. He is an old pioneer of this county and is at 1019

Elisha Watkins was born in Athens County, Ohio, in 1806, the son of Jonathan Watkins, who died in that county. He came to Ward Township in 1846 and was one of the first settlers of this county. In 1874 he was injured by a fall which ultimately caused his death in 1876. He was by trade a stone mason. He married Margaret Philips, daughter of Peter and Sarah E. Philips. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins were the parents of eleven children, of whom nine are now living---Wilson, Adaline, Martha, G.W., Jerome, Sarah E., Elisha, James and Laura E. Mary J. died at the age of twenty-one and Sarah at the age of eighteen in 1863. J.S. Watkins, a son of Elisha Watkins, was born Sept. 18, 1848. He was in the livery business in Straitsville, Ohio, ten years, selling out and returning to Murray City, May 18, 1882. He owns ten acres of land in Watkins addition to Murray City, valued at $10,000. Mr. Watkins was married July 8, 1879, to Miss Samantha Hardy, daughter of Benjamin and Margaret Hardy. They have one child---Daisy, aged two years. Mrs. Watkins's father died in April, 1880, aged seventy-five years. 1021

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