The Banning Family of Knox County, Ohio

HON. ANTHONY BANNING.

In pioneer days Anthony Banning came to Ohio and was actively identified with the development and improvement of this section of the state when it was a frontier region. He was associated with agricultural and industrial interests and was also active in promoting the intellectual and moral growth of the community. He was born in Talbott county, Maryland, May 13, 1768, and his full name was James Mansfield Anthony Banning. He was the only son of James Banning, a landed proprietor of large influence in that locality. The only sister of our subject became the wife of Benjamin Chew, a most intimate friend and associate of George Washington. He became chief justice of the state of Pennsylvania and resided in Philadelphia.

When our subject was quite young his father died, and his uncle, Henry Banning, a sea captain, became his guardian. He took him on several sea voyages and provided him with good educational privileges, intending him for the priesthood, for the family were Catholics, but in his fourteenth year Anthony Banning left the church of his fathers and joined the Methodist church, a course which cut him off from his own people, who regarded him as lost on account of his abandonment of the Romish church. However, a long life of usefulness lay before him, and he accomplished great good in the world. At the age of eighteen he began preaching as a circuit rider in Greenbriar county and the mountainous districts of Virginia, and his zealand earnestness in presenting the cause of Christianity gained to his Master's cause many followers.

Mr. Banning was married, July 30, 1 79 1, to Mrs. Sarah Pierce, a daughter of Jacob Murphy, who became one of the first settlers of Redstone, Pennsylvania, near Uniontown. She was born on the eastern shore of Maryland and was reared near Ellicotts Mills, that state. Mr. and Mrs. Banning became the parents of eight children. Sarah married Daniel S. Norton, and resided in Knox county. Jacob M. wedded Miss Sophia Zimmerman, daughter of Gottlieb Zimmerman, of Mount Vernon. With her children she removed to Hardin county, and one of her family is now in Los Angeles, California. Rachel became the wife of Rev. Elnathan Raymond and their daughter, Mrs. George K. Norton, is living in Mount Vernon. James S. has a son who is represented on another page of this work. Mary became the wife of a Mr. Caswell. Betsy married a Mr. Bronson, of Mount Vernon.

Priscilla. who was born May 1, 1801, was married to Sewell Gray, of Massachusetts, whose birth occurred April 9, 1806. He died at Mount Vernon in May, 1862, and her death occurred in 1891. Anthony Banning, the youngest of the family, married Jane Dudley, of Mount Vernon, and their children are William B. and Frank Banning and Mrs. Errett, of Mount Vernon.

In 1 79 1 Anthony Banning was ordained to the Methodist ministry by Bishop Asbury. While residing in Pennsylvania, near Mount Braddock and Connelsville, he engaged in preaching in those places, also conducted a tan yard and a general store. He likewise served as justice of the peace from 1 79 1 until 1799, and was a prominent factor in the business, political and moral life of the community. Between 1808 and 1812 he made several trips up the Muskingtmi river with goods, and on some of these trips purchased land in Knox county, whither he removed in 1812. He traded tanned leather and saddlery goods to Samuel Kratzer for an interest in the site of Mount Vernon, and during the long period of his residence in this city he engaged in many pursuits, prospering in all, for he was a man of marked enterprise, determination and business ability. He conducted general stores at Mount Vernon, Tymochtree and Danville, and was the proprietor of a mill at Clinton, also conducted a tan yard and extensively engaged in farming. Though his business pursuits were so extensive and varied he yet found time to devote to his Christian work, and was much of the time engaged in preaching on Sundays and at all times exerted his influence, which was strongly felt in behalf of the moral advancement of the community in which he made his home. His political support was given the Whig party, and he served as associate justice of the county from 1827 until 1834. He was active in every movement for the benefit of the county and town, and was the promoter of many measures for the general good. He built a church upon his own land just at the time Bishop Purcell was denied the use of all the other churches, thereon Mr. Banning placed his at the disposal of the Catholics, and the first Catholic sermon delivered in Mount Vernon was in the Banning church, as it was called. He held to his own religious views tenaciously, but accorded to others the same privilege. In the month of February, 1844, Judge Banning was accidentally drowned while crossing the ice west of Mount Vernon while going to his farm. He was honest and conscientious, resolute yet liberal, and was most kind-hearted and generous. Knox county profited by his citizenship, and the world is better for his having lived.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

HENRY B. BANNING.

Knox county has produced many men who in various important walks of life have honored their native county and prominent among these was General Henry B. Banning. An enumeration of the men of the present generation who have attained to eminent positions and at the same time have reflected credit upon the state to which they belong would be incomplete were there failure to make reference of him whose name initiated this paragraph. He held distinctive precedence as a member of the bar and also in Democratic circles in the state. He won distinction and glory upon the field of battle and throughout his useful public career he so conducted himself as to win the encomiums of even those who were opposed to him politically.

General Banning was the sixth child of James S. and Eliza (Blackstone) Banning, and was born in Mount Vernon November 10, 1836. He pursued his education in the Clinton school, in Hull Rigsby's private school and in Sloan's Academy, in Mount Vernon. At the age of seventeen he took up the study of law in the office and under the direction of Hosmer Curtis and Joseph Devin and after his admission to the bar became a partner of William Dunbar, but his connection with the legal fraternity had continued only a few years when the Civil war was inaugurated. He had watched with interest the progress of events in the south and had determined that if an attempt was made to overthrow the Union he would aid in its preservation. Accordingly he enlisted in 1 86 1 as a member of the Fourth Ohio Infantry, which was one of the most gallant regiments upon the field of action throughout the war. He was elected captain of Company B and later he was recommended by General Shields for the position of major of the Fifty-second Ohio, but he never joined that regiment, being placed in command of the Eighty-seventh, a regiment enlisted for three months' service. On the expiration of that period he became lieutenant-colonel of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Ohio and served as such until the spring of 1863, when he became colonel of the One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteers. This regiment was at Chickamauga and was led by Colonel Banning in a charge which resulted in the capture of the colors of the Twenty-second Alabama — the only. Rebel colors captured in that sanguinary engagement. At Kenesaw Mountain Colonel Banning and his brave men also won other laurels, but the victory cost them dear, over thirty-three per cent, being killed or wounded. The Colonel gave the order for his men to lie down and not retire a single inch until he commanded them to do so. They obeyed and for four hours they lay there, unsupported and exposed to a calling fire of artillery and small arms, upon both flanks and in front. In 1865 Colonel Banning was promoted brevet brigadier general for gallant and meritorious conduct during the Atlanta campaign. His regiment was with Thomas at Nashville and participated in many of the important engagements of the great war which at length brought salvation to the imperilled Union. He was ever brave and loyal in the discharge of his duty and his own courage inspired his men to deeds of valor. In the spring of 1865 he was given command of the One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Ohio Regiment and served in the valley of Virginia. He was commander of the post at Alexandria and in December, 1865, he was mustered out as brevet major general.

General Banning put aside military honor merely to receive those of civil life, for in 1865 he was elected by Knox county to the state legislature. In 1868 he removed to Cincinnati, where he opened an office and engaged in the practice of law, his comprehensive knowledge of jurisprudence, his ability in the court room and his careful preparation of cases gaining for him a large and important clientage. In 1872 he was again called to public life being elected to congress on the Democratic ticket over Rutherford B. Hayes, and later for the same office he defeated Job Stevenson and Stanley Mathews. He was twice re-elected and his work in the council chambers of his nation was of an important character. His loyalty was above question and with unfaltering purpose he supported the measures which he believed would advance the country's welfare. His death occurred December 10, 1 88 1, and Ohio lost a citizen whose career (reflected credit upon her military, legal and political history. On the political stage such was his personal popularity and such his personal magnetism that his appearance to address the people was the signal for tumultuous enthusiasm. His was a sturdy American character and a stalwart patriotism, and he had the strongest attachment for our free institutions and was ever willing to make any personal sacrifice for their preservation.

In 1868 Mr. Banning married Julia Kirby, a daughter of Timothy Kirby, of Cincinnati. They had four children: Kirby, deceased; Harry B.; Ella K.; and Clinton K.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

WILLIAM D. BANNING.

The name of Banning has been so closely connected with the history of Knox county through almost a century that a member of the family needs no introduction to the readers of this volume, especially if he be as widely and favorably known as is William D. Banning, who is now living a retired life in Mount Vernon. He was born in this city and is a grandson of Judge Anthony Banning, who came to the county in 1812. His father, James S. Banning was a leading and influential resident of the county for many years and died in 1867, at the age of sixty-seven. He married Eliza Blackstone, who was born in Connelsville, Lafayette county, Pennsylvania, the only daughter of James and Sarah (Rogers) Blackstone. The Blackstone family was of English lineage, and her great-great-grandfather of William Blackstone, an uncle of Governor William Blackstone, the famous author of the celebrated treatise on real estate law, which has become a text-book in all law colleges throughout the country. Mrs. Eliza (Blackstone) Banning received superior educational advantages and was a lady of marked culture and refinement. She brought the first piano to Mount Vernon and took great pleasure in teaching the young people of this then pioneer town music and other accomplishments. She was one of the charter members of St. Paul's Episcopal church and her whole life was one of beneficence to her family and to the community. Her influence was that of a cultured, refined lady, and her memory remains as a blessed benediction to all who knew her. Unto James and Eliza Banning were born the following named: Sarah D. died at the age of fifty-six years; James Blackstone, who made his home in Clinton township, married Miss Mary Prentiss Williams, who survives her husband, and lives in Mount Vernon; Anthony, of Banning, Pennsylvania, married Catherine Torrence, of Connelsville, that state; Priscilla became the wife of J. D. Thompson, of Mount Vernon, but both are now deceased; William D. is the next of the family; Henry B. died in Cincinnati and his sketch is given on another page of this volume; Eliza is the wife of William Brown, ex-mayor of Mount Vernon; Thomas D. resides on the old homestead in Mount Vernon; and Mary is the wife of Frank Watkins.

William D. Banning, whose name introduces this review, spent his youth in acquiring his education in the public schools and in Sloan's Academy in Mount Vernon, and since putting aside his text-books he has devoted his energies to farming and to the management of his property interests. He wedded Miss Mary Lake, of Wooster, Ohio, a daughter of Constance and Eleanor (Jones) Lake. Her father was a prominent merchant and banker at Wooster, while the Jones family were prominent in Wayne county. Her grandfather Jones was for two terms a member of congress and was a recognized leader of public thought and feeling. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Banning were born six children, but they lost three. Those yet living are: Priscilla, the wife of Harry Sanderson, of Mount Vernon; Anna, at home; and Lake, who is attending school. The family is one of prominence in the community, enjoying the warm regard of a very large circle of friends. Their home is noted for its gracious and pleasing hospitality and its social functions are always regarded as among the most enjoyable of the season. Mr. Banning represents one of the oldest and most honored families of the county and is a worthy schon of his race, upholding the untarnished name which has ever been a synonym of loyal citizenship and upright conduct.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.