The Coe Families of Knox County, Ohio

CAPTAIN CHARLES HENRY COE.

Among the valiant men that Ohio sent 10 the front to aid in the preservation of the Union in the Civil war was Captain C. H. Coe who is now living a retired life upon his farm in Hilliar township, Knox county. With love for his native land, reverence for its institutions and its government and with a courageous spirit that enabled him to bravely face danger, he rendered to his country effective service and all through the years of his life, whether in times of peace or war. he has been a patriotic and public spirited citizen.

The Captain was born near Fredericktown, Maryland, November 5, 1823. His father, Joshua Coe, was also boni in that state and was reared and married there. By occupation he was a farmer, following that pursuit throughout his business career. In 1825 he emigrated westward to Licking county, Ohio, settling near Utica. In early life he had learned the brickmaker's trade and after coming to Ohio he manufactured all of the first brick used in the construction of buildings in Utica. Subsequently he removed to Knox county, where he died in 1841, at the age of fifty-seven years. He was a Whig in his political affiliations and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which he took an active and helpful part. He held a number of its offices and also filled political positions. His wife, who in her maidenhood was Mary Burgoon, was a native of Maryland, and a daughter of Francis Burgoon, who died in Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. Mrs. Coe passed away at the age of seventy-three. She was the mother of eight children, but the eldest, a son, died in infancy. The others were Katharine, Mary, Francis, David, Charles H., Thomas D. and William.

Captain Coe was only two years of age when taken by his parents to Licking county, Ohio, in 1825. His childhood days were spent in a manner not unusual to farmer lads of the period. He worked in the fields through the summer months and in the winter season he pursued his education in an old-time log school house. When seventeen years of age he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a tanner and currier, and followed that pursuit until the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion. On the 27th of July, 1 86 1, he went to Camp Chase, where he was offered the position of quartermaster by Colonel Fuller, but this he declined and was thereupon commissioned adjutant by General Buckingham to recruit soldiers. In

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

On the loth of November, 1844. Captain Coe had been married to Miss Eliza Ann Conard, a daughter of Joseph Conard, of Utica, the oldest settler of Knox county, having taken up his above within its borders in 1805 from Fredericktown, Virginia. Fredericktown, Ohio, was named by him and he took an active part in the pioneer development of this part of the state. His daughter, Mrs. Coe, died December 7, 1873, leaving four children: Alice Filenia, Charles Wesley, Jennie Eliza and Judson Conard. On the 13th of December, 1875, the Captain was again married, his second union being with Miss Sarah E. Mills, the daughter of Samuel Mills. By this marriage there is one daughter. Lelia Pearl, at home and a graduate of the Harcourt Seminary

In his early manhood Captain Coe voted the Whig ticket and on the organization of the Republican party joined its ranks and has since been one of its stalwart supporters. In 185 1 he was nominated on the Whig ticket to represent his district in the state legislature and was everywhere known as the "boy candidate." Although there was a usual Democratic majority, such was his popularity and personal worth that he succeeding in reducing the Democratic vote until he was defeated by only forty-one majority by John Bell. He has since declined the nomination for county treasurer and also that of state senator, but has held all the local township offices, including that of land appraiser, while for thirteen years he was assessor. Socially he is identified with the Masonic order and also belongs to Debolt Post, G. A. R. in which he has filled part of the offices. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and upright principles have ever actuated his life and shaped his dealings with his fellow men. He is now living retired but he still makes his home upon his farm, which comprises three hundred and fifty-five acres of valuable land in Hilliar township, in addition to which he owns property at Hot Springs, Arkansas. As a soldier on the field of battle, as an enterprising agriculturist, as a representative of fraternal and church relations he has ever commanded the respect and confidence of his fellow men.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CHARLES W. COE.

The popular citizen and enterprising business man whose name furnishes the heading of this review needs no formal introduction to the people of Knox county. Long identified with the agricultural and business interests of the community, he has taken an abiding interest in the welfare of the same in all phases of its development, and has forged to the front ranks as a man of affairs, besides earning an honorable reputation as a man of integrity and wholesome ideals. He represents a sterling pioneer family.

Charles W. Coe, well known president of the Building and Loan Association of Centerburg, was born on December 25, 1848, in Washington township, Licking county, Ohio, and is the son of Charles H. and Eliza Ann (Conard) Coe. The father came to Licking county when three years old with his parents, Joshua and Mary (Burgone) Coe, from Maryland in 1826, and the grandfather, Joseph Conard, came here from Virginia in 1805. settling in what is now Morgan township when the country was a wilderness, and here he remained a number of years, finally selling out and moving to what is now Washington township, Licking county, settling where the town of Utica now stands. He was a farmer and he established the first tannery in the locality. When the father of the subject married he also engaged in the tanning business, following the same for many years, later turning his attention to farming, finally giving up the tanning business. He was a soldier in the Civil war, a member of the First Ohio Independent Sharpshooters. He was an exceptionally good shot, and prior to this service of about two years he was a recruiting officer. While in the service he was captain of a company of the sharpshooters and was attached to different regiments at various times, and he saw some hard service with the different armies. After the close of the war he came to Hilliar township, Knox county, Ohio, in 1865 and engaged in farming, in which he prospered, both as a general farmer and a sheep raiser. He died December 20, 1911, at the age of eighty-eight years, on his fine three-hundred-and-fifty-acre farm, a half mile north of Centerburg. His first wife died in December, 1873, she being the mother of the subject, and the father married again, his second wife surviving at this writing. Four children, two sons and two daughters, were born to Charles H. Coe and his first wife, namely: Alice, now the wife of George Rinehart, her husband being now deceased; Charles W., of this sketch; Jennie married Joseph Sutton, a farmer of Hilliar township; and Judson C., of Centerburg, all living.

Charles W. Coe grew to manhood on the home farm and his first activities were in his father’s tannery. He attended the public schools and one year in the normal school at Lebanon, Ohio, also attended Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, then spent one year at Michigan University at Ann Arbor. Thus well equipped for his life work, he left college and began life by clerking in a drug store in Springfield, having taken the course in pharmacy at Ann Arbor, Michigan, for one year. After spending a year at Springfield, he returned to the home farm, undertaking the management of the same, and for a period of twenty-seven years he operated the same in a most successful manner, carrying on general farming and stock raising, making a specialty of sheep. During the latter years of his farming operations, in 1893, he moved to Centerburg for the purpose of making his future home, but retained his farming interests. He was one of the organizers of the Building and Loan Association and after two years he became president of the same, which position he still holds, having discharged the duties of the same in a manner that reflects much credit upon himself and to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned, in fact his judicious management has been largely due to its large success. It is one of the most successful of its kind in the state. In 1901 Mr. Coe became associated with the Centerburg Bank, and was made vice-president of the same and has filled this position with rare ability ever since. The bank has since been reorganized and is now known as the Centerburg Savings Bank Company, under the state laws. Mr. Coe is

boo also interested in the Johnston & Croton and the Patalaska & Hebron Telephone Companies, being one of the promoters of each and he has been a director in these companies from their organization. He is also the vice-president of the Centerburg Gas Company, president of the Little Sandy Oil and Gas Company, operating in Licking county, and vice-president of the Farmers Fertilizer Company, of Columbus, Ohio. He is president of the Capitol Limestone Company of Columbus. All the above named corporations are at present in a prosperous condition. He is also interested in the Louisa Coal Company, of Louisa, Kentucky, and is a stockholder in various other corporations, and is thus a very busy man of affairs. He also has valuable farming interests in Knox and Licking counties. He is by nature an organizer and promoter, a man of keen discernment, sound judgment and rare business acumen, possessing the foresight to see with remarkable accuracy the future outcome of a present transaction. Few business men of the county are more widely or favorably known in business circles of this part of the state, and none are more deserving of their success.

Mr. Coe was married on December 25, 1880, to Belle L. Riley, a lady of culture and refinement, and the daughter of John and Susan (Curtis) Riley, a prominent and highly esteemed family of Hilliar township, both parents being now deceased.

Fraternally, Mr. Coe belongs to the Masonic order, the chapter and commandery, at Mt. Vernon and the Ancient Arabic Order of Nbbles of the Mystic Shrine at Columbus. He and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church, he being a trustee of the same.

Mr. and Mrs. Coe have spent considerable time in travel, visiting Florida, Cuba and the Isle of Pines, where he has business interests. Politically, he is a Republican and is a local leader in the party, always active in its affairs, though he has never been an aspirant for public office, preferring to devote his attention exclusively to his large business interests. He has been a frequent delegate to various conventions of his party, in all of which he has made his influence felt for the good of the same and his community.

Personally, Mr. Coe is a refined, genteel, broad-minded gentleman, progressive in all that the term implies, obliging and straightforward in his dealings with his fellow men. a man whose word is as good as the bond of most men and whose life has been so exemplary and praiseworthy that he has always enjoyed the good will and confidence of those with whom he has come into contact. Public-spirited, charitable and unassuming, he merits the high esteem in which he is universally held.

As printed in the source³. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JAMES WESLEY COE.

James W. Coe, the late efficient county infirmary director, is descended from good old Revolutionary ancestry, and the family has long been one of prominence in this state. His paternal great-grandfather, Philip Coe. served throughout the struggle for independence, and he also assisted in throwing overboard the tea into the Boston harbor. He became a prominent land owner and agent in Marshall county. West Virginia, and there he spent the remainder of his days. He became the father of two sons, Isaac and Philip, and the former became the grandfather of our subject. He reared a family of fifteen children, who settled over different parts of the United

States, and during the Civil war they were represented in both the Confederate and Federal armies. John Coe, the father of him whose name introduces this review, served with distinction throughout the struggle between the north and the south, as did also three of his sons. As a companion for the journey of life he those Matilda a daughter of John Newland, and the latter married a Van Rensaellaer, of Wellington, Delaware.

James Wesley Coe, a son of this worthy couple, removed from. West Virginia to Ohio in 1866. When the Civil war was inaugurated he was then but a lad of seventeen years, but he nobly offered his services to his country, and for three years he was a brave and gallant defender of the cause which he exposed. He became a member of Company A, Twelfth West Virginia Infantry, enlisting for service in 1862, and during his military career he participated in twelve regular battles, among them being the battle of Appomattox. For a time he was confined as a prisoner of war at Libby and Belle Island, and also participated in the taking of Fort Craig, which was the last fort taken during the war. Mr. Coe is no'W a member of the Grand Army of the Republic of Mount Vernon, in which he maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades.

After hostilities had ceased Mr. Coe returned to his home with a most creditable military record, and once more took up the quiet duties of civil life. In 1870 he took up his residence in Jackson township, Knox county, where he made his home until 1886, and in that year he came to Mount Vernon, which has ever since been his home. For twenty-two years he was engaged in the operation of a sawmill, on the expiration of which period, in 1892, he was elected to the position of director of the county infirmary, and so well did he discharge the duties resting upon him in that office that in 1898 he was again elected, and has but recently closed his connection with that institution. He has also filled other offices of trust and responsibility, having been the choice of his party for the position of trustee of Jackson township in 1884, and in the following year he was made constable and assessor of that township, while for four years he served as school director. In all the relations of life he has been found true to every trust reposed in him, and he merits and receives the respect and esteem of all who know him.

In Coshocton county, Ohio, was celebrated the marriage of IMr. Coe and Miss Sarah Fry, then a young lady of twenty years, and two years his junior. She is a native of that county and a daughter of William Fry, who came to this state from Pennsylvania. This union has been blessed with three children: William, a mechanic of Mount Vernon, and whose wife was Sarah Krumlauf; Alvaretta, the wife of Bruce Gleason, also of this city; and lonJt, the wife of Bryant Mann, of Mount Vernon. The family are members of the Methodist church.

ADAM HIDER DARfLING.

Much has been said and written about the sterling stock of the Old Dominion and its influence upon the settlement and development of all parts of the United States; but the half has never been told and nothing like a complete story ever will be told except in the aggregate of accounts of the lives and achievements of representatives of Virginian families in every state of the Union. Ohio, because of its proximity to the grand old state which has become known as the "mother of presidents," has received a generous share of virile Virginian blood and her citizens have reason to congratulate themselves because of that fact. Knox county received many Virginian pioneers and among them was the father of the subject of this sketch.

Adam H. Darling, a retired farmer, of Bladensburg, Jackson township, Knox county, Ohio, was born in Knox county on Christmas day, of 1821, a son of Abrara Darling, who was born in Virginia March 29, 1780, and came to Knox county with his father, William Darling, the grandfather of Adam H. Darling, in 1806. William Darling was born in Virginia in 1756 and served the cause of the colonies during the entire period of the Revolutionary war as a gallant and devoted soldier, participating in many historic engagements, including those at Cowpens and King's Mountain.

Abram Darling, father of the subject of this sketch, bought land in Butler township in 1806 and when he became one of the pioneers of Knox county. He was married in 1808 to Rhoda Shrimplin, who was born and reared in Maryland and who bore him fourteen children, three of whom died in infancy and three are yet living, of whom Adam H. is the third in order of nativity. These children were named as follows: Sophia, Patrick M., Margaret, William, Jane, Lydia, Adam H., Mary, Milan, Angus, Jackson, Walter, Amos and Caroline. Those who are living are William, Jackson and Adam H.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.