Wayne County Press
1877 Biography’s
Transcribed by Laurie Selpien
March 15, 1877
Personal Sketches of Grand Jury Members
Erastus W. Mabry is a resident of Arrington and has resided in Wayne County for 37 years. He was born in Tennessee and is 55 years old. He is a farmer, married and has six children. He does not use tobacco and is opposed to the liquor traffic. Mr. M is an Independent and prefers greenbacks to gold. Is of Methodist faith, has been Justice of the Peace and served three terms as Supervisor.
Isaac Weaver, of Indian Prairie, is a native of Ohio and has lived in Wayne County 23 years. Is a farmer, 47 years old, married 6 children. Uses tobacco but is opposed to the liquor traffic. Is a Republican, favors gold currency and has no religious affiliations. Has been Constable.
Andrew Martin, of Hickory Hills, is 61, is a native of Tennessee and is one of the oldest residents of our county, having been here 40 years. He is a farmer, married has 13 children and is opposed to both whisky and tobacco. Is a Democrat and favors both gold and greenbacks. He has no religious preferences.
Jackson Brown, of Jasper, is a native of Kentucky, is 45, has lived in Wayne County 20 years, is a farmer, married has 6 children. Uses tobacco but records himself against the whisky traffic. Is a greenback Democrat and a Cumberland Presbyterian. Never held any public office and we presume he don’t want any.
T. M. Richardson, of Brush Creek, is 28, a Hoosier by birth and 19 year resident of Wayne County. Is married and has 3 children, does not use tobacco and by no means favors the liquor traffic. Is a gold currency Republican and a General Baptist.
Samuel Miller, of Leech, combines the occupations of farmer and mechanic. He is married and has 7 children. Opposes the use of both whisky and tobacco. Is a greenback Democrat of the Christian denomination, and has never held office. Mr. Miller is 57 years old, a native of Pennsylvania and a 14 year resident of Wayne County.
Henry P. Simms, of Arrington, is a native born Wayne County Sucker, aged 28, is a farmer, married and has 4 children. Is a greenback Democrat and records himself as using tobacco and favoring the liquor traffic. Belongs to no church and has not been an office holder.
Lloyd E. Frazier, of Elm River, is also native born, having lived in Wayne county 32 years and is 32 years old. He is married, has 3 children uses tobacco and favors the liquor traffic. Belongs to no church is a greenback Democrat and has been tax collector for two terms.
Francis George, of Fairfield, is a farmer and stock dealer, is 65 years old, a native of South Carolina and 20 years a resident of Wayne County. He is married has 14 children, does not use tobacco and is actively opposed to the whiskey trade. Is a Republican and favors greenback currency that will equal to gold. Is an old time member of the M. E. Church. He has never held office.
Wm. M. Alvis, of Indian Prairie, is a hard money Republican, with no special religion, is opposed to the liquor trade and confesses a love for tobacco. He is 29 years old and has lived in Wayne County for 19 years. Is a farmer married and is the father of 5 children.
T. J. Turner, of Barnhill, is 47 and has always lived in Wayne County. He is a farmer, married and has 11 children. Is strongly opposed to the use of both whiskey and tobacco. He is an Independent Reformer, favoring the People’s Currency, greenbacks, and is a member of the Christian church.
Jordon C. Patterson, is a broad-shouldered, good-humored representative of the small but prosperous township of Zif. He first saw the light in North Carolina Jan 5th a little more than 63 years ago. He has lived in Wayne county 23 years, is a farmer by occupation and a plasterer by trade. Has 5 living and 5 dead children, he don’t use tobacco, is a Methodist and opposed to the liquor trade. He is a Republican and has a broad financial platform favoring plenty of gold, silver and greenbacks. Has been Supervisor 4 terms, also tax collector, P. M., School Treasurer, Director and Commissioner of Highways.
Adam A. Osterman, of Mt. Erie, is a native of Crawford County Illinois, is 28 and has lived here 20 years. Is married and has one child, and makes farming his business. He don’t use tobacco but says to some extent he favors the liquor trade. He is a “gold and greenback” Republican, a member of the Christian Church, has been Constable, served 3 years in the Army and was 9 months a prisoner of war.
Eli Brock, who represented La Mard is a Buckeye, aged 54, has lived here 22 years. He is a grocer, is married and has 7 children. He is a perpetual smoker-never takes his pipe out of his mouth except to reload it. Don’t use whiskey. Is a greenback Democrat and belongs to the Christian Church.
S. J. R. Wilson, of Massilon, is 61, a native of Kentucky and has lived in Wayne county 55 years. He is a farmer, married, has 10 children, uses tobacco and records himself as opposed to the liquor traffic, is a greenback Independent and a Cumberland Presbyterian. Has been Justice of the Peace, County Judge, County Swamp Land agent, 6 times a member of the Board of Supervisors, 2nd Lieut. in the Mexican War and 1st Lieut. And Capt, in the War for the Union.
G. M. Mateer, of Four Mile, is a Democrat, uses tobacco, a Baptist, Favors the liquor traffic, is a greenbacker, a farmer, a Pennsylvanian, married, 4 children is 47 years old and has lived here 21 years.
Wm. F. Hall, of Big Mound, is a native of Wayne, aged 36, a farmer, married, 6 children, uses tobacco but opposes whiskey. As an Independent, wants more greenbacks and is a Cumberland Presbyterian.
Wm. C. Murphy, of Leech, is generally called “Buck” and the nick name don’t fir him badly either. He was born in Kentucky, but of his 45 years of activity he has spent 40 in the land of Egypt. He reports being the father of 5 children and that he is married. Buck is a farmer, a greenback Democrat, uses tobacco and is not in favor of the liquor traffic “as it is” Buck is neutral in religion and was once Sheriff of Wayne County.
J. F. F. Fry, is a greenback Democrat and says he uses tobacco and favors the liquor traffic. Is a farmer, married, 3 children, is a native of Tennessee, 44 years old, has lived here 22 years. Represents Hickory Hills and expresses no religious preferences.
Sam H. Book Sr., is an old settler having come here from Henderson County Kentucky, 46 years ago at age 5. Lives in Big Mound is a farmer, married 3 children don’t use tobacco and opposes the liquor trade. Is a gold currency Democrat and a Baptist.
E. N. Simpson, of Barnhill, is another of the pioneers. He was born in Wayne County 45 years ago. Is a farmer, uses tobacco and not favorable to the liquor traffic “as it is” Is a Democrat, married, 3 children and favors greenbacks and more of them. No particular religious belief.
Stephen Boswell, is another native, aged 39, a farmer, married 2 children, smokes and chews, but puts his foot down on the whiskey trade. Is a greenback Republican and a Methodist. He hails from Four Mile.
F. M. Wood, also of Four Mile, is likewise a native of Wayne County, aged 33, don’t use tobacco but favors the liquor traffic. Is a greenback Democrat and a Christian. Is married, has 5 children and is a farmer.
Samuel T. McKirahan, the officer who waits on the Jury is a buckeye of 50 years growth, 25 of which have been spent in Wayne County. He lives in La Mard, is a produce shipper, married and has 2 children living. Is a Democrat, favors gold and opposes whiskey. Is a Methodist and has a Constable.
Wayne Co. Press
March 22, 1877
The Petit Jury, A few Personal Sketches
Nathan Sidwell, Of La Mard, looks like he was 35 but records himself as ten years older. He is a Buckeye by birth but his nativity is in the dominion of Gov. Blue Jeans Williams. Mr. Sidwell has lived in Wayne County 24 years, has a good farm and knows how to run it, married and has 8 children living. He says the use of tobacco is all wrong, yet his nerves are not steady unless he has some of the stuff in his mouth. He believes in punishing both the liquor dealer and the liquor drinker in proportion of the offence. Is a greenback Independent.
W. A. Puckett, of Barnhill, is 35 years old and has always lived in Wayne County. He is a farmer, married, has 3 children uses tobacco and is opposed to the liquor trade as at present conducted. He is a greenback Democrat with no religious preference.
Joseph Marvel, of Elm River is a greenback Democrat, a native of Wayne, a farmer and married. Mr. Marvel uses tobacco but opposes toddy. Has no church affiliations.
Owen O’Malley, of Barnhill, is a native of Kentucky and has lived here 12 years. He is a farmer, married, has 3 children, uses tobacco but not whiskey and is a candidate for constable. He is a greenback Democrat and a “Free believer” in religion. Has served the people as School Director and Road Overseer
J. E. Kennedy, aged 28 is a Hoosier by birth and has become a naturalized Sucker by 20 years residence here. He is unmarried uses tobacco, favors liquor traffic under modifications, is a greenback Democrat and holds no church membership.
David Berg, of Mt. Erie, came to Wayne County 16 years ago from Pennsylvania. He is now 44 years old, married the father of 8 children, a farmer, uses tobacco but opposes the liquor traffic. He is a greenback Republican and a Methodist.
J. N. Simpson, is another native of Wayne county, aged 41 farms in Bedford is a widower with 4 children. He favors strict restoration of the liquor traffic and is a greenback independent.
John Milner, is a Brush Creeker, who uses neither tobacco nor whiskey and is the father of 4 boys. He farms for a living, is 35 years old and is a republican that favors both gold and greenbacks.
Lewis Behymer is a Republican, a Missionary Baptist, wants both gold and greenbacks, has never used tobacco, always opposed to the liquor traffic. He is 52 years old a native of Ohio and has lived in Zif 7 years. Is married and has 10 children.
David Spicer, of Indian Prairie, is 56 born in Ohio lived in Wayne County 23 years, is a farmer, married, 7 children uses tobacco but not liquor. He is a greenback Republican and a General Baptist.
Isiah Segars, is a native of Kentucky, lives in Jasper, is 41, farmer married with 5 children and is a gold currency Republican. Has lived in Wayne county 17 years.
John Hoobler, of Bedford, is a native of Indiana but 12 years a resident of Wayne County. He is a farmer, married, 4 children, uses tobacco and favors “Prosecuting both the consumer and dealer in spirituous liquors according to their offence.” Mr. Hoobler is a greenback Democrat and a “Free thinker” in religion.
Wm. Lock, of Barnhill, is 49 years of age and tries to make a living by farming is a bachelor and reports no children. Uses tobacco but not to excess and “would fine the liquor consumer when he takes too much not the seller” Favors both gold and greenbacks, is a hard-shell Baptist and a candidate for Constable.
J. W. Vaughn, of Indian Prairie is a native of Tennessee, has lived in Wayne County 27 years and is 29 years old. He is a farmer, married 2 children, don’t use tobacco and opposed to the liquor trade. Is a Greenback Independent.
Greenback party, in U.S. history, political organization formed in the years 1874–76 to promote currency expansion. The members were principally farmers of the West and the South; stricken by the Panic of 1873, they saw salvation in an inflated currency that would wipe out the farm debts contracted in times of high prices. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0821734.html
The Greenback party (also called the National Greenback party) was organized in 1876 to campaign for expansion of the supply of paper money—"greenbacks"—first issued by the federal government in 1862 to help pay for the Civil War. The idea that maintaining a flexible supply of paper money served the interests of working people, whereas paper money backed by specie (hard money, like gold or silver) benefited only the rich, had been advanced by Edward Kellogg as early as 1841. In the 1860s, Alexander Campbell popularized Kellogg's ideas, but greenbackism did not develop a significant following until the panic of 1873, when low prices and tight credit gave Campbell's writings new appeal, especially to farmers. Many people, however, passionately opposed greenbackism, arguing that an inflated supply of paper money was immoral. In addition, of course, creditors as a group stood to lose from inflation, since debts could be repaid with less valuable dollars than those originally borrowed. The Reader's Companion to American History http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_038700_greenbackpar.htm
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