History of Belmont County Ohio United States of America

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Bushrod Rust Johnson, soldier, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, Oct. 7, 1817. He was graduated at the U.S. Military academy in 1840; served in the war against the Seminole and Creek Indians and was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1844. He was promoted captain; participated in many of the battles of the Mexican war, 1847-48, and was advanced to the rank of colonel. He was superintendent and professor of the Western Military institute, Georgetown, Ky., which became the literary department of the University of Nashville, April 4, 1855, and at the beginning of the civil war he left the university and entered the Confederate army with the commission of brig-adier-general. He was taken prisoner at Fort Donelson, where he served as chief of staff to Gen. J. B. Floyd, but subsequently escaped; was severely wounded at Shiloh, where he commanded a brigade, as he did in Bragg's invasion of Kentucky, at Perryville in 1862, and at Stone's River in 1863. He commanded a division at the battle of Chickamauga, where he discovered the weakness of the Federal right, and entering the gap with his division, began the flank movement to the right which drove the corps of Crittenden and McCook, with the commanding general, from the field. He then took part is the siege of Knoxville, December, 1868, where he commanded Buckner's division. He was promoted major-general in 1864. While engaged in the defence of Drewey's Bluff, Va., he took part in opposing the assault upon the Richmond railroad above Petersburg by General Butler, May 6-7, 1864, and at Drewey's Bluff, May 16, he captured the enemy's guns and lost more than one-fourth of his division. He withdrew the remainder of his force to Petersburg, and Butler took possession of Bermuda Hundred. He commanded the South Carolina troops in the charge on the crater at Petersburg and captured three colors and 130 prisoners. He commanded a division at the surrender at Appomattox, and after the war he returned to Tennessee, where in May, 1870, with Gen. E. Kirby Smith, he arranged with the trustees of the University of Nashville to conduct a collegiate department with Montgomery Bell academy as a preparatory school. General Johnson became professor of applied mathematics, and principal of the collegiate department but in June 1874, the department was forced to close its doors on account of the impoverished condition of the south. He died in Brighton, Ill., Sept. 11, 1880.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Lorenzo Danford, representative, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, Oct. 18, 1829; son of Samuel and Ellen (Mechem) Danford; and grandson of Peter Danford. He attended college at Waynesburg, Pa., and was admitted to the bar at St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1854. He was prosecuting attorney of Belmont county from 1857 to 1861, when he resigned to enter the 15th Ohio volunteer infantry as a private. He served until 1864, reaching the rank of captain. He was a member of the electoral college of Ohio in 1864 and in 1892, being its president in the latter year. He was a representative from the sixteenth district of Ohio in the 43d, 44th and 45th congresses, serving, 1873-79, and was returned to the 54th, 55th and 56th congresses, serving from 1895 until June 19, 1899, when he died, near St. Clairsville, Ohio.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Lewis Baker, statesman, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, Nov. 7, 1832. He was presiding officer of the West Virginia senate in 1870, and in 1884 a member of the national convention which nominated Grover Cleveland to the presidency. He then removed to Minnesota and became editor of the St. Paul Globe, and in 1893 he was appointed by President Cleveland minister to Nicaragua, Costa Rico and Salvador. He died in Washington, D.C., April 30, 1899.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Isaac Charles Parker, jurist, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, Oct., 15, 1838; son of Joseph and Jane (Shannon) Parker. His father was a native of Maryland, whose English ancestors were among the early settlers in Massachusetts Bay Colony, and his mother was a niece of Wilson Shannon . He worked on his father's farm, attending the country school in winter, until 1855, when for four years he divided his time between teaching and studying law at Barnesville academy, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar in 1859, settled in practice in St. Joseph, Mo., was mayor and alderman, 1859-62, and city attorney, 1862-64. In 1861 he raised a company for the 1st Nebraska infantry, served with the Missouri troops as corporal, and was also provost marshal. He was a presidential elector on the Lincoln and Johnson ticket in 1864; circuit attorney of the 9th district of Missouri, 1864-66; circuit, judge 1868-70, and Republican representative from Missouri in the 42d and 43d congresses, 1871-75. He was appointed by President Grant chief justice of Utah, and confirmed by the senate, but at the President's request declined in order to become judge of the U.S. court; for Western Arkansas in 1875, and held the office until his death. His name became a terror to outlaws and fugitives who ran over the Indian Territory and adjoining states, for he enforced the law to the letter, and imposed the death penalty upon more criminals than any other jurist in the United States. He also made a record of attendance on court without missing a day for twenty-one years, and in that time sentenced 160 murderers to be hanged. He was probably the only subordinate judge that ever overruled a decision of the U.S. supreme court, which he accomplished in November, 1894, without receiving judicial reproof from the higher court. He died at Fort Smith, Ark., Nov. 17, 1896.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Belmont County Ohio

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