History of Lancaster, (Fairfield County) Ohio United States of America

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Biographies:

Charles Ewing, soldier, was born in Lancaster, Ohio, March 6, 1835; son of the Hon. Thomas and Maria Wills (Boyle) Ewing; and grandson of George and Rachel (Harris) Ewing. His grandfather was a soldier in the American Revolution, who settled in Ohio on the Muskingum river in 1792. Charles was educated at the Dominican college and at the University of Virginia. He studied law, was admitted to practice and was so engaged at St. Louis, Mo., when the civil war occurred. He then joined the U.S. army and was commissioned in 1861 captain in the 13th infantry, of which W. T. Sherman, his brother-in-law, was colonel, and was appointed inspector-general on the staff of General Sherman, when in command of the western army. At Vicksburg he planted the flag of his battalion on the parapet of the Confederate fort, and received in the accomplishment a severe wound. For this action he was brevetted major in 1863; for his action at Jackson, Colliersville and Missionary Ridge and in the Atlanta campaign he was made lieutenant-colonel by brevet in 1864, and for gallant conduct in the march to the sea and thence through the Carolinas to Washington he was brevetted colonel in 1865. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers, March 8, 1865. In 1867 he resigned his commission in the army, and opened a successful law practice in Washington, D.C., where he died June 20, 1883.

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

Thomas Ewing, representative, was born in Lancaster, Ohio, Aug. 7, 1829; son of the Hon. Thomas and Maria Wills (Boyle) Ewing; grandson of George and Rachel (Harris) Ewing and of Hugh and Eleanor (Gillespie) Boyle; and a descendant of Thomas Ewing, who emigrated from Londonderry and settled in Greenwich, N.J., in 1715. Thomas was educated at Brown university, leaving college to act as private secretary to President Taylor, 1849-50. He then studied law and practised in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1852-56. He was married. Jan. 18, 1856, to Ellen Ewing, daughter of the Rev. William Cox of Piqua, Ohio. He removed to Leavenworth, Kan., in 1856, was a member of the Leavenworth constitutional convention of 1858, and was elected chief justice of the state in 1861. He was a delegate to the peace congress of 1860, and resigned his judgeship in 1862 to recruit the 11th Kansas volunteers of which he was elected colonel, and with his regiment fought in the battles of Fort Wayne, Cane Hill and Prairie Grove. For gallantry at Prairie Grove he was made brigadier-general, March 13, 1863. He checked the invasion of Missouri by General Price in September-October, 1864, by holding Fort Davidson, at Pilot Knob, Mo., with a force of 1000 men, against the repeated attacks of the Confederate army, and successfully retreating to Rolla, Mo. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers in 1865 for his services during the war. He practised law in Washington, D.C., 1865-71, and at Lancaster, Ohio, 1871-81. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1873-74 and represented his district in the 45th and 46th congresses, 1877-81. He prepared the bill establishing a bureau of labor statistics, opposed the presence of U.S. soldiers at polling places, and favored the remonetization of silver and the continuation of the use of greenback currency. He was an unsuccessful candidate of the Democratic party for governor of Ohio in 1879, and at the close of his term as representative in congress, March 3, 1881, he resumed his law practice, making his office and residence in New York city. He was founder and first president of the Ohio Society of New York; a trustee of Ohio soldiers' and sailors' orphans' home, 1874-78; of the Ohio university, 1878-83, and acted as vice-president of the Cincinnati law college in 1881. He made a notable address before the Marietta centennial convention of 1887, and one before the Kansas state bar association in 1890. He also contributed to the Cosmopolitan in May, 1894, "The Struggle for Freedom in Kansas." Brown university, by special vote, in 1894, gave him the degree of A.M. in 1860 with the class of 1856, and Georgetown college, D.C., gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1870. He died in New York city, Jan. 21, 1896.

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

John Willcox Noble, cabinet officer, was born in Lancaster, Ohio, Oct. 26, 1831; son of John and Catharine (McDill) Noble, and grandson of Samuel and (Mary Patterson) Noble. He attended Miami university; was graduated at Yale, 1851; studied law at Columbus, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar there in 1853, and in St. Louis, Mo., in 1855. He practised in Columbus, Ohio, 1853, St. Louis, Mo., 1855-1856; and in Keokuk, Iowa, 1856-1861; was city attorney of Keokuk, 1859-60, and in 1861 enlisted in the 3d Iowa volunteer cavalry, being mustered 1st lieutenant and adjutant in August, 1861, and becoming major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel in this regiment. He was judge advocate of the Army of the Southwest and afterward of the department of the Missouri. He took part in the battle of Pea Ridge and the siege of Vicksburg, and served under Gert. Andrew J. Smith against Forrest, and under Gert. James H. Wilson in Alabama and Georgia. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers to date, March 13, 1865, and was mustered out of the service in August, 1865. He was married, Feb. 6, 1864, to Lizabeth, daughter of Hatfield Halstead of Northampton, Mass. He resumed the practice of law in St. Louis, Mo., 1865; was U.S. district attorney for Missouri, 1867-70; received the thanks of President Grant before the cabinet in 1869, and declined the solicitor generalship offered by the President. He was secretary of the interior in President Harrison's cabinet, 1889-93. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Miami university in 1889 and from Yale university in 1891.

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

Hugh Boyle Ewing, soldier, was born in Lancaster, Ohio, Oct. 31, 1826; son of the Hon. Thomas and Maria Wills (Boyle) Ewing. His ancestor, Finley Ewing, the first progenitor of the family of whom there is record, achieved distinction as an officer of dragoons in the battle of the Boyne. His son, Thomas, emigrated to the American colonies in 1718, settling in Greenwvich, N.J., where he married Mary Maskell, an heiress of great wit and beauty. Their son, Thomas, was the father of George Ewing, who fought under Washington, passing through the winter of Valley Forge, and commanding a battery of artillery at the battle of Brandywine, where the excellent service of his guns materially contributed to the first repulse of the British. After the Revolution George Ewing joined the movement to the Northwest territory, and settled in Athens county, Ohio. His son, Thomas (1789-1871), was the father of Hugh Boyle Ewing. Hugh was educated at the U.S. military academy, and in 1849 went to California where he joined an expedition ordered by his father, then secretary of the interior, to rescue the belated immigrants who were imprisoned in the Sierra by the heavy snows. He made the journey to California by way of New Orleans and Texas; passing through Mexico from the Rio Grande to Mazatlan on the Pacific, crossing the Cordilleras on mule back; and returning in 1852 by way of Panama, with dispatches for the government. He then completed his course in law and settled in St. Louis, Mo., where he practised from 1854 to 1856, when he removed with his brother, Thomas, to Leavenworth, Kan. In 1858 he was married to Henrietta, daughter of George W. Young, a large plantation owner of the District of Columbia, whose family was prominent in the settlement and history of Maryland. He soon afterward took charge of his father's salt works in Ohio. In April, 1861, he was appointed by Governor Dennison brigade-inspector of Ohio volunteers, and he served under Rosecrans and McClellan in western Virginia. He was made colonel of the 30th Ohio volunteers in August, 1861, brigadier-general, Nov. 29, 1862, and major-general by brevet in 1865. In the battle of South Mountain he led the assault which drove the enemy from the summit; and at midnight of that day he received an order placing him in command of a brigade. Under McClellan at Antietam his brigade was placed upon the extreme left of the army, where, according to the report of General Burnside, "by a brilliant change of front he saved the left from being completely driven in." He served throughout the campaign before Vicksburg, leading the assaults made by General Sherman; and upon its fall was placed in command of a division. At Chattanooga his division formed the advance of Sherman's army and carried Missionary Ridge. He was ordered to North Carolina in 1865, and was planning an expedition up the Roanoke river to co-operate with the army of the James, when Lee surrendered. President Johnson appointed him U.S. minister to Holland, where he served, 1866-70. Upon his return to the United States he retired upon a farm near Lancaster, Ohio. He is the author of: The Black List; A Tale of Early California (1887); A Castle in the Air (1887); The Gold Plague, and other works.

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