Biographical Sketch of the Ancestors of Wendell Asa OGLESBEE,
Including the ADKINS Family of Pickway County

***This history was written by Wendell Oglesbee and finalized on Sept. 2, 1976. The history was copied to text file from typewritten copy by Daniel Oglesbee, son of Wendell.***
Contributed by David Oglesbee oglesbee@ohio.net

• or is it Barzillai C. Adkins, as on tombstone at Five Points

Following is a summary of biographical information available on some of those in the direct line of descent:

 History of the Oglesbee Family

 

Alex Oglesbee is listed in the Frederick County, Virginia, records as being an elector or voter in 1758. Col. George Washington was running against another man for state assembly. Alex voted for the other man. (There was not secret ballot at that time.) An Alex Oglesbee, with wife and child, left the Hopewell Baptists east of Winchester, Virginia (Frederick County), in 1771. The will of Alexander Oglesbee, father of Aaron, was probated in Frederick County in 1794. The family farm to which the will refers is believed to have been located near Nineveh, Virginia (also Frederick County). This information fits in with the legend that the Oglesbee family came to Greene County, Ohio from Virginia and that they were of Scotch origin. Alexander's will from Virginia magazine of history 18V209.

A 1790 census lists an Asa Oglesbee and family in the Salisbury district of North Carolina. This could be the Asa mentioned in Alexander's will.

Aaron Oglesbee and Susannah Emmons were married in Frederick County on September 9, 1788. Aaron Oglesbee is listed in a 1794 census of Virginia. The will of Aaron Oglesbee was filed in Greene County, Ohio, on May 9, 1825. and leaves one-third to his son Asa, one-third to his son Samuel, and one-third to his daughter Mary Hardacre, "all my land in County of Madison." The estate file of Susannah Oglesbee is supposed to have been filed in Greene County several years after Aaron's will of 1825, but has not been found. Asa Oglesbee, son of Aaron and Susan, is listed in the congregation of the Sugar Creek Friends Church near Xenia, Ohio (Greene County) in 1813. According to church records he married Phoebe Mock on March 28, 1815. Assuming this Asa Oglesbee's father (Aaron) was in fact Alexander's son, this information suggests that Aaron could have traveled from Virginia to Ohio. According to a clipping in the possession of the writer's Great-Aunt Phoebe Oglesbee (the sister of Asa Oglesbee II -see chart- and grand daughter of Asa Oglesbee I), this Asa Oglesbee I was a teamster who drove from Baltimore to Cincinnati. (Aaron Oglesbee is also mentioned in Sugar Creek records Feb. 7, 1824. His death?)

A John Mock from North Carolina was listed in the Sugar Creek congregation records for 1804. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, moved to Fayette County in 1852, and died in 1862. His relationship to Phoebe Mock, Asa Oglesbee I's wife per above, is not known by the writer.

According to Miss Earsel Hall of Lafayette, Ohio, Samuel Oglesbee (Aaron's son and Asa I's brother married a Miss Heath and other Ohio Oglesbees are descended through him. His sons (to quote Miss Hall) included an Aaron Layton Oglesbee named (apparently) after Samuel's father (his grandfather) Aaron; he was an undertaker in Sedalia, Ohio. Samuel Oglesbee's estate was settled in Madison County, Ohio in 1863.

A marriage between John Oglesbee (Daniel's brother) and Mary Long is recorded in Mary Long's obituary found in Daniel Oglesbee's Bible. They had a daughter, Phoebe E. Dunkle, living in 1911, of Sedalia, who first married the Aaron Layton Oglesbee of Sedalia mentioned above, according to Miss Hall. Aaron Layton Oglesbee died in 1900; the Dunkle marriage was a second marriage for Phoebe.

Asa Oglesbee I lived in a cabin about 3/4 mile east of what was later to become his son Daniel's farm. Asa's cabin burned to the ground, taking with it the family records. The Great-Aunt Phoebe (see above) said that Asa's wife Phoebe Mock Oglesbee was saved with difficulty as she was said to have been crippled and heavy. Asa was said to have moved back to Greene County after the fire.

The people sharing in the estate of Asa Oglesbee, closed in Madison county in 1864 are listed below as shown in county records:

 

John Oglesbee	Phoebe Hunt
Daniel Oglesbee	Elizabeth Alkire
Elisha Oglesbee	Jacob Oglesbee
Eauthie Timmons	Mary Douglas, wife of John Douglas

 

Daniel Oglesbee owned a farm near Antioch Church, about six to seven miles north of Mt. Sterling, Ohio. He married Catherine Roley ("Roly") on Oct. 16, 1844, per Greene County records. She was said to be the "hired girl" of Daniel's uncle, Samuel Oglesbee, mentioned above, according to the Writer's Great-Aunt Phoebe, who also stated that Daniel and his Uncle Samuel did not get along too well. According to Murray Oglesbee, Catherine Roley was said to be from South Carolina. Her parents were Isaam and Catherine Roley and she was born in 1822. A Job Rowley was listed in a 1790 census for Beaufort District, Sough Carolina, but his relationship to Catherine Roley (Rowley) is unknown. Job Rowley had a large family and a land grant from the state of South Carolina for service in the Revolutionary War.

The children of the marriage of Daniel Oglesbee and Catherine Roley who lived to adulthood were:

 

Jacob	born 1852
Phoebe	born 1851
John	born 1849
Asa II	born 1848 (father of Murray)

 

A plague of 1863 may have taken Daniel's wife and son, Daniel (born 1857.) Isam and Catherine died young. **My interpration is that Daniel Oglesbee and Catherine Roley appeared to have seven children. Only four [listed] lived to adulthood. Son Daniel [Jr.] and Catherine Roley , the wife of Daniel [Sr.] died in a plague. Two other children, Isam and Catherine died while young. This is consistant with what I remember from what my aunt and father [grandchildren of Daniel Sr.] have said about two children having died young. - David Oglesbee, 1999 **

Elisha and Dorcas Godfrey were said by Murray Oglesbee to have come from Connecticut, and to have operated a store in Egypt, Ross County, Ohio. There were members of Asbury Church, in Egypt, Ross County, Ohio.

Noah Cox was said to be from Maryland, by Murray Oglesbee. Mary Cook, according to old records, came from Delaware at the age of 10 with her parents. This would be 1817.

William Cox lived about one and one-half miles north of Kiousville (not far from the area Asa Oglesbee II lived; see below). William was a farmer as his father, Noah, had been. (Noah had also lived in this area.) William had a brother, Thomas Cox, who was referred to as "Uncle Tom" by Murray Oglesbee.

Sarah Godfrey Cox, William's wife, was said to have preferred, at times, cooking over a hearth to using a cast iron cook stove, as Murray Oglesbee recalled. Their daughter Bethena married Asa Oglesbee II on May 5, 1875, in Madison County.

Asa Oglesbee II lived on the Kiousville-Georgesville road about a half mile north of Kiousville. He had two sons, Murray and Clarence. He died early of typhoid fever.

Clarence Oglesbee married Katherine Cook (no known relationship to Mary Cook Cox); they had no children. He farmed approximately the same land that had belonged to his maternal grandfather William Cox, north of Kiousville. (Clarence Oglesbee was born in 1878 and died in 1947.)

Murray Oglesbee farmed land now owned by C. W. Bricker and Catherine Oglesbee Bricker in Fairfield Township, Madison county, Ohio. He married Sarah Emily Adkins on October 2, 1902. Their children are Sara Catherine Oglesbee Bricker and the writer (Wendell). The known history of the Adkins family is discussed below.

John and Catherine Fissel were from Mt. Joy, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They ran a store in Darbyville, Pickaway County, Ohio. They were said to have traveled from Lancaster County to Ohio in a spring wagon. Their son John (Louisa Fissel Adkins' brother and the great-uncle of the writer) served for four years in the 20th O.V.I of the Union Army, participating in over twenty battles and having been at the notorious Andersonville prison. He can certainly be described as a Civil War hero. There were eight other children in this family.

Coston B. Adkins (or B.C. Adkins, name uncertain; Barzillai C. Adkins on tombstone) moved from Salisbury on the eastern shore of Maryland to Ohio in 1817; he was born in 1795. He operated a tannery northeast of Clarksburg, Ross County, and later at Five Points in Pickaway County, Ohio. (Tanning depended on oak bark and oak forests at this period of time.) (Conston B. Adkins' father came from Salisbury, England, to quote Coston Adkins, grandson of Coston B. Adkins.) Little is known of Emily Parsons. Coston B and Emily Adkins had only two sons: Zachariah Patrick and Barzillai C. Adkins. Z. P. Adkins was a first lieutenant of the 20th O.V.I from Aug. 31, 1861 to Fe. 28, 1862. He had no children.

Barzillai C. Adkins was a farmer and legislator in Pickaway County, his farm having been near Five Points along Dear Creek, in Monroe Township. He married Louisa Elizabeth Fissel Adkins and their thirteen children, including the wife of Murray Oglesbee, are listed below. This family of thirteen could be described as well educated by nearly any standards. B. C. Adkins later retired to Circleville.

 

John P.	Charles H.
Joseph W.	Harry H.
George G.	Mrs. Maude Davis
"Jack" Jackson B.	Mrs. Catherine (Henry) Renick
Coston B.	Mrs. Frances (R. O.) Duff
DeWitt	Mrs. Sarah (Murray) Oglesbee
Stanly

 

 

Some Personal Notes by Writer

 

Sarah Oglesbee and Murray Oglesbee were both country school teachers before they devoted their full time to family and farm. They had only the usual eighth grade education of the rural area of their time but I believe they were required to take an examination before being allowed to teach. Their knowledge of grammar, arithmetic, physiology, history and geography was deep and thorough. They could read intelligently, write effectively, and were not stumped by the usual problems in arithmetic. They were also said to be good at teaching others. Murray Oglesbee was a first class amateur musician..

The one common denominator of the Oglesbees was that they adjusted well and prospered under the rather rigorous discipline of the farm life of their day. Murray Oglesbee for one, was active physically and somehow managed to keep an exacting farm schedule.

The older people in the Oglesbee family had limited education. Daniel was probably nearly illiterate; his children could read and write letters and so communicate, but that was about their limit. Asa Oglesbee II was said to have been taught to read and write by Bethena, his wife, after marriage. It should be noted his mother died when was young.

Daniel was said to be a progressive small farmer by Murray Oglesbee, one point being made that he was one of the first to own a horse-drawn mowing machine.

To quote Phoebe Oglesbee, Daniel's daughter, "He used to say, I am just an old Scotch-Irishman or Irisher."

Daniel was a man of primitive honesty. His neighbors whom I knew and who remembered him can attest to that.

To quote Murray Oglesbee, he never forgot a friend or someone who had done him wrong.

During the Civil War, he was commandeered along with others a militia to oppose Morgan's raid. This per his daughter, Phoebe. I remember him showing my father his new pump, well, etc., and I believe, well-house.

I know little about the Godfrey's and Coxes^* in this respect. Noah Cox's will was signed "his mark". Bethena Cox was said to have had some contact with school teaching.

^** Louisa Fissell Adkins, when it came to matters of both character and education, was possessed by "Teutonic Thoroughness". She could keep things moving. Her ancestry was once said by George Adkins to be of Hessian background, they having settled in Pennsylvania after recognizing a good opportunity.

Barzillai Adkins had a better than average education for his day. It was said he should have studied law rather than medicine. As a tax assessor and practical politician he was said to have put the family dogs at not value. He did attend a series of medical lectures (standard for the time) but I am not absolutely sure of Starling. He did not like the practice of medicine.

To quote Stanley Adkins, B. C. Adkins heard Lincoln speak twice in Columbus. He regarded Lincoln as a great moral leader but poor administrator (75,000 Volunteers were inadequate). He voted for Grant for a first term but became a Democrat after the troubles of the Grant administrations, again quoting Stanley Adkins.

© 1999-2008 David Oglesbee. All rights reserved. This page may be freely linked to but not duplicated in any fashion without my consent of the contributor.