Weymouth New England Genealogy

JOHN MEANS--"A truly great life," says Webster, "when Heavenvouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a temporary flame, burningbright for a while and then expiring, giving place to returningdarkness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat as well asradiant light, with power to enkindle the common mass of humanmind; so that when it glimmers in its own decay, and finallygoes out in death, no light follows, but it leaves the world alllight, all on fire, from the potent contact of its own spirit."This quotation appeared in the memorial tribute preached by Rev.William D. Ryan, pastor of the Christian church, at the time ofMr. Means' death, February 14, 1910, and it is particularlyapropos of this life. Following will be given a brief resume ofMr. Means' career with further extracts form [sic] the articlereferred to above. John Means was one of the founders of Ashland, Kentucky, and wasone of the most active factors in it subsequent upbuilding anddevelopment, besides which he was an essentially progressivebusiness man, carrying successfully forward large industrial andfinancial interests. His ancestry was of Scotch origin, the nameat one time having been preceded by the syllable Mac. InAmerica Mayne and Maynes are traceable to the same origin andthe Irish are disposed to spell the name Main or Mains. InGlasgow the name John Main appears in the record of 1666 amongthe "Martyrs of Covenant." Mr. Means' ancestors settled inNorth Ireland about the time of the reign of William III andhave always been Presbyterians in their religious faith. InAmerica they appear in two or three branches, one of whichoriginally settled in New England, another in Pennsylvania,members of which subsequently removed to South Carolina, andothers having come to Carolina direct from Ireland. WilliamMeans settled on the Juanita river, in Juanita county,Pennsylvania, in a [sic] early day, removing thence to SouthCarolina, where he became an earnest partisan of the colonies intheir early troubles with Great Britain. Several of his sonsparticipated in the Revolutionary war, the youngest of whom wasColonel John Means, grandfather of the subject of this review.Colonel Means was a native of Union district, South Carolina,where his birth occurred on the 14th of March, 1770. He was anextensive planter, an officer of the state militia and a memberof the South Carolina state legislature during the session of1815-16. He was strongly opposed to slavery in principle and in1819 he removed to Ohio, taking with him his twenty-four slaves,to whom he gave their freedom. He settled in Adams county,Ohio, and became a farmer and iron manufacturer, being one ofthe pioneers in the iron industry and being largely interestedin the building and operating of the first iron furnace in theBuckeye state. He was a member of the Ohio legislature 1825-27and was an eminently influential man in business and publicaffairs. He married Ann Williamson, who was a native of SouthCarolina and whose maternal ancestry was traced back to SirIsaac Newton. Colonel Means died near Manchester, Ohio, on the15th of March, 1837, his wife passing away on the 17th ofAugust, 1840. Of their six children, Thomas Williamson Means,father of John Means, of this review, was born on the 23d ofNovember, 1803, at Spartanburg, South Carolina. He spent sixyears in a select school established by his father, chiefly forthe education of his own children, and he secured not only agood Englishtraining but also gained a respectable knowledge of theclassics. After the family's removal to Ohio he spent some timeon his father's farm and he also clerked in a store at WestUnion, in which his father had an interest. In 1826 he took aflat boat loaded with produce to New Orleans and after hisreturn to Ohio he became storekeeper at Union Furnace, which hisfather and others were then building, some four miles distantfrom Hanging Rock, this being the first blast furnace to bebuilt in Ohio in the Hanging Rock iron region; he had thepleasure of first firing this furnace. In 1837 he in companywith David Sinton became the owner of the Union Furnace, whichwas rebuilt in 1844. In the following years was constructed theOhio Furnace. In 1847 Thomas W. Means became interested in andhelped to build the Buena Vista Furnace, in what is now Boydcounty, Kentucky, and in 1852 he purchased the BellefonteFurnace, in Kentucky. In 1854 he helped build the Vinton, Ohio,Furnace and in 1863, with others, bought the Pine Grove Furnaceand Hanging Rock Coal Works; in the following year he became oneof the owners of the Amanda Furnace, in Kentucky. In 1845 heand David Sinton built a tram road to the Ohio Furnace, thisbeing one of the first roads of its kind in the country. Inconnection with the Culbertsons he built the Princess, a stonecoal furnace, ten miles from Ashland. Under the supervision ofhim and David Sinton the experiments for introducing the hotblast were first made and at their Union Furnace they put up thesecond hot blast in the United States, only a few years afterits introduction in England, in 1828. He was longer engaged anddoubtless more extensively and they directly concerned in thegrowth and prosperity of the iron business than any other man inthe Ohio valley. Besides his extensive furnace interests he hadconsiderable real estate holdings, owning as much as eighteenthousand acres of ore, coal and farm lands in Ohio and nearlythirty thousand acres in Kentucky. He was the originator of theCincinnati & Big Sandy Packet Company and was a principalstockholder and one of the incorporators of the Norton IronWorks, at Ashland. He helped lay out and develop Ashland; was alarge stockholder in the Ironton Iron Railway; was one of the foundersof theSecond National Bank of Ironton, Ohio, being president of thelatterinstitution for a number of years after its organization, in1864; and wasa director of the Ashland National Bank. In his politicalconvictions hewas originally a Whig, having cast his first vote for JohnQuincy Adams forpresident. At the time of the founding of the Republican party,in 1858,he became a stanch supporter of its principles and policies andduring theCivil war he was an ardent Union man. He passed the latteryears of hislife at his home in Ashland, in which place he took up hisresidence onthe 6th of April, 1882, and his death occurred June 8, 1890. Hewas married on the 4th of December, 1828, to Sarah Ellison, anative of Buckeye Station, Adams county, Ohio, and a daughter ofJohn Ellison, an early settler in that county. She passed toher reward at Hanging Rock, in 1871, at the age of sixty-oneyears. They became the parents of nine children, eight of whomgrew to maturity, of which John Means was the first in order ofbirth. John Means, the immediate subject of this review, was born atWest Union, Adams county, Ohio, on the 21st of September, 1829.He was afforded excellent educational advantages in his youthbut on account of ill health left Marietta College, withoutgraduating, in 1848. In the following year he pursued a specialbusiness course and began life as a storekeeper at the OhioFurnace, then owned by his father and David Sinton, ofCincinnati. Later he became bookkeeper of the furnace and in1851 went to Buena Vista Furnace, in Boyd county, Kentucky,where he soon assumed the position of manager, retaining thisposition until 1855, in which year he located at Catlettsburg,where he became financial agent and supply agent for thefurnace, acting in that capacity until the inception of theCivil war, which caused the fires to be extinguished in thesegreat furnaces. In 1857 he established his home at Ashland,where he continued to reside during the balance of his life. Hewas one of the originators, in 1856, of the Cincinnati & BigSandy Packet Company, a business comprised chiefly of largefreighters in the iron region. This concern was incorporated in1866, after which time Mr. Means was a director in the KentuckyIron, Coal and Manufacturing Company, organized for the purposeof founding and building the city of Ashland and for theestablishment of factories and railways. In 1865 he was electedpresident of that company and served in that capacity for manyyears. He was one of the organizers of the Lexington & BigSandy Railway Company, Eastern division, in which he was a largestockholder, served as director and vice-president and waselected president in 1870, this being one of the largest andmost successful corporations in this section of Kentucky. Tothis concern belongs the Ashland Furnace which was originatedand planned by him, the entire plant having been built under hissupervision; his twin daughters had the honor of first "firing"this great furnace, the date being August 30, 1869. Mr. Meanswas one of the organizers of the Ashland Coal Company; theHanging Rock Iron & Coal Company; and later he was one of theprincipal owners of the Pine Grove, the Union and Ohio Furnace,and the coal-mining interest of Hanging Rock, Ohio. He was oneof the directors of the Norton Iron Works and was treasurer ofthat company while it was in progress of construction, in 1872.In the following year he was one of the organizers of the LowMoor Iron Company, of Virginia, becoming president of the sameat the time of organization. He had a large interest in thefifty thousand acres of mineral and other lands of the abovecompanies and he was generally concerned in the extensiveenterprise of his father, who in turn had interests in the son'saffairs. In 1856 he helped organize the Bank of Ashland, inwhich he was incumbent of the position of cashier from January,1866, to July, 1869, and after resigning which position hecontinued as a director in the bank until its liquidation, in1872, and the organization of its successor, the AshlandNational Bank, of which he became vice-president. In 1870 he wasinterested in laying out the town of Russell, Kentucky, oppositeIronton, Ohio, and in the same year he bought land and laid outthe Ashland cemetery, being trustee in management of the latterfor a number of years. He was among the first to uncover themineral wealth of Eastern Kentucky and was largely instrumentalin bringing capital and skill to this section for its properdevelopment. In politics Mr. Means was ever aligned as a stalwart supporterof the cause of the Republican party and during the war of theRebellion he was a strong Union man. In 1860 Mr. Means waselected trustee of the town of Ashland and served continuouslyin that capacity as a member of the city council for many years,some thirty in all. He was actively connected with everymovement in upbuilding the community since the establishment ofAshland. During the Civil war he was commissioned by themilitary board of the state to forward and pass over public waysall soldiers, recruits and war equipage in this part of Kentuckyand in 1872 he was appointed, by Governor Leslie, as one of fivecommissioners from Kentucky to confer with five commissionersfrom each of seven other states to present a memorial tocongress for the purpose of improving the Ohio river. He ownedthe Ashland Academy property and was a most liberal patron ofeducation and an earnest supporter of the common-school system.In 1874 he was Republican candidate to represent his district incongress and while he received a heavy majority of the votescast in his home county, the opposition majority precluded thepossibility of his election. He was a man of the mostextraordinary ability and capacity and never undertook any causeor work, which he did not succeed in bringing to a favorableissue. His religious faith coincided with the teaching of thePresbyterian church and he was a loyal and generous contributorto all matters concerning the church of this denomination inAshland. On the 25th of October, 1854, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.Means to Mrs. Harriet E. Perkins, the youngest daughter of Dr.Samuel Prescott Hildreth, of Marietta, Ohio. Dr. Hildreth was amember of the Ohio legislature, was assistant state geologistand was one of the most learned and most prominent men in thatstate. Mr. and Mrs. Means became the parents of the followingchildren--Thomas Hildreth is residing in the old homestead atAshland; Eliza Isabella is the wife of William B. Seaton, ofAshland, concerning whom a sketch appears elsewhere in the work;Lillian and Rosalie, twins, the form of whom is the wife ofWilliam E. Maynard, of Brooklyn, New York, and the latter is thewife of Dr. Ernest Luther Bullard, of Rockville, Maryland;Harold maintains his home at Ashland and Ellison Cooke residesat Low Moor, Virginia. Mrs. Means was summoned to eternal reston the 13th of March, 1895, and on the 3d of June, 1896, in NewYork City, Mr. Means wedded Miss Mary Peck Seaton, a native ofGreenup county, Kentucky, and a daughter of the later SamuelSeaton, a pioneer and well known citizen of Eastern Kentucky.John Means died at his home, in Ashland, February 14, 1910, andno greater tribute can be paid to his memory than that expressedin the article written by Rev. William D. Ryan at the time ofhis demise, a portion of the same being here incorporated."In this day, when disinterested citizenship is all too rare ajewel, it is helpful to reflect upon a course of high-mindedpatriotism such as that of Mr. Means. For thirty years he satin the city council. As chairman of the committee on finance hegave to the affairs of the city the same careful, efficientattention that his own business received. He was never soabsorbed in his own affairs that he refused to serve his city.He sought no political preferment. In 1874 the nomination torepresent his district in congress was, without hissolicitation, tendered him. He accepted it and issued adeclaration of his principles that was notable for its dignity,its clearness and it manliness. In the election of his opponenthe lost nothing in prestige. Perhaps there is no need moreurgent to-day than for this high-minded type of citizenship whorecognize the obligations of patriotism in times of peace.Everything that had to do with human betterment concerned him.Throughout his career he has shown in a most practical way hisinterest in education. In the early days he promoted andsustained the Beech Grove Academy. Since the coming of thepublic schools he has given them his hearty and substantialsupport. The site for the building where all the coloredchildren of our city are educated was his free gift, and one ofour most beautiful school buildings was named in his honor. "There was a modesty and lack of all ostentation in Mr. Mean'swork as a benefactor. It is known that his ear was open to thecry of the poor. There is perhaps not a religious orphilanthropic organization in the city that has not been aidedby his liberality. In his giving, as in all affairs of hislife, he had firm convictions of his own and acted in accordwith them. It was his special delight to help the needy to helpthemselves. Without breaking the seal of silence that wasusually about his benefactions, it may be said of him, as hasbeen said of another, 'He added to the sum of human joy and wereeveryone to whom he did some loving service to bring a blossomto his grave, he would sleep to-night beneath a wilderness offlowers.' "With mind as alert and enthusiasm as wholesome as that of ayouth of twenty, this man of four score years would sit in hiswheelchair and talk on any subject that might most interest hiscaller. His range of interests were remarkable in all itsscope. In all lines of business he could, of course, talk as anexpert; likewise in civil engineering, in metal-lurgy and inmining. But he could speak, too, with ripeness and wisdom inalmost any realm of thought. To discuss with him history, orliterature, or science, or questions of the day was to bedelightfully entertained and instructed. He knew and loved thebest in literature, and he had the best on his bookshelves. Hehad his heros in American history, among them Lincoln, Grant andJohn Quincy Adams. An intensely active business career had notcrowded out taste and time for the finer things of life, and inhis declining years of dignified ease how great was his heritageof you in the wider interests! His home was a radiating centerof happiness, around him wife and other loved ones, whosehighest joy was found in his comfort--a mutual devotion herethat makes us whisper 'heaven' when we think of his home. Maythe Christ of Gethsemane comfort these aching hearts in thistime of separation."