Samuel Kyle Williamson
Samuel Kyle Williamson, a soldier of the Civil War and proprietor of "Maple Lawn Stock Farm," a part of the old Judge Samuel Kyle place in Cedarville township, now living retired from the operations of the farm, the same being carried on by his younger son, Collins Williamson, was born on a farm in the vicinity of the village of Jamestown on October 26, 1846, son of John S. and Jane (Kyle) Williamson, the latter of whom was a daughter of Judge Samuel and Rachel (Jackson) Kyle, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. Judge Kyle, who was for thirty years associate judge of the court in Greene county, came here from Kentucky in 1805 and bought a tract of thirteen hundred acres of land in the Cedarville neighborhood, and there established his home. He was a member of the session of the old Associate Reformed church at Cedarville and was twice married, becoming, by his first wife, Ruth Mitchell, the father of six children. By his second wife, Rachel Jackson, who was a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (McCorkle) Jackson, also pioneers of the Cedarville neighborhood and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, he was the father of fifteen children. Robert Jackson was the father of ten children and thus the Kyles and the Jacksons became two of the most numerously connected families in the county.
The Williamsons are hardly any less numerously connected, for David and Catherine (Duncan) Williamson, the founders of this family in Greene county and of whom further and extended mention is made elsewhere in this volume, were the parents of ten children, of whom John Smith, the father of the subject of this sketch, was the fifth in order of birth. John Smith Williamson was born in the vicinity of Frankford, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1817, and was nineteen years of age when he accompanied his parents to Greene county in 1836. After his marriage to Jane Kyle in the spring of 1842 he bought a farm of one hundred and fifty acres in the immediate vicinity of Jamestown and there set up his home. In 1859 he traded that farm for another, but soon afterward sold this latter place and bought a farm on the edge of the village of Cedarville, where he lived until 1865, when he bought a fami of one hundred and thirty-seven acres on the Columbus-Cincinnati pike, a mile west of Cedarville. and moved onto the same. On December 4, 1872, his dwelling house there was destroyed by fire and he moved into Cedarville, where he became engaged in the grocery and so continued for some years, or until his retirement from business. During the later years of his life Mr. Williamson was an invalid, a sufferer from a paralytic stroke. He died at his home in Cedarville on November 18, 1898, he then being in the eighty-second year of his age. For twenty-five years he had been a ruling elder in the United Presbyterian church and his children were reared in that faith.
John S. Williamson was twice married. On March 17, 1842, he was united in marriage to Jane Kyle, who was born in the Cedarville neighborhood on December 18, 1816, daughter of Judge Samuel and Rachel (Jackson) Kyle, mentioned above, and to that union were born three children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being Catherine, born on July 26, 1843, widow of Robert M. Jackson, and David S., born on December 29, 1851, a retired farmer, now living at Cedarville and a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume. The mother of these children died on August 28, 1854, and on December 17, 1855, John S. Williamson married Ellen B. Bryson, a daughter of Robert and Hannah Bryson, and to that union one child was born, a daughter. Flora Jane, born on January 2, 1857, who died on February 6, 1860. Mrs. Ellen B. Williamson died on July 18, 1878, and on February 8, 1883, Mr. Williamson married Mattie Irwin, of Claysville, Pennsylvania, also now deceased. This last union was without issue.
Samuel Kyle Williamson received his schooling in the schools of Cedarville, completing the same with a course of two years in the old "select school" conducted there by Professor Fleming. On February 15, 1865, he then being but eighteen years of age, he enlisted as a soldier of the Union for service during the continuance of the Civil War and was sent to the front as a member of Company A, One Hundred and Eighty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with that company until mustered out on September 26, 1865, the most of that service having been rendered at Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, and at Cumberland Gap, at which latter point he was for four months stationed with his regiment. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Williamson returned home and in 1868 bought from his father a tract of one hundred acres, a part of the old Judge Samuel Kyle place, and after his marriage in the fall of 1872 established his home there, occupying the house that D. M. Kyle had erected there in 1849. There Mr. Williamson has ever since made his home. He has remodeled and improved the old house and has a very attractive place which bears the name of "Maple Lawn Stock Farm." In addition to his general farming Mr. Williamson has ever given considerable attention to the raising of high-grade live stock, with particular reference to Polled Durham cattle, Delane-Merino sheep and Duroc-Jersey hogs. Of late years he has given over the general direction of the farm to his son, Collins Williamson, who is managing it as well as an adjoining tract of one hundred and sixteen acres, the Joseph Kyle place, which he owns in his own right. Mr. Williamson is a member of the United Presbyterian church at Cedarville and has been for many years a member of the board of trustees of the same. Politically, he is a Republican.
Mr. Williamson has been twice married. On November 6, 1872, he was united in marriage to Isabella Collins, who also was born in this county, June 14, 1849, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (McClellan) Collins, members of pioneer families and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, and to that union were born six children, namely: George Smith, born on April 17, 1874, who died on May 10 of the same year; John Clarence, April 19, 1875, who died on August 23 of that same year; Emmet Collins, December 9, 1876, who is unmarried and is now living at Lemar, Mississippi, in the vicinity of which place he owns a cattle ranch, Ellen Rebecca, July 7, 1878, who on November 7, 1900, was united in marriage to the Rev. Alfred Dennison, now stationed at New Concord, in Muskingum county, this state; an infant, August 23, 1882, who died on that same day, and Collins, November 11, 1888, who. as mentioned above, is now operating the "Maple Lawn Stock Farm" for his father, as well as farming his own place adjoining, continuing to make his home on the home place. The mother of these children died on October 8, 1899, and on October 14, 1903, Mr. Williamson married Maria Agnes Tarbox, who also was born in this county, daughter of John M. and Rachel (Nichol) Tarbox, the former of whom was for many years engaged in the milling business at Cedarville, he having come here from his native state of Maine in 1849, and further reference to whom is made elsewhere in this volume.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918