James M. Simeral
James M. Simeral, who resides on his valuable farm of seventy-six acres, situated in Wayne Township, is a leading citizen of this section and is a representative of old settled families and one of the few surviving grandsons of a soldier who took part in the Revolutionary War. He was born at Bloomfield, O., June 6, 1834, and is a son of Archibald and Mary (Ferguson) Simeral.
Archibald Simeral was born in Cross Creek Township, Jefferson County, Ohio. His father, Alexander Simereal, was of Scotch-Irish extraction and was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. After his services in the patriot army he located in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and from there came to what was then the wilderness of Jefferson County and selected a home in the forest in Cross Creek Township. Archibald Simeral married Mary Ferguson, also of Scotch ancestry, a daughter of William Ferguson, who settled in Wayne Township in 1800, coming to this section from Washington County, Pennsylvania. They had a family of children of which there are three survivors: James M.; Margaret C., who is tlie widow of Robertson Day, and a resident of Fair Play, O. ; and Martha M., who is the widow of Hiram H. Cope, late of Mansfield, and resides at Bloomfield.
James M. Simeral was only ten years of age when his father died, but he remained on the home farm and has made agriculture his life business. He has been very active in public affairs in Wayne Township and has served for a long time in offices to which his fellow citizens have elected him, in this very convincing way showing the esteem and confidence in which he is held. For sixteen years he was not only a member of the school board of the township, but was its president. For six years he served as a trustee of Wayne Township, for eight consecutive years was assessor of Wayne Precinct, and in 1900 was township appraiser. His brother, the late William F. Simeral, served several terms as auditor of Jefferson County.
On September 28, 1865, Mr. Simeral was married to Miss Nancy Gilkison, who was born in Wayne Township, a daughter of William B. Gilkison, one of the early settlers, and four children were bom to this union: Blanche, who is the wife of William C. Wolfe, of Smithfield; William B., of Wayne Township; and Grace M. and James G. Blaine, both of Wayne Township. Mr. Simeral and family are members of the Presbyterian Church at Bloomfield. He has always been a loyal Republican. During the Civil War he served in the 100-day service and at its close was honorably discharged, and as long as the G. A. R. post was maintained at Union port he was an active member of it.
20th Century History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio, by Joseph B. Doyle. Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910