William Covington Amos
William Covington Amos was born in Mason township, Lawrence county, Ohio, February 18, 1829. He removed with his parents into Gallia county when eighteen months old. His parents, Asa and Nancy (Hunter) Amos, were born and raised in Patrick county, Virginia. They settled in Green Bottom, Cabell county, West Virginia; lived there three years and then moved to Greasy Ridge, Lawrence county, Ohio, about 1823. The schools at that day were held in old log cabins. His father boarded the schoolmaster and paid him half his salary to get him to teach. For glass at that time they used greased paper. Their fireplace occupied one end of the log cabin. Most of his education was secured at night with the aid of a pine knot fire. He walked three and a half miles to a grammar school. When he was twenty-one years of age the subject of this sketch taught school for two or three years. He then commenced selling goods in Mason and Elizabeth townships. He went into the Etna Furnace in 1854, where he kept the store for nineteen months. He clerked there until December 1, 1865, as bookkeeper and salesman. He then rented an interest in the furnace and commenced the management of the furnace. He held the interest for five years. Three years after, in 1868, he rented Vesuvius Furnace for five years; organized a company consisting of George N. Gray, T.A. Dempsey, H.L. Amos, Oliver Lyons, and W.C. Amos, under the firm name of Gray, Amos, & Company. One year before the lease expired they leased it again for three years, and one year before that lease expired, they sold the Etna Iron Works Company, which was organized in 1872. The panic of that year caused him to finally dispose of his interest. In 1879 he bought an interest in Bloom Furnace, of which he has been manager ever since. He is also interested in the grocery business. Mr. Amos was married at the Etna Furnace, Elizabeth township, November 26, 1857, to Harriet Elizabeth Sutton, who was born at Hanging Rock, Hamilton township, November 17, 1837. They have the following children: Martha Jane, born November 17, 1858, resides in Keokuk, Iowa; Mary Rosalie, February 18, 1862, resides at home; Nellie Florence, April 28, 1865, died February 21, 1869; Horace Leftrage, June 30, 1867, resides at home; Lillie Grace, January 17, 1870, resides at home; Joanna, August 26, 1874, died September 20, 1874; the last was born at Ironton; all of the others at Etna Furnace. The parents of Mrs. Amos are Joseph and Rebecca (Winkler) Sutton, settlers of this county in 1834, and still residents here. Mr. Amos had three brothers in the war of the rebellion; John P. and S. D. Amos were members of the 18th Ohio Battery, serving over three years, and were in the Reserve Corps at Chattanooga. James M. Amos died before he was assigned any regiment, at Gallipolis. He had been elected lieutenant. Mr. Amos has been a member of the Republican party since its inception. He is a class-leader in the Methodist Episcopal church. Address, Ironton, Lawrence county, Ohio.
From Atlas of Lawrence Co., Ohio by Hardesty (1882)