Col. John Means, a revolutionary war soldier of prominence in the region of South Carolina, moved to Ohio in 1819 and settled in Adams county, Ohio. He moved his family to Ohio to escape the influence of slavery, a fact that their children seemed to appreciate all their lives.
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY OHIO – COLONEL JOHN MEANS – The people of Ohio are more indebted to this high-minded southern gentleman than they are aware.
He was the first to develop the iron interests of southern Ohio. He was of old Scotch-Irish Presbyterian stock. The family name has been written MacMeans, which is the same as Mayne or Maynes. William Means, his father, was born in Ireland and married Nancy Simonton.
He emigrated to the United States and settled in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, in about 1760. From there, he removed to the Union District in South Carolina, where he resided during the Revolution. He embraced the side of the Colonies and, being confined to his house by disease, was subjected to great annoyance by the Tories.
A part of the time, his family was supported by an enslaved person, Bob, a native of Africa, and at one time, they were compelled to live on wheat boiled in water, not being able to procure other provisions. They had eight children with all their privations: James, Hugh, Margaret, Mary, William, Rachael, John, and Jane. The eldest, James, was born in Ireland. Mary married William Davitte and moved with her husband to Adams County, Ohio, in 1802 and to Edgar County, Illinois, in 1812.
Our subject, John, the seventh child, was born on March 14, 1770, in South Carolina. He grew to manhood at the place of his birth and married Anne Williamson, the daughter of Thomas and Anne Williamson, of Spartanburg District, on the tenth of April, 1798. Before his marriage, he united with the Presbyterian Church.
He lived in Union District, South Carolina, with his mother until after she died in 1799. Soon after his mother’s death, he moved to Spartanburg District and engaged in farming, merchandise, and tanning. At the time he removed to Spartanburg District, the only company of militia near his home had for their captain, one burton, whose father had been a Tory in the Revolutionary War.
John Means’ dislike of the Tories was so strong that, though the law required him to belong to the militia, he would not join Burton’s company but got up one of his own rather than serve under the son of one of those who had persecuted his father during the war. During the War of 1812, he has commissioned a colonel of the militia in South Carolina but was never called into active service. He was a member of the South Carolina legislature in 1815 and 1816. He and his wife both believed that slaves had souls and that they should be taught to read the Bible. This was not lawful in South Carolina.
Col. Means determined to move to Ohio, where his brother William preceded him in 1802 and his brother-in-law, the Rev. William Williamson, in 1805. He emigrated to Ohio in 1819 and took twenty-four slaves to give them their freedom. On reaching Manchester, he purchased a farm one mile west of Bentonville, now owned by A. V. Hutson. He erected a suitable dwelling and buildings in 1824 and built quarters for his freedmen.
In October 1821, he was elected commissioner of Adams County, Ohio, and served one term. In 1824, he was elected a legislature member from Adams County, Ohio, and served at the ensuing session and that of 1825. During his first legislative session, the canal project occupied much attention.
At his first session, William Henry Harrison was elected United States senator instead of Ethan Allen Brown, whose term had expired. He was re-elected to the twenty-fourth legislative in the fall of 1825, which remained in session from the fifth of December, 1825, until the fifth of February, 1826.
During this session, land assessors who made their returns to the state auditor were chosen. The first State Board of Equalization was created during this session, with fourteen members, one for each congressional district.
Col. Means was in sentiment, anti-slavery and an Abolitionist. He always declared slavery to be a moral and political evil. However, he was not the same kind of an Abolitionist as the Rev. Dyer Burgess, who afterward married his daughter. He and Mr. Burgess often had heated discussions on slavery owing to their differences. He watched over and cared for his former slaves as long as he lived, and when nearing the end of his life, he often expressed himself gratified with his action in freeing his slaves and bringing his family into a free state.
He mined the first iron in Adams County, Ohio. He built the Brush Creek Forge Furnace and made iron there. He was one of the partners who built the Union furnace, the first in Ohio in the Hanging Rock Region. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church in Manchester.
He died on the fifteenth of March, 1837, and is interred in the Manchester cemetery, adjoining the Presbyterian Church. His wife survived him until November 30, 1840. He was a sincere Christian, an honorable, upright, and successful businessman. His wife was a remarkable woman. She was the same views as her husband on slavery and was noted for her piety and good works.
It is mainly through their children this eminent couple is known to this generation. They had six children. Elizabeth Williamson, born in 1799, married Dr. Wm. M. Voris in 1827 and, by him, was the mother of three daughters, one of whom was the wife of the Hon. William P. Cutler, of Marietta, Ohio. Dr. Voris died of cholera in Cincinnati on June 8, 1835. In 1842, she married the Rev. Dyer Burgess and became his widow in 1872, but lived until February 28, 1889, to the great age of ninety.
A son, Thomas Williamson Means, was known to all the businessmen of southern Ohio. He was born in South Carolina on November 23, 1803, and came with his father to Ohio in 1819. He married Sarah Ellison on December 4, 1828. He has a separate sketch in this book. Another son of Col. Means, the late Hugh Means, of Ashland, Kentucky, also has a separate sketch in this book.
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