PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
page 216
JACOB GROVE, who is now living in Moorefield, taking his ease after years of arduous toil, is a native of Clark County, in which his eyes opened to the light of day, October 28, 1828. His parents, Phillip and Eva (Demeory) Grove, were natives of Loudoun County, Va., whence they came to Ohio about 1827. They settled in Clark County, in what is now known as Pleasant Township, where they participated in the labors incidental to the development of this region, enduring many of the hardships of the Ohio pioneer. The log house had been built in the woods and in it the family, then comprising father, mother, and three children, located. The father breathed his last in 1852, when the county lost one of her best citizens. To Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Grove nine children were born, the subject of this sketch being the youngest of the survivors. The others are: Millie, wife of William Harris, of Pleasant Township; Sarah A., wife of William Waltman, also of Pleasant Township; and George, whose home is in Goshen Township, Champaign County.
The subject of this notice was reared to manhood amid the primitive scenes which were common in this county during the first half of the present century, and in his youth bore a part in the pioneer labors of the time. His educational advantages were very meager, as at that early day schools were scarcely known in the vicinity in which his father had settled. The little schooling that he obtained was received from the wife of John Mowder, of Pleasant Township, who taught a subscription school in her own house. During the greater part of his life Mr. Grove has been engaged in farming.
Not many months after the Civil War began, Mr. Grove left his home to take up arms in defense of the flag he loved, and to do what a brave man could to uphold the Union. On September 14, 1861, the was enrolled as a private in Company F., Forty-fourth Ohio Infantry, and in different divisions of the army he served under Gens. Rosecrans, Burnside and Hunter. The regiment to which he belonged was held as a kind of reserve for about a year in West Virginia, where they fought at Louisburg, and Green Brier River, being finally chased out of the State by the Confederates. After crossing into Ohio the regiment was transferred to Kentucky, where they spent nearly a year, during this time participating in skirmishes at Winchester, Somerset, Richmond and Crab Orchard. They then went into Tennessee where they took part in the siege of Knoxville and the battle of Strawberry Plains. Here, with others, Mr. Grove re-enlisted as a member of the Eighth Ohio Cavalry, and came home on a furlough. Rejoining his regiment he afterward spent another period in West Virginia, where under the command of Gen. Hunter, he was engaged in continuous fighting for about a month. He was finally discharged in November, 1864, and returned to his native county. He had several narrow escapes from death, was wounded in the right hand at Somerset, Ky., and from exposure was physically incapacitated to such an extent that he receives a pension of $22 per month from the Government to which he gave some of the best years of his life.
On August 18, 1848, Mr. Grove was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Waltman, who was his faithful companion and helpmate for more than thirty years. She was born in this county, and here breathed her last in 1882, mourned by many friends. She had borne her husband four children William, Frank, Mary A., and David. The first two are deceased; the daughter is now the wife of Edgar Everhart, of Champaign County, and the youngest son is at home. On October 16, 1884, Mr. Grove was again married, his bride on this occasion being Mrs. Fidelia Runyan. This estimable lady was the widow of the late J. W. Runyan of this county, to whom she had borne four children. Her eldest son, Clay, is living in this county; Lillian is the wife of Levi Bumgardner, a merchant of Moorefield; Francis is deceased; and Hattie is the wife of Charley Steward of Champaign County. Mrs. Grove is a native of Clinton County, where she was born December 25, 1838. Her parents, L. H. and Henrietta Wilson, were natives of Virginia and Ohio respectively, and her father came to this county with his parents when a boy. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are numbered among the early workers in this vicinity, having assisted in the primitive labors of the county.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Grove are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has served as Steward and Class-Leader. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, his name being enrolled in the lodge at Catawba, and in the same place he belongs to a post of the Grand Army of the Republic. He owns a farm of sixty five acres in Champaign County as well as property in Moorefield, all having been gained by his own exertions. In 1887, he removed from Pleasant Township to Moorefield, where he and his wife are highly respected and enjoy the society of many friends.
27 Dec 1999