TRUMBULL COUNTY OHIO **************************************************************************** NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. **************************************************************************** The Biography was submitted to the Ohio Biographies Project by: Submitted by: Christine Mines Morgan Email: Date: July 9, 2001 **************************************************************************** Lewis Henry MINES by Christine Mines Morgan Lewis Henry Mines was born September 29, 1834, in Staunton, Augusta County, Virginia, the second of nine known children of James Madison Mines and Ellen King. About 1837 the family moved to Taylor County, then in 1841 to Harrison County, in the Clarksburg area. First they lived four years at what was known as the “Stone House,” which later became the Gore farm. They then “settled in the woods at the mouth of Limestone Creek, at Adamston and there [James Mines] acquired 550 acres of fine farming lands.” Since his father was engaged in many enterprises -- farming, teaming, burning lime, etc. -- Lewis must have led a busy childhood life. When the Civil War broke out, Lewis would have been 26 years old. He served as a private in the 20th militia under Capt. Levi Wilcox but it is still undetermined whether he saw any action. On December 3, 1868, Lewis married Emily Griffin, the daughter of Benjamin and Eliza Griffin. They had four children: Ellen K. “Nellie”, Roy, Warren and Louisa. In 1869, Lewis and his brother, James Harvey Mines, bought a saw and grist mill near the mouth of the Limestone Creek, which they operated together for five years. Then James decided to sell his interest in the mill to Michael Frush. Lewis and Frush operated the mill for a time, until continuing disagreements concerning the sale between Frush and James Mines led to the sale of Frush’s interest to Lewis in 1877. Lewis was the sole owner for about 20 years, part of that time leasing the grist mill to different persons, including his brother-in-law Amos Payne. He “was always very jealous about the sawmill and refused to let anyone use it but himself.” In 1888 a flood greatly damaged the mill, but Lewis repaired it and continued its use until about 1900, when the building was torn down. It was about the same time when he sold his farm, including the mill property, to three men who organized a coal mining company. In current day Clarksburg, the property would be in the area of Perry Hollow Road. Lewis’s wife Emily died April 13, 1878, and three years later he married Caroline Titchenal, who had helped out at the house. Together they had seven children, two of whom died in infancy. In 1903, after the sale of the mill and farm, the family moved to Howland Township in Trumbull County, Ohio. There they continued to farm, on 242 acres. Emily’s children visited the farm but decided not to move from Clarksburg. At some point, though, at least Warren Mines moved to the West coast. The new home was a large 2-½ story house with 17 rooms, large dairy barn and numerous outbuildings. A picture of the homestead shows it to be sturdy yet rather ornate. One granddaughter remembers being awed by the house, especially a closet that connected two upstairs bedrooms. She also recalls a front hall which boasted a set of stairs made from black walnut wood, and a large kitchen that had a spacious pantry. When Lewis died in 1912, he left an estate valued at $6522.92, including horses, cattle, farm equipment, furniture, bank deposits and $900 worth of stock in the Niles Car Co., a manufacturer of trolley cars. He died November 28, of “exhaustion,” according to his death certificate, and is buried in Union Cemetery in Niles, OH. Sources: 1906 Rural Mail Directory for Mahoning County, Trumbull County and Sharon, Pa. Appraisal of estate of Louis (Lewis) Mines, 19 Mar 1913, Trumbull County, OH, Probate Court records located at Trumbull County Archives, High Street, Warren, OH. Cochran, Wes, Harrison County, West Virginia, Marriages 1785-1894, p. 206 and 285. Death certificate, Lewis Henry Mines, Trumbull County Department of Health, Warren, OH. Emily Griffin Mines tombstone, Odd Fellows Cemetery, Clarksburg, WV Harmer, Harvey W., Old Grist Mills of Harrison County, Clarksburg, WV. Knowles, Joanne, “Mines family history,” self-published and distributed at family reunion in Warren, OH, 19 August 1990. Obituary for Ellen King Mines, Clarksburg Telegram, 10 Dec 1904. “West Virginia Union Militia in the Civil War,” Internet search