SHELBY COUNTY OHIO - OBIT: LENOX, H.C. (1893)
***********************************************************************
OHGENWEB 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.  
***********************************************************************
File contributed for use by
Barbara Lennox Garret
Barbgaret@aol.com
October 16, 1999
***********************************************************************

From   THE SIDNEY WEEKLY JOURNAL,  Aug. 25, 1893


				Dead in His Field
				H.C. Lenox Suddenly Struck Down
				The descendant of two ancient families

As two girls named Brown, of Piqua, who are boarding for the present with Lewis 
Boyer in Washington Township, were on their way to go fishing Monday Morning 
about 9 o'clock, they discovered the body of a man.  Investigation showed it to 
be that of H.C. Lenox (Hamilton Clay), a wealthy and somewhat eccentric bachelor
who lived in an old brick house not far away.  Eight years ago he had an attack 
of paralysis, and another a year ago.  He also suffered from heart failure.
Sunday he came to town and consulted with his cousin, Dr. A. Wilson, with regard
to his health, and returned to Hardin where he stopped to get his mail. Some 
cows got into his corn soon after his return and he went to drive them out. 
This done, he fell down dead. This is proved by the fact that when found, he 
was dressed in his Sunday clothes and still had the mail in his pocket.  Since 
the death of his mother and sister, he had lived alone and thus it was a mere 
chance that the body was discovered so soon. He was buried at Hardin Wednesday, 
there being a very large attendance of friends at the funeral.
Mr. Lenox came of good old stock, the history of which is that of Shelby County,
and partly of the nation. His family came originally from Scotland, the name 
indicating a Lowland origin, from the powerful house of that name.
The first name clearly indicated on the family tree is that of John Lenox who 
immigrated prior to the War of the Revolution. He took up arms for his adopted 
country and, at the close of the War, settled in Virginia, where he died. In 
1796, his widow came to Ohio and settled near Marietta. Here the family remained
until 1811, when they came to what is now this county and settled in Turtle Creek
Township.

The eldest son was James Lenox, born in Virginia in 1793 and he soon became a 
leading man in the new community. He served in the War of 1812 and then 
returning, settled down and married Sally Wilson, the daughter of John Wilson.  
He died in 1865.  Of this union, there came 12 children, of whom H.C. Lenox was 
the sixth.  All the others are dead except two - V.C. Lenox of Harvey, a suburb 
of Chicago, and Hiram Lenox of Indiana, both of whom attended the funeral.
On his mother's side, Mr. Lenox had an even more interesting pedigree. The 
Wilson family was of Irish descent, but came to Virginia long before it changed 
its Colonial estate.  The first of the name known this side of the water was 
Jeremiah Wilson.  His son John Wilson  married Anna Webb.  Of her, many romantic
stories are told.  Her mother was a daughter of George III, who ran away with a 
man whose only fault was his poverty and came to this country. 
At the time of his death, Mr. Lenox's sister, Laura Loretta, had in her 
possession an old court dress worn by this "grande dame" which was a 
marvelously beautiful fabric, though so old.

John Wilson, with his wife and one child, first came to Warren County, Ohio, 
and then in 1807, moved to Washington Township, then peopled by little but 
Indians and bears. Here, in 1810, he built the first brick house in Shelby 
County and, in this ancient edifice, H.C. Lenox lived until his death.  
John Wilson rapidly acquired property and at this death was comparatively 
wealthy.  His daughter, Sally, married James Lenox, who in 1845 also moved to 
Washington Twp.  The eldest son of John Wilson was Jesse H., still remembered 
as Colonel Wilson, a fine old man of courtly presence and with all the old 
Virginian instincts.


Parenthetical note at end of article states: Julia A. Lenox Campbell was a 
sister of H.C. Lenox. Other  sisters were Emeline, Anna W. and Laura Loretta