The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

ENCYCLOPEDIA.
eight months, he began teaching school about seven miles
from Ann Arbor. At the close of the school term he went
to Ashland, Ohio, and there attended the academy for about
three months, after which he resumed teaching. In I843
he moved to Adams county, Ohio. In I85I, after an extenisive course of legal reading, and some general experience
and practice, he was admitted to the bar. He' immediately
began the practice of his profession at West Union, where
he has since resided. Close attention to business and unswerving integrity have drawn to him a large clientage and
a paying practice. In I85I, shortly after his admission to
the bar, Mr. Billings was elected Prosecuting Attorney of
Adams county, holding the office for two years. He was
afterwards elected to the same office in I86I, I873, and
1875. Mr. Billings is a Democrat. In religion he is a
member of the Christian Church. He is a man of sterling
character, pleasing and affable in his social relations. His
success in life under circumstances far from favorable at the
outset bespeaks for him strong resolution and industry that
does not tire. He may well be regarded as a self-made
man. In June, I844, he married Elizabeth H. Burly, a
native of Adams county, by whom ten children have been
b)orn to him.
in the town of Madisonville. He is a devoted and earnest
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been
for the past twenty years a prominent member of the
Masonic order. In political feeling he is identified with the
Republican party, but although solicited to accept a nomina-'
tion has never consented to allow his name to be presented
before a political convention. He has been thrice married.
His first wife was Amelia Conover, of Hamilton county,
Ohio, who died in I854, leaving two children. He was
subsequently married to Mary Myers, also a native of
Hamilton county, who died in I866. He has since been
united to Nancy Freeman, who was Ihor in Pennsylvania,
and widow of the late John W. Langdon, by whom l i h e is
the father of five children.
IILLINGS, JOHN K., Lawyer, was borni, January
I2th, I815, ill Saratoga county, New York. He
.is the second of three children born to Ezra Bil lings and Elizabeth Slocum, nee Hirnplanid. His
father, a. native of Connecticut, was an agricul turist all his life; he settled in Michigan in
183I, and died there in the fall of that year. Mrs. Billings,
a native of Vermont, died in May of I86i. On the paternal
side the family is of English, and on the maternal side of
Iris h origin. O n both sides they were patrio ts in the great
strug gle for c ol onial independence. The subject of this
notice was taught lessons of morality and industry from his
early days. He worked on a farm continuously unti l his
sixt eenth year, wi t the exception of one summer spent in a
confect io nery st o re at Saratoga Springs. His early education w as received in the ordinary county school and was
q uite limited. At the a ge of sixteenf his aggregate attendance at sch oo l amoun ted to abou t one year. At this time he
was sick in Michigan, suffering a whole year from fever and
ague. Bult he did n ot allow th e time to be wasted. He
addressed himself to study with great profit. He n ot o nly
stored his min d w ith valuable knowledge, but he created an
appetite for study which he has not yet satisfied. Recovering from his illness he worked on a farm for about six
months at eighteen doll ars a mont, h, which would indicate
that he was a goo d farm hand. He nex t w en t to a common
s chool for about four mionthS, workigming morning an d night
to pay his way. The following summer he went to Detroit,
Michigan, and did general work in a hotel for about three
months. The next winter he cut and chopped wood at five
dollars an acre. During the next year he was again employed at farm work. Still dissatisfied with the education
he had been able to get, he determined to have a better one,
and he could only hope to sectie it by hard work. He
thlerefore went to Ann Arlbor, Michigan, in I833, and was
the first to enter the Manual La]or Seminary at that place,
an institution organized under the auspices of the Preslbyterian Church. Havin, worked -and studied here for about
saOOKE, HON. ELEUTHEROS, Lawyer, was
(1 born, I780, in Granville, Washington county,
s g New York. His ancestry on the paternal side
n c (h s mwere among the first settlers of Massachusetts,
eary dFrancis Cooke being one of the original Pilgrim
fathers, and who erected the third house im Ply.mouth. ile received a liberal education at the academy in
his native town of Granville, and some time after leaving
school commenced the study of law. He pursued his readings with such diligence and earnestness, that he was enabled to pass his examination before Chancellor Kent, with
great credit to himself. HIle was adlmitted'to the bar in
I813, and commenced the practice of his profession early in
the same year in western New York, where he remained
for about two years, and thence removed to Madison,
Indiana. He continued his professional duties in that
place, occasionally appearing in the courts of the adjoining
State of Kentucky. While passing through Ohio in his removal to his new home from New York State, he travelsed'
that portion of the State where the present city of Sandusky
is situated, and also its vicinage, and ",as so charmed with
its general appearance that he removed in I8I8 to Bloominvgille, Ohio, a short distance from Sandlusky, and remained
there in the practice of his profession until the latter place
was laid out, when he at once comnmenced the election of a
residence and became one of its residents in I81g, and so
continued until his death. He was prominently identified
with all the early enterprises of Saindtfsky and especially of
that portion of the State, taking a particular interest in the
first railroad projected in the State which connected the
BIOGRAPHICAI,
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