Joseph Clapham Jr.

who in an early day was identified with educational interests in Ohio and through a long period had been interested in farming pursuits, now resides in Genoa township, Delaware county, but is so well known in Franklin county that he may well be termed one of the representative citizens oh his community. He was born in Welton, Yorkshire, England, October 20, 1816, and is a son of Joseph and Sarah (Hudson) Clapham. Of their family of nine children our subject is the only one who now survives. He entered Central College in order to pursue his education and during that period boarded at home. After two years spent in that school Professor Washburn though him competent to teach and he secured a school in Piqua, Ohio, where he followed his profession for five months. He then returned to Central College, continuing one of its students through the succeeding season and in the following winter he taught a six-months term of school in Piqua. Wishing to add still more to his knowledge, he again matriculated in Central College, where he completed his education the following term, after which he taught two more terms of school in Piqua.

In 1841 he went to Illinois, where for nine months he engaged in teaching in the neighborhood of Springfield. The following year he went to Iowa, spending eleven months in the city of Dubuque, during which time he was connected with various pursuits. In the fall of 1843 he returned home and in the succeeding winter he engaged in teaching in his home district. In 1844 he took up his residence in Columbus and began driving a team for A. H. Pinney, a contractor in the prison. After six months here passed he was united in marriage to Miss Candace C. Wilcox, a native of Franklin county, Ohio, and a daughter of Tracey Wilcox, who came from Connecticut, his native state, to Franklin county, Ohio, casting in his lot with its early settlers.

The marriage was celebrated November 2, 1844, and soon afterward Mr. Clapham settled on the old Thomas Engle farm, just north of Westerville, where he engaged in the operation of rented land for three years. Subsequently he devoted his time and attention to the cultivation of the William Sharp farm for a year and then removed east of Worthington, where he carried on agricultural pursuits on the A. H. Pinney farm for three years. On the expiration of that period he took up his residence on the G. W. Hart farm in Blendon township, where he carried on the tilling of the soil for four years, and in 1856 he removed to his present farm in Delaware township. At that time the place comprised one hundred and fifty-three acres, which was the property of Mr. Clapham’s father. Later it was willed to our subject and his brother Thomas, and the former has since resided on the place.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Clapham was blessed with six children, four of whom are yet living, namely: William, a gardener residing at Marysville, Union county, Ohio; John, of Baldwin City, Kansas; Chauncey, a farmer of Davidson county, South Dakota; and Jennie, the wife of Martin Rodgers, of Harlem township, Delaware county. One son, George, now deceased, was a twin brother of john. Exercising his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Republican party. Mr. Clapham has always been a stalwart advocate of its principles, and for one term served as trustee of his township. He is a member of the Baptist church and through several years filled the office of deacon. In 1880 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 1st of July of that year, and since that time he has never married, but had remained true to her memory. His residence in Ohio covers the greater part of the nineteenth century, and during the long period he has taken just pride in the development and progress of the state and has assisted in many material ways in upbuilding and improving the county with which he is associated.