Have you ever thought about the wealth of information a single biography in a county history can hold? While revisiting my Duggins research, I found a biography of John F. Duggins in the 1915 Lowry History of Preble County. Curious about my previous work, I checked RootsMagic to review how I’d cited this detailed biography.
To my surprise, my source list showed two different references to the book.
Upon closer inspection, I realized I’d cited two separate biographies from the same source: one for Elmer Duggins and another for John Duggins, with the latter referenced 44 times.
When I clicked on “Citations Used,” a new window displayed all the instances where I had utilized this source in my file, giving me an organized view of its impact on my research.
Below is a transcription of the John F Duggins biography found in the 1915 Lowry History of Preble County, Ohio
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JOHN F. DUGGINS.
A career marked by earnest and indefatigable application has been that of John F. Duggins, a substantial and honored citizen of Washington township, Preble county, Ohio, where he has maintained a residence for many years, during all of which time his life has been an open book to be read by his neighbors and friends. He was a valiant soldier of the Civil War, where his fidelity was of the same type as that which has characterized his actions in all the public and private relations of life. This conduct has gained for him the confidence and esteem of the public, and the unbounded respect of all with whom he has been brought in contact.
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John F. Duggins was born in Eaton, Ohio, July 28, 1842, the son of Cornelius and Elizabeth (Monfort) Duggins. Cornelius Duggins was born in Preble county, Ohio, March 17, 1812, a son of Henry Duggins, who was born in Virginia, on the river Dam, in 1788. Henry Duggins was a son of Alexander Duggins, who also was a native of Virginia, and who lived in that state all his life.
Henry Duggins emigrated from Kentucky to Ohio in 1806, and located in Gasper township, this county, where he was married to Jane Sellers, to which union six children were born: Cornelius, born in 1812; John, born in 1814; Nathan, born in 1816; William, born in 1818; Washington, born in 1820, and Caroline, born in 1824. Jane Sellers was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, August 6, 1782, a daughter of Nathan Sellers, and was one of eleven children, ten daughters and one son: Mary, Elizabeth, Jane, Sallie, Peggy, Ailsy, Nancy, Nellie, Rebecca and Nathan.
Cornelius Duggins was born on March 17, 1812, on the farm in Gasper township, two miles south of Eaton, where John F. lived so many years, and grew up there and married. Later he went to Newcastle, Indiana, where his death occurred on November 17, 1849. His widow survived him many years, her death not occurring until November 4, 1895. They were the parents of five children: Catherine, unmarried, who lives in Eaton; Celia, the widow of William Barnet, lives in Cincinnati, Ohio; Nathan, deceased, who was born in 1840; John F., with whom this narrative deals, and Elizabeth (deceased), who was born in 1842 and died in 1873. Elizabeth (Monfort) Duggins, the mother of these children, was born in Warren county, Ohio, April 7, 1814, a daughter of Henry and Catherine (Monfort) Monfort, who were cousins, natives of Pennsylvania and early settlers in Warren county, this state, who came to Preble county in the year 1815, locating at Eaton, where Henry Monfort conducted a hotel for many years. Henry Monfort was twice married. His first wife, dying in 1821, he married, secondly, a Miss Kervines. Both he and his wife died in 1849, victims of the cholera scourge of that year.
John F. Duggins, the fourth child born to his parents, was reared on the paternal farm near Eaton and received his education in the little old log school house which served his neighborhood in the days of his youth. He enlisted for service in the Union army on October 30, 1861, in Company C, Seventy-fifth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Harris, and served three years and three months, receiving his discharge on January 13, 1865. Mr. Duggins took part in the battles of McDowell, Chancellorsville, Bull Run and Cross Keys. He was taken a prisoner at
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Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, and was held for six weeks before being exchanged. He was captured again near Lake George, Florida, and was in prison from May 19 to November 26, 1864. He returned to Preble county after the close of the war, and resumed his work on the farm.
On November 18, 1888, at Eaton, Mr. Duggins was married to Anna Greer, who was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, a daughter of James Greer. Mr. and Mrs. Duggins have no children.
Mr. Duggins is an adherent of the Republican party, but has not been active in political affairs, preferring rather to devote his attention to his agricultural interests. He is the owner of one hundred and thirty-four acres of fertile land, on which he carries on a diversified system of farming, with a very gratifying degree of success. Mr. Duggins is a man of wonderful memory and acquainted with much of the early history of Eaton and Preble county, and is highly respected and honored in the community in which he lives, very properly ranking as one of the most substantial citizens of the county.