Giles W. Setty has long been favorably known in his native county of Highland as a soldier who did his duty during the civil war and as an industrious citizen since the close of the great conflict. His father, Christopher Setty, was a native of Virginia who came west in the early part of the last century to cast his lot with the ever increasing army then engaged in making the great state of Ohio.
Being a poor man, with little capital aside from his ability and disposition to work, he had a long and hard struggle to gain a foothold, but eventually succeeded in accumulating a creditable competence. He settled in Brush Creek township, Highland county, bought thirty acres in the woods, built a round log cabin with one room and set to work hewing and felling, grubbing and clearing until he had a habitable abode. By saving and industry he managed to add to his little place from time to time, and his holdings amounted to 123 acres when at the age of eighty-three he closed his earthly career.
Before leaving Virginia he had married Margaret Shoemaker, who shared the toils and struggles of his western home and made him the father of fourteen children. Of these thirteen grew to maturity, twelve married and reared families, five are now dead and seven living in different parts of the country.
Levina, the eldest, is the widow of John Setty, and resides in Brush Creek township; Amy is the widowed wife of William Hottinger of Adams county; Levi resides on the old homestead; John lives in Jackson township; Elizabeth is the widow of David Kessler, of Marshall township; Anthony G. is a resident of Adams county, and Sanford E. is a farmer in North Dakota.
The children who are dead include Malinda, who married Thomas Gall; Mary, wife of N.Glaze; Jemima, wife of Adam Stults; Abraham, who was thrown by a horse and killed at the age of nineteen; and one who died in infancy.
Giles W. Setty, one of the living children not enumerated above, was born in Brush Creek township, Highland county, Ohio, September 6, 1843. In those days they still had the old fashioned subscription schools and to one of these, a mile from his home, Mr. Setty used to walk in his boyhood for the purpose of gleaning such crumbs of knowledge as were dispensed by the pedagogue in charge. When he was well on towards manhood the civil war interrupted the even tenor of his way and like other patriotic boys of the time he was anxious to take part in the fighting.
As his youth caused parental objections, he ran away from home one day and, hunting up a recruiting officer, enrolled his name on the list of Company D, Sixtieth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry. Under command of Col.William H. Trimble this regiment was sent to the Shenandoah valley in the spring of 1862 to join Fremont in his pursuit of Stonewall Jackson. It fought well at Cross Keys and other engagements of that campaign and was among the unfortunates who got caught in that " man trap," as Harper's Ferry had before been called by General Joe Johnston, and were forced after four days' fighting, to surrender to the redoubtable Jackson.
They were sent to the parole camp at Annapolis, Md., and subsequently to Camp Douglass, Chicago, where they were mustered out of the service. But Mr. Setty had not had enough of war and July 15, 1863, he enlisted in Company E, First regiment Ohio heavy artillery, with which he served until the close of hostilities. This command was sent to Knoxville, Tenn., in the winter of 1864, and later accompanied Stonemen on his raid into southwest Virginia. Mr. Setty was detailed as a scout in Georgia, North Carolina and East Tennessee and obtained his discharge in August, 1865.
After returning home he was married September 10th to Ruth A., daughter of William and Harriet Hiser, of Brush Creek township. He rented his father's farm for a year and then spent two years in Fayette county, after which he put in three years on a farm in Jackson township, Highland county.
His next move was to Adams county, where he bought a farm and managed it four years, and this was followed by a purchase of sixty acres in Paulding county. This proved a disastrous venture, as he lost all he had in a two years' trial there, which caused him to return to Highland county and begin again as a renter. In 1888 Mr. Setty located on the sixty-three acres of land, where he has since resided, engaged in general farming and stock raising.
By his first marriage he had six children: George W., a machinist in Chicago; Evan M., a carpenter also of Chicago; Albert D., resident of Highland county ; Ora A., in the quartermaster's department of the regular army, stationed as New Orleans; Hattie A. and Eva M., wife of Walter Brock, of Highland county.
The first wife dying in March, 1897, Mr. Setty married Mrs. Lizzie Gordon, widow of Edward Gordon and daughter of Lewis Eckert.
Mr. Setty has held several offices in the county and township and has always given satisfaction. He served three terms as assessor and two terms as constable of Paint township. He has been school director for many years, and in 1898 was elected one of the members of the board of commissioners of Highland county. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, the Union Veterans' Union, Odd Fellows lodge at New Petersburg, and Rainsboro post, Grand Army of the Republic.
Source: The County of Highland: A
History of Highland County, Ohio, from the Earliest Days, with Special
Chapters on the Bench and Bar, Medical Profession, Educational
Development, Industry and Agriculture, and Biographical Sketches, Vol 2 – by Rev. J. W. Klise, A. E. Hough, Editor. Madison, Wis. Northwestern Historical Association. 1902.
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03 Dec 2014 update
