The Definitive Dwiggins no. 90—W.A. Dwiggins’ Ancestry, Part III: Moses and Eva Dwiggins

Moses Dwiggins at age 14 (1866). Photograph by Joe Wolfe (Wilmington, Ohio). Courtesy Special Collections, Boston Public Library.

W.A. Dwiggins’ parents were Moses F. and Eva S. Dwiggins.

Moses Frazier Dwiggins was born April 25, 1852 in Clinton County. Like his younger brother James, he worked on the family farm for several years after reaching manhood. [1] And, like his father Zimri, he taught school for a brief period. Clara Dwiggins, wife of Moses’ cousin Charles E. Dwiggins, wrote that “He taught school for one term in his own district, and my sister-in-law and I both went to school to him about 1874 or ’75.” [2] The class that she recalled probably took place in the fall of 1874 or spring of 1875 at School no. 10, a one-room schoolhouse located just down the road from the Dover Meeting House. [3] It is unclear how long Moses taught school.

Although his name does not appear among the list of Wilmington teachers between 1870 and 1876, on several occasions he attended the week-long Clinton County Teachers Institute that took place every August. [4] The discrepancy may be explained in one of two ways: either the list of published teachers excluded those from the county surrounding Wilmington or Moses was teaching only part-time.

Wilmington College Hall (built 1868). From the collection of the Clinton County Historical Society.

Moses attended Wilmington College, a school newly established by the Society of Friends in Clinton County. [5] The exact nature and duration of his stay there is unknown, though he had to have attended sometime between the spring of 1871, when the college was dedicated, and the spring of 1875. Since he was not listed among those in the college’s first graduating class of 1875, he either left school without gaining a diploma or he was enrolled in the college’s preparatory program. [6]

“M.F. Dwiggins has gone to Rushville, Ind.,” reported The Clinton Republican on September 23, 1875, “where on Monday of this week [September 20] he begins a six-months’ school.” [7] The brief notice did not expand on the nature of Moses’ schooling but it is likely that he went to Rushville—124 miles west of Wilmington—to apprentice with a local physician, either Dr. Marshall Sexton or Dr. John Moffett. Both were in their early 50s, had attended the Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati, and were prominent members of the Rush Medical Society. Although Dr. Moffett is described in a local history as having “taught anatomy and physiology in the public school of Rushville” in the mid-1870s, Dr. Sexton, the leading surgeon in Rush County, is more likely to have been Moses’ mentor since his wife was from Wilmington, Ohio. [8]

Dr. Marshall Sexton (upper right). The Sextons were a medical family. From Centennial History of Rush County, Indiana edited by A.L. Gary and E.B. Thomas (Indianapolis: Historical Publishing Company, 1921), vol. II, p. 24.

Cincinnati College of Medicine & Surgery building (c.1877). From Cincinnati College of Medicine & Surgery Annual Announcement for 1877–78. The Forty-Third Regular Session (Cincinnati: H. Watkin, Printer, 1877).

Moses left Rushville in March 1876 to enroll in the Spring and Summer Course of the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, one of five medical schools located in the Queen City at that time. [9] After only two years of study he was graduated from the College on June 1, 1877. Although the requirements for graduation included the study of medicine for “three years with a physician and surgeon authorized by law to practice his profession,” students had to attend only two full courses of lectures (equivalent to one year) at the College. [10] Moses’ time in Rushville constituted his third year of study.

The Clinton Republican, in noting Moses’ return to Cincinnati March 5, 1877 for his final term of study, commented, “Mose is a straight-forward young man, and we wish for him that success merit warrants. It is his intention after graduation to return to Wilmington and hang out his shingle.” [11] But, upon graduation, Moses changed his mind and instead opened an office in Martinsville, a hamlet of 355 people, eleven miles south of Wilmington. “We commend the Doctor to the good citizens of Clark township,” wrote The Clinton Republican, “and predict they will never regret his coming among them.” [12]

Moses Dwiggins (c.1877). Photograph by F.W. Engelking’s New Photograph Gallery (Cincinnati). Courtesy Special Collections, Boston Public Library.

Martinsville, a hamlet of 355 people, was little more than a crossroads surrounded by farms—as it still is today—when Moses moved there. Despite its small size it was not isolated. A few years earlier a station and maintenance yard for the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad had been established there. [13] Although Martinsville was already home to Dr. Gould, Moses’ arrival was still welcomed. Gouger, the pseudonymous Martinsville correspondent for The Wilmington Journal, reported in October 1877 that Dr. Dwiggins “proves to be a very efficient man for wafting medical aid to the invalid… and we find him a gentleman in every respect.” Gouger’s subsequent dispatches kept up a running commentary on the relative popularity and success of the two doctors, indicating a strong competition for patients. [14] As a young doctor it was a difficult situation for Moses; and one that became more so after his marriage in the fall of 1878 to Eva Siegfried, daughter of the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Wilmington.

Eva Siegfried as a young girl (c.1868). Photograph by Geo. Wm. White (Chillicothe, Ohio). Courtesy Special Collections, Boston Public Library.

Eva St. Clair Siegfried, the seventh of eleven children, was born April 8, 1855. [15] She was eleven years old when her father Rev. Benjamin Y. Siegfried moved the family to Wilmington for the first time for a two-year stint as pastor of the First Baptist Church there. The family returned in June of 1871 upon the completion of a new parsonage and church for the congregation, but stayed only thirteen months. [16] It was during one of those two short stays in Wilmington that Eva first met Moses Dwiggins.

The two may have met at a local Temperance meeting since Ben was as active in the prohibition movement as Zimri and Phoebe. [17] Or, since they both taught school in Clinton County in the early 1870s, they may have known each other through the Clinton County Teachers Institute. [18] What is indisputable is that Eva and Moses both took part in an “Entertainment of the Douglas Literary Society” at 10 am on March 27, 1872 at Wilmington College. Moses was the President of the literary society and Eva delivered an “Original Paper” to the assembled audience. [19] Although the program took place at the college, the literary society was composed of townspeople. [20]

Eva Siegfried as young woman (c.1883–1884). Photograph by The Photographic Studio of J.H. Swaine (Richmond, Indiana). Courtesy Special Collections, Boston Public Library.

It is unlikely that Moses and Eva struck up a courtship at that time. A few months after the literary event at Wilmington College, Ben resigned his pastorate “and accepted a call from the Baptist Church in Fredericktown, Knox County, Ohio,” located about thirty miles north of Granville. [21] Granville was the site of Denison College, the first Baptist college west of the Allegheny mountains. It was also the site of the Young Ladies’ Institute, the forerunner of the Shephardson College for Women, Denison’s sister institution. [22] In the fall of 1872 Eva entered the Institute. She was graduated from it in 1875. [23]

On December 7, 1876 The Clinton Republican reported that, “The Baptist Church of this place is taking steps to secure a pastor and have in view the return of Rev. B.Y. Siegfried to labor for them.” In January the congregation voted to ask him back for a third time. After preaching a series of “excellent” sermons in Wilmington over the preceding weeks, Rev. Siegfried resigned his position in Loudonville (where he had gone after Fredericktown) on February 25 and, a week later, resumed the pastorate of the First Baptist Church. [24] His family—at this time comprised of his wife Sarah and daughters Eva, Ella and Carrie—did not join him in Wilmington until sometime in April. [25] Rev. Siegfried plunged immediately into local religious affairs. One of the first things he did was to officiate at the marriage of James F. Dwiggins, Moses’ younger brother, and Sallie Briggs on April 4, 1877. [26] Eva and Moses presumably resumed their acquaintance at this time, beginning a courtship that would last a year and a half as Moses—following graduation from medical school—struggled to establish his practice in Martinsville. Meanwhile, Eva was actively involved in helping her father. She was the treasurer of the Women’s Mission Circle at the Baptist Church and played organ for church services. [27] Moses and Eva Siegfried were finally wed on the evening of September 25, 1878. [28] The ceremony, officiated by Rev. Siegfried, took place in front of a small party of friends at the parsonage on Locust Street in Wilmington. [29]

Moses and Eva Dwiggins were from differing religious faiths and, even after their marriage, continued to worship separately. Moses was a Quaker in good standing at the time of his death, which was recorded in the archives of the Whitewater Monthly Meeting. [30] Typically, the entry makes no mention of his non-Quaker wife and child. Their respective families—including Rev. Siegfried—seemed to have no complaint about their interfaith marriage. Eva’s father, contrary to expectations, was apparently open-minded about other religions. Not only was he part of the non-denominational Temperance movement in Clinton County in the 1870s, but he preached to non-Baptist churches and chaired several interfaith Clinton County Sabbath School meetings. [31]

Notes
1. 1870 Census Clinton County Index indexed by Josephine M. Williams, Adrian E. Roberts (Wilmington, Ohio: n.p., 1986)
2. 4 April 1943 Clara [Mrs. Charles E.] Dwiggins to Mrs. [Mabel] Hoyle [Box 25, 2001 W.A. Dwiggins Collection, Boston Public Library]. Marriage Records of Clinton County, Ohio (1810–1900) compiled by Joyce Hopkins Pinkerton ([Wilmington, Ohio]: Clinton County Genealogical Society, 1997).
3. A school report for the term ending January 22, 1875 listed Lizzie Dwiggins, Emma Dwiggins, Sallie Dwiggins and Charley Dwiggins as among those students in District no. 10 who scored 80 or higher in recitations. (The latter three were the children of Robert J. Dwiggins, and were not directly related to Zimri Dwiggins or his children.) Neither Clara Helling (the future Mrs. Charles E. Dwiggins) nor Moses Dwiggins was mentioned. The Clinton Republican, 11 February 1875 [The Clinton [County] Republican from November 17, 1870 to September 14, 1876; microfilm roll no. 13961, Ohio Historical Society]. An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Clinton County, Ohio (Philadelphia: Lake, Griffing & Stevenson, 1876), plate 13. That School no. 10 was a one-room schoolhouse is deduced from the fact that ages of the students listed above ranged from eight to eighteen.
4. Moses is listed among the attendees in 1872, 1873 and 1876, but not in 1874 or 1875. The Clinton Republican, 28 August 1872, 4 September 1873, 20 August 1874, 5 August 1875,10 August 1876 [The Clinton [County] Republican from November 17, 1870 to September 14, 1876 [microfilm roll no. 13961, Ohio Historical Society].
5. The only indication that Moses Dwiggins attended Wilmington College is in the obituary prepared by his colleague Dr. James F. Hibberd for the Indiana State Medical Society. Transactions of the Indiana State Medical Society 1890: Forty-First Annual Session Held in Indianapolis, May 14 and 15, 1890 (Indianapolis: Wm. B. Burford, Printer and Binder, 1890), p. 161.
6. Wilmington College was originally established 1863 by the Christian Church in Athens, Ohio as Franklin College and two years later it was moved to Wilmington. During the post-Civil War depression it was sold to the Society of Friends and re-established in 1870 under its current name. A History of Wilmington College by O.F. Boyd (Wilmington, Ohio: Wilmington College, 1949), pp. 3 and 26. There were only four students in the first graduating class. The Clinton Republican, 10 June 1875 and 1 July 1875 [(microfilm, roll no. 13961 The Clinton Republican from from November 17, 1870 to September 14, 1876; Ohio Historical Society).
7. The Clinton Republican, 23 September 1875 [The Clinton [County] Republican from November 17, 1870 to September 14, 1876 [microfilm roll no. 13961, Ohio Historical Society].
8. History of Rush County, Indiana… (Chicago: Brant & Fuller, 1888) p. 727–728 [NYPL 2003, medical]. It is also possible that Moses went to Rushville on the recommendation of his maternal uncle John Frazier. Frazier was a member of the Carthage Monthly Meeting in Rush County before moving back January 1, 1876 to Clinton County and the Dover Monthly
Meeting. See Hinshaw vol. V, pp. 621 and 673.
9. Williams’ Cincinnati Directory / Embracing / A Full Alphabetical Record of the Names of the Inhabitants of Cincinnati, a Business Directory, Municipal Record, United States Post Office Directory, Etc., Etc. (Cincinnati: Williams & Co., June 1870). The Cincinnati College of Medicine & Surgery was located on the north side of George Street between John and Smith Streets.
10. The Richmond Sunday Register, 22 July 1885 and The Clinton Republican, 1 June 1877  [microfilm roll no. 13962, The Clinton Republican from September 21, 1876 to November 17, 1881; Ohio Historical Society]. Annual Announcement of the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery for 1875–76 (Cincinnati: H. Watkin, Printer, 1877), p. 9. The other requirements were that the candidate for graduation by 21 years old, “present proper testimonials of a good moral character,” pass the final examination, and submit a thesis. Ironically, in light of his death from pneumonia, Moses’ thesis was on “pneumonitis.” Annual Announcement of the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery for 1877–78; Forty-Third Regular Season (Cincinnati: H. Watkin, Printer, 1877), pp. 13 and 15.
11. The Clinton Republican, 8 March 1877 [microfilm roll no. 13962, The Clinton Republican from September 21, 1876 to November 17, 1881; Ohio Historical Society]
12. The Clinton Republican, 12 July 1877 [microfilm roll no. 13962, The Clinton Republican from September 21, 1876 to November 17, 1881; Ohio Historical Society]
13. In contrast to Martinsville, Wilmington had a population of 2745 in 1880. In 1874 the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad connected its routes with those of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (a rival to the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley Railroad that ran through Wilmington) which allowed travel to Cincinnati and St. Louis. In 1889 it was absorbed by the B&O. The Wilmington Journal, 11 March 1875 re: B&O notice dated November 18, 1874 (microfilm, roll no. J3, from January 14, 1875 to June 27, 1877; Ohio Historical Society).
14. The Wilmington Journal, 10 October 1877 (microfilm roll no. 13967 Wilmington Journal April 19, 1877 to April 23, 1879; Ohio Historical Society). J.B., the Martinsville correspondent for The Clinton Republican, the other newspaper, was silent on the apparent competition between the doctors.
15. Scrap of paper dated 1897, Folder 1, Box 25, 2001 W.A. Dwiggins Collection, Boston Public Library.
16. Rev. B.G. Siegfried [sic] was pastor of the First Baptist Church from 9 December 1866 to 31 May 1868; from 4 June 1871 to 23 June 1872; and from 8 May 1878 to 1 March 1881. The History of Clinton County, Ohio… (Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1882), p. 502. Also see The Clinton Republican, 27 April 1871, 4 June 1871 and 8 June 1871 (microfilm, roll no. 13961, The Clinton Republican from November 17, 1870 to September 14, 1876; Ohio Historical Society); The Wilmington Journal, 12 January 1881 (microfilm, roll no. 13968 The Wilmington Journal from April 30, 1879 to April 27, 1881; Ohio Historical Society) and The Clinton County Democrat, 14 January 1881 (microfilm, roll no. 42067 The Clinton County Democrat from May 21, 1880 to December 29, 1882; Ohio Historical Society).
17. For Rev. Siegfried’s Temperance activities see The Clinton Republican, 15 June 1871 and 20 July 1871 (microfilm, roll no. 13961, The Clinton Republican from November 17, 1870 to September 14, 1876; Ohio Historical Society) and The Wilmington Journal, 5 April 1877 and 19 April 1877 (microfilm, roll no. 13967 The Wilmington Journal from April 19, 1877 to April 23, 1879; Ohio Historical Society)
18. Eva does not appear as a teacher or attendee at the Clinton County Teachers Institute, but an incomplete letter dated 21 March 1872 from Sarah Siegfried to an unidentified recipient suggests she had been teaching the previous year. Folder 3, Box 27, 2001 W.A. Dwiggins Collection, Boston Public Library.
19. See The Clinton Republican, 14 March 1872 (microfilm, roll no. 13961, Clinton Republican from November 17, 1870 to September 14, 1876; Ohio Historical Society) for an advance announcement of the program which may have been in celebration of Wilmington College’s second anniversary.
20. The Douglas Literary Society was probably the same as the Wilmington Literary Society which met weekly. See The Clinton Republican, 4 April 1872 (microfilm, roll no. 13961, The Clinton Republican from November 17, 1870 to September 14, 1876; Ohio Historical Society) which describes a meeting of the latter in the parlor of Mr. and Mrs. Stagg which included performances by Eva Siegfried, her sister Ella Siegfried, and E.S. Hadley, Ella’s future husband.
21. The Clinton Republican, 27 June 1872 (microfilm, roll no. 13961, The Clinton Republican from November 17, 1870 to September 14, 1876; Ohio Historical Society).
22. The Young Ladies’ Institute was founded in 1859 by the Baptist Church and became Shepardson College for Women c.1886. It was known as Lower Sem in tandem with Denison as Upper Sem. Heritage and Promise: Denison 1831–1981 by G. Wallace Chessman and Wyndham M. Southgate ([Granville, Ohio]: Denison University, 1981), pp. 40 and 56. Also see email from Heather Lyle, Denison University 23 January 2003 and Folder 10, Box 25, 2001 W.A. Dwiggins Collection, Boston Public Library.
23. Because Eva attended the Young Ladies’ Institute, previous Dwiggins biographers have assumed that she met Moses in Granville and that he was a student at Denison College. See “Biography of WAD: Second Section—Boyhood. For MSS Club Feb. 1, ’58” by Mabel Dwiggins. Folder 1, Box 8, C.H. Griffith Papers, Margaret King Library, University of Kentucky, p. 1. However, the school has no records of Moses as a student—which is not surprising given that Denison was a Baptist college. Email from Heather Lyle, Denison University 28 January 2003. As a Quaker he would have been more likely to attend a college run by the Society of Friends such as the venerable Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana—as his brother James did—or the newly-established Wilmington College right at home. Moses apparently did neither, though it is possible he may have attended Wilmington’s preparatory school prior to beginning his medical education.
24. The Clinton Republican, 7 December 1876, 18 January 1877, 8 February 1877, 1 March 1877 (microfilm, roll no. 13962 The Clinton Republican from September 21, 1876 to November 17, 1881; Ohio Historical Society). Also see The Wilmington Journal, 15 February 1877, 22 February 1877, 29 February 1877 and 8 March 1877 (microfilm, roll no. J3 The Wilmington Journal from January 14, 1875 to June 27, 1877; Ohio Historical Society). The History of Clinton County, Ohio… (Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1882), p. 502 incorrectly lists Rev. Siegfried’s third time in Wilmington as beginning on May 8, 1878.
25. Local newspaper reports on the arrival of Rev. Siegfried’s family cite conflicting dates between March 29 and May 2. For some reason the family resided with Mrs. Kibby on Columbus Street until December when they moved into the parsonage. See The Clinton Republican, 12 April 1877 and 6 December 1877 (microfilm, roll no. 13962 The Clinton Republican from September 21, 1876 to November 17, 1881; Ohio Historical Society).
26. The Wilmington Journal, 22 February 1877, 29 February 1877, 5 April 1877, 3 May 1877 and 10 May 1877 (microfilm, roll no. J3 The Wilmington Journal from January 14, 1875 to June 27, 1877; Ohio Historical Society). In early April Rev. Siegfried served on a committee to secure Temperance speakers and in May he was elected president of the Clinton County Sunday School Union. The notice of James Dwiggins’ marriage appears in The Clinton Republican, 12 April 1877.
27. See The Clinton Republican, 5 September 1878 and 27 February 1879 (microfilm, roll no. 13962 The Clinton Republican from September 21, 1876 to November 17, 1881; Ohio Historical Society).
28. Marriage Records, vol. 5, p. 19, Clinton County Courthouse (Wilmington, Ohio); previous accounts have cited September 24, 1878 as Moses and Eva’s wedding day when in fact that was the day they received their marriage license (See Folder 5, Box 25, 2001 W.A. Dwiggins, Boston Public Library).
29. The Clinton Republican, 3 October 1878 (microfilm, roll no. 13962 The Clinton Republican from September 21, 1876 to November 17, 1881; Ohio Historical Society); the wedding was not reported in The Wilmington Journal until 9 October 1878. The marriage does not appear in the records of the Dover Monthly Meeting since Eva was not a Quaker. Unlike his mother, Moses was not condemned for marrying out of Society since he was a man. However, years later WAD’s wife Mabel, a Quaker, was condemned for “marrying contrary to discipline.”
30. Encyclopedia of American Genealogy, vol. VII: Abstracts of the Records of the Society of Friends in Indiana, Part One edited by Willard Heiss (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1962), p. 20.
31. For examples, see The Clinton Republican, 20 April 1871, 19 October 1871, and 26 October 1871 (microfilm, roll no. 13961 Clinton Republican from November 17, 1870 to September 14, 1876; Ohio Historical Society).