William P. Breckinridge
William P. Breckinridge of Scott Township, Adams County, Ohio, was born October 7, 1831. He is the son of William and Martha McKinley (McCreight) Breckinridge. His grandfather, Judge Breckinridge, came from Paris, Kentucky, to Fincastle, in Brown County, in 1804. Judge Breckinridge married a Miss Wright, of Bourbon County, Kentucky. They had thirteen children, six daughters and seven sons. William, the third son, is the father of our subject. Judge Breckinridge bought a thousand acres of land near Fincastle, which he afterward sold and removed to Pontiac, Illinois, some time in the forties. In 1834, William Breckinridge, the father of the subject of our sketch, with four other families, moved from Brown County to Livingston County, Illinois, but not being satisfied, he returned after a few days' stay in Illinois, to Clinton County, Indiana, where he died on the fifteenth of August, 1846.
Judge Robert Breckinridge was born September 27, 1774, in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His wife (Mary Wright), was born September 17, 1774, in the same county. They removed to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where eight of their children were born. He moved to Eagle Township in 1808. and while there served one term as Associate Judge. In distributing his land, he gave each of his sons one hundred acres, and each of his daughters fifty acres, and sold the remainder of his land to Isaac Earles, when he emigrated to Illinois in the Spring of 1836. He served as Associate Judge of Brown County from 1825 to 1836. He died September 23, 1838. He was Captain of a company in the War of 1812. The mother of our subject was a daughter of David McCreight. He, with three other brothers, emigrated from South Carolina and settled in Scott Township, near Tranquility.
William P. Breckinridge, our subject, married Eliza N. Campbell, daughter of Major Robert Campbell, one of the pioneers of Buck Run. He, with five brothers, emigrated from Buck Run, Rockbridge County, Virginia, and all settled in Scott Township. Their descendants are scattered through the West. Our subject came to Ohio in the Fall of 1848 to Brown County, and went to school to John Eadinfield, who is still living. He came to Scott Township, Adams County, March 1, 1849, and he was married on the twenty-fifth of December, 1872. They have seven sons and two daughters. His father and grandfather were Democrats in their political associations, but all the family were members of the Associate Reform Church at Cherry Fork. Our subject is a Republican and a member of the United Presbyterian Church at Tranquility.
He enlisted in Company G, 172nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on the second of May, 1864, and served until the third of September, 1864. Samuel Laird was the Captain of the company and William A. Blair was Second Lieutenant.
A friend that has known him for thirty years says that he is beyond reproach as a man, a citizen, a neighbor and Christian gentleman. He has been an elder of the United Presbyterian Church at Tranquility for forty years.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900