James Taylor Gaston
The origin of the name is French. In that language, it is properly spelled "Gastineau." The ancestors of our subject came from France and located in South Carolina. They were French Protestants or Huguenots. His father was James Gaston and his mother's maiden name was Margaret Patton, who was a daughter of Thomas Patton, a native of Rockbridge County, Virginia, though he emigrated to Ohio, settled on West Fork and died there. His grandfather Gaston was from Charleston, South Carolina. His grandmother Gaston was a McCreight, born in South Carolina. His paternal grandfather came to Ohio in 1800 on account of his antagonism to the institution of slavery. He settled on a farm near Tranquility, now owned by our subject. His grandfather, father, and himself were all members of the United Presbyterian Church of Tranquility, and he has lived near that place all his life. He went to the District schools until he went in the army. He enlisted in Company G, of the 129th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at the age of eighteen, on the eighteenth of July, 1863, and served until the eighth of March, 1864. On the fourth of February, 1865, he enlisted in Company K, of the 188th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was made a Corporal. He was mustered out in September, 1865. After the war, he attended the North Liberty Academy until 1867, and in the Fall of 1868, he engaged in the profession of school teaching and has followed that consecutively for twenty-eight years, having only given up the profession in 1896.
He was married on March 21, 1871, to Sarah Wallace. They have four sons: Roscoe, born in 1873, is principal of the schools at Donavan, Illinois; Carey, born in 1875, a teacher in the Weaver Academy at Media, Illinois; John M., born in 1876, attending school at Danville, Illinois, and Homer, born in 1882, at home with his parents.
Mr. Gaston was clerk of his township for eight years and Township Trustee for three years. He was elected Infirmary Director in 1867 and still holds that office. He is a man of the highest character and universally respected.
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