Cyrus Franklin Wikoff
attorney at law, West Union, was born November 22, 1853, in Liberty Township, Adams County, Ohio, son of Mahlon and Jemima (Melvin) Wikoff. The Wikoff family is of German origin. The ancestor who came to this county was Peter Claeson Wikoff. He emigrated in 1636. Jacob Wikoff, his son, was the father of Peter Wikoff, who, in about 1790, emigrated from Virginia to Washington, Kentucky, where he bought one thousand acres of land. He, however, afterwards lost it by defective title. He removed to Adams County, Ohio, and settled on Scioto Brush Creek in Jefferson Township. Here he bought land in the wilderness, cleared, farmed and lived on it until his death. James Wikoff, the son of Peter Wikoff, was the grandfather of our subject. He was born February 11, 1782. He resided with his father until 1810, when he married Rachel Ellis. After his marriage, he resided on the Brush Creek farm until his decease, September 18, 1818. He left four children, three sons and one daughter. One of the sons was the father, our subject. He afterwards married a second time and young Wikoff was left to look out for himself. He found a home with his maternal uncle, John Ellis, who kept him until he was of age, when he gave him the customary outfit, horse, saddle, bridle and a new suit of clothes and he thus started out in life. John Ellis died in 1889. Our subject's wife's grandfather was an Englishman, who emigrated to Delaware, where he lived and died. He left seven children, four of whom were boys. George Andrew Melvin enigrated, at the age of twenty-eight, to Kentucky, and two years after, he married Sarah Huffman, who was a native of Virginia. After thirty-five years of married life, Mr. Melvin died, leaving a family of eleven children, of which Mrs. Wikoff was the tenth. Mrs. Melvin, the mother of Mrs. Wikoff, who was the mother of the subject of our sketch, died in 1887, at the advanced age of ninety-seven years. Jemima Melvin, at the time of her marriage, was the owner of a spinning wheel and loom, which she knew how to use. There were eight children of this marriage,—William J., who died from a disease contracted while attending the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio; George M., Cyrus F., subject of this sketch Sarah A., Lou R., Mary E., Lucinda M. and Laura L. Mrs. Wikoff died in 1893.
Cyrus F. Wikoff, our subject, spent his boyhood on the farm and received such education as could be obtained in the country schools and in the higher-schools and normals in the county. He began teaching at the age of eighteen and continued until 1880. In 1882, he began the study of law with S. E. Pearson who died, and he completed his studies under Luther Thompson, and was admitted to the bar in 1884. In 1888, he was elected Mayor of West Union. In 1889, he was elected prosecuting attorney of Adams County and was re-elected in 1892, serving two terms. He has served as a member of the school board of West Union, and also in various other offices. He is a Knight Templar, member of Cavalry Commandary No. 13, Knights Templar, Portsmouth; of Chapter No. 129, Manchester; and of Masonic Lodge No. 43, West Union, Ohio. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church at West Union, and served as superintendent of the C. U. Sunday School at that place for twelve years.
He was married on the twenty-fifth of December, 1881, to Jennie E. Wikoff, daughter of H. B. and Eliza Wikoff, and granddaughter of Judge James McColm. Their children are Cecil C., Lida J., and Lester B.
Mr. Wikoff stands in the first rank as a lawyer, has fine qualities, socially, and is regarded as an upright citizen.
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