Jesse Welton
The history of every man is an account of what he does, and the history of such a man as Jesse Welton, a large land owner of Jefferson township, is interesting in view of the fact that he started in at the foot of the ladder and by his own energy and determination has accumulated a farm of more than five hundred acres. He is strictly a self-made man who has achieved his success because of his sterling personal qualities, and being a man of high ideals and correct principles of life, he is well deserving of the high esteem in which he is universally held throughout the county.
Jesse Welton, the son of Solomon and Mary (Clarke) Welton, was born March 17, 1851, in Petersburg, Virginia. Solomon Welton and wife were born in Hardy county. West Virginia. and never left the county of their nativity, he dying in 1862, and the wife and mother many years later. Both are buried in the cemetery at Petersburg, West Virginia. Three children were born to Solomon Welton and wife: Aaron, Jesse, and Mary, the wife of B. J. Baker.
Jesse Welton received his education in the schools of his native town and remained at home until he was twenty-five years of age. He then left his native state and came to Fayette county, Ohio, where he began working by the month. Being of a frugal turn of mind, he saved his money and when he had accumulated one thousand dollars, he began renting land in this county, and continued farming in this way for seven years, at which time he married and purchased a farm in Jefferson township. Being compelled to exercise the closest economy in order to buy this farm it was but a natural thing for him to continue his frugal habits after beginning to farm for himself on his own land. He invested his savings in land and kept on increasing his acreage until at the present time he is the owner of five hundred and ten acres of fine land in Jefferson township. He finds the most profitable part of his farming is in the raising of live stock, feeding a large numljer of cattle and hogs each year for the markets.
Mr. Welton was married to Susan Parrett, the daughter of Isaac and Mary A. (Kiplinger) Parrett, natives of Virginia, and to this union has been born one son, Wilbur J., who is now farming with his father.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)