WILLIAM C. RAMSEY, a representative agriculturist of Franklin township, and one of the enterprising citizens of the county, is a native of the same, having been born in Amwell township March 5, 1843. George Ramsey, grandfather of subject, married Mrs. Lydia Lloyd, daughter of Mordecai Chandler, of Chester county, Penn., a member of one of the leading families of that part of the Keystone State. Her grandfather came from England at an early day. Mrs. George Ramsey's first husband was a Mr. Lloyd, by whom she had five children three sons and two daughters of whom one son, Samuel, is yet living in Amwell township, aged eighty-eight years. After Mr. Lloyd's death his widow was united in marriage with George Ramsey, and one child was born to them, Reuben, father of the subject of this sketch. Mrs. George Ramsey died, in 1872, at the home of her son in Amwell township, aged ninety-five years, and to the end was able to read ordinary print without the aid of glasses. In religious faith she was a member of the Society of Friends, and always wore the habiliments peculiar to the sect. She was a close student of the Bible, and had the faculty of quoting off-hand from any portion of the Scriptures. Reuben Ramsey was born in Washington, this county, near the corner of College and Maiden streets, and received his education in the schools of the county. He learned the trade of cooper, at which he worked for a time in the southeastern part of the county and near the river. When yet a young man he married Margaret, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth (Closser) Horn, and a native of Amwell township. After marriage the young couple made a settlement in Amwell township, where he continued to follow his trade in connection with farming. Five children were born to them, of whom the following is a brief record: William Calvin, the subject proper of this sketch, has special mention further on; Robert Hamilton was a member of Company A, P. V. C., and served to the close of the Civil war (he died of disease contracted while in the army, leaving a family now living in Indiana); George Washington died, in 1874, of lockjaw, leaving no family; Nicholas Murray is yet living on the home farm in Amwell township; John Nelson, when a young man (in 1873) died in Amwell township, of scrofula. The parents both died in Amwell township, the father in 1882, the mother October 8, 1890. In politics he was an ardent Democrat, and in religion he was a member of the Presbyterian Church at Amity. William C. Ramsey passed his boyhood on the home farm, and attended the common schools of the neighborhood, his primary education there being supplemented with instruction at an academy and a normal school. On August 8, 1862, he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Fortieth P. V. I, served to the close of the war, and was discharged June 25, 1865, at Albany, N. Y. He participated in two battles Chancellorsville and Gettysburg at which latter he was struck by a minie-ball which fractured the bone between knee and instep. By reason of this he was confined to hospital ten months, and when he recovered was transferred to the Eleventh Veteran Corps, in which he was made quartermaster-sergeant, prior to which he had been a color corporal. Returning to Washington county, he followed farming during the summer months, and taught school in the winter time, teaching, in all, seven terms, part of the time prior to his enlistment. In 1870 he was elected, on the Democratic ticket, sheriff of the county, serving the term of three years with satisfaction to all. He resided in town during his shrievaltyship, and at the expiration of term purchased his present farm, situated about five miles from Washington, where his home has since been, and where he built a comfortable residence. In 1863 Mr. Ramsey was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Jane, daughter of Levi and Cynthia Sower, of West Bethlehem township, this county, and five children have come to bless their home: Ulysses Bernard, Levi Harlan, Kate Florence, Wilmetta Maud Estella and Lillie Blanche. Mr. Ramsey has held various township offices with honor to himself and satisfaction to his constituents. He and his wife are members of the East Buffalo Presbyterian Church, in which he has been an elder since 1885. When the Farmers and Mechanics Bank was organized, he assisted in placing the stock, along with Dr. Roberts, and was chosen one of the directors. Mr. Ramsey is a self-made man in all respects, having, unaided, worked his way up from the bottom rung of the ladder of success; and beginning life a poor boy, with no capital save brains and a willing pair of hands, assisted by an indomitable perseverance, he is now the owner of 225 acres of fair farm land. He is a man of firm convictions, having the courage in all contests of standing and fighting for what he deems to be right and for the good of his fellow-men.

Text taken from page 948 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed March 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project. Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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