Re: Harry Ford Sinclair

["Wanda Sinclair" <wanda.sinclair@3web.net>]

Found the following on the internet, possibly Josiah is a relation:

>From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY," Vol. I, pages 735-736.

Brant & Fuller, 1890.

HON. JOSIAH SINCLAIR



Hon. Josiah Sinclair was born in Monroe county, Ohio, March 7, 1843. 

He is known in political circles, having been a member of the West 

Virginia legislature for several terms. His father, John Sinclair, 

was a noted lawyer of Woodsfield, Ohio, at which place the subject of 

our sketch received his education, attending the public schools, and 

subsequently the high school until he reached the age of seventeen 

years. For a time he was employed as a clerk in the county offices, 

and later as a clerk in the general freight office of the O. C. R. R. 

company, at Columbus. Leaving Columbus, Mr. Sinclair went to 

Rosemond, Ill., where for a time he was a clerk in a general store. 

Returning to Woodsfield, he enlisted June 19, 1863, in the army, and 

at the organization of his company, August 11, 1863, he was elected 

second lieutenant, Company F, One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Ohio 

volunteer infantry. He served with his regiment in Kentucky and east 

Tennessee, under Gen. Burnsides, and was mustered out March 5, 1864. 

After the war he studied law in Woodsfield, and was admitted to 

practice at the September term of court in 1866. Subsequently he 

entered the employ of Laughlin Brothers of Wheeling, and later became 

connected with R. E. Sellers & Co., of Pittsburgh. In 1871 Mr. 

Sinclair became a member of the firm of Smiths, Sinclair & Co., of 

Wheeling, and afterward of the firm of Howell, Paull & Sinclair, of 

Wheeling, and afterward of the firm of Howell, Paull & Sinclair, of 

the same city. In 1878 he came to Benwood and engaged in the retail 

drug business. Mr. Sinclair was elected to the legislature in 1880, 

and was re-elected in 1886. During the term of his office he 

introduced several important bills, and took part in the debates of 

the house. His parents were John and Mary A. (Adams) Sinclair, who 

were married, April 15, 1831, in Belmont county, Ohio. The father 

was born, September 29, 1804, in the county of Armagh, Ireland; the 

mother was born, December 25, 1815, at Waynesburg, Penn. They had 

four sons in the service of the government during the late war. 

Alexander was a lieutenant in the Twenty-fifth Ohio infantry, and was 

killed at Chancellorsville; William was a graduate of West Point, and 

was colonel of the Sixth Pennsylvania reserves, and also assistant 

inspector-general; Francis was a lieutenant of the Twenty-fifth Ohio 

infantry, served in the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh regiment, and 

died in the service. William Sinclair, the grandparent, was born in 

Ireland. The great-grandfather, John Sinclair, was born in Scotland. 

The maternal grandparents were Francis and Jane Adams, who were born 

in Ireland, and came to this country later in life. 



Prominent Men of West Virginia. 

[p.493] JOSIAH SINCLAIR. 

page 494 

JOSIAH SINCLAIR was born in Monroe county, Ohio, March 7, 1843. His father, John 

Sinclair, was an attorney at law, and for a number of years practiced at Woodsfield, Ohio, 

where the subject of this sketch was educated in the common and High School. In 1861 he 

was clerk in the office of the County Auditor, and then in the general freight office of the 

Central Ohio Railroad Company at Columbus. In 1862 he was clerk in a general store at 

Rosemond, Illinois, but in the spring of 1863, returned and in the following June enlisted in 

the army. At the organization he was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Company F, One 

Hundred and Twenty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. August 13, 1863, his regiment left 

Camp Cleveland for the front, and until March, 1864, he was in active service under 

General Burnside, Second Brigade, Third Division, Ninth Army Corps, in Kentucky and 

East Tennessee. He was at the capture of Cumberland Gap, and with his regiment in several 

minor engagements; was detailed to act as Post Commissary, but declined, preferring duty 

with his company and regiment. He was the youngest of four brothers commissioned as 

army officers. His elder brother, Alexander, Lieutenant, commanding Company K, 

Twenty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was killed in the battle of Chancellorsville; his second 

brother, William, a graduate of West Point, Major Second United States Artillery, during 

the war Colonel Sixth Regiment, Pennsylvania Reserves, and Assistant Inspector General, 

Thirteenth Army Corps, was promoted for gallant and meritorious services in the siege of 

Yorktown, and for like services in the battle of Fredericksburg; his third brother, Francis 

M., Lieutenant, Company C, Twenty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and later a member of 

the One Hundred and seventy-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, died in the service. After 

Josiah's term of service in the army, he returned to his home and entered upon the study of 

the law. At intervals he clerked in the office of his uncle, W. T. Sinclair, Probate Judge, and 

in the office of the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. In September, 1866, he was 

admitted to practice. In November, of the same year, he entered the employ of Laughlin, 

Smith & Co., wholesale druggists, of Wheeling, as a commercial traveler, intending, at the 

expiration of one or two years, to [p.494] return to his profession; but a year and a half later 

he entered the employ of R. E. Sellers & Co., wholesale druggists, of Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania, and two years later returned to Wheeling, and associated in business with 

John L. and George A. Smith, under the firm name of Smiths, Sinclair & Co., wholesale 

druggists. Later he became a member of the firm of Howell, Paull & Sinclair, wholesale 

dealers in teas and tobaccos, and in March, 1878, removed to Benwood, Marshall county, 

to engage in the drug business. 


WANDA SINCLAIR
Rexdale, Ontario