From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, pages 356-357.
Brant & Fuller, 1890.


JOHN A. LASH

John A. Lash, a leading jeweler and a representative of one of the 
pioneer families of the upper Ohio valley, was born in Belmont 
county, Ohio, in 1841, and is the son of Abraham Lash, also a native 
of that county, born in 1798, one of the first white children born in 
the territory now included in that county.  Abraham was the son of 
Jacob Lash, a native of Pennsylvania, and one of the first settlers 
of this section of the country, having crossed the mountains at an 
early date, at a time when there were nothing but Indian trails over 
the mountains and country.  He was a contemporary of the Zanes, 
Mitchells, Caldwells and others of the notable pioneers of the 
valley, and settled on a farm in Belmont county in 1797, where he 
resided during the remainder of his life.  Abraham Lash, by his wife 
Nancy Powell, of Welsh descent, had twelve children who grew to 
maturity.  He died at the old Lash homestead in 1869, his wife having 
passed away in 1847.  They were both members of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. John A. Lash, one of the ten surviving children of 
Abraham Lash, remained on his father's farm until eleven years old, 
when he came to Wheeling with the intention of learning the jewelry 
trade.  In 1866 he engaged in business on his own account, opening a 
jewelry store near the Grant House on Main street.  Beginning on a 
modest scale, he continued to widen his business from year to year, 
and in 1879 opened his present establishment on the corner of Main 
and Eleventh streets, which is one of the most popular jewelry houses 
in the city.  Mr. Lash is a member of the Knights of Honor.  In 1865 
he was married to Julia U. Dungan, of Colerain, Ohio, a grand-
daughter of Josiah Fox, an English Quaker, who was the first 
secretary of the navy under Presidents Washington and Adams.  He was 
the architect builder of the famous old war ship, "Constitution."  In 
later life he retired to a large farm in Belmont county.  Mr. and 
Mrs. Lash have had four children, four of whom are living. 


(Linda Fluharty)