300 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. ness and put the farm into excellent condition. In 1895 he sold one-half of the place, retaining his present farm of eighty acres, which is under a high state of cultivation, with permanent improvements of the best order, indicating the progressive spirit and wise methods brought to bear by Mr. Long. Though there are more pretentious homes to be found in the county, there is none which is more pleasant and attractive that that of our subject, for the home idea is evident and neatness and good taste characterize all the improvements that have been made. The buildings are most eligibly located on a natural building site, the knoll commanding a fine view of the surrounding country and affording excellent drainage facilities. The residence grounds are rendered attractive by fine shade trees and shrubbery and an air of refinement and cultured taste pervades the home, both in its exterior and interior appointments. Climbing about the porch at the rear of the house is a fine specimen of the sweet-briar rose, the dainty blossoms and fragrant leaves perfuming the house and bearing a perpetual tribute to the memory of the gentle mother of Mr. Long, who with her own hands planted the shrub and trained it during many years, It is thus doubly dear to the family, being hallowed by the associations of the past and breathing the fragrance of the gentle life which it so happily typifies. On November 1, 189o, Mr. Long was united in marriage to Miss Dora M. Thomas, a native of this township and the daughter of J. V. Thomas, a well. known citizen of the county. Of this union one child was born, but did not long survive to brighten the home. Mr. Long's natural predilection is not for farming and though his success has been gratifying he feels that he has done his share in the line, and he contemplates turning his attention to some commercial or mechanical pursuit when favorable opportunity shall offer, and as he is in the vigor of his young manhood, is fortified with excellent education and has shown marked executive ability and business acumen, a continued success may be predicted for him in whatsoever field he sees fit to turn his effort. He has carried on general farming, having made somewhat of a specialty of raising swine, and his place is,one which is a credit to him and to the county. Mr. and Mrs. Long have a wide circle of acquaintances and are highly honored in the community. DAVID A. CLEAR. This well-known blacksmith of Greenville township, is a native of Darke county, his birth occurring in German township, August 30, 1856. His father, David Clear, was born April 1, 1823, in German township, but he now lives in Washington township, this county, where he owns a good farm of sixty acres. He married Esther Ann Ross, born in German township, April 13, 1823, and both are now well advanced in life. They have five children, namely: Reuben ; Sophia, the wife of Abraham Hawkins; Maggie, the wife of John' Burch, who lives in Randolph county, Indiana, near the Ohio state line; David A. and Jeremiah S. With the exception of. Maggie all make their home in Darke county. On the home farm David A. Clear grew to manhood receiving a common-school education and remaining with his parents until attaining his majority. At the age of twenty-two years he commenced learning the blacksmith's trade, serving an apprentice- GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 301 ship of three and a half years with B. M. Bright and J. F. Lane, and mastering the trade in all its details during that time. Eighteen months of this time were spent in Coletown, Darke county, and in 1882 he embarked in business at his present stand. He does a general blacksmithing business, and being a good mechanic and reliable man he has built up an excellent trade. September 26, 1880, Mr. Clear was united marriage with Miss Lila, a daughter of Mrs. Mary Ann Arnold, of Darke county, and to them have been born two children that are now living, Dessie and Frank, besides Bessie, deceased. For ten years Mr. and Mrs. Clear have been members of the Christian church of Coletown, and take an active interest in religious work. In his political affairs he is a stanch Republican. He is a well informed man who keeps abreast of the times, and is highly respected and esteemed by all who know him. Fraternally he is a member of Greenville Lodge, K. of P. LARKIN G. TURNER. Prominent among those who have contributed to the agricultural advancement of this section of the Buckeye state is he whose name initiates this paragraph. He is now a valued resident of Hollandsburg, Harrison township, Darke county, where he is living practically retired from the active duties which so long claimed his attention. Mr. Turner is a native of Wayne county, Indiana, where he was born July 19, 1831, his father, Jeptha Turner, having been the first white child born in Wayne county, the date of his nativity having been October 29, 1806. His father, John Turner, had the distinction of being the first sheriff of Wayne county. He was a native of Henry county, Kentucky; was born about the year 1785, and his death occurred in 1835. The latter married a Miss Holman, daughter of George Holman, who was one of the earliest settlers in Wayne county, Indiana, having located there in 1803. The mother of the immediate subject of this sketch bore the maiden name of Martha Gaar, and she was born in Wayne county, Indiana, on the 25th of September, 1810. Her marriage to Jeptha Turner was solemnized January 14, 1830 and they became the parents of nine children, namely : Larkin Gaar, subject of this sketch; Levi P., a resident of Abington, Wayne county, Indiana ; Abraham W., of Brazil, Clay county, Indiana, where he is a prominent merchant; Sarah Jane, wife of John Endsley, of the same county; Eliza Ann Turner, who still remains at the Old home; Martin Van Buren, a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska; John Milton, of Brazil, Indiana; Martha Ellen, who died, unmarried, at the age of twenty-eight; and Jesse D., who remains upon the old homestead, which he operates successfully. All of the married children are well established in life and have small families. The father died April 16, 1885, and his venerable widow survived him until September 15, 1890, their remains being laid to rest in the cemetery at Elkhorn, Indiana. Larkin G. Turner, with whom this review has more specifically to do, remained on the old homestead until he had attained his majority, when he entered a machine shop at Connersville, Indiana, where he served a careful apprenticeship of four years, after which he farmed on rented land for a time, being successful in his efforts. In 1868 he made his first purchase of land, the same comprising one hundred acres, located in Harrison township, which has ever since 302 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. been his home. He moved on to his farm within the succeeding year and there continued to live and labor for the long term of eighteen years, when he removed to his present place, where his tenure has now continued for twelve years, so that he is known and honored as one of the old representative farmers of this township, being held in the highest esteem for his integrity and ability. On the 15th of February, 1855, Mr. Turner was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Endsley, whose brother married a sister of our subject, as has already been noted. Mrs Turner was born March 3, 1835, and. of her marriage four children have been: born Clara, wife of N. T. Irelan, of Hollansburg, is the mother of seven children; John Perry Turner, also of this township, is married and has one son and one daughter ; Rose Emma, wife of Henry Wolfal, who operates the homestead farm of our subject, and has two daughters, and Charles F. Turner, who died at the age of two years. Fraternally Mr. Turner is a Master Mason, having been prominently identified with this time honored order for the long period of thirty-five years, having been initiated into its mysteries July 21, 1865, and having served as master of Bethel Lodge, No. 250, F. & A. M., of Wayne county, Indiana, for two terms. In his political adherency he is a Democrat, and in 1859 was elected on that ticket a justice of the peace of Abington township, Wayne county, Indiana, where he served two terms. After his removal to Darke county he was five times elected to this honorable office, in which he served with marked ability and discretion, and in 1891 he was accorded the honor of being elected as a director of the county infirmary, in which capacity he served two terms. He has several times' been called upon to preside over the destinies of Hollansburg, as president of its board of trustees, is at the present time the incumbent of that position and at this writing is just entering upon his third term as justice of the peace. Mr. and Mrs. Turner inherited the farm owned by her father. Her grandfather, John Endsley, came from North Carolina to Wayne county, Indiana, in 1805, the latter's father having been a native of Ireland. Our subject has a well defined genealogical record of his mother's family, the Gaar line, the same running back two hundred and seventy-five years. The family has been one of marked prominence in the history of Wayne county, Indiana, and in the. annals of the. nation, as is evident when the fact is recalled that the family had three representatives in the war of the Revolution ; fifteen in the war of 1812 ; sixteen in the Mexican war ; while in the war of the Rebellion over one hun-dred members were enlisted in the Union armies and a practically equal number in the Confederate forces. JACOB HALDERMAN. For many years this gentleman has resided in Darke county and his name is in separably connected with the agricultural and building interests of this region. His thoroughly American spirit and his great energy have enabled him to mount from a lowly position to one of affluence. One of his leading characteristics in business affairs is his fine sense of order and complete system and the habit of giving careful attention to details, without which success in any undertaking is never assured. Mr. Halderman was born in Dayton, Ohio, October 25, 1835, and is a son of GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 303 John Halderman, a native of Pennsylvania, who settled in Dayton the year of our subject's birth, and died there when his son was only three years old. At that tender age Mr. Halderman passed to the care of strangers and relatives, and when twelve years old went to Indiana, where he spent two years. At the end of that time he came to Darke county, Ohio, where he worked as a farm hand one year, and then served an apprenticeship to Reuben Heffner, a contractor, at the carpenter's trade, and remained with him as a journeyman after his apprenticeship was complete, being in his employ nine years. In the meantime he had attained man's estate, and at the end of that period commenced contracting and building on his own account, at the same time carrying on farming on rented land. In 1861 he rented a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Greenville township, which he subsequently purchased, and to which he has since added until he now has a valuable and well. improved farm of two hundred and sixty acres. Upon his place he has erected commodious barns of the best construction, a fine residence, tobacco sheds, granaries, etc. His principal crops are wheat; corn and tobacco, and he also gives considerable attention to the raising of hogs. He is one of the most intelligent and successful farmers of the county. December 27, 1860, Mr. Halderman was united in marriage with Miss Mary Baker, by whom he had seven children, but one died in infancy unnamed. The others are Leota, the wife of S. E. Bishop, of Hamilton, Ohio; Alice, the wife of William McNeil, of Columbus, this state; Ida Bird, the wife of W. J. Wagner, a farmer and school teacher of Darke county ; Herschel V., a resident of El Paso, Texas; Elnora, at home; and Pearl, the wife of William G. Bishop, of Greenville. The mother of these children died in 1875, aged thirty-six years. For his second wife Mr. Halderman married Miss Frances E. Helm, a native of Darke county and a daughter of Eli and Catherine (Zimmerman) Helm, and to them was born a son, Roll H. In Mr. Halderman we have a perfect illustration of a self-made man. Being. left. an orphan at the age of three years, he began the battle of life much younger than most men, and his success has been phenomenal, though of a steady, healthful growth. For twenty-eight years he has .been connected with Greenville Lodge, I. O. O. F., and is also a member of the Encampment and Patriarchs Militant. He has filled all the chairs in the subordinate lodge and encampment. He has also served as-ensign and. lieutenant in the Patriarchs Militant. Politically he is a supporter of the Democratic party and has served as township trustee and in other minor offices. To strangers he is always most cordial and entertaining and is widely and favorably known throughout his adopted county. JOHN G. FRANK. On sections 17 and 18, Harrison township, is located the fine farmstead of one hundred and twenty-six acres which is owned and cultivated by the gentleman whose name introduces this review, and we are pleased to give a resume of his career in this connection, for he stands forth as one of the leading German-American citizens of Darke county and as a representative of our best yeoman that has gained to this section its reputation as one of the most attractive 304 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. farming communities in the favored state, noted for its agricultural pre-eminence. John George Frank was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, the 26th of May, 1834, and when a young man of twenty, in 1854, emigrated to America for the purpose of trying his fortunes in the new world, where he felt better opportunities were offered to the energetic and industrious young men. He made the eventful voyage on a sailing vessel, and after leaving Bremen fifty-three days elapsed ere the boat dropped anchor in the port of New York. A stranger in a strange land. Mr. Frank at once set about making his way, being determined to succeed, if success could be gained by honest and earnest endeavor. He stopped for a time on the Delaware river, fifteen miles north of Philadelphia, where he secured work as a farm hand at eight dollars per month. He had but a small amount of cash when he left home and fatherland, and when he reached America his financial reinforcement amounted to only ten dollars. After remaining in Pennsylvania for four and one-half months he came on to the west, being employed for about the same length of time in a wagon shop at Richmond, Indiana. after which he identified himself with the interests of Darke county, coming to Harrison township, hiring out by the month until the winter of 1857. On the 5th of December of that year Mr. Frank showed his confidence in himself and his ability to succeed by assuming a definite responsibility, being then united in marriage to Miss Jemima Brown, who was born in this township on the 17th of December, 1833, the daughter of Edward Brown, who is still living at the venerable age of ninety-two years, being one of the wealthy and honored farmers of the county. He was born in Pennsylvania and his marriage to Miss Mary M. Blocher, who was born near York, that state, was solemnized in Harrison township, Darke county.. Mrs. Brown died: in Madison in 1888, at the age of seventy-eight years, having become the mother of three sons and six daughters, of whom the three sons are living and only one of the daughters,—Mrs. Frank, the estimable wife of our subject. Her brothers are farmers in this township and in contiguous sections of Indiana, and the venerable father now makes his home with his children, being cared for with the deepest filial solicitude and being now feeble and broken in health by reason of great age. Mr. and Mrs. Frank have become the parents of four sons and four daughters, of whom we offer the following brief record : Mary is the wife of Philip Rogers, a successful farmer of Washington township, this county, and they have six children; Sarah Jane is the wife of Newton Rogers and is the mother of seven children; Frederick W. resides on the old homestead, which he operates for his father ; he married Alice Miller and they have four sons and two daughters : Jonas A., who is a successful fruit grower, residing north of Greenville, this county, is married and has seven children; Rebecca is the wife of Charles Albright and has one child; Charles Edward, a meat dealer in Hollansburg, is married and has one (laughter; John G. is a tenant farmer in an adjoining county in Indiana, and of his marriage two children were born, but both are deceased; Emma is, the wife of Leonard Moore, who resides in this immediate vicinity, and they have one son; and the other child of our subject and wife was a son who died at the age Of seven months. In the year 1859 Mr. Frank purchased GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 305 fifty-two acres of land, the same being a portion of his present farm, and for this original tract he paid thirty dollars per acre, no permanent improvements having been made on the place, and the young man having to assume an indebtedness for a portion of the purchase price. He erected a small frame house, one story in height and 16x24 feet in dimensions, and also put up a log barn. The original house is now a part, of his present attractive and commodious residence and is occupied by his son. Improvements were made as rapidly as circumstances would permit,—he erected a small frame barn eventually, and in 1879 built his large and well equipped barn, 42x. 52 feet in dimensions, and in 1885 the new residence of two stories was erected. Mr. Frank has made three additions to the acreage of his farm since his original purchase, and he now has one hundred and twenty-six acres under a fine state of cultivation and. devoted to mixed farming. He makes it a point to rotate crops every three years, thus keeping up the vitality of the land. He. also raises swine somewhat extensively and keeps a dairy of from sixteen to twenty high-grade Jersey cows, all eligible for registration. He operates his own creamery, the products of which find ready demand in the direct family trade con-trolled in Richmond. Mr. and Mrs. Frank are members of the German Baptist church, in whose direct and collateral work they have an abiding interest, our subject being a deacon in the church. In politics he gives his support to the Democratic party, but he has invariably declined to accept official preferment. He and his wife continue to be actively concerned in the affairs of the homestead, though the operation of the farm has been consigned to their son, who is a practical and capable young agriculturist and business man. They enjoy a marked popularity in the community and the high estimation in which they are held stands in unmistakable evidence of their sterling worth of character. The farm is one of the most attractive in this section and everything about the place gives indication of the care and attention bestowed. On the place Mr. Frank has a sorghum mill, which has brought a good revenue and has yielded much valuable fertilizing material. REUBEN BROWN. Among the reliable and progressive citizens who have given their attention to the basic art of husbandry and have aided materially in advancing the interests and substantial development of Darke county is Reuben Brown, whose finely improved and well cultivated farm is located on section 20, Harrison township, his postoffice address being Whitewater, Indiana. Mr. Brown was born on a farm one mile northeast of his present place, on the 20th day of May, 1840, his father being Edward Brown, who was born in the vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland, on the 28th of March, 1809. The latter's father, John Brown, was likewise a native of Maryland, whence he emigrated to Ohio as early as 1817. He was twice married, his first union being with Mina Stochsiel, whom he wedded in the year 1802, and who bore him seven sons and one daughter. Her death occurred in February, 1834. Of the second marriage no children were born. Grandfather John Brown died at about the age of sixty years. He was an extensive land-owner in this section of Ohio, having entered a half-section here, and his first abiding place in the frontier wilds was a 306 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. sort of a tent, made by setting up a series of poles in conical shape and covering them with blankets. He finally erected a more substantial dwelling, of hewed logs, and also put up a large barn of the same character. He was a sturdy and energetic pioneer and cleared up his farm, making the large tract one of the most valuable in this section. Edward Brown, father of our subject, chose for his companion on life's journey Miss Mary Magdalene Blocher, who was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Joseph Blocher, who was one of the early pioneers of Darke county. Edward and Mary M. Brown became the parents of nine children, of whom six lived to attain maturity, namely : Jemima, who is -the wife of John G. Frank, to whom specific attention is directed on another page of this work ; Mary, who became the wife of Andrew Windmiller, was born in 1838 and died in 1884, leaving four sons and four daughters; Reuben is the immediate subject of this sketch; Jonas is an extensive farmer in Huntington county, Indiana; Frederick is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Wayne county, Indiana; and Malinda, the wife of Udall Dowler, died in 1892, at the age of forty years, leaving three children. The mother of our subject entered into eternal rest October 10, 1878, but the father is still living, having attained the patriarchal age of ninety-two years, and having made his home with his children since 1892. Reuben Brown became inured to the duties of the farm at a very early age, and his educational advantages were of limited scope, but the fundamental training which he received in the primitive schools has been most effectively supplemented by that valuable learning which is the result of personal application and participation in the practical activities of life. He remained on the old homestead until he had attained his majority, when he assumed connubial responsibilities, being united in marriage on the 25th of April, 1861, to Miss Esther Bausman, who was born in Miami county, Ohio, the daughter of John and Esther (Weneich) Bausman, who became the parents of four sons and five daughters, all of whom are living except one daughter, a brief record concerning them being here incorporated : David, a resident of Harper county, Kansas, has eight children; Thom-. as, of Wabash county, Indiana, has twelve children; Eli, a resident of Henry county, Missouri, has five children; Daniel, a prosperous farmer of Neave township, Darke county, has two children; Harriet, widow of Solomon Bollinger, is a resident of Wabash county, Indiana, and has two children: Esther, who is the wife of Mr. Brown, of this review ; Fannie, wife of Jacob Root, died in Kansas, leaving no issue; Susanna, the wife of William Fry, has one son; and Elizabeth, wife of Elias Rogers, has four children. Mr. and Mrs. Brown lost one son and one daughter in infancy, and of the children who attained maturity we make more detailed mention, as follows : Frances I., wife of Jacob Hollinger, has two children; Harriet Rebecca is the wife of John Hollinger, and has five children; Lydia is the wife of Thomas Jordan; Amanda Victoria is at the parental home; Elva L. is at home; John Edward, who is now a student at Dayton, Ohio, is a successful teacher; Eli Roscoe died September 27, 1889, at the age of fifteen years; Jennie Leola, Cyrus Oscar, Alpheus„ Effie Melinda and Esther Magdalene are at home. In national affairs Mr. Brown gives his GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 307 support to the Democratic party, but in local elections he support's the man whom he considers most eligible for office, being liberal in his views. He served one term as road supervisor, but has no desire for official preferment. He farms upon an extensive scale, and brings to bear a practical knowledge and a wise discrimination which have conserved his success in this important field of endeavor. He owns two farms, having an aggregate area of two hundred and five acres, and by the careful rotation of crops he keeps his land in excellent productive condition, giving also considerable attention to the raising of a high grade of live stock. He has an annual product of from two to three thousand bushels of corn and ten to twelve hundred of wheat: From a fine herd of twelve Jersey cows he obtains the best of butter, for which a ready demand is always found. He purchased his fine farms in 1871, and is known as one of the representative agriculturists and able business men of the county. Mrs. Brown is a zealous member of the Dunkard church, and is a woman of many graces of character, and she is highly esteemed in the social circles of the community. JOHN PARENT. The career of him whose name heads this review illustrates most forcibly the possibilities that are open to a young man who possesses sterling business qualifications., It proves that ambition, perseverance, steadfast purpose and indefatigable industry, combined with sound business principles, will be rewarded, and that true success follows individual effort only. Mr. Parent was born near New Madison, Ohio, February 17, 1830, a son of William and Hannah (Ellston) Parent, both natives of New Jersey. The father was born near Monmouth, in 1804, and at an early day came to Darke county, Ohio. In 1835 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Washington township, only three acres of which had been cleared, the other being covered with a heavy growth of timber. Wild animals, such as bears and wolves, were plentiful, and Indians still roamed through the forests. While Mr. Parent and his wife were clearing their land and encountering dangers incident to such a life, their family of children were increased to eight 'five of whom are still living, namely : George, a resident of Union City, Indiana; Mrs. Elizabeth Barr, of Washington township, Darke county; Mrs. Amy J. Roe, of Jackson township; William Henry Harrison, of Anderson, Indiana ; and John, our subject. As was the case with all, early settlers, their educational advantages were very limited. The old log schoolhouse was reached after tramping through miles of almost impenetrable undergrowth and the rod was strongly in evidence. The father died Monday, November 28, 1887, on the farm where he first settled, but the place had been enlarged until it contained one hundred and ninety acres. John Parent grew to manhood on the home farm, and was married, October 6, 1852, to Miss Ann Arnold, the ceremony being performed by Aaron Hiiler, at his. home near Sharpeye. The young couple began their domestic life on his father's farm, but two years later Mr. Parent purchased eighty acres of wooded land five miles distant, which was school property, and for which he paid four hundred and eighty dollars, buying it on twelve years' time. He used to walk five miles twice each day while clearing a space and erecting a cabin thereon. In 308 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. that primitive abode the family lived for ten years. At the end of six years Mr. Parent had succeeded in paying off the debt on his place, which was chiefly done by fattening calves for market. He would buy them in the spring at a nominal price, and allow them to run in the wild pasture until fall, when they were sold at a good profit. For seven years he operated a sawmill in connection with his farming, and at the opening of the civil war he sold his eighty-acre farm for two thousand dollars, his sawmill for the same amount, which, together with his two thousand dollars he had saved from the profts of both made six thousand dollars, that had been accumulated in ten years. On starting out in life for himself his father had given him a colt which he sold for seventy-five dollars, which was the capital that he had to embark in business with. Prosperity has attended his well-directed efforts, and he has been able to give his children ten thousand dollars, at different times. He still owns two hundred and fifteen acres of fine farming land, and is at the head of an extensive grain business in Union City, where he owns two elevators. While Mr. Parent and his wife were laboring and prospering six children came to bless their union, four of whom are now living : Mrs. Alice Cramer, who is the wife of a lumber dealer of New Orleans, Louisiana, and they have two daughters ; Dora, who is the wife of George A. Lambert, the latter being at the head of the extensive Buckeye Factory of Anderson, Indiana, whose products are chiefly gas engines, and they have one son and two daughters ; Addle, who is the wife of Thomas G. Warren, a machinist of Cleveland., Ohio, and they also have one on and two daughters; and W. G., who has charge of his father's grain busi ness in Union City. One son, John, died August 16, 1895, aged twenty-six years, and a daughter, Mrs. Luella Edgar, died September 22, 1891, at Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she had been taken with the hops of prolonging her life. Miss Acha Roe, a daughter of Mr. Parent's sister, has made her home with our subject and his wife since she was only four days old. In looking into the clear eye and strong countenance of Mr. Parent one would be led to suppose that every educational advantage had been his portion instead of early struggles and privations and a continuous life of hard labor.. His estimable wife has been to him a true helpmeet and the prosperity that has come to them is certainly well-merited. They are both well-preserved and in good health and are now enjoying the fruits of their labors in .a beautiful home near Union City, where they are surrounded by every comfort and many luxuries. CHARLES W. RARICK, A. M., M. D. Dr. Charles Wesley Rarick is numbered among the native sons of Darke county, his birth having occurred in Washington township, on the 9th of December, 1843. His great-great-grandfather was born at Erbach, Wittenberg, Germany, in 1722, and in 1749 crossed the Atlantic to America arriving in Philadelphia on the 2d of September. There he spent his remaining days, passing away in 1799. He was the father of seven children, including Henry Rarick, the great-grandfather of our subject. He was born in the city which his father had chosen for his home on arriving in the new world. His birth occurred in 1755, and he died at his home west of Dayton in 1819. He had a family of seven children, one of whom was GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 309 Philip Rarick, who was born in Pennsylvania, in 1774, and died neat Sharpeye, Darke county, Ohio, on the William Ellston farm, in 1844. Philip Rarick, Jr., the Doctor's father, was born in 1808, and was four times married, becoming the father of fifteen children. He first wedded Miss Sarah Chenoweth, who was born October 2, 1814 and by their union they became the parents of ten children. By his third wife the father had five children. Those of the first marriage were: Abraham C., who was born April 12, 1833, and served in the Civil war for two years with the rank of second lieutenant, is now a farmer and cattle-raiser in Clark county, Iowa; Isaac N., born April 19, 1835, is a practicing physician of Redkey, Indiana; Jacob J., born May 2, 1837, was for four years a soldier in the Civil war, rose to the rank of major, and is now a teacher and farmer in Lawrence, Kansas; David H., born February 28, 1839, died six months later; Adam C., born July 5, 1841, is a stock-raiser in Clark county, Iowa, where he owns one thousand acres of land, all of which except forty-seven acres, he has accumulated since the close of the Civil war, in which he served for four years in the Iowa Volunteer Infantry; Charles W. is the next of the family; Ira O., born December 23. 1845, is a farmer and dairyman in Harrisonville, Missouri ; Susanna B., born June 30, 1848, is the wife of Criarles A. More house, a farmer of Jay county, Indiana, living- near Hector; Caroline, born July 20, 1850, is the wife of Samuel L. Roberts, and in the spring of 1900 they traded a horse ranch in western Nebraska for a farm near Dunnville, Indiana, upon which they now reside; and Catherine, born March 25, 1853, died at the age of sixteen Years. The children of the third marriage were Mrs. Elsie Green, Mrs. Rosie Tharp, Mrs. Clara Wall, Mrs. Cora Carbaugh and John, and all are living near Deerfield, Indiana. The father of - these children died September I, 1886, and the Doctor's mother passed away on the 6th of March, 1863. Dr. Rarick began his education in the country schools, which he attended about thirteen weeks during the winter season. Throughout the remainder of the year he assisted his father in the operation of the farm, aiding in clearing and developing two hundred and eighty acres of land. He was thus engaged at the time of the Civil war, when, prompted by a spirit of patriotism, he put aside all personal considerations and on the 28th of August, 1862, joined the volunteer service of the country, in Company H, One Hundredth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, remaining at the front until peace was declared. He participated in thirty battles and escaped uninjured. His was a very honorable record, one of which he may well be proud. After the close of the war the Doctor entered Liber College, near Portland, Indiana, and there—pursued his studies for fourteen months. After teaching and attending school until March 11, 1869, he matriculated in Marietta College and was graduated in 1874, with the degree of bachelor of arts. Three years later his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of master of arts. Subsequently the Doctor studied medicine and was engaged in teaching school for several years. He was the superintendent of the Ridgeville school for one year and was known as a successful educator, having the ability to impart clearly and concisely to others the knowledge he had acquired. In 1883 he received his diploma as a medical practitioner and has since been successfully engaged in practice, having for more than seventeen 310 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. years occupied a suite of rooms over the Farmers' National Bank in Greenville. He has been a close student of his profession, has kept abreast of the times in his work, and his knowledge of the medical science is comprehensive and accurate. On the l0th of March, 1880, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Rarick and Miss Ella J. Griffin, who was born in Montgomery county. Ohio; March 17, 1852. One son, Harry G., was born to them December 12, 1880, and was graduated in the public schools of Greenville, in May, 1899. The family occupy an enviable position in social circles and enjoy the hospitality of many of the best homes in the city. The Doctor has gained enviable prestige in his chosen calling and to-day ranks among the leading representatives of one of the most noble and humane professions to which man can devote his energies. SAMUEL PAULIN. Samuel Paulin, deceased, was born in Mahoning county, Ohio, May 15, 1822, a son of Peter Paulin, a native of Pennsylvania and of German origin. In Peter Paulin's family were eleven children, eight sons and three slaughters, of whom Samuel was the fourth son. He was reared on his father's farm and was more or less interested in farming the greater part of his life. When a young man he served an apprenticeship to the trade of carpenter. After his marriage, which event occurred in 1844, he settled in his native county, where he continued to reside for five years, corning thence in 1849 to Darke county and settling at the "Beach," which was his home six years, his time during this period being devoted to contracting and building. He did! as much work perhaps as any other contractor in the county, if not More. Country life then becoming rather monotonous for him, he moved to Greenville, where, however, he resided but a year. Then purchasing a farm in Adams township, he removed with his family to it, in the year 1861, and here he passed the rest of his life in agricultural pursuits. He died October 7, 1895. Mr. Paulin was a man of many excellent traits of character. Honorable and upright in all his dealings, his word was always regarded as good as his bond. He was inter. ested in everything he believed was for the good of the community in which he lived and he could be counted upon to support any worthy enterprise. He was a strong temperance advocate. Formerly a Republican, he left that party in order to cast his vote with the Prohibition party, with which he affiliated up to the time of his death. He was for fifty-one years a member of the Evangelical church, in which he was an active and efficient worker, and for a period of forty-one years was a reader of the Evangelical Messenger. Mrs. Paulin is also a devoted member of this church and continues to take and read the Messenger. Before her marriage Mrs. Paulin was Miss Lucinda Martin. She was born in Mahoning county, Ohio, May 3, 1826, a daughter of George and Susan (Smich) Martin, both natives of Maryland, her father by occupation a farmer. She was the third born in a family of six children, the other members of the family being as follows : Aptill, who resides on the old homestead in Mahoning county ; Neazer, deceased ; Harriet, wife of Solomon Martin, of New Middleton, Mahoning county ; Lena, deceased ; and Lucy, deceased. Mrs. Paulin is the only one of the family in Darke county, and She still re- GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 311 sides on the farm above referred to in Adams township, a tract of ninety-two acres, which is operated by her son. She is the mother of seven children and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren now constitute a large number. Of her children six are still living, namely : Sarah, who is the Wife of Benjamin Gower, a hotel man of Arcanum, Ohio, and has three children—James, 'Edward and Nannie; Lucy, who is the wife of Clay Forkertz, of Indianapolis, and has five children—Bert, John, Harry, Samuel and Walter; Amos, who married Mary Seaman and lives in Gettysburg, Ohio, and has one son, Lewis, who is married and has one child, Amos H.; Nancy, deceased, was twice married, first, to John Dunn, and after his death to Phillip Albright, the children, by both marriages being deceased ; Calvin, who married Martha Shuette and is the father of six children, two of whom—Lula and Nettie—are living; and Tobias, who married Molly Willis and has had five children, four of whom are living—Dora, Elsworth, James and William. Tobias Paulin resides. on the home place with his mother and conducts the farming operations. ELIAS D. SNYDER, M. D. Among those who devote their time and energies to the practice of medicine and have gained a leading place in the ranks of the profession is Dr. Snyder, of Arcanum, Ohio. He is a native of Maryland, born on the old homestead in the beautiful Antietam valley August 20, 1837, and is of German descent. His grandfather, Jacob Snyder, was horn near Hagerstown, Washington county, Maryland, and lived to the age of ninety-four years, while his wife reached the age of ninety-two, and her mother, who was a Miss Wyand before marriage, lived to the advanced age of one hundred and two years. He was blind the last thirty years of his life. John A. Snyder, the Doctor's father, was born on the old homestead in Washington county, Maryland, in 1807, and married Elizabeth Ann Benner. In 1838 they came to Ohio by wagon with several other families and stopped for a short time near Winchester, Preble county. Mr. Snyder then purchased a farm of sixty-one acres west of Dayton in Montgomery county and subsequently removed to West Alexandria, Preble county, where he lived retired until his death in 1892. During his long and useful Career he was honored and highly esteemed by all with whom he came in contact, and was called upon to fill several local offices. His wife, who was born in 181o, died in 1890. Both were consistent members of the United Brethren church. Their children were Aaron W., a resident of Preble. county ; Elias D., our subject ; Jacob S., who served four months in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, during the civil war, and is now a resident of Preble county ; and Marietta, who married Elias Mumma and died in West Alexandria, Ohio. It was during his infancy that Dr. Snyder was brought by his parents to this state, and during his early life, spent in Preble county, he saw much of the pioneer life of this section. He attended the country schools until twenty years of age, and during the follo'wing ten years successfully engaged in teaching school. Having determined to enter the medical profession, he studied under Drs. Huggins. & Campbell, of 312 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. West Alexandria, for three years, and then entered the Ohio Medical College, where he was graduated with the class of 1872. The same year he opened an office in Arcanum, where The has since actively engaged in practice and has met with marked success. For four years he was in partnership with Dr. Donavan Robeson, but with that exception has been alone. In 1865 Dr. Snyder was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Myers, a native of Preble county and a daughter of John and Mary (Russell) Myers, and by this union was born one child, John Arthur, who married Emma Gerder and has One child: During the dark days of the civil war Dr. Snyder enlisted as a private in Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for one hundred days' service, and with his regiment was located in and about Baltimore, Maryland, until discharged. Religiously he is an active member of the United Brethren church. The Doctor is .one of the oldest practitioners in Darke county. On first coming to Arcanum he visited many of his country patients on horseback and sometimes in a light sulky, as the roads were bad, and he often had to tie his horse at some point along the road and walk the rest of the way. His skill and thorough knowledge of medicine soon won him the confidence and esteem of the people and he was not long in building up an extensive and lucrative practice. A man of prudent foresight and good business capacity, he has invested in farming property, and now has a fine farm of seventy-two acres in Van Buren township, especially adapted to tobacco culture. His crop off eight acres has brought him one thousand dollars in one season, and in three years he has made three thousand dollars from the same tract. He also owns an interest in a farm in West Alexandria. ANDREW JACKSON DOWNING. For a quarter of a century this well. known and popular druggist has been prominently identified with the business interests of Hollansburg, and his affairs have been so managed as to win him the confidence of the public and the prosperity which should always attend honorable effort. A native of Darke county, Mr. Downing was born in Harrison township, February 9, 1840, and is a son of Robert Jay and Indiana (Baird) Downing. He traces his ancestry back to Sergeant John Downing, a native of Ireland, who came to America in Colonial days and served for eight years in the colonial . war, taking part with Francis Marion in the battle of Cowpens. He was born in 1726, and died in South Carolina when about seventy years of age, being laid to rest three miles from the ;town of Chester. His son, John, our subject's grandfather, was born in Chester county, South Carolina, December 7, 1776, and died in Harrison township, Darke county, Ohio, May 17, 1870. He was a remarkable man physically and possessed his strength up to the last, dying of an acute disease of the bladder at the age of ninety-four years. From South Carolina he removed to Lexington, Kentucky, and in 1817 came to New Paris, Ohio. At one time he owned about a section of land in this county; having entered the same at the land office, and paying for it one dollar and a quarter per acre. Some three hundred acres of the original tract is still in possession of the family. He married Margaret Fads, a native of Ireland, and to them were GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 313 born seven children, five sons and two daughters, who reached adult age. Robert J. Downing, the father of our subject, was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was only two years old when brought by his parents to Darke county, Ohio, locating on a tract of government land in Harrison township. About 1836 he married Indiana Baird, of Butler township, this county, a daughter of John Baird, and to them were born eleven children, of whom three sons and five daughters reached man and womanhood, and five are still living, namely : Andrew J., our, subject ; Margaret, wife of Henry Sells, of Hollansburg ; Jason; Ella A., wife of. Mark T. Mills, of Ennis, Ellis county, Texas; and Amanda E., wife of A. A. Loudenslager, of Harrison township, this county. The mother died at the age of sixty-five years and was buried in New Madison, and the father died at. the age of seventy-three and was buried in Hollansburg. The boyhood and youth of Andrew J. Downing was passed upon his father's farm and be was educated in the district schools of the neighborhood. On leaving the parental roof at the age of twenty-three years, he commenced teaching and followed that occupation for five years. In June, 1875, he opened a drug store in Hollansburg, and has since devoted his entire time and attention to that business, having built up a good trade. Besides his business property he owns a pleasant residence in the village which he has rebuilt; May 31, 1863, Mr. Downing was united in marriage with Miss Rebecca A. Gibson, of this county, a daughter of Nathan Gibson, and to them were born three children, namely : Orville A., a farmer of German township, who is married and has five children, four sons and one daughter, Eleanora, who married George W. Skinner, of Arba, Indiana, and they have three children; and Harry H., who died at the age of two years. Mr. and Mrs. Downing are both active and faithful members of the Christian church, of which he is a trustee, and are held in high regard by all who know them. He affiliates with the Democratic party, arid has most efficiently served as township clerk four years, village trustee two years, and councilman four years. In all the relations of life he has been found true to every trust reposed in him, whether public or private, and is justly numbered among the useful and valued citizens of his community. WILSON S. BOWERS. Wilson S. Bowers, a prominent contrac-tor and carpenter residing on the old home-stead farm in Mississinawa township, Darke county, Ohio, was born in Twin township, Preble county, this state, July 14., 1848. His father, John Bowers, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, May 6, 1814, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Emerick) Bowers, pioneers of this state. Samuel Bowers was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, about 1785, and died near West Alexandria, Preble county, this state, in 1869. In his family were nine children, five sons and four daughters, all of whom married and with one exception all reared families of their own. Only one is now living, George, a resident of Tippecanoe county, Indiana. The grandfather was a cooper by trade, and was one of the soldiers who fought against the Indians at Fort Defiance. In 1837 John Bowers, the father of our subject, married' Catherine Judy, who was 314 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. born in Rockingham county, Virginia, January 5, 1813, a daughter of Frederick and Polly (Hoover) Judy, who moved to Preble county, Ohio, in 1817. Both her parents died of milk-sickness, and were buried in one grave at Lewisburg, Ohio. She is the only one of their seven children now living: Her sister, Sarah, who was born March 13, 1807, died in November, 1898. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bowers lived on rented farms in Preble county until September 24, 1857, when they moved to the farm on section 14, Mississinawa township, Darke county, now owned by their sons, Cornelius and Wilson S. In the midst of the forest they made their home: Wild game was still plentiful, and Cornelius has a fine pair of antlers from a noble buck that he and his father killed in the winter of 1866, it being the last one killed in this region. For his farm of one hundred and fifteen acres the father paid twelve hundred dollars in cash, which he made by honest toil and strict economy. Here he died October 25, 1872, honored and respected by all who knew him, but the mother is still living and retains her faculties unimpaired. They had five children, namely : Lovey, the wife of John Briner, a farmer living near the old homestead, by whom she has six children : William, who died at the age of twenty-seven years, leaving a wife and one son, Ronert; Elizabeth, Who died at the age of twenty-four years; Cornelius, who lives on the old homestead with his mother; and Wilson S., our subject. Wilson S. Bowers was reared in the usual manner of farmer boys, and received a good common school education. He remained at his parental home, working much of the time with his father at the cooper's trade until twenty-six years of age, when he em barked in business for himself as a carpenter arid contractor. He has met with success in this venture, and is today quite well-to-do. He and his brother have a good farm of eighty acres, and he also owns an adjoining tract of six acres. On the 25th of May, 1873, Mr. Bowers was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Condon, of Warren county, Ohio, and they have eight children : John H., who is married and lives in Union City,' Ohio; -William C., who is working at the carpenter's trade, with his father; James A., a young widower, who is learning the carpenter's trade; and Wilson, Sylvia J., Mary O., Ernest and Addie, all at home, the youngest being nine years of age. Like the other members of his family, Mr. Bowers is a Democrat in politics, and for seven years he most creditably and satisfactorily served as trustee of his township. He is one of the representative and prominent citizens of his community, and is highly respected and esteemed by all who know him. JOHN STEPHENS. The subject of this sketch, who throughout life has been identified with the industrial and agricultural interests of Darke county, and is now the owner of one of the best and most desirable farms Of its size in Greenville township, was born in German township, Darke county, November 11, 1825, a son of David and Lydia (Wagner) Stephens, early settlers of this county. The father was a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, and a soldier of the war of 1812. The paternal grandfather came to Ohio about 1818, and settled in Preble county. John Wagner, the maternal grandfather, was also a native of Pennsylvania and an GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 315 early settler of Darke county. Our subject is the third child and second son in a family of nine children, the others being : Anna, widow of Jesse Woods, of German township, Darke county; Joseph, a resident of Indiana; Mary, the widow of John McClure, of Indiana; Catherine M., the deceased wife of Eli Armacost, of Washington township; Noah and Levi, both deceased ; and Allen and Isaac, who died 'during their youth. John Stephens was reared in his native township when most of that region was still wild and unimproved, and his early recollections are of seeing deer, wolves and other wild animals of the forest. He attended the subscription schools conducted in a log school-house with a puncheon floor, and at the age of nineteen commenced serving an apprenticeship to the blacksmith's trade at Palestine, Ohio, faithfully putting in three years at the forge. Subsequently he spent a short time in Indiana, and on his return to Darke county located in Neave township, where he engaged in blacksmithing on his own account for three years. In 1853 he located on the farm in Greenville township, where he now resides, and opened a shop upon his place, which he conducted while his farm was mainly cleared and improved by hired help. It consists of one hundred and thirty-nine acres, now under a high state of cultivation and improved with good and substantial buildings. Mr. Stephens has been twice married. February i3, 1851, in Greenville township, he wedded Miss Maria Dininger, of Darke county, who died August 15, 1865. Of the seven children born of this union two died in infancy, and only four are now living, namely : William, who married Miss Sarah Johnson ; Margaret, the wife of H. S. Bookwalter ; Lewis C., and Lydia, the wife of John Sando. For his second wife Mr. Stephens married, October 4, 1868, Matilda Finfrock, widow of Jacob Risser, and to them have been born three children: Alva A., who married Hattie Gurlin; John C., who married Malinda Johnson ; and Clara, who married Stephen Rose. Though nominally a Democrat, Mr. Stephens may be said to be independent in politics, voting for men and principles rather than party. Both he and his estimable wife are members of the Lutheran church, and have a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in the community where they reside. CAPTAIN JOHN T. HERSHEY. John T. Hershey, deceased, was born in Gettysburg, Darke county, Ohio, August 16, 1844, and in this little town passed his life, for many years occupying a leading place among its representative citizens. He was a son .of Jacob Hershey, who came with his father from Pennsylvania to Ohio at an early day and selected a location in Darke county, where they laid out the town of Gettysburg, with which they were identified during the rest of their lives. Jacob Hershey married Mary McCune, in Darke county, and John T. was the first born and only son in their family of three children. He was reared at Gettysburg. At the time the civil war broke out he was yet in his 'teens, but, young as he was, he was among those who were first to enlist. He enlisted from Darke county, state of Ohio, on September 10, 1861, and was mustered into the United States service at Camp Clark, state Of Ohio, on September 1a, 1861, as a private of Company B, Forty-fourth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Captain J. C. Langston and Colonel S. A. 316 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Gilbert, to serve three years, or during the war. He took part in the battle of Lewisburg, West Virginia, May 23, 1862, where he was severely wounded through the explosion of a shell; Dutton's Hill, Kentucky, and others. He was honorably discharged January 5, 1864, at Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, on account of re-enlisting as a veteran in Company B, Eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, under Captain Anson N. Thompson and Colonel A. S. Moore, to serve three years or during the war. The ,Eighth Cavalry was assigned to the Second Brigade, Third Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac, and he participated in the following engagements, viz : Covington and Otter Creek, Virginia ; Lynchburg, Liberty, Maryland Heights, Winchester and Martinsburg, West Virginia; Fisher's Hill, Winchester, and North Shenandoah valley, or Luray, Virginia; Cedar Creek, and Beverly, West Virginia, October 29, 1864, where he was captured and confined in Libby prison for about .three months and a half, when he joined his regiment. He was appointed sergeant February 19, 1865, and commissary sergeant June I, 1865. He received his final discharge July 30, 1865, at Clarksburg, West Virginia, on account of the close of the war. Afterward he recruited Company B, Third Ohio National Guards, and was made its captain, a position he filled for a period of eight years, and throughout his life he took a deep interest in military affairs. For a number of years he was a member of the G. A. R. In many ways he was identified with the business interests of Gettysburg. He was at one time the postmaster of the town, also at various times filled numerous other offices, and for a number of years previous to his death was engaged in general merchandising, conducting a successful business. He died March 13, 1900. A man of many laudable traits of character, generous and unselfish, he had many warm friends, and was respected by all who knew him or in any way had dealings with him. For many years he was prominently connected with the Methodist Episcopal church of Gettysburg, active in both church and Sunday school, serving as the superintendent of the latter. His political affiliations were with the Republican party. Mr. Hershey's widow, Mrs. Celia Jane (Hoover) Hershey, resides at the homestead in Gettysburg, she being, like her husband, a native of this place. Her father, Absalom Hoover, was born, reared and married in Miami county, Ohio, and from that place came to Darke county in pioneer days and established his home in the woods, in Franklin county, southeast of Gettysburg, where he acquired the title to one hundred and sixty acres of land. Shortly after his settlement here he was killed by a falling tree. He was a member of the Christian church, and was an active and efficient worker in both the church and the Sunday school, having served as superintendent of the latter. Politically he was first a Whig and afterward a Republican. The Hoovers, originally Quakers, came to Ohio from North Carolina in the early history of the Western Reserve. Mrs. Hershey's mother, befote marriage Sarah Fatty, was born and reared in Miami county, Ohio, and her father, David Patty, like the Hoovers, came to this state from North Carolina. The Pattys also were Quakers: Absalom and Sarah Hoover were the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters, namely : Noah, a resident of Adams township, Darke GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 317 county ; Bell, deceased; Celia Jane, now Mrs. Hershey ; Charles ; Albert, a teacher in the Union City schools ; and Mary, who died in early life. Mrs. Hershey was reared in Gettysburg, where she received 'her edu-cation in the common schools, and in 1865, at the close of the civil war, she was united in marriage to John T. Hershey. Their union was blessed in the birth of three children, as follows; Mabel, the wife of J. L. Selby, who is the principal of the Greenville schools; Wilbur, who died in early life; and Gertrude, a teacher, residing with her mother. Mrs. Hershey is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. FRANK L. RYAN. The subject of this sketch, a well-to-do agriculturist of Greenville township, is a typical self-made man, and in the following record of his career there is much to arouse respect and esteem. He has placed his reliance on industry and perseverance rather than "luck," and by making the most of circumstances, however discouraging, he has made his way to a substantial success. Mr. Ryan was born March 3, 1840, in the township where he still makes his home, and is a son of Rudolph and Ellen (Hamilton) Ryan. The father was a native of Virginia, but his early life was passed in Maryland, and in the early '30s he came to Darke county, Ohio, where he died in 1847, at the age of forty-five years. By trade he was a shoemaker and followed his occupation here. His widow was left with nine children, and with true motherly devotion she reared them in respectability and inculcated in them the ways of industry and usefulness. She died in May, 1886, at the age of seventy-five years. The children of the family still living are : Emily Gilliam, Mrs. Mary Thorn, Daniel and Frank L., all residents of Darke county ; G. W., of Miami county, Ohio; Mrs. Eliza J. Potter, of Reno county, Kansas; and Mrs. Amelia Griffin, of Nebraska. William en-listed during the civil war for three months' service in the One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in the hospital at New Creek, West Virginia; and John, who enlisted for three years in the Ninety-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was seriously wounded and captured at Chattanooga, and it is supposed he died in Libby prison, although nothing was heard of him after being captured. During his boyhood Frank L. Ryan ob-tained a very limited education, as his mother needed his assistance in caring for the family. He, too, was one of the "boys in blue" during the Rebellion, enlisting September 6, 1861, at the age of twenty-one years, in Company K, Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for three years. He first went to Camp Piatt on the Ohio river, and soon af-terward crossed the river into Virginia, where his regiment saw much service. He participated in all of the engagements in which the regiment took part, numbering thirty-two in all, including the battles of Witheville, Virginia, Cloud Mountain, Strasburg, and the two engagements at Cedar Creek and Winchester. At the last mentioned place, July 24, 1864, he was captured just before his term of service expired, and for five days he was held within the rebel lines. One morning he saw his opportunity to escape, of which he took advantage, creeping away in a, ditch full of briars and lying all day in seclusion near the rebel camp. That night he walked twenty-one miles, and fell in with a negro who cared for him eighteen days, all the time being within gun- 318 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. shot of rebel soldiers on North mountain. He struck the Union lines at Martinsburg, Virginia. In the meantime his regiment had returned to Ohio to be mustered out, and he followed in time to be mustered out with them, being discharged at Columbus, September 13, 1864. Returning to his home in Darke county, Mr. Ryan engaged in farming on rented land for a time, but in 1870 purchased sixty-two and a half acres in Greenville township, which he has converted into one of the best improved farms of that locality. He was married, January 26, 1865, to Miss Mary Potter, a daughter of Daniel and Catherine (Cumerine) Potter, early settlers of Darke county, their home being the farm on which our subject now resides. By this union were born four children, namely : Mary C., the wife of Owen Curtner, of Hamilton, Ohio; John D., a prominent salesman of Dayton, whose wife died leaving two children, Agnes and Frankie ; Cora, at home with her parents ; and Minnie, the wife of William Appenceller, of Greenville. For many years Mr. and Mrs. Ryan have been active members of the Coleville Christian .church, and they are held in high regard by all who know them on account of their sterling worth. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party, and socially is an honored member of Jobes Post, G. A. R., of Greenville, and the Horse Thief Protective Association, of Darke county. Daniel Potter, the father of Mrs. Ryan, was boric. January 26, 1809, and died September 20, 1862, while his wife was born December 15, 1817, and died April 7, 1861. They came to Darke county in early life and were married there. They. took an active part in church work, and were among the organizers of the Christian church in this county. In their family were the following children : William, a resident of Reno county, Kansas, enlisted as a private in 1861, in Company G, Fortieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and passed the grades of promotion to a first lieutenancy. He participated in many hard-fought battles, and was honorably discharged in 1865. Mrs. Phoebe Vail is a resident of Oklahoma. John enlisted in 1862 in Company K, Ninety-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was killed in the battle of Resaca, Georgia, May 14, 1863. Jonas died when small. Charlotte and Mrs. Ryan complete the family. HENRY M. COLE. While the disposition to do honor to those who have served well their race or their nation is prevalent among all enlightened people and is of great value everywhere and under all forms of government, it is particularly appropriate to and to be fostered in this country, where no man is born to public office or to public honor, or comes to either by inheritance, but where all men are equal before the law, where the race for distinction is over the road of public usefulness and is open to every one who chooses to enter, however humble and obscure he may be, and where the advantageous circumstances of family or wealth count, in the vast majority of cases, for but little or nothing. One who is now occupying an important position in the system of government in Darke county, having attained thereto as the result of individual merit is Henry M. Cole, who is now serving as common pleas judge. He was born upon a farm in this county on the 17th of March, 1845, a son 0f Samuel Cole, who was born in Washington town- GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 319 ship, Darke county, on the old family homestead, in 1821. He represented one of the pioneer families of the locality. The Coles originally lived in Amsterdam, Holland, but in what year the family was founded in America is not definitely known. Samuel Cole, Sr., the grandfather of the Judge, was a native of New Jersey and emigrated westward to Darke county, Ohio, at a pioneer period in its development. He was a man of broad general information, was popular with his neighbors and was generous and kind, being always ready and willing to assist in securing a location for a new corner, while his generous hospitality was known far and wide. He wedded Mary Elston, a native of Orange county, New York, and upon their farm in Washington township their son, Samuel Cole, was reared. Having attained man's estate he married Miss Nancy .C. Cox, who was born in Washington township in 1822, a daughter of Martin Cox, a native of Pennsylvania. Henry M. Cole was also reared upon a farm, his time being largely occupied with the duties of field and meadow through the summer months. Throughout the remainder of the year he pursued his education in the district schools of the neighborhood, and under the parental roof he. remained until twenty-one years of age, teaching, however, in the district schools near his home during the winter. Not content to follow the Plow, his preference being for professional life, he read law under the direction of the law firm of Knox & Sater, of Greenville, and later attended the law school in Cincinnati, Ohio, in which he was graduated in the class of 1869. The same year he was admitted to the bar and at once entered upon the practice of his profession. During the first eleven years of his connection with the legal fraternity he practiced in partnership with Judge A. R. Calderwood, of Greenville, now deceased. He rose steadily, step by step, as he demonstrated his ability to successfully cope with the intricate problems of jurisprudence and soon won a large and distinctively representative clientage. In 1879 Judge Cole married Miss Elizabeth Porter, of Greenville, a daughter of John W. Porter, a native of Montgomery county, Ohio, and they have always maintained their residence in this city, where they have a large circle of friends. Socially the Judge is connected: with Greenville Lodge, No. 195, I. O. O. F. During the war of the Rebellion he manifested his loyalty to his country by enlisting in an. Ohio regiment, in which he served his country faithfully and well until the close of hostilities; when he was honorably discharged. He is now a member of Jobes Post, G. A. R., of Greenville. Politically he cast in his lot with the Republican party and has labored effectively in its interests. In 1897 he was nominated on that ticket as the candidate for judge of the common pleas court and was elected by a handsome majority for a term of five years, over J. C. Elliott, the Democratic candidate, the district being composed of the counties of Preble, Darke, Miami, Clark and Champaign. He possesses good legal talent, is a close student and is devoted to his profession. While practicing at the bar he applied himself diligently to the Preparation and trial of cases and to the handling of the legal matters .entrusted to his care. His industry and integrity brought him the confidence of the community and a large practice made his professional career a success. Endowed with these qualifications, which are combined with an agreeable address and methodical and regular habits, promotion to 320 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. his present position of honor and confidence became a matter .of course. Judge Cole attends to his judicial duties with careful attention to detail and a total disregard of self, seeming to be animated only by a desire to discharge his duty with fairness and impartiality. He is also well versed in general literature and is a polished, conscientious gentleman. CHARLES BEERS, M. D. Among the prominent and successful physicians of Darke county, Ohio, is ..Dr. Charles Beers, of Painter Creek, who has spent his entire life in this county, his birth occurring in Greenville, May 11, 1872. There he grew to manhood and acquired his . literary education in its public schools, which he attended until eighteen years of age. He then commenced the study of medicine, under Dr. J. H. Spitter, of Greenville, with whom he remained eighteen months, and then entered the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, at which he was graduated with the class of 1896. Immediately after his graduation he opened an office at Painter Creek, and has met with marked success in the prosecution of his chosen profession, it being said that he has as large a practice as any physician in Darke county. He is strictly self-made as to his attainments, as he borrowed the money to pay for his tuition at college, and is deserving of the highest commendation for the success that he has achieved. He was reared in the Methodist faith and as a Democrat, but is liberal in his political views. On the 24th of November, 1898, Dr. Beers was united in marriage with Miss Alma, a daughter of Harvey H. and Henrietta V. Bireley, of Painter Creek. AARON A. IRELAN. It is now our privilege to enter a brief review of the career of one of the venerable and honored pioneer citizens of Darke county, and the province of a compilation of this nature is most perfectly realized in offering a resume of such character. Aaron Abel Irelan, who is a resident of Hollansburg, Harrison township, is a native son of the Buckeye state, having been born in Monroe township, Preble county, on the 12th of September, 1818, the son of Moses Irelan, who removed from Cincinnati to Preble county about 1816. He was born in Pennsylvania, September 15, 1790, and his death occurred November 22, 1872. His father was Aaron Irelan, of an old and long lived Pennsylvania family. All of his brothers and sisters except one lived to advanced age, his death being the result of an accident, as he was killed by a horse, when about fifty years of age. Grandfather Irelan removed. from New Jersey to Pennsylvania and thence to Cincinnati, and he died in Coleraine township. His widow subsequently married a man named Robinson, and she died of paralysis, at the age of eighty years. Moses Irelan married Hester Abel, who accompanied a family named Beten from New Jersey to Ohio when a child of seven years, iii 1808. She was born in 1799 and her marriage to Mr. Irelan was consummated when she was sixteen years of age. Of their ten children we make record as follows : Polly, wife of George Painter, died, leaving five children; Aaron A.. is the subject of this sketch; Dorcas' was three times married and she died at the age of seventy-two, leaving three children; Ephraim died young; Hettie and Jane have both passed away, each leaving children; and the three others of GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 321 the family died in infancy. The mother died in 18.37, and the father was again married, one child being the issue of this union. He died November 22, 1872, as before noted. Aaron A. Irelan was reared in the forests of the pioneer farm and he early became inured to hard work, aiding in the reclaiming and cultivation of the old homestead. He remained with his parents until he had reached the age of twenty-five years, after which he engaged in huxtering for four years, begin-ning his independent career without cash or credit. In 1845 he engaged in the general merchandise trade in Hollansburg, continuing this enterprise until 1852, when he determined to resume the pursuits to which lie had been reared, and since then he has been very successful in his farming operations, having owned at one time six hundred and seventy-five acres, of which he still retains two hundred and forty acres of the most desirable and best cultivated land in the county. Though he has operated so extensively in the agricultural line he has continued to hold his mercantile interests until quite recently, when he disposed of the same. On the 18th of October, 1841, Mr. Irelan was united in marriage to Miss Phoebe Tillson, and they have had nine children, namely : The first born was a son, who died in infancy ; Josephine died at the age of five years; Norman Tillson is engaged extensively in farming and stock-raising, utilizing his father's farm and also his own place, of one hundred and sixty acres; he is married and has seven children; James died young; Isaiah died at the age of twelve years and George at the age of five; William A., a successful teacher, died in April, 1900, at the age of thirty-nine years, leaving a wife and three children ; Cora Belle is the wife of Samuel Williams, of Greenville, and has four sons ; and Leona is the wife of O. S. Downing and has five children. The Tillson family is of good old New England stock, the original representatives having come to America in the Mayflower. Aaron Irelan, grandfather of our subject, was a son of Dayton Irelan, who came to America from England prior to the Revolution, and his brother, who came with him, was taken prisoner and taken back to England, returning to the United States after the close of the war. Dayton Irelan married Dorcas Buck, of New Jerky, and they have five sons and five daughters, all of whom attained adult age and were married in Ohio. The present generation of the Irelan family is the eighth in line from the original American progenitor. Mr. Irelan is a Master Mason, having been identified with this time honored fraternity for many years, and in politics he renders allegiance to the Democratic party, having served as township trustee for the long term of fifteen years and having also held the office of justice of the peace for a similar period. Mrs. Irelan is a member of the Christian church. Rev. Hosea Tillson, an uncle of Mrs. Irelan, was born November 24, 1810, and is still living, being a resident of Bethel, Indiana. He was the tenth child of Luther and Mehitable Tillson, who removed from Woodstock, Connecticut, to Cincinnati, in 1802, and later to Butler county, Ohio, near the present site of Somerville, and there Hosea was born. In 1817 the family removed to Darke county, near the Indiana line, and here, amid the perils and vicissitudes of pioneer life, he grew to manhood. At the age of twenty-one years he married Jane A. Anderson, of Bethel, with whom he lived twenty-three years. They reared one son, Reuben, who was a merchant, and at 322 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. present postmaster of Hollansburg. After the death of his first wife Mr. Tillson married Margaret Harlan, of Bethel, and their married life has extended over a period of forty years. They are the parents of three daughters. The Rev. Mr. Tillson is a sound Bible student and an unswerving advocate of truth and virtue. In his patriarchal age he has the veneration of all who know him. His father was for six years a sailor on the ocean and related many interesting tales f adventure and peril. Rev. Mr. Tillson has been a licensed preacher in the Christian church for sixty-two years. He settled in Bethel in 1866 and was an elder in the church for thirty-six years. Ile lived close to the Indiana line and became very popular as "the marrying parson." Though for many .years Mr. Irelan has been in somewhat impaired health, he has nevertheless been a most active and energetic business man, having shown a mature judgment and due conservatism in the conduct of his large interests. He is animated by the most absolute integrity of purpose and despises intrigue and dishonesty in every form. His vigorous intellect would have insured him success in any field of endeavor, and though now an octogenarian he has more the appearance of a man of sixty. He is recognized as the leading citizen of Hollansburg, and his friends are in number as his acquaintances. JACOB L. HERCULES. Upon a farm on sections 25 and 26, Allen township, Jacob Le Fevre Hercules is now successfully carrying on agricultural pursuits, and the well tilled fields indicate his progressive methods and capable management. He was born in Warren county, Ohio, February 8, 1818, a son of William Hercules, whose birth occurred in New Jersey, July 24, 1786, and who in 1796 became a resident of Cindinnati, Ohio. The grandfather, William Hercules, was born in Scotland, about 1730, and after emigrating to New Jersey, was there married to Amy Groves. He reared two sons and five daughters, the former being William James, who was born in 1786, and lived in Darke county for many years, dying in Kokomo, Indiana, at an advanced age; and Samuel. The grandfather died about 1828, At the age of ninety-six years. He was by trade a weaver of fine fabrics, including silks and linens. During the Revolutionary war he loyally served in the colonial army, and at the close of hostilities took his musket home with him, and the barrel and a portion of the stock are now in the possession of our subject. The grandfather never became a wealthy man, but was a farmer in comfortable circumstances. His remains were interred in Muddy Creek graveyard; in Warren county, Ohio, and his wife, who died when about ninety years of age, was laid to. rest in Ithaca cemetery, in Darke county. The father. of our subject died January 21, 1868, at the age of eighty-one years: He wedded Elizabeth French, who was born March 7, 1793, and was a twin sister f David French. Their marriage took place about 1812, soon after the close of the father's service in the war of 1812. Their first child,. David Hercules, was born October 4, 1814,. was married and had four daughters and two sons, and died in .York township, Darke. county, in his fortieth year. Amy, the second child, born in 1816, was married in 1835 to William Bolvy, and they had four sons. Her death occurred July 1, 1898. James Hercules, born in 1817, died in 1893. GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 323 He was twice married and had six children. Jacob L. is the next of the family. Mary, born in 1820, became the wife of Abner Colby, and had two sons and four daughters. Her death occurred March 23, 1887. Catherine, born in 1822, married Arthur J. Wheeler, and died October 26, 1846. Philip, born September 17, 1823, died near Rose Hill. William Hercules, born July 3, 1825, is living in Livingston county, and has two sons and two daughters that yet survive. Christopher, born April 3, 1827, lost an arm in the war of the Rebellion, and is now serving as a deputy sheriff at Pontiac, Illinois. Elizabeth Jane, born in 1829, died at the age of nine years: Margaret, born in 1831, died in 1836. Sarah Ann, born in 1833, is now acting as the housekeeper for a minister's family in Minnesota. Samuel died in infancy. The mother of these children passed away about 1838; and the father afterward married Mrs. Hamilton, a widow. Jacob L. Hercules, whose name introduces this review, was reared to farm life and received no educational privileges. He was married August 15, 1843, to Mary Ann Heathorn, who was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, February 11, 1832, a daughter of George and Margaret (Bonham) Heathorn. Mr. and Mrs. Hercules settled at once on their farm in a little log cabin in the midst of the forest. He secured the lease of one hundred and sixty acres, agreeing to clear forty acres and to divide the crops for five years. During that time he purchased a quarter-section, paying for it over six hundred dollars. The nearest houses were a mile or two distant. Mr. Hercules has cleared the heavy timber from one hundred acres of land, and is today the owner of four farms, comprising three hundred and thirty-five acres. He 'resided in his cabin home from 1843 until 1868, when he erected and moved into his present residence. He has made excellent improvements on his land, and is an enterprising farmer. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hercules have been born six children : Mrs. Sarah Jane Williamson, a widow living in Allen township who has six children; Mrs. Mary Ann Berry, who has one son and one daughter, and whose husband is a farmer in Allen township; Margaret Eliza, the wife of Mr. Michael, of Allen township, by whom she has two daughters and one son; Mrs. Frances C.- Michael, whose husband is a farmer in Wabash township, and who has two daughters and three sons; Emma L., now the wife of Mr. Beam, of Brown township, by whom she has five sons and three daughters; and William, who died in infancy. Mr. Hercules is a Republican in his political affiliations. His has been a busy and industrious life; and all that he has achieved is the result of his own labors. DANIEL H. RYAN. Daniel H. Ryan, one of the honored veterans of the civil war, and a well-known farmer of Greenville township, is a native of .Darke. county, born in 1843, and a son of Rudolph and Ellen (Hamilton) Ryan, natives of Virginia, who came to this county at an early day and settled in Greenville township. Further mention is made of this worthy couple in the sketch of Frank L. Ryan on another page of this volume. Our subject was reared on a farm and received a common school education. On the 24th of August, 1862, he enlisted in Company F, Ninety-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland under the command of 324 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. General Grant. The regiment was drilled and equipped at Piqua, Ohio, and participated in the battles of Perryville, Stone River, Resaca, Chickamauga, Louisville, Missionary. Ridge and Lookout mountain; in fact, taking part in all the engagements of that memorable Campaign, numbering thirty-two. They were with Sherman on the march to the sea; were in the battles of Jonesboro and Savannah and the Carolina campaign, including the battles of Benton-ville and Averysboro; and took part in the grand review at Washington, D.. C. Mr. Ryan was twice slightly wounded, being hit in the left hand by a spent ball at Chickamauga, and was honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, in 1865. Returning to his home in Darke county, Mr. Ryan has since engaged in farming. In 1868 he married Catherine Butt, a daughter of Otto Butt, and to them have been born six children : Leonora; Ella; Omer, Lilly, Raymond and Maude. Mr. Ryan is a stanch Republican in politics, and is a member of Jobes Post, No. 152, G. A. R. PRICE McGRIFF. A wide-awake and progressive farmer actively connected with the agricultural interests of Darke county for many years, Mr. McGriff is now living retired, enjoying a rest which he has truly earned and richly deserves. He has reached the eightieth mile-stone of life's journey, and his record is an honorable one, well deserving mention in this volume. He was born August 18, 1820, just over the line in Preble county. His father, Patrick McGriff, was born in Virginia in 1786, and died in Preble county in 1854. The. grandfather, Thomas McGriff, was a native of Ireland, and was of Scotch-Irish lineage. He and his brother, together with two comrades, were held prisoners by the Indians for some time in the colonial epoch of our country's history, but one night while the guards were asleep all succeeded in escaping with the exception of one. They suffered many trials and dangers trying to return to their homes, but at length reached safety in Virginia. On leaving the Old Dominion the father removed to Tennessee, and afterward to Ohio, coming to this state when the town site of Cincinnati was entirely unimproved save by a little blacksmith shop. Mr. McGriff located on rented land between the big and Little Miami rivers, and in 1811 began the development of a farm in the midst of the forest in Preble county. He was married in Virginia to a Miss Atkins, and they. had a large family of eleven children, five sons and six daughters, all of whom were married and all of whom had children with one exception. Richard is probably the Only surviving member of this family. The grandfather died about 1828, leaving a claim. consisting of a quarter-section of land. He was a survivor of his wife for several years, her death having occurred about 1831. She was a woman of resolute and noble nature, \veil-fitted to brave the hardships of pioneer life. Patrick McGriff, the father of our subject, paid for his grandfather's claim, and there made his home through a long period. He married Elizabeth Price, who was born in Virginia, about 1782, and in 1800, in Preble county, Ohio, became the wife of Mr. McGriff. The father of our subject served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and accumulated a good property, owning nearly an entire section of land in Ohio and Indiana, GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 325 besides considerable valuable personal property. He died in 1854, and his wife passed away ten years. later, their remains being interred in the churchyard near Manchester, Ohio, This worthy couple became the parents of six sons and three daughters, who reached mature years and with one exception were married, John having died at the age of sixteen years. Wear died at the age of thirty-three, leaving a wife and six children. Rachel became the wife of Joseph Clark and died about 1886. Price is the next of the family. Alfred, of Twin township, has three living children. Patrick died of typhoid fever in 1855, leaving four children. Phoebe Guard, born about 1827, died about 1892, survived by four of her six children. Andrew Jackson resides near New Madison, and has four children. Elizabeth died in July, 1899, at the age of sixty-eight years. Parker C. is a farmer near Arcanum, and has three living children. The educational privileges which Price McGriff received were very limited. He pursued his studies in a little log cabin, fitted up with puncheon seats, but though he did not spend much time over text-books, he has gained a practical knowledge that well fitted him for his business affairs. As a companion and helpmeet on life's journey he chose Miss Jane Mullenix, the wedding taking place on the l0th of April, 1845. She was born in Twin township, Darke county, in 1827, and is a daughter of Philbert and Mary (McDonald) Mullenix. Her parents were farming people and came from Pennsylvania to Ohio with their respective families at an early date. In their family were six daughters and a son, of whom four are now living : Jesse, a retired farmer of Butler township ; Mrs. McGriff ; Margaret, now Mrs. Harriman, a widow of Dayton; and Mary, the wife of William Price, of Darke county. Unto Mr. and Mrs. McGriff have been born seven children : John B. W., who had seven children and died in 1881, at the age of forty years ; Mary Elizabeth, the wife of Wesley Mellin, of Preble county, by whom she has six children, including. twin ions whose likeness to each other is very strong; Jesse A., a farmer of Butler township, who has been twice married; William P., .a farmer of Butler township, who has three sons and a daughter ; Phoebe Jane, the wife of Jacob Wolverton, and the mother of Dr. Wolverton, of Castine ; Samantha A. McLear, of Indiana, who has a son and daughter; and Cordelia, the wife of Calvin Braddock, of West Manchester, by whom she has one daughter. Mr. and Mrs. McGriff began their domestic life empty handed. He operated his father's farm and other lands until he was enabled to purchase property of his own, becoming the owner of eighty acres on which a few improvements had been made, including the erection of a small log house. The purchase price was one thousand and fifty dollars, and of this he paid twelve hundred dollars down. From his father's estate he received twelve hundred dollars; but later in life he lost through one debt twelve hundred and thirty dollars, so that all he has has been acquired by himself. He at one time was the owner of three farms, comprising altogether five hundred acres. He had three hundred and twenty acres in the old home place, and still owns two hundred acres of this. He has found greater profit in the raising of corn and hogs than in any other department of farm work, though he has also raised wheat extensively.. frequently having from ten to twelve hun- 326 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Bred bushels in a season. His corn he feeds to his stock, and one year his drove of eighty head of hogs brought him sixteen hundred dollars. His farm has long been in the possession of the McGriff family it having been the property of John McGriff, the father of the famous twins, John and Richard McGriff. It was in 1813 that he built his log cabin here, and the present home was erected by Richard McGriff, one of the twins, nearly fifty years ago. Our subject has accumulated the property for thirty-four years, and has made. it a very valuable tract of land. In politics he is a Democrat, but has never been an aspirant for office, although he has served the township. as supervisor and trustee. He is now well advanced in years, and is living retired, enjoying a rest which he has truly earned and greatly deserves. Straightforward in all his dealings and upright in every relation of life, he certainly deserves mention among the representative citizens of Darke county. SAMUEL ROSS KEMBLE. The journalistic interests of Darke county number among other representatives the gentleman whose name introduces this review. He is well known as the editor and proprietor of the Daily and Weekly Tribune. The daily was founded by him in 1890. and in 1892 the weekly was begun by him. He is well fitted for his present work by practical knowledge of the "art preservative as well as by editorial ability. Mr. Kemble was born in Salem. New Jersey. September 19. 1847, and spent his childhood in that city. In 1854 he came to Greenville. where he attended the public schools until he put aside text-books in order to learn the printing business. His knowl edge of the newspaper business is therefore supplemented by a thorough course in the printing office. After the civil war broke out, and before completing his apprenticeship, he enlisted and served as a soldier until the rebellion closed. He was employed at divers times as a compositor on a number of leading newspapers in different cities of the United States. Mr. Kemble is a writer of force and ability, clear and concise in his expressions, and presents his ideas with precision. He has an extensive acquaintance with many public met , and possesses those qualities which render him popular with all circles. The Tribune was first founded in Arcanum, Darke county, in 1880, and published there weekly for nearly ten years. The office was then moved to Greenville, and in 1890 the Daily Tribune, the first daily newspaper established in Greenville, was first issued. The publication of the Weekly Tribune was resumed in 1892, and both editions have been continued ever since, growing in popularity and steadily increasing in circulation and patronage. In 1871 Mr. Kemble was united in marriage to Miss Theodosia B. Calderwood, the youngest daughter of the late Judge A. R. Calderwood, a prominent attorney of Green-. ville. Four children were born to them—Charles Ross, Georgiana, Bessie and Alice—the last named dying in infancy. JOHN W. McKAY. Numbered among the honored veterans of the war of the Rebellion and as a representative of that noble rank and file which is so rapidly being decimated by the ravages of time, stands Mr. McKay, who is now living a comparatively retired life at Hob- GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 327 lansburg, Darke county, where he is well known and highly honored, being particularly deserving of representation in this volume. Mr. McKay is a native of Indiana, having been born in Wayne county, on the 12th of July, 1841, the son of James W. McKay, who was born in Waterford, Erie county, Pennsylvania, in 1817, and who died there in 1893, having lived to attain a venerable age and having passed away in the fullness of years and honors. His father was a native of Scotland, whence he emigrated to the United States, where he reared his family of children. The maiden name of our subject's mother was Rachel Reed, and she is likewise a native of the old Keystone state, having been born in Elizabethtown, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, on the 18th of February, 1818. She is still living, being in her eighty-third year at the time of this writing,. and is well preserved, having been a woman of marked mental and physical vigor, and now resting secure in the love and veneration of all who have come within the sphere of her influence and gentle character. The family has been notable for longevity, her father, John Reed, having attained the age of ninety-four years and his death occurred more than half a century ago. He was one of the pioneers of this section of Ohio, whither he came from Pennsylvania. Her grandfather, John Reed, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and was a cousin of the famous General Wayne, whose deeds of intrepid valor gained to him the title of "Mad Anthony." The parents of our subject were married about the year 1837, and they became the parents of five children, of whom the only survivors are John W., subject of this review, and his brother, William Roland McKay. The father was a tailor by trade, and he devoted his attention to this line of work for somewhat more than a decade in his early manhood, after which he was engaged in other lines of occupation. For several years he was with the VanAmburg circus, celebrated in the old days, having been treasurer of the same and having been a man of conspicuous business and executive ability. His death occurred about the year 1802. John W. McKay apprenticed himself at the painter's trade when thirteen years of age, his training in this line being secured at Richmond, Indiana, where he served for three years under the direction of his uncle, George W. Beard, who was an artist of renown, having painted the well-known pictures reproduced in the illustration of "Paradise Lost" and "Pilgrim's Progress." Our subject continued to work as an artist and a c the painter's trade until ten years ago, when he practically retired from active business. When the cloud' of civil war spread across the national horizon Mr. McKay was one of the first to take up arms in defense of the Union, enlisting for service at the first call, in April, 1861, for three months. His is the signal. distinction of having been the first man to enlist from this section of the state, and his military career is one which will bear to his name a perpetual honor as one of the brave defenders of the nation. He served during practically the entire period of the war, having been out for four years and seven months, and having been in five different commands—first in Company K, Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry; second, in Company F, Fortieth Ohio Infantry; third, was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, Company H, Second Regiment, from which he was discharged' 328 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. on account of physical disability ; fourth, he re-enlisted as a member of Company I, Eighty-fourth Indiana Infantry ; and, fifth, was transferred to Company K, of the Fifty-seventh Indiana Infantry, being dis-charged January 15, 1866. He was twice in service as a non-commissioned officer, was always faithful and to be found at the post of duty, and while Ile escaped the leaden missiles of death and the horrors of the Confederate prisons, his health was shattered by the exposures and constant duties at the front, and he was confined in the hospitals at various times.. He was in numerous engagements and was a valiant soldier of the Republic, well meriting the recogniton which is accorded him by the government in the way of a pension. He has kept alive his interest in and association with his old comrades in arms by identification with the Grand Army of the Republic, having personally brought about the organization of Sackman Post, No. 618, at Hollansburg, of which he served as commander. To his regret this post was disbanded about 1895, while he was an inmate of the National Soldiers' Home, at Dayton. In politics Mr. McKay is a Democrat, and his personal popularity has been attested by his having been called upon to serve in offices of public trust and responsibility. He has been president of the board of village trustees, and at other times has held membership in the village council, being at all times interested in all that concerns the public welfare and the legitimate improvement of the village. Mr. and Mrs. McKay are active and devoted members of the Christian church. In the year 1893 they took up their abode in their present snug and attractive little home, and though his health is much impaired, as the result of his military service, Mr. McKay maintains a cheerful attitude, and is appreciative of the pleasures which come to him through divers sources, taking particular pleasure in his garden and among his fine poultry, of which he is a genuine fancier, and in which line he has recently engaged in breeding quite extensively, employing a well-equipped incubator in the business. JOSEPH BRYSON. Joseph Bryson is a representative of one of the oldest families of Darke county. His father, James Bryson, deceased, was one of the pioneers of Darke county, and in the history of this section of the state no name figures more frequently or honorably than does his. His life record was so closely interwoven with the annals of this section of. the state that the Ohio volume would be in-complete without his history, and it is. therefore with pleasure that we present it to our readers. Mr. Bryson was born near Hagerstown, Maryland, May 21, 1786, and at the age of four years removed with his parents to Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where Ile was reared to manhood. His advantages in early life were such as were enjoyed by the sons of frontiersmen in 1816. When yet unmarried he came to Darke county, and in 1816 entered a tract of land from the government, the same upon which. his son Joseph, now his only surviving son, yet resides. In 1817 James Bryson was married to Rachel (Creviston) Rush, a representative of one of the pioneer families of Ohio, her parents being Nicholas and Cynthia Creviston, who located near Chillicothe, in 1799. Her father died in Ross county, 1801. After his marriage Mr. Bryson took up his- GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 329 abode upon his farm on section 9, Greenville township, and in 1820 he entered another tract of land from the government. Removing to the new farm, he there lived throughout the remainder of his life, passing away on the l0th of March, 1863. He was a self-made man, and the success which he achieved was due entirely to his own efforts. He had only three hundred dollars when he came to Darke county, but at the time of his demise was the possessor of a comfortable competence. In politics he took a very active interest, recognizing and fully meeting the duties and obligations of citizenship. He voted with the Whig party. in early life, and On the formation of the Republican party in 1856 he joined its ranks. He held the office of justice of the peace, was county commissioner, served as associate judge for seven years, and in 1843-4 was a member of the state assembly. A man of strong well and keen discernment, he kept well informed on the issues of the day abreast. of the times in every particular, and was a representative citizen: In educational matters he was particularly interested and the public schools found in him a warm friend and an earnest champion. Although not a member of any orthodox church, he lived according to the Golden Rule, observing always the highest principles of life. Of his six children two survive—Joseph and Eliza—who live together upon the old homestead. The deceased are as follows : Morris, who died in Darke county, in December, 1897 ; Mary Ann, who became the wife of Henry Teegarden, and died December 16, 1854 ; Rachel Jane, who became the wife of Jared Poffenbarger and died March 10, 1898 ; and James Harvey, who resided in Osage county, Kansas, and died December 12, 1890. The mother was called to her final rest February 14, 1855,. at the age of seventy-one years, her birth having occurred in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1784. When fifteen years of age she rode horseback from Pennsylvania to Chillicothe, Ohio. This was in the year 1799. She was one of the noble pioneer women, whose influence has been most marked in the development and upbuilding of the state. Of deep religious convictions, she was a member of the New Light church and did all in her power to promote the cause of Christianity among those wth whom she. was associated in her daily life. Her first husband was Henry Rush, with whom she came to the county in 1810. He died within less than a decade. By that marriage she had five children, three of whom reached mature years, namely : William, who died in 1868; Lemuel, who died in April, 1880;. and Thomas, who died in 1841. James died in 1814, and the daughter, Maria, became the wife of Daniel Snell and died in Darke county, in 1851. On the Bryson farm was located the In dian village of Prophetstown, which also. included the adjoining farms, and the council house was situated where Mr. Bryson's. orchard is now planted. Of this Joseph Bryson has a boyhood recollection, having during his youth pulled from the ground some of the posts of which the council house was constructed. The burying ground was on the Bishop farm, though there were interments on the Bryson farm. Blue Jacket, a Shawnee chieftain, was buried on a little: knoll near where the council house stood,. and along the hillside Indian bones were frequently found. On one occasion Mr.. Bryson's father observed a hog busy with something and on investigation found it to be a skull filled with nuts which were stored 330 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. therein by a squirrel.   It is not certainly known that Tecumseh lived in this locality, but his brother, the prophet, here made his home. In 1815 Mrs. Bryson, the mother of Joseph Bryson, witnessed a shocking ceremonial of the Indians who returned to visit the grave of Blue Jacket, the noted chieftain. They held very queer funeral rites according to their tribal custom. They particularly requested that the plow never be run over the grave of Blue Jacket, saying, he good Indian." It is supposed that Blue Jacket was poisoned, a statement to that effect being made at Fort Rush, where an Indian in reply to a question as to What caused Blue Jacket's death made a movement to indicate that Blue Jacket had taken a pill and soon afterward died. Joseph Bryson is a well-known and honored representative of a pioneer family and was born on the old homestead, November 30, 1821, and there his boyhood days were passed amid the wild scenes of frontier life. His education was limited to such advantages as the subscription schools' afforded. He pursued his studies for a few months each year, from 1832 until 1838. He was early inured to the arduous labors of the farm, and remained with his parents until they were carried to the home beyond. By his own efforts he prepared himself for teaching, and followed that profession during the winter months, from 1846 until 1864. Besides acquiring a knowledge of the branches taught in the common schools, lie familiarized himself with a number of the sciences, including astronomy, geology and higher mathematics. In the summer of 1864 he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Infantry, in which he served for four months. He was at once sent to the front, and was with Gen eral Hunter's army before Lynchburg, Virginia. He passed through the renowned Shenandoah valley, witnessing the destruction of Governor Letcher's home and the Washington Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia. He participated in several sharp skirmishes while guarding the supply train of the army. At Greenbrier Gap, Virginia, they were engaged by the enemy, and Mr. Bryson was saved from instant death by his canteen and belt, a ball striking and piercing the canteen; it sent him reeling a distance of ten feet before he could recover, but the belt stopped the bullet. On the expiration of his term of service he was honorably discharged and returned to his home in September, 1864, with the rank of orderly. Since that time. Mr. Bryson has remained on the old farmstead, where his entire life has been passed, and to its cultivation and improvement lie devotes his energies, having there a valuable and desirable property. His life has been a busy and useffuseful In political affiliations he is a stanch Republican. since the organization of the party, previous to which time he was a Whig, his first presidential vote being cast for Henry Clay, in 1844. In educational matters he is, and has always been much interested. He is one of the best farmers and business men of the township, having a retentive memory which enables him to relate with ease and accuracy accounts of events and their dates, which occurred many years ago. He is a well preserved man, bearing his four score years with erectness of figure and clearness of thought and expression equal to that of. many of the business, men many years his junior. He is a member of Greenville Lodge, No. 143, F. & A. M., and in his life exemplifies the benevolent principles of the fraternity. Through long years he has GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 331 watched the progress of events in Darke county, has seen its growth and improvement, and at all times has borne his part in the work of advancement as a public-spirited citizen. JOSEPH COLE. No history of Darke county would be complete without the record of the Cole family, for, since the earliest development of this portion of the state representatives of the. name have been prominently connected with its business interests and have aided in promoting its material welfare. It is therefore with pleasure that we present this record to the readers of this volume. The family is of Holland Dutch lineage, belonging to a race which has done much in the development of this great country. The original American ancestors settled at New Amsterdam, now the city of New York, and were soon recognized as leading factors in that location. David Cole, the great-grandfather of our subject, was born in New Amsterdam and there married and reared a family of children, one of whom was Samuel Cole, the grandfather of our subject. He was born November 5, 1751, in New York, and was a farmer by occupation. He took an active part in the events which contributed to the upbuilding of this section of the state and remained in the east until 1819, when he retired from the active du-ties of business life and came to Darke county, Ohio, making his home in Washington township With his son, Samuel, until 1824, when the family removed to Greenville township. The grandfather there spent his last days, dying January 8, 1828. He was twice married : first to Janey Davis, who was born the 7th of July, 1755, a native of the Empire state.. They had three children: Sophia, who was born July 5, 1773, and became the wife of Cornelius Van Fleet, of New York; Margaret, who was born November 20, 1775, and married David Christy; of New York; and Janey, who was born October II, 1778, and married Abraham Doty, of New York. After the mother died Samuel Cole married Miss Anna Rider, who was born October 25, 1760. They had eight children: Lorana born July 22, 1783, died November 13, 1803; Samuel was the father of cur subject ; Phoebe, who was born July 20, 1789, became the wife of Charles Wood; David, who was born September 10, 1791, wedded Mary Brady and died in Darke county, February 14, 1854; Martha who was born August 6, 1793, and died July 23, 1860, wedded Nathaniel Skidmore, of New Jersey, and in 1819 they came to Darke county, one of their descendants, Peter Skidmore, being now a resident of Washington township; Joseph, who was born February 15, 1796, and died January 17, 1882, married Anna Sweet, who was a resi-dent of Hamilton county, Ohio, and died in Washington township, Darke county, Ohio, in 1875; James, who was born May 6, 1798, wedded Sarah Rupel, of Darke county, and died in St. Joseph county, Indiana, July 6, 1856; and Sarah, who was born March 6, 1802, became the wife of Henry D. Williams and died in Darke county, April 24, 1876. Samuel Cole, the father of this family was a Baptist in his religious belief and took a prominent part in the affairs of the church. His political support was given to the Whig party. He possessed a retiring disposition and devoted his time and energies to the work of securing comfortable and pleasant home for his family. His 332 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. sterling worth was recognized by his friends and neighbors, who gave him their warm regard. Samuel Cole, Jr., the father of our subject, was born in New Jersey, July 3, 1787. His early life was spent on his father's farm and he received such educational advantages as were afforded by the common schools of those days. Possessing a studious nature, he quickly embraced every opportunity for mental improvement and became an exceptionally well educated man. He assisted his father in the operation of the home farm until 1812, when he Was married to Miss Mary Elston, of New Jersey. Through the following three years he remained in his native state, but on learning of the advantages to be secured in the west, he started on horseback in 1815, reaching Montgomery county, Ohio, after a long and wearisome journey. He was, however, greatly pleased with the prospects offered in that section and returned to the east with the intention of taking up his abode in Ohio. During this time he kept a diary which is now in possession of the subject, and gives an account of his journey and of the early pioneer experiences in the west. Mr. Cole of this review also has a Spanish coin, bearing the date of 1774, which was found in the old pocketbook owned by his father. In 1816 Samuel Cole, Jr., again started for the Buckeye state, being accompanied this time by his family and James Brady, a brother-in-law. The journey must have seemed a long one, as it was made before the days of railroads and all travel was by private conveyance. Day after day they continued on their way, often over roads that were in poor condition. At length, however, their travels were ended and they took. up their abode on the Mad river, in Montgomery county. However, they were not satisfied with that location and in March, 1817, they came to Darke county, Mr. Cole securing a claim comprising the southeast quarter of section 27, Washington township. Since that time Mr. Cole has been identified with the growth and progress of that section of Darke county. Mr. Cole and his sons cleared a small tract and erected a log cabin, which was the third home in the township, the other two being the property, of Jacob and Martin Cox, who were brothers. In this primitive abode Mr. Cole and his family resided for some time, but later an addition was built and in this,• during the winter of 1821, Mr. Cole conducted the first school ever held in Washington township. Here he resided until 1824, when he removed to Greenville township and purchased of David Williamson the southeast quarter of section 19, passing his remaining days upon that farm. His wife, Miss Mary Elston, was born in New Jersey, November 7, 1792, and died August 10, 1831. She was a daughter of William Elston, of Monmouth county, New Jersey, and a granddaughter of John Elston, who emigrated from London, England, about 1730. He was a ship carpenter by trade. Her father, William Elston, married Elizabeth Walling, who was born in New Jersey, August 26, 1766. They had twelve children, of whom Mrs. Cole was the fifth. Unto the parents of our subject were born five children : William, whose birth occurred July 25, 1813, married Mary Chenoweth, of Washington township, in December, 1835, and died April 3, 1836; Asa, born July 2,6, 1815, was married September 13, 1840, to Rachel Fisher and died May 29, 1857; Jane, born April 20, 1817, the first white child born in Washington township, is now living in Boston, GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 333 Wayne county, Indiana, with her daughter, Mrs. Mary C. Druly, she having been married, in December, 1834, to Leonard Wintermute, who died in Missouri, in 1839; Betsy, who was born March 23, 1819, and died February 6, 1872, was married October 16, 1836, to George Elston, who died January 29, 1872 ; Samuel, who was born April 5, 1821, and now resides in Washington township, was married in March, 1844, to Miss Elizabeth Cox, their son, H. M. Cole, being the present judge of the court of appeals ; Joseph, of this review, is the next of the family; Polly died in infancy ; Henry, who was born June 20, 1829, now resides in Reno county, Kansas. He has been twice married, his first union being with Margaret Hoffman, his second with Matilda Tegarden. For the past fifty years he has been a well known minister of the gospel in the Christian church and the influence of his life and teachings have been most marked. All of the children were residents of Darke county at the time of their marriage. The father of this family passed away February 1, 1866. He never sought public position nor office, but was a man who was honored and respected, for his life was upright and honorable and he enjoyed the confidence and regard of all who knew him. In his death Darke county lost one of its valued citizens. Joseph Cole, whose name introduces this review, was born in Washington township, December 29, 1823, and spent the first eighteen years of his life upon the old homestead assisting his father through the summer months in the work of the fields, while in the winter season he pursued his education in the schools of the neighborhood. In those days schools were held in any vacant cabin that could be secured and were conducted on the subscription plan. Mr. Cole's educational privileges were thus somwhat limited, but he improved what chances he had, and at the age of eighteen obtained a teacher's certificate. From 1841 until 1857 he engaged in teaching and his different certificates, with one exception, are still in his possession. In 1846, in company with his brother, Samuel, he erected a saw-mill, which they operated until 1850, when they sold the property. Up to this time Mr. Cole had always made his home with his parents, but on the 6th of April, 1850, he married Miss Sarah Ann Shively, daughter of Daniel and Christina (Heck) Shively. Her parents were natives of Pennsylvania and on corning to Ohio located in Montgomery county, whence they removed to Darke county in 1817. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cole took up their abode in Coleville, which town was laid out by our subject, and there he engaged in merchandising from 1852 until 1855, when he disposed of his interests and turned his attention to farming in Greenville township, being thus occupied until 1865. In that year he purchased his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Washington township, and in addition to the cultivation of cereals best adapted to this climate, he has engaged in stock dealing, both raising and buying stock for the market. His business affairs have been capably prosecuted and have brought to him creditable success. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Cole have been born seven children, six of whom are living, namely: Wallace S., who was born April 6, 1853, was wedded to Nancy Wise, of Darke county, and now resides in Reno county, Kansas, where he is engaged in feeding fine cattle. They have six children.: Flora A., who was born March 6, 1855, was married 334 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. September 6, 1878, to B. F. Chenoweth and resides in Greenville. They have one child, Jesse A.. William Henry, who was born December 16, 1859, was married December 22, 1881, to Lucy Manuel, by whom he has three children. Their home is in Washington township. Mary C., who was born April 23, 1862, resides with her parents. Charles W., who was born October 12, 1866, was married, December 20, 1890, to Lucy Bickel and resides in Washingfon township. They also have three children : Benjamin F., who was born November 12, 1874, was married on the 12th of December, 1896, to Myrtle Jeffries and resides on the old homestead. They have two children. Mrs. Cole is a prominent worker in the Christian church and Mr. Cole contributes to its support. In politics he was originally a. Whig, casting his first presidential vote for Zachary Taylor, but since the organization of the Republican party he has loyally supported its principles and one of its most earnest advocates. He has had neither time nor inclination to enter the political arena, yet has filled many township offices and was once candidate for the office of probate judge. Although he has passed the age of three score years and ten, he retains his mental faculties unimpaired and keeps well informed on all the issues and topics of the day. He is blessed with an excellent memory, especially for dates, and can relate many interesting incidents of frontier life in Ohio. His marked characteristics have ever been such as to commend him to the confidence and regard of his fellow townsmen and he enjoys the good will and respect of all with whom he has been brought in contact. So long and actively have the Cole family been identified with the interests of Darke county that no history of the community would be complete without mention of its representatives. From pioneer days. down to the present epoch of advancement and progress they have borne their part in the work of public progress and improvement and none more actively than .he whose name introduces this review. LEWIS P. WALTERS In Darke county are found many representatives of the fatherland and they form an important element in the citizenship of this locality. The enterprise and industry so characteristic of the Teutonic nations have been an important element in the substantial progress and material development of this section of the state and Mr. Walters is one who has never withheld his support from any movement or measure which he believed would prove of public good. He was born in the little village of Schleterbach, Germany, October 23, 1840. His father, Lewis Walters, Sr., was born in the same locality, November 6, 1806, was reared in the land of his nativity and obtained his education in the public schools. By trade he was a stone-mason. He spent the first forty-one years of his life in his native land and ere he emigrated to America he was married and all of his children were born. He sailed from Havre de Grace for New Orleans, arid after a voyage of sixty-three days reached his destination. During the long trip across the Atlantic the vessel encountered heavy storms and the passengers frequently thought they would never again see land, but fate was kind and they eventually reached their destination in safety. Mr. Walters can well remember how on one occasion during a terrible storm the father planned to wrap GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 335 all of the children in a sheet that they might go down together into the depths of the sea, but an overruling providence had destined that they should reach the American harbor. After landing in New Orleans they made their way to Pittsburg by steamer and thence came to Ohio, locating in Monroe county, where the father purchased eighty acres of land. He was an industrious man, who acquired a comfortable competence by the careful conduct of his business affairs. He added to his estate until he owned one hundred and twenty acres and upon the farm he resided until 1883, when he sold his land and with his family came to Darke county. His wife having died he made his home with his son, Lewis, until his death, which occurred July 9, 1891. He was a good man, upright and honorable in all things and he aided in the erection of the Evangelical church, in Monroe county, laying the foundation of the building, as he was a practical mason. In politics he was a stalwart Democrat. He passed away at the advanced age of eighty-four years and six months, and his remains were interred in Brown township. His wife, who was born in the province of Dimbach, in 1805, died in Monroe county, Ohio, February 6, 1876. She was an estimable lady, who possessed many excellent characteristics, and before her chil- dren she set an example well worthy of emulation. She had two sons and two daughters, namely : Barbara, wife of Christian Kliner, a resident of Virginia ; Jacob, who served throughout the civil war, participating in many engagements, and is now residing in the Soldiers' Home, in Sandusky ; Louisa, widow of Daniel Lutevig, of Virginia ; and Lewis P. The last named was a lad of seven summers, when, with his parents, he crossed the Atlantic to the new world. He is a typical German-American farmer, of social disposition and kindly nature and of marked industry. He obtained his education in the common schools and was reared to the work of the farm. On the 14th of December, 1862, he married Miss Rachel Peters, whose birth occurred in Monroe county, Ohio, June 10, 1844. Her parents were Jacob and Elizabeth (McKalla) Peters. Her father was born in Germany and came to America with his wife and children, the latter all having been born in that country, with the exception of .Mrs. Walters. He was a farmer by occupation and followed that pursuit throughout his business career. In his family were fourteen children, of six are yet living, namely : Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Detling, of Brown township; Sarah, widow of Harmon Hess, of St. Louis, Missouri; Magdalene, wife 0f Henry Sheets, an agriculturist living in Angola, Steuben county, Indiana; Jacob, who follows farming in. Brown township; Michael, who is living in: Monroe county, Ohio ; and Mrs. Waiters.. Unto our subject and his wife have been eleven children, ten sons and one daughter, and eight of this number yet survive : Will iam, who was educated in the common, schools, is now married and has four children. He is section foreman on the Cincinnati & Northern Railroad, resides at: Lewisburg, Preble county, and is a Democrat in his political affiliations. Harmon is married and lives in Lewisburg, where he follows the stone-mason's trade. He, too, votes with the Democracy. Jacob, a prosperous farmer, married Miss Ida Lephart and has three children. Like his brothers, he gives his political support to the Democratic party. Charlie married Miss Newbower, and is a farmer living in Greenville. Theo- 336 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. dore, who lives with his parents in Greenville, desires to be a telegraph operator, Clarence, Leonard and Ray are still under the parental roof. The parents, realizing the importance of educational privileges, have allowed their children to attend school and have also instructed them in habits of industry and honesty. Mr. and Mrs. Walters began their domestic life upon the old home farm, and as he was the eldest in his father's family the responsibility of caring for his parents devolved upon him. In 1880 he removed with his wife and children to Brown township and is now accounted one of the successful farmers of Darke county. He owns sixty-three acres of valuable land under a high state of cultivation and raises the various crops best :adapted to the climate. He proudly cast his first presidential vote for General George B. McClellan and has since been a Democrat in his political affiliations. In 1896 he was elected trustee of Brown township and served the people faithfully while in that office. He has also been school director for nine years and has done all in his power to promote the cause of education. He and his wife are consistent members of the Lutheran church and their lives are in harmony with their professions. HENRY WARNER. Henry Warner, who is living on section 5, Greenville township, was born in Randolph township, Montgomery county, Ohio, March 12, 1835. His father, John Warner, was a native of Pennsylvania and came to the Buckeye state in 1811, taking up his residence in Montgomery county the following year. The unsettled condition of the state is indicated by the fact that there were only two cabins in Dayton at that time. Henry Warner, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Maryland, and during the war of 1812 was drafted for service, but his brother went to the front as his substitute. He was a farmer by occupation and died in Miami county, Ohio. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Charity Hill, and her death occurred when her son, Henry, was only seven years of age. She had six children, all of whom reached years of maturity. After the death of his first wife, the father married Polly Booker, and they had nine children. Henry Warner is the third child and second son of the first marriage. He was reared in Montgomery county, Ohio, and the common schools of the neighborhood afforded him his educational privileges. He remained with his parents until his marriage, which was celebrated in Miami county, October 28, 1858; Miss Elizabeth Stager becoming his wife. She was born in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, July 16, 1836, a daughter of William and Katie (Ensell) Stager. Her father was born in the Keystone state, was a tailor by trade and in 1846 came to Miami county, where he died, at the age of eighty-four years. His first wife died when Mrs. Warner was only six years old. They had five children, two daughters and three sons. The father was again married, his second union being with Caroline Walters, by whom he had seven children. Mrs. Warner was the second child and eldest daughter of the first marriage, and was ten years f age when, with her parents, she removed to Miami county. After their marriage, our subject and his wife located on the old homestead farm of the Warners in Montgomery county, Ohio, and in 1864 removed to GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 337 Huntington county, Indiana, where he was engaged in general farming until 1869. They then came to .Darke county, locating at Baker, in Neave township, on the Jacob Baker farm,- where they remained for two years. On the . expiration of that period Mr. Warner purchased the farm upon which he now resides, then a tract of eighty-eight acres, which at that time was poorly improved, but is now under a high state of cultivation. Upon it are found exoellent buildings, good fences, drainage and all the accessories and modern conveniences found upon the best farms of this period. The land being well cultivated, the harvests re, turn a good income to the owner. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Warner has been blessed with the following children : William H., the eldest, married Frances Arnett and they have two children—Elsworth and Gertie. Vallandingham married Laura Westfall, and they had three children: Ollie M., Estella E. and Alva. But the mother is now deceased. Samuel A. married Jennie Kefover, by whom he has four children—Melvin, Isaac, Nellie and Holly. German, the present surveyor of Darke county and a resident of Greenville, married Sallie Huffman. Katie is the wife of Burr Evans, a grocer of Greenville, and they have one child; Dorothea. Mr. and Mrs. Warner also have an adopted daughter, Emma, who has been a member of the family since three years of age. Our subject and his wife are members of the German Baptist church and he is a Democrat in politics. He has served as supervisor of roads and as school director. He and his wife are people of genial nature and kindly disposition and are very hospitable to friends and strangers. Their lives have at all times been commendable and worthy of emulation and they command the good will and esteem of all with whom they have been associated. WILLIAM SHIELDS. Among the honored veterans of the Civil war and the prosperous farmers of Van Buren township, none stand higher in public esteem than William Shields, a native of that township, who was born on the old homestead, November 9, 1840. His early educational advantages were meager as the nearest school house was four miles from his home and the path thither was mainly through swamps. The school house was built of logs, contained slab seats and other primitive furniture, and few branches were taught. His first teacher was Joseph Drew; a very able instructor for those times. When not in school he tended stock in winter and worked on the farm during, the summer months, using the old fashioned sickle and scythe. At the age of sixteen he assisted thirteen grown men in mowing a field and held his own with any of them. When the Civil war broke out Mr. Shields enlisted at Greenville, in August, 1861, in Company G, Forty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Newkirk, Colonel Wood, and later under Colonel Gilbert. They went into camp at Camp Clarke, Springfield, Clark county, where they spent two months, and from there proceeded to Camp Piatt, West Virginia. After drilling. six months they were ordered to the front and took part in the battle of Louisburg, where parts 0f the Thirty-sixth and Forty-fourth Ohio Infantry and the One Hundredth New York Cavalry, numbering nine hundred in all, met thirty-five hundred rebels with eight pieces of artillery, but captured 338 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. seven hundred prisoners, wounded five hundred and killed a great many. After one year spent in West Virginia, they went to Kentucky, where they served as mounted infantry for six months, taking part in many. skirmishes in that state and Tennessee. After being dismounted they were in the breastworks siege of Knoxville for twenty days and were fed on crushed corn. After the battle of Lookout Mountain resulted victoriously for the Union troops, Thomas went to the assistance of the besieged at Knoxville. The rebels made a fierce onslaught but were repulsed and moved back to Smoky Camp, followed by the Union troops. This was the last engagement in which Mr. Shields participated before re-enlisting at Strawberry Plains, in the Eighth Ohio Cavalry. Being granted a forty days' furlough he returned home, and at the end of that time rejoined his command at Camp Dennison. From there they proceeded to Camp Hatt, West Virginia, and were under the command of General Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley, taking part in the battle of Cedar Creek. Mr. Shields witnessed General Sheridan's famous ride, and saw him pull off his hat and shout to his retreating men, "Boys, come back and we'll have everything on wheels till four o'clock." In the engagement at Winchester many of our subject's schoolmates fell. After the battle of Cedar Creek the Eighth Ohio moved back to Martinsburg and was engaged in skirmishing through the valley for over a week. About this time Mr. Shields was driving a team, and was at Wier's Cave, Brown's Gap, when it was shelled by the rebels. His command was scattered, but after getting together again proceeded to Stockland, setting fire to farm houses as they went, rescuing the inmates and with wagons conveying them to the railroad station when desired. They next went to Beverly, West Virginia, where many of the regiment were captured, but Mr. Shields escaped, as he had been sent that morning for a load of rations. On his return he got as far as Phillippi, when he heard the news and remained at that place one month. He then secured a horse and entered the ranks. but his command took part in no other engagements. He was mustered out at Clarksburg, Virginia, at the close of the war, and was discharged at Springfield, Ohio, July 14., 1865. Mr. Shields reached home July 15, and the following day resumed work on the farm. He remained under the parental roof until he was married, June 27, 1867, to Miss Maria Hathaway, who was born in Greenville township, a daughter of William and Lena (Amole) Hathaway, and ten children blessed this union, namely : Edward', at home; Della, wife of Lewis Binkley ; Wiley, who married Elizabeth McNutt and lives in Van Buren township; Deo, who died April 1, 1891, at the age of sixteen years; Lucy, wife of Melvin Miller, of Van Buren township; Lewis, Maud, Orpha, Jennie and Treva, at home. After his marriage Mr. Shields located on a farm of eighty acres in Van Buren township, which he had purchased, but two years later returned to the old homestead, where he spent three years. In the mean time he bought sixty .acres of land in Van Buren township, adjoining his present farm, on which he located in August, 1869, and two years later removed to his present farm, consisting of two hundred acres, .which he has placed under a high state of cultivation and improved with good and substantial buildings. On his return from the war he GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 339 had twelve hundred dollars, which he in-vested in land,. and being industrious, enter-prising and progressive' he has succeeded in accumulating. a handsome property. For a tract of ninety-six acres lie gave over nine thousand dollars, paying over four thousand dollars in cash. He always affiliates with the Republican party and gives his support to every enterprise which he believes calculated to prove of public benefit, THOMAS J. SHELLEY. While memory remains to the American people the nation will ever feel a debt of gratitude to the boys in blue who fought for the preservation of the Union and made possible the. perpetuation of the glorious nation over which the stars and stripes now proudly float. Among the veterans of the Civil war is Thomas J. Shelley, who, with the Ohio troops. went to the front and braved danger and death in support of his native land. He was born in Preble county, Ohio, December 19, 1844, and is a son of Ebenezer and Julia-Mouse) Shelley. His father was a native of North Carolina, born about thirty miles from Fayetteville, in 1812. He was educated in the common schools, learned the mason's trade and also followed farming. Emigrating westward, he took up his abode in Indiana, and joined a company for service in the Black Hawk war, under command of Captain A. E. Burnsides, but the company was not called out. In his political sentiments in an early day he was an Abolitionist, and when the Republican party was formed to prevent the further extension of slavery he joined its ranks and was one of its stanch advocates. From Indiana he removed to Preble county, Ohio, about 1836, and died in that county sixty years later. He was a member of the United Brethren church and a man of sterling worth. The Shelley family was of English lineage. The father of our subject married Julia House, who was born in Fairfax county; Virginia, and belonged to one of the ."F. F. V.'s" Her birth occurred in 1813, and she died at the age of eighty years. In the family of this worthy couple were nine children, six sons and three daughters of whom five are living, as follows : Amanda, wife of Robert Banta, a farmer. of Preble county; Richard, who served in the Fifth Ohio Cavalry in the Army of the Tennessee during the Civil war, and is now married and resides in Powers, Indiana; Thomas J., of this review"; William, a farmer. who is married and lives in Powers; and James M., who is an employe of a railroad and resides in Baltimore, Preble county. Thomas J. Shelley, whose name introduces this record, spent his boyhood days in Preble county and acquired his education in the public schools, but his privileges were somewhat meager, as his services were need-ed on the home farm. During the Civil war he responded to the country's call for aid, enlisting in Company D; Eighty-first Ohio Infantry., under Captain P. A. Tyler and Colonel Thomas Morton, on the 20th of August, 1862. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee, under command of General" Grant, and he participated in the battles of Corinth, Iuka, Resaca, Kenesaw, Mountain, Peach Tree Creek and the siege of Atlanta. He was also in the battles of New Hope Church, Flint River and Jonesboro, and went with Sherman on his celebrated march to the sea and through the Carolinas, participating in the engagement at Bentonville, the last regular battle of the war. At the battle of Atlanta, where the 340 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. gallant McPherson fell, Mr. Shelley's comrades immediately on the right and on the left were both killed, and at the same place he had four minie balls shot through his coat, While in another engagement a ball pierced his cap, and in the siege of Atlanta the nail from the third finger of his left hand was shot away. At Kenesaw Mountain, when he was on the firing line, a rebel bullet struck the edge of the United States plate on his belt, and split it into two parts, one of which. he still has in his possession. When the army was near Raleigh, North Carolina, the joyful news reached them of the surrender of General Lee, and it was received amidst great excitement and enthusiasm, for the boys at the front knew that it meant the end of the war and the possibility of their return to home, family and friends, but about the same time there also came the sad news of the assassination of President Lincoln. With his command Mr. Shelley marched through the Carolinas avid Virginia to Washington, D. C., and there participated in the grand review, the most brilliant military pageant ever seen on the western hemisphere. He received an honorable discharge June 13, 1865, and with a most creditable military record, of which he has every reason to be proud, he returned to his home. When his company .began the Atlanta campaign it numbered fifty-eight men. and at the battle of Jonesboro only seven were left to engage in active service, some being on detail duty, while others were prisoners, others were wounded and others were dead. On the 12th of March, 1868, Mr. Shelley Was united in marriage to Miss Josephine Higgins, and unto them were born seven children, two sons and five daughters, namely : Lillian, who is successfully teaching in the schools of Tippecanoe City, Ohio; Myrtle. wife of Daniel Hinderer, of Greenville; Tillie, wife of Arthur Moore, a railroad man on the Pennsylvania system, residing in Indianapolis; Josie and Bessie, at home; Arthur and Wilbur. Mr. Shelley was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife April 27, 1886: She was a faithful companion and helpmate to her husband, a loving mother and an active and consistent member of the Methodist church. In his political views Mr. Shelley is a stalwart Republican, supporting the party since he cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln. He was a delegate to the state convention that nominated J. B. Foraker for governor of Ohio. for the first time. He has been a resident of Darke county since 1870, and was engaged in the Manufacture of lumber for eleven years at Dawn, where he is still residing and where he is well known as a representative and reliable citizen. The cause of education finds in him a warm friend, and for fourteen years he has been officially connected with the school system of the county. He was strongly in favor of the erection of the beautiful brick schoolhouse in his district and has done all in his power to promote educational interests. Socially he is connected with the Masonic lodge of Ansonia, Ohio, and has contributed toward the erection of the Methodist church in Dawn. His record is that of a man who has ever been true to his duty to his neighbor, himself and his country. and he enjoys the well merited regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact. On the 17th day of May, 1879, he met with a severe accident by getting his right foot caught in a circular saw while the mill was running. The big toe.. was cut off GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 341 and a part of the. inside of the foot, which made him a cripple for life. He has been engaged m the manufacture and sale of medicine since 1880. He was census enumerator in 1890 and was postmaster under Benjamin Harrison's administration. WILLIAM L. ROBERTSON. A retired blacksmith of Hollansburg, Darke county, and an honored veteran of the war of the Rebellion, is William Lane Robertson, whose life has been one of signal usefulness, entitling him to consideration in a work of this nature: He was born in Monroe township, Preble county, this state, on the 25th of May, 1833, the son of Isaac VanDoran Robertson, who was born in the same township, on June 28, 1809, his death occurring on the 4th of July, 1845. The latter's father was Ephraim Robertson, a farmer of Virginia. Isaac V. Robertson was a teacher and preacher, and his zeal and determination may be understood when we revert to the fact that he secured his education through his own efforts, poring over his books by the light of a pine-knot torch, and being indefatigable in his efforts to advance himself intellectually. He devoted himself to teaching when a young man and eventually became an able clergyman of the United Brethren church, in which he labored earnestly and effectively for the Master's cause. He was an excellent singer, and this ability gave added power to his ministerial work. He was one of a large family, and his mother survived her husband by many years, her death occurring in 1868, at Castine; this county, where she sleeps her last sleep, having passed away at a very venerable age. The father of our subject lies buried in the Baptist church yard in Monroe township, Preble county. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Harriet Brown, and she was the daughter of Michael Brown, who was of German lineage and an early pioneer of Ohio, having settled on Twin creek, in Preble county. The marriage of Isaac V. Robertson and Harriet Brown was solemnized on the 3d of June, 1830, and they became the parents of four children : Mary Jane, born March 1, 1831, became the wife of John Coblentz, of New Paris, Preble county, and they have two sons and two daughters ; William L. is the subject of this sketch ; Sarah Elizabeth, widow of C. B. Tillson, is a resident of Greensburg, Indiana, and has three children ; Rhoda Ann became the wife of John S. Starbuck, by whom she had three children, and died in Union City, Indiana. The father owned a part of the old farm of one hundred and sixty acres, but he devoted himself to the work of the church and was also a marble cutter by trade, personally chiseling the inscriptions on the tombstones for his parishioners. He was a man of distinctive genius, being extremely versatile, and it is recalled that he would often do a hard day's work and then preach at night. William L. Robertson, to whom this review is specially dedicated, had but limited' educational advantages in his youth, but was favored in having grown up under the benign influences of a home in which refinement and purity of life were ever in evidence. His opportunities were lessened by reason of the fact that his father died when he was but a lad of twelve years, and thereafter our subject found his services in constant demand upon the home farm. He left home at the age of sixteen and apprenticed himself at 342 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. the blacksmith's trade, serving three years and becoming an expert artisan in his line. His mother in the meantime consummated a second marriage, being united to James J. Alexander, who survived her and who was again married. The mother of our subject died March 2, 1865, her birth having occurred November 12, 1810. Loyal and patriotic in his attitude, our subject was ready to go forth to protect his country when her integrity was menaced by armed rebellion, and in April, 1861, he responded to the first call for seventy-five thousand men, deserting his forge and anvil for the stern duties of warfare. He enlisted in Company K, Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for the three-months service, and at the expiration of his term he veteranized and in 1862 responded to the call for three hundred thousand men for "three years or during the war," becoming a member of Company H, One Hundred and Tenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and being mustered in as first sergeant. He served two years, and was promoted second lieutenant of Company D. Mr. Robertson was constantly on duty, participating in all the engagements and marches of his regiment, and among the more important battles in which he took part may be mentioned the .following : Winchester, the Wilderness, the twenty-one days' fighting in the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and Cdld Harbor, where he was wounded on the 3d of June. 1864, receiving a grapeshot in the left breast. He was taken by transport to the Armory Square hospital at Washington, D. C., and here his life was threatened by reason of gangrene having settled in his wound. He Tallied, however, and in December, 1864, he was honorably discharged by reason of his disabilities, and returned to his home, with health seriously impaired. In recognition of his services and the sufferings he has endured the government grants him a pension of fifteen dollars per month. Soon after his return home, on the 29th of December. 1864, Mr. Robertson was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Horsey, who was born July 10, 1835. in Fayette county, Ohio, the daughter of Anderson and Mary Horsey. Our subject and his devoted wife have no children of their own, but their home is brightened by the presence of the little daughter of their adopted daughter, who died at her birth. Mrs. Robertson's mother Was born in Frederick county, Virginia, in 1803, and was brought by her parents to Ohio in 1810. She was the daughter of Reese and Lydia Baldwin, who were farmers in Greene county, Ohio, and who became the parents of ten children, of whom five are living, namely : Caroline, a resident of Yellow Springs, Ohio; Mary A. ; Eliza, widow of James Gist, and a resident of Hollansburg; Hester Hamilton, of Yellow Springs; and David, of Goes Station, Greene county, Ohio. Mr. Robertson is fraternally identified with the Grand Army of the Republic, the Masonic order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a stanch Republican in politics. He was engaged in the mercantile business for a quarter of a century—from 1865 to 1890, and has been since retired from active business, owning and attractive home in Hollansburg, and .also a house which he rents. He and his wife are consistent members of the Christian church. In conclusion we may revert to the fact tl.at Mrs. Robertson's mother lived to the venerable age of ninety-three years, her death occurring at the home of our subject on the 25th of February, 1900. She came GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 343 to Ohio when this section was a veritable wilderness, and her memory linked the primitive past with the latter-day prosperity and advancement. In her religious belief she was a Methodist, and her years were a blessing to all who came in touch with her gentle and kindly life. HENRY J. ROYER. Henry J. Royer, who is farming on section 1, Harrison township, is numbered among the native sons of German township, Darke county, his birth having occurred there on the 6th of November, 1845. His father, Henry Royer, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, near Germantown, in 1815, and died in German township; in 1892. The grandfather, George Royer, was a native of Germany and became the founder of the family in America. He spent his last days in Montgomery county, Ohio, and at his death left six children, of whom Henry Royer was the fifth in order of birth. All were married, and with one exception all had children, but none of the sons or daughters of that family are now living. Henry Royer was reared in the Buckeye state, and as a companion and helpmeet on life's journey he chose Miss Caserine Kunkle, of. German township, Darke county, whose parents were born in Pennsylvania, and were of German lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Royer were married about the year 1836, and the children born to them were : Fanny, who became the wife of Eli Bollinger, and died in Page county, Iowa, leaving a family; John, a representative farmer of Harrison township; Jacob, who follows farming in Iowa; David, who is living in Washington township; Henry J.; Michael, whose home is at Camden, Illinois; George, who resides in Iowa; and Samuel, who is living in Darke county, Ohio. The mother died in 1854, and the father afterward married Nancy Bollinger, by whom he had ten children, of whom eight reached years of maturity and are still living. Five of the number had families, and the descendants of Henry Royer are now numerous. His second wife is still a resident of German township. He was a self made man, who entered upon his business career empty handed, but at his death each of his children received eleven hundred dollars and his widow was well provided for. He accumulated his large property by unceasing endeavor and his example was well worthy of emulation. Mr. Royer, of this review, received but limited educational privileges, but his training at farm labor was not meager and he assisted in the cultivation of his father's land until he was twenty-one years of age, when he was married. On the 3d of January, 1867, he married Miss Malinda Hamilton, who was born in German township in 1845, twelve clays after her father's death, her parents being David and Caroline Hamilton. Both are now deceased. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Royer are : Josiah, a grain dealer of Greenville, who is married and has one son; David, who is also living in Greenville; Ida, the wife of William Eli, of Butler township, by whom she has one son and daughter ; Sylvester, at home ; Luella, the wife of Michael McCabe, of Neave township, by whom she has two daughters ; Fanny, the wife of George Eli, by whom she has one son; an infant, who was the twin sister of Fannie, but died unnamed; Isaac Omar, at home; and Herschel M., who died at the age of four years. The mother. of these children was called to her final rest on the 6th of November, 1884, and on the 344 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 6th of September, 1890, Mr. Royer was again married, his second union being with Miss Dinah Bollinger, who was born in Washington township and is a daughter of ;John Bollinger. The children f this union are: Glenmore, born August 10, 1891; Gracie Marie, born September 24, 1892 ; Nellie Elma, born May 16, 1894; and Oscar Leroy, born May 5, 1896. In 1878 Mr. Royer took up his abode upon his present farm, which comprises eighty-two acres of land. He also owns a fifty-acre tract on section 12, Harrison township. He superintends the operation of his land, the active work being done by his sons, who carry on farming on the shares. Wheat, corn and clover are the principal crops, and hogs and cattle are also raised. Much of the farm is of a black loam bottom land, and corn crops can be raised for many consecutive years. He feeds nearly all of the farm products, with the exception of wheat, to his live stock. With the exception of the eleven hundred dollars which he inherited from his father's estate, all that he possesses has been acquired through his own efforts, and he is today the owner of a very valuable property. Upon the home place he has erected a large, pleasant residence and a large barn. All the improvements are modern and are kept in good repair, showing the owner to be an enterprising, practical and progressive man. He votes with the Democracy and is a Dunkard in religious faith, but his wife holds membership in the Christian church. They have a wide acquaintance in Darke county, and their many excellent qualities have in-sured to them the friendship of all with whom they come in contact. The energy and keen discrimination of Mr. Royer have made him very prosperous in his business undertakings, and he is now accounted one of the substantial farmers of his community. DANIEL SNYDER. The fitting reward of a well-spent life is an honored retirement and a period of rest in which to enjoy the fruits of former toil. This has come to Mr. Snyder, who has put aside the more arduous duties of life and is living quietly at his pleasant home in Rose Hill. He was born in Mississinawa township, Darke county, January 20, 1842. His father, John K.. Snyder, was a native of New Jersey, and when a young man came to Ohio, locating in Butler county, where, in 1835, he married Amy Hideley, whose birth occurred February 10, 1818. They had seven sons and one daughter, the latter being Sarah, the wife of F. A. Lehigh, of Illinois. They were married at her uncle's home in that state,. and she died in Illinois, when about thirty-eight years of age, leaving a family. The sons are: Asa, a resident of Rockford, Ohio ; George, who is living in Springfield, Ohio; 'William V., a farmer of Butler county, this state; David; James A., who carries on farming near Rose Hill; Cyrus, who died in 1888, at the age of forty-six years; and John W., a painter of Darke county. In April, 1839, the parents came with their children to Darke county, where the father soon afterward purchased six hundred acres of land from the government, for one dollar and a quar-ter per acre. This was divided into five tracts of forty acres, three tracts of eighty acres and a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. The father was a drover' and, drove his stock to Cincinnati, and was also the proprietor of a country store, and hauled GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 345. his goods from Cincinnati by way of Castine, Darke county. For six generations the Snyder family, of which our subject is a representative, has been connected with American interests, but many of the sterling characteristics of their Scotch ancestry are shown in their lives. On the maternal side our subject is descended from one of the old families of Pennsylvania, and the grandfather, Henry Hideley, removed from the Keystone state to Ohio, where he spent his remaining clays, passing away at the age of seventy-nine years. Mr. Snyder of this review is familiar with the story of pioneer life, having experienced the usual hardships, trials and pleasures which fall to the lot of the frontier settlers. When the family came to this portion of the state, everything was wild and the forests stood in their primeval strength ; many kinds of wild animals were found, and the cattle and hogs of the pioneer settlers quickly lost the traits of domestic animals by running wild in the woods, and it required considerable strategy to capture them; but they resorted to the plan of capturing the leaders of the cattle and tying a handspike some eight feet long across. their horns, so that they could not run through the brush, thus preventing the cattle from straying away. The parents were not in a good financial condition, and the privileges which the sons enjoyed were rather limited, but they were early trained to habits of industry, economy and honesty, and thus became practical business. men, winning success in later life. The father, too, by the aid of his sons, accumulated a comfortable property, although he died in the prime of life. His widow. afterward married Hugh McKibbon, who proved a kind husband and considerate stepfather. In his early youth Daniel Snyder learned the harnessmaker's trade, at Greenville, entering upon the business in 1858. He had before attended school to a limited extent,. but in the practical affairs of life he has gained a good knowledge and is now a well informed man. He continued working at his trade until after the inauguration of the civil war, when he enlisted in the One Hundred and Eighty-seventh Ohio Infantry, as a member of Company C. For a year he was at the front, and returned as a noncommissioned officer. He then resumed work as a harness maker, and carried on the business for a number of years, winning an excellent trade and thereby securing a de, sirable. competence. He owns two small farms in Mississinawa township, improved with good buildings and other substantial accessories of the model farm. He has in Rose Hill a four-acre lot, adorned with a comfortable residence, and there he is now making his home and living retired from the: active duties of life. His fellow townsmen, recognizing his. worth and ability, frequently call Mr. Snyder to public office. He served as the township treasurer for seven years, resigning that position when elected county recorder in the fall of 1886. The following January he entered upon the duties of the office, which he discharged in a most satisfactory manner for six years. He served for two terms as postmaster and for a long period has been a member of the school board, doing all in his power to promote the growth of the schools and make them most effective. On the 31st of October, 1869, occurred the marriage of Mr. Snyder and Miss Lydia I. Winterrowd, who was born in Mercer county, Ohio, July 8, 1850, a daughter of David and Sarah Jane (Murphy) Winter- 346 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. rowd. Her parents are both now deceased. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Snyder has been blessed wth eight children : R. W., who is living at Redkey, Indiana, and has a wife and two daughters; J. H., who lives on the home farm with his wife and daughter; Amy, who is married, lives at Germantown, Ohio, and has one son and one daughter; Sally, the wife of Lee Williamson ; Cliff C., a cigar manufacturer of Burkettsville, Ohio; Daniel E., a cigar manufacturer, working for his brother; a son who died in infancy; and Ralph, a manly little lad of seven summers, who completes the family. The daughters display considerable musical talent, and the family is one of prominence in the community, its members occupying enviable positions in social circles. Mr. Snyder labored earnestly and untiringly in former years., acquiring a comfortable competence, and throughout his career his. honorable business methods commended him to the respect and unqualified confidence of his fellow men. CHARLES H. MAYER. Rev. Charles Henry Mayer, the pastor of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church, two and one-half miles northeast of Greenville, Ohio, is the subject of this biographical outline: In the various callings of men in the activities of life none wield a higher influence in the elevation of their fellows in ethical. and Christian culture than ministers of the gospel. That this is so is evidenced 'by the tender bond that unites preacher and parishioner in the insoluble relations of love. He who administers to a spiritual need has performed the highest service one is capable of rendering to fellow being. and by its rendition the recipient almost unconsciously is led to shape his life to meet the requirements of that ever calling "small voice" that prompts men to strive for the attainment of higher aims and nobler purposes in life. The preacher's work must be but poorly done if by his. teachings he did not inspire his people to form ideals that are higher than ordinarily emanate from minds not inculcated with highest religious truths. In this connection it may be said of Mr. Mayer that he happily is the possessor of those requisites of natural endowment which constitute him an efficient worker in his Master's vineyard. Mr. Mayer's birth occurred in the historic city of Strasburg, province of Alsace, France, now a German state, one of the fruits of victory accruing. to German arms in the Franco-German war of 1871. It was on the 14th day of February, 1854, that he was born, his parents being Charles Henry and Anna (Duerringer) Mayer, natves of Strasburg, the former born September 6, 1829; and the latter November 3, 1826. While yet young in years, the elder Mayer attached himself to the army of France, and, having an aptitude for military life, he quickly became informed on military tactics, and for his efficiency as a drill-master he was promoted to official position. He was also an expert swordsman, an accomplishment in a European soldier that never fails to obtain recognition from his superiors. He was married in the fatherland, and in 1858, with his wife and two children, sailed for America and settled in Cincinnati, where, for several years, he was engaged in, manufacturing brushes. During that time he organized two companies of militia, one German, the other French, of both of which he served as the captain. He now resides at Covington, GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 347 Ohio, where he carries on a brush-making business. To him and his wife were given three children, the youngest of whom, Louis, died in France; Charles Henry, and Caroline, now Mrs. Peter Willman, of Hartford City, Indiana. The elder Mr. Mayer and his estimable wife are members of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and are active workers in the same. The Rev. Mr. Mayer was four years old when his parents crossed the ocean in quest of opportunities which they believed existed in the new world that would lead to higher fortune for themselves and children than would ever be enjoyed in their beloved France. When he had arrived at a proper age he was put to study in the public schools of Cincinnati, where he made rapid progress in the elementary branches, and when sufficiently advanced a private tutor gave him supplementary instruction in German and music. After removing to Covington, Ohio, he attended the high school, where his final preparation for college was made. He then entered the Capital University at Columbus,. Ohio, where he took the full course, minus mathematics, which he found expedient to do to accommodate his slender means, saving by so doing a whole year of time. Subsequently he took the theological course in the seminary of the same institution, at which he graduated in 1876. In June, 1876, he assumed his first charge at Hartford City, Indiana, a small congregation which had been split into factions by dissensions. He at once courageously set about restoring harmony between the discordant elements in the congregation; established a parochial school into which he gathered the children of his warring 'flock, making them largely the medium through which to accomplish his purpose of restor ing tranquil relations. In the various de partments of his work he applied himself vigorously, giving much time and labor to. the preparation of sermons that would interest and instruct his parishioners. A. Sunday school was organized, which became a powerful factor for good, and at the end. of a few years his labors were rewarded by the complete restoration of peace and the. church being placed in easy financial condition. December 14, 1876, he was united in marriage with Miss Margaret, a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Clemmens) Paff, of Columbus, Ohio. The wife's health failing in 1880, at the advice of her physician to make a change of location, he tendered his resignation, which the trustees were loath to accept, and offered him a handsome increase of salary to induce him to remain. This he declined, that Mrs. Mayer might be given a much needed change. In 1880 he received a joint call from the Evangelical Lutheran (St. John's) congregation, two and a half miles northeast of Greenville, and the Dininger congregation, four miles west of Greenville. At that time St. John's congregation was small and the seeds of discord had taken deep root, causing much dissension among the members. There was also a heavy church debt hanging over them. Manfully putting his. "hands to the plow again and never looking hack," Mr. Mayer proved himself capable' of his calling by again triumphing 0ver warring discord in a church organization,. and paying off a church debt, both of which were accomplished at the end of the first year. In 1882 he organized a congregation at Versailles, Ohio, the effort at first being directed toward restoring a society 348 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. that had divided into two factions, each laying claim to the church property. The matter was finally litigated in the courts and was decided against Mr. Mayer. After this be undertook and completed an organization on a new basis, erected a new church, and preached there every two weeks in the :afternoon for twelve years, leaving it in a highly prosperous condition, so much so that the congregation now maintains its own pastor, who, in addition, serves a small charge at Ansonia. In 1886 he organized another church at Delvin, Ohio, which soon after passed to the charge of Rev. John Lautenschlager, who remains its pastor to the present time. For the last twenty years Mr. Mayer has Untiringly devoted himself to building up the St. John's and Dininger congregations. The handsome parsonage at St. John's was erected in 1884, at a cost of twenty-three hundred dollars without the labor, and in the fall of 1899 was erected the parochial school, at the expense of one thousand dollars, not counting the labor. The cemetery ground has been extended and improved, and, taking all things together, St. John's is one of the handsomest church homes in the county. Its communicants number between two hundred and fifty and three hundred, while the Dininger congregation has about fifty communicants. The services at St. John's are in German; at Dininger, in English. Both are practically free from debt. Mr. Mayer is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran joint synod of Ohio and adjacent states. He was the secretary of the western district of the joint synod seven .years; secretary of the Auglaize conference thirteen years; president of the Auglaize conference one year; visitor of the western district three years; and secretary of the board of directors of Wernlee Orphans' Home, Richmond, Indiana, three years. In addition to regular pastoral work, Mr. Mayer has found time to contribute to both secular and religious periodicals for many years regularly. He is a forceful, trenchant writer and the emanations, from his orderly, well-trained mind receive the commendation they justly merit. In all his labors Mr. Mayer has been ably seconded by his amiable wife, who has ever proven herself a helpmate in the broadest sense of the word as applied to a minister's wife. Her sunny nature, refined culture and pleasing personality have made her a telling adjunct in aiding her husband to carry to fruition his well-conceived plans. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Mayer, one of whom is living, Elizabeth, a promising young lady of nineteen years. The deceased children were named Carl H. and Theodore F., both of whom died in childhood. MARSHALL ADELBERT BROWN. The cause of popular education is recognized as one of paramount importance in every community, and in furthering the sane has enlisted the effective services of many whose co-operation has been productive of the maximum of good. The New Madison graded schools have reached a standard of excellence and efficiency that reflect credit not only upon the community directly, but upon those to whom particularly is due the admirable result attained. In reviewing the life histories of those who have contributed to the worthy annals of the county, we may thus revert with pleasure to the career of Mr. Brown, who has GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 349 for the past eight years been the incumbent as principal f the schools of New Madison. Mr. Brown is a native f Harrison township, where he was born on the 14th of December, 1865. Here occurred also the birth of his father, George Washington Brown, on the l0th of December, 1839. The latter's father, Lloyd Brown, was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, July 27, 1807, and his death occurred at his son George's homestead, in German township, Darke county, June 5, 1885. He came to Ohio October 30, 1837, driving a team through and transporting by this means his family and their effects. His wife, whose maiden name was Rachel Miller, was born February 15, 1804, in Baltimore county, Maryland, and there their marriage was solemnized on March 7, 1830. Grandfather Brown, the honored pioneer, had several brothers, one of whom was blind, and of the family two brothers, Lloyd. and Beason, and one sister, Honor, came to Ohio in the early days. Lloyd and Rachel (Miller) Brown reared five sons and three daughters, of whom the three living at the present time are as follows : Elizabeth, widow of David Ketring; David M., one of twins, resides on the old homestead ; and Jesse, a resident of Brightwood, Indiana. Grandfather Brown died at the age f about seventy-eight years, his venerable widow having preceded him February 20, 1884, passing away at the age of eighty years and five days. It is not 'definitely known whether the Brown family is of German Or Scotch extraction, though the subject of this review has made careful search for genealogical data of an authentic order. Grandmother Brown had several brothers, the last of whom died February 28, 1897. The mother of Marshall A. Brown bore the maiden name of Henrietta Heistand, and she was born in Manner township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of April, 1844, her marriage to George W. Brown having been celebrated December 3, 1864. The young couple were married in this county and soon after the birth of their son,. the subject of the sketch, settled on the old homestead which continued to be their place of abode until death set its seal upon their mortal lips. They became the parents of four sons and two daughters, of whom we offer brief record, as follows : Marshall A. is the direct subject of this review; Alice L. is the wife of Jesse Woods, of Palestine, German township, this county, and has one son; Bertha E. D. is the wife of Vandalia White, of Harrison township, and has two sons and one daughter ; C. H. Brown is a resident of Hollansburg, this county, and has two sons; S. V. Brown, unmarried, resides upon the old homestead, of which he is the owner; and the youngest is William H., a youth of seventeen, who is still at home. He is a graduate the present year in the New Madison high school. The father of these children passed to his reward June 29, 1897, and the mother died on the 30th of August, 1898, so that in death they were not long divided. Marshall A. Brown, whose name initiates this sketch, received his preliminary educational discipline in the public schools of his native county, after which he matriculated at the Ohio Normal University, at Ada, Ohio, where he graduated as a member of the class of 1892. Prior to this, however, he had put his scholastic acquirements to practical test, his pedagogic career having had its inception in the fall of 1883, in sub-district No. 7, German township,