GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 475 last born, the others being William H., Nannie and Ella, who are still living on the old home place in Sugarcreek township. Reared on the home farm in Sugarcreek township, Robert H. McClellan completed his schooling in the high school and in the old seminary at Xenia and remained at home until his marriage in 1880, when he bought the farm of eighty-five acres on which his widow is now living in Beavercreek township and there established his home. During the later years of his life he had turned the management of the farm over to his son, Robert P. McClellan, and the latter and his mother have been maintaining the home since Mr. McClellan's death on March 7, 1917, he then being in the sixty-fifth year of his age. Mr. McClellan was a Republican, and a member of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia. On February 19, 1880, Robert H. McClellan was united in marriage to Laura B. McClellan, who also was born in this county, a daughter of William E. and Susan (Torrence) McClellan, of Spring Valley township. William E. McClellan was born in Pennsylvania, a son of John and Nancy McClellan and later came to Ohio and located at Wooster, whence he came to Greene county and became a farmer in Spring Valley township. Upon his retirement from the farm he moved to Xenia, where his last days were spent. his death occurring there in February, 1900, he then being seventy-two years Of age. He was a Republican and a member of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia. William E. McClellan was twice married. By his union with Susan Torrence he was the father of seven children, of whom Mrs. Laura B. McClellan was the third in order of birth, the others being the following : Edward T., who married Lida Hyslop and is the proprietor of a farm on the Cincinnati pike in this county; Mary Etta, now deceased, who was the wife of William La Fever ; Amanda, also deceased, who was the wife of Nathan Ramsey, of near Cedarville; Elida, wife of J. C. Williamson, of Xenia, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Nettie, who married Thomas Bruce and is now living at Catherine, Alabama ; and James C., a traveling man out of Troy, Ohio. Following the death of the mother of these children William C. McClellan married Margaret Dodd, who died in Xenia, and to that union one child was born, a son, Lee, who died at the age of sixteen years. To Robert H. and Laura B. (McClellan) McClellan were born three children, namely : Edna, who married Ralph Ferguson, a farmer of the Yellow Springs neighborhood, and has six children, Edith, Ruth, Lee, Carl, James Harvey, and Donald; Anna Grace, wife of David. Kyle, living east of Xenia ; and Robert P., who still makes his home with his mother and is farming 476 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO the home place. These children all completed their schooling in the Xenia high school and they and their mother are members of the United Presbyterian church.   CYRUS CLAY ARNOLD AND EDGAR JAMES ARNOLD. Among the enterprising horsemen in this part of Ohio few are better known than the Arnold brothers, Cyrus Clay Arnold and Edgar James Arnold, proprietors of the old William Moore farm in Cedarville township, this county, rural mail route No. 2 out of Xenia, and for years engaged there in the breeding of pure-bred Percheron horses, as well as being engaged in the raising of cattle and hogs. The Arnold brothers are bachelors and are natives of old Virginia, born in that part of the Old Dominion now comprised in Marshall county, West Virginia, sons of Vanlaer and Mary (Blevins) Arnold, the former of whom was born in that same state and the latter in County Armaugh, Ireland. Mary Blevins was but a child when she came with her father, James Blevins, and her three sisters to this country. Her mother had died in Ireland and when her father arrived in this country with his motherless daughters he settled in Marshall county, Virginia, where he spent the rest of his life. The other daughters were Mrs. Jane Majors, Mrs. Elizabeth Collins and Margaret, wife of William Moore. Vanlaer Arnold was born in the vicinity of Wheeling, in Ohio county, Virginia, son of John Arnold, a millwright, and became a boatbuilder and riverman, making many commercial trips down the river, often going as far south as New Orleans. He later bought a farm of five hundred acres in Marshall county, Virginia, and there established his home. He was a Presbyterian. Politically, he had been reared a Whig, but upon the organization of the Republican party became affiliated with that party and was strongly interested in the movement which led in 1863 to the severance of the civic ties which bound western Virginia to the Old Dominion and the creation of the new state of West Virginia. He gave public service as county assessor and while thus serving secured the revaluation of the lands of his home county. Vanlaer Arnold was twice married and by his marriage to Mary Blevins was the father of six children, of whom the brothers whose names appear as the caption of this biographical sketch were the two last born, the others being the following : Wylie, a veteran of the Union army during the Civil War, who died on his farm in Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1885; Augustus, who became a merchant in his home county and who died there on December 30, 1916; Elizabeth. Gertrude, who married Miles B. Pierce and lives on a farm in Marshall county, West Virginia, and Franklin, unmarried, who is now living with his brothers in Greene county. Franklin Arnold spent his early life farming in his home county and then moved to Somerset county, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 477 Maryland, where he bought a farm; which he still owns, and which he continued to operate until his retirement and reunion with his brothers in this county. The mother of these children died in 1862 and Vanlaer Arnold later married Sallie Ann Barnes, who survived him, her death occurring in 1905. Vanlaer Arnold died on his old home place in Marshall county, West Virginia, in 1892, he then being past eighty years of age. Cyrus Clay Arnold and Edgar James Arnold were reared on the home farm in Marshall county, West Virginia. They were but small children when the new state was created. There being no public schools in their home neighborhood at that time, they were instructed by private teachers employed by their father for five terms, and after the establishment of the free schools they became attendants in the latter. From boyhood they were well trained as practical farmers and have always remained together in their farming operations. When their father died in 1892 they inherited two hundred acres of the home place and there they continued their farming operations until 1898, when they came to Ohio and took possession of a farm of three hundred and thirty-seven acres they previously had bought in Harrison county. There they remained until 1908, in which year they disposed of their interests in that county and came to Greene county. In 1910 they bought the William Moore farm of two hundred and forty-seven acres in Cedarville township and are still making their home there. For years the Arnold brothers have been engaged in the breeding of pure-bred Percheron stock and their horses have been exhibited at county fairs and horse shows. They also carry on general farming and are. ,likewise engaged in the raising of cattle and hogs. The Arnold brothers are members of the First Presbyterian church at Xenia. Politically, they are Republicans. REV. JAMES GILLESPY CARSON, D. D., LL. D. The Rev. James Gillespy Carson, D. D., LL. D., pastor emeritus of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia and professor emeritus of the Xenia Theological Seminary, now living retired at Xenia, was born in the vicinity of Maryville, in Blount county, Tennessee, February i 1, 1833. He is a son of the Rev. David and Jane Walker (Gillespy) Carson, the latter of whom was born in that same county, a daughter of James and Eleanor (Cowan) Gillespy, prominent residents of that community, James Gillespy having served his district as a member of the Tennessee General Assembly and as a member of the constitutional convention of that state. The Rev. David Carson was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and was graduated from Jefferson College, later continuing, for three years, his theological studies under the preceptorship of Dr. Joseph Banks, of the 478 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Associate church at Philadelphia. His first pastorate was in a church in the vicinity of Maryville, Tennessee, where he remained for nine years, or until his election in 1833 to the professorship in the Associate Presbyterian Seminary at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, which seminary, established in 1794, was later moved to Xenia, where it is still being conducted, the oldest theological seminary in the United States. In July, 1834, the 114            Rev. David Carson moved to Canonsburg to enter upon the discharge of his duties in the seminary and there died in the following September, his son, James G., being then under two years of age. The Rev. David Carson was the son of David and Jane (Oliver) Carson, the latter of whom was the granddaughter of the Rev. James Fisher, author of "Fisher's Catechism," and a great-granddaughter of Ebenezer Erskine (1680-1754), noted Scottish divine, and one of the organizers of the "Secession church," which held its name as the "Seceder" or Associate Presbyterian church until its merger in 1858 with the Associate Reformed church, thereafter being known as the United Presbyterian church. James G. Carson was reared at Canonsburg and was graduated from Jefferson College in 1849. In the summer of 1852 he entered the Theological Seminary at Canonsburg and was graduated from the same in March, 1855. On June 19, 1855, he was licensed to preach and in November, 1856, was ordained and installed as pastor of the congregation at South Buffalo, now Claysville, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he remained until in May, 1867, when he accepted the pastorate of. the church at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, continuing his ministerial service there until his removal to Xenia in 1869. In 1873, he was elected professor of homiletics and pastoral theology of the Theological Seminary, which chair he occupied for fifteen years. He also has served as a member of the board of managers of the seminary, was for four years secretary of the same and upon his retirement was honored by the title of professor emeritus. In 1875 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Monmouth College. During the progress of the Civil War Doctor Carson rendered service as a member of the Christian Commission and in later years (1904-06) he rendered further public service as a state senator, representing this district in the Ohio state Senate. JOHN D. LANTZ. The late John D. Lantz, for years a resident of Beavercreek township, who died at his farm home in that township early in 1913 and whose daughters, the Misses Ada and Julia Lantz, are still living there, was a native of the state of Maryland, but had been a resident of Ohio since he was six GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 479 years of age. He was born at Clear Springs, in Washington county, Maryland, December 9, 1829, a son of John and Catherine (Rhodes) Lantz, both also natives of Maryland, who came to Ohio in 1836 and here spent their last days. John Lantz was born in Washington county, Maryland, August 27, 1806, and there grew to manhood on a farm. In 1826 he married Catherine Rhodes, who was born in 1807, daughter of John and Barbara Rhodes, who were the parents of eight children, and after his marriage continued to make his home in Maryland, engaged in the milling and distilling business at Clear Springs, until 1836, when he came with his family to Ohio and in the fall of that year settled on the Harbine farm in Beavercreek township. A few years later Mr. Lantz moved to Springfield with his family and was there engaged in the milling business until 1850, in which year he returned to this county and bought the farm in Beavercreek township on which his granddaughters, mentioned above, are now living, established his home there. and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on July LA., 1871. John Lantz left a farm of two hundred and twenty-six acres. He had served the public as township trustee and in other local capacities. His widow survived him for eleven years, her death occurring on the home place in 1882. She was a member of the Lutheran church. To John and Catherine (Rhodes) Lantz were born six children, Barbara A.; John D. ; Catherine J. ; Mary E., who married Ebenezer Herring; Jacob L., and Eliza E. Barbara A. married George S. Lafong and Eliza E. married John A. Harner. Joseph L. Lantz, who was born iii 1840, served as a soldier during the Civil War, being mustered out as a sergeant, was for more than twenty years one of Greene county's best-known school teachers, became a land owner in Beavercreek township and served that township as trustee for some years, besides holding other local offices at one time and another. He married Mary Mercer. John D. Lantz, as noted above, was but six years of age when he came to this state with his parents and here he grew to manhood. He was twenty years of age when his father bought the farm in Beaver Creek township and moved here from Springfield. After his marriage he established his home on that farm and in time became owner of the same. He and his wife were members of the local Reformed church. Mr. Lantz was a Republican and at one time and another was elected to serve in various official capacities. John D. Lantz died on February 5, 1913, in his eighty-fourth year. His wife had preceded him to the grave nearly eighteen years, her death having occurred on February 22, 1895, she then being in the sixtieth year of her age. She was born in 1836. In 1855, John D. Lantz was united in marriage to Rebecca Harner. a 480 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO daughter of George and Julia A. Harner, and to that union were born four children, namely : Ada B. and Julia A., who are still living on the old home place in Beavercreek township ; John C., who married Nettie R. Meyers and died at the age of thirty-nine years, leaving three children, John L., Losetta E., who married John Lesher, and Edna A., who married James Turner ; and George W., who married Matilda Wetzel and is living at Zimmerman, where he is engaged in the carpenter business. Since the death of their father the Misses Ada and Julia Lantz have continued to maintain their residence on the old home place, rural mail route No. Do out of Xenia. They are members of the local Reformed church. JAMES WILSON MIDDLETON. The late James Wilson Middleton, who died at his home at Middletons *Corners in Caesarscreek township, in the fall of 1917, was born on that place, the old Middleton home farm, and there had spent all his life. He was born on April 27, 1849, son of James and Angeline (Musetter) Middleton, who were among the pioneer residents of that part of the county, where their las days were spent. James Middleton was born in Berkeley county, Virginia, and in 1825 came to Greene county and bought a tract of land in Caesarscreek township, where he established his home, his brothers, Thomas and John, having settled there previously, the two having come out here to locate land, afterward returning to Virginia, where they were married and then came back to Greene county to make their permanent home, their parents, Bethuel and Naomi (Ganoe) Middleton, and the other members of the family accompanying them to the new home in the then wilderness, the Middletons thus early becoming a well-established family in the Caesarscreek neighborhood, Middletons Corners thus taking its name; all of which, together with other details of the history of the Middleton family 'in Greene county, is set out elsewhere in this volume. James Wilson Middleton was the last-born of the ten children born to his parents and he grew up on the home farm, receiving his schooling in the local schools,. and after his marriage 'in 1871 established his home on a portion of the home place and there continued to make his residence, spending his life there, the owner of one hundred and fifteen acres of the old Middleton farm. In 1888 he erected on his farm a substantial farm house and the other improvements on the place were in keeping with the same. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Middleton gave considerable attention to the raising of live stock. He was a Democrat and had served the public in the capacity of township trustee and of land appraiser. He was affiliated GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 481 with the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Middleton's death occurred on September 12, 1917, and he left a good memory in the community. On October 4, 1871, James Wilson Middleton was united in marriage to Emma C. Peterson, who was born on a farm three miles east of the village of New Burlington, in the neighboring county of Clinton, a daughter of Jacob S. and Sarah C. (Ellis) Peterson, the latter of whom was born in that same neighborhood, on the Wilmington-Xenia pike, eight miles south of Xenia, daughter of Henry Ellis and a granddaughter of Abraham Ellis; a Revolutionary soldier, who had settled there in the early days of the settlement of that region and whose descendants in the present generation form a numerous connection throughout this part of Ohio. Jacob S. Peterson also was a member of one of the old families in this part of the state. He was born in Clinton county, where he grew up and where after his marriage he established his home on a farm, but later moved to Wilmington, the county seat, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. He was a Republican and he and his wife were members of the Reformed church. They were the parents of six children, of whom Mrs. Middleton was the first-born, the others being: Ada, wife of George A. McKay, of Xenia; Orville, a real-estate dealer at Pamplin City, Virginia, who has been married twice, his first wife having been Luella Oglesbee and his second, Evelyn Greene; Alice, who married Horace McMillen and continues to live in Clinton county; Jacob Elmer, who married Viola Farquahar and has been a teacher all his active life, now connected with the public schools at Brookneal, Virginia, and Grace, widow of Frank Colvin. For years Mrs. Colvin has been matron of the girls section of the college at Delaware, this state. To James W. and Emma C. (Peterson) Middleton were born two sons, Orville P. and J. Raymond, both of whom are farming in Caesarscreek township, the latter farming the homestead tract where his mother still makes her home. Orville P. Middleton married Laura Haines and has four children, Wayne, Marion, Grace and Clara. J. Raymond Middleton married Lydia Maria Haines and has two sons, Allen and Paul. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Middleton has continued to make her home on the home place at Middletons Corners. She is a member of the Maple Corners, Reformed church. JESSE CLYDE TOWNSLEY. Jesse Clyde Townsley, farmer and stockman, proprietor of the old John A. Barber farm of one hundred and eighty-six acres in Cedarville township, and former trustee of that township, was born on a farm on the (30) 482 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Townsley road in Cedarville township, July 5, 1874, son of John and Malinda (Kershner) Townsley, the latter of whom is still living in Cedarville. She was born at Yellow Springs, a daughter of Jonathan and Marian (Kulp) Kershner, the former of whom also was born in Greene county and the latter in Pennsylvania. Jonathan Kershner was a carpenter at Yellow Springs and died there at the age of eighty-three years. His widow died on July 4, 1916, at the age of eighty-four. They were members of the Yellow Springs Christian church and were the parents of eight children, those besides Mrs. Townsley being James, now a resident of Mattoon. Illinois; Dross, who lives in Cedarville ; Emanuel, deceased; John, deceased; Cowray, deceased; Ford, a carpenter at Yellow Springs, and Charles, who lives in the West. The late John Townsley, who died at his home in Cedarville on September 19, 1915, was born on a farm four miles east of that place on January 4, 1850, a on of James and Clarissa (Harper) Townsley, the latter of whom was born in that same township in 1821. James Townsley was born in 1825 at Cortsville, up over the line in Clark county, son of John Townsley, one of the eight children of John Townsley, who with his brother Thomas, a soldier of the Revolution, had come up here from Kentucky and settled in what later came to be organized as Cedarville township, the first permanent settlers of that section of Greene county. James Townsley was one of a large family of children, all now deceased. He located on what is still known as the James Townsley homestead in Cedarville township and lived there until his retirement from the farm about' 1887 and removal to Cedarville, where his death occurred in August, 1907. He had been twice married, his first wife having been Clarissa Harper, who received from her father a part of the farm above referred to. She was the youngest of the three daughters born to her parents, the others being Mrs. D. H. Marshall, deceased, and Mrs. Thursa Townsley, who is now living at Jamestown, aged ninety. James and Clarissa (Harper) Townsley were the parents of seven children, those besides John being Elizabeth, who married John Owens and died on August 25, 1913 ; Lila M., wife of J. O. Spahr, of the Jamestown neighborhood; Emma, wife of T. N. Harper, of Dayton; Jennie, now living at Xenia, Mrs. O. A. Spahr; Robert S., a retired farmer, now living at Cedarville, and Frank, who is still living on the old home farm. Following the death of the mother of these children in December, 1868, James Townsley married Hester Barber, a daughter of John and Sarah (Martin) Barber, of this county, the former of whom was a farmer and a soldier of the War of 1812. This second marriage was without issue. Mrs. Hester Townsley GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 483 died in April,' 1905, aged eighty-four. James Townsley was a Republican and a member of the United Presbyterian church. After his marriage to Malinda Kershner on February 22, 1871, John Townsley bought a hundred-acre farm- adjoining his father's place and later bought an adjoining forty, living there until his retirement and removal to Cedarville, where he spent his last days. He is buried in the old Massies Creek cemetery. He was a Republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, a trustee of the church and a member of the official board. To him and his wife were born four children, those besides Jesse being Clara, who married Prof. Calvin Morton, of the Cedarville schools, and has one daughter, Martha Jean; Harry, a farmer residing just south of Cedarville, and Robert, a farmer of Miami township. Jesse C. Townsley received his schooling in the Thorn school and remained on the home farm until his marriage in 1897, after which he rented his wife's father's farm; the John A. Barber place in Cedarville township, and continued thus to operate the place for seventeen years, or until 1915, when he bought the place, one hundred and eighty-six acres, and is still living there. He and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian church at Cedarville. Mr. Townsley is a Republican and for six years served as trustee of Cedarville township. Mrs. Townsley also was born in Cedarville township, Florence Barber, daughter of John A. and Sarah (Townsley) Barber, and married Mr. Townsley on June 30, 1897. Her father, John A. Barber, also was born in Cedarville township, as was his wife, who was 'a daughter of Enos Townsley, one of the sons of the pioneer John Townsley, great-greatgrandfather of Jesse Townsley and also, of course, of the latter's wife. Enos Townsley's wife was Sarah, daughter of James McCoy, one of the Greene county pioneers. John A. Barber was a son of John Barber, who was a son of 'William Barber, who had come to this country from Ireland and settled in. Washington county, Pennsylvania. In that county John Barber was born. Upon reaching manhood he came to Ohio and located at Xenia, where he became engaged in the Campbell mill on Shawnee creek. In due time he bought a tract of land and his last days were spent on the farm. He married Sarah Martin and to him and his wife were born eleven children, ten of whom grew to maturity. John A. Barber, one of these children, was twice married, his first wife having been Eliza, daughter of Andrew Galloway. To that union two children were born. Mrs. Eliza Barber died in 1866 and Mr. Barber in 1868 married Sarah Townsley. Two daughters were born to this latter union, Mrs. Florence Townsley having a sister, Eva, who married Charles H. Ervin, of- Xenia, and has one son, Fred. The Barbers were members of the United Presbyterian church at Cedarville. 484 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO DAVID S. WILLIAMSON. David S. Williamson, proprietor of a farm in the Cedarville neighborhood, now living retired at Cedarville, the operations of the farm being carried on by his son, Raymond T. Williamson, is a member of one of Greene county's old families, and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of the village of Jamestown on December 29, 1851, son of John S. and Jane (Kyle) Williamson, and was the last-born of the three children born to that parentage, his mother having died when he was two years and eight months of age. She was a daughter and eldest child of Judge Samuel Kyle, one of the foremost pioneers of Greene county and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. John S. Williamson was the fourth in order of birth of the ten children of David and Catherine (Duncan) Williamson, who came to this county with their family in 1836 and settled in that part of the county now included in New Jasper township, their farm of three hundred acres being situated along Caesarscreek at a point equidistant between Xenia and Jamestown, as is set out elsewhere in this volume, together with a. comprehensive narrative relating to the Williamson family in Greene county. In a biographical sketch relating to Samuel K. Williamson, elder brother of the subject of this sketch, there is set out at some length a history of the career of John S. Williamson, who died at his home in Cedarville in the fall of 1898. David S. Williamson grew up to the life of the farm. His schooling was received in the neighborhood schools, being completed in the Cedarville schools, his father having moved to the farm on the Cincinnati-Columbus pike, two miles west of Cedarville, now owned by Mr. Williamson, when he was twelve years of age. On that place he grew to manhood and after his father's retirement from the farm and removal to Cedarville in 1873 he took charge of the place and after his marriage in 1881 established his home there, continuing to make that his place of residence, having inherited the farm after his father's death, until his retirement in April, 1917, and removal to Cedarville, where he now resides, though still retaining a supervisory oversight of the place, which he is accustomed to visit nearly every day. As with several others of the Williamsons, Mr. Williamson was early attracted to the possibilities of sheep raising and for many years his farm west of Cedarville has been largely devoted to the breeding of fine Merino sheep. The work there inaugurated by him is now being carried on by his son, Raymond T. Williamson, who occupied the home place and is carrying on the operations of the farm. On February 9, 1881, at the home of the bride about a mile east of Cedarville, David S. Williamson was united in marriage to Nannie A. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 485 McMillan, who was born on that place on January 23, 1856, a daughter of Hugh T. and Rachel McMillan, the former a member of the well-known McMillan family of this county, and to this union have been born five children, two of whom died at birth, the survivors being Mary Erwin, born on April 12, 1885, now at home; Florence Jane, September 6, 1887, who is now teaching school at Nevada, Iowa, and Raymond Torrence, June 23, 1891, who, as noted above, is now farming the home place. In January, 1917, Raymond Torrence Williamson married Fannie Stroup and is making his home on the home place, his parents having moved into Cedarville about the time of his marriage. The Williamsons are members of the Covenanter church at Cedarville. Mr. Williamson is a Republican. WILLIAM FRANKLIN BENHAM. The Benhams became established here more than a century ago with the coming of Peter Benham, who left the settlement in which he was born, not far north of Cincinnati, and came up here into the valley of the Little Miami, establishing his home in Beavercreek township, this county,' where he spent the rest of his life and where his descendants in the present generation are still to be found. Peter Benham, the pioneer, was born twelve miles north of the then village of Cincinnati, in 1795, a son of Richard and Lydia Benham, the former of whom, a native of New Jersey, had been an Indian fighter in Kentucky and had later settled at Ft. Washington, building there the third cabin put up on the present site of the city of Cincinnati, at one time owning there ten acres of land that is now in the very heart of the city. At the time of his death, which occurred near Todds Forks, he was the owner of one hundred and fourteen acres there. One of his brothers, David Benham, was a friend and companion of Daniel Boone, and another, Col. Joseph Benham, became one of the most noted attorneys in the early days of Cincinnati. Richard Benham was a soldier of the War of 1812. He and his wife had four sons, John, Richard, Peter and Benjamin, the latter of whom became a resident of Indiana and was the last survivor of the family. Reared amid pioneer conditions, Peter Benham married at the age of twenty-one years and established his home in Beavercreek township, this county. On that farm he spent the rest of his life, living to the age of eighty-six years. Peter Benham was twice married. His first wife, Catherine Beck, whom married at Centerville, was born at Waynesville in 1800, daughter of Samuel. Beck and wife, the latter of whom was a Galyard. Samuel Beck was a native of New Jersey, who came to Ohio in territorial days and became 486 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO a pioneer tavern keeper at Waynesville, in Warren county. He and his wife were the parents of four sons and four daughters, the sons having been John, Samuel, Benjamin and Joseph. To Peter and Catherine (Beck) Benham were born twelve children, of whom eight lived to maturity and of whom but one, Mrs. Lydia Huston, of Alpha, widow of George W. Huston, now survives, the others having been Benjamin, the father of the subject of this sketch; Joseph; Eliza, who married Isaac Bumgardner; Sarah, who married Leonard Coy; Mary J., who married Joseph P. B. Johns ; Lydia A., who married George W. Huston; Peter O. and Samuel. The mother of these children died in January, 1864, and Peter Benham later married Catherine Nave, who was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of John Nave, who had come to Ohio with his family and had settled in the township of Spring Valley, in this county. Both these women were members of the Reformed church and the Benham children were reared in that faith. Peter Benham lived to be eighty-six years of age. Benjamin Benham grew up on the pioneer farm on which he was born in Beavercreek township and after his marriage began farming on his own account, for a time renting a farm in that neighborhood. He then bought the farm on which his son William F. is now living, a mile and a half southwest of Alpha, coming to be the owner of a farm of one hundred and ninety acres. He was a Republican. He and his family were members of Mt. Zion Reformed church. Benjamin Benham died in 1899. His wife had preceded him to the grave about three years, her death having occurred in 1896. She was born, Mary Gillespie, in Ross county, this state, in 1821, and was but a small child when her parents settled on the tract of land now occupied by the village of Selma, in the neighboring county of Clark, where both parents died of "milk-sickness" when she was ten years of age. Benjamin and Mary (Gillespie) Benham were the parents of three children, the subject of this sketch having had two sisters, Catherine,. now living at Dayton, widow, of Henry Clay Glotfelter, and Eliza Jane, who married William Masters, of Beavercreek township, and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased. William Franklin Benham, only son of Benjamin and Mary (Gillespie) Benham, was barn on the Shakertown pike, rural mail route No. 7 out of Xenia, in Beavercreek township, this county, November 24, 1849. His elementary schooling was received in the district school of his neighborhood, the Benham school, located on his father's farm, and he completed his schooling in the old Beaver grade school, the course in that excellent school at that time comprising about the same course as that now covered in high school. After his marriage in 1872 he continued to make his home on the home farm, as his father grew older gradually taking over the management of the place. Upon the death of his father in 1899 the place was divided and he since then has had ninety acres, including the old home build- GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 487 ings. Of late years Mr. Benham has been practically retired from the active labors of the farm, having turned the same over to the management, of his son, Benjamin E. Benham, who is married and is living on the place. On December. 5, 1872, William Franklin Benham was united in marriage to Mary Ellen Coy, who was born on a farm a mile and a half west of the Benham farm, April 5, 1849, and who died in August, 1902. She was the daughter of Henry and Lucinda Coy and a member of one of the oldest families in Greene county, the Coys having been here since the days before the organization of Greene county. To William F. and Mary E. (Coy) Benham eight children were born, namely : Edmond C., now employed in the plant of the Delco Company at Dayton and who married Effie Dissingham and has one child, a daughter, Mildred; Gertrude Ray, who married Jacob Seifert and is also living at Dayton ; Minnie, wife of Edward Shoup, a Beavercreek farmer; Benjamin Earl and Lucinda Pearl, twins, the former of whom, as noted above, is now operating the home farm and who married Ruth Campbell and has one child, a daughter, Helen, and the latter of whom married Archibald Koogler and died at the age of twenty-six years; Henry, who died in infancy ; William Franklin, Jr., unmarried, who is employed in a furniture store at Dayton, and Aaron Russell, who formerly lived at Dayton, employed there in the Delco Company's plant, but now (1918) is in Camp Sherman. The Benhams are members of the Mt. Zion Reformed church, both the Benhams and the Coys having been active in the work of the Reformed congregation in Beavercreek township since pioneer days. Mr. Benham is a Republican. CYRUS BROWN. Cyrus Brown, veteran of the Civil War, former trustee of New Jasper township and a farmer of that township, enjoys the unique distinction of having served in the .'90s as sheriff of Greene county for the shortest term ever noted in the local shrievalty, his tenure of office having lasted but two weeks. The Legislature had enacted a law fixing the beginning of the terms of sheriffs in this state on September 1 instead of on January 1, this alteration of the tenure leaving a term of eight months unprovided for. The commissioners of Greene county appointed Mr. Brown sheriff to fill. the vacancy and he entered upon the duties of that office. Two weeks later the state supreme court declared the new law unconstitutional and he thus was deprived of his office, but he had been sheriff for two weeks and even the supreme court was powerless to deprive him of that distinction. During his term of service as a soldier of the Union Mr. Brown saved four hundred dollars of his pay. This sum he ever afterward retained, investing it as a separate fund against such a time as to him might seem fitting for its con- 488 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO version to another purpose of great moment, and in October, 1917, he converted the sum, with accrued earnings, into Liberty bonds of the United States government Mr. Brown is a native son of Greene county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in what is now Jefferson township on October 6, 1842, a son of James and Rachel (Powers) Brown, both of whom also were born in Ohio, the former in Belmont county and the latter in Clinton county, and whose last days were spent in Greene county, of which latter county they had been residents since the days of their youth. James Brown was born on February 25, 1816, son of Richard and Elizabeth (Pickering) Brown, the former of whom was born in the Old Dominion, near the line between Virginia and Maryland, and who had come to Ohio about 1810 and had settled in Belmont county. Richard Brown served as a soldier of the War of 1812 and later become engaged as a trader and teamster, hauling goods over the National road from Baltimore west. His first wife, Elizabeth Pickering, died leaving six children, Sallie, John, Joshua, James, Allan and Elizabeth. He later married Mary Pickering, a cousin of his deceased wife, and to that union were born four children, Rhoda, Jacob, William and Levi. With his family Richard Brown came to Greene county in 1842 and settled in the Paintersville neighborhood. where in 1850 he was killed by being thrown from a horse. his foot being caught in a stirrup and he being dragged to death. He was buried in the New Hope cemetery near Paintersville. John Brown, eldest son of Richard Brown, had come to Greene county during the thirties awl had here become engaged as a building contractor, a general stone mason and builder of brick houses. In 1839 he was joined here by his brother, James Brown, who on January 2, 1842, married Rachel Powers, who was born in the neighboring county of Clinton on November 27, 1812, daughter of Edward and Mary (Wright) Powers, the latter of whom was born in North Carolina and who was nineteen years of age when in 1809 she married Edward Powers, a native of Ireland, born in 1773, who had come to this country in 1800. Soon after their marriage Edward Powers and his wife came to Ohio and settled in Clinton county. He rendered service as a soldier of the War of 1812 and continued to make his home in Clinton county until 1824, when he came with his family up into Greene county and settled on the farm now owned by D. C. Spahr, on the Hussey pike about a mile and a half from Paintersville in Caesarscreek township, where he died about 1843, and was buried in the New Hope graveyard. Edward Powers and his wife were the parents of ten children, all now deceased, of whom Mrs. Rachel Brown was the second in order of birth, the others having been the following: Betsy, who married Robert Oglesbee; Alford, who remained on the home farm and became the owner of a farm of six hundred acres; Edward, who also GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 489 became a farmer; Mrs. Mary Faulkner, twin sister of Edward; Allan, who lived at Paintersville; George, who made his home on a farm; Rebecca, who married Marshall Burrell and lived in Xenia township ; Mrs. Emily Devoe, whose last days were spent in the West, and John, who spent his last days in Indiana. After his marriage in 1842, James Brown rented a farm in what is now Jefferson township and there made his home for four or five years, at the end of which time he bought a little farm just north of where he had been residing and not far from the place owned and occupied by his brother Joshua. The two brothers engaged in a partnership arrangement and for years were engaged in the huckster business, James Brown keeping the supplies of groceries, "Yankee notions," and the like with which they stocked their wagons in his house. James Brown was just a "natural born" speculator and trader and would buy or sell anything that came to hand, generally being able afterward to note a margin of profit on his side of the transaction. In 1866 he disposed of his holdings in Silvercreek township and bought a farm of eighty-four acres in New Jasper township, the place on which his son Cyrus Brown is now living. To that he added adjoining land, engaged also in the live stock business, and continued to make his home there until 1881 when he sold the place to his son Cyrus, invested in farm lands in Clinton county and moved to Paintersville, where he bought a grocery store and where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring there on August 31, 1886. His widow survived him until -May I, 1892: James Brown was a Republican and served the public in the capacity of township trustee and as assessor. He and his wife were members of the Protestant Methodist church at Paintersville and for years Mr. Brown was a class leader. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, namely : Cyrus, the immediate subject of this biographical sketch; Mary Elizabeth, widow of Lewis Lane, of Allen county, Ohio ; Loama, who died at the age of two years; John J., deceased; Marshall, a resident of. New Jasper township; Ezra, also a resident of New Jasper township, and Rachel Ann, wife of Charles Harrison, of Allen county. Cyrus Brown was reared on the old home farm in Silvercreek township and received his schooling in the neighborhood schools of Jefferson township. From the days of his boyhood he was trained in the ways of practical farming and was engaged in farming on the home place when the Civil War broke out. On August 11, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company E, Ninety-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served until he was mustered out on June 5, 1865. Upon the completion of' his military service Mr. Brown returned home and after his marriage in the fall of 1866 established his home on a small farm he had bought in New Jasper township, not far from his father's farm. There he continued to make his 490 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO home until 1881, in which year he bought his father's farm, then consisting of eighty-five acres, moved to that place, his father moving to Paintersville in that year, and has ever since resided there, very comfortably situated. Since taking possession of that farm Mr. Brown has added to his acreage until he now owns one hundred and sixty-five acres. In 1890 he remodeled and enlarged his house. For some years, in addition to his general farming, he gave considerable attention to the raising of pure-bred Berkshire hogs and was a successful exhibitor at county fairs. Mr. Brown is a Republican and for years served as central committeeman of that party from his home township. For six terms he served as trustee of his home township, for eighteen years served as school director in his home district, a part of that time serving as president of the township board of education, and for more than ten years served as treasurer of the township. He also, as set out above, for two weeks served as sheriff of Greene county. On October 18, 1866, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Mary Elizabeth Smith, who was born in New Jasper township, daughter of Daniel and Lucinda (Spahr) Smith, who for years made their home on the farm on which Mrs. Brown was born, and to this union were born two daughters, Alice Lovona, born on August 16, 1867, who is the wife of F. M. Thomas, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume, and Mary Lucinda, May 21, 1872, wife of James R. Fudge, of whom there also is a biographical sketch on another page in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper, with which organization Mrs. Brown has been affiliated since she was eleven years of age. For many years Mr. Brown was a member of the board of trustees of that church and was serving on the board when the present church edifice was erected. When the new parsonage was built he was a member of the board having the erection of the same under its direction. For many years he also was a teacher in the Sunday school. JOHN W. ST. JOHN. John W. St. John, now living retired at his home in Caesarscreek township, was born in that township and has lived there all his life. He was born on the old St. John farm on December 29, 1831, son of Daniel W. and Eliza (Bone) St. John, both of whom were born in the vicinity of Lebanon, in the neighboring county of Warren, and who became residents of Greene county after their marriage, settling in Caesarscreek township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Elsewhere in this volume there is set out at considerable length something of the history of the St. John family in Greene county and it is GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 491 therefore not necessary to repeat those details in this connection further than to set out that the family had its origin in this country through John and Noah St. John, brothers, of French parentage, who came to the American colonies about the middle of the eighteenth century and located in Dutchess county, New York, where John St. John married Anna Lockwood and was living when the colonists declared .their independence. He joined the patriot forces and served as a soldier of the Revolution, later, in the last decade of the eighteenth century, coming with his family to the then Territory Northwest of the Ohio, locating in the neighborhood of Ft. Washington (Cincinnati), in Hamilton county, where he remained until 1803, when he came up into this part of the state and settled on a tract of land in the vicinity of Ft. Ancient, in Warren county, where he spent the remainder of his life. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, the fourth in order of birth being. John St. John, who was born on November 28, 1778, and who married Rhoda .Wood. John St. John established his home in Warren county and there spent his last days. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, of whom Daniel W. was the first-born. Daniel W. St. John remained in Warren county until after his marriage to Eliza Bone, when, in 1828, he came up into Greene county and settled in the woods in Caesarscreek township, where he put up a log cabin and a stable and set about clearing the place. He later put up a good house and substantial farm buildings, got his place under cultivation and created a good piece of property, which later he sold and then moved to a farm on the Wilmington pike south of Xenia, where his last days were spent, he being sixty-five years of age at the time of his death. His wife was sixty-three years of age at the time of her death; Daniel W. St. John was a Whig in his early political views and later became a Republican. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their children were reared in that faith. There were eleven of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch wad the third in order of birth, the others being the following : Cyrus Bone, who married Dorothy Hickman and lived in Xenia township until 1856, when he moved to Jay county, Indiana, where he spent the rest of his life; Joseph, who married Julia McNair and continued to make his home in this county until 1887, when he moved to Kansas and located on a farm in the vicinity of Coffeyville, where he spent his last days ; William Harrison, who died on the home farm at the age of twenty-five years ; Daniel Morgan, who married Eliza Jane Beam and spent his last days on a farm in Caesars-creek township; Sarah Ann, also deceased, who was the wife of James McNair ; Charles W., who married Martha Peterson, of Xenia, and for years lived, on a farm in Spring Valley township, later moving to Xenia, where 492 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO he died; Jeniah Franklin, also deceased, whose widow, who was Ellen Hook before her marriage, is now living at Xenia; Eliza Jane, who married Frank Peterson and went to Coffeyville, Kansas, where her last days were spent; Isaac Wilson, who married Rilla Hook and went to Dunkirk, Indiana, where he is still living, engaged in the mercantile business, and Lorenzo Raper, who married Alice Smith and who, as well as his wife, is now deceased. It is needless to say that the St. John family, the descendants in the present generation of the Ohio pioneer, John St. John, and of his wife, Anna Lockwood, form a numerous connection. Former Gov. John P. St. John, of Kansas, is a member of this family. John W. St. John was reared on the old home farm in Caesarscreek township, receiving his schooling in the schools of that place, and remained at home until after his marriage in 1852, when he began farming on his own account on the farm on which his son, Joseph Oscar St. John, is now living, in that same township, buying there a tract of one hundred and eleven acres, then known as the David Murphy place, on which there was a log cabin and a stable and but little else in the way of improvement. He presently erected there a new house and substantial farm buildings, cleared and drained the place, expending more than a thousand dollars in ditch work, and otherwise improved it, and there continued engaged in general farming and stock raising until his retirement from the active labors of the farm in 1907, having thus been continuously engaged in farming on that place for about fifty-five years. Since Mr. St. John's retirement from the management of the farm the work has been carried on under the direction of his son, Joseph Oscar St. John, who makes his home on the place. Mr. St. John is a Republican, but has never been an aspirant for public office. He is a member of Mt. Tabor Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. St. John has been thrice married. On January 15,. 1852, he was united in marriage to Phoebe Ann Hiney, who was born in Sandusky county, this state, June 21, 1833, daughter of Jacob and Delilah Hiney, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter in Sandusky county, this state, who later came to Greene county and after a sometime residence here moved tip into Clark county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. To that union were born twelve children, namely : Thomas W., born on December 21, 1852, now living, in the vicinity of Cedarville, who married Elizabeth Harris and has three children, Elmer, Roy and Alice C. M., March 17, 1856, a .stockman doing, business at Xenia, who married Harriet Ary and has two children, John A. and Eva ; Jacob Daniel and Martha, twins, January 16, 1854, both now deceased ; Maria L., June 10, 1858, who married Moses Painter, now living in Marion county, Indiana, and has three children, Clifton, Reba and Vernon; John Franklin, October 24, 1859, who married GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 493 Zora Hoffman, and moved to North Dakota, where he died October, 1917, leaving two children, Harry and Roland; Emma Jane, November 3, 1863, who married Lewis R. Jones, a farmer, of Caesarscreek township and a biographical sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; William Allison, November 18, 1866, now living in Clark county, this state, who married Louise Hiatt and has three children, Harmon, Grant and Goldie; Ulysses Grant, July 3, 1869, now farming in New Jasper township, this county, who married Lola Sutton and has one son, Fred; Alma and Alva L., twins, September 9, 1872, the former of whom died in childhood and the latter of whom, now farming in the Cedarville neighborhood, married Anna Turner and has four children, Myrtle, Otis, Hazel and Donna ; and Joseph Oscar, January 16, 1876, now farming the old home place, who married Minnie Harness and has one son, Leo. The mother of these children died on October 3o, 1897, and Mr. St. John later married Mrs. Jane (Smith) Devoe, daughter of John Smith and widow of Asa Devoe, of Caesarscreek township, and after her death married, December 13, 1909, Ellen. L. Fisher, who was born in the vicinity of Wilmington, in the neighboring county of Clinton, daughter of Jacob W. and Delpha Ann (Smoke) Fisher, who had come to this state from Virginia and whose last days were spent in Clinton county, the former living to the age of eighty-three years and the latter, to the age of seventy-five. Though now past eighty-six years of age, Mr. St. John retains much of his aforetime vigor and continues to take an active interest in current affairs. His recollection of events in this county easily covers a period of more than four Score years and he has many interesting tales to tell of the days of the pioneers and of the later procession of events which marked the period of his early activities as an agriculturist. During all these years he has been a witness to many amazing changes in agricultural methods and in the general way of living and can only wonder what another eighty years of progress will bring about in the way of human invention. ROBERT C. WATT. Robert C. Watt, of Cedarville, head of the firm of R. C. Watt & Son, breeders of ,live stock, former president of the American Duroc. Association, former president of the American Southdown Sheep Association, a member of the American Polled-Durham Association and of all the local live-stock associations, holder of a string of grand-championship prizes, and formerly and for years a member of the firm of Watt & Foust, at the time of the dissolution of that firm in 1916 known as the oldest continuous breeders of Duroc hogs in the United States and holders of world championships in that class, is a native son of Greene county and has lived here all his life. 494 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO He was born on a farm in Xenia township in 1856, a son of William and Sarah Gordon (Carruthers) Watt, both natives .of Scotland, the latter, born at Dumfries, having come to this country with her parents in the days of her girlhood to join her brother, Thomas Carruthers, who previously had come over and had located at Chillicothe, in this state, where she was living up to the time she. married William Watt. William Watt was born in Glasgow in 1814 and there grew up trained to the carpenter trade. When twenty-one years of age he came to the United States and proceeded on out to Ohio, locating at Bainbridge, where he continued to make his home for some time after his marriage to Sarah Carruthers. He then moved to Bourneville and there resided until 1851, when he came with his family to Greene county and bought a quarter of a section of land on the Federal pike in Xenia township, making his home there until 1866. In that year he sold that farm and bought another on the Jamestown pike, six miles east of Xenia, where he lived until his retirement from the farm and removal to Xenia, where he died in June, 1894. William Watt began to raise Southdown Sheep shortly after he took up farming in this county and from the beginning was singularly successful with his flocks. In 1874 he began exhibiting his registered stock and the Watt Southdowns continued to be exhibited, the son continuing the operations of the father after the latter's death, all over the United States until 1916, when Mr. Watt sold his Southdown flock and took up the breeding of registered Rambouillets. During that long period the Watt flock won for its owners thousands of dollars in prize money and thousands of blue ribbons and was for years recognized as the world's champion flock of Southdowns. William Watt was a Republican and for some time served as a member of the board of county commissioners. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, those besides the subject of this sketch being Mary E., now living at Xenia, widow of David H. Cherry ; Mrs. Jennie Johnson, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; James, a Chicago merchant ; the Rev. John A. Watt, a Presbyterian minister, now engaged in the missionary field ; Agnes, a resident of Xenia township, widow of Harvey Nash, former county commissioner and a memorial sketch of whom is pre-seined elsewhere in this volume; David, a resident of Xenia ; Margaret Ellen, who died in the days of her young womanhood ; Emily Huston, who died at the age of five years. and Etta, who died at the age of six months. Robert C. Watt was nine years of age when his parents moved to the farm on the Jamestown pike in Cedarville township and there he grew to manhood. He completed his schooling in the Xenia high school and after his marriage in 1882 continued to make his home on the farm, his parents retiring at that time and moving to Xenia. There he remained until 1899, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 495 in which year he bought a farm of one hundred and fifty acres one mile south of Cedarville, on the Jamestown pike, where he developed a fine place, later adding an adjoining tract of one hundred and six acres, and where he made his home until in April, 1915. He then bought a house on South Main street, Cedarville, and moved to that place, turning the home place over to his son, William R. Watt, who is now operating it. Mr. Watt also owns a farm of one hundred and ten acres a mile northwest of Cedarville. As noted above, Mr. Watt began to give his attention to the raising of registered Southdowns even as a boy and when sixteen years of age became an exhibitor at state fairs. In 1897 he began. raising Duroc-Jersey hogs and has since kept the registery of his herd, distribution from which, for stock purposes, has been made wherever the fame of Durocs has penetrated, for this herd has produced the world's championship boar, this honor being awarded to the great "Tip-top Notch" at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904, and to the equally great "Taxpayer XIII," another product of this herd, at the Panama-American Exposition at San Francisco in 1915. At the St. Louis exposition in 1904 another product of this herd, "Cedar Vale Queen VIII," was awarded the junior sow championship of the world. In 1902 Mr. Watt entered into a partnership with Edward Foust, of Xenia township, for the breeding of Duroc-Jerseys, and this arrangement was continued, under the firm name of Watt & Foust, until 1916, since which time Mr. Watt has carried on his operations with his son, William R., better known as "Billy" Watt, as his partner, doing business under the firm name of R. C. Watt & Son. In 1917 the Watt exhibit of Durocs at the National Hog Show at Omaha was awarded the grand championship, while prizes from the International Stock Show at Chicago and from state fair associations all over the country reveal an unbroken series of successes for the Watt herd, which is recognized as the oldest continuously maintained registered line of Durocs in the United States. Mr. Watt's services have been called on as judge not only at. the Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky state fairs, but at the International Live Stock Exhibitions. He keeps his herd up to about three hundred head and ships all over the world, in one season having shipped out one hundred and twenty-eight registered boars. For thirty years Mr. Watt maintained his interest in Southdown sheep, but sold his championship flock in 1917 and he and his son are now taking up the Rambouillet line. He also for some years has been engaged in raising registered Polled-Durham cattle and has a fire' herd. Mr. Watt has served as president of both the American Southdown Sheep Association and for the American Duroc Association, of which latter he afterward was for several years a director ; is also a member of the American Polled-Durham Association and of local live-stock associations and has 496 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO clone .much in this- time to develop and encourage the live-stock industry in the United States. He and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian church at Cedarville. Mr. Watt has been twice married. In 1882 he was united in marriage to Martha Beall, who was born in this county, daughter of John and Maria (Mainer) Beall, the former of whom died while serving as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, and to that union were born four children, Margretta, wife of the Rev. W. A. Condon, pastor of the First Presbyterian church at Uhrichsville, this state William R. ; one who died at birth, and John A., who died at the age of ten months. The mother of these children died on June 27, 1915, and on October 18, 1917, Mr. Watt married Lulu Barber, who was born at Cedarville, daughter of Martin and Mary M. Barber, the latter of whom is still living, making her home with her daughter at the age of ninety years. William R. Watt married Charlotta Sagler. He and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian church.- JAMES HARRY MARSHALL. James Harry Marshall, proprietor of a farm in Beavercreek township, on the upper Bellbrook pike, three miles west of Xenia, rural mail route No. 7 out of that city, was born on a farm in Sugarcreek township on September 8, 1858. son of James and Ella (Ridenour) Marshall, the former of whom was born in that same township and the latter in the state of Maryland and both of whom spent their last days here. James Marshall was born on a farm on the east bank of the Little Miami river in what is now Sugarcreek township, but which then was in Silvercreek township, October 22, 1812, a son of John Marshall, one of the pioneers of Greene county and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. John Marshall had come up here with his. father from. Kentucky about the year 1803 and had taken a tract of about six hundred acres along the east bank of the river in what is now Sugarcreek township. Not long afterward he married and established his home there, reared his family of three sons and four daughters, served during the '40s as a member of the bench of associate judges, spent his last days on his farm, dying there in 1866, at the age of eighty-two years, and was buried on his farm, the site of his grave overlooking the river. During the War of 1812 he served as a soldier. Of his seven children; James was the sixth "'in order of birth, the others having been Robert, who died unmarried; Hettie, who married John Kiler ; Nancy, who married James McConnell; Sarah, who married John Brock ; Jesse, who established his home in Sugarcreek township, and Betsey, who married William Morgan. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 497 Reared on the home farm, James Marshall established his home there after his marriage when twenty-four years of age and after his father's death inherited two hundred and forty-five acres of the home place, where he continued to live until he bought the place of a fraction more than one hundred and fourteen acres on which his son James H. is now living, moved to that place and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on February 12, 1889. His widow died on, July 3, 1893. She was born, Ella Ridenour, in Maryland, February 5, 1818, and was twelve years of age when she came to Ohio with her widowed mother, Susan (Howard) Ridenour, and the other members of the latter's family, the family consisting of four sons and three daughters, in 1830 and located at Trebeins, in Beavercreek township, this county. The widow Ridenour came through from her old home in the Hagerstown neighborhood in Maryland, driving a one-horse wagon containing her household goods, the children, including twelve-year-old Ella, thus being required to walk the whole-distance, as there was no room in the overladen wagon for them. The widow Ridenour was an adherent of the Lutheran faith and her children were reared in that faith. Of these children, the daughter Ella, Mrs. Marshall, was the last-born, the others, now all deceased, having been David, who moved to Illinois and there spent his last days; Daniel and Samuel, twins, who established their homes in this county ; William, who moved to Indiana, and Cassie and Maria, twins, who remained. spinsters. Mrs. Susan Ridenour lived to the age of eighty-three years, her death occurring on April 10, 1869. Ella Ridenour grew up at Trebeins and was there married on May 4, 1837, to James Marshall. To that union were born seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the last-born, the others being the following : John, who is now living at Dayton, retired ; Sarah, who died at the age of twenty-one ; William P., who served as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War and died not long after his return from the army, his death having been due to the exposure incident to army life; Mrs. Nancy Ann Thorp, who died in 1903, and two who died in infancy. James H. Marshall was reared on the home farm in Sugarcreek township and 'received his early schooling in the old Fauber district school in that neighborhood, later attending the schools in Beavercreek township. After his marriage he established his home on the home place and as his father grew older assumed charge of the same, having thus for years carried on farming operations on the place on which he is now living. After his father's death he came into possession of the farm and is still actively engaged in farming, assisted by his second son, Charles Haines Marshall, who is still at home. In addition to their general farming Mr. Marshall and his son give considerable attention to the raising of Poland China hogs. (31) 498 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO James H. Marshall married Laura .B. Haines, who was born in Beaver-creek township, daughter of Henry and Susan Haines, the former of whom was formerly engaged in farming there, but later went West, where he became engaged in the railway service, and to this union four children have been born, namely : Robert Lee, who married Edna White and is now living in North Dakota, where he is employed in the service of the Standard Oil Company; Charles Haines, mentioned above as assisting his father in the operation of the home farm ; William Harley, now living at Bellbrook, who married Pansy Taylor and has two children, Howard Lee and Pauline ; and Agnew, who died at the age of four years. Mr. Marshall is a Republican, as was his father, and has served as director of schools in his home district. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics at Xenia. WILLIAM C. BURR. William C. Burr, a soldier of the Civil War and former trustee .of Jefferson township, was born in this county and has lived here all his life, a resident of the farm on which he is now living for nearly seventy years, he having been under ten years of age when his father took possession of that farm back in 1848. He was born in that vicinity, on a farm in what then was Silvercreek township, but which in 1858 was set off as the new township of Jefferson, September 21, 1839, son of David and Louisa (Oxley) Burr, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. Louisa Oxley was born in the vicinity of Culpeper Court House, Virginia, and was but six years of age when she came with her parents, John Oxley and wife, to Ohio, the family settling in Clinton county. Upon their retirement from the farm John Oxley and his wife came up into Greene county and here spent their last days in the household of their son-in-law, David Burr. David Burr was born on a farm in the vicinity of Clarksville, in the neighboring county of Clinton, a son of Peter and Hannah Burr, pioneers of that section, who spent their last days in that county. Peter Burr was for years clerk of courts at Wilmington. David Burr grew up in that county and early turned his attention to farming, coming up into Greene county and acquiring possession of a tract of land in what later came to be organized as Jefferson township and after his marriage to Louisa Oxley established his home there, continuing to reside there until 1848, when he traded that tract for the farm on which his son William, the subject of this sketch, is now living in that same township and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. David Burr died at the age of sixty-eight GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 499 years and his widow survived him for many years, she having been eighty-six years of age at the time of her death. They were members of the Methodist Protestant church and were the parents of twelve children, nine of whom grew to maturity, out of whom only three are now living, the subject of this sketch and two of his sisters, Mrs. Julia Ann Urton, widow of William Urton, of Van Wert, this state, and Mrs. Ella Fawcett, widow of Levi Fawcett, of Middleton, the others having been the following: Mary Jane, who married Levi Hollingsworth; Peter, who married Mahala Wical ; Lucinda, who married Isaac Steward; John, who died in 1862 and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume; Hannah, who married Stephen Cline, and Aaron Sewell, who died while in the service of the Union during the Civil War.' He enlisted in September, 1861, and went with the Thirty-first Ohio to Camp Robinson,. Kentucky, where he died of brain fever in the following November. William C. Burr was about nine years of age when his parents moved to the farm on which he is now living and there he grew to manhood, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools. He married when nineteen years of age and after his marriage continued farming on the home place. During the earlier stages of the Civil War he served as a member of the Home Guard and in the spring of 1864 he enlisted his services in behalf of the Union and was sent into West Virginia with Company H, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for four months, during which time he participated in the battle of New Creek and various engagements. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Burr returned home and resumed farming on the home place, of which in due time he acquired possession, and he ever since has made his home there, for the past ten years or more having lived practically retired from the active labors of the farm. Mr. Burr is a member of the Methodist Protestant church at Bowersville. He is a Republican, as was his father, and served for several terms as township trustee and also as assessor of the township. For more than forty-five years he has been a member. of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and his wife and daughter formerly were connected with the Daughters of Rebekah, On March 9, 1872, Mr. Burr joined the Odd Fellows lodge at Port William and on September 20, 1874, became connected with the encampment, Patriarchs Militant, at Wilmington, later transferring his connection to the encampment at Jamestown. He was one of the organizers of Otto Lodge No. 559, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Bowersville, a charter member of the same. In December. 1858, William C. Burr was united in marriage to Rachel Ervin, who was born in that portion of Greene county now comprised