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Weden Kelley Orr, only son of Jeremiah and Maria (Kelley) Orr, was born in Liberty township, Ross county, April 16, 1862. Like the other children he was given a good education, taking a preparatory course at Kingston, followed y attendance in the scientific department of the National Normal university of Lebanon, where he was graduated with the class of 1881 and received the degree of B. S. In 1882, Mr. Orr located on the old homestead, where he has since resided, engaged in the cultivation of his farm and the raising

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of stock. He has charge of 245 acres of well improved land and makes a specialty of Shorthorn cattle, Poland-China and Duroc Jersey swine, in the breeding of which he has achieved flattering success and an enviable reputation. Mr. Orr is a member of the Methodist church, president of the Green township board of education and quite prominent in Masonry, holding membership in Pickaway lodge, No. 23 ; Circleville chapter, No. 20, R. A. M, and Scioto commanders, No. 35, Knights Templar. In 1889 he was married to Elizabeth Lutz and they have five children: Stanley Lutz, Mary Florence, Helen Harriet, Irene and Loren Kelley. Mrs. W. K. Orr is the daughter of Col. Isaac Lutz, one of the most prominent farmers and largest landowners in Ross county. He was born in Salt Creek township, Pickaway county, May 10, 1823, son of Hon. Samuel Lutz, who came from Pennsylvania. to Ohio in 1802. The latter bought and cleared a fine tract of land in Pickaway county where he spent all of a life, as remarkable for its length of years as for its activities and usefulness. He possessed great influence in his county and held many positions of trust, such as surveyor, land appraiser and justice of the peace, besides membership in the legislature for several terms. He was a man of strict habits and much integrity of character, being for many years a consistent member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. He married Elizabeth Fetherolf, of Pennsylvania, by whom he had a large family of children, and it is remarked as a noteworthy fact that nine of these had grown up and had grandchildren and some of them great-grandchildren before the death of their father. The latter enjoyed remarkable vigor, both of mind and body, during a long period, and died in 1890 at. the advanced age of one hundred and one years and six months. Isaac Lutz, whose own career was also destined to be long and conspicuous, was the fourth born of his father's family. As soon as he reached his majority he began driving cattle to the Eastern markets, making eight trips to New York and Philadelphia. In 1846, he located on the farm in Union township, Ross county, which from that time until this has been the place of his residence. In January of the same year he was married to Mary M. Spangler, who died in February, 1847. September 13, 1855, he took for his second wife Susan J. Barton, of Union township, by whom he had six children: Ada J., wife of Ira L. May, a farmer of Pickaway county ; Mary E., wife of Philip M. Dunlap, of Union township; Freeman B., who died at the age of nineteen years; Fred L., married to Miss Maudane Dick of Mt. Sterling, Ohio, and living on the old homestead ; Elizabeth L., now Mrs. Orr, and Susan Florence, the wife of Clark Beale, of Mt. Sterling, Ohio. Colonel Lutz has been quite active in politics during his life, being first a Whig and afterward a Republican, often acting as delegate in the county, district and state conventions of his party. At the age of eighteen

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he joined a company of cavalry of which he was soon elected second lieutenant, later made captain and finally lieutenant colonel. This title was conferred on him in 1815 and he was engaged several years in training a militia company, his military attainments subsequently procuring him appointment as enrolling officer during the civil war. Colonel Lutz's landed possessions embrace holdings in three states, including 160 acres in Iowa, 720 in Kansas and all together about 1,302 acres in the counties of Ross and Pickaway, Ohio. He cultivates 200 acres of wheat and the same number in corn, the remainder of the arable land being rented to tenants. The Colonel and his wife have traveled extensively, visiting and spending more or less time in twenty-eight states between the coast of New York and California. No citizen of Ross county has been more intimately connected with her agricultural development than Colonel Lutz and none stands higher in the public regard as a man of integrity and worth.

John Ortman, of Harrison township, was born on the farm he now owns in that township in Ross county, March 27, 1822. His parents were John and Catharine (Baker) Ortman, the former of Pennsylvania and the latter of Maryland. John was a son of Jacob Ortman, a native of Germany who came to Ohio in the early days of its settlement and there spent the balance of his days. John Ortman, the father, came from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1810, and settled on the farm in Ross county now owned by his son and where he died July 17, 1879, at the age of ninety-eight. His wife long preceded him to the grave, her death occurring in 1867, when she was eighty-eight years old. They had a family of nine children, of whom only three are now living, and of these John Ortman is the youngest. He was reared on the old home place and received his education in the common district schools. Mr. Ortman has always been a farmer and now owns 157 acres of land which he cultivates in the general way. In 1864, Mr. Ortman enlisted in Company D, of the One Hundred Forty-ninth Ohio regiment, mustered in as National Guards in the one hundred days' service. He served seven months: three he spent as a prisoner in Danville, Va. He was in the battle at Monocacy Junction, fought in July, 1864, between Early's army and the Federal forces commanded y Gen. Lew Wallace. For some time Mr. Ortman has been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Though not an office seeker, he has held the position of trustee of his township. August 9, 1846, he was married to Margaret Bower, and the result of the union was a family of seven children, five of whom are living: Mary E., at home; Caroline, the wife of S. W. Clyde, of Franklin county, Kan. ; Margaret A., at Hallsville, Ohio; Jacob W., at Chillicothe; and Charles E. Those dead are J. W. and Lyman. Mrs. Ortman, the mother, died May

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5, 1899. Mr. Ortman is one of the substantial men of Ross county and in all the duties of life, both in war and peace, has proved himself a good citizen.

Newton J. Overly, the well known gardener and truant officer of Chillicothe, is descended from a pioneer who settled in what is now Springfield township before Ross county was organized. This was his great-grandfather, Frederick Overly, born in Pennsylvania, March 2, 1765, of parents who came from Wurtemberg, Germany. The first of the family to locate in America was Martin Oberlin, as the name was then spelled, but since changed to Overly. He was a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, migrated to America in 1757, and settled in the province of Pennsylvania, where he was naturalized and declared to he a British subject September 24, 1761. This unique naturalization paper is still in the possession of one of his descendants, in Ross county, as are also other documents of considerable curiosity. We present herewith a copy of the entire language of this boon of citizenship. It will be noticed that the old English use of the letter "f" instead of "s" prevails in the spelling of words: (Seal.) Pennsylvania, S. S. Edward Shippen, Jr., Prothonotary of the Supream Court of the Province of Pennsylvania Do hereby certify, That at a Supream Court held at Philadelphia, for the said Province of Pennsylvania, the 24th Day of September, in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-four, Before William Allen, W. Coleman and Alex Stedman, Esquire Judges of the said Court, between the Hours of Nine and Twelve of the Clock in the Forenoon of the same Day, Martin Oberlin of Bethel, in the County of Lancaster, being a foreigner, and having inhabited and resided for the space of Seven Years in His Majesty's Colonies in America, and not having been out of the same of the said Colonies for a longer Time than Two Months at any one Time during the said Seven Years. And the said Martin Oberlin having produced to the said Court, a Certificate, of his having taken the Sacrament of the Lord's Slipper within Three Months before the said Court, took and subscribed the Oaths, and did make and repeat the Declaration (appointed y an Act, made in the First year of the Reign of King GEORGE THE FIRST) according to the Directions of an Act of Parliament, made in the Thirteenth Year of His late Majesty King GEORGE the Second, intituled, An Act for naturalizing such foreign Protestants, and others, therein mentioned, as are settled in any of His Majesty's Colonies in America: and thereupon was admitted to be His Majesty's natural born Subject of the Kingdom of Great Britain, pursuant to the Direction and Intent of the said Act of Parliament. In Testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my Hand, and affixed the Seal of the Supreme Court, the 24th Day of September, in the year first above mentioned. Edward Shippen, Jr.

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To this pioneer was born five sons, Christopel, Bostian, Martin, Frederick, and one other whose name has been lost to the family records. The father and his four sons named came to Ross county in 1797, where Martin died and was buried in Springfield township. After marrying in his native state, Frederick Overly, in early manhood, migrated to Kentucky, but in a few years crossed the river to Ross county, Ohio, and settled, near Hopetown. It was in 1797 that he arrived in that locality in company with his father and two brothers, who joined in building a bark shanty and cultivating a crop of corn. In the fall, after securing their crop, they returned for their families and brought them out on pack-horses over the Indian trail through the dense forest. The wife of Frederick Overly, whose name was Mary Ann Hines, and whom he married in 1793, carried on her horse all the way from Kentucky her precious spinning-wheel and eight months-old babe. For a while all lived in the rude shanty, but eventually Frederick Overly erected a hewed log house which was occupied many years afterward by his descendants. e died in 1848 at the ripe old age of eighty-two years, and his wife following in 1850 in her seventy-fifth year. Their children, six in number, consisted of two sons and four daughters, whose names in order of birth were John, George, Susan, Rebecca, Mary and the wife of a Mr. Thorp. John Overly, eldest of the family, was born in Kentucky, and accompanied Ins parents on their journey to Ross county over the rude Indian trails of that day which constituted the only roads. He grew to manhood in the vicinity of Hopetown, receiving such scant education as was to be gleaned y irregular attendance at the "old field schoolhouse." His only occupation throughout life was that of farming, and this he followed on his place near Hopetown until his death in July, 1877. His eight children were Mary Ann, widow of Jacob Rittinger, of Springfield township ; Elizabeth, who married Jacob Cryder and afterward died; Evaline, wife of Jack Cryder, deceased ; Frederick, deceased ; George, of Springfield township ; Ellen, deceased ; John T., and Sarah, wife of William Wheeler, of Liberty township.

John T. Overly, seventh of these children, was born near Hopetown, Ross county, April 4, 1838, and has followed the ancestral pursuit of farming since arriving at maturity. In 1857 he married Katherine Downs and settled on a farm in Springfield township, where they are still living in the enjoyment of general esteem. Their long and happy married life has been blessed by the birth of four children, two of whom are living, a son and a daughter, the others dying in infancy. The daughter is Jennie, wife of M. V. Whitcraft, of Springfield township. Newton J. Overly, the surviving son, was born on the family homestead in Ross county, March 21, 1860, and as soon as he reached manhood began farming on his own account. and continued to live in Springfield township for over

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thirty years. In 1893 he removed to Chillicothe and undertook gardening, which for some years constituted his regular and only occupation. In the spring of 1899 he was appointed truant officer for the city of Chillicothe, and he has since held that position, being also ex-officio assistant. city librarian. February 23, 1882, he was married to Mary Niles, of Gallia county, by whom he has five children : Laura, Janet, Clara, Mamie, and Oliver. The family are commuicants of the Christian church and Mr. Overly is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.

James H. Pake, M. D., a prominent practitioner of Bainbridge and vicinity, is a native of Muskingum county, Ohio. His literary education was obtained at Zanesville and Pageville academy. In 1880 he entered Starling college at Columbus, Ohio, from which institution he was graduated in 1883 with the degree of M. D. During the following six years he practiced his profession in Cheshire, Gallia county, and the same length of time at Middleport, Ohio. In 1896, he located at Bainbridge, in the county of Ross, and that has been his place of business ever since. Dr. Pake has built up a good patronage, his practice extending over portions of Ross and Pike counties. He is ambitious as well as energetic, and, desiring to keep abreast of the latest discoveries in medical science, took a post-graduate course at the New York Polyclinic in 1889. He has made a special study of tuberculosis and naturally takes a deep interest in everything which promises a cheek to that insidious disease. Dr. Fake is a member of the Ohio State Medical society and also of the Medical association in Meigs county. His fraternal relations are confined to membership in the orders of Freemasonry and Odd Fellows. In 1879 he was married to Mary Armstrong, of Downington, Meigs county, O.

Benjamin F. Parker is a native of Ross county, born at Hopetown, August 12, 1839. His parents were Job R. and Eleanor (Longan) Parker, both Pennsylvanians, the former born March 22, 1793, and the latter on December 29, 1800. The father learned the cabinet-maker^'s trade, at which he worked until his removal to Ross county. His marriage took place March 14, 1822, and he came to Ohio in the same year, accompanied by a colony of Pennsylvanians, numbering some ten or twelve families. Soon after his arrival he rented a farm, and with the exception of a few years spent at Chillicothe as proprietor of a huckster wagon, he devoted his whole life to the business of farming. He served as constable and member of the school board in Springfield township. His death took place on February 10, 1852, while he was living on the Judge James McClintick farm, his wife surviving him until August 8, 1886. They had a family of twelve children. Of these, Joseph, Nancy, Samuel,

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James, Job R., Charles D., William and Isaac N. are dead, the last mentioned being killed at the battle of Monocacy. There were two sets of twins ; John L. and Joseph being the first, and the others Benjamin F. and Isaac W. Thomas S. resides in Chillicothe, and Mary Jane is the widow of William H. Abernathy, of the same city. Benjamin F. Parker, who was one of the last pair of twins, remained at home helping on the farm until the outbreak of the civil war. April 19, 1861, he enlisted in the company of Capt. George W. Fisk, but the call being full this command was not accepted but continued in camp drilling. July 27, 1861, Mr. Parker enlisted in Company A, Eighteenth Ohio regiment, under Capt. H. R. Miller. During the occupation of Bowling Green, Ky., Mr. Parker was in the hospital with measles, and while on his way after that to join his regiment, he was captured at Pulaski, Tenn. This occurred May 1, 1862, and he was held prisoner for nine months, being exchanged February 4, 1863. He rejoined his company at once and with it took part in the Tullahoma campaign, the battles of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Nashville, Decatur and other engagements. Later the command (vas sent to Chattanooga, from there to Augusta, Ga., and was mustered out at that place October 9, 1865. The military record of the Parker family is unusually creditable. Including Benjamin, eight of the sons of Job R. Parker served as Union soldiers during the civil war. Isaac N. was killed, as previously stated, and Job died from the effects of wounds. Benjamin F. refused several offers of promotion, preferring to serve in the ranks. Immediately after his discharge he came directly to Chillicothe, where he lived until March 17, 1867. At that time he was married to Eliza Abernathy, after which he removed to a rented farm in Union township, where he lived until he bought the place where he now resides. e and his wife became the parents of twelve children. Of these, Anna, Elmer, William F. and Arthur Earl are dead. Olive L. is the wife of Charles Hibbler, of Fayette county; Mary F. resides in Chillicothe, Thomas J. in Bainbridge, and Job R. in Lancaster ; Nellie is the wife of Arthur D. Shafer, of Bourneville ; David X. is at Washington C. H., and Boyd and Joseph T. are at home. Mr. Parker, since he has settled own in life, has been a general farmer and stock-raiser. He has served as constable of his township for several terms and has been a member of the school board. His polities are Republican and since 1853 he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

John W. Parker was born in Jackson county, Ohio, October 15, 1851. His parents were David J. and Elizabeth (Muncie) Parker, the former of whom was born August 26, 1827, in Jackson county. After his marriage he settled on a farm of forty acres but later sold this place and went to Iowa. Afterward he returned to Jackson

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county and in 1865 purchased land in Union township, Ross county. He prospered and from time to time his real estate holdings increased, the original purchase of 80 acres being enlarged to 102 and finally to 146 acres of good land. The estate has been much improved in the way of fencing, outbuildings and other equipments of up-to-date farms. Mr. Parker's wife died November 24, 1888, but he himself lives with his son John. There were six children in all, of whom the first born, Lucetta J., is dead, and two died in infancy. William lives in Chillicothe and John is on the home place, Elvira married John Bochard, of Clarksburg. John W. Parker was about five years old when he went west with his father. They lived there for three years before deciding to return to Ohio, and through all the subsequent wanderings and changes, John W. has always remained with his father and he has had charge of the home place for many years. September 10, 1890, he was married to Miss Anna Johnson, by whom he has two children, Hazel M. and Cecil B., both attending school. Mr. Parker and wife, as well as his father, are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

A. Frank Parrett, of South Salem, was born, bred and educated in Buckskin township, Ross county. e is the eldest son of Strawder J. Parrett, whose father, George Parrett, came from the Shenandoah valley of Virginia in 1814 and settled on the second tract of land surveyed in Buckskin township. Frederick Parrett, father of George and grandfather of Strawder Parrett, served in the Continental army and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. The founder of the Virginia family of Parretts came from Switzerland to America as early as 1730; settled in the colony of Virginia and raised a family of seven sons, every one of whom served as a soldier in the war for American independence. Along with this emigrant from Switzerland in 1730 came a man named Wilkins, whose son Henry went from Virginia to Ohio in 1802, just prior to the admission of the state into the Union. This Henry Wilkins had a daughter named Milly, who married George Parrett, and became the mother of Strawder J. Parrett. They had seven other children whose biographies are thus briefly condensed: Rachel married Anderson Wilson, of Buckskin township, went with him to Indiana and settled on a farm near Logansport, where she died in 1843; Maria became the wife of Daniel Kline and they are living in Buckskin township ; Henry A. lived in Buckskin township until 1851 when he removed to Illinois and died there in September, 1895 ; Eliza Ann married Isaac James and died March 18, 1883 ; Margaret May, now the widow of Thomas Murry, is living in Buckskin township ; Alfred A. died in 1854, and F. F. Perrett is a prosperous farmer now living in Buckskin township. Strawder J. Parrett was educated in the district schools and at the South Salem

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academy. After leaving school he embarked in agricultural pursuits and soon established himself as one of the successful farmers and stock-raisers of Ross county. He has long been prominent in the business and political affairs of his community and strongly interested in the public welfare. He belonged to the sturdy band who took a stand for freedom away hack in the trying days and cast his first vote for John C. Fremont, anti-slavery candidate for president; became a charter member of the rising young Republican party, and has always been a stanch advocate of its principles. As a member of the state militia during the civil war, he took part in the pursuit of John Morgan during that officer's daring raid into Ohio. Mr. Parrett has several times held the responsible position of trustee of his township. The family are members of the Presbyterian church and he has been a trustee of the Salem academy for over thirty years. In 1860, Strawder Parrett was married to Sarah A., daughter of William Latta, a native of Pennsylvania of Irish descent who settled in Ohio about the year 1800. Mr. and Mrs. Parrett have three living children : Albina A., married to Thomas A. Rogers ; William Latta, living on the home farm, and A. Frank. A. Frank Parrett received his education at the Salem academy, after which he embarked in farming and stock-raising. e soon obtained recognition as one of the most successful of the younger generation of Buckskin township agriculturists. He makes a specialty of stock feeding and understands every feature necessary to make that business successful. In 1898, he was elected trustee of Buckskin township and was re-elected to the same position in 1901, being now in his second term. He has made a good officer and conservatively safequards the interests of the people. In 1884, he was married to Dora A., daughter of William A. Kerr, member of one of the oldest of the Buckskin township families. Mr. Parrett and family are members of the Presbyterian church, and he is one of the members of the township school board.

H. C. Parrett was born in Buckskin township, Ross county, Ohio, in 1825 ; the son of Joseph F. Parrett and grandson of Frederick Parrett., who founded the family in Ross county. The earliest known ancestor came from beyond the seas, as far back as 1730, and settled in Virginia. He left a son named Frederick who raised a large family and had five sons in the Revolutionary war. It was one of his sons, bearing the same name, who became the early settler of Ross county. The latter came from the Shenandoah valley of Virginia and settled in Buckskin township in October, 1S14. bringing with him four sons, Joseph F., George, Augustus Frederick and Henry, all of whom located in the same neighborhood, became farmers and raised families. His oldest son, John, had preceded the others to Ohio the year before and settled in Fayette county,

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where he spent the remainder of his life and where many of his descendants now live. Joseph F. Parrett, the second of the sons, lived for many years on the farm now owned y his son, W. J. Parrett, and there his death occurred in 1869. He left a family of eight sons: John H. (deceased), H. C., Absalom, Aaron, George F., M. J., W. J., and Augustus F. W. J. Parrett, the seventh of these sons, was reared and educated in Buckskin township. In 1862, when twenty years old, he enlisted in Company I, Eighty-first Ohio regiment, and served until he was wounded in front of Atlanta in 1864. This necessitated his retirement from the service and prevented any further participation in the war. In 1867, he was married to Alethea Galloway, of Xenia, Ohio, daughter of James C. Galloway. They have two children, Carrie D., and C. Sherman Parrett, both educated at the Salem academy and Wooster university. The family are members of the Presbyterian church and the father belongs to the Grand Army post at Lyndon. H. C. Parrett, the second son of Joseph F., was educated in the schools of Buckskin township and then embarked in farming as his life work. e started without advantages, but y steady industry has succeeded in establishing himself as one of the successful men of his community. In 1850 he took a wife in the person of Emily Welsheimer, of Pickaway county, who proved to be a most valuable helpmeet in all his future struggles. She was a loving and devoted wife up to the time of her death, November 5, 1885. They have five living children : Ostie, wife of John F. Putnam, hardware merchant of Greenfield; Mary and Jennie, at home; W. E., druggist at Santiago, Cal. ; Charley, merchant at Greenfield. Mr. Parrett is a man of patriotic and liberal views, Presbyterian in religion and Republican in politics. In addition to his farming interests, he was for thirteen years engaged in the drug business at Greenfield and made it a successful and profitable venture.

Peter J. Parrett was born and reared in Buckskin township, Ross county, and has spent his life on the old homestead where he now resides. His father, Henry Parrett, was one of the four sons of Frederick Parrett who settled in Buckskin township in 1814 and became prominent workers in the development of that section. Frederick Parrett was the father of a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters, and Henry Parrett was the youngest son. The Parrett family is numerous and from an early day has been a factor in the progress and growth of Ross county. Nearly alI of the male members became farmers and they have made excellent citizens in every sense of the word. Peter J. Parrett was educated in the public schools and at the Salem academy. As soon as he reached manhood he embarked in the useful and independent occupation of cultivating the soil and has achieved a success in his line. Mr. Par-

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rett has farmed and raised stock on an extensive scale and understands all branches of the business thoroughly. He is no politician and has never sought office, preferring to devote all his energies and time to his legitimate business. Like most of the connection of that name, he is a member of the Presbyterian church.

W. Edwin Parrett was born on the old homestead of his family about one mile east of Lyndon, Ross county, in September, 1850. His father, Henry Parrett, son of Frederick H. Parrett, was born in Virginia in 1806 and came from that state with his father, settling in Buckskin township, Ross county, in 1814. Henry Parrett became one of the successful farmers and stock-raisers of the county and one of the leading citizens. He was a fine singer and in the early clays taught vocal music y the old patent note system. He was leader in the congregational music in the Presbyterian church, and altogether an influential and notable character of his community. He spent his whole life in Buckskin township and died in April, 1883, much lamented. His son, W. Edwin Parrett, was educated in the public schools and at the Salem academy. After leaving school he returned to the old homestead and engaged in farming, making a specialty of raising Duroc Jersey hogs. In this branch of live stock business, Mr. Parrett has achieved quite a reputation and is regarded a skillful breeder. Mr. Parrett has taken an interest in local politics and all township affairs but has never been an office-seeker. In 1883, he was married to Henrietta Charlotte, daughter of Charles Christian Rindt, a native of Germany, for several years in business at Massieville, and now a merchant of Chillicothe. Mr. and Mrs. Parrett have two sons, one of whom, Ray Rindt Parrett, is attending Salem academy, and the other, Charles Edwin, is at home. The family are Presbyterians and Mr. Parrett is a deacon in the church of that denomination in Salem.

William A. Parrett was born in Buckskin township, Ross county, in 1860. His father, Col. John Parrett, was a considerable man in his day and active in all matters affecting his community. At one time he was colonel of the State militia and also filled various civil positions. Educated at the Salem academy, he studied law and was admitted to the bar, but changed his plans and never practiced the profession. He was of a restless and adventurous disposition, and, after teaching school for a while, joined the crowds who were seeking fortunes in the distant gold fields of California. He spent two years at the beginning of the 1850's on that far off coast, but finally wearied of wandering and returned to Lyndon, Ohio; then settled down to farming and stock-raising, and adhered to this employment until the time of his death in 1893. e married Sophia, daughter of William Cochran, an early settler of Ross county, and she survives.

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Their son, William A. Parrett, the third of a family of nine children, after receiving his education at Salem academy, taught in the district schools for a short time and then embarked in farming. In 1859, he took charge of the Lyndon flour and feed mills, with a saw mill attached, but still retained his interest in farming. He was elected treasurer of Buckskin township in 1897, and has been twice re-elected to the same office. In 1893 he was married to Etta D., daughter of Milton Seal, formerly of Highland county, but now living in Iowa. The family are members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Parrett also belongs to the Knights of Pythias.

George W. C. Perry was born in Jackson county, Ohio, November 19, 1859. His father was Robert Perry, a farmer then living near the city of Jackson, and Mr. Perry's earliest years were spent on his father's farm. He was the youngest of a family of eleven children, seven of whom, including himself, are now living. Mr. Perry, senior, was of English descent, his father having come to this country from England, following the footsteps of others of the name, the most notable bearer of it being his cousin, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the victor over the English in the celebrated naval battle of Lake Erie. An interesting chain of circumstance develops from this victory of Commodore Perry, in that the successes of General Harrison, clue, partly, to him, were what made Harrison available for the presidential nomination, and that he was first named for that honor by the Scioto Gazette, the paper with which G. W. C. Perry is now connected. Another member of the Perry family who achieved renown was Matthew G. Perry, brother of O. H. Perry. He served in the United States navy in the war of 1812 and in that with Mexico, and commanded the expedition to Japan in 1852-54, during which he concluded the treaty opening Japan to American commerce. He became commodore in 1841. William Stevens Perry, of Rhode Island, of the same family, was bishop of the Protestant Episcopal church and a well known writer on historical subjects, mostly concerned with church matters, such as "Documentary History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States" (1863-4), "Historical Collections of the American Colonial Church" (1871-8), "History of the American Episcopal Church," etc. G. W. C. Perry's mother was Sarah Stewart, a descendant of that sturdy Scotch-Irish stock which has had such an influence in this country. The combination of such stocks as these, Anglo-Saxon and Scotch-Irish, insures energy, perseverance and determination. G. W. C. Perry, early in life, gave evidence that he had inherited the characteristics of his forefathers. His original education was obtained in a district school until he was thirteen years of age. At this time, at an age when most boys are but beginning the path of education, without thought of striking out for themselves, George

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Perry made a long step toward independence by taking the examination for, and obtaining, a certificate authorizing him to teach school. At that early age he began a period of successful teaching which lasted for eighteen years. In the intervals of his work as teacher he attended the high school in Jackson, and a private academy in the same place, kept by Prof. Moses Gilmore, an instructor of the old school. For twelve consecutive years Mr. Perry taught in Jackson county. He then taught for six years in Ross county, the last five years at the "Rigby school," in the southern part of the county. In 1892 he gave up teaching to enter the newspaper field, coming to Chillicothe May 2 of that year, to become solicitor and advertising manager of the Scioto Gazette, with George H. Tyler. He continued in this position after the combination of the Gazette and the Chillicothe Leader, in 1893, until January 1, 1895, when he was appointed chief deputy and bookkeeper by Hugh W. Warner, sheriff of Ross comity. During all this time he was increasing his acquaintance with men, matters, and political affairs, so that when, on November 16, 1896, the Scioto Gazette company was organized, with him as a member of the board of directors, he was the very man for the position of business manager of the paper. Since that date he has controlled the business affairs of the company, and has managed the paper both wisely and well, how well only those who are associated in the business can fully appreciate. When he assumed charge of affairs the finances of the paper were by no means what might be desired: it needed building up in all departments, but especially in the business part. e built it p ; made improvements of every sort ; increased the circulation of the paper and its consequent value as an advertising medium; and today the Scioto Gazette stands in an enviable position, thanks very largely to Mr. Perry's energy and business acumen. Besides managing the affairs of the Gazette he has found time to serve as chief storekeeper for the Eleventh revenue district of Ohio, since 1899, and, in May, 1902, was honored with appointment by Governor Nash, as a member of the board of managers of the Ohio Reformatory, at Mansfield. He is a valued member of the orders of Elks, Odd Fellows and Red Men. On January 19, 1880, he married Rachel P. Brooks, of Jackson county. Of this marriage two daughters, Mabel S. and Vivian B., were born.

Peter Platter, late of Ross county, was a member of one of the families who became early settlers of Kentucky and Ohio and whose numerous descendants are scattered throughout many different states of the Union. He was born near Locust. Grove, Adams county, Ohio, November 21, 1804, on of Peter and Sarah (Crabbe) Platter. Peter Platter was born in Germany, September 21, 1758, and was seven years old when his parents (Joseph and Anna Barbara Platter) came to this country, settling first in Maryland and later in Penn-

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sylvania, where they died. When he was eighteen years old he enlisted as a soldier to fight for American independence, bore an honorable part in the seven years' war, and participated in some of the most notable battles. After the war was over he returned home and in 1787 married Sarah Crabbe. In 1793, accompanied by Peter Wickersham, who had married his sister Mary, he started for Kentucky, the two men putting their household goods and families on board a flatboat and starting down the mighty Ohio in search of a home in the wilderness. They took along, of course, a complement of rifles for hunting and defense, and other articles essential to the hazardous life of pioneers. Landed on the Kentucky side below Maysville, and not a great distance from Blue Lick Springs, they remained in that locality for about seven years, but for various reasons became dissatisfied and concluded to seek another abiding place. The men of the party crossed the Ohio some time in the spring of 1800, and traveled until they reached what is now Adams county, halting near the present site of Locust Grove. The object was to prepare homes before bringing over their families who had been left behind in Kentucky. They built two cabins, one on the site of what. is now the hamlet of Palestine, and the other about one mile north of what is now the Hughes farm. Late in the fall of 1800 they returned to Kentucky and brought their families out to the new home. In 1811, Peter Platter traded his farm in Adams county for one of equal acreage in Haller's Bottom, Twin township, Ross county. To that place he removed his family, and there in the house now owned y David Shotts he lived until his death twenty-one years later, January 2, 1832. His wife Sarah followed him to the grave February 23 of the same year, at the age of sixty-one years. Their son Peter, subject of this sketch, was the ninth of thirteen children. e married Mary Ann Clark, and the children of this union were Corinna, Elizabeth, Cornelius, Alma, Emily, Thomas and Mary. His first wife dying, he was married a second time, to Sarah A. Nesbit, y whom he had four children : Willie (died in infancy), Louisa, Kate and Peter. Peter Platter Iived for some years on the old homestead of his father, but later removed to his farm about a mile and a half from Anderson, Ross county, where he spent about thirty-seven years of his life. He survived until May 23, 1891, when he closed his earthly career at the ripe old age of eighty-seven. His wife followed him to the grave on August 30, 1897, and they are buried in the family cemetery at Chillicothe. Peter Platter was one of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens of Ross county. For many years of his life he was an elder in the Third Presbyterian church of Chillicothe, and in all the relations of life he was a model citizen. Of his children, Corinna died in the seventies; Elizabeth married James McCommon and lives in Santa Fe, N. M.; Cornelius married Miss Irwin, of Oxford, Ohio,

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and lives in Red Oak, Iowa, where he has served as member of the legislature and is at present postmaster; Alma is the wife of W. E Evans and resides at Chillicothe ; Emily is married to Gideon Black stone and they live at Red Oak, Iowa ; Thomas married Eliza Clay pool, was in business at Chillicothe, but afterward removed to Omaha; Dr. Mary A. Platter graduated in 1893 from the Woman'; Medical College in Philadelphia, and in 1894 went. to India as medical missionary under the United Presbyterian board. The estate has been settled and divided, and Peter, Louie and Kate K are conducting the old home place. All the other twelve children of Peter and Sarah Platter married and raised families, whose descend ants may be found in many sections widely separated. The Platter family, taken as a whole, is noted for the sobriety, thrift and industry of its members, who have proved themselves to be useful men and women, law-abiding and patriotic citizens, and valuable member, of society wherever their lot is east.

George W. Plumly, prominent in railroad, religious and educational circles at Chillicothe, has been identified for twenty years with the city's development. He inherits his talent for railroad affairs, as his father was connected with that business for forty years. Burton S. Plumly was a. native of Pennsylvania, where his ancestors had lived for several generations, but came to Ohio in early manhood in search of opportunity for earning a livelihood. For some years he had charge of a nursery at Marietta, but later drifted into the railroad business and for forty consecutive years was in the employment of the old Marietta & Cincinnati, now the Baltimore & Ohio South-western, as agent and operator. His son, George W. Plumly, was born at Big Run, Athens county, Ohio, April 20, 1860, and remained in his native place until 1877, when he secured a position as telegraph operator and agent at Vincent Station, Washington county, Ohio. Subsequently he did extra work as operator and agent in various places, including two years at Musselman's as joint agent for the Marietta & Cincinnati and Dayton & Southeastern, making his home at Chillicothe since 1882. May 1, 1884, he was appointed train dispatcher at Chillicothe and from that time on has been closely connected with the city's social and industrial life. In 1894 he was appointed chief train dispatcher and held that responsible place six years. January 1, 1900, he was promoted to the position of trainmaster for the Baltimore & Ohio, a place he has since occupied with entire satisfaction to all concerned. In the spring of 1895 Mr. Plumly was elected to represent the sixth ward of Chillicothe as member of the school board, and after serving one term was elected to the same position in 1900 from the fourth ward. From early boyhood he has been zealous in church work and from 1876 to 1882 he was superintendent of Sabbath school at Big Run and Stewart's

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in Athens county. Since coming to Chillicothe Mr. Plumly has been a member of the official board of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal church and conspicuous in all movements for moral improvement. He is also enthusiastic in Freemasonry, holding degrees in the lodge, chapter and commandery. September 28, 1880, he was married to Mary A. Graham, of Westmoreland county, Pa., by whom he has five children: Clarence J., Clara B., Leila A., Flora L. and Dorothy L.

William A. Plyley, a popular young farmer and former school-teacher of Concord township, comes of a family which stands well and deserves well of Ross county. His father and three uncles were Union soldiers during the civil war, one of them dying of starvation after a period of more than a year of indescribable horrors in the Andersonville prison pen. The founders of the Plyley family in this region were Henry and Christian Plyley, who came to Ohio froni Pennsylvania in 1815. They had eight children: John, Samuel, George, David, Emanuel, Martha, Margaret and Elizabeth. Of these, David and Elizabeth died in childhood ; John married and settled in Ross county, where two of his children now reside (Mary, wife of Clement James, and Mrs. Harriet White, a widow, both of Deerfield township) ; Samuel settled in Missouri, married and had children ; George became a resident of Fayette county; Martha married and lived in the same county; Margaret married and lived in Ross county. Emanuel, the youngest of these children of the pioneers, was six years old when they came to Ohio, and he was reared on the farm where the parents settled, and which is now owned by William A. Plyley. In his manhood years Emanuel Plyley was engaged in farming with success until the time of his death, which occurred in 188:3. e was first married to Mary Ross, by whom he had six children : Johnson, William A., David, Samuel, Mary and Margaret. His second wife was Mary Friedley, by whom he had no children. The sons of Emanuel all grew p to be stanch and true men, who fulfilled their duties well both to family and county. William A. Plyley served over three years as a soldier in the civil war; afterward married and has two daughters living at Greenfield, Ohio. e died of paralysis. David Plyley, who was a school-teacher and farmer, served in Sherman's army, was captured at the battle of Chickamauga, and sent to Andersonville; had an opportunity to escape but was too weak from starvation to avail himself of it, and traded his gold watch for bread which he gave to comrades who escaped and made their way to the Union lines. Samuel Plyley was born in 1840, married but had no children, served over three years in the Union army and died in 1896. Margaret Plyley married Edward A. Peasley and is now a widow, living at Waterloo, Fayette county, her only living child being William Peasley. Mary

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Plyley never married and died in 1869. Johnson, eldest son of Emanuel Plyley, was born 1830 in Concord township and there spent the whole of his life, the adult portion of which was devoted to farming. His military record, though brief, was creditable, consisting of participation in the repulse of John Morgan and service with the "hundred days' men" in the Virginia and Maryland campaign of 1864. In March. 1869, he was married to Mary E., daughter of Aaron Brittenham, an old resident of Ross county. She survived her marriage only five years, and died February 5; 1874, after which he married Mildred Grass, who lived only eleven months after marriage, dying December 24, 1876. She left one child that died in infancy. Johnson Plyley died May 6, 1897. Of the three children of his first marriage, a daughter and son died in infancy, the only survivor being William A. Plyley, who was born in Concord township, Ross county, November 24, 1871. After going through the district schools, with a view to qualifying himself as a teacher, he took a course at the Normal university in Lebanon. Later, he taught a term or two, but his main business has been that of fanning and to this ancestral calling he addressed himself with commendable earnestness. In 1897, he was married to Martha B., daughter of Fielding Leach, of Jackson county. They have had two children. Vivian B., born 1898,. and Victor L., born March, 1902, but the latter lived only one month.

Edward J. Pohlman, proprietor of the fashionable merchant tailoring establishment at No. 43 North Paint street in Chillicothe, is one of the representative German-American citizens of the Ross county capital. Both of his parents were natives of Germany and did not become acquainted until after their emigration to Cincinnati, where they met and married. The father, Frank Pohlman, was a skillful merchant tailor and became very popular and prosperous in the prosecution of his business in the Queen city. He formed a partnership which became widely known as Luken & Pohlman and did an extensive business for many years in and around the Ohio metropolis. When the junior partner died, January 5, 1899, he was found to be possessed of considerable property, the accumulation of a busy and industrious life. Frank Pohlman and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Lammers, were the parents of twelve children, of whom only six are living: Frank, Joseph, Edward, Charles, Mary and Arthur. The mother resides with her children at Bond Hill, a suburb of Cincinnati. Edward J. Pohlman was born in Cincinnati July 24, 1860, was thoroughly trained in the tailoring business by his experienced father and worked as a journeyman in his native city for nine years. In 1885, he located in Chillicothe and worked as a cutter three years in Chillicothe and three years with Peters & Trout, Lancaster, Ohio. Then the established the business on Paint street,

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Chillicothe. He enjoys a fine trade among the most desirable class of customers, who are attracted by the large and varied stock from which to select as well as by the courteous treatment and care bestowed upon the filling of all orders. May 4, 1887, Mr. Pohlman was married to Frances Margaret, daughter of John and Elizabeth Kaiser, who located in Chillicothe in 1852. Mr. Kaiser was for many years a popular confectioner, a business he carried on until his death, March 9, 1898, his wife surviving until November 5, 1901. Their living children are Christina, Catherine, Edward; Anna, wife of Michael Helfrich of Washington Court House, Ohio ; Mrs. Teckla Brandle, of Chillicothe, who has one child, Edwin; Mrs. Caroline Kem, of Chillicothe; Mrs. Frances M. Pohlman; John, a grocer in Chillicothe, and Elnora. Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Pohlman have two children, Hortense and Mary, and the family are members of St. Peter's Catholic church. Mr. Pohlman is a member of the order of Elks, in Chillicothe lodge, No. 52.

William Pool was born December 3, 1816, in Fayette county, Ohio. The first of his family in Ohio was his grandfather, a Virginian, who came into the new country to prospect for a home, and having selected it, returned and brought out his son William (father of the subject of this sketch), who was a young married man with one child. They came over the trails and pioneer mountain roads from their home in Virginia, with the young wife and child mounted on an old horse, which was the only means of transportation that their means permitted them to buy for the journey. Reaching Ross county, the elder William Pool bought, in 1825, the farm on which his son William now resides. After living on this place several years he removed to Fayette county, which was his home for a considerable period. The old gentleman's recollection carried him back to the day when Ohio was still a howling wilderness, and the white and red men were fighting for supremacy all through the trans-Allegheny country. During the Indian troubles of 1800, he was taken in the general call for men to meet and cheek the savages of the wild tribe along the Ohio. e died in 1863 at the age of eighty-six years. William Pool, son of the foregoing, has always resided on the place his father first bought. in Ross county, which he purchased of the other heirs after the death of the father. e engaged in general farming and the raising of stock. He is proud of having been a lifelong Democrat, and at the age of eighty-six is a well preserved and companionable man. e had a sister, named Mima, who lived to the age of ninety-two years. Mr. Pool was married in 1840 to Nancy Houser, who died in 1869, and they had ten children. Of these, Sidney and Kate have passed away, besides two others who died in infancy; Eliza is the wife of Allen Fletcher, Luthera married Joseph Wonderly, William and Charles are at home, Everett

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lives at Londonderry, and Mary is the wife of Abraham Blazer, of Union township.

John H. Porter, deceased, was born in Twin township, Ross county, July 5, 1834. His parents were Joshua and Rachel ( Henry) Porter, the former born on December 21, 1802, near Chillicothe, and the latter in February, 1809, in the old state of Virginia. The pioneer of the family in Ross county was Peter Porter, father of Joshua, who came from Maryland. He married Isabella Mc Dill, a Virginia woman of Scotch descent, and they settled in Twin township, where they spent the rest of their days, his death occurring October 19, 1821, and hers in August, 1861. Joshua Porter married Rachel Henry on February 10, 1831, and shortly there-after the couple commenced housekeeping on part of the farm owned y Peter Porter. After a residence there of some four or five years, Joshua Porter bought 160 acres of land, which is still known as the Porter farm. This became his permanent abode until his death, which occurred on June 5, 1850, his wife surviving until August 5, 1887. Their family was composed of the following named six children: Isabella, wife of Alexander Taylor, of Bainbridge; John H., the subject of this sketch ; Mary J., wife of William R. Wilcox; William R.; Althea, wife of Samuel Hornback ; and Rosa F. The experiences of John H. Porter in early life were such as usually come to farmer boys in the days of their youth. He worked on the farm during the busy season and when the long evenings came, an effort was made y reading around the family fireside and attendance at the neighborhood school to lay up some book learning for future use. When he reached mature manhood and realized the necessity of settling down permanently, he found a valuable assistant in Mary Core, whom he married on January 25, 1860. This lady is descended from a family who settled in Ross county as early as 1807, finding a permanent location in Twin township. Mrs. Porter was born in the place where she now resides and where she has spent all the years of her life. After his marriage, Mr. Porter engaged in earnest. work as a farmer and stock-raiser, being regarded as an industrious man and exemplary citizen in all the duties of life. He voted with the Republican party, but. was never a seeker after office. He was a man of strong religious convictions and a lifelong member of the Presbyterian church, in which he held the position of trustee for over thirty years. e was a "cheerful giver," being always very liberal toward the support of the church and other good causes. Mr. Porter departed this life January 7, 1901, much lamented y all who knew him.

Joseph B. Posey, of Huntington township, is well known as a teacher, farmer and public official in that part of Ross county. His

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grandparents were Peter and Sarah Posey, Pennsylvanians of English and German descent, and farmers by occupation, who had six children, now all deceased--Mary, Sarah, Catherine, Louisa, Mark and Samuel P. Samuel R. Posey was born in Chester county, Pa., February 22, 1821; came to Pickaway county, Ohio, in 1849; married Mary M. Baum, of that county, and lived there three years, after which he removed to Ross county and settled in Twin township. Two years later he went to Huntington township, where he spent the next eighteen years, then returned to Twin township for a three years' stay after which Huntington was chosen as his permanent place of abode. He was a good business man and very successful farmer, making a specialty of stock and dealing extensively therein, accumulated over a thousand acres of land, was township trustee for several terms, and member of the school board for many years. e was about seventy-two at the time of his death. The widow resides with her daughter, Mrs. K. Hamm at Washington Court House, Ohio. Samuel R. Posey and wife were the parents of twelve children : Peter C., Joseph B., Samuel W., Mark L., Sarah E. (deceased), Martha F., Mary A., Louisa A., of Illinois; Katie I., of Fayette county, Ohio; Ida E., of Chillicothe; Isabel M., Huntington township ; and Maggie A., of Kingston, Ohio. Joseph B. Posey, second of the children in regular order, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, May 14, 1851. With a view to qualifying himself for educational work, he attended the Normal school at Frankfort, Ohio, and the Wesleyan university at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Beginning in 1879 he taught school in Huntington township during the winters and assisted on the farm in summer until 1888. He was married in 1876 to Susie J. Streevey, a native of Huntington township, by whom be had two children, George S., living in Indiana, and Anna J., wife of Harry McCandlish, of Indiana. The mother died May 15, 1880, and September 30, 1880, Mr. Posey was married to Emily 1). Finley, of Ross county, by whom he had five children: Mamie C., Ollie L., Clara B., Freddie S. and Joseph N. The second wife died January 24, 1897, after a week's illness with pneumonia, and Mr. Posey was married, for the third time, to Mrs. Barbara Spurrier, a native of Pike county. He has held various township offices, including assessor, justice of the peace for four consecutive terms, and member of the board of education for several years. e is a member of the Mount. Olivet. Methodist Episcopal church and Tecumseh lodge, No. 8O, Independent Order of Odd fellows.

Adam Quick, lately deceased, was a good sample of the sturdy race which comes from Germany and so strengthens the population of the United States by their habits of thrift, industry and obedience to the law. He was born in Hesse Darmstadt, April 5, 1827,

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emigrated to this country in early manhood and shortly after his arrival settled in Ross county, Ohio. e brought along with him no capital except a willingness and capacity for work, aided y a natural aptitude for business. e turned his hand to the first thing he found to do, which happened to be farm work and this he kept at until he saw a better opening at Chillicothe as laborer in a slaughter-house. As the result of his industry and economy he managed to save money enough to rent a place of his own, and this venture proved to be the turning point in his career. e got together the necessary equipments and opened a tavern, which soon became popular with the traveling public and made money for Mr. Quick. The latter proved to be one of' those rare geniuses who know how to keep a hotel, and "Quick's Tavern" in time became known far and wide as a most excellent place to get "accommodation for man and beast." As prosperity smiled upon him, Mr. Quick invested in real estate and when he died w as found to be in possession of 126 acres of as good land as the county afforded. e built a fine residence, which was unfortunately destroyed y fire in 1875, but he soon had another house on the site where he first began business and which is now occupied by his widow. He was regarded as one of the substantial and reliable men of his adopted city, and fulfilled all the duties of life .so well as to obtain the respect of the community both as business man and citizen. Mr. Quick married Elizabeth Rebstock and they became the parents of three children, of whom the only one now living is Adam Quick. of Columbus, Ohio. In 1852, Mr. Quick was married to Annie Heap, a native of Pennsylvania who was taken to England when two years old and lived there twelve years. She came to Ross county in early girlhood and has since made her home there. By her marriage with Mr. Quick she has one child, Mary E. Valentine, of Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Quick was a member of the German Lutheran church.

Thomas J. Ralstan, a well known Huntington township farmer, is living on land originally bought by one of his ancestors during the latter part of the eighteenth century. In fact he is a grandson of the second white man who settled in that part of Ross county now included in Huntington township. By general consent, William Richie was the first arrival, hut close after him came Benjamin Ralstan, who built his cabin in the hills of Huntington before 1800. He had come with his wife, formerly Margaret Henry, from Rockingham county, Va., making' the journey on horseback. Benjamin Ralstan bought from Henry Massie 600 acres of land, which from that day to this has remained in the possession of his posterity. About 1805 he set out an orchard which furnished apples for many generations of boys and some of the trees were still standing up to a very recent period. "Ben," as he was familiars called, like Nimrod

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in the Bible narrative, was a "mighty hunter in the land." Nothing pleased him so well as a rough and tumble chase after bear, deer or other big game, and if the traditions are correct, it was his love for this sport which eventually led to his death. While out hunting one very cold night, he lost his way in the woods and perished with cold before morning. Next day his body was found by the searchers in Streevey's hollow, not far from where one of his grandsons subsequently lived. Benjamin and Margaret. Ralston had a family of three sons and several daughters, most of whom were born in Ross county. Robert, the youngest of the boys, was born in 1795 and spent his whole life within a few rods of the place where his father first settled. During the ninety-six years of his existence he was never more than forty miles from home and is not. known to have ever rode on. the cars. He married Maria Taylor, daughter of Zachariah and Mary Taylor, early settlers in Buckskin township, and took possession of a hewed log house, which ever afterward con0stituted their abode. ere in the progress of years there grew up about them the unusually large number of fifteen children, whose names are thus recorded in the family register : Allen, now a resident of Pike county, O.; Rebecca, wife of Noah Freshour, of Vincennes, Ind.; Hiram, of Fayette county ; Emily, wife of Alexander Freshour, of Huntington township ; Benjamin, deceased; Thomas J., subject of this sketch; Margaret, wife of Joseph Cross, of Chillicothe; Jane E., wife of Samuel Edgerton, of South Salem; James, of Huntington township ; Robert, of Chillicothe, Ohio ; Malinda, Elizabeth, Rosa B., Wesley and Francis V. Robert Ralston died in 1891, about the time he had completed his ninety-sixth year, and his wife passed away when eighty years old. Thomas J. Ralston, sixth of this large family of children, was born in Ross county, April 8, 1842, on the farm in Huntington township, where he now resides, In early manhood he married Ada Streevey, who also has a distinguished pioneer ancestry running as far hack in the history of Huntington township as that of her husband. In fact the first founders of these respective families settled about the same time and were intimate friends. Many a hunt did Peter Streevey and Benjamin Ralston have together in the "good old days" when the woods were full of panthers, bear, deer and other lordly game. His son Peter was also a great hunter and tone of his adventures is still remembered in the township traditions and often talked over in the families of their descendants. One day, so runs the story, when Ben and Peter were out near Pinnacle Knob they heard the dogs barking p a big chestnut tree which had been broken off at the top some forty feet from the ground. Peter Streevey climbed this tree and thrust his pole down, with the result that Mr. Bruin soon emerged and climbed down on one side, while his nut-suer lost no time in hastening down the other. Ralston, with the aid of the dogs, killed the old bear

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and later Streevey reascended the stump and captured two frisky cubs which he carried home alive. Paul Streevey served in the revolutionary war, and had three boys, Daniel, Joseph and Peter, who were soldiers in the war of 1812. After his marriage to Miss Streevey, Thomas J. Ralstan settled on the place of 200 acres, which was his share of his father's estate, and this he has cultivated successfully. Recently he built a neat frame house which is the latest of the many improvements he has added to his patrimony since coming into possession. Mr. and Mrs. Ralstan have one child, Georgie by name.

George and Jeremiah B. Ratcliff, general merchants, of Gillespieville, are the sons of Jeremiah Ratcliff and grandsons of John and Rachel (Ray) Ratcliff, natives of North Carolina who came to Ross county in 1804. They settled in Liberty township and later removed to what is now Vinton county, where they died, John Ratcliff in 1846 and his wife in 1873. They had a family of twelve children, of whom four are now living. One of these is Jeremiah Ratcliff, who was born in Hocking county on June 10, 1816, and has always resided within five miles of Londonderry. e is a fanner by occupation and at one time owned 400 acres of land. In 1847, he married Ruth Brown, daughter of George and Achsa (Dixon) Brown, of Vinton county. Jeremiah and his wife had five children, of whom George, William and Jeremiah B. are still living and John W. and Thomas are dead. George Ratcliff was born August 7, 1848, was educated in the common schools and started in life as clerk for his uncle, Thomas Ratcliff, at Londonderry. In 1870 he formed a partnership with his father in the mercantile business and after four years the latter gave his interests to his other son, John W. The brothers continued the business until 1884, when Jeremiah B. entered the partnership with his brothers and the firm became known as Ratcliff Bros., and so continued for some time, or until John W. withdrew from the firm and took charge of the hardware department. At this juncture the present firm was organized, John W. continuing for some time in charge of the hardware but later engaging in farming until his death. George Ratcliff, the elder member of the firm, has held the office of treasurer of his township for twelve years or more. He was married on July 2, 1873, to Eliza J. Jones, daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth (Ross) Jones. They have four living children, John R., George H, Ruth E., and Blanche A. Jeremiah B. Ratcliff, the younger member of the firm, was born in Vinton county, June 10, 1864, was educated in the common schools, and in 1884, as stated, went into business with his brothers. He was married in 1895 to Elma, daughter of Mahlon and Rebecca (Jones) Dixon of Ross county, and they have two children, Harold and Ernest. Jeremiah Ratcliff is a member of Garfield

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lodge, No. 710, I. O. O. F., of Richmond Dale, also of the Gillespieville camp, No. 6,555, of Modern Woodmen. William Ratcliff, another brother, was born in Vinton county, on February 16, 1857. He received the ordinary common school education, has followed the business of farming and is now one of the county commissioners of Vinton county. He is a member of the Garfield lodge of Odd Fellows, at Richmond Dale. October 6, 1878, he was married to Nellie A., daughter of Nelson and Marina (Peecher) Graves, of Ross county. They have two children, Clifford and Louise.

J. Ernest Ratcliff, recorder of Ross county, was born in Liberty township of that county on September 9, 1875. His parents were John W. and Ella S. ( Molter) Ratcliff, both natives of Ross county. The father was born in 1852, and at the time of his death on August 17, 1899, was a well-to-do farmer. The mother was born March 29, 1855, and passed away on April 1, 1899, only a few months before her husband. They had a family of eight children, only three of whom are living. The latter are Hattie M., Elizabeth and J. Ernest, the others all dying in childhood. Hattie M., the eldest sister, is the wife of S. W. Arganbright, a farmer on the old homestead, and the youngest of the family resides with them. J. Ernest Ratcliff was educated in the schools of Liberty township and was graduated from the high school in 1891. His father had been a merchant at Londonderry for twenty-five years and the became a partner with him after completing his school course. This business was disposed of by sale in 1892, and the family removed to their farm. There Mr. Ratcliff remained until 1895, when he accepted the position of deputy county recorder under Lee DesMartin and served for six years in that capacity. In the fall of 1900, Mr. Ratcliff was nominated y the Republican party as candidate for the office of county recorder. At the ensuing election he was chosen by the people, and he took charge of the office on the first Monday of September, 1901. He enjoys the distinction of being the youngest county officer in Ohio, being elected when twenty-five, and is especially well qualified for the position he holds, owing to the fact that he is an unusually fine penman. This valuable gift was not the result of training or extra cultivation, but came to him naturally. His records, during the six years or more in which he did that work, are pronounced perfect by expert judges. In fact, his chirography is as perfect as such work can be made, equaling, if it does not excel, that of the professional penman in our business colleges. November 24, 1894, Mr. Ratcliff was married to Lola F., daughter of John and Nettie (Cotterell) Young. Mrs. Ratcliff was born, reared and educated in Gallia county, Ohio. Both husband and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Ratcliff is a member of Tecumseh lodge, No. 80, I. O. O. F., of Chillicothe. Politically he is a

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staunch Republican and a worker among the young men of his party. His grandfather, Jeremiah Ratcliff, is living at the age of eighty-six years in the enjoyment of good health, his wife having died recently also well advanced in years.

Lorenzo D. Ray, M. D., of Gillespieville, was born in Jackson county, August 3, 1848. His parents were John G. and Louisa (Dixon) Ray, both natives of Vinton county, Ohio. John G. was the son of Teague and Amy (Graves) Ray, the former of North Carolina and the latter born in Kentucky, while her parents were on the way to Ohio in 1805. Teague was a son of Thomas and Charity (Teague) Ray, both North Carolinians who came to Ross county in 1805, and settled in Jefferson township on a farm now owned y George Rittenour, but soon went on Middle fork of Salt Creek, two miles west of Ray, where they spent the balance of their days, and left a family of seven children. Teague and Amy (Graves) Ray spent their lives on the same farm and there reared a family of eight children. Their son Jonathan lives on the home farm at the age of seventy-one years ; Joseph and Nancy live in Illinois, and Charity at Wellston, Ohio. John G. Ray was a farmer by occupation, held the office of justice of the peace about thirty years and died in Jackson county in 1896, his wife having passed away in the preceding year. All of their seven children are living, four of them being doctors and one a lawyer. Dr. Lorenzo D. Ray was reared on the farm and educated at the National Normal university in Lebanon, O. Thereafter, until the year 1883, he was engaged in teaching. In 1887 he was graduated from the Rush Medical college of Chicago, and shortly thereafter he entered upon the practice of his profession in Wapello county, Iowa. In 1897 he came to Londonderry, O., at which place he resumed the active practice of medicine. April 13, 1871, he was married to Francis M., daughter of George W. and Euphama (Milner) Brooks, who came to Jackson county, Ohio, about the year 1849. By this marriage Dr. Ray had three children. Of these, Minnie V. is the wife of Tilson Gallagher, of Jackson, O. Nettie V. is married to N. C. Manlove, of Dayton, O.; and Victor L. is a telegraph operator at Byer, O. The mother of these children died January 20, 1898. On December 31, 1901, Dr. Ray was married to Mrs. Maria Benson, of Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Ray is a member of Mineral lodge, No. 259, A. IF. & A. M. of Hamden Junction, O.; of Clinton chapter and council at Ottumwa, Iowa ; Malta commandery, Knights Templar, No. 31, at Ottumwa ; Benedict lodge. No. 586, I. O. O. F., of Blakesburg, Iowa ; and Camp, No. 62, W. O. W., of Blakesburg. The doctor has never been an office seeker, although in early life he held the place of justice of the peace in Jackson county, and in the spring of 1902 he was elected justice of the peace of Liberty township.

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Amos Raymond, the well known veterinary surgeon of Kingston, has been in touch with Ross county affairs for more than half a century. Though a native of one of the neighboring counties, he was brought. to Ross by his parents when only nine years old and most of his active life and work has been within her limits. In youth he acquired knowledge of the useful and honorable trade of shoemaking and he has made boots and shoes for two generations of Ross county boys and girls. When Mr. Raymond was a. boy he acquired a taste for horse-trading, which soon grew into a passion, and before he was out of his "teens" he was a match for the best of them in the art of judging, buying and selling the equine animal. This constant association with horses necessitated a study of their habits, characteristics, needs and ailments. Motives financial as well as humanitarian induced him to notice when his horses were sick and, if possible, to devise remedies to cure them. In other words, the groundwork was laid for the study of veterinary surgery, one of the more useful of all the branches of the great science of healing, in which Mr. Raymond by degrees became an adept, and which he afterward took up professionally and has practiced for more than forty years. Nor has his work been confined to that noble animal which has well been defined as man's earliest and most faithful friend among all the orders of quadrupeds. He has studied and successfully treated domestic animals of all kinds, in accordance with the teaching of modern civilization that man's dumb friends are entitled to the best care that can be given them. By studying and practicing so assiduously one branch of medical science, Mr. Raymond naturally absorbed much knowledge of other departments and is well versed in the general theory and practice of medicine. In fact, he has performed some cures of diseases in his own family which had baffled the skill of the professional physicians. His father was Daniel Raymond, a native of Adams county, Pa., who learned the house carpenter's trade in Philadelphia and came to Pickaway county, Ohio, in 1827, when twenty-two years old. There he met and married Margaret Overmeyer, who had been brought to the same county by her parents when a child. Both died in Fairfield county, the father, March 10, 1875, in his seventy-first year, and the mother in August, 1880, when seventy-three years old. They had a family of eleven children, of whom nine are living in different parts of the South and West. Amos Raymond was born in Pickaway county, November 4, 1829, and when sixteen years old began an apprenticeship to the shoemaker's trade, after his family settled at Adelphi, in Ross county. When he had fully qualified himself he worked at his trade in Adelphi for thirty years, and there and elsewhere has been in that business more or less for over fifty-two years. In 1876 he located on a farm in Pickaway county, and two years later bought a place in Salt Creek township, where he resided until 1884. In that year

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he purchased property in Prairie View, where he made his residence until 1890 and then settled permanently at Kingston. During all these removals and changes, in whatever place or county he resided, Dr. Raymond practiced his profession or worked at his trade as the exigencies of they occasion permitted or demanded. e takes a pardonable pride in recalling that he was one of the organizers of the Republican party and participated actively in all of the early political battles against slavery extension. His first presidential vote was cast for Gen. Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate for president in 1852. He voted for General Fremont in 1856 and for every subsequent Republican candidate for the presidency. e has held various minor offices, serving many years as member of the Adelphi school board, and in 1899 was elected justice of the peace in Green township for a term of three years. He has always been an ardent friend of universal education and was one of the board under whose jurisdiction the large and valuable school-house at Adelphi was erected. He is an unusually well informed man, especially on historical and medical subjects, concerning which he has been an omnivorous reader and close student all his life. January 1, 1852, Dr. Raymond was married to Mary Binkley, born at Tarlton, Pickaway county, November 29, 1834, and the half century which has followed that event has been replete with mutual self-sacrifice and affectionate devotion to each other's welfare. Of their eleven children, consisting of six sons and five daughters, they reared to maturity all but one, that being the third born. The full list is : William, Henry, Ettie Howard, James Finlay, Charles Carey, Addie May, Hattie Lucilla, Minnie Lincoln, Joseph, Clinton, Edwin Stanton and Jessie Fremont. William, the eldest, died at the age of twenty-six years. All the living children are married and in business for themselves in various localities. Mrs. Raymond is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, but Dr. Raymond is not affiliated with any religious organization.

Engelhart R. Rebstock, now leading a retired life in Hallsville, Ohio, after a successful career as a mechanic, is a sample of that excellent citizenship obtained by the United States through German channels. His parents, Christian and Madeline (Janna) Rebstock, came from the fatherland in 1845, and located at Chillicothe. In that city, Christian for some time conducted a store, which he afterward moved on Little Walnut, about nine miles from Chillicothe. His wife died October 15, 1852, and his death occurred November 5, 1868. They reared a family of four sons and five daughters, three of the former still living. E. R. Rebstock, eighth of the children, was born in Germany, November 1, 1837, and crossed the ocean with his parents when about seven years old. He grew up in Chillicothe and learned the trade of wagon-making, which he was work-

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ing at in Green township when the civil war opened. He enlisted in Company B, Twenty-sixth regiment Ohio infantry, with which he served through many arduous campaigns. The principal battles in which he participated were those of Stone River, Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, not to mention numerous lighter engagements and skirmishes. e was severely wounded at the battle of Missionary Ridge, receiving a bullet in the right leg, which necessitated several months in the hospital and subsequent discharge on account of disability. This occurred March 29, 1864, after which Mr. Rebstock made his way back to Ohio and as soon as able resumed work at his trade in Hallsville. February 12. 1867, he was married at Hallsville to Mary Pontious, a native of Colerain township, and daughter of Conrad and Mary (Seebold) Pontious, both born in Union county, Pa., of German ancestry. Conrad Pontious settled in Ross county about 1822 and became one of the wealthiest farmers in Colerain township, owning 400 acres of land and much other valuable property. He reared a family of five children, of whom three are living, and died at the age of seventy-seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Rebstock have one son, Landis, born April 20, 1872, and a butcher by trade. He married Lydia, daughter of John Albin, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume, and has one child, Zelma Fay, born in 1896. Mr. Rebstock is a member of Bookwalter lodge, No. 155, Grand Army of the Republic. When he first commenced work at his trade he received only $25 for the first year, but did better later on, and continued the business for thirty-eight years, when he ceased operations in that line. e owns a good tract of land near Hallsville, which he cultivates in connection with stock-raising, and lives a retired life in the village, from which he superintends work on the farm.

Rev. Joseph Reinicke, pastor of the German Evangelical Salem church in Chillicothe, was born in Elgin, Ill., January 8, 1863. His father, Rev. Fritz G. Reinicke, a minister in the same denomination as himself, was born in 1834 in Luckenwalde, a town in Brandenburg, Prussia ; was, educated in Berlin, and came to America at the age of twenty-one years, establishing himself first in northern Illinois and later at Chicago. He was in active ministerial work for a period of forty-three years, from 1855 until 1898, when he retired. His first years in the ministry were spent as an organizer and his labors as an itinerant were arduous. He married Eva Young, who was born December 31, 1836, near Strasburg, Germany, of French ancestors, daughter of a forester in the employ of France in the province of Alsace. She was educated in Paris, and died near Chicago, on November 21, 1866. They had four children, two sons and two daughters, three of whom are living. Paul Gustave, the eldest of the children, died in infancy. Of the sisters, Martha

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is now Mrs. Zietlow, wife of a building contractor at Wausau, Wis. ; Mrs. Talitha Graves resides at the same place. Joseph Reinicke received his elementary education at Wausau, Wis., where ho attended school until the age of fourteen. Subsequently he entered the preparatory college of the church at Elmhurst, Ill., where he completed his preparations for entrance into the theological seminary at St. Louis, Mo., from which he was graduated in 1884. e was ordained the same year and his first charge was as assistant pastor in St. Paul's Evangelical church at Chicago. This was the same church of which his father had been assistant pastor so many years before, and under the same minister, the Rev. Joseph Hartman, now deceased. After spending one year at St. Paul's, Mr. Reinicke was called to the pastorate of a church at Tripoli; Iowa, where he remained six years. While at that place he built a parsonage, rebuilt the church, and altogether had a very successful pastorate. From Iowa, he went to Bremen, Ind., where he preached for two years, when he was called by the mission hoard to do mission work at Battle Creek, Mich. At that point, where he remained three years, he organized a congregation and built a church. In 1895 he was called to the pastorate of his present charge in Chillicothe. On June 22, 1887, he was married to Katherine Forler, of Niles, Mich., daughter of George K. Forler. Mr. and Mrs. Reinicke have five children : Fritz, a student in the Chillicothe high school; Marieanne, Katie, Margarete and Henrietta. Mr. Reinicke has a congregation at Chillicothe of 188 families, or 530 individual members entitled to communion. This church was established in 1881 by Rev. C. E. Clausen, who was pastor of the same for over ten years, and was succeeded y Rev. O. Schettler, who had charge for four and a half years, when he was followed by Mr. Reinicke. The latter has made substantial improvements in the church and parsonage, the spiritual life of the membership being in excellent condition.

John W. Remley, of East Springfield. was born in Ross county, O., June 24, 1861, the son of Thomas and Catharine A. (McNeal) Remley. Thomas was the son of Conrad Remley, who came to Ross county in an early period of the State's settlement and here spent his future life. His wife was the daughter of Thomas McNeal, a native of Ireland, who became a pioneer of Ross county. Thomas Remley followed the occupation of farming and died in 1890, his wife surviving him until 1893. Their son, John W. Remley, was reared on the farm and well educated in the common schools. He followed the example of his father and has devoted his whole life to the business of farming, now owning 100 acres of the old homestead. In January, 1896, he was married to Kate Overly, daughter of John Overly, deceased, formerly a farmer of West Springfield

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township. They have two children, whose names are Forest and Elwood.

Felix Renick, a civil war veteran and farmer, now living a retired life at Richmond Dale, bears a name known in many parts of the United States, but especially familiar in Ross and Pickaway counties, Ohio, where the family has long had numerous and influential representatives. The earliest known progenitors of this substantial stock were driven from Germany to Scotland by religious persecution, subsequent descendants finding their way to Ireland and thence to the United States. The first emigrants to this country were two Irish brothers who finally settled in Hardy county, W. Va., in the region watered by the South branch of the Potomac river. Felix Renick, a descendant of one of those early settlers, having heard of the beauty and fertility of the Scioto valley from soldiers who had served in Lord Dunmore's Indian war of 1774, concluded to visit and investigate this garden in the wilderness. About October 1, 1798, accompanied y two companions, be set out on horseback for a long and dangerous ride to the reported Eldorado. The little party met with many adventures and endured not a few hardships, but eventually reached Chillicothe and, after making an exploration of the surrounding country, returned to Virginia. This trip determined Felix Renick to seek a home in the new country, and accordingly he made a final emigration in 1801 to Ross county, which was ever afterward his place of residence. In connection with several of his kindred, a settlement was made at Highbank in Liberty township, where they bought a large tract for $2.50 per acre at the sale of government lands in Chillicothe. Felix Renick rose to prominence and influence in the county, his death occurring in 1848 as the result of an accident. By his wife, Hannah Lee, he was the father of George AV. Renick, born in Hardy county, W. Va., August 15, 1796, and brought to the new home in the west on horseback behind his mother. The elder Renick and some neighbors had employed a man named Wait to teach a private school for the accommodation of their children, and in this George W. obtained the rudiments of an education. This, however, he greatly increased in after life y reading and study, also acquiring a knowledge of surveying, which at that period was a valuable accomplishment. In 1825, he was married to Eliza McClean, of Chillicothe, by whom he had three children : William, Henry Edwin and John McClean. Losing his wife by death in 1835, Mr. Renick was married in February, 1838, to Harriet., daughter of Dennis McConnell, a farmer residing near Hopetown. The children of this second marriage were Dennis, Felix and George Joseph. During his long career as a citizen of Ross county, George W. Renick became a man of distinction and unusual popularity. After his first marriage he farmed for several

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years in Pickaway county and then, in association with his brother Henry, purchased a farm of 1,000 acres four miles from Chillicothe on the west. bank of the Scioto, which was ever afterward his place of residence. In 1852, when the Western farmers were becoming eager for thoroughbred stock of all kinds, especially fine cattle, Mr. Renick was appointed an agent of the Ross county importing society to proceed to England and obtain supplies from the best herds in that country for subsequent sale in Ohio. Accompanied by Dr. Watts, of Chillicothe, he discharged the duties of this trust with such good judgment as to receive the formal thanks of the society upon his return, besides a present of one of the cattle he had imported. He served two terms as county commissioner, often held positions in connection with the school hoards, and was at. one time tendered the nomination as representative of the county, but declined the honor. He was intensely patriotic during the civil war and rendered valuable aid to the Union cause, personally enlisting many soldiers, besides furnishing two of his. own sons to the army. His death occurred July 13, 1872, and few men have left to their posterity a more stainless name or the example of a more useful life. Felix, second son of George W. and Harriet (McConnell) Renick, was born in Scioto township February 14, 1841., and grew up on his father's farm. In early life he was engaged in the grocery business at Massieville for a short time and later for several years in the lumber business near Rochester, Ind., but his principal occupation has been farming. He was just twenty years old when the sullen mutterings of the storm which foreboded the civil war were heard throughout the land. A patriot himself and the son of a patriot, he lost no time in becoming one of the grand army of the republic which was then hurriedly marshaling to save the Union from destruction. Mr. Renick enlisted in Company B, Twenty-sixth regiment Ohio infantry, and served two years with this command. The principal engagement in which he participated was the great, battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, fought between the armies of Grant and Albert Sidney Johnston. e took part, also, in many skirmishes and minor engagements which, though considered small during the great war between the States, would have passed as heavy battles in many other wars. Mr. Renick's half-brother, John McClean Renick, was lieutenant of Company Al, First Ohio cavalry, and died while in service at Corinth, Miss., in 1802. In 1866, Felix Renick was married to Mary E., daughter of Charles and Martha (Robinson) White, of Athens, Ohio. Her father and the parents of her mother, Joseph and Jane (Simpson) Robinson, were natives of England, the last mentioned settling in Athens county in the pioneer period. Mr. and Mrs. Renick have two children : Ora J. and Harry Felix. Mr. Renick is a member of A. L. Brown post, No. 161, Grand Army of

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the Republic, at Chillicothe. The family are attendants of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Daniel Riehle was born in Twin township, Ross county, on June 7, 1868. The Ohio family of this name commences with Bartholomew Riehle, who was born in Germany July 23, 1794, emigrated with his family to this country and settled in Chillicothe. Being a poor man, he had to work by the, day for his living, but after a. few years he had succeeded in laying by enough to buy a small farm. The location of this property was in Huntington township, and there Bartholomew Riehle spent about. thirty years of his life. At the end of that time, thinking to better his condition, he removed to, the state of Minnesota, where he found a grave. Before leaving Germany he had been twice married and y the two wives there was a family of twenty-two children. Several of these died in infancy, the names of the others being George, Effie, Ellen, Mary E., Andrew, Henry, Ferdinand, Enzell, Francis, Betsy, John, Sophia, and Mary. Ferdinand, who became the father of the subject of this sketch, was compelled to face the cold world and work for his own living at the tender age of fourteen years. Securing employment by the month on a farm, he followed that occupation until the period when he thought himself qualified to marry. The lady of his choice was Elizabeth Freshour, to wlion he was united on February 5, 1860. Their first venture in home keeping was on what is known as the Jack Freshour farm, where they resided for ten years, after which another place was rented as their abode for ten more years. At the expiration of this period, the head of the house bought a farm of his own, on which he resided during the remainder of his life. He was successful as a farmer and stock-raiser, and owned about 500 acres of land at the time of his death, which occurred in July, 1897, his wife having preceded him to the grave in February, 18 95. Of their eight children, Ocie, Andrew and. Andrew R. have passed away; Sarah E. is the wife of Wesley Shoemaker Mary M. is married to Joseph Baum and lives in Missouri ; John H. resides in Twin township ; Daniel is the subject of this article ; and James F. lives with his sister on the old home place. Daniel Riehle pursued the life usually allotted to farm boys, picking p his education y irregular attendance at the district school and doing chores meanwhile around his father's place. He remained at home until he was twenty-two and when he made p his mind to marry and settle down, selected as his life mate Allie M. Rinehart, to whom he was. united on September 10, 1892. Shortly afterward they took in the battle of life as occupants of a farm in Twin township, where they lived and labored for four years. By that time Mr. Riehle's circumstances justified him in purchasing M8 acres. of land on which he has since

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resided. e carries on general farming and stock-raising, has built a fine barn which is up-to-date in every respect, and his entire place shows all the indications of thrift and comfort.

George C. Rittenour, of Richmond Dale, was born March 11, 1825, in Ross county, on the farm settled by his grandfather in the preceding century. His parents were Jacob and Ann Claypool Rittenour, both Virginians, the former born in 1787 in Frederick county and the latter in 1790, in Randolph county. Jacob was a son of Anthony Rittenour, born in 1752, who married Margaret Slusher, of Virginia. Anthony's father, named John, was a German who came to Virginia in a very early day. Anthony Rittenour came to Ross county, Ohio, in 1799, and settled in Jefferson township near the place where his grandson now resides. The grandfather owned about 600 acres of land and was a man of consequence in his day. He was a member of the Methodist church and the first religious services of that then sparsely settled section were held at his house. e was well acquainted with the pioneer preachers of the day, and among those who preached at his house was the famous Peter Cartwright. He donated one acre of ground (which is now included in the Jefferson township cemetery) and bore the greater part of the expense incurred in the erection of a stone church for the use of the Methodist congregation. Anthony Rittenour died in 1835 and his wife followed him to the grave in 1837. They had a family of six sons and two daughters. All the sons, except Jacob and those who died in youth and young manhood found homes in Indiana. Jacob Rittenour united with the Methodist church at the early age of fourteen years and remained a consistent member until his death, his membership covering a period of nearly eighty-two years. He died in 1883, at the age of ninety-five years and eight months to a day. His wife, who died June 3, 1873, was a daughter of Abraham Claypool, son of James Claypool, a native of England who came to America in an early day. Abraham Claypool came to Ross county in 1799 and spent the rest of his days here. He was a member of the first constitutional convention and earnestly supported the clause prohibiting slavery. e was also a member of the senate of the first state legislature. His wife was Elizabeth Wilson, of the noted Virginia family of that name, whose ancestry was Scotch-Irish. Jacob Rittenour and wife had a family of four children, all of whom are dead except George Claypool Rittenour, the subject of this sketch. The latter was educated in the common schools of his county and, with but slight diversions, has devoted his whole life to farming. In association with John W. Rittenour, his nephew, and Austin and Nelson Purdum, he put up a block of buildings in Chillicothe which were afterward sold to Pr. Foulke. For several years, George C. Rittenour was interested in the hard-

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ware business in Chillicothe. He has been one of the most extensive and successful of the farmers of Jefferson township, owning a large amount of land in different sections of Ross county, including the old homestead place of 1,112 acres, and 200 acres about two miles from Chillicothe, known as the William Kerns farm. In addition to this he has 400 acres of land in Pike county, another 700 near Piketon, and over 500 at Sargent Station. In short he is one of the most prominent of the progressive farmers who have made the Buckeye state famous in the world of agriculture. He takes advantage of the latest improvements and produces the best results. Though a member of the Republican party from its organization, the only office he has held was that of township trustee during the war. When only twenty-five years old, he united with the Good Samaritan lodge, No. 164, I. O. O. F., at Richmond Dale, and he is a charter member of Garfield lodge, No. 710, of the same fraternal order. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. On September 1, 1857, Mr. Rittenour was married to Elizabeth C. Sargent, daughter of Thornton and Elizabeth (Mustard) Sargent, of Pike county. Her father owned one of the first grist mills in southern Ohio, built by Eli Sargent, her grandfather. Mr. and Mrs. Rittenour have three sons: Thornton Sargent Rittenour lives on a farm at Piketon, Ohio. He is married to Jennie Norton Rigby, daughter of John W. and Mathilda (Norton) Higby, of Franklin township. They have one son, named George Milley James Milton Rittenour resides on the farm with his father. e was married in Virginia to Sarah Alberta Norton, and they have one son, named George Norton. Henry Francis Rittenour resides at Sargent Station. He is married to Eliza Alice Du Bois, daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Jones) Du Bois, of Liberty, Jefferson township, and they have one son, named Everett Francis. The Rittenours are among the oldest, most substantial and most highly respected of Ohio families. Their ancestors came to the State when it was a wilderness and they and their successors have done their full share toward the development of this great commonwealth.

John D. Ritter was born in Chillicothe, O., December 24, 1859. His parents, Henry and Sophia (Stork) Ritter, were both natives of Baden, Germany, the father born July 4, 1817, and the mother May 21, 1822, and they were married in 1848, just before embarking for America. The father was a shoemaker by trade and operated in Chillicothe for many years until his retirement on account of ill health and infirmities. His mind failed, and for fifteen years he was taken care of y his son, John D., until his death on July 15, 1900. The mother died on December 15, 1885. They had a family of five children, of whom one died in infancy. Charles, who was a horseshoer in Chillicothe, married, had a family, and died, April 6,

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1902. Henry left his home and friends long ago and has not been heard of for many years, but is supposed to be living. Mary, the only daughter, died when she was sixteen years old. John D. Ritter, the youngest child, was educated in the Chillicothe public schools, and learned the blacksmith's trade in youth. By degrees he made a specialty of horse-shoing, and to that branch of the business he has practically devoted his whole life, having long since gained recognition as an expert in his line. He has done a great amount of work and usually employs two men as assistants. In December, 1879, he was married to Christina Wetzel, of Chillicothe, the daughter of Jacob Wetzel, who followed the occupation of a market gardener in the vicinity of the city. They have six children living: Ella, Ralph, Katie, Walter, Florence and Helen, all at home and in school. Politically Mr. Ritter is a Democrat and belongs to a Democratic family. He is a member of the German Lutheran church and of the order of Elks.

Hon. Huston T. Robins, probate judge of Ross county, Ohio, is a native of Bainhridge in the same county, where he was born on December 3, 1866. His parents were Charles and Elizabeth (Taylor) Robins, the former a Pennsylvanian and the latter, a daughter of the late Price Taylor, one of Ross county's prominent citizens. They were married in Bainbridge, where his father was in business as a merchant and later as a druggist, for many years, and is now one of the oldest residents there. Judge Robins was the only child, and his mother died in 1876. He received his education in the public schools of his native town and in the South Salem (Ohio) academy, from which institution he graduated in 1887. He then began teaching and followed that profession for four years, after which he was connected with the reportorial staff of the Chillicothe Leader for five years, during the latter part of which time he assisted in launching the Chillicothe Daily Gazette. Having put in his spare time studying law, he gave up the newspaper work and entered the law office of Judge W. E. Evans for the purpose of further pursuing his studies in that profession : and in May, 1 S95, he graduated from the Cincinnati Law School and was admitted to the bar. In 1899 he was nominated by the Republicans of Ross County for judge of the probate court, was elected in November of that year and took his office on February 9, 1900. Judge Robins was married June 2, 1897, to Miss Inez M, daughter of R. W. and Mary Roach, of Ross county. She was educated in the Chillicothe public schools. The judge and his wife are members of the First Presbyterian church, being regular attendants at the services, and his lineage traces hack to Presbyterian ancestors who were among the sturdiest adherents to that historic faith.

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Judson G. Robinson, one of the popular farmers of Concord township, Ross county, belongs to a family which owes its origin in America to a pretty romance of a kind that delights all who "love a lover." During the latter half of the eighteenth century, so the story runs, a young Irishman employed in his native country as coachman for Lord Somebody, was audacious enough to fall in love with his master's daughter, and, as sometimes happens in real life as well as in novels, the fine young lady reciprocated the affections of her humble admirer. But the parents, of course, objected, as they always do when wealth and title are on one side and poverty with humble birth on the other. Were this not the case, however, the "course of true love" would run smoothly instead of always roughly, as declared by the Shakesperean maxim. However this may be, the young Irishman and his lady love took the only step that was left to themthey defied parental authority and eloped to America. Usually the moral which follows in such cases is involved in that old saw about marrying in haste and repenting at leisure. But young Robinson and his bride, though they married in haste did not repent at all but "lived happily ever afterward." They located in Pennsylvania, worked industriously and accumulated considerable property. In course of time the parents of the bride relented and wrote for the runaway couple to return home, he forgiven and receive the parental blessing. But the proud pair rejected the overtures with scorn, obstinately refused to go back and even went so far as to reject their share of the legacy that was subsequently left them. From this self-respecting parentage sprang a numerous progeny, including a son named Joseph Robinson, who was born and grew to manhood in Pennsylvania. He married a Miss Thornton, migrated with her to Ohio, settled in Ross county and joined the industrious army that was cultivating the virgin soil of that rich agricultural region. Joseph Robinson was the father of five children, one of whom, named after himself, was born in Pennsylvania in 1803 and brought to Ohio while quite young. Joseph Robinson, Jr., grew up in Ross county and in early manhood married Mary, daughter of William Kilgore, who was a notable man in his day. A native of Virginia, he came to Ross county with the first rush of settlers, enlisted as a soldier in the war of 1812, rose to the rank of captain and was killed in battle. Joseph Robinson and his wife had twelve children, of whom ten grew to maturity. The youngest of this household was Judson G. Robinson, born in Buckskin township, Ross county, in 1848. After he grew up he entered naturally into the ancestral pursuit of agriculture and that has been his constant occupation since arriving at adult age. He was married in 1878 to Sallie Shobe, a native of Indiana, and they have five children : Bessie, Minnie, Harry, Della and Daisy. Mr. Robinson is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity.

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Rameal D. Robinson, M. D., of Hallsville, a recent recruit and promising addition to the younger members of the medical brotherhood in Ross county, is an Ohioan by nativity with a long and honorable lineage constituting his ancestral tree. It was in 1818, when the western wilderness was still an unknown land in the East, that Dr. Fenn Robinson left his home in Watkins, Schuyler county, N. Y., to seek a location for the practice of his profession. He crossed the mountains to the Alleghany river and went down that stream on one of those crude but useful mediums of communication known as a flatboat. After many delays he made his way to Meigs county, where he settled and for many years afterward pursued his vocation in Ohio and the neighboring state of Virginia. Before leaving the East, this oldtime physician had married a Miss Chapman by whom he had seven children, among the number being Phineas Robinson, whose birth occurred in Lewis county, N. Y., in 1803. The latter grew up to be a man of influence in the Whig and Republican parties and took a prominent part in the political contests of his time. Eventually, also, he accumulated much property and became a farmer on an extensive scale for those days. Ile sent many flatboat cargoes of wheat, flour and other products of the Ohio valley to the great southern mart at New Orleans and amassed wealth as the result of this primitive trade. Phineas Robinson married Sula Elliott, who through her mother was a descendant of Gen. Rufus Putnam, brother of the more celebrated Israel Putnam of Revolutionary fame. The wife died early in life but her husband survived until 1892. His son, E. D. Robinson, was born in Meigs county in April, 1841, was educated at the Chester Academy and afterward taught school for a while. About this time the civil war opened and he promptly enlisted in the Eighteenth regiment of Ohio volunteer infantry. He served the three months for which his command had been engaged and then reenlisted in Company A, Second West Virginia cavalry, with which he remained until the close of hostilities. He took part. in the battles of Winchester, Cedar Creek and Five Forks, receiving a wound on the last. mentioned field which caused his detention in hospital until after the surrender of Lee. He was mustered out in July, 1S65, with the rank of first lieutenant, returned to his farm in Meigs county, figured in politics on the Republican side, was elected sheriff twice and served out both terms. He is a member of the Masonic order and the Grand Army of the Republic. He married Emily F., daughter of Jeremiah and Emily (Dudley) Hoyt, and by her had seven children, of whom five are living. Included in this number is Dr. R. D. Robinson, who was born in Meigs county, Ohio, November 1, 1869, and in early youth became a graduate of the academy at Chester. After finishing his literary course, he entered the office of Dr. Rine at Long Bottom, and took up the study of medicine. This preliminary preparation

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having qualified him for the higher work, he matriculated at the Ohio Medical college in Cincinnati, and received his medical degree from that institution with the graduating class of 1893. Dr. Robinson first opened an office at Pomeroy, Ohio, but better inducements were offered at Hallsville, and there, accordingly, he settled in September, 1893. He received a friendly welcome and was soon numbered among the busy physicians, gradually building up a substantial and steadily growing patronage. He is a member of the Ross County Medical society, and his fraternal connections are with the Adelphi lodge, No. 675, Knights of Pythias, and Hallsville camp, No. 9,543, Modern Woodmen of America.

John L. Roemer, D. D., pastor of the First Presbyterian church at Chillicothe, though a comparatively young man has made an excellent record in various fields of usefulness. Ile was born at Wheeling, W. Va., attended the public schools of his native city and was prepared for college at the Linsly institute. After this preparatory course he matriculated at the University of West Virginia and was graduated with the class of 1889. Having determined on a ministerial career, the first steps toward qualifying for that noble calling were taken by entrance into the Western Theological seminary at Pitsburg, Pa. Three years of study in this institution resulted in a diploma and degree of Bachelor of Divinity, conferred with the class of 1892. His first ministerial work was performed as pastor of the church at Fairview, under the auspices of the Pittsburg presbytery. After a year devoted to this charge Mr. Roemer went in 1893 to Cleveland, Ohio, and devoted the following eight years to a prominent pastorate in that city. In January, 1901, he responded to a call to take charge of the First Presbyterian church at Chillicothe and has since retained that responsible position. He came highly recommended and has fully sustained the reputation gained at Cleveland, being highly esteemed by his Chillicothe congregation as well as others with whom he has come in contact. Mr. Roemer ranks high in Freemasonry, most of his work and promotions in connection with which took place while he was a resident at Cleveland, where he became a member of the Ellsworth lodge, No. 505, Free and Accepted Masons, of Hillman chapter and Lake Erie consistory. Since coming to Chillicothe he holds membership in Commandery No. 8, of that city. June 2, 1892, Mr. Roemer was united in matrimony to Lillie Pickenpaugh, an accomplished young lady of Morgantown, W. Va., who shares with him the high regard of the people of Chillicothe.

Nelson Park Rodgers, one of the substantial business men of Kingston, was born in Green township, Ross county, Ohio, May 12, 1841. His ancestors on both sides for several generations were

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natives of Westchester county, Pa. The Ross county branch of the family was founded by Matthew and Jane (Park) Rodgers, who came to Ohio at a remote period of the county's history and located in Green township ; subsequently removing to Pickaway county, where both terminated their lives. Their children were William, John P., Matthew, Elizabeth and Anna. John P. Rodgers, the second son, was born in Pennsylvania, December 16, 1808, and on May 29, 1832, was married to Sina Armstrong, born September 3, 1805. The parents of the latter were Andrew Armstrong, born November 7, 1774, and his wife, Michael Johnson, born May 17, 1768. John P. and Sina (Armstrong) Rodgers had a family of seven children : Thomas Cowen, Matthew Johnson, Ann Elizabeth, Nelson P., Joseph Marshall, Sarah Jane and Catherine Sterns. After coming to Ohio, John P. Rodgers spent most of his life in Ross county, pursuing his calling as a carpenter. He was a contractor and builder of more than ordinary mechanical skill and did some notable construction work in and around Kingston. The Presbyterian church in that city was built by him, and several other churches and buildings of importance in different parts of Green township were erected under his management. He died March 29, 1864, having survived his wife about nine years. Nelson P. Rodgers, the fourth child of this sterling couple, spent his boyhood and early youth on a farm. He had just reached the twenty-first year of his age when Governor Brough, of Ohio, made his call for enlistments in the hundred days' service. He joined this corps, which proved so useful in subsequent military operations, served out his full time and obtained an honorable discharge. Mr. Rodgers' first venture in business was as clerk for Frank Ford, at Kingston, and this position he retained until the proprietor closed out on account of ill health. During this service of more than seven years he was noted for close application to business, only losing eight clays of the entire time for a visit to the Centennial at Philadelphia in 1876. After retiring from this position, he formed a partnership with J. Myron May in general merchandise at Kingston, which they conducted about thirteen years. A dissolution of the firm then took place, since which time Mr. Rodgers has been engaged in the drug business. He has met with success in his various commercial pursuits, and though he started life without other capital than his good judgment and willingness to work, he is now one of the well-to-do men of Kingston. In polities he ranks as one of the "old guard," having been a lifelong Republican and proud of the fact that he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. He has in his possession a highly treasured document, in the nature of a card of thanks or roll of honor, signed by the great emancipator. Though always taking a deep interest in the political contests, he has never aspired to or held office, and the only fraternal order that he holds connection with

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is Pierson lodge, No. 372, I. O. O. F., at Kingston. Mr. Rodgers married Livonia Lindsey, of Kingston, daughter of T. I. N. and Mary A. Lindsey, both deceased. Mr. Rodgers is a member of the Presbyterian church in Kingston.

Thomas C. Rodgers, veteran of the civil war and a well-to-do carpenter, has been a resident, of Kingston for forty-four years. He is a son of John P. Rodgers, mentioned elsewhere in this work; was born in Monroe county, Ohio, May 7, 1833, was brought up on the farm, and at an early period of his life made himself master of all the details of carpenter work, which has been his lifelong occupation. In 1840 he was brought by his parents to Ross county, which from that clay until this has been his constant home, with the exception of five years spent in Indiana. February 22, 1864, he enlisted in Company H, Thirty-third regiment Ohio infantry, and served with it until the close of hostilities. He was in the Atlanta campaign and the famous march to the sea, finally participating in the battle at Bentonville which practically ended military operations so far as fighting was concerned. During the last four months of his service, Mr. Rodgers was detailed as a carpenter and had charge of nine men. In November, 1855, he was married to Rachel Barnhart, a native of Ross county, by whom he had five children: Clara, Roberta, William H., Effie (deceased), and Mamie. Their mother died August 11, 1870, and Mr. Rodgers was married December 21, 1871, to Mary, daughter of John and Maria (Lasser) Rudell. She was born in Germany in 1847 and three years later came with her parents to Ross county, where both ended their days, the mother's death occurring in 1894 at the age of eighty-four years. By his second marriage Mr. Rodgers had three children, of whom Laura, the first born, died in infancy ; Elsie is a graduate of the high school, class of 1894 ; and Samuel P., who graduated at the Spencerian business college in Cleveland, has clerical employment in West Virginia. Mr. Rodgers is not neglectful of his political duties, and has been honored with membership of the council for eight years and town clerk for the same period. He is a charter member of Maxwell post, No. 176, Grand Army of the Republic. The religious affiliations of himself and family are with the Presbyterian church.

Thomas A. Rogers, of South Salem, is a native of the neighboring county of Highland. His father, Thomas D. Rogers, born on Paint creek in Highland county in 1819, was the son of Col. Thomas Rogers, who came west with his father to Kentucky while quite young and became one of the pioneers of that state when it was known as "the dark and bloody ground." He was associated with Daniel Boone and when that famous hunter visited Ohio, Colonel Rogers and an elder brother accompanied him. The Rogers brothers

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settled on the North fork of Paint creek, near the present site of Slate Mills, where they built and operated a mill. Within a year, Colonel Rogers moved farther up the stream to a point one mile from Rattlesnake creek, where he settled on a tract of land on the west bank of Paint creek and made his home there from 1803 until 1873, when his death occurred at the advanced age of ninety-three. Colonel Rogers was a considerable man in his day, a leader in the old Whig party and prominent in connection with the anti-slavery movement. In 1804 he married Polly McCoy, member of the well known family of that name in Ross county, and they became the parents of five children. After the death of this first wife, he married a Miss Watt, of Highland county, and by her had several children. After her death he married Mrs. Narcissa Kinkaid, of Greenfield, widow of Major Kinkaid. The youngest of the children by the first man riage was Thomas D. Rogers, father of the subject of this sketch. Thomas D. was a man of strong character and influence in his community, successful in farming and stock-raising, and throughout his life actively interested in the political, religious and educational affairs of his section. He was one of the early Abolitionists and a charter member of the Republican party, of which he was ever after-ward a stanch adherent. In religion he was a strong believer of the Presbyterian faith, being a member of the old Rockspring church, one of the first organized in the county. He was a deacon and elder in the church at Greenfield, and always took much interest in religious affairs. His death occurred in 1889. His wife was Jane E. Beatty, member of a strong and numerous Ohio family, her mother being a Ewing and connected with the family of that name at Lancaster. Thomas D. and Jane (Beatty) Rogers had nine children : Alexander B. was a member of the Eighty-first Ohio infantry, and died with fever at Corinth, Miss. ; Dora F. married a Mr. Seal and afterward died; Rev. Alonzo A. was a Presbyterian minister and died in Caldwell, Kan. ; Mary M. is deceased ; Adolphus T. resides near Hillsboro, Ohio ; Urina F. is the wife of William L. Pinkerton, of Highland county; William G. graduated in medicine at the Cincinnati college, took a special course in London, practiced a while in Greenfield, Ohio, and is now located at Honolulu; Charles F. was graduated from the Cincinnati law school and is now practicing his profession at Leesburg. The seventh child in order of birth was Thomas A. Rogers, subject of this sketch. He was educated in the public schools of Highland county and at the South Salem academy. After leaving the latter, he taught school for a short time, but eventually became an agriculturist, to which pursuit he has devoted the principal part of his life. He has met with success in his operations and achieved a high reputation as a breeder of fine stock ; conducts his business by the latest improved methods, and is a close student of everything pertaining to the science of farm-.

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ing, especially the breeding and improving of live stock. Naturally, therefore, he takes a deep interest in the farmers' institutes and is often on the program for an instructive talk or paper on some live farm topic. Mr. Rogers is not only interested in every movement to increase agricultural education, but is profoundly concerned in education of all kinds, the public schools and academies having no better friend or warmer supporter than he. He has contributed liberally toward the proposed rebuilding of the old Salem academy and is always ready to help in any movement for the betterment of the schools in township or county. In December, 1882, he was married to Albina A., daughter of Strawder J. Parrett, and they have had four children, whose names are Anna Maud, John B., Thomas Harold and Robert A. The family are members of the South Salem Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Rogers is an elder.

Conrad Ross, an honored resident of Kingston, traces his paternal lineage to old Virginia, "Mother of States and of Statesmen." His grandfather Stephen was born in the ancient dominion during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and when he arrived in Ross county as a poor but hopeful emigrant, there were but few white people there to welcome him. He and his wife, however, went to work in the courageous pioneer way and did their full share in helping to build a. civilized county from the wilderness. In the course of time, "weary and heavy-laden," they both found graves on the land they had cleared from the forest. Among their children was a son named Stephen, born in Harrison township in 1811, who engaged in farming after he grew up and subsequently removed to Green township, where he died in February, 1899. He married Christina, daughter of John and Christina (Kemp) Snyder, both Pennsylvanians who became early settlers of Ohio, both families coming there at the same time. Stephen and Christina Ross had ten children, of whom five are still living. Three of the sons, John, Jesse and Conrad, were Union soldiers in the civil war and the former died while in the service. Conrad Ross was born in Harrison township, March 17, 1846. In youth he learned the carpenter's trade, which he has followed occasionally, but his principal occupation throughout life has been farming. During the civil war he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred Forty-ninth regiment Ohio National Guards, for the hundred days' service, and remained with this command four months, and afterward received a pension for disabilities incurred. January 9, 1872, he was married to Harriet Kamp, of Pickaway county, the result of this union being three children: Austin H. (deceased), Nellie O. and George Orland. Their mother died August 3, 1881, and Mr. Ross married Elizabeth, daughter of David and Elizabeth (Rockey) Hassenpflug, natives of Pennsylvania who married in Pickaway county, there spent their early

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married life, and afterward moved to Green township, Ross county, where the mother died in 1899 and the father in 1893. By this second marriage Mr. Ross had three children : Charles H., who died in 1893, Edgar E. and Russell A. In 1893, Mr. Ross took up his residence at, Kingston and has since made that city his home. He has participated in politics to some extent, serving several times as judge of elections and holding the position of supervisor in Green township. He is a member of Kingston lodge, Knights of Pythias, and of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Alexander Rudman, first deputy sheriff, of Ross county, was born in Huntington township, Ross county, July 19, 1863. His parents were August and Katherine (Hummel) Rudman, both natives of Baden, Germany, who were married in Ross county, about 1855. Five children were born to this union, whose names and present locations are thus briefly stated : Mary is the wife of John Thum, of Dayton, O.; Mrs. Kate Duncan, the second born, lives in Chillicothe : Teresa Hass resides on the old home farm in Huntington township ; Alexander, the subject, was next; and Phebe A., the youngest, lives in Columbus. O. The mother died in 1868 and the father took for his second wife Ernestina Seigesmont, to which union fonr children were born. August Rudman was a soldier during the civil war, and was engaged in battle in Tennessee on the day that his son Alexander was born. He is now living at Dayton, Ohio. Alexander Rudman was educated in the public schools of Chillicothe. His family removed to that city in 1869, and he has ever since lived there, with the exception of four years spent in Columbus. He served for six years as city marshal of Chillicothe, and for two years was special agent on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern railway from Parkersburg to St. Louis. For one year he was patrolman and for two years he served as chief of the Chillicothe police force. In 1901 he was appointed first deputy under Sheriff Devine and is at present serving in that capacity. In 1887 Mr. Rudman was married to Mary Limburger, a native of Vinton county, Ohio, and they have one daughter, Beatrice, born October 3, 1890. Mr. Rudman is a member of the orders of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.

William T. Rutledge, one of the quiet and industrious farmers of Concord township, though a native of the State, has been a resident of Ross county only about eighteen years. He is of Pennsylvania parentage, his father, William H. Rutledge, having been a native of Washington county, in that state. The latter, when a small boy, was brought to Ohio by his parents, who were both natives of Ireland, and settled in Carroll county, where he grew to manhood and was married. He selected as his wife Miss Elizabeth Norris, a native

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of Carroll county, and a short. time after marriage moved to Jackson county, where he followed farming until his death, that event occurring May 21, his wife dying August 28, 1886. William T. Rutledge was born in Jackson county, Ohio, October 26, 1831. He attended the public schools, learned farm work between sessions, grew up to manhood and spent twenty--two. years of his life in that county. Then for seven years he worked as a farm hand. in Fayette county. In December, 1880, he was married to Ida B., daughter of Isaac Vincent, one of the old residents of Ross county. Several years after his marriage, Mr. Rutledge decided to remove to Ross county for permanent residence and carried out this resolve in 1834 by locating in Concord township, where he has since made his home. By his marriage with Miss Vincent there have been born five children, of whom those living are Retta Elizabeth, Esta Ethel and Laura Louise.

Judge William H. Safford, a retired member of the Chillicothe bar, distinguished as jurist, legislator and man of letters, is of lineage both ancient and honorable. The family, which is of English origin, was settled at Ipswich, Mass., as early as 1740. Dr. Chellis Safford served as a surgeon during the French and Indian war of 1756; and died about the time of the opening of the American revolution. His son Jonas, who was also a physician, located in Vermont about 1792 and practiced medicine at Poultney for a number of years. He was a man of influence and distinction, being a representative in the legislature, judge of the court, magistrate and selectman. In 1811 the came West and located at Gallipolis, where he rose into prominence as a physician and died at the age of seventy-one years. His son, Eliel T. Safford, a native of Rutland county, Vt., was also educated for the medical profession, and after graduation at the old Philadelphia Medical college in 1818, began practice at Point Pleasant, Va., and afterward removed to Parkersburg, in the same state, where he lived many years and became eminent in his profession. He married Ann Harrison, whose father, Col. Matthew Harrison, was a prominent lawyer of Prince William county, Va., and an officer of the Revolutionary war. This union resulted in the birth of two sons, one of whom was William H. Safford, the subject of this sketch. He was born at Parkersburg, February 19, 1821, and after the usual educational routine of those days made his first venture at the age of sixteen as teacher of a country school. Later, he secured employment as clerk in a leading mercantile establishment of the town and while thus engaged was selected as principal of the academy which he had recently attended as a pupil. Finishing the school year in this position, he returned to his clerkship, but was again appointed principal of the academy and filled the place acceptably another year. He early developed a taste for

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politics, and the campaign of 1840 offering an excellent opportunity for a display of talent in that line, young Safford "took the stump" and participated actively in that famous contest. In the fall of that year he began the study of law with his uncle, William A. Harrison, of Clarksburg, was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1842, and immediately entered upon the practice of his profession. In the fall of 1848 he came to Ohio, and on November 1st of that year located at Chillicothe, where he soon came to the front both in law and politics. In 1857 he was elected to the state senate from the counties of Ross and Highland, and served a term of two years. In 1859 he was nominated as a candidate for lieutenant-governor on the Democratic ticket, but went down with his party in the defeat which overtook it that year. In 1863 he was elected and commissioned as colonel of the Fourth regiment of Ross county militia, hut the subsequent repeal by the legislature of the act authorizing such an organization prevented its seeing any military service. In 1868 he was elected judge of the court of common pleas for the Fifth judicial district of Ohio, and he served until 1874, declining a renomination. After his retirement from the bench, Judge Safford resumed legal practice and continued actively engaged therein until 1898, in which year he retired from the law for the purpose of devoting his time to literature. Throughout his life he has had a partiality for literary pursuits and has displayed talent in that direction, especially in the department of historical research. As far back as 1850 he published a "Life of Blennerhassett," which subsequently was greatly enlarged by the addition of ranch new matter and reproduced in 1801 under the title of "The Blennerhassett Papers," which make a valuable contribution to the literature of a romantic episode in American history. Aside from his more serious productions, Judge Safford has for years been a prolific and popular contributor to various periodical publications. His recent years have been employed in the preparation of several works of absorbing interest and value. Among the number is a racy and picturesque narrative of partisan warfare in western Virginia, dealing especially with the daring deeds and reckless raids of John Hanson McNeal and his son Jesse, the famous Confederate scouts. Accurate biographies will be presented of these partisan celebrated leaders, including an especially full and graphic account of the capture of Generals Crook and Kelley at Cumberland, Md., by Lieut. Jesse C. McNeal. Other works in preparation by Judge Safford are a life of Gov. William Allen, of Ohio, and a historical memoir entitled "The Patron and His Protege--Aaron Burr and John Vanderlyn, the Artist." He is also engaged upon "The Louisiana Purchase," in which he purposes to give a full and complete history of that transaction and furnish a great deal of information which has never been published in a connected form. October 14, 1846, Judge Safford was married to Annie Maria Pocahontas

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Creel, a native of Wood county, West Virginia, and daughter of Dr. David Creel. From this union sprang a family of three sons and four daughters, whose biographies are thus briefly summarized: Robert. E. was educated at the West Point military academy, graduating with the class of 1877, was immediately commissioned second lieutenant, assigned to the cavalry and died while in camp in the Guadaloupe mountains of Texas July 19, 1879. Edith Florence married Henry W., son of Ainsworth P. Spofford, long time librarian at Washington, D. C., and resides in that city. William Edwin was educated at the Annapolis naval academy, graduating with the class of 1880, took a scientific course at Yale college, was commissioned as ensign in 1885 and is now a first lieutenant in the navy. He was appointed special commissioner to the republics of Peru and Bolivia and spent eighteen months in those countries, making excavations for relics that might throw light on the civilization of the Incas. The exhibits resulting from this archaeological work were made at the World's Fair in Chicago and reflected much credit upon the young lieutenant's energy and skill in research. This same young officer served as the first lieutenant-governor of the island of Guam after it came under American control. Elizabeth Cornelia, fourth of Judge Safford's children, became the wife of Joel Allen Battle of Tennessee, later removed to Evanston, Ill., and died there October 14, 1901. Anna Juliet is employed in the department of the interior at Washington ; Homer is engaged in business in Chicago, and Sarah Louisa is at home.

Augustus Santo, owner of the meat market in Adelphi, and one of the thrifty, up-to-date citizens of the place, is a native of Chillicothe of German origin. Alexander Santo left the place of his nativity in Baden in 1832, made his way directly to Ohio and located at Chillicothe. There he met Sophia Ringwalt, also a native of Baden, who had preceded him to this country, and in due time he made her his wife. He was a butcher by trade, made some money from this business, and died in 1864 on a farm in Springfield township, his wife surviving him until 1879. Alexander and Sophia Santo had seven children, of whom three survive, including two daughters at Pittsburg and Augustus Santo. The latter was born in Chillicothe, November 16, 1837, and he was thoroughly trained by his watchful father in the business of a butcher. This he continued in Chillicothe for several years after his father's death, but in 1867 removed to Adelphi, which lively little capital of Colerain township has since been the scene of his operations. The industry and good management of Mr. Santo have been rewarded with success, and the evening of life finds him in possession of some valuable property, all accumulated by himself. This consists of two residences, besides the meat markets in Adelphi and Laurelville, and other assets. Mr.

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Santo is jovial in disposition, has a popular personality, and is one of the well-to-do as well as much esteemed citizens of his adopted town. He is Democratic in his polities, but cares for no office, and gratifies his social inclinations by membership in Cornplanter tribe, No. 146, Improved Order of Red Men. While living in Chillicothe he. married Louisa Rollman, by whom he had two children, Frank Edward and Louise. Louise lives in Mayton ; Frank Edward is a traveling salesman for a Chicago wholesale house and lives in Toledo. He is married and has an interesting family of three children, William, Mamie and Susan. ,Mrs. Louisa Santo died in 1865 at Chillicothe, and after Mr. Santo settled in Adelphi he married Roy Ann Withrow, whose two children died in infancy. Mrs. Santo is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

George W. Santee, one of the substantial and esteemed farmers of Concord township, comes of a lineage both ancient and honorable. When the malignant religious persecution of the seventeenth century drove so many of the bravest and best of her citizens from France, a number of them found refuge in Holland, a country always ready to give asylum to the oppressed. Included among these Huguenots was a. family of Santees who afterwards made the long ocean journey to America and found a home in the peace-loving state of William Penn. This emigration occurred about, 1790 and from it arose all the Santees who subsequently scattered over the various states of the Union. One of these descendants, named George Santee, was born in Pennsylvania during the latter part of the eighteenth century and "after his marriage to Mary Merriman migrated to Ohio with the current then setting in so strongly towards the West. These Pennsylvanians first found lodgment near Frankfort in Ross county, but later removed to the Big bottoms in the vicinity of Bainbridge, where they resided for several years. Afterward they went to Bentonville in Adams county, but .after a few years' residence in that place, returned to Bainbridge neighborhood and remained there until 1823. Ross county was then finally abandoned and a removal made to the vicinity of Petersburg in Highland county, where these old settlers spent the remainder of their days. Following is a list of their children: James, William, John, George, Josiah, Cynthia, Sophia, Nancy and Rebecca, all of whom are dead except John, who lives in Highland county. Josiah, fifth of the above mentioned children, was born in Ross county near Bainbridge, September 5, 1808. In 1834 he married Mary Walker, a woman of much strength of character and many virtues, with whom he settled near Petersburg in Highland county and lived happily for seventeen years. At the end of that time, they returned to Ross county and settled near Lyndon, where they remained until a few years before the close of their lives. Josiah Santee's lifelong occupation was that of farm-

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ing and stockraising, and the only office held by him was that of township trustee, which he occupied for several years. His children were eight in number: Mary E., wife of S. T. McWilliams of Highland county; George W.; John and Joseph of Highland county; James C. of Clinton county; Thomas O. and Louisa of Greenfield, Ohio; Thomas (deceased). George W. Santee, second of the children, was born near Hillsboro, Highland county, September 15, 1836. He remained at home until his twenty-third year, after which he worked by the month on neighboring farms for a while and then began to think of matrimony. In 1861 he was united in marriage to Delilah Briggs, a lady born and bred in Ross county, and shortly after the ceremony they settled on a. farm in Concord township. Four years later they removed to Fayette county and remained there until 1870, when they returned to the old township in Ross county and there spent the subsequent eleven years. Then a removal was made to the farm now occupied by Mr. Santee, where be has since been engaged in general farming and stockraising. He and his wife have had ten children, of whom Russell, Katie, Nettie and Charles are dead. The living are: Laura, wife of R. Ankrom of Greenfield ; Mattie, now Mrs. Cass Paul; Nettie, wife of John Ott, of Union township; Jennie M., wife of E. Hutton, of Greenland ; Daisy, married to William Smith of Frankfort, O. ; Miss Lizzie, at home.

Michael Schilder, merchant, of Chillicothe, is a native of that place, born December 17, 1853. His parents were Michael and Elizabeth (Hermann) Schilder, the former a native of Alsace-Loraine, at that time belonging to France, where he was reared and educated. He came to America with his parents and located in Chillicothe about 1850. He was a grocer, operating the same business now conducted by his son and namesake; was successful in a business way, and died at the age of forty-three, his wife surviving until she was sixty, when she passed away. Of the twelve children born unto them, nine are still living. The eldest is Michael, subject of this sketch. The second is Caroline Eichenlaub, of Columbus ; Anne, unmarried, lives in Chillicothe ; Martin A. is a member of the wholesale grocery firm of Schilder Lightle, of Chillicothe ; Clara Figlestaher is wife of a mechanic in Chicago; Philomena is wife of Abram Baker, of Loveland, O. ; Ella is the wife of Thomas F. Bier, of Savannah, Mo.; John E. is a business man of Chillicothe; Katherine is the wife of George A. Gardman, a wholesale grocer at Portsmouth, 0. The deceased children were Mary, Elizabeth and Lillie, all of whom died in childhood or early womanhood. Michael Schilder was educated in the Chillicothe public schools and at St. Mary's institute in Dayton, O. His first business venture was as

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clerk in the store of his father. After the latter died, the business was conducted for some years by M. A. Schilder, during which period Michael was engaged in business at Frankfort, O., and later at Chillicothe. In 1897 he purchased his brother's interests and resumed the grocery business, in which he had spent his earlier years. Mr. Schilder handles high class goods and enjoys the trade of many of the best families in Chillicothe. He gives steady employment to four clerks and a bookkeeper, handling everything to be found in a first class grocery and provision store. In short, he is one of the successful business men of Chillicothe and has accumulated a fine property as the result of his own efforts, besides his interest in the extensive parental estate as yet unsettled. In 1870 he was married to Katherine A. Vogel, daughter of Dr. Christian Vogel, a minister of the German Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. and Mrs. Schilder have one daughter living, Bertha, wife of Clifford R. Duncan, private secretary to Superintendent Brinson of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern railway, residing at Chillicothe. Two other children, Mary and Robert Lawrence, died in childhood, the former aged nine years and the latter two weeks. The family are members of the Roman Catholic church in Chillicothe.

August Schmieder, a well known mechanic long resident in Chillicothe, is a native of Baden, Germany, born on June 14, 1839. His parents were Valentine and Walburga (Figlesthaler) Schmieder, both natives of Baden, where they were married and spent their lives. The father was a wagon maker and it was with him that his son August learned his trade. Valentine Schmieder died when he was seventy-three years old and his wife at about the age of sixty-seven. Their family consisted of three sons and two daughters, four of whom are still living. William is a wood worker in the employ of his brother; Pauline, one of the sisters, is in Germany, and Bertha is living in Wichita, has., both being married. August Schmieder came to Chillicothe on July 7, 1857, and has since then been engaged continuously in his present business. He began on a small scale, confining himself chiefly to repairing; but pluck and perseverance were rewarded, the business growing steadily until it was necessary to take in more help. At the present time he gives employment to nine or ten men, owns two large brick buildings, one just completed and used for a repository, office and trimming shop. In 1862 he enlisted as a member of Company G, Twenty-eighth Ohio infantry, and served over three years at the front, taking part in numerous battles and skirmishes in western Virginia, including the engagements at Piedmont and New Market, and during Hunter's long march to and from Lynchburg, Va. He incurred disabilities in the service, for which he has been pensioned by the government. May 2, 1867, he was married to Jane Johanna Benner, a native of

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Chillicothe, born in the house where she always lived and where she met. her death in 1894 at the age of forty-seven years. She was the mother of four children, of whom three are living, Elizabeth, the first born, having died in infancy. Henry W., the only son, is employed as book-keeper and general overseer in his father's business and is unmarried. He received his education in the schools of Chillicothe and at the Scioto business college. The daughters are Anna and Ella, the former being the wife of Edward J. Herrnstein, of Chillicothe. The other two children are at home, making a happy and contented family. Mr. Schmieder is not a member of any social organization except the Eintracht Singing society. He has been very prosperous since coming to America and his accumulations are almost entirely the result of his own efforts.

J. Woodbridge Scott, of Bainbridge, was born in Chillicothe, the son of Maj. James N. Scott, who was a native of Kentucky, but came to Ohio when a boy, with his father, Dr. Joseph Scott, one of the most prominent surgeons and citizens of his day in Chillicothe. On the outbreak of the civil war, James N. Scott raised a company of which he was made captain and which became Company M of the First Ohio cavalry. This command served throughout the war and when mustered out in September, 1865, Captain Scott held a commission as major, and had made a worthy record as a patriot and soldier. He came home much broken down in health and died in 1867. Major Scott's wife was Sarah Woodbridge, whose father, John Woodbridge, was a prominent figure in the business circles of Chillicothe. He was a native of Connecticut, hut came to Ohio when a boy of tender age. For many years he was cashier of the Chillicothe bank and stood high among the financiers and capitalists of that section. J. Woodbridge Scott received his education in Cincinnati and afterwards engaged in the book business in that city. In 1884 he came to Paxton township, Ross county, where he now resides.

Milton J. Scott, treasurer-elect of Ross county, is a native of the same, born in Huntington township on December 17, 1873, son of John T. and Elizabeth (Craden) Scott, both natives of Ohio, the former born in Guernsey county in 1823. John T. Scott's occupation has been principally that of a farmer. and his present residence is on the farm where his home has been for forty years. He was twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth Craden and the second Mrs. Mary E. Shiver. The first Mrs. Scott was born in Fayette county in 1835 and died in 1882, leaving three children, of whom Milton J. Scott is the. eldest and only son. His sisters are Mrs. Jessie Baum, of Bourneville, Ross county, and Mrs. Hattie Ridgeway, of Chillicothe. On both sides of the house, through the Scotts as well as the Cradens, the family traces its lineage back to Ireland, the paternal

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branch being early established in Pennsylvania. Milton J. Scott was educated in the common schools and South Salem academy, afterward being a teacher for two years in Ross county. He next accepted employment as a clerk in Ira Mosher & Son's mercantile house, where he remained for eight years. Entering upon this work at the lowest point, Mr. Scott rose steadily, as the result of faithful and competent service, until he finally held the responsible position of chief clerk and assistant buyer. Without solicitation upon his part, be was offered the chief deputy-ship in the county treasurer's office, which he accepted and held for three years. In the fall of 1901 he was nominated by the Republican party as candidate for treasurer of Ross county, and at the ensuing election was triumphantly chosen with a majority larger than that of any other name on the county ticket. He took possession of the office September 1st, 1902. September 25, 1892, he was married to Mattie A. Johnson, daughter of Simon and Elizabeth Johnson, old neighbors of his father's family, and this union has been blessed by the birth of two daughters, Esther and Naomi. Mr. Scott is an Odd Fellow and a member of the Knights of the Ancient Essenic Order, of which he is the charter secretary of Chillicothe senate, No. 31. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. After the death of his mother Mr. Scott never lived at the parental home, but spent his childhood and youth in different families. For three years he lived in Meigs county, and there, as elsewhere, he worked his own way until by unaided efforts the reached a position of prominence and success. Self-made in the best sense of the word, he paid for his own academic education from the proceeds of his daily labor. Though his position subjected him to unusual temptations to vice and dissipation, he had the self-restraint and good sense to resist all those allurements which so often betray young men to their ruin. The result was that Mr. Scott became a young man of most exemplary character and habits, which brought their clue reward in a successful career both in business and politics.

Samuel Frederick Secrest, hardware merchant, of Chillicothe, is a native of Guernsey county, Ohio, born May 26, 1846. His parents were John and Elizabeth (Clark) Secrest, the former born in 1811 in Hampshire county, Va., and the latter born December 25, 1813, in Greene county, Pa. They were married in Guernsey county, O., and spent their lives on the same farm, the mother dying at the age of sixty-eight and the father at seventy-two. They had a family of eight children, of whom four are living. Of these, Benjamin C. is a real estate dealer in Circleville, O. ; Noah E. is on the old homestead ; Samuel F. is the subject of this sketch ; and Mrs. Margaret C. Robbins resides in Guernsey county. The Secrest family is of German origin. The paternal great-grandfather was

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George Spade Secrest, a Hessian soldier who fought for the British, was captured by General Washington and afterward remained in America, settling in Guernsey county, O. The Clarks are of Irish and Dutch antecedents long established in America. Samuel F. Secrest was educated at the Lebanon (Ohio) National Normal school, where he completed a classical and scientific course in 1869. For five years he was employed as principal of the public schools of Frankfort, Ross county, and acquitted himself most creditably, being considered one of the best educators ever in charge at that place. This was the beginning of his career in Ross county, which has been one of almost unvarying success. On retiring from his position in the schools, he engaged in mercantile business in Frankfort, the. one selected being hardware, groceries and grain, and he erected a business block and elevator and gave to the then dead town a new lease of life. He was also largely instrumental in the establishment of the first bank in Frankfort. He remained there until the autumn of 1882, when he disposed of his interests and removed to Chillicothe, where he resumed the hardware business, which he has continued up to the present time with financial success. December 25, 1872, he was married at Frankfort, to Mary Miller, a daughter of Isaac and Mary Miller, an old family of that place. They have four children, two sons and two daughters. The eldest is Stella Warren Secrest, a graduate from the classical department of the Ohio Wesleyan university, class of 1893, and at present in charge of mathematics in the Chillicothe high school. The second child is Forest Clark Secrest, a student, to the junor year, in the Ohio Wesleyan university, and now employed in his father's business; he married Cora Roche, of Douglas county, Ill., and has three children, Mary, Catherine and Corinne. The third child of Mr. and Mrs. Secrest is Bernice Wood, now the senior year in Smith college at Northampton, Mass. The fourth is Frederick Miller, a sophomore in the Chillicothe high school. Mr. Secrest is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, having attained to the Knights Templar degree. Himself, wife and children are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has been a steward for many years, besides holding various other official positions in the church. He has served about twelve years on the board of education, two years of which time he was clerk and two years president of the board.

Charles Seip, recently deceased, was one of the oldest settlers of Chillicothe. He was a native of Harxheim, Rhenish Bavaria, in Germany, where he was born May 20, 1821. His parents were Isaac and Katherine Seip, both natives of Bavaria, where the father died in December, 1834. Isaac Seip was a soldier during the wars of his day and served for ten years under the great Napoleon. On October 19, 1849, Charles Seip and a sister came with their mother

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to Chillicothe, Ohio, where the latter died at the age of seventy-seven. One of her sons, named John, died in Germany and a daughter, Mrs. Bader, resides in Chillicothe. Charles Seip learned the butcher's trade while in Germany, working at it. there for fifteen years, and after coming to Chillicothe he followed the same business for about thirty-five years. He was very prosperous as the result of industrious habits, good health and prudential management. May 2, 1852, he was married to Charlotte Erich, a native of Klein Wangen, Saxony, born July 25, 18 1, who came to Ross county with her parents in 1848. She became the mother of seven children, of whom six are still living. Charles died in infancy; Mary is the wife of Charles Schlagel, a jeweler in Chillicothe; John, George and David are merchants in the same city ; Charlotte and Elizabeth are at home. The mother passed away June 15th, 1900. In 1895 Charles Seip erected the finest residence in Chillicothe, modern in all its equipments and finished in the most elegant style. Aside from this he owned five farms in Ross county, aggregating 1,029 acres, consisting of fertile and highly improved lands. His accumulations were the results of a long and industrious life, marked by frugal habits and a saving disposition. He was a genial and companionable gentleman and remarkably well preserved for a man of his years. He reared his children with affectionate care and bestowed upon all of them a liberal education. Miss Elizabeth has a taste for music and her talent in that line has been cultivated by the best teachers. Mr. Seip was one of the oldest members of the Odd Fellows order in Chillicothe, sustaining his connection therewith for the social benefits to be derived from that honored fraternity. He was a life-long Democrat and held some of the local offices, but never sought political honors or official recognition. His venerable life came to a sudden end on Thursday night, June 5, 1902, at his home in Chillicothe, the immediate cause of death being heart failure.

John Seip, a prominent merchant of Chillicothe, is a son of the late Charles Seip, whose sketch appears above. He was born in Chillicothe on April 16, 1858, and was educated in the public schools of that city. His entire life, since reaching maturity, has been spent in the wholesale mercantile business of his native place. He was one of the incorporators and principal stockholders of the Culter & Seip company, organized for the purpose of carrying on a wholesale trade in boots and shoes, and is also a stockholder and director of the Citizens National bank of Chillicothe. Recently he became one of the incorporators of the Virginia Land and Lumber company, which has purchased about 15,000 acres of land seventeen miles south of Norfolk. This tract includes the historic field of Big Bethel, famous as the scene of the first battle of the civil war. It is the intention of the incorporators of this enterprise to erect a

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large sawmill and wood working plant and convert the valuable standing timber into merchantable products. Another object is to drain the land and convert it into productive farms, which will be operated after modern and improved methods. Associated with Mr. Seip are the Schilder Brothers, wholesale produce dealers of Chillicothe ; Frank Flee, a practical lumber man of Washington C. H; James C. Gragg of Bourneville, a practical farmer, lumberman and merchant; also Milton and David Jones, sons of William A. Jones, practical farmers of Bourneville. This enterprise is one of great possibilities and promise and, backed as it is by abundant capital and a high order of talent, it should be a great success. Mr. Seip is a member of the Masonic fraternity and has served two years on the board of education in Chillicothe.

Joshua Seney, of Chillicothe, is a native of Kent county, Delaware, born November 14, 1808. He came to Ross comity in 1834 and has made his home there ever since. Mr. Seney was a chairmaker by trade and made the first caneseated chairs that were manufactured in Chillicothe and Springfield. He was also a cabinet maker and put in some time in the mercantile business. In 1851, he abandoned all other pursuits to devote his time to farming and from that time until this he had adhered to that occupation. He has met. with success and now owns about two-hundred acres of land. Mr. Seney has been a lifelong Democrat and for twenty years held the office of township treasurer. In 1857 and 1855 he was a member of the State legislature, serving two years in all. His only fraternal connection is a membership in the order of Odd Fellows. November 4, 1841, Mr. Seney was married to Martha Ives, a native of Chillicothe. Her parents were Shalor and Eliza W. (Stevens) Ives, the former of Connecticut and the latter of Boston, Mass. They cause to Ross county in an early day and there spent the remainder of their lives. Shalor Ives was a hotel man and at the time owned what is now the Warner House. He and his wife also had the first reading room ever established in Chillicothe. To Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Seney a family of eleven children have been born. This list, has been thinned considerably by death, the living children being as follows : Amasa, Martha, Elizabeth, Susan, Lucy and William. The dead are Mary,Warren, Edward, Alice M., and Matilda.

Michael Senff, of Chillicothe, is a native of Ross county, born January 19, 1813. His parents were Michael and Christiana (Trapp) Senff, both natives of Pennsylvania. The senior Michael was a son of Casper Senff, a life guard for the king of Saxony, who came from Germany and served in the Revolutionary war. Michael Senff, Sr., came to Ross county, Ohio, in 1803, and two years afterward located in Chillicothe, where he followed the trade of black

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smithing. During the latter part of his life he engaged in farming and accumulated 230 acres of fine land. He was very active in educational matters and did much to improve the school system of his district. He enlisted as a soldier in the war of 1812 and it was while he was absent on duty that his son Michael was born. He died at the age of seventy-one years, and of his fourteen children two daughters in Illinois and Michael Scuff are the only ones surviving. Michael, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the public schools and also became a good musician, at one time playing for five hundred people at a singing school. He grew up on the farm and learned the carpenter's trade. He had an ingenious turn of mind and a natural taste for mechanics, constructing the first threshing machine ever made in Ross county. This machine could thresh 300 bushels of wheat a day and Mr. Senff worked with it and similar machines for thirty years in the business of threshing grain in season. He was also engaged in farming and fruit raising, and altogether was quite a busy man. He was clerk of his school district for about seventeen years and director of the same for twenty-one years. He has done much jury duty during his lifetime, helped to lay out many of the roads of the county and in every way proved an active and useful citizen. He and his wife were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Senff was married in 1840 to Malinda Caldwell, who was born in Ross county in 1821 and died July 17, 1887. They had ten children, of whom eight are living. Among these children is Byron Senff, who was born in Ross county July 17, 1845 He was reared on the farm and learned the blacksmith trade, which he has followed all his life in connection with his farming operations. He owns a farm of twenty acres in the Scioto valley and makes a specialty of truck and vegetable raising. Byron Senff was assessor of his township for two terms, clerk for ten years and treasurer for fourteen years, having held one or other of these offices from the time he was twenty-one years old. In 1868, he was married to Estelle Louise Fleury, of Washington, D. C., by whom he has had six children, as follows: William Russell, Carrie May, Michael M., Byron J., Estelle L., and Pauline Augusta, deceased.